>> because he's trying to stop the investigation into flynn. he knows that flynn lied. that lie is extremely material because it relates to what occurred during the campaign and the coordination between russia and the campaign and trump knows it. >> now, here's where stuff gets dicey. we saw a preview of what the argument is going to be from the president just now in that press gaggle. they're going to say you have no smoking gun. there is no collusion. you're trying to get us on some fighting back. do you think in the defense of establishing that the campaign was working with the russian government to adversely affect the election that they can plausibly go after the president for obstruction. >> sure they can. that's what they did in watergate. very few of the top people, none were indicted for the break-in. they were all indicted for the cover-up. here i think you'll have proof. >> the origin confident phrases. >> exactly. you're going to have proof of the underlying crime and the cover-up because when flynn pled guilty to the lie about sanctions, it related to the c

i guess that's why when the president tweeted that he had to fire mike flynn, he tweeted after flynn pleaded guilty, i had to fire flynn because he lied to the fbi. it is a shame because his actions during the transition was lawful, there was nothing to hide. just the confusion, you make a good point. there's always been confusion leading and up to the point when flynn pleaded guilty about whether or not they knew he lied. if you don't, though, think that your national security advisor did anything wrong, why call the head of the fbi the next day and why the day after you eventually dismiss him, say to jim comey, please see to it to let him go, i hope you can see to let him go. >> there is no question that behavior kind of points to a protection of flynn. the question is, is it protecting him because they're all doing something together and they're all in on this, they need to protect him to protect themselves or is it part of this paranoia of they're after my guy, i don't want them to go after my guy just because he's my guy and i'm going to protect him. i mean that's kind of what t

drgs the president instruct flynn to lie? if he learned about it only afterwards, that raises questions drgs he suspect michael flynn had lied to the fbi and thus known that michael flynn might have committed a crime when that he had conversation with jim comey? so he didn't know about the interview in advance but he didn't expect wrongdoing until after comey was fired. that's a pretty convenient fact pattern. steve bannon might know. this goes to the question, does he have firsthand knowledge? certainly he's not the only person who knows. michael flynn probably knows. >> why do you say probably? >> we don't know the specifics, the name of his cooperation agreement special prosecutor mueller and we don't know for sure what he knows. we don't want to get ahead of the facts and say michael flynn 100% knows. it seems more likely than not. the other person who most assuredly knows is don mcgann. certainly they're keeping in mind that i'm not the only person who will give this story and i'd better have it straight. >> well, he's a

flynn is fired. now we're hearing a story about the new fbi director, it is reported that he was forced to fire some of his senior staff. >> he was pressured. >> if you look at the reports of how that came about. he wasn't pressured. it says, the report, the axios report which all of this is based on says the president never spoke directly -- >> no. >> it was via sessions. it was sessions. >> and the president tweeted. >> right but the president has tweeted a lot. >> when you get a new job, you can staff it how you like. that's not unusual in this town. >> but the fbi director seems to be getting pressure to not do that. i'm just saying it is being reported. >> we're going to get to that in a moment. jim sciutto will have that in a moment. the idea that mueller wants to question president trump about the flynn departure. i understand why he would want to talk to him about the comey departure. the question is, did you fire him so as to stop the investigation in any way? that sounds to me, i'll not a l

tonight on all in, general flynn is a wonderful man. i think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media. >> an nbc news >> tonight as more high profile interviews with robert mueller come to light, new details about michael flynn's meeting with the fbi. >> lock him up. >> and new questions about when the president knew flynn lied, why it's so crucial. >> flynn lied and they destroyed his life. it's a shame. >> then adam schiff on the republican effort to disrupt the mueller probe. >> let's stop there. a secret society? >> why the president's alleged affair with an adult actress may be a boon to sharks everywhere. >> love to prove that, wouldn't you? >> when all in starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. breaking news this evening. tonight speaking with reporters, the president has directly

they've also indicted george papadopoulos and mike flynn on matters that are not -- or in flynn's case, only distantly related. but in papadopoulos' case, not at all related. the reason we're all focused on the obstruction component right now is that the investigative elements of that matter seem to be cottaming to a head. normally you would do an investigation like this in the follow stages. first, you gather all the documents, and then you interview all the people involved from the bottom up. and over the last few weeks, we've seen interviews with people who are at the very top of this hierarchy of events, and that does indicate that the matter is sort of coming to fruition or to a head or is going to peter out. but that we're working toward the end of this investigative steps. >> ben, one more question. this is regarding the new nbc news exclusive reporting about michael flynn being interviewed by the fbi and not telling white house about it. carol lee learned peter strzok did the interview with michael flynn. if the name is familiar, that's because he's been in the news quite a bit

