that's it for us, time to hand things over to don lemon. cnn tonight starts right now. what is this, the white house or the apprentice. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. who's going do hear the president say you're fired. michael flynn under siege. kellyanne conway says flynn has the full confidence of the president. one official claims the knives are out. and according to sean spicer, president trump is evaluating the situation.

the president says chief of staff reince priebus is doing a great job. that's after a member of trump's inner circle chris ruddy questions whether priebus is up to the job. chris ruddy is here tonight, we'll talk to him about that, plus, what's wrong with this picture? president trump confers with aids right in the middle of saturday night dinner on the patio at mar-a-lago. the white house says it was all about logistics for a press conference. but was there more going on? there's a whole lot to discuss tonight, and the plot is thickening. as the president left the oval office tonight, he was asked about flynn. >> do you have confidence in flynn. >> what will you be evaluating -- >> you can see the president smile but didn't answer as he

walked out. let's discuss this and much much more. cnn's jim acosta and david gergen. we have new reporting about what the white house knew about general michael flynn's contacts with the russian ambassador and when they 234u it. >> we're just getting this information a justice department official did warrant white house last month that there were these concerns inside the justice department that the national security adviser, michael flynn had misled administration officials about what he was saying to the russian ambassador, what he was discussing with the russian ambassador about russian sanctions during the transition period. this is just the latest wrinkle in what has become a very serious situation for the national security adviser. i can tell you, a senior official told me tonight, michael flynn is in a gray area

as the white house tries to figure out what to do about this top aid to the president, you'll recall earlier today, kellyanne conway said flynn had the full confidence of the president, within an hour, we were getting whiplash here don, because the white house press secretary cautioned that flynn's status was being evaluated by the president. his fate is unknown because he discussed those situations with the russian ambassador before trump was sworn into office. he denied having those conversations. mike pence vouched for flynn on television, and we're told flynn did apologize to the vice president about this, but it's not clear whether that's going to be enough for flynn to save his job at this point. >> interesting, and all of this information -- previous information from sally yates who was the acting attorney general, who president trump fired after

the whole -- the travel ban incident. i want to talk about this, flynn possibly misled the vice president about whether he discussed sanctions with russia before trump took office. so where does the president stand on flynn tonight specifically, because we saw -- he was asked twice, didn't say anything, just smiled, where does he stand, jim? >> i think it's fascinating, because there were some reporters over in the west wing who were standing outside the office of the press secretary sean spicer, when the president walked up, and he was asked about mike flynn and he simply said, there's a statement coming soon, and that was referring to the statement that sean spicer gave all of us that mike flynn's status is being evaluated, when the president was asked how reince priebus was doing. the president said, he's doing a great job. there's a difference about how he feels about his chief of staff and national security adviser. i was there in the hallway in

the west wing, standing outside of sean spicer's office, when kellyann conway was in his office talking about all of this, this was after she said flynn had the full confidence of the president. conway bolted out of the room, left that area where the press gathers outside sean spicers office, and then we were all brought in where sean spicer said, flynn is being evaluated at this point, the best way to describe it is the way this senior administration official described it to me this evening. michael flynn is in a gray area right now, when a top official right under the president is described as being in a gray area, it's very difficult for that official to get out of that situation. >> let me put up the full screen, jim, it says the president is evaluating the situation, he's speaking to the vice president relative to the conversations the vice president had with general flynn and speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is, and that's our national security.

let me bring you in, david gergen. cnn and the washington post are reporting the trump white house was warned that flynn could potentially be blackmailed by russia, that sanctions were a main point of his conversations with the russian ambassador to the u.s., the white house has apparently known for weeks and what have they done? >> my judgment, this story is mushrooming, we've been talking all along about mike flynn's relationship with the vice president i think now knowing the justice department made a recommendation to the white house a month ago. did he know mike flynn, did he instruct mike flynn to have conversations with the russian ambassador about sanctions and if he did not. was flynn really acting on his own? it's hard to believe, but it's possible. you have a loner out there who's

