team. now an nbc news exclusive. new information that mike flynn hid his interview from president trump. >> michael flynn did the this interview with the two fbi agent and didn't tell anyone. he didn't mention to anybody that this had been put on his schedule. >> he didn't say anything to anyone, including the president. >> pressuring the fbi. after firing james comey, the president summoned the new acting fbi director, andrew mccabe, and demanded to know who he voted for in the election. raising big questions about political pressure. >> there is a credible case of obstruction of justice against donald trump. and the questions to then acting director mccabe are just additional evidence that the president wanted to demand political loyalty. >> and jet set. the president takes almost his entire cabinet to davos. for a gathering of the world's

elite. a club he said he did not want to join. >> it is really all about economic growth opportunities to invest free and fair trade. kind of we're looking forward to it. >> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell back in washington where there are major vel lts on the russia probe. we now know from multiple sources that robert mueller is zeroing in on the president's firing of james comey and pressure on attorney general jeff sessions. raising questions about possible obstruction of justice. nbc news confirmed that mueller and trump's lawyers are now discussing how and when the president himself might be questioned. mueller already questioned a growing list of insiders including comey and the entire intelligence and law enforcement leadership around mr. trump in early days of his presidency. kristin welker pressed the

president on all of this in the oval office. >> thank you all very much. thank you. >> no, i'm not at all. not at all. >> did you talk to him about it? >> no, but i'm not at all concerned. thank you all very much. >> joining me now is kristin welker. you just saw her in the oval office yesterday. carol lee and mike mamalee with new exclusive reporting. justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman at the justice department. former u.s. attorney, barbara mccabe. and allen rosen teen from the national security justice division. kristin, let's set the table. you were talking to the president about his reaction to all of the revelations that top officials with the attorney general, as the headliner here, have all been interviewed by robert mueller. >> that's right. you saw the president try to strike a confident note saying he is not concerned about what the attorney general told the

special counsel. but as nbc news is reporting today, we now know that the special counsel not only interviewed the attorney general former fbi director james comey but also the president's intelligence block, i should say. as well as a whole host of other people within the president's inner circle. and according to our revelations, one of the interesting things we've learned is that former national security adviser, michael flynn, when he was interviewed here at the white house, did so without an attorney present and he did so without alerting the president or other top officials here. so a really striking revolution and all of this does come as the president's legal team continues the ongoing discussions with special counsel about whether the president will sit for an interview. what the form and scope of such an interview would look like. whether there will be a written portion of an interview. we anticipate though be a andrea, that that will take place sometime in the next few

weeks. andrea? >> and kristin, we want to bring in carol lee whose exclusive reporting it was about mike flynn. carol, tell us about the fact that mike flynn was questioned by the investigators, by fbi, and didn't tell the president when was national security adviser. >> just to set the scene, this is four days into this new administration. michael flynn's national security adviser, his scheduler get's a phone call according to our sources and from andrew mccabe's office wanting to set up a meeting with the fbi. two agents show up at the white house later and michael flynn didn't notify the national security counsel lawyers. typically sources say that that would typically happen and a lawyer would sit in on a meeting like that. he didn't have his personal lawyer there so he took this alone and left the senior most people in the white house in the dark. and two dater later, salary yates informed don mccann that

this interview had taken place. then you can see a sequence of events that happened after that. and specifically if you just look at, there was phone call that the president made to comey and invited him to dinner the day after he was, the white house was informed about flynn's fbi interview. so it all kind of traces back to this moment when it was the first time this russia investigation showed up on the doorstep of this white house. >> and let's also take one step back and broaden the conversation because it was andrew mccabe who made the contact to mike flynn. so that's very significant. and among the people questioning mike flynn was peter struck. who is peter struck? peter struck is the fbi official who was involved in a romantic relationship with another fbi official, which has come under scrutiny because of their

disclosed text messages. and one of those, mike memalee text messages, the republicans are seizing upon which have been turned over to investigators so presumably others know this has well. on november 9, the morning they now realize that donald trump has been elected. and they had been involved with each either but also involved, frankly, with comey investigation as well. this is november 9 election morning after. the text message from one to the other. are you even going to give out your calendars? seems kind of depressing. maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society. now we will just get to this, everyone take a deep breath. we have breaking news. at the larry nassar trial involving the defendant. he is now speaking about all of the sentencing hearing about what is going on with all of these defendants.

