get it. good morning, everyone. i'm chris jansing, live from washington. we begin with new reaction to the latest bomb shell in the russia investigation on capitol hill. michael flynn's lawyer announcing his client has a story to tell, and a congressional source confirming the ousted national security adviser wants to tell the senate intelligence committee what he knows. but in exchange for immunity. this morning, president trump tweeting, flynn should ask for immunity, in that this is a witch hunt. excuse for big election loss by media and dems of historic proportion. you'll remember on the trail, both flynn and then-candidate trump had specific views about immunity when it came to hillary clinton's aides. >> her aides took the fifth amendment, and her ringleaders were given immunitimmunity. and if you're not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for, right? >> five people around her have had -- have been given immunity to include her former chief of staff. when you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime. >> nbc's hans nickels joins me from the white house. hans, what is michael flynn's lawyer saying about his story? >> well, he's saying he has a story to tell. a story to potentially sell. the price is immunity. the question is, will there be buyers? i think there are two things to watch for today, chris. one, do we get any indication from the justice department that they're willing to grant immunity? if we do have that indication, that could tell us that they think the story is bigger than just flynn potentially misrepresenting things on form, not being entirely honest. this could be part of the broader investigation that we know from james comey himself that the fbi has been conducting into what role russia played potentially with the trump campaign. and the other part of the story is that for him to get immunity on capitol hill, on congress, you need to have a vote. either in the committee, where you need 2/3, or in the full congress. that means you could have members of congress, a lot of republicans that are going to be up for election, facing this question, on whether or not they think flynn should get immunity. >> thank you. i want to go to our capitol hill correspondent, kasie hunt, with breaking news involving michael flynn. what do you have? >> a little bit of breaking news at nbc. we are being told by two congressional sources that the senate intelligence committee is, quote, not receptive at this time to michael flynn's statement suggesting that he would testify in exchange for immunity. the source is telling myself and nbc a little more about this. one official telling our colleague that flynn's lawyer was told it was wildly preliminary and that immunity was not on the table at this time. so, again, remember this investigation is in its very early stages. you saw that in public yesterday, where they started to lay out the preliminary case, kind of put everything in context. and the next sort of set of puzzle pieces, as they finish their review of -- and i shouldn't even go so far as to say they're about to finish it -- they are working through all this raw intelligence. when they get to the point where they feel like they have wrapped themselves in that as much as they can, and they understand fully where they are and what they need to know, that's when they'd get into the stages where they'd start talking to witnesses, making negotiations with them. you saw a conversation around this as well when we learned that jared kushner volunteered to offer testimony, to be interviewed privately by the committee. again, the headline here, the committee has communicated to michael flynn and his lawyers that they are not receptive to this request for immunity at this time. >> there was this tweet a short time ago from the member of the committee, blumenthal. no immunity for flynn until a special prosecutor appointed to know what he's hiding. then decide. as part of this, does it seem not just that they're saying, we're not going to be rushed, this is preliminary, but is there a special prosecutor component, or is that just blumenthal? >> honestly, i think that tweet probably falls into the political category on this. i think it is obviously something that democrats and initially republicans called for. if not a special prosecutor, an independent commission to look into this. i think you can kind of put that in a separate bucket of facts. people will continue to pressure on the fronts. democrats want to draw more attention to this than republicans typically for obvious reasons. in the context of this investigation, which is at this point ongoing and which, you know, the leadership on both sides still say they do have faith and confidence in the senate intelligence committee, maybe not the house anymore, but certainly still the senate intelligence committee, to conduct an investigation that has credibility. that doesn't mean you won't see these calls from people who don't sit on the intelligence committees. at the same time, i think we should separate the two things out a little bit. >> important to do. thank you very much, kasie, with the breaking news. now to new information about who gave devin nunes access to the classified documents, showing that trump campaign aides could have been swept up in surveillance. that new information from the "new york times" and the "washington post" that three white house staffers had a role in getting classified information to congressman nunes, head of the house intelligence committee. though nunes denied it was a white house source. the "new york times" identifies