you see jim shuuto up on the screen. he joins me now with more. >> reporter: you're familiar with this. since the beginning, since this trump tower meeting was revealed, the trump line has been two things. the meeting was a one-off. there was no follow-up. and it was clearly about russian adoptions. these e-mails more evidence that that is just not true. you see follow-up between russians who were in that meeting. rob goldstein who set up the meeting between trump senior leadership and the russians. they are talking about things far beyond russian adoptions. the british publicist mails one of the russians and another russian forwarding a cnn story as news that has broken that russia had breached dnc e-mails. he forwards that story. at the top he said isn't this eerily weird in light of what we discussed a few days ago. could be innocent, perhaps. but it shows that the discussion there went beyond -- went far beyond the issue of adoptions. donald trump jr. was in that room. listen to what he said soon after the meeting wa

jim shuuto joins us live from washington. what do you have? >> reporter: alisyn, john, the consistent story from trump world, once this meeting was exposed, is this was a one-off. there was no follow-up, and the discussion was purely about russian adoptions. this is evidence that they just don't stand up to the facts. the british publicist brokered this meeting between jared kushner and others and being promised dirt on hillary clinton. five days after the trump tower meeting, goldstein forwards a cnn story as the news was broken that russia had broken into dnc e-mails. he forwards that and at the top says isn't this eerily weird in light of what we talked about that in meeting? there are possible explanations of that. but it does expand that the meeting was all about russian adoptions and contradicting what we have heard from the participants, including donald trump jr. take a listen to how he explained that meeting. >> there was nothing there to follow-up. in the end there was probably bait and switch about what it was supposed to be about.

that ultimately played out on the national stage. >> jim shuuto is joining us right now. had a chance to speak to people who knew about the russia investigation. what have you learned? >> well, i asked a lot of people who knew him from when he was young, served with him, were commanded by him. there was a lot of confusion x disappointment, even anger with the proximity, the closeness flynn showed with russia after he left the service. the famous visit to moscow, sitting next to the russian president. ak a septembering money from a russian propaganda network, a lot of money, then failing to report that. but on the larger issue, i asked director clapper there, the former director of national intelligence who fired flynn as the director of the agency, i asked him if he had concerns that flynn was coopted by russia. he said no. during his time at the dia, but more broadly since then, he didn't have an answer and that was a notable omission. >> did anyone you spoke to get to answer the key question, what happened to flynn that he turned in that specific direction? >> no one kn

i'm jim shuuto in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the president claims a major victory. celebrating the trillion dollar tax bill surrounded by republicans at the white house. ♪ >> it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform. next step. really something. >> except that the tax cuts are actually not the largest ever. this is certainly the largest tax overhaul in 30 years, but presidents reagan and obama got larger cuts passed. yes, a legitimate win for trump. no question. yes, republicans can say they have done something very big this year. momentum on their side. but now republicans have to go out and sell it to an american public that is very skeptical. >> my view, if we can't sell this to the american people, we ought to go into another ryan of work. zwl he has his work cut out for them. the bill is not popular. a poll this week shows 33% support it. according to the joint committee on taxation, the bill drives up the deficit by more than $1 trillion and it does so by giving corporations, not individuals, the lion's share of the cuts. add to that t

i'm jim shuuto in for erin burnett and tonight, the blame game. republicans scram babble ining wake f o roy moore's devastating defeat are now pointing fingers at each other. a top target, steve bannon. who campaigned relentlessly for moore and played a key role in convincing trump to back and accuse child molester for the senate. peter king today. >> this guy does not belong on the national stage. it looks like some dishevelled joint that wandered op to the political stage. >> but the bannon defenders have senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in their sights. sha sean hannity tweeting mcconnell deserves a lot of blame for alabama. brooks would have won by 20%. mcconnell interference hurt badly. inside the white house, sources say fincger pointing is rampant with some plaming the white house political director. sources close to the white house say that he wasn't the one to advise moore, but he failed the talk him out of the toxic endorsement. no leadership, he doesn't have any juice, one source said. let's be clear though. the buck stops with th

i'm jim shuuto in for erin burnett and tonight, the blame game. republicans scram babble

jim shuuto begin ours coverage and jim, obviously, huge developments on michael flynn and jared kushner, raising serious questions about the inner circle and the president himself tonight. >> erin, the white house trying to portray flynn in this as a freelancer here, but frankly, there's a lot of information in this statement o offense that belie that is story. you have flynn keeping senior members of the transition team informed of his conversations that he was having and then lied about and you have a senior member of the transition team instructing him to carry out om of these teams. it would be interesting if all this happened without any of the president's knowledge and as note, what is key here, michael flynn now cooperating in this investigation. tonight, the ongoing russia investigation has reached president trump's innermost circle. michael flynn says that he is cooperating with the special counsel's probe into possible cooperation between the campaign and the russian government. flynn pled guilty to repeatedly lying to the fbi, including making false statements about his decem

i'm jim shuuto in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the president claims a major