all my colleagues at networks of nbc news, good night. a busy friday and busy friday night in the news tonight. new york governor andrew cuomo in water that appears to be getting deeper and hotter all the time. after the publication of a long investigative piece by rebecca traister in "new york magazine" today, reporting on litany of women who worked for him say he's behaved inappropriately in the workplace. botham u.s. senators from new york, senate majority leader chuck schumer and kirsten gillibrand have called for cuomo to resign. join a majority of the overall delegation from new york calling for cuomo to step down. front page of huffington post tonight, it's over. schumer and gillibrand call for cuomo's head. photo is odd series of reuters photographs taken at governor's mansion from a distance. in these photos, the governor is seen walking around talking on cell phone wearing a blanket. also in company of really amazing looking good dog. why the governor is wearing a blanket, nobody knows. news of senator schumer and senator gillibrand joining the pile on and demanding cuomo's resignation is front page news around the country. cuomo himself is showing no signs of heeding demands for his resignation. if he refuses to resign, only way he can be removed from office against his will before next election is by impeachment. as we reported last night, democrats in state legislature in new york have announced opening of impeachment inquiry targeting cuomo yesterday. if they impeach in the assembly, will be going on trial in new york senate where a majority of senators have called on him to resign. seems likely would be convicted and removed from office if the assembly impeaches him. but that process is just starting. lots of calls tonight that this news about senator schumer and senator gillibrand means that it's over for governor cuomo already. he seems to disagree. we'll let you know if the story develops further over the course of the night. seems like fair bet it will and we'll let you know. tonight the "washington post" has reported that trump national security advisor, qanon conspiracy theory hero, former u.s. army general who called on trump to declare martial law and have the military seize control of the political process and force rerunning of the election so joe biden wouldn't win this time, tonight the "washington post" is reporting on interesting new news involving disgraced trump national security adviser mike flynn. you will remember that mike flynn twice pled guilty in federal court to lying to the fbi about his secret communications with the russian government. before he left office, president trump pardoned mike flynn for those crimes. but general flynn may be in a new bucket of trouble. that a trump pardon and intervention from attorney general william barr at the justice department can't save him from this time. the flynn story has become so gunked up with so much nonsense and conspiracy theories and smoke and mirrors from the right, it's easy to forget sometimes that part of what went wrong for mike flynn as the first trump national security adviser, it emerged he had been acting as secret unregistered foreign agent for another country. for turkey, he had been on the turkish government's payroll. you can't do that and be national security adviser in the united states. and can't take money from another foreign country like that as recently retired senior military officer. around the time that flynn became national security adviser, emerged he had been a foreign agent for turkey and taken secret payments, tens of thousands of dollars from the russian government without declaring them to the pentagon as he required to do as recently retired flag officer. pentagon started investigation into general flynn when this came to light, around the time he became trump's national security adviser. only when flynn was fired from white house and criminally charged for lying to investigators about his secret contacts with the russian government that internal investigation got put on hold. not unusual, federal case tends to put on ice any other investigation into the same conduct. now, surprise, when president trump pardoned mike flynn for his federal crimes in november or last fall, one of the surprise consequences of that pardon is that it unfroze what had been that pentagon investigation into mike flynn secretly and potentially illegally acting as agent of foreign countries and take secret payments from our foreign adversaries. when flynn got pardoned, there was no more reason to defer that investigation into the federal criminal case, that's over thanks to the pardon. pardon allowed internal investigation at pentagon to start back up. which it did. now know the report on flynn is complete, from the "washington post" tonight, quote, the defense department's internal watchdog has concluded a long delayed investigation into michael flynn, focuses on acceptance of money from russian and turkish interests before joining the trump administration, a potential violation of the constitution's emoluments clause. with few exceptions, u.s. officials, including retired service members like flynn, are prohibited from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments. the inspector general's investigation opened in april 2017, put on hold amid a broader scandal that included a criminal investigation by the justice department. flynn was pardoned last november by trump. after the pardon, justice department gave approval for the inspector general's office to resume its flynn investigation. quote, the watchdog's office closed its investigation one week after the biden administration took office january 27th, 2021. having concluded investigation at that point, they then forwarded their findings to the u.s. army. so this has never been reported before tonight, but mike flynn, hero of the far right, allegedly working as secret foreign agent and taking secret payments from foreign adversary, not something retired generals are supposed to do, findings of the pentagon review put on ice in 2017, thawed out and started up in november when trump pardoned the guy without thinking this might be a consequence of it, turns out pentagon had it done and ready to be handed to army for action within a week of biden being sworn in. so what is the pentagon going to do with the results of this report? in "the post" tonight an army spokeswoman acknowledged that they had received the flynn case for review, we not not have additional information for you at this time. trump people and qanon conspiracy theory crazy people have turned mike flynn into this