i'm going to bring up and this is just out, an op edfrom billy bush in the new york times. he said of course you tds. that infamous quote on the access why former national security adviser michael flynn was fired. republicans within striking distance of tax reform. this week the house and senate work to reconcile tax bills to get something to the president's desk. unrest in the middle east. following reports the trump administration is considering moving the embassy in israel to tel aviv in ver redujerusalem. some world neerds aleaders are against that decision. good morning, it's monday

december 4. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. there are new questions this morning about why president trump fired former national security adviser michael flynn. on friday, flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. in fact, president trump shared his thoughts about the situation on saturday. >> >> no. i'm not. what has been shown is no collusion. no collusion. there's been absolutely no -- there's been absolutely no collusion so we're very happy. >> but shortly after noon, the president sent out a tweet saying, quote, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he has pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there is nothing to hide. this was the first time president trump mentioned knowledge of flynn lying to fbi ag agents in january about contacts with russians.

>> i asked for his resignation. he respectfully gave it. he is a man who there was a certain amount of information given to vice president pence who is with us today. and i was not happy with the way that information was given. he didn't have to do that will because what he did wasn't wrong. 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're talking about general flynn. >> general flynn. >> because lying to the vice president. >> yes, but everything plays in. everything plays into it. we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so. >> so the president's outside lawyer john dowd at first said the tweets simply paraphrases what white house counsel said.

that the falls statements to the fbi neared those he made to administration officials. later said he wrote the tweet and all the president knew about flynn and the fbi at the time was the department was not accusing him of lying. now as for the e-mail with the tweet, dowd said he dictated it to dan. dowd said it was the first and last tweet he wrote for the president. >> a lot of questions there. president trump laid into the federal bureau of investigation writing so general flynn lies to the skpib his life is destroyed while crooked hillary clinton on that now famous fbi holiday interrogation with no swearing in and no recording lies many times and nothing happens to her, question mark. rigged system or just a double standard. james comey said they had no basis to conclude she lied. after years of comey with the phony and dishonest clint

investigation and more running the fbi, its reputation is in tatters. worst in history, but fear not, we will bring it back to greatness. despite white house claims that michael flynn acted aide loan. "new york times" reports that e-mails show flynn was in close touch with other senior members of the trump transition before and after he spoke with russian ambassador about u.s. sanctions. that includes a december 29 e-mail sent from transition adviser mcfarland. voiced concerns that it could make it harder to's tensions with russia. tit for tat, trump will have difficulty approving. unclear she believed the election was thrown. now, according to the times, another transition official forwarded mack far land's e-mail exchange to six other trump advisers, michael flynn, reince priebus, and steve bannon, told

nubs it wou nbc news it would have been mps not to discuss internally. specifically encourages contact within outreach to foreign dignitaries. cob defended mack far land's e-mail saying she was new to the trump team at that point and simply referring to democratic arguments. devin knew nez is demanding answers from the fbi and justice department over bob mueller's. knew nez and other republicans are drafting against deputy attorney general rod rosenstein and former fbi director. claiming both are stonewalling efforts to produce information related to russia investigation, including the removal of peter astronaut. this comes after reports on saturday revealed mueller had reassigned him from the russia probe this summer after learning he and fbi lawyer exchanged text

messages and expressed anti-trump sentiments during what "the washington post" said was an extra marital affair. knew nez sea nunnunez sea nunes let's talk taxes here. republican leaders from the house and senate said to come together today to start the process of merging the bill of the country's tax haul in more than 30 years. party leaders insist there are no major differences between their two bills, but one early issue may be changes made to senate's final legislation. preserving provision of the tax code that sets alternative minimum tax for very wealthy

individuals. that provision would be eliminated in the house bill and scrapping the alternative minimum tax has long been a priority. the senate passed its bill in early hours of saturday morning in a 51-49 vote along party lines. some lawmakers including democratic senator john tester of montana decreed the move arguing that lawmakers were not given enough time to review the bill, which was riddled with handwritten, sometimes barely legible notes. >> it's the night we're going 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. i want you to take a look at this folks. this is your government at work. here's the bill as it's written. here's the modification. i can read one word. add this language. can you tell me what that word is. if you can, you've got better

