claims is that with the bill does with pre-existing conditions, is that people will end up having more affordable health care coverage. that's a claim that hhs secretary tom price said on "meet the press" yesterday. and when you look inside the numbers and the flexibility that was given to the states, well, that could actually make coverage for people with pre-existing conditions have a more unaffordable and costlier care, potentially. >> mark murray, caitlin owens, thanks to both of you. thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live. i'm chris jansing in washington. more on the breaking news that president obama warned trump against hiring michael flynn, right now on andrea mitchell reports. >> and right now on andrea mitchell reports, red alert. breaking news. nbc news reporting that president obama warned president-elect trump about mike flynn's russian connections, and trump hired flynn as his top foreign policy adviser anymore. this as for the first time

today, we hear from former acting attorney general sally yates on her warning to the white house about flynn. why did they fire her and wait 17 days to fire him? >> she is very widely respected. and she apparently has some information as to who knew what when that she is willing to share. health care check-up. as republicans feel the pain back home, the house obamacare repeal is now up to the senate. we'll get a second opinion on the trump diagnosis. the president promised that he would take care of people with pre-existing conditions. critics say that this bill as passed by the house does not. >> now, i think it's absolutely true that the president is fulfilling his promise to the american people. that is make sure that every american has access to the kind of coverage they want for themselves and their family, not that the government forces them to buy. >> you're talking about access. access at what price?

>> we think it's going to be more affordable, as a matter of fact, andrea. >> with his legacy on the line, former president obama joins the debate. >> i hope they understand that courage means not simply doing what is politically expedient but doing what they believe deep in their hearts is right. plus, french twist. to europe's relief, france rejects the far right anti-immigrant populist movement, electing political newcomer emanuel macron, the youngest french leader since napoleon. [ speaking french ] >> and good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we're tracking two big stories involving former trump national security adviser michael flynn. first, the breaking nbc news exclusive. three former obama administration officials say president obama warned president-elect trump against

hiring flynn when they met at the white house two days after the election. >> my number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that insures our president-elect is successful. >> we discussed a lot of different situations. some wonderful and some difficulties. >> this afternoon, another major voice will be heard from. former acting attorney general sally yates will testify to the senate about her warnings to the white house about flynn's russia connections. today, president trump tweeted in defense of flynn, quote, general flynn was given the highest security clearance by the obama administration. but the fake news seldom likes talking about that. joining me now, nbc's kristen welker at the white house and two national security analysts, jeremy bash, the former chief of staff at the cia and pentagon to leon panetta, and ned price, a former cia analyst.

first to you, kristen. you and your team at the white house breaking the story today. what do we know about president obama's warning to president-elect trump? >> andrea, as you said, this occurred during that 90-minute meeting that they had here at the oval office the thursday after president trump was elected. and based on our conversations with three former obama officials, the president expressed concerns on two levels. one, about mike flynn's judgment as well as his temperament. and that former president -- well, president-elect trump, i should say, at the time, listened. he was also apparently warned about north korea. that's something that has been reported on more broadly. now, i asked the trump white house about this. i spoke to a number of officials here. they're downplaying this conversation, but they're not denying the fact that this conversation occurred. one official made the point that president-elect trump wasn't particularly surprised that

then-president obama was warning him about mike flynn given that flynn had been out on the campaign trail making the case against hillary clinton and frankly against the obama white house. another official made the case that the comments about mike flynn seemed to be light-hearted at the time. they didn't seem to, at least from the perspective of president-elect trump, to be based in substance. then yet another official made this point, andrea. if former president obama was so concerned about mike flynn, why didn't he revoke his security clearance? we know, of course, he was fired from the obama administration. so there were some concerns there. but this all creates the very heated backdrop against which sally yates is preparing to testify, to tell the senate committee what she knows and what she told the trump administration about mike flynn. and we believe that she is going to say that she tried to warn the white house about mike flynn as well. but look, this is a cloud that

the trump administration can't shake. this is yet another piece of the puzzle. and a former obama administration official making the point that it's rich that president trump is now trying to point the finger back at former president obama when it was obama who warned him in the first place. >> i wanted to ask jeremy bash about sally yates. the white house is trying to put out these allegations that she's political, that she was an obama appointee. let's talk about her background because from my experience, from my, she was appointed first as a prosecutor down in georgia in 1989 when president bush 41 was president. >> that's right. she was a career federal prosecut prosecutor, a nonpartisan law enforcement professional, who worked her way up in the ranks of the u.s. attorney's office down in georgia. she was then made united states attorney in the northern district of georgia and came to the justice department and oversaw the investigation of

