michael flynn, obviously very tied to russia.investigations, perhaps, will uncover. >> yeah. there are, i think, four investigations on some various level in congress. of course, an fbi investigation looking into these questions as well. michael flynn is out. he was fired. the fallout not over. today the stakes now being raised even more with this breaking news that president obama warned president trump in the oval office, according to jim acosta's sources, against hiring michael flynn back when they met privately in the oval office on november 10th. president trump, what does he have to say about this? keep an eye on his twitter feed. we'll be right back. etty much lr favorite princess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together. thithis is the new new york.e? think again. we are building new airports all across the state. new roads and bridges. new mass transit. new business friendly e

but we do know, wolf, that president trump was very much a fan of michael flynn. you recall that news conference early on in his administration when he described media reports on general flynn as being part of a witch hunt. and just this morning he was blaming the obama administration for providing a security clearance to michael flynn. so i think it's fair to say at this point that this white house just really doesn't have a good answer at this point on michael flynn. they're blaming the obama administration for the security clearance of michael flynn, but at the same time, the president disregarded a personal warning from the outgoing president two days after the election to stay away from michael flynn. i think until we get an answer from the president himself, sean spicer's answers in this briefing room are just not going to suffice. >> and nia, let me read to you these two tweets from the president this morning. the first one, general flynn was given the highest security clearance by the obama administration, but the fake news seldom likes talking about. that

and of course michael flynn needed to submit a new background check for a new security clearance for his new job, but sean spires didn't tell the truth about that today. >> did mike flynn not need upgraded security clearance in order to serve as the national security adviser? >> he had been head of the defense intelligence agency. that's the same. >> you vetted him as well, correct? >> that's the same clearance -- the security clearance -- we went over this a while ago. it's the same security at any level. once you get it, you get it. everyone in the government goes through the same process. the answer is that those same -- that same process worked for general flynn as it did for me or anyone else who works here. >> completely false. >> nbc news reported today that it has learned that when he became national security adviser, flynn was required to obtain a new white house security clearance under the auspices of the cia, which vets national security council appointees. that clearance was never granted before he was pushed out of the job. one official with knowledge of matter said. we'

, general michael flynn, could be blackmailed by the russians. i want to bring in suzen henneshesusan hennes hennessy. michael moore, former u.s. attorney for the middle district of georgia. julia ioffe for "the atlantic." and michael i cousikof for yaho news. susan, there's a lot to discuss here from the hearing. let's listen a little bit then we'll talk. >> the first thing we did was to explain to mr. mcgahn that the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. secondly, we told him we felt like the vice president and others were entitled to know that the information that they were conveying to the american people wasn't true. and we wanted to make it really clear right out of the gate that we were not accusing vice president pence of knowingly providing false information to the american people. >> okay. so susan, when sally yates testified today that the underlying conduct, that's in quotes, underlying conduct, of the former national security adviser michael flynn, was problematic in and of itself, that

offered then president-elect trump a clear warning, don't hire retired general michael flynn as national security adviser. one report says obama told trump there are more qualified people for the position. caution from one president to another came more than a month and half to another that flynn ta talked to the russian ambassador. >> it is true that president obama made it known that he wasn't exactly a fan of general flynn's. >> still, the white house is putting the blame on the obama administration for granting flynn a security clearance in early 2016. president tweeted, general flynn was given the highest security clearance by the obama administration but the fake news seldom likes talking about that. >> why didn't he suspend general flynn's security clearance which they just approved months earlier. there were steps that they would have taken, if that truly was a concern, was more than just a person that had wad blood. >> former obama administration point out that flynn was fired by the obama administration over his style. >> in april 2016 mr. flynn was no longer working for the ob

michael flynn will be an invaluable asset to me and my administration. by all accounts trump and his people went after flynn. it wasn't flynn seeking out a job here. then december 29th. this is then flynn discussions sanctions with the russian ambassador. and the idea was what were they talking about at that time? >> that conversation they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states decision to expel diplomats or impose a sanction against russia. >> they have this phone call. then in january we hear the vice president. the fbi calls in michael flynn. they talk to him about this. they remind him about his answer on sanctions. he says it didn't happen. they say, are you sure? he said i don't remember. the fbi winds up saying this report is maybe there won't be charges. but sally yates believes there is something there and she goes and talks to the white house council and doesn't give a head's up. she says he could be compromised by the russians. flynn of course denies this and puts out a statement saying it didn't happen. he didn't talk abo

