he was sworn in as national security adviser. he then very quickly had to resign as national security adviser. after he had resign, he retroactively registered as a foreign agent representing the government of turkey. he was then charged with lying to fbi investigators about his contacts with the russian government as part of the larging documents in that case he admitted that he also lied to investigators about him being a paid agent for the government of turkey and the fact that he was acting illegally in this country as their unregistered foreign agent during the time that he was the top national security adviser on the trump campaign and in fact right up through election day. today with the unsealing of this indictment, we learn that flynn's turkish government contact who set up this gig for him, who was allegedly running this whole operation on behalf of the turkish government and arranging to funnel the payments to mike flynn through a nonturkish government so as to hide the origin of the payments, that guy is was charged to

a surprise twist in the sentencing of fired national security adviser michael flynn. the judge in this case, judge sullivan agreeing to delay the sentencing. special prosecutor robert mueller's team is asking them to go easy on flynn and recommended a sentence of little or no jail time. flynn's lawyer has taken the judge up on his offer of a delay in sentencing so that flynn can continue to cooperate. i want to bring in senior white house correspondent pamela brown. shimon, explain to this to us. what happened? >> it's hard to explain. it has been a wild morning here. certainly nothing any of us expected here this morning. the judge would go ahead and delay this. clearly the judge kept sending signals and his attorney that is it might be a good idea to delay this. he was not happy about a lot of things. not entirely clear and using words like treason and accusing michael flynn of working as a foreign agent while at the white house. not true. he had to walk that back. he had to walk back other statements he made. he kept insisting that the judge said michael flynn's at

but the reality is, you had michael flynn, he was the incoming national security adviser. and throughout the campaign, he was like the national security adviser in waiting. and yet he failed to disclose that he was, in fact, working as an agent for the turkish government. that's why we have disclosure requirements. so nobody can be confused about who -- where your loyalties lie on a particular issue. >> if flynn eventually is sentenced to a lengthy -- or lengthier prison sentence than the prosecution recommended, basically zero time, does that hurt mueller's ability to win people's cooperation down the road? >> wolf, i don't want to speculate about what this judge is actually going to do in terms of a sentence down the road. i think what he was saying loud and clear today was that there's no kidding around when it comes to lying to the fbi, and the fact that they tried to walk that back, he needed to make a strong statement. i think that we'll have to see what the judge ultimately does here. >> on another very sensitive matter, the deadline is coming up friday at midnight.

so when michael flynn, the national security adviser for the trump campaign and national security advisercooperation, there aren't that many people above him in that food chain. most of them are donald trump or named trump or married to a trump. that's one of the reason that is the special counsel presumably is granting such strong consideration to this substantial cooperation. >> and what's interesting here is that we are learning inside the courtroom that there is still a possibility that michael flynn will continue to cooperate with the special counsel because that was sort of an open question. is this the end of that? but no. mueller's team is saying look, we still may be using him in our various investigations. what's the significance of that? >> one of the things is it seems like this has been the deal that has been in the works for a while with michael flynn. if you remember, there was a very odd at the time incident in the middle of summer where michael flynn accidentally was announced as the new partner in a consulting firm in d.c. that sort of only makes sense now in the context

three different topics, and you made those false statements while you were serving as the national security adviser, the president of the united states' most serious national security aide. i cannot minimize that. two months later you again made false statements in multiple documents. all along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the united states. i mean, arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. at which point he swivels in his chair and points at the american flag in the corner of his courtroom. the judge continues, arguably, you sold your country out. the court is going to consider all of that. i cannot assure you that if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration. i cannot make any guarantees, but i am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense. the defendant, michael flynn, yes, your honor. the judge, but it's your call, mr. flynn. i'm just being upfront with you, as i would with anyone else, and everyone who knows me, knows that. if you want

this is a person who was the national security adviser., but those in charge of the sensitive information and sensitive operations of the administration when he was coming in as president. he has now been shown to have been doing exactly what prosecutors said he was doing. >> and yet the prosecutors said michael flynn said he gave most of his cooperation and this is redacted portion about the substance of the cooperation that we don't know about and something do with the mueller-russia cooperation and the president of the united states treats michael flynn the polar opposite. saying michael cohen is a rat and he's weak. just this morning the president tweeting about michael flynn. good luck today in court. it will be interesting to see what he has to say despite the pressure put on him about collusion. flynn has been cooperating for more than a year. why did he hug flynn and hug cohen? >> we should be paying close tension him as we learn more about what's in the redacted section. the president has treated him with kid gloves and not just s

