Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20170214

Im alex witt along said eamon mohyeldin. This Morning National security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned his post. His departure comes amid discussions that he discussed easing sanctions with a Russian Ambassador and misled the Vice President and other Senior Administration officials about the nature of his conversations. In a Resignation Letter flynn wrote, in part, unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events i inadvertently briefed the vice press elect and others with incomplete information. A senior official tells nbc news the president and advisers have been, quote, agonizing over what to do about flynn for days but ultimately the situation became unsustainable, not because of a discussion of sanctions but because he had lied to the president and Vice President. A source said it was the Vice President himself who was a driver behind flynns exit last night. Meanwhile, Keith Kellogg takes over as acting National Security adviser and while kellogg is in the running to be flynns permanent replacement, David Petraeus is said to be on the short list as well along with retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harwood who three sources say is the favorite to get the job. Petraeus is set to come to the white house today though they say its not to meet with the president. So far no comment from the president on twitter or otherwise. There were early signs monday when one top member first said flynn had full confidence from the president. General flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. General flynn said he cant recall and that he had about 30 phone calls with i guess leaders at the time and since then 70 im told with different leaders and ill just leave his comments at that. But later in the day sean spicer said the president was, quote, evaluating the situation. Hes speaking to the Vice President , to Vice President pence relative to the conversation the Vice President had with general flynn and also speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is, our National Security. Late last night the washington report said that sally yates informed the white house that flynn had misled senior officials and that he was potentially vulnerable to russian black mail. According to the post article, concern crescendoed in days after they rolled out new sanctions against russia. The paper reports that after the sanctions were rolled out the Obama Administration braced itself for the russian retaliation, but to the surprise of many u. S. Officials, russian president Vladimir Putin announced that there would be no response. Trump praised the decision on twitter. Intelligence analysts began to search for clues that could help explain putins move. The search turned up kislyaks conversation and the phone call with general flynn. They told the paper before flynns resignation that the white house has, quote, been working on this for weeks. And the New York Times reports that steve bannon asked for flynns resignation friday. Now aboard air force one that day the president told the press he did not know anything about the reports that his nsa adviser had discussed sanctions before being sworn in to office. Sally yates was later fired by President Trump after she declined to support his ban. Joining us from washington to discuss all of this, nbc news intelligence ken delaney and with us on capitol hill, matt nussbaum. Ill start with you, ken. Take us inside of this investigation. How did this eventually bubble up to the white house . Good morning, alex. Were living the washington cliche that the coverup is worse than the crime. To understand how we got here, lets go back to december 29th when the Obama Administration imposed sanctions. We expelled 35 diplomats and shut down russian facilities. Everyone expected russian president Vladimir Putin to respond in kind but he didnt. The next day President Trump praised him. Then David Ignatius said Michael Flynn was in contact with the Russian Ambassador on the day the sanctions were imposed. Flynn says he did not discuss the sanctions. That was the big question. What were you talking about . Did you cook up some deal . Did you tell the russians you were going to the Trump Administration was going to lift the sanctions . The reason this is important is the Trump Administration hadnt taken office yet. Theres a law that says private citizens cant make Foreign Policy on behalf of the United States. The white house had their story and the Vice President went on National Television and said, no, flynn didnt discuss the sanctions. The fbi was listening and it turns out he did discuss the sanctions. Now the white house has had to deal with how to clean that up. Here we are resulting in flynns resignation, alex. Lets talk about a very interesting point which is sally yates, the acting attorney general who was ultimately who ultimately briefed the white house about the possibility that general flynn may have been compromised, she told the white house almost a month ago. It seems the white house aware of what he was saying to his superiors at the white house and ultimately what cost him his job, not the fact that he was discussing the sanctions but misleading officials inside the white house. Reporter so that report from the Washington Post that they were briefed on this in the white house a month ago raises a lot of questions about who knew what when. Were under the notion right now that Vice President mike pence was misled by flynn here. We dont know if the white House Counsel was briefed on this a month ago, who did he tell in