and new questions about who is going to step into this crucial national security role. the sources telling us the decision could be on the way within the week. we are talking about a major shake-up less than one month into the trump presidency. you have kristen welker on capitol hill. there are a lot of developments coming from the hill in the last 20 minutes. i know you've had a chance to catch up with two key members of congress just in the last 20 minutes. what are they telling you? >> reporter: hallie, good morning. a lot of questions around what congress will do in the wake of this investigation. both intelligence committees have already begun inquiries into russian meddling in the u.s. election. this clearly is set to expand that. i spoke to several members of the house this morning, more conservative, more moderate members and there does seem to be more of an openness into this investigation. previously these questions, most members didn't want to entertain

them. now they're saying, hey, we really want all the facts and we also know that vice president mook pence, a key player in this entire drama around michael flynn, will be up here on capitol hill talking to members of congress. he's been a regular attendee at the senate lunches. i think you're going to see a lot more coming out of that. there has been pressure for a bipartisan independent investigation from democrats. i think we'll hear from speaker ryan here shortly after this press conference where we are set up. the question is will they be willing to do something outside of the strictures, if you will. they have more powers, more access to information more broadly but i think there's going to be outside pressure. you're hearing claire mccaskill saying call your senators, call your members of congress to defend this kind of an action.

>> and senator mccain saying there was troubling dysfunction inside the national security community. congressman dent told you he's going to press the vice president about this later today on the hill. >> reporter: i do think we'll try to catch up with senator mccain. he did note this, as you mentioned, troubling dysfunction. i think one potential place they could go here is with general mattis and his associates. as they talk about who might replace flynn, mattis is a big part of that conversation. john mccain has a close relationship with mattis. that could offer reassurance. mccain also has been investigating some things along these lines in the armed services committee, although he did yesterday with one of our colleagues say, well, i'm going to leave a little bit more of it to the intelligence committee. i think another key piece to watch is whether they try to accelerate what the armed services committee is doing around these issues. hallie? >> we can see members waiting

behind you. they are waiting for the press conference. we'll dip in live to that once it begins. it seems the house speaker is running a little bit late. >> it's surprising. he's usually on time. >> over at the white house, there's a scramble to get on the same page as the president. >> general flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. >> the president is very loyal. he's a very loyal person. by night's end mike flynn had decided it was best to resign. he had i guess 30 phone calls with leaders at the time. since then 70 i'm told with different leaders. i'll just leave his comments at that. >> last month the justice department warned the white house that general flynn had misled them and that as a result he was vulnerable to blackmail

and at that moment he stillad the cplete trust of the president? >> matt, i'm telling youhat the president has said, which is that he's accepted general flynn's resignation and he wishes him well and that we're moving on. >> so kristen welker is joining us live from the white house. talk a little bit about the serious questions that are unanswered as we move into the next mike flynn stage. talk about what he knew, and why action wasn't taken sooner when there were some real concerns. >> i think the key question goes back to matt pressing kellyanne conway about. if in fact the president, the white house, was given a heads up by the justice department that national security adviser mike flynn could be susceptible to blackmail by the russian, why did it take so long for last night's resignation to be

tendered? so i think that's going to be one of the key questions. and also who else here was informed? who else knew? of course you heard kellyanne conway say ultimately the decision was made because pressure was mounting and because flynn had misled the vice president as well as other top officials. but clearly the question also, was the president aware? did he somehow signal to mike flynn he should have those discussions? kellyanne conway denying that today on the "today" show. "because of the past pace of events, i inadvertently briefed the vice president elect ands or with incomplete information. i have apologized and they have accepted my apology." keith kellogg with be the acting national security adviser. there are other names in the

mix, as well as general petraeus and former vice admiral howard. he served at centcome. and general mattis is held in high regard thwhite house wants to replace mike flynn very quickly. that could combefore the end of the week, if not sooner, hallie. >> we know there is a briefing with press secretary sean spicer at 1:00 this afternoon. we know in about 20 minutes here, we're going to see presumably the president doing an event at the white house. it's a pool spray. sometimes he answers shouted questions. as you're also very aware, sometimes the president walking through the west wing will impromptu stop and talk to reporters. there's not an expectation we'll hear from the president today but what's your sense at the white house? are you seeing a sense of