possibility that some of what is included in this tonight could be redacted, given that he was the national security adviserse it has been several months, i don't think that that should be lessened, something to think about, that this is the national security adviser, but mueller may have less of a reason to hold back as he has done in previous court filings. >> and mueller has clearly indicated he is moving on beyond that. >> right. if he is giving congress the green light to bring witnesses back in or release some information, there is a sense then that he's got enough of his investigation nailed down that whatever is going on on capitol hill will not interfere with the case he has already laid out, that he's preparing in these filings and potentially in a report to the acting attorney general. >> house democrats are getting ready to explode potentially after january 3rd when they take the majority in the house. >> yeah, i mean what you are seeing today with roger stone, i mean that's part of or leading up to that, you know, explosion of investigations that you're going to see from the house democrats, wh

house today, the press secretary, sarah sanders, said that flynn's activities, the former national security adviser- what he said, the lies and all of that, had nothing to do with president trump at all. what's your reaction to that? >> well, he was the national security adviser when he made those misstatements about his contacts with the former russian ambassador. in fact, as the president indicated previously on -- he in fact did not candidly tell the truth to vice president pence. so there was an involvement here, whether it was in any way directed, inspired or encouraged by anyone else in the white house, that's still probably being determined or investigated by mueller. >> your committee, the intelligence committee, you're an ex-officio member of the intelligence committee, they released two stunning reports yesterday. we've gone through them. i'm sure you have gone through them, talking about russian's penetration, involvement in the 2016 presidential election. the president hasn't responded specifically to those two reports that the intelligence committee released, but this morning he did tw

president trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn because of, quote, substantial help in the russia probe. much of what flynn told the special counsel remains shrouded in secrecy. the report was heavily redacted, but mueller says, quote, flynn's early cooperation convinced others to be forthcoming and that flynn's lies about his contacts with the russian ambassador in late 2016 were repeated by senior trump transition team members. >> flynn's full account of events has been one of the best-kept secrets in washington as mueller puts together the final pieces of his case. more now from cnn's sara murray in washington. >> reporter: good morning. president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn has provided, quote, substantial assistance to the russia investigation and should not get jail time. that's the big news from special counsel robert mueller's court filing on tuesday night. now the filing, a sentencing memo, comes after flynn has cooperated with mueller's team for more than a year. sitting for 19 in

this is astonishing when you think about it, it's a national security adviser. and he was close to trump. he knows a lot of information. and it's very clear from this document that he is continuing to cooperate on multiple fronts, and we're just going to see, i think, more and more of this kind of information come out of the mueller probe and the question is going to be how is this going to shake out as a matter of our system of accountability under the constitution. >> laura, in mueller's sentencing recommendation in which he says that he doesn't recommend any jail time for flynn, he notes, quote, the defendant's record of military and public service distinguish him from every other person who has been charged as part of our investigation. however, senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards. is he only talking about flynn there, do you think? >> no. i think he's talking about a double-edged sword. who do we know who perhaps has not served his country in the same way that, say, general michael flynn has? he's talking about people who have

you are running the transition and it turns out the national security adviser, the incoming national security adviser had secret undisclosed foreign ties that he is under federal investigation for? that doesn't rise to your level? what else were you busy with? similarly, mike pence publicly denied that there had ever been any role in the transition for mike flynn's son, mike jr., after one of many instances in which mike jr. achieved press attention and some notoriety for controversial public statements. mike pence was running the transition. he said overtly that mike flynn's son never had any role in the transition, but in fact he had. some of the stuff he later got in trouble for were messages he sent from his official transition e-mail address. vice president pence trying to preserve some sort of deniable fiction about that was just inexplicable and embarrassing at the time, but it's ended up being just one of a whole bunch of things that the vice president has said specifically about mike flynn that turned out to be utterly implausible or just flat-out false. >> what's the level o

