House. The russia investigation is zeroing in on his inner circle. And now investigators at the fbi are furious with him. On sunday, the president tweeted this. After years of comey with a 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. James comey, the fbi director until donald trump fired him later tweeted this message, quoting himself from Senate Testimony he gave in june. I want the American People to know this truth. The fbi is honest. The fbi is strong. And the fbi is and always will be independent. The president s tweet about the fbi came after a report that special Counsel Robert Mueller had removed an fbi agent from his team for possibly having bias against mr. Trump. Now this also comes after the president s former National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about conversations with a russian official. Now flynn says he is cooperating with the russia investigation. Now meanwhile, the president s lawyer says he drafted a tweet that brings up questions about what mr. Trump knew about Michael Flynns lies to the fbi and when. Jeremy diamond has the details. Reporter well, the president is especially active on social media this weekend after his former National Security adviser Michael Flynn plead guilty to charging of lying to the fbi. He he is now cooperating with federal investigators. And all of that of course is casting a pale over this white house. The president clearly stewing over this investigation over the weekend. But one of the tweets that he put out, his personal attorney john dowd is now claiming that it was not in order by the president , but authored by this attorney, john dowd himself. This tweet, though, is the one that has caused the most problems for the white house this weekend because it has once again raised the specter of obstruction of justice. In this tweet, the president appeared to suggest that he knew that Michael Flynn, his National Security adviser had lied to the fbi while he was still a senior white house official. But now the president s attorney john dowd signaling that the president did not in fact know that. And that the tweet was simply an attempt for the white house to continue to try to put some distance it seems between Michael Flynn and the president. This of course has dominated the weekend. But its a weekend during which the president should perhaps instead be celebrating. The senate of course on friday night passed a tax reform bill, the first major legislative accomplishment of this president s time in office so far. But now again he will head into this next week as the senate and the house seek to reconcile those two bills instead with this investigation once again looming over his head. Well, after that tweet about Michael Flynns firing, democrats were asking some tough questions, mainly if President Trump knew flynn was lying about his russian contacts, why didnt he do something about it earlier. This president has been obsessed with this investigation, always saying there is nothing there. But each week another shoe drops where we see more evidence of continuing outreach from russians and some response from the Trump Campaign or trump individuals. In the case of flynn, you have somebody who is top security adviser, then is National Security adviser. Have a series of contacts with russian officials beginning in early december with the president s soninlaw asking for back channel connections to russia. Then efforts to try to intervene in american politics before they take over in terms of backing russia off from a u. N. Vote over israel, then trying to get russia to back off in terms of response to president obamas sanctions. And now the president somehow saying he didnt he fired flynn because he knew flynn was lying. If he knew that then, why didnt he act on it earlier . It raise as whole series of additional questions. Meanwhile, the top democrat on the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Dianne feinstein says President Trump will likely be facing an obstruction of justice case. I think what were beginning to see is the beginning of putting together a case of obstruction of justice. I see it in the hyper frenetic attitude of the white house, the continual tweets, and i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey. And it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. Thats obstruction of justice. Joining me now is cnn legal analyst page pate. Page, always great to have you on the show. Thanks. Lets start with that controversial tweet from President Trump thats caused quite a legal firestorm. And of course he sent this out. This was about the firing of his former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, a tweet that the president s lawyer john dowd now says he wrote. And this is what it says. I had to fire general flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the fbi. Thats a critical part. He has plead guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide. So page, when you read that tweet, what do you think of the legal ramifications for the president , and how does that change now that we understand john dowd, his lawyer wrote that tweet . Well, first the tweet itself. I think it was incredibly surely there wasnt a strategy behind it, because its harmful. Its not helpful ought all. Di saying he fired flynn because he lied to the president and fbi, President Trump, is he is basically admitting he was ah wear that flynn had committed a federal crime at the time he talked to james comey and said you need to let him go. So if trump is aware that flynn committed a federal crime and is trying to lean on the fbi director to not prosecute him, that can be obstruction of justice. The other thing that is interesting about this tweet is he claims flynns conduct was lawful and he had nothing to hide. But that raises the question why did he lie . Why would you go to the fbi, make a false statement, face five years in prison if you hadnt done anything wrong there must be a reason behind this. And because of this tweet now i think thats what the special counsel is going to be investigating. I want to come back to that. But before we leave this specific tweet, some people are raising doubts as to whether john dowd really did send that tweet out. And we dont know, of course. But i do want to read this out from walter shaub. He is the former director of the office of government ethics and a cnn contributor. And he said this. I dare you to tell mueller you logged in to the president s twitter account and wrote plead, pled and the rest of that, john dowd. I dare you. Do you think President Trump did . Does it matter legally if it came out of the president s account . Lets assume for a second that dowd wrote it. I dont think it comes down to whether he said plead or pleaded. Ive been a criminal defense lawyer. Euse pled. I dont use plead. We use pled all the time. Thats not too surprising a lawyer could actually have written that does it matter . Well, it matters if dowd was the one to say it. But thats not who said it. We know even if it was drafted by someone else, it went out under the president s twitter account. The