i mean about michael flynn. but then they were fired and then of course flynn was hired. and i was told by one former transition official that he'd actually raised some issues about flynn with the president-elect and the president-elect kept making the point that he is a really loyal guy. in the end i think that was probably what the decision to hire him as national security adviser was about. which was ultimate complete loyalty to donald trump. despite all the red flags. >> the other thing about this, it totally inaccurately reflects the vetting process for the most senior national security officials officials. if you're chosen as national security adviser that is not based on a two or three year-old security clearance. there's additional vetting done. that's the responsibility of the incoming administration. this whole thing about the clearance is a red herring. the administration does the vetting. >> amy, the senator from minnesota is joining us. she's a democrat on the judiciary committee. did you know about this warning from president obama to then president-elect tr

obama warned trump about flynn, telling him not to hire flynn. defenders of the president say he acted quickly. let's take a look at the time line and figure out for yourself what we're looking at here. okay? this is where it all starts november 18th, okay? michael flynn will be an invaluable asset to me and my administration. by all accounts trump and his people went after flynn. it wasn't flynn seeking out a job here. then december 29th. this is then flynn discussions sanctions with the russian ambassador. and the idea was what were they talking about at that time? >> that conversation they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states decision to expel diplomats or impose a sanction against russia. >> they have this phone call. then in january we hear the vice president. the fbi calls in michael flynn. they talk to him about this. they remind him about his answer on sanctions. he says it didn't happen. they say, are you sure? he said i don't remember. the fbi winds up saying this report is maybe there won't be charges. but sally

general flynn, he blames obama for flynn essentially.ven the highest security clearance by the obama administration, but the fake news media seldom likes talking about that." well, i want you to listen here to general john kelly. the secretary of the department of homeland security said this to fox news about the vetting that he underwent before he took his post. >> i would tell you this, the process i just went through, they completely ignored my last 25 years, started from scratch. i had to submit, again, financial statements, my tax records, anything and everything -- any foreign contact i had had, anything and everything. and then they checked at the fbi. so, i think the process -- i can't imagine how much tighter it could possibly be. >> so, andre, secretary kelly says the trump administration, it was on them to vet, and they did vet him. that's directly in contradiction to what the president's saying in his tweet. >> well, i think there's -- you know, you can argue both sides. clearly, if the obama administration thought he was a t

mike flynn had worked in the obama administration. president obama presumably was speaking from experience. president trump ignored that warning. it was just one of many warnings. some public, some private from obama. and later from an acting attorney general sally yates and it raises grave questions about their judgment. >> and the white house, according to officials speaking to kristen welker, is that they said they believed this was -- donald trump believed that this was said sort of in jest, don't hire mike flynn. but also if president obama was so concerned about it, why did he not revoke his security clearance? and he candidn't revoke his security clearance. so explain that, why did mike flynn still hold his security clearance even after he left the obama administration? >> security clearances are not granted nor are they revoked by the president of the united states. that's kind of ridiculous. they are adjudicated by career professionals. these are routine matters. more than 1.5 million people in our country hold a top secret s

why warn of flynn's vulnerable there? >> sally yates could not have been more blunt in her testimony about this. she felt that mike flynn lied to the white house and the white house then lied to the american public and that needed to be cleaned up. there are some things she couldn't say because it's classified. we know from our reporting that she believe flynn lied about his discussions with the russian ambassador, sergey ksyliak. he said that he didn't. mike pence went on national television and told the public that flynn never discussed those sanctions. but, in fact, there were fbi transcripts showing that he did. so, sally yates felt like that put flynn in a position to be blackmailed because the russians certainly knew that he discussed those sanctions and that he lied to the white house. she felt that the white house needed to know that and she testified she expected the white house to act on that information. >> i want to ask you about the timeline in all of this. shortly after flynn's firing, in fact, in february,

