did mike flynn help them with that? did mike flynn or anybody else from the trump campaign collude with the russian government and their efforts to undermine the u.s. election? it's a very, very, very serious charge. right now it's an absolutely unanswered one at this point. will that charge be investigated? if it turns out to be true, will it be prosecuted? for head of the house oversight committee today was asked whether he might open an investigation into michael flynn and his contacts with russia. jason chaffetz answered "i think the situation has taken care of itself." so no then. the top republican in the house and the top republican in the senate have both insist there had's no reason for any sort of independent or special investigation into these allegati allegations because the intelligence committees can handle it. well, okay, this contact with the russian government that mike flynn lied about, that has led to him being fired from this administration, that contact with the russian government, that happened dur

first, the pick to replace mike flynn turned down the offer. robe robert har ward saying it is clearly a personal issue. that announcement came during the first solo press conference of his administration. president trump seemed to enjoy the joust with the media showing shades of his campaign trail. >> reporter: it was a news conference like no other. >> i turn on the tv, open the newspapers and see stories of chaos. chaos. yet it is the exact opposite. this administration is running like a fine tuned machine. >> reporter: in a firy 1:17, the president touting accomplishments trying to reset after a chaotic start to his presidency. >> i inherited a mess. it's a mess. the tone is such hatred. i'm really not a bad person, by the way. the tone is such, i do get good ratings, you have to admit that. the tone is such hate red. >> reporter: for the first time, addressing why he fired mike flynn, who misled the vice president about discussing sanctions with russia. >> mike flynn is a fine person. i asked for his resignation. he respectfully gave it. h

you wrote over the weekend about mike flynn. our guidance is he's going to survive the day, but is he going to survive the week? what are you hearing? >> i think it's a giant question at this point. we've seen for four days the white house has not defended flynn publicly and that's in part because people don't actually know what president trump thinks, if he wants to keep flynn or get rid of flynn. it's a big question mark right now. the issue seems to be less that he had that conversations with the russians and much more that he lied to vice president pence about it and to other administration officials and there's a feeling from people i talk to inside the white house that he just can't be trusted right now. >> this is a discussion we hear echoed as well because vice president pence defended mike flynn based on what appears to be inaccurate information. if it comes down between pence and flynn, there's no question who the president would sort of back, right? >> i would think so. one of the reasons that flynn had so much curren

flynn about that conversation, that they then knew they had a real problem. they had already gone back after the 29th of december and were aware of that one conversation in particular which was focused almost entirely on the sanctions. it was not parenthetical, it had nothing to do with christmas, it had nod to do with anything else but sanctions. so that became the time where after the 15th, they then decided to actively deciding with sally yates, and brendan clapper still in office, what to do on the 19th, which was the day before inauguration. brandon clapper, yates and the president-elect wanted to act on it before the inauguration. it was comey, the fbi director, who said, no, he thought it would compromise the investigation. after january 23rd when sean spicer had his first press briefing and repeated the misinformation that he had been told by mike flynn and said that he had just gone back to flynn the night before that briefing and that flynn had repeated to him that that conversation was all about airplanes and setting up the phone call and christmas

mike flynn, career intel man, smart. everybody saying the same thing. the idea that he wouldn't think that communications with a russian counterpart wouldn't be the subject of some type of monitoring seems naive. how does that inform us in terms of whether or not flynn should immediately be assumed to have been doing something that he knew was wrong, that was illegal or nefarious? >> we shouldn't assume he knew he was doing something -- let's be clear. when i was at the fbi and cia, i met russians. if had been in the trump campaign last year, i would have met russians. the best way to know your adversary is to talk to them. the questions that come out of this -- let's be clear about the difference between insinuation, communication simultaneous with the e-mail issues and the russian attacks on the election, the difference between simulation and fact. what was the content of those conversations and, of course, did he mislead the vice president. i think what happened afterwards in the post election period, in the post inauguration period was more signific

