mr. flynn's conduct. the white house also publicly denied that mr. flynn and the russian ambassador discussed sanctions. of course on february 13th, 2017, mr. flynn resigned as national security adviser. now, director comey, all of these accounts are open source press reportings. given russia's long standing desire to cultivate relations with influential u.s. persons, isn't the american public right to be concerned about mr. flynn's conduct. his failure to disclose that contact with the russian ambassador and attempts to cover it up. it looks like white house attempts to sweep this under a drug. don't we as american people have a right to know and shouldn't our fbi investigate job claims? >> i can't comment. i understand people's curiosity about our work and intense interest in it and often times speculation about it. we can't do it well or fairly to the people we investigate if we talk about it. i can't comment. >> i would like to turn to another topic to fl flynn. his failure to disclose until pressured last week by my colleagues on the house oversi

mr. flynn's conduct. the white house also publicly denied mr. flynn and the russian ambassador discussed sanctions and of course on february 13th, 2017 mr. flynn resigned as national security adviser. director comey all of these accounts are open source press reportings. given rush aia's desire to cultivate relations with u.s. persons isn't the american public right to be concerned about from pl flynn's conduct, his failure to disclose that contact with the russian ambassador, his attempts to cover it up, and what looks like the white house's attempts to sweep this under the rug don't we as the american people deserve a right to know and shouldn't our fbi investigate such claims? >> i can't comment. i understand people's curiosity about our work and intense interest in it and as mr. king said oftentimes speculation about it, but we kcht' do it well or fairly to the people we investigate if we talk about it so i can't comment. >> i'd like to turn to another topic about mr. flynn his failure to disclose until pressured last week by my colleagues on

mr. flynn exchanged text messages with the russian ambassador. on december 28th, 2016, mr. mr. flynn reportedly spoke on the phone with the russian ambassador. by then it was pretty clear that the obama administration was going to take actions against russia. on december 29th, 2016, mr. flynn reportedly spoke on the phone with the russian ambassador again. that day the obama administration expelled 35 -- and announced a new sanctions. we also know from the press reporting said sometimes in december mr. flynn met with the russian ambassador at trump tower, and that mr. trump's son in law was also there. the purpose of the meeting was to establish a line of communication with the kremlin. i should add that the white house and mr. flynn did not disclose this december face-to-face meeting until this month. on january 20th -- january 12th, 2017, the press reported that mr. flynn contacted the russian ambassador again. and on january 15th, 2015, vice president elect mike speenineteen -- pence said that i cannot confirm that those conversations took the diplomats, having nothing whatso

mr. flynn's conduct. the white house also publicly denied that mr. flynn and the russian ambassador discussed sanctions. of course, on february 13th, 2017 mr. flynn resigned as national security advisor. now, director comey, all of these accounts are open source press reportings. given russia's longstanding desire to cultivate relations with influential u.s. persons, isn't the american public right to be concerned about mr. flynn's conduct, his failure to disclose that contact with the russian ambassador, his attempts to cover it up, and what looks like the white house's attempts to sweep this under the rug? don't we as the american people deserve the right to know and shouldn't our fbi investigate such claims? >> i can't comment. i understand people's curiosity about our work and intense interest in it, and mr. king said oftentimes speculation about it, but we can't do it well or fairly to the people we investigate if we talk about it. i can't comment. >> i would like to turn to another topic about mr. flynn. his failure to disclose until pressured l

mr. flynn's conduct. the white house publicly denied that mr. flynn and the russian massacre discussed sanctions. director comey, all of these pressts are open-source --orting straight given isn't the american public right to be concerned about mr. flynn's conduct? his attempts to cover it up in what looks like the white house attempts to sweep it under the rug. don't we deserve the right to know and shouldn't our fbi investigating such claims? dir. comey: i can't comment. i understand will turn off of the. well or fairly to the people we investigate or talk about. return to another topic. payments he received to russia , according torip classifiede 2017 d and long-standing, anti-u.s. messaging likely named at undermining viewers trust in the democratic procedures. this is a says that russian -- employed going back to the 20 sony -- 20's 12. how long has the intelligence community been looking at rt as an arm of the russian government? >> we are certainly aware and have been for some time. >> how long have you known about it? >> some number of ye

