>> good afternoon to you. i'm richard lui in new york city and we'll start with a stunning admission from president donald trump in the russia investigation. did trump know that former national security adviser michael flynn lied to the fbi back in january? flynn pled guilty in a federal court on friday to one count of making false statements to the fbi. and then we get this this afternoon in a tweet from president trump saying, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. and the focus here -- the words -- the word "fbi" and flynn pled guilty and it is ashame because his actions during the transition were lawful and there was nothing to hide. he responded to questions about flynn. take a listen to this. >> are you concerned about what

michael flynn might tell the special counsel. >> no, i'm not. what has been shown is no collusion. no collusion. there has been absolutely -- there has been absolutely no collusion. so we're very happy. and frankly, last night was one of the big nights. we'll see what happens. >> but flynn's guilty plea and his promise to cooperate with the fbi investigation raised serious legal questions. joining us, jeff bennett and ken delanie nbc intelligence and we have paul butler former prosecutor and professor at georgetown school of law. and jeff, the white house has been working hard on the reflection of the tweet. and we'll put it up again because the president brings up the word" fbi." we had known he said before consistent with his statements before about his statement about general flynn lying to the vice president and that was the

reason. in terms of why he said they had to let him go. but there is more to this. jeff. >> that is right. and the question is, if president trump knew that mike flynn lied to the fbi when he fired him back in february, that opened up a whole host of obstruction of justice questions. now as you mentioned, we've been pouring through transcripts here at the white house, my colleagues and i have, looking through transcripts and the president's past tweets this appears to be new. the president based on our research that we've done here, this appears to be the first time that the president has pinned flynn's firing to his lies to the fbi. beyond that, we've also spoken with president trump's attorney, john doud who said that the president's tweet today was a paraphrase of a statement by tye cobb, another white house attorney. we put the question to him clearly, when did president trump know that michael flynn lied to the fbi. we'll still waiting for a clear

answer. >> ken, in addition to that, coming from the white house, and a report and we're having some sound issues. we know or we believe that today appears to be the first time that the president directly is pinning blame on those fbi lies as part of the reason for flynn's firing. underlining again what jeff is saying here, ken, what more do you know about this. >> this is incredible, richard. and it is drawing tweets from democrats and independent analysts who are saying this really opens up the president to an obstruction of justice charge. because here is why this is important. donald trump explicitly said at the time i fired michael flynn because he lied to the vice president. period. and we know the acting attorney general sally yates warned the white house counsel don mcgahn that he may be incriminated in a suit but she said she didn't tell how he did in the interview with the fbi. so a day after he fired mike flynn, donald trump pulled the fbi director james comey aside

into a private meeting in the oval office and asked him could he see his way to letting the flynn matter go. and comey testified later that he saw that as a directive, an order from the president to put the kabosh on this investigation essentially. of course he didn't agree to that and later fired. so that looks like a pattern to a lot of people of donald trump trying to essentially obstruct the investigation into mike flynn. if he knew that mike flynn was criminally culpable for lying to the fbi, richard. >> paul, as we look at the words, because words mattner th -- matter as jeff and ken are outlining. when you look at this potential use of -- the indications, the potential ramifications that come from seeing this word the fib included in this and what the president may or may not be in terms of what he is showing he knew and when. what does that mean. >> i think both obstruction and collusion. obstruction because february

13th the president fires michael flynn. february 14th he goes to then fib director james comey and said can you stop this investigation. so if he knew at that time that comey was investigating him and yet and still asked to be -- for the investigation to be stopped, that is obstruction. that is an in tent to impede an official investigation. collusion, again it would one thing if he said i thought flynn was innocent and that is why i wanted the investigation to be stopped and he said i knew that day he was guilty. and not just guilty of any old lie, but lying about the russians and their involvement in this election. so why in the world would president trump want to support someone who has lied to the russians, who is his national security adviser and makes it look like flynn had information that trump didn't want to get out. >> i would like to bring karen

