flynn made with russian ambassador sergey kislyak in late december 2016? what was the purpose of your january dinner with mr. comey and what was said? what did you do or what did you think and do regarding the quirky was all of mr. sessions and what did you think and do in reaction to the news that the appointment of the special counsel? inquiring minds want to know. if you are a lawyer, you can probably navigate those queries unscathed but white house officials quite frankly are concerned and i think rightly s so. notoriously off-the-cuff speaker like the president could walk right into a perjury trap. while the special counsel probe continues to roll on, the president does appear to have had enough at least on twitter my said this. it would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened. witch hunt. if an investigation the white house argues that was begun by a dossier that was funded by the president's political opponents and also used as part of that as a court request for surveillance of trump operatives during the campaign and the

flynn made with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak in late december, 2016?> there are at least nine questions about michael flynn, most revolve around whether the president obstructed justice to protect flynn from prosecution. mueller also wants to know whether flynn was operating on the president's behalf when he called the russians. prosecutors may already know the answer. flynn is cooperating with investigators. >> the questions about the firing of fbi director james comey would be important. one question reads, what did you mean when you told russian diplomats on may 10, 2017, that firing mr. comey had taken the pressure off? the day after comey's firing trump met with russian officials in oval office. you remember these pictures released by the russians. the president and his lawyers have said firing comey falls within the president's powers. >>> also, questions about possible illegal contact between the trump campaign and the russians. one of those questions reads, what knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including paul manafort to

the meeting, specific meeting between ambassador sergey kislyak, then russia's ambassador to the u.s.rump's national security advisor and jared kushner. don junior claiming he only learned about that after it was reported about in the press. then he recalled coming out of the gym, he said, in trump tower, he walked into a meeting between kislyak, flynn, and jared kushner, but said he did not take part. so, another case where he has changed his story, but presumably that final answer arrived on something on the truthful one. but it was interesting to read the transcripts and see how often he did -- made little adjustments, one might say in his answer to that question. >> steve, there is also a text message from publicist rob goldstone to m. aguilera. i hope this favor is worth it for your dad. it could blow up big. that's what he's sent after news broke about the meeting. what is your reaction to that, steve? >> i think it's quite clear this is something, the topic of the meeting, the meeting itself was a priority for the russian side of this meeting. obviously it was a priority for th

did you meet sergey kislyak in cleveland? did you talk to him? >> i'm not going to deny that i talked with him. although i did -- i will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland. let's just say that much. >> the only time that you met him was in cleveland. >> i may have met him possibly, it might have been in cleveland. >> let me ask -- let me start with this. as mueller -- i know you talked to the fbi, right? >> absolutely, yes. >> which has been disclosed leaked to "the washington post"" that's been out there. >> so have they ever asked you about that meeting in the rnc? >> i told them a lot of everything i had essentially been doing for quite a long time, including obviously, you know, everything in cleveland. >> so you did talk than? yes? >> yes. >> the person you say brought you on to the campaign, right, new york state republican party official named cox, is that correct? >> chairman of the republican party, yeah. >> chairman of the republican party. sam nunberg recently -- you know know sam nunberg. >> i've heard of him. i never c

did you meet sergey kislyak in cleveland? did yo

this one was after the election, between trump officials and russia's ambassador to the u.s., sergey kislyakwho in the russian tradition, appears to have many smaller people inside of him. ( laughter ) yeah. matruskadal. don junior testified that he wasn't told about this meeting, and when asked why he didn't join it, he replied, "because i didn't know what it was about and i was sweaty from the gym." finally! something i can believe. don junior being ignorant and sweaty. ( laughter ) of course, the whole collusion thing is about the trump campaign collaborating with the russians who hacked hillary's emails and leaked them through wikileaks. but don junior was very clear that he was not in contact with wikileaks-- much, well, maybe a bit, telling the senate, "i think the only time i responded to them was, hey, when am i going to receive the next leak?" ( laughter ) "oh, that's exactly the colluding part? can i change my answer to no? may i phone a friend? and quick follow up: may i have a friend?" ( laughter ) so he met with members of the russian government to get dirt on hillary, he knew w

