ultimately, that is what investigators are trying to determine, right, asha? >> that's right. >> does this help get closer to that? >> that's right, one of the hardest things to prove in any crime is knowledge that somebody knew what was going on. if you would think back to reagan and iran/contra, he didn't recall and nobody could really prove. flynn was at the top levels of this administration and before that in the campaign. he knows who knew what when. once he can tell mueller who had knowledge of his activities and were doing their own activities with full knowledge, mueller has a host of potential avenues available to him and in particular if the president knew what flynn was up to, quite apart from collusion this really solidifies the obstruction of justice case against the president. because the day after flynn was fired, the president went to comey, fbi director comey, and asked him to drop the investigation on flynn. he later fired comey himself. so there are a number of problems here for the administration, potentially for the president, and i would

asha, thank you so much. paul, james, thank you so much. >>> tonight a special report for all of you cnn's jim sciutto investigates the downfall of mike flynn from a military legend to the russian investigation. "the mystery of mike flynn" that airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. you don't want to miss that. >>> and if there was any room left for any doubt in your mind about how president trump feels about the alabama senate race, he just erased it with a single tweet, of course, about the embattled republican candidate roy moore and now he's headed down south tonight. what he tweeted today and what he may say when he gets on the stage coming up. plus, wildfires have scorched over 140,000 acres now in california. new fires are burning, new evacuations are under way right now as president trump approves an emergency declaration for the state. we're going to take you there live for the latest. i have been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. when i met my team at ctca, they put together a comprehensive plan, that gav

the key is what asha brought up. did donald trump know what specifically mike flynn lied to the fbi about, or was it simply, look, this guy is dicey. we've got reason to believe he's saying stuff that isn't true, not just to us, not just to pence, but to the fbi. that's a different thing. if it's specific. and then on the following day, donald trump says, hey, jim comey, is there a way you can kind of, you know, get rid of this. that's very problematic. as my mother always reminds me i never went to law school. i'm not a lawyer. so i mean problematic in a political sense. the mueller investigation's ultimate end if there are recommendations will play out first in the political sphere not the legal sphere. >> you get to talk like a lawyer but didn't take that $100,000 hit. >> to rangappa's point, we don't want to ignore the facts. they start looking at what happened here, and what the president knew and when, they waited a long time to get rid of michael flynn. why did they wait? >> and the president still thinks he g

asha, i'm going to start with you. today fbi director ray defended accusations by republicans including the president that its agents were allowing political bias to seep into their investigations. what's your reaction to what seems to be a concerted effort, looks like a concerted effort to undermine the fbi and the special counsel's investigation? >> i would say that it doesn't recognize what agents go through to get into the fbi. so there's a pneumonic that we use to do background checks in the fbi. it's called -- which stands for character, associates, reputation, loyalty, ability, finances, bias, alcohol and drugs. so every agent has to be measured against all of those criteria. and bias is one of them. and it's important because any kind of bias whether it's political, religious, racial will disqualify an agent from getting in because the whole idea is that agents need to be able to put aside all of their personal feelings in order to approach casings objectively. and it's a very intensive process. so i would say,

asha said these are people who don't leave a trail, and they don't want to do that, but you've got to actually talk to people, you've got to move votes. i've been in elections. where is it? and we're not seeing it. we saw google ads around ferguson -- i'm sorry, facebook ads around ferguson. we've seen ads for jill stein, stuff for bernie sanders, stuff for trump. but it's meaningless. it isn't even a drop in the bucket. it isn't even a drop in the bucket. >> ken, you did not find it suspicious at all that at very opportune times big cashes of stolen e-mails were suddenly released that tended to favor one of the candidates? that was just something that magically happened on its own? that's called a hacking effort. it was done by foreign power. >> these e-mails that supposedly the russians had were the ones that hillary kept in her basement, and we never got those. we never got those. so this whole chatter especially in the summer of 2016 never bore any fruit, to the extent there was any fruit. and frankly trump was pretty -- i'll call them, unusual types of statements, saying hey, rus

so, asha, what do you make of president trump's attorney? >> i'm not surprised that he would insist that they have no plans because obviously, it would create a great outcry if he said that there were plans. but there are two aspects of this to consider. right now, i think they're let ing the court of public opinion do a lot of the work. we know from the hearing with rod rosenstein last week that there was a lot of grilling about potential bias within this investigation. and before he takes any steps, i think there would be, he'd want to make sure there was some political backing and already some of those people as a reporter mepreport er mentioned, have called on him to resign. it's actually very hard for him to fire mueller. he can't do it directly. he has to ask the deputy attorney general who appointed miller, rod rosenstein, to do it, then if he won't, which he said he wouldn't last week, then you would have to fire rosenstein. so it would become you know, a massacre of great proportions and so it's not something that he would be able t

