jeff bennett is in west palm beach. jeff, with a good saturday morning to you. you have election day there just three days away in alabama. how important was the president's endorsement? >> good morning, alex. it was huge for roy moore. the white house has reviewed polling data that shows roy moore with a small but steady lead. he long under performed with republican voters in alabama. he said he would not campaign for roy moore in alabama. last night he did the next best thing, went to pensacola, made a case against the democrat in that case saying doug jones would be a rubber stump. and he tweeted echoing that sentiment. he said jones will always vote against what with must do for our country the the president has long dropped all pretenses about caring too much about the allegations with roy moore when he was in his 30s. he needs and wants a republican to hold that senate seat. take a look at what he said last night. >> how many people here are from the great state of alabama? whoa! the future of this country cannot afford to lose a seat in a very, very close

jeff bennett at the white house. jeff, thank you. republicans have been touting the final version of their tax plan as a win, not just for their party but for all americans. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell claims this legislation will bring, quote, real relief to the middle class by taking money out of washington's pocket and putting it into theirs. president trump says the cuss will promote jobs. major companies, cisco, pfizer and coca-cola say they will turn over most gains with corporate tax cuts to shareholders, undercutting president trump's plan to create jobs and boost middle class. quinnipiac show 26% of americans approve of american approve of the tax plan while 55% disapprove. for more who wins an loses,less bring in our panel, jordan fabian, politics reporter for "new york times," noah biermann and nbc national reporter jane tim. jordan, i'll start with you. we heard how the plan is supposed to help middle class americans, supposed to help corporations as well. who actually benefits -- who actually will this bill he

. >> nbc's jeff bennett is at the white house once again with more on all this. they were your questions, we heard your voice there under the president, so what do you think the mood is from the building behind you right now? >> reporter: it's mixed emotions. one of victory and one of defeat. publicly the white house says the president is singularly focused on the next steps for this republican tax plan, as the house and senate sort of conference their two bills together. privately, though, alex, people close to the president are telling us that the president was blindsided not just about the news of michael flynn's guilty plea, but the fact that he's now cooperating with the special counsel, which suggests that michael flynn could have information about people higher up in the trump food chain that special counsel investigators want to get to. and we know based on the court documents that mike flynn, nbc news is reporting, has implicated jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, as well as k.t. mcfarland, a former trump advisor. so the questi

we'll get the latest from nbc's jeff bennett who remains at the white house for the moment. jeff, with a welcome to you, the last 24 hours or so we've seen two senators who were nos, they're now yeses on this tax plan. is the president confident as he calls it the greatest christmas gift ever is going to happen? >> reporter: he is confident, alex, good afternoon. the president it appears will get his christmas wish. he will have that tax legislation on his desk for his signature in time for the holiday break. as you mentioned, the gop secured two yes votes from two lawmakers who had been holdouts. of course those two are florida senator marco rubio, who insisted on a boost in the child tax credit in change for his vote and in a major reversal, bob corker said he would vote yes for this plan notwithstanding his long-standing opposition to any legislation that would add to the deficit as this plan would. now, alex, the republican tax plan would cut corporate taxes by -- from 35%, the current rate, down to 21%. the individual rate, depending on how much money someone makes, they

jeff bennett is at the white house this morning with more. porter: good morning, sheinelle. president trump so far isn't talking about, isn't tweeting about that bombshell plea deal involving his former national security advisor, michael flynn. a development, by the way, that marks a major milestone in special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. retired general michael flynn, once president trump's national security advisor and key confidant, now a convicted felon. flynn, who had called for hillary clinton to be thrown behind bars over her e-mails -- >> damn right. >> reporter: -- pleaded guilty friday to willfully and knowingly making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements for the fbi about his contacts with russia's former ambassador to the u.s., sergey kislyak, contacts he had previously denied. court documents state that on december 22nd, a, quote, very senior member of the trump transition team directed flynn to contact the russian government and others about a u.n. resolution on israeli settlements. sources familiar with

white house correspondent jeff bennett and former fbi special agent and nbc news and msnbc national security analyst clint watts. honored to have you all here. we showed a little bit about the tax reform at the top but there's this bubbling controversy over what people are calling the corker kickback. he wrote a letter to the chairman of the finance committee responding to this. there was a report in the international times about it. he said he received a call from a reporter and there was a suggestion that it was airdropped into the conference without prior consideration and this, of course, the premise of this story is that the last-minute change will benefit bob corker's personal bottom line because he has ownership stakes in some major real estate companies. this seems to me like a last-minute push to show -- i mean, they do need bob corker to vote for this. >> they would essentially need bob corker to vote for this. the other thing going on is this is a tax break for people with large commercial real estate holdings. any other americans may be out there thinking there are real estate ho

