our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, has been digging into this story for us. jim, what are you learning? >> i'm told this, wolf, by a u.s. official with knowledge of this proposal. and that is that eric prince and his allies, including former intelligence officials, did lobby their contacts, existing contacts within the administration, and within the agency, the cia, about a proposal to somehow privatize intelligence gathering, create a network of contractors that would provide intelligence outside the intelligence provided by the intelligence agencies. among them, of course, the cia. i'm told by this official, however, this quote. that this idea is going nowhere. this official stress that neither the agency nor the director of the agency, mike pompeo, ever took this idea seriously. a similar message coming from the white house. an fcc spokesman, michael anton saying that the white house does not and would not support such a proposal. just a short time ago, via my colleague at cnn, we have eric prince, as well, commenting on this story, denying that he was invo

jim sciutto, cnn, washington. >>> all right, well, some folks are taking a double take, particularlyed into the skies over los angeles last night, and they were caught by surprise. >> hi, do you see what's happening outside in the sky? >> what would you do if you saw this? well, they saw this and they had no idea what it was. we'll have some answers next in the newsroom. at t-mobile when you holiday twogether, great things come in two's. like t-mobile and netflix. right now when you get an unlimited family plan, netflix is included. wow t-mobile covers your netflix subscription, so you can catch the hottest new movies and shows all year long on us. amazing and it's your last chance to buy any of these hot new samsung galaxy phones and get a 2nd one free. that's one samsung for you and one to gift. just in time to finish off your list. t-mobile...holiday twogether. run, jthe power of in to tempur-pedic sleep with our 90-day trial and being the highest ranked mattress in customer satisfaction by jd power, it's easy to love. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com but their nutr

jim sciutto, chief national security correspondent, back with us on that. onnection to michael flynn and now raises more questions about that, jim? >> it does. and let me be careful about how we describe this, but there is a tie here in this indictment, rather not indictment but plea agreement that is interesting. the lies with the russian ambassador were not just conversations about russia, as noted in this plea agreement, it included conversations with the russian ambassador about a u.n. security council resolution on israel which took place in december 2016 during the transition you may remember this, this is a resolution that chastised israel for the continued building of settlements in the occupied territories which the u.s. abstained on which was big news at the time for the u.s. to do that. we know that during that time, jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, had conversations with israel about that resolution that israel reached out to jared kushner, advising the incoming president for help on that resolution. of course, president obama was the p

i want to bring you to jim sciutto. what are you learning? >> since this was revealed, the trump position has been that this meeting was a one-off and the discussion was either primarily or entirely focused on the issue of u.s. adoption of russian children. these e-mails create many hard questions about whether those two explanations stand up. one, people involved in these meetings did have follow up. they discussed what was discussed in that meeting. there were ideas back and forth exchanged via e-mail but it also raises questions about what topics actually came up between those russians promising damaging information on hillary clinton and senior members of the trump team. i'm going to give you an example. june 14th, 2016, this is five days after the trump tower meeting. the person who brokered this meeting, rob goldstein, a publicist, e-mails one of the russians and this is on the day that news breaks that russia has hacked into dnc e-mails. he copies and isn't this, quote, e eerily weird and one said it was an innocent explanation. becaus

great reporting, jim sciutto and team. >>> also breaking, the u.s. house of representatives just passed a bill to keep the government open for two more weeks. senate still needs to approve the bill and the house vote came moments ago after president trump met with democratic and republican congressional leaders over at the white house looking for a long-term agreement. let's go to our senior white house correspondent, jim iowa cost tea ta, he has the latest for us, what are you learning? >> reporter: they are continuing to dodge sexual harassment, the president and aids evaded answering how the white house should lead on the subject. as you said, wolf, for now though, government at least has avoided a shutdown after passing a spending bill in the house in the past few minutes. >> senator franken -- >> reporter: in response to growing calls from his democratic colleagues, embattled minnesota senator al franken acknowledges allegations and while he didn't apologize, he did say he is stepping down. >> today, i am announcing that in the coming weeks, i w

i'm pamela brown. >> i'm jim sciutto.adviser michael flynn is cooperating with investigators after striking a deal and pleading guilty to repeatedly lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia. we are putting the pieces together this hour with our correspondents and analysts who have been leading the way on this story. michael flynn is the first senior white house official to

