Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170214

Friday something important happened. He was asked during that on camera moment whether or not he had been told about this reporting in the Washington Post that the then National Security advisor Michael Flynn was correcting his recollection in terms of what happened in that conversation between himself and the Russian Ambassador about sanctions against russia during the transition period. That is certainly going to be there is a whole range of questions that are going to be asked of the press secretary. Mainly because of the shifting and wide ranging assortment of comments that weve gotten from Top White House officials in the last 24 to 48 hours. One of those comments came from the white House Counsellor Kellyanne Conway when she said yesterday afternoon that Michael Flynn had the full confidence of the president and then just an hour later the White House Press secretary told reporters that, no, President Trump was revi reviewing the situation when it came to Michael Flynn, and then later on there was a story in the post that the Justice Department informed the white house a month ago that there was this conversation that occurred that dealt with sanctions and the fact that Michael Flynn did not tell the Vice President this before he went on National Television and vouched for the National Security advisor that that potentially could be used as blackmail to compromise the National Security advisor. The question is, wolf, if the white house was told a month ago about all of this, what did they do with that information . I think one name thats going to come up at this briefing, wolf, if the questions are allowed to be asked by folks in this front row and the front couple of rows, were among several reporters in this room are going to ask this question is did the white house chief of staff not the chief of staff, but the white House Counsellor don mcgan inform the chief of staff Reince Priebus about all of this, and was that information relayed to the president . Was all that communicated to the president , or was there a Communications Breakdown somewhere along the way. Those are key questions. There were several administrations over the years. When information like that comes from the Justice Department, top officials at the white house, it is always incumbent upon officials to brief the president. You cant have them going to cameras if those officials had briefed the president , then, of course, we have a situation on friday where perhaps the president was not being forth right with those reporters at that time. We just dont know. Thats why there is some very crucial questions that are going to be asked in the Briefing Room here in just a few moments, wolf. Very important questions, indeed. Jim, there are questions about ties with russia. Theyve been going on for some time involving President Trump and his aids. His former campaign manager, he resigned in the wake of questions about his ties to russia. There were questions involving secretary of state rex tillerson, former ceo exxonmobil faced about his connections to russia. He seems to have adequately answered those questions during his confirmation hearings, and now the flynn resignation. What are the other aspects that comes up as President Trump as a candidate, as a president elect now is president. He rarely if ever says anything negative about putin or russia for that matter. Heres the question. How serious is this overall potential problem involving russia . I think its a very i think its a very serious question, wolf. Whether its the president or top officials in this administration or, as you mentioned, Paul Maniford, who was the former chairman of the campaign, why is it that theres always this line drawn from it these individuals to russia whether its the president who declines to criticize vladimir putin, whether its Paul Maniford who has these contacts, whether its the National Security advisor, Michael Flynn who had this conversation with the Russian Ambassador during the transition. We also dont know whether or not the National Security advisor had additional conversations with russians during the campaign. Thats another outstanding question. Wolf, theres also another serious question that has to be asked, and that is why arent these top officials in the white house talking to each other . How is it that Kellyanne Conway can go out in front of a camera on National Television and say that Michael Flynn has the full confidence of the president when it was obvious at that time that he did not have the full confidence of the president. What i am told by talking to a very well placed republican source who is in contact with top officials in this administration is that theyre not talking to each other because theyre too busy undercutting each other behind the scenes. There has just been a game of thrones situation inside this white house, im told, by this well placed source, and that that is a part of the reason why you have this breakdown in communication that you saw yesterday. Another top official, the White House Press secretary, saying something dramatically different. Wolf, this is a white house that is just heading into week four of an administration and you have a National Security advisor stepping aside because of questions about russia and you have top officials that arent singing from the same song sheet. It is just a very bizarre and unusual situation and not a good situation for an administration that is just trying to get going in these first few weeks of the administration, wolf. Absolutely right. It was shocking yesterday. Flynn h after saying flynn has the president s full confidence, then sean spicer says they are evaluating. A lot of us suspected that he was probably toast as they say. Jim accosta in the Briefing Room. Were going to get back to you shortly. Were going to stand by for sean spicers briefing about to begin. Meanwhile, democrats in congress are pushing for investigations into the flynn affair. Theyve gone as far as saying Republican Leaders have no spines and question their patriotism for refusing to look into the role of the president in the Michael Flynn conversations with the Russian Ambassador and in the possibility that flynn actually could have been a blackmail target by the russians. Joining us now from capitol hill, congressman seth molten. He is a massachusetts democrat. A member of the Armed Services committee. A veteran serving a u. S. Veteran serving in iraq. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. Its good to be back, wolf. This blackmail concern that the russians could have blackmailed flynn, should the investigation be on that specific . Its unclear what they presumably could have blackmailed him for for that fear of blackmail, or is there a bigger problem, the ongoing relationship that the trump team has with russia. Youre absolutely right. The bigger problem, the scandal of the century, not the scandal of the week, is this ongoing relationship with russia. There is no question its the unequivocal conclusion of all our intelligence agencies that russia wanted donald trump to be elected president. Either thats just because they think trump is putins buddy and he is going to do his bidding or because they have material they can use against the administration. We dont need to just know what flynn knew or what his associates in the white house knew. We need to know what russia knows and what they still hold over the heads of the people in the white house. Do you think flynn acted alone when he made that phone call to the Russian Ambassador in washington . I dont think that anything in washington happens alone. Certainly not a call with the ambassador to our number one enemy for the last 65 years. I mean, lets not lose perspective on exactly who were talking about here. If members of the administration are essentially conspireing with russia either through the campaign earlier now than the look, wolf, thats the definition of treason. This is a very, very serious affair. We all have to understand whats going on with Michael Flynn, but we cant let this little skanlds or perhaps a big scandal at the moment let us lose sight of the much bigger scandal, which is what is the overall connection between russia and the Trump Administration. Let me be precise on this. Youre throwing out a huge word, treason. Explain exactly what your concern is. The definition of treason is putting the interests of our enemy ahead of our own. Thats what the definition is. It seems like theres a lot of evidence that there are members of the administration who are more concerned about russias goals than our own. They continually prioritize the desires of the kremlin, like, for example, rescinding the sanctions that have been so importantly put in place, and its just the voice of the administration thats doing it. You hear both democrats and republicans on capitol hill saying that this makes no sense. It makes no sense to pull back sanctions against our enemy. I its not the whole administration. Nikki haley, the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , speaking before the u. N. Security council on crima. She was very tough on the russian. General mattis, in his confirmations, very tough on the russians. Other officials, rex tillerson, even though he had business dealings with the russians, received an award from putin, very tough in his comments on the russians. Its not the administration as a whole. Well, absolutely it is. It starts at the top. That doesnt mean that everybody is implicated, but this is exactly what we need to figure out, wolf. I dont think that Michael Flynn is going to be the only person to fall here. I find it very hard to believe that in an administration that has continually drawn the line as jim accosta said against criticizing russia has continually favored russian interests very publically. Its hard to believe that theres just one fall guy here. I think in a lot of ways thats what the Trump Administration was hoping. That this scandal with flynn will dis tract attention from the larger issue, which is why did russia want to influence our election . Why did russia try very fer vently to influence our election to get donald trump elected president . Well get to that a little bit later. Theres been reporting that russia has secretly deployed a ground launch Cruise Missile that violates the arms treaty that exists between the u. S. And i wonder if you have been briefed on this. I just heard the news. This is another concerning move by the russians where he this think they can take advantage of it. The cold war that we had with russia for over 50 years was a standoff. It thrived on deterence. Deterence was what we used, not hot war to prevent russians from doing things against us. They must think that deterence value is going down. When trump gets out there. When trump talks about unilaterally releasing the sanctions against russia, says thats a signal to the recommend kremlin that they can do whatever they want, and were seeing evidence of that today. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you all. As we await sean spicer, he is about to take the electric turnover at the white house Briefing Room and start answering reporters questions. I assume theyll begin with some opening comments, schedule, and other issues. I want to bring in our panel in washington. Our chief National Security correspondent jim schudo is with us. Our political director david, and our political analyst david brger, and correspondent who is here with me, the host of reliable sources brian gloeb gloria, you actually broke the story last night. You and sarah murray had the information. What does this say about the state of the the affairs in the white house right now and the overallstate of u. S. National security . Well, first of all, inside the white house i think its safe to say that its dysfunctional. There is a lot of turmoil. There are people in the white house trying to figure out where they go from here. What weve discovered with all these questions that have been raised about the white House Counsel, knowing that the Justice Department thought that general flynn might be open to blackmail and potentially was told of that and did he tell Reince Priebus and all of those questions. I think what you have in this white house is something that often occurs, and that is a white house that is siloed and that people are not talking to each other the way they ought to be talking to each other. This happened during the Obama Administration during the rollout of health care reform, and the president at that point admitted they had a problem and tried to get folks to deal with each other more, and i think that is an issue inside this white house when you have different factions who are not communicating well with each other. That doesnt serve the president well. There are going to be questions raised on the russian question and on general flynn in particular, and going all the way up to the oval office. As the democrats raised earlier, what did the president know . John mccain himself has said we need to get to the bottom of this, says and so youll have the microissues of how you run a functioning white house, and then you have the larger macrogeopolitical Foreign Policy