then mr. flynnsaid, quote, yeah, i didn't take any money from russia if that is what you're asking me, end quote. so director comey, isn't it true that the house oversight committee last week received information and released publicly that mr. flynn accepted nearly $35,000 in speaking fees and traveling fees from rt, this government, russian government-owned media outlet? >> i believe i've seen news accounts to that effect. >> moreover, isn't it also true that according to the emoluments close of the united states constitution a person holding any office of profit or trust can not accept exists or payments from a foreign, from a foreign country? and doesn't the do confident, the department of defense prohibit retired military officers from taking any consulting fees, gifts, traveling expenses hon rare yum or salary from a foreign government including commercial enterprises or owned by or controlled by a foreign government like rt? >> not something i can comment on. >> an you speak to whether or not

and they are that mr. flynn lied about his communications with mr.russian ambassador and flynn live on taking money from the russian government and mr. flynn at eight minimum did not disclose his work as an agent of a foreign power and that the white house did not help in this concern. gentlemen, it is clear to me that mr. flynn should be under criminal investigations. i know you cannot comment. i believe it is my duty as a member of this committee to comment to the american people his engagement of lying and failure to disclose really important information in contact with a foreign ambassador do rise to the level of disclosure intent., criminal so i say this to say the american people deserve to know the full extent of mr. flynn's involvement with the russians and the extent to which it influence the 2016 election. i believe our democracy requires it. i yelled back to my ranking member. >> time expired. i recognize myself for the team that is. mr. comey and mr. rogers, you both said the russians had favored don

and then mr. flynn said, quote, yeah, i didn't take any money from russia if that's what you are asking me. end quote. director comey, isn't it true that the house oversight committee last week received information and released publicly that mr. flynn accepted nearly $35,000 in speaking fees and traveling fees from rt, this government -- run-government owned media outlet? >> i believe i've seen news accounts to that effect. >> moreover, isn't it also true that according to the emoluments clause of the united states constitution a person holding any office of profit or trust cannot accept gifts or payments from a foreign country? and doesn't the dod, the department of defense, tribute prohibit retired military officers from taking any consulting fees, gifts, traveling expenses, honorariums or salary from foreign government including commercial enterprises owned by or controlled by a foreign government like rt? >> that's not something i can comment on. >> can you speak to whether or not the emodel you mea

mr. flynn's conduct. the white house also publicly denied mr. flynn and the russian ambassador discussed sanctions and of course on february 13th, 2017 mr. flynn resigned as national security adviser. director comey, all of these accounts are open source press reportings. given russians' long-standing desire to cultivate relations with influential u.s. persons, isn't the american public right to be concerned about mr. flynn's conduct, his failure to disclose that contact with the russian ambassador, his attempts to cover it up, and what looks like the white house's attempts to sweep this under the rug? don't we as the american people deserve the right to know and shouldn't our fbi investigate such claims? >> i can't comment. i understand people's curiosity about our work and intense interest in it and as mr. king said oftentimes speculation about it, but we can't do it well or fairly to the people we investigate if we talk about it so i can't comment. >> i'd like to turn to another topic about mr. flynn, his failure to disclose until pressured la

i hastily add that mr. flynnis spokesman have denied this occurred at the meeting but this -- >> let me read their statement. as you said a spokesman for general flynn disputed your statement. the claim made by mr. woolsy or anyone else during a meeting with turkish officials in new york is false. no such discussion occurred nor did mr. woolsy ever inform general flynn he had any concerns whatsoever regarding the meeting either before he chose to attend or after it. what's your reaction to that? >> well, it's true i never informed flynn, and i definitely would not take that path. i informed other people who i thought were quite responsible. i was -- i don't know what was going through flynn's mind in taking the course that he took. and as i've said several times including this evening, i'm not claiming that there was a concrete plan that was being fleshed out at the meeting. but there was a good deal of discussion of that general direction that james had so well described of trying to put a goo on essentially out

