and that is our broadcast, on a tuesday night. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. headquarters here in new york. a delay for former national security adviser michael flynn his attorney made a request for a postmeponement after the judge indicated he should go to jail plus, in a bipartisan vote last night, the senate has overwhelmingly passed a landmark bill to overhaul the criminal justice system in america. good morning, everyone it's wednesday, december 19th.

in a surprise twist yesterday, federal district court judge emmet elliott popped the sentencing of michael flynn to allow him to continue his cooperation with the government and warning that he might not spare flynn from prison for hi this after flynn, despite his lawyer's complaints rejected several offers to challenge the circumstances of his fbi interview, affirming to the court that he would give up his right to do so forever. in answering that he was, indeed, guilty of making false statements to federalki agents the white house. >> he told flynn, quote, you lied to the fbi about three different topics and you made those statements as you were serving as the united states security adviser, the president's most senior security aid. i cannot minimize that. sullivan said, arguably, that

undermines everything this flag over here stands for. arguably, you sold your country out. the court is going to consider that. >> "the washington post" writes that with these words, flynn standing straight and flanked by attorneys looked shaken, his jaw clenched. at another point, sullivan asked hypothetically, could he have been charged with treason? the prosecutors said they had no concerns about treason. judge sullivan urged flynn to assure to cooperate. he said, quote, i cannot assure you that if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration. but i have to tell you if and when the government says you've concluded with your cooperation, you could be incarcerated. the trump foundation is shutting down and giving way its assets to other nonprofit organizations. thist comes amid allegations tt president trump used the charity for his own personal and political benefit. hallie a jacksons has more on t.

>> donald trump's charity acted more like a checkbook for his campaign. according to the new york attorney general who announced an agreement with the president's attorneyme to dissoe thess controversial trump foundation. barbara underwood black -- blasting what she called major misuse. candidate trump giving out donations to veterans right before the iowa caucuses. a washington post investigation revealed other investigations benefited the trumps. the smallest, $7 to the boy scouts, exactly the enrollment fee the year donald trump jr. wasd 11. $10,000 was spent on a trump portrait that became a punch line for political opponents. >> the other candidate's foundation tookda money other people gave to his charity and

thenty bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself. >> the attorney for the trump organization defended the organization and the $19 million he says it's distributed to more than 700tr charities. the statementri accusing the ne york attorney general, a democrat, of an attempt topo lit size the agreement. and pounding out the foundation has been trying to be dissolved ever since donald trump got elected. >> so what happens to the remaining money in the foundation? it will be distributed to foundations deemed legitimate. >> another jam packed day yesterday, to say the least. >>y, of course. >>le drama in the courtroom. let's talk first about the trump foundation being shut down.

what does that mean for the lawsuit by the new york attorney general? >> it means that the trump foundation has conceded one count of that complaint, one part of that complaint. there still are remaining allegations. so the lawsuit is not over. and that's what the trump team has to be concerned about. that is civil discovery. in civil cases, the scope of discovery is very broad. anything material and necessary to the issues in the case will be m discoverable. a deposition can reveal all kinds of information that you don't get access to in a criminal case. i think you're going to see the trump team doing whatever they can to.wrap this case up before it gets deep into discovery and before god forbid it ever gets to trial for them. that would be a bad thing. >> let's talk about the drama that unpoelded in the courtroom with mikenp kral flynn. what do you make with everything that unfolded there, the fact that it was postponed and the fact that he may be

incarcerated? >> it was a surprise. michael flynn committed a seriousl crime. his sentencing guideline range was 0 to 6 months, plus he cooperated. this was, by all estimates, a likely straight prosecute probation sentence. so that the judge came in and signaled strongly that he would probably inner cars rate michael flynn if he didn't adjourn the case, continue the sentencing and try to cooperator more with the government was a surprise. although it's not unheard of. sometimes judges areun not on board with what the parties have agreed to, the parties being the governmentes and the defendant. sometimes a judge has his or her owndg take -- >> but you saw what michael cohen went through in his sentencing. he got less than what was recommended by the southern district of new york. you but now you have mike l fly who seems like he could get