. >>> bring in nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett. jeff, the president has left the white house. >> reporter: that's right. he has left the white house for a surprise trip to walter reed. he's going there to say merry christmas and visit some of the wounded weariers, ali. >> what has happened so far today? >> reporter: so far today, we spoke with white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. no press briefing. for the next best thing able to corral her outside the west wing and asked about the timing of the president's signing the tax legislation, tax cut legislation into law. i believe we have a bit of that exchange and we'll take a look at it. >> do you think he's going to sign the bill tomorrow? >> the tax bill? >> we'll let you know as soon as we know something. [ inaudible ]. >> before christmas was the big priority. that happened. we're already starting to see the results of that. hopefully you're one of the nbc reporters getting one of those -- >> reporter: so some of that was hard to hear. i tell you the latest guidance w

jeff bennett, thanks for that. we'll have peter baker, co-author of that article on our show today at 1:00 eastern. i want to bring back yamiche and paul, and start with you, yamiche. i want to put up an excerpt from your colleague's report. despite all his bluster, he views himself less as a titan dominating the world stage than a maligned outsider engaged in a struggle to be taken seriously. >> he thought based on the conversations i've had with aides as well, that he was going to essentially have this respected place in history, that he was going to be able to be treated in some ways like president obama was, that people were not going to make fun of him. when said something it was not going to be something that ended up on snl. what he's seeing, essentially, is that his secretary of state calling him a moron, reportedly. and seeing people make fun of him and laugh at him and people that he's supposed to be representing, you see american voters essentially saying that's just donald going on again. there's this r

nbc's jeff bennett. jeff, another good day to you. you're the one who got the president to comment on this flynn plea deal this morning, so tell us about it and if that aligns with the rest of the administration. >> reporter: well, you know it was interesting, alex. this morning the president walked over to the reporters gathered near the south lawn waiting for him to make his way to marine one and it was clear that he wanted to talk. he wanted to talk about tax cuts. but while he was standing there, i asked him the more pressing, the more pertinent question about mike flynn, the news that mike flynn pleaded guilty to lying to fbi investigators about his contacts with the russian government during the transition period. and more to the point that mike flynn is now cooperating with the special counsel as a part of its overall russia probe. so i put that question straight to president trump. i asked him are you concerned about what mike flynn might tell robert mueller. here's what he said. >> are you concerned about what michael flynn m

we want to start with msnbc correspondent at the white house jeff bennett. jeff, good to have you with us. bring us up to speed on what we heard. we were not able to hear all of the questions that were directed at president trump. we were able to pick up some of the answers. fill us in on what we have missed. >> well, i heard the president respond to kelly o'donnell who had the first question. our colleague kelly o'donnell asked him about the story out today, broke last night that the trump transition team, at least one lawyer with the trump transition team is accusing special counsel robert mueller's team of improperly accessing e-mails sent by the transition. you heard the president say, you know, not so good, not so good repeating that there was no collusion between his campaign and the russian government. i spoke not too long ago with a source close to the trump transition team who says two things. one, that he believes the source that the mueller investigation did illegally -- he put it -- obtain the e-mails. he also says they were used as part of the on