page and mr. flynnanswer questions about their contacts with the russians or the russian agents. what they knew, when they knew it, and we need to understand a fuller picture, including the president's own ties, his sons have said russian dollars are very important to their business. so while we need to get mr. stone in, we need to get him under oath and we need to understand what were his communications, not just with gucifer 2.0, but also with wikileaks. he said over and over again that he communicated with wikileaks. it seems clear that both wikileaks and gucifer 2.0 have committed cyber crimes against the united states, against persons in the united states. so we need to understand what mr. stone's involvement, if any, was. >> so three out of the four that you just mentioned volunteered to testify. we are still waiting to hear whether mike flynn will be called upon or whether he will volunteer next. doug, despite the intel officials testimony that gucifer was a russian asset, stone says they are wro

is it a coincidence that mr. flynn would lie about a meeting with the same russian ambassador when they spoke over sanctions over russian hacking? is it a coincidence that the russian gas company sold a 19% share afr former british intelligence officer steele was told by russi sources that carter page was offered fees on a deal of just that size? is it a coincidence that steele as you russian sources also affirmed that russia had stolen documents hurtful to secretary clinton that it would utilize in exchange for pro-russian policies that would later come to pass? is it a coincidence that roger stone predicted that john podesta would be a victim of a private hack and have e-mails published and do so before mr. podesta himself was fully aware that his private e-mail would be exposed? is it possible that all of these events and reports are completely unrelated and nothing more than an entirely unhappy coincidence? yes, it is possible. but it is also possible, maybe more than possible, that they are not coincidental, not d

mr flynn's lawyer says his client has a story to tell. the question is, what is it? beans to spill, or whether this is just a giant tin of beans to spill, or whether this isjust a prudent giant tin of beans to spill, or whether this is just a prudent act of self protection. as you can imagine, there's a huge amount of speculation. the way the lawyer phrased it suggests it's the former, there is a lot to tell. we have the situation where the former national security adviser is out there seeking protection. this is the same man who during the election campaign was leading the chanting about hillary clinton, to lock her up over a private e—mail server. i don't know if we are going through a spy novel or modern morality tale. some people are reacting and saying he shouldn't be given legal protection. the chairman of the select committee, said it was a brave and momentous step. donald trump has said he's right to protection from this. this is the same donald trump who during the campaign said, if you're not guilty of a crime, why do you're not guilty of a crime, why do yo

the president then praises the man who lied, mr. flynnastigates the press for exposing the lie. now, is it possible that the removal of the ukraine provision from the gop platform was a coincidence? is it a coincidence that jeff sessions failed to sell the senate with his meetings with the russian ambassador. not only at the convention but his more private meeting in his office? at a time when the u.s. election was under attack by the russians? is it a coincidence that michael flynn would lie about a conversation he had with the same russian ambassador about the most pressing issue facing boast h both countries at the time they spoke. the u.s. in position of sanctions over russian hack can i of our election designed to help donald trump? is it a coincidence that the russian gas company sold a 19% share after former british intelligence officer steele was told by russian sources that carter page was offered fees on a deal of just that size? is it a coincidence that steele's russian sources also affirmed that russia had stolen documents hur

it is very clear that donald trump and the people around him and particularly mr. flynn and mr. sessions who have already lied about this, do not want the facts known about what happened in the campaign, about the business relationships around the trump organization, with russians, ethno-russians, et cetera, et cetera. it is why we need a select committee or a special prosecutor can and why those numbers that you just put up about why the public wants it, including republicans >> how much cover are congressional republicans willing to give the president? >> i think it's a matter of time right now. because what he's doing right now be now, we're not talking enough about, it's incredibly reckless what he as done. let's assume it is true. fine if is true, it's reckless that he would go to twitter on a saturday morning. >> you're saying true that the fich fisa. >> he can't do that. or if the fisa court decided to do so. let's assume that was the case and he tried to do a head fake on everybody. how much more incredibly reckless is that and where does his credibility stand not only w