two as michael ellis, a white house lawyer, and ezra, a senior on the counsel. last night, the "washington post" identified a third person, top lawyer for the national security counsel. nbc news has not independently confirmed the reports. nbc did catch up with ellis and eisenberg early this morning. >> i'm not talking about anything. >> i have no idea. >> can you tell us anything, any information about the current investigation going on by chairman nunes? >> have a good day. >> with me now, one of the writers who broke the story. greg miller of the "washington post." first of all, congratulations. we have heard this morning from white house press secretary sean spicer, who said he would be going down a slippery slope if he were to start confirming or denying every report that's out there. obviously, it is going to be an interesting briefing. tell us what you know about what happened here and who these men are who are involved with potentially ties to mike flynn. >> yeah, at least one of them has a close tie to mike flynn. ezra cohen was brought in by flynn when he was tapped to be the first national security adviser. appears to share lot of flynn's distrust or disdain for the cia. so he actually -- the agency tried to get him removed in thi job because he's in an important white house job, as the main liaison between the white house and spy agencies. it backfired. he went to steve bannon, jared kushner. they protected him and kept him in place. that's why, i think, when sean spicer says there is a slippery slope here for him, he may be right. it is hard to imagine that this story ends with just these three individuals that we identified in the "post." there has to be -- it's likely that others were aware of or involved in arranging these -- this whole escapade with nunes. >> what doesn't, i guess, make sense to a lot of people then, he was pretty specific with a couple of different reporters. with another reporter, his spokesperson was very specific, that these were not people within the white house. >> yeahment. i mean, that appears to be just dead in the water as an explanation. nobody really completely believed that at the outset. you're talking about nunes insisting these weren't white house staff. these were, at one point, he said it was an intelligence source. even in the -- even on the most extensive sort of hair-splitting scenario, that wouldn't apply to any of these individuals who were involved in handling this information. >> i guess part of this question we're trying to get at today, and reporters at the white house will try to get at, is what their thinking is. history will tell us, they won't get a lot from sean spicer. i talked with a former press secretary, josh ernest, who swet further than nancy pelosi who said this morning maybe nunes was duped by all this. >> for the white house, i think they have to be concerned because it looks like they're trying to launder this information through the republican chairman of the house intelligence community, to exonerate or defend the tweets from the president of the united states. i think most people would expect that people who are in positions of handling sensitive intelligence are trying to handle that information, using the information, to protect the american people, not to protect the political claims of the president of the united states. >> any sense of nervous ness you're getting from the white house? >> i mean, i think that what you heard there is right on point. i mean, the idea here is that you have an effort, in an oddly extensive effort to defend trump's tweets about being wiretapped. you now have at least three officials in the white house under scrutiny, and the chairman of the house intelligence committee now, there are calls for his recusal if not removal from the panel. the ripples from this continue to hurt other people all in an effort to protect the president. >> greg miller from the "washington post," great reporting. thank you so much. >> thanks. i want to bring in my panel. a former special assistant to president obama. former senior director at the national security counsel. tara is white house reporter for politico. david, op-ed columnist for the "new york times." i want to start with the breaking news. the senior official it willing nbc news the senate intelligence committee turned down flynn's request for immunity. what do we make of this? >> i would say that -- i've spoken to legal experts and they say you only ask for immunity when you may have presented conflicting statements. a lawyer who wouldn't ask for that would be accused of malpractice. if he made conflicting statements in the past, he can be accused of perjury. i think that's what we really need to see from that call for immunity. maybe something that michael flynn said in the past is not actually true. >> are you surprised by the reaction from the committee? >> no. it is too soon. the committee has to do more investigative work. they need documents. they need to talk to lower level officials before they think of giving immunity to someone as senior as mike flynn. >> what would be the disadvantage of doing it now? >> well, they don't know what they don't know. they're in the beginning of their investigation. the senate intelligence committee had just started their work. they had the first open hearing yesterday. they're just beginning to interview officials. so it is too soon in this process to talk about immunity in my view. >> david, you wrote an op-ed saying the house members are acting more like trump staff members than they are like independent members of congress. this