>> let's go right to nbc's jeff bennett at the white house. jeff, with a good day to you, we saw the president getting on board marine one leaving for camp david. what does the timetable look like? >> reporter: the timetable is this. the house would vote on tuesday, the senate a day later on wednesday. republicans believe they have all the votes they need to send this legislation to the president's desk for his signature by christmas. alex, the president said earlier this week that if the house and senate do get him that bill by christmas break, the irs would be able to implement it beginning in early february. so this gop tax overhaul effort is on the move. president trump, as you said, just in the last hour was heading to camp david and he wanted to talk about taxes. that was fairly clear. he made a beeline over to the reporters and my colleague, kelly o'donnell, asked him about the chief criticism of this republican tax plan, that it benefits wealthy americans more than the middle class. here's his response. >> if you look at the whole thing

we'll go live to the white house to jeff bennett standing by. the president says he didn't write that particular tweet in question. who did? >> reporter: that's right, david. john dow, the president's personal attorney, tells nbc news he was the one who crafted the tweet. he dictated the text of the tweet to social media director dan scovino. he mistakingly con flated flynn's lies to the vice president that the notion that flynn also lied do the fbi. that is the explanation. >> geoff, i mentioned the barrage of tweets, walk us through the other subjects the president waded into on this sunday morning. >> reporter: it is a grab bag of grievances. the president lashing out against hillary clinton, against the former fbi director james comey, against what the president perceives to be fake news. all in an effort to recast the russia investigation on the president's own terms, to undercut the credibility of the special counsel to say in some way that robert mueller is biased. why is that? because you have an instance, of course, where the president'

here we see jeff bennett. set the scene what went down in mississippi today. >> reporter: good afternoon, gee gee. you know, when the president announced he would come, go to mississippi to attend the opening of the civil rights museum, it immediately sparked days of backlash, promised boycotts from civil rights organizations to include the two congressman you mentioned thompson. but when the president walked in the room to deliver the speech, they were subdued, relatively short, and entirely self aware. he said we are here today to honor the fight to end slavery, to join the right to vote, and to gain the right of birth right equality. so it was a speech that was meant to quiet the backlash. the president's critics point out that it's what he says in the unscripted moments that tend to be the most racially divisive. lls the most telling. his comments about the racial violence in charlottesville, for instance, racial slur that he uses to attack senator warren from massachusetts. still the white house says it's

want to bring in jeff bennett, barbara mcquaid, former u.s. attorney for michigan. jack rice, and former cia officer. jeff, new information on this saturday afternoon. what more would you add to this? >> new information that backs up what nbc news reported, that's that flynn was consulting with senior trump officials, trump transition officials when he was having these contacts with the then russian ambassador, sergei kislyak. one resolution about israeli settlements, he was ordered by jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser to reach out to the russians and other foreign officials to try to influence the outcome there. then we also know as relates to another conversation that flynn had in december of 2016 that he called a bunch of senior trump campaign officials in mar-a-lago and spoke with a former trump adviser, kt mcfar land. so that undercuts the trump administration line that only michael flynn knew what michael flynn was doing with the russians, richard. >> barbara sha, the question wee been asking. is there increased legal jeopardy for th

this in response to ra questia asked by jeff bennett there.esident emphasizing the wrong syllable or is this a pr thing? collusion may be different than obstruction of justice? we had somebody say obstruction of justice is what she's focusing on. >> sure. of course there's a pr battle going on here. the administration, this is bad for them. michael flynn flipping is very concerning for people in the white house. they know it. for the president to come out and say that, he has to put a spin on this. he has to continue to tell his constituents out there, his base, oh, there's nothing here. this is a nothing burger. that's not the case at all. it's very serious. michael flynn has been with the president from day one almost. right at his side what michael flynn is accused of doing, pretty serious things concerning his contacts with the russians and lying about that at a time where everyone was wondering what is going on with the trump administration or trump campaign. this is a nothing burger, this is concerning. to get a deal that flynn did, plea

i want to start with nbc's jeff bennett, following the latest from the white house this afternoon. jeff, sarah huckabee sanders sort of addressed some of these accusations of sexual misconduct against the president, but that briefing was quite something. what can you tell us about what happened? >> reporter: you know, kasie, with the three women reviving their allegations of sexual misconduct against president trump, sarah huckabee sanders went back to the white house line. denied the ak kwoccusatiaccusat discrediting the suspects saying the timing was questionable. >> look, the president addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations, and this took place long before he was elected to be president, and the people of this country had a decisive election, supported president trump and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process. >> reporter: you heard her say some of the allegations took place long before the president is elected. that is actually not the case. some of the alleged misconduct actually took place a few years ago. thes

