we will be back next week from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. don't miss "headliners," michael flynn. a look at the once decorated general and pivotal player in the russia investigation. for now, good night from washington. president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn has just pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the fbi. >> michael flynn, donald trump's national security adviser for just 24 days, is pledging full cooperation with the president's antagonist, special counsel robert mueller. >> today's news may change the calculus for the president legally and politically. >> what does flynn know about the russian investigation? >> he has information about president trump. he has information about the former campaign manager paul

manafort, maybe about jared kushner and donald trump junior. >> a former lieutenant general. >> i thought to myself, this is the best intel officer i ever met. >> could he now implicate his commander in chief? >> was trump asking comey to move past the flynn investigation because he was being loyal to flynn or is it because there's something that flynn knows? >> from battlefield to political mine field, the complicated journey the michael flynn. >> he goes from the pinnacle of helping defeat our enemy, now he is mired in this political maelstrom that we don't know how it's going to end. >> this is the president speaking. i hope you can see your way

clear to letting this go to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go. now those are his exact words, is that correct? >> correct. >> with the lease of comey's "a higher loyalty," michael flynn is back in the headlines. >> fewer than ten days into his presidency, donald trump told comey he had, quote, serious reservations about mike flynn's judgement. >> less than a year after comey writes the memo, a bombshell. >> former national security adviser pleading guilty in a washington courtroom to giving false statements to the fbi. >> the plea deal reveals flynn's admission of discussions he had with the russian ambassador before trump's swearing in, which could have undermined existing foreign policy. his choice to cooperate outweighs loyalty to his commander in chief, a difficult

decision for a complex military man. >> ferociously intelligent. very confident guy. very blunt in his manner. >> frankly, for my entire life, it's been about what's best for this country. >> as a three star lieutenant general during the war on terror, flynn is considered by many in national security circles to be one of the greatest intelligence officers of his generation. >> he transformed american military intelligence. so that when we went into battle against al qaeda and taliban, we won. >> general flynn, revolutionized intelligence in the field environment. i mean, he saved thousands of lives. with what he did. >> despite flynn's military successes, most people are familiar with him through his

relationship with one man. >> general flynn, who is a phenomenal man. we love our general flynn. we want tough and we want smart. he is both. >> they had a lot of same beliefs. i'm sure mike flynn realized early on that trump shares my opinions. >> at the 2016 republican national convention, michael flynn delivers an impassioned speech in support of trump. >> and with donald trump in the white house, we will make america great again. we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. >> flynn's support pays off when donald trump is elected president. >> the trump transition team pushed back hard over reports the cia has concluded that russia actually intervened in the u.s. presidential election to help trump win. >> amidst evidence that russia

tampered with the election -- >> it was a threat to our democracy. that's a big deal. a set of allegations the trump campaign was involved in that effort and was working with the russians and the russians were sort of trying to hurt hillary clinton and help donald trump. >> there's a continuing drumbeat of questions about michael flynn and the russians. >> michael flynn discussed sanctions with russian envoy before trump took office. >> several phone calls to russia's ambassador to the united states. >> considering flynn's remarkable service to the country, it all begs the question, how did a military hero end up in one of the biggest national security scandals in american history? >> the answers to these questions are going to be a part of mike flynn's legacy. >> long before he plays a central role in the trump russian affair, michael thomas flynn has masted the art of standing out in a crowd. he is born in 1958, the sixth of

sergeant first class charles and helen flynn's growing family. >> he is a real small town rhode island guy. a big family man. very close to the members of his family. he was one of nine children in a one bathroom house. >> the all american flynny as michael is known to his friends has a dark side. >> mike got into trouble when he was a kid. we would have called him a juvenile delinquent when he was a teenager. >> in fact, the self-described nasty tough kid bent on breaking rules is arrested. flynn reflects on this period of his life in an audio book narrati narration. >> unlawful activity be me and two of my teenage friends would eventually lead to my arrest. >> the judge said to him, you know, you got a choice to make. you can have the life or you can have jail.

