the distortion of the dowd quote is very serious. especially since remember that a report by a special counsel is always going to be one-sided. therefore, you have to trust it. because the other side doesn't have a chance to look at it and show what's wrong with it the way it would in an adversarial situation. if a lawyer made a representation like that to a court and said this is the quote, and left out the crucial context, which showed, as john said, that what he discussed was not only absolutely proper, but obligatory for a counsel when you have a joint defense agreement to find out exactly what's likely to be used against your -- your client, there's -- >> sean: he said, not inappropriate. >> nothing inappropriate. >> sean: yeah, he said that. >> who wrote that paragraph? who wrote that paragraph? >> sean: i have a guess. >> that is crucial. i know. how did it get past mueller, why was it include in there? right from the beginning, i said before this report is made public, it should be given to the defense and including the forme

was saying, and he declined to interview dowd because of the attorney/client privilege.asically, here it is. the witness, michael flynn, knows all this stuff about trump, and dowd is saying give us a heads-up, meaning tell us what he's going to tell mueller to protect all of our interests, and remember what a good man we think you are, and the pardon is dangled so that, in effect, flynn will be playing both sides of the street. there's no longer the joint defense going on, but the two of them can still work together if dowd is informed and protect donald trump's interests. >> as flynn's case appears to be heading towards sentencing, something is going on in the case that's hard to discern from the outside. he's fired his lawyers, the initial sentencing plan in december went haywire when clearly there was a big disconnect between the lawyers in the case and the judge who basically told flynn, you don't want me to sentence you right now. why don't you see if you can cooperate more because essentially signaling he was going to throw the book at him. something's going on rig

the only question was, was dowd acting at the behest of the president?don't know. >> let's ask our legal expert here. you say this voice mail is is out of a mob textbook. break down what you hear? >> i came up as a prosecutor for -- john dowd was an organized crime prosecutor. he's familiar with the tactics as well. this is the kind of thing that i used to hear in actual mob cases, real mafioso here in new york city, they're making threats, thinly veiled but fairly obvious to any common sense listener what they're saying there, i need a heads up if he's going to hurt the president and also on the other hand dangling the enticement, the carrot. the president still has feelings for flynn and i think the implication there is exactly what evan said, promising the potential of a pardon. >> so when you hear him saying the thing was about mike -- the feeling trump has towards flynn you think that that -- he's dangling a pardon. >> yeah. >> is that evidence of obstruction? >> i think it is and i thought about this, i think i would charge that if i was still a pr

it's clear to me that dowd is committing a crime here. the question is how involved and what would the evidence be against trump? i mean, common sense tells us he's involved, but what would the proof be? but congress can go there. they don't have to stand by the attorney/client privilege in the way that mueller did. >> you know your way around a recording as a former fed. most of them, of course, organized crime and not presidential politics, but there is that certain element that reading a flat transcript on a page doesn't deliver. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, i've listened to dozens and dozens of recordings of organized crime and other people, and, you know, if you play a recording for a jury, i mean, every trial lawyer knows this, it just brings home what is happening in a way that a transcript doesn't. this shows you, you know, we've seen this again even with mueller's ten-minute press conference. hearing words, hearing someone speak as opposed to reading a report is so compelling. and this is why congress needs to get going as best t

why was john dowd making that call? was he simply freelancing and doing it on his own or was he doing it on the president's behalf? and the difference in this investigation is obviously the fact that the president held the pardon power. so why is it that dowd is saying that the president will continue to look favorably upon him, if he does provide that information. what is it that the president could give flynn? there are only a few things, one of them being a pardon. what we looked at in our story today is why did mueller not pursue that question further. why did they not try to talk to john dowd? it's a difficult question because they probably would have gone to court to get a judge to force dowd to talk. even if dowd talked it's unsure how reliable his statements would have been. but was and still is a central question of the house investigation. did the president try to abuse his power to protect himself and maybe these underlying documents will shed more light on it. >> can you jump in to the point jonathan lemire

