not a peep about mike flynn. not at all since he plead guilty and became a cooperator more than a year ago. and not even since the nature of hiss cooperation was made public. which is now more than 24 hours ago. and it extends a remarkable streak by donald trump, when it comes to mike flynn. now it seems incredible, not in fantastic, but as not credible. there must be something else going on here. there's more than meets the eye. why why has trump been so invested in defending michael flynn? why has he been so consistent and gone out of his way to only have positive things to say and do and only have things to offer mike flynn? when president-elect trump, two days after the election went to the white house to meet with then president obama, he said that he warned trump about two things. he warned him north korea would be a serious national security matter that he would not be able to avoid dealing with, and that in addition to north korea, multiple sources reported that the other warning that obama gave trump, wa

flynn, not go after mike flynn. why did the president intercede to do that on flynn's behalf, given what we had all just learned about flynn? why did the president initially say that mike flynn was fired because he had lied to mike pence about his contacts with russia, but then later the president changed his story to say he had to fire flynn because actually, flynn lied to the fbi. frankly, why did mike flynn lie at all about his contacts with the russian government about sanctions. all right? he is the incoming national security adviser. it wouldn't be that weird for flynn to be talking to a foreign government about an expected change in policy under the trump administration when it came to u.s./russia relations, even sanctions specifically. it would be a little awkward. questions would be raised, but it wouldn't be that weird. nevertheless, he lied about it publicly and he lied about it to the fbi, and that honestly makes no sense if they were innocent policy discussions about sanctions and he is the incoming adv

flynn, not go after mike flynn. why did the president intercede to do that on flynn's behalf, given what we had all just learned about flynn? why did the president initially say that mike flynn was fired because he had lied to mike pence about his contacts with russia, but then later the president changed his story to say he had to fire flynn because actually, flynn lied to the fbi. frankly, why did mike flynn lie at all about his contacts with the russian government about sanctions? he is the incoming national security adviser. it wouldn't be that weird for flynn to be talking to a foreign government about an expected change in policy under the trump administration when it came to u.s./russia relations, even sanctions specifically. it would be a little awkward. questions would be raised, but it wouldn't be that weird. nevertheless, he lied about it publicly and he lied about it to the fbi, and that honestly makes no sense if they were innocent policy discussions about sanctions and he is the incoming adviser who is

mike flynn, nevertheless, was going to deliver him, for money. did i mention this was all for money? by election day itself, on november 8th, mike flynn published a somewhat terrifying op-ed in "the hill" newspaper where he called this turkish guy living in pennsylvania a shady islamic mullah, and compared him to freaking osama bin laden. so all that unfolds over the space of less than four months. when mike flynn was not being paid by this foreign government, he told an american audience the night of the coup that they should applaud the coup, that the overthrow of the government in turkey would be great for the united states. they should applaud that. that would be amazing. let's root for these people who are trying to overthrow that government. let us root for the coup. sensing an opportunity to make a buck, though he turns on -- i was going to say turns on a dime. he turns on many dimes. $600,000 worth of dimes, and says less than two weeks later, you know what? forget what i actually think is right for the united states when i'm not being pa

turns out mike flynn's son was. so, that was an embarrassing thing to vice president elect pence to have been called out about. reporters immediately called him on the fact that if flynn, jrks was not on the transition, why was he e-mailing them all from a trump transition e-mail address? that was pro foundly embarrassing in the transition and specifically for mike pence, who was supposedly running the transition, he was never able to come up with an explanation for why mike flynn's son has been put up for security clearance by the transition. pence appeared to not know he was there, let alone that he was put forward for something like that. but, never the less, even after that embarrassment, the administration went forward with plans to name mike flynn national security adviser. as soon as the administration started, four days later, the red flags turned in to giant waving red banners. that occluded the view from the house, because they draped from the roof to the ground. four days after trump was sworn in, there w

mike flynn that night gives a speech. it will be awesome if the turkish government gets overthronove overthrown. thanks to a new federal felony indictment that was just unveiled today, now we know prosecutors say it took at most 11 days for mike flynn, donald trump's national security adviser to do an absolute u-turn on that important national security issue in exchange for a big pile of money. today the vice-chairman of the flynn intelligence group appeared in federal court in virginia to face federal conspiracy charges and a charge of acting unlawfully in the united states as the agent of a foreign government. mike flynn himself is described in this indictment as person a. after mike flynn got up in front of that crowd on july 15th and said they all ought to applaud this military coup to overthrow the turkish government, according to today's indictment, prosecutors say 11 days later on july 26th, flynn engaged in a, quote, detailed discussion with the vice-chairman of his company about going to work on behalf of the gov