joining us, jeff bennett and ken delanie nbc intelligence and we have paul butler former prosecutor and professor at georgetown school of law. and jeff, the white house has been working hard on the reflection of the tweet. and we'll put it up again because the president brings up the word" fbi." we had known he said before consistent with his statements before about his statement about general flynn lying to the vice president and that was the reason. in terms of why he said they had to let him go. but there is more to this. jeff. >> that is right. and the question is, if president trump knew that mike flynn lied to the fbi when he fired him back in february, that opened up a whole host of obstruction of justice questions. now as you mentioned, we've been pouring through transcripts here at the white house, my colleagues and i have, looking through transcripts and the president's past tweets this appears to be new. the president based on our research that we've done here, this appears to be the first time that the president has pinned flynn's firing to his lies to the fbi. beyond that,

bring in nbc's jeff bennett following it all day from the white house. jeff, donald trump made a big point signing the tax bill before christmas. what else can you tell us about this? >> reporter: you know, the president often reacts to what he sees on cable tv news. today, no different. the president by his own accounts. heard him call it a rush job earlier. he hastily called together staffers saying he needed to sign this legislation now, because he was watching television news. the question he saw, whether or not the president would keep his promise and sign this legislation by christmas. so that set in, a reshuffle. reshuffling the plans here at the white house. his trip to mar-a-lago pushed back a little. reporters kaled into the oval office to capture the bill signing, the biggest achievement of his presidency as you pointed out. i've asked a white house official. will the president still hold this formal event in january. they're not entirely sure. it matters because the white house previously was trying to carefully choreograph the slowest of stri

. >> jeff bennett joins me from the white house. hite house is towing the same line they did last year which is these women are not telling the truth. >> you would be right. the trump administration officials are rejecting these accusations, dismissing them as false. here's the official line from the white house, katy, coming from a white house spokesperson. the statement says this. these falls claims totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts were addressed at length during last year's campaign american people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory. the timing and absurdity of the false claims speaks volumes, and the publicity tour that started only further confirms the political motives behind then. because the president has denied the allegations, the allegations should not be seen as credible. what's notable about that strategy is the president himself has used that same line in defending roy moore. the alabama senate candidate who has been accused of initiating sexual relationships with teenage girls w

jeff bennett is at the white house. kacie hunt on capitol hill. kacie, there may be a deal but a deal to do this all over again it would seem. what's latest from the funding? what are the issues that have made this a difficult problem? >> it looks like, craig, they're going to keep governing the way they have for quite some time now. members of congress have talked a lot about how they would like to actually write budgets, actually do real appropriations in the parlance of capitol hill. and, again, it doesn't seem to be happening. they don't even have a broad deal on how much to spend on defense versus nondefense. that's why they waited this long in the first place. they put it off until december 22nd so they can try to get that kind of deal. they don't have that. they also don't have a deal on the children's health insurance program, as you point out, on how to deal with the obamacare markets after those payments were eliminated. what to do about dreamers. how to reauthorize a surveillance program. disaster relief. we may see happen today as well

nbc's jeff bennett is at the white house with more for us. jeff, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. this robert mueller's russia investigation appears to inch closer to the president's inner circle, president trump is defiant, telling me he's not concerned about the guilty plea of his former national security adviser, michael flynn. >> with you concerned about what michael flynn might tell the special counsel? >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: president trump addressing for the first time his former national security adviser's guilty plea for lying to fbi investigators about prior contacts with a russian official. as part of a plea deal, michael flynn has agreed to fully cooperate with special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian election interference. >> what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. there's been absolutely no collusion, so we're very happy. [ inaudible question ] we'll see what happens. thank you! >> reporter: but on twitter, the president defended flynn, writing "it is a shame, because his action

