and again, this is not a criticism of don mcgann. i don't know what don mcgann actually did. the relationship between the counsel, the chief of staff and president is very important. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, but for more specifics, would you -- do you believe if he did not rush it to the president -- is there any circumstances under which not rushing it to the president would be acceptable? >> i can only speak in terms of what i would have done under the circumstances, given this kind of information given to me. i would have immediately notified the chief of staff and recommended that we then go to the president immediately and tell him this information. >> any scenario you can ever envision in a bush white house where it actually would have taken 18 days on this, general? >> well, again, i don't know the amount of information that would have to be reviewed. i also don't know -- it's possible that it would take that period of time. again, it's hard for me to question that, but certainly -- >> but we know -- >> -- during that period of time, there would have been extraordina

he says that don mcgann, the president told don mcgann to find fought there was anything criminal or anything in the underlying conduct that was worthy of review. and sean spicer says that was immediately determined that there wasn't. >> while the fbi was investigating flynn at the time and might still well be. but the key thing here when he says that, he is not really taking into account not just that sally yates said that flynn had been lying, but that sally yates had said he was susceptible to russian blackmail. i mean, that may not be a crime, but nevertheless, it's a serious matter. and so this is not a heads-up if the acting attorney general comes to the white house and says your top national security adviser is vulnerable to russian blackmail. i think you ought to do something about it. so he, you know, spicer -- this is a cover-up. he was covering up the essential message that sally yates was bringing to the white house. and you still had, you know, even after "the washington post" story coming out, donald trump and others saying that he is a good man. there was this one issu

my counsel came, don mcgann, white house counsel.him, and he can speak very well for himself, he said he doesn't think anything is wrong. he really didn't think -- >> doesn't sound wrong, the president said. but mcgann listened yesterday. yates repeatedly said her message to the white house was it was beyond wrong. >> the russians also knew about what general flynn had done and the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others. not only did we believe that the russians knew this, but that they likely had proof of this information. and that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> you can't square these circles. what -- the testimony is very different from what the president and his team have repeatedly tried to say. they say this is clear cut. those two public servants say no, it isn't. >> to jeff's point earlier it's important for us to find out in some way what was the president actually told about what sally

that is not the first time flynn comes across don mcgann's desk.find that interesting how don was perceiving this. >> key insight. it makes me think of what leon panetta said here. i said what would you do in a situation like this. he said you go to the president and tell him don't do this. this is a problem. he says you are disloyal. you are out. now what? then you leave. duty is to the american constitution and the american people. the question is what were people choosing as priority? staying in place or pleasing the president? panel, thank you. all of the drama in the white house rattling wall street. stocks took a dive. dollar weakening. this rally was the trump bump. is it over or is this just jittery nerves by the mueller announcement? we have details ahead. wake up skin. neutrogena® hydro boost hydrating tint. the first water gel foundation with hyaluronic acid it plumps, quenches... delivers a natural, flawless look. this is what makeup's been missing. neutrogena® i count on my dell small for tech advice. with one phone call, i get product

so three conversations with don mcgann at the white house about all of this. but 18 days after, after these calls and frankly as the senator points out, after the washington post made all of this public knowledge questioning whether or not flynn would have been fired if that washington post story did not come out, why do these 18 days matter? are they particularly dangerous? >> it is a transition time. so the new administration is setting policy, meeting with new leaders and there is mike flynn in the room after the administration has been told that he's potentially compromised. so the big question coming out of that hearing, there is a number of questions, but for me is the question of the white house council, don mcgann. what did he do in that period of time? who did he tell? did he talk to mike flynn and question whether mike flynn should be in the meeting? did he ignore it or did he directly tell trump that the acting attorney general said their national security advisor could be compromised? this was very damming testimony across the board, but it was als

