everybody lies. i'm not trying to pretend that everyone doesn't lie, but i do think that there are degrees of mendacity, and i also think some lies matter more than others. and if one of my students lies-- which they do all the time about why their homework wasn't turned in-- exploding printer, dead dog. i mean, it's all lies. but, you know-- >> dead dog. as opposed to the dog that ate it? >> grandparents die, dogs die. sometimes they do, but most of the times they don't gl you say sometimes the dogs do. >> seth you run lots of political campaigns and you think a lot about how to move voters one way or another. i mean, do you accept that that's a part of your work and that's a part of how we live? you know, how do you use lyingi in your daily-- >> clearly as a republican, we don't lie. so i want to get that out first. but, you know, i think that, obviously, each side is going to-- they're going to put their best foot forward. and so, you know, people mightt claim it's exaggerating or you're leaving u

the president's lies, the vice president's lies, the attorney general's lies and an administration asy to lying, now seeing criminal consequences of it. >> sneak in one more break. don't go anywhere. we'll be right back. ♪ at lincoln financial, we get there are some responsibilities of love you gotta do on your own. and some you shouldn't have to shoulder alone. like ensuring your family is protected, today and tomorrow, no matter what the future brings. see how life insurance from lincoln can help start protecting your family's financial future now, at lincolnfinancial.com. >>> i'm so sorry we ran out of time. could have gone another hour. my thanks to steve schmidt, matt miller, jeremy bash, joyce janus and evan mcmullin. that does it for "deadline." i'm nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" starts now. >> i know what you're stuck doing at 8:00 thom with mark. >> exactly. >> all about the you. >> comeback. >>> if it's friday, it's official. michael flynn flipped. tonight -- the president's former national security adviser flips on the president, and pleads guilty to lying to the fbi. >> the

he has pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. and earlier this morning, the president brushed off any suggestion that flynn's cooperation with the special counsel could lead to problems for him or his inner circle. >> no, i'm not, and what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. there's been absolutely -- there's been absolutely no collusion. >> all right, i want to bring in cnn's kara skinnou and boris sanchez. boris, the president's been on the road. >> yes, the president sent out that tweet shortly after departing from a fund-raising lunch here in midtown new york. he has two other events today in new york city before heading back to washington. and this is the most that we've heard from donald trump talking about former national security adviser michael flynn since he left the administration. as you heard earlier today, before he left washington for new york, the president repeating twice that there was no collusion. white ho

the second set of lies, two additional lies, have to do with a u.n. resolution that obama administration decided to abstain from. usually the united states votes to veto resolutions that have to do with israel. in this case it was a u.n. security resolution that had to do with israeli settlements for the first time in a long time the united states decided to abstain and there was some conversations between the israeli government and the trump campaign about trying to mitigate some of that. there was some last-minute effort and apparently according to these court documents, michael flynn lied to the fbi when he was asked about that in his conversations with the russians about that. again, this all has to do with russia. a lot of people have been criticizing about whether or not any of this has to do with russia anymore. it's clear robert mueller's investigators have been working on the central charge that they have, which is everything having to do with the trump campaign and ties to russia and that's what this one count criminal information we expect

and had lied to the fbi. what trump had said previously was that he fired him because he had lied to pence. let's take a listen to what he said in february. >> when i looked at the information i said i don't think he did anything wrong. if anything he did something right. he was coming into office, looked at the information. he said huh, that's fine. that's what they're supposed to do. supposed to be -- he didn't just call russia. he spoke to both ways, i think there were 30-some odd countries. he's doing the job. he was just doing his job. the thing is he didn't tell our vice president properly and then he said he didn't remember. so either way it wasn't very sat famili satisfactory to me. >> one thing he is distancing himself from michael flynn and the conduct involved. saying the only thing flynn did wrong which is lie to the fbi which he's now pleaded guilty to. but not saying anythinglying co. he said he that had spoken with russians and other officials in consultation with transition officials and speci

