Know it. What it means for you . All that a today exclusive. Times person of the year short list reveal and wait for it. The implosion fail that has the iconic stadium Still Standing, today monday, december 4, 2017. Announcer from nbc news this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today nice to have you with us on a monday morning. I think implosion videos are anticlimate tick in the first place, when the implosion doesnt work its even less spectacular. At least there wasnt a big bus parked in front of it. Well have more on that in a moment. The president on the attack. Criticizing the fbi and the yufs department over the latest developments in the russia investigation. But did his own tweet over the weekend strengthen a potential obstruction of justice case against him. Weve got it all covered. Well start at the white house. Peter alexander is there. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning. The president right now in route out west to utah to announce a decrease in federal protected land and today on a russia front after going to war with his own intelligence community, trashing the fbi on twitter, claiming its reputation is in tatters, this morning President Trump is fiercely defending Michael Flynn and the president s outside lawyer is now detailing a new potential Defense Strategy that the president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice. This morning the president speaking out about Michael Flynn. I feel badly for general flynn. I feel very badly. Hes led a very strong life and i feel very badly. Reporter comparing his former National Security adviser to Hillary Clinton who he says also lied to the fbi. I will say this, Hillary Clinton lied many times to the fbi. Nothing happened to her. It was the most incredible thing anyones ever seen. She lied many times. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and its like they ruined his life. Very unfair. Reporter his comments come after the president furiously backtracking from this recent tweet. I had to fire general flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the fbi. The attorney saying he dictated those words insisting the president did not know flynn lied to the fbi. Whys it matter . Because that tweet deepens suspicions of obstruction of justice. The president implying he knew flynn lied before james comey says trump asked him to drop the case which the president denied. Republican Lindsey Graham delivers this warning. You tweet regarding about Ongoing Investigations at your own peril. Dianne feinstein investigators are plowing ahead with their probe. I think what were beginning to see is the putting together of case of obstruction of justice. Reporter for the special counsel Michael Flynn may offer key to the white house gate now convicted and cooperating with other Current White House officials including Communications Director hope hicks expected to meet with investigators in the coming days. President trump pouncing on revelations that Robert Mueller removed an fbi officer from the russia probe for sending antitrump text messages. Mr. Trump dismissing the inquiry. What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. Theres been absolutely theres been absolutely no collusion so were very happy. Reporter also this morning, President Trump is tweeting his first full endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate roy moore despite allegations that moore pursued sexual relationships with teenage girls arguing moore will be a reliable republican vote. This comes as house and Senate Republicans race to get a tax cut bill on the president s desk before christmas. The passed it weekend without a single democratic vote. Now to that scathing op ed he takes the president to task over their notorious exchange during a taping for access hollywood. White house correspondent Kristen Welker has that story. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Everyone remembers that now infamous access Hollywood Tape it nearly cost then candidate trump the election. Well, in recent weeks, mr. Trump has reportedly been questioning the authenticity of the tape. Now overnight, billy bush who lost his job over the controversy is speaking out. His message, the tape is real and the president s denials have hit a raw nerve. This morning an old controversy now back in the spotlight. Former tv host billy bush taking aim at the president overnight over that now infamous access Hollywood Tape. Grab them by the reporter bush wrig in an op ed for the the New York Times, yes, donald trump you said that. It comes after a report in the the New York Times last week that in recent days President Trump has continued to see doubt about his appearance on the access Hollywood Tape telling people close to him, including a republican senator the tape may have been fake and that he wants to investigate the recording. I said it, i was wrong and i apologize. Reporter an issue the president apologized for right after the tape was released. Bush now noting that the president is indulging in some revisionist history adding that seven other guys heard the conversation and every single one of us assumed we were listen to a accuracy standup act. He was performing, surely he thought. None of this was real. We now know better. Bush who was fired from nbc news following the tapes release goes on to say he believes several of the women who