going way beyond his brief with the president. but then the question becomes okay, when they were told a month ago, they clearly decided to ride this out, if it didn't become public they could bury it, now that it's become public they have this problem on their hands. why didn't they act a month ago on this, why didn't the president act? why did the vice president not act? why did they let this drag out in this way? it's very curious. one could say it's even more than curious, i do think it's become a different story now, and it's a very important story. >> ryan liz saturday posed, you mentioned maybe -- possibly the president knew about it, isn't it possible that trump told flynn to talk to the russian ambassador about sanctions and knew flynn lied to pence. >> those are questions that deserve answers, you begin to wobder whether pence has been used to deflect attention from a

central set of questions. as i said, the story -- the center of gravity has been the relationship between flynn and pence. how many people really think mike flynn started making those calls to the russian ambassador all on his own? it's not what one would expect. >> kelly ann conway says flynn enjoys the full confidence of the president. and about an hour later, spicer says the president is evaluating the situation. is this white house in are moil? >> i think it is in some ways. i'm not sure i would lay it all at the doorstep of what happened this afternoon, if we are to believe what we were told, that new information came in, or the president was apprised of new information which caused him to change, then let them -- we'll let them have their moment there, however, i do think we've seen the opening weeks of a

white house that has been very -- i mean, turmoil is a strong word, but it has been really steeped in turmoil, and that really comes down from the principle, it's donald trump that has created the chaos, that's put this on his aids to go out and constantly repeat lies on his behalf and what have you. so don, yes, this has been a tough couple weeks, this is going to be a very difficult night for donald trump, now that he's in a position that he has to fire michael flynn or somebody has to get to flynn and tell him that he needs to resign. >> interesting. let's talk again about national security. this one has to do with north korea and the miss hill tests. here's what democratic leadership is saying. nancy pelosi tweeted this, there's no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theater. #fireflynn. >> first, we have asked for and

demand an independent investigation of what flynn's discussions were with the russian ambassador and all others, and will be saying more about that soon. second, his security clearance ought to be withdrawn until that independent investigation is completed and if he has violated any law or ethical precept, he ought to be fired. >> so chuck schumer is talking about russia, and then nancy pelosi appears to be talking about maybe looking at confidence information at the dining room at mar-a-lago this weekend. do democrats smell blood in the water here? >> they absolutely do. they have smelled blood in the water for the three weeks donald trump has been president. you see that not only on the hill, but out in the country. what's more important to watch is what republicans do and say. we already know that republican senators like marco rubio, senator john mccain as well as

lindsey graham, very interested in this russia relationship. they at some point will be holding hearings to look closely into this. this flynn situation really only highlights this ongoing problem in the spector of donald trump's relationship with vladimir putin. it seems to be a constant in terms of how this president feels about putin. he's constantly seeming to suggest that there is some sort of friendship or he wants a different sort of relationship with putin. and that causes lots of con sister nation among republican hawks. this is like common ground between democrats and republicans. very curious about where this relationship has been and where it might go. what kind of business dealings might donald trump have in russia. this is going to be a constant. and you're going to see rare bipartisanship with the two parties in terms of wanting to dig into this with vladimir putin and donald trump.

>> how do other countries feel about the national security adviser being involved in this type of conflict or scandal or trouble? >> it depends. in some countries, some of the inner workings of the white house are not making big news. for example, in france, where they're dealing with their own politics right now, but the white house is always watched by other countries. you talk to people here in d.c. with embassies and around town who are visiting, they're looking at these developments day to day with a sense of disbelief. i think sometimes there's some enjoyment that these kinds of issues are happening with the united states. because some countries see the united states as thinking it doesn't have these kinds of problems or these kinds of political intrigues within the white house. so to see it now, i mean, it's playing out for them kind of like a soap opera. kind of like, you know,

americans are watching -- some of these points with a sense of deep worry. others from the outside are looking in and thinking, that's happening in the united states. and they're also taking that a step further, and thinking, what does that mean for the relationships and for the issues that we want to deal with the united states on now? is there going to be the bandwidth for example to deal with us on certain points that we'd like to raise with the united states when they are dealing with these kinds of uncertainties. diplomats that have been calling in trying to talk to certain levels of management about things that they usually deal with the united states on, they're finding that there aren't people around who really know what the policy is going to be. because it's all coming out of the white house at this point and they're hoping that that kind -- the kind of disarray that they're reading about isn't going to trickle outward, in effect the relationship that they have with the u.s.

