shutdown but a lot of republican sources say they don t think the optics would be good at christmas, sandra. sandra: the drama sblg. bill: back to our top story. michael mukasey is with me now talking about general flynn. is this the end of the flynn matter today? that s a great question. usually a sentencing is the end of the case. you know what s going to happen to the defendant. you know if he is a cooperator you know what he did to earn the diminished sentence. here it is just the beginning because we don t know what he did to earn a recommendation from the government that he not go to jail and we don t know a lot about the underlying facts. bill: is it possible to agree on the lying in order to avoid another charge that could be equally as serious or more so? yes, that s another great question. why he pleaded guilty to lying
again we need to see the details of how they will be addressed. those details will matter. i would watch those most carefully. bill: a little bump here, a little bump there every day. sometimes maybe every hour. the drama sblg. we ll watch it together. sandra: whether or not this happens is still the big question. meanwhile another story this morning. matt lauer is breaking his silence one day after nbc fired him for sexual misconduct. he says in a statement, quote, there are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain i ve caused others by my words and actions. his apology coming as we continue to learn about some disturbing and lurid new accusations in this growing scandal. rick leventhal is live from rockefeller center. what s the latest? we reached out to nbc this morning. we re still waiting to hear back for comment on the growing list of accusers who say matt lauer behaved inappropriately with them.