to do -- chris: why did the acting attorney general, sally yates, warn the white house counsel, don mcgann and why was it called into a meeting, and you met with bannon and the president, why did all of that happen? >> what do you mean, why did it happen? it happened because sally yates alerted and gave a heads up, it was later determined that there was no investigation ongoing. we looked at the matter, the legal department determined that there was nothing illegal that happened in the conversation, but then the issue turned to whether or not michael flynn was being honest and direct with the vice president, and ultimately the president determined that it was an unsustainable situation, and he fired or he asked for the resignation of mike flynn, i mean, that's what happened. chris: reince, let me ask you about that timeline, if i might, because the acting attorney general notified the white house on january 26th about discrepancies between what flynn had told vice president pence about the call and what transcripts showed flynn had actually said. but while the president and steve bannon an

don mcgann is white house counsel. not necessarily just president's counsel, but they are trying to say that governor -- vp pence, the campaign has stuck with me. i keep saying the old terms. vp pence was not furious about this. he was frustrated about it. but he was not as mad as maybe some might think he would be in this circumstance because, really, behintd the scenes, everything is harmonious. things are going smoothly. >> not the upheaval. >> the way it's being portrayed in the media is not actually accurately. things are running fine. they think this is a hiccup, it's a big deal but it's not going to derail any of their efforts in the white house and look at all the things they're doing on the side. he's taking away regulations. he's moving to repeal obamacare. yes, those are happening in executive orders. no, they are not happening on capitol hill. legislation certainly has stalled. but there's a real effort. the big picture is there's a real effort to say, hey, no, things are not going as chaotically as people

to do -- chris: why did the acting attorney general, sally yates, warn the white house counsel, don mcgannhy was it called into a meeting, and you met with bannon and the president, why did all of that happen? >> what do you mean, why did it happen? it happened because sally yates alerted and gave a heads up, it was later determined that there was no investigation ongoing. we looked at the matter, the legal department determined that there was nothing illegal that happened in the conversation, but then the issue turned to whether or not michael flynn was being honest and direct with the vice president, and ultimately the president determined that it was an unsustainable situation, and he fired or he asked for the resignation of mike flynn, i mean, that's what happened. chris: reince, let me ask you about that timeline, if i might, because the acting attorney general notified the white house on january 26th about discrepancies between what flynn had told vice president pence about the call and what transcripts showed flynn had actually said. but while the president and steve bannon and you

don mcgann only told the president because that's who he is sworn to, and the president didn't tell vp pence because this was a very close hold, because they were still investigating exactly what happened. there are a lot of questions surrounding that, though, because mike pence went on national television and vouched for general mike flynn, said he did not talk sanctions. there's also a lot of questions surrounding how in the world general flynn could forget about talking sanctions when there is a lot of questions about how much of the conversation, at least one, that he had with the russian ambassador was dedicated to talking sanctions. it's not something you forget, it is a breach of protocol. even this white house official told me this was something that they cannot understand why flynn would mislead the administration about it, they cannot understand why it went on for so long. >> hey, jeremy, your former boss, leon panetta, who is not given to hyperbole, said something today that really got the attention of a lot of people. quote, i've never been so nervous in my lifetime about w

blumenthal and he said he was surprised by president trump's comments because the white house counsel don mcgann was in the room with judge gorsuch during the meeting with the senator. a former senator out of new hampshire. gorsuch's spokesperson confirmed the comments and blumenthal said he just finds it odd that the president, in his words, is not communicating perhaps with his staff. you real have i a war of words between the capital and pennsylvania avenue. the one thing that i picked up today in my reporting is that gorsuch may have helped himself with some of these comments. whether it was a strategy or not from the white house, democrats were interested in his flash of judicial independence, but chuck schumer, the minority leader and others are still going to press for more questions and more examples of him showcasing that independence. >> so, bob, to your point, let me put up on the screen real quick all the people that can corroborate what gorsuch did say about those comments. it is as you said, senator blumenthal, republican senator ben sas se, chuck schumer, kelly ayotte shepherding

serving the president from time to time but also working closely with his white house counsel, don mcgann, very trusted advisor to the president. it means trying to be a team of player to try and get it right. that means knowing everything you can know about perspective nominees. once there has been a nomination, knowing everything you can possibly know about the record. really knowing how to navigate the process has been no it can be a very contentious process. not just in terms of democrats, but also how republicans do with -- deal with the confirmation process and how vigorous they will be in moving things forward. you have a lot of moving parts. >> can i ask you a question about judge gorsuch? his mother was at the center of a washington scandal of the early 1980's. i think she was forced to resign by the reagan white house. then ultimately cleared or anything really came of that controversy. have you talked to him about what impact they may have had on his views of washington or congress? leonard: i did not have to talk with him, because one of the things i did was i read the book on

bush, don mcgann.he's credited or blamed with bringing about the kind of grid locke that you have named and shamed at that commission. when you think about that, when you look at the appointment this is president has made, are you worried about who he'll replace you with? by tradition, senate democrats would be picking somebody to replace you because there would be another democrat put on the commission. there's no law that says the president has to give that deference to the democratic party. there's no law that says he can't just pick somebody else who he wants to fill your seat, even somebody who would absolutely not be a choice of any democratic party. do you worry at all he's going to go really off the reservation with his choice to replace you? >> well, i think he may go off the reservation with regard to the replacements at the commission but i don't think that my leaving makes any difference in that because as you said all of the commissioners are holdovers. many of them probably on the republi

