>> bill: among them, james clapper, and vice president joe biden, all of this apparently taking place between election day november 8th and just prior to inauguration day 2017 in january. a long list of people to talk to coming up this hour. at the president however will be in the rose garden around 4:00 eastern time where we expect he will have some comment on this. until then, let's get to the

news. david's bunt leads our coverage live from washington. catch our viewers up on what we are learning from the document that just came out in the last 30 minutes. >> absolutely built. it's a lot to go through and this is something that has been a request for the department of national intelligence, odni, to go ahead and say what these names are and release these names. basically they did not release the names, they sent it to senator ron johnson and a senators truck grassley, both of them republicans on capitol hill that requested these names. these are names of people who requested to unmask a general flynn who was picked up on an intercept. this happen as you mentioned between the time that donald trump was elected president back in 2016 at the time he took the oath of office in early 2017. most of these names are standard, from what i've been told. they are national security type officials. but vice president joe biden's name is certainly taking a lot of interest.

grenell, he's the national acting director of national intelligence and he went to the department of justice last week and then we found out that he actually declassified these names. the department of justice said wait a minute, we are not going to release these names, this is the director of national intelligence and part of his office, his business to do that. he even gave it to mcdavid to senator ron johnson and chuck grassley and they sent it out basically to the world. what i can tell you, covering the justice department, they are doing a separate investigation, a john durham investigation. he's that district attorney in connecticut and he's checking out the origins of the russia probe. part of his investigation is this unmasking. so you can bet that this is certainly not going to be going away anytime soon. also from doj, we've been talking about general flynn today and some of this unmasking, also from doj. the judge emmett sullivan is now asking for more information

because the department of justice as we've been telling our viewers dip decided to drop the case against general flynn last week. so certainly a lot going on with general flynn and basically the biggest name on this list, no question, it will hear from many different people in many days and weeks to come is joe biden, former vice president running for president. >> bill: thank you. he made that request on the 12ta week before the inauguration of the current administration. david, standby. just looking at this list, some at the power leads the list on a number of requests, six or seven that i can see from the rundown. james clapper and john brennan is on the list, several people from the treasury department as well. there may be explanations for some of this, perhaps yes and perhaps not. our top story continues. gillian turner, what are you picking up there in washington? >> good afternoon to you. so picking up on the list

because that's the latest thing you're talking about, lots to unpack here. the first thing that jumps out at us as of the former vice president joe biden is on the list, kind of an unexpected move. but aside from that, going over the members on this list, it all appears to be mid-level to top-tier level obama administration officials. a lot of these folks are not political appointees, a lot of them are career civil servants who served in democratic and republican a ministrations over years. one of them, lieutenant durrant general douglas lute served in the bush administration on the iraq policy issue. he went on to be the wars are for iraq and afghanistan for president obama. he then even served at the beginning of the trump administration so this is somebody who, you can't really shove him into one particular corner are or another so that's an important kind of point here when we are laying the groundwork.

you can't say that all these people are liberals or democrats, they are certainly absolutely not. a few of them are. >> bill: just looking at this list, we got it on our screen for the viewers, to give our folks at home a look at the letters that we got her hands on about 35 minutes ago. just reading from the paragraph that sets this up, and fill in the dots. only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests. while the principles are identified below we cannot confirm they saw the unmask information. is that an assumption or, what you think if you are looking for the information, you are probably looking further? >> i think the reason that this letter lays this out is because there is probably no record at the white house when people would have checked out this document. the officials who are looking at them whether it was cement the power or the vice president were

somebody else, they likely had access to these intelligence reports on a freewheeling basis and it would pete do difficult to try to pinpoint when they check them in and out. so it's unclear once these names were redacted in consumption, not a lot of way to trace exactly who would have seen those names after they had been redacted. but a point on this, the whole unmasking issue is very complicated but the thing that we do know for sure is that only a handful, maybe 20-75 people in the entire federal government have the legal authority to unmask individuals. unmask the identities of americans in intelligence reports that have been redacted. all the people on this list have that authority from a process standpoint and there's nothing wrong with them requesting, on paper. there's nothing wrong with them legally requesting this information. it all comes down to why they requested it. critics of ric grenell, the

