in this case, i think that vladimir putin knows that there is no threat he is going to hear from his old buddy rex giving him any heat this time. msnbc live is next. good morning, everyone. it's 7:00 in the east and 4:00 out west. now here is a look at what is happening. it is day 72 of the trump administration. 740 million new numbers attached to ivanka trump and her husband. the ethics questions being raised given their white house roles. immunity request, an attorney says ousted national security adviser michael flynn has a story to tell. what or who he may have to offer. plus -- >> this place is a swamp, not a hot tub. new pushback on capitol hill after president trump goes after the freedom caucus. coming up, how effective his

attack strategy might be. we begin with politics and a live picture of the white house where days ahead of a crucial vote, president trump is urging congress to on confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court. here is what he said in his weekly address this morning. >> in recent years, we've seen more .more judges make decisions not based on the constitution or the rule of law, but based on their preferences, their personal views or even their political opinions. judge gorsuch is going to serve our people by devoting himself to our beloved constitution. the senate saw this firsthand in hours of judge gorsuch's impressive testimony. interest but gorsuch's confirmation process is taking another hit with snooert claire mccaskell. senator joe manchon, one of two

moderate democrats supporting gorsuch is warning lawmakers like mccaskell. here is what he told his constituents yesterday. >> guess what? the democrats didn't win. so if you think you're going to hold out and they're not going to pull a new direction and do it anyway, then i think -- and we're concerned about keeping the vote of rule, we have the filibuster to use because maybe they'll give you us something totally outrageous the second or third time. >> meanwhile, defb nunes standing by his decision to share information w he learned regarding donald trump. >> he's just too close to give a fair investigation when that investigation might involve the white house. do you know those criticisms? >> yeah, i mean, i do. but it always goes back to then who else is going to do it? because there's only so many -- at the end of the day, someone

has to do it. i'm sure that all the republican necessary congress voted for president trump. all the democrats voted for hillary clinton. that's just how it is. but at the end of the day, we're accountable to our voters. and like i said, this whole issue that we brief the president on had nothing to do with russia. >> and former trump campaign adviser roger stone pushing back on claims he or anyone in the trump campaign had contacts with russia. here is what he said on realtime with bill mahr last night. >> trump was asked on february 16th, can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia? and he said no, nobody that i know of, nobody. so he doesn't know you? >> no, but -- >> he doesn't know his son-in-law? >> hold on, hold on. any inference that my communications with -- 2.0 constitutions collusion is

the -- >> collusion? contacts with russia. he said nobody that i know of. this is just a giant obvious lie. he knows you. he knows manafort. he knows his son-in-law. >> i've had no contacts with russians. >> joining me now is jonathan allen, columnist for role call and author of "shattered." good morning, john. >> good morning. >> we had disclosures overnight specifically for ivanka trump and her husband, jared kushner. ivanka has a substantial stake in her father's hotel in d.c., perhaps as much as $25 million. why does this matter? >> it matters because people staying at that hotel is a way to enrich ivanka trump and jared kushner who now have such great access to the president, not only personal access as

advisers, but both of them access to the white house. west wing offices. so basically, there's an opportunity for pretty rank corruption there. that does not mean that they are corrupt. it simply means that they've got a structure here where there's a way to -- you know with, for foreign entities, for businesses, basically anybody who wants to seek favor at the white house to make ivanka trump richer. and that is structurally problematic. >> and we're also joined now by kevin cerelli ofloomberg. kevin, by not taking a salary, which it really won't make much to her income at all, does that in any way get ivanka trump out of any rules and regulations that paid government employees are legally bound by? >> well, look, president trump supporters are going to say this is an example of the first family serving, but obviously president trump's critics are going to take issue with this just in terms that they're financial wrangles. the fact of the matter is, there

are several critics with, not only democrats, but also within the republican party who feel this administration as a whole has not been forthcoming with financial disclosures. and it starts at the top with president trump, obviously, not releasing his tax returns. >> there are other staffers to look at. net worth of steve banyan, $11 million. gary cohn, $611 million. the administration in total is valued at some $12 billion, the wealthiest in american history. how can these people relate to americans who haven't gotten a raise in three years or are wondering how they're going to pay for college? >> well, i would stay away from making a judgment that just because somebody is wealthy they're incapability of making good policy that suits the working class in the country and lower middle income. however, i would look at the policies that are coming from this white house right now and they do not suggest a particular interest in at least so far in