the white house that flynn had these conversations and was thus susceptible to black mail and this report from the Washington Post might have pushed forward the resignation and the idea that this story wasnt going anywhere. We do have to ask who in the white house knew about this and why was the Vice President apparently not made aware . Ken, so basically it comes down to mike flynn saying that it was an omission, things were moving so fast and furiously he didnt recall but it comes down to potentially an act of lying versus the content of these conversations versus violating the logan act, the one that you referenced earlier. Can you put it in proportion perspective . Does this come down to lying or does it all play into the decision . Sure. Nbc news has confirmed the report that sally yates did warn the white house. Why didnt they correct the record earlier. Very few experts that weve talked to think there was a prosecutable offense under the logan act. Pretty obscure. That law has never been prosecuted. The issue amounted to the blanket denial in the face of a transcript that said something completely the opposite and a really significant item, which is discussing sanctions on the day they were levied. The bigger concept is did donald trump know about it . They say its inconceivable he wasnt briefed about high level discussions on sanctions. And, matt, very quickly, you know the white house well. What is going on there this morning in terms of the power shift and the dynamics that are at play here . Reporter well, i think theres a lot of confusion. We had kellyanne conway, as you showed, saying that flynn had the trust of the president yesterday. Spicer throwing cold water on that. Now theyre quickly in the search for a replacement, but i think theres turmoil on the National Security council and thats not something you want so early in an administration. I think thats raising a lot of concerns. Thank you both for joining us from washington. Well, the United Nations Security Council is strongly condemning north koreas Ballistic Missile test. In a statement unanimously supported by all 15 members, it said it will, quote, continue to monitor the situation and take further steps if necessary. Nikki haley added we call on all members of the Security Council to use every available resource to make it clear to the north korean regime and its enablers that these measures are unacceptable. It is time to hold north korea accountable, not with words but with our actions. Its unclear what shes referring to. Heres President Trump addressing the situation yesterday as well. Obviously north korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly. President trump hosted canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the white house yesterday. Its his meeting with japans Prime Minister that remains in the spotlight. It comes after photos were posted on social media showing the president surrounded by staffers the night of the north Korean Missile launch. Nbcs Kristen Welker has these details. Reporter President Trump aiming to fortify his relationship with key ally canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two leaders meeting for the first time. It comes as the president faces a major policy test with a foe. After north korea fired a missile the president responded. North korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly. Reporter but over the weekend questions surfaced after pictures appeared on social media showing the president dining with the Prime Minister of japan in his florida resort, maralago. A dinner that started just after 8 00, soon after news broke over the missile launch. The dinner turned into an open air strategy session. Top aides holding their flashlights, illuminating documents. House majority leader nancy pelosi tweeting, theres no excuse for letting an International Crisis play out in front of a bunch of Country Club Members like dinner theater. They said President Trump was briefed before dinner and their dinner focused on an impromptu news conference. The United States stands behind japan. Senator john mccain was asked to weigh in on the photos taken at maralago over the weekend. Heres what he told nbc last night. On maralago situation, those pictures . I mean we cant make it up. Is there but is there you laugh, is there a seriousness to it in that theres concerns . I know that there have been a lot of criticism of say, hillary clinton, for her handling of classified i would suggest that the president get a briefing on the handling of classified information. Its my suggestion there should be some kind of turn over. The senate has confirmed two more of President Trumps cabinet picks despite objections from democrats. Steve mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker has been confirmed as treasury secretary. They have voted 5347 with every republican voting for him and all democrats voting no except for senator joe manchin. The senate voted unanimously to approve David Shulkin to head veterans affairs. Hes the sole holdover from the Obama Administration and the first nonveteran to head that department. Hes scheduled to be sworn in later this afternoon. Linda mcmahon will likely be confirmed as head of the Small Business administration. Political reports that senators considering andrew cluster for labor secretary have viewed a tape in which his wife accuses him of physical abuse. This is from a 1990 airing of oprah. Peerstein has retracted the claims writing a letter to a Senate Committee that she made it up to bolster her divorce settlement. Several republican senators remain undecided on puzders hearing, which has been delayed multiple times is set for thursday. Still ahead, disgraced cycling champion Lance Armstrongs next trek may be to a federal court. Well explain why. Next, evacuations near the nations tallest dam. Hundreds of thousands of residents are unsure when theyll get back to their home. Those stories and a check on weather when we come back. Stay with us. When you find something worth waiting for, well help you invest to protect it for the future. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase, so you can. Whattwo servings of veggies . V8 or a powdered drink . Ready, go. Ahhhhhhhh shake shake shake shake shake done you gotta shake it i shake it glad i had a v8. The original way to fuel your day. Former penn state assistant football coach, one of Jerry Sanduskys son has been arrested and facing sex abuse charges. 41yearold Jeff Sandusky was charged with 12 criminal counts, corruption of a minor, solicitation and child pornography. Minors with whom sandusky had daily contact. Theres no accusation he physically molested either victim. In the wake of his arrest he has been suspended from his position. Jerry sandusky was convicted in 2012 of 45 kourgets of sex abuse and is serving up to 60 years in prison. Mandatory evacuations remain in place for nearly 200,000 People Living in Northern California due to the situation at the or rowville dam. Residents living below the dam were ordered to leave due to the erosion. Its unclear when the residents will be able to return home. Officials and contractors have been working around the clock to get as much wa tore out of the lake as possible by thursday when another round of storms is expected to sweep across the area. With tt, lets bring in bill karins. Everyone is worried about the upcoming storms. The upcoming storms will not produce enough water. If they can continue to release the water at the rate they are now, which is over 100,000 cubic feet per second, the water coming in even with heavy rain will not equal that. This is nighttime video of the main spillway. The backup spillway, the one theyre worried about clansing, the water is below that. The lake is down ten feet from its peak on sunday. Its going down four inches an hour. Theyre going to continue to pour this water out. They dont want to have to use the backup spillway again. The emergency spillway is used when the lake level gets to 901 feet. Currently its at 891 and its going down. The main spillway, which is severely damaged, is still working. Heres the timing of the next storm. Not today. This is wednesday into thursday. This yellow is the heavier rain. This is as we go through wednesday its fine. Then it looks like it arrives around 5 00 a. M. So the middle of the night wednesday night into thursday morning is when the round of heavy rain will come in. It looks like an inch or two. The lake level will level out. Maybe the water in will equal the water going out. We shouldnt see lake levels rising too much. Then we still see a little bit of rain thursday but the heavy stuff is more wednesday night, thursday morning. Rainfall forecast, this is through sunday. Another storm over the weekend is a total of three to four, maybe five inches of rain. Yes, theyre trying to get things done in a hurry but i think were going to be okay. So that gets us to todays big weather story. Texas is getting soaked. Great news. We like the rainfall in texas but we dont like the Severe Weather. Thats possible as we go throughout late this morning right through early this afternoon. Theres a tornado threat from victoria, houston, galveston. An enhanced risk of the storm. This comes one week after new orleans was hit by their tornado last week. Well continue to watch that and see how it develops. Its getting to be that time of year. That means Severe Weather season. Thank you very much for that. Obviously a very dangerous situation in california. Sure. Still ahead, the uconn Womens Basketball team keeps their streak alive with their 100th consecutive win. Amazing. Louis has that story next in sports. Boost its about moving forward not back. Its looking up not down. Its feeling up thinking up living up. Its being in motion. In body in spirit in the now. Boost. Its not just nutrition. Its intelligent nutrition. With 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. All in 3 delicious flavors. Its choosing to go in one direction. Up. Boost. Be up for it. Welcome back. Time for sports. Uconn Womens Basketball team, two years later and with 100 straight wins, the head coach and the lady huskies are still unbeaten. Gabby williams had a career high points in the game and they hit the century mark with a 6655 win over number 6, south carolina. Congratulations to them. In mens basketball, third ranked kansas with an epic comeback hosting west virginia. Frank mason put up 29 points. With 11 scored in the final three minutes to lead kansas on a 217 run. They outlast the mountaineers, 8480. Lets go to the nba, the New York Knicks have been in disorder on the court and behind the scenes. The latest blemish comes after former Charles Oakley was ejected from Madison Square garden and arrested after a scuffle. We showed you that video. And it gets worse with them banning oakley from the arena. The beef has been apparently been squashed thanks to adam silver who met with the two along with halloffamer Michael Jordan who joined the conversation by phone. After the meeting silver released a statement saying, quote, both mr. Oakley and mr. Dolan were apologetic and their negative impact on the Knicks Organization and the nba. Mr. Dolan expressed his hope that mr. Oakley would return to msg as his guest in