>> jim, today at a press conference with the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau and the president of the united states. four questions were asked, zero questions, zero on the flynn situation. zero on north korea, how does that happen? >> it's a good question, don. i think the fix is in somewhat with respect to some of these questions that we're seeing at these press conferences. we've had three joint news conferences so far. i know this is probably going to make people stomp their feet inside the white house when i say this. in those three joint news conferences the president has had so far. five of the six questions going to the american news media, have gone to conservative news outlets. that is highly unusual, that is not something that we have seen in recent years, typically you would have a wire service like the associated press, reuters did get a question at that first

press conference. there hasn't been a wire service called on in the last two press conferences. the one with prime minister abe or the one today with prime minister trudeau. at the risk of sounding self-serving here, this is why reporters shout questions at the president of the united states. if they're going to design a news conference in the way that the story of the day is not going to be talked about. then reporters are going to shout questions. the president did not answer those questions, just as you heard him not answer those questions in the oval office when he was swearing-in steve ma nunchen. perhaps this is the white house, and some officials working out their frustration with the news media. they're going to have to call on us, that's the way things work. >> they worry why the

authoritarian government comparisons here. jim acosta, thank you very much. when we come back, much more on our breaking news. the justice department warning to the white house about michael flynn. okay, so what's our latest data say? our customer is a 21-year-old female. heavily into basketball. wait. data just changed... now she's into disc sports. ah, no she's not. since when? since now. she's into tai chi. she found disc sports too stressful. hold on. let me ask you this... what's she gonna like six months from now? who do we have on aerial karate? steve. steve. steve. and alexis. uh, no. just steve. just steve. just steve. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple.

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department warned the trump administration last month that michael flynn misled them about his communications with the russian ambassador, and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. that's according to a source familiar with this matter. the justice department warning, a white house official confirmed. this is a very interesting bit of news we have coming out now. i want to get back to you, mark, with this situation. if this situation is fluid as the white house is saying. after this latest reporting about the white house being warned weeks ago that flynn was vulnerable to blackmail, is it more fluid now? >> no doubt, it's been exposed that they've known it for several weeks and it could be. we talk about him being susceptible to possible blackmail. what did he do that the russians have on him? we haven't explored that avenue.

it would be interesting to know what the justice department thinks or the fbi thinks could be used against michael flynn. there's been a lot of talk about loyalty and how donald trump is loyal to his people, there's no question about it, you can probably sense he has strong loyalty to general flynn. there is another bit of loyalty he owes and that's to his vice president. someone who has done a great job of defending him and standing by his side, at that point donald trump has to wonder where does his loyalty lie? >> what does the president need to do to show leadership in this situation? he was elected to be a manager, and to only have the best people around him. again, the person who is second to him is the vice president, if they're putting him out there with bad information, shouldn't

he be a leader in this situation? what should he do? >> let's go back to this loyalty point that mike just raised. we now have a mess on our hands that is very curious, that the white house has known for a month. now, when that -- what happened to that report when it came in. it came in to the general counsel at the white house. that report must have gone to the president almost instantaneously. it's impossible to believe that the white house staff would sit on that report and not tell the president. if that's the case, why didn't the vice president know at that time what had come in. i don't understand that. there's something here that just doesn't add up about what happened internally. i think the president has to act quickly. i do wonder, maybe mark or someone else can address this.

as long as pence stays in the white house, he can invoke executive privilege and not testify. if he leaves, is he vulnerable to testifying, and is that an outcome the white house would like to avoid? >> say that again? testifying to who where? >> well, the congress -- there are a number of people, including john mccain and lindsey graham and others who have been quite curious about the russian relationship for a while. let's say the person who knows what went on in the conversation was mike flynn. congress says mike flynn, come up here and testify. no, i don't have to testify, i'm on the white house staff and the president's going to invoke executive privilege, which means i don't have to say anything to you, i don't have to disclose anything about the president. does he lose that executive privilege if he were to be fired? does that make him vulnerable to