"i had to fire flynn because he lied to the president, he pled guilty to those lies.a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide." the president writes that flynn's actions were lawful and the only crime was lie. did the president admits he knew when he asked james comey to drop the investigation. question number one, you know you were talking earlier about this thing of logan act which was passed in the 1700 in the united states. it is really, it is never been enforced. there is only been two cases in history. both were dropped. so it is kind of a dead law. that law says that you cannot tamper with the private citizen. under the logan act, it is still on the books, where did flynn get off calling the russians to negotiate a position that they were going to take with respect to israelis settlement by the obama administration and also he did basically say to them, hey, listen, on sanctions, why don't you back off because when we get into office, we are going to ease off. that was the message we sent to russians. probably the

, exaggerations, huge lies. that's what he's engaging in attacking bob muller and also when charges come down, should they come down, his final closing argument will be you can't believe bob muller is not credible. >> all right. sam and david, thank you both. that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts now. rachel? >> i'm endebited to you. >> i feel good as opposed to guilty as going over an act. >> i really need chris to take 29 more seconds and then you just gift them to me. appreciate it. >> whatever you need. >> thank you. >> thank you at home for joining us. much appreciated. >> a lot of news today and sort of two big political stories that have been happening simultaneously and one story that is totally off of politics but has riveted the nation's largest city and the country. new york city was the target of a terror attack for the third time in months. a pressure cooker bomb detonated in manhattan. that was september last year. then halloween this year, it was the guy driving a truc

he has pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. now, the president's tweet came just hours after he spoke with reporters for the first time since yesterday's bombshell announcement, so let's go right to the white house and one of those reporters. 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 duri

he's pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. now the former national security adviser now the most senior person in charged in the russia probe from the inner circle here along with three other former trump campaign officials. as mueller's team continues to work up the food chain. attorney general jeff sessions testified before the house intelligence committee this week. congressman mike quigley offering his theory behind sessions' i don't recall testimony. >> the attorney general is one of the most forgetful persons who works out of washington, d.c. and in our nation's history or he's being less than candid with the american public. >> next up don jr. who has a date with the house intelligence committee happening on wednesday. joining us right now frank figlussy and kendall coffee, former federal prosecutor. kendall, let's start with this on the tweet that came out as we've been covering this hour here from president trump. now sayin

they tried to count every one of president trump's lies. lie that donald trump has told since becoming president. we'll bring you that report. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. so this is the all-new chevy equinox. it's gorgeous. it offers rear seat reminder, built-in 4g lte wifi... apple car play compatibility... wow... ...and teen driver technology. that's crazy... now to get all of these features, you'd need all six of those crossovers. that's insane! yep, and you still wouldn't get everything that's in this equinox. wowww... six cars in one. use your employee discount for everyone to get forty -five hundred dollars below msrp on this 2018 chevy equinox. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. >>> this summer "the new york times" tried to list the lies of president trump, all the lies donald trump

lied, jared lied, donald trump jr. lied.ed or they're all suffering -- >> well, you're making that up. >> no, they've either all made up stuff or -- >> you don't know k.t. lied. k.t. is a towering figure in new york politics. >> let's assume they have all -- i didn't interrupt you. i didn't interrupt you. you either -- you've got to either -- >> you can't call somebody a liar like that on national television when there's no indication she did. >> okay, she either lied or they're all suffering -- >> you don't know her -- >> why don't you let me finish my sentence. instead of getting so defensive. depending on what glasses you're looking at it, you've either got to conclude that they're all lying, they're all a pack of liars, or they're all suffering from massive collusive amnesia. all collectively, check what's being served in the water. because we've seen -- and it's very scary, because they're either in government, have been in government, or are very close to the guy who sits in the oval office. >> k.t. mcfarland is a towe

she's lied many times, nothing happened to her. flynn lied and it's like they ruined his live. it's very unfair. thank you very much. >> all right. all right. so, mike, we'll bring you balk. that's why i was cutting you off. it wasn't that i was checking your point. we wanted people to hear the president of the united states. again, instructive to the point that we were talking about, the president saying i feel bad about flynn. that's his opinion, by the way. there's no demonstrable lie to the fbi except what happened on whether or not there were classified e-mails. even that, comey had to back off the idea that she had lied what classified e-mails were being used on those servers so that's the president's opinion. but it still leads us back to motivation and why he went to comey even though he thought that flynn had lied. it seems he's making his own case with the words coming ought of his mouth, yes, i knew he lied but i don't care because i don't think all lies are equal. now, that's what went through his head when he went to jim comey. do you think he put himself more lega