>> the choice that michael flynn makes will not only set the course for his future, it will play a role in america's. coming up -- >> special operations, petraeus and the senior star and flynn in intelligence. these guys are like jedi knights in training. lightening. ♪ you don't like my lasagna? no, it's good. -hmm. -oh. huh. [ both laugh ] here, blow. blow on it. you see it, right? is there a draft in here? i'm telling you, it's so easy to get home insurance on progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. hello. give me an hour inou tanning room 3. cheers!arents. that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles.

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important. i never thought in my wildest imagination as a kid growing up in rhode island, small town, that i would be in this place today. >> michael flynn's teenage arrest is a wake-up call. he is not convicted of a crime. a year's probation and rotc scholarship to the university of rhode island and marriage to his high school sweetheart turn his life around. >> it's a very good marriage. she's terrific, very smart, very

lively, very creative. >> he entered the army as an intelligence officer specializing in electronic warfare. in the early 1980s, ronald reagan is president. the cold war is still raging between the united states and the soviet union. a communist cue prompts an invasion. >> it may have been one of the last gasps. >> it is a combat zone. second lieutenant michael flynn is determined to deploy there with or without orders. >> you saw this thing going on. couldn't bear being left out. showed up athe airplane, climbed on the fir available plane.otaged his career by doing so but for his commanding officer as he recalls. >> he could have relieved me on

the spot. blessedly, he looked again and saw something he liked. had it not been for his patience and vision and extraordinary leadership under some difficult pressure, i probably would be renting surf boards at second beach in rhode island. >> on the island, flynn leads a platoon engaged in electronic warfare, tapping into enemy communication systems and providing intelligence for army, navy and air force operations. >> the technology in use then was maps on paper with pins. >> the intel community along with our ability to do joint operations was pathetic. you can't ad hoc these. you can't pull together this and get it to operate at the last minute. a lot of lessons came out of it. >> they are lessons flynn puts to use in the years that follow. he advanced through promotions

to the rank of major in 1994. soon after, he is posted to the joint readiness training center at fort polk, louisiana. >> joint readiness is the various elements of the military working together. this showed him the importance of cooperation with other branchs of the armed forces. and what the differences were. >> it's a place of strategic study which can bring your thoughts down to the tactical level. >> it's here that flynn first meets two men with whom he will be associated during the wars to come. then colonel stanley mccrystal and david petraeus. >> could you imagine that. a colonel mccrystal and petraeus. they are like jedi knights in training. >> they are the best we ever fielded, bar none. the least amount of ego and self-serving action. the most incredible history. they have all grown up in combat operations.

>> this is the level where all of these combat doctrines, how you fight a fute war, would have been developed. early 1990s is a very significant point. >> combat is changing. the cold war is over. a new stateless enemy is emerging. prior to flynn's arrival at fort polk, al qaeda sets off a truck bomb in the underground garage of the world trade center. flynn, mccrystal and petraeus recognize the new threat. >> mccrystal in special operations, petraeus in the senior staff and flynn in intelligence, these are guys who can talk about their strategy and then bring them right out into the field and practice these things. >> what major michael flynn is preparing for becomes apparent as the new century downs bringing changes and placing him at the center of them. >> it's the worst attack on

america in american history. >> make no mistake, the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> coming up -- >> this really made him famous and rocketed him to the top of the list of people you think about when you think of intelligence officers. at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. in the 2018 lexusxus saes and es hybrid.standard lease the 2018 es 350 for $399/month for 36 months.

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on my orders, the united states military has begun strikes against al qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the taliban regime in afghanistan. >> 18 months into the afghanistan war, the united states-led coalition forces invade iraq. they topple saddam hussein's regime. then the difficult part. >> we made our unbelievable errors in judgment, starting with destroy the iraqi security services. send them home with their training, with their guns, with

anger that they weren't going to get a paid salary, they won't have a retirement system. >> then everybody with a gun disappeared. then 30 days later showed back up in the middle of the night, started shooting, sniping, assassinating soldiers. we had a terrorist group, al qaeda in iraq, spring up out of nowhere. >> new information on how al qaeda may be infiltrating iraq and establishing a staging ground for more attacks on americans. >> to evaluate how to meet and defeat this new enemy, in 2004 flynn examines strategy and operations in iraq and afghanistan with general stanley mccrystal, commander of jsoc, joint special operations command. >> mike flynn looked at the way special operations were pursuing, capturing and killing high value targets. he thought it didn't make sense. >> he said, look, we're only doing a fraction of what we should be doing. we need more, much more.