. >> let's go to white house cour correspondent jeff bennett near the mara laug -- mar-a-lago resort and what was the president's comments. >> the reaction to the room to the comments, from what i'm told, this person was struck by the fact that the president appeared to hit all of the right notes. the speech was crafted appeared to really mute the backlash and the controversy that you mentioned that was so intense that the white house changed its plans. the president spoke to that crowd in a private setting. he did not participate in the public ceremony that took place after that. and so the speech really trapped the triumphs and the challenge of the civil right movement. you heard the president pay tribute to the leaders of the movement. but it's small comfort to the president's critics that he at times has been the center of or fueled racially divisive issues, including the comments after the racial violence in charlottesville, saying there were both people on the side of the protest, and they say the rise was built on the notion of birtherism and then candidate -- or donald trump,

thank you, francesca chambers, ken vogel and jeff bennett. trump watch. you're watching "hardball." ♪shostakovich playing ♪ from our family to yours... may all your wishes come true this holiday season. just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. no matter who shows up. do you like nuts? what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ >>> trump watch. monday, december 11th, 2017. the president would have us believe there is honor in his declaration of jerusalem as capital of israel. he promised some groups he would do it, therefore he finds honor in delivering on that promise. oh, yeah? i can distinctly remember a far larger promise trump made in the campaign, far more important and far more wide rang

. >> jeff bennett joining us from the white house. if the president's tweet from the firing is true, it calls into question this explanation he gave to lester holt days after james comey was fired. >> my white house counsel came to me. they had, i believe, two meetings, and we ultimately fired, but we fired for a different reason. >> you're talking about general flynn. >> general flynn, yes. >> because of lying to the vice president. >> yeah, but everything plays in. everything plays into it, but we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so. >> many democrats and legal experts, of course, say the tweet is also evidence of a crime. among them, congressman eric swalwell who sits on the house intelligence committee. he tweeted "exhibit 1," including that tweet from the president. congress man swalwell joins us now. let me is have you explain what you thought as that tweet came across the transom yesterday. congressman, what questions did it raise for you? >> good afternoon, david. well, it shows, again, ju

. >> joining me now, jeff bennett. what did it take to get the holdouts on board? is it i a sure thing? >> start with marco rubio. he said he was a "no." he held out in exchange for a boost in the child tax credit. lawmakers quickly worked to meet his demands. so he got a $300 boost in the child tax credit for working class families so he's now on board. then you have bob corker, the republican from tennessee. he caved without winning any concessions, but said he didn't want to stand in the way of republicans' progress. so with those two yeses, the house is now scheduled to vote on tuesday, the senate a day later on wednesday, potentially, potentially, fulfilling the president's christmas wish of signing this bill into law by the holiday break. president trump, earlier today, aaron, he touted the tax plan while on the south lawn, talking to reporters and he played up a feature in the bill that is designed to give companies breaks on profits earned overseas. take a look. >> as an example, we think $4 trillion will come flowing back into the country. that's money tha

let's start at the white house nbc's jeff bennett. jeff, it's been a tough first year for the president. how close is the white house seeing to seeing a big win for the tax reform? >> reporter: sheinelle jones, it's just within reach, it appears the president will get his christmas wish. in time for the whole day break. that's with the gop now securing yes votes from two republican lawmakers who you mentioned holdouts. on the one side pla senator rubio who insisted on child tax credit for working families in exchange for his vote. and huge reversal from corker from tennessee, he said he would not vote for anything that would add trillions to the deficit but flipped to yes saying it's a one in a lifetime chance to cut taxes and grow jobs. and on that one issue you have bob corker agreeing with president trump, which is notable, because you know bob cork ser a pro live it criticism of the president. now president trump was headed to camp david in the last hour and on the way out talked to reporters and explained why he thinks this tax pl

and with nbc jeff bennett. jeff, the president says pretty upbeat about this bill's prospects? >> reporter: yeah, great to see you gigi. the president sound upbeat and good reason to be. has secured all the notes it needs to get the bill across the fini finish line and to the president's desk before the christmas break. yes votes from senator rubio who insisted on boost to the child tax credit. and huge reversal from tennessee senator bob corker who didn't get any concessions but says he's voting for this bill because he sees it as a once in a generation, rather, opportunity to cut taxes and spur job growth. now the president was headed to camp david a little this afternoon. before he bordered the airplane, he stopped and talked and touted tax breaks for profits earned overseas. take a look. >> we think $4 trillion will come back into the country, that's money overseas stuck there for years and years. it was 2.5 trilli$2.5 trillion, was $3.5, this is money stuck there for years and come pouring back into the country. >> reporter: so ta couple of things about that, as you know f