to state the obvious, you don't want your national security adviser compromised with the russias. >>orter: the new court documents just the latest into what three key players in the probe have offered mueller. michael cohen revealed in court last week that he kept trump in the loop about his discussions with russians to build a trump tower in moscow as late as june 2016. at that point, trump was the presumptivive republican nominee for president. this week, mueller's team, in conjunction with the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, is expected to file a sentencing memo in the cohen case, responding to cohen's request for no prison time. mueller is also expected to reveal friday why investigators believe trump's former campaign chairman, paul manafort, lied to them, even after agreeing to cooperate. wolf, of course, there's another prong of this investigation that has to do with roger stone. and we just heard the news he put out a letter to dianne feinstein, saying he would not cooperate with senators' request, he would take the fifth amendment and invoke his privilege there. and i j

evening that support collapses. >> breaking news tonight nbc news has confirmed donald trump's national security advisers resigned. >> mike flynn served the shortest tenure of any national security adviser in history. >> more than a year later the justice department releases to congress memos created by james comey. >> what you know day before mike flynn was fired reince priebus, are you guys wiretapping flynn with a secret warrant? >> in reaction to the memos president trump defends flynn. dweeting to general michael flynn's life can be totally destroyed bill shady james comey can leak and lie and make lots of money from a third rate book that should never have been written. flynn's resignation in 2017 does not end the fbi's investigation, a fact that according to its director james comey president trump confronts him with the next day. >> comey's at the white house for a meeting, trump kicks everyone out of the room. and he wants to tell them, look, flynn didn't do anything wrong. flynn's a good guy. i need you to move past and not do this investigation. >> in a move that sends shock waves through was

president and the national security adviser.we've got news that michael flynn has been cooperating with the special counsel's office, offeri ining significant, substantial contribution, and he should serve no prison time. what he's been cooperating about, we're not allowed to know because it's ongoing investigations. in that context, politico.com was first to report that inside the trump white house, a new white house counsel is due to start on monday. his name is pat cipollone, due to take over as white house counsel after a long security clearance process. i don't know why it took long for him to get his security clearance. but what's interesting about pat cipallone taking over, is that don mcgahn has been gone for a while. and in the last couple of months, the person filling in is emmet flood, the president's lead lawyer on the russia investigation. for the past couple of months, the president's lead lawyer on the russia investigation has only been working on russia part-time. because he's been otherwise filling in as white h

but instead he told the president's former national security adviser he believed he had sold out the in the first white house briefing in weeks -- the trump administration was on the defense. after a wild two-hour sentencing hearing for fired national security adviser, michael flynn resulted in him taking a federal judge up on his offer to delay the sentencing until he cooperates his investigation with the prosecutors. >> the delay is something between general flynn and the courts. in the meantime, we wish general flynn well. >> reporter: when reporters raised questions about the president's morning tweet wishing flynn good luck in court, sanders said she saw no problem with trump praising someone who has pleaded guilty to the fbi and worked as an unregistered agent on behalf of another government during his campaign. >> it's perfectly acceptable for the president to make a positive comment about somebody while we wait to see what the court's determination is. >> reporter: sanders arguing that flynn's lies on white house grounds had nothing to do with trump. >> maybe he did do those

because barack role as national security adviser because ba rack obama role as national securityause barack obama didn't trust him and a judge is now suggesting that michael flynn's actions in the last few months since he became national security adviser basically could amount to treason. we will have to wait until march to find out what happens to michael flynn and whether he gets that prison sentence or doesn't, because thatis prison sentence or doesn't, because that is the next time he will appear in court. i think the defence and the prosecution and the white house went into today thinking michael flynn would not be getting a prison sentence, now they have to wait until march and so that is still hanging over the former national security adviser. with 101 days to go until the uk leaves the european union, the government is ramping up plans for what to do if there's no deal in place. british families will be sent notices on how to prepare for crashing out of the eu. the precise impact of no deal isn't know but it could affect everything from travel, traffic, food supplies and

clearly the president has been supportive of his former national security adviser through this. so we'll have to wait and see how the white house responds. >> we know you'll continue to read through it. thank you, pamela. what else are you guys seeing? >> one of the other interesting notes is that in a phone call from january 24th of 2017 when the fbi initial lily reaches ouo lieutenant flynn, they say they want to talk to him and they ask him questions about his conversations with the russians. he said they say that he explained that he had been trying to build relationships with the russians, that he had calls in which he exchanged condolences. then what michael flynn tells the fbi is you probably know what was said. so clearly there he knew that they already were very much aware of his conversations. the big question has always been and still to this day is why did michael flynn lie? we still don't have a full explanation. all the documents filed from the special counsel to his attorney, no one as ever explained why he lied. we know why michael cohen has lied. because he want