russian meddling in the 2016 election from her position as deputy attorney general. she is not a political operative, as some people now claim. she did her job. and her job when she became the holdover acting attorney general was to tell the white house on january 26th at this investigation was a criminal investigation, it was a counterintelligence investigation. it reached the highest levels of the incoming administration, and there were deep concerns about the story that mike flynn was telling not just to the vice president but in fact to the fbi agents who had interviewed mike flynn on as it's been reported, february 24th. she did her job, and then four days later, she was fired. she was fired in part because she didn't want to enforce the travel ban the administration was putting in place, but it's noteworthy, she was let go, mike flynn was kept in his job for 17 days. >> and jeremy, stand by for a second. i want to bring in ned price who worked with the cia and was deployed at the detailed, as they say, at the national security council.

the pushback from the president and sean spicer and others in the white house has been that mike flynn was given a security clearance even after some of these allegations about his trip to russia by the obama administration. now, i just want to clear up what the facts of the matter are because i reported a couple weeks ago on nightly news as well as on msnbc that that security clearance is routinely upgraded or rather renewed, i should say, renewed in 2016 from the dia, the defense intelligence agency that he once led. that that is done on a fairly routine basis for senior former retired military officers. partly because dia wants to have him in the loop so that he doesn't have to go through a clearance if they want to ask him a question about a prior investigation. that said, he wasn't given his security clearance technically by the obama administration. it was a military process. and i have been told that he was vetted, maybe it wasn't a good

vet. in fact, it obviously wasn't, by both the trump transition and the trump white house to be national security adviser. simply put, what is the difference between the kind of vet you get to become a top level cabinet level national security official and what you get to get a renewal as a retired officer? >> simply put, the tweet we saw from president trump this morning, trying to pin the blame on the obama administration, represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the process of security clearance. this is not a process that is run by any administration, be it the obama administration or the trump administration. security clearance are adj adjudicated by career professionals in parts of the government like the office of management and budget or the department of defense or the intelligence community in concert with the fbi. it's certainly not the case that there's any sort of political role in the adjudication of a security clearance. and by the way, that is precisely why i think we have seen senior trump administration officials have great difficulty obtaining security clearances.

sebastian gorka, who still remains in the white house, is a deputy assistant to the president. it's reported he was not able to obtain a security clearance. there have been individuals on the trump national security council put there by general flynn who haveinse had to leave their jobs because they could not get a security clearance, and they could not get that security clearance, one can only presume, because it's an apolitical process that does not allow interference from politicians of any stripes. >> the other piece is the difference between a security clearance renewed in january through april of 2016 and then he was in the campaign and the like. and what he would have had to be subjected to to be cleared to be national security adviser, if they had been doing it properly. i know they did it, but my information was it was perfunctory, they were aware of his involvement with turkey, but they overlooked it, they didn't think it was substantively a problem. >> a vetting would need to occur of any senior official who would be appointed to a post,

certainly in the white house, but also all throughout the government. and i understand the case to be as well that mike flynn both had a security clearance and was vetted. the question then becomes, why did the trump administration overlook everything that they knew, whether it was his ties to turkey, his ties to russia, his ties personally to vladimir putin, his speech and engagement and perhaps even his payment from rt, the kremlin-backed broadcaster that has served as a weapon in moscow's arsenal in its effort to undermine our election. they presumably knew all of that. it's been reported they knew all of that, but they let it go through the vet regardless. the question is why. >> there's another tweet from the president today. kristen welker, ask sally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to white house counsel. kristen, what is the president suggesting there? >> well, we have long heard the

president make this accusation of classified information was being leaked at the highest levels. there is nothing to support that, and in fact, it has been disputed by intelligence officials. and i anticipate if sally yates does get that question today, she will likely knock it down. of course, what's going to be so extraordinary about this hearing is that this will be the first time we hear from sally yates. her own account of what happened. and the fact that she did warn this white house. the white house counsel's office, against mike flynn, effectively saying he's had conversations with the russian ambassador. now, the question that everyone wants answered, andrea, is just how loud was that alarm? sean spicer has tried to downplay it. but she's going to have the chance to actually answer that question and answer questions about possible leaks as well. >> senator dianne feinstein is the senior democrat on this subcommittee. overall judiciary committee, and of course, for six years led the