i want to bring in the panel, asha rangappa, a.b. stoddard, michael caputo, ana navarro, robby mook, and alice stewart. okay, this president -- the argument that, first of all, that the president's tweet, that the lawyer said he wrote it, that it was poorly worded, and that the president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice. i assume he's speaking, as our legal analyst said last week -- or in the last hour, they're speaking legally, not necessarily that political charges can't be brought up to congress. >> right, congress can bring impeachment proceedings and that's not -- that's separate from the legal issue. but the legal issue can be dispensed with. the founding fathers in the declaration of independence, one of the charges they levied against king george iii was that he was obstructing the administration of justice. and then we fought a war to get rid of a tyrant who thought he was above the law. so, clearly, the way that the constitution is written now assumes that the president is not above the law and is subject to th

going to take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to dr douglas and back asha president of messy organization discussing what is going to be like to hear back from l.a. and civilization state. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. seemed wrong why don't we all just don't call. me. yet to shape our business comes out. and in again trade equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. and we're back with dr douglas fact president of messy organization discussing their prospect of finding intelligent life on other planets so dr black arts when you think about extraterrestrial what do you personally imagine there are like. well the ones that we can contact are going to be scientists because that's the only way we can exchange a radio signal or a laser pulses if they also have an ability to create the instruments that allow us to exchange information but beyond that i don't expect that they're going to

. >> asha, this is december 29th. then transition advisor kt mcfarlen later became deputy and e-mailed about a strategy to assure. as part of the outreach mr. mcfarlen wrote mr. flynn would be speaking with the russian ambassador mr. lack hours after mr. obama's sanctions were announced. key would be the russian sanctions within the next few days. and they forwarded the e-mail and they all became key players in the administration. so it seems pretty clear there was a lot of discussion going on about how to influence -- influencing russia's response. >> and this was -- let's understand the significance of this. we didn't just kick out 35 diplomats. those were spies posing as diplomats. and it's a process called declaring them persona n non grata. it's incredibly serious. obama excelled 35. it was the strongest response ever to a u.s. cyberattack on our country. and it was intended to send a very strong message. and the expected response, what would have been expected is russia would have retaliated by excelling 35 of o

asha, close this out.er fbi. >> well, you know, if there were a conspiracy in the fbi, it would require about 50 forms, five levels of approval, you know, three different back and forth between the fbi and doj. this is how a bureaucracy works. and people in the government know that better than anyone. and as john berman said, i think he nailed it yesterday, if this was the plot at the highest levels of government, then clearly they failed, and it didn't go anywhere. >> didn't work out so well. >> i think the question we need to ask what are they afraid of is going to come out of this investigation that they go to such extremes to distract from it. >> yes. thank you so much. john berman is excellent. hero many of a day. thank you so much. >>> coming up we'll talk about the defection from the dmz zone, another north korean soldier makes a dash across the borders on earth. how did he do it? and what might this mean for tensions on the peninsula? >>> also puts the state house in limbo in virginia. what's next?

asha rangappa, great to have you with us, thanks so much. so the president thinks the investigation will wrap up some time soon, but what do the actual congressional investigators think? >>> and republicans are ready for a legislative win. the tax vote could happen as early as tomorrow. but senator john mccain is not expected to be there. we'll have the latest on his healt health, just ahead. >>> also, this -- >> [ bleep ]. >> there's a whole fleet of them. >> a real-life x files. the pentagon admits it's spent tens of millions of dollars to investigate ufos. the man who ran the program said, we need it for national security. >> the truth is out there. this is not a cloud. this is a tomato tracked from 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.

. >> asha, how do you see this? if kt mcfarland said she didn't recall and that contradicts what flynn said? >> well, i think representative schiff is right. the court filing that he pleaded guilty to and the statement of facts that were in there says that they were two senior transition officials. if she is one of them, the -- mueller would not have presented those facts if they weren't provable. i suspect they are probably provable by some electronic means. >> is saying you don't recall, is that cover? >> no. an intention alal omision, if t conprove you did it knowingly. >> they have to prove you did it knowingly. sometimes people do not recall. >> if there were contemporaneous communications from her that showed she was activity involved, you know, those court filings suggest that these senior transition officials were not just -- didn't just know, they were actively directing and receiving reports back from flynn on his contacts. so, you know, this was an active engagement. everyone was on the same page and i do

