. >> with regard to mr. flynn, is this kind of thing when you're the nation's chief legal officer a violation of the law? >> i don't know about it to comment and i think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it. what i would say is we have great cabinet members. we even got people doing super jobs. like i was at the border with general kelly, homeland security last week. we receive a 77% reduction h the number of illegal entries since december at the border. that's a dramatic thing. it's exciting to see that happen. >> let me ask you this. i know hindsight is 20/20, but do you think the trump administration could have done a better job in vetting mr. flynn that. >> these things are not easy to discover. i'm not sure if it's inpropriety or not. i don't have e job of putting together fabulous people in the cabinet. >> it would be a mistake to reveal he had received this payment. >> i just don't know enough to comment. i don't think it's appropriate enough for me to talk about it. >> got it. let's talk immig

. >> with regard to mr. flynn, is this kind of thing, you're the nation's chief legal officer, a violation of the law? >> i don't know enough about it to comment and i think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on that. what i would say is, that we have great cabinet members, we've got some people that are doing super jobs like i was at the border with general kelly, homeland security last week. we've seen a 70% reduction in the number of illegal entries since december at the border. that's a dramatic thing. >> mr. attorney general, give us -- >> see that happen -- >> let me ask you this. hindsight is 20/20 but do you think the trump administration could have done a better job vetting mr. flynn? >> these things are not easy to discover. if it happened. what happened. i'm not sure it's impropriety or not. i don't have an opinion. i would say they've done a great job of putting together some fabulous people in the cabinet and many of integrity and good judgment. >> it would be a mistake if he failed to reveal

mr. flynn's intercepted calls. a separate letter, 11 senate democrats urged jeff sessions, an early supporter of candidate trump, to recuse himself and appoint special counsel to investigate what flynn did, who knew about it and when. senate democratic leader chuck schumer is leading the charge. >> those prosecutors should not be reporting to the first senator who endorsed donald trump's campaign. >> reporter: republicans say the biggest problem is not the latest allegations about russia but the leaks of confidential information by the intelligence community. >> the leaks to the press are outpacing the information available to congress right now, and so we're operating in a situation in which we don't have all the facts before us. >> reporter: attorney general sessions said during his confirmation hearing that he would avoid involvement in investigations of hillary clinton because of concerns about impartiality. but he says he will not recuse himself from investigations of his administration's ties to russia. gayle

but it was vice president pence's anger over flynn's deception that caused mr.rump to discuss his role. the president will now have to find a new national security adviser in the face of global risks. including provocative actions by north korea and iran. retired lieutenant general joseph keith kellogg, a national security adviser to the campaign, will temporarily take over flynn's position. he's also a candidate to permanently fill the job along with retired admiral robert harward. and david petraeus who will visit the white house later this week. less than two hours before the high-profile shake-up, mr. trump praised his staffing choices during the swearing in of his treasury secretary. >> the disappointment that i'm following through on the appointing on the very best and very brightest. >> reporter: this morning russian lawmakers said flynn's resignation was intended to undermine relations with the u.s. but, gayle, the kremlin itself has declined to comment. is there thank you very much, margaret. >>> cbs news news fran townsend is a former adviser to george

of advice and legal council. >> this morning, david, senior official suggesting the decision for mr. flynnwhichever you choose to believe, was meant to damage the relations between the u.s. and russia. i even heard the phrase russia-phobia. does that make any sense to you? >> compared to what we've learned in the past few months, gayle, about what the russians did during the course of the election, the disinformation campaigns, the russian intelligence agencies stepping in to steal e-mails and then make them public, it strikes me that this would be a pretty small contributor to the overall relationship. >> just quickly, david, you write about north korea and "the new york times," why this recent missile test is significant, in part because these types of missiles provide little advanced warning if we, the u.s., wanted to attack a preemptive strike. correct? >> that's right. these missiles use solid fuel. that means that they can be rolled out and launched really in a matter of minutes. the older technology was liquid. you would have a lot of warning because satellites would probably see a