testifying? that may be something the white house is considering. there may be someone here who can say more about what happens at the white house when you leave. that must be part of the conversations that are going on, they have clearly been trying to sit on this story for a month. >> right. >> we just learned tonight, they've known for a month, and they've clearly -- >> michelle, you've been a white house correspondent for a while now. do you know the answer to david's question about privilege? >> no, but it would seem that -- i mean things that you dealt with while you were in that position would probably still be protected afterwards. that doesn't mean you couldn't ask questions around that. but i think that's -- that's getting into some legal intricacies. >> he wasn't in the government. >> that's a point -- >> he wasn't in the government when he had the conversation. >> that's true. >> it's probably best answered by some attorneys. >> you're saying they've known

this for a while. i'm reading here. they're saying that they were concerned about it, because they -- the thing that sort of raised concern for them was when vladimir putin did not retaliate for the obama sanctions and they wondered why, they realized that phone calls like that are monitored often by the government, so they went back to this ambassador's calls and picked up the conversation with general flynn, the discussions there it says yates, then the attorney -- we're talking about sally yates who was fired by trump after the travel ban. the deputy attorney general considered flynn's comments in the intercepted call to be highly significant and potentially illegal. yates and other intelligence officials suspected flynn could be in violation of an obscure

statute, which bars u.s. citizens from interfering in diplomatic disputes with another country. there are recordings of these phone calls potentially, how damaging can that be? >> incredibly damaging, and also, the white house seems to have known about this for weeks and weeks and weeks, it's unclear what their strategy is. david may be giving them too much credit to suggest they're thinking about whether or not flynn can testify in any sorts of hearings on the senate, it almost seems like they want flynn to resign gracefully as a result of 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 words from the washington post. all these revelations are embarrassing for him. he's been exposed as someone who hasn't been entirely truthful, so i mean, i think a lot of questions, the question i think also of what trump knew and when

he knew it. i talked to someone who knows flynn, and his suggestion was, this is probably like a flynn freelancing operation, this is something that he undertook on his own maybe that's hard to believe, in some ways, flynn has a bit of a checkered past. at the dia and was forced out of that role there. this white house, again, one of the things that i think in some ways has shielded him from getting pushed out is the chaos in the white house, it's almost like to push him out would in some ways -- acknowledge the chaos, you also wonder, why don't they end this now, again. >> the question is, is probably saving face, how much can they stick by this and try to save face, for someone who was a controversial pick by someone to begin with. or do they just say, enough is enough and they move on. more on our breaking news

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we're back now with our breaking news tonight, the justice department warned the trump white house last month that michael flynn misled the administrations regarding his communications with the russian ambassador and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. as president trump left the white house tonight he was asked two questions about flynn. >> do you have confidence in michael flynn, mr. president? will you be evaluating -- >> the president smiled but didn't answer as he walked out. let's discuss this now, with christopher rudsdy. we're so glad to have you on, thank you, chris, good evening. >> don, thanks for having me on, always great to be on with you. >> tonight we're reporting about the white house, the white house was warned in january that

general flynn misled pence and sean spicer. the white house has known about it for weeks, what's going on here, if so, why is general flynn still in this position? >> i think if -- i'm not privy to all the inner workings of the white house. i know donald trump to know he's very deliberate. he doesn't just go on news reports, on cnn or obama holdovers. let's put this in clear perspective. general mike flynn was promoted by barack obama. he was considered a brilliant general, national security guy, put in charge of the defense national intelligence agency, defense agency, why? because he was a guy that could get things done. he said to obama, we have a problem in syria, there's a group emerging called isis, we have to destroy them now or we're going to suffer later. and obama said no, it's a

manageable problem, i don't want to -- the two clashed, he was fired, he later became trump's security adviser, and now we have the former attorney general of the holdover from the obama administration saying general flynn violated the law. what law? the logan act. it's a bogus act, there's nothing anybody has said -- flynn talked -- >> christopher he was fired for mishandling classified information. you're a straight shooter here. >> oh, it's well known that he was clashing about -- he was clashing over islamic radicalism and how to deal with it, whether they use that as an excuse i don't know. there's a lot of people as you know, in washington that don't like mike flynn. i don't think trump's the kind of guy, just because somebody's not liked. what's the basis of the crime.