dowd says in part if there's information that implicates the president we need some kind of heads up.ember what we've always said about the president and his feelings towards flynn and that still remains. what the heck? his feelings towards the president has always liked him so please give us a heads up and, by the way, remind you of the friendship here. is that not obstruction? >> that looks pretty obstructive to me. if i were representing dowd i'd argue you have to look at the overall context of things, but really in that situation, i've been in that situation where you think the other lawyer's client may be cooperating. you are really very limited. really you should only say are they cooperating. that's about it. so he's clearly trying to send a message here. in fact, i've listened to the actual audio of it as well. when you ut in the tone it's really problematic. what he's really saying is if you're thinking of implicating the president, realize this could have repercussions for the whole country. think twice about that. by the way, remember he likes you, too, wink, wink. >> why i

the question is, who put john dowd up to this? how much was president trump involved in this? nicole, this is smoking gun evidence. and witness tampering and obstruction of justice cases, you rarely get it on tape. one of the things that mueller said is that one reason he wasn't able to go further with obstruction, in addition to the doj policy, is that trump's answers to those written statements were worthless, there were things he wouldn't talk about and that he was evasive on others. i really wish that mueller had hauled trump into some office and made him answer questions. >> let me put a few more facts out there and let me ask a few more questions. this was a period where once mike flynn pleaded guilty, the joint defense agreement was torn up, right? so they no longer had shared legal interest, this call was inappropriate on every level, right, nick? >> it's impossible to think of flynn's lawyer having that voicemail and listening to it, and what was he thinking when he listened to that voicemail and the fact that it now exists for all of us? that voicemail was almost tru

what do you make of the part where dowd reminded the president's attorney of feelings toward him.t was the implication there? >> i think you are highlighting a critical point. the language how donald trump feels about mike flynn. you like this guy. maybe treat this guy well. let's have these conversations. it is a little bit of urging. i think it is a shielded language that definitely has implications and suggestions with it. i think you saw a lot of that type of language throughout the report as laid out by robert mueller. that is what kevin said is what democrats are looking at. what is the motivation behind the messages that were passed between mike flynn and the trump legal team and other individuals who are involved. >> let's take it a step further. is it safe to say presidential pardon, those two words could be an underlining message? is that what democrats is thinking that is what was said between the lines? >> absolutely. i have spoken with a number of democrats on the hill. that is their interpretation on this. you have democrats who believe that was the signal that was b

john dowd was indignant. he expressed feelings that he thought that michael flynn was showing hostility toward president trump and that they were going to tell president trump on michael flynn which they took to be an effort to intimidate michael flynn from cooperating. >> john heilemann this strikes me as one of the elements of what we would see if congressman raskin's committee moves into an impeachment inquiry mode. audio tapes like this possibly witnesses like john dowd being called. he might claim an attorney/client privilege on some things, might not on others. there are a lot of arguments for proceeding with an impeachment inquiry and calling it that. one of them is this, right? i'm not a lawyer and barb and others may know about this than i do. my impression having listened people talk about it is that under the rubric of an impeachment inquiry, it would make it easier to accumulate the kind of evidence that would build the political case if you wanted to impeach the president. one of the strongest ar

it's john dowd, one of the president's attorneys back in november of 2017, right after michael flynn has decided to start cooperate with the government. and he has some concerns that he wants to raise. let's listen to this tape of the -- of the voice mail. >> hey, rob, this is john again. maybe i'm sympathetic and understand your situation, but let me see if i can state it in starker terms. if you have -- and it wouldn't surprise me if you've gone on to make a deal and work with the government. i understand that you can't join the defense team. so -- if on the other hand, there's information that implicates the president, then we've got a national security issue, or maybe a national security issue, i don't know. some issue. we've got to deal with not only for the president but for the country. so, you know, then, you know, we need some kind of heads-up just for the sake of protecting all interests if we can without you having to give up any confidential information. so, and if it's the former, then, you know, remember what we've always said about the president and his feelings toward

the question really is did trump know what dowd was doing?rd to imagine just in the common sense level that he didn't and that, in fact, he was involved in it and directed it. mueller decided not to go there and not to press dowd on this because of the attorney/client privilege. frankly, i think that is something that other prosecutors would have treated differently and been more aggressive about. that's one area where mueller didn't go. i think a lot of prosecutors would have gone there because of the crime/fraud exception. i think it's part of this bigger pattern that we see with trump, with his lawyers that now is clearly laid out in the mueller report of trump trying to get witnesses not to cooperate against him by using this power of the pardon in a corrupt way. and that is still the shocking conduct that is just hanging out there and we're waiting to see if anyone is going to do something about it namely congress. >> and john dowd in parted this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of coun