addressing the needs of lower and middle class americans and perhaps that wealth for some of them is a blinder. i mean, i think if you went back and looked at the people who came into the white house with president obama or even george w. bush or bill clinton, going back many generations, you would be hard pressed to find an administration that looked like this in terms of net worth. usually it's a bunch of late 20s and early 30 somethings taking those jobs. >> and, kevin, you heard roger stone earlier, regardless of whether there was conclusion with russia. damaging and hurtful to the president's agenda is that it just keeps coming up, especially by these people like michael flynn and roger stone who are no longer officially tied to the white house. >> well, the are allegations that, of course, the administration refutes with however, within a republican-controlled congress. they are still consistently coming up. obviously, top u.s. senate -- top intelligence community officials testifying before the house and the senate in recent

weeks. and the more that that continues, the harder it is for this administration to pass things like health care policy to unify the republican party on that policy issue. but then when you look at other issues ranging from comprehensive tax reform which this administration wants to see passed before the august recess, makes it more difficult to do that simply because the political capital that the president has to utilize in order to keep that party together when he's being faced with such tough questions on russia, it makes it more difficult for him to do that. again, the administration refutes that there is any wrong doing on that front. >> jonathan, i just want to have one last question here. how concerned should the trump white house be about what michael flynn might have to say? >> i think they should be very concerned. this story is terrible for the president, even if the investigations turn up no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians in terms of trying to interfere with the u.s. elections. michael flynn is a terrible stain so far on the trump presidency in terms of just the

judgment of picking somebody who he was going to have to boot from office. they say it's because flynn lied to the vice president about his contacts with the russian ambassador. however, there are a lot of reasons it looks like michael flynn would be under investigation. i would presume his innocence and give him the benefit of the doubt that he did not give hillary clinton while chanting lock her up at the republican convention last summer. but this is someone who obviously is a person of tremendous interest to the fbi and the congressional intelligence committees and how he became national security adviser, how he passed a vet is pretty incredible and it looks terrible for donald trump. >> interesting days ahead. jonathan, good luck with the book. great to have you. kevin, thanks for boeing here. >> thank you. donald trump's fight with the freedom caucus. how one of his tweets about members went over on capitol hill this week. >> most people don't take -- to being pullingly.

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of course, it depends on you, how hard you work. ♪ new financial disclosures from the trump administration have just been released and they is show just how wealthy ivanka trump and her husband, jared kushner are. let's two to kelly o'donnell at the white house. kelly, good morning to you. what do you make of the timing of these filings? >> well, this is a standard part of what a new white house has to do. that is to release very personal financial disclosures that are submitted by anyone working here. not just ivanka trump and her husband, jared kushner, although they are certainly very notable because they're also not taking a paycheck. but we're talking background more than a hundred members of the white house team.

some very wealthy, others with more modest financial backgrounds, but they're required to provide this. and outside groups, watching dog-type groups have long said when it comes to the trump team, it's important to look carefully at the business dealings that they have because it is unusual how many people from the business world have come to work here at the white house. and when you look at this big picture, it's one of the wealthiest teams to ever serve. >> this morning, a rare look inside trump family wealth. washington power couple and unpaid federal workers ivanka trump and husband jared kushner disclose their vast real estate and business investments as part of a sweeping white house documents release late friday. making public financial disclosures for many white house officials. despite taking themselves out of management roles of their businesses, the president a's daughter and son-in-law remain beneficiaries of holdings that

could be worth more than $731 million. ivanka trump has a piece of the family's washington, d.c. hotel. >> one, two, three.. >> her share, valued between $5 and $25 million. to assets of a different kind, secret intelligence. spotted on white house grounds friday, the top democrat of the intelligence committee, adam schiff. sources tell nbc news he had a rieft, ten-minute visit with president trump. after schiff viewed the same secret surveillance information first shown only to republican chairman devin nunes, who according to reports was tipped off by white house officials. >> there are people that probably knew about this, knew about me being there, but the fact of the matter is, that doesn't make them the source of my information. >> president trump injected himself into the fray by tweeting about his ousted national security adviser. michael flynn should ask for immunity, calling the

