this morning, former national security advisor michael flynn will be sentenced for lying to the fbi. it comes just a day after two of his ex-associated were charged. congress is inching closer to a government shutdown. republicans and democrats are stuck in a stalemate over president trump's demand for 5 billion in border wall funding. james comey slams republicans for not standing up to president trump, but the white house is hitting back at his comments. ♪ good morning. it's tuesday, december 18th.

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. a judge will sentence michael flynn in washington this morning just hours after the special counsel under a court order released a redacted version of the fbi's memo about flynn's january 2017 interview. flynn describes multiple discussions with sergei kiy kis. flynn also described kislyak texting him to arrange a call after the obama era level sanctions against russia. flynn was on vacation at the time and said he didn't remember discussing sanctions. but if he did, he said he would not have asked kislyak, quote, don't do something. flynn admitted that he had conferred with another presidential transition official who was with other team members at mar-a-lago florida about what to communicate before speaking

to kislyak, that he then requested russia not escalate in response to the sanctions when talking to kislyak and that after he reported back the s substance of the call to officials at mar-a-lago. >> two of michael flynn's business soassociated have been charged. a cofounder of the flynn intel group and a turkish national were charged monday with conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government shutdown. kian also served on president trump's transition team in the division related to the office of the director of national intelligence. federal prosecutors said the scheme tasrgeted the removal ofa

turkish clerk living in the united states. kian and flynn held weekly calls with their occturkish contact. flynn, who is not charged with illegally lobbying in this new indictment, even published an op-ed on election day 2016 attacking gulen as an extremist without disclosing his own business ties. >> fox news analyst andrew napolitano is laying out quite a scenario, suggesting that the president, who's been identified in open court as individual 1 could already be indicted for directing cohen to break election law by paying off two women to keep his alleged affairs secret. >> there's ample evidence. this doesn't require too much analysis to indict the president. the question is do they want to do it.

the doj has three opinions on this. two say you can't indict a sitting president, one says you can. but all three address the problem of what do you do when the statute of limitations is about to expire. all three agree in that circumstance you indict in secret, keep the indictment sealed and release it when they get out of office. you can't let a person go scot-free because they're in the white house. >> he may already been an indicted coconspirator. >> he could be, but we don't know because the indictment would be sealed. president trump's demand for border wall funding is creating its own wall between republicans and democrats when it comes to striking a deal. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: washington seems no closer to a christmas compromise. >> well, i don't know. we're waiting on instructions from the white house.

>> reporter: stuck in a shutdown stalemate over border wall money, there's plenty of talk about a potential deal, but nothing firm yet. >> there are not the votes for wall in the house or the senate. he is not going to get the wall in any form. >> reporter: democrats are refusing to give in to the president's demand for 5 billion dollar for a wall he initially promised mexico would pay for. >> senator schumer better stop being the grinch in this week regarding the shutdown. >> we're going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration. >> reporter: a partial shutdown after friday would affect more than a dozen agencies. more than 400,000 federal workers would have to work without getting paid. after a second closed-door interview with congressional

lawmakers yesterday, former fbi director james comey criticized the republican party for not speaking out about president trump's treatment of the fbi. >> so another day of hillary clinton's e-mails and the steele dossier, this while the president of the united states is lying about the fbi, attacking the fbi and attacking the rule of law in this country. how does that make any sense at all? republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters and the truth matters. where are those republicans today? at some point, someone has to stand up and in the face of fear of fox news, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country and not slink into requirement, but stand up and speak the truth. think of what's happened in the republican party.

they're up here attacking the fbi's investigation of a guy who plead guilty to lying to the fbi. he should have been warned, you shouldn't lie. he should have been told he could have a lawyer. city i'm very proud of the way the fbi conducted itself,. this is the president of the united states calling a witness who is cooperated with his own justice department a rat. say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up. this is not about republicans and democrats. this is about what does it mean to be an american. >> the white house is responding to comey's comments. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders tweeting this, republicans should stand up to comey and his tremendous corruption from the fake hillary clinton investigation to lying and leaking to fisa abuse and a list too long to name the president did the country for a service by firing him and

exposing him for the shameless fraud he is. joining us now, zeke miller. let's pick up on that point, those are fighting words indeed. we just heard james comey hitting republicans for not speaking out against president trump's treatment of the fbi. do you get a sense this is a fight the white house wants? the president has always relished having somebody to go up against. is this the right fight for the white house to take on? >> this isn't necessarily one that they were looking for, but this is one that came to their doorstep yesterday and one they are happy taking up. certainly they believe that james comey is a powerful foil for the president. he's somebody that every time he goes out and criticizes the president like we saw yesterday, that ultimately discredits the agency that he once led, that criticism by a former fbi director undermines the entire fbi, in their view. as the white house prepares for