>> pales in the comparison to the pain, trauma and meegsemoti destruction that all of you -- there are no words to describe the depth and breadth for how sorry i am, except an apology. >> sir, you need to stay with the microphone. >> i am. i will carry your words with me for the rest of my days. >> sir, i hope you are shaken to your core. your victims are very shaken to their core. and i know there are some who ask, are you broken because you got caught?

i agree with -- [ inaudible ] i hope you don't do anything untoward children and families, whatever, the crimeless crimes solves absolutely nothing. please respect -- [ inaudible ] this does guarantee each defendant the right to counsel. it doesn't matter what defendant has done. they have the right to counsel. i also want to say, that being said, we also have the first amendment.

so you are all free to have your own opinions. and it's all balancing act between the first amendment, the sixth amendment. all under due process and other counts amendments to the constitution. they are all valuable in their own way. and that's why we have an organized and just society and that's why we are here today because this defendant has been brought to justice. do not make it worse, please. before i get to sentencing, i want to talk about a couple of things. and first, i've said what i need to say to the victims. i have a little bit more to say. you are no longer victims. you are survivors. you're very strong and i would address you individually. before i say anything further, i

don't know if you all know this, and i know that the world is watching, i know this because i'm on the bench everyday and this isn't the only heinous crime that appears in this court. the national crime victimization survey that is done by the justice department annually reports that 310 out of every 1,000 assaults are reported to police. which means that 2 out of 3 go unreported. the voices of the survivors have asked everyone, report. keep your voice up. rachel's voice hopefully will raise these numbers of reports in all of your voices. wi that statistic does not include children 12 and under. 1 in 10 children will be

sexually abused by their 18th birthday. 1 in 7 girls, 1 in 25 boys, by their 18th birthday. that means that in the united states, i'm not talking about any other country, but in the united states, 400,000 babies born in the u.s. will become victims of child sexual abuse. it stops now. speak out like these survivors. become part of the army. i do one case at a time. and i really so very much appreciate all of your thank yous. i read some of the twitters and facebooks and all of what's going on in the media.

i'm not special. i'm doing my job. if you come to my courtroom any wednesday and watch sentencing, i give everybody a voice. i give defendants a voice. their families when they're here. i give victims a voice. i try to treat everybody like family because that's the justi justice system that i was raised to believe in. i came to this country stateless. i'm naturalized. my father's maltese. my mother is german. i was raised on old country values. and my grandmother always told me and my parent always told me, my grandfather, too, that america is the greatest country. i believe that. that's why i served in the military. that's why i've always done

community service. i'm not really well liked because i speak out. i don't have many friends because i speak out. if you ask me a question, you better be ready for the answer. i speak out because i want change. because i don't believe in hiding the truth. and i'm not saying i'm always right. but i try. i also don't believe that one size fits all when it comes to sentencing. another reason i listen. i know that there are some judges for every crime that give the same punishment. i don't think that's justice. i believe in individualized

sentencing. i found the constitution and i believe our system works. i also believe in survivors. there's case law about how i can consider what i can consider. and first and foremost my sentence reflects the 7 in regard to who the defense refers to but the remainder of you, 161 others, add to the credibility of those seven. so technically i'm considered everything. everyone. because your crime, all of your crimes, the depth of them, have cut into the core of this community and many communities and all of the families and

people we don't even know. and sir, the media has asked me to release your letter. i'm not going to do that. counsel may object. the media may object. but there is information in here that troubles me in regard to the victims. and i don't want them revictimized by the words that you have in here. i do want to read some of your letter, and the reason i've done that is because i've considered it in sentencing as an extension of your apology and whether i believe it or not.