investigation of flynn's ties to russia a witch-hunt. but the president had a very different view last fall. >> and if you're not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for? back then, flynn agreed. >> when you are given immunity, that means that you probably committed a crime. >> but now flynn's lawyer says he has a story to tell and is interested in pursuing an immunity deal. >> the times have certainly changed since the campaign season when both the president and a candidate and flynn were talking about clinton aides involved in the e-mail investigation. now it is a lawyer for michael flynn who is saying that he would be interested in pursuing this immunity deal. although sources at the committees on capitol hill response for this investigation say they have not gotten into a formal request with those committees. they also say it's too early. their work is just getting started and they're not sure they would ever reach a point where they would feel it's appropriate to give this kind of an immunity to flynn. in part, they also have to be

aware of a separate investigation happening by the fbi. and sometimes immunity deals can influence prosecution outside of congress and so it gets complicated. but so far, immunity is being floated, but it's far from tshg far from happening. dara. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, great to have you this morning, kelly. >> thank you. and for more now on michael flynn's immunity request, joining me is paul butler, law professor at georgetown university and a former federal prosecutor. good morning to you, paul. >> hey, dara. >> general therein's lawyer was told the immunity request was wildly preliminary. why would that be? >> because this is ultimately an investigation about how russia attacked the u.s. elections and what the trump campaign knew about it. so the investigators have to keep their eye on that ball. you know, often in washington the story is the cover up. i think a lot of the concerns

about mr. flynn are about with what he knew and why he didn't disclose it. so if there's a time for criminal prosecution, that time will come. there's no need to rush that. the concern about immunity now by one of these congressional committees that's investigating this matter is that they give flynn immunity that would bar any kind of criminal prosecution. >> let's talk about the timing. at what point would immunity be granted? >> now let's remember the facts here. so mr. flynn lied to the vice president of the united states. if he told the same lie to the fbi, then that's a federal crime. so he's got exposure. incredibly, for two weeks, the trump administration knows about this. they don't do anything until finally they very reluctantly fire him. so the impression is that they're trying to protect him. and the question is what are they trying to protect him from? so today when we now know his lawyer says he has a story to te, between, the trump adminiratorsave to be very

concerned about what that sto is. the story is only valuable if he can offer up a bigger tissue. he was the national security adviser, so the bigger fish would be someone higher up in the administration, not a whole lot of people in that category. the vice president and the president. >> president trump tweeted yesterday that flynn should be granted immunity, but then would not answer a question on the matter. take a listen. >> mr. president, today with your tweet, were you trying to tell the justice the department to grant immunity to michael flynn? were you trying to do that, mr. president? was ta your intention, sir? >> how important is it for the president to weigh in publicly on this and what affect would this have on the actual request.? >> it is so inappropriate. first of all, the president control -- not controls, but the attorney general works at the pleasure of the president. the attorney general is the person or the deputy attorney general in this question is the person who would make the decision about whether to offer

immunity. so for the president to signal about how that should go, again, that's just unpresidential, let's say. the other concern is that the president himself says that these investigations are a witch-hunt, including the investigation that his own justice department is doing. now, that's strange in part because he's suggeing that the fbi is part of this democratic conspiracy. i don't think that hillary clinton would have that same view of fbi director james comey. >> paul butler, great to have you weighing in on this. thanks for being here this morning. >> great to be here, dara. neil gorsuch's battle in the supreme court, what's facing next week. come on dad!

