The cloud of the russia investigation. Thats obstruction of justice. And land rush. President trump arriving in utah today to announce a major cutback in federally protected lands. Another reversal of obama policy. By lifting those protections, those lands and all of their treasures within them, the natural wonders and sacred sites will now be open top private gain. That is a false narrative thats been dictated by the environmental community. And good day. Im andrea mitch in washington. President trump today expressed sympathy for convicted felon Michael Flynn who is likely special counsel Robert Muellers star witness. This after the president stirred controversy by tweeting this weekend that flynn was also fired for lying to the fbi. If the president knew that at that time that he was raising questions of possible obstruction because he subsequently pressured jim comey his intelligence officials and republican senators all to end the Mueller Investigation into russia. President trumps lawyer john dowd trying to take the hit telling nbc news it was the first and last tweet he will write for the president. This morning another story. White house officials saying for the first time that the president s legal team plays a key role in writing his tweets. John dowd said over the weekend he tweeted for the president. Does that is happen a lot where other people tweet for the president . Yeah, well, yes, in terms of the lawyers, the lawyers are the ones that understand how to put those tweets together. Joining me now White House CorrespondentKristen Welker and nbc National Political reporter carroll lee. Kristin, first to you. Lets go through what the personal lawyer john dowd said about that tweet, the implications of that tweet and whether its credible that he wrote that tweet and perhaps more . Reporter well, look, john dowd insists he did write the tweet in question. And in conversations that i had with him over the weekend, he said that essentially he was putting together two thoughts, one that the president was aware that Michael Flynn had lied to his Vice President and thats why he fired him but then also, of course, the subsequent revelation that he lied to the fbi. So john dowd trying to take responsibility for that. But of course, it did raise questions over the weekend about possible obstruction. John dowd saying look, he dictated that tweet to dan skoe vin know, a social media coordinator. I spoke with one white house official who said in reality the only people who are actually putting in words into the president s twitter account are the president and dan sca vin know. To kellyannes point, based on my reporting while its possible that the lawyers may be helping to add words and thoughts, the idea here is that typically it comes from the president and from his social media director. Andrea, whats interesting is the talking point and the narrative and strategy that has come out this morning from john dowd who now says that these questions about obstructioning are absurd. He says because the president cant be accused of obstruction because hes the chief Law Enforcement officer essentially. Thats what the john dowd is arguing. Hes allowed to raise these questions in a legal setting. That is going to be a highly controversial line of argument but its one that the president s attorneys are sticking to today. Then as you heard, the president robustly defending his form err National Security advicer. And let me just, carroll lee, play Lindsey Graham on face the nation after that tweet. Theres an ongoing criminal investigation. Comey may be part of it. The tweeting comment regarding ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril, i would be careful if i were you, mr. President. Id watch this. Carroll, first of all, well get in a bit to the whole question of whether a president can be accused with obstruction of justice. Theres a debatable question as to whether a president can be indict while in office, but no one has ever to my knowledge ever suggested that the president could not be accused of obstruction of justice that was i think one of the first articles of impeachment against nixon. That said, what about the president and all of this suggestion that Hillary Clinton first of all lied to the fbi, something she was never charged with would have been had she, but the whole question of his tweeting about this. Yeah, andrea, i think Lindsey Graham spoke for a lot of republicans when he was saying that. And frankly, for a lot of people in the white house who get frustrated with some of the president s tweets. You know, in terms of the president s remarks as he was leaving today on the south lawn, you know, he theres no evidence he offered no evidence, nobody on his team has offered any evidence that Hillary Clinton lied to the fbi. Weve seen this as a tactic that he takes when he feels cornered where hell push back by trying to shift the focus on to secretary clinton. Hes clearly doing that again. You know, he also said that Michael Flynn is ruined his life, that he lied to the fbi. Well, you know, that kind of ignores a bunch of other elements which are that the Michael Flynn pleaded to lie together fbi because clearly, Robert Mueller had much more significant potential charges to bring against him. So far his life wasnt ruined for simply lying to the fbi. But it was also very interesting as you mentioned that the president defended Michael Flynn once again calling him a good man. But i think the big question coming out of all of