flynn and steve bannon. >> tonight mike flynn's future as national security adviser is up to one man, the president of the united states. one friend who spent time with mr. trump in florida this weekend telling me, don't look for a sudden shakeup, the president is in a fact-gathering mode right now. tonight sean spicer telling reporters that mike flynn has not submitted his resignation. lester? >> andrea mitchell, thank you. >>> meantime, the president hosted canadian prime minister justin trudeau at the white house today. a meeting obviously with important u.s. ally, but it comes on a day that much of the focus still remained on flynn. and another storm that started on social media over what happened at the president's private club in the hours after that international crisis involving a north korean missile. we get it all from nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. >> reporter: president trump aiming to fortify his relation trudeau. the two leaders meeting for the first time today. it comes as the president faces a major foreign policy test with a foe. after north korea

you know, if mike flynn did lie about his contacts with the russian government, when he spoke to the fbi about those contacts, if he did lie to the fbi, that would be a felony. of course, it's a felony that would have to be prosecuted by the justice department which is run by jeff sessions. cnn is already reporting that there are no plans in jeff sessions' justice department to prosecute mike flynn for lying to the fbi. there are three separate fbi investigations into contacts between the trump campaign and trump administration and the russian government. if any of those three separate fbi inquiries leads to findings of criminal behavior, again, the fbi doesn't prosecute stuff. they refer it to the justice department under jeff sessions who have have to decide whether or not to prosecute. because jeff sessions was part of the trump campaign, under normal circumstances, you would expect that to lead to an attorney general appointing a special counsel so he would not be involved in decisions about bringing charges against a campaign that he was part of. so far, sections is refusing to

mike flynn is the most pro-russian guy in the trump administration. that's a source of conflict internally between the career officials and mike flynn. that, combined with the revelations the last couple days is putting him on thin ice. >> i want to talk about other things, the u.s., japan and south korea requested urgent talks at the u.n. one day after north korea says they successfully tested a ballistic missile. keir simmons is in seoul, south korea. how serious is this threat from north korea? >> reporter: two ways to see it, one is the threat militarily. the other is the threat politically, i guess. militarily, this is a calling to north korea at least a more advanced weapon, a more advanced missile than they have fired before. it was not a long range missile, it was not armed with a nuclear warhead. it was not able to reach the u.s. mainland and the political threat. look, this is not anywhere close to a crisis. it isn't really a serious foreign policy. this is the kind of thing that north korea does all the time. if you like, in a sense, it's a

this is an issue between the vice president and mike flynn. when the white house is settling in, you will have a lot of personality conflicts pop up. liz: mike flynn also works for the american people. >> i read his resignation. he was during that period in december calling all the world leaders that he was going to have to be dealing with. i don't believe this was a logan act violation. i think this was one thing that was said, when we roll in, when we are in charge, this will be revisited. he has the right to say that. liz: president obama said to medvedev, i can be more flexible when i'm re-elected. would you support a bipartisan push for an independent probe into flynn? >> oh, yeah. because the fingers that they are going to be finding are pointing back at the former white house and some democrats. the democrats have been behind this and i would say some republicans are also involved in the leaks. i think like we saw in the detroit recount. it turned out to be voter fraud in democrat precincts. so go right ahead. liz: the president's cabin

mike flynn is just a small casualty of that bigger plan. the left is trying to make this into the next watergate, news or the same liberals who fiercely defended hillary clinton,, ignored and defended the massive private server scandal. top-secret and special access programming in the claws of a mom-and-pop shop bathroom. they ignored and defended the corruption to pay to play at the clinton foundation. the ignored hillary clinton's endless lies. the left was also noticeably silent back in 2012 and president obama was caught on a hot make saying this to the russian prime minister -- to send a message to vladimir. remember this? >> after my election... i have more flexibility... >> sean: tell vladimir, more flexibility. don't tell the american people. moral outrage and hypocrisy of the worst kind. all we're saying playing out is what eli lake who will be on next, the political assassination of michael flynn. in it, lake points out that it is so extremely rare for reporters to be told about government monitored communications of private citiz

that was not mike flynn tweeting that. that was fake mike flynn. julie that is embarrassing. >> it is embraer rag as anybody trying to pretend michael flynn somehow railroaded by democrats. he resigned or was fired depending on minute of the day the trump administration on tv talking about it by donald trump. nobody forced donald trump to do this. clearly donald trump got rid of mike flynn for, i don't know what reason, ostensibly because he said he lost trust or faith in him. not the democrats doing this. it is the president of the united states firing his own -- by the way, tony i love more than life itself, jason chaffetz said hillary clinton investigations would go on even before she got elected. jason chaffetz is nowhere to be found on this issue? >> but her wrongdoing was very established for a long time? >> really. >> clinton foundation to the email server. melissa: one of the ones that he wanted an investigation but i think before we start investigating we should teach people how to use twitter or if they can't tell the real twice from fake