>> dowd is a talented lawyer. leave a voice mail as an attorney, even attorney to attorney, in such a high profile situation as this any kind of voice mail with any kind of substance other than call me back. here's my cell phone number. this is the kind of thing that john dowd and people will interpret or miss iinterpret an view as a possible veiled threat to not cooperate or whether or not they are cooperating. this is a shame. frankly, that's why voice mail and transcripts can be misinterpreted. probably something he wishes he did not do now is leave voice mails for attorneys who now will turn those over to the government. >> dowd did issue a statement. this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. michael flynn is awaiting sentencing. what impact could these transcripts have on the sentencing? >> we know michael flynn delayed his sentencing essentially judge sullivan's order or recommendation i would say. not too subtle a recommendation

now, this particular -- the voicemail that came up today between john dowd, the president's attorney and one of the attorneys for flynn, you know, it's alluded to and quoted in the report, but the extent of it and the full language we haven't seen yet. i'm sure there's plenty of that that is going to trickle out. none of this, i think, is good for the president. i think -- some of it's not criminally chargeable, much of it may not be criminally chargeable, but it is at best embarrassing information for the president of the united states. and speaks to a pattern of wrongdoing. even the information today, you know, so getting back to this john dowd voicemail -- >> can i interrupt you with a dramatic reading especially for those who grew up in the new york area listening to gambino recordings -- >> yes. >> -- in the fish club, people should listen to this this way. this is a voicemail left by john dowd and you'll forgive me because there's stuttering written in as part of this. "hey, rob, this is john again, maybe i'm sympathetic, i understand your situation but let me see if i can't st

john dowd telling flynn's lawyer, remember how the president feels about michael flynn.important is something that the mueller team looked at because they were wondering if they were trying to somehow sway michael flynn's cooperation. >> right. the suggestion being, of course, that maybe he would pardon michael flynn. everyone, let's weigh in on this. there's a lot of flynn news today, surprisingly. first of all, what do you make of this as somebody who covers the white house day in, day out? i'm kind of surprised that the president's attorney would say something like this on a voice mail message. it doesn't seem the wisest lawyering. >> yeah, floating the possibility of a pardon, i mean, he -- >> he denies that. >> but that's effectively what the effect is there. to do that on a voice mail is stunning. beyond the notion of floating a pardon, also you're hearing the president's attorney here saying if you're going to implicate the president in a crime, which why is a lawyer for the president, would you be -- implicates the president? this takes me back to those days we'r

you mentioned them with the john dowd interview which was so important earlier this week.e need to know the truth. >> sean: what do you both make of we know what christopher steele will say. when push came to shove in great britain and he was under the threat of perjury, he said i don't know if any of this is true. maybe 50-50. it was the bulk of information to apply for a fisa warrant and he says it's an unverif iable document. doesn't that mean comey did not verify it? >> it was not verified. you look at the prosecutors and their team. you start to judge the integrity of that investigation. more importantly, it was not raw intelligence. it was made up! it would be great if it was raw intelligence and just happened to be wrong. but this was a fictitious story. everyone knew but did nothing about it. >> sean: the "new york times" is catching up to the "hannity" program. 2.5 years later. they are suggesting that it was russian disinformation the entire time. that hillary clinton paid for and the fbi paid for russian disinformation. >> extraordinary and an absolute shame. it

he takes john dowd's telephone message and he edits it down to misrepresent that. place i found he completely misrepresented and invented a conversation involving papadopoulos and masoud. he doesn't source it. he just made it up and plucked it from his own imagination. so the report is frankly disappointing in so many ways. disorganized. contradictory, inconsistent. and so schizophrenic you will get whiplash. it's almost a garbage document like the dossier. what is frustrating about it most of all are the things he doesn't look into. if he is looking into russian interference how can you not look into hillary clinton paying for russian misinformation. >> dan: exactly. >> to interfere in the election. there is none of that in there. or the dossier. there is nothing in there about elto glenn simpson and fun g.p.s., all of them trying to interfere by spreading russian information. >> dan: sara you have been on this case like white on rice. one thing that bothers me is the initial charter was to investigate russian interference in the election. and it's convenient he g