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house this saturday morning. >> they're friends of mine. >> president trump now casting blaming, intensifying his attacks in a new tweet this morning, suggesting he might even back primary challenges. the freedom caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they don't get on the team and fast. we must fight them .dems in 2018. but that strategy is not getting conservatives on board. >> most people don't take well to being bullied. it may allow a child to get his way, but that's not how our government works. >> many republicans blame the conservative group for blocking the health care bill even after the president made major concessions, a frequent foe of the freedom caucus, house speaker paul ryan is not taking sides publicly, but unleashing his own warning to them. >> this republican congress allows to be the enemy of the

good, i worry we'll push the president into working with democrats. >> joining me now, joe watkins, republican strategist and white house aid to president george h.w. bush, rick tyler, a msnbc political analyst and zolina max well. she is now the director of progressive programming for sirius/xm. thank you all for being here this morning. >> good morning. >> flawed to be here. >> i want to show you a tweet that plays off the senator paul rieb bite. saying we have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president not to work with the other party to solve a problem. what is the house speaker's issues with bipartisan outreach here? >> well, i think that his issue is that democrats and republicans justo not have any arting point for negotiationing on the issue of alth care specifically. i think there are other issues that republicans and democrats perhaps can work on. but the speaker has a really

tough job in that he can't even get his own caucus together to vote to repeal a law that previously was voted on 60 times to repeal. so we're in a very unique moment in which the party in power can't get their act together. and i think that speaker ryan is going to have a challenge because the freedom caucus clearly is not going to respond to threats and primary threats from the president. they do not care about what the president is tweeting. i think that they're going to show and demonstrate that they actually have real influence within the republican caucus. and john boehner had a lot of headaches and i think paul ryan is just going to have those same headaches. >> joe, i want to ask you about the president's freedom caucus tweet. here is what congressman massey said after he saw it. >> look, this place is a swamp, not a hot tub. just because it's hot doesn't mean it's a hot tub. so remember why we all came here. we came here to drain the swamp. the people sent us here,

conservatives, republicans that believe in what they campaigned on and donald trump. they sent us here to drain the swamp. >> hot tub or not, joe, if this is an actual negotiating tactic by the president, do you think that this is constructive? >> well, i don't know that he's doing it the way that others might do it. it's tough when you go after a wing of your own party and sing a wing that has as much influence pass freedom caucus has. but i think he sees himself with no other alternative but to try to twist arms to get what he needs. it was the embarrassment of the health care defeat was hard for him, i think. and so i think he sees no other way than to attack the freedom caucus. but they don't take easy toe bullying. now, i've said this, also, dara. i've said there's nothing wrong working with democrats. you should work with democrats to get things done for the american people. at the end of the take, we're all americans and nobody ought to be left out. certainly not the poost

americans. working with democrats i think is a good thing going forward for e present, but it doesn't have to be at the -- you know, with that kind of a barb to the freedom caucus. >> and, rick, i want to turn to you. is there a way moderate and conservative republicans can unify to come up with a bill that can pass the senate? do you think it can still happen? >> on health care? >> on health care, yes. >> i think it's going to be really difficult. i mean, the senate may be able to bring together consensus. the question is whether the house is going to go along with it. remember, what the president tried to pass and paul ryan tried to pass was not a repeal. it had about 17% approval rate. so if you look at the polling and there was polling done by wpa intelligence that showed that the freedom caucus was representing their district. so the idea that donald trump, who is exhausted his political capital because his poll ratings now are so low is going to somehow threaten or primary freedom caucus members is

stupid. >> it will be interesting if he can unify the party. joe, the president's comments prompting this national review editorialal that says in this latest episode, the freedom caucus was mostly in the right and it wasn't just them. members from all corners of the house gop found it impossible to back the bill. the american health care act was a kludge of a health care policy. and it goes on to say if trump wants to win over the freedom caucus and all the other members who oppose the legislation, the first step should be obvious, if more difficult and less pasting than popping off on twitter, get them a better bill. what do you think, can they get a better bill? >> it would be great if they could get a better bill, but a better bill is probably something that does something about medicaid expansion and without leaving out poor people, that is working class poor people and drug addicted people and others is probably going to be a pretty hard for the freedom caucus to buy. so, you know, this is why i'm saying he has to work with democrats to get this done. you can't have a bill that is satisfying because it satisfies