the near future. Happy that got better. Finally this morning, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is headed to trial after they refused to reject a federal lawsuit seeking 100 million. The suit originally filed in 2010 by the former usps team made floyd landis was joined by the government three years later after the former seventime Tour De France winner. He was stripped of his titles and banned from competition. His saga continues. Interesting to see Michael Jordan having a role in all of that. Hes the mediator. They brought him in. Things are better. Hopefully things will calm down at the garden. Thank you, lewis. More on the abrupt resignation of Michael Flynn. Plus, President Trump and canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau find common ground. Believe it or not its not about immigration. Were going to tell you what it is about next. vo do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light. Do not go gentle into that good night. Be ready to clean up the mess. House. The kids have fun, but its pretty gross. doorbell whats that . Its a swiffer wetjet. I can just grab this and just go right to the mess. That comes from my floor . Now thats disgusting. I want friends over you want friends over . Wiback like it could used to . Neutrogena hydro boost water gel. With hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. For supple, hydrated skin. Hydro boost. From neutrogena heigh ho heigh ho heigh ho heigh ho its off to work we go heres to all of you early risers, whats up man . Gogetters, and shouldbe sleepers. From all of us at delta, because the ones who truly change the world, are the ones who cant wait to get out in it. Welcome back, everyone. Im alex witt along with ayman mohyeldin. Well talk about this big story this morning. The resignation of National Security adviser Michael Flynn, but first a look at the mornings other top stories. The senate has confirmed two more of the president s cabinet nominees. Steve mnuchin was sworn in as treasury secretary. In an increasingly rare show of bipartisan vote, the senate voted 1000 to confirm David Shulkin for veterans affairs. A federal judge has denied emergency efforts to continue with the controversial dakota pipeline. The sioux tribe said it would damage water but the judge countered damage couldnt occur until oil was flowing. Theyll provide weekly updates of when the oil is expected to reach the res ser voice. A federal judge has denied the slowing down of a federal case. The administrations lawyer argued about moving the case along. The judge responded, quote, im surprised to hear you say this. The judge said he wanted to see you in court. The resignation of National Security adviser Michael Flynn after apparently misleading the Vice President about what he said to the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. Nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell is following the developments. Good morning. Reporter good morning, alex. The resignation of Michael Flynn, one of President Trumps closest aides is truly remarkable. The Resignation Letter is stunning in what it does not say because in it flynn writes unfortunately because of the fast pace of events, i inadvertently briefed the Vice President elect and others with incomplete information with regards to my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I sincerely apologize to the president and Vice President and they have accepted my apology. Senior officials who decided flynn had to go are telling a very different story. A top official telling me late last night it was unsustainable for flynn to stay because he had lied to the president and Vice President when he said he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian Ambassador. The official also says the white house did not leak that decision based on the belief that flynn was compromised, however, that is precisely what the former acting attorney general sally yates and top intelligence officials did believe after they saw the transcript of flynns intercepted conversation with the Russian Ambassador. Nbc has confirmed that yates and the others wanted to tell the trump team on january 19th before the inaugural but fbi director james comey objected saying that that would compromise his investigation already underway into the russians and flynn. The following week after sean spicer said at his first briefing that flynn had just repeated to him that he had not discussed sanctions yates did brief the white House Counsel at some point later that week. Its not clear why it took so long for the white house then to decide that flynn had to go. The frontrunner now to replace him, i am told, by senior officials is vice admiral Robert Harwood. He is the Deputy Director of centcom and he is a proto jay of secretary mattis. Also on the list though, David Petraeus. The president will be meeting later today with his attorney general and Homeland Security secretary, presumably this has to be topic one. Alex. Andrea, thank you so much for that report. Joining us from washington, nbc news intelligence ken delaney. Another good morning to you, ken. Lets talk about what happened here. Flynn resigning. Was that the only option . Can you see it playing out any other way . Reporter well, alex, in any normal white house flynn would have been gone weeks ago. As you just heard, nbc news is reporting that the acting attorney general went to the white house weeks ago to explain flynn had misled senior officials and she was worried he could be blackmailed. Its remarkable he stayed on this long, not to mention reports of a chaotic, tumultuous National Security