whole issue of oversight. that was 11 days ago, by the way, that you wrote that. where are you now? >> the same place, even worse. that's what i find -- solook, i expect this white house to mislead and knowingly lie. the president has a long record of doing that. i can't believe we're at that point. the fact is, we have a pattern in which the president of the united states lies a lot. i would expect that congress would have the ability to act as a co-equal branch of government and say, look, we don't work for the president. we work for congress. the constitution enshrines our authority here. and i still am hopeful the senate will do that. we're seeing none of that from the house republicans. it is as if they work for sean spicer's staff in the white house press secretary's office. >> what can the senate do realistically? what can the fbi do? >> in terms of? >> in terms of getting to the bottom of all of this. >> well, right now, they're going through a mountain of documents. it's been turned over to them by the intelligence committee. they're beginning to interview witnesses. they're going to be holding more public hearings. i mean, in the first top of the first inning of this investigation. there's many, many more moves yet to come. i think when we -- >> we live in this world where everything changes not every 15 minutes but 15 seconds. >> enormously complex story. with many different players, layers and layers of intelligence. very high classification of issues. this is not something that is going to be sorted out soon. >> where does this lead? first of all, chairman nunes. there seems to be a widespread, let's use an easy word, dissatisfaction, with the way the house intelligence committee has handled this. he's basically at war with his democratic counterpart. where does this leave him? >> i think it leaves him in an extremely vulnerable position. with top democratic leaders calling for him to recuse himself from the investigation, he appears to be carrying the water from the white house and is seeking press. he took their information and portrayed it as his own information he was getting from outside intelligence officials, just to get another news cycle supporting tweets by trump. how can we say he is an independent investigator when, clearly, he has been using all of these press statements to support the president's claims, that he's been wiretapped? >> there was an interesting exchange this morning. it was a conversation on "morning joe" between mike and clinton watts, a former fbi agent who testified yesterday on capitol hill. let's play that. >> at this point, are you worried or concerned about the potential of collusion between elements of the trump campaign and russian intelligence services? >> yes. there's two ways to look at how russian active measures get propelled amongst the trump campaign. is it coordination and synchronization? >> people said on twitter, i talked to guccifer. i talked to wikileaks and they have something coming out. that's collusion, when i see that. the other part is opportunism, which is also strange. why would you look to russian propaganda to go against your american opponent? that's crazy. especially coming from a republican candidate. looking back to the reagan era, this is the party that was tough on the soviet union, tough on russia. we've got a candidate, and now president, that's citing russian propaganda to go after his opponents. either scenario is scary. i think collusion is the worst case, obviously. >> worst case scenario here? >> yeah. it is important to say there's a lot we don't know. >> right. >> we just do not know what has gone on with trump and the campaign. we shouldn't assume the worst but there is so much reason to have deep concerns that a major nominee, and now the president of the united states, had his campaign doing things that at least were untorred and maybe illegal, with a hostile foreign govr government. that's why it is important that the house doesn't cover this up. but that we have a full investigation from the fbi, a bipartisan group in congress and figure out what happened. if it is not as bad as what many fear, wonderful. if it is as bad, we have to get to the bottom of it and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> what are the chances michael flynn is an important part of all of this and would have information that could lead us to get to what really happened here? >> well, we know it's been widely reported that michael flynn had many contacts with russian officials but also representatives during the course of the campaign. we don't know what the contacts were about. we don't know who he talked to about the contacts. did he talk to trump, other campaign officials? this is what i think the intelligence committees are very interested in learning. at least the senate intelligence committee is interested in learning. >> flynn's lawyer is robert kel n kelner, a very ak tiitiy active trump force in the white house. it is law, not politics, but hired someone very hostile, not only to trump but -- >> can you separate those two? >> you can't. that's exactly right. not only was kelner hostile to trump during the campaign but harshly critical of trump's flirtation with russia. >> take us on the hill and how much -- i mean, we saw this show of unity by the senate intelligence committee. they felt they needed to go out there and say, look, we're going to work together. you have the chairman of the committee saying, look, i voted for trump. i never made that public before. i'm saying it now. how much discomfort is there on the hill generally about