desoto join the table. thank you. >> thank you. >> and as we look at what president trump said four hours ago, and you heard paul and his reflections and our white house unit has dug into it and i'll go back again and today is the first time that we're hearing from the president and again that he was fired because of according to the president and his tweet, because he lied to the fbi. >> right. so there is two schools of thought. you just heard one. the prosecution will argue you have the lie and he knew about it. the statute for obstruction of justice is very proud. if you endeavor to influence during a proceeding, that is enough to get you over the hump. that is the prosecution's argument. are they going to do it. the defense is going to argue, hey, him hoping that comey would drop the charges and saying, hey, i hope this doesn't go any further, is not enough to meet the element of specific intent. this is what the defense is going to argue. obviously there going to be a prosecution point. there is a defense point. and what is interesting is that

both of those counter points are split in the federal courts. whether or not you have to have the specific intent, the motive to corrupt or is it more broad. so even in the courts they have an issue with arguing obstruction of justice. this is a long road, prosecuting him and you'll have to go through a trial and there is a legal aspect, a public aspect and then the political aspect and sometimes they just kind of get gray. >> and a common sense as peck, because i think everyone would agree that president trump's lawyers did not authorize this tweet. this is a man who does not listen to his legal advisers, even when he's getting more and more exposure. so people will say, there is no way he will pardon anybody, flynn or sessions because that will be counter productive. well this is a man who does not always act in his own interest. >> and up to this point, he had been fairly good about staying in the lane when it came to the issue of russia up until this saturday. jeff is still at the white house. i believe and jeff there is also the issue of sally yate and don

mcgahn and the discussion that was -- that was had a by those two and you have more details on that for us, jeff. >> well, that is right. the issue -- the other issue is what took so long for the trump administration to let michael flynn go, since they had been told by president obama himself at one point, we understand, and then by sally yates that their understanding was michael flynn was compromised and could be plaque -- blackmailed and he served 18 days before being let go by the trump administration raising a number of questions about president trump's judgment and again why michael flynn stayed on the job so long before it became untenable after "the washington post" broke a story about him. >> and i want to play tape relevant to the question for the white house and this is n interview lester holt had with donald trump this past may and see what president said then. let's listen.

>> because my white house counsel don mcgahn came back to me and didn't sound like an emergency or didn't make it sound like he was -- and she actually didn't make it sound that way either, in the hearings the other day. like it had to be done immediately. this man has served for many years. he's a general. he's -- in my opinion a very good person. i believe that it would be very unfair to hear from somebody who we don't even know and immediately run out and fire a general. >> so the acting attorney gem at the time -- >> my white house counsel came to me, they had -- i believe two meetings. and we ultimately fired. but we fired for a different reason. >> you are talking about general flynn. >> general flynn, yes. >> because of lying to the vice president. >> yeah. but everything plays in. everything plays into it. but we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so.

>> okay. ken delanie, and again the vice president brought into that conversation. but the president saying now the fbi as well. we also have that which sally yates acting attorney general had said. she had told don mcgahn not consistent with the statement either. >> i think we need to spell out something important. what did michael flynn plead guilty to lying about. his contacts with the russian ambassador during the transition about key policy matters when he seemed to try to undermine the obama policy but it wasn't just michael flynn, he was coordinated with jared kushner, the senior transition official and key members of the trump team were aware of flynn's actions which apparently he lied to mike pence but and we don't know what trump was aware of.

and a story in the new york times suggest that there are e-mails that further cement this idea that key members of the trump team were aware of flynn's actions that he later lied about. >> thank you all. we'll have to leave it there. it is a busy 24 hours as you could tell for the trump white house and on the same day as michael flynn deal, republicans move a step closer on tax reform for the republicans. after a break, a closer look at the white house response to the latest very many -- developments. we'll have that.