more intelligence, more people, more understanding. >> during the next two years, flynn undertakes the reinvention of how american forces gather, analyze and execute in combat. >> you kill one of these guys, they are replacement. you have to go after the information first. if that means trying to keep the person alive and taking more risk, he was willing to do that. >> flynn focuses operations on retrieving information from captured insurgents. he is hands on. often interrogating prisoners himself. >> he wanted to talk to the key leaders in al qaeda. he says that to do good intelligence against this enemy, you have to be able to get inside his head. so you have to see what is the world look like from inside the head of a terrorist. >> this was critical. that's another component of intelligence, which is the human aspect, the human terrain of

understanding your opposition. general flynn did that very, very well. >> flynn tackles the critical turnaround time it takes to analyze intel and put it to use. >> he set up a system where they were analyzing it instantaneously. tt would lead them one number to the next house and to the next house. they would repeat that process. they we doing in some cases dozens of raids per night and rolling up networks of insurgents in a devastating and effective way. >> within two years, flynn and mccrystal transform jsoc and fuse it with every aspect of the american global security system. >> they put together the other pieces. army, navy, air force people totally out of sight who could execute rapidly. they had direct access to the president of the united states, setting secretary of defense, secretary of state. they were integrated with the cia. mccrystal and flynn created a

counter terrorist organization that were the most dangerous people on the face of the earth. >> in june 2006, jsoc gets intel on the most wanted jihadist in iraq. >> this was the head of al qaeda in iraq. he was carrying out the kind of attacks that were so horrific that even al qaeda was criticizing him, killing other muslims, killing women and children. he was really public enemy number one for the u.s. at the time. they caught up to him. >> he is dead. the terrorist responsible for horrific acts of violence in iraq from beheadings to car bombings was killed by u.s. military forces in an air attack on a safe house near baghdad. >> that was a great achievement of mike flynn in iraq. >> the addition of thousands more troops during the bush administration's surge helped bring more areas of iraq under control. within a year, al qaeda in iraq

is crippled. >> mccrystal and flynn tackled the problem. they are credited with turning around the situation in iraq. >> the following year, mccrystal takes command of nato's international security assistance form and flynn joins him there as deputy chief of staff for intelligence. >> afghanistan is a completely different dynamic. it is literally a semi-medieval place in which tribal politics and street level retail behaviors dominate everything. these are the people who alexander the great had trouble with. >> the hard part was getting a grip on who are they, where are they, the bad guys. >> for a war in its eighth year, it appear to flynn that american forces are disadvantaged. >> we weren't winning. the taliban was persisting. we were not progressing towards an afghanistan that could stand on its own.

>> flynn feels fault lies with washington, not just kabul. >> his critique is that obama does not see that war, does not see us involved in a global conflict and, therefore, is not focused on designing a strategy that will enable us to win that war. >> once again, skirting standard procedure, flynn avoids military oversight and uses a washington think tank to public fixing intel, the paper is a scathing 2010 critique of the obama administration's approach to intelligence in afghanistan. it sends a lightning bolt through the national security community. >> it was bitterly critical. it bluntly said, look, the intelligence community does not understand key things about afghanistan, about how the tribal system works. it was remarkable, because you rarely see that kind of candid analysis from somebody in the government, in a current job.

>> i think he said to himself, if i try and public this through one of the military publications, it will never see print. it will be watered down to nothing. i was glad he did it. he took a lot of guff. >> in july, general mccrystal was replaced by general david petraeus, who brings in his own staff, including a director of intelligence. suddenly, michael flynn is no longer the top intelligence officer in afghanistan. >> when he was working for stan mccrystal, he had someone above him who appreciated his unconventionality or protected him against himself. >> i remember thinking, what's going to happen to flynn? what job is he going to get? >> coming up -- >> lock her up. that's right. that's right. lock her up. >> it was unseemly and it made all of us in uniform extremely uncomfortable. military guys don't do that. t.