acting bni and president trump are saying the trump administration believes basically that obama administration officials were requesting the unmaskings for political gains. >> bill: it seems like a lot of people had a crack at this one. jillian, thank you, when you get more we will bring you back. rand paul a moment ago put out a statement. he wants ric grenell, acting director of the day and dni to testify next week before the senate. he held a briefing a few moments ago. i want to bring in sol wisenberg, former deputy independent counselor of the whitewater investigation. welcome to our coverage here, trying to get some analysis and interpretation of facts as well. what do you think is happening here based on this list of names? >> well, i think it's very hard to tell unless you are very familiar with other things that went on and on this particular date. one thing that strikes me is, i

understand this communication from the generals who released the letter. these are not officials who said, i want to see anything involved in medical flynn. these were officials who were looking at classified information, looking at transcripts, and things like that, instead, i want to know who this person is on this call. in other words, they were going at it specifically as far as we can tell, looking for information on michael flynn. they saw something in a conversation and they said i need to know who the american person is on the line. that's number one, as i read it. number two as other people have pointed out, it's not a crime and it's not apparently unethical to ask for and unmasking. where the crime comes in is, when you then find out it's michael flynn or anyone else and lick it to the media

intentionally. that's a 10-year finally. >> bill: so looking at the dates, the request apparently came in third grinnell or his office. at november 8th was election day. but if you look at the dates for the actual requests, the earliest date that comes close to november 8th is the end of the month of november, november 30th 2016, on behalf of the then u.s. ambassador to the u.n. samantha power. does that mean anything based on that timeline? >> it doesn't mean anything to me but it might to somebody else. a date that might be important is, you know from the documents that were released in the flynn case last week that the calls to the russian ambassador about sanctions were very important. there was a text from the russian ambassador to flynn on the 28th and the obama administration announced the

sanctions late on the 28th. then there was a phone call on the 29th. then i noticed that james clapper made an unmasking request on december 28th. it may not mean anything. i'm just saying -- >> bill: so if you were trying to figure out whether or not there were sanctions violations would that explain why so many department of treasury members were involved in this? because there are several names from the treasury here. >> what do you mean by sanctions? >> well that would run through the department of treasury, correct? >> not necessarily. one interesting thing that you have here is that there are numerous unmasking requests, far more than on any other day, on december the 15th.

and one is from the needle advisor. james comey on that day, that's the only day he made an unmasking request, the chief of the syria group. so you have a lot of, i think six or seven of the use are nato related. so something happened there that was serious enough that several different people wanted to know. >> bill: is so between treasury and members of nato and the list concludes with joe biden on the 12th of januarh would have been a full week after that oval office meeting that now we see the transcription with sally yates, acting deputy ag at the time and that conversation with obama and vice president joe biden. can you make a link or any

conclusions as to why he would be the last thing on this otherwise notorious list. i know on the 12th, david ignatius in the post-trip published the first story indicating that general flynn violated the logan act. there's just not enough from this list alone. he makes the connections without a detailed timeline of everything going on in the world at that time. in terms of the documents that were released early last week or late the week before, by the department of justice that made the big difference in the flynn case, there's really not a lot here that tells you much.

like i said, december 28th is the most important date. but obviously something happened on the 15th, where you had all of these people making data. i know it's tough to do based on what you have here, but we are glad we have that. joe biden's name is among those on that list of officials who may have received flynn's identity and we have a reaction from the dnc coming up this hour. communications director and xochitl hinojosa will join me and a group of others as we continue after this. no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. one call could save you $2000 a year.

♪

because i trust their quality they were the first to have a vitamin verified by usp... ...an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people the #1 pharmacist recommended so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need.

♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> bill: as you can imagine a lot of reaction on this breaking news at site continues. we have a list of those who requested the unmasking of general flynn which goes back to late 2016 and early 2017. rand paul will testify next week, and on capitol hill a moment ago here's what the senator from kentucky had to s say. >> today i'm inviting the director of national intelligence to come next week and now we will show vice president biden and virtually the entire top echelon of the administration of president obama was listening to an american's conversation a constitutional warrant, unmasking him and listening to a top advisor of incoming president of the opposite party and this is incredibly

troubling. >> bill: rand paul a moment ago, and now i'm bringing in mo elleithee, marc thiessen. good day to all of you. i think i have about enough time for all of you to get a crack at this apple. just trying to pick sol wisenberg's brain about this a moment ago. it was difficult for him to actually interpret everything. what have you been able to draw from this so far? >> let me fill in two blanks from your conversation. i think the context we have to have here is around october 20th or so the fbi went to the fisa court to get the justice department to give the first warrant on carter page which is a 90 day warrant which was going to expire around january 20th. the allegation they make in the fisa warrant is that the trump campaign or at least people in it are involved in a conspiracy

of cooperation with the kremlin. obviously at after election day there was some desperation to try to corroborate the allegation which mainly came out of the steele dossier. there is some frenetic app comic activity that is connected to not only reasons that you would unmask people who came up in intelligence collection but also because they had this fisa clock ticking. they had to get back before january 20th. the other thing i would say is, just because we have these names on the list doesn't mean you actually know who did the unmasking. some at the power who is, at least on paper, responsible for over 200 unmaskings, testified in a congressional proceeding that she didn't do it and she says she doesn't know who did do it. that would be and i thought should be a scandal in and of itself, and reading that into

the situation >> bill: okay so samantha power, six different requests, one of which came twice around the same date and that was mid-december. what do you take from this? >> so here's what we know. we know michael flynn didn't commit a crime. we know he didn't commit the crime, a prosecutable crime of lying to the fbi. the only crime was the leak of his conversation which was classified and that is a crime. prosecutable crime. now what we have today with this list is we have a list of the suspect. we have a list that shows a universe of people who knew about michael flynn who was the person on that phone call and

this is a beginning of that evidence in the criminal investigation to the people on this list, and i agree with andy, vice president joe biden is on that list. somebody might have been working for him and, this is a very -- we now have a list of suspects. >> bill: i understand the point were making. mo, what do you think so far? >> it doesn't surprise me that he has a slightly different taste. >> bill: we have about 20 seconds and then we will bring you guys back after this. >> michael flynn did admit to committing a crime. we know there was no false pretenses there and the attorney general said there was based on the assistant attorney general's testimony.

that she has that he misconstrued. so he did commit a crime. investigation that led to that high-ranking administration officials sought there was an american involved in a shady phone call and was under surveillance. and that would probably be that they didn't do that. >> bill: so there would be a leak. but stand by and we will hold you over after this, lots more to analyze after this. martha maccallum joins the discussion plus reaction from the dnc.

>> bill: at the list of names is now out. several dozens of those seeking to unmask general flynn. i've been watching and listening to all the analysis here and a lot of this is instant reaction. do we take that based on what we think we know now? >> obviously the names on that list are the people that we all would have assumed, i think, would have possibly been the ones who wanted to unmask general flynn's name. during that period i think there was some concern among those obama officials about the content of the conversations that general flynn might have been having with russian ambassador kislyak. but when we go to the conversations we've had with kt mcfarland she said during that period it was perfectly natural and expected that the national security it director would be reaching out to investors of many countries to sort of open the conversation

and began having discussions in that transition. and she believes that's all there was to it. she's not the only one who believes that. the fbi agents who interviewed director flynn said they did not find any derogatory conversations either. but what sort of changes the game is the leak. so it's one thing to want to know for their own information, and the officials on that list have a right to know, who's on the phone. but the decision to leak that information puts it into a political arena. it's an attempt to investigate mike flynn and make things more difficult for him. and give them a string to continue to pull on once that was out in the public forum. >> bill: is what you are seeing is december 6th 2016. rand paul was on a tear on