president trump tweeted his agreement, and said mr flynn had been the victim of a "witch hunt".l has the latest. the allegations that just won't go away — that there was collusion between the russian government and the trump team during last year's election. and much of the attention is now focused on this man, general michael flynn. until a few weeks ago, he was the national security adviser, and one of those closest to the president. but his fall from grace has been swift, after he was found to have lied to the vice president over his contacts with the russians. michael flynn held conversations with the russian ambassador in washington, which, among other things, discussed the lifting of us sanctions against russia — which he denied. he was paid $45,000 to attend a dinner in moscow, hosted by the tv station russia today, and was seated at the same table as vladimir putin. he also lobbied on behalf of another foreign government, turkey, although that wasn't disclosed at the time. today, donald trump rallied to his side with this tweet: "mike flynn should ask for immunity, in th

the president praises the man who lied, mr. flynn, and castigates the press for exposing the lie. >> the most important line in there, "the president does nothing." the republicans on the committee were not investigating why the president did nothing. for two weeks after discovering michael flynn's lie, the republicans on the committee were not investigating why the president only fired michael flynn after the lie became public in press reports. the republicans on the committee were outraged. outraged by the press reports, themselves, that revealed michael flynn to be a liar. the outrage was that those press reports were based on leaks. >> talking about the significance of leaks and how important it is we stop them. and to me, and i've been here a while, i've never seen such a sustained period of leaks. >> he didn't pay much attention to the benghazi committee which was leaking constantly. the republicans spent the entire time condemning the leaks and throwing out names of obama administration officials just as wild guesses for whom

there is a form called the sf-86 that's dozens of pages long that mr. flynn and everyone else in the national security council staff had to file before they could take their positions. so, clearly there is absolutely no excuse for them not knowing of this critical fact. especially when the contract involved about $500,000 which is not chump change. >> $530,000, more than half a million dollar to be precise. why do you think he waited until this week to go ahead and do the paperwork with the justice department? because if you are lobbying on behalf of a foreign government and you don't register with the justice department, potentially they could go after you as a felony. >> well, wolf, that's another question. apparently mr. flynn's lawyers had even approached the white house about this much earlier which adds a bit more doubt to the white house's claims that they were unaware of this. but still, it's clear that he was trying to do the job on behalf of his turkish clients, even well after the nomination process was over when he should have been turning his foc

the guys that used to be one of the most respected army in held i didn't ens officers out there, mr. flynna secretary advisor. he got tripped up in this investigation. and chairman nunes said crimes were committed here, in terms of how he was surveilled and more specifically how his name was released. what are your thoughts on that? >> yeah i think that's problem matt i can. it doesn't seem like the media seems that interested in the legality tell you of those leaks. it's important for chairman nunes to mention that. the fact that these investigations are ongoing. they said fbi correct director comey will testify on march 20th and 28th, it's important to get to the bottom of this. there's been a lot of recklessness to go around. president trump has a responsibility to ensure that the information he's putting out there is substantiated and be careful in the language that he's using. >> jon: you're doubting what he tweeted? >> so far i hope that the white house produces that information. so far there's been nothing to substantiate that. of course that's a concern. it's equally concerning tha

top officials at the justice department clearly warned the white house that mr. flynn was vulnerable to russian blackmail. he resigned only after it became clear that he misled the public and the vice president about the substance of these off-the record conversations. but it doesn't just end there. the attorney general, at best, misled the judiciary committee during his confirmation hearings about his record of contact with russian officials. he testified under oath that he, quote -- quote -- did not have communications with the russians during the campaign. when it became clear that he actually met with the russian ambassador at least twice last year, including a one-on-one meeting in the final weeks of the campaign, he was forced to recuse himself from the justice department's criminal investigation into this very, very serious issue. it has been my experience that when people are caught covering up their meetings and contacts with someone, they usually have something to hide. if you have nothing to hide, there's no reason for a cover-up. the serious national securi