have accused the president of harassment saying the behavior trump describes on the access Hollywood Tape is similar to their accusations writing about one accuser, her story makes the whole better use some tick tacks and just start kissing them real. I believe her. The president has denied any accusations and has recently addressed the movement of women coming forward and sharing their own stories of harassment. I think its a very special time because a lot of things are coming out and i think thats good for our society and i think its very, very good for women. Reporter for his part, bush says today is about a reckoning and a real wakening and calls last year an odyssey one which he hopes to never face again. And were joined now by former two Trump Campaign insiders, Corey Lewandowski served as Campaign Manager and david bossie was the deputy Campaign Manager at the ends of the Trump Campaign and theyve collaborated on a new book called, what else, let trump be trump. The inside story of his rise to the presidency. Gentlemen, good morning. How many times have i heard you say that, let trump be trump. Let me start with this esHollywood Tape. Its been reported that the president recently has started to suggest to people and including one senator that maybe that tape wasnt real, maybe it he really didnt say those things. David you were the deputy Campaign Manager, you actually showed him the access Hollywood Tape on your ipad when it came out. Is it real . I said yesterday on meet the press that it is of course real. And did the president acknowledge that it was real then . We the president made a tape where he acknowledged having the locker room talk and i think that thats where it ends with him. It was all about the talk and now i understand billy bush is coming out, thats all well and good. We wouldnt be talking about this today i dont think if all these high profile folks in the last month human had a problem. This is behind the president and we want to move forward. Perhaps it was but if he is corey, talking to people in his inside circle and suggesting maybe that tapes fake if thats true why would he do that . You know him better than anybody. I know him very well. Do you believe hes doubting it . Ive spoken to him thousands of times in my life, ive never heard him say that so where these sources where the fake news wants to report this, what weve seen time and time again is people want to make up a story that isnt true. We saw it this week with an abc news report. They want to make up the story about the administration or the president that isnt true. It becomes the news of the day and everyone is forced to which is not true. They set a narrative that is negative for the president. Brian ross did it and it was obviously wrong and so the president said, yes i said those awful words and he Still Believes yes i said though awful words is what youre saying . Let trump be trump in our book, we detail the billy bush weekend and everyone can read it for themselves. Michael flynn now pled guilty, got something of a sweetheart deal from prosecutors, a fairly light charge, obviously hes cooperating with them and has something to say and something of value to these federal prosecutors. Do you think the president should be worried corey that Michael Flynn is about to turn on him . I dont think so. Let me tell you why. Michael flynn came after i left so he wasnt an early support. And what we know is as it relates to the National Security component and specifically that entire component was segregated out and the president and the kban side had nothing to do with the national component. If mike flynn was not honest to the fbi and thats what he pled guilt that is a crime that mike is responsible for not the president. And, by the way, if things had happened during the transition thats what the government is supposed to be doing. The Incoming Administration and on december 2nd, the state department specifically said and its on video tape, the state Department Said that we understand that the Incoming Trump administration is dealing with National Security leaders in other countries as well as why would flynn lie about it . Its a head scratcher. You know what i know, if youre being questioned about the fbi just be truthful. Hes accused of lying to an federal official and he and he alone is responsible for that. Has the fbi tried to interview you . Ill talk to anybody. Have they asked . Ive not talked to anybody. Im an open book and im happy to talk to them about anything i saw. Let me ask you about the president s tweet over the weekend. He said i fired flynn because he lied to the Vice President and he lied to the fbi. This is different than what he claimed before and its potentially legally significant because if he said i fired flynn because he lied to the fbi and then, according to comeys testimony, later said to comey, you ought to go easy on flynn. Im paraphrasing. That would be prop mattic, would it not . And the president in his tweet says thats why he fired Michael Flynn. Mike flynn was fired from my world view because he lied to the Vice President and to the white house. The brez just tweeted, i understand the confluence of those two things together but i think and i wasnt there. Were not in the white house so we dont exactly know. That is simply the president hears that he was lied to the fbi and he puts those together. Simple as