About a pending vote in the u. N. General assembly regarding israel. According to the charges, a very Senior Member of the president ial Transition Team directed flynn to contact officials from foreign governments, including russia, to learn where each government stood on the resolution and to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution. Nbc news reported today that the very senior official was Jared Kushner, the president s soninlaw. In a Statement TodayMichael Flynn said, i recognize that the actions i acknowledged in court today were wrong, and through my faith in god i am working to set things right. My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsels office reflect the decision i made in the best wanted of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions. There was strong reaction to todays news from democrats on the hill involved in the russia probe. Their message, theres more to come. Inside the white house they dont have the information. What they know is there were few people closer to this president throughout the campaign than mike flynn. He was someone who was vetted to be Vice President. This is a guy who was with trump, had every rally, i mean when obama, sally gates came and said, you might want to think twice about this guy, they were in this postelection glow, they thought nothing could touch them, they thought they were being political, they said no were going to stick with this guy. Even after he fired mike flynn, trump regretted firing him. This is a person that they can say, hell only work here for 25 days, oh, he worked for the Obama Administration too. But there is no in the real world, mike flynn was pretty close to this. Michael schmidt, backing that up, it seems trump laid that out well by two things. The first getting rid of comey. After pushing comey to protect flynn, that didnt work, he got rid of comey. All these months since cuddling up by Long Distance to flynn. Trying to make him think, were still together, were still
buds. All the time he seemed to be saying, i dont want this guy on the other team. Now hes on the other team. Yeah, i mean, look. Mueller and the Justice Department dont give out Cooperation Deals like this, plea deals like this, if they dont have anything to give. I think that is really what unnerves the Trump Lawyers is that to go to this extent, to go this far, is pretty significant. And raises questions about what does he really know . This is not just something they give out for free. So that is a thing. And the other thing that i think is significant here is that the russia thing continues to cast a cloud over this white house. The white house had tried to push the notion that by the end of the year, the russia investigation would sort of be moved beyond it, that mueller would have wrapped up. I dont think this is the ending of the year that they thought it was going to be. The president s lawyer must look pretty stupid, hed been telling the president that tale for months now that everythings cool, its going to be over by christmas. All he could do today was trash on the credibility of flynn by
saying he was obamas guy. Although obama warned them not to hire him. How does he still have credibility as an attorney for the defense here . Well, in terms of cobb, look, hes in a very difficult position. Hes forced to explain this. They fall back on this argument that it was the Obama Administration that had given him a security clearance. It was also the Obama Administration that fired flynn. They got rid of flynn when he was head of dia, the Intelligence Branch of the pentagon. And as you pointed out, obama says to trump at the white house right after trumps elected, hey, look, National Security adviser, big job. You cant give it to a guy like this, hes not sophisticated enough to do this, you really need to go with someone better. He wasnt warning him about the fbi investigation, he was simply warning him about what he thought flynns capabilities were. Well, nbc news reported today, quoted a source close to donald trump, said the developments regarding flynn this talks like an 8yearold. Are very, very, very bad. Its like a kids book. Congressman schiff, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, reacted today pointing to the president s past behavior regarding flynn. Lets watch. The president , when he was in the process of firing mike flynn, was at the same time very defensive of mike flynn. Thats the kind of conduct you would expect if the president was forced to fire mike flynn not because he lied, but because the lie was exposed. And if the president is one of those senior Transition Officials who was knowing of the contact and perhaps even supporting this contact with the Russian Ambassador, that would explain both his reluctance to fire flynn, but also why he would be intervening with james comey and urging comey to drop the flynn case. What does everybody carol, what do you make of the fact that the president , when he first came into office, said, I Didnt Tell Good General Flynn to talk to the russians but i should have or would have. Prior to your inauguration no, i didnt would you have fired him if the information hadnt leaked out. I fired him because of what he said to mike pence, very simple. Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries. And his counterparts. So it certainly would have been okay with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if i thought he wasnt doing it. I didnt direct him, but i would have directed him, because thats his job. Jared kushner directed him. He said various governments, he was checking about the u. N. Resolution on the establishment. So trump is hiding the fact that he knew his soninlaw did it, looks to me. Although he was saying its fine what he did. Heres whats perplexing. If he did nothing wrong, if he should have ordered him to do it though he didnt, why are they lying about it . Why did they then lie even knowing that would be a felony, to lie to the thats the beginning of the coverup, the obstruction, they thought it was against the law, because technically it is. Its not a law thats usually enforced do you think general flynn
