the saudi government denies any connection to them let's speak to michael isikoff about this his the chief investigative correspondent at yahoo news and joins us from washington d.c. via skype michael thank you for being with us so. this is information the trumpet ministration in recent months had been working very hard to prevent internal documents related to 911 being made public and being released to the victims' families how could the f.b.i. have inadvertently revealed such sensitive information and was this really a slip up. oh well it's a very good question and yes it was a slip up because when i noticed that. the declaration included this information. i on monday contacted the f.b.i. for comment because i knew that the justice department and been going to avonlea trump administration as a whole of it going to extraordinary lengths to keep all of this under wraps in fact both attorney general william barr and the acting director of national intelligence richard grinnell and filed motions with the court saying that any information relating to the saudi embassy official and all in

and then the reporter is michael isikoff.ichael isikoff is one of my old nemesis is from way back when i worked at the justice department. he used to call every friday night when he worked at "newsweek" they call it friday 5:00 and say hey, we are going to blow up your world on sunday. we have got a comment and then we would have to work all weekend and he's always been an investigative reporter. then i see that the press secretary to the former president is asked about the sleek and she says nothing in that article is inaccurate. which to me says it wasn't a leak. he was given to michael isikoff to get it out there so there would be some sort of obama era push back against the story except i don't think the obama team recognizes just how damaging this is. and that leaky calls like this to say they're concerned about the rule of law is not going to cut it. they have a lot more questions to answer. let's hear them out. would love to hear them. they can't continue to whisper these leaks and think that it's going to cut it for t

michael isikoff excellent reporting as usual. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks a lot, wolf. >>> so what happens after the pandemic? watch the post covid-19 world with fareed zakaria tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on cnn. also today for the first time in months many californians went out, could hit the golf course and hike on trails. but what are officials doing to make sure people maintain social media -- social distancing? we're going to los angeles. a lot more on all the breaking news when we come back. brushes to clean all your floors. and with patented dirt detect technology, roomba finds dirt throughout your home. if it's not from irobot, it's not a roomba. when bugs move in we stress out and spray. well, we used to. new ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier kills and prevents bugs for up to a year without odors, stains or fuss. new ortho home defense max. bugs gone. stress gone. can match the power of energizer. because energizer ultimate lithium is the longest lasting aa battery in the wor

michael isikoff, abid jamali wrote the following about him. he said the threat has been neutralized. it is not about justice, it is about neutralizing a threat. getting rid of him, having him plead, he won't be able to serve in another administration, the warnings about him are on the table as to the threat of him n your view and your investigation what threat did he pose to u.s. national security if any? >> well, couple of points. one of the extraordinary things about the decision to drop the charges against michael flynn is not a single career prosecutor at the justice department signed that motion to the judge asking that the charges be dismissed. it was signed by one man, home to timothy shay, the political appointee who is the u.s. attorney, in the district of columbia, based on the recommendation of jeff jensen, the u.s. attorney, the political appointee in st. louis and approved by barr, a political appointee. it is in my many years of reading justice department filings, i cannot remember seeing one in which not a single career prosecut

the 19911 hijackers were citizens of saadi arabia the saudi government denies any connection michael isikoff is chief investigative correspondent yahoo news he says the official f.b.i. account of saudi arabia's link to 911 differs from what was revealed in court. the saudis are critical ally of the us government despite all the strains and u.s. saudi relations over the years particularly the murder of jamal khashoggi the. the washington post journalist and. revealing information that the f.b.i. argues is inconclusive i should point that out that in the same declaration the f.b.i. assistant director for counterterrorism argues that the evidence is not that strong that it was more a theory of the agents then an actual conclusion that the embassy official was involved that is the f.b.i. is official position it's different than what's can be found in the documents and i think that if the f.b.i. concluded the justice department concluded that it was inconclusive information that it did not wasn't sufficient to build a criminal case against the saudi embassy official then better to keep it all und

reporter michael isikoff.t leaked audio coming into question in a devastating response to that, that audio constitutional law professor jonathan turley said this of obama's lecture: president obama is being quoted on flynn saying there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury getting off scot-free. first and foremost, says jonathan turley, flynn was not charged with perjury as the president claimed. second, we now know obama discussed charging flynn under the logan act which has never been used successfully to convict anyone and is flagrantly unconstitutional. third professor turley goes on to say this reaffirms reports that president obama was personally invested in this effort. turley says, quote: finally, there is precedent contradicting the president outright. there is a specific rule allowing for this motion under federal rule of criminal procedure 48a. there are specific supreme court cases like grimaldi v. united states addressing the standard for such dismissa

of the 19 hijackers were citizens of saudi arabia that government denies any connection well michael isikoff is the chief investigative correspondent at yahoo news and he says the f.b.i. insists that the evidence is inconclusive. the saudis are critical ally of the us government despite all the strains and u.s. saudi relations over the years particularly the murder of jamal khashoggi the. the washington post journalist and. revealing information that the f.b.i. argues is inconclusive i should point that out that in the same declaration the f.b.i. assistant director for counterterrorism argues that the evidence is not that strong that it was more a theory of the agents then an actual conclusion that the embassy official was involved that is the f.b.i. is official position it's different than what's going to be found in the documents and i think that if the f.b.i. concluded the justice department concluded that it was inconclusive information that it did not wasn't sufficient to build a criminal case against the saudi embassy official then better to keep it all under wraps then let the layers