she revealed that she discussed michael flynn with don ma gcginn two separate occasion. she called to express the concern that flynn could be blackmailed by the russians. and she wanted to visit him at a secure location. when she met with him, she explained that she couwas conced that flynn could be blackmailed but lied to it to top white house officials, including the vmt. and then, she said the second time they met, was the next day, when he had several questions, including whether flynn could be prosecuted. and there was a third conversation about allowing white house officials to see the underlying evidence of flynn's behavior. james clapper, on the other hand, he stood by the assertion that he had seen no evidence of collusion between trump campaign associates and russians. but he acknowledged that he was unaware of the fbi's counterintelligence into that matter, don. >> i know this stood out. sally yates says she offered the white house the opportunity to look at the classified information she was basing this warning on. but it's unclear if that happened, right in.

a large part of that was michael flynn who is saying that he would do business with putin. that was a strategy they were pursuing and that's why he wanted to bring flynn on board. he then failed and got pushed out. tillerson came in, general mattis, trump changed his policy towards russia. that's not just loyalty to michael flynn, trump had in his mind that he wanted to do something with russia. he changed his mind about that and it's become a much more adversarial relationship with russia. >> jon: you say let trump he trump. you suggest he should take charge of more of the goings-on of this a administration. >> what we're talking about gives you a good indication. donald trump does not like intermediaries between him and the public. he is the most one-on-one president we have had in 100 years. he likes to deal with people directly, all these executives and so forth he is brought into talk to them. i believe that trump should really take responsibility and control of his own messaging operation and for people to say that's part of the problem, that may be part of the problem

we saw the same with michael flynn. we have seen that with jared kushner who left his sf-86 security clearance form blank when asked whether he had any foreign contacts. we he had learned he indeed was meeting with sanctioned russian banks at the time of the transition. again, these are either a lot of coincidences or there are very good reasons that they didn't want the world to know about their prior ties to russia. >> your committee has been trying to get former acting attorney general sally yates to testify in an open setting as she did today in front of the senate. i wonder what questions remain for you unanswered in your mind. it seems like there's a limited amount of information she can give in an unclassified setting. what else would you want to learn from her when she appears? >> learned a lot from sally yates today as she testified, particularly just how hard she tried to tell the white house about michael flynn, perhaps being compromised, and just how little that they cared. but i would like to bring her in.

the daily beast reports that the president is hoping michael flynn can some day return to working in ite house after being exonerated in this investigation. a former fbi official and government official told the bail daly beast trump thought he owed flynn for how things ended up, and was determined to clear flynn's name and bring him back to the white house. the daily beast and yahoo news both report that president trump and michael flynn are still in communication. according to yoo-hoo news, flynn told friends at lunch last month, i just got a msage from the president to stay strong. ken vogel and indira lakshmanan are back with us. and ken, if there is a single rule to live by in life when you know someone is under investigation by the fbi, you just wait. you wait. you do not communicate with that person. you don't e-mail, you don't call, don't meet them for coffee. just wait until that's over. the notion that the president of the united states might be reaching out to and communicating directly or indirectly with michael flynn under an fbi investigation could -- there is just no wa

i want to know what she said when she warned them about michael flynn on january 26th warnings about ntial to blackmail and why the white house waited for two and a half weeks before firing flynn and then only after there was a report about those warnings by attorney general yates to the white house. i want to build the case for a special prosecutor to do this investigation, to uncover the truth and hold accountable anyone and everyone who was involved in that aiding and abetting the russians. >> that is interesting. you would like to see a special prosecut prosecutor. there are five congressional inquiries and probes underway. up here there are several on the house side. several on the senate side. there is a lot of cooks in this kitchen. why do you think that given all of these people including the committee you sit on, why do you think it is better than all of this? >> great question. it is the key to this investigative effort because only the department of justice can hold accountable criminally anyone who violated the law. there is mounting evidence they colluded with the russian