questions about what does this tell you about the u. S. Relationship with russia in the administration of donald trump. Stand by. Jim, a group of democratic lawmakers asked the secretary of defense to investigate whether or not flynn had received money from foreign governments, including russia. Just a short time ago, he made the announcement about that. What did they say . He this say that its not accurate to say that theres an Ongoing Investigation in this. This is pouring some water on that particular fire. I think just to ek quo what gloria said, the key question in this press conference remains to be seen if it will be asked of sean spicer. The key question is, in effect, that old question, what did the president know and when did he know it . Did plilk e Michael Flynn act directly or did he think he was acting on directions of the president to deliver a message to russia, and thats something that its not just democrats frankly asking that question. Lindsey graham asking that. John mccain and others. Its a fair question, and its a potentially i can sense the love in the room. Its valentines day. First off, last night the Treasury Department of foreign asset control labelled the venezuelan Vice President as a specially designated narcotics trafficker under the king pin act. Before i continue with the briefing and look forward to your questions, i want to turn it over for a short time to newly minted secretary of the treasury Steven Manuchin to share a brief statement on this and answer a few questions. Pleasure to be here on my first busy dah day in office. Yesterday the department of treasurys office of foreign asset control known as owe pack designated Venezuelan National tariq al alsami as a specially designated narcotics traveller according to the king pin designation act for playing a significant role in International Narcotics trafficking. His primary front man venezuelan was also designated. These designate igs nations follow a multiyear investigation into the criminal activities. President trump appreciates the hard work put into this case by the department of treasury rrks department of state as well as the National Security counsel and many people throughout law enforcement. Following the signing of the executive order last week, designing to break the back of criminal drug cartels, this action demonstrates the president s seriousness about fighting the scourge of drugs in the united states. In addition, he wants to send a clear message to the people of venezuela that america stands with them. Sanctions are directly relevant, obviously, to the Treasury Department, which is an agency that you now receive. Can you tell us about plans to sanction russia and if you would keep obamas sanctions against russia . The current sanctions are in place, and i would say sanctions are an important tool that we will continue to look at for various different countries. Its a very Important Program within the Treasury Department. Can you tell us what you think the bottom line will be at these particular sanctions you announced yesterday and are referring to today for the venezuelan Vice President . First, let me just comment again. This is as a result of a very long effort. Yes, this was underway. This was a very long effort. The implication is quite significant. We expect that there will be frozen tens of millions of dollars, and, again, the sanctions are a very important way of us sending a message that we will not stand for i will lift activities, whether theyre Drug Trafficking or terrorism. Secretary, including sanctions, what other tools are you looking at . I cant comment on all the tools, but, again, let me just reinforce that sanctions are a very important tool within the department, and we will use them as appropriate. We did freeze assets again. Tens of millions of dollars of assets, and that will have a very big impact on us. Ill take one more question, please. P folks at the Treasury Department within the administration feel confident with mrs. Yellin at the helm, and, you know, to be able to set Monetary Policy Going Forward . Let me just comment. Im really here today, again, to talk about the venezuelan situation, but let me just say that there is a tradition of the secretary of treasury having ongoing meetings with the head of the federal reserve, and i look forward to that now that im in office. Thank you. Its a pleasure to be here on my first day. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Lets get back to the fun. Weve been reviewing, and i want to address the events much last night first and foremost. Weve been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to general flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks trying to ascertain the truth. We got to a point not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue with a level of trust between the president and general flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change. The president was very concerned that general flynn had misled the Vice President and others. He was also concerned in light of sensitive subjects democratic with by that position of National Security advisors like china, north korea, and the middle east, that the president must have complete and unwavering trust for the person in that position. The evolve 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 flynns resignation. Immediately after the department of justice notified the white House Counsel of the situation, the white House Counsel briefed the president in a small group of his senior advisors. During this process it is important to note that the president did not have his attorney general, jeff sessions, who he trusts immensely, approved by the senate. When the president heard the information is presented by white House Counsel, he instinctively thought that general flynn did not do anything wrong and the white House Counsels review corroborated that. He spoke with over 30 of his counters parts throughout the transition. As charles said last night, it is perfectly reasonable for him to do so. The issue here was that the president got to the point where general flynns relationship misleading the Vice President and others or the possibility that he had forgotten critical details of the important conversation had created a Critical Mass and an unsustainable situation. Thats why the president decided to ask for his resignation and he got it. The irony of this entire situation is that the president has been incredibly tough on russia. He continues to raise the issue have crima, which the Previous Administration allowed to be seized by russia. His ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, stood