mr. flynn's lie, not the fact that the country was misled.hink those facts were facts the white house did not want to come out in this open hearing. the timing certainly raised a lot of questions about whether the white house preference had a lot to do with changing where this investigation was headed. >> well, congressman schiff, thank you. we're out of time but we do have more questions for you so we hope you'll return in the future. >> sure. >>> president trump is reversing course and saying he will have a health care deal, quote, very quickly. the president predicted last night that congress could reach a bipartisan agreement over a potential future plan. today's cbs poll shows americans don't blame anyone for the failure but it failed because it just wasn't popular. margaret brennan is at the white house with the president's message on health care. >> reporter: good morning. president trump appears newly confident about the possibility of striking a deal with senate leaders. at a dinner here at the white house last night, mr. trump told

mr. flynn's lie, not at the fact that the country was misled. and i think those facts were facts the white house did not want to come out in this open hearing and the timing certainly raised a lot of questions about whether the white house preference had a lot to to with changing where this investigation was headed. >> well, congressman schiff, thank you. we're out of time, but we do have more questions for you, so we hope you return in the future. >> sure. >>> president trump is reversing course and say he'll have a health care deal, quote, very quickly. they could reach a bipartisan agreement over a potential future plan. according to the cbs news poll, no one blames anyone. half of the people say the bill failed because it just wasn't popular. margaret brennan is at the white house. good morning. >> good morning. the president appeared newly confident that he'll strike a deal with senate leader. last night he told a bipartisan group of 61 senators and their wives he wants to negotiate. >> i have no doubt about that. that's an easy one. i have

. >> and other observers suggest flynn is turning against mr. trump. errol barnett is florida, where t spending the weekend. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. michael flynn is a one they're looking at. >> general flynn is a wonderful man. i think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media. >> reporter: despite the president's praising, cbs news has learned mr. trump's legal team has been expecting either an indictment of michael flynn or his son or a plea deal involving both stemming from special counsel robert mueller. >> mike flynn is a fine person and i asked for his resignation. >> reporter: trump fired flynn three weeks after being becoming president after reports surfaced he misled the about his russia. >> reporter: he told the president's legal team on wednesday no communications would or could occur regarding mr. flynn. mr. trump's attorney jay sekulow said it likely means flynn took a plea deal. he told cbs news if it is a plea, that doesn't necessarily mean it has anything to do with the president. flynn and flynn jr. replied wi

flynn. margaret, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. mr. obama caused then president-elect trump against hiring flynn. this was advice given before the scandal had erupted regarding misleading statements made by flynn to the vice president about his contact russian ambassador. >> we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed. >> reporter: during a 90-minute conversation two days after the election, president obama shared some personnel advice with the man who would replace him. according to former officials familiar with their conversation mr. obama told the president-elect he should go with his instincts and hire people he wanted with one exception, retired general michael flynn. mr. obama caused that the new president would be wise to stay away. trump aides say he was suspicious of mr. obama's motives in coming forward. >> american exceptionalism is real. >> reporter: flynn criticiesed administration policy during the campaign. mr. obama fired him as head of the defense intelligence agency citing an abrasive manageme

. >> flynn came under scrutiny by robert mueller for his private sector work on behalf of the turkish government. mrtrump's former campaign manager cory lewandowski. >> if michael flynn did something wrong by not disclosing the relationship with turkey and other governments, he should be held accountable for that. >> the fact that flynn cut off communications with the president's legal team suggests he is cooperating with special counsel mueller but president trump said they are not concerned about that. in a statement trump's lawyer said if it is a plea deal, which they expect, it doesn't necessarily mean it has anything to do with the president. tony. >> errol barnett traveling with the president. thank you. >>> time magazine is disputing the accuracy of one of president trump's tweet, tweeting that time has probably chosen him as the person. year and he passed on the interview and i photo shoot and time responded with a tweet of its own saying the president is incorrect about how we choose person of the year. time does not comment on choice until publication which is december 6th. time named mr.