michael flynn. the trump administration maintained flynn's conversations were not improper.t the confidence of the president. we need a more thorough accounting of the facts. many years ago an 18 minute gap transfixed the country and got any more attention. in this case we have an 18 day gap between the notification of the white house that a senior official had potentially been compromised and action taken against that senior official's role. at best the trump administration displayed serious errors of judgment. at worse they may reflect efforts of corruption at the hands of intelligence. my sincere hope is that this hearing and those to come will help us find out. thank you chairman. >> our two witnesses are well known and will be sworn in. he served his country for decades in uniform and out. dedicated his life to intelligence gathering. we appreciate that. miss yates was the former deputy attorney general, well respected by people in the legal profession. thank you both for coming. if you will please rise. raise your right hand, please. do you affirm that the testimony yo

michael flynn said call an economist. you can continue to see the downfall hoff not having michael franklin with him. i think you are potentially seeing a president who's uh hingds, not once has he come out and taken ownership or apologized -- he has taken ownership but has not apologized that he did anything remotely wrong. the white house is in scramble mode right now. >> they certainly are. john dean, you were white house counsel during the nixon administration. so what's happening now in the past couple of hours, does this seem fam to you? >> oh, boy, does it. if you'll think back, wolf, this is a direct parallel to what was in the smoking gun tape where the president asked the cia to intervene and halt the fbi investigation and that, of course, ended his presidency. >> all right. gloria, i want your final thoughts on what we have been learning over the past two hours. >> look, i think we're learning some very disturbing news and i think we have to let james comey speak for himself and let the process work for itself a

they have denied that, but what may she know that could be troublesome for michael flynn and the white house? >> first of all, she would know, not just the fact that flynn lied about the content of his conversation to the vice president, but she would also know potentially if there was an investigation going on, a counter intelligence investigation, to see whether general flynn was an agent for a foreign government, the russian government or maybe the turkish government even. so i think she would know more about what investigations were ongoing with regard to general flynn. now, she probably won't be able to talk about that today because that is still classified. she also might know whether the -- what the response was from the general council and what the council told the president. i think what is worrying here is for some reason after the general council -- >> let me interrupt you, if i can. we have exclusive reporting from the team, peter alexander is standing by, what can you tell us? >> reporter: this is breaking news that kristen welker and myself confirmed according to at least

let's begin with the breaking news about fired national security adviser michael flynn. cnn's diane gallagher is working the story for us. the senate intelligence committee probe is just one of the investigations looking at flynn. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. there are several inquiries into michael flynn right now on capitol hill, and that could be growing as well as the federal grand jury that's issued subpoenas for associates of the former national security adviser. sources say president donald trump's form national security adviser will invoke his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. >> michael flynn. >> reporter: refusing to comply with the senate intelligence committee subpoena for records of his communications with russian officials, a source close to flynn said it would be highly imprudent not to exercise the fifth amendment rights since several members of congress called for flynn owes prosecution. not a letter to the committee flynn's attorney wrote that the context of the subpoena, quote, makes it clear that he has more than a reasonable appreh

and why, after firing michael flynn, president trump continues to say michael flynn is a good man and some reports indicate president trump hopes michael flynn will return to white house service one day. why? why is president trump so protective of michael flynn? one answer may be that president trump knows that michael flynn was in that meeting when jared kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities for communicating directly with the kremlin. president trump should by now know that jared kushner could be convicted of a fon and sentenced to five years in prison for not revealing at meeting in his security clearance form. michael flynn has said through his lawyer, that he has a story to tell and he would like immunity to tell that story. now we know that michael flynn has a very, very important story to tell about jared kushner's meeting with the russian ambassador at trump tower when michael flynn finally does tell his story of that meeting that he was in. the question tonight is will he say, will michael flynn say that jared kushner was being extremely naive or absolutely c

, why president trump appointed michael flynn national security adviser even though he knew michael flynn was under fbi investigation, and why after firing michael flynn, president trump continues to say that michael flynn is a good man, and why some reports indicate that president trump hopes that michael flynn will be able to return to the white house service some day. why? why? is president trump so protective of michael flynn? one answer may be that president trump knows that michael flynn was in that meeting when jared kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities for communicating directly with the kremlin. president trump should by now know that jared kushner could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced to five years in prison for not revealing that meeting in his security clearance form. michael flynn has said through his lawyer that he has a story to tell. and he would like immunity to tell that story. now we know that michael flynn has a very, very important story to tell about jared kushner's meeting with the russian ambassador at trump tower. when michael flyn