i'm jim sciutto in for jake. and after taking christmas day off from angry tweeting, the president was back at it once again, this time going, again, at his own fbi. the law enforcement professionals who keep the country safe from things like terrorism. he was also going after the russia dossier yet again, saying that you cannot verify any of the claims in that dossier when, in fact, parts of the dossier have been verified over time. in february, my colleague even perez and i, we reported that the u.s. officials had corroborated some of the communications detailed in it. that meetings took place on days and in the places as described in there. and which according to multiple sources gave officials, quote, greater confidence in the credibility of some aspects of the dossier. in april, cnn reported that the fbi used the dossier as part of its justification to win approval to secretly monitor trump campaign foreign policy adviser carter page. officials familiar with the process say that if the application included i

coming up, jim sciutto investigates flynn's downfall in a special report." and looks at the life and career of someone many people don't know much about. >> it's true. the reason we chose mystery, the way he went after his time in the military, distinguished career, a heroic career, was something of a mystery to the people who knew him best, and served with him, admired him, served under him, risked their lives together, why did he take this turn when he went political, particularly among military folks. his going so political, the lock her up chants at the republican rallies, et cetera, was something they felt was a step too far for someone who just came out of uniform and a step beyond the flynn they knew in uniform. it really was a mystery for a lot of the people who knew him best. >> i understand there was an expression some of his colleagues used to describe his approach to intelligence. >> that's right, particularly when he was the director of the defense intelligence agency when he left the military. they called these flynn facts. that was not a comp

that's it for me jim sciutto sitting in for wolf blitzer today.e can assure you this is a story as well as tax plan we'll be covering throughout the day. our special coverage of these stories continues right now. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> all right. jim sciutto, we'll take it from here. happy friday to all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. you are watching cnn on what is shaping up to be extraordinarily news. we have come up with this news. michael flynn just pleaded guilty of lying to fbi about his interactions with russian ambassador. while he didn't say a whole

let's go to jim sciutto. jim, this question of when president trump learned that flynn misled the fbi clearly is critical. >> no question. you can be forgiven for being confused about what the actual white house story is here. first the president tweeted that he knew flynn lied. then the president's personal lawyer said he wrote the tweet. since then cnn has learned that the white house counsel did in fact inform the president that flynn had lied, all very critical and crucial questions for the special counsel's investigation. tonight, the latest white house story on when the president knew his national security advisor had lied to the fbi. cnn has learned that chief white house counsel don mcgahn informed the president in january that he believed that flynn misled the fbi and vice president pence about his conversations with the russian ambassador. but the source familiar with the matter said mcgahn did not explicit lly tell the president that his lying meant flynn violated the law. the president tweeted satu

jim sciutto looks at how flynn went from military hero to mading guimade i -- pledding guilty for lyingras. they're defined by accomplishments. by victories. by those with the resourcefulness, the ingenuity, and the grit to help ensure the next energy to power our dreams, will be american energy. >>> before michael flynn pled guilty to lying to the fbi in the russia probe and before he was the national security adviser to president trump, he was a military legend. now he's at the center of the biggest political scandal in bekadb decades. jim, so your report is called "the mystery of michael flynn" and looks at the life and career of someone many people don't know much about. >> it's true. the reason we chose mystery, the way he went after his time in the military, distinguished career, a heroic career, was something of a mystery to the people who knew him best, and served with him, admired him, served under him, risked their lives together, why did he take this turn when he went political, particularly among military folks. his going so political, the lock her up chants at the republica

security correspondent jim sciutto explains why. >> crucially, that includes russia and china who recently saying that the u.s. arguably making as much trouble, perhaps as the north koreans in this relationship. but russia have relations with north korea. these sanctions if followed through on, if implemented, have a potential to have real economic impact on north korea. that's the primary leverage that the world the international community has on north korea right now. keep in mind, china has real business. china supplies them with the fuel oil that they need. theengs sanctions promises to cut them by 80%. and also calls on them to the north korean workers. again economic impact on north korea if these countries follow through as said. so, potential, but, again, if that unanimous vote is followed through with action, then it could have real impact. >> jim sciutto reporting there. now as for previous u.n. sanctions they appear to have done little to slow north korea's weapons program. knack, the north has conducted 16 tests since february alone. just this past june, a travel ban and a crac