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and welcome back. the last 24 hours for president trump can be summed up in two ways. here is how axios put it for us. it was his worst day and best night in office so far. on one side the president got another step closer to his first big legislative victory. the senate passing the sweeping tax plan in three decades. mostly along party lines. the loep republican voting no senator bob corker and now the plan heads to reconciliation with the house. mitch mcconnell is confident both sides will work things out in the end. >> there aren't massive differences. there are some differences. and i think we'll be able to get to an agreement before christmas. >> as for the president, michael flynn's guilty plea of lying to the fbi.

but it is the president's latest tweet some hours ago on firing flynn that is raising a slew of new questions. joining us to break it down. betsy woodruff from the daily basketball and eric seitz wald and alexi mccannon deputy news editor for axios. let's start with you here on this alex, this tweet, the language used by the president, he's saying again i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president. and the fbi. now again, our reporting shows it appears to be the first time that he's indicating that general flynn was fired because he lied to the fbi specifically. what -- what do you know and what do you think that tells us. >> richard, it is significant in that if trump did indeed know that flynn had lied to the fbi at that time, it opens up a whole new world of legal complications because this is before he talked to comby and asked him to -- to see if he could let flynn go and why was

he interested in flynn. he didn't say to let the entire russia investigation to go but flynn specifically and he said he fired flynn because he lied to the vice president. so it raises more questions than answers and on the best of days and worst of days, instead of talking about tax reform we're talking about russia and the twitter account distracting from the message he would like to be focusing on. >> betsy, one of the questions asked now is does this put the president in more legal jeopardy because of this very tweet. >> potentially. and one thing that we could say with a high degree of confidence, from reading this tweet, is that the president is not following his lawyer's advice if he is getting that advice at all. no attorney in his or her right mind would be comfortable with the president sending out a tweet like this. all it does is make life more tresful and more complicated for tye cobb and john dow, the two

treading water in the efforts to make the president's legal problems go away. the fact that the president is sending tweets like this and making entertainments like this means he probably is not taking their advice and that would indicate that he's probably potentially made other decisions that are just making his life more complicated. this is not a calm or happy day to be on the president's legal team. >> alexi, so let's just say that potentially this is the first time we're hearing the president say this. that the fbi was part of this discussion and why flynn was let go. but he did say to our own lester holt that -- again regarding flynn's firing and i'm quoting here. everything plays in. everything plays no it. and he's alluding to the decision to let flynn go. does that give him some space. is that the wiggle room that maybe he did mean the fbi there. >> right. so he's been pretty vague throughout time. and the one pattern of behavior we should point to is how he's so loyal to flynn through and

through. whether that is asking comey to let the investigation of flynn go, as we mentioned earlier, or telling people at a press conference that flynn is a very good man. he's been very loyal to him. which is curious now in retrospect saying he wasn't that way with paul manafort or papadapoulos or anyone else swept up. but by saying things like he lied to vice president pence and other things that we know, that gives him a little bit of wiggle room and i think it makes it harder for them to say -- for the white house to say he just went rogue and we deon't know where this tweet came from because he said things like that in the past as you mentioned. >> alex, let's move over to the tax plan because we're going to -- the reporting out of axios, that is your organization alexi. the issue here is what will make it through, through reconciliation and in the end when you look at the members and what they have had to sacrifice and change over the last 24 hours, where do we end up? >> right. well there is no motivation like

desperation and that is what got this tax bill over the line around 2:30 a.m. this morning. so there are some key differences between the house and senate bill that do need to be worked out. i think what is likely going to happen is the house is going to have to swallow something that is more in line with the senate bill. which will put a lot of those republicans from high tax blue states like new jersey and new york in a tough spot because there is a provision that will eliminate tax breaks for them. but they want to get this done. it is their top priority. and i think at this point they've shown they are willing to do just about anything to do it. they included last night some key giveaways to specific senates, an exception on cruise lines in alaska to get dan sullivan's vote. but they still have to sell it. this is unpopular. polls show it at about 25% to 30% approval rating and they have between now and the next election to try to convince the american people what they did is

right. >> we have to leave it there. thank you all three. >> sure thing. >> we're following major developments in the russia investigation. the president defending his position to fire michael flynn in a tweet about four hours ago but the very words chosen and the very words in that tweet that the president used that is raising questions about the potential obstruction of justice. more on that after this.