eyes than me. >> so speaking yesterday, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell offered confidence on being able to get a final bill to president trump's desk. a key swing vote cautioned on the final vote being approved. >> we'll be able to get to an agreement in the conference. i'm very optimistic about it. we think this will make a big difference in getting the economy moving again and providing jobs and opportunity for the american people. >> you're discomfortable with your vote on this tax bill. is it there no matter what comes out of conference. >> no, i mean obviously i want to see what comes out. i believe the amendments that i added on medical expense deductions, on property tax deductions, on helping retirement security for public employees improve the bill. i got a commitment we're going to pass two bills including the

aaron hicks mu alexander i i got commitment we will not see cuts to medicaid. >> ironclad these days. reconciliation approaches as friday where the government faces government shutdown. likely need democrat votes to keep the government from shutsdown. joining me now, daniel litman. let's talk a little bit about republicans introducing the symptom gap bill. did it standard with hopes of delaying friday deadline for government shutdown until december 22. a few weeks from now. the question is will this be enough time to negotiate with democrats on a new spending bill. >> yes i think it will be, but you have mitch mcconnell saying yesterday on the sunday show that the government will not shutdown.

and what was also interesting you saw omb director mic muk mulvan mulvaney. hard line conservative before he joined the trump administration. saying there's a bunch of crazy right wringers who want to shutdown the government. this is not the way a government funding scheme should work. you should not have all of these stopgap measures, temporary funding solutions. that does not, you know, provide a good way to fund the government long-term. >> i feel like we're in this cycle every couple of months. >> exactly. >> so we're heading into a hectic month ahead. so much on the docket for congress. among them mounting claims of sexual misconduct claims. and the use of taxpayer money to settle some of them. how much could this play into the midterm sgls more democrats and republicans get accused of

this, it just hurts everyone. there's more stories reporters in washington are working on. may see a couple more of these people drop. its damages for the institution in conyers will have to make a decision this week as to whether he will resign. he still has members of congressional black caucus. his friends are stay saying to him, stick it out. you'll be fine. >> this week saw a flurry of tweets from president trump. what has been the reaction in washington. what are you hearing in terms of what people are saying. i know lindsey graham and others on the sunday show warning it will put in legal jeopardy, yet again. >> one republican person who worked in the white house said it was a lost cause for trump to tweet this. they really there is no stopping trump from tweeting. last thing i would mention, i talked to former senior

administration official. they said when trump talks on the weekend to his friends, they say you should just continue to attack the mainstream media. they feed into his tweeting things that rely maybe unorthodoxed and so it's hard to cancel the weekend. >> i saw 60 minutes interview with trump from way back when. maybe he's not going to be tweeting as much now that he's president. that didn't seem to happen. >> daniel litman. thanks for joining us from washington, d.c. still ahead, with alabama's election just a week away, mitch mcconnell appears to walk back criticism of roy moore. billy bush weighs in on authenticity of trump's comments on access hollywood tape. all thaw and a check on the weather when we come back. keyboard clacking ]

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explanation last week that despite the direct and blunt content of those tweets, it should not be the focus. >> general, why did president trump send out those videos. >> president trump is the best judge of why he did that. i know it was his intention to highlight the importance of creating safe and secure environments for our citizens, to make sure that we have the right laws in place, enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure that this critical time when isis is being defeated in the middle east, there isn't a return of terrorist and extremists who can pose a risk to american people or to our allies and partners. >> now, almost a week until election day, new polls show the alabama senate race in a tossup.

the latest poll has doug jones leadsing roy moore by three points. however a new cbs news poll shows moore with a six point lead over doug jones. >> meanwhile as the race tightens, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell may be changing tune on roy moore. called on roy moore to exit the race after allegations of sexual misconduct. had this to say on sunday morning. >> do you believe the judge moore should be in the senate. >> i'm going let the people of alabama make the call. the election has been going on a long time. there's a lot of discussion about it. they're going to make the decision a week from tuesday. let's get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. rockefeller center tree is on the plaza. holiday season is in full swing. you say now the cold weather the m c is coming. about time. this weekend was so warm across the country. now watching first significant winter storm. pattern change to welcome in