taking over for mike flynn, lieutenant general mike flynn, who resigned after a scandal in which he was not quite truthful to the vice president of the united states with his contacts with the russian ambassador after sanctions were levied by the obama administration. i want to bring in colonel jack jacobs -- let's go back to bob costa. what did you make of keith kellogg sitting alongside the president, and h.r. mcmaster who will go from acting national security adviser to chief of staff of the national security council. what went into that decision? >> it's an understandable development. so many times throughout the campaign, we would encounter general kellogg on the campaign trail being an advocate for then-candidate trump. he's not seen as a high-profile figure like general flynn but certainly a loyal person in donald trump's broader circumstancircle, within the campaign and now within the administration. >> david frum, let me go back to you. you are legitimately shocked by this pick. we can all seehe look sti on your face. do you believe this signals some sort of larger shift in tra

. >> reporter: tonight mounting questions at the white house after national security advisor mike flynn was forced to resign late last night after misleading the president, the vice president and others about discussing sanctions with russia's ambassador before the inauguration. >> this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting be resignation of general flynn. >> reporter: the key questions tonight, what did the president know, when did he know it and why did the president keep flynn on board for nearly three weeks after the president found out he had been mislead? nbc news learned vice president pence was not told for 15 days after the president and white house knew. meaning, no one told pence that he had been sent out to say something false about flynn, the only reason pence was informed, apparently an impending media report that would cast doubt on pence's own honesty. >> why not immediately act? why wait another two and a half weeks? >> i don't understand how that's

now we know that the fbi interviewed mike flynn in the ear earliest days of the trump administration and president trump has known himself for more than two week that he had a problem, a very big problem here. michael flynn's resignation as national security advisor, after only just over three weeks on the job, had been brewing for days. the retired general had become a lightning rod for criticism over his ties with russia. it was a relationship dating back to 2015 when flynn sat right next to vladimir putin at a dinner in moscow. but it was december 29th, 2016 that became the beginning of the end for flynn. that day president obama announced new sanctions against russia, expelled 35 russian diplomats and closed two compounds all as sanctions because of influencing u.s. presidential election. that day flynn had phone calls with the russian ambassador to the united states. the next day, december 30th, in what came as a surprise to the obama administration, putin said no americans would be expelled from russia and that he would await the inauguration of donald trump before taking any a

mike flynn is fine, dot, dot, dot, for now, let it be said. but there are some real concerns i think inside the administration about not just some different issues that the president has had temperamentally with mike flynn but about this question of what he did talk about and did he tell the truth to vice president mike pence about it before mike pence went out and publicly and vigorously defended somebody who holds a position that is crucial to this administration. and that is the position of national security advisors. so yes, there are still questions to be asked about and answered about mike flynn, steve. i will say that, you know, the president did speak about, for example, trade issues that i know -- i know that there are folks inside the white house who want to see the focus today be more on canada, be more on the relationship with justin trudeau between the u.s. and canada, it still can't be denied that the flynn story is in the spotlight. >> yeah, and meanwhile hallie as well over the weekend. speaking of international relations, inte

many are calling for hearings and probes into mike flynn's actions. they want to know what the white house knew, when they knew it, and what if any national security risk flynn posed in the west wing. nbc's kristin welker has the report. >> reporter: mounting questions at the white house after national security adviser mike flynn was forced to resign after misleading the president and vice president. >> this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. and that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn. >> reporter: the key questions, what did the president know, when did he know it, and why did he keep flynn on board for nearly three weeks after the president learned he'd been misled. nbc news learned that pence was not told for 15 days after the white house knew, meaning nobody told pence. this all came to a head amid revelations that on january 26 the acting torn general informed the white house counsel about russia. even suggesting flynn could be s

