no word yet on whether flynn has accepted that job, but, look, flynn was the leading candidate for this position for a while, he accompanied donald trump to his classified briefings. he's been a very close advisor throughout the kacampaign and ts transition process. just because it's not a surprise doesn't mean it's not going to generate controversy. first of all, flynn has tweeted plenty of inflammatory things that are sure to get increased scrutiny, now donald trump has indicated he wants him to be his national security advisor, but flynn has faced scrutiny on a couple different occasions for how he's handled classified information. that was sort of a major thing that donald trump used to hit hillary clinton on, on the campaign trail, and flynn's own company is engaged in lobbying and this is at a time when donald trump is eninsistiinsist going to drain the swamp and not bring anyone engaged in lobbying any way near his administration. it's easy enough to cut ties with his company and say i'm going to focus on the government from here on out, but should give you a dip into the pool of

i'm not sure that's what you get with general flynn. >> reporter: flynn accused of mishandling classified information which the u.s. military that's scrutinized twice. in both cases he was never charged with wrongdoing and has defended his actions. flynn a registered democrat has been by trump's side for much of the campaign. acting as top adviser in high-profile surrogate. >> next president of the united states, right here. >> reporter: another trump loyalist senator jeff sessions emerging as the top candidate foerng according to a transition official. if picked he could face a tough senate confirmation fight over accusations over racist marks 30 years ago. causing the alabama senator to be rejected for a judgeship. sessions denied the allegations at the time. >> if anybody had a problem with his record they would have run against him and made that very clear. senator sessions will be qualified for any number of positions. >> reporter: trump is reaching out to a information adversary. >> donald trump is a phoney, a fraud. >> reporter: the president-elect meeting with 2012 republican nomi

general flynn has been a loyalist. what are they saying. >> he has been one of the loudest, most consistent and supportive voices for donald trump since early on. i have been told that donald trump wants to reward those people. that includes rudy giuliani, includes jeff session. these are names already under consideration for some of biggest joss. attorney general, secretary of state in the caves giuliani, and here mike flynn getting a coveted role next to the president as national security adviser. just to follow on what sarah was saying. first of all tweets. we are not talking about a controversial thing. he made public statements about the faith of islam. he said that fear -- earlier this year he tweeted that fear of muslims is rational. he tweeted later that the islamic faith is sort of an encouragement or command to middle eastern leaders that they admit that the islam faith is sick in his words. that raises questions about whether the concerning rhetoric that we heard during the trump campaign is something that w

but that's not what michael flynn was saying. michael flynn was saying, and it seems as though you may agree with him, that islam is different. it's not like other religions. and so it has to be treated differently. not islamic radicalism, not islamic extremism, but islam, and by definition, the 1.5 billion adherents of it, regardless of their political or military views, and that includes the 1% of the american population, citizens here, under the united states constitution, that actually follow islam as a religion. >> well, reza, i just want to quickly respond, because, you know, when confronted with facts a lot of times, the other commentators ad hominem attacks, which is what you just did to me. i have read the bible, and there are academic scholars that disagree with your facts, andy mccarthy, i named him, federal former prosecutor -- >> he is not a scholar of religion -- >> -- with your characterization. so let's not descend into ad hominem attacks, and worse than that, let's not descend into absurdities and suggest that is

flynn wanted more authority. >> wow. >> after forced retirement, flynn appeared to change. two senior military officers who served with him tell cnn. they describe his somewhat bitter officer who adamantly believes president obama isn't paying enough attention to the isis threat? >>> we must regain our ability to truly crush our enemies. >> the question now, can he operate on a global scale? >> he's going to have to expand his skill set after a 30-plus year career of dealing primarily in the military element of national security. >> flynn will have to work well with the rest of the trump team. >> there's a whole lot of pieces of input that come into decision making rather than just the one you're providing. >> but ultimately the new commander-in-chief will still set the tone in national security. but just what is trump still trying to tell the pentagon? >> we have great generals. >> you said you knew more than the generals about isis. >> i'll be honest with you, i probably do because look at the job they've done. okay, look at the job they've done. they haven't done the job

flynn had a reputation in his previous job what were called flynn facts. carefully picked out pieces, cherry picked pieces of information that supported his particular world view. again, you have a guy, no other way to say it, that has an islam foeb vi foeb islamophobic vuft world. he has differentiated between violent islam and the religion itself. whether or not confirmed he'll be a railing point for protest. >> call it is a political ideology rather than a religion which is something that's important to point out. i do want to talk about pompeo and how he's going to be the pick for cia director. this is someone that, you know, you've covered the hill. you know him. he came in in 2010 and you were up covering congress while he was there. so tell us a little bit about him. i know he's known as a very smart guy, but what are people saying about this as a pick? >> right. this is actually a really reassuring pick for a lot of what we would consider more traditional republicans, republican leaders who maybe have been a little skeptical of donald trump and som

but after flynn's announcement, david duke cited the tweet as evidence flynn, quote, knows that the saudis, isis and the jewish neo cons are the real enemies. calling him a great pick. democrats are very concerned about flynn's choice. >> on a lot of policy matters, his views scare me, frankly. he has a difficult time differentiating between the entire faith of islam and those who pervert it like isis. >> reporter: and elijah cummings is seeking more information from the transition team about potential conflicts of interest surrounding the general's business activities. some say he will need to tone down some of his combative style in order to be an honest broker among all the agencies to ensure the president gets input from his whole national security team, wolf. >> elise, thanks very much. joining us now is a member of the trump transition team, republican congresswoman marcia blackburn of tennessee. she's on the executive committee. congress congresswoman, thanks very much for being with us. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> general flynn is going to be the national security advisor at t