mr. flynn pled guilty. mr. pineido, mr. vander, mr. kilimnik indicted for obstruction of justice. and for two years, you want to talk about an agenda, my friends on the other side of the aisle refused to bring some of these people up before the committee. so today, for the first day, we have one witness who voluntarily is coming forward to testify. your side ran away from the truth. and we're trying to bring it to the american people. so -- mr. cohen. >> yes, sir. >> thank you for voluntarily coming before the committee to testify. i want to ask about your statements regarding trump tower and moscow, and i want to drill down some of the facts and details. you may not be aware of gurks th this, but this goes back a ways. mr. trump wrote he had ongoing discussions with soviet officials back then to build a luxury -- large, luxury hotel across from the kremlin. in partnership with the soviet union. so at that time, it was the soviet union. i want to ask you, in your filing with the special counsel mueller's office, the prosecutors wrote, and i quote, mr. cohen discussed the status of

rjing fbi director james comey not to pursue an investigation into former national security adviser mr. flynn who had mislead the white house about his contacts with russia. >> did you at any time urge fbi director james comey to back down into the investigation into michael flynn, and also as you lo b >> no, no, next question. >> since dismissing him last week he has announced several replacements. he announced a decision is coming. >> we're very close. >> when? >> soon. >> on capitol hill the possible nomination of former senator joe lieberman, a democrat turned indeath penalty is not expected to gain bipartisan support. >> i think it's a mistake to hire anyone who has ever run for office. >> leeb eerman has lost favor because of his, in part, 2008 public cam feign for john mccain. >> he's a wonderful man, enormous prestige and affection on both sides of the aisle. >> gnaw fbi director could be elected as soon as today before president trump departs on that big international trip. his nine-day, five-stop visit begins in saudi arabia and includes a tour of the great three religions. >> what

how nervous do you think they are about the fact that mr. flynn may be cooperating with special prosecutors? >> let's be clear. they're certainly not concerned. they're very worried about this. this has been a very real possibility for a long time, but the real worry here is that he could be cooperating, and therefore implicating someone higher up the food chain. there aren't many people higher up the food chain. what the white house is saying he's talking to them about a plea deal and that's been long expected. it remains to be seen what this is actually going to mean, but the white house is definitely nervous. >> the practices of mueller tell us he's likely going for bigger fish if he's looking to strike a deal with flynn. is that the understanding? >> yeah. that's what they're expecting. the question is who would the bigger fish be? there's the president, the vice president, jared kushner. we shouldn't expect anything. there are a lot of issues on the table. ever since the manafort indictment a few weeks ago, the white house has really been on

the white house counsel and the president were informed that mr. flynn had lied to government authorities about his communications with the russian ambassador during the trump campaign in transition. is that correct? >> correct. >> if a hostile nation knows a u.s. official has lied publicly, that can be used to blackmail that government official, correct? >> i'm not going to speak to that. i don't disagree with it necessarily but i'm in the going to speak any more to that issue. >> thank you very much, sir. flyn sign on february 13th, 2016. the very next day when theun wi new jersey governor chris christie, did the president say, open quotes, now that we fired flynn, the russia thing is over, close quote. is that correct? >> correct. >> is it true that christie responded by saying, open quotes, no way, and this russia thing is far from over, close quote. >> that's the way we have it in the report. >> thank you. after the president met with chris christie later that same day, the president arranged to meet with fbi director james comey alone in the oval o

. >> ought to be ashamed of t gonephyliam barr's decision to via the criminal case against mr. flynn mr. trump's first national security adviser could be viewed as a favor. senior justice department officials pushed for a lighter sentence for flynn than prosecutor originally asked for. exactly what happened in the case of roger stone. >> the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case. >> reporter: barr insists he and president trump did not talk about a necn for stone, a long time friend of mr. trump's. in the same interview barr revealed the president's tweets interfere with his work. >> to have public statements and tweets made about the department, about our people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending n the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my >> reporter: cbs news has learn barr privately expressed his frustration to president trump for weeks, but a defiant president tweeted he has every legal right to weigh in on criminal case. in a blow to mr. trump federal prosecutors announced