mike flynn is an american patriot. he has served this nation with honor. he is a man of high integrity. i think you have a lot of people relying on a lot of anonymous information throwing around accusations about someone who served with high honor intentionally lying or intentionally misleading, and i think we're making a lot of jumps here. we're talking about an american military officer here. before we start impugning someone's character, i think more information needs to be known. second issue, i think, is important to realize the big picture issue here is it's not really unusual for an incoming national security advisor to be talking with foreign counterparts, and you can't really control what a foreign counterpart might bring up on the phone, but the real, real story is this coordination going on between flynn and other countries really has to do with the trump administration finding new alliances to fight isis. i think we're getting fixated on a lot of anonymous sources and people that have a stake in the political game to impugn mike flynn's charact

flynn. whether or not you enjoy the will he or won't he apprentice-style who's going to get fired drama that the white house, real stuff, out in the world, there are some serious kareening going on right now by our government. whether or not the national security adviser is going to be fired and the washington post just broke some hot new news about that we'll have the author here to explain this new development, whether or not mike flynn is going to get fired, he's the national security adviser. he heads the national security council and the national security council still doesn't have most of its staff. and late on friday night, we learned that one of the senior directors in the national security council, somebody who mike flynn had brought on board to the nsc with him, has now had to leave that post, leave the national security council all together because he was denied his request for a security clearance. we don't know why he was denied his request for a security clearance but he's out.

we think mike flynn is a victim. we very much are afraid that the cia, military intelligence, have some cooperation with terrorists in syria and in the ukraine. but nevertheless, donald trump's that macdonald trump —— for donald trump, the priority would be domestic politics, but not foreign policy. we still didn't see the foreign policy of donald trump at all. we see only domestic politics. anti—immigration, some project to build a wall with mexico. it is mostly domestic politics. we know that donald trump will follow its promises to the people of america, to pay tribute to the domestic policy but not the foreign policy. forgive me for jumping in. i want to ask you about the mood in the kremlin today. do you think there is some concern among russian officials that you speak to, close to president putin, that the white house may have to change course on russia? that they may actually be losing some of their close relationship with donald trump because of what is happening here in washington? i think in moscow p

clearly this was a crime motivated by political intent, to bring down mike flynn. it wasn't for money. and these are going to be people that were likely loyal to president obama, and other people that had been named, people like former deputy national security advisor ben rhodes was stated in the free washington beacon that he had created an infrastructure to push media out against flynn in washington as soon as he left. that was another story covered. once they begin this thing and they begin investigating and walking this back, i think that it is possible that these individuals that did this may not have used great tradecraft here in the united states. we may be able to identify them. cheryl: gary, i have ten seconds, what happens to mike flynn. >> it is unfortunate that he left. he will go on to have a career in business. he is a man that served his country for 30 years. very, very decent guy. cared about the country. it is unfortunate. cheryl: gary, thank you very much. great perspective. >> my pleasure. david: worried out west, a new string of storms arriving

this is not just mike flynn. it's not just the resignation of one person in the administration. this is as we've learned this morning, multiple contacts between the trump campaign and russian intelligence. >> senator klobuchar, thank you very much. >>> i want to go to another part of capitol hill where nancy pelosi is speaking. let's listen. >> the vision that makes america less safe, less strong and more fearful. every day, we see new evidence of the financial, personal and political grip the russians have on president trump. and the hand of the russian intelligence agencies in his campaign undermining our democracy. the trump white house has a lot to answer for. flynn is just a glaring example of the dangerous and incompetent conduct of the trump administration. by whose authority did he have these conversations, and who did he report to? it's just a glaring, again, glaring example of the poor judgment of the president of the united states. today we will have another opportunity for our colleagues to enable us to bring up the bill co-sponsored by 100% of the house democrats to

mike flynn and the president of the united states. likewise if general flynn was as may be the case having discussions with the russians that related to the campaign during the campaign, did the president-elect and the candidate know about that? mike flynn is the guy who has the answers to that. if the president was kind and embracing of mike flynn, he may have a reason for that. >> interesting. >> just the question of if this happened, if the president knew or didn't know, either way, why empower him? why would you tell russia this when the sanctions were for interfering in the u.s. election. why would you suggest that you are going to let up on them for doing something that most people agree is unacceptable. they should be punished for it even if you don't like your political opponent, he is letting them know, it seems like, it's okay what you did. right? >> then you have him not reciprocating on actions. >> it's unprecedented for a government official to do this. >> they pick it up with more breaking news on a new bipartisan effort