"i hope you can see your way to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy." >> here is the president of the united states with me alone saying i hope this. i took it this is what he wants me to do. i didn't obey that, but that's the way took it. >> it is so wildly inappropriate. it is so contrary to how the government is supposed to work. and it may well be evidence of a crime. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey to close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also, as you look back -- >> no, no. next question. >> it may have been comey's appearance on capitol hill. just days before he was fired in early may that finally sealed his fate. comey was asked about his decision to publicly announce the reopening of the clinton e-mail investigation before the election. >> look, this is terrible. it makes me mildly nausea to think we might have had some impact on the election. but honestly, it wouldn't change the decision. >> comey's concern that he influenced the outcome of the election infuriated the pre

starting with michael flynn. one year ago today, january 4th last year, which was four days into the trump administration, two days after flynn had been sworn in as national security advi adviser this day last year, andrew mccabe's office called national security adviser mike flynn's office at the white house and scheduled a meeting through flynn's scheduler, a meeting that we didn't really understand the contours of until now. nbc news reports that mike flynn took that initial meeting with fbi agents, four days after the inauguration, two days after he was sworn in. he met with those fbi agents alone, no lawyer present, and then nbc news reports he told no one that the fbi had visited him and questioned him in his office at the white house. that happened on january 24th. two days after that is when sally yates came up to the white house and essentially pulled the fire alarm about mike flynn. we had previously known that sally yates warned the white house that mike flynn had been lying about his contact with the

starting with michael flynn. one year ago today, january 4th last year, which was four days into the trump administration, two days after flynn had been sworn in as national security adviser this day last year, andrew mccabe's office called national security adviser mike flynn's office at the white house and scheduled a meeting through flynn's scheduler, a meeting that we didn't really understand the contours of until now. nbc news reports that mike flynn took that initial meeting with fbi agents, four days after the inauguration, two days after he was sworn in. he met with those fbi agents alone, no lawyer present, and then nbc news reports he told no one that the fbi had visited him and questioned him in his office at the white house. that happened on january 24th. two days after that is when sally yates came up to the white house and essentially pulled the fire alarm about mike flynn. we had previously known that sally yates warned the white house that mike flynn had been lying about his contact with the russi

we learn mike flynn noeever hol the white house. agented wanted to know why he had been wanted to talk to russia. more details on other former and current administration officials also talking with robert mueller. >>> a failure to cooperate, house republicans not handing over a secret memo, a document shows government misconduct, so we break down what's behind this latest political flash point and what the justice department is doing now. >> we are watching what's happening in michigan. he could be sentenced as early add today. in the eyes of the victims testifying publicly it's clear where he is

and to answer your underlying question, robert mueller knows what flynn knows because flynn has to be cooperating with robert mueller. if he in any way prevaricates or distorts or holds back, he is in a world of hurt because there's a high bar for his cooperation. >> do you think there's a big chart somewhere in the special counsel's office with a big chart showing all these characters papadopoulos, and all these characters and the sons and the daughter and the son-in-law and all the rowes they played? you guys probably have one. >> i was just about to say, i feel like as a reporter i need one of those with the string connecting all the dots. it's a lot to keep track of and hard for the american people to keep track of who has done what. >> i try to work on that. >> in the precomputer days whether he i was the u.s. attorney in connecticut and we were doing mob cases we had those charts which linked them almost an organizational chart. >> the guys with the nicknames, the robsters. >> so i have no doubt that somewhere on a computer or on the wall, there is a chart. >> i use today read "

flynn never asked why the fbi wanted to come over and talk to him. he agreed to meet with two investigators exactly one year ago today. here's what happened next, quote, two fbi agents arrived at the white house to speak with flynn. a lawyer for the security counsel would ordinarily be tipped off about such a meeting, but that didn't happen in this instance and flynn didn't appear with his personal lawyer. he met with the two agents alone. with more on this, chris gregarian for the "new york times" and ron hoffman, former director of the fbi and current director of the legal defense fund. ron, how does this work? you get the guy on the phone. we'd like to come over and talk to you. are you vague at that stage and are you, frankly, amazed when you walk into his office, just him, no lawyer? >> in this certain situation i am. yes, i would be purposely vague. we would like to come talk to you about some matters of mutual interest, can you put us onto your schedule? can you work that out into your schedule? is there a time that's convenient for you? as lo