urgency, a scramble there? >> there is definitely an urgency to get their message on the same page. i'm told no plans for a formal statement from the president. but things are very fluid here so that could change. i want to underscore that. and of course we'll have the press briefing with sean spicer and it will likely be a very heated one, hallie. >> things are fluid, kristen welker. perhaps the understatement of the morning. >> and we have plenty to discuss today. i want to start with you, senator, on your reaction overall to the resignation of mike flynn as national security

adviser. give me your take. >> first of all, it's not a good time for our country because you have a national security adviser who is resigning in the most adverse and difficult of circumstances, just at a time when we're having to deal with a number of security threats. saturday night's missile launch by the north koreans fortunately wasn't the kind of let that was directed at as yous but on a ni like that you want to have the entire national security personal -- >> apparatus. >> -- apparatus, right. when have this kind of distraction -- unfortunately for the country, it's not over because we have to have some kind of investigation of what happened with general flynn but what the white house knew and

when they knew it. >> you put that out on twitter last night saying we want to know this information. >> right. >> have you received any answers via your colleagues or any channels at all? >> not to me. i wouldn't expect an immediate answer. but i would hope the white house today would lay out what they know and be open to an independent investigation. this is important for national security. and when you consider all of the challenges we have, whether it's making sure we can continue to take the fight to isis, the daily terrorism challenges we have and then events look saturday night with the north koreans where you can't have any distractions, you can't have any missteps and unfortunately this is what we've seen the last couple of days, a lot of chaos. >> congressman devon nunnes said washington d.c. can be a rough town for honorable people, going on to praise michael flynn's military service.

is this what we're seeing in this situation with mike flynn? >> there's no question he did serve his country and we appreciate that. but when the vice president of the united states sits you down and asks you for information about a dialogue or an engagement with the russians prior to you taking the office of national security adviser, you've got to tell the truth. and apparently that didn't happen. as i said before, this would be bad enough if today were the end of it and we could have a fresh start with a new national security adviser but we can't because we still have an awful lot of questions about not only what general flynn knew but also what the administration knew. >> so you are privy to information that the rest of the general public is not privy to as a sitting member of congress. is there anything you can share with us about mike flynn and russia that we don't alreadyno? >> no. >> is that information out there? does it exist? >> i'm sure if there's a classified briefing, i'm sure

one of those would be arranged and i would hope in the next couple of days where the administration is giving members of congress the latest update on that. but what we know just on the public record is bad enough and troubling enough, especially where we're confronting a lot of challenges internationally. >> you talked about the importance of having a strong national security team in place. keith kellogg is there in an acting role. the administration is also looking at vice admiral harr ward, and general petraeus. >> the only one i've interacted with is general petraeus. the others i don't know. this is a decision the president has to make. there's no confirmation so we don't play a direct role in it. i would hope that the president

when he makes this decision will seek and consult with a lot of folks, seek the advice of and consult with a lot of folks who understand what it takes to do that job. we should not hear from the national security adviser all that much. >> we meaning the public. >> and that's one of the reasons why it's not confirmable. somebody who reports directly to the president has to synthesize and make sense of a lot of different intelligence, not just on a daily basis but someone on an hourly basis. you want someone totalally free from distractions. general petraeus has a lot of ability and would be the kind of person who could give direct advice, not only because of his security background but because of his intelligence background as well. >> i want to bring in a shot of

house speaker paul ryan. there's a lot to discuss, including our new treasury secretary, steven mnuchin being sworn in. i want to get first to hans nichols, if you don't mind waiting with me for a moment here. hans, you're doing some rh and reporting on exactly what senator casey and i were just talking about, which is who will replace mike flynn about national security. the story is in a couple of parts. the story is in looking back at what the president knew, how this went down, how the resignation unfolded and it's also about where we go here as a nation? >> keith kellogg, think of him as managing the process. there's a great deal of process paperwork that takes place at the national security office.