more. it seems like he was unlucky by the judge. >> it goes to show whatever court you land in front of can drastically affect your range. michael cohen got 36 months, 15 months below the range. here, michael flynn is already at the lowest possible guideline range in the federal sentencing guidelines. he should have been a lay-up for a probation sentence. here, his attorneys must have been shocked and the government, too,t, when they go into sentencing probably thinking they're going to get straight probation, all of a sudden now it's looking like prison time. >> i know our judges are supposed to be immune by politics, but i wonder how much the judgeuc was set by public discourse, if there are any sympathies that may have been felt by thee judges. >> you may be right.

judges are appointed for life in our federal system. if i wasde appointed for life, d have a lot of opinions. >> you have a lot of opinions now. >> i do. >>w. thanks. good to talk to you. we're going to talk to you again in a little bit. >> let's appoint danny for life. you've got my vote. a potential deal to avoid a government shutdown could be materializing as friday's deadline ticks closer. richard shelby told reporters last night lawmakers were were working onaw drafting a continug resolution to fund the government until early february. both house and senate democrats are are indicating they will not opposedi that plan. sara sanders said the president was open to alternative funding

for his border wall, but she and the president suggested they're waiting to see what the president can come up'r with. >> we have other ways that we can get to that 5 billion that they will work with congress if they w make sure that we get a bill passed that provides not just these funding for the wall but there's adi piece of legislation that's been pushed around that democrats actually voted 26-5 out of committee that provides 26 -- roughly $26 billion in border security, including 1.6 billion for the wall. that's somethingn that we woul be able to support as longs as we can come that with other fundingit resources to help us g to the 5 billion. with we want to see what the senate cano pass. they've thrown out a lot of ideas. >> the shutdown? >> see what happens. >> well, you say that, but -- >> too early to say. >> despite the optimism from the white house, the senate's republican and democratic leaders still seem divided on

striking a deal to oo void is a shutdown. >> to put a finer point on that, are you convinced that we will not shut down? >>t yeah, i am. >> a $1 billion slush fund is not what is right, what the american people want, and it couldn't get votes in either house to pass. >> joining us now, world news editor for axios, dave lawler. let's talk about this. despite trump's opposition to a realtime spending bill, the real question is can can lawmakers somehow make a deal that somehow satisfies or makes the president happy to avoid a government shutdown before time runs out.? how much of this do you think is politicalov posturing on the president'sin part? >> it's beginning to look like we might get a deal. obviously, the rumblings on capitol hill are more positive than they had beenhi previously. i wouldn't be surprised, though, if there were twist and turns before friday and trump will drive that. and it would seem obvious that he shouldn't want to shut down

big chunks of the government ahead of christmas. but then again, this is the last time he will have control of the house and senate before 2020 and 589 a lot of voters are going to come to him saying we still need to fund to wall. he is facing a difficult political situationing whichever way he goes. >> let's talk about the michael flynn sentencing yesterday. so much drama surrounding this sentencing, obviously. going to nk this is push others to cooperate even more now with the special counsel's investigation considering what took place in that courtroom.? >> if flynn does avoid jail time, he will have gotten off better than some of the other defendants. mueller and the justice department obviously want to make very clear that that is because he's v cooperated extensively with them, that there might be other charges that they're not bringing in the

case. and, yet, his reputation has obviously beens tarnished. he has not come off easy yet in this process. and we don't know what levers mueller is pulling with other people behind the scenes. but at the end of the day, if flynn walks away without any jail time, that might look to other possibleha defendants lika pretty decent deal. >> dave, thanks. we'll talk to youav again in a t bit. still ahead, a "new york times" investigation finds facebook may have given some tech giantsok greater access to user data than has been previously disclosed. plus, remembering pennier marshall, the actress has passedwpassed away at the age of 75. e age of . daddy diaper duty...