we look at president trump's day, nbc news' jeff bennett has more. >> reporter: hi, yasmin.e republican tax plan. today could be the day senate republicans pass their tax overhaul legislation, with congress inches closer to getting a bill on his desk for a signature by the end of the year. also today the president is expected to meet over lunch with defense secretary jim mattis and his secretary of state, rex tillerson, there's lots of intrigue there, of course, given reports that the trump administration is considering a plan to replace tillerson with cia director mike pompeo, among a few other people. it's unclear when da will happen or if it will happen, but tillerson's fate has been the subject of much speculation for months, amid reports of tension between me and president trump. tillerson was at the white house yesterday, but the president wouldn't answer questions whether he wanted tillerson to stay on the job. >> thank youoff benefgeoff benn for that report tensions between the u.s. and north korea, today's test comes days after north korea fired a nuclear capable in

it really does remarkable damage to our federal law enforcement with comments like that. >> jeff bennett surprised at what the president said when he said there was no collusion and he was not going to fire mueller? >> i wasn't surprised because he has said that in the past. the difficultly with president trump is he can say this on a sunday night and then tomorrow night say something entirely different. but i was not struck at all to hear the president say that there was no kol clugcollusion, going to fire bob mueller. >> ashley, do you think it's going to wrap up soon, et cetera? >> i think he is. a number of people close to him say they think ty cobb is incorrect. they don't think he's lying but that his assessment of the situation is wrong and they are worried that the president is engaging in magical thinking. ty cobb has been given a clear ending which is the end of the year. the interesting time to check back to see if the president still believes him is january 1st, january 2nd. >> if we get that far. >>> all right. a lot more to come coming up in this next hour. the dnc is getti

. >> for more on the president's speech and the impact it could have i'm joined by jeff bennett at the house. jeff, tell me more about this. >> reporter: ali, you didn't see it there, but the first part of the president's speech was reminiscent of a trump campaign speech from 2016. spent about the first ten minutes of the speech laying out the greatest hits of his first 11 months in office, as the president sees it, to include the success of the stock market. something that has very little 20 do with national security. as he moved into a summation of his national security strategy, what you saw was the president lay down the guideposts for what you could call the trump doctrine saying the u.s. exists in you new era of competition, pointed to rival powers such as china, such as russia and said the u.s. could cooperate with russia when the opportunity arises pointing out he spoke to russian president vladimir putin yesterday, putin calling the president, thanking him for a tip from the cia that helped putin apparently thwart a terrorist attack planned in st. petersburg and also threats o

let's go to jeff bennett with more on all of this. let's take it from the beginning. can you explain what happened? >> let's start with the tweet and question. the president's outside lawyer, his personal lawyer tells nbc news that he was the one who wrote that tweet. dow tells us he dictated it to the president's social media director. making the case that he conflated flynn's lying to the vice president with flynn's lying to the fbi. we asked him how many tweets have you written for the president besides this one. his response was just this one and it is my last. meanwhile, as the russia investigation inches closer to the president's inner circle senator dianne feinstein, top democrat on the senate jiudiciay committee told chuck todd she sees it coming together as potential obstruction of justice case. >> i think what we are beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice. i think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place and some of the comments being made. i see it in the hyperphonetic at

but begin with nbc jeff bennett in the white house in washington. and we heard you get the questions before president trump before he went to new york. what is he saying about the news yesterday and how unexpected was the tweet this morning. >> well, entirely unexpected. he was doing it between the motorcade in new york city. and the implication, david, is president trump knew that general flynn lied to the fbi when he fired him h remember, the official line is that the president fired flynn for lying to the vice president. but if the president fired mike flynn for lying, knowingly lying to the fbi, there is a whole loss of obstruction potential obstruction of justice questions. i reached out to the officials of implications of that tweet. waiting to hear back. i also got a chance to ask the president this morning, one, if he's concerned about what mike flynn might tell the special counsel. and, secondly, if he still stands by his former national security adviser. take a listen. >> no collusion. no collusion. >> [ inaudible question ] >> we'll see w

jeff bennett is at the white house with more. >> reporter: president trump isn't talking about, isn'teting about, the bombshell plea deal involving his former national security adviser michael flynn. a development, by the way, that marks a major milestone. special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. retired general michael flynn, once president trump's national security adviser and key confidant, now a convicted te e felon. flynn, over her e-mails. >> damn right. >> reporter: pleaded guilty friday to willfully and knowingly making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to the fbi about his contacts with russia's former ambassador to the u.s., sergey kislyak. contacts he had previously denied. court documents state on december 22nd, a, quote, very senior member of the trump transition team directed flynn to contact the russian government and others about a u.n. resolution on israeli settlement. sources familiar with the matter tell nbc news that very senior member was jared kushner. president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser. a second contact came a week later. doc

