Sentencing memorandum that shows flynn has been extremely use to feel muellers investigation. Crediting flynn with substantially assisting the government. Prosecutors recommended little to no jail time saying a sentence does that does not impose a term of incarceration is appropriate and warranted. The special counsel praised the timeliness saying it likely affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forthcoming with the special counsels office. It was partially sealed due to the sensitivity of the investigations which are described as ongoing. That means the pages that could provide key answers to the central questions of the russia probe are largely redacted from the public report that was released last night. But we have learned flynn participated in 19 interviews with the special counsel and that he provided firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the Trump Transition Team and russian government officials. Most surprisingly, it reveals flynn was assisted with several ongoing investigations, including two outside the special counsels probe, that includes a previously unknown criminal investigation in another inquiry, both of which are almost entirely redacted in this report. Im joined by ben wittes, editorinchief of law fair. Susan del percio, republican strategist and mike quigley, a democratic congressman from illinois who sits on the house intelligence committee. I want to go to ben. What do you make on this . Last night we expected a bombshell, instead we got a big teasing document with a lot of reacteded material that tells u this guy is a canary, telling mueller everything he needs to know about the relationship between trump and the Russian Ambassador and all that stuff that went on yet we have to figure out whats going on between the lines here. Everything so clearly what mueller decided to do here was he needed to communicate to the court what recommendation he was going to make with respect to flynn. He needed to communicate that flynn had given him everything that he could reasonably want from him. And he didnt want, yet, to tell the public what he knows, what hes found, what hes planning to do. So the document is a very careful, as you say, tease in which it outlines sort of the mechanics of what flynn has done. 19 interviews, substantially assisting in multiple investigations and encouraged other witnesses by his example to come forward. But doesnt actually say anything that he said. So it leaves all of that to another day. Congressman quigley, thanks for joining us. Could you use this report as a flashlight, the point forward as to what muellers got here . Where hes headed . I think whats striking is, what . 17 months into the investigation were still learning the width and depth of what the special counsel is looking into. And why does flynn matter . For those who forget, lets just remember what director comey told us. That the president himself asked him to go easy on flynn or the what would it take to let it go. Obviously theres a lot of stake here and we have to remember when what general flynn was accused of. It was lying to the Justice Department or the fbi about his meeting with the russians on lifting sanctions. News stories all day long, all week long, about what those sanctions matter ed to the president about. So ill say this, theres no coincidences in the Russian Investigation and everything is tied together. Well, the president has been characteristically silent on the memo since its release yesterday. His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani said of flynn, if he had information to share with mueller that hurt the president , you would know it by now. He added, theres a yiddish toward that fitz, they dont have bupkis. Let me go to susan. You worked with rudy. Hes using yiddish. He doesnt have anything to say so hes using yiddish. He gave us bupkis. I think hes meshugennah. The president s only legal strategy right now is deflection so of course Rudy Giuliani says that will make the president happy because thats what theyve been doing all along and thats what the fundamental problem with the white house is in handling this investigation is they speak when they dont know what theyre talking about, and i think this is going to lead them to digging themselves a bigger grave than what they ha have. Elaine, we know the story of the possible obstruction of justice began when the president went to the head of the fbi and said lay off flynn, let him go. Now flynn has been let go. Hes walking scotfree right now. What do you think he had to give him to get that get out of jail card . From what were told 70 hours or so of interviews with the special counsel about his time and conversations you would have to think with the president during the transition, during the campaign. So that can detail we dont know what the nature of those conversations are yet. Quelwell, we know they must asked about what about your relations with kislyak, who were the deals you were make ining . The fact that this report is redacted says there are a lot of shoes left to fall in this investigation. The president and people around him have been telling themselves and the public that this is about to wrap up for some time, almost to make themselves feel like they can engineer it by saying it. Thats not the case and this sentencing memo seems to be an indication that this is not anywhere close to being over just yet. There are possibly more indictments, possibly more big developments. Tell me what else do you think is going on here . According to the document, its not just the russia investigation, theres other criminal investigations, other civil actions, something going on perhaps. Theyre working this guy flynn for information. Flynn was involved in a lot of stuff. He was involved in the transition that is of interest to the special counsel. He was involved with russia stuff from before that, right . He was involved you saw him in the dinner over there. Exactly. He was also involved in some very weird activities