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. welcome back. let's get a check on the weather with nbc's bill karins. >> a tornado outside of seattle, extremely rare. washington state averages 2 1/2 tornados period pretty much throughout a year. >> whoa. >> this did significant damage. this looks like something you would see out of texas or oklahoma. there weren't any injuries or fatalities, but considerable damage was done. and for december, washington state averages 0.1 tornados per year. so extremely, extremely rare event. right before the holidays, too. you have to feel for all those people in that big cleanup effort. the next storm is forming in texas. spreading through louisiana during the day. so the heavy rain event will go from later today through thursday, right through friday. just about everyone from about the appalachians to the east coast has a chance for about 1

to 2, maybe even 3 inches of rain. so there could be some isolated flooding problems. it's at the airports that we're going to have the most problems because it will be areas of heavy rain and windy conditions, too. so if you're flying, the worst of the delays is possible atlanta, charlotte, raleigh and down through tampa and orlando and miami late in the day. we may see severe storms in central florida, too. then we take this mess northwards as we go into friday. especially friday morning early. we could see heavy rain from philadelphia to new york city. d.c. gets lucky. the heaviest rain will be during the overnight period. friday afternoon and evening, the airports will be better in this region, but it will be on the windy side. i mentioned the severe weather threat. we have a thursday afternoon from about the i-4 corridor swartz, that line of storms will be sweeping down to the south.

there is the potential for an isolated tornado or two and maybe even here in portions of eastern wilmington. today's forecast, we're rather night. it's warmer in the northeast, not as windy as it was yesterday. there's the rain on the gulf. for washington state, a tornado like that, that is almost had a once in a lifetime event. >> with holiday traveling coming up, people better allot a lot of time before they head to the airport. sad news out of hollywood, actress penny marshall died monday night in her hollywood hills home due to complications from diabetes at the age of 75. marshall was not only a great actress, but also made history with her directing career with films such as "big" and "a league of their own" becoming the first woman director to direct a feature film that grossed more than $100 million. miguel almaguer takes a look back at a remarkable career and life. ♪ one, two, three, four

five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ we're gonna do it ♪ give us any chance we'll take it ♪ >> penny marshall was known for years as laverne in the sitcom "laverne and shirley." >> there it is, laverne. >> i think it was a blue collar show. i mean, we were working class girls. we needed to make the rent. you know, it was like people now even, you know, they need to make money. >> born in the bronx in 1942, penny marshall could identify with that. >> everything i could remember from my childhood we put into that. >> her mother was a dance instructor and in the 50s, penny performed on tv with the marshallettes and on tv programs

such as the jackie gleason show. family connections helped. penny with her real sister ronnie and her brother who got penny many on of her first acting jobs. also in her career, she made a shampoo commercial with another inspiring actress, farrah fawcett. >> you know what i think? >> you think you look adorable. >> in the 1980s, she turned her attention to directing with hits such as "big" in 1988. >> let me see what happens. >> and "a league of their own" in 1992. >> why are you crying? there's no crying. there's no crying in baseball. >> those two films grossed over $100 million apiece. a first for a female director. >> these old stereotypes still exist that women don't know how to create a movie for a mass audience. they don't know how to do comedy

for men. and penny was able to show none of that mattered. >> married and divorced twice, she's survived about by her daughter, tracy, and remembered fondly in hollywood as an extremely funny and talented woman. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. >> we don't normally see someone who has such a successful show like that and then goes on to be such a successful director. >> "big," you.cannot get better than that. >> she will sadly be missed. >> such a huge talent. still ahead, the nfl's pro bowl rosters are out and los angeles is leading the charge along with one rookie who made a bit of history. we're going to tell you about that next in sports. ry we're going to tell you about that next in sports. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week