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mike pompeo is facing an uncertain path to confirmation. they are expected to vote on his nomination for secretary of state monday. right now, pompeo lacks the necessary support from that panel. nbc news confirming epa chief scott pruitt did meet last year with a washington lobbyist whose wife rented hum ee eed him a lu for $50 a night. that contradicts statements from pruitt denying a meeting took place. is crisis becoming the norm? >> yeah. honestly, name a place around the world and i will tell you a little bit about it. >> michael flynn shocked washington in 2010 with his scathing critique of the afghanistan policy. despite his criticism, two years

later, obama appoints flynn director of the defense intelligence agency. >> myself and other people were surprised that he got the job, just because he has a different personality. wasn't sure how that would fit in in the manager role. >> the battlefield officer now overseeing a massive organization that plans, manages and executes military intelligence operations. as director the dia, flynn is willing to butt heads with the obama administration. >> something happened during his tenure at dia which is his obsession with isis and kind of a swing to a more extreme version of anti-terrorism. he believed it was a clash of civilization. >> mike flynn was running around town going, i just learned about this new group called isis. they are coming to get us. we're in danger. this would be badly received by the obama team.

they kept telling him to shut up. stop saying that. we're trying to get out of office with a political legacy that this is a win. we killed bin laden. >> flynn is invited by russia in 2013 to be the first american military official to visit. >> i think he would look at the russians, the gru, putin, and said these guys are fearful of sunni and al qaeda fighters also. i guess an enemy of my enemy is my friend. >> a really well-trained intelligence officer would be thinking why. why are you inviting me here? what is the purpose of this? you have to assume that there is always an nefarious reason. >> back in washington, there are growing concerns inside the dia about flynn's views. >> there came this phrase that people around him used called flynn facts.

which were things he would say that just didn't hold up. for example, he said that hezbollah killed more americans than al qaeda. it's not true. it's something that he believed. i knew a special forces sergeant major who knows him personally who was there. he started saying, some of the things that this guy thinks about the rest of the world are a little screwy. >> as flynn expresses in his book, he also believes that the united states is opposed by an evil coalition of countries, including china, russia, north korea, syria, cuba, venezuela, bolivia, nicaragua, with iran being the central player. >> when general flynn says iran is the linchpin of the global alliance, he means several things. first, iran is the world's greatest sponsor of terrorism. also, iran drives a lot of the actions of the enemy alliance.

why is russia in syria today? because the iranians went and asked them. >> he views iran as part of a global islamist conspiracy that he likens to fascism. >> regardless of flynn's views, his genius on the battlefield doesn't translate into affeeffee management of a federal bureaucracy. >> it was going so badly at the dia. he developed so many enemies within the organization. somebody said the organization developed antibodies against flynn. eventually, this percolated to james clapper, the director, and they realized they had a problem. >> two years into his three-year term, clapper and vickers pull the plug on flynn. >> they went to flynn and said, you are going to serve your two years and then you are going to retire. he was deeply wounded by that. really bitter and upset.

>> someone in the army that gets that high, they are very ambitious. they are a workaholic. the job is their entire life. now all of that is taken out from under him. so, yeah, he was livid, livid. >> for the first time in 33 years, michael flynn is a civilian. >> he wasn't an experienced businessman. i know he wanted to be like a lot of the people in washington that leave the military and go out and make a lot of money. >> he forces a security consulting firm. the flynn intel group. the following year begins cultivating clients and joins the ranks of former military officials on the pd speaker circuit. controversy rears its head. his appearance at the 2015 tenth anniversary celebration of rt, russia today, a propaganda arm of the kremlin, raises eyebrows. >> president obama seems to think he is containing isis.