capitol hill. i played a clip of him a few moments ago and here's another one from the senator from kentucky, a moment ago. not ready yet but we will get to it. what we are saying is that hit these rumors have been going around for years and he is leveling an accusation here that the democratic party spied on an incoming administration. that's his allegation and he wants him to testify next week and he might get his wish on that next week in the and senate. >> ric grenell has been an interesting person to watch and all of this because as the acting director he has opened cans of worms which people have been asking questions about for a long time. you see the transcript and the three oh two's, the investigation into the russian interference and collusion, what turned out to be pretty much a debacle in terms of what it produced in terms of real evidence. that's where we stand here, as we and start to learn all of

this. we look at ric grenell and the possibility we will hear from him personally next week in a hearing, also i want to mention i spoke with the doj spokesperson. the department of justice is where this list landed first. they opted not to release this list and that i think probably forced ric grenell's hand a little bit to send it to the senator's and they have made the decision to make it public. it's interesting to know that the doj did not go that route. >> you said something last hour, you said it looks as if they were perhaps trying to project something based on the names, and based on the dates. what did you mean by that? >> what we have to understand that the investigation was

something that was going on for months. there was a conspiracy between the trump campaign and the kremlin. everyone was operating in this atmosphere with the assumption that mrs. clinton was going to win the election and i'm convinced that had she won the election would have never heard another word about collusion or russia or any of that narrative. but once trumped one, that meant within ten weeks that he was going to take over the government and he and his administration were going to have access to all the intelligence files. they would know that the prior administration had conducted this investigation of the trump campaign and they would know they were in the fisa court at that time telling judges that the trump campaign was in a conspiracy of cooperation with the kremlin and they would know that the intention was to try to continue this investigation into the trump campaign. so all of that stuff was going to be known. >> bill: thank you for that.

i'm sorry, but the computer is going to cut us off. i want to thank you and martha maccallum, martha will be on tonight at 7:00 on "the story." xochitl hinojosa is on my guest coming up next.

usaa was made for right now. and right now, is a time for action. so, for a second time we're giving members a credit on their auto insurance. because it's the right thing to do. we're also giving payment relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills.

right now is the time to take care of what matters most. like we've done together, so many times before. discover all the ways we're helping members at usaa.com/coronavirus >> bill: back with breaking news, i want to bring in the communications director xochitl hinojosa. if you look at your screen, that was the dates, december 17 through january of that year. thank you for your time, i know this is in real time. why would joe biden want to know about michael flynn back then? >> first of all, this is a distraction. all you are having republicans do right now is distract from the fact that they continue to politicize the justice department. i'm someone who works there and i understand the dependence of the justice department and yet you have thousands of justice department employees that

reacted to the michael flynn news and what we want to see is making sure that the independent returns to the justice department. also, unmasking, unmasking is just something that you are looking to see more intelligen intelligence. frankly this is going to backfire on republicans because it just shows how serious michael flynn was and his conversations with the russians. so republicans can try to use this to play political football. but in reality, this will backfire. >> is it a crime to talk to other countries during that period? >> whenever you are trying to interfere in an election or in any way trying to go against the united states, i think that is something that is. but right now, the potus the department of justice is politicizing things and time and time again you continue to see this justice department

politicize issues in order to help donald trump. >> the answer there is there is a suggestion of collusion. where is that? >> specifically bill barr trying to cover up for the president. we want an independent justice department. that justice department in this attorney general that they are fair and that they are neutral, and trying to play political games in order to benefit donald trump. >> bill: one more time, where's the proof about collusion? >> i leave that to the investigators. frankly you have seen the investigations done, again. and i encourage you to look at all of the work that democrats have done in the house to

continue to show the cover up. that shows step by step, and i think that right now it's extremely troubling, and if you are viewers watching at home i would say, you know what? i want a new president and i want a new justice department who will remain independent and to take into consideration the rule of law before anything el else. >> bill: okay, i asked it twice and i didn't hear an answer of proof. however i did hear yesterday on "good morning america," joe biden was asked about it by george stephanopoulos about the meeting in the office. >> i know nothing about those moves to investigate michael flynn number one. you asked me about whether or not i had anything to do with being prosecuted.