court that arguably, mike flynn, you sold out your country. you betrayed the flag that he turned and pointed to in the courtroom. so the judge has just done that. flynn has just sat down, and then the judge directs questions -- starts directing questions to mueller's prosecutors, and they are questions that appear to shock even the prosecutors. the judge says, quote, counsel, these are questions answers to which the court is going to consider in attempting to determine an appropriate sentence. the conversation with the russian ambassador in december, is that a violation of law? prosecutor brandon van grack, your honor. the judge, i hate to be so blunt. ocould he have been charged with a criminal offense? van grack, the facts could potentially support a violation of the logan act, which i think is perhaps what the court is referring to. the judge, is that the act that no one has ever been prosecuted under? mr. van grack, that's right. which is why i want to be clear in terms of the government's consideration of potential charges against general

open court that arguably, mike flynn, you sold out your country. you betrayed the flag that he turned and pointed to in the courtroom. so, the judge has just done that. flynn has just sat down, and then the judge directs questions -- starts directing questions to mueller's prosecutors, and they are questions that appear to shock even the prosecutors. the judge says, quote, counsel, these are questions, answers to which the court is going to consider in attempting to determine an appropriate sentence. the conversation with the russian ambassador in december, is that a violation of law? prosecutor brandon van grack, your honor. the judge, i hate to be so blunt. could he have been charged with a criminal offense? mr. van grack, the facts could potentially support a violation of the logan act, which i think is perhaps what the court is referring to. the judge, is that the act that no one has ever been prosecuted under? mr. van grack, that's right. which is why i want to be clear in terms of the government's consideration of potential charges against ge

meaning what mike flynn told us. because the addendum includes sensitive information about ongoing investigations. the government has filed publicly a redacted version of the document that excludes the sensitive information. that's coming up in a few pages. the addendum is where the special council's office explains how flynn has been helpful, what exactly he has given them information about. and i'll show you big pieces of it that are redacted, we get a substantial amount of information. all right, sao this -- at the sentencing memorandum, before we get to what he told the government, we get a rundown of how the government got to flynn in the first place, and why he ended up lying to them. as described in the statement of offense, the defendant made multiple false statements to multiple department of justice entities on multiple occasions. the first series occurred during an interview with the fbi on january 24th, 2017. january 24th, 2017 is not yet one week into the brand new trump administration. trump was sworn i

this hearing was not going very well for mike flynn. there was every chance his client was about to be sent to jail even if only for a few weeks or months. they're going to pack it in and come back another day when they can say that they have fully cooperated. at the same time, he was making a pitch there that, look, we've told the special counsel everything he has wanted to know. 19 meetings with the special counsel and we, the public, to this day, do not understand the extent and the value of mike flynn's cooperation. and that is a very important factor that is hanging over the entire mueller investigation, because mike flynn was with donald trump at crucial times and very often, he flew with him during the campaign. he was involved with these secret talks to the russian ambassador. so, he certainly has cooperated and kilner was communicating that to the court. again, they're deciding it's the better part of valor to wait another day, delay the sentencing because clearly they were afraid of what might happen if the judge passed senten

we don't know why mike flynn lied. we don't know whether anyone, including president trump, directed him to do it. and if trump did play a role in this, is that why the president is treating mike flynn with kid gloves? and is that why the president asked james comey, the former fbi director, to let the flynn investigation go? that is the big question that a lot of us have right now. why has trump, a man for whom loyalty is so often a one-way street, why is he so apparently eager to defend mike flynn? michael flynn, just like michael cohen, is cooperating with prosecutors. yet trump called michael cohen a rat. so it's unclear what threat this poses to president trump. for now, we've seen the way the president is trying to turn this flynn case into a political cause to energize his base by speculating that michael flynn was mistreated by the fbi. >> jeff bennett there at the white house. jeff, stay close to the camera, please. joining me now is barbara mcquaid, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan an