and i wish, don, i wish asha could go on fox and say what she said. the problem with shows like hannity, we're not hearing the other side. we're not hearing the reality of what it's like on the fbi. >> i disagree with you, we are not hearing -- but fox viewers are not hearing it. conservative viewers are not hearing it. >> hopefully they're hearing all the sides, unfortunately too often, folks on the left and right live in bubbles. on the right, that sbubl an alternative reality. it is very intense right now. >> it's really weird and i wondered, listen, watch fox all the time, we would talk about it and say why do you watch fox? you need to know what they're doing. i watched everyone, and now i just -- it's embarrassing. >> and if we get to the point -- >> it is embarrassing. i can't watch -- i have many friends over there -- >> it will be partly because of this rhetoric. partly because of this daily drum beat of anti-mueller. >> i wonder, do you think they know what a disservice they're doing to the american voting public? and i know they're probably

both asha and myself, we're career civil servants. we served under republicans, we served under democrats. we were just there to do our job. his statements are also dangerous, because frankly they're taking a page right out of vladimir putin's playbook. the intelligence community has assessed with high confidence that russia directed an influence and messaging campaign to sew divisions here at home. and there is bipartisan consensus this has come up at multiple congressional hearings, that there is an ongoing investigation warfare campaign against the united states to discredit our democracy, including our rule of law. something that differentiates the united states from russia is our fair and transport legal process. and these kind of statements cast doubt on that. and in doing so, make us a lot less safe. >> make us a lot less safe. what is the impact, ashsha, on those civil servants, on these intelligence officers who are doing their job on a daily basis? >> i think those people just keep their heads down and do their job. and i th

. >> asha, i wanted to ask you one more quick question. that is we know that jared kushner went and met with mueller's team before michael flynny plea dae came out and at the time we were hearing from sources that it was simply to make sure he didn't have any exins do you think there was more to that interview that mueller had with kushner? >> i think there's absolutely more and i think that anyone who has spoken with mueller to this point should be very afraid. at this point mueller now has a key witness, as has been stated by the other and iist and can ge him firsthand eyewitness accounts of as light to an fbi agent is now in danger of being charged with at least falland those questions may not have included -- were you at mar-a-lago on this date? did flynn ever report back to you? >> we know that now from the statement of facts and we also know that flynn will testify to that. so that's just a starting point sfwb. there's more to come. >> i owe you a question next time. thank you all for lending your insight on this. i really appreciate

want to bring in cnn correspondent karoun and special agent and senior lecturer at yale law school, asha. let's start with the problematic tweet, as joe just described it. this is the one over the weekend that is now raising all sorts of eyebrows. i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he had pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. then the president's lawyer said when it causes a firestorm of, uh- uh-oh, he knew that flynn had done this, his lawyer says, no, i wrote it. so first you have to believe that the president has a ghostwriter for his twitter account. and, second, what do you think legally this tweet leads to. >> right. so the best story they can come up with is that the president's own lawyer framed him on twitter. that doesn't actually speak highly of his legal counsel. as a legal matter, he adopted it. it's on his twitter account. mueller is not going to rely just on his tweet to make his case. he's not going to put the tweet down and say i rest my case.

. >> at the end of the day -- asha's eyebrows went up when david was saying it. why they would want to offer up evidence as to why he removed comey. as soon as it becomes relevant to the discussion, he is exposed to analysis for obstruction of justice. and that's the thickett that they're in right now. rangappa, david gregory, thank you. the name sounds italian to me. that's the only reason i get it right. it's good. >> joining president trump in support of roy moore. is this just putting party over morality for a senate vote? is it as simple as that? does that make it okay? next. ow, the wrapping paper doesn't make the holidays. it's what's inside that counts. it's a phone for mom. okay, well, it's also what's inside the phone that counts, too. circuits? no, the network. so the network is inside the phone? well, no, the network's around the phone. and verizon is the most awarded network ever. that's why more people count on it. here you go. (announcer) a gift is only as good as the network it's on. so give a pixel 2 and get up to $300 off with no trade-in requir

. >> asha, gianna and emma think they are heat for a test on pop culture, a dry run, the produce tellse show nbc is developing. >> we need your help in developing a new show. >> the questions will be about tv shows and music, light-hearted stuff but it's competition that expert says motivates some kids to cheat. the parents are watching as we give the kids their first tax, an individual quiz. >> get a sense of how much you know by yourself. >> any student knows that means no talking. hidden cameras are rolling and our producer leaves it is pin-drop silent, until the two actors we have hired to cheat break the rules. >> miles, on number six, i think it's c. do you think it's c? >> i put d. >> did you put d? >> as her mother predicted, emma looks nervous. >> saw her look at the door. >> she did. >> is somebody much with aing? >> but sasha the shows butterfly. >> you watch "glee" right, which someone eight? >> artie schuster. >> it is artie abrams. >> emma, the serious student, tries to get the group to stop talking. but they keep chatting. >> you might be right. hold on the i want to cha

asha rangappa, great to have you with us. >> thank you. >> new this morning the president is endorsing accused child molester and alabama senate candidate roy moore. the president says that roy moore has denied it several times and pointed that out repeatedly. today he seemed to go further and wrote democrats refusal to give one vote for massive tax cuts is why we need republican roy moore to win in alabama. >> remind you, eight women have come forward with credible accusations against roy moore, four alleging sexual abuse or assault, four more pursued by moore when he was much older and they were teenagers. one, of course, accusing him of child molestation when she was 14 years old. joe johns is at the white house. what is the thinking behind this, why the president all of a sudden this morning ready to come out and say full stop, roy moore is in your man? >> he hasn't gives us a reason but i can tell you the polling has -- that has been all over the place, suggests at least "the washington post" polling suggests that doug jones, the democrat, in alabama is ahead in that race, though