buried in that intel is a conversation between mike flynn, who is poised to be the national security adviser to the incoming president but is then a civilian, a retired u.s. army general. a conversation between him and the russian ambassador. it is alleged that that conversation included what, andrea? >> well, first of all, the conversation, the timing of it, it was on december 29th, although that was originally denied, but then acknowledged by general flynn. it was on the same exact day that the obama white house was announcing that they were kicking out 35 russian diplomats, accusing them of espionage, and shutting down two major facilities, one in maryland and one on long island. usually it's one person kicked out and there is a tit for tat automatically. this is a protocol going back to the cold war. you kick out one diplomat, another diplomat gets accused of espionage in another country and gets thrown out. in this case 55 diplomats were kicked out, told to go packing in a number of hours, and vladimir putin responds by inviting american diplomat children in moscow to a christma

if mike flynn had stayed on, why would you believe anything that mike pence said on tv. >> i have to ask you this, cnn broke this story through sources, the washington post started reporting some of it, cnn broke the story. you heard jill mentioning earlier, they're watching at the kremlin, they're quoting cnn, i asked one of my earlier guests, might this be a reset at the white house for at least their dealings, how they are dealing with issues, and also, matt, i have to ask you, this is being viewed in russia, this is being viewed around the world, cnn is watching, considering the relationship they had, and according to my source right now, they're all watching cnn at the white house. they may want to rethink their relationship with the media after this. this could be a reset for them. >> here's hoping, i mean, look there's a long history of republican politicians especially. but all politicians, having animosity toward the media, there's somewhat of a rivalry, that happened, and that's normal. but to go to war with the press is not smart. and i think that this could be a movement

we're going to have catherine herridge later to talk about the fbi questioning of mike flynn. in the meantime, we will talk about how this went. eric, one of the things is the timeline. you have this first -- it broken the news on january 12th. that's also when you start to find out that justice department goes to the white house and says you might have a potential problem here. nothing happens and little becomes more public yesterday afternoon and then it happened quickly. >> eric: thursday nights i think "the washington post" published the fact they had nine sources confirming what david ignatius talked about. i mentioned yesterday it's less about what general flynn is accused of doing and more about the fact that he misled the vice president. let the vice president go out on the sunday shows and allowed him to think there was no conversation and allowed him to say that he thought there was no conversation. about the sanctions trade with the russians about the sanctions. if you listen to the press conference today. it was amazing for you learned a few things. sean spicer sai

mike flynn was wrong, he misled the president and vice president. but so far, there is zero evidence that flynn broke any law in any way. fox news is reporting that there is zero indication that flynn misled the fbi when they interviewed him. this is the beginning. take a look at what this whining liberal from "the new york times" said. >> the issue is what did he tell trump, that he and trumps actually cook up this whole thing? after the russians did not respond harshly to the eviction of their spies and diplomats, trump tweeted out some positive encouragement of this. did the two of them cook this up? the first is we have never taken seriously from the veryy beginning russia hacked our election. that was a 9/11 scale event. they attacked the core of our very democracy. >> sean: you will compare this to 9/11 and pearl harbor? where thousands of americans died? if he ever bothered to do some research, and read the joint report, it found russia did not interfere in the election vote in any way. then there is this former newsws anchor, kind of laughab

tha were mike flynn. this morning, steven miller, senior policy adviser, made it clear that the white house gave him not much to say on mike flynn and wouldn't say whether it is a fireable offense if you mislead -- if you knowingly mislead the vice president, which ultimately i think is a personnel matter between the president, his trust with the vice president, and his trust with the national security adviser. i think ultimately, that's what this is going to be about. >> never a dull moment. >> we know flynn and pence talked on friday, trying to contain the fallout. a lot to talk about on your show. >> nine minutes. >> catch that in nine minutes with chuck, 10:30 right here after "news 4 today." don't miss it. y27mky y16fy >>> all right, mr. trump. do you have one legitimate reason we need this ban? >> of course i do. it's so simple. the bad people, they're pouring in, and you see them and it's isis and san bernardino and chicago. i mean, look at chicago. it's hell. they're bad dudes coming in here, bad