jim sciutto, cnn, washington. >> jim, thank you for the reporting, as well. as far as flynn's guilty plea, the white house has been largely silent. one source telling cnn the president and his staff are in denial about the seriousness of the investigation. and the source saying they are, quote, totally in a bubble. jim acosta picks it up from here. >> on michael flynn being indicted, sir? can you comment on michael flynn being indicted? >> president trump was silent when asked about michael flynn being guilty to lying to investigators about the retired general's contacts with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. but once again, those inside the white house are shielding mr. trump from the statement. a former obama administration official. the statement adds flip's false statements mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february on of this year. nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implications anyone other than mr. flynn. >> we discussed a lot of different situations, swh wonderful and some difficulty. >

jim sciutto, cnn, washington. >> all right, let's talk more about the russia investigation and where the president turns after this legislative win on taxes. joining me right now to discuss, bazel smikle, senior adviser, good to see you. alice stewart, cnn political commentator, good to see you as well. merry christmas. alice, you first, this ongoing russia probe that may linger deep into 2018 no doubt. so can the president and his fellow republicans pull off more legislative wins with this cloud of the investigation hanging over the administration? or, you know, is there a way in which the white house can use all of this to his advantage? >> well, we've seen that they can actually get things done despite what's going on with regard to the russia investigation. i think they would be best to let mueller do his investigation. let him do his job. provide all the information that he possibly needs. so we can wrap this up. i think the good thing is there's been so much media coverage and talk and conversations about the russia investigation, but at the same time, they're able to walk and

that's it for me jim sciutto sitting in for wolf blitzer today. we can assure you this is a story as well as tax plan we'll be covering throughout the day. our special coverage of these stories continues right now. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> all right. jim sciutto, we'll take it from here. happy friday to all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. you are watching cnn on what is shaping up to be extraordinarily news. we have come up with this news. michael flynn just pleaded guilty of lying to fbi about his interactions with russian ambassador. while he didn't say a whole heck of a lot his plea agreement does acknowledge flynn is now cooperating with robert mueller's team. >> general flynn, do you feel you have betrayed your country? >> will your son be indicted? >> will trump pardon you? >> flynn issued this statement, quote, after over 33 years of military service to our country, including nearly five years in combat away from my family, and then my decision to continue to serve the united states, it has been extraordinarily painful to endure these

cnn's jim sciutto joins us now with more on that. jim, what did senator warner have to say to you?> a remarkably stern warning to the president and to the republican who is have been criticizing the special counsel. i've been hearing it from democratic members on the hill, house and senate, that this is laying the political ground work for the president to fire the special counsel or perhaps pardon some of the people who have been charged by the special counsel so senator mark warner, the ranking democratic on the senate intelligence committee, drawing literally a red line in the sand. have a listen. >> i believe it is up to every member of this institution, republican or democrat, to make a clear and unambiguous statement that any attempt by this president to remove special counsel mueller from his position or to pardon key witnesses in any effort to shield them from accountability or shut down the investigation would be a gross abuse of power and a flagrant violation of executive branch responsibilities and authorities. these truly are red lines and simply cannot allow them to be

"ac 360" with jim sciutto starts right now. >>> good evening, jim sciutto here sitting in for anderson. we begin tonight keeping them honest. even as the white house tries to play hide and seek. for a second straight day the president went to his golf course near mar-a-lago. unlike yesterday, though, when we managed to get exclusive video of the president playing a rounding instead of getting back to work as he promised, we got a very different view today. apparently in response to our footage, someone put a big truck between our camera, which was on public property, by the way, and the links. when we moved, the truck moved. the secret service says it wasn't behind it. the palm beach sheriff's department also denying responsibility. remember, during the campaign mr. trump said he would not have time as president for golf. this was, however, the 87th day that he has spent at one of his own golf properties since taking office. the president did have at least one official function today, visiting a fire station in nearby west palm beach where he talked about upcoming legislation for first

cnn chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is working this story for us. so, jim, you really can't overstate how critical a develop this is. >> no question. a momentous day, certainly for the trump administration. the president's former national security adviser pleading guilty to a federal crime here in court in washington. and while the white house today, and for some time, has tried to portray flynn as something of a freelancer here, in fact there is a lot of evidence in this plea agreement that not only was flynn keeping the trump transition informed of the conversations he was having and lying about, but that he was being directed in some of these conversations by very senior members of the transition team. and perhaps most important of all, we learned today that flynn is cooperating in the special counsel's investigation. >> reporter: tonight, the ongoing russia investigation has reached president trump's inner most circle. trump's former national security adviser michael flynn says that he is cooperating with the special counsel's probe into possible