flynn and served with mike flynn. this was not the mike flynn that they knew. >> at that point, something slipped and he became an enemy of the administration. an enemy of secretary clinton who, by the way, had been extremely supportive of jsoc and their mission. >> he really, really viscerally hated hillary clinton. and he really believed a lot of the conspiracies. >> not long after trump secures the nomination, wikileaks dumps thousands of e-mails. stolen from the democratic national committee. it becomes clear who originally hacked the data. >> u.s. officials say they have come from in russia. >> hacked by russia and published by wikileaks. >> michael flynn will find himself at the center of not only a political hurricane, but an epic national security threat. coming up -- >> mike flynn is potentially one of the key witnesses into the investigation of what happened in the 2016 election. since my dvt blood clot i was thinking... could there be another around the corner? or could it turn out differently? i wanted to

these people do not leak and mike flynn's lawyers were not leaking. so there is no way that giuliani or anybody in the trump team knows what mike flynn has given them. it could be substantial. let's not forget, mike flynn was on board with the idea of a reproach -- with russia. he believed you could team up with russia to fight that threat. he had many conversations with donald trump about this subject and he was aware of meetings that were taking place between the trump team and russians. and here's what else he knows. he knows why he decided to lie about his own interactions with the russian ambassador, even though it wasn't -- it might have been okay had he admitted them. it wasn't necessarily criminal or even improper for him to have met with the russian ambassador. yet he lied just as michael cohen lied about the trump tower meeting. >> and, john, there is a reference to the logan act in what the special prosecutor filed tonight. that law that has never actually been brought to a trial and tested, but a very old law that says you cannot conduct f

mike flynn did many good things. mueller took them into account but at the end of the day he betrayed a trust and as far as i'm concerned, military officer vs officers have to have a higher ethical standard. they have to set the example and mike failed. >> you mentioned something that we all remember and it was the entry point for many americans and understanding anything about michael flynn and for that reason we'll play it. malcolm, i'd love you to tell us your reflection of this on the other side. this was mike flynn at the convention. >> lock her up. lock her up. you know why we're saying that. we're saying that because if i, a guy who knows this business, if i did a tenth of what she did, i would be in jail today. >> malcolm. >> well, he has done tenth, more than a tenth of what she was accused of. to kcolonel peters point, the fact that robert mueller is only recommending, whatever, no jail time on general flynn tells me something very important. very early on, within the community, there was a lot of concern t

why did mike flynn lie about this stuff? he was the designated incoming national security adviser, it was a little weird, potentially a logan act violation for the incoming national security adviser to be calling a foreign government undermining existing u.s. policy and the existing u.s. president. it's a little weird, but the logan act has never been used to prosecute anybody. given that flynn wasn't just an average private citizen, he was the incoming national security adviser, it wouldn't be that weird for him to be making those kinds of calls with russia. policy's about to change. consider that when you're measuring what your response should be to this latest action of the lame duck president. mike flynn thought he was doing something with those calls that could not come out. he felt like he was doing something that really needed to be secret. and it wasn't just him. that's how they all were on this issue of russian sanctions. you may remember k.t. mcfarland, a fox news pundit, and then for a hot minute she became the to

number two, let's remember why did mike flynn plead to this? it wasn't for fun. it wasn't a field trip. it wasn't a legal experiment. it was why most people plea, because there was something credibly worse that he was worried about being convicted of, in his case other crimes that would carry more jail time regarding foreign lobbying rules, as well as something that people pled to this week, which was other business financial crimes that came -- i mean, that were indicted this week irkd sd say regarding his business associates with foreign activity. he took this plea deal presumably because there was more bad stuff he didn't want. third and finally, it's good news for mueller to have a judge, people who watch this closely was quite tough on some others, including andrew weissmann, by coming out and going against the flynn lawyer. i think flynn's lawyers may have overstepped a little bit. if they could do this over, they might have tried to nod and wink at this trumpy conspiracy theory without going so far as having their guy called to the carpet in open court. >>

mike flynn and k.t. mcfarland secretly start working on it, including with the russian government, and then they lie about it publicly and to the press and to the congress and even to the fbi. sanctions advocacy isn't such a terrible thing for them to be doing. it's a stand-alone thing. but if it was part of this kind of scheme, then, yeah, maybe that would explain why they were being so surreptitious about it. and what else? well, we also now know that the two trump organization guys who themselves specifically were the ones working on trump tower moscow, felix sater and michael cohen, they ended up themselves, the two of them involved in one more scheme right before mike flynn was fired, right at the start of the trump administration. they were involved in a scheme to cook up yet another plan to get rid of russian sanctions. do you remember this story? felix sater and michael cohen involved in the supposed secret ukrainian peace deal scheme, which was really just a proposal to give ukraine over to russ