we know flynn wasn't masked. he was picked up during routine surveillance of foreign targets, in this case the russian ambassador. she was given the opportunity to testify publicly today along with yates and clapper. she declined on the basis of two points. she said it was too short notice. the invitation coming about two weeks ago. and that it was not extended on a bipartisan basis. that is not to say that rice is unwilling to cooperate with this investigation. her lawyer indicated that she will testify to members of these committees, but we need to be in a nonpublic, classified session. maria? >> they have been at this a long time and still no evidence of it. thanks so much. right now we want to look more into this. we bring in fox politics editor chris stirewalt. your reaction? >> democrats are certainly not gonna pass up on the chance to rub donald trump's nose in michael flynn again. an there a story today that basically sums it up. they thought the president had done -- had his first real success on the leg

flynn. >> without objection. general clapper, on march 5, 2017, you said the following to a question. here's the question. does intelligence exist that can answer the following question: were there any improper contacts between the trump campaign and russian officials. you said we did not include any evidence in our report, i say our, the fbi, the cia, with our office that had any reflection of collusion between members of the trump campaign and the russians. there was no evidence of that included in the report. chuck todd asked, i understand that, but does it exist. you say no, not to my knowledge. is that still accurate? >> it is. >> mrs. yates, do you have any idea or are you aware of any evidence that would suggest in the 2016 campaign anybody in the trump campaign colluded with the russian government or intelligence services in an improper fashion? >> senator, my answer to that question would require me to reveal classify information. i can't answer that. >> well, i don't get that. he j

to which she explained that flynn could be compromiseed. do you think the white house knew about the potential impact of michael flynn's russian connections? >> she certainly made it clear. she also made it clear today that in a second meeting with the white house council she was asked about whether he was potentially criminally liable and under what statutes he might be prosecuted. i thought that was also important information we heard in today's hearing. >> do you trust that white house council don mcgahn is giving the white house good advice based on the testimony we heard today? >> i don't know. i can't speak to that. i know that ms. yates gave the white house council unmistakable ef evidence that michael flynn should be removed. it was asked, is he someone that should be fired immediately? she said, that's not my call. that's the president's call. she was fired from her job days later. it is hard for me to discern that vice president was given advice to act on and the president put our security at risk and whether the council failed to

this was a pretty tough day for michael flynn.that's the day that jason chaffetz and elijah cummings both came out and said they had reviewed classified pentagon documents and saw that flynn had not disclosed his foreign work for -- foreign payments from russia and turkey while getting a renewal of his security clearance. >> right. >> and they both said they saw no indication that he had complied with the law. so flynn has assembled a group of old friends, loyalists, dinner in a restaurant in northern virginia and afterwards everybody was looking for what was flynn's thinking about trump? you know, was he sticking by him? not only was he sticking by him, he tells some of those there as the dinner is breaking up, yes, i just got a message from the president and he told me to stay strong. now, this could be interpreted in various ways. one is the president is sending a message by saying stay strong, don't buckle, don't say anything that might harm me, or these are two loyal friends who went through a lot during the campaign. flynn s

flynn? >> sally yates speaks out. >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> tonight, what we now know about what michael flynn was doing with the russians and why president trump ignored all the warnings. >> president obama had told the incoming president elect that two days after the election, don't hire this guy. >> then, the kushner family caught selling real estate visas and access to the white house, why jared kushner's family is today apologizing with the reporter who broke the story, all of that and plus house republicans feel the heat at home over trump care. >> nobody dies because they don't have access to health care. "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, for the first time today, the person at the cen

flynn. >> general clapper, on march 5, 2017, you said the following to a question. here's the question. does intelligence exist that can definitely answer the following question? whether there were improper contacts between the white house and russian officials. you said we did not include any evidence in our report, i say our, the fbi, the cia, the nsa, with my office, the director of national intelligence, that had any reflection of collusion between members of the trump campaign and the russians. the was no evidence of that included in our report. chuck todd then asked, i understand that, but does it exist? you said no, not to my knowledge. is that still accurate? >> it is. >> miss yates, do you have any evidence, are you aware of any evidence that would suggest that in the 2016 campaign, anybody in the trump campaign clueded with the russian government or intelligence services in an improper fashion? >> senator, my answer to that question would require flow reveal classified information.