cnn's jim sciutto and even perez have some breaking news on this story. and, jim, let me start with you. flynn is specifically charged with lying to the fbi about conversations he had with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. you're finding out more about one of those conversations and how flynn may have been acting on the orders of jared kushner, although kushner is not named in the filings. tell us more. >> that's right. sources tell myself and my colleagues gloria borger and dana bash that the very senior member of the trump transition team who directed michael flynn to reach out to the russian ambassador, in case case regarding a u.n. security council resolution on israel, that the very senior member of the trump transition team was, in fact, the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. why is this important? even in the white house statement today reacting to these charges or, rather, this guilty plea by flynn, the white house says, well, he's lied in the past. basically putting distance between itself and flynn, implying that he was acting on his own

"ac 360" with jim sciutto starts right now. >>> good evening, jim sciutto here sitting in for anderson the white house tries to play hide and seek. for a second straight day the president went to his golf course near mar-a-lago. unlike yesterday, though, when we managed to get exclusive video of the president playing a rounding instead of getting back to work as he promised, we got a very different view today. apparently in response to our footage, someone put a big truck between our camera, which was on public property, by the way, and the links. when we moved, the truck moved. the secret service says it wasn't behind it. the palm beach sheriff's department also denying responsibility. remember, during the campaign mr. trump said he would not have time as president for go

i'm pamela brown. >> i'm jim sciutto. tonight fired national security adviser michael flynn is cooperating with investigators after striking a deal and pleading guilty to repeatedly lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia. we are putting the pieces together this hour with our correspondents and analysts who have been leading the way on this story. michael flynn is the first senior white house official to be charged, to be flipped apparently, and now poised to be a star witness in the russia probe. among the big questions tonight, what is flynn telling robert mueller's team and how damaging could all of this be for the president and those closest to him, including his son-in-law jared kushner? sources tell cnn that kushner directed flynn to reach out to the russian ambassador last september in one of several conversations that flynn lied about. court document also show that prosecutors are making a case that flynn and other trump advisers coordinated contacts with russian officials, contacts aimed at influencing in

i'm jim sciutto in for erin burnett tonight. "outfront" tonight, breaking news. we're standing by for landmark vote, one that will upend the nation's tax code as we know it. the senate expected to begin voting on the final version of the massive republican tax bill, but now the house in something of an embarrassing twist has to vote again on the 1,997 page piece of legislation due to a procedural error. still, all signs point to this bill passing. a major accomplishment, no doubt, for the president. but it is not without controversy. especially when it comes to who wins and who loses. the president has been adamant that he is on the losing side when it comes to this bill. >> this is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me. believe me. this is not good for me. me, it's not -- i have very wealthy friends. not so happy with me, but that's okay. >> today, sarah sanders defended that remark. >> look, we expect that it likely will certainly on the personal side could cost the president a lot of money. >> however, analysis of the tax bill have shown that clai

our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, is following the story for us.hat's the latest? >> russia has just come out with a statement denying the u.s. account but not denying u.s. and russian warplanes came very close to each other in the air over syria. the two f-22 fighters intercepted two russian fighters who were flying east of the deconfli deconfliction line. so the u.s. says that the russians went over that line in effect and that they were then intercepted by these two f-22s and the u.s. then registered a complaint via the hotline that commanders on either side have. russia is saying it's different. they're saying that the u.s. planes interfered with the russian planes who were doing the right thing on the right side of that line and the russians even implied that another russian fighter chased these american jets away, calling the american account wishful thinking. what is not in dispute, wolf, is that armed u.s. and russian aircraft came very close to each other over a conflict zone. that's been a real worry for u.s. commanders. they say this has