as a private lobbyist for turkey. So i think theres a variety of matters that the special counsel and the Justice Department would be interesting in talking to him about. Now you can see where they are in the document, a criminal matter and a big blank spot. You can see where it is but what those consist of, nobody knows. Bob mueller doesnt want us to know yet and he runs a really tight ship and we dont know yet. Congressman, im wondering about how much information has fled already to the president through whitaker, his acting ag. If whitaker got ahold of this stuff, he could walk it over the the president and say guess what, donald, here wheres theyre working. Does whitaker know whats on this redaction . Obviously the appointment of mr. Whitaker was meant to, at the very least, slow or hinder the investigation if not obstruct or end the investigation so the fact that hes there and potentially, we just dont know, has access to the redacted words in this document is particularly of concern. If he turned it over to the president , at the very least they would be wildly unethical if not violation of the department of justice regulations. And we have to ask ourselves and Congress Needs to find out did he do this and has the president asked for this information . What communication is taking place and obviously if the president asks for it it would be another one of his abuse of powers. Right, but hes not been recused himself, whitaker, at all. Why wouldnt he just ask muellers team . Let me look at that unredacted, i want to know whats in there. Thats been his behavior. Because its unethical. Thats what trump has done. Hes tried to paper over things and made the situation a whole lot worse at different points. Were talking about the situation in terms of what conversations flynn had with kislyak during the transition and the question being whether he was directed by trump, did trump know about these things . Trump was at maralago when flynn was having these conversations but trump, after russia decided not to respond to obama expelling the russian diplomats, trump tweeted i knew putin was very smart. So hes already put information out there into the public realm already that is at the very least suspicious. Speaking of suspicious, former trump adviser roger stone, who may be muellers next target, is declining to cooperate with a Senate Investigation by asserting his fifth amendment right not to incriminate himself. Heres what stone said about the scrutiny hes been frurunder fr the special counsel and the congress. I think few americans could withstand the kind of legal proctological Mister Mueller has had me on. I wont stop defending myself. When people accuse you of wrongdoing and youre silent theres an assumption youre guilty of something. I think its incumbent to defend yourself. Youll plead the fifth if you get called by the senate . Im going to assert my fifth amendment rights. Stones decision to plead the fifth is especially notable because of what trump said after the fbis investigation of Hillary Clintons emails. Heres trump on the fifth amendment. Her staffers taking the fifth amendme amendment. How about that . Five people taking the fifth amendment, like you see on the mob, right . You see the mob takes the fifth. If youre innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment . Stones decision to stay silent and take the fifth also comes after the president on monday praised roger stone on twitter for promising not to testify against him. Susan, lets talk about this here because why would roger stone take the fifth if he says ive got nothing to use in prosecuting trump, anything i say will be honest, it wont hurt him. Who is he protecting . Himself, i guess. That and the president to some extent in that every time the president is under major scrutiny as in we saw in the document yesterday with flynn roger stone pops up and makes more noise as to detract from the real scrutiny the president is under so i think this is a political tactic by roger stone who likes to get his name out there and cause a diversion. Up with of the things im more concerned about is looking back at flynn and Michael Cohen because they have one new person that they both have in common which is don mcgahn. And he sat there for 30 hours giving testimony. Michael cohens statement says he kept white House Counsel apprised of what he was doing and we also know that sally yates went to don mcgahn on Michael Flynn. Id be focused on those 30 hours because it seems don mcgahn is the one who can verify and not be a tainted witness for mueller. I think thats where we should keep our focus on, not roger stone who likes to show up and make noise. Well, he is fascinating. Thank you ben wittes, eli skokol. Coming up, democrats in wisconsin are calling it a power grab. Overnight the Republicanled Legislature passed several bills to take power away from the newly elected democratic governor and state attorney general. Well talk to a wisconsin state senator about this power grab by the lame duck republicans. Plus, it was an emotional day of celebration and remembrance for the 41st president , George Herbert walker bush. Well have the highlights coming up. And much of special counsel Robert Muellers probe remains a mystery and the Michael Flynn filing didnt clear things up, just teased a lot. What does it mean for trump and those close to him . Plus, let me finish with a strong suggestion for beto orourke. Youll know what it is. This is hardball where the action is. At booking. Com, we cant guarantee youll find gold on your wild west vacation. But we can guarantee the best price on that thar rental cabin or any hotel, home, boat, yurt, whatever. Just dont get carried away with the wild west thing. Hey guys. Get the best price on homes, hotels and so much more. Booking. Com, booking. Yeah well, not because it was easy. I mean, the game is all i know. You think back to your draft. It felt like a fantasy. But the second you know you cant compete anymore, you owe it to yourself, to your