allocation of resources. you have more control over your money. we think ultimately that s good for the country. director of the office of management and budget, thanks for coming. congratulations on the 100 days. thank you. he is the guy who once led this chant at the republican national convention. lock her up. that s right. that s right. lock her up. now the republican house oversight committee chairman says exnational security adviser michael flynn, well, he might have broken the law regarding payments from russia. stay with us.
when flynn was in the white house? well, for that information the white house said releasing any such documentation might compromise national security. that s the same reason they gave for not publishing the white house visitors logs incidentally. it s a catchall that all administrations use when they don t want to release embarrassing information. the big question, of course. did flynn break the law when filling out his questionnaire for his national security position and not including the $45,000 in payments from the russian government? the white house would not say. that would be a question for him. and a law enforcement agency whether or not he filled i don t know what he filled out and what he did or did not do. you might want to look into that. let s bring in my panel. we have with us dan pfeiffer, amy walter, and david urban. david urban, let me start with you. the man who won pennsylvania for president trump. you are not a member of the white house. you don t have to de
the attorney general himself. that s why a special prosecutor is so critically important, independent of the president. i found it interesting that in december you asked for michael flynn s security clearance to be reviewed. why were you concerned back then? i was concerned because of reports about these payments, reports that appeared in the press which now have been confirmed. and i believe the press has performed a vital role. and heroes of this, their finest hour is likely to be the press and our independent judiciary. i was concerned because national security is involved. he was the national security adviser. and, likewise, the rule of law which is so important to this country in good times and bad and we are facing a looming constitutional crisis. not unlike what happened in watergate era. senate minority leader chuck schumer said that this flynn
chairman chaffetz is not necessarily one who is going to take that position that he did today saying that he saw nothing, kind of taking a swing at general flynn there. i will say i still would say, let s reserve judgment. general flynn, i worked with him. he had a distinguished career in the military. three-star general, headed a defense intelligence agency. he s a bright man. i would like to see what s in the paper. let s let the string be pulled. let s withhold judgment. until all the facts are in. that s fair enough. but dan pfeiffer, let me ask you. you saw sean spicer, the way they re trying to deal with this, which is the same way they dealt with paul manafort, kind of pretending they never met him before. they had a huge role. how would you advise them if you were communications director at white house? what would you say is the way to handle it? what there are no good answers for sean. that s true every day, but particularly true in this case. they are going to have to g
trend toward unconstitutional overreaching by the executive branch. to your point, let s talk more about that. a judge found this executive order could violate the constitution because the power to allocate funds belongs to the congress, not the president. do you think the president understands that separation of power? the president has given every sign that he fails to understand the rule of law. he s attacked an independent judiciary that is a pillar of our democracy mean has demeaned and disparaged the free press, and he has disregarded the plain constitutional powers of congress and what he said about health care and a variety of other programs where constitutionally, congress has a role to play. he might well learn a lesson from this executive order, and i hope that he will. so let s turn to russia, senator. the russia investigation and the news today about michael flynn.