michael: so nice to meet you, marcus. lemonis: nice to meet you. michael: michael woods.emonis: michael, do you dress like this every day? michael: every day. ramona: every day. lemonis: you look like a million bucks. michael: thank you. lemonis: so, tell me about ashtae. ramona: we are a multicultural hair-care company. we only sell directly to beauty salons. lemonis: okay. you're not in any retail? ramona: right. michael: we service salons door to door. lemonis: and when you say "door to door," go to a salon, meet somebody for the first time, shake their hand. michael: correct. lemonis: and what region do you do business in? michael: south carolina. that's where the bulk comes in. lemonis: if michael's going door to door, and that's how he's generating his revenue, it's kind of obvious to me why they haven't broken outside of the carolinas. door-to-door selling is wildly inefficient. taylore, what do you do here? taylore: a little bit of everything. lemonis: well, what is your actual job title? ramona: well, right now, taylore is a little in limbo. lemonis: what does th

with me michael moore, former u.s.ney and steven levin, former federal prosecutor and former u.s. attorney. thank you for being here. steven, new voice to the conversation, your reaction to everything we're seeing coming out especially what we're hearing now from michael flynn? >> so just to follow up on jeffrey toobin's point, before the break, i have been in the army for almost 30 years, i was active duty and now i'm in the reserves and as jeffrey mentioned, i am offended by michael flynn's remarks about his prior service. it is his military service that put him in a position that he was in and he squandered that opportunity to serve this country, to continue to serve this country, by lying to fbi officials. so it is offensive. his remarks should have been nothing more than i lied to the fbi, i regret it, i have extreme remorse for it and i chose to plead guilty and cooperate. instead, he distances himself from any feelings of remorse, and just says, well, what i did was in my family's best interest. but then he refe

everything michael flynn knows. that begin with his lawyers making what they call a proffer, the legal term for what they call the special prosecutor what michael flynn, their client could tell them if the special prosecutor offers michael flynn a plea deal. before robert mueller and his team heard a word out of the mouth of michael flynn, they had already heard from michael flynn's lawyers and what michael flynn had to say, something very helpful to the prosecutors and then when they questioned michael flynn, michael flynn knew lying to them would be another crime that he could be charged with so robert mueller took in everything flynn had to say about donald trump, donald trump junior, jared kushner, jared kushner's wife, ivanka trump and jeff sessions and paul manafort and everyone else working in the trump and only after michael flynn every question honestly to the s satisfaction was he offered a deal announced today in federal court or michael flynn showed up to plea guilty after walking through spectators on t

michael flynn just stepped out of -- [ inaudible ]. [ inaudible ]. >> there you see michael flynn just came in without saying any words to the group of reporters here, assembled here. we expect he will be pleading guilty in the next few minutes at the -- here at the federal courthouse in washington. >> evan perez standby. what we hear coming out of the courthouse over the next several minutes crucial. we will find out exactly how he does plead in this case. we expect him to plead guilty. the words he chooses to use will be interesting. jeffrey toobin noted earlier if we get details about a possible cooperation agreement that will be key as well. we will be watching these doors and information coming from there very, very closely. want to go to the white house now. abby philip is there. abby, i understand we're getting some new response from inside there? >> that's right. john, the white house is not putting out an official statement just yet. they're saying that the white house lawyer that deals with the russia issue, ty cobb, will be doing that shortly but a few minutes ago a source c

michael flynn, jr., is under legal scrutiny because michael flynn, jr.as deeply involved in michael flynn sr.'s businesses. when he left government he started a consultansy for this company he was doing for profit, paid work for not only russia, but also turkey and there is still open questions about one, why he didn't report some of that income, why he didn't report as required by law, he was acting as what's called a foreign agent, meaning someone working for a foreign government here in the u.s. and his son was chief of staff to him in that business, and involved in that business and therefore under legal scrutiny as well. we reported a couple weeks ago that michael flynn, sr., was extremely worried about his son's legal jeopardy and that was a possible motivator in any consideration into cooperating in the investigation. now, i spoke to michael flynn, jr.'s lawyer barry coburn he is not commenting on whether there is an indictment or any cooperation coming from his son, but this is a factor and we know, for instance, john berman, that flynn's wife wa