mr. trump asked him what we can do, quote, to lift over the cloud." he said, hope you can let this go, referring to the michael flynnseveral times mr. trump pressed comey to pledge his loyalty. the big question is what comey will say beyond his released opening statement. we know he will not make a legal argument but he will tell his side of the story. senators on both sides of the aisle are expected to push him to reveal more. one thing that's important to investigation into meddling, the congressional meddling has been going on for months and there's no solid evidence of wrongdoing by the trump campaign. one reason the hearing is so heavily anticipated is because comey is first major witness to testify publicly about what happened. charlie? >> thanks, chep. >>> here's a look at this morning's other headlines from around the globe. the telegraph in london reports on the election in britain. prime minister theresa may cast her vote this morning. jeremy corbyn, the opposition labor party also voted. may's conservative party is hoping to make big gains in parliament, but a poll yesterday showed it is only a small lead

appeals court ruling ordering a judge to dismiss a criminal case against retired general michael flynn. mrtrump's first national security adviser. nancy cordes has the president's response. >> i'm very happy about general flynn. >> reporter: the president hailed the appeals court ruling as flynn conveyed his joy to radio host rush limbaugh. >> it's a good thing for me, for my family, but it's really a great -- a boost of confidence for the american people and our justice system. >> reporter: flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to the fbi about his calls with a russian official. but attorney general william barr moved to get the case dismissed last month, saying the fbi should never have interviewed flynn. >> bill barr does regularly lie in ways that impact official action. >> reporter: at a hearing about barr wednesday turned heated at times. >> the american people deserve to know the truth. >> reporter: as democrats accused him of repeated political interference. >> he has shown us there's one set of rules for the president's friends and another set of rules for the rest of us. >> reporte

. >> reporter: after theousster of national security adviser michael flynn, mr. trump has had trouble finding a replacement. admiral harward turned down the post after his request was turned down to hire his own staff. david petraeus is no longer considered for the candidate. one other is keith kellogg. today mr. trump is focused on his thank-you rally in melbourne some three months after the election. he said the crowds are expected to be massive. anthony? >> manuel bojorquez in palm beach. thanks, manuel. >>> it is unlikely that former nag at security adviser mike flynn will face charges in connection with his discussions with the u.s. sanctions with the russian ambassador to the u.s. they picked up the two discussing obama administration sanctions, a possible violation of federal law since president trump was not yet in auchls but investigators say there's not enough evidence to charge flynn with lying to the fbi. cbs news has learned that flynn, however, has not been cleared in the broader investigation into whether he and others in the trump campaign were in

do with the intercepted calls between flynn and the russian ambassador to the u.s. >> i fired him because of what he said to mike pence, very simple. >> still, mr. trump said, he would have approved of flynn's conversation with the ambassador. >> i don't think he did anything wrong. if anything, he did something right. i would have directed him to do it if i thought he wasn't doing it. i didn't direct him. but i would have directed him because that's his job. >> interviewed by fbi agents looking into whether he discussed sanctions with the russian ambassador as the obama administration was announcing sanctions against russia. a u.s. official familiar with the investigation says the call was out of line and sought to undermine the obama administration's efforts to punish the russians for the cyberattacks during the election. the fbi's counterintelligence unit is investigating whether there were regular contacts between several trump campaign officials and the russian government during that time and whether they were coordinating as the cyberattacks led to leaks of damaging information about hillary clinton. >> those are criminal leaks. >> but pr

defense secretary james mattis, homeland security secretary james kelly and ousted general michael flynn. >> mrpresident, thank you very much, i'd like to say what a privilege it is to continue to serving my nation. i'm grateful for that opportunity. and i'll look forward to joining the national security team to do everything i can to protect the american people. >> reporter: mcmaster gained wide recognition of his book "dereliction of duty." mcmaster would take issue with the strategy in iraq. >> energy showed the people who they really are. >> reporter: it was there that "60 minutes" caught up with then colonel mcmaster. working with iraqi forces to retake the town of mcmaster was not the first choice to replace flynn. the president offered the job to general harwood. the white house now says that mcmaster will have full authority to hire whomever he wants on the national security staff. gayle, it's worth pointing out that mcmaster unlike other generals in the circle was still active duty. therefore duty bound to accept the president's request or risk future career advancements. >>> cbs news