the president then praises the man who lied, mr. flynn, and cast i gates the press for exposing the lie. is it possible that the removal of the ukraine provision from the republican platform is a coincidence? is it coincidence that the future attorney general met with the russian ambassador? is it a coincidence that michael flynn would lie about a conversation he had with the same russian ambassador about the issue facing both countries, the imposition of u.s. sanctions over russian hacking of our election designed to help donald trump? is it a coincidence that rosneft sold a 19% share after former british intelligence officer steele was told by russian sources that carter page was offered a deal of just that size? is it a coincidence that steele's russian sources also affirmed that russia had stolen documents hurtful to secretary clinton that it would utilize in exchange for pro-russian policies that would later come to pass? is it a coincidence that roger stone predicted that john podesta could be a victim of a russian hack and have his

. >> mr. flynnmonitored because he was talking to a foreign official and the intelligence agencies in america have routinely and it has been known forever monitor calls of foreignofficials. mr. flynn himself was not under surveillance. so, farce we know. here's the real problem. there isn't anybody who's looked at this, not democrats and republicans in congress, not fox news, not the intelligence agencies in the united states. there is no evidence for what the president said. and he is being asked by credible republicans to retract what is essentially a dishonest, completely false allegation about the president of the united states tapping, wiring, listening to trump in trump tower. you know, there is no evidence of it. and it doesn't do the country, the presidency any good for him to keep peddling this. when he gestures at merkel in a light-hearted joke, u.s., officials are surveilled by americans. >> joel, you think it's okay for officials like mike flynn to be listened in on and merkel to be list

mr. flynn's lie, not at the fact that the country was misled. and i think those facts were facts the white house did not want to come out in this open hearing and the timing certainly raised a lot of questions about whether the white house preference had a lot to to with changing where this investigation was headed. >> well, congressman schiff, thank you. we're out of time, but we do have more questions for you, so we hope you return in the future. >> sure. >>> president trump is reversing course and say he'll have a health care deal, quote, very quickly. they could reach a bipartisan agreement over a potential future plan. according to the cbs news poll, no one blames anyone. half of the people say the bill failed because it just wasn't popular. margaret brennan is at the white house. good morning. >> good morning. the president appeared newly confident that he'll strike a deal with senate leader. last night he told a bipartisan group of 61 senators and their wives he wants to negotiate. >> i have no doubt about that. that's an easy one. i have

should get immunity. >> reporter: any comment on michael flynn, mr. president? eporter: president trump facing new questions tonight on michael flynn, his former national security advisers whose shadow still looms large at the white house. flynn is offering to testify in exchange for immunity in the growing probe of russia meddling in the 2016 election. flynn, a retired army general fired after only 26 days in office for misleading congress for contacts with the russian ambassador. the president took the unusual step of inserting himself in an ongoing investigation saying on twitter mike flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch-hunt, excuse for a big election loss, by media and dems of historic proportion. white house press secretary sean spicer amplified that position today. >>y will believes mike flynn should go up there and testify and do what he has to do to get the story out. >> reporter: immunity offer for flynn was rebuffed by the senate intelligence committee and drew skepticism from congressmen like jason chaffetz who took issue with the cha

mr. flynn's lie, not the fact that the country was misled.hink those facts were facts the white house did not want to come out in this open hearing. the timing certainly raised a lot of questions about whether the white house preference had a lot to do with changing where this investigation was headed. >> well, congressman schiff, thank you. we're out of time but we do have more questions for you so we hope you'll return in the future. >> sure. >>> president trump is reversing course and saying he will have a health care deal, quote, very quickly. the president predicted last night that congress could reach a bipartisan agreement over a potential future plan. today's cbs poll shows americans don't blame anyone for the failure but it failed because it just wasn't popular. margaret brennan is at the white house with the president's message on health care. >> reporter: good morning. president trump appears newly confident about the possibility of striking a deal with senate leaders. at a dinner here at the white house last night, mr. trump told