i'm the national security adviser. she says, not really, i'm going to let the courts make that decision. the president of the united states does not have a concern about that? i'm concerned that my national security adviser might not have our best interests at heart. >> mind blowing. michael cohen told a lie to congress, not the greatest thing to do in the world. michael flynn, in lying to the fbi, concealed a rogue foreign policy that he's conducting on behalf of turkey that is paying him over half a million dollars and that he's using to try to influence both public opinion and government policy in favor of turkey, in favor of withdrawal of russia sanctions, all undisclosed. that's a serious national security issue. that she would just suggest, well, you know, we don't care, we'll let the court sort that out, is remarkable. >> i can't imagine another president who would be unconcerned by that, ken. >> no. quick clarification, katy. there's no allegation he was taking money from the turkish while he was national securi

it was a pretty innocuous question, as you've pointed out, he was the incoming national security advisere was the national security adviser at the latter part of this. he was certainly, you know, well within bounds to have these sort of calls, so why did he need to lie? what was it covering up? and as frank says, why did h egoeghe go to the dominican republic to have one of these calls? i thing thatk that's really intriguing. we've all talked about the fact that trump should have known that virtue to his prior job, calls kislyak, the russian ambassador made, that the calls were being taped and mad calls he later lied about. something is wrong. we don't know exactly what it is. i isn't the folks in congress have a good idea. mueller certainly knows. one thing we can be certain of is that they haven't given flynn this really magnificent deal just so he could talk about tiddlywinks. whatever it is that trump is talking about, it's someone above him on the food chain and that's a very limited number of players. >> joyce makes a great point, i watch "homeland" and know we listen to the russia

judgement day for michael flynn, stories: judgement day from michael flynn, the the former us national security adviser is due to be sentenced flynn, the former the former us national security flynn, the former us national security adviser is due to be sentenced later sentenced later the line to be at the eye about his contact with russia. the starving children of yemen. a special report from inside the country as pro—government forces suggest the ceasefire in hodeidah has been broken. russia. —— suggest the ceasefire in hodeidah russia. —— fbi. a special report from inside yemen back on the streets of budapest. from inside yemen as they say the ceasefire has protestors vent their anger ceasefire has been broken. back on the streets of budapest, protesters vent their anger against the government. from poverty to global power, china marks a0 years of economic reforms which made it a well‘s second—biggest economy. also in business briefing, the former head of the world trade organization talks to us and says what he is sees as the biggest hurdle in the us— china trade spat. a very warm welcome to the pro

president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn was expected to learn his sentence after pleading guilty to lying to fbi. instead there he was, he walked into that black suv with orders to go back to court in march after his sentencing has been delayed. flynn, the first former white house official to face sentencing in the russia investigation got a scolding today from the judge there, judge emmitt sullivan, who said a lot. he said "i am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for your criminal offense. he added "the aggravating circumstances are serious, not only did you lie to the fbi, you lied to senior officials in the incoming administration." a bit later after a brief recess, the judge would walk back some of his harshest comments, including those about treason. the judge did say he was merely asking questions, that he wasn't making accusations and prosecutors said there was no reason to consider charging flynn with treason. so let's go straight to our senior justice correspondent evan perez. he was in the courthouse. evan, i mean, this was something no one saw coming tod

that is pretty extraordinary in and of itself, it's a former national security adviser lying about a security matter and doing so in ca-hoots with the russians and it's when the plea was entered in to, mueller essentially made the decision not to proceed on a whole range of other allegations involving flynn. so, flynn is getting effectively a recommendation of no jail time on any of the conduct he was involved in, that would require very substantial cooperation and it appears that mueller got it. when you look at the cooperation agreement that flynn signed, it required him to do essentially anything special council asked, incluing wearing a wire, it certainly looks like the cooperation was full. whether or not it's leading to the other developments, it's hard to say. >> you mentioned matthew whitaker, we can tell that whitaker's role, would be able to influence major steps in the investigation, could -- influence major steps in the investigation, and we assume that a count of a major step would be new indictments and any sort of public report if something like that happens. are you s