your budget needs. but at the same time, leaves out millions of americans, leaves millions of americans with the prospect of losing their health care coverage and the poorest americans at that. so you've got to consider as the president of the united states how you take care of everybody, how you fit the bill for all americans. .that's going to be a very, very hard them for them to do, especially with the freedom caucus. >> rick, if he can't get his own party together with the gop, how is he supposed to work across the line with the democrats? >> the only way he's going to work with the democrats is to keep obamacare intact and go for the fixes that democrats want. i disagree with joe action bit here in that medicaid expansion, yes, medicaid is for the poor, it is welfare, but a lot of trump supporters don't want welfare. what they want are good jobs and that way they can have enough money and to drive down costs of their premiums so they can afford their own insurance. so that's sort of the debate that's actually not happening. the republicans have done a poor

job of explaining free market economics and health care. now, people can decide that that doesn't work. that's a rational decision. but in the end, it has to be one way or the other. it has to be an all-government system or allow the free market to work. we can't be in between anytime, otherwise we are going to have this system where some benefit and some don't. >> let's talk about the gorsuch nomination vote. what's your predict? will the gop go nuclear? >> they might try, but i think this is a really tough position for them to be in because they're trying to make the argument the democrats should do the responsible thing and either vote for their nominee or at least allow the vote to go forward. but we're all forgetting that merit fwarland, a moderate choice by the former president is at home right now and back at his olds job because republicans refused to even have a hearing. and so at this stage, i think republicans have a very weak position to argue from, given their behavior with merritt

garland's nomination. for ten months, the sitting president wasn't allowed a hearing on his very moderate and reasonable nominee. now, gorsuch is not moderate and he is not a reasonable nominee if you're coming from the position of the progressive left. he has anti-worker decisions in his past, anti-women decisions in his past, and hurts people with disabilities. and so i think that he's an extreme nominee that's really being forced down the throats of democrats, even on the heels of the fact that they did not hav a hearing for merrit garland and that is unforgiveable and i don't think that democrats should go along and participate in this. >> interesting times ahead. joe, everyone, hang on. in a few minutes, we'll talk about how republican voters care about the probe into russia and its ties to the trump campaign. per roll

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welcome back. at 35 past the hour, a look at today's top stories. a confirmed citing of a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from tennessee more than two weeks ago with her 50-year-old teacher. this is surveillance video from a oklahoma city walmart where authorities say tad cummins and elizabeth thomas issued cash. police have issued an amber alert and charged cummins with sexual contact with a minor and aggravated kidnapping. a cruel april fools' joke from mother nature. a snowstorm blasted the northeast overnight and is expected to continue throughout the day. boston is under a winter storm warning. some places are seeing 6 inches and some could see a foot of snow. the spring storm is expected to move out later tonight. and uconn's record 111 game winning streak has come to an end. a 15 footer at the buzzer allowed mississippi state to overtake the huskies, 66-64 in overtime handing them their first defeat since november 2014.

now back to politics and new questions rounding an nbc report revealing steps the obama administration took to make sure key documents regarding the russian probe took to stay safe. obama administration officials were so concerned about what would happen to key classified document that they created a list of document serial number toes give to senior members of the senate intelligence committee. that's according to a former obama administration official. joining me now, nbc's intelligence and national security reporter ken delanian. great you have to here. what else can you tell us about this? >> good morning, dara. this really speaks to the concern that obama administration officials had as they were about to leave office about all this intelligence that had been gathered about the russian campaign to interfere in the election. some of it, including information about contacts with trump associates. and they wanted to spread that intelligence around the government as much as possible to make sure that it couldn't be buried by the trump

administration. and as part of that and one official that we know of brought a log of secret documents, classified document over to the key members of the senate intelligence committee. this wasn't a the documents itself, this was a serial index of documents. so they could find these documents, dara. >> this report says the list was delivered to senior members of the senate intel committee and doesn't mention the house intel committee. why do you think that could be? and does it mean the senate intel committee may have access that the house intel committee never even received? >> not necessarily. this is just one element of what has been reported to be a much larger effort. the "new york times" had a story a month ago about this larger effort to spread information around the government. there aren't certainly were other transmissions to congress and to other agencies. and the whole idea, again, was to preserve this intelligence.

