I am trish regan, welcome, everyone, to the intelligence report. Sean spicer wrapping up conference moment ago and made the point that the Obama Administration is the one who made general flynn security clearances to begin with. So does this suggest that this is nothing other than one giant political witch hunt that the democrats are salivating at. I want to go blake berman. Blake the press Secretary Sean Spicer wrapped briefing and confirmed that, indeed, then president elect trump sat down with president obama here at the white house in the oval office, just a couple of days after the election that president obama did warn the incoming president , hey, you shouldnt go about hiring Michael Flynn and days after that President Trump hired flynn. That shouldnt be any surprise because as we know, then president obama who was not a fan of flynn. Watch. President obama made it known that he wasnt exactly a fan of general flynn which shouldnt come to a surprise given that general flynn had worked for president obama with an outspoken critic of president obamaortcomings specifically related to lack of strategy confronting isis and other threats around that were facing america. So the question that you have to ask yourself really is was president obama truly concerned why didnt he suspend the security clearance which they had approved months earlier. Blake during the briefing i asked spicer if there were specific reasons given by then president obama to then president elect trump why not hire Michael Flynn and spicer told me that he could not answer that question. As you know, sally yates who is in the middle of all of this is set to testify in capitol hill in just a short whiles time. Shes expect today testify that she gave heads up to the Trump Administration that there might be some checking into on Michael Flynn, of course, the Big Questions are what did she tell the Trump Administration and might she have been the source as you mention of some los angeles. President trump was tweeting about ms. Yates earlier today, ask sally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got in the newspapers soon after she explained it to white house council. Trish, the cameras will be trained on yates on capitol hill. Trish very interesting. Blake berman, thank you so much. Joining me right now for all analysis, former cia officer buck sexton and gina and stewart holiday. Good to have you here. Buck, youre a former intelligence guy. Im going to start with you here. Shes plain training that she somehow gave the information this heads up, that she actually gave them information that was relevant to general flynn whic shou have nt him running for the hills but at the same te if that information did exist, why the heck did he have hearing in the Obama Administration to begin with . Well, we have to know what the information was that was passed along in terms of whether it was just we dont trust this guy, we dont like him or if there was greater specificity, that hasnt been made clear. Anybody afacilityuated with the Obama Administration that doesnt like general flynn or have concerns about him would be entirely unsurprising given that he was a prominent critic of the administration. Without knowing the information is, no one else can honestly really comment on whether it was a bad decision or not to bring flynn based id. I did say that some of the information we do know the speeches, some of the work that he did reportedly for turkey, these were lapses in judgment. Why this is such a big story, though, i should note is the russiatrump angle. Its really not so much general flynn so much keeping russia, trump and the specter of these ties in the news cycle because every administration is going to have people that dont work out. The Obama Administration did, flynn was not a good choice for this role at this time and he has already paid a price. Trish im coming back if you actually had some concerns about him, i just dont know why, stewart, wouldnt be Obama Administration if they were that concerned about any potential lapses in judgment, et cetera, why did they allow him to stay there to begin with . Why do you have to go to trump after the fact, why wouldnt you just boot him . Well, i think what they were looking at is evts that may have taken pce after he left dia where, of course, the administration gave him, you know, the clearance to run the Defense Intelligence agency and when he started his private sector practice and into the transition. There were obviously a number of activities in the range including the conversations can embassador kislyak. Trish gina, how how much of this is really substantive, how much of this is really political . Your view right now . Its political. You look at its like looking at a game, trish, that was lost and saying what should have been dont differently, the Trump Administration fired flynn and this is over comey has even said, comey has even said theres zero evidence of any collusion. They are still chasing that paper tiger, if you will, when what they really should be talking to her about is the leaks that theres ample evidence of why is it that the media and the left in general want to continue to discuss a nonissue that theres zero evidence in lieu of what theres ample evidence of and that is los angeles that took place that she may have good information that should be talking about instead. Trish this is exactly what donald trump brought up today. He basically said, look, somebody ought to be asking her about these leaks because you have to wonder, asking