>> i know he said that. i disagree with that. >> he gave an interview to a russia propaganda outlet. he stood and applauded putin's speech. it would emerge later was that he was paid, his company was paid some $45,000. >> i'm sure he would never would be disloyal to the united states for any reason. i think the optics of it were terrible and it was a mistake in judgment. mostly, you are going to play a role in something the russians are trying to achieve. >> it will eventually raise questions for intelligence watchers about the russian's objective regarding flynn. back in the united states, flynn takes to social media to air his increasingly extreme views about the muslim world. he authors an article saying he was fired for calling enemy

insurgents radical islamists. >> no one i have talked to has heard of him complaining while he was at dia that he was in an argument with the administration over the use of the term islamic extremism. that emerged later in his mind. it became a narrative for why he was fired. >> people that get fired end up hating the guy that fired them period. i have watched that inside the army and civilian business world. it's 100% true. >> joining us now, general michael flynn. >> around the same time, the campaign for the 2016 presidential election is heating up. >> i advise a couple of the candidates. that's kind of what -- >> on your knowledge. >> one stands out from the pack. >> we have a president that won't use the term radical, right? he dsn't know radical islamic terrorism. he won't even talk about it. >> he saw a kindred spirit in

trump. one of donald trump's central themes was the obama administration is not telling the truth. they won't utter the phrase islamic extremism and i will. >> they shared this pa paranoid thinking. >> during the campaign, flynn gives several speeches for trump. >> biggest problem with donald trump is he tells the truth. >> it's the speech he gives in july 2016, at the republican national convention, that disturbs many. >> lock her up. lock her up. you guys are good. damn right. exactly right. there's nothing wrong with that. we're saying that because if i -- a guy who knows this

business, if i did a tenth -- a tenth of what she did, i would be in jail today. >> it was a fire and brimstone kind of speech that really shocked a lot of people who thought they knew mike flynn and served with mike flynn. this was not the mike flynn that they knew. >> at that point, something slipped and he became an enemy of the administration. an enemy of secretary clinton who, by the way, had been extremely supportive of jsoc a their mission. >> he really, really viscerally hated hillary clinton. and he really believed a lot of the conspiracies. >> not long after trump secures the nomination, wikileaks dumps thousands of e-mails. it becomes clear who originately hacked the data.

>> u.s. officials say they have come from in russia. >> hacked by russia and published by kick wi lewikileak >> michael flynn will find himself at the center of not only a political hurricane, but an epic national security threat. coming up -- >> mike flynn is potentially one of the key witnesses into the investigation of what happened in the 2016 election. this is the ocean. just listen. (vo) there's so much we want to show her. we needed a car that would last long enough to see it all. (avo) subaru outback. ninety eight percent are still on the road after 10 years. come on mom, let's go! want in on the secret take the olay 28 day challenge. millions of real women see results starting day 1.

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he would rather have a puppet as president. >> no puppet. >> it's pretty clear -- >> you are the puppet. >> it's an election year like no other in modern times. emerging amidst the din and spectacle of the 2016

trump/clinton contest, is the growing awareness of an attack on the country. in september, congressional leaders are briefed about the cia's belief that russia is hacking the election. >> it was the first time that a foreign adversary, in this case probably our greatest strategic adversary, not only hacked but then weaponized the information to use it to advantage one candidate and hinder another. that was unprecedented. it was an unprecedented assault on our democracy. >> it's not only foreign powers who are weaponizing information, websites like danger & play pushed false conspiracy theories about hillary clinton's campaign which flynn and his son promote in their twitter feeds. >> pizzagate was a made up right wing scandal of a pizza parlor in norther washington, d.c. it was asserted the clinton family was running a child sex

slavery ring in the basement. it culminated in a gunman entering that place, shooting it up and then finding the place not only did not have slaves, it didn't even have a basement. >> he was just saying vy fringe-like things. his friends were trying to warn him that he was going too far, he was disgracing himself, he was disgracing the uniform that he wore for so many years. >> donald trump is elected president november 8. on election day, flynn makes a surprising move, publishing an op-ed in "the hill." it's not about donald trump or american politics. it urges support of turkey's hardline president erdogan. >> it was extraordinary. it ran on election day and in t contradicted things flynn said in the past. it read like a document not written by mike flynn but