michael flynn's participation and testimony and the documents the committee has requested for michaelynn related to any contacts between the former national security adviser and russian intelligence officials, those will not be part of the investigation. >> laura, explain for our viewers here in the united states and around the world the legal issues involved for general flynn right now. decision apparently to plead the fifth, refuse to answer questions from members of congress. the argument against that is if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide, why not just go up there and tell everything you know? >> the fifth amendment is geared towards providing you with protection not to incriminate yourself. people will say the fifth amendment is used by only the guilty are really short sided in the long run. the government has the burden to show your guilt. you don't have the burden to prove your innocence. therefore, it is actually prudent of him to make sure that he is not offering ways to incriminate himself given that he has at least four investigations around him. having

michael flynn. here was the president today. >> did you at any time urge james comey to back down the investigation on michael flyn >> no. no. next question. >> almost as if to rebut that charge, they said he prepared extensively for his meetings with the president. quote, comey practiced trump's likely questions and his answers with a small group of his most trusted comfort dantes. they said in part that he did not give trump any ammunition to use against him later. so comey is being very careful. and after meeting with trump, he started writing notes as soon as he got into a car to make sure he could accurately record what was said by the president. another associate said the notes of the january dinner conversation contained very nuanced quotes from the president and a high level of detail. let me go to michael this. it seems, the president once said he had tapes. that story is now dropped. against one of the guys who is a very careful note takers even to the point of 92 wants. >> and notes like

some 20 binder report at the end of all this. >> some other big news last night, tal, regarding michael flynn. in fact, he admitted to the trump transition team he was under federal investigation for lobbying on behalf of turkey. they knew before hearing from the justice department about flynn's lobbying and the federal investigation. what questions does this open up? >> you know, that reporting, you know, we still are working to corroborate. it's from "the new york times." certainly you have to wonder if the white house regrets a little bit how closely it intertwined itself with michael flynn. there is every indication the warning signs were there. we heard over and over obama administration officials warning the trump transition about taking him in to the inner circle. too closely. you heard from sally yates and perhaps the former president suggested it might not be a good idea. the trump administration and transition went full steam ahead with michael flynn. certainly a lot of the developments that have come out in the investigation have centered around mike flynn. this man. you do have to

from michael flynn. jared kushner is in the white house still and is as close to this president as one can get. >> that's right. so it will be hard for them to distance themselves presumably from jared kushner. but i think it's important on that note to make a distinction here. the investigation into michael flynn and to paul manafort and carter page, the three individuals you mentioned, is a little different. i think evan can speak to this too, than what's going on and where they are in the investigation with jared kushner. at this point what they know and what they're seeing is he's touching multiple parts because of his role in the campaign with the data analytics operation, with his meetings, you know, of course, with michael flynn and ambassador kislyak and the fact that he had such a big role in the transition. and so that is a big reason why investigators are scrutinizing his activities. when it comes to paul manafort and when it comes to michael flynn and carter page, as we have previously report

for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> tonight, what we now know about what michael flynn was doing with the russians and why president trump ignored all the warnings. >> president obama had told the incoming president elect that two days after the election, don't hire this guy. >> then, the kushner family caught selling real estate visas and access to the white house, why jared kushner's family is today apologizing with the reporter who broke the story, all of that and plus house republicans feel the heat at home over trump care. >> nobody dies because they don't have access to health care. "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, for the first time today, the person at the center of one of the most extraordinary dramas of the trump administration spoke out publicly. former acting attorney general sally yates telling members of congress that she clearly and repeatedly warned the trump white h

a congressional hearing has been told president trump was warned against hiring michael flynn as his onal security adviser, because general flynn was open to blackmail by the russians. sally yates — a former acting head of the justice department — told senators general flynn had lied about his contacts with the russian ambassador. despite this, he stayed in his highly—sensitive job for more than two weeks before he was forced to resign. here's some of sally yates‘ testimony. we weren't the only ones that knew all of this. the russians also knew about what general flynn had done and the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others because in the media accounts, it was clear from the vice president and others that they were repeating what general flynn had told them. and that this was a problem because not only did we believe that the russians knew this but they likely had proof of this information. and that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. sean spicer has b