knew it was an unenforced law . Eli, everybody on this, my hunch about this coverup is that flynn was so unaware that this law was never forced, the logan act, against anybody not in the government to be negotiating with a foreign power, he thought it was unenforceable. I think when you play that clip of the President Trump at the Press Conference basically kind of offering a incoherent answer, talking about both guys, that if he did do it, no big deal. But he didnt do it. I mean, its basically creating spalts for him on both sides. And maybe thats just the usual trump answer to everything, Rhetorically Hes Back And Forth and kind of spinning you into knots. But it also, as susan said this could also be a president who is aware of things that happened because the tweet that the president sent out right after, when putin did not respond, when he did what flynn asked him to do and trump tweets, putin, very smart not to respond, i knew i mean, you look at that, then you have to ask yourself, is this really a president who had
no idea that these overtures were being made to the russians . Lets get back to the one on the territory, israel from its territories. The question there, Michael Schmidt, is the president was obviously engaging in Foreign Policy. He was telling somebody or they were telling on behalf of him to try to kill this u. N. Resolution which he didnt want to carry and obama was ready to abstain on and let carry, let be enforced. I mean, clearly he was setting up a counter Foreign Policy in the middle east. Yeah, longstanding precedent has been theres one administration at a time. That the incoming one sort of defers to it. But what we saw here was very different. We saw an administration that was constantly engaging in its own Foreign Policy, in its own meetings with foreign leaders, its own attempts to influence things. Were seeing some of the consequences of that now. Its sort of a gray area that we hadnt really seen in previous transitions. Theyve gotten themselves into a lot of trouble here trying to explain it and that may be at the root of the cause why flynn
went to the lengths he did in the interview with the fbi to deny stuff that the fbi had wiretaps about. I think its going to end up being a black area for this administration. Thank you, carol lee, susan page, eli stokels, Michael Schmidt. Well be covering Michael Flynns guilty plea and the russian probe throughout the hour. Where does the Investigation Go from here . Will donald trump move to fire mueller or start giving out pardons . Plus everything we know about trumps relationship with Michael Flynn. The hardball roundtable is here to talk about whether the Bombshell News has anything to do with trumps increasingly erratic behavior this week and the tax cut for the wealthy. Let me finish with trump watch on this historic day in washington. This is hardball, where the action is. Farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data
and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. The ibm cloud is the cloud for business. Yours. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. President trump is back on twitter following Michael Flynns guilty plea in the mueller investigation. But in his first Public Statement since the news broke,
President Trump ignored the bombshell development, of course, instead tweeting the media has been speculating that i fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon. Fake news. Hes not leaving. And while we disagree on certain subjects, i call the final shots, we work well together and america is highly respected again. Thats the president tweeting. Constipated . Only fleet enemas feature the lubricated gentle glide tip for comfortable relief in minutes. Not hours. And an ezsqueeze bottle for gentle, simple, fast relief. Fleet enemas. The start of fast relief. Live binge dvrd shows,te sport, while painting your toes. On demand laughs, during long bubble baths. Tv on every screen is awesome. The Xfinity Stream app. All your tv at home. The most on demand, your entire dvr, top networks and live sports on the go. Included with xfinity tv. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Implicate . As nbc news reported today flynn discussed the nature of his calls with the russia ambassador with Jared Kushner and k. T. Mcfarlane. Court documents show flynn discussed those conversations with other unnamed officials on the trump transition. Flynn spoke with Senior Members of the president ial Transition Team about flynns conversations with the Russian Ambassador regarding u. S. Sanctions. That means multiple people were aware Vice President mike pence was not telling the truth when he said this in january. Did mike flynn ever discuss lifting sanctions in any of those conversations . Do you know . I talked to general flynn yesterday. And the conversations that took place at that time were not in any way related to new u. S. Sanctions against russia or the expulsion of diplomats. Furthermore, nbc news confirms that the purpose of one of flynns conversations with the ambassador was to reassure the kremlin that the incoming