this critical moment of the mueller investigation coming to a head as the president watches indictments against many of his allies and those of his broader political circle come down, it's something they can use as they worry about this investigation getting closer to the oval office. they can use it to undermine any federal investigation. that sort of rhetoric from james comey yesterday could be counter productive to his end goal. >> let's talk flynn here. what new clues did we learn about the special counsel's investigation after yesterday's release of the interview with mike flynn? >> we learned this shouldn't have been that difficult for michael flynn. he was asked fairly simple questions and he made a whole world of trouble for himself. ultimately it's not the crime, it's the coverup. in this case for michael flynn, it really was that. if he were to accurately describe his conversations with sergey kislyak, it's not clear

there would have been a continuing ongoing federal investigation, because those conversations while potentially improper or eye opening or just precedent shattering, potenti potentially were not illegal. it's the lies that created a world of hurt for him. a yemeni mother is being blocked from seeing her 2-year-old who's reportedly on life support in a california hospital. that's because of the trump administration's travel ban. the 2-year-old who was born in yemen suffers from a rare genetic brain condition, was brought to the u.s. for treatment by his father. however his condition has worsened and he is no longer able to breathe on his own. >> doctors at the oakland hospital believe he does not have much longer to live. although abdullah's father is a

u.s. citizen with family in california, his mother has been unable to come to the u.s. because of the travel ban that has been in effect for a year. the parents are ready to take abdul la o abdulla off of life support. a representative for the state department could not be reached for comment by nbc news. two chicago police officers have died after being struck by a train on monday evening. the officers, 37-year-old eduardo mameleho and another were hit by a commuter train traveling between 60 and 70 miles an hour. police superintendent eddie johnson told reporters late monday these brave young men were consumed with identifying a potential threat. i'm deeply saddened by this

tragic event and ask that everyone keep their families and coworkers in their praryers. an investigation is underway. still ahead, the stock market could be headed for a historically bad december, the worst since the great depression. later new reports are giving us a look at the extent of russia's disinformation campaign during the 2016 election and how it continued even after trump was elected. it was here.

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this is moving day with the best andin-home wifi experiencees. and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. welcome back. the stock market is on pace for its worst december since the great depression and its worst year since the financial crisis a decade ago. yesterday the dow jones continued its losing streak, falling 508 points. while the s&p 500 and nasdaq

dropped more than 2%. all sectors ended the day lower despite december historically being a positive month for the markets and the best month for the s&p. that index is down more than 7.5% for the month while the dow is down nearly 8%. the dow, s&p and nasdaq are all in the red for the year, with the nasdaq down 17% since august. the russell 2000 index is now in a bear market, ending a 2 1/2 year bear run. in october u.s. companies also paid the largest amount of tariffs in american history. meanwhile president trump yesterday authorized a second round of bailout payments to farmer and ranchers impacted by his trade decisions, while claiming the economy is stronger than ever. less than 15% of the available

bailout funds have been paid out to farmers since the summer. as the president of one trade organization put it, quote, this is to make sure that farmers were not the victims of the trade policy. i think most feel the payments have not made up for the damage of the tariffs. home lelessness increased f the second year in a row. the numbers rising in seattle and other west coast cities. housing add vvocates are callin ait a troubling reversal and asked the trump administration to focus on affordable housing. hud secretary ben carson said he believes his agency can help by

promoting more housing development. he also noted for the number of homeless and unsheltered people to stay nearly flat is good. let's get a check on your weather. >> give us some good news. save us, bill. >> it looks great if you like warm weather and you don't want a white christmas, it's fantastic. if you're in northern new england, it's like blizzard conditions in areas of maine. behind it the winds are just howling. there have been a couple snow squalls in connecticut. it is 2 in burlington, vermont. a little piece of arctic air has

moved in through northern new england. boston windchill is 10. december at about 34. new york city at about 23 with the windchill right now. let's fast forward to the travel issues at the end of this week. our storm begin s wednesday nigt in louisiana and east texas, then spreads to the southeast. again, we're going to have a little problem with flooding risk. there may be a little bit of issue in the rivers. the biggest issues are going to be at the airports here. from miami to orlando to tampa, likely delays as we go throughout thursday. thursday afternoon, charlotte to ralei raleigh. friday it will go further north. then weather delays are likely d.c., philadelphia, new york

city, boston friday afternoon. as far as the odds of a white christmas it's very warm from now through christmas through the lower 48. this is a map of potential snow in the next week. notice there's not much at all in the areas of the east. if you want a white christmas, likely through the northern rockies. we've still got a week to go but warm and rainy. still ahead, the saints keep marching even if their offense wasn't.