jim sciutto stay with us. bring in susan hennessey our national security and legal analyst former national security agency attorney and nathan gonzalez, editor and publisher of inside elections. susan, legally let's talk about this. michael, about -- we're getting into stuff on mike flynn in a moment but about trump jr., and this wikileaks e-mail from someone that trump jr.'s attorney says we don't know who this michael ericsson guy is. the wikileaks outreach, even if the campaign did not respond you know looking at timing that manu reported that don, jr. tweeted about wikileaks the first time the same day the e-mail he doesn't recall went through. politically difficult for the team or legally some implications here? >> there's both potential and legal political implications. the most significant thing whether he was being honest with congress when he said he did not recall he didn't take further action. so certainly lying to congressional investigators, lying to the special counsel, as we've seen in mike flyn

let's bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto working the story for us. pers, jim, have just been filed. >> that's right. listen, this is one of many shake your head moments in this case so far. here you have paul manafort, a little more than a month after he was charged with multiple crimes relating to the work he did for the pro-russian former president of ukraine was found to be ghost writing an editorial in violation of the terms of his bail and doing so with a russian who has ties to the russian intelligence service. he was working on this editorial as recently as just this past thursday, just a few days ago. now, i'm going to quote from the judge's statement during the plea agreement. he said that his lawyers and prosecutors have asked him to, quote, refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case. his lawyers, the special counsel's office, say that doing this editorial with this russian known to u.s. intelligence is a violation of that. so he stands the possibili

all right, jim sciutto, thanks very much. let's talk more about all of this russia investigation, developing items with cnn's senior legal analyst, the former u.s. attorney, preet bharara. preet, thanks so much for joining us. >> sure. >> so let me get your reaction from what we heard from adam schiff, sounded pretty upset that donald trump jr. wouldn't answer some sensitive, specific questions. >> look, when people are involved in investigations, they don't like to answer questions that might incriminate them or might make them look bad. so i think that adam schiff is right onpoint when he says that unhappy that some of these questions weren't answered. and the question about whether or not donald trump jr. went beyond the scope of what people understand to be attorney/client privilege, i think is a good question. >> donald trump jr. did answer some questions from the committee today, but some of the sensitive ones, as we pointed out, he didn't want to answer. how do you respond to that first report of that june 2016 meeting

jim sciutto has been reporting on this, and the possibility of more charges.nd now i want to go to democratic congressman ted lieu of california, who is a member of the house judiciary committee. congressman, i appreciate your time. rick gates' attorney is saying it is possible new charges could be coming in the russia investigation related to his client. what's your reaction? >> thank you, erin, for that question. i'm a former prosecutor, and it's not unusual to add additional charges if you get additional evidence of misconduct. but i think what may be happening is special counsel mueller may be trying to send a message by saying, look, if you cooperate with me, i'm going to give you the same treatment i gave george papadopoulos and michael flynn. just do one count. if you don't cooperate with me, i'm going to charge everything i can against you. >> so what happens from here then? i guess this depends on what rick gates would be able to give up on others. >> so we'll know soon whether there is additional new charges brought against rick gates. and he has a c

jim sciutto joins us now with more details. what do the e-mails show?derson, the e-mails contradict what has been the trump campaign and now administration story line about this meeting since it broke. one, that it was a one-off, and two, that the subject of the meeting was entirely about russian adoptions. these e-mails contradict that. i'll give you an example. one e-mail on june 14th, 2016, five days after that trump tower meeting between the man who set up that meeting and one of the russians who was there, this happens to be, i should say, the day that news broke that russia had hacked dnc e-mails, so, in one of these e-mails the man who brokered this meeting forwards a cnn story about the russian breach of dnc e-mails to two of the russians involved in this meeting and says, isn't this eerily weird, and i'm quoting there, in light of what we talked about five days earlier. now, that is interesting. one, there was followup between participants in that meeting, two, it raises hard questions about what the subject of the meeting actually was. what ca

jim sciutto is our chief national security correspondent. you were listening very closely. what did you hear? >> reporter: it was a nuanced statement from the president. but the fact is he did say something that previous presidents democrat and republican have not said about jerusalem. there's a reason that they have not despite the passage of this legislation some 20 years ago because the view is among both parties here in the u.s. but also u.s. allies and adversaries, china russia, is by making that statement you're prejudicing negotiations. they haven't reached agreement on this and yes, he did say i would support a two-state solution if both sides would support it and an the status quo, et cetera. there's a phrasing he didn't quite use on jerusalem but he came out and made a fullsome statement supporting jerusalem as israel's capital. the word palestinians was not mentioned till six or seven minutes into his comments there. that words matter certainly, the positive statement he did say has power coming from an american president. and that speaks to exactly why previous