my counsel came, don mcgann, white house counsel. he told me. i asked him and he can speak very well for himself. he said he doesn't think anything is wrong. stick with the president repeated he has no financial obligations to russia and sought to knock down reports that his campaign manager paul manafort was in contact with russian officials during the campaign. >> president trump: i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge no person that i deal with does. >> earlier in the day, president trump lashed out at leaks of damaging information against him, including the content of classified phone calls with world leaders. in his press conference, the president revealed he's told the justice department to launch a criminal investigation. >> president trump: i've gone through all the folks in charge of the various agencies and where i've actually called the justice department to look into the leaks. those are criminal leaks. >> the president blamed the leaks on holdovers from the obama administration and complained that while the le

spicer says white house counsel don mcgann immediately briefed the president on the matter. all of that means the president has known about all of this for nearly three weeks. still, spicer says it was yesterday when the president finally lost confidence in flynn. >> he needs to rely on a national security adviser to give him advice and i think at a certain point, that guidance, t that trust eroded and the president as he does on all matters ultimately decides when he's ready to make a decision, he execute executes. >> reporter: now, getting back to white house official confirming that the fbi did interview flynn in the early days of the administration, we should point out that was before the justice department warned the white house about flynn's contacts with the russian ambassador and wolf, another wrinkle in all of this, we are told it wasn't until february 9th that the vice president was made aware of the justice department's concerns, of course, that is very important because the vice president vouched for michael flynn during that appearance on cbs during the transiti

you mentioned, the acting attorney general at the end of january calling the white house counsel, don mcgann, and saying this is what we believed to have happened. that your national security adviser talked to the russian ambassador, talked about sanctions and they even believed he was in danger of being blackmailed by the russians. what we do not know is what the white house counsel did with that information. did he tell the white house chief of staff? did he tell the president of the united states. did he tell the national security adviser? that is a very important unanswered question because if he did tell them, then that means from the top on down, they've been sitting on this information for a long time while the national security adviser has been doing his job, been in the most sensitive of feeting inmeetings and discuss with the president, even though he clearly misled the president and the vice president. if the white house counsel didn't tell anybody, why? so in either case, it is something that is unclear and it really leaves even more questions than answers. and it is certainly so

my counsel came, don mcgann, white house counsel. he told me and i asked him. he can speak very well for himself. he said he doesn't think anything is wrong. it was really what was done after that, but i didn't, either. to me he was doing the job. the information was provided by -- who i don't know, sally yates -- and i was a little surprised because i said, it doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there. but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president, and i thought that was not acceptable. as far as the actual making the call. in fact, i've watched rare yvar programs and i've read various articles where he was just doing his job. at first everybody got very excited because they thought he did something wrong. after they thought about it, it turned out he was just doing his job. and by the way, with all of that being said, i do think he's a fine man. john? >> what will you do on the leaks? >> very, very serious. i've gone to all the folks in charge of the various agencies, and i've actually called the justice department to look into the leaks.

my counsel came, don mcgann, white house counsel, and he told me. and i asked him. and he can speak very well for himself. he said he doesn't think anything is wrong. really didn't think -- it was really what happened after that. he didn't think anything was done wrong. i didn't either. i waited a period of time. to me, he was doing the job. the information was provided by, who i don't know, sally yates, and i was a little surprised because i said doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there. but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president. and i thought that was not acceptable. as far as the actual making the call. in fact, i've watched various programs and i've read various articles where he was just doing his job. it was very normal. at first everybody got excited because they thought he did something wrong. after they thought about it, it turned out he was just doing his job. and i do -- and by the way, with all of that being said, i do think he's a fine man. john? >> go ahead, finish up. >> what will you do on the leaks? you've said twice today?

my counsel came don mcgann white house counsel and he told me and i asked him and he can speak very well for himself. he said he doesn't think anything is wrong. really it was what happened after that but he didn't think anything was wrong. i started to think about it and i said to me he was doing his job. the information was provided by, who i don't know, sally yates and i was a little surprised because i said, it it doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president and i thought that was not acceptable as far as, as far as the actual making the call. in fact i have watched various programs and i have read various articles were he was just doing his job. that was very normal. at first everybody got excited because they thought he did something wrong. after they thought about it turned out he was just doing his job. and by the way with all of that being said i do think he's a fine man. yes, john. >> i'm sorry what were you do you own the leaks? you have said twice today --. >> i've actually called the various agencies and i have

i am told the white house counsel don mcgann and his flock of lawyers are watching and paying attention to this ruling and they are going to be giving the president updates in realtime. unclear if the president is watching this at the moment. he has meetings and other things wrapping up. wolf, they are keeping an eye on this. this is affecting his most important executive order, his most important campaign promise and other things going forward here. it's his first taste of the limits potentially of executive power and authority, wolf. >> jeff zeleny at the white house for us. jeff, thank you very much. let's go to the ninth circuit court of appeals, this panel is now underwhey. >> appearing today on short notice. as you have heard, you'll each have 30 minutes and i will try to help you with your time because i know you can't see a timer like you would in the courtroom but if you could also please try to watch the time yourselves, that would be great. with that, we will hear first from the government. mr. flengi, please proceed. >> may it please the court, i'm august flenzy with the jus