before the u. N. Security council on her first day and strongly denounced the Russian Occupation of crima. As Ambassador Haley said at the time, the dire situation in Eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. President trump has made is very clear that he expects the russian government to deescalate violence in the ukraine and return crima. At the same time sfwhoo dams, bridges, roads, and all ports around the country have fallen into disrepair. In order to prevent the next disaster well pursue the president s vision for an overhaul of our nations crumbling infrastructure. The vakzs will continue, and beal be working along side with fema and appropriate Government Entities to make sure that we are doing everything we can to attend to this matter. The president was honored also to welcome the Prime Minister of japan last week from their First Official meeting at the white house to their joint press conference at maralago, and their time together at maralago. The president and the Prime Minister had a productive visit that reaffirmed their ability to further strengthen the u. S. Japan alliance and economic relationship. On sunday the president met with now secretary treasury manuchin, and mr. Steve wen before returning to washington. Yesterday the president had an incredibly productive set of meetings and discussions with Prime Minister joe trudeau of canada focussing on our shared commitment to close cooperation in addressing both the challenges facing our two countries and the problems throughout the world. Our countries share a profound economic interest with more than 2 billion in twoway trade flowing across our border every day. The president was pleased to launch the Canadaunited States council for the advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders by holding a roundtable discussion here at the white house. Together with Prime Minister trudeau, his daughter, ivanka, the president discussed the unique challenges that women face in the workplace with an Incredible Group of successful and respected female Business Executives from both countries. A full list of the participants is available through the pool. In addition to his in person meetings with the Prime Ministers of japan and canada, the president also recently had phone calls with the president s of tunisia, peru, nigeria, columb columbia, and south africa. Readouts are available on all of those calls. Following the Prime Ministers visit to yesterday, the president met with chairwoman mcdaniel and cochairman of the Republican National committee. In the afternoon the president participated in a pinning ceremony for major ricardo turner, one of his military aides. The aides to the president are midgrade officers. Their primary responsibilities are to serve as an Emergency Action officer and ceremonial aide. Its a longstanding tradition that one of the president s military aides is promoted in the next higher grade. The president conducts that promotion. Major ricardo turner, the president s military aide, was recently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and the promotion was held in the oval office. The president also spoke yesterday with the president and mrs. Scalia talked about her husbands late legacy and how he is making an effort to carry it on about nominating judge gorsuch who shares the love of the constitution to succeed him on the bench. Last night the president obviously hosted the swearing in of secretary manuchin in the oval office. He is a world class financier whose decades of experience with monetary matters make him the ideal person to spearhead the president s plan to develop a dynamic booming economy that works for all americans. Were glad to officially have him on board. Now moving on to the schedule of today, this morning the president and newly confirmed secretary of education devos held a parentteacher Conference Meeting with parents and educators from public, private, charter, and home schools this morning. The president opened the meeting by congratulationing her for her toughness and staying the course throughout her confirmation process. He then discussed his vision for all americans to have an opportunity to climb the ladder of success starting with making quality education available to every child, no merit their zip code. Under the Current System the president believes too many of our children are trapped in failing schools, especially in the after afr community. The president told the group to begin addressing this problem, which he views as a civil rights issue. He wants parents to be able to decide what educational opgs are best for their children. The Group Launched into a wideranging discussion that included public and charter schools, home schooling, says dropout prevention, and the basis schools program. States responsibilities, and the current state of the u. S. Department of education. The president s ultimate goal is to create safe communities, great schools, and well paying jobs. He believes that each of these goals is linked to the others, and the Trump Administration is taking concrete steps to achieve them all. The president also spoke on the phone earlier today with Prime Minister may of the united kingdom, continuing the productive conversation they started during her visit earlier this year. A readout on that call should be coming soon. The president then had lunch with new Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his wife regarding combatting drug use. At 2 00 the president will sign house joint resolution 41 in the oval office. The resolution is the start of rolling back harmful obama era regulations that cost the American Business consumers a staying tering 890 billion making our Companies Less competitive and even driving some of them out of business. The American Free kber prize system is the greatest for Economic Prosperity in the world, but for too many to reach its maximum potential, we must remove the barriers to productivity they are holding back our great workers and businesses. Misguided federal regulations such as the s. E. C. Rule addressed by hjr41 inflict real cost on the American People and put our businesses, especially small businesses, at a significant disadvantage. Its a priority for the Trump Administration to fix our broken regulatory system so that it enhances american productivity and wellbeing without imposing unnecessary costs and burdens. Its one more step forwards achooeg this goal. Later this evening the president will meet with secretary kelly and attorney general sessions to continue discussions on potential opgs for addressing the very clear National Security threats