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now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. new john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. see your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. new year, new deere. welcome back. time now for sports. the los angeles charger lead the league. patrick mahomes, phillip lindsay are among the pro bowlers. meanwhile, patriots quarterback tom brady matches an nfl record with his 14th pro bowl selection. now, to the nba and the pacers cling to go a one-point lead hosting the cavaliers. the game in its final seconds,

take a look at this. >> turn. ball in his hands. at the line. no. tipped up. good night, indiana! >> that is unbelievable, the tip-in at the buzzer earns cleveland the 92-91 victory on that one. to can college hoops, durham, north carolina, second ranked duke took princeton to school. r.j. barrett led the blue devils on the way to a 101-51 win. ouch. ouch. that looks like it hurt. he just hit the corner there on the backboard. >> i don't think i see that ever happening to me. >> luckily, he wasn't hurt at

all, but impressive athlete. still ahead, in a rare show of bipartisanship, the senate takes a major step towards criminal justice reform. plus, dan crenshaw reaches out to a comedian after troubling posts on social media. troubling posts on social media. a results: 74% italian. and i found out that i'm from the big toe of that sexy italian boot! calabria. it even shows the migration path from south italia all the way to exotico new jersey! so this holiday season it's ancestrydna per tutti! order your kit now at ancestry.com so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles.

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for former national security adviser michael flynn as he faced a blistering rebuke from the judge overseeing his sentencing. >> the judge has put that sentencing on hold to allow flynn to continue his cooperation with the government. >> michael flynn arrived at the federal courthouse in washington with every reason to expect he would be sentenced only to probation with no prison time. that's what his lawyer said would be appropriate and robert mueller's prosecutors agreed saying he's been cooperating with them extensively. 19 separate meetings in the past year. but in a stunning twist, those hopes ran into a buzz saw named judge emmet sullivan. >> flynn was smiling during the earlier portion of the hearing and he got a serious look on his face in a hurry. >> sullivan saidite a very serious offense for a senior government official to lie to the fbi and the white house, something flynn pleaded guilty to doing. he has admitted he did work as a

paid lobbyist for the government of turkey without disclosing it while working as a adviser to the trump campaign. judge sullivan said, arguably, you sold your country out and he even asked if mueller's prosecutors even considered charging flynn with treason. the judge repeatedly suggested if he went ahead with the sentencing today, flynn would probably get prison time. after a brief recess, advertise lawyers took the hint and formally asked the judge to postponed the sentencing. president trump tweeted flynn good luck. >> maybe he did do those things, but that doesn't have anything to do with the president directly. >> flynn's best hope now for avoiding prison time is cooperating with prosecutors. >> the judge set a new hearing for the lawyers and flynn to come back here on march 13th. but here is the question. can he assist prosecutors enough during the next three months to convince the judge when he comes

back here that he does not deseven pris deserve prison time? > . >> glenn will have more on what he saw inside the courtroom yesterday coming up on "morning joe" in a little bit. the trump foundation is shutting down. new york attorney general announced the foundation would be dissolving as her lawsuit dissolves the foundation. underwood said the foundation functioned at little more than a chuck book to serve mr. trump's business and political interests. according to an investigation by "the washington post," the trump foundation often made payments that bolstered donald trump's interests. the largest donation the charity ever made took place in 1989

when the foundation gave more than $250,000 to the central park conservancy. the money paid to restore a fountain outside of trump's plaza zone. an attorney for the trump foundation said this yesterday, the foundation has been seeking so dissolve and distribute its remaining assets to worthwhile and charitable causes since the 2016 presidential election. the foundation will give away its assets to other organizations the state deems reputable. those assets include a denver bronco helmet signed by quarterback tim tebow. trump bought the helmet in 2012 and paid for it with $12,000 from the foundation. the trump foundation owns two large portraits of donald trump which cost the foundation a combined $30,000. in one of the most significant gun reform actions in recent years, the trump administration has moved to ban