so i want you to fear your words. i've already read some, and i'm not reading every line. let me begin. the federal judge went ballistic at sentencing since i plead guilty to the state cases. and spent 10% on the federal case and 90% on the state cases and civil suites. she gave me 60 years instead of 5 to 20 years. in parentheses, three consecutive 20-year sentences. i've pleaded guilty to possession of porn from 2004 to 12, 2004. four months. the prosecutor even admitted that i never belonged to any

porn sites, any chat rooms, was not on the dark web, and also they could not prove i viewed it. it was all believed, of course. i shared my electronics and i could not prove that, so for four months of porn possession from 2004 i was sentenced to 60 years. not proper, appropriate there. going down a few lines, what i did in the state cases was medical, not sexual. but because of the porn, i lost all support thus another reason for the state's guilty plea. let me move down further.

so i'm trying to avoid a trial to save the stress to this community, my family, the victims, yet look what is happening. it is wrong. down further. i was a good doctor. because my treatments worked and the patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised and came back over and over. and for family and friends to see me. the media convinced them that everything i do is wrong and bad. they feel i broke their trust.

hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. it is just a complete nightmare. the stories that are being fabricated to sensationalize this, then the ag would only accept my plea if i said what i did was not medical and was for my own pleasure. they forced me to say that or they were going to trial and not accepting the plea. i wanted to plead no contest. but the ag refused that. i was so manipulated by the ag and now -- and all i wanted was to minimize stress to everyone

like i wrote earlier. going down a little bit further. in addition with the federal case, my medical treatments with the olympic slash national gymnastic were discussed as part of the plea. the fbi investigated them in 2015 and found nothing substantial because it was medical. now they're seeking the media attention and financial rewards. would you like to withdraw your plea? >> no, your honor.

>> because you are guilty, aren't you? are you guilty, sir? >> i said my plea exactly. the new sign language has become treatment. these quotes, these air quotes, i will never see them dwen without thinking of you and your despicable acts. i don't care how they are used, i will always think of quotes and the word treatment. it was not treatment what you did. it was not medical. there is no medical evidence that was ever brought. when they case first came to me, and i told you this, and you apologized to the olympians and athletes, but i have five

children, two dogs. my children work with me. i work four jobs. i don't have much time for television. i don't watch sports. although last year i was a soccer coach, much to the laughter of my family. i didn't know anything about you, your name, or anything that was going on. so when i kept saying we're going to trial, here's the date, and then everyone wanted more time, i said, no, use the cut-off. then the cases were merged and i delayed it. i thought maybe there's a defense of medical treatment. why did i think that? because it's my job to be fair and impartial because also because my two brothers and my father are very well known and respected doctors. real doctors with real treatments and research.

dedicated to healing. i considered that in this case, but i have heard from your survivors now, that they trust doctors, like i trust the doctors in my family and the doctors i go to. but i still thought, well, there's a defense of medical. treatment. and there are changes in the medical community everyday. for the betterment. so up until the time you plead, i believed that maybe there was a defense here, despite the felony information. i was ready for trial. your counsel was ready for trial.

attorney general's office was ready for trial. you, sir, decided to plead because there was no medical treatment. you did this for your pleasure and your control. this letter which comes two months after your plea tells me that you have not yet owned what you did. that you still think that somehow you are right, that you are a doctor, that you're entitled, that you don't have to listen, and that you did treatment. i wouldn't send my dogs to you, sir. there's no treatment here. you finally told the truth. inaction is an action. silence is indifference.

justice requires action and a voice, that is what has happened here in this court. 168 buckets of water. were placed on your so-called match that got out of control. i also, like the attorney general, want to thank law enforcement for their investigation. but i also want to be the voice on behalf of the survivors who asks law enforcement to continue their fine work and to also include the federal government. there has to be a massive investigation as to why there was inaction. why there was silence. justice requires more than what i can do on this bench.