intelligence committee. i asked her about what she wants to hear yesterday on "meet the press." >> there are so many questions here as to who knew what when, what was done with this, why did russia, that always responds to sanctions, when president obama png'd 35 russian intelligence officers -- >> kicked them out of the country. >> kicked them out, that's right, immediately, there was no response from russia. and that in itself was a message, because russia always responds. this time, they didn't. what changed? >> so jeremy bash, what did change? what do we know? what do we suspect? >> it appears general flynn told the ambassador, don't worry about these sanctions imposed today. we have your back. we'll give you a pass for your meddling in the 2016 election. this is a really important point because it shows exactly the kind of leverage the russian

federation had over the incoming team or at least thought they had over the incoming team. and it goes to what leverage does the russian federation have over u.s. foreign policy decision making even today. i mean, if the national security adviser is telling the russians, don't worry. we got your back, and then he's covering his tracks by not even telling the vice president or the other people inside the white house about it, that is a huge problem. you would have thought that the white house would have said, oh, my goodness. this guy is free-lancing. let's get him out of here right away, but they didn't. but for the press reporting on february 13th, or just shortly thereabouts, the vice president himself may never have known that flynn had not been truthful about his contacts with the russians. so this is a very significant issue because as national security professionals, you always want to analyze what leverage does a foreign government have over us. it appears that they have had leverage over us, and they may

have such leverage even today. >> to say nothing of the fact he was working for turkey and didn't disclose that. they knew about it only because he had published on election day, he wrote a column in the hill newspaper advocating for the return to erdogan and turkey of the cleric in pennsylvania, and it was a strange column for him to write. that's when the trump transition, i'm told, began to look into, why was he writing this? so they were aware also of the payments from turkey before he was hired. >> andrea, can i add? there were four instances in when mike flynn didn't disclose anything important. on his security form, his on 277 form, on his clearance from the department of defense under the emoluments clause to get the payment from russia and ultimately from turkey, and of course, in just discloeing this matter to people in the white house. all of these situations, mike flynn appears not to have disclosed it, not to mention the fact he didn't register with the

justice department as an agent of a foreign power. >> and we don't know yet what discrepancies there may have been during his discussions with fbi. i wanted to play just a little bit of another issue, which is the unmasking issue, which was used by the white house and by the head of house intelligence, devon nun yes against susan rice. >> in order to understand the importance of the report, and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out or request the information as to who that u.s. official. the intelligence community made the determination as to whether or not the identity of that american individual could be provided to me. that is what i and secretary of state, secretary of defense, cia director, dni, would do when we receive that information. we only do it to protect the american people, to do our jobs. >> did you leak the name of mike flynn? >> i leaked nothing to nobody

and never had and never would. >> ned price, you worked for susan price, so just to put that out there, you worked for her in the national security council. but we understand that general clapper, who is also testifying today, is going to or prepared if he's asked to testify that he routinely did unmasking, checked on what the name is of someone who came up in one of these -- one of these references because that's his job. he needed to know what the context is and whether that is significant to protect national security. >> what the trump administration has in effect done, andrea, is demonize a routine tactic that policymakers and intelligence analysts use on a daily basis. it would be dare lect on the part of the director of national intelligence or a cia analyst or the national security adviser to get an urgent report that alleges some sort of connection, some sort of u.s. nexus, whether it's a terrorist attack or counterintelligence matser and for that individual not to request the name of a u.s.

person. but here's the other point. anyone with the correct access can make that request, but there are only a small cadre of people in places like the nsa, the fbi, and cia, who can approve that request. that request would only be approved if it's appropriate, if it's for a legitimate purpose. it's false that anyone, whether that person be in the white house or someone in the intelligence community can unmask for political purposes. it just can't happen. >> ned price, kristen welker, for all your reporting on the story, and of course, our colleague jeremy bash, thank you. coming up, jumping back into the health care debate. former president obama commended lawmakers who supported the affordable care act even though it cost them their jobs. one of them, tom pair yellow is now running for governor in the primary in virginia. he joins me next on andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. . he obviously doesn't know intel