that. Very clear on meet the press, no russians ever attempted to contact you during the campaign . Correct. And you did not speak to any russians . To my knowledge, chris cuomo, maybe. Do you have reason to believe that the russians were trying to get in touch with members of the campaign . I think what the email chains now show is that russia wanted to get in touch with both campaigns and what they wanted to do is have a relationship a different relationship with either the Trump Administration or the Clinton Administration than what they had in the Obama Administration and what this administration, the Trump Administration said, hey, theres an opportunity to work with russia if we can partner together to rid isis in syria, that is a good thing for people. If the russians were contacting members of your Trump Campaign, which according to federal prosecutors they were and offering to peddle dirt on Hillary Clinton would that have been appropriate . Absolutely not. What i would have done is i wouldve gone to me is gone to the general counsel and said i dont know anything about about this you investigate it. When i served as a Campaign Manager, never to my knowledge did the russians try to bring me information that would have been potential damaging to the Clinton Campaign and never accepted it. Theres so much to talk to both of you about that you have to come back in the 8 00 hour. You talk about the campaign, so well look forward to talking to you both in a little while. Also on a busy monday morning new developments in the north korean crisis. The u. S. And south korea began a massive joint military drill on the Korean Peninsula. Their biggest ever. The show of force less than a week after north koreas most provocative missile test to date. Incur simmons. Reporter good morning. Military exercises as a great provocation. The u. S. Air force pointing out that happen annually but it is a more significant show of strength as tensions continue to escalate. This morning the u. S. And south korea flexing their combined military muscle launching a Major Air Force drill amid furry from north korea. Some 12,000 personnel and 230 aircraft taking part in the annual exercise. The war games involving some of the pentagons most powerful war planes. North korean state media warning the week long exercises are pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. Senator Lindsey Graham saying the families of more than 28,000 u. S. Service members in south korea should be moved for their safety. Its crazy to send spouses and children to south korea given the provocation of north korea. Reporter over the weekend, north korean celebrating their countrys latest missile test. The new missile flying higher and longer than ever capable of reaching much of the continental United States. The white house National Security adviser saying the threat is increasing daily. Its immensely important that we Work Together with all of our allies, partners, everyone internationally to convince kim jongun that the continued pursuit of these capabilities is a dead end for him and his regime. Reporter kim jongun continuing the missile tests despite International Pressure after a two month pause. The white house returning to an often repeated message, pushing china to do more, to reign in north korea. And this morning were learning last weeks north Korean Missile was even spotted by a plane. The crew of the commercial Airline Flying over japan close enough to witness what is now thought to be the reentry of the missile into the earths atmosphere. All right. Thanks so much for that. Now to this blockbuster deal that could drastically reshape the countrys health industry. The drugstore giant cvs has agreed to buy aetna which is one of the nations Biggest Health insurer and a 69 billion deal. What does it mean for all of us . Steph, good morning to you. Explain this one to us. We dont know if the cvs wreepts you get in the store are going to get even longer but this is a big deal. This is the First Health Care triple threat that youve seep. Youve got the physical pharmacies. You know that you got the care mark benefit platform. Thats the side of cvs that negotiations between drug companies, pharmacies and Insurance Companies drug prices and that matters. And then the third wing is going to be aetna. Why did they need to do this . Because theres huge pressure to lower drug prices and the bigger they get the more opportunity they have to do that and you cannot underestimate the threat of amazon. Amazon is threatening to get into the pharmacy business delivering drugs. As soon as amazon is knocking on your door you better do something because they are powerful. If im mary smith and walking into a cvs after all of this happens, what will i see . What will be different for me . This could be a big positive for you, when cvs gets bigger that means they have the ability to negotiate cheaper prices. You want that. Maybe youre going to see them turn it to walkin clinics. That would be a positive not just for you mary but also for aetna, that means people arent going to go to the emergency room and cvs will get ancillary business. If youre a aetna customer, youll get a cheaper copai if you go to cvs. Its a negative if youre worried about competition because theyll be less opportunities for smaller businesses and if you own a mom and pop pharmacy its really bad news. All right. I love wh