an>> bill: i will try it one more time, why would i want to know about michael flynn at that time? and when it comes to michael flynn, and i've said this already, when it comes to michael flynn comes this is going to backfire on republican. they are trying to find more information when it came to michael flynn in his discussions with russia and that's exactly what my answer was before. >> bill: i was looking for a crime and i haven't heard it there. i was asking for collusion and i haven't heard it. >> right now you have a justice department that we can't trust. >> bill: it's almost the summer of 2,020 and there is evidence of it. i will get back to you. joe biden was talking about getting off of his back porch and i'm certain that he wants to

get out of delaware. how much do you believe the current situation the country is hampering his ability to get this campaign going? >> so first of all, joe biden and dr. biden and surrogates across the country to support joe biden have been doing virtual events and places like michigan and florida and arizona and key battleground states and we will continue to do that. what they are doing is taking the advice of health professionals, as we all are. he is taking those professionals and that advice. so what i will tell you is that what american people are actually doing about is that someone it will actually fight for them. someone will go out there and say, how are you going to stop this pandemic, how are you going to keep us safe, how are you going to make my small business thrive again? and right now they are not

seeing that from donald trump. what he should not be doing is using federal resources right now and taking away ppe the way that republicans have already asked the administration and giving that political operativ operatives. republicans time and time again -- >> bill: that's a pretty heavy charge. who is taking from home? >> ronna mcdaniel is asking for ppe for their national convention when nurses and doctors right now don't have enough ppe for themselves. >> bill: so you are alleging they are taking it away from nurses and doctors. lets go away from this. how real is it that the democrats could hold a virtual convention this summer? where are you in the plan for that now? >> well, yesterday we had a very lengthy meeting and we decided we were going to get the full

authority to the convention team in order to make plans and to make sure that people are safe. and so that is what we did there. we don't have our head stuck in the sand, we understand that this pandemic could go longer than expected. we want to ensure that we are people don't like trying to keep people safe. whether that is in person or at some remote location. so right now we are doing everything we can to keep people safe and so -- there's a real possibility that it does not happen, or it happens in a virtual sense. >> first of all our convention has to happen because we are not officially nominating joe biden, so our convention is happening. now, when it comes to what our convention is going to look like, i can guarantee you that

our convention will ensure that this -- it's safety first. whether it is our delegates, the people of milwaukee are all involved in a convention and we will make sure that they are safe, whatever that looks like. and they can vote for our nominees. >> bill: thank you for coming back. we will speak again very soon. mo and mark are coming this. by using your va streamline refi benefit, one call to newday usa can save you $2,000 a year. that's me. there's no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. that's me. put your va home loan benefits to good use. call my team at newday usa.

it's a great escape. so many great stories from amazing people... it makes me want to be better. it changes your perspective. it makes you a different person. see what listening to audible can do for you. ...little things... ...can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines,

and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. while most of the world is being asked to stay inside, there are people out there giving it their all. so, to everyone who is helping keep us safe against covid-19 day in and day out, all of us at amgen say... thank you.

>> these rumors have been going around for years that the president obama's administration was abusing this power of unmasking, and i think that is a very serious offense and should be investigated. >> bill: it's

senator rand paul on the hill, he's calling for ric grenell. i want to bring back mo elleithee, and marc thiessen, gentlemen, welcome back to our coverage. just so our viewers know, a couple dozen names have been revealed and even around the world to come a few ambassadors if you folks connected with nato et cetera. and the list is very interesting. james clapper is on there, john brennan, james comey and joe biden's last name listed. he worked at doj and was analyzing this in real time. i went back and found on december 14, the day before, remember the criminal aspect of a lot of this is whether or not you like this person's name to

the media. and if that happened to you could prosecute that on decemben "the washington post," here's the headline. trumps national security advisor shared secrets without permission. file shown, it meant sharon's general flynn in the first paragraph. maybe it showed up before that but that was an article just discovered. >> we are revealing the details of the fact that flynn was reported in a phone call with kis --it's u.s. code 798 which s governors signals and intelligence. this was communications intelligence, it wasn't nsa intercept of a phone call that targeted the russian ambassador