winter. storm out in the northern plains. blue is snow. snowing with wisconsin. areas of south dakota. winter weather and storm spots in wyoming and northern half of minnesota. here's how it plays out today. rain in wisconsin. little bit of snow on the become side. storm gets stronger today. thankfully not much severe weather with this. one or two isolated strong storms in illinois. this is at 11:00 p.m. snowing in minneapolis. minneapolis in the 50s by the time the evening rolls around. temperatures plummet. little bit of snow on the backside. take the cold front through the ohio valley through tuesday. tuesday afternoon, rain in new england. heavier rains on the front. mississippi back through tennessee heading through the appalachians and by wednesday clear in the east coast and

behind it. cooler conditions. i mentioned the snow. a blizzard warning doesn't mean it has to be heavy snow. just means visibility has to be low. very windy conditions only 2-4 inches of snow in north dakota and minnesota. as far as rainfall, this is needed. not a lot of rain in areas of the east coast. get this back up in new england. maybe an inch of rain. nice day today around the eastern sea board. be careful around new york city. a lot of fog in raerareas of southern new england. >> what a swing from minneapolis. >> this weekend was very warm. won't go above 32 degrees for much of this week. that's their reality. they know that. still ahead, week 13 of nfl season is now in the books. we're going to have all the highlights for you. including one starting quarterback who took time to call former coach, a coward. sports is next. mountain coffees sumatra reserve told in the time it takes to brew your cup. let's go to sumatra.

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>> down the middle. he's got his man. touchdown. >> mcgwire speed. they got it. gets the angle. >> second week in a row he's been injured in the fourth quarter. huge hit. interception. he will go the distance and a touchdown. >> those were the highlights from week 13 turns out sunday night football. the eagles who hold the best record in the nfl travel to seattle to face the sea hawks. russell wilson and the sea hawks gets off too fast start. 11 yard touchdown. jimmy graham giving seattle a 10-0 lead. then in the third. finds tyler for a score. giving the sea hawks a 17-3 lead. eagles will try and battle back. scrambles and gets the ball out of his hands for a deep 51 yard pass. that was great field positioning there. a few plays later, wentz

connects again for a 27 yard touchdown. tightening the score to one position game. would not be enough in this one. wilson to wild open. gets to the end zone. 15 yard strike commending the lead and 24-10 win there in seattle. meanwhile t era or smith and giants michigan yesterday. i mean experiment. smith controversially got the start over the giant's staple eli manning. ending consecutive start streak to 210 games. second tole brett favre at 297. giants lose to the raiders, 24-17. i guess it didn't make much of a difference. smith also raised eyebrows calling his former coach rex ryan a coward and adding i saved his job in 2013 with a giant's record now at 2-10. coach beck mca doo pledged to

coach as long as his key card works. turning to college football. four team playoff is set. college football playoff committee releasing final rankings yesterday. clemson tigers claiming the top spot. followed by oklahoma. georgia bulldogs and alabama crimson tide. georgia square off against oklahoma in the rose ball. clemson face alabama in another rematch. both take place on january 1. even though alabama is ranked fourth, power index gives them the best chance to win the national title at 35%. clemson the reigning champs are at third in the index with a 23% chance. i'm sure, joe today will make sure that everyone knows that. >> a lot of people are a little

disappointed ohio state didn't make it in the final four after beating wisconsin and winning a big ten championship. it's probably one of the most talked about things in college football. ohio state what a game saturday. thanks for that louis. still ahead, inside look at robert mueller's investigation. jared kushner weighs in on the president's decision to move to israel. back with all that. hink that al money managers are pretty much the same. but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. ♪ ♪

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w back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis berg discover. bottle of the hour. start with top stories. republican leaders from the house and senate set to come together to begin the process of merging their bills. first overall of country's tax code in more than 30 years. lawmakers from both chambers begin work on reconciling the differences between both bills in conference committee. after the senate passed bill on early morning hourgs. >> with almost a week until election day, new polls show the alabama senate race in a dead heat. latest "washington post" polls has doeg jones leading roy moore by three points with 50% of voters saying they'll vote for jones on election day. a new cvs news poll shows moore a six point lead over jones. republicans are demanding answers from the fbi and justice department over special counsel bob mueller's reassigning of a supervising agent in the russia