when you talk about flynn -- jeffrey? >> wolf, that brief clip from the president, i think it's going to demonstrate how difficult it will be to interview donald trump. there's not going to be a judge there to insist he answer a question. so he's going to filibuster. he's going to say, as he did in a recent interview 16 times, there was no collusion. regardless of what the questions are to him. you know, i just think the president is in a stronger position here than many of us may be thinking about. because he is in control. if he doesn't want to answer these questions, he's not going to answer them. and what is anybody going to do about it? >> you know, he's really talking about no collusion in terms of himself. i mean, to jim's point, and about flynn's contacts with the russians, that's not donald trump's issue unless, unless he was -- he knew what flynn was doing or gave him instruction. so there is -- there is that question. and i don't know what you would call it, whether you would call it collusion or conspiracy. bu

they talk with flynn. flynn does not notify the national security counscil's legal team, which might happen in an instance like this, and he didn't have his personal lawyer with him. a number of people we spoke with said he seemed to either not get the significance of what was happening or not really fully grasp what the content of the interview was going to entail, or how much he could be putting himself in jeopardy. so we know that. and flynn kept a lot of people in the dark. he didn't notify senior staff. our sources said that included the president. we learned two days later when sally yates came to the white house and had a meeting with don mcgahn and warned him flynn could be susceptible to blackmail from the russians, she made it clear he had been interviewed by the fbi. she didn't disclose how that interview went, even though don mcgahn asked her. this moment in time kicked off this sequence of events we've seen over the last year, in which the president has taken steps that have become evidence, s

so mike flynn works for mueller. he works for team america until mueller is done with him. >> number seven is an athlete, colin kaepernick. >> we must confront systemic oppression as a doctor would a disease. you identify it. you call it out. you treat it. and you defeat it. >> he is famous in his own right because the story of colin kaepernick became intertwined with the story of donald trump. colin kaepernick and what he has stood for, or more appropriately knelt for, has attracted the attention and criticism of donald trump. colin kaepernick from your san francisco 49ers took them to the super bowl. has not worked in the nfl for some time but is now synonymous with taking a knee. >> and i think bringing it back to kaepernick is the right way to put this on the list. because there were a lot of players who -- by the time donald trump was attacking the nfl week after week after week, colin kaepernick wasn't playing for the 49ers anymore. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects o

michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. paul manafort pleaded not guilty to, among other charges, money laundering. you'll hear more about them later in this story. but one lesser known player is also in the hot seat. donald trump first mentioned him at a meeting with "washington post" editors in 2016. >> george papadopoulos, he's an oil and energy consultant. excellent guy. >> excellent guy george papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi in the russia investigation. >> you called george papadopoulos an excellent guy. what is your reaction? what's your reaction to george papadopoulos? >> thank you very much. >> the trump team has been working overtime to portray him as a nobody. >> this individual was the member of a volunteer advisory council. >> he was the coffee boy. if he was going to wear a wire, all we'd know is whether he prefers regular american coffee. >> but the coffee boy found his way to the big boy table with donald trump and other top campaign people. >> he doesn't know how to even make a coffee. >>

themselves from flynn. it all ties together of the thread of the white house trying to distance themselves from people who have been indicted, and trying to minimize the fbi, saying they're political. it all comes down to, perhaps, the white house making pardons or whether or not the president is going to cooperate. it is a pattern of practice and flynn is absolutely part of that. >> stand by, everyone. we're about to get white house reaction to all of this breaking news. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. back in a moment. (snap) achoo! (snap) achoo! achoo! (snap) (snap) achoo! achoo! feel a cold coming on? zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45%. shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. with its historical ance records...test ...you could learn you're from ireland... ...donegal, ireland... ...and your ancestor was a fisherman. with blue eyes. just like you. begin your journey at ancestry.com we know life can be hectic. that's why, at xfinity, we'

he recommended the president fire flynn which he did. but before that january 27th, three days after that flynn fbi interview that we're celebrating the anniversary of today, on that day, president trump invited then director comey to dinner. according to comey, that's when president trump asked him for a pledge of loyalty. >> i got the sense my job would be contingent upon how he felt i conducted myself and whether i demonstrated loyalty. >> reporter: on february 14th, the day after flynn resigned, the president, comey said, said to him privately, quote, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go. to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go, unquote. president trump denied saying that. either way on may 9th, with the rush investigation on his mind, as he later said, president trump fired jim comey. assuming the accuracy of these accounts, why was the president so focused on protecting flynn? special counsel mueller might be wondering that. sources say he is looking to talk to president trump about those f