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welcome back. michael flynn's admission of guilt a game-changer as robert mueller is narrowing his target on the white house. trump tweeting out, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he's pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. now the former national security adviser now the most senior person in charged in the russia probe from the inner circle here along with three other former trump campaign officials. as mueller's team continues to work up the food chain. attorney general jeff sessions testified before the house intelligence committee this week. congressman mike quigley offering his theory behind sessions' i don't recall testimony. >> the attorney general is one of the most forgetful persons

who works out of washington, d.c. and in our nation's history or he's being less than candid with the american public. >> next up don jr. who has a date with the house intelligence committee happening on wednesday. joining us right now frank figlussy and kendall coffee, former federal prosecutor. kendall, let's start with this on the tweet that came out as we've been covering this hour here from president trump. now saying that one of the reasons as to why flynn was fired was because he lied to the fbi. by our understanding, by our scouring the white house unit looking very closely at the records an the archives, this is new. we have not heard it before. your reflection on what this means in terms of obstruction of justice an then second to this, that john doud the outside counsel for the president saying the tweet simply paraphrases what tye cobb said yesterday. >> it is astonnishing and ill

advised. another self-inflicted wound by the president himself. the explanation will be he was making a recommendation to james comey when he said cut this guy lose and it was like, well he suffered enough. he's been terminated in disgrace. and beyond what he said about flynn is what is flynn saying about trump. he got a mighty sweetheart deal from very tough minded federal prosecutors and i don't think that he got that kind of a deal -- plea deal so that he could tell everybody what a great guy president trump is. >> frank, your recollection on what we learned from the president today and the fbi, at least via what he is saying the president. >> after 25 years of being an fbi agent i could tell you, agent and prosecutors love it when potential targets of an investigation start talking publicly about the case. and this is very foolish of president trump because the day is coming soon when a prosecutor from mueller team and an fbi agent are going to sit across from the president and start

asking questions an rest assured one of the questions as of today's developments will be can you please explain what you meant when you said you knew that flynn was lying to the fbi. he's totally exposed himself and it must be driving his defense counsel crazy. >> and his defense counsel saying i told you. don't do this. saturday and sunday, doesn't matter what day of the week, kendall coffee, as we look at the investigations happening on the hill, this will now be part of what they will be considering. this is another piece of information. right? and as i was mentioning come wednesday don jr. will be there with the house intelligence committee. what are you watching in terms of the progress of those investigations and what the flynn flip -- from what we understand or some are surmising i should say -- means to those investigations. >> well i think just as was alluded to a moment ago, one of the big questions is will donald donald trump jr. and others speaking under oath run into

this the same thing that general flynn and papadapoulos did, which is false statement. because at the end of all of this, we still haven't seen clear evidence of a criminal conspiracy with respect to the management of trump campaign itself and the russian gofd. but what we're seeing is more and more evidence of false statement and obstruction and at some point, now that we've got flynn who told probably everything he knows to robert mueller's team, we may see an interview of the president sometime after the first of the year. and he's going to be asked so many questions, so many details. the other side will have so much information, is he going to be able to navigate that mine field without saying things they consider to be falsity. >> and we have some might call the second papadapoulos special. the deal. the very same deal that papadapoulos got and so did mike flynn in this case and the question you might remember that we are all discussing at that time, how long ago did that handshake happen with the

mueller team and in this case with flynn and how long potentially had mike flynn been gathering information because potentially that was his deal. >> i think that michael flynn has been talking about cooperation and cooperating longer than we think. this didn't happen overnight. and this guilty plea didn't happen overnight. and even president trump himself, we now know from yesterday's reporting that he made a statement days ago that he turned on me, with regard to what flynn was doing. he turned on me. so even the president knew that something was shaping up here and those four words "he turned on me" are the words of someone that has something to hide. >> kendall, as rachel maddow was saying yesterday, when you see the deals it is because you are getting bigger fishes than you are. if that is the deal that we're talking about here with michael flynn, there are not a lot of people that are bigger fishes than mr. flynn is. >> well, it is got to be aiming

that point at jared kushner or the president himself. and what i think we're all going to see is a focus on obstruction. and one of the critical things is did trump go for example to flynn and say, look, i'm going to make this investigation go away. one way or the other. you sit tight, you be cool. because if he did, if he did something to suppress flynn in order to keep quiet and then of course spoke to comey and fired him and that takes him into the obstruction zone. >> frank, might the robert mueller team be thinking -- using the fishing analogy, this might get the president to consider a pardon and if he were to pardon michael flynn, that would actually help his case. >> i think they factored this in. i think they have affordable care act -- have factors in the fact that the president might pardoning people but that is a strategy where they are prepared to file subsequent state charges