process. There was a yemen raid that didnt go the way one would want it to go. So theres been a lot of bad news around flynn. At the same time though, just yesterday you had kellyanne conway, you know, hours before this resignation took place saying that flynn enjoyed the full confidence of the president. So, you know, its sort of theres one vote that matters here, and it was donald trumps. Apparently at the end of the day flynn lost his confidence. Ken, let me pick up on a point that you just raised, and that is the time line and how it played out with the white house being briefed by the former acting attorney general. Does this mean this story is far from over . Could we see more accountability about who knew what when inside the white house . Absolutely. Not only this particular issue but dont nor get theres a larger Counter Intelligence probe looming over this. You have some sort of fbi investigation were told and also house and Senate Intelligence committees looking at the whole russian hacking operation and whether any other trump aides and Trump Campaign officials had improper contacts with the russians. This story is not going away. Ken dilani live in washington. Last night david nun nez released a statement that read in part, quote, washington, d. C. , can be a rough town for honorable people, and flynn, who has always been a soldier, not a politician, deserves americas gratitude and respect for dedicating so much of his life for strengthening our National Security. Congressman bill flores tweeted, glad Michael Flynn is gone from the white house. We need more sanctions and not fewer. Mike coffmay wrote, Michael Flynn is responsible to the president , Vice President and the american people. It is his duty to be fully transparent and forthright in higgs actions. Anything less is unacceptable. Elija cummings and john conyers are demanding a briefing. Lawmakers from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are expected to meet with the officials on the raids. Theyll sit down with thomas homan. The meeting came after they sent a letter requesting this meeting. Meanwhile, Homeland Security director john kelly discussed that more than 680 people were detained as part of the raids in the city including chicago, atlanta, san antonio, here in new york city. In the same statement he represented bubbling arrests and saying they target the Public Safety checks such as criminals, alien and gang members as well as individuals who have violated our nations immigration laws. Yesterday President Trump said hes simply following up on his campaign promise. We have really done a great job. Were actually taking people that are criminals, very, very hardened criminals in some cases, with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems and were getting them out and thats what i said i would do. Im just doing what i said i would do and won by a very, very large Electoral College vote. President trump welcomed canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the white house yesterday. Despite a host of differences between the two, trudeau said they will remain friends. One of the policy differences is on the issue of immigration. Heres what the president had to say when asked if he felt the border with canada is secure . You can never be totally confident, but through the incredible efforts already i see it happening of formerly general kelly, now secretary kelly, we have really done a great job. Were were actually taking people that are criminals, very, very hardened criminals in some cases with which a with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems and were getting them out, and thats what i said i would do. Im just doing what i said i would do when we won by a very, very large Electoral College vote. Keeping canadians safe is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any government and thats certainly something were very much focused on. At the same time we continue to pursue our policies of openness towards immigration and refugees without compromising security. Earlier in the day they hosted a roundtable focused on Family Business leaders. They launched a new council meant to have canadian and American Business women. They appointed a cabinet with an equal number of men and women. Still ahead, we continue to follow the breaking news out of the white house that retired general Michael Flynn has resigned as National Security adviser. It comes amid reports of chaos within the National Security council. Is the federal government ready for a Crisis Response . Plus, new video from night vision over the oroville dam. The question remains this morning, will it hold . Were back in a minute. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. They offer free cancellation, in case i decide to go from kidfriendly to kidfree. Now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. Your vacation is very important. Thats why booking. Com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. Visit booking. Com now to find out why were booking. Yeah when it comes toor hospital romances, the more complicated, the better. I love you. But i love him. I love him, too. So do i. They also know you should get your annual checkup. It could save your life. Its american heart month. Schedule your checkup to learn your four Health Numbers so you can maintain a healthy heart. Cigna. Together, all the way. Welcome back. This morning all eyes are on the oroville dam. Officials are watching the spillway closely for signs of erosion hoping to prevent a breech that would flood at least three communities affecting more than 100,000. Nbcs Miguel Almaguer has more. Reporter