this fills the gap in what kind of happened that made michael flynn stay on for so long. obama administration for not revoking general flynn's security clearance back in 2016. the president himself weighing in on twitter saying that the whole story of collusion is a hoax and a taxpayer funded charade. director clapper told everybody no evidence of pollution. actually, he was not made aware of the evidence because he was not made aware of the investigation —— collusion. he was not made aware of the investigation -- collusion. this senate judiciaries committee is one ofa senate judiciaries committee is one of a few probes. there is also the fbi. president trump has for a long time, been critical of comments about this, calling them a hoax. he wa nts to about this, calling them a hoax. he wants to get passed this in his presidency. he feels that it delegitimise as his presidency and has called it a hoax that there is any collusion between the trump administration and the russians. president trump has been forceful to cou ntera ct president trump has been forceful to counterac

, why president trump appointed michael flynn national security adviser even though he knew michael flynn was under fbi investigation, and why after firing michael flynn, president trump continues to say that michael flynn is a good man, and why some reports indicate that president trump hopes that michael flynn will be able to return to the white house service some day. why? why is president trump so protective of michael flynn? one answer may be that president trump knows that michael flynn was in that meeting when jared kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities for communicating directly with the kremlin. president trump should by now know that jared kushner could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced to five years in prison for not revealing that meeting in his security clearance form. michael flynn has said through his lawyer that he has a story to tell. and he would like immunity to tell that story. now we know that michael flynn has a very, very important story to tell about jared kushner's meeting with the russian ambassador at trump tower. when michael flynn

they never asked for an end to the investigation of michael flynn. that is their latest line. yes.e last couple of weeks we have heard from other members of the fbi, certainly from the acting director of the fbi that donald trump did not train influence the investigation. but this memo, this paper trail that a p pa re ntly but this memo, this paper trail that apparently has been left by james comey would be something that is given a great deal of credibility and would be admissible as evidence. so, certainly, all of those people around donald trump who have been scrambling almost daily to try and explain his actions will be taking this very seriously and we will wait to hear from them this very seriously and we will wait to hearfrom them in the coming hours. later in the programme, we will get reaction from somebody who served on the security council. also making news today. after north korea tested its latest long—range missile on sunday, the un security council has held an emergency, closed session. the us ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, says the united states is w

that's what the president said about michael flynn. >> three things.ne, comey was concerned enough, as you know, wolf, to take these notes down, concerned enough about trump, concerned enough about what he believed trump was asking him to do. two, in order to believe the white house's argument here you have to believe james comby is lying or that the memos that were red to michael schmidt at the "new york times" were misread in some way out of context, three, if james comey was lying and are h a vendetta against donald trump, he would have released this stuff or leaked it out shortly thereafter, he wouldn't wait in order to prereceiver the sanctity of the investigation into russia. it doesn't strich me that james comey had a vendetta against donald trump and would purposefully misinterpret. i think jeffrey toobin hits it and david axelrod hits it on the head, the white house has no choice but to dispute this account he said versus he said account because anything other than that puts them in significant legal peril. this is the only option, when is it'

trying to impact this election, but he's equally concerned about the leaks, about the unmasking of michael flynn. >> that's been the division here, republicans, not lindsey graham, but some republicans seem more concerned about the leaks than general flynn's behavior, and i think one other thing we learned at this hearing was that, you know, sean spicer had said that -- that sally yates had given them a, quote, heads up. it seems to me that what we learned today was that flynn had been interviewed by the fbi on january 24th and then there were two subsequent meetings with -- with sally yates and the white house counsel on january 26th and the 27th. she was not giving him a heads up. this was a red flag. that was not just oh, by the way, i think you ought to know about this. this was that the -- in fact, flynn's underlying conduct was what she called problematic, that the vice president and others wren titled ere entitled that the information they were telling the american public was not true and that the russians knew that general flynn was lying, so he was in a compromised position. they knew a