mike flynn has been cooperating for a year and it turns out mike flynn and his lawyers didn't leak either. but here's what we do know, the special counsel said in a really telling part of this document, his early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and first-hand insight regarding events and issues under investigation. then he said, additionally, the defendant's decision to plead guilty likely related first-hand witnesses. that suggests that he was very valuable and, look, we know that mike flynn. you know better than anybody, mike flynn was in the room with donald trump and on the plane with donald trump all through the campaign and transition. he is a person who calmed donald trump. many hours of conversation because he had strong views about russia. presumably he would tell the special counsel what donald trump's mindset was about russia and potentially lifting sanctions after he took office. many things directly relevant to this inquiry. >> as robert mueller and his team have so often done or in the time of these memos, kind of cod

mike flynn folded. having dropped his defiant attacks on the fbi under oath, he went on to drop the entire plan to get sentenced today. i can tell you we were planning to cover this. we weren't planning to not get any sentencing information. this is all big and new tonight. mike flynn has talked a very big game for a long time. he got close to trump by talking trash about hillary clinton. >> if i, a guy who knows this business, if i did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, i would be in jail today. >> with all that big willie talk, flynn was playing himself. he talked a big game to the russian ambassador. when he lied about that to the fbi, flynn was playing himself. and today flynn turned a free pass from mueller into this judicial smackdown. with all that big willie talk, again, tlin was playing himself. how does someone keep making the same mistake? this criminal tendency was diagnosed by the great kendrick j.rudavis who explain people who talk the loudest often put themselves in the most danger, saying

what crimes did mike flynn commit? if you were to ask 50 people on the street, what kind of answers would you get? you would likely get a full range. he worked for vladimir putin. he colluded with the turks. he and carter page were seen reloading on the grassy knoll in dallas, that kind of thing. after 33 years -- >> do you view him as compromising the national security of the united states? >> mike flynn betrayed his country. it is unforgivable. but the greater crime was what to me in any view was treason. >> what flynn did in supporting a candidate who the russians were helping through this operation, so egregious. >> it's funny because it's treason. >> tucker: oh, it's treason. that's a pretty heavy charge. it's a death penalty offense actually. did mike flynn commit treason? we know the answer because the details are publicly available. here's what flynn did. he gave an untrue statement to the fbi about an entirely legal phone call he had had with the russian ambassador to the u.s., and that's i have the. mike flyn

that mike flynn had lied? it's a critical question. we know mike flynn did this crazy thing where he lied about his conversation. no real reason for him to do so. he could have just come clean. why did he lie, and why did the president ask the fbi director to back off? the worst explanation is the president knew he was committing a crime from day one, was involved in it, and that's the vast conspiracy we'll find out at the end of this. >> these are the unanswered questions. i'm going to venture to guess we don't have answers in the written questions. paul butler, can you jump in on this? what do you think we learned? is it clear to you as a former prosecutor, that the responses that mueller received from the president are going to be evaluated next to what we know to have been substantial cooperation from mike flynn on some of the very same questions? >> no question, nicolle. when giuliani was dilly dallying about whether trump would sit for an interview, it kind of looked like he was playing robert mueller. b

page, papadopoulos, manafort, and mike flynn. we still don't know to this day the extent of why they were looking at him. also by the time they got to him in that room and were asking him about his conversations with the russian ambassador, he had been telling lies about that for two weeks to senior government officials, including the vice president. so the idea that somehow this was a trap, that they sprung this on him, that they lured him into lying is simply refuted by all the facts we know. >> sarah sanders also said that the difference between michael flynn and michael cohen is that everyone knows michael cohen is a liar. the president called michael flynn a liar. he said he fired michael flynn. he did this in a tweet, which still stands on his timeline. he fired michael flynn for lying to the vice president. >> michael flynn said today, i'm a liar. he, in fact, had this strange decision at the very end of the process to maybe embrace the notion that he'd been entrapped. judge sullivan, who is a wild card and this time playe

but mike flynn and his deputy, k.t. mcfarland, and the president himself, we now know, they were all compromised by russia at the time, because of what they were lying about that russia knew the truth about. and what russia knew the truth about is what turns out to be a fairly simple plan. compromise the candidate with promises of a secret deal, install the candidate, and then leverage the candidate to lift sanctions and free russia to do what it wants. now over this past week, we suddenly can see the full plan and how it was supposed to work. the question is whether it might still work now that it's out in the open, or whether they're caught and it's therefore over. >>> coming up next, our panel will react to this amazing report done by rachel maddow. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. this is movin

