roburt robert: president trump's former national security advise ore pleads guilty to lying to the f.b.i. and the republicans move closer to overhaul the tax code. i'm robert costa. a legal storm and the politics of taxing, tonight on "washington week." michael flinl becomes the first trump administration official to plead guilty to lying to the fick. the retired army general, who also worked on the trump campaign -- >> the next president of the united states -- robert: has promptsed his full cooperation with the fuller investigation. plus -- >> what's in it is tax relief. robert: senate republicans hoping far legislative win fall

in line and get close to passing a long-promised tax overhaul but who would benefit and who would pay more? >> there is going to cost me a fortune this thing. believe me. this is nod -- not good for me. robert: democrats disagree. they say corporations win and the middle class loses. >> our economy is already stacked against working men and women. robert: plus, as the clock ticks down to a government shutdown, can crisis be averted? we discuss it all with michael crowder of politico, shawna thomas of vice news. alexis simendinger of the hill >> and john -- jonathan swan of axios.

>> this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- their leadership is instincti. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. he call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by -- newman's own foundation. donating all profits to charity and nourishing the common cood -- good. the excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia you you owen. the ewen foundations. the corporation of public broadcasting and from viewers

like you, thank you. jers robert: good evening. the meddling by the russians into the trump election has dominated donald trump's presidency and today michael fliven became the first official to be charged. flynn pled guilty to lying to the fick about his dealings with the russians last december. flynn was forced to resign last february after he mess lid -- misled vice president pevens about a meeting he had with a russian official and today he released a statements after his court hearing that reeled in part, my guilty plea in agreement to courtroom rat with the autopsy reflects the decision i made in the best interests of our country. i accept full responsibility for my actions. the charge brings the criminal case into the trump white house and certainly raises questions about who else in this

administration is under scrutiny. joining me tonight from wa is politico's michael crowley, who has been covering today's breaking news. michael, so great to have you when us. you've been editing and writing all day. what does this reveal, this news about general flynn, this decision to cooperate? what does it reveal about how president trump could be affected, his own decisions and rhythms and conversations during the transition? michael: thanks, robert. it reseals that -- reveals that roberts mueller is getting deeper and deeper into the trump white house. michael flynn, former national security advisor who himself held a more prominent position in the trump white house. but flynn is make reference to senior officials around him who participated in conversations he had about which he later lied to the f.b.i. so you have the inherent drama of a president's national

security advisor pleading guilty to the crime of lying to the f.b.i., describing activities which are, at minimum, highly controversial and some say potentially illegal in terms of his activities, particularly in tacking -- talking to the russians but then tough question of who are the bigger fishing here that mueller might be preparing to fry with flynn's cooperation. robert: with regard to those bigger fish, this was a signal, programs, to future witnesses to not lie. that this special counsel takes that seriously and if you lie you're in trouble. michael: absolutely. this is the second time we've -- weaver seen court documents that are part of the mueller investigation which show that someone has pleaded to lying and is now cooperating with the investigation and a lot of legal analysts think that part of

mueller's strategy here is to demonstrate number one, if you lie to me, i'm going to nail you for it and number two, i have people cooperating who know a lot of things. they may know what you hypothetical witness or trump associate did and now is the time to come garpped and come clean. do it now before your situation gets worse. robert: at the heart of what we saw today in these documents. we don't talk a lot about it, a law called the logan act. it prohibits private citizes from meddling in foreign policy so what did these documents reveal about that? was the law potentially brother-in-law with regard to the logan act? was there collusion between russia and the trump campaign? michael: so i think that there is a clear case to be made here that this is a potential violation of the logan act, a law that prevents improvements citizens from cooperating with a foreign government to interfere

in american foreign boyles olympics. but the logan act is a 1799 law that is almost never invoked and has never successfully been used to prosecute anyone. i don't see anyone going to jail over a logan act violation and i certainly don't see donald trump being impeached over the possibility that he was aware of or directed activity by michael fliven that might be considered a violation of the logan act. what we have here is much more about concealment, about flynn's lies to the f.b.i. and possibly now lies or inaccurate statements by other trump officials regarding nose activities. regarding in particular his conversations with the russians. on the question of collusion, i think that you could say in a narrow since, there was collusion here when michael flynn communicated with the russian ambassador in late december at a time when the obama administration was

imposing new sanctioning -- sanctions on russia to punish the kremlin for its clear interference in the 2016 election and fin there was signaling to the -- flynn was signaling to the russians, please don't retaliate because we're not going to follow through on that same path. that you could say is a form of policy collusion. maybe a violation of the logan act. what i don't see is anything like the kind of collusion we've been talking about generally the last year or so. the idea that there was a acquitted pro kuo what the russians assisted trump in return for some kind of policy favor. it's possible but the papers do not back that narrative. robert: thank you. back here at the table. it's fascinating to think about how the white house was reacting to this today.