there was that report that he called michael flynn in the middle of the night and asked him economicong dollar good or bad for the economy to which michael flynn responded call an economist, i don't know. i think a lot of it still lies in what was this relationship about and what was this dependency all about. >> you worked at the fbi, what do you think about these reports that joe lieberman is the top possible list? >> this is a bit of a head scratcher. it's not because of joe lieberman's capabilities. i testified in front of him. he was terrific. the question is people have to look at the fbi and say are they independent of political pressure? we have a president of the united states who just removed the fbi director for political reasons. will the fbi remain independent of political pressure? joe lieberman's a great guy when you put a politician in as the fbi director instead of a judge or career prosecutor, how do you square that with saying we want to put somebody in who insures the fbi remains independent of politics. . >>> it is going to be a tough vote for democrats. i think

former security adviser michael flynn.o "washington post" trump transition officials warned flynn about his contacts with russian ambassador sergey kislyak weeks before the call that forced him out of his position. the story said flynn was told his conversations with kislyak were almost certainly being monitored by u.s. intelligence agencies. then a separate "associated press" report dropped this scoop. flynn's contacts with the russian ambassador set off barnicle bells for the obama administration about the trump teams russian ties. obama officials became so concerned about those contacts, they decided to delay telling the trump teams about their plans to delay telling about the election, might tip off moscow. nbc further reported obama administration tried to avoid that tip off by averting hours instead of days before the announcement. here with me now malcolm nance, nbc contributor, the plot to hack america. author of "how to catch a russian spy." msnbc security analyst evelyn farkas. i want to come to you first. i want

takeaway from this story if proven to be true today is just how dependent the president was on michael flynn. was it for nefarious reasons? is it because flynn knows of business deals the president may have had with russia? that's one explanation. the other is he was very reline upon general flynn, reline upon domestic issues, upon foreign policy issues. so that really did seem to rattle the president with not having him at his side, and i think we're seeing the fallout from that. >> life's complicated. thank you so much, malcolm nance and bianna golodryga. let's bring in justice correspondent pete williams. pete, obstruction of justice carries a lot of meaning to the civilian non-lawyer it means stopping the wheels of justice from coming at you, using your power to do it. what is it legally? >> i think you just said a moment ago that life is complicated, and this is complicated too. and i've talked to several federal prosecutors and not surprisingly they have different notions about whether the bare bones of what we know here would constitute obstruction of justice. the central thing here i

the president's associates may have been lured into criminal behavior without knowing it. >>> as michael flynn -- the subpoena -- from the fired national security adviser. can flynn be forced to comply? >>> terror hunt hours after a terror attack at an ariana grande concert. >>> tonight concerns that a new attack may be imminent as britain raises its terror threat levelst to the higher levels. >>>nd

michael flynn requested immunity through his lawyer in exchange for testimony.you think he should be granted immunity? >> you know, as these connections and questions about michael flynn mount up, the answer to that question more and more is, boy, what else does he know? no. by the way, it's possible -- i don't have any particular insight into the fbi investigation. but it's possible that he is a target of that investigation. if that is possible or certainly if that is true, there's no way congress should grant him immunity. as you know, anderson, immunity is granted when a proffer is made and a prosecutor or congress is comfortable there's a big fish out there to be gotten. in the criminal world you give immunity to a low level criminal in hope of using that to get a higher level criminal. it raises serious questions here. at this point, unless there's a good reason to grant him immunity, it's unlikely it would happen. >> i appreciate your time. one has to wonder what the mood is like on air force 1. president trump scheduled to land in saudi arabia. a short ti

candidacy for president, only one person has been held accountable for improper contacts with russia: michael flynn flynn. some were saying his actions were not improper, he just lost trust with the president. an 18-minute gap filled well. in this case we have an 18-day gap between the notification of the white house that a senior oe fes officials' role. these irregularities may compromise corruption at the hands of the russian intelligence. my hope is that these hearings and yet to come will help us find out. thank you, jeremy. >> our two witnesses are well known and i will be sworn in. but mr. clapper, the former director of national intelligence, has served. thank you both for coming raise your right hand, please. >> do you confirm that the information you're about to give to the subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. [ inaudible ] >> general graham, ranking members of the white house and is members of the subcommittee, i certainly didn't expect to be before this committee or any other committee. i thought i was all done with this when i l