so mike flynn works for mueller. he works for team america until mueller is done with him. >> number seven is an athlete, colin kaepernick. >> we must confront oppression as a doctor would a disease. you identify it. you call it out. you treat it. and you defeat it. >> he is famous in his own right because the story of colin kaepernick became intertwined with the story of donald trump. colin kaepernick and what he has stood for or more appropriately knelt for has attracted the attention and criticism of donald trump. colin kaepernick from your san francisco 49ers took them to the super bowl, has not worked in the nfl for some time but is now synonymous with taking a knee. >> and i think bringing it back to kaepernick is the right way to put this on the list. because there were a lot of players who -- by the time donald trump was attacking the nfl week after week after week, colin kaepernick wasn't playing for the nfl anymore. >> wouldn't you love to see one of the nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say

and michael flynn. this is the story of all the president's men. >> i got the best in the world. >> set down, guys. you all right? ready? okay. >> november 10th, 2016. >> we talked about some of the organizational issues -- >> two days after the election, president obama gives his successor a piece of advice. >> that ensures our president-elect is successful -- >> do not hire michael flynn. >> now the oath of office. >> as your national security adviser. >> so help me, god. >> cnn was told something by u.s. officials that was deeply concerning. >> the next president of the united states right here! >> during the campaign, american intelligence picked up the russians bragging that they had a strong relationship with flynn. you have to take some of the conversations we were told with a little bit of a grain of salt, but this set off an alarm for obama administration officials who were quite worried about it. >> you know, people talk about temperament -- >> flynn had worried intelligence officials for mont

>> mike flynn. >> mike flynn is the most stunning -- well, not just indictment but mike flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. >> former national security adviser. >> former national security adviser to the president of the united states. >> lock him up. >> the question that we sort of leave with after this dramatic news of his guilty plea is not just what does he know and what has he told mueller, because the answer is everything and whatever mueller wants, according to every prosecutor who has ever been involved in a case like this. >> the people who interacted with flynn, they know who they are. so whether it was take your pick, the vice-president, kushner, sessions, trump. >> the question is, how high up did this go? >> this explodes the idea that no one in the white house knew and that he misled everyone. >> not a single person who knew flynn from his military days thinks that flynn was the strategist of a pro russia campaign, thinks that flynn would have on his own said i'm going to rip up russia sanctions. >> a few biographical notes. three stars in the u.s. army. a lot of p

michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. paul manafort pleaded not guilty to, among other charges, money laundering. you'll hear more about them later in this story, but one lesser known player is alson the hot seat. donald trump first mentioned him at a meeting with "washington post" editors in 2016. >> george papadopoulos, an oil and energy consultant. excellent guy. >> excellent guy george papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi in the russia investigation. >> you called george papadopoulos an excellent guy. what is your reaction? what's your reaction to george papadopoulos? >> the trump team has been working overtime to portray him as a nobody. >> this individual was the member of a volunteer advisory council. >> he was the coffee boy. if he was going to wear a wire, all we'd know is whether he prefers regular american coffee. >> but the coffee boy found his way to the big boy table with donald trump and other top campaign people. >> he doesn't know how to even make a coffee. >> the fiancee of george papadopo

it seems to me, he wanted to protect flynn because flynn new something. watch this thing as a detective story, it seems to come out trump's hiding and using all his powers as president to protect himself. >> everything you've said it absolutely correct. i agree with you completely. it certainly looks bad for trump. but it probably actually is bad. it's not just that it looks bad. we can also assume not just that flynn knows things. we know that comey knows because he was in charge of the investigation into the russian collusion and the russian wrongdoing toward our election before he was fired. now, whatever he knows of course, the fbi still has in its institutional memory and can be used as evidence of any campaign cooperation with the russians which is a very serious underlying crime. it's always easier to make the obstruction case than it is to prove this underlying relationship with a foreign government. so that's why it may look like it's moving faster, but let's not jump 0 conclusions about this because we don't know what papadopoulos knows, what fl

so mike flynn works for mueller. he works for team america until mueller is done with him. >> number seven is an athlete, colin kaepernick. >> we must confront oppression as a doctor would a disease. you identify it. you call it out. you treat it. >> he is famous in his own right because the story of colin kaepernick became intertwined with the story of donald trump. colin kaepernick and what he has stood for or more appropriately knelt for has attracted the attention and criticism of donald trump. colin kaepernick from your san francisco 49ers took them to the super bowl, has not worked in the nfl for some time but is now synonymous with taking a knee. >> and i think bringing it back to kaepernick is the right way to put this on the list. because there were a lot of players who -- by the time donald trump was attacking the nfl week after week after week, colin kaepernick wasn't playing for the nfl anymore. >> wouldn't you love to see one of the nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a [