on folks -- i think that congress would look at this very hard as obstructing the investigation. i think it might begin impeachment proceedings. so this is all fraught with peril if the president is moving toward pardon, particularly with regard to jared kushner. i think mueller has considered the possibility of a pardon and i think he has carved kushner out. >> two great legal minds. thank you both very much for your help on this. north korea within reach. still ahead, the growing threat following this week's missile launch as you see here. and a win for republicans in the white house. but does the new tax plan mean -- what does that mean for your bottom line. the winners and losers, next. your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement

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happy holidays, everybody. it is the night we're going to be voting on the tax bill. i just got the tax bill 25 minutes ago. this is the tax bill. see how thick it is. thiss what it looks like. no let's look at the billch this is what it really looks like. take a look at this folks, this is your government at work. here is the bill as it is written and here is the modifications that are in it. i can read one word. it is called add this language. can you tell me what that word is? if you can, you have better eyes than me. this is unbelievable.

we're doing massive tax reform on an absolute incredible time line. this is going to affect everybody in this country. it is going to shift money from the middle class to the rich. it is amazing. and we've been given this 20 minutes ago. 25 minutes ago. we're supposed to vote on in t in a couple of hours. >> senator jon tester clearly up said over what he and many colleagues in the senate said was a rushed process in prosing the tax bill. claire mccaskill replied to the video posted to twitter saying she felt the same way and blasted the way new amendments were delivered to it democrats tweeting this is so bad we have just gotten a list of amendments to be included in bill not from our colleagues but from lobbyists downtown. none of us have seen this list. but lobbyists have it. need i say more. disgusting and we probably will not even be given time to read them. but mitch mcconnell did not

address any of those concerns this morning. when he spoke after the bill's narrow passage of 51 votes to 49. instead he had other words to offer democrats. take a listen. >> this is done through the regular order. the democrats had plenty of notice. chairman hatch can attest to all the multiple hearings, markups, open amendment process. everybody had plenty of opportunity to see the measure. you complain about process, when you are losing. >> let's bring in chris caffeina and noel mcpour republican strategist. noel, clearly different views on what happened before the vote. there was no necessarily impending dead line that they had to do it last night. they did want to get it done. and you could see the scribbles on the side that senate tester was showing there. from your experience, has this happened like this before?

and who is right? >> well, there is two avenues to look at, richard. it is not a simple answer so i'll try to explain it the best way i know how. from the gop, we promised -- president trump was voted in by promising things and one of the things he promised was tax reform and he's delivering on that promise. now you have to look at health care and everything else. the gop has had so much in fighting that they couldn't get anything done, richard. so we had to come together on this. we've got mid terms that are coming up we have a lot of things that we've got to do in order to make sure that we could stay in power going forward. now on the flip side of that, the democrats, what are they doing. didn't they want to attend some of the meetings to get what they want. they all voted no. they all didn't participate in the process. i don't understand. pelosi and schumer, they have a little bit avenue rapport wi--

rapport with trump and they say it is an injustice and a travesty, but why didn't they play a part in getting at least something -- of what they wanted. >> chris, i imagine that you don't agree with what noel said there. and the question is do you -- try to get to an arbitraty deadline or do you try to get it right? >> well, i mean to address noel's comments, yes, it is absolutely the democrat's fault. the zdemocrats wanted a bill tht would add a trillion and a half billion dollars to the debt and cut corporate taxes and basically shifting more of a responsibility and burden to middle class families. >> that sounds like a perfect bill for democrats and i'm being facetious because the process is broken republicans wanted it