does that assume bad faith on the part of the trump administration? absolutely it does which is why the trump administration has not reacted well to these reports and has accused the administration of doing something improper with this spreading of intelligence. >> and the white hse is raci raising concerns about this report. evelyn farkas. take a look. >> i think that the revelations of evelyn far can kas, who played a senior role in the obama administration to talk about how they politically used classified information is troubling. >> can you break this down for us, ken? what is sean spicer referring to here? >> well, he's referring to an interview that evelyn farkas did on ""morning joe."" and with due respect to mr. spicer, he's distorting what she said. she was talking about urging her former colleagues to do what she was talking about. she was concerned about this

russian effort and any potential collusion by the trump administration. she has said she was not trafficking in classified information. she was not leaking. there was nothing inappropriate about anything that she did. but you're right, the republicans are really pointing the finger at her and as are some right wing websites and suggesting that she was part of an improper campaign to leak and to smear the trump administration. let's talk big the picture here. does any of this resolve president trump's claims of wiretapping and surveillance by the obama administration? >> no. but what it does is show where the trump administration is going with that plane. spicer revived that claim in his briefing on friday. what he's saying is essentially it's come down to this. were there names of trump officials appearing in intelligence reports of surveillance of foreigners? were those names somehow spread around the government in a way that was inappropriate? so it has nothing to do with a wiretap, nothing to do with any direct surveillance of trump or

his aides. that's what it's coming down to, dara. >> ken, great you have to here this morning. thanks for being here. >> good to be here, thanks. now on capitol hill devin nunes is pushing back against new reports claim to go reveal his sources for information that started a political firestorm in his committee. the "new york times" identified two suspect as his sources and "the washington post" revealed a third. >> those reports are mostly wrong. >> mosy wrong? >> this is something i'v kno about for a very long time from people who were not affiliated atll with the white house or anybody there. there were people that probably knew about me in there, but the fact of the matter is, that doesn't make them is source of my information. >> let's bring in steve clemens, washington editor at large for the atlantic national journal and courts and he's an msnbc contributor. steve, always great to have you here. >> great to be with you. >> are we getting any closer to confirming who shared this

information and whether it was politically motivated? >> well, i mean, i think the "new york times" report takes this farther, but others have had trouble validating what they have done. but i think that now that the white house has shared the same document that werer shown to devin nunes with adam schiff, things are beginning to get a little more in alignment. devin nunes continues to be wounded by all of this. he continues to be someone who can't come forth with his own story or won't come forth with it and he looks compromised in this. and i think despite his agreement now with schiff that they're going to proceed, that they're going to call the witnesses they want to do in this committee and get the investigation about russian meddling in the u.s. election back on a track, right now, there's a lot of tension between these two and a lot of doubt in devin nunes's credible. >> is there any -- >> look, i don't want to characterize a hearing just

because of what devin nunes has done that it will now all be done. he's now in a deficit, not only with adam schiff and the democratic members of that committee, but with his own republican -- he basically shafted everybody on the committee in what he did. he disrespected all the members of that committee with whom he had no communication about what he was about to do. and as i've said before, what he did was really along the lines, you know, you may recall when bill clinton went on to attorney general loretta lirch's plane which in a way disqualified her from being able to comment on investigations with hillary clinton at that time. this is a thousand times worse than that. devin nunes has put himself in the position where he has been compromised, and yet he and speaker ryan, who is supporting him, don't see the similarity between these two things when the gop went crazy over the clintoloretta lync connection. they're not understanding that the white house using or duping or manipulating devin nunes is

not a disqualifying factor. and it absolutely is in the eyes of the world. >> steve, the senate intel committee turned down mike flynn's office to testify in exchange for immunity in that request, which was reported by nbc news and described by flynn's lawyer for request for assurances against unfair prosecution in what he called a witch-hunt environment. what is the sith significance of the decision to turn that down? >> i think it's an indication that senators burr and wearner who are earning a lot of respect in the sober and cautious way they're proceeding in this investigation, they don't want to get ahead of themselves and they're telling mike flynn's lawyer, we don't know what we want to ask yet and we certainly don't want to give weigh away points of leverage that they may have in their investigation. and if mike flynn is willing to tell a story now for immunity, then he certainly will be later. i assume they are guessing.