and to have david gergen say, what did the president know, when did he know it? there's no crime committed he can talk to the russian ambassador about sanctions. >> before he's even in the white house during transition? >> why not? >> when the current administration was discussing sanctions against the russians? >> why not, we have a lot of -- a lot of times presidential candidates go abroad and discuss how they're going to change policy. i happen to disagree with that, i think putin's a bad guy. he's optimistic he can build a new relationship, i'm open to seeing how that works out, i also think it will blow up. i think that -- >> do you think that knowing this president and your words here, he's a straight shooter, he's not going to listen to reports on cnn or the washington post, what have you. if you believes what you said he

believes and this is no big deal and the violation of the logan act no one gets prosecuted, why doesn't he come out and say, nothing to see here, move along. he has my full confidence instead of now saying it's fluid? >> i think he's accumulating all the information he can, and they're deliberating as to what the implications and all of that, they're not going to rush to judgment on it, i think we have to give them a little time mike flynn should be fired the next day. it's a little over the -- i think even you have to agree, it's a little over the top. >> i'm asking you the questions here, but if he -- if it turns out that he did -- and i get your point. if it turns out that he did indeed mislead the president of the united states, what do you think should happen? should he be fired? >>. >> i think that's a decision for the president to make on how serious, if that was really

misleading. they keep saying he lied. back 20 years in journalism, you never used the term lie -- >> i said mislead. >> i know you did, your guests -- the first half hour of this show, everyone's saying he lied, he lied, he lied, he lied. you are -- i give you credit, you said it appropriately, but there's so much -- i was on cnn yesterday, and half the program everyone was saying the president was a pathological liar and he was mentally ill. i had to come on to discuss after that, this is a little. when the president says the press is out to get him, i think you have to say, maybe he's right here, they're not giving him a break, and it's just like drum beating all the time against him. >> yeah, i think that is an easy thing to say, the press is always the easiest target, i will assure you that no one on this show is out to get anyone in the white house, we're only out to tell the truth and inform the american people, this is a serious accusation by the person who is there when the president

makes very serious decisions on national security. and the security of all americans, really the world, that is why we're doing it, i want to talk to you, let's discuss this, because there seems to be a lot of leaks coming out of the white house. a power struggle in the white house, we're hearing -- and this is -- that the knives are coming out, and certain factions, people are forming factions and taking sides in the white house, reince priebus is -- there's issues between reince priebus and steve bannon. what have you learned about that? >> i don't believe there's any issue, i think they get along, actually. if i knew other wide, i would tell you. from what i'm hearing, they do get along. jared kushner's there now, he's been a really good influence coming in. he told me yesterday they have a great working relationship the three of them, and they're accomplishing a lot. and i believe jared. and i do think he's a straight

shooter, so i don't think there's -- those are not the issues that i think people are upset about, that there's some sort of in fighting. they keep saying this, i don't see the infighting, i think there's been some krill six of the white house, and that's fair and appropriate for all the media to make, it should be done based on facts. >> let's talk a little more about reince priebus. here's what you said yesterday. >> i think there's a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff, i think reince priebus, good guy, well intentioned, he clearly doesn't know how the federal agencies work, he doesn't have a really good system, he doesn't know how the communications flow. >> why then did you decide to go public with your take? >> i was just offering some criticism, i'm a media person, i've been a commentator for 20 years on media politics and all

sorts of things. i've been on your show before donald trump was ever elected or in politics actively. i talked about these things. that was in the context of brian stilter's show, we were talking about the media fumbles the white house had made. i think there's an acknowledgement they overstepped. they've done all these great things, the lobbying ban, the executive orders to protect american jobs, to protect the border, the xl pipeline, he's doing all those things and none of that is getting heard by the public because of the immigration thing got into a quagmire frankly. reince called me after i made those comments. he said, look, i think that was unfair. we're making steps to improve messaging. he asked me if i would keep an open mind about it. i said i would. i'm not out to claim i'm speaking on behalf of anyone. it's my honest take. if there's big improvements in