the whole idea that oversight -- let's call it a critical part of the way this democracy is supposed to work -- is completely been thrown into question? >> i think the fact that you saw these two senators say, we're the adults here. you can trust our investigation. you know, it is really showing how politicized the system has gotten. even the deeper divisions within the gop. you're seeing some congressman from the republican party saying what nunes did was incorrect. i think that at this point, to gain any credibility with the american people, the congress from both sides of the party needs to say, we're above policization when it comes to investigations. right now, it seems someone that the american people trust as a ranking chairman in the intelligence community, taking secret trips to the white house and carrying the message to the press, that's concerning. this is a time for them to show they are non-partisan. >> we talked about how complex this is. what is the next logical step though for people who can step away from the politics of it and look at what do we need to do here? >> we need to take a deep breath and let the committees do their work. right now, it seems like the senate committee is the most likely one to take this on forthrightly. this is going to take a while. this is a very complicated story. we are learning every day new things about what russia's capabilities are, in terms of interfering in our elections. one of the interesting dynamics i saw yesterday was many republican members of the committee realizing that what russia did for trump, which is being alleged, they could do against them when they're running for re-election. said yesterday during the senate intelligence committee hearing that marco rubio was targeted by the russians. thinking about 2018, 2020, 2022 when they're up for election, they don't want it swinging back on them. they want to get to the bottom of it. >> we shall see. thank you so much. despite today's dramas across d.c., the white house plans to make good on a big campaign problmise. trade. more on the president's order to investigate top chaeaters of america's deals. that's next. can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. a heart attack doesn't or how healthy you look. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. when a fire destroyed everything in our living room. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance right now, president trump is meeting with members of the national association of manufacturers. a little later, he is expected to sign an executive order call frg a full-scale report to determine the top cheaters in trade deals. that order coming ahead of next week's visit with china's president. we're following the latest from msnbc headquarters in new york. fill us in on the executive order. >> trump is expected to sign an executive order this afternoon and identify top cheaters in trade deals with the u.s. perhaps leading to some tougher trade negotiations. now, the commerce secretary, wilbur ross, is saying the order will call for a large scale report, by the congress department and the u.s. trade representative. they want to look at specific trade abuses. they'll go country by country, product by product, taking 90 days or so. the commerce secretary, wilbur ross, pointing out that china is specifically one of the countries they're looking at as of last night, and the timing, of course, very interesting, as china is one of the largest sources of a trade deficit with the united states. all of this is coming ahead of president trump's meeting next week with chinese president xi jinping. that's happening at mar-a-lago in florida. the commerce secretary not saying whether trump will address the trade deficit in those meetings. but the white house adding, the executive orders and their timing for today are not directly linked to the chinese president's meeting. trump called out china many times during the campaign for what he calls is damage to the u.s. economy. he argued china caused the loss of millions of jobs especially in manufacturer. he tweeted, the meeting next week will be a difficult one, in that he can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses. american companies must be prepared to look at different alternatives. which is a different discussion all together. what is interesting, we're seeing new partisan divide on how the u.s. government is going to handle china. we haven't seen it in a long time. china watchers are saying both parties have generally been on the same page regarding how they handle china. the consensus is fracturing as trump preparing to meet with xi jinping next week. there is discussion about a trade deficit, as well. not the key indicator of a healthy economic relationship, but trump thinks so as he tries to fulfill the promise to create the new manufacturing jobs. >> thank you so much. america's top diplomat attending his first nato summit, rex tillerson taking a hard line against russia and telling allies to pay up. what does it say about the future of america's role in the alliance? i'll ask general clark after the break. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active. ask your doctor about lyrica. i can be more active. (i wanted him to eat healthy., so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. nutrition to build better lives. it's your glass of willpower that helps keep cravings... ...far, far away. feel less hungry with the natural fiber in clinically... ...proven meta appetite control. from metamucil. secretary of state rex tillerson taking a hard line against russia at his first nato summit in brussels today. tillerson calling the alliance fundamental to countering non-violent and violent russian agitation and aggression. he warned members not paying their military contributions, nato dues essentially, to increase spending or come up with a plan to reach their commitment in the next two months. he also urged them to do more to combat militants in syria and iraq. joining me, former commander clark, senior fellow and chairman and ceo. good morning. >> thank you. good morning. >> a lot going on. let me start by playing what we heard today from defense secretary james mattis. >> russia's violations of international law are a matter of record from what happened with crimea to other aspects of their behavior in monkeying around inside other people's elections, that sort of thing. so i think the point i would make is that nato stands united. the transatlantic bond is united. >> i wonder what you make of this. you had a president who was -- had a lot of nice things to say about vladimir putin and wasn't tough enough for even members of his own party on russia. now, you have both mattis and the secretary of state, rex tillerson, with tough talk on russia. what do you make of all this? >> i think what mattis and tillerson said is what should be said to russia. and it should be said to our nato allies. it indicates a realistic appreciation for what vladimir putin wants to do and how he behaves in russia. and it reflects an understanding of what nato must do in response. now, how that translates upward through the white house and its policymaking, that's all still to be resolved. and i'm sure there's a lot of frantic, behind the scenes work, trying to handle the russia relationship, the investigations, get a new national security adviser, mcmaster on board. square that with what steve bannon wants to do. there's a lot going on in the white house. i'm happy to hear jim mattis and rex tillerson lay it out the way they did to nato. >> meantime, we're looking at video of what is called in these situations the family photo. they've got all these various representatives of the allied countries. there we see the secretary of state. you know, basically doing a photo op. behind the scenes, how much tension do you think there is at this meeting, and what do you think the challenge is here for rex tillerson? >> i think there's a lot of tension behind the scenes because the europeans have watched and are watching on an hourly basis exactly what's happening in washington. what they're seeing, quite honestly, is an administration which doesn't seem to be cooperating with the investigations of the russia issue, which raises the question of, why not? is there something to hide there? it all goes back to the efforts at the republican national convention where they pulled out the provision on the rnc platform that said, provide defensive -- lethal defense i aid to ukraine to help it defend itself. that was pulled out. so from that moment on, people have asked, where does president -- donald trump is and then president trump, where does he stand on this? so i think what tillerson and mattis said is good. it is important. but the final word has to come from the president of the united states. he hasn't spoken it yet. >> one of the things the president said during the campaign, general, and tillerson talked about this, a demand that members pay their dues essentially, make their commitment, which most countries have not. one of the things that reacted to it -- sorry. we have to take a break. we're getting this feed from the president, who is with manufacturers at the white house. let's take a listen. >> we have some really good news today. it's really fantastic, neese numb -- these numbers. i'm delighted to welcome the national association of manufacturers to the white house. great group of people. i know many of them well. and i want to thank your president and ceo, jay timmons, for being with us today. great job. great job, jay. my administration is working every day to make it easier for manufacturers to build, hire and grow in america. we're removing job killing regulations and lifting the burdens on american industry. like i would say, have never been lifted before. we've done a lot of work over the last 60, 70 days. i think you're seeing some real production. i think we could say this, mike, like never before. earlier this week, i signed an executive order to end the war on coal. we had coal miners up at the office. it was an amazing scene. very rough, strong, powerful men that were crying, actually. they were crying with happiness. and produce more american energy and more american jobs, which is how i got elected in the first place. we've created the task force and every agency to eliminate wasteful regulations. today at 3:30, with the department of commerce, wilbur ross will be up. we're signing two very powerful executive orders. it will be something very important, very, very special. that'll be with commerce. one of the reasons we're here today is to announce the extraordinary results of a new survey from the national association of manufacturers. your survey shows that 93% of manufacturers now have a positive outlook on the future of their business in this country. 