a major moment in the presidency to have someone from inside the administration now cooperating with the special counsel. jonathan, you were on the white house grounds today. what was the scene like, what is ty cobb, the president's attorney, telling the president's advisors and the president himself? jonathan: ty cok has had this policy of everything is going to be fine. and his strategy has been reveal everything, we have nothing to hide and there will be a swift conclusion. i would say that in the last couple of weeks there has been growing skepticism internally that this is actually the case, that this is going to be wrapped up by the end of the year. publicly they're all projecting everything is fine, we're working away but i've heard privately, personally from several courses -- sources in there, general concern about this on a number of groufpbleds. one being that flynn knows a lot. he was around a lot.

robert: a total confidant of the president. jonathan: people don't understand. he was by his side the whole time. he saw everything. he's in a desperate situation. he lied to the f.b.i. mueller has a ton of leverage over him and it's clear that moore thinks he has something to offer. what is that thing of value? robert: jarrod curb, the president's son-in-law reefpble spoke with the special counsel team and he recently spoke with general flynn and had conversations with foreign officials. >> and he was in mirror lago when he made one of the calls to former russian ambassador sergey kislyak. it's obvious there is something wrapped up in that when it comes to jarrod curbler -- kushner.

the other thing michael crowley said, we still don't know if there was a follow collusion with the russians, with vladimir putin but was there obstruction of justice somewhere within the white house? because of how all this played out with michael flynn. because of the president going to comey after flynn was fired. all of that stuff, what does that mean? and did more people lie about things related to that? mueller can take this wherever he wants to. robert: a new phase for robert mueller? >> it's a real shot across the bow. in this case, what's interesting about michael flynn is the documents indicate there were two tracks the special counsel was going on. one had to do with lying to the f.b.i. and the other with his business dealings. the documents suggest why michael flynn and his attorneys felt they were under such pressure.

because the special counsel was suggesting this is the lightest deal you can get. the best deal on a lying to the f.b.i. and michael fliven suggested that for the good of his family, he felt that that was the best way to go. he could have gone to prison potentially under the law for five years or more. in this case, if he cooperates, hicked do zero to six months so you could see if michael flynn, at the begin, why the white house is concerned now, knowing so much about the campaign, the president, the president's family, the relationships that they had in terms of talks about the campaign why they're so worried about it now. >> that point you made is so spot on. to me the most telling part of the statement for flynn was for the good of my family. this is a prosecution team, if you look at their history, what they did on the enron task force. they have a history of going after family members.

they apply extreme pressure in order to get people to flism. we don't have much visibilities into a what they're doing. but they're used to putting extreme pressure on people's family mention. there's been reporting that his son has been involved in these conversations and i think it was telling that he included that line in the statement. robert: shawna, the response from both parties today was taking him seriously. senator mark warner said he's going to move forward, try to bring kushner and others to testify. lindsay graham said mueller has a mandate. no one is above the law. and you don't see white house combating roberts mueller either. this is a legal team, a special counsel that has a lot of capital. >> it absolutely is and i think what sclill knows is there's no points in trying to get in front of this trying to push back on

this i believe the senator graham republicans, senator warners of the world want to -- to not get in mueller's way and want to get to the bottom of this. maybe this will get to the president, maybe this will be the smoking gun, we could be years away from that buffalo. i believe there is something about preserving america and democracy and this is somewhat a part of this for that them. robert: president trump said throughout the campaign he wanted to have a different kind of relationship with russia and a lot of republicans today are trying to shrug this off saying it's the president being the president. i think that's the gray area politically and legally. where did the president and his team perhaps go wrong? >> one of the things that's fascinated me about this is how much the legislative branch, obviously controlled by republicans has been willing to

step up and say we're a co-equal branch of government and we're worried about what's happening in the executive branch. maybe the president doesn't understand the rep decision -- retch cushions. we've seen where senators are openly talking about the president pressuring them in this, and this. we've seen them putting a nice fence around robert mueller and his team to make sure the president doesn't fire him. there is a concern on capitol hill and maybe a misunderstanding in the white house about the republican concern about russia. >> they're hawks when it comes to rush heir. >> that there's a mystery on capitol hill about why is the president so enamored with president put season >> remember, this is a congress that literally passed sanctions against russia that the president of the united states didn't want. now, the president of the united states and his people haven't implemented those sanctions yet

but they send a shot across the bow, prove to us that you're willing to sign this legislation and two, do something. they interfered with the united states. >> there's a constant dance going on in their hand. on one hand, they see things that deeply concern them every day almost from this president. on the other hand, they know what the polling tells them. the president is still very popular among republican voters. last time i looked it was about 73%. they know the base is with donald trump and if they touch -- turn against the presidents, they know the base will turn on them. congress has got approval ratings rivaling some epidemics. robert: we'll keep an eye on general flynn and everything that happens with the special counsel. other late-breaking news on friday night on capitol hill where estimate -- senate republicans are set to pass a

match tax package. nothing is certain until the final votes are in but it's been a messy process with many senate leaders negotiating details behind closed doors. two keys are deductions for student loans and medical care would be eliminated and the original health insurance mandate would be repealed. it would also slash the corporate rate, which the president, a would boost economic growth. democrats argue the plan helps the wealthy and races taxes on middle income exeams families. alexis, the bill seems to be moving on. alexis: lurching. robert: how did mitchell mcconnell and programs president trump get these department of sit hawks to come along? alexis: it's a little of what mitch mcconnell disparaged in