. >> and elliot, second question, in normal times, how big a deal would that john dowd voicemail have been? leaving a voicemail on his opponent's counsel's phone to say, in effect, we hope you'll do the right thing. >> i wish i could -- i wish we had a few hours to talk about if we were in normal times. >> yeah. >> all the things that would have been fatal to a presidency at this point going back to, frankly, the president not releasing his tax returns in 2015, but that ship has sailed and let's move on. so on the john dowd voicemail, it's interesting, it was in the mueller report, you and i talked about it a week ago tonight. it was in the report and people read it, but there's just something to hearing it. the recording was made public yesterday. i would urge people to listen to it. and it just has a different narrative impact when people hear the attorney for the president stuttering and pausing and being deliberate and very meticulous in the words he's choosing but ultimately, and in an almost mob boss like way, leaning on a witness, force or push a witness or at least hide behind

dowd has dismissed the assessment of that voice mail as a baseless attempt to damage his reputation. >>> meanwhile, this morning investigators at west point aref a deadly training accident. one cadet was killed when a truck like this one flipped over in rough terrain. the truck was carrying cadets to a training exercise. 19 others were injured along with 2 soldiers. >>> we turn now to the nba quick action taken against the co-owner of the golden state warriors seen pushing a player during the nba finals. overnight the billionaire investor apologized as we learned about a major new punishment that he could face. in a highly competitive series it's this incident on the sidelines of the nba finals that is getting a lot of attention. raptors guard kyle lowry fell into the front row in oracle arena. that's when the man in the blue shirt, this guy, warriors minority investor mark stevens shoves lowry and allegedly curses at him. >> he had no reason to touch me and had no reason to reach over two seats and then say some vulgar language to me. >> reporter: even the warriors voiced their conc

and dowd was absolutely right.er ruined the integrity and the credibility of himself and his own investigation by hiring a guy like weissmann, and then instructing weissmann, you hire the team of 19 partisan lawyers, which weissmann did. >> jason: i have great respect for mr. mueller, but for him to pick the people that he picked, i've got to tell you, i still have an ongoing question about that. sara, gregg, thank you for joining us tonight at coming up next on this "hannity" special, rush limbaugh has a message for joe biden: it's over. we have the tape and reaction from sean spicer, austan goolsbee, charlie hurt's. stay with. control your blood sugar around the clock. and with a $0 copay, ♪ let's groove tonight. that's something to groove about. toujeo is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. get medical

we have known about the call but we learned today that it was john dowd who made it.ny questions for you? >> it certainly does. he certainly seems to be suggesting this call was made just as flynn was making a deal to cooperate with the special counsel. and you know, i think i'd want to know and a lot of people want to know, was he suggesting that the president, you know, thinks highly of you, or, his exact language, was he suggesting don't do it? was he suggesting stick with us, we'll take care of you? it is vague but it raises questions. >> mark, i want to bring you in now because john dowd responded with a statement, the mueller report, this is a quote, is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel, and innocent people. i mean that's very interesting. because the call took place. and we now have a transcript. so what is he claiming is baseless? >> well, i don't know, he is saying that mueller never brought it up in any conversations. and what we know from the mueller report is that there was corroborating testimony

he then adds for a heads-up and dowd wanted to remind flynn about this, quote.stant to robert mueller and cnn legal annist michael zelldin joins me. >> what mueller said in his report was he had no way of knowing whether or not the president was the one who asked attorney dowd his private counsel to reach out to flynn and he said issues of attorney general client privilege prevented him from that. i think because mueller has decided he can't breach attorney-client privilege there is nothing that will legally implicate the president. >> it's not physical but hard to find it ethically responsible to have the attorney for the president remind michael flynn's attorney general what high regards he holds, michael flynn, and ask for a heads-up whether he is cooperateding with the investigation? >> that's right. the part that is problematic may not be obstruction of justice, but has an uncomfortable feel to it is the call from the attorney which says, essentially, we don't know whether you're cooperating but just remember how much we like you. those two things do raise