and then his name was unmasked and that information including the unmasked information and the signal of intelligence was leaked to "the new york times" on "the washington post." that was a federal crime punished by ten years in prison. we didn't know who leaked that, and we still don't know for sure but now we have a list of suspects. now we have the universe of people who knew that michael flynn was the person in that phone call. we now have our list of suspects to investigate for a very, very serious federal crime. >> bill: okay. go ahead on that. >> look, i've never been one to disagree, this problem is criminal. what i don't want to lose sight here of is that the people who are on that list are following

rules and regulations and getting information based on how they are supposed to. that's part one. part two is that michael flynn admitted to a crime. there's nothing that we have seen since that says he was not guilty of that crime. the most we've gotten is -- no there isn't. >> yeah, there is. >> the attorney general who has gone against the doj and gone against his own prosecutor and the judges now holding this up, because of the fact that at no point does it say that he was not guilty of this crime. >> bill: gentlemen, i apologize and i have to interrupt you both again. there's more news breaking and i'm hearing from a source in washington, d.c., although rand paul was calling on ric grenell to testify, he will

not testify next week. we will have more on that when we return. newday's va streamline refi lets you refinance without having to verify your income, without getting your home appraised and without spending one dollar out of pocket to get it done. it is the quickest and easiest refi they've ever offered. one call can save you $2000 a year, every year. there is one thing we can all do together: complete the 2020 census. your responses are critical to plan for the next 10 years of health care, education, and more. go online to 2020census.gov and help shape america's future.

this...whole world ...of people. go online to 2020census.gov ...adventurous people... and survivors. it was interesting to think about their lives... their successes... and...their hardships. i think that's part of what i want my kids to know. they come from people who... were brave. and took risks. big risks. no pressure. [short laugh] bring your family history to life, like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com happy birthday! so, it goes... ♪ hold up your answers. how is mickey doing today? ♪ you're just a really hard worker. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ many of life's moments in thare being put on hold. are staying at home, ♪ at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so, if you need to keep moving, we're here for you. at carvana-- the safer way to buy a car.

♪[ siren ] & doug give me your hand! i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual! we customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

>> bill: so it has been some kind of hour, we will bring in trey gowdy, south carolina republican congressman. can you hear me there in south carolina? >> yes, sir. i don't know how much you've been able to watch in the past hour but there has been a lot of instant analysis. so do the documents tell us or not tell us? >> the first call i made it was to devin nunes. it validates what he said and it did 2017. and the assimilation of these names were actually a felony. and we have some of the numbers.

my question for the fbi is how is your leak investigation. how is your leak investigation going? >> how would you determine who leaked it? >> the suspect is way too big because too many people have the power to unmasked but we are guaranteed to get that if you don't ask. so have you interviewed -- you stop and think of all of the trump folks, all of the campaign folks, you will never get a full statement. so how many folks have you put under oath? my guess is not many. >> bill: wheat they care a

whole lot more about false statements to their agents and that is a shame. >> how deep does not run? >> you know, the president picked chris wray so the stuff happened under comey. >> bill: will let me turn your statements around to you then and you tell me what you think christopher wray has been doing so far? >> what i don't know. i will tell you that ric grenell and cash patella deserve a lot of credit. this information has existed, it didn't just come into existence, it has existed since its development. now the rest of us coming out, they trumped up this ethics charge on devin nunes and, it was directly related to this fact pattern.

they trumped up the ethics charge. >> thanks for jumping on the phone. it has been an interesting hour and we will see where it goes next. see you tomorrow at 3:00 and here is neil, for the rest of the story now. >> thank you very much bill hemmer. we will momentarily be talking to senator rand paul about unmasking the mascaras and, it's a pretty heady list, joe biden, and it includes the acting director of national intelligence of the time and the former fbi director, a host of national security figures and all of them had amazing curiosity about general flynn, what he knew and when he knew it. and trying to get his identity sooner rather than later. again, ric grenell, the guy who has been running our national intelligence got those names