bump stock firearm devices making them illegal to sell or even own. it is expected to take effect in late march, given owners 90 days to surrender or destroy their devices. however, what's not immediately clear is how the justice department plans to enforce this rule. now, the u.s. bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms explosives estimates there are tens of thousands of bump stocks that are currently in circulation. but here is the catch. because bump stocks were not covered by federal gun laws, the federal government has no way to determine who previously owns one. several gun rights groups have announced plans to sue. an nri a spokes woman voiced the organization's concerns, but did not confirm whether or not it planned to file a legal challenge to the decision. and last night, the senate passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill setting the

stage for the most massive change to the federal prison system and as many sentencing in a generation after a push by groups. senators passed the first step act last night by a final vote of 87-12. the bill heads to the house where it is expected to also pass. president trump announced last month that he supported the legislation, congratulated senators for passing the bill and tweeted that he looks forward to signing it. the bill would make thousands of inmates immediately eligible for reduced sentences and early release programs. it would provide judges more leeway for nonviolent offender sentencing. >> let's talk about criminal justice reform. the bill passed last night in the senate, pretty sweeping in its attempts to reform the system. was it surprising that it was passed by overwhelming bipartisan support when a couple of weeks ago you had mitch mcen connell saying it's not likely

that this bill gets vote odd before the end of this congress? >> right. and a very similar effort failed under the obama administration in large part because mitch mcconnell and other senior republicans were opposed to it. a lot of this is the trump factor. you have a republican president saying he supports this. that moved a lot of votes into the yes column. i think an interesting question here is on sympathier lar issim have bipartisan support, if trump decides to go that direction, could we see a similar effect where he pulls republicans over, democrats are on board, and things that couldn't quite pass before have big majorities. so this could be -- you know, i hate to be too optimistic about the odds of congress passing anything because this isn't much precedent for it in.recent years, but maybe this is a sign of things to come. who knows. >> we'll have to see about that one. let's talk about trump's charity shutting down. was this a surprising move, dave? >> i think once people started

to look into the trump foundation, it's not a surprise that it ended up shutting down. this was not a charity in the way that you or i might understand what a charity is. you know, i think it's embarrassing for the president. it's not front page news. i think this would be a big scandal under another president perhaps. this may just fade away and that's the best case scenario for the president. >> and what's on your radar? >> first, we have to see if we have a government shutdown and maybe that sets the tone for how we enter the new year. if we have a government shutdown running up into and through christmas, all of a sudden you're entering 2019 on a pretty negative tone. but it looks like we might get a deal here.

i'm interested to see whether trump sends any signals that he'll go along with nancy pelosi's priorities. i'm interested to see how the two sides are going to work together once we get a democrat ek house on or if it's going to be fight, fight, fight, like we saw you when they got so into a room a couple of weeks ago. >> you may be the last person in washington, d.c. -- >> yeah, a possible government shutdown. >> between that and the criminal justice reform. dave lawler, good to have you with us this morning. and republican congressman martha mcsally has been tapped to fill senator jon kyl's seat. governor doug ducey's office announced the decision in a statement says after senator kyle said he planned to retire from the seat he temporarily filled since mccain's death over the summer. it will revive mcsally's political life after she lost

the election to kirster sinema. >> i'm also going to respect the will of the voters. >> as i now deploy to the senate, i pledge to ensure that all arizonans have a voice. >> and mcsally adds arizona to a small group of states that has two women serving in the u.s. senate. still ahead, an update on the yemeni mother's fight to visit her dieing son. and bill karins is back with a check on your forecast as we gear up for the big holiday travel weekend. we'll be right back. g holiday travel weekend we'll be right back. i landed.