broken. they wa they want to pass a bill because they've had a disastrous bill that they needed something to put on the so-called scoreboard. here is a problem. what they just did is give democrats the very narrative they needed for the 2018 mid-term elections. the narrative and the defining message of most republicans from a dpk perspective is they are for the wealthy and rich and corporations. that is what this bill does. everything that democrats have been saying for years and decades, they wrapped it up in a bow as a christmas present for democrats. unfortunately it is bad for the country. >> noel, who will this help? >> well, number one, i feel -- i know that chris is going to blast me, but i really do think that this tax reform is going to help a lot of middle class taxpayers and help i lot of the corporation and i know you will laugh and not agree and that is fine. but i think that you if -- if you wanted something the way that you wanted it, the way the democrats that they wanted it and the democrats and

republicans will have to work together. and i think this business of nobody getting together and nobody working together to pass something, well the republican are going to go away with it and go ahead and pass something and they did it. and the next time maybe it will teach the democrats they have to work together. look at the debacle on health care. look at how the republicans felt when health care was done. that basically got shoved down and they have to accept it and as it unraveled none of it was what it promised. >> and does assist those that are wealthy and businesses small and large and when we look at the analysis and we are looking at the number that chris was alluding. i want to switch topics. the tweet from -- many individuals looking at this very statement, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president, and the fbi. and that is the new stuff there.

and the fib. your thought, chris. >> this is again a consistent probe with president trump. he lives and dies by his own tweets and the notion that he is saying this now when everybody public statement suggests the opposite of the reasons why he fired flynn, that he lied to the vice president, now he's factoring in the fbi and it raises all of these questions about when did he know that. was he trying to obstruct justice. so from a legal perspective, the president, you could only imagine his lawyers are tearing their hair out frxt a political perspective, he feeds this crisis that is enveloping his administration. it is not going to go away. and i'll be honest, these feed off one another. part of the reason why the republicans were so desperate to pass a tax bill that overwhelmingly hurts the middle class and about 13 million people who will probably lose health care because of the changes in this bill, that adds trillions to the deficit is because they were under so much political pressure because of these investigations and the

failure of the trump administration before they were elected. so this is all connected and this is going to play out in these mid term elek -- elections and going forward and it is bad for the country. >> and noel, part of the reporting is the president made many calls last night after he knew about michael flynn that he had made a deal with the mueller team. did he want to push this through last night because of what chris is saying. he was worried again about michael flynn? >> i don't think so. i think that this has -- it is larger than donald trump. i think that the tax reform -- i think the gop in general -- look i talked to donors, very big donors in the republican party and they've about had it. they've about had it with the gop and not getting anything done. and i feel like they -- they were telling me if we don't pass tax reform, that is just about it. we can't get anything done. so i don't think that trump was trying to do that to -- to mask what is going on with the flynn deal. and basically i think democrats and republicans can agree on one

thing, sweet jesus, i wish that trump would stay off the twitter. it's -- it doesn't really do him much good. so -- >> thank you so much. chris, thank you. next the nuclear threat with north korea. there are new reporting that president trump is looking at an exit plan for his top negotiate, secretary of state rex tillerson. ♪ spread a little love my-y way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ philadelphia cream cheese. made with fresh milk and real cream makes your recipes their holiday favourites. the holidays are made with philly. discover card. ti justis this for real?match, yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover.

[ sirens ] >> if you hear this attack warning signal -- >> hawaiians preparing for a new worst case scenario, a nuclear attack from north korea. the tuesday missile test by the rogue nation involves a more powerful weapon capable of reaching the continental united states. the missile launch comes two weeks after trump's return from asia amid reporting of feuding with rex tillerson. here is what the president to say after news of that launch. >> as you probably have heard, and some of you have reported a missile was launched a little

while ago from north korea. i will only tell you that we will take care of it. we have general mattis in the room with us and we've had a long discussion on it. it is a situation that we will handle. >> the president gave no further details about u.s. response. he and leader kim jong-un traded insults and threats of annihilation along the way. let's bring in former foreign policy adviser to the clinton campaign, laura rosenberger. thank you for being here. joe, president trump's tweet said speculation about rex tillerson, his secretary of state is fake news, but he does admit that they do disagree. what do you see happening now and how might this hobble what is so important at this moment when we look at north korea, if those two disagree on north korea and what it is doing. >> you know, richard, we have never faced a situation where

we've had profound domestic crisis while facing a growing nuclear crisis and the government is in such profound disarray. that's what makes this situation so dangerous. at this moment, the president appears that he is going to remove his chief diplomat, the secretary of state. it isn't that tillerson has done a great job at state, he has not. at least he was trying to promote promote diplomatic solution knowing there's no military option. knowing he will be replaced by mike mom p-- pompeo. at the same time, we don't have an assistant secretary of state for near east, don't have assistant selkt of defense for near east, no ambassador to south korea. we have nobody to handle the crisis now.