james comey to end his investigation into the administration's first national security adviser michael flynn who was fired. here's the importance of it. if this latest allegation is proven true it's a sign that president trump attempted to exert command influence on the fbi's investigation into possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia. so this is already being described as a grave turn in the drama surrounding the trump presidency, raising questions of attempted obstruction of justice which in turn raising questions whether it could be high crimes and misdeamnor and that's a constitutional standard for impeachment of a u.s. president. this memo drafted by the now fired fbi director james comey asking him to shut down the investigation, here's the quote, we haven't seen this memo yet. here's the quote. i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he's a good guy. i hope you can let this go. this story first reported by "new york times". the president told comey that flynn did nothing wrong, we're told despite the fact that he was fired for lying t

let's get a little clarity on what exactly michael flynn was up to in that 18-day period from the time sally yates first alerted the white house to a potential phlegm with flynn and the time he was fired. we pulled read-outs, schedules and press coverage of that time to find out what we knew of what flynn was doing. on january 28th he was listening in on a phone call between vladimir putin and donald trump there in the oval office. there is a photograph of him there in the oval office with donald trump. on january 29th, flynn was in the room as the president called the king of saudi arabia. on february 1st, flynn was at the white house briefing where he came out and officially put iran on "notice." you remember that briefing. so february 13th, flynn attended a joint press confence with prident trump and the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau. he was fired later that night. initially it came out that he had resigned. the next day the white house clarified to say that he was fired. sean spicer was asked by our own hallie jackson whether or not it was the right call looking back to h

his campaign conspired as the hearing on michael flynn gets red-hot. we'll have reaction for you. good morning vietnam lauren simonetti. nicole: good morning. i'm nicole petallides. an appeals court pack. skepticism over the delivered price travel ban. we will have destroyed the reaction. lauren: s&p and nasdaq hitting record highs amid strong earnings season. the outlook for one manager coming up. stock market futures ahead of the opening bell. nasdaq futures at one point. dow futures at 13. nicole: south kores customer market close for election day voters to pick their next president there. in japan the nikkei edged lower after the 2.3% gain. lauren: liz claman interferes with his on the american presidency. train to the big earnings news today will come from the magic kingdom. the court counterstrike down disney results? lauren: and sports, golden state warriors their second playoff series eliminating the utah jazz and the washington capitals dominate the pittsburgh entrance, forcing a decisive game seven in their series. we will have highlights. nicole: good morning. i for 1:0

why did it take 18 days for michael flynn to resign? former acting attorney general sally yates tried to lay it all out for lawmakers disclosing she warned the white house three times about michael flynn's misstatements and filled in the chain of events that led to general palestinian's ouster as national security adviser. >> we felt it was critical we get this information to the white house. we believed general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> reporter: sally yates testifying she urgently warned the white house on three separate occasions that michael flynn misled vice president pence about his conversations with the russian ambassador. >> likely the russians had proof of this information and that created a compromise situation. a situation where the national security adviser could be blackmailed by the russians. >> reporter: her testimony contradicting the white house's muted account in mid-february. >> the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wanted to give, quote, a heads-up to us.

meanwhile, an important deadline has arrived for former national security adviser michael flynn. y is the day flynn is due to respond to two subpoenas from the senate intelligence committee involving his businesses. he invoked the fifth amendment to an earlier request the committee made for his personal records. phil mattingly is joining us. phil, what do we know about the subpoenas and how do they differ from the earlier request? >> they're more tailored. they're more narrow. that was intentional. one of the reasons michael flynn said he was going to decline to provide any documents in the subpoena was it was overruoverl. there are a lot of concerns given there are subpoenaed that have been issued via a grand jury in a federal investigation about getting involved in a senate panel investigation as well, wolf. what these two subpoenas that michael flynn is supposed to respond to today, i'm told he still hasn't responded to this point, would go after doucument after two business entities owned by michael flynn. the idea that michael flip has decided to invoke his fifth amendment pr

big step in pushing the ball back in michael flynn's court. >> sunlund thank you. let's get some more on all of this with the racking democrats. adam shift, congressman thank you for joining us. do you believe general flynn 5th amendment right extend to business document related to his foreign work and payments? >> no i don't. and we have been also been turned down in our request by mr. flynn to come and testify and provide documents. we are going to be entertaining the same options in terms of our subpoena which i hope will go out shortly to obtain these documents. there are court decisions that provide there may be a limited 5th amendment right in terms of document production, but it is only limited. i don't think it does extend to businesses and even with respect to the person of michael flynn, if these are documents that the person the target is known to possess then their testimonial character is a lot less. and even those documents may not be covered by an in vocation of the 5th amendment. we need to pursue these documents aggressively. >> are you prepared to