. >> yates describing intense call to don mcgann on the morning of february 26th. >> i called don mcgann first thing that morning and told him i had a sensitive matter i needed to discuss couldn't talk about it on the phone need to come see him. >> she went to the white house that day to discuss concerns flynn hey have been flying to the white house. >> the vice president was unknowingly making false statements to the public. and we believed general flynn was comb appropriate is mied with respect to the russians. we believed the russians knew this. and that created a compromise situation. situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> reporter: yates citing saying flynn said he had not discussed sanctions for meddling in the u.s. election. ates knew otherwise, flynn was caught on electronic surveillance allegedly discussing sanctions the same day they were announced. >> we were concerned the american people had been mislead. >> so what you are saying is -- that general flynn lied to the vice president. >> that's, that certainly how it a

don mcgann could not have known that on the 26th. didn't sign the executive order on travel ban until the 27th, so there's just a little bit of an odd time line. >> the question is did she come back because she hadn't fully explained things, or did she come back, as she seemed to indicate in her testimony, that -- that don mcgann went to everybody at the white house, and they said here are these other questions? for example, criminal investigation going on. >> to follow up. >> to follow up. >> everybody stand by. everybody hold hon. there's a lot more coming up. we'll take a quick break and resume our coverage right after this. nstipation. i've had it up to here! it's been month after month of fiber. weeks taking probiotics! days and nights of laxatives, only to have my symptoms return. (vo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and

don mcgann asked for the documents that she referred to. it took five or six days to review them and he was asked to resign shortly thereafter but i think that that's -- there is a difference. there wasn't a review process. that was the review process. in this case as the president noted yesterday during his interview, he had been thinking about this for a long time. the justice department had done a review but, again, i don't -- not really sure -- >> so then since you -- >> no, you just asked me -- >> justice though. is that what you're talking about? >> you're asking why -- why wasn't it an emergency. it's not a question if it was an emergency. he took the time to do due process. someone comes to you with a -- an allegation, i think everyone deserves due process to make sure that that allegation. someone coming in and giving you a heads up. we did exactly what was necessary and the president made the right decision and he continues to stand by it. >> so two follow-ups. i'm still unclear, you've mentioned this several times, why did it tak

the second one she said she laid out four different topics with don mcgann. they discussed, number one, why it mattered to the doj, don mcgann asked, why one white house official was lying to another white house official. sally yates said that's essentially because he became a security risk, he could have been compromised, subject to blackmail by the russians. ultimately, that is a concern of the american people. that was not addressed in the testimony. what the underlying evidence was. sally yates said she was compiling that over the weekend before she was abruptly fired that following monday. >> to your point, one, why would it be of interest to the department of justice if one white house employee lied to another. look who these employees are, the national security advisor and the vice president. the vice president then by extension went on sunday morning television and assured people that after his conversation with mike flynn, x had happened or not happened. >> ultimately, it is important to remember those in the white house work for the american public.

now, apparently the person that general flynn told was don mcgann who was the counsel for the transition house counsel. so then the next question in this particular thread of this drama is why didn't don mcgann tell the vice president? and so that's sort of -- that's next. but the fact that mike pence was the head of the transition and this wasn't, you know, a low level appointment. not an appointment, but not a low-level pick. the national security adviser on the president of the united states. one of the most important, probably the most important nonconfirmed aides that the president of the united states has. the fact that he had ties to turkey should have been a giant red flag that the white house counsel should have been holding and running in and telling the president, the vice president, and everybody else. >> no question. let's be honest. nia, to be frank here, this administration does not have a good record of credibility on this or other issues like this. it brings -- for instance, sally yates warning about flynn where she says she made it very clear that he seemed to be compro

she revealed today for the first time that she spoke with white house counsel don mcgann three times about then national security adviser michael flynn and her concern he could be blackmailed by the russians. this all happening more than two weeks before the white house took action. tonight, former acting attorney general revealing for the first time when and why she alerted the white house about her concerns regarding the now dismissed national security adviser michael flynn. >> we felt like it was critical that we get this information to the white house. because in part because the vice president was unknowingly making false statements to the public, and because we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> raise your hand please. >> sally yates testifying to a senate judiciary subcommittee that she spoke to the white house on three different occasions about flynn. the first two visits happened in the white house where she said flynn lied to vice president pence about conversations he had with the russian ambassador. and that the vice president may

manny and general meese and don mcgann are on their way up. manny's the president and ceo of a diverse tied health care holding company -- diversified health care holding company, and manny has the honor and the privilege of introducing general meese. >> good afternoon. it's my privilege to be the last moderator and have the privilege to talk briefly about two great conservatives, two great republicans, two great americans. it is a great honor for me to welcome general ed meese to the stage for whom we have named the highest award. general meese needs no introduction, he has been an inspiration to all. the rnla's honored to recognize other leaders in his name who have upheld the rule of law in the face of very adverse political challenges. before general meese presents the award, i just want to say a few words why the rnla board selected donald mcgann as this year's awar dee. don has been a longtime friend. he first spoke mere 2002 as -- here in 2002 as then-counsel of the nrcc. more importantly, he has long been a leader in election law. he h