the white house going-forward. we're seeing in a every day, i think we could -- i would be willing to change my opinion, i'm going to obviously wait and see what happens. >> that seems like an admission that they do often step on their message. many times good news can be reported but they step on it with something that is a self-inflicted wound. >> well, you have to remember, these guys were in a campaign mode, they came into the white house where the white house press core is essentially at war with them, they're not giving them a break. you see the line of questioning coming out of all the major cable channels and at the white house pressroom. they're under fire. we have a president who has never been a politician, a political office holder before, he's the first citizen president, and he's learning how government works to a degree, he's an extremely fast learner, you know about his success in new york in real estate, and his tv show. he ran for president two years,

he's president. he adapts quickly, i think, you know, we need to give a little slack. even i have to do that when i'm looking at them, i have to criticize when i think there's something -- i've told the president this in the past, sometimes i'm going to have to criticize him, even though we've been friends and i hope that -- >> i think that most people agree that you are going to have to -- we -- you said give slack, we can't do our jobs any different with any president or any administration, and by the way, all presidents are citizen presidents, because they have to be citizens of this country to be president. i understand where you're going with that, but for me, that's just a saying. they're all citizens. no one knows what it's like to sit in the oval office until you actually sit in the oval office, and it's a tough job, you have to be up for it, and you should know that before you run. >> i think donald trump's going to surprise even you, don, at the end of the day, we'll just hang in there. >> i think america's hoping he surprises everyone for the best and not the worst.

thank you chris, always a pleasure, i appreciate you coming on. ♪ lease a 2017 lincoln mkx for $369 a month. only at your lincoln dealer.

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we're back now with our breaking news tonight, the justice department warned the trump administration last month that michael flynn misled the administration about his communications with the russian ambassador and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. let's discuss now joseph borelli. political contributor hilary rosen. a republican strategist. i'm so glad to have all of you on. we have so much to talk about, i have to talk about this breaking news and get all your reactions to this news about general flynn. charles, i'm going to start with you. >> it's incredible, actually, i mean, if you -- if it is true and they knew about it for an entire month and did nothing about it -- i assume hoping that it would go away or no one would ever find out about it, and see how it shakes out, that's an incredible thing, for this particular president who has basically said he's going to set

up extreme vetting for people coming into the country but he couldn't extremely vet his own people on his cabinet. we have to back up and say this as well. if the president himself is a habitual pathological liar, it filters down throughout the entire administration, where people -- i would imagine people feel like you don't necessarily have to tell the truth. he's not just lying about the big things, he's lying about everything. whether or not his crowd sizes, how people voted. if you have a person who is your boss and he is not adhering to the truth, what does that tell you about how you are supposed to behave? >> i have a short time, i want to get everyone in. how do you respond? >> i think there's two separate issues. whether there's any legal violation of the logan act is moot, otherwise, nancy pelosi,

jimmy carter would be sharing a jail cell with michael flynn right now. whether or not michael flynn did mislead members of the trump cabinet, if he did, the only way we're going to find out is whether or not he is asked to resign or is fired. i don't think that they're denying that he spoke to the russian ambassador, i saw something from the white house earlier, they believe this is something he did in the course of his normal duties as director of national security. he spoke to at least 30 foreign diplomats before he was the z designee. >> is he telling the truth about whether he discussed sanctions? i think that's the question, not necessarily did he have a phone call with someone. am i wrong, hillary? >>. >> no, you're not wrong, it's more than whether he lied. when president obama was the sitting president of the united states imposed sanctions against

russia as is his perfect right to do and appropriate to do in this instance, did the president-elect and his national security adviser designee call vladimir putin and his representative and say, don't worry about it? when we get there, we're going to worry about this thing. that is why vladimir putin did not respond or react when president obama imposed those sanctions. this isn't just sort of a casual violation of the logan act, this is sort of a direct and -- you know, maybe even treasonous activity on the part of the incoming trump administration, and so i do think the question, though, the bigger question for people is, at what point does this white house get held accountable? who's going to hold them accountable. will a republican congress use investigative authority to do so, will a politicized justice

department use their authority to do so, we saw yesterday on tv, steven miller say, you know, the president's authority shall not be questioned by the courts. so i think this all does tie together in a bigger picture. >> you said at what point -- hold on, you said at what point does this white house get held accountable? the guests before said the media should cut them some slack, which is an interesting take on that, when hillary said treasonous, i saw you didn't quite agree with that you think that was a bridge too far many alice stewart gets the first word on the other side of the break. ♪ trintellix (vortioxetine) is a prescription medicine for depression. trintellix may start to untangle or help improve the multiple symptoms of depression. for me, trintellix made a difference. tell your healthcare professional right away if your depression worsens, or you have unusual changes in mood,