kellogg has been managing at that. and rob are the harrward, so heavy on marines and former army generals. harr ward has a very close relationship with secretary of defense jim mattis. he was the number two at centcom, mattis was. all of this bears repeating, between the three of them they have a combined ten stars on their shoulders. hallie? >> does that give you a level of comfort that these are folks well known within the military community? >> they seem to be very capable. again, i only know one of the three. look, the faster they can get to a person who can take over the better. as i said, there's still a lot more questions to be answered and i think they should be answered by some kind of an

independent body and independent commission and by white house. >> paul ryan is beginning his news conference here. let's listen in. >> good morning, everyone. i'm kevin brady, chairman of the ways and means committee. like many others, i live back home, not in washington. when i'm home, can't tell you how many families, small businesses, how many patients have been hurt by the affordable care act. they are being forced into plans they can't afford, they don't want and frankly dames them. so the ways and means committee is working on solutions that will do this first, provide relief to hard-working families that have been damaged by the obamacare taxes, the penalties and mandates. we're going to provide americans, especially middle class families who have been left behind by obamacare with the freedom to buy a health care

plan that's right for they were, not what's right for washington, that is portable, can travel with them throughout their life time, is tailored to their needs, grows with their family and can be changed throughout their life time. we're looking to strengthen options like health savings accounts that can help families deal better with the day-to-day out-of-pocket costs that come with health care as well. we're focused on repealing obamacare, replacing it with the types of reforms that work for patients, that return control to the states so they can tailor health care to their needs and restore it to a free market so americans just have more choices. >> good morning. i'm greg waldon. i chair energy and commerce committee and i hail from the great state of wisconsin where i chaired five meetings in the last week. health care is important to all americans.

we want to get it right. we've been taking our time to do that. and i think we'll come forward with a bill after a repeal that makes sense. i've heard from people who have said they didn't get to keep their plan, didn't get to keep their doctors. you're going to see us move forward on the energy and commerce committee looking at reforms, looking at a better way to provide help to those most in need in our states and the medicaid population and to allow states to innovate. our state of oregon has had quite a bit of innovation over the years. we've got the ccos in place that have brought better health care outcomes at lower costs. there are great ideas out there among the states but right now they have to come back and beg permission from a federal bureaucrat to be able to do much of anything invative. we want to give states

flexibility and give people better health care. we're going to accomplish both in the legislation we'll be marking up in the near future. >> thank you very much. i want to wish you all a very happy valentine's day but more importantly i want to wish my wife judy a very happy valentine's day. >> up losers. >> thanks, kevin. >> would you two like to come back up? all right, i do want to thank these two chairmen to the work they're doing providing when it comes to replacing obamacare. we all know the challenge, what's happening to so many families, the high deductibles, all those that joined the co-ops that were given more than $2 billion. 18 of them failed. or when you look across the united states, those more than 3,000 counties with now 1,022, those counties, one third of america only have one health care insurance company. that's the real challenges that

continue to fail as we go. that's why we cannot slow down. we have to repeal and replace it. when you look at the functions of what we're doing, focusing on the individual, focusing on the care, the betterment of all of america, these two individuals and their committees are doing the work. now this week we're continuing to make sure we're reforming and getting the regulatory process in america working right. when you look at the congressional review act, only one time in history has one ever been signed into law. two will be signed this week. we'll have passed our 13th by the end of this week. kevin brady will actually be on the floor going through unemployment insurance drug testing. we should give states more flexibility in getting people back to work. when you look at these reviews, congressional review acts, especially regulatory, we're helping america get back to work, finding common sense

regulations. but also in the long run, what we're doing is making sure a level playing field, that states have the flexibility and the protection. we look at the other one we're dealing with when it comes t retirement planning, making sure those individuals have the same protection in the private sector as also in the public. and i think that's very important looking out after the individual that what this congress wants to make sure they do. i yield back. >> happy valentine's day to my lovely wife, jennifer, back home. i think we know what the speaker's going to talk about, too. and to all of you of course. look, for years now americans have been telling us all across the country that obamacare's failed, it's failed families. if you look to what it's done to the practice of medicine, which has seen doctors leaving medicines. the good news is we've been