i'm jim sciutto.l report, "all the best, all the worst" 2017. >> the sfolg a cnn special report. >>> from the outer limits of a world unlike any ever known comes a spine tingling, hair raising, bone chilling tale of horrifying headlines, political intrigues, mayhem, majesty, music, and more. with an all-star cast including bryan jones. >> run, run, they're coming. >> comedienne helen hall. >> oh, no it's alive. >> this time it's

jim sciutto, we've been talking to you, you spoke to michael flynn jr.'lawyer as we said, did he give you a sense if he are relieved? i suppose if there was a deal and they were willing to talk about it, michael flynn, jr., and his lawyer might be relieved? >> we don't know. of course there could be a sealed or unsealed indictment or still negotiations or still investigation that involve michael flynn, jr. we know and we've reported that there is legal -- there are legal questions surrounding michael flynn, jr., we don't know the resolution of those questions, but we do know that for michael flynn, sr., that was very much a factor for him and, of course, it would be. this is his son, his son who is father to his grandson, you know. those personal motivations very powerful in cases like this, so we knew before today that was something that was part of his consideration as he approaches his own legal questions and jeopardy going forward. so that certainly is something to watch going forward. what is the legal status of michael flynn, jr., in this case? >> a

jim sciutto has the follow-up for us. jim, what are you learning about the e-mails?rter: since the beginning when the trump tower meeting was revealed. you remember, the trump world explanation has been twofold, one, that the meeting was a one-off, there was no follow-up. and two, the meeting was exclusively confined to russian adoptions. we've seen that story break down. these newly revealed e-mails further break down. one e-mail shows there was, in fact, follow-up. communications by participants in that meeting after the fact, and two, that the conversation looks like it extended beyond those russian adoptions. i'll give you an example, june 14, 2016, five days after the trump tower meeting, rob goldstone, who set up the meeting, e-mailed one of the russians in the room, as well as another russian on the day it is revealed, it is broken that russia hacked the dnc he forwards them a cnn story on that e-mail breach and says, isn't this eerily weird in light of what we talked about in that meeting. raises the question what did you talk about in the meeting? was it rel

let's bring in cnn's jim sciutto.ifically lensed the anti-muslim remarks by president trump. >> that's right. this is the head of the national counterterrorism center. that's the intelligence agency charged with preventing terror attacks on u.s. soil. while he didn't say it was one particular tweet or one statement, i was very specific with him, i pressed him. i said are you talking about trump's for instance travel ban to muslim majority country? are you talking about that kind of thing included in here? and he said very simply, yes, that makes my job very difficult. he went on, i don't think it is more difficult when the argument is contaminated by mutual suss spings. if places more challenges in our way. to be clear there when he's talking about thee communities, he's talking about muslim communities. and he like many other law enforcement officials will make the point we need these communities to give us information to help identify these people. he was very clear here this kind of rhetoric, these policy as well m

let's bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. e you learning? >> so keep in mind, this is the head of the national counterterrorism center, which is the intelligence agency charged with protecting the homeland from terror attacks. and to be clear, nick rasmussen who has been there for a number of years is leaving now a year in the trump administration is not referencing a specific tweet or comment from a specific individual, but he's talking about the overall environment. in fact, i pressed him and i said, included in this are the president's tweets, anti-muslim tweets at times, policy, the travel ban for instance that offends muslim-majority country. and i said are you saying that that environment is making this job more difficult? and his answer simply was yes. he went on to say, i don't think it's arguable that it's more difficult when the environment is contaminated by mutually suspicion. if you're increasing the amount of suspicion and stress on these communities, it places more challenges in your way. of course he's referenc