he was forced to or to his knowledge defend mike flynn when mike flynn potentially misled him >> great to have you on. we hope you come back and join us on 5at630 in the future. >>> let's get a check of the weather. gwen standing by with the icy forecast. it is cold out there. right now at least. >> it is, but you know what? we've got warmth coming your way, sarah, we're going to get rid of that. it's going to warm up. but in the meantime. let's take a look. 34 at this hour at dulles, 37 at dc, 35 at baltimore. 33 at hagerstown and martinsberg and 32 at cumberland, yes, it is cold. overnight, it will be continuing to be cold. chilly conditions cloudy skies as well. few breaks here and there. mainly clouds with overnight lows into the 30's and few 20's to our north andorthwest also. you definitely want to bundle up. big changes on our way, that's got news, once we get into tomorrow and sunday, nice rise in temperatures, by midday tomorrow, 56 degrees, it will be mild. 62 by the 4:00 hour, not too bad at all. and as we take a look at the fox 5 weekend forecast for you you can see that we

he was misled and he gave flynn the benefit of the doubt and you have to remember in this context, mike flynn is one of the closest advisers of the president. he briefs him every single day. so, the president has given him quite a bit of rope. i think mike pence has done exactly the same thing. and that came back to bite him. this issue came to a head for trump because of the amount of controversial in the headlines. this is a president who looks at the newspaper everything morning and doesn't like to see his staff at the top of the "the new york times" and the washington post every day. he wanted to find a way to resolve this issue in a way he didn't cat pit lated in the end. >> a tangled web we're trying to make our way through, your old friend sally yates comes back in to play as the main player, she was dismissed by donald trump because he said she couldn't carry out the travel ban. she warned the white house a month ago that michael flynn had done this and could be exposed to blackmail. so, talk about sally yates' role. >> well, alysin, this is another example of sally yates trying

i have a great regard for mike flynn. i saw him up close when i was on the intelligence committee and he was head of the defense intelligence committee. true patriot. but if, in fact, he did not tell the whole truth to mike pence, the president did the right thing to ask him to resign. this should be looked into to see whether there is more to it. >> there are people on both sides of the aisle very concerned about trump's relationship with russia. let's listen. >> of all the foreign policy issue, and if you look at where they were in the campaign, where they were in transition, they've begun to evolve to a better place from my standpoint on most issues. you look at their evolution on china, their evolution on israel, their evolution on some of the issues in the middle east. one area where the evolution is not taking place is with russia. russia is not our friend. >> melissa: is that fair? what do you think? >> i think there's so much unknown right now. i probably disagree with the president's think there's any real chance

one day after mike flynn is shown the door, there are new and troubling revelations regarding the trump team's connection with russia this morning. the "new york times" has come out with a bombshell report that several trump aides had repeated contact with russian intelligence in the year before the election and the revelation it that's shaking up washington. one member of congress likening it to treason and others calling for a full-blown independent investigation. former campaign staffers were and president-ele apoplectic. and robby mook tweeting, i'd like the fbi to explain why they sent a letter about clinton but and probes into mike flynn's actions. they want to know what the white house knew, when they knew it, and what if any national security risk flynn posed in the west wing. >> reporter: mounting questions at the white house after national security adviser mike flynn was forced to resign after misleading the president and vice president. >> this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. and that was ultimately what led to the pres

the thing that you need to realize on mike flynn and i know him exceptionally well. he's a very bright guy and a very savvy guy and an organizational man. he understands where his right and left limits are. so he had to get permission from somebody before he started to engage in these communications with the russian ambassador. now, clearly, i don't know that that was the president himself to gave him that authorization. it certainly wasn't the vice president, during the period when they were in the elected position, they had not assumed office yet. so within the white house, there clearly is someone else or a group of folks who gave mike the clearance to conduct these communications. that's the question that all of your journalists have been uncovering tonight. who is that, and what does that look like as we move forward? the fact that mike raised his hand and said, look, i've gotta get off the objective here, i'm drawing a bunch of fire here and distracting from the effort of this administration to move forward. so he did the honorable thing and got out of the way.