i want to also applaud all of the counsel and the attorney general's office. i want to also applaud defense counsel. you all have done fine work. you made me proud of our legal system. we all work together for the betterment of our community and that is law enforcement, prosecutors, defense counsel, investigators. there are accounts people. it is the only way our system works. we need this balance so all of you when i look at myself as lady justice, my arms are like this. they are balanced. prosecution, defense, they're balanced. it only starts to tip after

there's a plea and after i take into consideration everything that's happened. so i want everyone to understand, i've also done my homework. i always do. people versus webbalowski. i'm sure aslaughtered the name. i apologize. wacalwski. 286.634, a 2009 case. and in it, and i want to you clearly understand, it says, plainly the law does not limit the victims' impact statements to direct victims.

it doesn't say, and i have found nowhere that limits me from having you here all of your victims. as i said before when counsel came to me and said, we're not going to go to trial despite our court having already sent out 200 of the 8 wi00 juror request. and they told me their plea. and what i consider in lieu of trial, there was the agreement between us because i always, and they know it, they are familiar with me, let people speak. and i wanted all victims and we add discussion about which victims. and of course, there was an objective to one of them. i let it come in any way.

that was part of the plea that you entered into to allow the victim impact statements because after that discussion i know your lawyers as good as they are sat down with you and said, the judge is going to allow this. and what it comes down to is, i know it also because this was signed by the attorney general, by defendant and by defendant's counsel on november 22, 2017. aside from the letter that you

wrote a couple of months after your plea, which tells me you still don't get it, there's something i don't understand and i want to make clear. sir, you knew you had a problem. that is clear to me. you knew you had a problem for a very young age, even before you were a doctor. you could have taken yourself away from temptation. and you did not. but worse yet, there isn't a survivor who hasn't come in here and said how world renowned you were. i trust what they say. you could have gone anywhere in the world to be treated. you could have gone to any resort, any doctor place where

you could get treatment. in europe they have all sorts of hidden places for things like this. no one had to know and could you have found treatment. some help. taken some medicines. you would have done that if you had cancer. i know would you have. you're about self preservation. but you decided to not address what's inside you that caused this control urge. that causes you to be a sexual predator. so your urges escalated, and based on the numbers, that we all know go unreported, i can't even guess how many vulnerable children and families you actually assaulted.

your decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious. despicable. i don't have to add words because your survivors have said all of that. i don't want to repeat it. you can't give them back their innocence, their youth. you can't give a father back his life or one of your victims her life when she took it. can't give back the daughter to the mother, the father to a daughter. you played on everyone's vulnerability. i'm not vulnerable. not to you. not to other criminals that

podium. i swore to uphold the constitution and the law, and i am well trained. i know exactly what to do. and this time i'm going to do it, and i want you to know, as much as it was my honor and privilege to hear the sister survivors, it is my honor and privilege to sentence you. because, sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again. you have done nothing to control those urges. and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur. to those most vulnerable. now i am honoring the agreement. i'm also honoring what is

requested of me. i want you to know i'm not good at math. i have a cheat sheet. i'm only a lir. i know that you have a lot of education, physics and math. but i have a cheat sheet. it is my privilege on counts 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, and 18 and 24 to

sentence you to 40 years and when i look at my cheat sheet, 40 years, just so you know and you can count it off your calendar, is 480 months. the tail end, because i need to se send a message to the parole board in the event somehow god is gracious, and i know he is, and you survive the 60 years in federal court first and then you start on my 40 years, you've gone off the page here as to what i'm giving. my page only goes to 100 years. sir, i'm giving you 175 years, which is 2100 months. i just signed your death warrant.