>>> good evening jim sciutto sitting in for jim anderson hope you had a nice weekend. . donald trump in mara lago tweeting this -- so this morning he hit the links more on that shortly. we begin with a tweet he sent out this morning and it was about his ongoing a he seems to be openly taunting mccabe tweeting this -- again this is becoming a refrain for the president. >> didn't she 13e7b9 $12.4 million on a dossier. >> i think it is a disgrace what they have done with this dossier a sad, phony, fake deal, like so much of the news i read. when you look at what has gone on with that and the kind of money we're talking about, it is a disgrace. >> the president is referring to the steele dossier and keeping him honest some of what he is saying is complete, misleading and out right false. dossier is research compiled by former intelligence british officer for a firm called fusion gps and yes were paid by the clinton campaign for its work but initially hired in the primaries by one of candidate trump republican opponents of details were to help the trump campaign. which cnn ha

i'm jim sciutto. time for the cnn special report, "all the best, all the worst" 2017. >> the sfolg a cnn special report. >>> from the outer limits of a world unlike any ever known comes a spine tingling, hair raising, bone chilling tale of horrifying headlines, political intrigues, mayhem, majesty, music, and more. with an all-star cast including bryan jones. >> run, run, they're coming. >> comedienne helen hall. >> oh, no it's alive. >> this time it's personal. >> radio host bethany watson. >> it once me. it wasn't me. >> anchor s.e. cupp. youtube sensation jessie page. and comedienne carolyn deal. it's "all the best, all the worst" 2017. >> welcome, i'm tom foreman. in so many ways the last 12 months have played out like a bad movie. we had week after week of outlandish characters and unexpected developments and outrageous behavior in big news and in entertainment and pop culture and most of all in politics where one name overshadowed everything else, and it came from d.c. ♪ >> president trump. >> t

. >>> good evening jim sciutto sitting in for jim anderson hope you had a nice weekend. .ago tweeting this -- so this morning he hit the links more on that shortly. we begin with a tweet he sent

i want to bring in cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. m, why now, why is the u.s. assigning blame now? >> it's not clear why they're going public now. this has been the belief for some time in uk intelligence and microsoft have come out with this conclusion blaming north korea. there is a different standard for the u.s. government to come out and publicly declare north korea. you saw that with russian interference in the election. that was the belief for some time before they went public with their assessment. this might be bart of a broader attempt to apply as much pressure on north korea as possible. >> this was according to the homeland security adviser, this was a major attack. does the u.s. have any plans to retaliate? >> it's interesting, it was a revealing comment from tom bossert who is in charge of the administration's cyber security. for him to basically delineate how limited u.s. options are to deter north korea. listen to how he said that earlier today. >> at this point, north korea has done everything wrong as an actor on the

let's bring in our national security correspondent jim sciutto.there less here that meets the eye? >> you have them making the argument no substance. you heard secretary tillerson this does not effect the final status negotiations. if there is peace between israel and the palestine, by saying this they are not changing that, not prdoing this. if you have american traveling abroad it will say jerusalem but leave country blank because they don't want something written down to imply the u.s. has formal recognition. that's not going to change either. now, i suppose the flip side is that rhetoric, as you know better than me, in this conflict matters. that's why you've seen the reaction from many palestinians and others around the region that this sounds like america the most powerful country in the world stating a preference to some degree or priority being israel's position and rhetoric has power and meaning. >> even though the president says the jerusalem is capital of israel, you get a passport in jerusalem it won't say israel. city country will be

jim sciutto. >> e-mails contradict the trump campaign and administration story line about this meeting since it broke. one it was one-off and two, subject was entirely about russian adoptions. e-mails contradict that. one example, june 14th, 2016, five days after the trump tower meeting between the man who set it up and one of the russians were there, happens to be the day that news broke that russia had hacked dnc e-mails. man who brokered the meeting forwards a cnn story about that hacking to two of the men involved in the meeting, isn't this eerily weird in light of what we talked about five days earlier? interesting on a number of levels. one follow-up between the participants and two, raises hard questions about what the subject of the meeting was? what came up. leading up to meeting there was talk on russians providing dirt on hillary clinton and now e-mail traffic after that seems to reference exactly that. >> goldston and donald trump jr.? >> no. rob goldston, the british publicist who helped broker the meeting, between him and one of the russians in the room. ike and woman. am