and michael flynn was on that plane every -- almost every single day. he was with him through thick and through thin and he was at the end of the campaign out there to his peril screaming lock her up. so he was -- donald trump felt a loyalty to mike el flynn. whether or not that's because he was very close to him or there was something else that maybe michael flynn knew things that he wanted to keep him in the fold. we don't know the answer to that. >> what the white house was telling nbc news right before we came on was that of course obama doesn't like michael flynn. he was openly critical of him during the election. obama fired him. there's a lot of bad blood there. perhaps then the president-elect took what obama said as kind of sour grapes, that would not be beyond the realm of possibility. >> it's interesting this news coming out just moments before this hugely anticipated testimony this afternoon. almost designed it seems to show that these warnings were coming from all angles from the previous administration. they were coming in fast and furious

lieutenant general michael flynn's friend joins me. why he says flynn didn't want to be president trump's national security adviser. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market. be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you

said he was let go because of trust not because he did anything illegal. >> the president thought michael flynndo anything wrong, there's not a legal issue rather a trust issue. >> do you agree there was no legal issue with flynn's under lying behavior zpr i don't know how the white house reached the conclusion there was no legal issue it certainly wasn't from my discussion with them. >> do you think michael flynn should be fired. >> whether he's fired or not is a decision for the president of the united states to make but doesn't seem like that's the person should be sitting in the security national security position. >> did you leak to the washington post? >> absolutely not. >> did you authorize someone to leak to the post. >> i did not and would not leak classified information. >> have you ever leaked classified information. >> no. >> the president seems to suggest you were behind this. the morning before you testified he tweeted ask sally yates if she knows class actiified information -- what did you think. >> there's been a number of tweets that have given me pause. >> if you hadn't been f

trump in person only two days after the november 8th election against hiring michael flynn. >> i don't have any direct knowledge of that warning. it wouldn't surprise me. i think if the president knowing -- president obama thoughing flynn was not a good manager of the defense intelligence agency and that's why he was let go and knowing he was tapped to be national security adviser wouldn't surprise me that came up in conversation, but i don't have direct knowledge of that. >> what about the argument from sean spicer that in april of 2016, the obama administration renewed his security clearances. >> it's a huge effort and distraction. in april 2016 flynn was no longer working for the obama administration. he was let go in 2014. but what happens former officials is they try to hold on to their security cleanss clearances. when they expire, they e get reupped. that's done by the agency that the person used to work for. that's totally different than bringing someone in as national security adviser who then has to go through a much more elaborate clearance process and vetting process. that

you know, we knew sort of that chris cristie and michael flynn had their issues.his morning we heart it outloud from chris cristie. listen to his interview with george stef nop lis this morning on general flynn. >> i actually did warn the president about the national security advisor. >> my advice to the president is my advice to the president and i don't talk about that publically. suffice to say that general flynn and i didn't necessarily see eye to eye on certain things. >> that may be the understatement of the century. there aren't a lot of people lining up as general michael flynn fans right now. >> of course they're not lining up now because more is being exposed. you know, and you have to think about this. this is a real issue. this is -- and people are talking about, other, when is this going to stop? we haven't seen collusion as of yet. but the issue is and it goes back to the point that the 20 -- the 2016 elections had tampering from russia. we found out about it in october and it was diminished. the day we found out about it was the day we found out abo

one is about michael flynn -- both are about michael flynn. they are saying that the trump transition team knew michael flynn was under investigation when they named his as trump adviser and before the inauguration, flynn made the decision on behalf of the trump team that benefited turkey and turkey had paid him upwards of $500,000 as a lobbyist. >> that's right. january 4th, michael flynn went to the transition team to tell him that he was under investigation for working as a paid lobbyist. still unclear as to what donald trump knew about this, if it rose to that level and then later on before trump is innaugarated, susan rice, the national security adviser for president obama at that time goes to michael flynn and asks him about whether or not the obama administration should launch an offensive, that the pentagon should go ahead with this plan in syria to take raqqa and work with the syrian kurds. and flynn says, no, they shouldn't go ahead with this plan. he, of course, in this way in saying no, comes down on the side of the turkish governm