i need everyone to be quiet. i still have contempt powers. i told you, i'm not nice. i find that you don't get it. that you're a danger. you remain a danger. i'm a judge who believes in life and rehabilitation when rehabilitation is possible. i have many defendants come back here and show me the great things they've done in their lives after probation, after parole. i don't find that's possible with you. so you will receive jail credit on counts 1, 2, 5, 10 and 18 of 369 days. on count 24, you will have 370 days jail credit. if you are ever out, which is doubtful, you would be required

to register to the michigan sex offenders registration and comply with all of the requirements of that act in addition to global position monitoring system you would wear a gps. you will pay restitution in the amount to be determined based on whatever amounts are submitted and your attorneys can ask me for restitution hearings. so that i can determine what it is for the victims. i am leaving restitution open as long as those victims have issues that can be medically documented. you will comply with dna testing and pay a $60 fee for that. i suspect that was already done. but you owe $60 back to the county for that. or law enforcement, whoever will

put it in the right pocket. you must submit to hiv testing and complete counseling associated with hiv and aids. you must waive confidentiality in test results and medical information obtained for this test to be released to the court. you will pay $476 in state cost, pay crime victims assessment of $130. does counsel address to wish court costs and fines? i don't know his financial state. >> judge, he doesn't have any money to pay court cost and fines. if the court want to impose it, the court can impose it. >> i'm not imposing court costs and fines. i don't know what he has or what he will get in the future. when it comes to the money, the county will survive one way or another. i'm also going to make recommendations to michigan department of corrections for

mental health treatment. health treatment. i understand he has some medical conditions and he should be allowed to take medicine for that. he should have individual and group counseling. treatment for sexual predators. whatever they allow. i'm also going to send a message. i'm not sure, but i believe i read the article, sir, that you were treating people in prison and you don't have a license. don't commit any more crimes. i don't you don't have any more lives to give but you can't be treating people. you're an doctor. you're not a doctor. so i'm not sure how that's happening. but i wanted to send that message. you have 21 days to appeal bp 10

days to request court-appointed counsel. >> your honor i have the notice of right to appeal for my client now. >> do you acknowledge it? >> yes, your honor. >> thank you. let me just say to the media, again, i'm just doing my job. i know you all want to talk to me. my secretary has informed me that i have a growing stack of reques reques requests from print media, from television, from magazines, from around the world literally. this story is not about me. it never was about me. i hope i have opened some doors. but you see i'm a little stupid because i thought everybody did what i did. and if they didn't, maybe they ought to. but i do this and have been doing it. and if you don't believe me, the keeper of my words is right by

my side. and lawyers who are hearing this are shaking their heads saying, yes, i waited too long as she lets everybody talk. sometimes people get upset. i don't care. i get paid the same. so as to the media who want to talk with me, i'm not going to be making any statements. i know that my office and i may have even, i don't know, a couple of weeks, after this is over, it is just not my story. after the appellate period runs with victims by my side to tell their stories, i might answer some more questions from what i said on the record. i don't know what more i could possibly say. but i'm not going to talk with any media person until after the

appeal period and even then, if you talk to me about this case, i will have a survivor with me, because it is their story. so i wanted everybody to hear that from me. i respect all of the media outlets. you have done just a fabulous job here. there hasn't been any upset by this, and i do believe in the first amendment. so i thank you all for being here because it is an important story for the survivors. as to today, i know that there are a lot of survivors, family members, husbands, friends, a lot of people in the courtroom. have you voices. you have voices. i'm going to leave the courtroom. defendant will leave the courtroom. the attorneys may stay. victims, family members,

survivors, you may stay in the courtroom and talk with media so you can have your own press conference right here. spur of the moment sometimes works out the best, doesn't it? again, i won't make a statement until after the appeal period and again, it there is any survivor that that point if somebody want to talk to me, i'm sure you will have your story, but if not, please give your names to the victims' advocate so i can contact you. please, media, please do not contact me on this story without a survivor. it is their story. i thank everybody in this case. sir, i hope somewhere, if you have heard everybody's words, and it really does resonate with

you, anything else for the record? >> nothing. >> no, your honor. >> all right. >> so the media has asked to stay here. with all those lovely people who may want to speak with you. thank you. that all for the record. >> all rise. >>. [ applause ] >> nbc's kate snow joins us now.