administration would reverse the Obama Administrations sanctions punishing russia for meddling in the election to help trump win. Im joined by frank figlusi, former assistant director of Counter Intelligence at fbi. John laurel and paul butler, former federal prosecutors. What do you think is the damaging information, frank, that this guy holds . That flynn can give to the prosecutor to use as he wishes . Yeah, look, we heard the judge today in court say that your sentence depends on your cooperation. I think that cooperations going to go right to the top. I want to throw out three names here. First, Vice President pence has some serious explaining to do about his prior statements in public, about no conversations involving sanctions and the russians. Jared kushner is clearly exposed now criminally possibly for violations of the logan act or conspiring to violate the logan act. And then lastly this unnamed senior Transition Official is
also now exposed. So weve got to watch carefully the next moves that take place here. John laurel, i think the question lies out there, who gave the inexperienced Jared Kushner, the president s soninlaw, the notion that he could negotiate Mideast Policy with all the nations around the world, including russia . Who gave him that right . Well in fact, that duty to do that . Presumably it was the president , President Elect that did it. I want to be clear about something. The Special Prosecutor has tipped his hand. He is not looking at this as a criminal matter with respect to contacts with russia. This is now an Obstruction Of Justice case. Its about people who went in and were interviewed by the fbi and didnt tell the truth. So the focus of the investigation is on lying to the fbi and Obstruction Of Justice, not the contacts with russia as a criminal activity. Paul, do you agree the focus now, because of what happened today with flynn coming in and Plea Bargaining and accepting a low charge, that were talking obstruction here more than
collusion, that this is the real path were headed down . I think so. In part because of what a Sweetheart Deal Flynn is getting. Hes got criminal exposure for money laundering, for bribery, maybe even for conspiracy to kidnap. And all hes pleading guilty to was one measly count of false statements. He probably wont do any jail time. His kid wont be indicted. Mueller would only make a deal with a snitch like flynn if the snitch has really good evidence to offer. Compelling evidence of criminality of someone higher up in the chain. I think, again, its got to be trump, trump jr. , kushner, or Vice President pence. Thats where this investigation is heading. Frank and john, same question to you. Looks to me like theyre not going to be able to get trump himself on collusion, but they could damn well get him on obstruction. Frank, you first. I think thats where this is headed as well. Let me throw out another name. Lets not forget Attorney General Sessions we learned this week refused to answer a question from the House Intelligence Committee about whether President Trump directed him to impede the russia investigation. He wouldnt answer that question. I believe nike ankle flynn may have information about sessions knowledge and involvement, thats where this could be going. Ive represented a general and people in the military. Honesty is so critically important to them. What was going through flynns mind when he lied to the fbi . I mean, thats the milliondollar question. He had to be doing it for some reason. And what the prosecutors have done, im certain, because theyve interviewed him, is drilled down on why he took that step, why he consciously lied about something that frankly was not a crime. Thats what we need to know. Is it not that he talked to kislyak, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, but that he talked about relieving sanctions . By offering during the transition a different, nicer Foreign Policy to the russians . That Doesnt Matter that hes worried about the logan act has never been used to prosecute anybody, its clear that the Special Counsel is not using the logan act in this case. So the question to me is, who did flynn think he was protecting, and why . Thats why he lied. Was he afraid of what Richard Nixon did during the 68 campaign that johnson never forgive him for, that he was negotiating a better deal for the government in saigon than they were getting from johnson . We will never know until he testifies in public. The prosecutors certainly know about it. Let me say this. Once you sign on the dotted line as a cooperator, your life becomes an open book. Anything and everything youve done becomes exposed. Theyre going to question him for hours and hours and hours until they drill down on every aspect of the campaign and every aspect of the administration in its early days. Chris, until we know the focus is on obstruction. So when we look at donald trump,