93%. and it was just a few months ago, 56%. that's a slight difference. just a slight difference. that tells you something. [ applause ] that's a 20-year record high. the highest it's been in 20 years and it is going higher. believe me, you could come back next month, jay. i don't know how much higher it could go. i'm very proud of that. we're all very proud of that. the manufacturers are really starting to invest big money in a lot of things that are happening. it's a new surge in sweeping acs the land. there is a vote in confidence in the plan to bring back jobs, lower taxes and provide a level playing field for our workers. the manufacturer companies represent and represented here today are just an extraordinary group of people. they're leaders. they're brilliant in so many ways. the field has not been a level field. jobs have been leaving our country, going to china and mexico and lots of other places. and you'll be seeing what's happening other the next few weeks. it should be interesting for you to watch. president xi is coming to florida. we're having a meeting at mar-a-lago, which is the southern white house. it was actually built as the southern white house. strange how it got there. but it is going to be something, i think, very important, very special. i look very much forward to meeting him at the delegation. we'll see what happens. but i am very, very proud of what you've been able to do in a short period of time. just this littlest, short period of time, the optimism is so high. i see the billions of dollars being invested by your people and your representatives in plant and equipment and jobs. i appreciate that, jay. very much. congratulations. you may want to say a few words? >> i do. i want to reemphasize for the media here, that this quarterly survey of our -- >> that's the president with manufacturers, talking about jobs, but also not answering any questions about michael flynn. i want to bring back general wesley clark. it is the president who has said throughout the campaign, frankly, that he's not happy that nato member countries have not paid their fair share. that was the message he sent with rex tillerson. is he right, or is he unrealistic? >> well, he's right in the sense that for the last 12 years, nato nations have been committed to spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. and many nations have not spent this much. it's not that they owe the money to nato. they owe it to themselves. to the collective efforts of nato to defend. the united states, obviously, spends more than that on defense. so it is not that these nations have fallen behind in their pledge to the nato organization. it's that they don't have the resources committed to their own armed forces, to their cybersecurity, their anti-terrorism work, to their strategic transportation, communications, armored vehicles, marksmanship training, all the things that go to make up an armed forces, they're not doing it. they need to do more. >> general clark, always good to see you. thank you. >> thank you. meantime, attorney general jeff sessions, he's just wrapped up a speak to law enforcement officials about ways to combat violent crime and keep communities safe. his appearance comes as ferguson, a suburb of st. louis, remains under a justice department degree to reform police practices. that following the shooting death of mike brown in 2014, which sparked unrest for weeks. nbc's ron allen joins me from st. louis. what did the attorney general have to say? >> well, chris, a lot of people here are waiting to hear what he had to say about ferguson. he didn't say anything specific about that. the attorney general was here to sound a warning signal, if you will. he says while violent crime is at historic low levels across the country, he's seen what could be a dangerous trend, a spike, last year and figures early this year. murders up, violent crime up, in places like st. louis, one of the highest violent crime rates anywhere in the country. this was also a shoutout, if you will, to law enforcement across the country. as you know during the obama administration, there was something of a tense relationship between cops on the beat and the white house. now, i think law enforcement community feels much more comfortable with the trump administration. they feel they have a friend in the white house. the attorney general was here to reassure them of that. here's some of what he had to say on that issue. >> the preliminary data for 2016 shows that violent crimes continue to rise here. these numbers should trouble all of us. locally and nationally. behind all the data are real people whose safety and lives are at stake. >> indeed, he was trying to zero in on the numbers. he particularly said that the big problem is the heroin/opioid crisis that's happening in america. 140 people dying every day of these drugs in communities across the country. that's what the attorney general -- one of the things he was focusing on, saying that's one of the reasons for a spike in the violence, a spike in the rise in crime. drugs and violence going hand in hand. what he was mostly here to do, as well as sound the alarm for violent crime, was to reassure law enforcement that, in fact, he supports them and recognizes what they do and how important it is and that they have a friend in the white house. >> thanks so much, ron. appreciate that. we have to go back to the breaking news involving michael flynn. kasie hunt. >> bahi, chris. some additional information. a report that the statement from mike flynn's lawyer apparently, the offer was not immunity in exchange for testimony, not made just to the senate intelligence committee but also to the justice department. we've been talking throughout the morning about the implications of potentially offering immunity to a witness in a congressional hearing, may potentially complicate a criminal prosecution or an fbi investigation down the line. we're starting to get