and his son michael flynn jr. very central to michael flynn sr.'s thinking. we reported that flynn sr. was becoming increasingly concerned about the legal jeopardy his son may face. his son not charged today, not mentioned in there. the question is, in addition to provide pentagon cooperation elsewhere, was that cooperation provided in part to protect his son from legal proceedings, brianna? and we know that the special counsel does not give ground easily if he's going to compromise, if he's going to agree to a plea agreement, reduce sentences, et cetera, he would need to have something significant in return. >> very good point. jim sciutto, thanks for that report. let's dig deeper now with cnn justice correspondent even perez. evan, you have some very interesting new information. >> well, right. we have new information coming in now, brianna, that k.t. mcfarland who worked as michael flynn's deputy in the national security council, former fox news contributor has gone in to provide information to the special counsel's office. she's now done an interview, pro

michael flynn is a cop. you don't get a good deal by giving up a soldier someone like george papadopoulos. you get a good deal by giving up someone at the top of the criminal enterprise. >> danny is with us now. and danny i just want to know for folks here as this presumably plea deal hearing maybe under way. we expect it to start a couple of minutes ago. we are already getting reaction from capitol hill. we'll share that with you in ha moment. but danny as you are listening to the conversation here, i'm curious what you make of the time line about this, those sort of critical days in late january after the inauguration, when michael flynn now according to the fbi didn't tell them the truth about his conversations in december with the russian ambassador. >> the interesting thing about the charges like section 1001, the false statements, is that it doesn't go to the under tlieg activity, if any, with the russians. it just goes to whether or not he lied to federal investigators. and this is a darling charge of

us media are reporting that michael flynn will testify that jared kushner, reporting that michael flynn says —— the white house says that the guilt each plea does not get anyone but michael flynn. pope francis needs rohingya refugees in bangladesh and uses the name to refer to their identity. he had refrained from using the name in his previous visit to myanmar, which does not recognise them as and ethnic group. now on bbc news, an exclusive interview, the

michael may be right. we've seen president trump, you know, use twitter to brag, to say that he knew all of these things already. of course, you know, he knows all the things that are going on. and, you know, that flynn did this or flynn did that. but least it creates all these questions. >> julian, it sounds like the president is trying to convey a message that he is so competent, you know, that nothing is going to come back to him. because, you know, he's talking a lot today. he said, you know, earlier before he left for new york, he says, you know, no collusion. you know, and now he's got this tweet. he even said, you know, during a breakfast that he was really celebrating the u.s. senate vote and then now this tweet. while the president is trying to distance himself from the probe, is he really injecting himself further into it? >> he is. look, twitter has been used in two ways on this kind of issue by the president, the first is to discredit the investigation and to discredit stories about the investi

flynn's son, michael flynn junior, or liability for michael flynn's son, michael flynnjunior, or perhapsy. we do not know exactly the terms of how that cooperation deal came about. but it is very likely. what happens in most plea deals is that you get a lower charge and then also the special counsel or i commend in law sentence to the federaljudge. —— i commend in law sentence to the federal judge. —— will i commend in law sentence to the federaljudge. —— will recommend a lesser sentence. you have been watching this. a white house lawyer has said this guilty plea is only regarding mr flynn. it was not impact on anybody. did the fat "wishful thinking" pass your mind? —— the thought. "wishful thinking" pass your mind? -- the thought. absolutely. i'm sure he would like that to be true but it is not the case. what we have found from the charging information is referenced a very senior transition officials. this is definitely not the end of it. it is indeed wishful thinking if they think that the special counsel investigation will wrap up very soon and without this touching even closer to the

plea to michael flynn?i think the all of evidence we have seen so far, frankly, over the last 10 months suggest that the core narrative team is looking into is whether members of the trump administration and trump campaign, including possibly then candidate trump and president trump now negotiated sanctions policy and the dropping of sanctions on russia after they knew they were can getting -- committing cyber crimes in the united states. if they knew this was occurring, you will have 80 and betting computer crimes another crimes that would go beyond obstruction, witness tampering, and what has been talked about in the media so far. scarlet: so the president is completely invulnerable to criminal prosecution while in office, correct? seth: he cannot be tried for any criminal offense. there is some split as to whether he could be indicted, but not tried for a criminal offense. much more likely, bob mueller, if he does find evidence on unsatisfactory federal conduct while ind trump office, he would refer that