hes famously not loyal to anybody, right, except Michael Flynn. The whole reason that he fired fbi director comey was because comey wouldnt call off the investigation on Michael Flynn. So flynn clearly knows something about donald trump that donald trump does not want out there. Now flynn is going to sit down with 16 of the countrys best prosecutors, even more fbi agents, for hours and hours, days and days, spilling his guts. Frank, let me get back to you about speculation here. Everybody agrees that the russians tried to help trump win because they hated hilly, even if hillary managed to squeak it in the electoral college, they want heard to be starting off weak. Does trump have a hand in that . Can we see that in this story so far . I think flynn holds the key to that kind of knowledge. But were beginning to see this glimpse of collusion. And even the Charging Document today where we see the Transition Officials well knowing what mike flirns up to with the russians. So i think were getting glimpses of that. I think its within the realm of
possibility that trump actually had a hand in that. Lets talk some legal questions here. John, you and then paul. Let me ask you this. What about the president sees his soninlaw, he knows he has to care about just as long as he lives hes got to worry about his soninlaw, the husband of his daughter, his beloved daughter, and the father of his grandkids. He wants to keep him out of jail. I would think. The same way Michael Schmidt wants to keep his son out of jail, we saw that today effectively. Theres the question. Does he now simply pardon the guy . That kid were looking at. He seems like a kid to me. I think any pardon at this point, i think any effort to try to undermine Mueller Or To Fire mueller, results in impeachment proceedings. I doubt, i significantly doubt hes going to do that. Paul . If he does, mueller would be like, make my day, President Trump. Fob number one, you are writing your own article of impeachment. That might be too much. A pardon of trump jr. , of
kushner, might be too much even for the republicans. Moreover, muellers a crafty dude. So hes working with State Prosecutors as well. Lots of exposure for all of these guys for state crimes. Guess what, the president of the United States has no power over state prosecutions. Couldnt pardon. The Attorney General in albany cant wait to get going here. Let me ask frank one last question. I forgot my last question. I was already done here. No, what about the fact that the president will have this Pardon Authority . Do you agree he wont use it . I think he might, but i agree that it would lead to impeachment proceedings. Heres what i think. Knowing mueller and his team, theyre already factoring that in here. I dont think they need kushner. I think theyre assuming theres going to be a pardon. I think theyve got flynn, theyve got enough, theyre going to get inside that oval office. What a week. Thank you so much, frank, john,
and paul. Up next the Trump White House may be trying to distance itself from Michael Flynn but the tape doesnt lie. Trump used to heap praise on his former National Security adviser. Well take a look at their relationship coming up next. Remember how the economic crash
was supposed to be a wake up call for our government . People all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. Im tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. Its why i left my Investment Firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. But here we are nine years later and this president and the Republican Congress are making a bad situation even worse. They wont tell you that their so called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. Its up to all of us to stand up to this president. Not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. Join us. Your voice matters. Former National Security adviser Michael Flynns guilty plea makes him the highest figure in Donald Trumps orbit to face
charges in Robert Muellers investigation. As part of the deal, flynn has agreed to cooperate with the investigation, seemingly turning on his former boss. Today marks a watershed moment in the relationship between the two men that dates back roughly two years. The Retired General First MetDonald Trump In August of 2015 when flynn traveled to trump tower to meet with the thencandidate. According to the new yorker they were scheduled to talk for 30 minutes, the conversation lasted 90. Flynn left the meeting deeply impressed with trump. By february 2016, Michael Flynn was serving as informal Foreign Policy advisor to the trump campaign. He had openly advocated for closer ties with russia, in fact, two months earlier Lieutenant General nine had traveled to Russia To Moscow as a paid speaker for a russian today anniversary dinner. He was seated two seats over from russian president vladimir putin. On april 27th, 2016, donald trump delivered his first major Foreign Policy speech in which he advocated for closer ties
with russia. Lets watch. We desire to live peacefully. And in friendship with russia and china. I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with russia from a position of strength only is possible, absolutely possible. By may of 2016, donald trump becomes the presumptive nominee of the republican party. In july flynns early loyalty is rewarded with the nowinfamous Speaking Spot at the Republican National convention. Lets watch. We do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. If i, a guy who knows this business, if i did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, i would be in jail today. In september 2016, despite