, kt lied, jared lied, donald trump jr. lied. well, they've either all lied or they're all suffering -- >> well, you're making that up. >> they've either all made up stuff. >> you don't know kt lied. kt is a towering figure in american politics with very high integrity. >> i didn't interrupt you. >> you can't call someone a liar like that on national television when there is no indication she did. >> why don't you let me finish my sentence instead of getting so defensive. depending on what glasses you look at it, they're either a pack of liars or suffering from massive amnesia and should be checked what's being served in the water. they're either in government, have been in government or very close to the guy who sits in the oval office. >> kt mcfarland is a towering figure in new york state politics. people have a lot of respect for her because of her integrity. i think this will all come out in the wash. >> you asked the question why lie? people lie when they have something to hide. that's the question. that's what muelle

she lied many times. nothing happened to her. flynn lied and it's like they ruined his life. it's very unfair. thank you very much. >> mr. president, when did you find out he lied to the fbi? >> of course lying to the fbi is a federal crime and his lie is extrickably tied to the russian investigation. wolf, the then acting attorney general, sally yates, considered those lies important and damaging enough that she thought they opened the then national security advisor to potential blackmail from russia. >> you're also getting some new information from the courts right now about paul manafort, the trump campaign chairman who was seeking an opportunity to avoid being under house arrest. >> that's right. a little more than a month after he was arrested for multiple crimes related to his work for ukraine, for the pro-russian government of ukraine, he violated the prosecutors argue the terms of his plea agreement. he was allowed some freedom of movement. he was allowed out of house arrest, allowed off of gps tracking in exchange for him putting up $11 million in property assets. du

thrive. ♪ >>> this summer "the new york times" tried to list the lies of president trump, all the liesince taking the oath of office and a difference of an intentional knowing lie and a mistake. something that's just said as a mistake. and so, "the times" had to choose what constitutes a trump lie. "the times" chose a very lenient definition of lie for donald trump. "the times" lets him get away with what they call, quote, misleading statements and mild exaggerations and trump's frequent imprecision with numbers end quote. even by that standard, "the times" found that donald trump lies to a degree we have never seen before. and their new report, "the times" found, quote, trump is unlike any other modern president. he seems virtually indifferent to reality, often saying whatever helps him make the case he is trying to make and here's just a small sample of "the new york times" -- of those lies. >> i guess it was the biggest electoral college win since ronald reagan. if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. we have become an energy exporter for

he lied about that.them have handwritten notes from him, one in a yearbook, one in a scrapbook which came out today in the "washington post." and the woman that came out and showed her scrapbook that had contemporaneous written in notes about him being at her high school graduation, and sending her a card, she said that she initially was uncomfortable with what the other women were saying. she couldn't believe that he would do that. until she saw that he lied about not knowing her because he dated her in public. she was 17, he was 34. >> tara -- >> he also called a high school girl in her trigonometry class. he's claiming he doesn't know all these girls and have over 30, 40 contemporaneous witnesses that also corroborated these women's stories. so what -- i mean, what more do you need? >> here's what -- let me just read this. >> don, don -- >> hold on, i'm going to let you respond, ed. i am. as tara was saying, this is the last paragraph in the "washington post." she said, and she talks about the tape wh

and lied to the fbi.nd i'm anxious to hear from i'm for an explanation of who haul direct all directed him to have the contacts. >> [ inaudible question ] >> again, i'm not going to share. our investigation is ongoing. and i think what we owe the american people is all the facts. and we still have more folks to talk to. and we want to get this job done, but we want to be complete. and, again, one more that we have seen some, and obviously including the president, who said, hey, nothing here, let's try to shut this down. i don't think there is anybody that's following this story now in light of another admission of guilt coming from a senior trump official. this time the national security adviser. that we don't owe the american public to follow-through on this investigation until we get all the facts out. >> did senator beurre teurr tel about this with trump? >> we are going to do that. and, i think, again, i was proud of what the chairman said in "the new york times" story that, you know, he acknowledged