he allegedly asked him to drop the flynn investigation. throws things robert mueller and his team will be looking at if and when they can question the president. those trerms still being worked out. and sarah sanders, the white house press secretary addressed this today during the press briefing. >> as we've said, probably just about every day this year since we've been here that we will be fully cooperative with the special counsel, and we're going to continue to do that throughout the process. we're also not going to comment on who may or may not or could be interviewed. but we'll be fully cooperative with the process. >> and what sarah sanders repeatedly says there's no collusion but it is clear that robert mueller's focus as it pertains to the president is not on collusion. it is more on obstruction of justice. special when i the "washington post" reporting about what the questioning will be about. as i mentioned, the terms are being negotiated. i can tell you for a couple weeks that the lawyer for the president, for the white house, h

because sanctions is really what michael flynn lied about. and he lied about sanctions relating to what occurred during the campaign, which leads me to believe that there was some kind of quid pro quo relating to sanction, and the third sort of theme that runs through all of this is the obstruction of justice, if you take these three things and everything that's happened in the news today, they kind of always tie together. >> maya, we have basically gone through all of this here and barely talked about a "washington post" report about the interview of the president of the united states with mueller, that he still opposes the interview, that it would be like a death wish or a suicide operation, i think he means legally, to the president. as someone who's been an executive, you can't just duck the interview, but what about this heat that we're feeling about the mueller-trump face-off is coming? >> i think donald trump is creating an excellent job creating the appearance that he's the executive in chief. if you have an executive that's saying he

i learned mueller seeks to question trump about flynn and comey departures. i want to play you jim comey in testimony describing how he felt about what the president was asking him to do in terms of the russia investigation. we'll talk about it on the other side. . >> i hope, this is the president speaking, "i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. s he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go." now, those are his exact words. sthat corre is that correct? >> i took it as a direction. the president of the united states with me, alone, i took it as this is what he wants me to do. i didn't obey that. that's the way i took it. >> robert costa, the president even always speak that politely or kindly to his direct reports. obviously, that is what the president wanted the outcome to be. can you speak to, have you heard from any white house sources or anyone close to this investigation on the white house side about their reaction to all of the developments, the sessions testimony, the comey testimony, and news breaking in your newsp

what did people in thehite house really kno about flynn and flynn meeting with the fbi? i mean, bannon was not at new jersey that weekend that the president decided to fire comey. but it is very clear that he has been involved in discussions with people about what occurred that weekend. and there's a group of people inside the white house and outside the white house who say that, for example, jared kushner was a driver of that firing. what will bannon say about that? why would people believe that kushner was a driver of that? why would he have done that? kushner, i will add here, denies that he was a driver, says it was the president's decision. what did they know inside the white house about flynn's conversations with the russians, about his interviews with the fbi? these are all things that bannon can shed some light on. >> and bannon is the one in this new book, as we've pointed out. he raised the possibility of money laundering that should be investigated as well. sf >> right. and even though he and paul manafort were not there at the same time, he's still a senior a

mike flynn despite the contrary from the white house, mike flynn wasn't acting on his own. the trump transition was in on it and we know that in part because of k.t.mcfarland's e-mail. she is known as a fox personn personali personality. flynn brought on k.t. mcelderfa as his deputy national security advisor. not long thereafter, flynn was forced out in this scandal and k.t. mcfarland stayed on longer but within a few weeks, she was out, as well. that's how these tend to go. you're the deputy brought in by somebody that gets in trouble, that person that got in a lot of trouble gets in a lot of trouble and gets ousted, you follow them out the door. that said, the trump white house soon announced that they had a new gig in mind for k.t. mcelderry ffarland mcfarland, behold she should be sent to singapore. after the security advisor gets forced out in a scandal and you're his deputy, you get an ambassadorsh ambassadorship. weird prize from the start. seemed weirder when flynn wasn't just ousted, he was criminally charged and pled guilty last month. but then a few days later wh

when trump hired mike flynn to be his national security adviser, flynn brought on k.t. mcfarland as his deputy national security adviser. not long thereafter, flynn was forced out of the white house in this big scandal and k.t. mcfarland stayed on a little while longer but honestly within a few weeks she was out as well. that's how these things tend to go. you're the deputy brought in by somebody that gets in trouble, that person that got in a lot of trouble gets in a lot of trouble and gets ousted, you follow them out the door. that said, the trump white house soon announced that they had a new gig in mind for k.t. mcfarland. behold, she shall be sent to singapore. kind of a weird consolation prize, right? after the national security adviser gets forced out in a giant national security scandal and you're his deputy, then you get an ambassadorship? it was a weird consolation prize from the start. it started to seem like an even weirder consolation prize when flynn wasn't just ousted, he was criminally charged and pled guilty last month. but then a few days later when th