kate you've been covering this from the beginning. this was throwing the book at larry nassar. not by any of his defense not wanting to read the rest of his letter and basically giving him more than a century in jail. >> yeah, it is really remarkable scene, andrea. we just saw that judge take him on, one on one. she's been remarkable throughout the past week and a half. as you know, they've been hearing victims' statements. the judge allowed that to happen. the judge allowed all of the women who were gymnasts over the years, abused by larry nassar to come in and tell their painful personal stories. even this morning, andrea, three more of those victim testimonies. so to speak, this morning. people crying on the stand. the judge, throughout it all, encouraging them, and telling them, i believe you. and you heard her say that again during sentencing. you are the survivors. we need to listen to people like you. it is not about me, the judge said. it is about the women and you're

looking at one of them right now. you're looking at the gymnast who started everything here and was the first to speak out. but there are so many more than a hundred, i think at 156 now, andrea, women who have spoken publicly on the stand about the treatment that they received from larry nassar. believing some of them that it was appropriate medical treatment. not understanding as little girls that what he was doing was actually abusing them and touching them in places that he never should have. that's what you see play out here. he has been sentenced to up to 175 years for these counts. that's in addition to 60 years it that he's already been sentenced to for possessing child pornography. so andrea, he will never see the light of day again. i'm looking for his age. but i think he is in his 50s right now. as the judge said at one point, she just said, i am signing your death warrant today.

>> yeah. absolutely right, kate, he is 54 years old. she said to him, she is the daughter and sister of doctors. she said, you are not practicing medicine. and she said, you knew you add problem. you had a problem even in years earl rer and y earlier and you did not seek treatment. would you have sought treatment if you had cancer and you went on to do unspeakable things. she was devastating in her denunciation of him. and she made it clear, as you point out, that she welcomed and permitted all of these, more than 100 victims, whom she called survivors, to testify and said, you know, leave your pain here at one point to one of the witnesses. leave your pain here. you are strong. you are stronger than anyone else. and to point out, she is also a 20-year veteran of the michigan army national guard. this is one tough lady, this judge. and she said, i want you all to know that i believe in rehabilitation, she said to larry nassar, but not for you.

>> that's right. and as she said, andrea, it is not about her. it is about all of these survivors who have spoken out now. and again, he has admitted his guilt. he has plead guilty. he has been sentenced. so there's not a question any more about whether he did the things that they are alleging. some testimony or we heard this morning or for the past week and a half, andrea, have been how much they feared him. how much they feared saying something. some of the young women told their parent or told adults that they trusted and the adults frankly didn't believe them. and questioned the girls. and said, no, you can't be telling the truth. they were called liars some of them. and that's been difficult to listen to. there have been, one after the next, with tearful, tearful stories, about how damaged they are. because of what they endured back then and what they are going through now because andrea, you have to understand, some of these young women, until one came forward, and then the

next and the next, they didn't realize some of them that this had been abuse. they actually still thought, some of them, it had been a medical procedure he was doing. and then came to that, you know, realization you know, in their teen age girls or early 20s realizing that they man had abused them. and now they say they are living with, as you can imagine, all kind of mental health issues. the judge mentioned one suicide that was talked about. others who had suicidal thoughts. and this is an incredibly serious case. andrea, i want to mention one other facet here. you've heard throughout the previous week and half, a lot of the women talk about usa gymnastics, governing body of gymnastics and field the olympic team essentially, you heard a lot of talk about michigan state university. there's a protest planned on campus on friday this week, i think it is going to be really

interesting in the next few minutes to see what happens on the campus of michigan state. there are a lot of questions, a lot of allegations being made that the university knew and had reports of what was happening and covered those things up. the university said publicly th. there was never any attempt to cover up anything. but that's the next step here that's going to play out. >> absolutely. kate snow, these children who were abused and didn't even know it was happening to them. we'll be right back. it's time for your business of the week. houston business owner travis weaver is one of the lucky ones. had when hurricane harvey hit, he made the bold move to shut down his store. with zero foot traffic, he he focused on web sales making sure the business didn't fall victim to the storm too. for more, watch your business on msn msnbc.