he was the national security adviser for the president.eople above him in the white house hierarchy. beak only the vice president and the president. right? so that is incredibly significant. >> what's number two then? you said. >> number two is that he -- the document does say that he told them about communications between the transition team and conversations with the russians. right? so mueller knows everything about that will whole set of issues concerning sanctions and he surely knows whether president trump directed flynn to do anything that's potentially illegal. and third of course, we have a mystery investigation that's redacted in this memo that was so highly sensitive that it's completely blacked out but referred to in other parts of the memo. >> every time someone goes one, two, three, i expect you to go to three, what is the third one? i can't remember. >> energy department. >> which you run right now. how weird is the universe. he couldn't remember the department of energy. >> right. >> what do you think, mark med doze says th

arriving at the courthouse just a few moments ago, retired general michael flynn, former national security adviserormer director of the dia, former national security adviser for president trump. robert mueller recommended he get no prison time. flynn at least faces the possibility of time behind bars. >> let's get to jackie kucinich and deiana bash. dana, let me begin with you. walk me through the president's thinking and the administration's thinking. the president is eager, he said, publicly to hear what michael flynn has to say. repeating that line, no collusion. you're tapped into the administration on this one. what are your thoughts in terms of what's in their head and what do they mean to the white house? >> they're holding their breath. particularly the man in the oval office, or maybe in the residence, depending on where he is right now. there's no question. and i know you two have been reminding everybody, rightly so, how unprecedented it is for a president to be as active in his commentary about people who are going through the legal system, who are close to him. and it's been quite obv

his stint as a national security adviser in the white house was brief. he was fired more than two weeks after then-acting attorney general sally yates told the white house that flynn lied about his communications with the russian ambassador and could be blackmailed by the russians. he will will be sentenced on december 18th in d.c. federal court. back to you. >> thanks, sara. >>> trump lawyer rudolph giuliani is apparently not concerned about michael flynn sharing anything that could implicate the president telling nbc news, quote, they don't have bupkus. he said if flynn had information that could hurt the president, you would know it by now. >>> president trump's ally roger stone invoking his fifth amendment rights, refusing a request from the top democrat on the senate judiciary committee for documents and an interview in the russia investigation. president trump tweeted monday that stone had, quote, guts for saying he wouldn't testify against the president in the special counsel's russia probe. don't forget what the president said in the past about p

this is -- he was at the apex when he was national security adviser, the top of the pyramid when it comes to our national security. to see it ends like this today is certainly historic. it goes back to the reagan administration when we had two other national security adviser convicted. >> very quickly, ben, let me get you in on james comey. he was out on capitol hill. you saw him on this broadcast yesterday walking into the capitol. he spoke about this flynn case and frankly blasted some in the gop. here's what he said. >> think of what's happening in the republican party. they're up here attacking the fbi's investigation of a guy who pled guilty to lying to the fbi. he should have been warned you shouldn't lie. he should have been told you can have a lawyer. think of the state of affairs we've ended up in. that's nonsense. >> ben, your reaction? >> i agree. i mean, this is a guy who, you know, there are all kinds of conspiracy theories about how he was entrapped into lying. his lawyers arranged a plea deal for him in which he admitted lying. he entered into that plea deal voluntarily. he

he was the national security adviser for gosh sakes. and that's -- in anybody's book that's a pretty big fish. so i think the messaging that the mueller team put out by saying, you know what, we've got the national security adviser talking dirty to the russians on the phone and then lying about it to the vice president and lying about it to congress -- excuse me, to the fbi. we're going to charge him with that and then we're going to -- we're going to remain mum on everything else he is providing us. i think that is some powerful messaging to everybody else out there that, you know what, they better pay attention to what's going on. they better come in, cooperate and cut their losses. with respect to the memo that i think we're all anxiously awaiting, chris, i've filed hundreds of these memos in the 30 years i was a federal prosecutor, and i see three distinct possibilities here. one, mueller may say very little because the sentence that flynn is exposed to is only zero to six months. easy for us to say, it's not a consequential sentence