the president was told in january about inconsistencies in flynn's answers about his contacts with russia's u.s. ambassador, but the sources say mrwere not sure of that. >> michael flynn pleaded guilty on friday to one charge of lying. one day later, the president tweeted that he fired flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. now, trump attorney john dowd helped write the tweet, but sources say it was worded poorly. it has now led to questions about whether the president obstructed justice when he told then fbi director james comey he hoped comey would let the flynn investigation go. now, in a statement, dowd told cbs news the president "is the chief law enforcement officer of the united states and comey's superior. he cannot obstruct himself!" >> cbs news legal analyst rikki klieman is joining us at the table to discuss this. so many questions are raised here. as a kid in school, you're always told everyone is above the law. so, is the president's lawyer correct, that the president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice? >> no, i don't believe he's correct at all. you have to look at what the word is. you

general michael flynn was in the room yesterday when mr. trump met with the japanese prime minister. after that meeting, shinzo abe called the president-elect a trustworthy leader. the meeting lasted nearly 90 minutes longer than expected. it was described as a positive conversation over appetizers in trump tower. it was the president-elect's first face-to-face meeting with a world leader since the election. >> mr. trump's daughter ivanka and her husband jared kushner attended the meeting with abe. drawing new attention to possible roles for trump family members in the new administration. our nancy cordes asked house speaker ryan yesterday about government rules on hiring relatives and how they apply to the president-elect's son-in-law. >> reporter: your understanding of nepotism rules do you believe that jared kushner should be able to take a job at the white house? >> i have really no comment about what job he should or should not take. but look he was a very integral part of the campaign. he's obviously a brilliant young man who donald t

flynn will be national security adviser. >> mr. trump is expected to announce the appointments later today. major garrett is in washington. he was the first to report the sessions pick. major, good morning. >> good morning. jeff sessions, senator from alabama, the first senator to endorse donald trump has been part of the trump campaign and part of the conversations about the supreme court and other key justice issues since president-elect trump became president-elect after the november 8th election. and his selection, as attorney signal to conservatives, that he's going to take not only issues of immigration very seriously as he said during the campaign, but also issues of the supreme court. when trump had a meeting earlier this week about who to select, who to nominate for that vacant position on the supreme court, the only noncampaign, nonfamily attendee to that meeting was senator sessions. a clear signal he was going to be trump's pick for attorney general. and now he, in fact, is. as for the transition itself, the teams today

mr. -- about mike flynn's business dealings. that opened him up to many charges, relating to failing to register and failing to disclose a lot of those, potentially very serious charges. the fact he's coming here to federal court to only plead to making false statements, this suggests that he is po pen chully providing the special council with incredibly valuable information. >> he was certainly a member of the inner circle. how worried should the white house be, do you think? >> well, they consistently say they're not worried, even when we started to get some hints and some clues that this was coming, specifically when flynn's lawyers stopped sharing information about the investigation with the white house. they said yeah, it could be a plea. they didn't seem worried. but they should be concerned because this is someone who would have a lot of potentially very valuable information for special counsel. he would have been someone who would have been sitting in at a lot of meetings at the beginning of the administration. all of th

mr. trump asked him in the oval office to drop the investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn. >> why didn't you stop and say, mr. president, this is wrong, i cannot discuss this with you. >> that's a great question. maybe if i were stronger, i would have. i was so stunned by the conversation they just took it. >> do you say the president obstructed justice? >> i took it as a concerning thing. >> he said after he was fired the president disparaged him and the fbi so he shared the memos professoring asking him to press it along to the press. >> why not yourself than to an intermediate party? >> i felt like the reporters were camping at the driveway, like seagulls aet the beach if it were getting it out. >> what happens next? the counsel will meet with robert mueller next week and the staff is going to be conducting an interview with white house senior adviser jared kushner. >> nancy, thank you so much t president today during a rose garden news romania's president. he said yesterday comey's testimony proves theo interfere the russian government. margaret brennan is at the marga