were facing in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the white house. They will discuss ways to advance and strecht strengthen the special relationship between our two countries and stability in the middle east. They will consult on a range of issuesless, regional issues, including addressing the threat, posed by iran and its proxy, the crisis in syria, and countering isis and other groups. As the president has made clear, his administration will work to achieve comprehensive agreement that would end the israelipalestinian conflict so israelis and palestinians can live in peace and security. The way forward toward that goal will also be discussed between the president and the Prime Minister. They will hold a joint press Conference Tomorrow as well and further guidance will be coming on the time and location. Looking ahead to friday, they will travel to charleston, south carolina, to attend the rollout of the first boeing 7810 dreamliner. This will give the president an opportunity to celebrate a huge milestone for thousands of workers at boeing. The number one exporter in the millions of American Workers involved in aerospace. This trip has been months in the making, and were thrilled to celebrating the rollout of this amazing plane. Back in january the president said that nobody in his campaign had been in touch with the russians. Now today can you still say definitively that nobody on the trump campaign, not even general flynn, says had any contact with the russians before the election. My understanding is that what general flynn has now expressed is that during the transition period, well, we were very clear that during the transition period he did speak with the ambassador. Im talking about during the campaign. I dont have any theres nothing that would are bring me to conclude that anything different. How was he identified 17 days ago that he had misled other officials here and that he was a potential threat to blackmail by the russians. That assumes a lot of things that are not true. The president was informed of this. He asked the white House Counsel to review the situation. We have to conclude if there was a legal issue. The white House Counsel concluded there was not. As i state to my this was an act of trust. Its whether he misled the Vice President. That was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn. Thats it. Pure and simple. It was a matter of trust. We bent through a deliberate process, a thorough review. The first part of it was to discuss the legal aspects of this. That was concluded there was no legal aspects, and then what happened was the president evaluated the trust aspect of it. Major. The president was asked on air force one yesterday, i mean, on friday, traveling down maralago about reports, about conversation about sanctions. He said i dont know about it. Ill look into that. Was he being truthful . He asked specifically was he aware of a Washington Post story . He hadnt seen that at the time. Of course, he was involved. I said he was aware of the situation right after the white House Counsel informed him back in january. This is about the legal at involved not the propriety of the conversations between general flynn and the Russian Ambassador. What are the merits of that conversation before the Trump Administration had been inaugurated . Just to be clear, the acting attorney general informed the white House Counsel that they wanted to give a heads up to us on some comments that may have seen conflict with what he had sent the Vice President out in particular. The white House Counsel informed the president immediately. The president asked him to conduct a review of whether there was a legal situation there. That was what the president believed at the time from what he had been told, and he was proved to be correct. The issue pure and simple came down to a matter of trust, and the president concluded that he no longer had the trust of his National Security advisor over zbloolt to be discussing an issue as sensitive as sanctions. His job is to discuss issues with his counterparts. Charles put it perfectly last night. Thats what he is supposed to be doing. I mean, thats his job. We would constantly read out throughout the transition who he was speaking to, how he was getting ready. The president was receiving congratulatory calls from around the world. We would read out the world leader calls. The job of the incoming nsa is to sit down with the counterparts and start that dialogue, and thats exactly what he did. The question wasnt if he did anything improper or legal, but could he be trusted further, but that truts or the erosion was frankly the issue. Theres no thats never i think the president was had no problem with the fact that he acted in accordance with what his job was supposed to be doing. He had the ability to talk about issues that were important. Whether it was that or the 30 other countries he spoke to. That was part of his job. As has been noted by many people. Thats what the National Security advisor and frankly other positions do. They begin the process of preparing their incoming job by talking to counterparts, people who previously held the job, et cetera. If he had not done that,ing there would be questions as to whether he is properly prepared on day one. Whats the conversation the issue isnt whether or not what he discussed. Theres been a complete legal review of that, and theres no issue with that. Thats the plain and simple issue, and when he lost trust with the president , thats when the president asked for and received his resignation. Yesterday Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president , said the president continued to have trust in general flynn. Right. What happened between yesterday morning and yesterday evening that led the president to lose confidence in general flynn . Im not going to get into the specifics of what the president s thinking was, but i will say, as i noticed in the opening statement, that it was an evolve and eroding process. At the end of the day the president made a decision as he does on all subjects, and asked for and received the National Security advisors he is one of those people that weve noted before when he is ready to make a decision, he makes it. Whether its hiring somebody or asking for someones resignation. It was a difficult decision for the president to let general flynn go in. General flynn is a dedicated public servant. He is head of the dia and has been an outstanding member of the army both as an officer and a flag officer. He has served this country admirably. I think the president appreciated his Service Service to his nation, his commitment