. >> first, what did you know about phone calls what mike flynn made with the sergei kislyak and wtwo, what was your reaction to news report on january 12th and february 8th and 9th. when the washington calls it, david ignacious first review those calls. and then in february, the fol w following month of 2017, the washington post revealed of mr. trump and mr. kislyak. so again, the first question, mr. trump, what did you know about phone calls that mike flynn made with the russian ambassador during the transition and what was your reaction of the news report of the content of those communications when those news reports came out in january and february of 2017. third question, what did you know about salley yates' meeting. you will remember she was the acting attorney general for the first few weeks. she came to the white house to warn the white house that flynn had been lying about his secret communications with the russian government so the question to the president, what did you know of yates' meeting of mr. flynn. how was the decision made to fire mr. flynn on february 13, 2018. a

first of all, regarding flynn, what is your knowledge of calls to general flynn made with sergey kislyak in late december of 2016? another question, what was the purpose of the january 27th dinner meeting you had with comey? was loyalty discussed? what was the purpose of the may 12th tweet that comey better hope there are no tapes? what did you think and what did you do regarding attorney general sessions recusal and what did you think and what did you do in reaction to the news that the appointment of the special counsel and what knowledge should you have regarding the june 9th trump tower meeting? when did you become aware of the meeting? also another question in their regarding the statement that came out when the president was on the way back from the g20 about that meeting and the disclosure of donald trump jr.'s emails regarding it. if the house points out that there were only a couple, three questions that have anything to do with whether or not the trump campaign colluded with russia to try to throw the election. because the overwhelming majority of those questions don't focus on

says that he walked in on a meeting at trump tower between then-russian ambassador sergey kislyak and the financial adviser at trump tower after the election. the significance here is that the president's son, donald trump jr. had not previously acknowledged witnessing this event and not acknowledging walking in. he said he doesn't remember if he had a conversation or exchange much or spoke to the then russian ambassador, but that he may have shaken his hand. the significance of that to you? >> think the significance of all of this, poppy, is we're continuing to see these lines that lead from the trump team back to russia, and i think these transcripts give us a little bit more texture and a little bit more context in all of that, and you know, from the russian angle as i have written and i think several of my former colleagues have written and virtually impossible that the very mildest is extremely unlikely that the team that was led by veselnitskaya after the trump meetings or the kislyak meetings that vladimir putin hadn't used these as part of a larger attempt to get into the trum

the question about flynn having discussions with sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador.ot while the other guys in office. you do not undercut american foreign policy. >> jesse: you can't get in touch with your counterpart? >> juan: you can get in touch and introduce yourself but you don't have discussions about sanctions. you're also saying people are saying if trump leaked it, there's a problem. if trump leaked it, then where do we go with this? i think the answer is that trump never talks to mueller. >> greg: can i do something no one else will do? i would like to connect the entire story to iran. how does one do that? whether it is mueller, collusion, or iran, all of it is about president obama and his feverish fanatical commitment to preserve his legacy. he made common cause with putin. that's the real collusion because boudin to get to iran to keep the iran deal. the redline didn't happen because of syria and russia and putin. when trump got elected, it threw everything into disarray. president obama was not prepared for that to happen. he's thinking around deal and

time on this very program last year that he did, indeed, meet with former russian ambassador sergey kislyakthe 2016 republican national convention. >> i'm just trying to get a straight answer. like did you meet sergei kiss lack in

time on this very program last year that he did, indeed, meet with former russian ambassador sergey kislyak during the 2016 republican national convention. >> i'm just trying to get a straight answer. like did you meet sergei kiss lack in cleveland? did you talk to him? >> i'm not going to deny that i talked with him although -- >> so you did talk to him? >> i will say that i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland. let's just say that much. >> the only time that you met him was in cleveland? >> i -- that i may have met in possibly might have been in cleveland. >> let me start with this. has mueller -- i know you've talked to the fbi, right? >> absolutely. >> yeah. >> which has been disclosed, leaked to "the washington post." that's been out there, so -- >> so had they ever asked but that meeting back in the rnc? >> i told them a lot of everythi everything, you know, i had essentially been doing for quite a long time, including obviously, you know, everything in cleveland. so -- >> so you did talk about that? >> yes. >> the person that you say brought you on to the campaign, new york st