2010. trying to buy off votes in his own -- about specific concerns of specific provisions. for instance, if six different colleagues had concerns, he listened to those and adjusted the pass threws for senator johnson and in the end he managed to pull together the votes to bring it to the floor. one of the things that i think is interesting is that the republicans are rushing this through in such a way that the senators we know are still trying to read what's in it. even though this the t is hurdling now through to a final vote. robert: and there's a lot in it. it is a massive tax package but there's so much more in the legislation. >> so much more and really, the most version of the legislation dropped an hour or two before we were on this show. 500 pages. you mentioned one, health care. an individual mandate repeal,

which brings in the entire health care conversation and we've already had the c.b.o. basic live say that maybe around 13 million people over the course of 10 years will end up losing their health care because of taking away the individual man date. there are some people who say it's less. that's one thing. we have now drilling in the alaskan national wildlife preserve. it's parts of this bill. it will raise some money so i think that's why it's part of the bill but it's also something that a senator and actually her father have been fighting for forever. there is a provision that allows unborn children -- allows families to create, basically, college savings plans for their unborn children so they're trying to identify kids that are still in the womb as someone you can have a savings plan for, which is not something you could

do before. gets you into an entire debate about life and abortion this bill, other than touching all of our pocketbooks. robert: more deductions on the salt proifs side of the bill. piecing everything together. and participate of it is a political equation, jonathan. this is a huge moment for the president yet it comes the same day as the michael flynn plea agreement and has been the unifying thread with his party. >> imagine an alternative universe in which president trump's inner circle don't last the f.b.i. and this tax package gets to the points -- it's going to pass, by the way. they have the votes. this is a huge deal. as you said in your introduction this is a major conventional deal and it is almost a footnote in today's news. robert: does it hold them together as a party? >> it's the one thing that they all in their own messy way sort

of agree on. i actually think it's the only thing they now agree on in this party. there's basically nothing else. we'll probably get into very messy trailed conversations early next year and that ain't going to be clean at all. robert: you could spend a whole discussion on health care alone. what's the republican lost next year if they repeal the individual mandate? >> it's not just headache. when i interview republicans and many when -- when my colleagues do, we commented on this. no democrats voted for this in the senate. they understand that republicans are going to go out there alone and try and argue the fairness of every profession. if you're trying to say this is fair for lower income individuals whose insurance is going to be more or -- how is that fair? i think the data is 80% of families earning $50,000 to

$75,000 a year would get a relatively modest tax break of $850 if everything goes well. is that fair? so they'll have to defend it. robert: it is intriguing that democrats in states president trump one, they're not moving at all at all. we'll have to leave it there tonight. thanks, everyone, for joining us and stay tuned for a special edition of the "washington week" extra. coming up next on many pbs situations. we'll talk about the sexual harassment spotlight on chill plus the race in alabama and what it means for both parties. i'm robert costa. enjoy your weekend.

>> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the either i said and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia ewen committed

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steves: to mix in a little fun in the sun with our history, we're driving three hours south to the rugged southwestern tip of portugal, cape sagres. this was as close as you could get to the edge of our flat earth in the days before columbus. a lighthouse marks what was referred to even in ancient times as "the end of the world." today, salt-of-the-earth merchants sell seaworthy sweaters, fishermen cast their lines off the dizzying cliffs, and tourists go for that end-of-europe photo. five centuries ago, prince henry the navigator, determined to broaden europe's horizons and spread catholicism,

established his sailing school right here. this was henry's mission control, from where he sent sailors ever further into the unknown. and here he debriefed shipwrecked and frustrated explorers as they washed ashore. little remains of henry's original school beyond this evocative stone circle. nobody really knows its function. some say it was a tool for celestial navigation. others figure it was a wind compass, with a flag in the middle blowing in the direction of the wind. whatever the case, sailors came here to learn everything they needed to know for world exploration -- shipbuilding, map-making, navigation, even languages and salesmanship for mingling with natives in newly discovered lands.

♪ superstar tenor andrea bocelli travels to hollywood to perform some of the greatest melodies from the silver screen. ♪ moon river relive oscar-winning songs... ♪ wider than a mile movie musicals... ♪ maria classic themes... [ singing in italian ] and epic songs... [ singing in italian ] join us when the stars come out...