president trump couldn't mention general flynn in those tweets because general flynn underscores allf this smoke about russia. he wanted to go away from it and distract from it. and again, whether believe yates or not, she was unflappable in the face of these attack attempt. >> i would like to explain to a visitor from outer space we are analyzing the news development about donald trump's tweets about the news development. i mean who cares snl we're trying to analyze the news here, not like what donald trump tweeted about the news. >> it's also worth noting thathat trump administration has repeatedly broken with what the obama administration did on healthcare, visitor laws, tax, you name it. but when it comes to flynn, they go back to that and say obama administration is when he was office when he was issued his security clearance. but obama didn't name him his national security advisor. >> exactly. president trump did. >> the whole idea the obama administration didn't take his security clearance away, they fired mike flynn. how can barack obama be blamed for mike flynn? what are the

and the first number of days when flynn flynn was in office. be sitting here talking about this if, arguably, if the story had not been reported. it wasn't the underlying facts that drove flynn out of office. it was the leaking of those facts into the media. >> even though this administration knew from the prior administration, the problems with michael flynn. top senate judiciary hearing today. sheldon whitehouse had this to say. >> we need a thorough accounting of the facts. years ago, an 18-minute gap transfixed the country and got everybody's attention in another investigation. we have an 18-day gap between the notification of the white house that a senior official had potentially been compromised and action taken against that senior official's role. at best, the trump administration has displayed misjudgment. and they may reflect compromise at the hands of russian intelligence. my hope is that the hearing and those to come will help us find out. thank you, chairman. >> that was at the top of the hearing. would you compare this to water wat

flynn -- december 29, mr.lynn calls several times. 26, sally yates tells the white house counsel that mr. flynn has not been truthful about the details of those calls and he could be vulnerable to russian blackmail. fires mrs. mr. trump yates. matt is up next in baltimore, maryland. line for independents. caller: thank you for c-span. there is a decided tone of divisiveness in her testimony. the thing about it is that if you look at the gross results, they were zero. there was no evidence that there forany tampering with votes president trump. byelieve that as time goes and he continues to be as effective as he's been to date, i think all of this will erode wnd the republicans who are no led by a larger man will either disappear or change significantly under new leadership. democrat, a lifelong a world war ii veteran, i'm 90 years old and i listen to all of this trash -- it has to disappear. it makes no sense whatsoever and america is really hurting. who are the specific leaders of the republican party you are

as a result of flynn having misled them.esident trump to ask for flynn's resignation, something i'm hoping they can shed some light on in testimony today. the president ask his m administration have yet to take responsibility for or explain these and other troubling russia links. dismissing facts as fake news, and down playing the significance of individuals involved. more than 100 days into the trump administration and nearly two years since he declare d hi candidacy for president, only wub person has been held accountable for improper contacts with yaush, michael flynn. the trump administration ma maintained that flynn's communications with the ambassador were not improper. he simply lost the confidence of the president. we need a more thorough accounting of the facts. an 18-minute gap transfixed the country and got everybody's attention in another investigation. in this case, we have an 18-day gap between the notification of the white house that a senior official had potentially been compromised and action taken against t

do you know what was done to vet flynn? >> that wasn't a role i was a part of, here is what we do know. general flynn served his country for 33 years. in 2015 before he made a trip overseas he informed the dia and his folks in the national security world that he was going to make this trip. he gave them a briefing upon his return in early 2016 and then in april his top security clearance was renewed. if there was a big problem at the time red flags certainly didn't go up and his clearance was restored. from president trump's perspective a retired army general who had been a loyal xorer on the campaign, a vocal critic of the previous a administration's mishandling of the war on terrorism. the fact he department think they did a good enough job on it. it came as no comprise they would be critical of general flynn. >> well, they fired him. jen, we heard from james clapper, former head of the dni, that the vetting for a security clearance by an agency is nothing compared to what you you would get as a senior intel official and