bizarre comic book figure since his disgrace along these lines. it's a comic book portrayal of himself he apparently believes in. mike flynn has really taken a weird fake oath, a pledge to the qanon conspiracy theory on camera and posted it online, posted video of himself taking the qanon pledge along with members of his family. mike flynn really did go on tv before the january 6th attack to call on president trump to order a military takeover of the country so he could hold on to power even though biden won the election. mike flynn was a big draw for the january 6th capitol attack. he was one of the right-wing conspiracy figures demanding all the trump people had to be at capitol january 6th to stop the election from being certified and keep trump in power. now the u.s. army has to decide what to do with internal investigative findings about him illegally taking secret payments from russia and potentially being a secret foreign agent of another country. we'll presumably hear from them soon. i'm sure will be no drama about that at all. that story just breaking at "washington post." we have not obtained report of the internal investigation from the pentagon inspector general. as far as i can tell nobody has obtained the report but army is reviewing it. we'll keep you posted as story develops tonight as well. further breaking news from ryan riley at huffington post, first to report on a court proceeding today that produced this very unsettling photo. see what this is? turn your head to the left and read that there, this is the badge of a d.c. metropolitan police officer, an officer at capitol in attack on january 6th, dragged into the crowd, beaten unconscious, tased and hospitalized for his injuries. that's his badge. covered in mud in a ziplock, fbi notation there. reason we've got this photo is fbi has just recovered from a backyard in buffalo, new york, this badge. it was buried there by one of the capitol attackers who ripped that badge off the officer in capitol attack and took it home as some kind of trophy and then buried it. january 6th attack we all saw unfold live on tv that day. afterwards we started to see even more graphic detail about what had a happened, security footage, uploaded social media footage, lot of it by attackers themselves. police body cam footage of what had happened. lot of the scariest footage we saw for the first time to devastating effect at impeachment trial of president trump in the senate. you might remember. but for all we've seen, some of the most unforgettable footage i saw, unforgettable to me at least, was not footage of violence that day. one of the things i have found hardest to get out of my mind in all the footage of the attack is straight to camera explanation from individual police officer off the attack, after he had been injured in the attack, explaining what he had been through, what had happened to him. >> i was just trying to fight as best i could, i remember guys were stripping me of gear, these rioters pulling my badge off my chest, ripped my radio off of my vest. started pulling ammunition magazines from their holder on high belt. then some guy started getting a hold of my gun, and they were screaming out -- you know, kill him with his own gun. at that point, you know it was just like self-preservation. how do i survive this situation? and i thought about using deadly force, i thought about shooting people. and then i just came to the conclusion that if i was to do that, i might get a few but not going to take everybody and they'll probably take my gun away from me, and that would definitely give them the justification they were looking for to kill me if they hadn't already made that up in their minds. other option i thought of was to try to appeal to somebody's humanity. i remember yelling out that i have kids. it seemed to work. some people in the crowd started to encircle me and offer me some level of protection. and they gave -- that provided me with enough time or other officers, specifically my partner jimmy albright, enough time to get to me and get me the hell out of there and back to the west front of the capitol. lot of people have asked me my thoughts on the individuals in the crowd that -- you know that helped me or tried to offer some assistance, and i think kind of the conclusion i've come to is, thank you? but [ bleep ] you for being there. >> d.c. metropolitan police officer michael fanone was not in the end shot by his service pistol by the mob, although the mob nearly got the pistol off him. and corroboration of his claims that the mob attacking him did scream that they wanted to kill him with his own gun as they fought to get that gun out of his holster. they didn't shoot him with that gun, they did however shoot him with a taser multiple times, he suffered a mild heart attack, was hospitalized. today in buffalo, new york, police arrested a man who took part in that attack on officer fanone. man who allegedly fired taser into his neck is still at large. riley and cook at huffington post reported on online investigators tracking that man down from social media postings and footage from the attack, and he's been publicly identified in the press and to the fbi as the one who tased officer fanone, but for some reason he's not been arrested. buffalo, new york, they did arrest the man who officers say is the one who ripped officer fanone's radio off him and ripped his badge off his vest while the mob beat and tased him and knocked him unconscious and he was hospitalized. man who ripped the badge and radio off officer fanone apparently took the badge home as trophy, buried it in his yard. fbi dug it up and got him today. they brought that man to court to face multiple felony charges, including assaulting an officer. again, he found badge in his yard, yet the magistrate judge who oversaw the hearing ordered the man released on his own recognizance. go home. no worries, only charged with multiple violent felonies and we have the trophy that you ripped off the officer that you buried in your yard but you know what, go home. probably have to clean up your yard some. prosecutors are appealing the judge's order to have released him tonight. sounds like might be a hearing tuesday. but as of tonight he's out and home. same day he was arrested. some of these cases are inexplicable in way they're being handled. or otherwise mind blowing. politico reported there are so many cases now thatted the federal prosecutor's office in d.c. is fairly overwhelmed. 