national security adviser, but white house counselor kellyanne conway says the president has full confidence in flynn. a former national security adviser to vice president joe biden says flynn s tenure will depend on how close he really is to trump at this point. here i think you are caught between two tendencies that the president tends to have. one is he really hates people who make him look bad. there is all the ridicule of the administration coming out of this. on the other hand, he doesn t like to look weak. he doesn t like to look like he was forced to do something because of outside criticism. reporter: flynn had originally denied he discussed sanctions with russia to vice president mike pence, who went on national television to vouch for the national security adviser. i talked to general flynn yesterday. the conversations that took place at that time were not in any way related to new u.s.
absolutely. chris: u.s. officials i m going to turn the subject. u.s. officials now say that p contrary to previous denials, that the president s national security adviser, retired general michael flynn, did discuss u.s. sanctions with the russian ambassador before he took office in december at the very time that president obama was imposing new sanctions because of russia s role in interfering in the election. be here s an exchange that i had before the inauguration with vice president pence. 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. chris: despite that, the white house said yesterday that president trump still has, quote, full confidence in michael flynn as his national security adviser. question: do you?
chris: u.s. officials i m going to turn the subject. u.s. officials now say that p contrary to previous denials, that the president s national security adviser, retired general michael flynn, did discuss u.s. sanctions with the russian ambassador before he took office in december at the very time that president obama was imposing new sanctions because of russia s role in interfering in the election. be here s an exchange that i had before the inauguration with vice president pence. 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. chris: despite that, the white house said yesterday that president trump still has, quote, full confidence in michael flynn as his national security adviser. question: do you? no.
flynn. 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. reporter: now a spokesman for flynn is walking back that previous denial. in a statement to the washington post saying flynn, quote: indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn t be certain that the topic never came up. misleading vice president pence would put a strain on the national security adviser s role in the white house as multiple members of congress are calling for an investigation into flynn. even fellow republicans are concerned about any possibility the trump administration would go easy on a country many consider a photothe u.s. a foe to the u.s. that there will be a violent reaction in the congress against lifting russian sanctions. reporter: plus, a top deputy to flynn has had a critical security clearance denied by the cia which
this has been one chance for a big bill that could have support from both sides of the aisle. we could ve had tax reform, particularly corporate tax or from under obama, but he stalle stalled. a lot of democrats agree, especially, that the corporate tax structure is utterly insane, worst in the world. easily fixed. that, i think, is low-hanging fruit. the washington post had a story today that, contrary to previous denial, the national security advisor, michael flynn, david, in fact, discuss sanctions in his conversations last december before he was in office with the russian ambassador just at the time that president obama was imposing sanctions on russia for its involvement in the election. general flynn had flatly denied it and so too relying on him, vice president pens. here he is. i talked to general flynn