team, to find a fresh start. So, yeah, thats why i did it. Thats why i walked away. From my fantasy league. announcer redeem your season on fanduel. Play free until you win. Fanduel. More ways to win. Ybut life. Can throw them off bbalance. Of bacteria, vo realign yourself with align probiotic. And try align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. I am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Welcome back to hardball. In the dark of night the republicancontrolled Wisconsin Legislature approved a sweeping package of bills weakening the powers of the Incoming Democratic governor and the Incoming Democratic attorney general of the state. Republicans spent much of last night working behind closed doors until roughly 4 00 in the morning when they unveiled their final bill. The lame duck legislation, among other things, will limit early voting, thereby suppressing the vote. It also gives lawmakers new power to block the governor to make rules to enact laws and puts lawmakers, not the attorney general, in charge of litigation allowing them to keep alive a lawsuit to overturn, guess what, the correct . The bill passed both chambers amid cries of shame from outraged onlookers and state residents. Lets watch. Lets face it, the republicans this year are very poor losers. The people spoke, walker lost, and now we are here to change the law so that you can claim some sort of victory. Claiming a victory that you do not have by changing law top accomplish the things that are completely contrary to what the winners campaigned on is disgraceful. I have been sick to my stomach this entire time and weak in the knees and i find it pretty telling that not a Single Member of the majority has spoken on any of these bills. Ahead of the vote, the Republican Assembly speaker robin voss defended the lead for legislation. We dont believe any one individual should have the opportunity to come in and with a stroke of the pen eliminate laws that have been passed by our legislature. Any individual. Hes talking about the new governor. The new bill heads to outgoing Governor Scott walkers desk who signal head would support the bill. Senate republicans in michigan are include advancing similar legislation during the lameduck session. Im joined by wisconsin state senator and assistant minority leader janet buehle and charlie psychs from the weekley standard. I always look to wisconsin as one of the clean states, at least historically. It was progressive, it believed in good government, clean elections, honest votes, all the good stuff. About 20 years ago it started to get corrupted by a hard right faction coming in there. Is there something wrong with wisconsin now that theyre crewing around in this lame duck session . Whats going on . First of all, thank you for having me on. Its great to be joined by charlie as well. Let me state that wisconsin is a wonderful state and there are many people in our state who are working hard like i am to make sure that the will of the people is heard. We have seen the actions of the republican majority. I wish i could say theyre acting according to the will of the people but theyre not. Theyre sore losers and they want to change the law so they can continue to be involved and we are listening, the democrats and i very clearly to the will of the people to make sure their will is heard and followed throu through. Well, some of this is the usual suspects, a cap on early voting so less people can show up. The other thing about making it harder to protect obamacare, it looks like theyre going through everything they care about and acting like they won the election by pulling these legislative tricks. Its likely the restriction on early voting will be thrown out by a federal judge. Napoleon once said it was worse than a crime, it was a blunder. And what the republicans have done is really been selfinflicted wounds because this comes off as petty, vin dickive the, and i think it will backfire. And im hoping scott walker will step back and take a moment of reflection and veto this legislation. The argument that i would make to him, if he ever listened to me anymore, would be look, look at the way george h. W. Bush is being remembered and the way that he handled his transition after his very, very bitter defeat by bill clinton. The grace with there he handed over power. Governor walker needs to reflect on the kind of legacy he wants to leave because this is a power grab and its either going to be thrown out by the courts or its relatively minor stuff. The advantage they gain is not worth what they look like to the rest of the country and i dont think he grasps how bad this looks. What it will mean for his image and legacy and if he wants to step back and say having watched the funeral of president bush, this would be a moment to celebrate democracy which is to celebrate the norms and the peaceful and reasonable transition of power and if he did that i think there would be a tremendous amount of good will gain. So youre hoping hell skip the mickey mouse stuff. Last month during the Midterm Election in november wisconsin democrats won all five of the statewide offices which were up for grabs. All five. Democrats won 53 of the popular vote for the Wisconsin State Assembly but due to political gerrymandering they won 36 of the seats. Thats a problem. Tell me what its like for them to basically distort the will of the people and use trick what is they want done against what the democrats ran on. Well, if you look at this extraordinary session alone, it is a lameduck session but it was called before the november 6 election. And you have an issue which was kimberlyclark. Nothing was done about that. So they changed it so they were able to get through these issues that they wanted to address at the last minute and there are two things to keep in mind. One, people were not included in any of this. They had no idea this was going to happen until the last minute. We received bills that were fresh off the printer and not only that once these bil