flynn into your administration, set the tone of the entire intelligence community, because mike flynn, as the former head of the dia, in other words the intelligence agency, understood the resource that they had and could bring to bear against individuals both domestically and internationally. and what we talk about in the book is the relationship that foreigners were afraid of mike flynn because he had a different way of doing things. much like donald trump. who is going to come to walk and fundamentally change the way the intelligence community operates. mike flynn did that when he was the head of the dia so candidate trump, president-elect trump, did not take the advice from barack obama, ultimately offered general flynn the job of the national security adviser and then we saw that mike flynn made some misstatements to some investigators who have now gone back and said they didn't think mike was lying and there's some question whether mike is actually -- what he ban accused of by the crooked members of the fbi and the person who speaker views mike flynn was none other than mccabe a

mike flynn did that when he was head of the dia. candidate trump, electron did not take the advice from barack obama. ultimately offered general flynn the job as a national student advisor and then we saw that mike flynn made some misstatements to some investigators who have now gone back and said he didn't think mike was line and there's some real question as to whether mike is actually what he has been accused of by the crooked members of the fbi and the person, you know this who interviewed mike flynn, none other than mccabe and schrock and page and that whole cabal at fbi. mike flynn sat down with out an attorney and other charged with perjury. he pled guilty but there's a real question whether not that will hold up and so that advice really set the stage from the beginning. >> i'm going to read a brief exit for you talk about the that in the first maybe one-third of the book. you wrote, we have little doubt obama and let his intelligence agency spiral out of control during his eight years in office, even going so far as to eith

i would also add one thing about mike flynn in particular. i think after he originally pled, seriious and legitimate questions were raised. you noted yourself that the fbi had early on decided he wasn't lying to them and later the special counsel moved ahead with the prosecution and a plea on this. part of the reason you may have an agreement to no jail time is that the prosecution may realize the department of justice as a whole beyond just the special counsel has taken inconsistent positions on something they would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. that's unique to mike flynn in this whole area, but i don't think we should forget about it in terms of each side calculating what lies ahead for them if there is a fight versus if there is cooperation. >> a separate criminal investigation is something that mike flynn was key on in giving them great help and it's all redacted. what is your guess as to what could qualify as a separate criminal investigation that mike flynn could have been helpful with? >> silence from both. nobody wants to

that's what mike flynn has been doing. one other aspect that is relevant to mueller and i want to know why it's impressive to you both. the idea of timeliness. they go out of their way to say there is a paragraph on it about how this was probably just an economy of justice type of thing. page five, home an numeral two. timeliness of the assistance. the usefulness is connected to the timeliness. the defendant began providing information not long after the government first sought his cooperation. by the way, that ends up diff e diffusing a lot of speculation that he was fighting. that wasn't true. he was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight regarding events and issues under investigation. it affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forth coming and cooperated. >> mueller has three audiences when he writes that paragraph. it's really important. is to flynn to say you made a deal with me and i'm sticking up to the deal. the court, despite the fact th

we're still experiencing the repercussions of that scandal around mike flynn and the circumstances of his resignation and what ultimately became his guilty felony plea and his cooperation deal with prosecutors. as i mentioned a few moments ago, we are expecting a considerable leap in the drama on the mike flynn case. in fact tomorrow, when we're expecting a sentencing memo from the special counsel's office related to mike flynn. but back in february of last year when the dust was still rising from the shock mike flynn resignation and everybody trying to figure out how serious this was and what it meant, in the midst of that fury, the day after the flynn resignation on february 15th last year, a man named andy puzder took advantage of a fortunate news environment and quietly withdrew his name from consideration to be secretary of labor. he had been trump's first pick. he didn't get the job because, among other things, puzder faced serious allegations of physical abuse by his ex-wife. that led to this surreal paragraph in "the new york times" story reporting that he was pulling his name

who's mike flynn to donald trump? >> well, if you watch those c p clips, you see the deeply personal way president trump speaks about general flynn and it's reflect ive of where the white house is. talking to people close to the president, rudy giuliani and he think about flynn in personal terms rather than a legal strategy. how highly unusual it is for a president to weigh in with good luck wishes on a day of a legal event like this. they think this is siege warfare run by jay sekulow and rudy giuliani and president trump. there's not a big law firm attacked. republicans on capitol hill feel isolated. they don't want to get involved at all. yet the president sit tlg ting in the oval office we're told talking about flynn, how he feels flynn is betrayed by the justice depart, how robert muler is being unfair. that's not a legal strategy which worries a lo the of neet n the president's party. >> trump hasn't answered why he told the lies to the fbi. donald trump isn't right about much. he's correct in that the national