investigation. reports show mueller assigned peter strop after learning he and fbi lawyer exchanged text messages. during what "the washington post" said was an extra marital affair. president trump spent much of the weekend on twitter trying to down play friday's big news. former national security adviser michael flynn pled guilty to lying to the fbi. one of the tweets why he fired plin is coming under scrutiny. nbc correspondent kristen welker has more on this. >> reporter: damage krot. outside couns control. i had to fire flynn. he lied to the fbi. knew the former security adviser lied to the fbi and asked fbi director james comey to go easy

on flynn. telling nbc news he's responsible and the president did not know he lead to the fbi when he fired him. also adding i'm out of the tweeting business, i did not mean to break news. news some say if true raises questions about a possibly obstruction of justice charge against the president. republicans senator lindsey graham warning. >> you tweet and comment regarding ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril. i would be careful if i were you, mr. president. i'd watch this. >> for this part, i never asked comey to stop investigating flynn. just more fake news covering another comey lie. former fbi director testified to congress this summer. >> understood him to be saying what he wanted me to do was drop any investigation connected to flynn's account of coverage with russians. >> top democrat on the senate intelligence committee. >> i believe fbi director comey. i think he was very credible in his testimony and private meetings with us.

>> on friday, flynn pled guilty to lying to fbi about interactions with russian ambassador and now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. at least three other campaign associates have been indicted or pled guilty in the mueller investigation. top democratic diane feinstein on "meet the press" said the congressional investigations are also ramping up. i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of case of obstruction of justice. >> some critics cutting as the investigations grind on they may be taking a toll. >> as this investigation has moved closer to the oval office, it has driven increasingly erratic behavior by the president of the united states. >> thanks kristen welker for that report. >> special counsel robert mueller has declined to offer any comment about the probe, "washington post" is working to lay out a picture of the investigation. according to the paper and the past two months, mueller and his team have received a private debrief from two dozen current

and former trump advisers. once inside the special counsel's office, witnesses reportedly seated in windowless conference room. two and three person teams of fbi agents and prosecutors press them for answers. among the topics of key interest to investigators. foreign government officials contacted trump officials as well as the actions and interplay as michael flynn and jared kushner according to people familiar with the questions. despite white house lawyer ty cobb saying he believes the investigation is wrapping up, the post reports that mueller's operation has reached out to new witnesses in trump's circle just within the past several weeks telling them they may be asked to come in for an interview. scandal from 2016 presidential campaign has come back into the spotlight. former access host confirming it was donald trump's voice on a 2005 video recording that captured trump bragging about sexually inappropriate behavior towards women. bush's statement comes in

response to recent "new york times" report that the president told people including one u.s. senator that he didn't believe the voice on the tape was actually his. in a "new york times" accomplish ds la published last night. he assumed trump was doing a class standup act at the time. we now know better, he wrote. confirmed the voice is trump's when asked about it on "meet the press" yesterday. >> i don't even know why that's interest today. the president put out his apology for the video that weekend. >> only of interest because he. >> i understand. i don't believe it's changed. >> is it his voice? was that him in the access hollywood tape. >> it's clear that it is. >> so there's no disputing this. >> no. i don't think he does either. >> all signs point to yes. back with us from washington,

politico daniel litman co-author of politico playbook. what's been the reaction to what you've been hearing about trump sort of reversing stance on access hollywood tape and why he would do it. >> there doesn't seem to be a solid explanation for why trump does many of the things he does. so it doesn't seem like it's in his interest to dredge up this thing from a year ago, but we should note that he's not saying this publically. it's more like he's talking privately to senators and aides where he says that wasn't mine. it was doctored in some way. the "new york times" and other outlets found out about it. and so serve kind of in on this to try though get this out there. because it's relevant because we live in a moment where everyone is talking about sexual harassment allegations. there's no people who fall every day. and for trump to deny it was his voice, i think he probably wants to not be in that category of

sexual harassers like harvey weinstein, al franken, john conyers, by disputing his voice, then he wants to steer clear of those people. >> seems like this is his motive. turn quickly to talk about michael flynn's guilty plea on friday. we spent a lot of time discussing this. this seems to be split reaction to experts believe it or nwheth is a big deal. what it means for trump himself. it's a good things. showing the investigation is wrapping up. give us a quick summary of what each side is saying and how the they're spitting this. >> a lot of law enforcement experts look at the plea and say mueller would not have given him such an easyoff because there's more they could have charged