good morning, in the words of water officials here they are calling the situation here in oroville dam, very fluid. This is actually the runoff that is coming from the dam as part of the controlled runoff. The big concern here is not the flood gates up at the dam but its the emergency spillway that officials are so concerned about. Of course, it was late sunday when they realized there was some type of breach in that spillway. They still havent been able to identify the problem, but Officials Say theyve been inspecting the area. Theyre trying to shore it up with bags of humongous boulders with packed soil to make sure it doesnt leak. This was such a major issue nearly 200,000 people were forced to evacuate in a matter of hours. It was chaos on the road, and at this hour many if not all of those people remain evacuated. Its unclear when theyll be able to return back home because its unclear just how serious the damage at that spillway is. Officials will be up there all day long trying to assess a volatile situation. Thanks to Miguel Almaguer. Lets bring in bill karins. How are the water levels . Theyre heading in the right direction. Right now coming down the main spillway, which is damaged by the way, water flows down at 50 miles per hour, the equivalent of the amount of water going over Niagara Falls is whats going over the spillway at every minute. Thats an incredible amount of water. Where theyre patching and dropping stuff by helicopter is up here where the emergency spillway is. Were ten feet below that level. As long as were draining it on the main spillway, were okay. We have a tornado threat from vick for ye victoria to houston. Mid morning to late afternoon. This is 10 00 a. M. To about 2 00 p. M. In the houston area. Thats when well track those storms. Heres the timing of it. As we go through 7 00 a. M. , as we watch the line through the houston area, noon, lunch hour there. The only other story is we had our huge snowstorm yesterday up in maine, one spot reported 30 inches of snow. Theyre under another snowstorm. Theyre expecting another possible foot of snow in maine. That will be about three feet in about one week. Come on now. They need snowshoes. They need a break. They do have snowshoes, snowmobiles, ice fishing rigs. Thanks so much, bill. Much more on the news of National Security adviser Michael Flynns resignation. Hillary clinton has something to say on it. Russia weighing in and mark held person joins the conversation next. You got it. Just say show me millions of used cars for sale at the all new carfax. Com. But, i don want one thats had a bunch of owners just say, show me cars with only one owner pretty cool its perfect. Thats the power of carfax® find the cars you want, avoid the ones you dont plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing start your used car search at carfax. Com back to our top story this morning. The breaking news of the resignation of National Security adviser Michael Flynn. It follows a blockbuster story in the New York Times about chaos in the National Security council and the fitness to lead in the times of crisis. The times reported, quote, several Staff Members said that mr. Flynn who was a career army officer was not familiar with how to call up the National Guard in an emergency, for, say, a Natural Disaster like Hurricane Katrina or the detonation of a dirty bomb in the american city. His primary responsibility is to set up the procedures that would allow the deputies to meet, the principles to meet in the National Security council in order for them to move forward recommendations to the president of the United States who makes the final decision. As far as i know, none of those processes have been put in place. Were almost a month into this administration. Were dealing with a number of crises around the world. I think this is a very dangerous moment not to have those procedures in place. Joining us now political analyst and coauthor of game change mark halpern. Were a month into the administration. Give us a sense of the chaos playing out in the National Security council, already been tested. The story of flynn and his resignation is an interesting one and it will be picked apart. What matters is the National Security staff nieds to be stood up and dealing with the cabinet departments. Of all the things that people were worried about about flynn, this was the biggest worry, that he was not recruiting people successfully, that he was not getting the apparatus ready. You see manifestations about that. So the hope is that the new person that comes in, the list of names of potential success sores is strong, is that this person will work quickly to reestablish the function of the National Security council. You can be a populus president , outsider, guy who wants to change things but there are fundamental things that are establishment and that are sensible for one of the most important jobs in the government. Are you thinking of somebody who has National Security experience or a good administrator . It has to be both. The names are people with a military background. The president has shown a predilection in that area and somebody who can work with the cabinet secretaries. If you were skeptical of flynns ability to do this job, almost all of my sources have been from the beginning before he was named, this is going to be a fresh start. And the prospect that the president can inspire confidence on capitol hill and around the world with a National Security adviser. Michael flynn has been accused of spreading false news. Hillary clinton has weighed in in a tweet. Heres the midnight tweet from hillary clinton. She was relying