>> we have not spoken to mr. flynn at this point. >> [ inaudible ] without seeing mr. trump's -- [ inaudible ]? >> yes, i am. >> i think we ought to look into obviously the full range of active measures the russians employed. if one of the russian active measures was the same as what they have done in europe, that is, financially entangle people as a way of exerting influence over them, then it may be within the scope of our investigation. but i don't think we want to begin with that conclusion. >> is there a problem with president trump's tweets, do you have any communications with anyone in the white house, with the problem of when the president tweets something, that you, allies of the president say is flat-out wrong? >> well, look, i -- we've talked about this here at these press conferences before. i think the president tweeting is a good thing. and there's a fine line between having too many people monitoring what he's saying. and then no one monitoring what he's saying. but look, he's the president of the united states. i think him tweeting, i think the american

mr. trump's role. what did he know? when did he know it? if flynn gets immunity -- i agree with mr. donald trump's tweet. we should get immunity. if he has information that is important, get it out there. this is a crisis. our country was attacked. >> ambassador and i could agree. i want to know what russia tried to do in the election and i don't think we hold back on knowing what this information is. let's let the american people know. number two, surveillance is a very, very important thing that happens that the government does and it is powerful. if you allow a president or administration to go beyond the confines of the law and if we find out information that it happened, we should treat that seriously. guess what? the most recent president can then do the same thing which is a problem. >> you don't know if it is that. >> you don't either. >> you agree with me -- >> hold on. it could be incidental collection? >> let's be clear. if it is what we call incidental, what we know is the charge -- you know what it means? it means almost every conversation that can happen. that is the p

including myself, for example. >> i ask these questions because on at least four occasion, i can count, mr. flynn, a three-star general and former intelligence officers, someone with influence over the u.s. policy and someone with knowledge of state secrets and the incoming national security adviser communicated with and met with the russian ambassador and failed to disclose it. so i ask you, directors, if you wouldn't stand for own staff to do this, why should we, the american people, search michael flynn doing it? >> mr. sewell, i can't speak to what the disclosure obligations are for other people in the dpft so it's hard for me to answer that. i can answer and i answered i hope accurately with respect to one of the special agents. >> and i likewise would answer the same way with the nsa. >> i yield myself 15 minutes. director comey, you announced this morning there will be an investigation into trump associates possible and president trump and anyone around the campaign in association with the russian government. if this committee or anyone else from that matter, someone with the public, comes

and then praise the man who lied, mr. flynn and castigates the press for exposing the lie.of the ukraine provision from the gop platform was a coincidence? is it a coincidence jeff sessions failed to tell the senate about his meetings with the russian ambassador in a more private meeting when the u.s. election was under attack? and is it a coincidence michael flynn would lie about the meeting with kislyak about sanctions over russian hacking of our election designed to help donald trump. is it a coincidence the russian gas company sold a share after paige was offered a deal on fees of that size. is it a coincidence that russia had stolen documents and it it a coincidence john podesta would have his e-mail hacked and pu publish before he was aware his private e-mails would be exposed? is it possible that all of these events and reports are completely unrelated and nothing more than an entirely unhappy coincidence? yes. it is possible. but it is also possible maybe more than possible that they are not coincidental and not disconnected and the russians used the same techniques

. >> as he did with mr. flynn as well. >> i think actually at one point that may have been kellyanne conway who said that, but certainly at a point he did. i wonder when you hear democrats saying they want a resignation, republicans now leaning recusal, are you worried that democrats could be overreaching here and letting politics get too involved in this? >> look, the reality is the facts speak for themselves, even the alternative facts speak for themselves. jeff sessions at best for himself misled congress. some would argue he lied, some would argue he perjured himself, it will be up to the senate to determine whether he did any of that, jeff sessions needs to come back to the senate and explain himself at the very least, so i do think people might want to call this politics, it's about the safety and soundness of our government. russia, we know through 17 separate intelligence agencies attacked our nation -- how we elect our officials, that needs to be fully vetted and investigated. >> you tweeted the definitio