and also the timing of his telling flynn he wanted loyalty, the day after he learns that flynn has talked to the fbi is extremely suspicious and makes it look very bad. it's another step that looks like more obstruction to me. >> and natasha, this nbc reporting is the first specifying of when the president learned about michael flynn both being interviewed by the fbi and perhaps lying to the fbi. and as jill just pointed out, that's very important sequence s ly because of what happened the next day with james comey. >> it's hard to believe that michael flynn didn't tell anybody about this meeting he had with the fbi agents. the level of hubris that has affected not only trump but those around them that has put them in such legal jeopardy is astonishing. and the fact that fbi agents could visit flynn in his office in the white house and nobody noticed. and the only reason don mcgahn found out is because sally yates warned him. so if trump briefed all of these top white house officials about sally yates's warning indicating flynn told the fbi the same thing he told vice president mike pence

go, if he did it to protect flynn because flynn had something damaging about the president, if he did it to protect a family member, if the president did it to protect himself, corrupt intent. if the president -- >> wait. hold on. james, do you agree on those examples? is that corrupt intent? >> i think it depends on the circumstances surrounding it. >> these circumstances. these circumstances. that's what we're talking about with the president. >> oh, there's been cover-ups, there's been this, there's been that. norm tries to make this into something that it's not, much like the news media has done time and time again. >> james, don't paint me with that brush. you saw how i laid it out tonight. i'm trying to keep it very fair on these types of legal issues because we don't know wch way it breaks. >> i wasn't painting with a brush with you, chris. >> i feelpainted. let me ask you one other thing, james, while i have you. where is the subtle legal mind and the man of conscious, who says to a president in a moment like when mccabe walks into his office and he asks him, who did you vote

and also the timing of his telling flynn he wanted loyalty, the day after he learns that flynn has talked to the fbi is extremely suspicious and makes it look very bad. it's another step that looks like more obstruction to me. >> and natasha, this nbc reporting is the first specifying of when the president learned about michael flynn both being interviewed by the fbi and perhaps lying to the fbi. and as jill just pointed out, that's very important sequence ly because of what happened the next day with james comey. >> it's hard to believe that michael flynn didn't tell anybody about this meeting he had with the fbi agents. the level of hubris that has affected not only trump but those around them that has put them in such legal jeopardy is astonishing. and the fact that fbi agents could visit flynn in his office in the white house and nobody noticed. and the only reason don mcgahn found out is because sally yates warned him. so if trump briefed all of these top white house officials about sally yates's warning indicating flynn told the fbi the same thing he told vice president mike pence,

we now know that flynn was under investigation for lying to the fbi. so that is a crucial issue here in the mueller investigation. james comey is an important witness and we now know he's talked to the mueller team. >> so we have james comey, we have jeff sessions, steve bannon coming up. who else from the president's inner circle is going to be next for this? >> well, you know, we were going down the list today and a lot of the president's inner circle has already been interviewed. according to our reporting and the reporting of others, reince priebus, sean spicer, jared kushner has talked to the mueller team. that doesn't preclude further conversations, but really, the big names remaining as far as we know, again, this is a secret process, right, but donald trump jr., we don't believe has been interviewed. the vice president of the united states and the president himself. >> we are going to see if the president himself comes up soon. we have chuck rosenberg joining us now. he used to be chief of staff of james comey. chuck, your former colleague inte

new information that mike flynn hid his interview from president trump. >> michael flynn did the this interview with the two fbi agent and didn't tell anyone. he didn't mention to anybody that this had been put on his schedule. >> he didn't say anything to anyone, including the president. >> pressuring the fbi. after firing james comey, the president summoned the new acting fbi director, andrew mccabe, and demanded to know who he voted for in the election. raising big questions about political pressure. >> there is a credible case of obstruction of justice against donald trump. and the questions to then acting director mccabe are just additional evidence that the president wanted to demand political loyalty. >> and jet set. the president takes almost his entire cabinet to davos. for a gathering of the world's elite. a club he said he did not want to join. >> it is really all about economic growth opportunities to invest free and fair trade. kind of we're looking forward to it. >> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell back in washington where there are major vel lts on the russia

go, if he did it to protect flynn because flynn had something damaging about the president, if he did it to protect a family member, if the president did it to protect himself, corrupt intent. if the president -- >> wait. hold on. james, do you agree on those examples? is that corrupt intent? >> i think it depends on the circumstances surrounding it. >> these circumstances. these circumstances. that's what we're talking about with the president. >> oh, there's been cover-ups, there's been this, there's been that. norm tries to make this into something that it's not, much like the news media has done time and time again. >> james, don't paint me with that brush. you saw how i laid it out tonight. i'm trying to keep it very fair on these types of legal issues because we don't know which way it breaks. >> i wasn't painting with a brush with you, chris. >> i feel painted. let me ask you one other thing, james, while i have you. where is the subtle legal mind and the man of conscience who says to the president in a moment like when mccabe walks into his office and he asks him who did you v