to this tweet, first of all. Dear mike flynn and mike flynn jr. , what goes around comets around followed by a link to the dominos job page. 12 41. Philippe has his own way of saying things but he has a point about the real consequence of fake news. She responded to the judges, the appeal that was not overturned on the ban on the travel ban. I mean, she wants to be part of this conversation it seems. She does, but she also i think wants to engage in a series of i told you sos because the reference there is to something Michael Flynns son did during the campaign. We wont retalk about it here, but this is one of the many instances in which the clintons have already said, we told everybody that this is what it was going to be like. I think she feels a certain sense of vindication and frustration and concern as a lot of people in both parties have of the ways the president has set things up. This is an opportunity for a fresh start. Doesnt make you feel good. Mixed feelings. Mixed feelings. Theres a lot of it like this is not good for the country. See you in just a bit on morning joe. Thank you. Moscow reportedly offering reaction over flynns position. Theyre talking about russia phobia. Matt bradley, whos making these comments and what do they exactly mean . Well, good morning, alex. As you mentioned, news of former National Security adviser Michael Flynns resignation last night has ricochetted around the world to moscow. They say this is an internal matter and that its none of russias business, but several russian lawmakers faulted what they described as an atmosphere of antirussian paranoia in washington and among media. More than one pro putin senator said flynn was a victim of those who wanted to see this. They said, quote, while flynn is leaving, the russian problem remains in the white house. He said that trump will be the next target. Now flynns departure is the latest casualty of trumps very public affinity for russian president Vladimir Putin. They resigned and manafort a high level person in the campaign. Its too early to tell whether trumps presidency will successfully heal moscows rift with washington. Breaking news were just getting in right now. The British Government is confirming that a state visit by President Trump will take place despite a petition against the move. Government officials cited the courtesy the president extended to Prime Minister theresa may during her visit to the white house in making its decision. Nearly 2 Million People that signed a petition to be canceled, final dates have not been finalized. Stories happening in the day ahead. We continue to follow adam schiff. He says he has questions about flynns contact with russia. Plus, richard haas, David Ignatius and morning joe is just moments away. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs. This is 100 useful for a 100 fresh mouth. Just ask listerine® users. The very people we studied in the study of bold. People who are statistically more likely to stand up to a bully. Do a yoga handstand. And be in a magicians act. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs so you can feel 100 in life. Bring out the bold™. Also try listerine® pocketpaks for fresh breath on the go. Imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. With the united mileageplus explorer card, youll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes. Priority boarding. And 50,000 bonus miles. Everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. The united mileageplus explorer card. Imagine where it will take you. Have you seen the new white house valentines day cards . These are cards like the one kids will give out in school but each of them features a character from the Trump Administration. We have dr. Ben carson. Kellyanne conway, my love for you is as reeling as the Bowling Green massacre. Education secretary, betsy devos. Typos there. President trumps chief of staff ryans preeb because, dont think twice, make out with reince. The first lady, melania trump, i almost love you enough to leave new york and finally President Trump, im building a wall around your heart and making you pay for it. Happy valentines day. That was brilliant. Thats a good thing to start out the day with a laugh. Before we toss it over to morning joe, lets get a check on the stories youll be hearing about. Supreme Court Nominee neil gorsuch on the hill. House subcommittee will be holding a hearing on selfdriving cars. Keeping up with technology thats moving so fast. Executives from general motors, toyota all expected to testify. And the Transportation Department will release its Consumer Report cards for the airports. Ill belt. Thats a wrap for us on this tuesday. Im alex witt. Morning joe, as you know, starts right now. Under siege from day one. National security adviser Michael Flynn is out at the nsa. His depture comes amid ongoing reports that he discussedasing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador and Russian Ambassador. Then according to a senior official misled Vice President and other Senior Administration officials about the nature of these conversations. That caused a concern he might be susceptible to blackmail. In a resignation released by the white house, flynn wrote in part this, quote, unfortunately because of the fastpaced events i inadvertently briefed the Vice President and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls to the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the president and Vice President and they have accepted my apology. A senior official tells nbc news the president and advisers have been, quote, agonizing over what to do about flynn for days. But