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they did the hard thing. because that vote, 20 million people got hlth insurance who didn't have it before. and most of them -- [ applause ] and moe of them did lose their seats. it was a personal sacrifice. but i know because i have spoken to many of them, that they

thought and still think it was worth it. >> one of those congressman who supported obamacare and lost his seat as a result of it was former virginia congressman tom perriello. he's now running for governor in a democratic primary in virginia and released this ad moments after congress voted thursday, the house at least, voted to repeal the affordable care act. >> republican leaders are trying to do this to affordable health care. i'm tom perriello, and in congress, i voted for obamacare. because it was wrong that a million virginians weren't covered. while insurance companies held all the power. now i'm running for governor because it's wrong that most virginia incomes haven't gone up in 20 years. together, we can stop donald trump, raise wages, and build an economy that works for everyone. and we'll make sure this never happens in virginia. >> tom perriello joins me now. i'm impressed by the one take, congressman. you managed that very well. the crushing of the ambulance as

far as you're concerned, illustrates, of course, your take on the house bill. but the fact is that obamacare in virginia is in trouble. aetna pulling out of virginia. you have seen what happened in iowa and other states. how do you answer the complaint that obamacare is not providing the kind of coverage that people in at least a third of the congressional districts need? >> yeah, unfortunately, this has been the cost of republicans playing games with the affordable care act for six years. and the old days, we might have come together across partisan lines to try to figure out how to make it stronger, how to fix challenges in the bill. and instead, they have focused year in and year out on how to kill it, and that's really helped create the uncertainty in the market that's made fewer insurance companies come in. we haven't seen the medicaid expansion in virginia that not only would have helped 400,000 working poor families in virginia immediately get coverage, but it also would have lowered premiums for the middle

ass because the dead weight lost costs are passed on to middle class consumers. the republican approach has repeatedly increased premium costs here in virginia and elsewhere, where if we were looking to make it stronger, we have already bent the cost curve so they're paying about $3,500 less per year, which is real money for middle class families in virginia. >> have you talked at all to former president obama about this? >> we certainly talked about it a lot over the years. not in the last couple months, but i really appreciate how much he understands that some people took a tough vote with the affordable care act. but really, at the end of the day, you know, the messages we've gotten from families over the years are its own reward. the number of families who have kids who are alive today, who haven't gone bankrupt because of the reforms we put in place, and we know here in virginia that what we really need to focus on is how to make it even more affordable, not how to move us backwards ten years to where the insurance companies can deny

people care. >> what is your response to tom price, whom i interviewed yesterday and other republicans who say that actually the costs will come down. premiums will come down, and that this will be a better fix, a market based fix? >> well, if they were so convinced of that, i don't think they would have hurried to get this done without a single hearing. hearing from any of their own constituents. i really ask president trump to take a single meeting with a family that has been affected by the affordable care act and would be affected by this terrible move backwards. there's so many for whom the issue of the essential benefits package that covers pre and postnatal care, i would like him to have the courage to sit down with one of those families and talk to them here in virginia. >> and what is the outlook here? you have a primary, of course, june 13th. virginia now has a democratic governor, but you're in a swing state, in a swing district. so you have a lot of work to do

as a democrat. >> well, i tell you what. june 13th is really the first state-wide opportunity in the country to show that this new resistance wave can be turned into real political power at the polls. if we can see that all of those who have been out marching and making phone calls and just showing unbelievable energy in trying to protect our communities and our progressive values, if we see the kind of turnout on june 13th for this primary that's unusually high, it's not only going to be good news for us in this primary, but i think it's a signal that's going to be heard at the white house and in congress that this resistance energy is something that's going to translate into political power at the polls. we saw this eight years ago in virginia in reverse, where it was really the virginia election that began the wave, the rightward wave of the tea party through the 2010 election. we believe that wave starts this year in virginia on june 13th. >> tom perriello, we'll be tracking it. thank you for being with us today. >> thank you, andrea.