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welcome back. the yemeni mother who was blocked from entering the united states to see her dieing 2-year-old son has been granted a u.s. svisa. the woman has been living in egypt, but has been living in yemen. she is reportedly been trying to obtain either a travel visa or a travel ban waiver for more than a year before the state department finally issued one yesterday amid public and congressional backlash. so good news for her, even though it is a tragic situation that her son is dieing. let's change gears and get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, with it looks like there might be some travel trouble on the way to people trying to get out for the holidays. >> a lot of people on the roads may be slowed because of this big rain storm. but it's the airports that will have more on the issues. that's why we're focussing in on thursday. this will be tomorrow afternoon

from atlanta to charlotte to raleigh tampa and orlando and late thursday down into miami. by the time we get to friday, the storm is moving pretty quickly. the heaviest rain will be overnight in d.c. i think the airports will be okay on friday, but especially in new york city early friday is going to be rough. torrential rain and gusty winds and up towards boston as we go through the middle of the day. let's take you through the holiday outlook. once we get past that storm on friday, things are looking much better. saturday's map looks great coast to coast. on sunday, a big storm comes into the northwest with snow elevation. same goes into christmas eve. still dealing with troublesome weather out there in the west. a light mix possible on christmas day, but there's not a lot of travel issues heading up to the holidays. now through christmas, if we're going to get a white christmas, it will be in areas of the northern rockies.

so let's play a little game. the latest white christmas, who had a white christmas more recently, cleveland or seattle? >> seattle. >> cleveland because i have to go opposite of what he just said. >> seattle. >> that's not fair. you choose first. >> yasmin, you choose first. new york on atlanta.? >> atlanta. yes! >> atlanta is the winner. got one more for you. dallas or washington, d.c. >> okay. there's a pattern that's emerging here, bill. >> dallas, dallas, dallas. >> lewis wants to get in on this. >> i say dallas. >> i just wanted you all to be wrong at the end. it's actually a tie. >> i was yelling lewis's answer, dallas. >> it's ban while is the bottom line for some northeast cities. >> fun game. let's do it again. so we were following that pretty upsetting instagram post

last week describing the declining mental state of snl star pete davidson receiving a outpouring of support from several people, including congressman-elect dan crenshaw who responded to a less than remark about his eye patch. >> i talked to him personally yesterday and talked to himmer for a little bit about it. we don't go back very far. we're not good friends, but i think he appreciated hearing from me. what i told him was this. everybody has a purpose in this world. god put you here for a reason but it's your job to find that purpose and you should live that way, always seeking out that purpose, not expecting it to be given to you by anybody else. >> it's incredibly kind of him to reach out, but it makes me

sad for pete that he's going through that right now. >> hopefully he takes those words to heart. still ahead, a bombshell report is shedding new light on facebook and its practices over user data. >> details on how much access companies had to users' data. and a hint, it was a lot. ' data and a hint, it was a lot ure loo? it looks like this. entresto is a heart failure pill that helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. ♪ the beat goes on. yeah!

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facebook is dealing with more bad news after it's been revealed the corporate giant gave others expansive data to user data. jomana joins us live from london with the news. i guess our private messages on facebook aren't even private. >> that's exactly it, lewis. that's one of the reasons why facebook shares are down 19% this year. but to come back to that "new york times" article, a really big story saying facebook did give tech companies more access to people's personal data than had previously been disclosed. they met with hundreds of internal employees, had many interviews and they allegedly allowed microsoft bing search engine to see the names of basically all friends names without consent, they let amazon obtain users names and contact information through their friends, as with well. big, big stories there. the interesting thing about these deals is they date back to

2010, but some were still ongoing as early as this year. so it's been going on for a long time. many shareholders are now saying it's time zuckerberg steps down as chairman. >> that's pretty stunning. let's switch gears now. the dow managed to stop the day higher as the dow shifted their attention to the federal reserve and reports that another rate hike may be on the way. what do you know? >> it's been a rough week for equities. this is the worst month for stocks since the great depression, so a rocky ride for the year. some people are saying that perhaps the fed should take heed of was been happening in stock markets and mott hike today. other people say because of the messaging, that they're going to go on with the rate hieblg. if they did not hike now, they would be sending a panic signal to the market. but the expectation is that they will sound more dovish and cautious about future rate hikes and perhaps setting the tone for