to his campaign, and his service to this country so far. At some point the decision came down on whether or not that that trust had eroded. The important matter before the president when he is dealing with issues of world matters, of all of the issues, friends and allies, foes, hot spots, he needs to rely on a National Security advisor to give him sage advice, and i think at a certain point, that guidance, tra trustee roaded and the president as he does on all matters, he decides does the president believe that anything that he discussed with general flynn as a request or an encouragement to discuss sanctions with the Russian Ambassador . Thats question number one. On the first again, as i made clear, theres nothing that the general did that was a violation of any sort. He was well within his duties to discuss issues of calm and concern between the two countries. I will say it again. What this came down to is a matter of trust. The president was glad that he was out there conducting his job preparing for his job going back and forth with his counterparts throughout the world. Much as the president had done. With all of these World Leaders calling the president , congratulating him, looking at a set of calls for him once he was inauguration rated, general flynn was beginning that process with counterparts. That was never a concern from the president from day one that he was briefed from the white House Counsel. The issue came down to a matter of trust. The president is not does not believe that any discussion that might have taken place and we know from intel it did. Creates the problem for the president in any way. That is not a problem that general flynn discussed sanctions with russias. I cant state clearly enough, there was nothing in what general flynn did in terms of conducting himself that was an issue. What came down to plain and simple was him misleading the Vice President and others and not having a firm grasp on his recollection of that. Thats it. Question number two. Lawmakers on capitol hill and both sides of the aisle would like to investigate and probe or ask more questions about this. Does the president hope to cooperate with those investigations. Would he instruct members of his staff who work for him here and in the administration to cooperate with those investigations . Well, were zog comply with the law. I think the president feels very confident the review that was conducted by white House Counsel was very thorough and concluded very conclusively as he had first come to instinctively come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong. I believe there was no swrefgs for a reason because there was not an issue of law. It was an issue of trust. George. George. When do you expect to have a replacement in place, and secondly, on another topic, there was a report yesterday that one of your colleagues said the white house is keeping dossiers on reporters. Can you say if thats true or not . That is absolutely not true. There are no dossiers being kept. Just a binder that i put right here. Thats about it. That was a joke. Hold on one second. Then im sorry, george, the first part . The timetable on a replacement . Just like the way he handled this situation, the president will meet with individuals and when he is ready to make a decision and he feels as though the person is qualified, i can properly advise him on the issue. He will make that decision. As all decisions, they rest with him. Ill going to my first john huck of kvvu out of las vegas. John. Thank you so much on behalf of our viewers here in Southern Nevada for the opportunity to join you today. As you know, sean, las vegas has suffered terribly in the last few sessions, more so than perhaps any other city in the country. As the administration moves forward with repeeling financial regulations and possibly rolling back dodd frank, what guarantees can you make to nevadans that those actions wont lead banks and investment banks to reengage with the risky financial behaviors that tanked our economies and left taxpayers to bail those banks out. Thanks, john. One of the things if you look at the intent of dodd frank, it was to make sure that we didnt have institutions that were too big to fail. Frankly, it is actually created institutions that are now too big to fail. Dodd frank actually did exactly the opposite of what it intended to do, and i think when you look at the regulation, hjr 41, the president signed today, this is another example of the president taking Decisive Action to roll back regulations that are frankly creating more of a burden on our nations banks and businesses than helping them. I think the president is going to be very clear with making sure that we do things that build up the goal of what dodd frank actually intended do, but right now we actually through dodd frank put taxpayers more on the hook than weve let them off. Weve created more institutions and created more guarantees for the federal government to bail out some of the institutions if they exceed their authority. John roberts. You said the white House Counsels office reviewed this and determined that there was nothing illegal. What evidence did they look at in making this determination . Secondly, democrats up on the hill say that they want an investigation. Theyre looking into what did the president know and when did he know it . Can you tell us what evidence you looked at at the white House Counsels office, and what did the president know about all of this and when was he aware of it . As i mentioned, the first day that the department of justice made white House Counsel available or sought to notify white House Counsel was january 26th. The president was immediately informed of the situation. As i said, based on the information that was provided at the time, his view was that this was not a violation. He was proved instinctively correct. White House Counsel at that time undertook an extensive review. Terlsz and questioning, im not going to get into this. What i will tell you is on multiple occasions theres an exhaustive extensive questioning of general flynn on several occasions based on information that was provided to them or materials that were provided to them to review. Im not going to get into the details of that, but i will just say that there was an exhaustive review, and, again, the thing thats important to note is the Vice President , myself in fact, i think the first time i brought this up was january 13. The department of justice didnt notify the white house or the white House Counsel at that time in the transition phase until 13 days later. I think its important to understand something very, very