. >> nbc jeff bennett live near mar-a-lago where the president is spending most of this weekend. and president pretty much stuck to the words on script as you watched and i watched as well here. but the reaction there was somewhat controversial for some who were there. now the president is headed back to where you are at. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. to your point, he quite literally stuck to the script reading from his prepared statement for much of his speech. talked about ending slavery and break down jim crow. then name checked martyrs of the civil rights movement, like martin luther king, but also the one murdered by civil rights. one he did not mention was john lewis as you mentioned boycotted. he said the president's presence there make a mockery of the proceedings. mainly because he took issue with the president's policies and his statements. statements in the past about, for instance, racial violence in charlottesville, starting his campaign last year by attacking mexican immigrants. and so john lewis spent the weekend in alabama campaigning for doug jones, democrat

let's bring in jeff bennett. he's live for us at the white house. jeff, first of all, why the abrupt schedule change? and why no ceremony for this? as stephanie says, this is the premier legislative accomplishment of the year. there was a party at the white house basically. everybody's been holding press conferences. i would just assume seeing how much the president likes to do this in public, there would have been a public signing of the tax bill. >> reporter: it's a good point you make. a white house official says the white house is trying to squeeze as much coverage as possible about this big legislative win. they want to do this signing ceremony. the latest guidance we have is they want to do this in january. my conversations with republican aides on the hill is they don't see many victories coming to them when they have to do things like shoring up obamacare, figuring out immigration compromise for daca. things that are much more favorable ground, let's say, for democrats. >> i also spoke to people in the white house this morning and they're pre

. >> jeff bennett, thank you. let's bring in congressman from california, member of the armed services committee. good sunday to you, my friend. let's get right to it. your reaction to house intel ranking member schiff and what he said there. it sounds like he has reached a conclusion based on his interview with donald trump jr., it seemed unequivocal that he has connected some do thes. >> over the time, we have seen the dots begin to be connected. it is not full picture yet. that is where mueller comes in, that is where the investigations by congress on come in. unfortunately the congressional investigations are not full throated, they are not as robust and as complete as we should have. we have always called for an outside investigatory body, that hasn't happened. so there is a lot of politics going on within congress both in the senate and the house. however, adam schiff has done a terrific job ferreting out the details, connecting the dots that presently are connected. yes, we'll see it continued. i'm very ple

jeff bennett joining us from the white house. if he had known he lied to the fbi when he fired back in february, that calls into question what he told lester holt during this exclusive interview back in may, the same week he fired james comey. let's take a listen. >> as my white house counsel don mcghan came back to me and didn't make it sound like an emergency. and she actually didn't make it sound that way in the hearings the other day. like it had to be done immediately. this man has served for many years. he's a general. he's, in my opinion, a very good person. i believe that it would be very unfair to hear from somebody who we don't even know, and immediately run out and fire a general. >> acting attorney general at the time? >> my white house counsel came to me, they had, i believe two meetings, and we ultimately fired, but we fired for a different reason. >> you are talking about general flynn? >> general flynn, yes. >> because of lying to the vice president. >> yeah. but everything plays in. everything plays into it. but

let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett. i though the president has fired up a series of wide ranging tweets this morning. much of the focus being on the fbi. what is this all about? >> reporter: good morning, alex. the president is continuing his running commentary on the flynn case that he started yesterday. the series of tweets, you can see he's slamming former fbi director james comey trying to undercut comey's credibility because president trump denies asking comey to drop his investigation into michael flynn a day after flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser. these tweets, alex, i think reflect president trump's defiance with the president telling me yesterday he's not concerned about flynn's guilty plea. >> are you concerned about what michael flynn might tell the special counsel? >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: president trump addressing for the first time his former national security adviser's guilty plea for lying to fbi investigators about prior contacts with a russian official. as part of a plea dea