the sense this is something of an opening offer from mike flynn's lawyers here, to say, look, i will tell the whole story in exchange for something else. but as we reported earlier, the senate intelligence committee has communicated they're rebuffing the offer at this time. according to our sources, that could change with time, as the negotiations go on. clearly, a complicated issue. noteworthy they also sent this over to the justice department. chris? >> kasie hunt on a fast developing story today. thank you so much for that. there is another story we've been following for many months now. that's about north carolina. their democratic governor says the state must repair its reputation now that it repealed the bathroom bill. using the bathroom that corresponds with the gender of their birth. >> it's been a cloud hanging over our great state. it has stained our reputation. it has discriminated against our people. and it has caused great economic harm in many of our communities. >> governor cooper is also saying, look, this new law is not a full repeal. it allows discrimination. let me bring in clay aiken, former north carolina congressional kacandidate, musician and former celebrity apprentice runner up. how are you? >> i'm good. thanks, chris. >> let's discuss the law. most people would say, it was moving in the right direction. a lot of lgbtq leaders are saying, this is just not far enough. in fact, i think at least one person called it a slap in the face. does it fall short? >> i mean, obviously, it falls short on the policy points and the points of the law that still are in tact. but -- and for myself, and i think most people who love the state of north carolina, we'd like to see everything go away and go back to the way things were when we didn't really have a problem with this in the first place. but the truth is, the political climate here right now is such that this was probably the best that roy cooper was going to be able to do. i think he achieved something that he's tried twice already. i'm happy that he's been able to get as far as he was able to get this time. >> you distilled the critical thought into a tweet yesterday. i'm going to read it. never underestimate the power of college basketball in the state of north carolina. so long hb2. hb2repeal. the ncaa says it has to review the law before making a decision on whether or not to bring back chf championships to the state. first of all, how much of this, even what the law is now, how much do you think was motivated by the love of basketball in that state, is and do you think that it does go far enough that the many millions of dollars in business that has been lost by north carolina could start coming back? >> i mean, it was part joke in the tweet, obviously, but it is true. businesses have been pulling out of this state or stopping their expansions in north carolina for almost a year now. it's been quite a while since the law has been in place. the ncaa said the state had just a few more days, actually, in order to be able to have some of these championship games in the state, between now and 2026, i believe. so the general assembly was able to get a fire lit under them pretty quickly because of the ncaa and the amount of money they would have restricted the state from having access to. i think -- i'm glad they're still going to review it. i think it does need further scrutiny. when i say i'm happy it's been repealed, i don't want to imply i think it's gone far enough, certainly. i think we need to be -- we need to cheer this small victory and continue to take a look at ways to further peel back some of the restrictions. i think it has done far more than -- this repeal did far more than we've been able to try to negotiate in the state thus far in the past year. and i don't know if all businesses will necessarily see it as enough. certainly, we've started the process. i think governor cooper is right. there's still more work to be done. >> clay aiken, always good to have you on the program. thank you. >> thank you. after a quick break, a look back at the week that was. full of non-stop controversies. still more questions than answers about russia. 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(dog barking) whoever threw it has to go get it. not me! somebody will get it... ♪ (dog barking) anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. from the b-2 to the upcoming b-21, northrop grumman stealth bombers give america an advantage in a turbulent world. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live. now, andrea mitchell reports live from brussels. >> right now on a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from nato headquarters in brussels. a former advisor says he will talk if he gets immunity from the congressional committees. this morning senate intelligence sources tell nbc news that is not on the table as far as they're concerns. the president calls the probes a democratic witch hunt. look at what flynn said about i'm m immunity last fall on "meet the press." >> when you're given immunity that means you have probably committed a crime. >> white house insiders reporting on who gave secret information to devin nunes. but they're not talking. >> i'm not talking about anything. >> have you spoken to president trump? >> i have to get to work. >> can you tell us anything about which trump officials were mentioned in the documents give ton chairman nunes. >> no thanks. >> can you tell us if there was any corroboration with russian officials by the obama administration. >> i have no idea. >> can you tell us anything, any information