nn. -- michael flynn. . -- michael flynn. . -- michael flynn. -- michael flynn. - michael flynn.el flynn. michael flynn. michael flynn.michael fly. . . . and we'll donate two hundred fifty dollars more. (victoria) ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪ . >>> this is going into what i call the mixer. and the mixer is conference. and out of that, the house republicans and the -- >> all right, a tale of two political dramas for the president t. best of times after a major legislative win as he passed the gop tax bill via the senate 51-49. also potentially the worst of times of times in the russia investigation with michael flynn pleading to one count of lying to the fbi. joining me now is jonathon alter, and tara setmeyer. welcome and good morning to you both. tara, i'll reach out to you first. assess the president's day. overall bad because of the flynn news or overall good because of the tax plan win? >> yes, i think some would try to categorize it that way it would seem that the flynn newsovnew s overshadows what is being done with the tax bill. and the gop has not done a good job

steve: let me turn to michael isikoff. michael: to follow up on them all the issue, you just wrote and the daily caller that my advice to the president is he must disempower and dismantle mueller's robe prosecution getting. first, have you spoken to the president about this and have you specifically told him he should fire mueller? stone: i don't believe that he should fire mueller so i would not have told him that in have not told him that. shouldve the president ignore the incorrect advice of his attorneys who appeared to have told him he does not have the authority to issue directives to the attorney general of the united states. the department of justice is an extension of the executive branch. the president should order mr. sessions to appoint a special counsel or in the matter of uranium one. that would put mr. mueller, mr. rosenstein even mr. under immediate federal investigation and i cannot see how they could proceed in the current jobs under that circumstance. michael: i'm a little confused because you wrote he s

that was a statement by michael flynn.ther headlines, he says he is the russian ambassador not to escalate after sanctions and asked the russian ambassador not to escalate after sanctions. we will continue to bring all of the headlines coming out about michael flynn. mark: let's stay with this massive market political story nith allen higgins -- ala flight to safety, gold up in rising, dollar down. what is your initial reaction? initial reaction is that it reflects market positioning come in particular a very big treasury move, the 10 year treasuries coming back. that is the big move. stocks were overdue a selloff is rather modest. the stock market barometer of donald trump popularity for policies -- he would think it is what is not -- it is embedded into that, we believe built into the u.s. premium rate. a believe that lower taxation on its way. mark: does this completely overshadow the possibility of the tax bill being passed by the senate and then maybe by the house? is this the story? >> it could be but too early to sa

michael flynn is the lightning rod.idate trump and then president trump wasn't fully aware of the contacts that mike flynn was making with the russian ambassador. surf & turf even t. get ready these 5 pairings are gonna floor ya. like our new feast with lobster-wrapped scallops and a juicy sirloin, plus a savory lobster-and-shrimp smashed potato. and our new lobster and seafood-topped filet? every bite is better than the last. the classic is here too. come indulge in surf & turf like you've never had it before it's too late. and weekdays, create your own seafood lover's lunch for just $9.99. create your own seafood lover's whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insu

and this deal is very good for michael flynn.s pleading guilty to one count of making a false statement to a fbi agent. that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison which in itself is upper limit on the cap what the judge can do. but also the gouideline range that the prosecutors are saying would be guideline for sentence is 0 to six months which considering all we've heard over flynn's potential liability relating to the lobbying work he was doing on behalf of turkey and failure to register as foreign agent, the fact that none of that is part of the deal and all he's looking at a recommended sentence of 0 to six months tells me mr. mueller believes he's getting substantial assistance in exchange. and that would mean testimony that would lead to the prosecution of somebody significant. somebody who mueller believes is not like a step down from michael flynn. not somebody who is an associate or assistant, but somebody who is more significant than flynn is. >> let's be more specific than that. i mean, from all these smart

michael flynn is no coffee boy. i mean, this is -- if you are at the white house, how are you feeling? >> well, i mean, i've spoken with someone at the white house, and what they are trying to do is downplay all of this. and again as ty cobb did in the public statement saying this is about michael flynn has nothing to do with the president and they make the case there are no ten tentacles here. but there are. and they are there in black and white. and i would bet the president is kind of fuming and trying to figure out what to do next. don't forget, michael flynn was the fellow the president tapped jim comey on the shoulder about, and said, you know, could you go easy on michael flynn, he's a good guy. he's a good guy. and so they did have a relationship, neither michael flynn nor anybody else, i believe, in that transition would act on their own, on matters of state. and i think there are larger questions here about who knew what and when, including for the president of the united states, and including for all of h