flynn are raising obstruction of justice questions. president trump's lawyer are now trying to separate mr.mp from that talk saying it's impossible for a president to obstruct justice. margaret is at the white house with the latest on this story. >> reporter: good morning. sources tell cbs news that the president was informed in late january by white house counsel of inconsistencies in michael flynn's statements about his russia contacts. they insist at the time it had not been determined that flynn had lied. a distinction that could make the difference as to whether the president himself committed a crime. >> flynn lied and they destroyed his life. >> president trump may have obstructed justice if in fact he knew that general flynn had lied to the fbi at the same time he urged former director james comey to stop investigating him. but mr. trump's personal law, john dowd, strongly disputed that telling cbs news the president cannot obstruct himself because he's the country's top law enforcement officer. yet past u.s. presidents have faced obstruction of justice charges during impeachment ch

flynn. he was also a witness to mr. trump's criticism, public and private, of attorney general jeff sessions, as well as white house debates over whether to fire mueller. current and former mem of e president's leg o topics mcga covered with mueller and are not concerned. >> mcgahns with a strong witness wr the president. reportedly surprised the t lit and, ote,ea mr. trump was setting him up to take the blame for any possible acts of obstruction, end quote. >> we did nothing, there's no collusion. >> reporter: president trump attacked "the new york times" story, saying he, quote, allowed mcgahn to talk to mueller because he had nothing to hide. no one knows what mcgahn told mueller's investigators except those directly involved. the key issue here is his events would conflict or reinforce the recollections or memos of james comey. we know no charges have been filed and mueller has not issued a subpoena to testify, to compel president trump's testimony, something we might expect if mcgahn in those interviews had provide

mr. comey or anyone else to end any investigation including any investigation involving general flynn.ion may be at the highest point of the presidency. not only the firing of comey, but the oversharing of intelligence with the russians has led him to question everyone in the inner circumstances and that includes jared kushner top adviser and son-in-law to the president. he is one of the voices that endorsed the comey firing and that the president is enraged that that action has set so many negative consequences in motion. >> enraged you say, major? >> indeed. >> thank you so much. >>> president trump's issues with his former national security adviser go back to the transition more than four months ago. the obama administration unveiled new sanctions against russia on december 29th. that same day general flynn spoke with russia's ambassador to the u.s., sergei kislyak. >> mike pence was told on january 14th that he did not discuss sanctions with kislyak. this was not the truth, pence defended flynn the next day on "face the nation." flynn was sworn in as national security adviser on ja

mr. trump asked him in the oval office to drop the fbi investigation involving former national security adviser michael flynn. >> why didn't you stop and say, mr. president, this is wrong, i cannot discuss this with you? >> it's a great question. maybe if i were stronger, i would have. i was so stunned by the conversation that i just took it in. >> do you sense that the president was trying to obstruct justice? >> i don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. i took it as a very disturbing thing. >> reporter: comey said after he was fired, the president disparaged him and the fbi. so he shared his memos with a friend, a columbia law professor, asking him to pass them along to the press. >> so why didn't you give those to somebody yourself rather than give them through a third party? >> because i was worried the media was camping at the end of my driveway at that point. i worried it would be like feeding seagulls at the beach. if it was i who gave it to the media. so i asked my friend, make sure this gets out. >> reporter: so what's next? well, c