listening to them and we've committed if we finally get the opportunity with a republican house and senate and white house, that we would repeal this law and actually replace it with reforms that put patients back in charge of their health care decisions. health care decisions are too important to be made by unelected bureaucrats here in washington. what we're working on is legislation that will put that control back in the hands of families and patients and get it out of the hands of these unelected bureaucrats and we're focused on lowering costs for families. one of the biggest costs for obamacare is it's made health care more unaffordable and more unaccessible for families. double-digits increases in my state of louisiana, a 25% increase of health care costs for hard working families than what they were paying last year because of all of the unworkable mandates and taxes in this failed law. there is relief. our committees have been working on this and engaging governors in this process, hearing from

people all across the country that have really good ideas about how to put the control of health care decisions back in the hands of patients and focus on lowering costs. it's exciting to see that we've listened to americans and we're actually doing the hard work. this isn't going to be some bill written in the back room like speaker pelosi did before she brought the bill to the floor and it was voted on by people who never wrote the bill. this is being worked on by all of our committees in jurisdiction in public view. you can washington it on c-span. more hearings are being held. committees will be taking legislation and having votes and marking them up where people can watch this on c-span. it's a much better change, a much better process and it's going to result in much better health care for americans all across this country. >> happy valentine's day, everyone, and especially brian, who proposed to me 11 years ago today. he did it right.

as we approach our work as a unified republican government, our 200-day plan, one of our top priorities is to repeal and replace obamacare. with the confirmation of our colleague tom price as health and human services secretary, we are excited to see him in that position and we believe he's the best choice to lead us in that. we're on track. our committees are going to work on tax credits, on health savings accounts, on medicaid, on restoring a robust insurance market. really pleased to have chairman waldon and chairman brady with us today to go into more details on these efforts. we're continuing to work to repeal obamacare and replace it with a 21st century health care system that works for everyone, including the most vulnerable in our communities. the people with disabilities,

the people with preexisting conditions, the people that need help. our goal is to ensure that everyone has better access, better options. we want people to be empowered to make the best health care decisions for themselves. it's important for all of us. for all of us it's personal. >> i want to start off by saying happy valentine's day to my wife, jana. i'm sure she's watching this on c-span. look, our promise to repeal and replace obamacare is about two big things. first, it is about rescuing people from this collapsing law where premiums are getting higher and higher and the choices are getting fewer and fewer to the point where people just have no choices left at all. this law is in a collapse and we have an obligation to rescu people from that collapse. it's also about building a stronger health care system for the country. one that gives of american

access to quality, affordable care. instead of fewer choices, we want our health care system to be truly competitive. insurers should compete for your business and treat you fairly. instead of more mandates, you should have the freedom and flexibility to choose the plan that best meets your needs. instead of more bureaucracy, the patient and doctor should be at the center of our health care decisions. instead of all of this uncertainty and worrying about whether or not you have to find a new plan or real doctor, you should have peace of mind. all of this will help lower costs and end the annual sticker shock of higher premiums. i fully recognize and respect the strong feelings that people have about this issue. we should be passionate about this issue. it about people's lives. this affects every person and every family in america. that is why we are taking a step-by-step approach, so people can see the changes we're making

and how they will help. and working with secretary price, we will have a stable transition, where no one has the rug pulled out from under them while we work toward a better, more stable system. so this step-by-step approach will rescue people from obamacare's collapse and geoff everything access to affordable, quality health care. this is why we're doing what we are doing we have to stop the collapse and we have better ideas that have been time tested that will make sure that we give the american people the kind of relief they deserve. questions. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> do you want to come up and say happy valentine's day to her? >> reporter: speaker, in your opinion, does the american public deserve to know whether the president of the united states directed mike flynn to talk to the russian ambassador about the issues of sanctions -- >> let me take a step back for a

second. national security is perhaps the most important financial or responsibility a president has. and i think the president made the right decision to ask for his resignation. can you not have a national security adviser misleading the vice president and others. so i think the predent was right to ask for his resignation and i believe it was theight thing to do. let's speak about russia for a second. i've always been a russia skeptic and hawk. new administrations these days try to get better relations with russia. the bush tried to get better relations with russia. the clinton administration -- or hillary clinton and the obama administration did the reset. so i understand it's reasonable and rational to try and improve relations with russia, that's what new administrations inevitably do but i'll leave it up to the administration to describe the circumstances surrounding what brought it to this point. i think the key is this, that as soon as this person lost the president's trust, the president asked for his resignation and that was the right thing to do. i'm not going to prejudge