president has adopted that as his statement. Even if somebody else prepared it for him, helped him write it, talked to him about it, ultimately he will be held accountable, the president will, for things he puts on his twitter feed if he adopts that as a statement. And as a lawyer, look do you think the road, whats the legal jeopardy here . Well, its obstruction, un l number one. If the special counsels office decides trump was having that meeting with james comey in an attempt to keep him from further investigating flynn, and we know the special Counsel Office is looking into that meeting. Theyve interviewed several people who had knowledge of the meeting. They probably talked to james comey about it. If the special counsels Office Thinks the point of the meeting was to obstruct the investigation, thats possibly a crime. The other thing that could be interesting, as the investigators are talking to people in the white house, they may be getting two different stories. We know that Jared Kushner has said things about his discussions with Michael Flynn during the transition period that now Michael Flynn may be saying something inconsistent. So the false statement crime that we saw Michael Flynn plead guilty to could pop up again to somebody else. What is your gut feeling legally as to what might happen . I dont think and i wrote something for cnn. Com on this. I dont think that the president or really anyone in his family will ultimately be prosecuted and sent to prison over this particular conduct. There may have been a logan act violation. And thats a lou luau that we its on the books here in the u. S. But no one has effectively been prosecuted for it. Even if the president obstructed justice, its really hard constitutionally to indict a sitting president and remove him from office. The only way this will have any consequence at all for trump is if he is impeached. And i think ultimately the special counsels investigation, that may be the ultimate impact. Because theyre going review the evidence. They melee out a case of obstruction. And then serve it up on a silver platter to congress and say you want to do something about it, its really in your court. Page pate, always great to get your legal analysis. Many thanks. Thank you. And you may remember the access Hollywood Tape in which then president ial candidate donald trump used lewd language just weeks before the election. Im automatically attracted to beautiful i just start kissing them. Its automatic. Just kiss. And when youre a star that. Let you do it. You can do anything. Well, now former access hollywood host billy bush is breaking his silence after reports that President Trump doubts the authenticity of that tape. But bush has written a New York Times oped that says in part President Trump is currently indulging in some revisionist history reportedly telling allies, and at least one United States senator that the voice on the tape is not his. This has hit a raw nerve in me. I can only imagine how it has reopened the wounds of the women who came forward with their stories him and did not receive enough attention. Just a portion there of what billy bush had to say in his oped. Now on to another story were following very closely. For the first time, the u. S. Is sending some of its newest Stealth Fighter jets to join aerial drills with south korea. As expected, north korea is condemning the annual exercises as a provocation, which could lead to war. Less than a week ago, pyongyang tested what it claims to be its most advanced Ballistic Missile ever. Cnns Paula Hancocks joins us from seoul, south korea. Paula, do these joint air drills signal any move towards some level of war footing on the part of the u. S. , Given White HouseNational Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster insists the u. S. And north korea are close to war . Well, rosemary, weve had an update from u. S. Forces korea in just the past couple of hours. And they have specified that this drill, which is annual, is not in relation to anything that is happening at this point. Its not in response to anything thats happening on the Korean Peninsula. Also saying its comparable in size to previous years. But this is 230 aircraft, 12,000 personnel. It is a sizable joint air force drill between the u. S. And the South Koreans. But of course the one point that is interesting, you alluded to it there in the introduction was the fact that these f22 raptors, these top of the line Stealth Fighters are right now on the Korean Peninsula, or flying around the Korean Peninsula. These are the sort of planes that could potentially according to experts be leading any kind of strike militarily on north korea should it degenerate to that kind of situation. Theyre the sort of Stealth Fighters that north korea wouldnt know about until they have hit their targets that they really are the top of the line. So thats the sort of thing that does concern north korea. Weve heard from the North Korean Foreign Ministry through staterun media that they say trump is pushing towards a nuclear war, that this is an open all act provocation, which may lead to a nuclear war at any moment. Theyre never happy when it comes to the joint military drills. But certainly when you have this kind of caliber of aircraft flying around the Korean Peninsula, it is going to put north korea on edge even more. And this guess on for next week. Yeah. Its got the whole world on edge. Whats the view from the Korean Peninsula . How nervous are people there . South koreans do have an incredible ability to carry on business as usual. This is a threat from north korea that theyve been living under for many decades now. North korea has been able to hit seoul for many decades there are hundreds of artillery units along the dmz pointing towards south korea. So from that point of view, there is nothing new when it comes to the threat. The icbm, of course, is now threatening the United States. This is what we saw last week from north korea, very carefully monitored and guided by the north Korean Leader kim jong un. The fact that this was the highest altitude ever recorded for a north Korean Missile is putting american officials on edge. H. R. Mcmaster as well, saying that the time is rung out to be able to dale with it. In that respect, yes. That would concern South Koreans more. Certainly the rhetoric weve been hearing from both sides from the u. S. And from the north korean side about, you know, this is pushing the peninsula closer to nuclear war. Of course, that impacts south korea first and foremost. That impacts South Koreans. But this country does have an amazing ability to just carry on as they are. They have to live their lives. This is a risk theyve been living under for many years now. Rosemary . That is certainly the case. Paula hancocks bringing us up to date on the situation there from seoul in south korea where it is 4 15 in tavern. Many thanks to you. Lets take a short break here. But still to come, the u. S. Could soon recognize jerusalem as israels capital. Why one key u. S. Ally thinks that would be a mistake. 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