flynn with. flynn must have promised to mueller he has the good on senior people. maybe jarred or don trump junior. it would look bad if they just charged the highest person like flynn with only one count and there are no further charges. it looks like there is going to be further charge sgls what does mueller know. >> a lot more than most of us. >> before we let you go, give us a sneak peek of the playbook today. unveiling the power list. people to watch. going to make a significant impact on politics next year. some of the people we have on the list, vice president's powerful chief of staff. the white house political cal director and people like montana general. filing against donald trump. >> ayman was number 19. >> i knew you were going to come

out with that. next year. >> next year, exactly. >> keep up hope. daniel litman, thank you for that. >> let's go to latest on the ongoing deliberations inside the trump administration over whether to execute campaign promise to move the u.s. embassy in israel . however, the point person on middle east peace, jared kushner, or the president's national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, have any idea what the president will decide. >> the president is going to make his decision and. >> he hasn't made his decision. >> he's still looking at a lot of different facts. when he makes his decision, he'll be the one to want to tell you, not me. he'll make sure he does that at the right time. >> i'm not sure which decision he'll make.

we've given him options. there's options in the future. you could use to gain momentum toward a peace agreement and solution that works both for israelis and for palestinians. >> palestinian leader is warning against the u.s. moving embassy or recognizing jerusalem as the capital saying it represents a threat to the future of the peace process and is unacceptable for the palestinians arabs and internationally. foreign minister says he warns against the move during a recent phone call saying in addition to a list of consequences, it would, quote, trigger anger across the mutual world. fuel tensions and jeopardize peace efforts. the u.s. and south korea conducting a massive joint drill. involves about 23078 aircraft including two dozen stealth fighters. it comes as the president's

snashl security adviser h.r. mcmaster spoke out this morning about the ongoing north korea threat. >> what is clear is that every time, every time he conducts a missile launch and nuclear test, he gets better. >> so has the potential of war with north korea increased since this latest launch. >> i think it's increasing every day. it is a race because he's getting closer and closer. and there's not much time left. >> the other really grave concern is the concern that he would proliferate or sell off weapons to others. there's never been a weapons system that north korea has developed that it hasn't sold to somebody else. >> joining us live from london, nbc news foreign correspondent. lucy, good to have you with us. a lot of ominous signs there from the national security adviser. a lot of warn signs as well. comes on the hills of senator lindsey graham calling for the

pentagon to families of u.s. military personal out of south korea. a lot of people would be a very definitive sign we're going to war. how close are we actually coming to war. >> ayman, good morning. the key take away here is we're not seeing a deescalation. certainly not from the north koreans and also not from the white house. north korea's decision to launch a third test of a ballistic missile is a major provocation. new and improved rocket that potentially faces the u.s. mainla mainland. the joint exercises that kicked off today are also a major provocation as well. large show of force. the north koreans this weekend denounced the drills as quote, war rehearsal at a time when insane president trump is running wild. kim jong-un projecting a message of confidence this weekend. we saw any images released of him of the north korean leader triumphant. grinning on a visit to the factory that makes tires for

icbm launch vehicles. the chinese have been pushing for diplomacy on both sides. urging to call off the drills. chinese foreign minister said after two months of relative calm in the korean peninsula, the resurfacing of tensions was regrettable. very few signs from washington that any sort of negotiations would be an option sgll live in london this morning. thank you. one top republican is reportedly set to make a run for. how trying to keep senator mitt romney from becoming a reality. old saint nick or several dozen of him actually hit the slopes for a good cause. tell you about that. plus, bill karins back with us. the details on what appears to be wintery weather in store this week. i've been thinking.

