i mean, if you read the facts as they were aggrieved between the u.s. government and michael flynn, remember, the first member of his cabinet, you know, his ex-national security adviser now has been charged, single charge. but he says in that document that he made a phone call to a senior member of the trump transition team before he contacted the russian ambassador. he then spoke to the russian ambassador. then he went back to and made another phone call to a senior member of the transition team. he s clearly cooperating. there s clearly more that s going to come out of this. and the question is who is that person. and really the broader question is why was the trump transition team so eager. to encourage the russians not to respond to the sanctions which had bipartisan support across russia that impolicied because russia had interferemad in the
former national security adviser pleading guilty to lying to investigators on sergey kislyak. in a statement white house attorney ty cobb described flynn as a former national security adviser at the white house for 25 days during the trump administration. and a former obama administration official. the statement adds flynn s false statements mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february of this year. nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr. flynn. we discussed a lot of different situations. some wonderful. and some difficulties. reporter: but the white house statement ignores the fact that obama warned the incoming president to stay away from flynn in the oval office two days after the election. nine day befores he was sworn into office, mr. trump refused cnn s attempts to ask if they had contacts with the russians before the election.
president and his inner circle. michael flynn and this plea agreement now faces up to five years in prison. but if he had been charged with every count of lying listed in the court documents friday, he could have faced 35 years in prison at least pamela brown, cnn, washington. president trump has yet to publicly react to the plea deal, the president welcoming the libyan prime minister to the white house. one source telling cnn the president and the staff are in denial about the seriousness of the russia investigation. they believe flynn s plea means it s wrapping up. they also say they are, quote, totally in a bubble. let s bring in troy sladen, troy, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor joining us from los angeles. it s good to have you with us, troy. thanks for having me. let s talk about, let s talk about this legally.
flynn and the fact that he s cooperating with the investigation, none of these things are a laughing matter for russia, george. clare, thank you. major moves in this investigation, but relative silence from the white house after one of its top former aides says that he s working with the special downs s russia probe. more on the implications of michael flynn s plea deal ahead. you re watching cnn newsroom here simulcast here in the united states, cnn international worldwide. stay with us.
medical care that are in, but again, we don t know the details of yet because it s been pushed for. this is really the key point. it s been pushed through so quickly without proper deliberation. and this is just deeply problematic for something that will have such an extraordinary impact on so many people s daily lives. yeah. so the question is, you know, the coming years will people be paying more. you re saying that they will be paying more for this new tax bill. but at the same time, many. president s supporters saying this wasn t a case where the president lived up to his campaign promise and offered tax cuts, albeit, tax cuts that will sun set, given a time period. let s talk about michael flynn s guilty plea now. the white house saying this is just a matter of michael flynn. it has nothing to do with the president, it has nothing to do with his teams. but here s the question to you, leslie, should his teams should the president be concerned about this? oh, absolutely.