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t while the panthers intercept and run back new orleans' two-point conversion attempt, the saints hold on for the 12-9 victory. , all but dashing their playoff hopes. while the eagles will give nick foles the start against the texans this week after foles led philly to an upset win over the rams on sunday. but they're not quite giving up on the injured carson wentz just yet. turning to the nba. oklahoma city where robin lopez is ejected from last night's game against the thunder while defending his teammates in a near melee in the third quarter.

okc beat chicago 121-96. that is crazy there. the pacers broke a barrier for nba front offices in announcing the their hiring of kelly krauskopf as the league's first ever general manager. we head to billabong pipe master tournament in hawaii over the weekend. a real magic act from a true wizard of the waves, 11-time world surfing champion kelly slater, who miraculously reemerges from that same barrel standing up his board. he gets knocked off then he stands up, makes it out of the barrel. that slick recovery is being dubbed as the houdini ride. i think he's the goat, guys.

>> you'd think he would be done for when he goes down and then he gets right back up. that is incredible. >> and there's a great documentary about him and his career that just came out on hbo. still ahead, with the clock ticking toward a government shutdown this week, we're going to talk about the likelihood of lawmakers reaching a deal on border security ♪ ♪ ♪ the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ with one notable exception.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. we're learning new details about president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn's work for foreign governments. two of his former business partners have been charged for illegal lobbying. >> reporter: newly unsealed court documents show the extent to which michael flynn, the president's former national security advisor, was working on behalf of turkish clients, including a $600,000 payday. >> lock her up. lock her up. >> reporter: according to the documents, in july 2016, flynn was texting and e-mailing his clients about advancing their agenda, which included having a

turkish cleric extradited from the united states. turkey's president blames that cleric for instigating a failed coup attempt against him. it all comes as president trump is escalating his attacks against the russia investigation, calling his former lawyer michael cohen a rat after cohen told prosecutors mr. trump directed him to make hush money payments to two women right before the election. mr. trump's fired fbi director james comey lashing out at the president on capitol hill. >> this is the president of the united states calling a witness who has cooperated with his own justice department a rat. say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up. >> reporter: comey speaking out after a closed-door hearing about the 2016 campaign, also taking aim at republicans, who he says have failed to stand up

to the president. >> republicans used to understand that the actions of the president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters and the truth matters. to their everlasting shame, i hope they'll over come that and realize some day they've got to explain to their grandchildren what they did today. >> reporter: flynn will be sentenced today. the special counsel has recommended no prison time, citing his substantial assistance. there has been swift reaction on capitol hill to a pair of reports released by the senate detailing russia's efforts to spread disinformation on social media during the 2016 election and afterwards. researchers dug through millions of posts created by a russian firm the internet research agency. they found it was the firm's mission to help donald trump and hurt hillary clinton. the agency spread messages aimed

at suppressing turnout among democratic voters, particularly african-americans. researchers counted more than 260 million engagements with the russia firm's content on facebook and instagram alone. after the election they were still posting on social media but training their sites on robert mueller. the reports illustrate how aggressively russia sought to divide americans by race, religion and ideology. just days until the federal government could potentially shutdown. it appears congressional republicans are in the dark about president trump's plan on how to keep the government up and running. speaking yesterday, majority whip john cornyn of texas said the trump administration and not the president has failed to let congress know if trump would accept something other than his $5 billion border wall funding

request, adding the only thing congress knows is he wants his wall. senator john thun of south dakota reiterated that it's up to his colleagues to negotiate a deal with the president. shelby added that there are ongoing negotiations not just on the wall but other things. senator john kennedy of louisiana was more pointed in expressing his frustration. >> if the white house has a plan, they're keeping it to themselves. i don't want to have this fight and shut government down unless we've got a chance of winning. i don't see the end game. >> joining us once again zeke miller. so we obviously know the president certainly wants his wall. i saw some reporting yesterday that the white house may have a

plan of identifying essential employees so as to have more of a partial government shutdown. what are you hearing the white house strategy here and the president's strategy here could be to prevent a government shutdown? >> it's still kind of fluid and being worked out. there are a couple of things happening. is there something that the president can tout as a face-saving measure to say that he has border wall funding as part of a continuing resolution to avoid the fight entirely? it seemed last evening there was going to be some sort of development on that front, but that senate leadership mead meeting came and went without any indication from the white house that there was any there. if there is a partial government shutdown, it would only be key departments. things like tsa, coast guard. how can the president effectively manage that over the