flynn is a wonderful man. maybe i should -- people can draw their own conclusions. >> i don't know what information was conveyed to the president. i have no insight. to which he had an understanding the acting internal attorney g. it's >> it's a concern i would have. sounds like perhaps the president was not aware. in march, the president tweeted flynn should be given immunity. and that the fbi's investigation is "a witch hunt." i would like to ask both of you, should these tweets and other similar assertions by the president have any influence at all on the fbi's ongoing investigation into russian interference in our elections and team trump's connections to the efforts? >> it shouldn't, and i'm confident it won't. >> i hope so. i have a question about the foreign agents registration act. a number of trump administration officials are belatedly disclosing and registering their work on behalf of foreign governments under the foreign agents registration act. some of which raise serious counterintelligence conce

but it is not until february 13th that flynn actually resigns. tell us what happened between -- you know, you go the this warning, you then saw documents that backed up that warning, and then you have 11 days that pass. what was happening in those 11 days? >> i think if you go back in time and look at what we talked about at the time, there were several conversations that occurred with general flynn between the chief of staff, general counsel, vice president. that all occurred then. look, when you think about the scope of time that actually occurred, those 11 days, to make sure that we did the right thing is important. we ultimately did, and that's what's important when you think of this. when you look at this compared to other instances, the idea that in 11 days a review was conducted. the president acted decisively. i think that actually shows that the system worked properly. john. >> she says she came here with great urgency on the 26th and 27th, that she made clear that he had been compromised, that she had evidence that this had been comprom

she explained that flynn was compromised. if the white house was looking at this as more of an internal administrative matter, does that raise concerns about the white house judgment at the time? >> well, it seems like they're saying, you know what, this is our turf, you stay on your turf, but it is really interesting that he seemed to be implying that it's actually kind of okay that if, you know, just we'll resolve it or we won't resolve it, but it's our own issue, it's our dirty laundry, you stay out of this. and it seems like he wasn't going to do anything about it or as susan has pointed out, or he had no influence with president trump, that he couldn't take this up to him and say, you know, this is what doj is saying, what do you think? >> michael moore, does this speak to judgment for you? >> i lost you on part of that, don. >> does this speak to judgment at the white house? >> absolutely, absolutely it speaks to judgment. i've said this all along, i got a real question and i think it defies all reason to think that the

and general flynn is say, i have a story to tell. but why would we believe anything of the story at this point? he wasn't honest to investigators and wasn't honest to the vice president. and at the same point, when you look back to this, he's supposed to be the head of the counter intelligence for the u.s. military but yet repeatedly made mistakes that are basic mistakes. things you're taught from the very beginning when you enter the military. so it's becoming very curious why this pattern goes back several months. and we just see it coming up again and again. and that the president and his inner circle didn't seem to want to address it. >> peter, let me go back to you as we get this new reporting in from nbc news, and sort of set the tone for us as we wait to get reaction from the white house to this information. are you looking at your blackberry because you think you might have something there? >> reporter: we have not heard from the white house but we are still getting information. i'm willing to answer any questions, go ahead,

flynn. the first meeting occurred on january 26th. i called done mcgann first thing that morning and told him that i had a very sensitive matter that i needed to discuss with him, that i couldn't talk about it on the phone and that i needed to come see him and he agreed to meet with me later that afternoon. i took a senior member of the national security division who was overseeing this matter with me to meet with mr. mcgann. we met with his office at the white house so we could discuss classified information in his office. we began our meeting telling him that there had been press accounts of statements from the vice president and others that related conduct that mr. flynn had been involved in, that we knew not to be the truth. and as i tell you what happened here, again i'm going to be very careful not to reveal classified information. >> the reason you knew it was true because you had collected some intelligence from an incidental collection system, is that fair to say? >> i can't answer that because that again would call for me to