michael: absolutely. this is the second time we've -- weaver seen court documents that are part of the mueller investigation which show that someone has pleaded to lying and is now cooperating with the investigation and a lot of legal analysts think that part of mueller's strategy here is to demonstrate number one, if you lie to me, i'm going to nail you for it and number two, i have people cooperating who know a lot of things. they may know what you hypothetical witness or trump associate did and now is the time to come garpped and come clean. do it now before your situation gets worse. robert: at the heart of what we saw today in these documents. we don't talk a lot about it, a law called the logan act. it prohibits private citizes from meddling in foreign policy so what did these documents reveal about that? was the law potentially brother-in-law with regard to the logan act? was there collusion between russia and the trump campaign? michael: so i think that there is a clear case to be made here that t

and even if donald trump pardons michael flynn today, michael flynn will be under oath.nd so let's just recall, if the president wants to pardon michael flynn today, the special prosecutor already knows everything he needs to know about flynn, when he puts michael flynn the pardoned michael flynn under oath, michael flynn then risks committing a crime again if he does not tell the truth under oath. and so the pardon here, if the president were to try to issue it, cannot protect the president against the most damaging mom moments going to come from flynn that's when he testifies under oath. >> lawrence, thank you. this has been a powerful hour. if you are still there, and thank you for watching, i'd advise you don't turn the tv off. there is a lot to hear. that wraps us up for this hour. my colleague hallie jackson is in d.c. nation's capital where it is all happening today. welcome home. >> i know. >> yesterday they were waiting for you to get back. >> don't go anywhere because there is going to be a lot developing today. so let's reset and remember where we are right no

so why did michael flynn lie? he admitted he lied to the fbi. >> do you think this will take a long time? >> we don't know. you have paul manafort and michael flynn 2 key players in the trump campaign. one was the top foreign policy advisor and one was the campaign chairman. one pled guilty and the other is fighting an indictment. we are right up to the gates of the president and his family. >> bret: fox news sunday with a special guest. >> we will be talking to the national security advisor and as somebody who covered ronald reagan, his secretary of state george schultz on the art of the deal. the president knows the art of the deal and so did schultz. >> bret: documents indicate the fbi staged a frenzied scramble to find the source of the leak about last year's air force tarmac lead with bill clinton and loretta lynch. judicial watch say there is is no documentation showing concern over the meeting itself which became an issue in the presidential campaign. the other big story right now. the senate could vote on

can you comment on michael flynn being indicted? >> reporter: president trump was silent when asked about his former national security adviser michael flynn pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators about the retired general's contacts with former russian ambassador sergey kislyak. inside the white house, the president's lawyers were once again busy shielding mr. trump from the investigation. in a statement, white house attorney ty cobb described flynn as a former national security adviser at the white house for 25 days during the trump administration. and a former obama administration official. the statement adds flynn's false statements mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february of this year. nothing about the guilty plea, or the charge implicates anyone other than mr. flynn." >> we discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. >> reporter: but the white house statement ignores the fact that obama warned the incoming president to stay

in this case michael flynn went over the top.st indicator that something was desperately wrong with this guy. and i think it proved a lot of people -- it generated quite a bit of discussion in both the retired and the active corps about this individual being so vehement on stage, and one could say, unconstitutional in the way he approached this. >> what happened to michael flynn? he did have -- correct me if i'm wrong, he had a distinguished career. the work he did in afghanistan with general crystal. what happened to him? >> i don't want to say. i have my own thoughts on that, but i just think that something went wrong toward the end of his career, the demons got ahold of him. and for one reason or another, hubris and vengeance took over. there was a great movie, "saving private ryan" and tom hangs grabs him at the end of the movie and says, earn think. he's talking about service to the country. doing things every day that soldiers will be proud of you. and that's something that for whatever reason, and it's unfortunate because

"cnn special report: the mystery of michael flynn" begins right now. >> the following is a cnn special report. >>> general flynn! >> it was a precipitous fall. >> michael flynn charged with making false statements to the fbi. >> general michael flynn, a decorated military commander and close trump confidant, pleading guilty to a federal crime, and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. >> the charge reveels flynn wasn't acting alone in his talks to russians. >> how damaging could all this been for the president and those closest to him? >> the russia investigation is creeping closer to the president. >> bringing special counsel robert mueller's investigation inside president trump's innermost circle. >> yes, that's right. lock her up! >> the man who taunted hillary clinton on the campaign trail with chants of "lock her up" -- >> lock her up! >> lock him up! >> now on the other side of those very same words. >> lock him up! >> the crushing downfall of president trump's former national security adviser raises many new questions. will flynn's testimony put others in legal jeopardy? and c