flynn, of course, as you remember national security adviser to president trump from the president's inauguration on january 20th until february 13th of 2017, 24 days he served as national security adviser to the president. he stepped down as you probably recall, amid news, reports that he misled the fbi and the vice president about conversations with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. he is being sentenced for lying to the fbi, making false statements, and the special counsel's office, they're in the courtroom, representatives from the special counsel's office inside that courtroom because general flynn has been cooperating with that investigation for upwards of at least a year. we continue to keep a very close eye on those courtroom proceedings. we continue to keep a very close eye on what the new york attorney general has described as a shocking pattern of illegality that was willful and repeated. the a.g. talking about the trump foundation that was dissolved here, reportedly within the last 20 minutes or so, a stipulation resolving the foundation under judicial supervision. essentially both p

and a month as national security adviser. everybody stand by.uch more on all of the news right after this. when my hot water heater failed it rocked our world. we called usaa. and they greeted me as they always do. sergeant baker, how are you? they took care of everything a to z. having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa- now that's a privilege. be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, g

trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn. memo is raising a lot of new questions about the targets of three, three ongoing investigations. we are joined by our political correspondent sara murray. sara, mueller gave us important new information but he also withheld some potentially intriguing details. >> that's right, wolf. as much as we learned from the filing, there are still so many unanswered questions. the government revealing for the first time really what a glimpse of what they've been learning from michael flynn, but redacting many of the juiciest details. the heavily-redacted sentencing memo for michael flynn, president trump's former national security adviser, has washington wondering what robert mueller is holding back. flynn provided substantial assistance to the special counsel, sitting for 19 interviews with the special counsel and other justice department offices. his intel valuable in at least three ongoing investigations, including a criminal probe. the latest signal that mueller may have other bombshells com

michael flynn/former national security adviser"yes, that's right. lock her up!"ater became the first high-ranking former trump adviser to cut a formal deal.according to a filing, flynn has given 19- interviews with the special counsel and other justice officials.that, mueller says, could have led others to also cooperate.one person not answering questions .....lobbyist and trump ally roger stone.he invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination through a statement from his lawyer.sen. ron wyden/d-oregon"stone is taking the fifth so he doesn't have to lie under oath to protect his longtime friend." president trump has repeatedly referred to this matter as a "witch hunt".....and it's likely going to continue in the new year.douglas brinkley/presidential historian "there's no way this is wrapping up soon. this is just starting to unspool itself."i'm john lorinc reporting. (robin) live look outside... at the san francisco international airport. airport. international no major hot spots. bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. san mateo

deliver the message and the president reverses that summarily. >> we have the national security council and the national security adviserhese national security council meetings and is in lockstep with the president so there's a message of cohesion within the president's team that's messaged abroad. the fact that the national security adviser went out and talked about our presence in syria and the president undercut him really just lets every foreign leader around the world know they really have to just pick up the phone and call the president like president erdogan did, ask a favor and the president will agree no matter what he has told his national security team and that undercuts the ability of the national security adviser and other officials and just messages that foreign leaders can just go straight to president trump and he'll accept what they have to say. >> samantha vinograd, it's an alarming portrait. thanks very much. >> thanks. >>> stock prices, they're falling around the world after just a dismal christmas eve. the markets in a freefall not seen since the 1920s. you heard that right. coming up, how the presi

michael flynn/former national security adviser"yes, that's right. lock her up!"and he later became the first high-ranking former trump adviser to cut a formal deal.according to a filing, flynn has given 19- interviews with the special counsel and other justice officials.that, mueller says, could have led others to also cooperate.one person not answering questions .....lobbyist and trump ally roger stone.he invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination through a statement from his lawyer.sen. ron wyden/d-oregon"stone is taking the fifth so he doesn't have to lie under oath to protect his longtime friend." president trump has repeatedly referred to this matter as a "witch hunt".....and it's likely going to continue in the new year.douglas brinkley/presidential historian "there's no way this is wrapping up soon. this is just starting to unspool itself."i'm john lorinc reporting. (grant) the treasury department released a proposal for overhauling the u-s postal service. but it stopped short of full privatization of the service, an idea the white house