. >> reporter: standing next to his incoming national security adviser mike flynn who has mr.rump was asked about his campaign promise to ban muslims from immigrating to the u.s. and establish a muslim registry. the president-elect said the berlin attack validates his proposals. even before the attack was declared terrorism and isis claimed responsibility, mr. trump released a statement saying the following. but he didn't seem to recognize that statement wednesday. after his security briefing, the president-elect met with defense contractors he previously had criticized. >> i think boeing is doing a little bit of a number. >> reporter: earlier this month, he took aim at boeing, claiming the cost of a new air force one was too high. yesterday, the boeing ceo offered assurances about the price tag. >> we are going to get it done for less than that and we are committed to working together to >> reporter: mr. trump had also gone after lockheed martin for the cost of their f-35 fighter jet program. after meeting with the ceo he struck an optimistic tone. >> a little bit of a dance

flynn, that is obstruction of justice. nancy cordes is on capitol hill where lawmakers of both parties now want mr. comey to testify.cy, good morning. >> good morning. this development does seem to be a turning point for some republicans whose instinct until now has been to stand by the president or minimize his mistakes. the difference is that frankly many of those republicans are more apt to believe jim comey's words than they are to believe the president's. speaking with bob schieffer at a dinner last night, arizona leader john mccain made a comparison to nixon for the first time. >> i think it's reaching the point where it's of watergate >> as he spoke, republican jason chaffetz was firing off a letter to the fbi, giving the agency a week to turn over all memoranda, notes, summaries, and recordings referring to any conversation between comey and the president. lindsey graham also spoke. florida republican carlos said that needs to change. >> increasingly republicans believe we have to change what we're doing. >> idaho's jim risch was one of the few republicans to think it was going better. >> i think it's going

mr. trump's first security adviser general michael flynn was forced to resign last week for misleading white house officials about conversations with the russian ambassador. trump met with four possibilities sunday including john bolton and keith kellogg. harward rejected the offer to be appointed because the white house would not assign him his staff. the new national security advise ler have a free hand. >> he can to whatever he or she wants to with the nsc and the makeup of the nsc. >> i also want to speak to you withoue news. >> president trump's sharp criticism of skeptical news coverage continued. in one tweet he called the leading news organizations the enemy of the american people. >> i think you should take it serious seriously. >> on "face the nation," predoes said the president is right to attack the press. >> we spent hours on bogus stories and millions suffer. i do think it's a problem. >> john mccain, a frequent critic of president trump said the language will cross the line. >> ha's how dictators get started. >> the president will unveil a new executive order later this week a

mr. trump's tone. >> it was deeply disappointing to me and also to hear h inauguration this friday. i hope he reconsiders both statements. >> pence also said none of the conversations that michael flynn had with the ambassador to the u.s. were related to the sanctions tied to an election on hacking. gayle, it is unclear if mr. trump will maintain those sanctions. >> all right. thank you very much, major. >>> in his final interview, president obama says he'll have to get the intelligence community to trust him. steve kroft asked the president about mr. trump's criticism. >> we're in this transition period and one of the first things that he has done in this transition period is to pick a fight with the intelligence agency. do you think that that's a smart move? >> you're not going to be able to make good decisions without building some relationship of trust between yourself and that community. >> do you see that happening? >> not yet, but, again, he hasn't gotten sworn in office yet. >> president obama also said he believes the affordable care act will be one of his lasting legacies. >>> president-elect trump says he plans to present a better alternative to obamacare soon. he didn't o

mr. trump has already awarded top jobs to campaign loyalists, retired lieutenant general michael flynn will be national security adviser. kansas representative mike pompeo is the pick to head the choi in line with mr. trump he has called enhanced interrogation techniques like constitutional and within the law. alabama senator jeff sessions is trump's choice for attorney general. pompeo and sessions will require senate confirmation. and on sunday mr. trump took to twitter to compliment fellow new yorker chuck schumer soon to be the top democrat. i have always had a good relationship with chuck schumer, mr. trump wrote, before taking a shot at the outgoing harry reid. he is far smarter than harry r. and has the ability to get things done. good news. yesterday, schumer add this to say about the president-elect. >> when he's opposed to our values, we're going to go after him tooth and nail. >> reporter: while the president-elect is planning his own moves during the transition, the first lady will remove in new york city. trump confirmed yesterday that melania will remain in the city with their