did he talk to michael flynn afterwards? that tweet about praising vladimir putin after putin did not retaliate of sorts after the sanctions were imposed has to beg the question, someone must have told him about these conversations right beforehand, otherwise, you know, it really defies logic. >> this is a very small transition. >> and it was a small group of people meeting in mar-a-lago at that time. >> lying is not a crime. you can lie to the press and it is not a crime. >> part of the administration's defense, you know, during -- both during the campaign and during the transition was, listen, we were a small team, we didn't -- you know, we weren't washington insiders, we didn't know how all of this kind of stuff worked. >> but we were all the best. >> i don't know if mueller could use that as -- >> no, gloria, it goes to the point if they were so small as we know they were, how is it possible that the president, who is very involved and very much a micromanager would not know? >> right, i don't think you could say it is a

thank you, carol lee, susan page, eli stokels, michael schmidt. we'll be covering michael flynn's guilty plea and the russian probe throughout the hour. where does the investigation go from here? will donald trump move to fire mueller or start giving out pardons? >>> plus everything we know about trump's relationship with michael flynn. >>> the "hardball" roundtable is here to talk about whether the bombshell news has anything to do with trump's increasingly erratic behavior this week and the tax cut for the wealthy. >>> let me finish with "trump watch" on this historic day in washington. this is "hardball," where the action is. farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. this is not the cloud you know. this is the ibm cloud. the ibm cloud is the cloud for business. yours. ♪ ♪ what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds!

mark shields and michael gerson take on a packed week of news. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: he was candidate trump's, and then president trump's, main adviser on national security and foreign policy. but today, michael flynn entered a guilty plea in the special counsel's investigation into russia, the trump campaign and the 2016 election. william brangham begins our coverage. >> brangham: michael flynn walked into federal court in washington this morning, and plead guilty to a single count of making false statements to the f.b.i. he's now the senior-most member

for president trump has basically tried to distance the white house from michael flynn he said that michael finton worked for this administration only for a very short while and also said that microphone didn't implicate anyone by name in his plea both is technically correct but of course michael flynn was national security advisor only for a few weeks but he still was one of the most important biases of donald trump during the campaign after the complain and he was definitely part of donald trump's in a circle here and also he might not have implicated anyone by name during his plea but it seems clear that he has made a deal with the prosecutors and they are looking at the transition team prosecutors say a senior official in the transition team director michael flynn and according to media reports that seems to be jarrett cushion or the son in law and senior advisor of president trump. is there any indication of how far this probe will go. now come out of the spotlight. well obviously he will. he is under the spotlight already after these reports that doesn't necessarily mean he will indic

michael flynn pleads guilty, admitting he lied to the fbi. president trump's former national security advisor says he is courting with a special -- cooperating with the special counsel's russia investigation. pope francis meets with rohingya refugees in bangladesh, referring to the group by name for the first time on his asian trip. and prince harry and his new fianceÉ, meghan markle, appear at their first public engagement since announcing plans to wed. the crowds already can't get enough. rajini: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia's ambassador to the u.s. mr. flynn is the most senior former official to be charged in the investigation exploring russian meddling in the u.s. presidential election, and today he said he would be cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. tonight we have full coverage, and we begin with this report from the bbc's aleem maqbool. aleem

michael flynn has flipped.-time national security adviser entering a plea deal and promising to tell all, including that a senior member of the trump transition team told him to contact the russians. we have team fox coverage from the fall-out. what judge napolitano says could be a political crisis and the reaction pouring in. >> we're repeating the horrors of water gate and the shredding of our constitution. >> i don't see this going any further. i've seen no evidence indicating there's a connection between general flynn and the pr

michael stone did have connections to kent. — about a0 miles from the murder scene. well, i know all of kent really, don't i. when i went with the jury in the bus and visited that area, i have no recollection of the place whatsoever. that's well off my beaten track. another reason kent police suspected stone was his lack of an alibi. at the time, he was a heroin addict and he couldn't give a satisfactory explanation for his whereabouts onjuly the 9th, 1996. while bellfield's girlfriend had concerns about his behaviour in 1996, she insists he couldn't have been responsible for the russells' murders onjuly the 9th. my daughter was born in '96 and that was the day of my birthday. he never left my side all day and all night. so, there's absolutely no way he could have got from twickenham, where i lived, or windsor where i kept my horses, to kent — done what they say he did, and got back without me not knowing he was there. you don't think he was responsible? hand on my heart. i hate to say it, but i can say hand on my heart he didn