. >> you know, asha, what do you see here?ehow tainted the special counsel's investigation? do you think there was a plot to keep donald trump from being elected president? >> people need to understand exactly how investigations work and i'm going to give you three points that your viewers can take into account. so, the first thing is that everything that the fbi does happens in teams. so interviews, investigative techniques always happens in teams of two or more and it's precisely so that if anybody's integrity or honesty comes into question, there are always other witnesses who can attest to whatever happened and i guarantee you that happened both in the hillary investigation and whatever is happening now with mueller. the second thing is, there are very strict standards for opening and closing a case. so-and-so is an idiot is not a basis for opening a case. if it were, the fbi would have too many cases on their hands. you have to have a legal basis for opening a case and you have to articulate the facts. the last thing is,

we were going to talk to asha philip and adam gemili but it was hijacked by the hockey girls reunion!back on your 2017, how would you sum it up? it was really good. i got a european gold medal in the 60 metres and a silver medal in london. these boys got gold which i'm happy for. it's been a really good yearfor us this i'm happy for. it's been a really good year for us this year. adam, the girls were willing it you over that line in the final, how much did it mean to have them there with you? it was the best feeling to celebrate together, especially doing it in london was brilliant, to become a world champion. usually the girls are successful at the relay and the men hashed it up a bit but we managed to get a medal and celebrate altogether. beth, you are a veteran of this event, you must have been many times but how lovely to have it in your home city. it is always a nice way to end the year and a great way to celebrate what british sport has done. but have it back in liverpool, we last had it back in 2008. i'm really proud to show off what our city does. it's to see all these differe

michael sheer, a former federal prosecutor, paul callan, former fbi special agent asha rangappa is here as well. michael, to my point, if you blinked this weekend, you missed a tweet and a different explanation for the tweet coming from the white house. so it first came to the way it first came out with the tweet from the president is, he didn't write the tweet. when the tweet in question if you will. then it was, and whoever wrote it, they wrote it by mistake. or it was misworded. now, it seems with this interview with axios no matter what was written in that tweet it doesn't matter because now the president can't obstruct justice. can all of these things be true, michael? what's your view on this? >> look, i think what the changing stories reflect is a white house that was really struggling to get its story straight. the idea that dowd was trying to convey, i think, this morning was not so much the kind of who did what when, but rather the bigger picture, he was trying to take a step back and say regardless of what you might think that tweet meant, can the president, can a sitting pre

asha, legally speaking, how common is that there would be more charges coming against somebody who alreadyed against them? is that to pressure them? >> in complex criminal cases, that can happen. it's called superseding an indictment. they call it amending, but that's what it's effectively doing. it could be there is no evidence or new charges, or new defendants. in this case it sounds like they told him there's going to be new charges. and yes, my -- my gut would tell me that this is to say this is going to keep going. and it could get worse. and we have more on you. he was a deputy aide. >> to manafort. >> to manafort. >> and clearly was very close, very involved according to the charges so far. >> that's right. and manafort so far we know has many of these connections to russia and russian intelligence, and all that is detailed in the indictment. so, you know, this is, again, the strategy in these criminal investigations. you get people to flip, to get to the people that you want. and if what he -- right now he wants manafort to talk and manafort is not talking. he's actually continuing

will they come up with some kind of fix that allows dac asha to saved and allows democrats vote for a plan that doesn't enrage the democrats' base. >> with the president's tweets he's made that so much harder. the demands for a border wall only his base wants, 3 in 10 americans want this border wall. by putting in those demands and end to chain my frags and the diversity lottery -- those almost are considered poison pills. the diversity lottery that's only 50,000 people a year. when he talks about chain migration, that's basically family unity which has been the guiding principal of our immigration system since 1965. remember when it was the republican party, we're not against immigration, we're only against illegal immigration. now he's shifted to a extreme right position. >> daca is a big challenge for republicans. dirty little secret republicans don't want to fix it. listen, i wear those scarfs. i said when are we going to do comprehensive immigration reform. we said at the time president obama doesn't have executive authority about it and i got duped as a republican. because i bel