two days after the fbi interviewed flynn and a full 18 days before flynn was fired following a bombshell "washington post" report that revealed the justice department's warning to the white house. >> we told them that we were giving them all of this information so that they could take action. the action that they deemed appropriate. >> yates's testimony contradicting the white house's assertion hat she merely gave a heads-up. >> the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wanted to give, quote, a heads-up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice president out in particular. >> and sally yates said the third time that she talked to white house counsel don mcgann is when she called him to tell him he could look at the classified information about michael flynn that was causing so much concern for her and other people within the justice department. she did not know if he or anyone else in the white house took her up on that offer because the same day she made it, she was fired by president trump for refusing to back th

the reason why president obama didn't want general flynn brought into the administration, because flynn had been a sharp critic of president obama. >> so, one, the night that donald trump won, president obama invited him to the white house. he wasn't his choice for the president, but he felt it was important to do that for the continuity of government. he came in, he had a meeting with him and gave him honest advice and he was concerned about the suitability of flynn and the competence of flynn and that was his experience having fired him the year before and that was a concern of a lot of people in the intelligence committee. there are a lot of security clearances that are reviewed by the career staff, and dia was his home agency. see he is somebody who had been at a high legavel, he came back and asked for an update on his security clearance, and that was long before the campaign was done. >> why did they reauthorize his top secret clearance? >> it's a courtesy done. >> so we're just giving out top secret clearances? >> there's 4 million people, about, that have security clearances, bu

flynn, how did he get a security clearance? >> knew what about mr. flynn? >> well, that he had had a conversation with the russian ambassador about sanctions? >> well, that was late, that was the 29th of december or so as reported in the media that took place. >> january 19th the president was sworn in. how did he get a security clearance? >> he had a security clearance and had one for a long time. a career military officer, and i don't know the specifics of when his -- when his fell due. the system is every five years you -- the current system every five years you're supposed to get a periodic reinvestigation, and i don't know of the details of that. that would probably be done by his old agency, the defense intelligence agent. >> i don't have you to get some additional double secret security clearance to serve of in the white house. >> well, yes, you do, and as i indicated before -- >> could i ask you how he got one. >> the process is -- i don't know how it's done in this administration. >> okay. >> but my -- my own knowledge of how it was done when i ser

flynn. >> president obama warned president trump not to hire mike flynn. >> did you not vet him yourselves? >> that's where it appears that the trump transition dropphe ball. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> we heard just how hard she tried to tell the white house. >> the national security adviser essentially could be blackmail by the russians. >> our legal counsel got a heads-up from sally yates. >> they wanted to give, quote, a heads up to us. >> three conversations between the acting attorney general and the white house counsel. it wasn't a mere heads-up. >> we were giving them this information so they could take action. >> general flynn continued to serve as the national security adviser for 18 days. >> and he lets him be in all these classified -- >> some urgency. >> general flynn is a wonderful man. >> think about it. you're in the first week of your new job, the biggest job of your life. and you get this information. and

should flynn be held in contempt? >> well, i think you'll leave that to the relevant committees, but my hunch at this point, as jeffrey toobin just laid out, that we're very early on. we need to have coordination between bob mueller, the new special counsel who is leading the fbi -- the fbi investigation which is both counterintelligence and potentially criminal. i don't think he should be held in contempt out of respect for the fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, but i think i'll leave the ultimate decision about that to the very capable bipartisan leaders of the senate intelligence committee investigation. >> would you support granting flynn immunity in order to get him to talk? >> that's a very delicate decision, and there we would have to weigh whether or not he may face prosecution or whether it would imperil the fbi investigation and whether he might say something that really is in the public interest. as you heard from jeffrey toobin in the iran-contra investigation, there was a real distance or d