as national security adviser which is very dangerous. i wonder from your reporting, your understanding of how this all unfolded with flynn. what sort of alarms that would set off within the fbi. what else that would activate in terms of the u.s. government to try to neutralize or mitigate the harm caused by someone who was that many urgent problems all at once, the first week of a presidency. >> you summarized that so well, and what's -- i've interviewed several of the people who are on both sides of this exchange, and several of them have testified publicly, so there's lots out there that you can understand about both sides of this experience. flynn was lying about something to fbi agents that he had to have known they would discover was a lie. why in the world justice department officials ask themselves back at headquarters, why in the world had he not been truthful. what was so important that he couldn't share this piece of information? and that's still today a really important mystery that's not been entirely unlocked. as well, you h

doesn't the national security adviser know not to lie to the fbi? don't think the national security adviser and decorated veteran and general should need that. i think the subtext of what flynn's lawyers were trying to say is that he was kind of set up or -- it's hard to swallow with an experienced government servant. the question he really has never answered is why did he lie to the fbi. he didn't have a good reason -- sometimes people lie for reasons that can kind of understandable. maybe protecting a spouse or something like that. here he's lying about crucial conversations with the ambassador about sanction obama had imposed. there was no excuse in the filing i saw as to kwlwhy he di that. >> let's talk about the president's evolution of the explanation to the hush payments made to these women. in the beginning he came back on air force one and said he knew nothing about any of the payments. it has evolved over time to telling residenters late -- reuters last night, if it's civil there was no violation based on what we did. okay. what does that

details, phone conversations that michael flynn, the former national security adviser had with kiss leee united states. he was on vacation around christmas 2016, and he got a call from kislyak, he hadn't been checking his texts, so it took him about 24 hours to respond, then they immediately started to respond. very detailed conversations, jeffrey. what are you going to be looking for? >> i'm going to be looking for the fact that he lied, he plead guilty to lying to the fbi in this conversation. that's what makes this significant. and the idea that the national security adviser to the president of the united states, one of the handful of most important people in the whole country was somehow intimidated or scared or misled by fbi agents, i mean, i think that's a pretty tough argument to make. and flynn has sort of raised that argument in advance of sentencing, of all people, he should be in a position to tell the truth. i mean, he's not some kid who was just arrested by the fbi and caught in an embarrassing situation, this is the national security adviser to the president, so if he lied

the former national security adviser pleading guilty to lying to the fbi about his communications with russia. "today in the bay's" tracie potts joins us live on capitol hill with more on how much time behind bars he could face. good morning, tracie. >> hi, laura, good morning. maybe not a lot at all, maybe none. the government says he's been cooperating in this russia investigation, so they are recommending no jail time for general flynn. for months, he's been working with them after pleading guilty to lying to the fbi. he sat down with the fbi and in a discussion about his meeting said theinauguration, with he they did not talk about sanctions that we had placed on that country. turns out, he did, and he later admitted that, and in admitting that, he lied to the vice president, and that'swhy general flynn was fired. lying to the fbi is why he's in court today to be sentenced, but again, the russia investigators, the mueller team say he's been cooperative, and so he may not get jail time at all. this goes back to the trump transition and the central question that they're looking at on

security adviser. this was about u.s. policy and russia, and the whole point of the investigation is to find out what the president knew, right? >> look, this was the sitting national security adviser in a new administration who was interviewed by federal agents and lied to them, now had pleaded guilty to lying to them and has acknowledged in court that he knew he was lying when he did it. so, there is no question that michael flynn, for whatever reason, that i think we still don't understand, chose to lie to federal agents in that interview. what i think has transpired in the last few days, though, is that his defense team made a decision to try to have it both ways, and in their pleading to the judge, they argued that, in part, yes, he pled guilty, but he also was perhaps not quite aware of the circumstances of the interview, maybe didn't understand that it was wrong to lie, and they inferred some things in that document. the judge took them seriously, and so he ordered that the fbi release the written record, the written document, which is called the 302 of the fbi interview, so the judge actually was giving michael flynn and his defense team the benefit of the

president's former national security adviser has had his sentencing delayed for lying to the f.b.i. michael flynn asked for a continuance so he can cooperate with an investigation into possible russian collusion during the twenty sixteen election. the foreign ministers of turkey russia and iran have agreed to accelerate their efforts to find a political solution to the syrian civil war a committee will be conveyed next year to negotiate a new constitution for the country. the world trade organization says will investigate allegations of intellectual property breach by saudi arabia qatar launched the dispute in october accusing the kingdom of parting content from a broadcaster saudi arabia dog in the case couldn't be heard due to national security interests associated with its blockade on qatar. talks underway in the united arab emirates between u.s. officials and the taliban in the hopes of reaching a possible place to get us done as brave washington is pushing for a six month cease fire while the taliban wants a timeline of the withdrawal of foreign troops and fisher has more from