he has plead guilty to the lies. it is a shame because the actions during the transition were lawful there is nothing to hide. that tweet caused a major uproar, and good reason. think about it. you had the president saying he fired flynn for lying to the fbi. which means when trump fired flynn, he knew flynn had committed a serious crime. and yet the president went on to pressure former fbi director james comey to drop his investigation into flynn, according to the testimony comey gave under oath, which for the record trump disputes. obstruction of justice just doesn't get much clearer than that. but trump lawyer john dowd had an explanation for the president's statement. trump didn't write the tweet. dowd told nbc news he, the lawyer drafted the tweet himself and then sent it to dan skav vino, the white house social media director. so trump's lawyer said he wrote the tweet and e-mailed it over to be published. but when nbc news asked for the original e-mail, he said to scavino, dowd said he dictated it orally. oh. f

that mueller chose were lies that related to sanctions and lies that related to the u.n. security council, in language that tracks exactly the logan act. so i think that -- which makes it illegal for an individual private citizen to interfere in government affairs, which is what is alleged here and what alleged kushner did. so these lies point directly to where mueller is going as he investigates his core mandate of links and coordination between the trump campaign and russia. and the people that are implicated by the lies in this indictment or information and what mueller has to investigate are sessions and kushner and manafort, still for addition allies for flynn junior, and for don junior. so there are a whole host of people who the lies of this information implicate in possible criminal wrongdoing. so for all of these people, they have to be wondering one, if they were interviewed by the fbi, what did they say? and two, will they view -- will they be viewed as this guy was viewed, flynn. because remember, flynn is pleading guilty to a lie based on "i don't recall" as

on average six times a day that's a statistic compiled by the washington post he probably lies much more than that but those are the lies they've caught using a very narrow definition of a lie so the mainstream media doesn't act the mainstream media doesn't lie is that what you're saying first of all we're talking. well i'm pretty capable of saying exactly what i want you not to put words in my mouth but i'm trying to understand your words fastens lies fox fox news lies but no the mainstream media by and large certainly the new york times washington post and other reputable outlets never lie on purpose they make with stakes but it's very hard to cover a president who is purposely undermining american democracy who again lies on average six times a day and doesn't care that it's called lying let me ask you a question just take one for instance donald trump repeatedly tweeted that barack obama wiretapped him on purpose now the justice department found that that was not true as well but they're saying how there seems to be overwhelming evidence that he was less than he was i don't sort

consider if he said i fired flynn because he lied to the vice president, and semi colon and lied to the fbi. but if prosecutors want today look at this as a possible admission, it becomes a statement that can be used against not only the president but anybody, anybody who makes a statement like that on twitter. that's why law enforcement love social media and twitter and facebook that's where criminal makes case sz against themselves by posting pictures or making statements that directly incriminate them and are admissible. so ultimately whether or not this tweet is bad for the president comes down to grammar and punctuation. >> we are splitting syntax and looking at punctuation as well here. but the focus is on obstruction of justice to a large degree. what did we learn yesterday about how robert mueller is approaching that in particular? >> well, i think we now know that's very serious problem. i think we know that it may include pence, it may include white house counsel don mcghan. i think yesterday it was a move that was signaling a lot of people, including a senior and very senior

and general flynn lied. and what's surprising to me is that the president knew that he lied to the fbi, and then continued to try to pressure the fbi not to pursue an investigation of mr. flynn. of general flynn. and then fired james comey. i think he's tweeted his way into an obstruction of justice situation. >> do you agree with that in terms of what we saw and read on twitter this morning? >> absolutely not. you cannot and should not prosecute the president for exercising his constitutional authority. he had the authority to fire comey. he had the authority to tell comey to stop investigating flynn. we may not like that, jefferson liked it. he told his attorney general who to prosecute, who not to prosecute. lincoln did the same thing. franklin roosevelt did the same thing. barack did the same thing yet we can't make it a crime. we have an untarry executive and you need a mens rea. and the ac test ray a, act of a crime can't be a constitutionally protected act regardless of what the motive may have been,

he was lied to by mike flynn and k.t. mcfarland and tom bossert and steve bannon and sean spicer and reince appreciateus and who knows who else. all of whom were in on what flynn had done with russia. and all of whom stood by and let the vice president make all these false statements about it multiple times on national television, on different networks, with different interviewers over and over and over again, false statements. i mean, the white house version of events here has fallen apart when it comes to the vice president. if lying to mike pence is such a shocking firing offense, then that ought to have been the reason to fire all of those people from the transition and from the white house. but it wasn't. they say that was only a shocking firing offense for mike flynn. that doesn't make any sense. choose your own adventure here. either vice president mike pence is totally truthful and everyone lied to him while he was running the transition and all these people who answered to him they all lied to him, they all allow