circumstances surrounding this until we have all the information. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i said a muslim ban would be against our country's principles or a religious test. this is not that. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: just to clarify, would you support an independent investigation into russia ties and are you concerned the white house knew about this call three weeks ago and did not -- >> to my -- same answer. i'm not going to prejudge the circumstances around this. i think the administration will explain. the intelligence community has been looking into this involvement with russia. as soon as they realized they were being misled by the national security adviser, they asked for his resignation. i think we have to get all the

information before we prejudge anything. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> al fresco. i've never heard that in a press conference before. i don't believe that any classified information was discussed. i think it's important that if classified information is discussed, it's discussed in what we call skiffs and talking about foreign policy at the dinner table is perfectly appropriate. thank you. >> house speaker paul ryan taking a few questions there after a number of top who is republican leadersouched on health care. let's hit the highlights. the most important this evening paul ryan just said is he believes trump made the right decision by asking for mike flynn's resignation and said it was a good thing to do as soon as the president lost trust in mike flynn. the question that is still unanswered that you heard some

reporters pushing is whether exactly did the president lose trust in mike flynn, as has been roar reported that there was questions being raised about this conversation between mike flynn and the russian ambassador. nor questi another question now as we look ahead is how sitting members of congress will find out more on the information about the circumstances surrounding mike flynn. we have a little glimmer of an answer here. we are being told by our producers here on capitol hill that top senate democrat mark warner is asking that mike flynn appear before his committee to testify and answer these question. there is a lot happening on capitol hill. kasie hunt was in that conference with paul ryan. we don't have her just yet. we're going to quickly go to a

commercial break. when we come back, we'll talk to kasie about what we just heard and press ahead on the still-developing story. stick around. fun in art class. come close, come close. i like that. [ all sounds come to a crashing halt ] ah. when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. awww. try this. for minor arthritis pain, only aleve is fda approved to work for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. thank you. come on everybody. aleve. live whole. not part.

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. we are back and rolling with developing news. speaker of the house paul ryan weighing in on the resignation of national security adviser mike flynn and what happens next and broader questions about what president trump knew when. i want to go to kasie hunt who was at that news conference with paul ryan. while he did say he felt the president made the right decision here, he sort of punted when pressed about some of the timing of this, this department of justice investigation. what's your take from this?

>> reporter: hallie, i think that's right. he did go a little farther than he sometimes does when he pushed on a question about the trump administration or a decision that donald trump has made in saying and commenting directly that this was the right move. and you heard him talk a little bit, though, and kind of turn the question/answer away from these follow ups about what did the president know, to say instead he is a russia hawk and is somebody who thinks the u.s. should have tough policies when it comes to russia. i think you've seen that line coming from some other republicans as well, focusing on their own feelings of hawkishness towards russia. this is another thing putting the speaker in a tough position. he has been very careful to not say that much. he'll say i'm not going to answer questions about the latest tweet and instead says we want to talk about the policies that we're working on up here. he's somebody who really does

want to get the major policy reforms done, he wants to reform the tax code, they want to change the health care law. but in this instance he couldn't completely distance himself here. now, there are those investigations going on in addition to what the department of justice and fbi are doing, investigations in the house and senate intelligence committees into what russia's role was in the 2016 election. so i think that's also the next round of questioning we kind of got initial reaction here from the speaker. for example, will mike flynn come up and testify as the ranking member on the house intelligence committee has asked for. that's another question i think for republican leaders going forward here. hallie. >> so is the speaker of the house in an untenable situation, given that you're seeing on the other side of the aisle, democrats demanding this investigation, is that something speak aer ryan would have the ability and the will to block? >> the question is will

republicans go along to create these independent investigations? so far the answer has been no. that's why we've seen the intelligence committees proceeding as we have. there is some benefit to keeping it witness the intelligence committees. there would be questions about what kind of information such an independent investigation might have access to but it is what democrats are demanding and there were initially bipartisan calls for this. you saw lindsey graham, john mccain sign on to say, hey, this is something that we might be interested in doing they came back and said, all right, fine, we're going to keep it in the committees. how does this pressure evolve if in fact somebody like speaker ryan said, yes, i would support that, it's likely that something like that would proceed. so far you have not seen republicans be willing to do that. i think withone key thing to wa here, too, mike pence, he'll be