flynn? >> i had two in-person meetings one phone call with the white house counsel about mr. flynn. the first meeting occurred on january 26th. i called done mcbegan first thing that morning and told him that i had a very sensitive matter thievd discuss with him, that i couldn't talk about it on the phone and i needed to come see him, and he agreed to meet with me later that afternoon. infield i took a senior member of the national security division who was overseeing this matter to meet with me. we met in his office at the white house which is a skiff so we could discuss classified information in his office. >> again, it is remarkable here that this is not even one week into the new administration. swearing in was a friday, this is the thursday after the inauguration. this is six days into the new presidency. and the serving attorney general, the act attorney generally, has gone to the white house counsel's office which has a sensitive kpartmented information facility a skiff where they can handle classified material inside that office. this is dwods after the fbi questioned the na

regard being michael flynn. yates sold senators she gave the white house a forceful and detailed warning. that flynn lied when he denied discusses u.s. sanctions with the russian ambassador. >> we walked the white house council who had an associate with him through general flynn's underlying conduct. the contents of which i obviously cannot go through with you today because it's classified. we took them through a fair amount of detail of the underlying conduct what flynn had done and then we walked through the various press accounts and how it had been falsely reported. we also told the white house counsel that general flynn had been interviewed by the fbi. >> michael flynn. >> in nesh the day after his firing by the president, sean spicer claimed yates had only give and much less substantive heads up about flynn's comments. >> the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wanted to give quota heads up to us and some comments that may have been louisiana may have seeped in conflict with

flynn. >> without objection. general clapper, on march 5th, you said the following to a question. here's the question. does intelligence exist that can definitely answer the following question, whether there were proper contacts between the trump campaign and russian tishls. you said we did not include evidence in our report, and i say our, that's the nsa, fbi, ci, a director of national intelligence that had anything, that had any reflection of conclusion between members of the trump campaign and russians. there was no evidence of that included in our report. chuck todd then asked i understand that, but does it exist. you say, no, not to my knowledge. is that still accurate? >> it is. >> ms. yates, do you have any evidence, are you aware of any evidence that would suggest that in the 2016 campaign anybody in the trump campaign colewded with the russian government in an improper fashion? >> senator, my answer to that question would require me to reveal classified information, ask so i can't

mike flynn was right about it. whatever you think about what he did hear her or his explanation since he was right about that. he was sounding the alarm at a time when president obama was saying al qaeda was on the run. they weren't. and mike flynn was right about that. the idea that sean spicer would say you know, the obama administration should've pulled mike flynn's clearance, can you imagine how the trump campaign would have responded? as he is campaigning? 's to go the trump campaign should have worried about vetting michael flynn, so they would have avoided this headache that they have. one of the questions that's been raised during the testimony, and i think it's worth pursuing, why did the trump administration keep flynn on from that january january 28, the 18 days? they have this information and flynn was still attending classified briefings. >> bret: senator franken posited that perhaps he was concerned about other people and other communications and he just threw that out there in the hearing, saying may

flynn?. >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> tonight, what we now know ab

flynn. even then, the trump administration maintained flynn's communications with the ambassador were not improper.he simply lost the confidence of the president. we need a more thorough accounting of the facts area many years ago and 18 minute gap transfixed the country and got everybody's attention in another investigation. these days we have an 18 day gap between the notification of the white house that senior official had potentially been compromised and action taken against that senior officials roll. it's at best the trump administration has displayed errors of judgment, at worst these irregularities may reflect efforts that compromise or corruption at the hands of russian intelligence. my sincere hope is his hearing and those to come will help us out. >> banking chairman. >> are two witnesses. >> they are well known and that will be sworn in but mister clapper, the former director of national intelligence has served this country for decades in uniform and dedicate his life to intellig