he is not going to -- just because there's leaks, fire mike flynn. he going to look at the evidence and then decide. -- he outside the box guy, he wanted to be a lot more abrasive in dealing with islam, trump loves that about him. if there's something he did wrong, trump will cut him. he going to act deliberately and be careful -- >> you know the job of the director, it's like concert conductor, you have to bring in what the defense department has, you have to get intelligence kplubt community to give you what they have, you have to say, this what you're facing, mr. president. this is what you're facing. doesn't he have to make up his mind about flynn? >> the fact that kellyanne said full confidence, that's powerful. i done don't think the president says that kind of thing unless he is serious. there's a period in the white house where they are deliberating and -- >> here is spicer who speaks for the president. the president is evaluating this situation. he speaking with vice president pence. he considers most important subject there's, our national

we were dealing on this case with mike flynn. all this information gets put into the "washington post" and gets put into the "new york times," and i'm saying, what's going to happen when i'm dealing on the middle east? what's going to happen when i'm dealing with really, really important subjects like north korea? we have to stop it. that's why it's a criminal penalty. yes, john? >> thank you, mr. president. i just want you to clarify a very important point. can you say definitively that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the russians during the campaign? and on the leaks, is it fake news or is this real news? >> the leaks are real. you're the one that wrote about them and reported them. the leaks are real. you know what they said, you saw it. the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake because so much of the news is fake. one thing that i felt it was

after twisting in the wind for days, national security adviser mike flynn abruptly resigned under immense pressure. will more heads roll three weeks into the trump presidency? >>> a new storm is threatening the nation's tallest dam as a second emergency spillway failed causing a race against time before the next deluge hits. >>> disgraced cyclist lance armstrong is being slapped with a $100 million lawsuit by the federal government. >>> got back pain? new guidelines for anyone seeking relief from chronic discomfort. >>> what's old is new again. "playboy" bringing back nude pictorials. "early today" starts right now. >>> good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. >>> breaking while you slept, a white house shake up. headlines across the country say it all. less than four weeks in office and president donald trump's national security adviser michael flynn is forced from the west wing. mounting pressure after reports surfaced that flynn lied over calls to russia's ambassador. he reportedly discussed lifting u.s. sanctions and misled the white house chief of staff, vice president mike pence and

after white house denials, national security adviser mike flynn concedes that, yes, he may have spoken to the russians about obama-era sanctions before donald trump became president. >> i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. >> is flynn's job already in danger? >>> and hostile takeovers. angry town halls. [ crowd chants "do your job" ]

and vouched for general mike flynn, said he did not talk sanctions. there's also a lot of questions surrounding how in the world general flynn could forget about talking sanctions when there is a lot of questions about how much of the conversation, at least one, that he had with the russian ambassador was dedicated to talking sanctions. it's not something you forget, it is a breach of protocol. even this white house official told me this was something that they cannot understand why flynn would mislead the administration about it, they cannot understand why it went on for so long. >> hey, jeremy, your former boss, leon panetta, who is not given to hyperbole, said something today that really got the attention of a lot of people. quote, i've never been so nervous in my lifetime about what may or may not happen in washington. i don't know whether this white house is capable of responding in a thoughtful or careful way should a crisis erupt. you can do hit and miss stuff over a period of time, but at some point i don't give a damn what your particular sen

>> you have a bunch of democrats criticizing mike flynn. mike flynn doesn't even have to appear congress, he answers to one man, president trump. it depends how trump see this is going forward. >> with that said, we have to leave it there. >>> still ahead, making history and blazing a trail. a remarkable young man's journey sets an example for countless others. you're going to meet him coming up next. test to find out more about my african roots. the ancestry dna results were really specific. they told me all of these places in west africa. i feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story, get started for free at ancestry.com >>> nbc is celebrating black history month by profiling 28 young african-american pioneers. find the profiles on nbcblk@nbcnews poi nbcblk@nbcnews.com. joining me, the youngest mayor, michael tubbs. >> thank you for having me. >> take you back a little. how did you get involved with politics, so you've been on the job about a month, but your co

evaluating mike flynn's place in the white house while a senior advisor says flynn still has the president's full confidence. some mixed signals on a subject that never came up at the u.s./canadian news conference at the white house today. in their first meeting, president trump and canadian prime minister justin trudeau agreed to work together to create jobs but expressed differing opinions on border security. >> i said at the beginning we are going to get the bad ones, the really bad ones. we're getting them out. that's exactly what we're doing. >> we continue to pursue our policies of openness towards immigration refugees without compromising security. >> reporter: trudeau is offering to accept refugees into his country while the president's temporary travel ban remains on hold in the courts. today trudeau said he wasn't in washington to lecture the u.s. leader on how to keep his people safe. while the two leaders about border issues, democrats called on the president to fire national security advisor mike flynn. >> misleading the country on a subject this serious, if those allegations ar