it was on january 26th that former acting attorney general sally yates told white house counsel don mcgann, that flynn was vulnerable. it's the only dinner that trump is believed to have had with comey. presumably it's the same dinner he described this way. >> i had a dinner with him. he wanted to have dinner, because he wanted to stay on. >> he asked for the dinner? >> a dinner was arranged. i think he asked for the dinner. he wanted to stay on as the fbi head, and i said i'll consider, we'll see what happens, but we had a very nice dinner. at that time he told me you are not under investigation. >> close comey associates told "new york times" and nbc news a very different version of that dinner. no, comey did not ask for the dinner. his associates say he was invited by trump, and accepted he reluctantly, and know comey's association say there were no assurances from comey that trump was not under investigation. the senior official said comey tried to avoid the subject altogether and no, comey did not ask to keep his job. it was the president making requesting that comey specifically pled

at the core of her testimony will be a meeting that she had with white house counsel don mcgann 18 days before flynn was removed as national security adviser. in that meeting, yates is prepared to testify that she gave a forceful warning to the white house about flynn's contact with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. at that point, flynn had denied that he had talked to kislyak about u.s. sanctions on russia. after flynn left office, the white house admitted that yates had warned them about flynn's interactions with the russian official but described the interaction as more of a heads-up, essentially bringing to their attention that flynn may not have been honest with the vice president. yates, however, remembers the conversation differently and is expected to testify that she expressed serious concerns and made it clear that flynn should be fired. the former acting attorney general was also forced out of her post by the trump administration after she refused to defend the white house's controversial travel ban. her testimony, while potentially explosive, could be tempered a bit, becaus

don mcgann, counsel's office informed the president. they asked for the documents or materials she had rerred to, i forgot n, five or six days to get them. they reviewed them, and he was asked to resign shortly thereafter. but i think there is a difference. that was the review process in this case as the president noted yesterday during his interview, he had been thinking about this for a long time. the justice department had done a review. but again, i don't really -- in both cases -- >> [inaudible] >> no, no, you just asked -- >> i didn't ask about justice though. is that what you're talking about in. >> no. what i'm saying is you're asking why it wasn't an emergency. it's not the question of it's an emergency. he took the time to do due process. someone comes to you with an allegation, i think everyone deserves due process to make sure that that allegation -- someone come anything and giving you a heads up. we did exactly what was necessary, and the president made the right decision, and he continues to stand by it. >> okay, then two

after that, don mcgann having seen the documents, michael flynn was fired. the white house said they looked into the situation with flynn before coming to the conclusion that he needed to go. here's what spicer said at the daily press briefing. >> i think we've been very clear as to what happened and why it happened. i think the president made the right decision. and we've moved on. >> something else that we're learning, shep, in conversation with former obama administration officials is that president trump could have avoided all this had he taken president obama's advice two days after the election when president obama said to president-elect trump, when it comes to a national security adviser based on my experience with him when he was the head of the defense intelligence agency, you can probably find a better candidate than lieutenant general michael flynn. shep? >> shepard: the white house has said that lindsey graham look into president trump's business dealings to see if there's ties to russia. senator graham said it would be helpful to see his tax re

> is the there anything else about the relationship with flynn and the russians that you warned don mcgann about? >> it was strikely on that question? >> yes. >> and then you had a second meeting the next day. >> that's right. >> correct? >> uh-huh. >> january 27. >> at his request, yes. >> at mr. mcgann's request. at that second meeting, did mr. mcgann say anything about the information you had given him? >> no. >> are you aware of the fact that mr. spicer, the white house press secretary on february 14 said in that quote, immediately after the department of justice notified counsel, the white house counsel briefed the president and a small group of senior advisers? >> i've seen media reports to that effect. that's all i know. >> there was no statement by mr. mcgann that he had spoken to the president about your concerns with his national security adviser or with any other members of the white house? >> no, he didn't advise us or anything we he made have talked with. >> i'm going to be questioned -- that mr. mcgann asked of you. is there anything wrong with one white house official lying

adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> yates described her interactions with don mcgannd questions about the importance of the national security adviser's conduct with the vice president. >> i remember that mr. mcgann asked me whether or not general flynn should be fired and i told him that really wasn't our call, that was up to them but that we were giving them this information so that they could take action. one of the questions mr. mcgann asked me when i went back over the second day was eentially why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another white house official? so we explained to him it was a whole lot more than that. and went back over the same concerns that we had raised with them the prior day, that the concern, first, about the underlying conduct itself, that he had lied to the vice president and others, the american public had been misled and then, importantly, that every time this lie was repeated and the misrepresentations were getting more and more specific as they were coming out, every time that happened, it increased the compromis

in a private meeting january 26th, yates told white house counsel don mcgann that flynn was lying whened in public and private that he had discussed u.s. sanctions on russia in conversations kwith russian ambassador to the u.s. flynn's misleading comments, yates said, made him vulnerable to being compromised by russia. that's according to sources familiar with her version of events. she expressed serious concerns to the white house counsel making it clear that flynn could be fired. now the reason this is a big deal is because this directly contradicts what the white house has been saying about mike flynn. directly contradicts the administration's version of events surrounding mike flynn including sean spicer who has told reporters that sally yates simply gave the white house a friendly heads-up about mike flynn. from cnn's report, yates is highly motivated to set the record straight about her warning regarding flynn. now we should note it wasn't just sean spicer who tried this line thasally yates had done nothing more than give the whi house a casual heads-up about mike flynn. that was

don mcgann knew about this and flynn himself, to david gergen's point, how could the president not know that flimpb was working for the government or might be compromised? >> i'm sure that's some of the problems that bob mueller will try to answer, the relationship between flynn and turkey and flynn himself and how did the money change hands? i would not be surprised if there's more money than the half million that we don't know about yet. >> and then you have michael flynn -- at least the president, according to comey, saying back off. he's a good guy. he didn't do anything wrong. >> that's at the root of this conversation that comey was so horrified by that he wrote the memo to the file about, that trump was so much protective of flynn that he wanted comey to shut down the whole investigation. >> is this -- does this all add up to collusion or obstruction of justice or just really bad optics or a white house that just doesn't -- >> well, that's perhaps the most important question bob mueller has to answer. if you say to someone who was in charge of the investigation of you, as trump w

. —— don mcgann.nt, and that four days earlier, donald trump said he had no information about any conversations that could have been had with the russians concerning sanctions imposed under barack obama. —— don mcgahn. it sounds that we are all coming back to this one. thank you for joining coming back to this one. thank you forjoining us. my pleasure. bill o'reilly stepped down last month are to act of sexual harassment by a number of women. —— fox news anchor bill o'reilly stepped down last month, accused of sexual harrassment by a number of women. and now one of them has flown to london to try to block rupert murdoch — who owns fox — from taking full control of sky. she met the media regulator ofcom — which is investigating whether murdoch's company 21st century fox would be fit and proper to take full control of sky. this from our media editor amol rajan. on the west coast of ireland, people are flocking to a remote island to see a sandy beach that has reappeared — that is the word. it was washed

"the new york times" reporting flynn informed the chief lawyer don mcgann weeks before he was under federal investigation for secretly working for a paid lobbyist for turkey during the campaign. the white house says the story is flat warning. despite the warning, mr. trump named flynn to name the national security team granting him access to the deepest secrets before firing him three weeks late sharing the transition team, mike pence who to this day maintains he was unaware of flynn's ties to turkey. >> let me say, hearing that story today was the first i heard of it. >> reporter: tonight an administration said saying if he knew and didn't tell pence, it's malpractice or intentional and either is unacceptable and within trump's inner circle, an official says the trump family had a blind spot when it came to flynn who was rewarded for his loyalty to the president. four law enforcement officials tell nbc news flynn and former campaign chairman paul manafort are key figures with multiple grand jury subpoenas that and requests during the last six months. in the cross hairs of multiple investig

the actual january 25th conversation sally yates had involved don mcgann, it's not certain what he will have to say in response. >> sreenivasan: clapper in march said i haven't heardfully evidence of any conclusion. >> that's right, republicans seem to seize on that statement as some sort of vindication. however, clapper at the time did have a sort of important caveat when he said, at the time i left the administration which would have been january, and when we know from fbi director jim comey this week, this investigation is ongoing, new intelligence is being reviewed, new information is being processed and assessed so it is not clear how significant it is if in january no conclusion existed. that doesn't necessarily, not dispositive of anything necessarily. >> sreenivasan: sally yates testimony begins tomorrow at 2:00, you can expect it to be covered, thanks eric. >> thank you for having me. >> sreenivasan: every year, the u.s. deports thousands of documented immigrants after they complete prison terms for certain felonies. the policy applies to legal permanent residents-- green card