written by somebody else. >> "the new york times" later reveals that flynn had been hired as a lobbyist by a company headed by a turkish businessman. >> i called the businessman. i asked him approximately how much he was paying flynn. he said it was around $100,000. it has emerged that flynn's group was paid more than half a million dollars. >> in fact, though it's registered as a dutch company, its owner is connected to the turkish government. >> michael flynn was supposed to be providing unbiased advice to president trump and to his broader campaign. he was being paid by interests within the turkish government that clearly had a policy preference when it came to united states policy. >> he was so dismissive and angry at generals who sell their stars. that's who he told me. that how could they trade on

their career service and go out and use their stars to make money. and he was doing the same thing. >> soon after the election, president-elect trump visits president obama in the oval office for a private meeting. >> president obama warned donald trump not to hire mike flynn. obama had concerns about flynn's temperament and his judgment. >> one week later, donald trump ignores obama's warning and names michael flynn his national security adviser. flynn's now subject to the strong legal and ethical guidelines of a white house appointment. his situation is complicated by a series of actions taken. >> all while he was advising the man who would become the president of the united states. althrough the campaign. >> he was earning money from enties, one of which was on behalf of the government of turkey, another was a russian cyber security company that's

under scrutiny, another was an israeli cyber security company, another was rt. >> he later registers as a foreign agent for representing the interests of the turkish government. the department of justice notifies flynn that his work as a lobbyist is under investigation. news he doesn't share with the trump administration. ultimately, in addition to the cia, the fbi, nsa and office of the director of national intelligence conclude russia hacked the election. on december 29, obama issues his response to moscow. >> barack obama decided that he would levy sanctions against the russians. >> generally, it was expected that the russians would do a tit for tat. >> surprisingly, the next day vladimir putin makes a statement that he is not going to retaliate for the sanctions. >> it was a shock to russia

watchers, that's for sure. >> what the public doesn't know the day sanctions were announced, michael flynn spoke with the russian ambassador on the phone. while the public is not aware of flynn's contact with kislyak, the fbi is. >> the fbi had intercepted some of the conversations, had transcripts of the conversations. >> of all the people in the world who should have known that that call was being monitored, it would have been michael flynn. >> "the washington post" breaks the story of the phone contact between flynn and kislyak on january 12, 2017. three days later, pence denies flynn discussed sanctions. >> i talked to general flynn about that conversation. they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states' decision to expel diplomats or impose a censure against russia. >> with inauguration day on the

horizon, storm clouds of suspicion about collusion with russia are gathering over trump tower. michael flynn is the lightning rod. coming up -- >> i find it impossible to believe that candidate trump and then president trump wasn't fully aware of the contacts that mike flynn was making with the russian ambassador. -oh! -very nice. now i'm turning into my dad. i text in full sentences. i refer to every child as chief. this hat was free. what am i supposed to do, not wear it? next thing you know, i'm telling strangers defense wins championships. -well, it does. -right? why is the door open? are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood? at least i bundled home and auto on an internet website, progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. i mean, why would i replace this? it's not broken. i mean, why would i replace this? fthere's flonase sensimist.f up around pets. it relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't.

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and teaches them new things. every year, comcast employees and their families come together on comcast cares day to give back. it's a celebration of their year-long commitment to their communities. what do i want to be? i want to be someone who cares. amidcontinuing concerns about the impact of russias influence on the 2016 election. donald trump is inaugurated as the 45th president of the united states. on january 20, 2017. two days later michael flynn accepts the most public position of his career.