if you confirm from the agreement and apparently dowd at that point is indignant.t's what the report says. that's really troubling. >> i want to ask you about the transcript of flynn's calls with russia. because the doj is refusing to hand those transcripts over. even though they were ordered to file them publicly. what obligation is there for them to do so? will that eventually happen? >> i think it will eventually happen. i read they're pleading which i thought was a little bit cryptic. i'm not sure why they didn't give more explanations for their refusa refusal. it could be classified information and they could have flagged that. they may also genuinely feel they don't want reveal some things that are still ongoing. it certainly seems like those transcripts go to the heart of flynn's conviction. i mean, it's all about him lying about that conversation. so i think the judge has a right to see it. my guess is the judge is going to ask for more explanation. then they may do some sealed briefings trying to explain that. but on the face of it, their version of the re

some kinds of heads-up just for the sake of protecting all our interests if we can. >> on sunday john dowdd a lengthy response which states in part, this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. during the joint defense relationship counsel for the president provided to flynn's counsel documents, advice, and encouragement to provide to the special counsel as part of his effort to cooperate. the special counsel never raised or questioned the president's counsel about these allegations despite numerous opportunities to do so. >> following the president granting attorney general william barr the power to unilaterally declassify intelligence related to the russia investigation, house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff is asking that the intelligence community tell congress if barr is overriding their objections. schiff made his demand in a letter to the director of national intelligence dan coats on friday calling on coats to brief his committee in person and to share any information that barr has requested as

dowd submerge on evidence used to it he was rusher of hacking democratic party e-mails in the run up to the 2016 presidential election the f.b.i. never saw a final report by a private cyber security firm on which it based its conclusion. judgment day to day for british arms sales to saudi arabia playing u.k. courts to decide if they should be suspended as peace campaign is playing the weapons are being used on civilians in yemen breaching international law therefore and dutch prosecutors charged 4 suspects over the downing of malaysia airlines flight m h 70 over eastern ukraine in 2014 but joint investigation team members have paid to contradict themselves yesterday over what information they've received from russia on and the age 70. from the 1st day after the 17th of july the russian federation hasn't disclosed anything about what happened there from a former russian federation from asian about to the missile. good morning just thursday the 20th of june you're in moscow my name is kevin irwin here with the latest from reality international news room for you u.s. government document

it was john dowd to remind the attorney, hey, the president thinks highly of this guy. the subtext not to. >> is this the kind of so-called underlying evidence sarah that democrats are fighting to obtain? because, actually, hearing something, seeing something is different tan reading about it? >> i think it is, this is this voicemail. it's written in the mueller report. we seen the transcript. but it is a different thing to hear someone you know to have been an attorney for the president making this pitch. i think democrats in particular are banking on the fact that most of the american public have not read the mueller report in detail. they might listen if these people testify and that might change people's minds about impeachment or whether they want to vote for the president in 2020. >> cnn has new information about how the president's former lawyer and fixer michael cohen is doing in prison. he is serving a three-year prison sentence. >> michael cohen is not excited to go to prison, no one is happy, it turns out according to my source's excellent reporting it's not

dowd concludes with a friendly reminder, saying, remember what we've always said about the presidentis feelings towards flynn. that still remains. but in any event, let me know, and i appreciate your listening and taking the time. thanks, pal. dowd responded yesterday in a statement saying the inclusion of this voice mail in the special counsel's probe in the first place was politically driven, writing this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. this all results from a judge's order earlier this month that instructed government prosecutors to file documents, including a transcript of this voice mail, a less redacted version of a memo detailing flynn's cooperation with mueller's team and transcripts of recordings of all flynn's phone calls with russians. eric? eric: thanks, gillian. virginia beach prepares for an emotional prayer vigil later tonight. we will have more live coverage of that ahead. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and b