important. This idea of why did it take so long, i think the first question should be where was the department of justice in this . They were aware of this. We were making statements based on what general flynn was telling us starting on january 13th. The Vice President went out on the 15th, right . They didnt notify the white House Counsels office until january 26th. At that time there was an immediate the president was immediately informed of that, and asked the white House Counsel to conduct a thorough review. The first part of that review was focused on whether or not there was any legal issue. Thats it. It shifted into phase two, which is whether or not there was trust still maintained. Then that became a separate set of issues that were the fbi has transcripts of these intercepts, which i assume were done by the nsa, the court order. Was there any communication between the white House Counsels office and the fbi . Did those transcripts ever enter there was obviously communication between the department of justice and the white House Counsels office. Im not going to get into the specific nature of that. I think it would be inappropriate because of the nature of the information that was being discussed. Why not dismiss the general on january 27th . Why if the question was of trust and immediately, you know, if you have january 15th, he is on face the nation saying that Vice President pence is on face the nation saying that this is what general flynn told me, and january 26th, you hear that the opposite. Why not immediately act . Why wait another two and a half weeks . I dont understand how thats a due process. What the attorney general didnt come in and the acting attorney general come in and say that there was an issue. She said wanted to give you a heads up that there may be information. She could not confirm there was investigation. It would be unbelievably short sighted and wrong to go in and dismiss it immediately. He took immediate Decisive Action, and if you look at the timeline in terms of what he did and how that expanded, the white House Counsels first and foremost goal was to make sure that there was not a legal issue at hand. Once that was concluded, then it became a phase of determining whether or not the generals action on this and a whole host of other issues undermine his trust in the president. Thats but the president from day one, from minute one was unbelievably decisive in it asking for and demanding that his white House Counsel and their team review the situation. First and foremost, to question wlfs a legal issue and what they immediately determined not immediately, but within several days, was that after review that there was not a legal issue and then it moved into a second phase. The president tweeted last this morning that the real story is leaked. It is leaked. If you think about this, understand that all of this information was leaked. I mean, i got again, i know weve got this me lecturing you about what the story should be. I think theres a real story here. The idea that not just in this situation, but the Obama Administration going back to the Bush Administration and back, we have an issue where classified information of which this would be, is handled in such a way that it is being given out, and i know in some cases its a good story, and i understand that, and thats to some degree your responsibility to write that. I think theres also a story here where the amount of leaks that are coming out of people that are entrusted with National Security secrets and classified information are leaking it out. Thats a real concern for this president. When he is talking on the phone with a world leader, that when he is making key decision that is are in the interest of protecting this country, that we have to wonder whether or not people who wok for our government who are entrusted with classified information and materials are leaking that information out. That i do believe is a big story that should be reported. I also believe that the president is rightly so very, very concerned about this because its not just something that is plaguing, you know, the current situation, but it goes back through the obama strais, the Bush Administration, the clinton administration. When we have Government Employees that are entrusted with this if and then leak it out, that undermines our National Security, frankly. I just want to i have a question, but i want you to clear few something you just said to john. Are you saying that no one has read the transcripts of the calls, or you dont want to i said im not going to comment on it. My question about sakdss, you were very specific about talking about sanctions of crima. The sanctions that flynn was discussing were the sanctions for the election hacking. Thats something the president could remove on his own if he wanted to if he committed to keeping i think secretary manuchin commented on that. Theres no change in our current sanction strategy or with russia. Ive got nothing for you on that. The current story is leaked. What is the president willing to do to investigate further to determine where the leaks are i think this came back to the same way he negotiates. Telling people what were going to could to cover up additional leaks wouldnt be a very sound strategy when it comes to making sure that that doesnt happen again. The president has been very clear whether he is negotiating or dealing with an issue, you dont telegraph to people how youre going to handle it. Hold on. Trey gets a followup. Everyone else got one. So he is going to take some sort of steps to investigate these leaks . I would say that the president , as i say, is clearly upset about this. You mentioned time and time again that this is an issue of trust. You also said it was an evolving issue and the issue of the trust that the president had for flynn that happened with the Vice President also a whole host of other issues. What were the other issues and was the Vice President the only person misled . Were other people misled . I think stood before you and conveyed that. Thats why its others, it wasnt people who went out and make announcements in the series of questioning, he continued to maintain that had not occurred. And thats why the president was very clear it was an eroding issue. It was after a series of issues and a series of statements and pronouncements that the president came to that conclusion. Were there other issues outside of this call with exception of that that led to the mistrust . I think the statement was very clear it was this and a series of other issues. What our readers at the federalist papers project is most interested in is