80% of the caseload is related to d.c. capitol attack now. u.s. attorneys offices are asked to come in from around the country to take on some of the workload. amazing case in florida did result in guy held in custody despite best efforts to get out under fairly amazing circumstances. i don't know why it didn't get more national attention this week. it's crazy. one of the few attackers at the capitol who was arrested that day, january 6th, although police later let him go, had go out and find him a week later and rearrested him for being part of a crowd that prosecutors said was attacking police officers, including throwing unknown substances at the officers. michael curzio was back in court in florida this week. where he's arrested and held, asking the judge in his case to let him out of jail, let him go home and await trial at home instead of staying in jail. one awkward point of discussion with the judge about that request is that this guy, cruzio, the capitol attacker, charged with assaulting officers among other things, did have to acknowledge in court he's a convicted felon, did serve eight years in prison for attempted murder, and yes, he is a longtime member in good standing of a large white supremacist prison gang in florida. still judge, can i be trusted to be released on my own recognizance while i await trial for multiple charges for attacking police as part of pro-trump mob trying to seize the capitol, what's the problem? he didn't get out but guy with officer fanone's badge buried in his yard did get out today, and guy credibly accused of firing a taser in fanone's neck hasn't even been picked up yet. snapshot of where things are going in the capitol attack investigation, which merrick garland has just inherited as attorney general of the united states, good luck. keep an eye out for the white supremacist prison gang members among the capitol attackers. wisconsin senator ron johnson tonight talking about why he wasn't afraid at all during the attack because he could tell by looking at them they were all good people who would never break the law. >> i'm also criticized because i made the comment on january 6th i never felt threatened. because i didn't. mainly because i knew that even though those thousands of people that were marched into the capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, i knew they love this country, truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law, so i wasn't concerned. had the tables been turned, joe, this gets me in trouble, had president trump won the election and tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protesters, i might have been a little concerned. >> i might have been a little concerned. if they had been black, that would have been one thing, but these were white men who were convicted felons and members of large white supremacist prison gangs assaulting the officers and trying to kill the vice president. but look how white, how can i feel scared? have you seen how white these men were? if they had been black -- god bless you, senator ron johnson. this was senator rick scott last night at mar-a-lago, doing the ring kissing thing with former president trump, they're all doing that now, one after the other. honestly, i mean big picture, look at what's going on right now, supposedly a two major party democracy, and democrats in rose garden celebrating $1.9 trillion covid relief effort, a record 2.92 millions of doses of vaccine administered today, americans tonight starting to see pending payments from the government for covid relief in bank accounts tonight, nancy pelosi announcing that democrats are starting work on massive infrastructure bill coming up next. in the state of georgia, which we're going to talk about tonight, big business is being drafted into effort to stop republican efforts to roll back voting rights, stand with democrats as they try to stop republicans from cracking down on democratic rights. that's what's going on on one side of our two major party political system. on the other side, republican senators are one after another making pilgrimages to mar-a-lago to go see former president trump. did you ever see "animal house"? 1978, one of the great american comedies, john belushi, dan aykroyd. even if you haven't seen it, there's a disturbing, iconic, memorable scene, where they're hazing new recruits for the frat, got a paddle and whaling away hitting this guy, every time, thank you sir may i have another, effort every time he gets a whack, thank you sir, may i have another. excruciating scene. very memorable right? it was a week ago tonight that president trump sent a cease and desist letter to the republican telling them they were no longer allowed to use his name or likeness in any materials. a week ago. republican party responded by sending a letter saying you're a public figure, we can use the name and likeness of any public figure, that letter doesn't mean anything to us. former president responded to that telling all his followers stop giving support and money to republican party, only to him at his donald trump website. that was monday. monday night, the republican party responded by acting real tough -- no, by instead deciding okay, move the next republican party, big spring meeting, to mar-a-lago, where the party will have to pay trump cold hard cash for the privilege of using his resort. thank you sir, may we have another? that's how they responded to threat. he threatens them, they tried to push back, he pushed harder, oh, you want money, you're mad, can we pay you? will that make it better? thank you sir, may we have another? following day, how did he respond? did that calm him down, make him feel better? no. trump responded with again another public statement quadrupling down telling his people once again do not give money or support to terrible republicans who are terrible, only to me, me at my website, not the republicans, do not support them, only me, starve them, pay me. how did the republican party respond? they responded to that the next day on wednesday by literally putting out a statement expressing the party's gratitude to donald trump for all of his support. thank you sir, may we have another? i mean this is some masochistic stuff right here. do you guys have a safe word? might want to employ at some point. going to hear the republican party in the corner going avocado. i mean -- what does he have to do to get you to not give him more of what he wants? to stop praising him, not giving him more of your money? what does he have to do? meaner he gets, bigger the swings and more insulting he gets toward you, the more you praise him and thank him. there's a name for this. but it's incredible time. don't lose sight of this. there