nbc's jeff bennett is in salt lake city. tell us the story. >> reporter: well, the president came here to tell utahens what they wanted to hear for a decade or longer, ali. that the federal government would relinquish at least some, in this case, roughly 2 million acres of federally controlled land giving it back to utahens to control as they see fit. the president framed it a as a state's rights case, because the federal government controls all but one-third of the public land here in utah. the president, the delegation from utah, all the folks exiting the room have been waiting for this for quite a long time. take larch isten to how the pret framed it earlier. >> the prevention administration designated a billion acres of lands it did so over the loud objections of the people of this state and their elected representatives. governor, right? the results have been very sad and very predictable. here and in other affected states we have seen harmful and unnecessary restrictions on hunting, ranching and responsible economic de

i believe jeff bennett is available to us now. geoff bennett is in salt lake city covering this. geoff, it was very unclear listening to the president's rationalization because he rationalized the elimination of the protections as actual protection. he said it will now allow the lands to be used and protected by the public. so in removing the protections of the land, he's making an unusual argument. >> reporter: he was trying to make the point that the people here know best how to protect tlan the lands, i think he said better than the bureaucrats back in washington. here's important context, ali, the federal government owns two-thirds of the ground here in utah. so what the president did here really caps a decades-long effort by the folks here in this room who are specially invited guests. that's why his applause lines were received so well by the republican members of utah's congressional delegation to really do more, really, to return these lands back to utah. utahans have more of a say what happens in their backyard. you have environmental groups and tribes like the navajo, t

jeff bennett, garrett haake. sam stein, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, katy. >> i like that, that was a happy thanks. joining me now, david jolly of florida, and former democratic congresswoman donna evans of maryland. guys, welcome, good to see you. >> thank you. >> david, what do you think about these tax cuts? ? do you think they're going to be a boone for the republicans or a problem for them? >> well, i think possibly both, and this is where the election is going to come in, i think it was a bad bill, let's september this is corporate tax reform, not individual tax reform, with the most savings going to the wealthy, let's accept all of that, this is the first time republicans will be able to play offense on an issue. they've been playing defense on all things trump, defense on the lack of a health care solution to obamacare. defense on steve bannon and roy more. they're going to be able to play offense going into 18. hey, we saved you $80. they're going to try to target every democrat that's voted for

you might think of jeff bezos or muscle your she son. names like chancellor bennetttor of cryptocurrency may not exactly spring to mind. businessweek defines the 50 people. we will take a closer look at that with david ross. thank you for your time this morning. you are one of the editors of businessweek, and you are overlooking stories like this. you have other stuff i want to talk about, but this bloomberg 50 is an interesting concept. tell us about it. findter: we are trying to the people that are below the radar. there, but we are looking for other people who might not be quite as well known. of them is mohammed in saudi arabia. -- one of them is mohammed in saudi arabia. he is the crown prince who had a bunch of his cousins in business people arrested. the -- to get women to drive. he is an influential guy. forre looking for people this was their year. matt: if you arrest a number of billionaires in one day, then that makes you a standout. billionaires, africa's richest man is one of them. not a lot of people know who he is. is a guy who has made a 10 of money i

jeff flake $9100 donation to john's campaign. he treated at the foot of the check and look what he wrote in the memo over party. meanwhile, steve bennettat a rally last night in the same flake for the donation. >> let's talk about jeff flake. did he sign a check to pay $100 to jones? he said put country ahead of party. come on, brothers. if your generated chat, write a check. maria: steve bennett, ladies and gentlemen. most republican senators have continued to keep their distance from more at this point. if you're waiting for a package delivery from ups, you may have to wait a little bit longer. some deliveries are being delayed one or two days because of an unexpected flood of orders from online shopping especially the week after thanksgiving. record-breaking day $7 billion in sales for cybermonday alone. ups plans to hire 95,000 workers to meet demand and they are extending hours. meanwhile, an overnight fire at a ups center in maryland has sent an undetermined number of packages up in smoke just in time for the holidays. these outlets reported 10 tries on a package loading structure while on fire. ups working to identify a shipper