coming up, the center holds in france. french voters rejecting the far right. electing emanuel macron as their new president. richard engel joins us live from paris right here on andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. standby. hey katy, let me show you how behind schedule we are. yeah. are those the pyrotechnics that are gonna startle me from a distance? yep. and my impractical wardrobe changes, those all set? not even close. oh, this is probably going to shine in your eyes at the worst possible time. perfect. we're looking at a real train wreck here, am i right? wouldn't it be great if everyone said what they meant? the citi® double cash card does. it lets you earn double cash back with 1% when you buy, and 1% as you pay. the citi double cash card. double means double. p3 planters nuts, jerky and whaseeds.at? i like a variety in my protein. totally, that's why i have this

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french voters rejected the far right, electing 39-year-old political newcomer emanuel macron to be their president. he will be the youngest french leader since napoleon. [ speaking french ] >> donald trump tweeted his congratulations saying, i look very much forward to working with him. and russian president vladimir putin sent a message to macron saying, against this backdrop, overcoming mutual distrust, and joining efforts to insure international stability and security is especially important. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live in paris and has been covering the election. there are some reports coming from your sources that macron's advisers expected more than a tweet from america's oldest

ally. >> well, this is not just from sources. we were speaking with macron's advisers. and you could see that they were uncomfortable that all they got from president trump was a tweet. there was a sense that he could have put more effort into it. there were numerous phone calls made to congratulate him this morning from trudeau in canada, to theresa may in the uk, netanyahu in israel, abbas, the palestinian leader. many, many. angela merkel was the first one to call. there was a sense that from the united states oldest ally, more could have been done than just a tweet. but there is not a great sense of disappointment here. if anything, you played that little clip. that's something we have been hearing all day in paris. people feel that this is a new beginning for them. that they dodged a bullet. that le pen would have been a disaster for this country. that le pen wanted to take france out of the eu, wanted to

drop the euro. wanted to turn the country much more inward looking. and there was a sharp rejection of that message. and people here are feeling it. but yeah, i think they would have liked a little more, at least from the macron camp, than 140 characters. >> and of course, paris was the center of the macron strength. but when you look at it from another point of view, just to play devil's advocate, she got a third of the vote. and a lot of people stayed home. he, of course, not as well known. he's a newcomer. and has that banking background. so what about her prospects if he takes the hard -- makes the hard decisions he needs to make for the economy to live up to his promises? she could still be a force to contend with five years from now. >> she's hoping so. but the feeling here is that she was beaten in a resounding defeat. she's talking about rebranding the party, maybe even cancelling the party entirely in order to

create a new entity. there was a lot of baggage that marine le pen and her party carried with her. it was seen to be associated with this country's fascist past, with anti-semitism, with holocaust denial. so it wasn't just that she was a political outsider who was talking about immigration. she was a political insider with a long and very dark history that many in france were afraid of and came out to reject. so to the likelihood, according to her own advisers, is that she's going to have to try and rebrand her movement, make it look more of a patriotic front that doesn't have the associations that her and her family personally have in this country. >> the overriding message is viva lufrance. thank you very much. richard engel from paris. >> absolutely. >> coming up, photo op. look at the picture from the white house the other day. how the health and human services secretary tom price

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let's talk about women. when we looked at the rose garden and the celebration of this on thursday, they were all mostly all men and white men at that. there was no diversity there. women's health issues are

arguably going to be disproportionately effected. >> andrea, come on. look at that picture. congress woman diane black, the chair of the budget committee, i was standing next to her. seema verma, i was standing next to her. >> out of a group of dozens and dozens of people, you can cite two or three -- two or three women? >> these are prominent individuals who are leading, who are leading in this area of health care. >> health and human services secretary tom price defending that celebratory elto aup at the rose garden that highlighted the lack of diversity among house members who helped pass the bill. this on top of the fact mitch mcconnell appointed 13 men to rewrite the bill, including none of the women senators. joining me is anne gearan and ruth marcus, editor and columnist. route, first to you. diversity on issues such as

women's health is important because men would not be able to assess as well as women, arguably, the facts, the importance of some of these health issues. >> well, you know, i think that the importance of diversity is kind of acknowledged by secretary price's response to you. it's not that he's saying it doesn't matter, men can understand women's issues or be as attentive to women's issues as well as women, so don't worry your pretty little head about it. he's saying, there were some women there, if you squint closely. but let's be clear. this is not the first picture from inside this white house that has had a certain lack of diversity in it. >> and anne gearan, when we talk about this, also, there's the fact checking. basic fact checking. mark murray in first read on nbcnews.com did a really good job of looking at all of the sunday talk show people from the administration. they wanted to focus on health care, and here's a bit of what they were claiming.