up here talking to republicans in the senate behind closed doors, as well as some members of the house. he could potentially very much reassure members of congress. he's also somebody if his feelings are strong enough about what happened and has an opinion he wants to convey could prompt members of congress to take action. >> something we will be watching this afternoon and you will, too. obviously all of this is having a lot of fallout overseas, specifically moscow. the kremlin is saying it is none of russia's business. some russian lawmakers are sticking their two cents in. matt, talk us through what's happening in moscow and the fallout from russia. >> good morning, hallie. news of the former national security adviser michael flynn's resignation last night has ricochetted around the world, notably to moscow. dimitri pescov said it's, quote,

an internal matter and none of russia's business but some russian lawmakers mentioned -- saying the media and the political opposition are simply hunting trump and putting all of these russian connections on him. but more than one said flynn had been made a casualty of those who want to see conflict between the u.s. and russia. he said trump himself would likely be the next target. flynn's departure -- during trump's campaign, paul monofort lobbied for a pro ukrainian politician. it's still too early to tell whether trump's presidency will

successfully heal moscow's rift with washington. >> very quickly, while i have you in london there, we know that late this morning the president's team added a phone call with british prime minister theresa may. what do we know about his upcoming state visit to the u.k.? >> looks like it's still on. there was a petition, parliament did end up having to take up this issue but theresa may has rejected this petition and said that the visit will go on. this will argue that trump can visit as a private citizen. it's the idea of a state visit that would allow trump to actually have an official meeting with the queen of england, which has brought so much passion here where trump is really quite hated.

that and ld his address to a joint session of the parliament here in london. so many people are saying that this is just out of line, that his previous comments and his racism as they describe it here really precludes him from addressing parliament that, it would be bethe bigity of crime. >> up next, we're talking about the resignation of everything going on, what this means now for the national security council. for the national security community, just four weeks into this. they could help, they could hurt. what will happen? we've got some experts in next. . tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there, so she didn't miss a single shot.

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when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. my insurance company definitely doesn't have that... you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance so within the next couple of minutes here, we could hear from president trump, who might talk about everything now for the first time after that late-night resignation of his national security adviser. why? no news conference from the president. instead he's holding what we call a pool spray, a listening session at the white house, it's a parent/teacher kind of thing. we expect he'll walk into the room, take that video of president trump sitting with people invited to the white house. often times the reporters will try to shout questions. it's up to the president whether he will answer those questions

or not. you will see it here as soon as we can turn it around for you. i want to talk to our national security analysts. evelyn farcus and, kevin, i'll start with you since evelyn is here on set. talk about overall what this manse to have this kind of a staff shake-up in the national security community less than a money into the administration. >> thanks for having me. sorry i get to go first. >> no problem. >> i like what mccain said. there's a real disorganization in the national security community right now. all the deputy assistant secretaries and policy advisers, the pentagon, the state department, so many jobs are vacant are being held by acting temporary officials.

it's come to a full stop one month in. what i think is more worrying is what comes next. on the republican side, the entire republican security community has been disorganized and fractured going back even before obama was elected. most of those people were never trumpers. you don't see people lining up to save the day. it's just contributes right now. we have the names who can fill that gap, guys like admiral harward but beyond that there's so much more happening. >> that's a good segue about potential replacements for mike flynn. you make the point there were folks in the national security community who signed up to never be trumpers. there's keith kellogg, david

petraeus and bob harward. we've heard he is the favorite. >> he's got to be. first of all, harward has no criminal background so petraeus was -- general petraeus was found guilty, he's actually a felon. to get him a clearance might be a real problem. kellogg i think is less experienced. he's not very well known around d.c. harward is more of a known commodity and he's got the big backing of general mattis. he's a great guy. i know him. he's a straight shooter like general mattis. i think he'll do a great job. i will say that it is regrettable that the trump folks are not taking these republicans who signed the letters because those are senior civilians, so not military -- >> these are all military folks we're talking about here. >> with the civilians, they've already served in sor civi

