those press accounts. and he also she also conveyed he had had an interview with the fbi. mcgahn, as you just saw in that testimony, asked sally yates how flynn did, and she wouldn t say how he did. she didn t think that was appropriate. but it is obvious that was of interest to the white house, and most lawyers would tell you that mcgahn likely then went to flynn and said, so, did you lie to the fbi? that is key, if mcgahn and then trump knew that flynn had lied to the fbi, especially at the time that president trump then pressured jim comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn, that could be a key that mueller could use for an obstruction charge against the president. and, jeremy bash, at the risk of repetition, what are all of the ways donald trump could have learned that mike flynn, his
colleagues here, terrific work yet again. thank you. my question would be for viewers, especially who don t follow at the molecular level, underscore why these 18 days matter so. yes. i d be happy to. especially in this investigation we need to make sure we kind of zoom out and put all of this in context each time. so, the reason why robert mueller is so focused on these 18 days is he s trying to understand what the president knew about flynn s interview with the fbi. on january 26, sally yates who was acting then as attorney general, came to the white house chief counsel don mcgahn and told him that flynn was lying to senior officials at the white house, like pence, based on those press accounts. and he also she also conveyed he had had an interview with the fbi. mcgahn, as you just saw in that testimony, asked sally yates how flynn did, and she wouldn t say how he did. she didn t think that was appropriate. but it is obvious that was of
is trying to piece together what happened inside the white house over a critical 18-day period that began when senior officials were told that national security advisor michael filibuster was susceptible to blackmail by russia. that warning, you ll recall, came from acting attorney general sally yates who testified before congress under oath that she told the white house counsel don mcgahn on january 26th that mike flynn was vulnerable because he misled the vice-president and others about the nature of his conversation with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. would you tell the white house? so, i told them, again, there were a number of press accounts, of statements that had by made by the vice-president and other high-ranking white house officials about general flynn s conduct that we knew to be untrue. we also told the white house counsel that general flynn had been interviewed by the fbi. mr. mcgahn asked me how he did. and i declined to give him an answer to that. i remember tha
nbc news reporting mueller is asking people to piece together what happened in the crucial 18 days. it started january 26th. white house counsel don mcgahn warned flynn was open to blackmail by russia. what did you tell the white house? so i told them again there were a number of press accounts, statements that have been made by the vice president and other high ranking white house officials about general flynn s conduct that we knew to be untrue. we also told the white house counsel that general flynn had been interviewed by the fbi, mr. mcgahn asked how he did. i declined to give an answer. he asked me whether or not general flynn should be fired and told him that really wasn t our call. that was up to them but that we were giving them this information so that they could take action. so they could take action. that s very important. that testimony there from then acting attorney general sally yates about something we know did not happen for another 17 days. now, that s not auto
so it makes perfect sense that this is what they re doing. i imagine they are indeed asking everybody who was in the white house and at these meetings what they recall and the more, as i said, the more stuff they pour into it, the clearer the picture becomes. and it all goes back also to sally yates testimony critical testimony at the russia hearing in may. let s watch. she was being questioned by lindsey graham. would you tell the white house. so i told them again that there were a number of press accounts of staps made by the vice president and other high ranking white house officials about general flynn s conduct that we knew to be untrue. we also told the white house counsel that general flynn had been interviewed by the fbi. mr. mcgahn asked me how i did and i declined to give him an answer to that. i remember mr. mcgahn asked me whether or not general flynn should be fired. i told him that really wasn t our call. that was up to them but that we were giving them this inform