the former acting attorney general testified she met twice in person and met with don mcgann because mike flynn did not discuss sanctions with russia, when the transcripts show the opposite. >> not only that the russians knew this, but they likely had proof of this information and that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security advisors could essentially be black mailed by the russians. >> yates who would later lose her job for failing to back the trump travel ban felt the situation was serious. >> we told them we were giving them all of this information so that they could take action. >> and pressed on whether president obama warned president-elect trump not to hire flynn. >> president obama made known he wasn't a fan of general flynn which shouldn't come as a surprise and general flynn worked for president obama and was an outspoken critic of president obama. >> and flynn had the highest security clearance. if anybody, what should they do, why not if they were concerned. >> another tweet how classified information got into the media. >> and the senate s

sally eight saying she was in touch with him again, -- sally yates said shwas in touch with don mcgannkevin: what they are saying is, these type of questions have to ted.ffected, -- vete from their vantage point, this something thatas needed the proper vetting, particularly from their point of view given associates -- yates'political background is in obama appointee. as far as the hearing that has been underway regarding mrs. yates, she has emerged as a progressive rock star so to speak, and is getting wide .raise from the left it has elevated her national stature. it will be interesting to see what her next political moves are. david: interesting moment where ied for senator ted cruz. on the hill there are at least two investigations in the judiciary, house intelligence committee. how parallel are these? how's the approach differ between each committee? i thrown this question around judicial experts, they said that you have to remember that congressional hearings are truly a show -- they have their purpose, but they are a show of political theater. in terms of influencing policy, they

we don't know if don mcgann communicated to the president. sources around the president suggest that they were all figuring out what to do about mike flynn. do you think part of the answer could be that every time they hear about russia, earmuff is go on and they don't pay it any mind? >> i think they certainly believe that every time russia comes up it is a political salvo. there is obviously a defensive crouch that the trump administration has been in from the beginning. but let me add one point here, that we, as compelling as sally yates testimony was yesterday, there is still a hole at the center of it, which is the classified information that prompted her to go to don mcgannt white house counsel. what did the intelligence show that convinced her that flynn was subject to blackmail? that has not been declassified yet. and i think that is something that we're going to want to know before making judgments about whether the white house was d derelect in not firing him earlier. >> where does that leave us? where are we today after what happen

chief white house correspondent is telling us tonight from a senior administration official, when don mcgann got the official call from the justice department that this is the way they were going to go with robert mueller the special counsel, he went to the president and the oval office and convened a meeting, writes previous, the chief of staff, kelly on conway, steve bannon, all kinds of top aides. what i find interesting in this reporting is that we are hearing that the president seems measured in his response. you know president trump's critics are waiting for him tonight or tomorrow morning early, get on social media stop ripping into bob mueller or his critics on the hill. instead we're hearing a much different portrait from the president senior advisor tonight and that in the oval office, the president told his top aides, this is the hand we've been dealt, let's move forward. to jesse's point, this may give on the positive side some breathing space to get back to the business of the nation all this uncertainty in washington, now it's good to be investigated, let's get back to business

on january 4th, flynn spoke with don mcgann, the chief lawyer. now the white house counsel. he said there is an investigation going on. the justice department is looking into it. january 6th, flynn's lawyer was told the same thing. you can go on and be the national security adviser. the trump administration let him do this at the time he was under federal investigation. that gives you ready access to the president. gives you access to every american secret. it is a tremendous policy shaping planning role. you know going into office you have a guy under investigation. this isn't just a simple i failed to register investigation. those are weak investigations. they tend to be. what we also learned is a grand jury in the eastern district of virginia in alexandria that is investigating this. it is led by the veteran counter espionage prosecutor. that suggests the justice department thinks there is a serious case here. >> i have a question of the implications. matthew, we will come back to this. in terms of how the developments changes the political dynamic. mueller is in there an

cnn has learned that in a january 26 meeting with white house council don mcgann, yates said that flynn was lying when he denied discussing u.n. sanctions with ambassador sergey kislyak. flynn's misleading white house, yat -- comments made him -- >> 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. >> reporter: just days after delivering the warning, yates was fired for refusing to enforce president trump's travel ban. yates' testimony comes as the multiple congressional committees investigating russian interference in the u.s. election put on bipartisan appearances. >> we're working together very well, the whole committee is, and grateful for that opportunity. >> reporter: the questions from lawmakers in open session tell a very different story. republicans focused on alleged leaks of classified information. >> director comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the trump investigation or th