increasing evidence from u. S. Intelligence that russia was meddling in our election, candidate trump continues to praise putin. Here he is during an nbc news Commander In Chief forum. Hes been a leader far more than our president has been a leader. On november 8th, donald j. Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States. Two days later, president barack obama hosts a sitdown meeting with the President Elect and warns him against hiring Michael Flynn as his National Security adviser. November 18th, Grump Disregards president obamas warning and names Michael Flynn as his National Security adviser. A few weeks later, according to the New York Times reporting, flynn and the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner, hosted a meeting with the ambassador Kislyak At Trump Tower in order to establish a line of communication between the new administration and the russian government. On december 22nd, 2016, according to todays court documents, Michael Flynn called ambassador kislyak and asked russia to delay or defeat a
pending u. N. Security council vote on condemning israeli settlements. A week later obama orders the ejection of 35 suspected russian intelligence braves from the country and imposes sanctions on two Russian Intelligence Services as retaliation for election interference, according to the New York Times. Mr. Kislyak was irate and threatened a forceful russian response. That same day, flynn has a series of phone calls with kislyak in which nbc news is Reporting Flynn promised to reverse those sanctions. Court filings today reveal flynn asked kislyak to refrain from escalating the situation in response to the sanctions. A day later, putin announces he will not retaliate against the expulsions. Trump takes to twitter to take the russian president writing, great move on delay by v. Putin, i always knew he was very smart. January 13th, once news of flynns calls to russian officials, the white house misrepresented the content of those calls. Lets watch the Vice President ,
mr. Pence. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States decision to expel diplomats or impose a censure against russia. On january 24th, the fbi, troubled by intercepts of the call, asked to meet with flynn. It was here where he lied about his conversations. On january 26th, 2017, acting Attorney General sally yates was so alarmed by flynns characterizations of the calls that she warned the Trump White House that flynn might have been compromised by the russian. She recounted that story back in may before the Senate Judiciary committee. We were concerned that the American People had been misled about the underlying conduct and what general flynn had done. And additionally, that we werent the only ones that knew all of this. That the russians also knew about what general flynn had done. And the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the Vice President and others. Because in the media accounts it was clear from the republican and oth Vice President and others that they were repeating what general flynn had told them and that this was a problem, because not only did we believe the russians knew this but that they likely had proof of this information. That created a compromise situation, a situation where the National Security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. The following day in a private oneonone dinner, President Trump appears to ask fbi director james comey for his locality. On january 30th, President Trump fires sally yates for not defending his travel ban. On february 13th, flynn resigns. On february 14th, in another oval office meeting, trump tells comey, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. Comey was asked about this during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee. This is the president speaking. I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go, he is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. Now those are his exact words, is that correct . Correct. The reason i keep saying his words is, i took it as a direction. This is the president of the United States, with me alone, saying, i hope this. I took it as, this is what helps me to do. I didnt obey that, but thats the way i took it. All along, throughout this relationship, President Trump has defended his former National Security adviser. Michael flynn is a fine person. And i asked for his resignation. When i looked at the information, i said, i dont think he did anything wrong. If anything, he did something right. You know, he was just doing his job. The thing is, he didnt tell our Vice President properly. Up next, President Trump was hoping to take a victory lap today, touting the passage of the trump tower tax cut. But then the flynn news broke. Well get to that and more with
the hardball roundtable. Youre watching hardball. Lower premiums . Extra benefits . Its open enrollment. Time to open the laptop. And compare Medicare Health plans. Why . Because plans change, so can your health needs. So, be openminded. Look at everythinglike Prescription Drug plans. And Medicare Advantage plans from private insurers. Use the tools at medicare. Gov. Or call 1800medicare. Open to Something Better . Start today. The Energy Conscious whopeople among usle . Say small actions can add up to something. Humongous. A little thing here. A little thing there. Starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. Who are all these caretakers, advocates too . Turns out, its californians its me and its you. Dont stop now, its easy to add to the routine. Join Energy Upgrade california and do your thing. Firstthen you put yourselfareer. Through school. Got the degree. Youve given it your all, to reach the goals youve set. Dont let student debt hold you back. Refinancing Student Loans with sofi can save thousands. So you can get where youve always been headed. Sooner. See how much you can save with sofi. The leader in student loan refinancing. I think the at least the quick report of the charge, it seems obvious to me that he had made a lot of misstatements to a whole lot of people. And the frightening thing is this guy was the National Security adviser of the United States. And the key Foreign Policy adviser to the president. I think most of us believe its not a witch hunt or a hoax and that the fbi director and all others believe this is a legitimate concern. I like general flynn. He served this country for a long time. With honor and effectiveness. Its a sad day. But this is the way the system works. I love lindsey graham, he reminds me of what senators used to be like. Welcome back to hardball. Reacting to the news of Michael Flynns guilty plea, the