flynn, i think of mike flynn when he worked for stan mcchrystal. he was -- he had an admirable military career. >> that's right. >> he then became particularly agitated i think during the balm. ma ye obama years over foreign policy questions, adopted some radical foreign policy views and led the "lock her up" chants at trump's convention. for a while, and i remember he appeared on "morning joe," he was rumored to be a candidate for the vice president's slot. >> right, imagine that. >> he was as high up as you could get on sort of a swash m swash buckling presidential campaign. if the president wanted something from russia, if the president called in a play when it came to russia, mike flynn would have been in on it. >> one would presume so. in fact, mike flynn was a guy who was essentially fired by the obama administration and started to talk around town that the reason he was fired is because he was talking too starkly about radical islam which wasn't true but he sort of became radicalized in the trump campaign and rose up the ranks and absolutely

there have also been allegations in reporting of a number of organizations that mike flynn was involved in an effort to try to push a deal involving nuclear power plants in saudi arabia. there is, of course, what mike flynn might know about other connections between people in the trump transition team going into the administration. also the campaign before that. with people in russia. so, when you look at mike flynn and the universe of things he was involved in, or touched or was alleged to have been involved in, it's pretty substantial. and so i think there's probably a fairly significant list of things that might be those investigations that are hiding underneath those black lines in that document. >> joyce vance, you read this sentencing memo, you saw the phrase substantial assistance, the recommendation to little to know actual jail time. what does this tell you as a former prosecutor? >> it strongly indicates that flynn had something very valuable to offer to prosecutors, probably more than one thing, right? i mean, we see the three investigations on the face of the document, where

mike flynn absolutely knew you cannot lie to the fbi. before that interview he was speaking to the deputy director of the fbi. we want to talk to you about your contacts with this russian individual. it's sort of baffling. if there is something he's covering up for. one thing is there. and the why question. other people are involved in the communication with the russian a.m. pass is a door. she amended her statement to the fbi about this after mike flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the agents. >> clint, it must be a feeling, a singular feeling. you're the only one on the panel who has done this. represented the fbi and sat across civilians and started the questioning process reminding them that they had better be honest because you're an officer of the federal government. boy, i bet that focuses the mind. >> yeah. usually they're nervous as soon as you show up especially if you are showing up based on the teams. they went through his history. when was the first time that you hung out with russians? oh, i went there, you know, i met with t

does mike flynn implicate donald trump? and another big question is did donald trump instruct mike flynn to lie no the fbi? will he testify about that or talk about that or other bad acts that he is alleged to have committed including the $15 million deal with turkey as alleged to extradite the cleric gulan and to find hillary clinton's missing e-mails and what will we hear from that? >> so many threads. and barbara mcquaid, it seems that robert mueller is dropping the crumbs along the way. we saw the intriguing lines in the sen confession of michael cohen last week and what he has said about the trump family, and things that are intriguing and setting off different lines of inquiry, and what might we also learn here about mike flynn and about some of the things that are regarding possible obstruction of justice? michael issakof has been reporting that mueller has said that he is tying up some loose ends on the investigation, and we don't know what aspects of the investigation, and also he has told the congressional investi

but of course, the judge considering mike flynn's sentence can see all of that. nothing is redacted to the judge. in terms of the parts that we could see, that filing had the special counsel's office praising mike flynn for his substantial assistance with their inquiries. they said that he had helped with mueller's investigation into the russian attack on our election and the question of whether the trump campaign conspired in that. but it also said flynn helped with a couple of other investigations, one of which appears to be outside the purview of the special counsel's office entirely. we know nothing about that one other than it is described as a criminal investigation. then there is one other investigation that prosecutors say mike flynn has helped with, but that one we're not allowed to know anything about it at all, including whether it's a criminal investigation or a counterintelligence investigation or a civil matter or what have you. so in that filing a week ago, mueller's team said flynn had met with them 19 times, and it said as a consequence of just h