, between trump lies and the truth. the truth won, twice. first of all, february jobs reports almost as good as president obama's february jobs report. accepted by republicans as a good jobs report. that is progress. that is a step toward the truth. and second, the "lock her up" crowd is going to have to find someone else to lead their chants now that michael flynn has gone silent and is surrounded by protective lawyers. and of course sean spicer was pushed out of the white house last summer and michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and now is a cooperating witness in the and prosecutor's investigation. tonight's last word is next. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls... and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement™, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. liberty stands with you™.

flynn lied to the vice president. and that was the reason they gave. the question i think is, would they have fired him if that story had not come out in "the washington post"? you know, you had a national security adviser at that point who probably would not be able to get clearance, think about that, so they have an issue on their hands. i think there is a question. did they bring mike pence into that fold or not. was he doing the human resources part of the transition? yes, he was. so you know, those questions need to be answered. you heard marc's, you know, marc's reasons for why the vice president wouldn't know. i'm sure mueller wants to, you know, hear the explanations himself. >> i would also point out real quickly that there is reporting right now on cnn.com where one of your -- a group of your reporters talked to seven different transition officials that were all saying that the vice president did not know he was lied to by general flynn. and that was where this was headed. >> so let me ask you, marc. the atlantic magazine today reporting that

president's former national security adviser admits to having lied to the f.b.i. attention is now turning to other members of donald trump's in a circle including his son in law. and napoleon bonaparte writes again in the czech republic enthusiastic times being reenacting the battle of austerlitz one of the french emperors greatest victories. my name's christopher springer thanks for joining us thousands have been protesting in the north german city of one of a where the far right a.f.p. is holding a party conference several people were injured when police used water cannon to disperse the demonstrators the injured included policeman and at least one protester the clashes occurring as the a.f.p. elected new leaders at the two day conference the protesters were demonstrating against the f.t.'s anti immigration and. platform. and standing by for us after a party conference in hanover make a look mckayla this party conference tasked with electing new leaders for the two years i mentioned or to the results tell us about the direction of the party. well that shows us t

flynn lied both to the vice president and had lied to the fbi and after that apparently told the special -- the fbi director, look -- i'm sorry. the fbi director he should sort of leave mr. flynn alone and couldn't he see his way to dropping the investigation. these raise serious questions of obstruction of justice. if the president is attempting to interfere with this investigation, that's obstruction of justice or to impede it in any way. now they're trying to suggest it was done by an attorney for the president which is unusual. the president takes a lot of pride in doing his own tweets. there's a lot more questions being asked. this is a very, very serious development. the plea, the admission of guilt by mr. flynn. but this is a president who has been attempting to diminish the importance of this investigation from the beginning. let's not forget why a special counsel was appointed. because the president fired the fbi director in part because of this russian thing and yukked it up with the russians and the oval office after it. this is very serious. the president should understand th

, between trump lies and the truth. today the truth won, twice. first of all, february jobs reports almost as good as president obama's february jobs report. accepted by republicans as a good jobs report. that is progress. that is a step toward the truth. and second, the "lock her up" crowd is going to have to find someone else to lead their chants now that michael flynn has gone silent and is surrounded by protective lawyers. and of course sean spicer was pushed out of the white house last summer and michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and now is a cooperating witness in the and prosecutor's investigation. tonight's last word is next. mattress is dangerously comfortable. when i get in i literally say, ahh. america loves the leesa mattress. we have more five star customer reviews then any other mattress of it's kind. this bed hugs my body. today is gonna to be whoooo. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps

how michael flynn's interview went with the fbi, whether he lied. i think she said she did not want to characterize it to them. there was indication to people we talked to at the time that the fbi didn't feel that he was lying. whether or not the president knew there was an investigation, we don't believe that he necessarily knew that michael flynn lied to the fbi. that's what i think was sort of the surprise in that tweet. >> so then michael, to your premises that perhaps the president was mistaken and he didn't know because the fbi would never reveal to him that michael flynn lied way back and yesterday was kind of a mistake on his part in that tweet. in other ways, do you then see that a case is building on obstruction of justice as we heard from feinstein who pointed to the michael flynn plea deal and the other indictments and because of that a substantial or significant case is being built on obstruction of justice? >> i think there a lot of pieces in this puzzle that will form the basis for an obstruction of justice investigation by mueller. t

at what point do the president's lies here matter?he special counsel right now is in the process of rolling up this case. and he's not there yet. and even if he were to decide that the president had lied, i think it becomes a political issue and not so much a legal issue. because there are questions and you guys know this better man i do, about what you can do. and whether they can't force the president to testify, right? >> i think the lies matter when the comes to building a case about obstruction, whether or not the purpose of these lies is to obstruct -- to throw sand in the eyes of investigators. because he's known now for months the fbi has been look at this. and yet he's been going out there essentially trying to mislead the public about what this was. he's called a witch-hunt. it's not. look, it does matter i think when you get to the point you can reasonably say to people this was not anything but obstructing and trying to prevent the fbi and special counsel from getting to bottom of what is very serious issue. >> and what yo

he has pled guilty to those lies.e his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. it seems to suggest donald trump knew his former national security advisor had lied to the fbi when he fired him and he knew about the crime when he reportedly asked former fbi director comey to back off in investigating flynn. according to "the new york times" dowd apologized saying that he should have been more careful in his language. ironically the tweet had been crafted to calm the president down after flynn's guilty plea. if you looked at the president's timeline it didn't have the intended effect. joining me now former special assistant to robert mueller as well as susan hennessy. susan, starting with you. at first john dowd claimed that he was just trying to parrot a statement from another trump attorney ty cobb even though his statement had no mention he was fired. how big of a blunder is this? >> the real question isn't who wrote the tweet. it's whether or not the substance is accurate? the real quest

she lied many times. nothing happened to her. flynn lied and it's like they ruined his life. it's very unfair. >> those remarks capped a weekend long twitter response from the president that included what appeared to many like a brand-new admission. i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he had plead guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. that was from the president's twitter feed. the white house informed the press a day later that the tweet in question was dictated by the president's lawyer john dowd. dowd later downplayed the substance of the tweet saying it was meant to be simply a paraphrase of white house lawyer ty cobb's previous statement on flynn's guilty plea. dowd acknowledging i'm out of the tweeting business. i didn't mean to break news but the tweet created a firestorm because it represented the very first time that the president has acknowledged publicly that he knew flynn had lied to the fbi before he fired him last february. setting off a new

he lied to mike flynn about contacts with russia. this is an ongoing, shifting explanation why they have been wrapped up in the russia probe and raises questions, if the reports are accurate, why he would author such a tweet. john dowd said the tweet mimics what tye cobb, a white house lawyer told reporters on friday when the flynn news broke. that's not entirely accurate. cobb's statement did not mention the fact that trump knew flynn lied to the fbi when he was let go from the white house. the significance here, really, is flynn is, by far, the most significant member of trump's inner circle wrapped up in this russia probe. as we have seen, the white house's story has been changing. mike flynn was not only a close trump aide on the campaign, but we are told trump genuinely liked him and enjoyed spending time and talk to during that time and briefed the president on a number of serious matters. you remember, when paul manafort and rickgates, two campaign officials were wrapped up into the probe, the white house said this has nothing

flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> shepard: the justice department did not bring charges against clinton over her use of a private e-mail server while secretary of state. law enforcement officials say they do not believe she misled investigators. michael flynn pleaded guilty last week to lying to the fbi about conversations with the russia ambassador. he also said that he would cooperate with the special counsel, roy moore, who is investigating russian interference in the election and the trump campaign's possible ties to the kremlin. this comes as legal experts say the president may have omitted -- i should say admitted to obstruction of justice in one of his tweets. here's what the president posted over the weekend. "i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he guilty to those lies. it's a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide." lawmakers from both parties said they had concerns about the tweet. at issue her