the president for all they are saying, this is michael flynn and michael flynn is a liar and lied tothe fbi. we are done with him. this is a trusted campaign adviser. he agreed to cooperate with the special counsel and appears to be getting a good deal to do it. they have to. >> yeah, given that this is very different from the other two charges that we saw in this case, the white house is remarkably characterizing this as something that doesn't touch upon the president and this administration. flynn is in a bubble and he was only in the administration for less than a month and the charges have nothing to do with anyone but him. that's the white house line this morning, but it's not clear whether that's true based on the plea agreement that flynn came to. he is indicating he was in communication with other people in the white house. talking to white house aides this morning, they are still processing that and trying to figure out who that person is and what that could mean for them. at the moment their public reaction is the same as with manafort and papadopoulos. the investigation is

after the hearing, michael flynn was seen visiting his son's house in virginia.you see in this video. sources have previously told cnn that flynn has expressed concern about his son who was under scrutiny by the security council. >> pamela brown, thank you so much. i want to bring in cnn's senior legal analyst preet bharara. he's also a former u.s. attorney. preet, what's your initial reaction to this bombshell news? >> well, you know, in some ways people were expecting there might be charges against michael flynn. there's been speculation in the press for a lot of weeks that flynn not only was probably going to be charged but he might plead guilty to those charges. i think in some ways there is some surprise that the charges are so narrow and it's just one count, a significant count, a serious count, of lying to the fbi, which is something you should never do. but i think it highlights one very important thing that we've seen not only in this case, but also in the case of the cooperating witness george papadopoulos. and that is that the mueller team takes very,

on the 29th of december, michael flynn spoke to the russian ambassador on the phone.15th of january, vice president mike pence said that sanctions were not discussed by michael flynn in those calls. only after the ninth of february, when a newspaper revealed general flynn did discuss sanctions when he wasn't authorised to do so did pressure increase and michael flynn lost his job. michael flynn then became one key focus of the investigation into russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election and potential collusion with the trump campaign. the white house is now trying to distance itself from general flynn's actions and the lies he told the fbi, but there's no question that this latest development brings the russia investigation ever closer to the president himself. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. and of course the developments sparked quick reaction on capitol hill. here's some of them. this is part of a broad pattern of the trump administration and campaign people lying about the contacts with the russians. so that in itself is very substantial and serious an

alix: michael?just going to add, if we see loan growth acceleration, we start tasting a foreshortened credit cycle and economic cycle. right now, the consumer balance sheet is pretty good. the corporate balance sheet is pretty good. if those weekend materially because of loan growth acceleration, and if the banks become less fortresslike, that will be have a relative point where we are in the cycle. if we do not see growth, it will arguably extend the economic cycle. alix: is that good or bad? michael: it is not good for -- alix: but it will build up leverage in the long run. michael: if we get more of this very tepid -- if you look at congressional -- commercial industrial loans, those have been so unimpressive. alix: -- michael: to a degree, but we have not seen -- the banking system has been very fortresslike and his loan growth ,n 2018 stays where it has been that extends the economic cycle and credit cycle, and dampens nominal gdp acceleration but at the same time supports the equity market. it

so that undercuts the trump administration line that only michael flynn knew what michael flynn was doing with the russians, richard. >> barbara sha, the question wee been asking. is there increased legal jeopardy for the white house, for the president and any of his inner circle? >> the key statement that strikes me in this e-mail is the statement that russia just threw the election to trump. i don't know what that means but it could mean that we have trump officials aware of russian interference in the election. that could be an incredibly significant find if that's what that means. i think that mueller probably knows far more than we do, and if he doesn't railroad will be finding out more as he interviews michael flynn and others about the significance of e-mails. >> barbara, part of that, going to read from the "new york times" reporting, it says it is not clear whether miss macfarland was saying she believed the election had in fact been thrown. a white house lawyer said on friday that she meant only that the democrats were portraying it in that way. jack rice, as we do look at that