>> your department's own studies have pre-existing conditions, are they going to be able to afford the price that is set? >> we think it's going to be more affordable, as a matter of fact. >> you don't think anyone is going to be hurt when you're taking $880 billion out of the system? >> no, no, i don't. i think the micromanage of medicaid by the federal government, the medicaid system isn't working. >> will everyone in the nation be covered as the president promised? >> everybody will have coverage that's better than they had under obamacare. >> i'm still trying to figure out how you take $880 billion out of medicaid, which is the number from the first bill, we don't know the second bill because they voted for it without the congressional budget office being able to weigh in, but we're talking about almost a trillion dollars out of medicaid. how is it better with that big a cut? >> and how is it going to cover more people? i mean, clearly, many moderate republicans, including some in the house and many in the senate, don't think the math adds up.

now we have moderates in the senate basically saying they're going to start over. going to start from scratch, and they're going to make their own version of this. which sets up a real problem for the white house. the white house couldn't have felt, you could see in the sunday shows, didn't feel they could go out and say any version of don't worry about it. it will get fixed in the senate, because they had just asked the house to go out on a limb. so i think you saw some awkward behavior. >> and speaking of awkward behavior, take a look at raul labrador's town hall on friday, and a woman asking him about the medicaid cuts. >> you are mandating people on medicaid accept dying. you are making a mockery -- >> that line is so indefensible. nobody dies because they don't have access to health care. >> he now has issued a response

to that. nobody has died because of the lack of health care, saying i was responding to a false notion that the republican health care plan will cause people to die in the streets, which i completely reject. in the five second clip that the media is focusing on, i was trying to explain that all hospitals are required by law to treat patients in need of emergency care regardless of their ability to pay and the republican plan does not change that. ruth, does that address the real issue here? >> well, it is true that there is a pre-existing law that requires hospital emergency rooms not to turn away people in emergency distress. and so there is some treatment, but it's absolutely clear from all of the literature, all of the scientific studies that people who do not have regular access to health care, regular health care coverage, and regular medical treatment, have worse health outcomes. and it' completely counrintuitiveo imagine anything else.

we all know if you have to worry about what's in your paycheck before you go to the doctor to get the lump checked in your breast or, you know, to figure out why you're short of breath when you're walking upstairs or anything else, you're apt to worsen your health, and that is just why we have been having this national and emotional discussion about health coverage. >> and the bottom line is that people with pre-existing conditions are more expensive to insure. so the obamacare plan charged more for healthier people, younger people, than people with pre-existing conditions to cover that. of course, younger people did not sign up. they took the fine instead. that was the essential problem that does need fixing. no question. but this plan would make it so much more expensive on older people. >> older, sicker people. >> older, sicker people, that those premiums would be out of sight for most people with pre-existing conditions. >> that's been, you know, the rap on now two versions of this

plan. and we have yet to see what the senate version of it will be. but that's been the bottom line rap from democrats and from many outside health care advocacy critics that the burden shifting here is going to exactly those people who can afford it least. >> final note here, ruth. >> even if you leave aside pre-existing conditions, no one disputes older people are charged more for premiums under this new plan. >> exactly. well, to be continued. this debate is only just getting started. thank you both so much. coming up, who knew what when? more on the breaking news this hour that nbc news has learned about the oval office meeting and then-president obama's warning to the new president about michael flynn. this less than two hours to go until former justice department official sally yates, the acting attorney general, speaks out for the first time.

former justice department spokesperson matt miller joins me next right here on "andrea mitchell reports." when a fire destroyedd with us the living room. we were able to replace everything in it. liberty did what? liberty mutual paid to replace all of our property that was damaged. and we didn't have to touch our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. well, there goes my boat. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance

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news that we've been reporting. nbc news learning that president obama warned president-elect trump against hiring michael flynn in november two days after the election. this as former acting attorney general sally yates prepares to speak out today for the first time about concerns she expressed to the new trump white house about flynn days before she was fired. joining me now is matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department. thank you, matt. thanks for being with us. >> of course. >> the big question now, is sally yates "political" as trump sources seem to be saying? >> not at all. she's a career prosecutor, she made her bones as a prosecutor by putting corrupt officials in both parties in jail. she put the democratic mayor of atlanta in jail and becameuite unpopular with democratic officials for doing so. she was one of 93 attorneys, one of the rock stars of the justice department when i served there. that's why she became deputy

attorney general. she's a fearless prosecutor, and i think people won't have to see her testify for long today to know that the trump's white house of her being a political actor couldn't be further from the truth. >> is there a lot she won't be able to say in open session? will she have to say, that's classified, i can't talk about what i may have told the general counsel in the white house, or can she say those things in open session? >> i think she'll talk about what she told don mcgann and the warnings she gave. but i think you're right, any questions about the underlying investigation. let's remember, this investigation into whether the trump campaign colluded with russian intelligence started in july of 2016 when she was the deputy attorney general. and was still actively under way when she was fired in late january. so there was a lot about that investigation. the fisa warrant into carter page and other steps of the investigation that she would have overseen. and committee members have lots

of questions, but she won't be able to talk about that today. >> shawn spicer was asked about her in february. here's part of what he had to say. >> what the attorney general didn't come in and -- the acting attorney general come in and say that there was an issue. she said we wanted to give you heads up that there may be information. she could not confirm there was an investigation. and so it would be unbelievably shortsighted and wrong to go in and dismiss someone immediately. >> what do you think is more likely or do you think she'll have some counterpoint to what sean spicer said? he was clearly minimizing what she told the white house, saying it wasn't even a warning. ises that's the biggest question about today's hearing. if she comes in and says she warned the white house, not just that there was information about mike flynn that they might need to know, but if she warns them that he was potentially compromised and subject to blackmail by russian

intelligence, and the white house did nothing about it, it raises great questions about their judgment and actions at the time and it raises questions about their credibility after he was fired, which they didn't do until "the washington post" reported that conversation. and we have to go back and remember, it wouldn't be the first time the white house wasn't truthful about mike flynn. when the conversation that he had with the russian ambassador was first reported, they said there was only one conversation that turned out to be several. when it was later reported that they discussed sanctions, they denied it because he denied it to them and the vice president. so we know they weren't truthful leading up to him being fired. what we'll find out today, if they were truthful or not after he was fired. what i suspect is they were not truthful and actively misleading the public about it. >> and my reporting is that on election day, when mike flynn published an article about turkey, a pro-erdogan article, there were questions raised in trump transition and questions were then addressed to flynn and

eventually to his attorney about the turkish piece of all this, and they hired him any way, but they did do a vet, they launched an investigation, as you would for anyone to be national security adviser. so what do you say to the white house again, the president today putting -- laying this off on the obama administration for reupping his security clearance back in april of 2016? >> well, first of all, that's exactly right. there was in april of 2016. what's notable is that is all of the public and private warning signs that the trump administration ignored. there was a turkish op-ed written for the turkish government. he didn't register as a foreign agent until this year. there was the r.t. speech, which when he was hired -- and there were private warnings by president obama to president trump. they ignored all of those warnings. and it raises questions

obviously about the president's judgment and how they vetted other people who are still in the white house today. >> matt miller, thanks so much. thanks for being with us. much more ahead, as we continue to follow the breaking news and sean spicer will be holding his press briefing minutes from now. stay with us. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. the microsoft cloud turns information into insight. lwho's the lucky lady? i'm going to the bank, to discuss a mortgage. ugh, see, you need a loan, you put on a suit, you go crawling to the bank. this is how i dress to get a mortgage. i just go to lendingtree. i calculate how much home i can afford.

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that does it for us on a busy day. remember, follow the show online, facebook, and twitter @

mitche mitchellreports. and tune in this afternoon as sally yates testifies at 2:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. katie is up next here only msnbc. >> good afternoon. i'm in for craig melvin. and nbc news exclusive, president obama warned then president-elect donald trump not to hire mike flynn. we expect shawn spice tore address that in his daily press briefing. and next hour, we'll hear from former acting attorney general sally yates who was fired by the trump administration. she's expected to testify on what she told the white house about michael flynn's discussions with the russian ambassador back in december. kristen welker is at the white house, mike is on capitol hill. and pete williams, our justice correspondent is in our washington newsroom. matt miller is