first of all, cathy, let's get to the question of january 4th, president trump telling don mcgann that he is under fbi investigation. do you say they fine, you don't have to file, it's all right, you're vetted, come on in the president wants you. >> i think that is the end of the conversation. certainly -- >> thank you, goodbye? >> exactly, you can't have a senior advisor to the president, or security advisor being under investigation when coming into the white house. it is unfathomable that that was okay. maybe they say wait until the investigation runs it's course. maybe you can join the administration in a different capacity at a different time, but it is very high risk to have brought him in. >> and the president keeps repeating that he was cleared by president obama for the highest possible security clearance referring to the fact that the previous year he renewed as retired general renewed his military security clearance. >> those are apples and oranges. when we would vet someone for a senior position, assistant secretary or a white house official, whatith we would first do is st

so did counsel don mcgann. reince priebus said the same thing. so what extent -- she's expected to completely contradict them. how bad is that going to be? >> as these investigations go on, and man nu has a great piec about it. the documents stack up higher than the liawmakers if you stan them up side by side. listen to this earlier today on cnn. this was a dicey one for democrats. one of the questions about michael flynn is were these contacts with the russians okay even if they were a little out of balance or was there co nord nati -- coordination and collusion. >> these are not just mere coincidences. there's a whole classified side of information that i hope the world sees very soon. i hope the fbi and i have every reason to believe will continue to develop this, but this is not donald trump being the unluckiest man in the world to have all of these coincidences converge at the same time that russia's interference was taking place. >> a member of the committee. on the one hand you take what he says seriously. on the other hand, should the dem

you can argue what the new things mean but we know things today about what she told don mcgann that weidn't know yesterday. >> and we know clapper did not clear the president of any allegations of collusion the way the president is suggesting he did. >> that's right. he said he didn't know. >> he said he didn't know anything about the investigation. kim, anthony is smart. he's wired into the trump people. here is the problem. there is no proof of any process. there is no proof that they did anything after the white house told them about sally yates except respond to "the washington post" reporting by as quickly as they could throwing flynn under the bus. do we know that they did anything to process, to balance loyalty and fact, anything? >> from everything i've heard working with mike flynn, working with the vice president pence, what brought flynn down was the misrepresentation to pence. in terms of checking, in terms of vetting flynn's background, flynn had been participate of this team for almost two years, he was one of the few people who had come in from the campaign as oppose ed

talking about getting rid of everyone from steve bannon to rinse priebus to his white house lawyer, don mcgann. he's even frustrated with his cabinet officials talked about getting upstaged with top officials including his friend, wilbur ross. but the thing is he's just frustrated. the thing for the white house, he's the product and pitchman. he's the producer, firing the stage hands denies a fundamental -- >> we know this happens a lot. is this a timeline here? something he's moving quickly or like comey, could happen in a day or month? >> we never know. we had this three weeks ago, we know he wants steve bannon out and jared kushner wantsteve bannon out. they're worried about the optics of doing it. whenheents and get frustrated he really gets frustrated. you never know if he's blowing off steam, it is coming. >> it's clear to me the circle that sluhrunk around the president. >> i think you saw that with the comey decision, steve bannon was not in the loop with this. there's pushback with his allies. the point is this circle is shrinking. the president is frustrated. when he gets frustrated

don mcgann informed the president. they asked for the documents or materials that she had referred to. i forgot now five or six days to get those. he was asked to resign shortly there after. but i think that there is a difference. there wasn't a review process. that was the review process in this case. the president noted he had been thinking about this for a long time. the justice department had done a review. but, again, i'm not really sure -- >> the justice though. is that what you're talking about? >> you're asking why it wasn't an emergency. it's not a question of is it an emergency. he took the time to do due process. someone comes to you with an allegation, i think everyone deserves due process to make sure that allegation -- someone coming in and giving you a heads up. we did exactly what was necessary. the president made the right decision. he continues to stand by it. >> i'm still unclear. why did it take so long for the white house to get those documents? >> i don't know. >> why aren't you asking? couldn't y