holiday season? white house officials are talking about things like many of these employees will receive their paychecks before the holid holiday. the effects of this would be minimal. obviously the president's also scheduled to be going down to florida for the holiday season himself. what would he do down there? all of those conversations are still going on. it doesn't seem clear yet that the white house has a final strategy for these critical moments. >> let's switch gears. i want to talk to you about michael flynn. we saw those charges filed against his associated yesterday. what does that tell us about what we can expect at today's sentencing for michael flynn? the special counsel has recommended he not receive any jail time for his substantial cooperation. >> michael flynn is almost certain to walk out of court today as a freeman, obviously with a criticism record. more broadly it sort of points out the effect of the special

counsel's prosecution. president trump talked a lot about drain the swamp and it seems that robert mueller is really delivering on that, bringing this culture of accountability to washington's foreign lobbying industry. on both sides of the aisle an uptick in foreign agent registrations among private lobbyists and firms in washington and holding so apparent violators accountable. that is an interesting development here as we're watching this play out. for flynn himself, there's not going to be a whole lot of personal exposure. there was that drama yesterday over the nature of that interview and the fbi's release of those initial interview reports that showed flynn not being truthful to the fbi and federal prosecutors saying that flynn knew better than to lie to the fbi. at the end of the day, it really does shine a spotlight on robert

mueller's role in washington, that maybe it's not just about the president, it's about this broader culture of influence and lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. the "washington post" is reporting that republican allies of president trump have launched research and polling efforts to analyze data and figure out ways to expand his base before the 2020 reelection campaign. but the party is currently struggling to hold in areas that trump won. the pennsylvania republican party is reeling with little money and double digit defeats. the democrats winning by 8.6 points nationally, a margin of 9.7 million votes. the final state level numbers in california showed democrats claimed 29 of 40 state senate seats and 3/4 of the 80-member

assembly which is the lastest number since 1883. long time senator lamar alexander of tennessee says he will serve out the remainder of his third term and not seek a fourth. alexander was first elected to the senate back in 2002 and in 2014 successfully beat back a tea party challenger, a battle that alex ander said kept him up at night. the 78-year-old served as education secretary under george h.w. bush, two times as governor of tennessee and twice sought the republican presidential nomination. he said, quote, i have gotten up every day thinking that i could help make our state and country a little better and gone to bed most nights thinking that i have. i will continue to serve with that same spirit during the remaining two years of my term.

democratic congresswoman tulsi gabbard plans to be moving forward with plans to launch a bid for president. the hawaii congresswoman and her team are actively seeking to staff senior roles on a potential presidential campaign. that person also hinted that an announcement could come as soon as this week. gabbard is a divisive figure within the democratic party. last year she was slammed for meeting with syrian president bashar al assad during a fact finding mission. during the 2016 election gabbard publicly clashed with democrats. an iraq war veteran and the first hindu to serve in congress, gabbard at 37 years old would be one of the youngest

candidates to run for president. a statement that has led many to believe he's trying to leap from local to presidential politics. a 36-year-old former afghan war veteran he is also competing to be the first openly gay nominee of either party. he simply said he does not plan to make any announcements until the new year. another state looks to join the growing list of those legalizing recreational marijuana. daddy diaper duty...

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the company's board of directors said it will not pay moonves the $120 what was due to him per his contra contract. the board said in part, we have determined that there are grounds to terminate for cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract. according to the "new york times," cbs's board came to its decision yesterday afternoon after reviewing information gathered by lawyers hired by the company to investigate the claims against moonves as well as the broader workplace culture at the network. moonves agreed to depart cbs back in september amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations dating as far back as the '90s. his attorneys says his client denies any allegations.