but what i think it says right now is that -- and i've talked to senator warner about this before, is that a lot of material has come their way. and there is no durth of that. so i think that right now they're going to be in a case with mike flynn that they'll get to him when they're ready to get to him and they're not ready yet. >> steve clemens, always great to have you weigh in on this. thank you so much. what the white house needs to hear to handle the russian controversy and some answers coming up. in the next hour, laptop bombs, u.s. intelligence finds a new terrorist threat that could get past airport security. yeah, so mom's got this cold.

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we're going to the point where we actually encouraged people to talk to the house and senate intelligence committee and appropriate investigators to continue to get to the bottom of this. that is opposite of what you normally think somebody was not trying to get to the bottom would do. >> white house press secretary sean spicer friday into the investigation of ties with the

trump campaign and russia officials. we are back with sezerlina maxwl and rick tyler. >> it is hard to unravel. the president has the ability or his department, justice department, which is the fbi is under. could grant general flynn immunity. general flynn offered immunity. on the other hand. it is documented that general flynn likely perjuriey himself when he said he did not discuss anything with sergei kislyak. he apparently did. what he wants to do is have immunity to spill the beans on that. if there is an fbi investigation, which there likely is which includes flynn, he would get immunity from perjury. >> joe, are republicans in washington, are they just looking the other way when it comes to the controversy?

we heard from president trump, but that is about it. >> they can't afford to. everybody is watching and everybody wants to know. as devin nunes found out, everybody is watching closely. you can't if you are a member of the house and senate or democrat or republican, you have to look at this with an impartial eye. the intelligence committee is doing a better job. republicans and democrats working together to get to the bottom of this. what is what americans want to see. how did it happen and unfold and can we get an unbiased representation. >> joe, you said impartial eyes. zerlina, why the resistance? >> i think it is a very good question. i think that democrats would want an independent 9/11 style commission. i think we need a special prosecutor that looks into this case because frankly the reality

is that we have an administration right now that is under investigation, including possible criminal charges, for ties to a hostile foreign government that interfered in our election. that is confirmed right now. that'she reality we're living with. so we cannot let partisan politics get in the way of getting to the bottom of this. if russia interfered in this election, what is to say they won't interfere in 2018 or 2020? we need to make sure this never happens again. that's why we need to take the partisanship out of it. it is not about relitigating the 2016 election. it is about preventing it from the next election. >> joe, how much do you think voters care about the russia controversy? >> i think republican voters care about it as well as democrats. they want to know how they were involved in the 2016 election. all americans deserve to know

what happened. i think republicans want to know as much as democrats. what happened and if something happened, what happens going forward? >> and zerlina, this story is dominating the news cycle. how does the white house make this go away? >> they can't make this go away unless they are going to send out a list of every meeting on any of the folks in the administration had with any operative from russia or the russia ambassador. the problem is they are behaving and quote john dean from the nixon white house, they are acting like they are covering something up. they are not forthright. they denied something or they denied meetings with the russian ambassador that are reported to be true and they finally admitted it. the problem is they haven't been honest from the beginning. it looks suspicious and when there is a lot of smoke, sometimes there is fire underneath. we will not get underneath all the smoke until we have a truly independent investigation that

really thoroughly looks into what happened. it is very important. i agree with joe. democrats and republicans both agree that we need to get to the bottom of this. quinnipiac put out a poll. 2/3 of americans think we need to get to the bottom of what happened with russirussia. this is an issue we will talk about. it goes to the core of our democracy. >> rick, quickly, if were you advising the white house, what would you say? >> transparency. she is right. they look like they are covering things up. to the point where they won't release the white house ls of who let nunes into the w house compound. who logged him in. if this was routine, that would be routine. we would know if there is nothing wrong. it is a drip, drip, drip of new things. russia will continue to interfere in our elections and others. we need to be aware of it and learn how to prevent it. >> rick tyler and joe watkins and zerlin maxwell.

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