the other reality he lied to then vice president pence and lied to the fbi also. why? he think he needed to cover something up? then lastly, throughout theviou flynn was very much in the loop. nerve are worked at that level of government, common sense tells me, richard, anytime you do anything as relates to reaching out to another foreign power you do so with other people in the loop. you don't do it alone. you keep whomever around the inner circle in the loop and probably are doing it in concert with what they're telling you to do. i do not think that general flynn acted alone. i do think general flynn kept people in the loop and we'll see. >> just to add on to that, what we just learned from the "new york times" in the last hour is that this wasn't a rogue act. he was directed by k.t. mcfarland to do it on a day where michael flynn had meetings with numerous trump senior officials and building a little more off what robert said, this is not -- trump cannot say he was hoodwinked by this. he was warned early on by chris christie, president obama, that michael flynn was

flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> trump leaving unanswered this key question about general flynn. >> thank you very much. >> did you lie to the fbi? >> trump's problems garn when he fired off a series of angry tweets this weekend in the wake of flynn's guilty plea to lying to the fbi. among them, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. remember, back in may, trump said he fired flynn, because he lied to pence. he did not mention in anyway shape or format that time that flynn had lied to the fbi. >> my white house council 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, we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so. >> now again, we are reporting that trump fired flynn because he lied to pence and the fb

is what he lied about. i think that's equally important because -- i think president trump is saying that to win his tweet. he saying i had to fire him because he lied to the vice president. what we don't know was if he lied to the president. and that will come out in the investigation. we don't know whether what he said to the russian ambassador was directed by anyone or came from him just taking national security into his own hands. but he wouldn't any other administration -- >> john: we don't know he said to the russians. for god sakes, don't do anything, going to lift the sanctions on obama imposed. there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. the new incoming and administration is perfectly entitled to tell anything. >> kennedy: i'm not saying that be wrong. >> john: why did he lie? >> harris: that's a great question. >> john: to me, it's incomprehensible but if there is an explanation, it's because it was embarrassing. it's embarrassing because. >> marie: what you said earlier, life is hard. lying to t

thank you. >>> new report on donald trump's lies. says he lies all the time. and how to deal with this new situation. >>> also heard the question, can donald trump fire mueller and will he do it? answer legally is no. prosecutor will explain later in the show. ♪ turn up your swagger game with one a day men's. ♪ a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing. (news anchor) downtown traffic is still bad. expect massive delays. (news anchor 2) all lanes on highway 50 remain closed at this hour. (news anchor 3) the stats are in and this city leads with some of the worst traffic, with the average driver sitting in gridlock the equivalent of three days a year. for every hour that you're idling in your car, you're sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. that amounts, over the course of the week, to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide. growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, that's a problem. so forward-thinking cities like sacramento are investing in stre

, between trump lies and the truth. today the truth won, twice. first of all, february jobs reports almost as good as president obama's february jobs report. accepted by republicans as a good jobs report. that is progress. that is a step toward the truth. and second, the b"lock her up" crowd is going to have to find someone else to lead their chants now that michael flynn has gone silent and is surrounded by protective lawyers. and of course sean spicer was pushed out of the white house last summer and michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and now is a cooperating witness in the and prosecutor's investigation. tonight's last word is next. and we'd like you to be part of ours. happy new year! so our chevy employee discount is still available to everyone. you pay what we pay, not a cent more. we're so happy to share this with you. because you deserve to start the year off in style. it's our way of saying happy new year! and welcome to the family... the chevy family. the chevy employee discount for everyone

to the vice president but because he lied to the fbi. attorney john dowd said that he authored that tweet and is taking responsibility for it. wouldn't an attorney need their client's permission to make that kind of statement on their behalf? >> you most certainly would require the permission of the client, and i find that what's odd about that is dowd is a well respected attorney and that tweet is a tweet that arguably can create liability, criminal liability possibly for the president. to think that dowd sent it out either on his own or with the authorization of the president is really rather astonishing. that issue, you know, when did he know that flynn lied to the fbi and did he fire comey because he wanted comey to go easy on flynn, that's all a central part of an obstruction of justice investigation. so that tweet could be damaging to the president and i'm really surprised that a lawyer is acknowledging responsibility for sending it out. >> jennifer, while john dowd says that he wrote the tweet, he doesn't necessarily dispute its a