the president says he's the only one that matters. apparently he really believes that. that's what worries so many people. >> it worried so many people to watch a state department that seems to have lost the wind in its sails, this as the president and back bench at the state department, folks are leaving. rex tillerson remarking on the entire situation. listen to what he had to say. >> mr. secretary, what are you going to do about the worried that the department's going to be weakened. >> the reason i didn't address all that, this department is performing extraordinarily well, i take exception to anyone that would characterize it otherwise. it is just not true. thank you. >> laura, the secretary of state saying it is functioning very well, on the flip side you certainly have heard the questions, his back bench leaving here. what does it mean for important

issues like north korea. >> i was a career civil servant at the state department in two different administrations, bush and obama administration. it's incredibly important that the state department and diplomats have the resources they need, have the support of the secretary, have the support of the president. and on complex national security issue like north korea, it is important that we have a coordinated whole of government approach, that the president is not undercutting his secretary of state, that we are not sending mixed messages about the role of diplomacy, about what's on the table and what's not, about the overall approach that the united states is taking. and joe is absolutely right, the continued empty seats in this administration worry me not only for conduct of diplomacy day to day but in god forbid scenarios of miscalculation where we need to ensure that we have people

with communication that can work with the chinese. this is a dangerous situation we are facing with north korea. >> getting to north korea and what they call -- they say it is the most dangerous icbm they've got, their words when describing it. your perspective how dangerous this is? >> this is significant new capability, i think it is a game changer, it is a monster missile, the equivalent of our titan 2 that we used to deliver multi mega ton war heads halfway around the globe. it has huge capability, huge capacity. i think all of the analysts are in agreement that this can hit washington. it could hit mar-a-lago, deliver a therm oh nuclear bomb anywhere in the united states and has a

huge nose cone, meaning my analysis, could have multiple war heads in there. it could have decoys, counter measures that could defeat any u.s. missile defense system. that's one of the reasons you need to be urgently freezing this program, negotiating a solution. we have no negotiating plan in place. no talks going on, no diplomats capable of doing that. >> laura, 30 seconds to you. can you again weaponize, put the delivery together with the nuclear device. we don't know that yet. >> you know, we don't know. there are, of course, continued questions about exactly where this capability stands but i think we need to assume the worst in this scenario. i don't think asking questions about how close they are, have they gotten across the finish line is actually constructive at this point. they are very close, they made monumental achievements in a short period of time. joe is right about it being a monster missile. need to take it seriously. >> laura, thank you so much. joe, thank you. have a good saturday.

>> despite what we just said. thank you. breaking news at the top of the hour. president trump tweeting he fired michael flynn because he lied to the fbi. how that very word raises new questions in regards to the firing of james comey. there are 130 million girls around the world who are not in school today.

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the overachievers. we know our best investment is in ourselves. we don't take no for an answer. we fight for what we want. even for the things that were once a given. going to college... buying a home... and not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. but we're only as strong as our community. who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. sofi. get there sooner. good saturday to you at world headquarters in new york city. what appears to be a stunning admission in the investigation to russian collusion.

trump implying he did know his former national security adviser michael flynn had lied in a january interview with the fbi. flynn pled guilty to one count of giving false information in the detailed court filing friday. also agreeing to cooperate with special prosecutor robert mueller's investigation. then a new report from "new york times" just out citing e-mails from trump transition officials regarding russian sanctions. in one of the reported e-mails which nbc has not independently verified, trump adviser k.t. mcfarland says sanctions would strain trump's relationship with russia which she wrote had just thrown the usa election to him. despite increasing momentum of the mueller investigation, they told white house kronlt jeff bennett he was not concerned about collusion. >> thank you all very much. thank you very