governor andrew cuomo in a speech detailing the first 100 days of his third time announced his proposal to legalize marijuana by early 2019 potenti also advocating for criminal justice reform surrounding marijuana convictions which have overwhelmingly affected minority communities. >> we will advance our justice agenda and particularly address the forms of injustice that for too long have unfairly targeted the african-american and minority communities. we must also end the need leles and unjust criminal convictions

and let's legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. besides the haze that we see forming over the state of new york, bill -- >> start adding that to the forecast. let's explain a little bit about where all the cold air is why we're so warm right now. typically in winter the northern jet stream takes over and allows those bouts of cold air to come down from the north. we've heard the term polar vortex. right now all the cold air is located on the other side of the north pole over areas of asia. even canada is warmer than normal. it's very unusual for south

dakota being in the mid 50s today, 22 degrees above normal. green bay is about ten degrees above normal, same with wichita and minneapolis. this air mass is going to swing to the east. 55 in st. louis wednesday. now there's something i'm not showing on this map. it's going to be rainy but it's going to be a warm rain. new york city almost near 60 degrees as we go through friday. for today it's a great travel day. it's cold and windy in northern new england and that's it. the rest of the country looks pretty good. we have been dealing with rain in the pacific northwest. if you want to talk travel issues, this is the map. thursday afternoon, thursday evening thunderstorms going from tampa to orlando once again. by the time we get to friday we kick this rainstorms northwards.

there's a little bit of wintery mix on the backside of this for anyone driving through the appalachians or ohio or kentucky but i don't think it's going to be too bad. i have yet to talk about a big december snowstorm across the country. doesn't look like it's going to happen. still ahead the stock market's tough december gets even worse as u.s. markets get hammered once again. ♪ only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®

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welcome back. russia says it is deploying more than 10 fighter jets to crimea. it is the latest in its actions aimed at ukraine and comes three weeks after russia fired upon rammed and seized two ukrainian naval vessels and a tugboat in a shared waterway off the coast of crimea in addition to taking ukrainian sailors into custody. russia's defense ministry says its latest actions are preparations for what it claims is a ukrainian, quote,

provocation. russia moving attack jets to crimea, thousands of russia troops and tanks are on russia ukraine border. is putin contemplating a christmas surprise? and stock futures are indicating a small reprieve this morning after two benchmark indexes continued their pace towards historically bad decembers he. juliana joins us live from london. what more can we expect for the end of december? >> well, coming into today, it's worth noting that u.s. stocks are on pace for their worst december since the great depression. to give you a sense of how bad things are coming into today. u.s. futures are indicating we'll see a bit of a rebound today. in terms of of whats has driven this sell-off, it's a combination of things. global growth concerns, what the fed will do in terms on of rates for next year, slowdown in china. we had some weak data out at the

nd understa end of last week. let's watch what happens today and, of course, tomorrow i've got the federal reserve meeting in focus. now, in the tech space, i just want to highlight google news is back in the spotlight. according to reports, google has halted their chinese data collection program which deals a major blow to their dragon fly project. remember, over the course of the last couple of weeks around the congressional hearing, google came under a lot of pressure around this controversial project. at the moment, it seems as though an official launch has been indefinitely postponed. perhaps google is caving to the pressures that they've been facing. >> and not to be outdone by amazon or apple, thief unveiled their desire to have a $1 billion campus. thoo. >> yes. they're going to create a $1

billion campus just south of west village. google will now expand their footprint in manhattan by a third to 6.75 million square feet, so increasing their presence in manhattan. they will double their workforce in the city to more than 14,000 over the next decade. >> new york is tech central now, more and more. amazon. it's unbelievable. thanks so much. coming up on "morning joe," everybody, the special counsel sheds new light on michael flynn's interactions with russia. >> and more about a 2017 interview with president trump's former national security adviser as he prepares to be sentenced for lying to the bureau. plus, republicans appearing to be in the dark about what the president plans to do to keep the government running. the latest on whether a deal can be reached in time. "morning joe" moments away. a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's

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only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® before we toss it over to "morning joe," we have a good one for you. the public's voice has been heard in an uproar over one major tunnel system and it

doesn't have anything to do with the traffic, believe it or not. the port authority of new york and new jersey is making some squeaks to its decorations at one of the holland tunnel's entrances. the move comes after people complained online over the decoration's placement over the tunnel's sign. last night, police took down a wreath covering the "u" in tunnel and the tree over "a." >> it has to be symmetrical. >> while the holiday decor is changing, the traffic, unfortunately, stays the same. >> it's tough. it has to be symmetric yad when the comes to the holland tunnel. >> absolutely. >> "morning joe" starts right now. our stock mokt just broke

26,000 for the first time ever in the history, so today we have the highest stock price we've ever had had. and we're very happy about that. i said that was going to happen and it has happened. everything i said is going to happen, it ends up happening. >> tt president says the stock market would be facing its worst december since 1931 and the great depression? >> this tax cut that was passed was promised to put the prime and going to put another $1 trillion or $2 trillion into the economy when the economy is doing extraordinarily well. thanks, president obama, for the obama recovery. but, yeah, mika, my gosh, right now, the market is going up and down, but really, having the worst december since the great depression. >>