. >> jim sciutto, thank you very much. that does it for "360." "cnn special report: the mystery of michael flynn" begins right now. >> the following is a cnn special report. >>> general flynn! >> it was a precipitous fall. >> michael flynn charged with making false statements to the fbi. >> general michael flynn, a decorated military commander and close trump confidant, pleading guilty to a federal crime, and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. >> the charge reveels flynn wasn't acting alone in his talks to russians. >> how damaging could all this been for the president and those closest to him? >> the russia investigation is creeping closer to the president. >> bringing special counsel robert mueller's investigation inside president trump's innermost circle. >> yes, that's right. lock her up! >> the man who taunted hillary clinton on the campaign trail with chants of "lock her up" -- >> lock her up! >> lock him up! >> now on the other side of those very same words. >> lock him up! >> the crushing downfall of president trump's former national

jim sciutto is following the developments for us. we're talking about rhona graff who worked for the trump organization and the president for three decades. >> she did. she's been a target of hill investigations for some time. the democrats on the committees have been look to talk to her for some time, because of her closeness to the president but also because she was the president's e-mail communicator. the president did not like e-mail, didn't use it, so e-mails would go to and from rhona graff. one subject of questions from hill investigators. president trump's long-time secretary, rhona graff is the latest member of his inner circle to face questions from lawmakers in the russia investigation. >> i'm going to make you a star. >> graff has been at his side for decades. including sending and receiving e-mails on behalf of mr. trump who avoided them. she was mentioned by name in the 2016 e-mails between donald trump junior and rob goldstone, where the two discussed the campaign with a russia lawyer offering information on hillary cl

. >>> hey, it's time to head over to "the lead" and jim sciutto is hanging out over there. >>. >>> thankdon, it is almost twach 2018 and the president is still tweeting about crooked hillary. >>> president trump gives new meaning to boxing day, throwing new round-houses as his own fbi and ignoring the fact that the russian dossier is a real thing. >>> message from moscow. vladimir putin daring president trump with new bold moves in the air and at

. >>> good evening jim sciutto sitting in for arounder son.he president went to his golf course near mara lago. unlike yesterday when we managed to get exclusive video of the president playing around perfect instead of getting back to work, we got a different view today. in response to our footage someone put a big truck between our camera between our truck and the links. when we moved the truck moved. during the campaign mr. trump said he would not have time as president for golf. this was however the 87th day he has spent at one of his

>>> good evening jim sciutto sitting in for arounder son. for the second straight day the president went to his golf course near mara lago. unlike yesterday when we managed to get exclusive video of the president playing around perfect instead of getting back to work, we got a different view today. in response to our footage someone put a big truck between our camera between our truck and the links. when we moved the truck moved. during the campaign mr. trump said he would not have time as president for golf. this was however the 87th day he has spent at one of his own golf properties since taking office. the president did have at least one official function today. visiting a fire station in near by west palm beach where he talked about upcoming legislation for first responders and boasted about his legislative accomplishments. >> we've had more legislation passed including the record was harry truman that was a long time ago. we broke that record. >> keeping him honest again, the president has rolled back plenty of regulation and did sign a

jim sciutto, cnn, washington. >>> michael zeldin, cnn legal analyst with us.ll as richard paint former white house ethics lawyer and professor. gentlemen, thank you both for being here. i want to start where jim left off there. michael flynn was very loyal to the president. through this whole campaign. through his 24 days in office and even after it, it seems but family is family. michael, is it a possibility, when we look at flynn's intentions, that his intention is to save his son in some regard, or protect him? >> it would seem so. >> and can he? >> well, he can. if mueller agrees that the cooperation that flynn senior is giving is adequate that he doesn't feel that the needs of justice -- the administration of justice requires that his son plead guilty to something if in fact his son did something. there's no direct allegations against his son in the public domain. it relates mostly to the flynn intel group that he was a member of, that his father ran. and that relates to the nondisclosure of payments from foreign agents. but it's not yet clear what the so

and we have multiple sources here, myself and dana bash and jim sciutto saying in fact he is the verymber of the trump transition team who was directing flynn on his contacts with the russian ambassador regarding this issue. you know, it's no coincidence that the special counsel interviewed jared kushner earlier this month on flynn. and, you know, the question we have to ask now is what was the nature of those questions that they were asking jared kushner. and did it relate to these questions of your communication, jared kushner's communications with michael flynn regarding a number of substantive issues. i presume now including contacts with the russian ambassador. so, you know, this is not a surprise. but you know we are all kind of trying to check our sources now to figure out just the nomenclature here and who the special counsel is referring to regarding certain conversations. >> okay. you want to put a button on this? >> yeah, i think it's really important to step back and say what we are talking about here are communications after the election. okay. so this goes back to the po