, out of context, a heavily edited voice mail to make attorney john dowd look bad. total mischaracterization of paul manafort's business associate, they totally admitted to fusion gps was complicit in paying for russian lies and propaganda, they hired christopher steele on behalf of hillary clinton, that some of the tip of the iceberg and how could they not investigate the phony russian dossier if you're investigating russian interference in 2016? congressman devin nunes probably delivered the best speech of his career, he will join us in a minute -- watch this. >> eventually the democrats became convinced that the mueller report would finally rid them of their sinister president who had the audacity to defeat hillary clinton. the democrats assembled us today to analyze the shoddy political hit piece known as the mueller report. it's written in the same spirit in the same purpose as the steele dossier which was once championed by the democrats on this committee but which they barely mentioned after it was exposed as another democrat created hoax. unfortunately for t

matthew dowd, thanks for your analysis on a saturday morning. really appreciate it. >> whit, over to you. >> dan, thanks. >>> turning to a border wall roadblock for the trump administration, a federal judge barred the plan to siphon $2.5 billion in military funds to build segments of a wall along the u.s./mexico border. the judge in california ruled in favor of two lawsuits contending the money transfer was unlawful and the wall would pose environmental threats. the president plans to appeal that decision. >>> now to possible new troubles for boeing. the aerospace company already facing a federal investigation into issues with its 737 max aircraft. now there are reports the justice department is expanding its probe to include the dreamliner. abc's stephanie ramos is at reagan national airport with the latest. good morning, stephanie. >> reporter: eva, good morning. there are reports this morning that the department of justice has subpoenaed records from boei prodtionf the 78 t. this is according to "the seattle times." they're citing two sources

that's clearer than a voicemail from dowd a year and a half ago. >> you're exactly right. are two witnesses that are in a very different posture that other witnesses called by congress. they're still cooperating with the government. they still have this hammer hanging over their heads with a potential sentence. you remember at flynn's last appearance before the judge, when the judge was about to sentence him, it didn't seem to go as well as they thought it would go. the judge took a break and said i need to you go back and do a little more. you need to continue cooperating. it's a real threat hanging over them. they have an added insensitive to be cooperative with the house and provide testimony. i think you will see a very different picture with them. >> shannon, the president didn't just send a tweet supporting mike flynn, he gave a shot out to flynn's new lawyer, sidney powell. tell us who she is. president trump said she's a great lawyer. >> she's one of the fiercest critics of the mueller investigation. she actually sells t-shirts criticizing the mueller investigation

. >>> let's talk about this john dowd tape.was the best attorney the president of the united states could get at the time. to the substance of the tape, what impact could the release of this voice mail will have in flynn's criminal case? >> not so much in flynn's criminal case but globally. let's take a step back. does anyone remember leaving a voice mail that long in the last five years? nobody. i make a lot of phone calls. voice males are something that can be, especially nowadays can be forwarded and cause you problems. look, i think john dowd's explanation is plausible because he was inquiring whether or not hey are you still in this joint defense agreement because if you're not you got to let us know. that's pretty common. but, obviously, people have interpreted that as being more nefarious, as a veiled athlete. just in general leaving a voice mail like this is not a good idea. i'm sure he wishes he could have that back even though he doesn't believe he did anything wrong. i don't know it will affect flynn's sentencing. th

let's bring in our ringer, abc news chief political analyst matthew dowd who joins us from texas. matthew, good morning. let's start here with e biden. this whole dustup over his comments about working with segregationist senators. is this likely to be a long-term problem for him, or do you think it's just a blip? >> well, i think the longer term problem for joe biden is the fact that he got elected first before eight track tape came and went. i mean, that's the problem with joe biden. i think he still thinks the words and the actions and the policies of the '70s when he first came there apply today. i think it's not going to politically -- he can deal with this next week. he's got a debate next week. i think he can deal with this next week in the midst of the first debates next week, but i think, as i say, this particular incident isn't necessary a long-term problem. the long-term problem is does he fit the 21st century electorate that he's about to face? >> i'm trying to figure out whether i should explain to our younger viewers what an eight track tape is or a beta max. >> they