bombshell that overshadowed what should have been todays headline, the battle over the republican tax bill. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell declared he had the votes to pass the tax bill today. The trump tower tax cut i call it. Just hours ago. The flynn news broke. Four holdouts montanas steve danes, wisconsins ron johnson, arizonas jeff flake, and Maines Susan Collins declared their support for the bill, giving republicans the 51 votes, one more than necessary to pass this sweeping overhaul. Lets bring in the hardball roundtable for this friday night. Jennifer rubin, opinion writer with the washington post. George willis, column us with washington post. Cornell belcher, democratic strategist. This is interesting because heres a bill about to be passed with a lot of hoopla and grandeur, its exciting, with about a 28 popular support. Yet the republicans consider it an essential, necessarily, mandatory thing to do. And they are going to celebrate it. Right. I think its two reasons why theyre behaving that way. One, they havent done anything
else and theyre scared to go to the voters and say, weve done nothing other than neil gorsuch. The second is that the dogma of trickledown economics is very strong and these people believe it. Does it matter that were not in a recession, Doesnt Matter its going to create debt, this is what they do. This is what they believe in. And theyre willing to get behind regardless of the cycle . Exactly. Regardless whether its a dogs breakfast of a bill or not. We have almost a trilliondollar deficit right now. To add another 1. 5 trillion doesnt sound like traditional republican dogma. Under current law, the deficits going to the National Debts going to go up 10 million before this, 12 billion with it, and people think thats a rounding error nowadays. I will be interested to see how these people go back to damour ra, pennsylvania, the money ga hail la valley, and Say Obamacare Wasnt Repealed and replaced, the trilliondollar infrastructure is still a hypothesis. But we cut corporate taxes. See how thrilling that is. The republicans are making a serious lunge for 3 growth. If we dont get the 3 growth, our politics is going to be just increasingly bitter, distributional conflict. Whens that payoff . By 2020 . We dont know. One of the beauties of economic debates like this is were going to learn something. People have made predictions. Theyve given a hostage to fortune. Were going to find out how taxes affect behavior. Thats what economists argue about all the time. The republicans have said, cut these taxes and this will happen. Well see. You know, its interesting cornell, despite i think the democratic partys figure to do Education Role here, to actually explain how it does to different brackets, 75k a year, people think its a rich persons tax cut. Despite our inability to message properly you have a majority of americans against this tax bill, a majority of americans who think most of this tax bill is going to the wealthy. This is almost a gift, right, to
democrats. It is hard to understand why republicans are doing this besides their donor class. So theyre going to go into a Midterm Election with a very unpopular president , with their Approval Numbers at an alltime low, and not passing anything that actually a majority of americans want them to pass. We are looking at 2006 perhaps all over again. Im very suspicious of the democrats on this. I think their donor class is very much the same donor class republicans have in terms of interests, economic interests. They benefit because now they have a big target to attack. But also they didnt offend their people economically. All their people did well. Do you know . If you want to live like a republican, joke like a democrat. They got it made, a winwin for them. They lose the fight and republicans take the blame. I want to jump into that conversation, though. Because as someone who worked for the obama campaign, when you look at sort of where we raised money, it wasnt from the big donor class. When you look at someone who also worked for howard dean, when you look at what we raised