presidentses have survived scandals an involving their aides, even close aides, obviously the national security adviserhe first scandal involving a national security adviser. does it reach the president himself? does it reach into his family? i do think a number of people mentioned jared kushner, if obviously donald trump jr. was involved in the trump tower meeting. i want to end bill saying january 24th, 2017, was the fbi's first interview with michael flynn at which he's accused of lying to them, four days into the trump administration. the remarkable nature of this, the fact that a president was essentially entering office already under scrutiny with his top advisers not only lying to top government officials within days and hours of occupying their offices, this is something, and pleading guilty to it, this is not a subject of dispute. this is extraordinary even by the standards of white house scandals. we're already in territory it seems to me in which the white house the trump administration from the very start was polluted by senior officials lying to the government. >> susan, evan, thank you so

and that is the type of thing michael flynn did as national security adviser in the white house or asrump's national security policy guy, that the judge was perhaps expressing a sentiment that a lot of americans do, that you're a traitor to your country and he's frustrated about that. >> and a couple of miscalculations, ali. one was that defense sentencing memo that tried to minimize general flynn's conduct. boy, the judge was not having it. the defense tried to explain that well, what we were doing, judge, is just trying to distinguish flynn's lie from the lies of papadopoulos, who also lied to the fbi and went to jail. they tried to suggest that somehow general flynn's lie was less egregious and he said based on your status and your lies to the fbi, it was more egregious and the second miscalculation, we saw this indictment drop in eastern district of virginia where general flynn was named as an unindicted co-conspiratorer to the turkish government. that could expose him, if he were charged, as the judge laid out, to an additional 15 years in prison. so he's getting a walk on that.

his national security advisers. it is worth noting. rachel, alex, thanks very much. >>> just months ago, the president's pick to oversee the russia investigation called the probe, quote, fatally misconceiving. what this means for his path forward. >>> plus, stocks rocked on the fed interest rate hike. >>> and the disgraced movie we arrive in court. we'll be live outside the court. this is not a bed. it's proven quality sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999... intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. and the best gift of all? a silent night. how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you shed those sugar cookies, get a running start on the holidays, and take it all in with the patience of a saint. queen sleep number 360 smart beds from $999. plus, it's the last chance for 48-month financing. ends monday. a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it

was so talkative and had so much time for them, the agents, that strzok wondered if the national security adviser did not have more important things to do than having a relaxed discussion with them. it's important to note that the fbi, at least the agents that were involved in this were clearly seeming to say here that it was not some sort of adversarial relationship or interview where they have got the movie character, a spotlight on them and they are pushing him around, this seemed to be sort of a cordial environment -- >> here's my question. the guy lied repeatedly to the media and apparently to the fbi, and he is still being recommended for a sentence at the low end of the guidelines, and i don't know what the guidelines look like? >> it's zero to six months and they are arguing for no jail time. >> do we know how he helped or with what he has helped that has caused the special counsel's office to say despite the fact that he lied to the fbi he's been helpful to us and we think he should get the low end of the sentencing? >> they said they appreciated how substantial his offering has been, an

but if we pause for a moment and we think about flynn, who became the national security adviser, havingons with the russians about doing favor potentially for them, and then lying to the fbi about that, lying it's been reported to the vice president about that. listen, i don't think it's a coincidence bob mueller pushed flynn's sentencing until after he got president trump's answers on the take-home exam. because you can bet bob mueller has a full accounting from flynn about any and all conversations he had with trump the candidate, trump the president. and i am going to take a leap of faith and suggest that some of trump's answers may be inconsistent with some of what flynn has told not only mueller but told the grand jury. >> the upshot there it's possible the president lied to the special counsel or it could contradict michael flynn's testimony, that's what that would mean. >> right. and again we sort of lost sight in all of the talk of porn stars and payoffs and roger stone and sort of colorful characters. >> the "star wars" bar we had been talking about off camera. >> all of this t