returning to the principals of republican government as stood by the american founders, one of those in the decoration of the independence is the consent of the government, what are the president s future plans for rolling back the expensive and burdensome regulations of the burdensome state most which are the uneleked unaccountable bureaucrats who never received the consent of the government to do anything let alone make law. Thank you i think the president is going to sign hjr 41 which is an attempt to roll back some onerous frankdodd. Last week for one two must be gotten rid of. Youre going to continue to see this president undo a lot of that government overreach. Jim. A quick question, you said earlier in your comment that is the president has been incredibly tough on russia. How is that possible . He made comment after comment over the course of the campaign, transition where he defended vladimir putin, an interview with bill o riley when asked about hes a killer, and the president says theres a lot of killers, how can you say the president has been tough . Because how a Good Relationship with russia can help us defeat isis and terrorism throughout the world. Look, the Obama Administration tried to have a reset. They failed. They tried to tell russia to not invade crimea and failed. If he has a great relationship with putin and russia great. If he doesnt then hell continue to on but not going to assume because it hasnt happened in the past, i think you have seen with others the reset that Prime Minister netanyahu talked about tomorrow. So many around the globe are looking forward to resetting the relationship they feel as though they were abandoned over the last eight years and excited about the prospect of a new u. S. Relationship. But with respect to russia i think the comments that Ambassador Haley made at the u. N. Were extremely forceful. That was Ambassador Haley not the president. She speaks for the president. All of us speak on behalf and at the direction of this president. I dont think we could be clearer. The other question is just getting back to what was asked a few moments ago about trust and being misled, are you saying that National Security adviser was intentionally misleading the president , the Vice President , yourself, when he made these comments to you the trust is given by the president. Its a relationship when me and any individual, and so as i mentioned in the comments i dont know that it was intentional he may have just forgotten, but at some point the conversation thats the point, jim, at some point that trust erode today a point where the president did not feel comfortable with him serving in that position and asked for his resignation. Last night general flynns Resignation Letter he said he inadvertently briefed others. Considering his role in advising the president on National Security matters is the white house concerned that he briefed the Vice President elect on other matters of National Security . When you look at the team its not one in isolation, you have several. Hes got an entire National Security staff and apparatus that briefs him director pompeo at the cia and others from the dnis office who brief him on a whole host of issues, so its not a single incident. Regardless of whether its a single situation, theres not one person briefing him. And he emphasizes a lot both written and he based a lot on what he already knows and presented with so the president ge gets information from a lot of people. Ambassadors, people at the state department. An exhaustive team at the National Security council and based on that what he knows to be the case. Sean, you have been asked a couple times about these transcripts and calls, will the white house declassify those and release them . Look, it is inappropriate for me to comment on those at this time. Right now the focus is on some of the evolving issues that are going around the globe as you know let me answer the question, it is not an issue thats come up. I think the president right now is focused on replacing his National Security adviser making sure he has the best information possible to make these key decisions but also make sure we are not involving ourself in a matter of National Security, the review was done and immediately when the president felt it was necessary, he made the decision. Lets go to palm beach florida. Is thank you. Im approximately six miles away from maralago right now. And the president met with the Prime Minister from japan at maralago and aside from giving us traffic an security nightmares there were apparently conversations that took place by telephone with the Prime Minister in a dining area, theres already a video surfacing. Will there be a skiff put in place, and when he meets with Prime Minister netanyahu will they be discussing settlements and moving . Well have a readout. After that there will be a conference. On the first, just to be clear the president was briefed in a skiff ahead of dinner and went with his National Security team. Subsequently he had a dinner attended exclusive by u. S. And japanese delegation, and then there was where to host the event then after the dinner the president went back into the skiff to get information. There was a skiff there, utilized on two occasions, the situation in north korea and then the president stood shoulder to shoulder to make sure that our commitment and stand against north korea was fully made aware of. Let me clarify, did president elect trump at the time know of general flynns discussion of the sanctions while he was at and if not when did he finally learn about them and if so, why was he why was he okay with that . No, he was not aware as hes not back briefed on every confers that his National Security team has, they were performing their duties as other people were in terms of getting up to speed conveying counter parts and previous members of their team. That being said, he was made aware of it once the white House Counsel briefed him on the concerns the department of justice had. At that point what he asked and what he believed at the time and confirmed by white House Counsel was the issue didnt violate anything it was appropriate in the normal course of action to discuss that and he immediately asked the white House Counsel to further conif i remember confirm what his instincts were at the time. Thank you everybody for your time. Margaret gets a followup. Are you taking any cabinet wise or inside the shop to make sure that everyone comes forward who had any communications with the russians about sanctions other otherwise . Theres no other information. As far as we are aware thats an isolated incident that