sally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got in newspapers soon after she explained it to white house council. It could have gotten there a multitude of different ways but some people are suggesting that she was the source of this leak, buck, walk us through how the leaks can happen in the Intelligence Community . In other words, she wasnt the only one that had any intel on general flynn. She is somebody who is already been willing to grand stand publicly. We saw this on unwillingness to enforce the trump immigration ban, which is part of why shes getting additional attention of a possibility of a very politicized leak. How these things happened are rather straightforward. Somebody who has highlevel access, has security clearance, decides to take that information and share it with a party thats unlawful. Calling somebody in a newspaper and saying, hey, this is what ive got, you should run with this, its very straightforward. Those leaks can be tracked down, depends on the method of communication may have been. Its not clear that yates is the person who leaked anything. Trish right. That was sort of my point. In other words, there are other people in the room that would have the information. Donald trump is saying, hey, you know, ask her about these. Whether or not it was her, they should be asking because you dont want all of this classified information leaking out into the snreses. They are going to be asking her under oath effectively did you break criminal law and at that point my guess whether she did or didnt shes going to say no, of course not. It doesnt matter all that much unless they can catch her in the first place and to be clear about this, i think that somebody at her level to leak that kind of information that end up in the press assuming that its accurate, assuming that it was leaked, the legal jeopardy there is tremendous. To be acting attorney general and trish maybe somebody a little further on down. It could be. We dont know. Trish it can often come from someone else. There are leaks and leaks where theres a blessing for them, go talk to the reporters about this without it necessarily being something that everybody would be, you know, theyre not holding a press conference about it but somebody trish when you get asked under oath, did you actually leak this is that a leak or not. For somebody down the chain it becomes a more interesting question. Trish thank you so much. I may be seeing you a little later in the show. Gina, buck, stewart, thank you. The texas bill just signed into law that essentially bans any city or county in the state from becoming a sanctuary city. Its like a showdown between municipal, state and federal law, the laws also going to allow police to ask about the immigration status of anyone they detain even for just a Traffic Violation and is any city official or Law Enforcement member refuses to comply with the law, they can face prosecution. I know many of you do not appreciate this constant conflict right now between state, local and federal law specially when it comes to protecting all of us, all of us individuals that are here legally in the country. So whats going to happen next . Will other states follow texas lead . Are we going to see major challenges in texas ahead ned, where do you see this one heading, major legal troubles or is texas going to be able to enforce the law, saying, look, if youre going to try and provide some kind of a escape to someone who is here illegally, then youre going to be the one in trouble. Well, the thing thats important to remember about this texas law is people have been saying, well, the arizona law went up to the Supreme Court and struck down almost no entirety, but the one thing that was not struck down in the arizona law was that it permitted police to ask people that were detained what is their immigration status. So i think that as you look at this and what they did in texas allowing officers to ask what is your immigration status regardless for criminal activity or Traffic Violation, its been upheld by the Supreme Court. Its already been addressed by the Supreme Court. Its already been dealt with and thats why i think texas kept it fairly narrow and focused just on that. I think the thing thats interesting, trish on this, first of all, i cant believe we are having a debate about we should uphold the law, we should think about we are a nation of law, rule of law, just uphold the law, what a novel idea. The thing thats interesting to me, the people are saying the controversial part is there can be consequences for people who refuse to uphold the law, they might go to jail for a year and lose post. All they are trying to do is say lets follow the law, lets enforce the law and if we come into contact with people that might have criminal activity trish nothing wrong with that. Exactly. Trish but leslie, the left gearing up for a big fight. Lets keep in mind, by the way, one of the weirdest things about all of this, i was looking through stacks of papers the other day and this is from ice and their reports and all the various people that they had arrested yet they couldnt do they couldnt follow through cause local sheriffs, county sheriffs, local Police Chiefs invoked the sanctuary city status. I thought, how crazy is this, these people have committed crimes, they cannot be deported. They cannot they cannot really even be sent to jail the way they should be because of this ridiculous very political rule and i think its political because lets in not forget Police Chiefs, leslie, they are elected. You have some texas communities