one is that the firing of general flynn takes place -- the lies associated with general flynn's interview with the fbi take place right at the beginning of the presidency. and the president's interactions with jim comey as well as sally yates's interactions with the white house are very deeply conditioned by this event that just happened. >>> the second issue is the more serious the fbi's concerns at the time about general flynn were, the more you would imagine everybody there would have been disturbed by what seemed to be flynn's longevity within the house, as well as the president's then request to comey that he drop the matter, and the subsequent pressure on the fbi and comey that eventually led to his firing. and the president's statements subsequently, including to the russian foreign minister, that he'd relieved pressure on himself by doing so. so, there's a very deep set of connections between the underlying investigation, particularly as regards flynn, and the basket of material that is being investigated under the rubric of obstruction. there is one other important element there,

in the statement of the charges against general flynn, he says that flynn was on the phone with kislyak, the russian ambassador, and other foreign officials they were saying we want to bring u.s. closer to both russia and israel.l. those are campaign promises that trump made. why is that an act of disloyalty against your country that would justify surveillance? i don't understand. >> does it surprise you that the u.s. government might surveil the russian ambassador to the united states? >> tucker: no, it doesn't. >> exactly! you are assuming this was a surveillance of flynn who incidentally, we already had a predicate for because the russians had reached out. they didn't reach out to the hillary clinton campaign. they reached out to the trump campaign. the trump response was, love it let's see more. that undermines democracy. >> tucker: the intel t agencies are allowed to and ought to be surveilling foreign actors in the united states and also abroad. we are supposed to be pretty jumpy about getting americans involved in that surveillance. there is a high bar, fisa court exists to sure

and last month, tweeted that he never asked comey to stop investigating flynn. yesterday, "the new york times" was first to report that attorney general jeff sessions was questioned by the special counsel's office last week. a person familiar with those discussions told the "times" that the special counsel appeared most interested in asking questions about comey and flynn. yesterday president trump was asked about the special counsel talking to a sitting cabinet member. >> no, i'm not at all surprised. no, i didn't, but i'm not at all concerned. thank you all very much. >> so there we are. joe? >> yeah, so here we are, michael schmidt, it seems that the focus based on your reporting, the people you spoke with, had to do with donald trump actually obstructing justice in the investigation itself. explain. >> there are two big buckets of mueller's investigation, one is the russia question and one is the obstruction bucket. the thing is, is that there's just a lot more things in the obstruction bucket that relate to the president's conduct than there is on russia. t

but even after that revelation flynn wasn't fired for another three weeks for lying about his contacts with russian officials. >> the interview set off a chain of events in which key administration officials were fired and the president took steps that could potentially be seen as trying to obstruct justice. >> reporter: flynn pleaded guilty last month to lying to investigators during that meeting about his conversations with russia's ambassador and is now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. the white house pressed on flynn keeping the president in the dark. >> the special counsel. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i haven't spoken to him about that specific issue. >> the last time he spoke with michael flynn. >> i'm not sure. >> reporter: nbc news has also learned mueller is casting a wide net, interviewing former fbi director james comey and attorney general jeff sessions. that list also includes mr. trump's intelligence chiefs, the director of national intelligence, the director of the nsa and cia director. a source familiar with the matter tells nbc news mueller also wants to inter

the information is that flynn lied to him. if flynn didn't lie to him, that's even more serious. if he did lie to him, the question is, why. >> he seems to be the person who makes donald trump the most nervous. he didn't want to fire him. trump tweeted, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice-president and the fbi. he has pled guilty to those lies. it's a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide! there are three little letters in that tweet that make it markedly different from the reason he gave for ousting flynn in february. fbi. >> when you are fired, you are fired on tv and publically. >> a u.s. president made history. firing the fbi director who was leading one of the key investigations into what is arguably the biggest scandal in american history. the former fbi director gave a public account of feeling pressured by the president to, quote, let the flynn investigation go. >> i believe the firing of fbi director comey is obstruction of justice, because the president essentially admitted he fired comey because of th