matthew dowd, we really appreciate your analysis on saturday mornings here, thank you. a reminder, you can see george's full interview with president trump in a prime time special this sunday at 8:00, 7:00 central right here on abc. whit, over to you. >> dan, thank you. >>> now to escalating tensions with iran. the white house saying surveillance video shows iran was behind the latest attack on an oil tanker. abc's stephanie ramos is in washington with the latest. and, stephanie, the u.s. is calling for international consensus on this. but some of our closest allies remain skeptical. >> reporter: that's exactly right, whit. the united kingdom says it is certain a branch of the iranian military attacked those two oil tankers in the strait of hormuz. japan agrees, but germany's foreign minister is going to need more convincing. he says the video released by the department of defense isn't sufficient proof that iran is to blame. right now the department of defense wants other countries to join the u.s. in blaming iran for the recent tanker attacks. acting defense secretary

. >> then-trump attorney john dowd is heard asking flynn's lawyer for a heads-up about the nature ofe mail were included in the mueller report and made public last week. this is the first time we're actually hearing the call. >> this is john again. if, on the other hand, well, there's information that implicates the president, then we've got a national security issue, or maybe a national security issue, i don't know, some issue. we've got to -- we've got to deal with not only for the president but for the country. so -- you know, then -- then, you know, we need some kind of heads-up just for the sake of protecting all our interests, if we can. >> flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and prosecutors say the voice mail is one of many potential efforts by those close to the president to thwart the investigation. dowd had dismissed it as a baseless attempt to damage his reputation. >>> mexico is deploying 6,000 national guard troops to its border with guatemala in hopes of averting tariffs set to take effect on monday. officials from mexico and the u.s. are discussing sweeping change

abc news chief political analyst matthew dowd joins us from texas. matthew, good morning.he president faced a lot of criticism from both parties for threatening tariffs, but this this new deal, even though he didn't get everything he wants, looks like it could be spun as a victory, so what say you? >>ell, i whas promised doesn't actually follow through. we remember full well all his conversations related in north korea. it doesn't often come through the way it's supposed to happen and i'll give you a golden state reference in this. just because steph curry hits a three-point shot in game two doesn't mean he's won the series and there's a lot more things that have to happen related to our economy, related to other trade relations with other foreign countries and specifically related to mexico as i say from how they follow through so a lot more to go on this path to success. >> and there are signs of late that our economy is slowing down, though, let me stay on this immigration issue. i want to show you some numbers that appear to be on the president's mind as he threatens t

john dowd did release a statement in response to that and saying in part, this is clearly a baseless,ocument designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. keep in mind, the document is a verbatim transcript of a voice mail that he left. now, we also expected to finally see the transcript of that phone call, at least one of the phone calls that's at the heart of the entire matter. the phone call between michael flynn, when he's the incoming national security advisor during the transition, and russian ambassador sergey kislyak. flynn first got in trouble for lying to fbi agents about this very conversation. he pleaded guilty to lying about it. so everyone has wanted to know what the heck did they talk about? but, and here's where things got really strange today. despite the judge's direct order, we do not have that transcript. the government, the department of justice, is ignoring the judge, declining to release it, saying only the government further represents it is not relying on any of the recordings or any other person for purposes of establishing the d

matthew dowd quoted there a strategist from the bush campaign. democrats putting an opportunity to put republicans on the defensive especially if they can make a credible case in the house and republicans and senate in the house refuse to act. >> look, i don't think anyone would say impeachment is a slam-dunk. nothing a slam-dunk to do something the majority of the country opposes. the entire process, starr investigation and impeachment focused on the areas of bill clinton's conduct as president they liked the least. his job approval went up and his personal went down. goernl bush was able to play off that with swing voters in 2000 by promising people i will restore honor and dignity to the oval office. there was a big chunk of voters, one-fifth in 2000 said they approved of clpt's job performance but disproved of him personally. bush won a huge percentage of the voters. that's one side. matt dowd said there was no question there was frustration among the base in 2000 that in their view clinton got away with it. house voted to punish him, senate