we know michael flynn has pled guilty to lying to the fbi. we now know the president knew.hen the president trying to get comey to drop this investigation, that's classic obstruction of justice and the american people watching it unfold before their very own eyes now. >> former fbi director james com comey, he is doing the same today. he responded to this latest development in the special counsel investigation and the trump tweet and comey who was fired of course by president trump. he posted this on instagram saying beautiful long island sound from west port, connecticut. three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth. is it your feeling there is a chipping away in this investigation? not just by the michael flynn, you know, guilty plea, but even the president through his tweets? through his history of his comments that it is revealing far more about this overall investigation than perhaps even the mueller teams seems to be intimating? >> yes. we're seeing the unraveling of the mountain of lies that donald trump has been telling, not just his own staff

michael flynn and his wife went to visit his son and grandson in virginia. michael flynn jr. 2015 was a target for investigators early on. what happened during those conversations that compelled michael flynn sr. to lie? fareed zakaria is here, host of "fareed zakaria gps" on this network, cnn. before i get to that, can i ask you about the white house saying pardon is off the table for michael flynn. >> i think one of the way mueller has constructed the case is going in a careful way and indicting on specific issues. he has made it hard for the white house to obstruct the investigation or to issue pardons. so notice the count for flynn is lying to the fbi about contacts with a foreign government. it would just look very bad for the white house to pardon somebody for that. this is not a minor infraction. this is a pretty important thing. you know, how can the chief law enforcement officer of the country, the president, pardon somebody for lying to the federal agents? >> yeah. so let's talk about michael flynn jr. and michael flynn because this move was -- his move was widely i

michael flynn was briefing him frequently and if not everyday.lving president-elect trump and all these aids scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on the 29th of december. whether the call took place or not, we are not certain. there was a call scheduled. what's significant about all this and i think a lot of viewers mind may boggled of all the details evolving russia story. they may remember president trump urged james comey, the fbi director to shut down the investigation on michael flynn. when comey declined the do that, he was fired. the big question lingering behind all these was why did the president want to shut down the investigation of flynn and why did he fire james comey when he did not shut the investigation down. what was it that bothered mr. trump so much about the investigation? we still don't have an answer to that question. >> such a big question. >> scott shane with the new york times. thank you for that. thank you for that. >> coming up, my name is cynthia haynes thank you for that. >> coming up, and i am a senior public safety specialist fo

so the president fired michael flynn on february 13th.nd then on february 14th is when he had the infamous comey meeting asked him to get rid of the investigation, drop it. that doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. he is saying it was very serious that he lied to the fbi. but the fbi should drop it. lying to the fbi is a crime. period. and the president doesn't seem to grasp that. and digging himself into a bigger hole. at the same time i'm hearing in the conservative stir cells this argument well look what this special counsel has done. they spent $5 million and all they have gotten is paul manafort, george papadopoulos and general flynn for lying about something not related to the campaign. so they are making that argument. and they are going out and starting to pressure people from the base to push congress to defund the mueller probe because the mueller probe, if mueller got fired you would see republicans turn on trump in an instant publicly. but if you defund it, you are not technically firing mueller, you are just not able to p

michael: ok. this may sound like splitting hairs, but there is a difference between western and a cowboy movie. a cowboy movie can be a western but a western is not necessarily a cowboy movie. my favorite cowboy movie is john wayne called "the cowboys." because it is the most accurate. those little boys, and the opening scene, they'll show up with big guns and he makes them put them all in a box on top of the wagon, right? that is as accurate as it can be. john wayne of course was not a cowboy, he was an actor. i meant to say this. i have one had. -- hat. john wayne might have six hats during the show. that is important. the most recent cowboy movie i think is good as "open range." it's pretty accurate. you have to understand the context of that story. it is a great story. "unforgiven" is not a cowboy show. it's a western. that's the key. western tv show? wow. current or past? old man. well, i am a junkie for that stuff. gunsmoke, of course. it was absolutely true. my first horse was named gunsmok

you can comment on michael flynn being indicted?rter: president trump was silent when asked about this former national security adviser pleading guilty to lying to investigators on sergey kislyak. in a statement white house attorney ty cobb described flynn as a former national security adviser at the white house for 25 days during the trump administration. and a former obama administration official. the statement adds flynn's false statements mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february of this year. nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr. flynn. >> we discussed a lot of different situations. some wonderful. and some difficulties. >> reporter: but the white house statement ignores the fact that obama warned the incoming president to stay away from flynn in the oval office two days after the election. nine day befores he was sworn into office, mr. trump refused cnn's attempts to ask if they had contacts with the russians before the election. >>