several fronts, particularly when it comes to any communications with former russian ambassador sergey kislyak during the campaign and the transition, wolf. >> thanks very much, pamela, for that report. now to the white house and its tight-lipped response to new reporting about the questions the special counsel robert mueller wants to ask the president of the united states. let's go to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. jim, the president has been tweeting about this, but he isn't talking about this subject, is he? >> reporter: that's right, wolf, i tried to ask the president about this in the oval office earlier today. other reporters trying to ask the white house press secretary, sarah sanders, in the briefing room. they're just not commenting. silence is the commentary over here at the white house. like the russia investigation. but you're right, wolf, the president did go after the leak of these questions, some four dozen questions to "the new york times," questions that we're told robert mueller would like to ask of the president in the context of the russia investigation. w

flynn made with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak in late december 2016? what did you know about sally yates' meetings about mr. for instance? how was the decision made to fire mr. flynn on february 13th, 2017? i'm just wondering what you make of what we're just now learning, michael. >> well, it seems that what we are learning is that contrary to earlier reporting mueller's interest in the president and the president's deposition, however that takes place, falls fully within the full scope of his mandate. it does not going to be a limited interview. it is going to be relating to the question of the interference, the counterintelligence investigation and matters that arise out of it including obstruction of justice, and so these questions point to the broad areas of interest that mueller has as they relate to each of the four points within his mandate, counterintelligence, matters that arised out of it, obstruction of justice and coordination and conspiracy, the so-called collusion aspect of it. and this is what you would have expected from mueller all alo

with his role as a member of the campaign and he also had contacts with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak and his role in the transition and questions related to what -- what if any role he had having to do with the firing of james comey, the former fbi director. we know that kushner was among the staff and people there with the president in new jersey, that weekend when the decision was made, when the president made the decision to fire james comey. all of those questions over seven hours and jared kushner people close to him believe that this means he is done with all of the inquiries, wolf. >> so what does this say about the state of the overall mueller investigation. >> look, i think what we're seeing is they are trying to wrap up some aspects of the investigation. but we don't know where robert mueller is. we don't know -- there is a lot we don't know about what he's found, how much longer he has to go. it does indicate to us, wolf, that at least some part of the investigation, at least trying to tie up some of the ends, but until mueller decides or announces what he has found, we re

he did meet with the foreign russian ambassador, sergey kislyak. so there are a number of different theories here. but of course, other people i spoke to said that they don't think that trump would hesitate at all to fire sessions, if he felt lake he had never political cover to do that. and they pointed, of course, to the fact that he did fire the former fbi director, jim comey, with very little consequences. and of course, he also desperate celebrated the dismissal of the deputy director, andy mccabe, two days before his retirement. so there are some people who say that the president can't do this because it might be perceived as obstruction and it would be politically disastrous for him to do it, but there are others say when the time is right, he may pull the trigger. >> jake, is this the squirm and coil for the republicans. would this create a rift among republicans if the president did decide to fire jeff sessions? is this one of those line that he shouldn't cross? >> it would be healing the symptom, but not the cause, perhaps. and if you rea

that is sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador to the united states. in late december of 2016. what was the purpose of the january 27 dinner meeting with comey? was loyalty discussed? regarding the decision to terminate comey, when was it made? why was it made? who on the staff played a role in the decision and how is it determined to make it public? what did you think and what did you do regarding the a.g. sessions' recusal? what did you think or know about the meeting in trump tower and that it might be disclosed? what involvement did you have in the communication strategy regarding the trump tower meeting and the release of don jr.'s e-mail concerning the same? you remember on his way back from the meeting in hamburg, the team crafted the initial statement after the meeting was disclosed and donald trump jr.'s e-mail had been disclosed about the meeting as well. you can see that mueller is looking into not so much collusion between the trump campaign and russia. though, there are questions about that. a lot of this appears to go to the idea of obstruction of justice. that ma

flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his interactions with russian ambassador sergey kislyak and papadopoulos admit today lying to the fbi about his contacts with individuals connected to russia. so far no one has gone down for lying about canada. we have assembled some of our favorite reporters and experts joining us on set today chuck rose not berg, former u.s. attorney and former senior fbi official. former u.s. attorney joyce vance. from "the new york times" mike schmidt and matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department. all of them, lucky for us, are msnbc analysts and contributors. let me start with you, mike schmidt. you have a story today about rudy giuliani's reliance on justice department policy, and i talked to folks close to rudy who say that that's it, that's the legal strategy. >> well, it's interesting where we are a year later. it's a good story for the president that he can't be indicted, and that just shows how far i think we have come on this entire thing. this is a favorable story for the president. it shows that this huge question, you kn