i'm thinking of mike flynn's deputy, k.t. mcfarland who amended her statement to the fbi about this after mike flynn pleaded guilty to lying to those agents. >> clint, it must be a feeling, a singular feeling, you're the only one on the panel who has done this, represented the fbi and sat across from civilians and looked them in the eye as you're looking at me and started the questioning process, reminding them that they had better be honest because you're an officer of the federal government. boy, i bet that focuses the mind. >> yeah, i mean, usually they're nervous as soon as you show up. especially if you're showing up based on an investigation. he -- they did the classic style of this. you start in with rapport building, you sit down with them, you start having the conversation. they went through his history. okay, when was the first time that you hung out with russians? oh, i went there, you know, i met with the head of the gru, and then they worked it back to the very specific points. it's like a funnel. you start very

but of course, the judge considering mike flynn's sentence can see all of that. nothing is redacted to the judge. in terms of the parts that we could see, that filing had the special counsel's office praising mike flynn for his substantial assistance with their inquiries. they said that he had helped with mueller's investigation into the russian attack on our election and the question whether the trump campaign conspired in that. but it also said flynn helped with a couple of other investigations, one of which appears to be outside the purview of the special counsel's office entirely. we know nothing about that one other than it is described as a criminal investigation. then there is one other investigation that prosecutors say mike flynn has helped with, but that one we're not allowed to know about -- anything about it at all, including whether it's a criminal investigation or a counterintelligence investigation or civil matter or what have you. so in that filing a week ago, mueller's team said flynn had met with them 19 times, and it said as a consequence of ju

mike flynn absolutely knew you cannot lie to the fbi. before that interview he was speaking to the deputy director of the fbi. we want to talk to you about your contacts with this russian individual. it's 10r9 of baffling. if there is something he's covering up for. one thing is there. and the why question. other people are involved in the communication with the russian a.m. pass is a door. she amended her statement to the fbi about this after mike flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the agents. >> clint, it must be a feeling, a singular feeling. you're the only one on the panel who has done this. represented the fbi and sat across civilians and started the questioning process reminding them that they had better be honest because you're an officer of the federal government. boy, i bet that focuses the mind. >> yeah. usually they're nervous as soon as you show up especially if you are showing up based on the teams. they went through his history. when was the first time that you hung out with russians? oh, i went there, you know, i met with t

did any of them know that mike flynn was going to lie? there was this other question about obstruction of justice. flynn was able to stay on his job for several weeks after the government -- after the white house knew that he lied because sally yates came and warned them. what was happening during that time period? it's the same time period when the president went to jim comey and asked him to back off the mike flynn investigation. so all of these questions about the initial lie and then the moves to obstruct the investigation in its very early stage. months before bob mueller was appointed. i think anyone involved with any of those threads has to be worried about what mike flynn was telling in those hours and hours of interviews. >> mike schmidt, the last word on this. any sense from covering the white house and covering all of the interactions on both prongs, the collusion and obstruction front, that anybody, questions about obstructing the investigation, that anyone sort of did a gulp or had a moment when they read that news that 19 in

flynn in the meantime the news cycle in the u.s. where you are is relentless because there's been some breaking news the president's charitable foundation is being shut down because of quote a shocking pattern of illegality all of this just happening moments before the sentencing of his former national security adviser. indeed and even looks like the trump. scuse me the foundation itself came forward and said that it would be shutting down. somewhat a coincidence of timing here we do know that the president is a master of the media of showmanship it might be a step too far to say that perhaps they announce this because they're trying to maybe burry the flynn sentencing a little bit in the news cycle but it is nonetheless. still a fairly significant step as we are looking at these ongoing investigations because it's spread not only to trump's aides dealings with russia but to trump's personal finances his personal empire his children and their role in these in these ongoing investigations in these businesses this is just another indi

popped out, nothing. >> mike flynn's lawyers don't leak. i'm convinced the trump team has no idea what he's given the special counsel. >> the defendant has provided substantial assistance in a criminal investigation, section a, all blacked out. here's an important point. and it's obvious. when you see it in writing, it strikes you. the defendant has also assisted with an sco investigation concerning links and coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the trump campaign. that's it. we are pursuing a criminal investigation into whether there was collusion between the pre-established conspiracy directed by vladimir putin on behalf of a hostile foreign adversary to subvert an american election in illegal fashion, was coordinated with associates of the current president of the united states, that is the meat of the inquiry we are undertaking and this man has cooperated with it. >> and they've also said that was the investigation. but obviously they haven't ruled it out. they're still investigating and they're sa

mike flynn, for example is being destroyed. mark zuckerberg as well being protected on the people who make those decisions. why the establishment has become so obsessed with crushing free speech. it's getting harder and harder for them to win arguments on the merits. the best option then is to keep the arguments from being made at all when you can tar your opponent as immoral as a bigot, you don't have to defend your own position. you can just do what you want. you can also ruin the lives 6 anyone who gets in your way and feel good about it. how do we get to that place? that entire story is ship of fools how the ruling class is bringing america to the brink of revolution. christmas is coming. this tells a story that might rattle you but still worth knowing. find it on our website tucker carlson.com. that's about it for us tonight. be back tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. the show that is the sworn enemy and we mean it of lying pomposity, smugness and group think. the show that says what we think is true whether they like it or not.