civilian jobs. you have to know how the whole thing works. we've seen the process problem highlighted and the process problem should be highlighting the policy problem. we don't even know what their policies are, this administration's policy on russia, on north korea, on a number of things. it's because the whole process is broken. >> kevin, do you see it as an issue that none of these contenders come from a strong civilian background? >> sure. it's not -- i'm not so worried whether they have stars on their shoulders or not. i understand the concerns. it goes back to again where are the republicans where are the

advisers, the kissingers? is it because the white house doesn't want to ask this many? or are they are going to let trump hang by his rope? i'm not so sure. >> evelyn, given that this is all happening, as matt bradley said earlier, it is ricochetting around the world. how are our allies seeing this and more importantly our enemies? >> right now moscow is nervous because flynn was their friend. he was on the phone before the election, during the time between the election and the inauguration. he's not the only official what we know was in touch with kremlin officials and those close to the kremlin. there is an ongoing investigation. unfortunately it's divided between many committees on the hill. personally i think there should be a bipartisan 9/11-type

commission. where does donald trump fit in with this? has he been in touch with the russians? did he know general flynn was making these phone calls? why was general flynn able to get a security clearance when these questions were hanging over him? >> i appreciate you both being here. we talk about the risks that democrats could face and the reaction to michael flinn's resignation. wouldn't the outrage come back to haunt them? we'll talk about that next. thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutrition. with 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. all in 3 delicious flavors. it's choosing to go in one direction... up. boost. be up for it.

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perhaps the most important function or responsibility a president has. i think the president made the right decision to ask for his resignati resignation.

>> we have producers running all over capitol hill. senator tillis said he's not going to take debate because of political motivations. senator collins didn't answer when she asked whether she thought there should be an investigation. chris, i'll start with you because i want to get your take on the reaction that we are hearing now from republicans on capitol hill. and the idea that this was an agonizing decision by the white house according to sources talking to nbc news. should it have been so hard for the white house after flynn admitted he mislead the vice president? >> well, we live in interesting came down and it very quickly escalated to where he was resigning, i think the question is probably less important, did

he resign on his own or was he forced out? regardless of what happened, it was the right end result. as we move forward, it illustrates some of the challenges the white house has had is that president trump has been getting people around him that are completely loyal to him because clearly there are a lot of leakis coming out of the whie house. >> the leak, is tt the issue to you? >> no, it's not the issue but it shows this should have been handled internally. the leak may not be the issue. the issue should have occurred more in private. >> personnel equals policy. this is another example that the administration has not vetted any of their personnel in a way that-the-should have. we should all be concerns about the fact there's so many secrets being kept, about the fact that

the core fabric of the people that the president is surrounding himself with is less than the utmost standing of what we should have surrounding the white house. what i am thankful for is i'm thankful that the media is fact checking because we can't rely on the administration to do so. >> we showed a little of the back and forth of kellyanne conway talking about the situation with mike flynn. about 4:00 yesterday, she told our steve kornacki that flynn had the full confidence of the president and within hours he was gone. >> kellyanne conway was misled or it escalated over the course of those seven hours. i would hope there's communication going on inside the white house. because if there isn't and there are different people having different information and relaying that information to the press, it continues to create additional challenges.

that's unfortunate. it doesn't allow the white house to operate in a way that it should, being a democratic or republican white house. it is impossible for this white house to accomplish anything it had set out to do with the level of leaking that is going on right now. it's undermining everyone from the commander in chief on down. >> democrats have been quick to react about this. is there any concern from your perspective, is there a risk of politicizing this issue to the point that people start to tune out? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think we can give a path to the lies and deceit that keeps coming out of this white house. with regarto kellyanne conway, for example, they're not concerned whether they're spreading lies or the truth. we cannot normalize this --

>> that's completely unfair. you and i both know kellyanne conway, she is a person of integrity. >> she has yet to tell us facts. >> it's happening in the administration. chris, i'll give you the last word on that one. thank you for both being here. i'm sure we'll have plenty more to discuss the next time you're on. that actually wraps up this hour of msnbc news. now more with my colleague chris jansing. >> shock waves just weeks into the trump administration. national security adviser michael flynn is out. what the president is saying as questions emerge about the credibility of key members of the administration. plus members on both sides of