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rejoining me now is national political reporters carol lee. justice and security analyst matt miller. and allen rosenstein, we were talking about these texts from the two fbi employees to each other and how one was significantly embarrassing or is being at least seized upon by republican critics of the mueller investigation buzz on the morning after donald trump was elected, he said to her, seems kind of e depressing i maybe it should be the first meeting of the secret society. >> this is what we heard the cham of the oversight committee in the senate talking a lot about. without knowing the full context. nbc obtained that text exchange

between the two. the context is there are 384 pages of information that have been turned over to the congressional e committees. but we don't have the full context. what i have been told by sources who have viewed all of these exchanges is that while that's the only specific reference to a secret society, there are others that allude to the secret meetings between officials. nunez is the one who asked for these documents and that's what he called investigating the investigators. democrat cans are saying this is undermining mueller. >> there is an issue. i also want to talk to you about this and about the extraordinary revolution that the president when he first met andrew mccabe asked hill who he voted for. now we are reporting that he said to the president i did not vote in the 2016 election in the general election. that is the fact. he did not vote. but president had for the year previous been concerned about andrew mccabe.

this was in his gun sights because andrew mccabe's wife in 2015 voted with support from clinton campaign money through terri, then the governor of virginia rab as a democrat for state legislative position. >> it's an astonishing thing to ask andrew mccabe. it'ses a to beishing in any context and especially in this context. remember when this occurred. this was when andrew was interviewing for the job of acting fbi director. and potentially as a candidate for the full-time fbi director. what the president was doing was doing the same thing he did with jim comey which was letting know i expect you to be loyal to me, not to the constitution or the rule of law, but to me. and what we're seeing from the president to nunez to others in congress is this new attack at the fbi that really crosses the line from typical partisan politics over to what is dishonorable.

you have seen attacks that they know the charges are false with no regard to the careers of long-time public servant who is have risked their lives and reputations to save national security with no regard to the long-term reputation and effects on these institutions. all to subvert an investigation into whether a foreign country subverted our democracy. it's a low moment for the country. it's rock bottom for the republican party that professes to support law enforcement. >> let's talk as former u.s. attorney about this precedent. the president asking the new fbi director about how he voted and how this could fit into what mueller is building from what we know of whom he is interviewing a potential obstruction case. >> it really lends itself to this idea of a pattern of behavior in the same way that he asked jim comey for his loyalty

and asking someone how they voted is a question of whose team are you on. and i think one of the things robert mueller, one of his challenges is proving corrupt intent. one of the ways you can do that is by looking at the totality of the surks and demonstrating a pattern of behavior could help him build that corrupt intent evidence he needs. >> and as a former justice department official. how alarming would this g b to the justice department including this pressure placed on jeff sessions. >> i think it would be incredibly alarming. particularly with regard to moral. one of the reasons folks sign up to work in the justice department in the fbi and those kinds of institutions is because they think they are doing the right thing. they do that despite a difficult job, long hours and sometimes danger. to have this kind of attack by the president and abedded sometimes by senior department

leadership really just underscores the degree of damage that the president is doing to the institution. >> carol lee, tr your reporting, now that we have this whole controversy over the text messages, the missing text messages from five months, is this potentially going to undermine the results of the probe because there's going to be a huge republican attack on any results. >> there's actual mueller probe and there's pat l for public opinion that the president has been trying to win for some time. we saw a little by the of this earlier on with the intelligence community. it shifted over to the law enforcement and that's been a sustained effort. >> mike, this investigation, if

you can in ten seconds, where's the congressional probe go? >> they are focusing much more on the conduct of the justice department, not what we want, but democrats are saying they want to see investigated which is russian interference in our election. >> that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. david is up next. >> good afternoon from new york. path of destruction, the theme of a flurry of headlines about the russia investigation. the latest shows a big meeting cob sealed by michael flynn and several meetings revealed by robert mueller and members of president trump's inner circle. plus sole mates, the congressman said he did not harass his younger female aid. he saw her as his soul mate. now the big question is will he still run for reelection. and you don't get it. that's the message from a judge to the gymnastics coach accused by more than