this is when the president knew that Michael Flynn lied to the fbi. And thanks to carroll and to kristin, joining me now nbc National Security contribute ker frank fa glee zee. And justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman for attorney general eric holder. Matt, the whole question of whether the president can be accuses of obstruction of justice, how can john dowd say that that cant even be leveled against a president of the United States . It is a really dangerous argument for the president s legal team to make. As you pointed out, there is this ongoing debate what the remedy for obstruction of justice would be. Can the president be indicted while hes in office or is that a question left to congress . That is an open and ongoing debate. Theres not been much debate whether the president himself is above the law. Thats the argument you see dowd making saying whether the president committed these acts or not, and by the way, the fact that they appear to be willing to cede these facts that he did take actions to shut down the investigation, even if so, that is not obstruction of justice is a dangerous argument for this instance and because if the president cannot obstruct justice in blocking this investigation, it means he can fire bob mueller. Theres nothing that be done about it. Its a troubling thing for them to argue. I can see them arguing whats happened so far doesnt amount to obstruction of justice. They have every right to make that argument. To argue he can never be accused of obstruction because hes president makes no sense. It says the president is above the law. That is the argument theyre making. Its an argument that congress rejected when had in the first articles of impeachment for nixon, that was the first article of impeachment. It will be a larger strategy when they try to say the president is the chief Law Enforcement officer. He took actions because he was trying to balance his responsibilities as the chief Law Enforcement officer with, for example, his need to conduct foreign policy. You might see them make the argument they had to shut down this investigation because it was impeding his ability make deals on behalf of the United States with russia. I think thats where theyre going to go. Frank, you spent a good part of your career with the fbi and i want to ask you about the fact that one well actually two fbi agents very highly specialized an agents who were on the team last summer were accused of texting each other with antitrump texts. And were immediate lit dismissed or sent back to another part of the fbi. Taken off the case. This has given obviously the trump team a pretty strong weapon, and the president now tweeting i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the fbi. Hes pled guilty to those lies. In addition to that, first tweet we were talking about he tweeted after years of comey with the phony and dishonest clinton investigation and more, running the fbi, its reputation is in tatters. Worst in history but fear not, we will bring it back to greatness. So a series of tweets about the fbi. First of all, how has that been taken within the agency . You know, andrea, Carl Sandburg once said if the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the facts and the law are against you, pound the table and yell like hell. And thats exactly what were seeing the president doing. Hes starting to yell like hell because the facts and law are beginning to show theyre against him. Look, for a part of my career, i was in charge of an internal affairs unit in the office of professional responsibility at fbi headquarters. I can tell you the fbi is extremely scrupulous and hard on its personnel with regard to any appearance of impropriety. What happened here is what you just said. Two work colleagues are texting each other with political leaning comments in an abundance of caution, they were removed from the special counsel investigation just to preserve the credibility of the case. Thats it. Thats whats happened. Any argument is the fbis reputation is in tatters is a distractions technique by someone who believes hes in trouble. Frank, how damaging is this though to muellers reputation. Is this becoming politicized, weaponized by the president and his team . Andrea, i think this confirms muellers reputation as pristine. He will not tolerate any appearance of impropriety on his team. He didnt have to remove these agencies for what and i would discuss over a salad at lunch. He remove them to ensure theres no appearance of impropriety here. Matt, eric holder weighed in in, as well. Its not just democrats weighing in. Theres a strong cohesion among fbi agents, past, present, as well. Yeah, one of the things youve seen from this president from the beginning of this administration is this consistent attacks on Law Enforcement on the fbi, on the Justice Department because hes seeing this is the one agency supposed to have some degree of independence from the white house, is not supposed to take direction from the white house and he rebes against that. You see bipartisan pushback from former department of justice officials like my former boss eric holder standing up and saying these attacks on the agency are inappropriate. You should stop them. The people we havent heard push back against the president ever to any of these attacks are the attorney general Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. They sat quietly while the president attacks career Law Enforcement officials doing their job every day and never once stood up and protected them against his attacks. Youre suggesting they should be. They absolutely should have. Frank, thank you so much. Matt miller thank you. Under the cover of darkness, Senate Republicans pushed through their tax bill in an overnight vote athon friday night, saturday morning. What is actually in the legislation . Do you know . Find out right here on Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. But i wasnt really feeling it. You know what, im not buying this. You gotta come a little harder dawg. You gotta figure it out. Eh, i dont know. Shaky on the walk, carriage was off. Randy jackson judging a dog show. I dont know dawg. Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money lisa saved by switching to geico. Wow performance of the night. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Pepsoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. Republicans today are fresh off of a high drama late night senate vote, a successful vote for them pushing through their tax cut bill. Theyre now facing a final hurdle scrambling to reconcile the house and senate bills before their christmas deadline. They seem to have the votes. Democrats are outraged about the senate bill which passed look party lines in the early hours saturday morning saying it was riddled with handwritten sometimes barely legible margin notes. I just got the tax bill 25 minutes ago. This is the tax bill. See how thick it is . This is what it looks like. No, lets look at the bill. This is what it really looks like. I want you to take a look at this, folks. This is your government at work. Heres the bill as its written. Heres the modifications that are in it. Republicans think that they can cram through a tax bill that will affect every family in america. That will touch every business in america. Theyre sending around their edits as we speak. Edits. And joining me is Garrett Haake on capitol hill. I hope youve got good eye glasses today. And maya macguineas, president of the committee for responsible government budget. Garrett, whats the procedure now . Theres supposed to be a vote on the house side tonight. Then they go to conference. Youve been skeptical in this can be quickly ironed out in conference. Senate republicans telling me it can be. White house officials wont be involved in the Conference Committee, of course. Anytime anyone off the hill tells you how easy something will be to get done, particularly in the senate i think its wise to look at that skeptically. Tonight well see the first vote on this. The house will vote to take this bill to conference. Theyll vote to select their Conference Committee members. The senate will do the same a little bit later in the week. Then theyll begin work officially going on behind the scenes already to harmonize these two bills to try to bring them together on points both philosophical. How many tax bracks will we have for individuals and in terms of the money aspect of this, how do we afford this 1. 5 trillion . How do we keep this bill below that cost. The house was sort of knowledgeable that the senate rules would be tight when they wrote this bill but there are a lot of kinks to get worked out in a relatively short time frame with, by the way, this government funding fight thats going to be going on simultaneously. They have to have a continuing resolution. They have to write a collect 0 keep the government open by the end of this week, too. A lot of moving parts happening at the same time, andrea. I want to break down the deficit implications with maya in a seconds. But i wanted to fact check Mitch Mcconnell saying there had been tons of hearings on this. I cannot recall a single finance Committee Hearing on this bill. No, i mean, they will point to the Senate Markup of this bill saying that this was that is sort of the process for this particular bill. And the fact that largely, this is sort of a bill gobbled together of some fairly standard republican tax policy issues over time. But the idea that this particular bill was debated in open sun light over weeks or months is just not accurate. Now to the whole question of economic growth. Socalled dynamic scoring we used to call the rosy scenario when we talked about budgets. Maya, lets talk about deficits. A trillion and a half and according to joint Tax Committee, it could get down to a trillion if theres enough growth. Thats the best estimate, conservative estimate from the joint Tax Committee. What is your own projection . First, im glad to talk about deficits because its one of the discussions just left completely out of this entire tax reform debate. The whole purpose of refor to help grow the economy in a way that would generate more revenues and make the debt better. They pulled way back from that as a goal. Now were talking about how much is this going to make the debt worse. The joint Tax Committee which is very credible, estimates that were going to add another trillion dollars to the debt after economic growth. And i believe dynamic scoring has an important role. We want to adopt bolss that will grow the economy more and want to know which parts of reform will increase growth. The problem is people reject it out of hand, not just the jointtach committee score but the many scores out there that showed how much this would add to the debt and jumped on to magic thinking saying this would pay for itself whether he there was not a single credible score that would say that is true. I worry that undermines the us