our money from, it wasnt from the big donor class, it was grassroots upsizing. It is different. Chuck schumer isnt better off politically . Im talking about the last two people who are head of our party democrats, you think they made a fight of this . Sure. Youre quite right, the people who said this is a rich persons tax bill. But remember, they get this from the Media Coverage of it. 20 of americans believe the son revolves around the earth. Seriously. 50 of americans, college students, cant tell you the length of senate and house terms. Yet we pick up the paper and 18 of americans oppose this provision of the tax bill. They dont know what the senate is. The idea that theres formed Public Opinion out here or informed is wrong. They do stumble on the truth. It is getting to the large benefits going to i think they learn what they need to learn. Next well get back to Michael Flynns guilty plea, how its made this a historic day here in d. C. Youre watching hardball. Am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. This holiday, the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions and open up a world of possibilities. Save 30 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com as weve been discussing all day, Michael Flynns guilty plea for lying to the fbi could have widereaching implications. If you want to know more about the threestar Lieutenant General, watch our Msnbc Special This Sunday Night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, headliners Michael Flynn. Its going to be great. Thats the new man, huh . Yup. Getting kinda close to my ride. Wow. Now, thats how you make a first impression. Theyre going to love you. Thats ford, americas bestselling brand. Hurry in today for 0 financing for 72 months across the full line of ford cars, trucks and suvs and just announced. Get 0 apr for 72 months plus 1000 cash back take advantage of these exclusive holiday offers during the ford year end sales event. Were back with the hardball round table. Todays historical importance . Its huge. This is inside the white house. This is not an errand boy. This is somebody potentially implicating the president of the United States, his soninlaw and lets not forget about the Attorney General. This is real. This is not a hoax. The president could pay a permanent penalty for this. George, i wonder what the king is thinking tonight. Probably that theres an inverse relationship between the lightness of the sentence, the one charge that flynn has been convicted of and what he must have been offering in order to get that lightness. And all those charges that were pending against him, like kidnapping thats the point. They go away. Anyway, cornell . Its hard to call this fake news now. To a lot of real americans who havent been paying attention to
this, now you have someone admitting of a crime. Its harder for americans not to Pay Attention to this right now. And so here we go. Yeah. You and i remember this from a time gone past. Whats the Watergate Parallel, george . I suppose the Watergate Parallel is what happened when james mccord, one of the burglars, was given not a Life Sentence but a draconian sentence in order to unravel the whole system. Whats the difference between punishing someone for talking and rewarding them for talking . Everyone likes their own methodology. Mueller is getting one to flip after another. Nixon appointed the judge and he went out and did his job. Same with mueller. By the way, with comey, cheering him on biblically. Sound like dr. King. Well, the rule of law is winning today and were seeing a lot of chaos in america, but the
rule of law, our legal system is working and i think we have a lot to be thankful for today. I think we have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays coming our way. I think its looking good for the country. Jennifer, cornell, george, thank you. When we return, trump watch. Youre watching hardball. David. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. The uncertainties of hep c. Wondering, what if . I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of Chronic Hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. Before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if youve ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious Liver Problems during and after harvoni treatment. Tell your doctor if youve ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. Ready to let go of hep c . Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. Trump watch, friday, december 1st, 2017. Today was the day donald trump was told would never happen. His lawyers said special Counsel Robert Mueller was going nowhere, that the president was going to go scotch free and today everything changed. You heard the hecklers yelling lock him up. They were sar nating Michael Flynn reminding him of his own cheer at the National Convention when he yelled lock her up, just as general flynn is ending up this november, copping a plea to testify against the guy hillary beat. What is year it has been. A Question Hanging over the heads of the trump team, did they collude with the russians and will they eventually get caught . Trumps attorney telling him again and again that mueller is ready to close shop, that hes coming up with nothing and then today muellers got general flynn, got him by the back of
the collar and who told him to tell the russians to stay cool on the sanctions, that trump was coming with help . Who told him to kill the u. N. Resolution for israel about the new settlements, the resolution that obama was going to let pass. Flynn knows all kinds of stuff, about stopping fbi director comey from looking into this and how trump was ready to dump him rather than allow the investigation to go forward, one that would lead to an impeachment before his presidency even got started and now general flynn is in the steady hands of bob mueller, ready and willing to tell all he knows about the man who sits now worried, resentful, a bit disoriented about a fix his lawyer said he would never be in because whatever comes next, today was a day of history. And thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. All in with chris hayes starts