and, look both parties have been guilty of this trying to play to certain populations, but i think a lot of people have played to these communities and said, hey, we will keep you safe, but what about everybody else . What about the people that are in the country legally, dont they need to be safe too . Well, we do need to be safe from here that are here legally because those are the majority of criminals in the country, those that are not coming here illegally. One of the problems that we have here in texas or arizona trish leslie. I have to stop you. Can i ask you a question, if somebody commits a crime, shouldnt they be kicked out of the country . Can we agree on that . We do agree on that, but here is the problem. Local Law Enforcement whether in texas, arizona or in california, they simply dont have the people or the money to be immigration cops as well as criminal cops, first of all, second of all, they need the cooperation of a lot of undocumented workers in heavily Populated Areas specially like texas to help them to get those criminals that trish youre going to show us your license and passport, et cetera, proof that you are here in the country legally. If you said that, it acts like a deterrent, leslie. Here is part of the problem, the problem becomes if i am driving this is why the supreme struck down most of the arizona bill except for asking status and here is the problem, who do you ask status of . If i have brown skin and a yucky pickup truck and a lawn mower in the back im assuming im an undocumented worker doing landscaping and asking me my immigration status, how do i prove it . I think this becomes a slippery slope as we have seen in the past in arizona and i think the fact that the governor pushed this through the way he did on facebook, if you will, trying to avoid more protests no, no, no. Trish final comment to ned. I have to run. This has been debated in the legislature. They passed it through four days ago. Theres no surprises here. He just chose to sign it on facebook for whatever reason. We are not asking the police force to become another immigration force, we are asking them to ask very simple questions, do you have proof, are you here legally, very simple question. This is not rocket science. Trish i hear you. Good to see both of you guys. Ned and leslie, we are waiting, everyone, testimony from former acting attorney general sally yates about possible russian interference in the election, we are going to bring you that testimony just as soon as it happens, now you have to imagine democrats are ready to pound because it keeps the whole narrative going about the russian interference in the election or what President Trump likes to call fake news. Another big story we are following right now. The fallout from the french elections, riots breaking after e e Emmanuel Macron won presidency. We are heading to france next we asked people to write down the ings they love to do most on these balloons. Travel with my daughter. Roller derby. Now give up half of em. 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Then why settle for slow internet . Comcast business. Built for speed. Built for business. Trish we are waiting on testimony from former acting attorney general sally yates. She got fired because she wouldnt enforce Donald Trumps immigration, temporary immigration ban. Its testimony that shes expected to give about possible russian interference related to general Michael Flynn in the election. Theyre assembling right there on capitol hill, this is for the Senate Intelligence committee and its been postponed a bit but, indeed, it will happening today momentarily and as soon as it starts, we are going there, you can imagine, the democrats are all over this and ready to pounce because they are putting the russian interference story right up there at the top of the news cycle or, you know, in a way what President Trump likes to call fake news. Thatll be something that dominates what you hear out of the questioning at least from democratic lawmakers, just exactly what did Michael Flynn know, what was the problem with him, she may also be asked by republicans how was that communicated to donald trump and the white house, any knowledge that they had about general flynn, sean spicer saying a brief time ago, look, if the guy was that bad and they had the intelligence, why didnt they do something about him sooner and again donald trump also asking the question about who was responsible for all of these leaks in the first place. Was it actually perhaps sally yates, you can anticipate that this question will be asked as well. Another story that we are following fallout on french elections after macron beats nationalist marine la pen. The latest with Ashley Webster who has been in the thick of those riots. Ashley hey, trish, last night, of course, we had the smiles and the cheering and waving of the flags and here we are less than 24 hours later and the disillusion is apparent particularly on the far left and also the far right. Many challenges facing mr. Macron. This is a very deeply divided country. Lets not forget he had zero representation in the French National assembly, hes going to start putting a government together. Not an easy task. Meanwhile as you say, we were in the middle of one of those protests today, several hours ago. It was those workers, trade unions, the young socialist party, those folks out there today, they do not like Emmanuel Macron because frankly he wants to reform the very tight french labor laws that make it difficult for French Companies to hire and fire an