we can't tell yet what the cover frup the trump administration and from mr. flynn and mr.ssions who have lied is about. but there is a cover-up going on. people are trying to keep us and investigators from knowing what all of these goings-on are about, people around donald trump and russians, russian nationals, ethnorussians, and the campaign. that's what all of this about. we don't know yet what it goes to, but clearly the president of the united states and those around him ip chncluding jeff sessions, who was the head of his national security adviser advisory team, appointed the same day as the man you just interviewed to be the head of the national security adviser advisory team for the campaign, we don't know what it is they don't want us to know or why it is they don't want us to know, but it's clear they don't want us to know a damn thing. >> jack, is it fair to say there's a cover snup. >> -- cover snup. >> absolutely not. jeff sessions certainly did not lie under oath. he answered a question. the question never was were you involved as a campaign or as a surrogate.

since the journal published this scoop tonight a lawyer for mr. flynn has released a slightly mellow dramatic statement explaining general flynn's offer in his lawyer's own words. it says statement by counsel to lieutenant general mike flynn. the first line is this. general flynn certainly has a story to tell. and he very much wants to tell it should the circumstances permit. out of respect for the committees we will not comment on details of discussion between counsels other than to confirm that those discussions have taken place. but it's important to acknowledge the circumstances in which those discussions are occurring. the statement then goes on to include a detailed summary of the general's impressive long military career and the various awards he received for his military and intelligence work. and then that statement ends with this sort of call to arms. quote, not withstanding his life of public service, the media are awash with unfounded allegations, outrageous claims of treason. he is now the target of unsubstaniated demands to be criminally i

i think the decision for mr. flynn stepping down was the right decision.the max security adviser we have now is a fantastic choice and is a good example of strengths for the intelligence committee. i would agree when looking after this election, mike pompeo, is a fantastic choice and genera general mattis was approved 99-1 if i am not mistaken. we have some good folks managing the community right now. also, there is a bunch of qualified people. before i let you go, a very different matter because you and your colleague, congressman, you had a creative solution to this no storm of flight cancellations. you road trip all of the way from texas to washington, d.c. and you were live streaming along the way, tell us about that? >> well, wolf, we left to san antonio texas and drove 1700 miles to watch nbc. it was 31 hours of those are in the car. we live stream about 30 of those hours. we took russians every issue imaginable. we discussed many times and the idea was we say that we could be, you know, we were focused on what divides us a lot and especially in the

we do know there have been a -- a search is under way to see if there was prior knowledge by mr. flynnstone of wikileaks release of the podesta e-mails. don't know the answer to that question unless you do. which i would love to hear. i think there are many things which we need to know and let's slow down and find out the facts. >> carl hold on. sally raising your hand politely. thank you. not used to it. >> continue to be polite. what i would like to say is that there is ongoing investigation. >> we just learned about yesterday. that's new. >> that carl just pointed out and we all learned about yesterday. that is the truth. that cannot be denied by anybody. and the problem with this is, what i do not understand is that if there is nothing to hide, i would think that donald trump would say, you know what, let's get all the special prosecutors, every investigator, put everybody we have on this case and we will put it to rest because there is no truth to anything. and if there is -- that is what i don't understand. >> well put. >> if you look back at other investigations, what happens to

. >> it is ironic mr. flynn saying he will testify to the fbi and congress if he is granted immunity, but in 2012 he said "if you are given immunity that means you have committed a crime." people are looking to ex-administration staffers about comments coming out now. >> turkey was also an important issue for him. he was lobbying on behalf of the turkish government as well and that created a lot of his problems. >> speaking of turkey, several people were injured outside the turkish embassy in brussels as supporters and opponents of president erdogan's government clashed over the upcoming referendum. the belgium prime minister condemned the incident saying his government had "zero tolerance for spillovers from the referendum." the scuffle comes as turk iish ex-pats in belgium started voting on a new constitution strengthening the president's powers. >>> and south africa, the finance minister of south africa, pravin gordhan has been sacked in the cabinet reshuffle. this comes after days of speculation that upset t