i think they're at a very key cross roads right now with the flynn cooperations. if i am team mueller, i want to show the grand jury video, especially of this president and all that is answers and tales physically. you can see anger and you can see nervously that's read back of a transcript does not get you. is that kind of the thing that'll be back and forth, a concession that maybe someone will make? >> possibly. part of the problem of that is is that normally you don't have video tapes before a grand jury and you don't have the witnesses themselves. what you are pointing out is those grand juries are not going to be able to see him. maybe they should have a video tape of what goes on here, and that would not be unusual. i think you are going to have some trading here as to how the process is going to work. the bottom line is mueller is going to insist there is going to be a transcript and under oath and that it is to the grand jury and make it clear onset. >> phil, what do you think is more worst inside team's trump. this book, the wolff's book or continuing wo

general flynn used run all the spies in the army. they knew immediately that he lied. >> sometimes it's hard tore watch your own back side than somebody else's. i want to talk about the fbi and we can't get lost on the timing of all this. this is a time when the fbi is struggling. you got a special counsel looking into the situation with the president his former campaign. i want to hear about this talk now that a former member of the fbi, andrew mccabe might be asked for loyalty. did we hear about this? no. okay. we do have a picture of the president with him. i want to get your thoughts on that. >> full disclosure. the president has been a friend of mine for 30 years. i've had numerous engagements with him on the telephone and person. i know that personality. he may say, i know you voted for me, didn't you. that's just the way he is. he's not asking for loyalty. >> when we have more time i want to circle back. here is what is breaking news. law see there is a doctor, a man who was trusted with young athletes from elite athletes, dr.

it's flynn i'm. is he a general no. evidence he sold out america. >> asking the government to put a stamp on your client's government u. >> tucker: they should have indicted him for it. richard, thank you. advice for 2018. in case you are in the mood for advice as you nurse your post new year's hangover. take a look at baltimore the city you have where the police have been shackled and there has been a predictable and very sad surge in murders. we will break down out numbers. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ remember our special night? abdominal pain... ...and diarrhea. but it's my anniversary. aw. sorry. we've got other plans. your recurring, unpredictable abdominal pain and diarrhea... ...may be irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or ibs-d. you've tried over-the-counter treatments and lifestyle changes, but ibs-d can be really frustrating. talk to your doctor about viberzi,... ...a different way to treat ibs-d. viberzi is a prescription medication you take every day that helps proactively manage... ...both abdominal pain and d

it's going to focus on the firing of comey and flynn. if you were mueller and his team, one of the lead prosecutors on the team. what would be the number one question for the president? >> i think it's the classic question, right, what did you know and when did you know it? because of course the firing of comey, the pressuring comey on treating michael flynn lightly or gently, whatever it was, if he knew that flynn had lied, that could point in the direction of obstruction. it's a classic what did you know and when did you know it? >> the firing of comey, the to lester holt it was largely because of the russia investigation. is there something there you want to know more of? >> i'd like to know who he talked to about that, whether he got advice he should or shouldn't do it. i'd like to know who and what they were thinking at the time. when he told lester holt is pretty damning. he needs to get the facts around the actions. this is spearhead e eed by dev n nunes, and you've said on our air this is full of baloney, the president is incline

but even after that revelation, flynn wasn't fired for another three weeks. for lying about his contacts with russian officials. >> the interview set off a chain of events in in which key administration officials were fired and the president took steps that could potentially be seen as trying to obstruct justice. >> reporter: flynn pleaded guilty last month to lying to investigators during that meeting about his conversations with russia's ambassador, and is now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. tonight, the white house pressed on flynn keeping the president in h the dark. >> special counsel. >> frustrated by that? >> i haven't spoken to him about that specifically. >> last time he spoke with michael flynn? >> i'm not sure. >> reporter: nbc news also learned mueller is casting a wide net, interviewing former fbi director james comey and attorney general jeff sessions. that list also includes mr. trump's intelligence chiefs, director of national intelligence, director of the nsa and cia director. a source familiar with the matter tells nbc news

but even after that revelation, flynn wasn't fired for another three weeks. for lying about his contacts with russian officials. >> the interview set off a chain of events in in which key administration officials were fired and the president took steps that could potentially be seen as trying to obstruct justice. >> reporter: flynn pleaded guilty last month to lying to investigators during that meeting about his conversations with russia's ambassador, and is now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. tonight, the white house pressed on flynn keeping the president in the dark. >> the special counsel. >> frustrated by that? >> i haven't spoken to him about that specific issue. >> last time he spoke with michael flynn? >> i'm not sure. >> reporter: nbc news also learned mueller is casting a wide net, interviewing former fbi director james comey and attorney general jeff sessions. that list also includes mr. trump's intelligence chiefs, director of national intelligence, director of the nsa and cia director. a source familiar with the matter tells nbc n