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mitt romney back in the spotlight. new report saying president trump is trying to stop romney from running for the seat. currently running for the seat held by hatch who will be retiring after seven terms in the senate. according to president trump, launching behind if scenes campaign to keep hatch. the longest serving republican senator in history in office. according to politico sources. romney's inner circle is infuriated after hearing the president told friends he doesn't like the idea of senator romney. washington examiner reports steve bannon is weighing in endorsement of hatch. merely to block romney. >> interesting relationship between those two men. let's switch to weather with meteorologist bill karins. >> did you see the super moon last night? >> yes. i actually caught it on my way out of here. >> amazing pictures when it came

up last night. going down in the next hour, hour and a half through the country. when you get near the mountains and treeing coming up. once it gets up higher in the sky, doesn't have same affect. when it's rising and setting, pretty cool. >> let's get to forecast. a lot of changes. last week was a snooze. nothing going on. pretty warm. exceptionally quiet. now we're in december, things are changing quickly. snow in wyoming. snow in south dakota. warm rain through the great lakes. change to snow over the next two days. snow okay if over the next 24 is nothing too deep. northern minnesota will get up there around 4-6 inches of snow. problem is going to be windy too. blowing and drifting. week ahead forecast. all about the big storm in the middle of the country. that heads east. today on monday. then tuesday, rain in the ohio valley. wednesday, clear the east coast. rain could be with us early for the morning commute on wednesday. then by the time we get to the

afternoon, it clearing most of the eastern sea board. exception of north carolina and coastline. showers down from texas. changes blustery and cold behind it. lake affect snow machine. could get a foot or snow. tokyo plateau. notice how quiet the weather map is. west coast is very dry. from warm to cold and still pretty dry. still no signs. even though it's chillier. no signs of snowstorms even through the middle of december. white christmas. we got work to do. >> we'll see. one ski resort got into the christmas spirit this weekend. big guy santa himself hit the slopes for a good cause. just over 160 people. put on their best saint nick costume. sunday river in maine. event held every year to raise money for local charities. this year raised $2500 to bring extra cheer to those in need. looks like a little difficult to

get down the slope. >> this is a much better event than santa con i was just complaining about. a bunch of drunk santas riding around city. like this a lot better. >> thanks. still ahead, cbs formally announces its bid to buy aetna for a mere $69 billion. >> $69 billion. how it could reshape the health industry and what it means for you. [ keyboard clacking ] [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. depend silhouette active fit briefs,

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welcome back. cvs has announced it bid to buy aetna for $69 billion. it could reshape the nation's health care industry. cnbc's willem moss joins us from london. >> it could be the biggest deal of 2017. it's all about creating a fully rounded health care company. they're trying to sell this idea on the fact that consumers can both buy their drugs from the same company as is insuring them. competing with people like amazon and it will create a huge amount of cost savings for them as well n terms of savings, let's talk about the tax reform bill pass thud the senate.

the biggest savings going to corporate america and some of the wealthiest earners in the u.s. a nonpartisan version of the bill suggested $2 trillion to the deficit, close some of the tax current loop holes. thanks to a tax cut on income received through what they call pass-through entities like partnerships that are very popular with developers. >> australia has opened an investigation into whether facebook and google has disrupted the news media to the detriment of publishers and consumers. >> broader inquiry into media reforms request ed by the searc engines might be having on

existing advertising media markets. ultimately this will be about undersigning influence that google and facebook have had in australia. it will be a year or so before we get any preliminary findings from the report. a year in media is a very long time. >> very long time. a lot can happen in an hour. willem marx, thank you very much. the surprise guilty plea on former national security adviser michael flynn. joe and mika will break down all the details with arim melbe, senator richard blumenthal as well.

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and the united states postal service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. ( ♪ ) because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest. >> welcome back, everybody. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's talk about the stories you'll be hearing about. president trump expects to announce plans to slink the size of two national monuments in utah. reducing the bearer's ears

monument and the grand staircase by almost half. >> sentencing hearing for former south carolina police officer caught on video killing an unarmed black man during a traffic stop begins today. michael slager could face for. going it alone to reduce greenhouse gases and reaching the goals of the paris climate accord. >> that does it for us this monday morning. i'm yasmin vssoughian. it is monday, december 4th. welcome to "morning joe." nick contessore and carol lee. former fbi special agent clint

watts, columnist and associate editor for the washington post, david ignatius and "new york times" reporter michael schmidt. happy monday, everybody. back in june, we tliel actually debated which of president trump's tweets may have been the most destructive to his presidency. our top five included attacks against the intel community, his accusation against president obama of wiretapping, his suggestions that he has tapes of jim comey, his calls for executive order on a travel ban and that he is being investigated for fire the fbi director. this came after michael