mike flynn did that with the head of the dia. candidate trump, president-elect trump did not take the advice from barack obama, ultimately offered dental flynn the job as a national security advisor and then we saw that mike flynn made miss statements to investigators who have not gone back and said they didn't think mike was lying and there's a question as to whether mike is actually, what he has been accused of by the crooked fbi, the person, none other than page in the whole cavell at the fbi. he sat down with an attorney and they charged with perjury in blood guilty to that. there's been real question whether or not that will hold up. that advice set the stage at the beginning. >> i'm going to read a brief excerpts. you wrote, you little doubt that obama let his agency's spiral out of control during his eight years. even going so far as exquisitely allowing them to conduct surveillance on citizens of the united states out of essex while. not just any citizens but also members of the trump campaign. the people at the top then

what did mike flynn lie about? flynn lied about conversations he had had with the russian ambassador kislyak. you remember him. flynn said that he and kislyak had never talked about expelling russian diplomats or about russia voting in the u.n. on symbolic resolutions. t and in fact, they had talked about both of those things. the feds already knew that because they were listening in, secretly. there was nothing improper about the conversations that flynn and kislyakns had. the crime was the lie. it's always the crime. except when it's mark zuckerberg. mark zuckerberg can lie about something that effects hundreds of millions of americans, but it's not really a big deal. zuckerberg is not looking at five years in prison. zuckerberg will not be sanctioned by congress ever. so what's the difference? well, unlike mike flynn,if mark zuckerberg is a hero to the american news media. he is who they want to be. he is richer than god. he went to harvard.o he wears t-shirts at work. for real, he is for open borders. all the c

mike flynn made a mistake. he lied about a couple things right before mueller was appointed, but he got right with the special counsel early and cooperated quite extensively. rick gates eventually cooperated quite extensively p. we don't know what his sentence is going to ultimately look like. but mike flynn is going to walk away probably with no jail time here. contrast that with paul manafort, someone who took the opposite approach with the special counsel, who refused to cooperate, who after he was indicted continued to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses, according to the special counsel. after he cut a cooperation agreement, he continued to lie, and look what he's going to get on the other side. he's going to get probably the rest of his life in jail. i think the special counsel has sent a signal. if you cooperate with me, i'm going to have a lot of questions for you, you'll spend a lot of time with me, but at the end of the day if you cooperate and you answer my questions truthfully i'm going to tr

what crimes did mike flynn commit? if you asked 50 people on the street, what answers would you get? likely get a full range. flynn worked for vladimir putin. he included with the turks. he was a russian spy. secret agent serving a foreign power. he and carter page were seen reloading on grassy knoll in dallas. that kind of thing. details might be hazy but everybody you ask would know for certain that general michael flynn after 33 years in uniform betrayed this country. how do they know? the media told them so. >> do you view him as compromising the national security of the united states? >> mike flynn betrayed his country. it's unforgivable. the greater crime is what to me in my view was treason. >> what flynn did in supporting a candidate who the russians were helping through this operation is egregious. >> he acted as a foreign agent. >> it's funny because it's treason. >> it's treason. >> tucker: that is a death penalty offense actually. did mike flynn commit treason? we know the answer with precision because deta

even they didn't think mike flynn lied whenn he was being interviewed by the fbi. now bob mueller is saying he should getue the most lenient sentence possible but they still have the information he gave him. we will find out what that is when we get the unredacted version of what catherine was referring to tonight. >> sean: i'm looking, mark meadows, through all of this here, "the washington post" published a story. russia's ambassador to the united states on december 29th, wouldn't it be a normal process for an incoming director, such as general flynn, to have conversations with his soon to be counterparts about important issues, even a change of policy that might be coming, or different points of view that they may have, considering we have diametrically opposed views between obama and president trump? >> well, it would be a natural occurrence. and i can tell you there are democrats and republicans on the hill that probably have had a lot more conversations with the russian ambassador than mike flynn ever thought about having. and yet, here we are tonight looking