why flynn did that, we don't know.e was paid more than half a million dollar by the turkish government durk the campaign, greta. >> and that turkey didn't want it to happen. >> exactly. >> jonathan, you're reporting that the trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with russia. when you say the trump campaign, who do you mean? >> associates and aides surrounding then candidate trump. and these 18 contacts were actually before the election. we also reported that there were more contacts between retired general flynn and the russian ambassador to the united states after the election as well. >> all right. now, i've talked to jeremy bash and other people and say after the election it would not be so unusual for someone who might be national security advisor to begin making contact with the russian government, depending what that contact is. the contact before the election, though, what kind of contacts were they? in moscow, do you want to be a drink? do we know the content of these contacts? >> we know the roug

two days after the fbi interviewed flynn and a full 18 days before flynn was fired following a bombshell washington post report that revealed the warning to the white house. >> we told them that they were giving them all of this information so that they could take action. the action that they deemed appropriate. >> reporter: yates' testimony contradicting the white house esertion that she merely gave a heads up. >> the acting attorney general informed white house counsel that they wanted to give, quote, a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice-president out in particular. >> reporter: yates testifying today she gave the white house the opportunity to look at the classified materials proving flynn was lying in a phone call with the russian ambassador, on the same day she was fired by president trump over her refusal to back the travel ban. >> we would allow them to come over and to review the underlying evidence. >> that was the end of this episode? nobody came over to look at the material? >> i don't know what happened after that b

we got rid of flynn. i don't know if there was any due process involved, if there was any of evasion. could it be every time the president and the people hear russia, they go like this. >> i don't necessarily agree with that. i'm more arguing the president's style, his management skill set, the reason why he was able to ascend to the presidency. he has had to recruit people and stay loyal to those people and so, for me, if you take 18 days to make a decision like that, i don't think it's a long period of time as a business person. maybe politicians think it's a long period of time. >> you're assuming a process. i don't know where that comes from. >> because i understand the president -- had a good working relationship with him and my guess is that he's a loyal guy to a fault in certain ways but that's benefited him in terms of recruiting people into his team. we go tit for tat in washington. i thought the testimony was another clear example of the witch-hunt that we're now fighting in washington and the n

general flynn? >> i have notes to describe that interview, the individual that is with me, senior career official from the national security division -- >> did you discuss criminal prosecution with mister flynn? general flynn? >> no recollection in the first meeting, it did come up in the second meeting when mister mc gann called me the next morning and asked the morning of the 27th if i could come back to the office. there are four topics to discuss and one of them, criminal statutes and more specifically -- >> the second meeting at the white house. with the same two individuals. you went back pursuant to a phone call request. >> the meeting was on the afternoon of the 26th, mister mcgann called me and asked the to come to the white house to discuss this and we set up a time and i went over there that afternoon. and in the white house counsel's office, >> you could have waited until you are agent 302 in the interview of general flynn. why go ahead of that, why not wait? >> this is a matter of some

and he loved traveling with flynn.nn used to appear with him at rallies. >> very vocally, lock her up. >> right. so even after a lot of people inside the original transition said to donald trump, you know, you have to be a little careful about this guy, donald trump would respond and say i know, but he's been so loyal to me. so loyalty above all. >> vice president pence's role in this really more questions every week. i just want to remind our viewers what he said in a fox interview in march when pence was asked about the news that michael flynn had been secretly working as a paid lobbyist for turkey. have a listen. >> former national security adviser michael flynn has filed with the department of justice as a foreign agent for making more than $500,000 as a lobbyist essentially for turkey. your reaction to that? >> let me say hearing that story -- >> we're going to go right to new york now because the press conference beginning on the this incident in times square. have a listen. >> today here in times square. we're g

michael flynn. here was the president today. >> did you at any time urge james comey to back down the investigation on michael flyn >> no. no. next question. >> almost as if to rebut that charge, they said he prepared extensively for his meetings with the president. quote, comey practiced trump's likely questions and his answers with a small group of his most trusted comfort dantes. they said in part that he did not give trump any ammunition to use against him later. so comey is being very careful. and after meeting with trump, he started writing notes as soon as he got into a car to make sure he could accurately record what was said by the president. another associate said the notes of the january dinner conversation contained very nuanced quotes from the president and a high level of detail. let me go to michael this. it seems, the president once said he had tapes. that story is now dropped. against one of the guys who is a very careful note takers even to the point of 92 wants. >> and notes like