flynn made with the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, in late december, 2016? what did you know about sally yates' meetings about mr. flynn? how was the decision made to fire mr. flynn on february 13th, 2017? after the resignations, what efforts were made to reach out to mr. flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon? we'll cover the questions on jeff sessions just ahead in our broadcast. keep in mind that right now, it of course remains an open question as to whether the president will ever sit down with robert mueller. it's been reported that rudy giuliani, the president's newest addition to his legal team, has been trying to work out terms for that interview. well, without delay, let's get to our leadoff panel on another very busy monday night. michael schmidt, matt apuzzo, both of "the new york times," both pulitzer prize winners. it's their reporting that has given us our lead story tonight. also with us, barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of the state of michigan, and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and the penta

while he mitt sergey kislyak as has been reported, they never spoke again. he was later introduced to a sergey gorkov who's a banker allied with putin that they met once in des during the transition and then they never spoek spoke again. you hear a lot about these cliff hanger meetings and the pushback from democrats is what's going on here? this is your job but you're not following up or are you following up and not really telling us? we're getting a lot of new threads here that i think will continue to be followed. i don't think this wraps anything up particularly today. >> just quickly here when you talk about the interaction yours having with lawmakers with senator feinstein, senator blumenthal, democrats on the committee have their own talking points that are a little bit different than chuck grassley's. the trump campaign was willing to accept russia's assistance. they say they didn't talk about the russia offer, they didn't bring it up to authorities and they misled the public, et cetera. there's the addition of facts to the case what each player said

the very first time on this program last year that he did indeed meet with russian ambassador sergey kislyak16 republican national convention. >> i'm just trying to get a straight answ

first, what did you know about phone calls that mike flynn made with the russian ambassador sergei kislyak in late december 2016? two, what was your reaction to news reports on january 12th, 2017 and february 8th and 9th, 2017? now, what that's about is when the "washington post" columnist david ignatius first revealed in january 2017 that flynn had made those secret calls to the russian ambassador, mr. ignatius questioned whether those conversations had violated the law prohibiting private citizens from attempting to undermine american policies. and then in february the following month, 2017, the "washington post" revealed the true nature of flynn's conversations with kislyak. mr. mueller wants to know, among other things, whether trump feared that his national security adviser had broken the law and then tried to shield him from consequences. so again, the first question, mr. trump, what did you know about phone calls that mike flynn made with the russian ambassador during the transition? what was your reaction to news reports about the content of those communications when those news rep

he said it, not only to lester holt, but to sergey lavrov and kislyak in the oval office. have to wond fer this is a mind game. we have it on tape, we have the video and the reporting. it's not just what the president said. we have follow through over the last year since he had been fired from sources close to the president. that had been what had been bothering him and he thought it, in fact, by firing comey, russia would be off the table. little did he know he would be making the situation ten times worse. especially the rational that he would give lester holt would be something that is haunting him to this day. >> does he not remember that interview? >> there's a possibility he doesn't. though, you would think if someone, if he vetted his tweets in any way, shape or form, someone would have pointed it out. if he did, someone might say mr. president, you directly contradicted yourself. i always turn back to the cartoon image of the guy in the railroad car and he's putting down a track in front of himself as the train is rushing down the track he is building. that's donal

we were told michael flynn was fired because he misled the vice president about his talks with sergey kislyak a number of questions here that may get at the collusion question and what the president knew. i find it really surprising that to this day we haven't asked the president directly whether he knew what was going on with those negotiations and yet michael flynn was fired for misleading supposedly the vice president and the president. we find out later that actually the transition team did know about what michael flynn was doing. so let's hypothesize here. what if we find out that the president himself knew? what 23 we find out also that the president knew exactly what was going on in that trump tower meeting with thnatalia? so what? now you have the president's team arguing that the collusion is not a crime. >> >> i see those as perhaps two issues. on the flynn stuff it was forgotten about but he's cooperating and who knows what he's telling prosecutors about his instructions from trump, his conversations with trump about russ russia. at many t minimum for the president, you seem to hav