national security adviser. after a lifetime of covert intelligence work. >> the national skurlt adviser is supposed to run a process and be an honest broker to get information to the president chl making sure the president hears from all stake holders. >> two days after flynn has been on the job the fbi interviews him at the white house about his december 29th phone contact with russian ambassador kislyak. of which they have secret recordings. >> general flynn makes fife phone calls to the russian ambassador and the united states. >> from my experience in the foreign intelligence collection world, five communications like that on the same day. are not just one message. it's a series of negotiations. >> what flynn does or does not tell the fbi. to alert the white house counsel

don mcgahn on january 26. >> she came to white house with deep concerns about michael flynn. >> yates later testifies s's troubled by the disconnect about how flynn describes the calls to pence. vs. the fbi recording of them. >> so what you're saying is that general flynn lied to the vice president. >> that's certainly how it appeared yes. >> she thought mike em flynn was subject to blackmail. because he hadn't told the truth about meetings with the russians. russians knew that. >> you don't want him compromised with the russians. >> there's no apparent response from the white house concerning flynn. president trump fires sally yates on january 31. for refusing to defend his executive order on immigration. nine days later the "washington post" lifts the vail on flynn talks with kislyak.

>> the "washington post" just posted this national security adviser discussed sanctions with russian envoy before trump took office. despite denials. >> i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. what report is that? >> on the morning of february 13, the administration publicly supports flynn. >> he does enjoy the full confidence of the president. >> later that same evening the that support collapses. >> breaking news tonight. confirms donald tlump national security advise heas resigned. >> michael flynn served the shortest s shortest tenure in history. >> the congress memos created by james comey. >> one day before michael flynn was fired. reince priebus asked comey do you guys wiretapping flynn essentially with a fisa warrant? a secret national security

warrant. >> in reaction to the memos president trump defends flynn. tweeting. his life can be totally destroyed while james comey can leak and lie and make lots of money from a third rate book that never should have been written. flynn's resignation in 2017 doesn't end the fbi's investigation. a fact according to to the director president trump confronts him with the next day. >> comey is at the white house more a meeting. trump kicks everyone out of the room and tells him flynn didn't do anything wrong. flynn is a good guy. i need you to move passed and not do this investigation. >> in a move that send shock waves through washington. president trump fires james comey. >> there's a lot of questions about this we don't understand. >> was trump asking comey to move passed the flynn investigation because he was being loyal to flynn?

or because there's something flynn knows and more investigating o of that could reveal things about the administration or about trump or about the russians. >> the next month through a letter from his lawyer. michael flynn offers to provide clarity on one condition. >> his lawyer writes an extraordinary public letter. essentially. where he dangles his client. and says milk flynn has a story to tell and he'll tell that in exchange for immunity. it was directed at congress. but a message for the justice department. i'm looking for a deal. in exchange of him telling what he knows about the key question. did the trump campaign collude with the russians. >> michael flynn pleads guilty on december 1 to lying to the fbi about conversations he had with the russian ambassador. the previous year. regarding sanctions and a un resolution. >> this is somebody who was

close to the president throughout the campaign. and the transition. and then in the white house. nobody cuts a deal like this unless they have something to deliver on somebody who is considered a bigger fish. >> he commits to cooperating with special counsel robert mueller investigation in the possib collusion. and preleases a statement to the public. >> my guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel reflected a decision i made in the best interest of my family and of our country. i accept full responsibility for my actions. >> flynn's commitment to working with mueller maybe the tipping pointd point in the trump russia investigation. >> robert mueller is inside the white house. michael flynn was the key that opened up the gates and it's very clear he didn't act alone. >> former trump associate george papadopoulos and rick gates are

cooperating. and paul manafort faces serious charges. according to to a "new york times" report, in 2017, then trump attorney john doud floated the prospect of a presidential pardon for michael flynn. he denies the claim. until the investigation uncovers the entire truth surrounding russia's involvement in the election. will michael flynn be remembered for military success or his role in an international political scandal? >> he's one of the most competent military officers during the entire war on terrorism. as he got wrapped up in an intervise gone bad. >> for one reason or another he went down the wrong path. and was as a result humiliated. >> here's a man who devoted his life to his country. but at the same time there are a number of important questions about what he did in his short

tenure as national security adviser involving the russias. >> is he the hero of the story? i hope he sits down and says i'm a u.s. fighting man. and i will live by the code and creed. duty, honor, country. first. and above all. and he tells the absolute truth and it is checkable, verifiable. and comes out of this with honor in tact. comey's book is out. >> comey says the president lives in a cocoon of reality. >> he's a washington insider.