flynn had misled the vice president and others. and that created a compromise situation a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> sally yates was also questioned several times today about the reactions she got from all of this from white house counse veteran.c. lawyeron mcgahn. >> i have a question that keeps annoying me that mr. mcgann asked of you, is there wrong with one white house official lying to ather whi hou official? >> to be fair to mr. mcgann, i wouldn't say he said is there anything wrong, his question was more what's it to the justice department if one official is lying to another? in other words, why is this something that d.o.j. would be concerned about. that's when we went back through the list of issues and things that were troubling to us. >> the white house counsel did not understand why the department of justice was concerned. >> to be fair to mr. mcgann, i think the issue that he raised, he wasn't clear on, was why we cared that michael flynn had lied

flynn should be fired? said that was not my call but thought it was critical we get this information to the white house. in part because the vice president was unknowingly making false statements to the public and because we believed general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. to state the obvious you don't want your national security advisor compromised with the russians. >> in the hearing, still unanswered including whether there was any evidence the trump campaign actually colluded with the russians. >> miss yates, do you have any evidence, are you aware of any evidence that would suggest in the 2016 campaign anybody in the trump campaign colluded with the russian government or intelligence services in an improper fashion? >> senator, my answer to that question would require me to reveal classified information so i can't answer that. >> well, i don't get that because he just said he issued the report and he said he doesn't know of any. so what would you know that's not in the report? >> i

and days after that president trump hired flynn. that shouldn't be any surprise because as we know, then president obama who was not a fan of flynn. watch. >> president obama made it known that he wasn't exactly a fan of general flynn which shouldn't come to a surprise given that general flynn had worked for president obama with an outspoken critic of president obama'ortcomings specifically related to lack of strategy confronting isis and other threats around that were facing america. so the question that you have to ask yourself really is was president obama truly concerned why didn't he suspend the security clearance which they had approved months earlier. blake: during the briefing i asked spicer if there were specific reasons given by then president obama to then president-elect trump why not hire michael flynn and spicer told me that he could not answer that question. as you know, sally yates who is in the middle of all of this is set to testify in capitol hill in just a short while's time. she's expect today testify that she g

flynn is a wonderful man? maybe i should let people draw their own conclusions. >> i don't know what information was conveyed to the president. i have no insight there. i don't know the extent to which he had an understanding what the acting attorney general conveyed. i don't know how much of that made its way to the president. >> precisely. that is a concern that i have. that it sounds like perhaps the president was not aware. and in fact going on in march, the president tweeted that flynn should be given immunity, and the fbi satisfies investigation is, quote, a witch hunt. so i would like the and both of you, should these tweets, these kinds of tweets and other similar assertions by the president have any influence at all on the fbi's ongoing investigation into russian interference in our elections and team trump's investigations into these efforts? >> it shouldn't and i am confident it the won't. >> i hope so. i have a question about the foreign agent registration act. a number of trump administration offi

flynn? >> that donald trump might be -- he likes people who are not part of the establishment. probably people like barack obama and other politicians telling him don't hire this guy probably made him feel like, you know what, i'm different. i'm going to do it. i'm going to double down on my guy. he liked him personally. and mike flynn was a huge part of his campaign. he traveled with him a lot. so, yeah he -- now sean spicer today tried to defend the hiring saying flynn worked for obama and it's their fault. they approved him first. but i think that his predecessor telling him don't hire this guy probably made him double down d say yeah, i will. >> so brian, take me to the briefing room tomorrow. how do they counter-spin against what we watched this afternoon. do they try to paint sally yates as a kind of wild bought and paid for partisan? do they try to do the same thing with the former director of intelligence perhaps? >> yeah, tlir going to say these are obama administration officials th