so yates reached out to the white house counsel don mcgann and told him that flynn had apparently lied to vice president pence and others. she was worried because she suspected she was not the only one who knew that flynn had lied. >> the russians also knew about what general flynn had done, and the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president. not only did we believe that the russians knew this, but that they likely had proof of this information. and that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> could be black mailed by the russians. that's the acting attorney general of the united states, and the white house did nothing. not until a few days after "the washington post" broke the story on february 9th that flynn lied to everyone and then the president acted. why did the white house not act in the well, this man potentially compromised by the russians roamed around the situation room with access to the most top secret information for all those days. here here's sean spicer

he is complaining, apparently, about white house counsel don mcgann and believes the firing of comey look bad, that it wasn't presidential, and he has been complaining about his communication staff, as we know, and so in fact has jared kushner, his son-in-law, who has also been complaining about the communication staff. and -- >> we haven't seen much publicly from a while. >> we have not. although he's there at the white house. and the people that i talk to are beginning and these are people who are very loyal to donald trump and have been for years and so what surprised me me in doing my reporting today is that they seem to be losing confidence in him. i have defended him for years and i'm not sure i can do that anymore. and there seems to be an effort to establish distance between the people and the president and one said to me that he's not taking my advice anyway. and the bottom line here is they all believe that donald trump needs somebody who can tell him when he's wrong and stand up to him even if it means that they're going to lose their job. and they don't believe that that

actually she was fired by president trump over her refusal to back the travel ban that she called don mcgann and said, all right, we've worked out the logistics. you can come over and look at these class night materials to show you why i am telling you and why i'm so concerned about why i believe he's compromise the. >> she didn't know the answer though, whether he actually took up that offer. >> she did not, and that's why that's still a looming question. >> right. >> she was fired, but what we do know is there an 18-day gap between the official warning from sally yates and "washington post" report and his subsequent dismissal from the white house and what happened in those 28 days? >> a couple of things. i think that's just as important for what she said today is how she conducted herself during the hearing. she came across incredibly credible to the point where we just did see the chairman of the subcommittee say that she did the right thing and she was very careful in the to the give too much information where perhaps she could be accused of revealing classified information but -- but ha

>> i think she'll talk about what she told don mcgann and the warnings she gave.hink you're right, any questions about the underlying investigation. let's remember, this investigation into whether the trump campaign colluded with russian intelligence started in july of 2016 when she was the deputy attorney general. and was still actively under way when she was fired in late january. so there was a lot about that investigation. the fisa warrant into carter page and other steps of the investigation that she would have overseen. and committee members have lots of questions, but she won't be able to talk about that today. >> shawn spicer was asked about her in february. here's part of what he had to say. >> what the attorney general didn't come in and -- the acting attorney general come in and say that there was an issue. she said we wanted to give you heads up that there may be information. she could not confirm there was an investigation. and so it would be unbelievably shortsighted and wrong to go in and dismiss someone immediately. >> what do you think is more lik

it was first made to the transition team's chief lawyer, don mcgann, now white house counsel and that conversation shows the trump team knew about the federal investigation of mike flynn far earlier than previously reported putting a much finer point on the question of why they hired him and why they didn't fire him until 18 days after the justice department came to the white house with their proverbial hair on fire saying your national security advisor has a russia problem. they knew he was under federal investigation when they named him national security advisor and now under the probe of possible conclusion with the trump campaign and russia and nbc describes he's a subject in the investigation and means he's technically suspected of committing crimes. the pace of the investigations have intensified in recent weeks with a veteran espionage prosecutor, brandon van grack leading a grand jury inquiry in northern virginia that is scrutinizing mr. flynn's foreign lobbying an has begun issuing subpoenas to businesses that worked with mr. flynn and his associates. and a turkish businessma

they believe this is a political venture, that she was acting in a partisan way when she informed don mcgann of michael flynn. from your experience with sally yates, in her career, has she been labeled partisan before? >> there's not a partisan bone in her body. she's a career prosecutor who put corrupt public officials from both parties in jail. i've seen people say this is the first step in her campaign for governor or for congress or from some other office. i think that's highly unlikely. i've talked to her about this, and i think it's unlikely she ever runs for public office. what people will see today is a career prosecute we are a lot of credibility who will likely contradict what sean spicer will say from the white house podium. >> there's a lot of anticipation about her testimony. after all, it was essentially delayed by devin nunez a couple months ago when there was confusion whether she would be able to testify and granted the authority to do so by the white house and the doj. she's doing it now. what are you expecting her to directly contradict when it comes to what sean spicer sa