if you have something to say, and the fact that as mr. flynnmself, why would you want immunity unless you did something wrong, right? everybody is now going to take a more cautious approach here because they put it on the table. the white house will not weigh in on it. >> i will make you professor steele for a moment. approval ratings stuck in the 30s and 40s. hb erik failed twice. they are investigating links to russia. as we go forward, and as you try to grade this, it is still it is still incomplete. there is almost nothing they can hang their hats on right now. what is the first the president should do to redirect the conversation. >> first, judge gorsuch. get that nomination completed. get that done, check that off, and reset after that. >> that is something that motivates the base as we talk about. we're going to send it back to andrea mitchell in brussels where rex tillerson had his first meetings with nato officials. that is coming up next on msnbc. let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk as

the vice-president, of course, was central to the dismissal of michael flynn a month ago because mr. flynn apparently misled the vice-president over his contacts with russian officials. but, wolf, the president says he did not know about that, at least his press secretary said he did not know. but it was certainly on the mind when he was campaigning. in october he said that he wants to issue a ban on any senior officials in his administration who would lobby foreign governments. indeed that's exactly what michael flynn did. >> thank you, jeff. the top democratic in the house intelligence committee is seizing on the new michael flynn controversy. adam schiff asking whether he was a foreign agent in his security clearance before he became as national security adviser. let's talk about elise labott. elise, i guess the key question is shouldn't questions about flynn's connections representing turkish interests had been known to this administration going into the administration? >> well, one would think that it definitely would, wolf. not only was he doing these lobbying with foreign companies

the national security adviser mr. flynn has already had to resign as a result of lying about those communications. now we have the attorney general lying under oath about communications with the russian government. we need to take this out of partisanship. democrats and republicans are expressing concern about this.t path forward is to get it out of the partisan political debate, appoint a jointly and agreeable bipartisan commission like we had with the 911 commission to do a deep dive, find out the facts and report those facts back to congress and the american people. only then will we have confidence that our government has not been compromised by an sort of an unwarranted and really worrisome connection between the trump campaign and trump administration and the russian government. >> i only have a few seconds left, but with jeff sessions you mentioned you've been calling for his resignation. is there anything that he can can say to reset this for you? >> the only thing jeff sessions can say to reset this right now is th

mr. trump's former national security advisor, michael flynn, spoke to him. and there were conversations between the two of them. and transcripts of those was provided to both the obama and the trump white houses. so mr. flynn was caught up in that surveillance of the russian ambassador. along the lines of what mr. trump has said, we have not reported about any wiretap at trump tower. we have not reported about any wiretap on mr. trump. the only wiretap that we know about that relates to them that's been reported publicly is the one about mr. the russian ambassador. >> michael smith, thanks for the time. >> thanks for having me. >>> okay. breaking news in mississippi here. a deadly bus accident in biloxi. the latest on that, next. grown man now. i don't want to pry... dad. but have you made a decision? i'm going with the $1000 in cash back. my son... ...a cash man. dad, are you crying? nah, just something in my eye. the volkswagen 3 and easy event... ...where you can choose one of three easy ways to get a $1000 offer. hurry in to your volkswagen dealer now an

mr. flynn was paid for that trip by r.t., a potential violation of the moluments clause of the constitution, and he appeared regularly on r.t. flynn, of course, had to resign as national security advisor after 24 days in office, but the president knew of flynn's misrepresentations weeks before he was fired and did nothing until it became public. we now know that russia's payments to flynn were generous. in 2015, russian entities paid him $65,000, and we know he worked for pay as a foreign agent for turkey during the campaign and during the transition, but failed to register as an agent at the time as required by law. other trump associates and campaign staff, roger stone, carter paige and mr. gordon, all are reportedly under investigation for an intercepted communications and financial transactions with russia. stone admitted at least 16 contacts with gussifer 2.0, the twitter handle covering for russian intelligence that released the democratic national committee hacked e-mails. paige through