. >> mike flynn decided it is best to resign. he knew he would become a lightning rod and he made that decision. >> the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation in a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. >> and i spoke with the president this morning. he asked me to just speak on his behalf and to reiterate that mike flynn had resigned. >> that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn. that's it. pure and simple. a matter of trust. >> now the white house insists the president didn't instruct flynn to talk about sanctions but also acknowledged the president doesn't see a problem it with. the associated press citing a white house official report along with chief of staff also questioned flynn multiple times in the weeks that followed. the a.p. report continues saying top aides also reviewed transcripts of flynn's contacts with the ambassador. nbc news has not independently verified th

>> yeah. >> i mean, these leaks led to mike flynn having to resign. if this was a fake news media drummed up issue, couldn't president trump say i'm sticking with this guy. 4:00 p.m., kellyanne conway, we are with him, then sean spicer, reviewing, then he's out. why? >> the reason sean spicer says we let go of mike flynn, we asked him to resign. there was question, did he resign. we asked him to resign because he lost the trust of the president. donald trump comes out on wednesday and says the fake news railroaded a good man. you are the one that said you fired him because you don't trust him. both of those things can't be true. it can't be the media's fault for railroading a good man and he was fired because you lost trust in him. those things do not add up. >> on the whistle blowing thing, they are cries of concern. they worked with me in there as a political person. they have seen the intelligence. they know what the administration is not addressing. they know that the hill, because of the security clearances they have up there, has access to infor

you heard sean spicer say publicly that he himself spoke with mike flynn about this conversation. i will tell you that another source inside the west wing tells me chief of staff reince priebus also had a conversation in which flynn was not consistent or accurate with discussion of sanctions. it's not just vice president pence. there were others inside the administration at a fairly high level who had concerns. >> obviously the democrats chomping at the bit to get a full investigation started. thank you so much. >>> our coverage of michael flynn's resignation is just getting started. you could watch more reporting on nbc nightly news with lester lot at 7:00. >>> space heaters are small, cost efficient and can keep your family wrong. so many of us are using them in the wrong way and in an instant tragedy can strike. >> how fast things can go wrong and what you can do to protect yourself. >> reporter: it's happened in an instant. >> oh my gosh, i think that house is on fire! >> reporter: deadly flames, raging infernos. >> when i got out the flames re >> reporter: in all these cases,

and i had a chance to ask him about mike pence who was misled in the back and forth about mike flynn and russia phone calls. teak a look. >> reporter: do you think that the trump administration is doing well by vice president mike pence? >> what about pence? >> reporter: are they doing right by him? he was misled, the president, his senior advisers and mike flynn all knew about this -- >> he was in charge of the white house staff. he made a decision on that and -- >> reporter: abobut do you thin he's being treated well? since he's taken the lead and -- >> mike pence has been the indispensable player. >> reporter: we also learned, craig, that the majority leader was asked whether or not he believed what the president said yesterday about contacts between the trump campaign and russia, the russian government. and he said simply, "i have no idea." his office, he has no idea whether there were contacts between the trump campaign and russian government. a very striking statement to make. >> and mitch mcconnell is not someone we hear from in that particular setting on a regular basis. it s

. >> there was an obvious elephant in the room, the controversy over mike flynn. tracie potts is live with the latest. never a good sign when your national security official is making all this news. >> reporter: exactly. when your senior advisor is going on air as kellyanne conway just did saying that he has the full confidence of the president, defending mike flynn, however, it didn't even come up at the news conference with canada's prime minister today. they talked about trade, other or they did spend a little bit of time talking about the other elephant in the room which is the fact that there's a big disconnect between the u.s. and canada and immigration. in their first meeting, president trump and canadian prime minister justin trudeau agreed to work together to create jobs, but expressed differing opinions on border security. >> i said at the beginning, we are going to get the bad ones, the really bad ones. we're getting them out and that's exactly what we're doing. >> we continue to pursue our policies of openness towards immigration refugees without compr