2019. it's coming at a time when they're under an increasing amount of pressure. if they don't hike today, some people would say they are yielding to pressure. >> jomana, thanks so much. coming up, axios has a look at this morning's one big thing. and coming up, the sentencing of the national security adviser michael flynn heads to a result. as the clock ticks closer and closer to a government shutdown, republican senator james lankford will comment on whether a deal can be reached in time. "morning joe" is moments away. an time "morning joe" is moments away. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look

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and is two times more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. (man and pirate girl) ahoy! (laughing) (vo) bounty, the quicker picker upper. welcome back, everybody. co-founder of axios, mike allen. what is the one big thing this morning? >> the axios one big thing, the quiet court. so usually we bring you raucous

news. today's soothing news. so after the courts got so politicized by the kavanaugh confirmation hearing, what we're seeing by chief justice john roberts is a deliberate effort to bring down the temperature. sam baker noticed that roberts is trying to avoid controversial cases rfling his institutionalist view. he wants the court to have a light footprint, a light touch on politics. and we saw that earlier this year when he said there were not obama judges and not trump judges. there are just justices. we see that is in the cases that he's taking. all that will be shaken up if they have to take that affordable care act case. >> how does justice kavanaugh's presence on the court affect the

energy between the other judges there? >> i saw justice kavanaugh at a christmas party last weekend. he had everything in check. >> quite a christmas party. >> and that reflects the approaches taken on the bench, just like the chief, bringing down the temperature. brett kavanaugh joined the chiefs in deciding not to hear a planned parenthood case. so, again, until they get health care and if health care comes to them and, of course, igniters everything. until then, helped along by events. there haven't been super controversial cases that they've turned away. so events have helped them in this effort to have, for a moment while the other two branches of government are blowing up, to be the quiet branch. >> you didn't see anyone like that at your christmas party. >> certainly not. you were the most exciting person i saw at my christmas

party. >> mike, let me ask you about new reporting you guys have on the mueller probe. what are you guys hearing over there? >> this is interesting. mueller wants more written answers from president trump. so we've seen reporting from the "new york times" that mueller is still trying to get an interview, in pen with the president. he told me after that that the trump team is now going back and forth with the mueller prosecutors. they had an agreement before they delivered their written answers right before thanksgiving that they could come back. the prosecutors said what if we want to know a few more things. and the trump lawyers said, okay, we can discuss that. so rudy told me they're in that phase now. interestingly, he told me that's not particularly contentious, but then he added other things are contentious. >> i'm wondering, though, do we have any idea as to what else the prosecutors are looking to learn here from the president?

and how many times they could feasibly go back and want more, considering the fact that more people could be cooperating in the mueller probe. >> that's a great point. what rudy explained to me is they can ask and the trump lawyers can say yes or no. i think that what we'll find is them burrowing deeper from those questions they had before and rudy described the earlier set of questions as being like a law school exam, that there would be a.topic, but then there would be multiple subquestions under it. so this is very lawyerly, very thorough, reflecting the approach that mueller has taken to everything. >> mike allen for us, thank you. you, too, can sign upper for the newsletter, sign up.axios.com. >> "morning joe" starts right now. the judge also questioning

flynn about his -- and his lawyer about their memo last week, that suggested that fbi agents might have tricked the former national security adviser when they didn't tell him, lying to the fbi is a crime. you heard the theory floated by the white house and its defenders here and elsewhere. that all blew up today. michael flynn himself said he is not challenging the circumstances of the interview. that he knew lying to the feds was a crime when he lied to the feds, that he was not entrapped, that he was guilty. >> the sound you hear is a million conspiracy theories exploding. in the case of the united states versus michael t. flynn, the president wished the defendant, a confessed felon, good luck in his showdown with america. flynn needed it and so, apparently, might the president