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cnn that michael flynn has resigned. donald trump's pick and short lived national security adviser, general michael flynn according to two sources telling cnn has resigned. we're going to get someone from d.c. and from the white house to respond. our washington folks to respond in just moments here. cnn is learning that michael flynn has resigned. i want to bring back my panel, hilary rosen, joseph borelli and we're waiting for folks from d.c. alice, i promised you the first word on this breaking news. there was a lot to respond to, treasonous, we're going to have to leave that in the rearview mirror. >> problem ily doesn't matter now. >> it's not a surprise. he probably got eye lot of runway with this story coming out, because of his relationship and his loyalty to donald trump, a member of the team is making

headlines over the actual news of the day, it's not good for the administration and it's in the best interest for that person and the administration to step down. with regard to hillary's point about treason, keeping in mind, this phone call -- >> alice -- alice, go on, sorry, i'm getting information from my producers, trying to get someone on the phone from d.c. >> sure. >> i want to get gloria borger on the phone. what do you know about michael flynn and his resignation? do we have gloria? do we have gloria? we'll dial gloria back. alice, i'm sorry, continue your thought. >> i understand. breaking news, and that happens.

when -- hilary made a good point, this phone call happened on the day barack obama issued sanctions with russia, and it made sense for him to reach out to russia, the russian ambassador to talk about this, the problem is, i don't think there was a violation of the logan act here, i think he was in his rights and authority at the time to do so. >> here's the thing. >> everyone talks about the logan act, and maybe the logan act didn't apply to other people because at -- usually other people abide by one president at a time. >> right. >> it seems like this administration did not do that. >> here's the thing, i don't think there was a crime, with that being said, i think the cover-up was worse than the crime here, the fact that he didn't fully disclose it, and he appeared to not be factually accurate with pence. that's where the problem is, and that's where this has taken on a life of its own, it was difficult for him to make that decision, but i think stepping

down was the right thing to do. >> they have lessons. >> again, listen, i want to tell our viewers if you're just joining us. michael flynn has resigned and again, that's according to two sources that are telling cnn. i want to get to gloria borger now, do we have you? >> yes about. >> gloria, what do you know? >> i got a message from a source at about quarter to 11:00 this evening that said general flirn had resigned. and i asked about the -- what was next, and all i was told is that general petraeus is coming in tomorrow. there is no deal yet or replacement yet for general flynn, as you know, this has been going back and forth and back and forth all day, i don't know yet whether general flynn spoke with the president this evening. but we do know that the drama over this is finally over.

>> and gloria, if we can put up the video, the video earlier of the president leaving the oval office after having several meetings today. a couple meetings with justin trudeau. as he was leaving the oval office tonight. he was asked a number of times by reporters if he had confidence in general flynn. smiled and did not answer. did that say anything to you considering what's happened so far? >> sure. i mean, it says that -- if the president had made a decision at that point that he was going to keep general flynn, he would have said he had complete confidence. but as we were all reporting earlier this evening, something occurred between when kellyanne conway came out and said the president had complete confidence in general flynn to an hour later, when sean spicer came out and talked about how they had had a meeting with the president, he and reince priebus had a meeting with the

president, and the president was still considering what to do. and we were told at the time, dana bash and i were told it was very fluid, it was a very fluid situation, you have to believe don that more information was coming into this white house about general flynn. as you know, there were stories this evening. both in the washington post and the new york times about the justice department and pamela brown reported it, the justice department warning the white house about flynn's context and so, you know, i think it could have been one of these situations where the dam burst essentially. and i think the pressure in the end became too much. >> gloria, you're saying that general david petraeus is being brought in. who is the acting national security adviser rig