the donald trump's national security adviser lieutenant flynn. >> lieutenant flynn general flynn has a very strong relationship with russia today. the main propaganda vehicle externally of russia. he participated in their tenth anniversary celebration in moscow, this vehicle of disinformation. >> this is russia tv? >> it's russian tv, the broadcast to the outside world. they're on all your cable stations. in any event, he was there, and he has been a frequent, you know, guest op their talk shows. he has a cozy relationship with this kremlin propaganda vehicle. and he is also an advocate of a close cooperative relationship with russia. so i think this is actually kind of related to what the head of the nsa said, which is mischief against the enemies of russia or the critics of russia. we saw it in the dnc. but we can also see it potentially operating within the trump administration. that is to say if there are particular candidates or people in positions of power that russia doesn't like, they could try to knock them off to create a better array of policy makers that would be more sui

and general flynn. because after flynn left the obama administration he started this international consulting firm. he took the speaking engagement, including several on a kremlin run propaganda tv channel r.t. or russia television right and then afterwards he attended this gala and he dined with vladimir putin pictures were taken, photos that were later used by putin as a propaganda tool. so a lot of people are worried about this, general. your thoughts? >> well, i think mike was asked to be an analyst for r.t. just like you all asked me to be an analyst for cnn. the difference -- >> but r.t. is a state-run -- >> well, that's where i was going -- and i think unfortunately he was probably set up a little bit by going to russia, talking with r.t., and then being pulled into this dinner with a great propaganda value with mr. putin. that's what he was doing. i know it has negatively affected many of our nato and european allies. they see this as additional cozying up with mr. putin when there certainly nee

flynn wanted more authority. >> wow. >> after forced retirement, flynn appeared to change. two senior military officers, who served with him tell cnn. they describe as somewhat bitter officer who adamantly believes president obama isn't paying enough attention to the isis threat. >> we must regain our ability to truly crush our enemies. >> the question now, can he operate on a global scale? >> he's going to have to expand his skill set after a 30-year plus career dealing primary in the military element of national security. >> flynn will have to work well with the rest of the trump team. >> there's whole lot of pieces of input into decision-making rather than the one you're providing. >> reporter: but ultimately, the new commander in chief will set the tone in national security, but just what is trump still trying to tell the month gone? -- pentagon? >> we have great generals. look at the job they've done. they haven't done the job. >> i want to bring in lieutenant general mark herdling, and thank you for joining us. i really appreciate you. give us your reaction to giving

it sure seems an unstable mike flynn. i fear he is the one who would actually take charge in the white house. >> want to put up something collin powell said. other generals have expressed concerns about flynn. about his appearances with putin and support of trump. he said flynn got fired as head of dia, abusive with staff. didn't listen. worked against policy. bad management, et cetera. he has been and was right wing nutty every since, meaning ever since. is that fair what he said? >> i think it's about right. and i think it reflects his bewillederment in much of the foreign policy community in that other was a guy what was very

flynn who cald

me of dick cheney, who really knew his stuff and after 9/11 became a different dick chainy and mike flynn has become a different and it sure seems an unstable mike flynn and i fear he's the one who would take charge in the white house. >> i'm going to put up something that colin powell said, because other generals have expressed concern about flynn, about his appearance with vladimir putin, about his unrestrained political support of trump, and here's what colin powell said about gener general flynn in a quote from a hacked e-mail. he said flynn got fired as head of d.i.a., abusive with staff, didn't listen, worked against policy, bad management, et cetera. he's been and was right-wing, nutty every -- every since -- he means ever since. is that fair? >> i think it's about right and reflects his be wilderment, that here's a guy that is very

general, how well do you know general flynn? how do you square the general flynn you know with that bit of rhetoric we just heard and what do you think about his chance miss this job? >> well, you know that video is -- makes most of us in the military very uncomfortable. but, look, brian, i just did a long interview with james kitfield who did a piece on mike flynn that was pretty balanced, pretty in-depth. a couple observations. first of all, flynn is the best intelligence officer of his generation. he and general stanley mcchrystal and david petraeus dozen 9/11s sin then, they've been relentless in confronting the global jihadist community. so he's a good guy. he's objective, he's informed, he's tough. surprised he's going to be the national security advisor. i think he'll probably be pretty good at it although there's a cautionary note here. national security is not just the military, it's department of homeland security, it's treasury, energy, attorney general. broader scope in some ways than he's operated in. >> do you worr

flynn endedd up being a nightmae of a footnote for flynn's career in his own eyes. you did have this business about him looking with a radical anti-islam ideology at intelligence, which defeats the whole purpose of having people head of intelligence agency. the defense intelligence agency is the military's equivalent of the cia. under donald rumsfeld, when he was defense secretary, rumsfeld started encroaching on areas that were typically the sovereign realm of the cia. that started this battle that we still see to this day where the cia and the pentagon are diving into each other's -- dipping into each other's territory. what i think we will s with someone like mike pompeo, he ends up being cia director -- on a side note that relates to the work we do the intercept, a has said he thininks edward snowden should be killed and that is a treasonous traitor. domestiche supports surveillance operations, quitting against american citizens. he is a very strong anti-civil liberties background, and that is why he is getting praised from people like general michael hayden and

he may stick with safe picks like flynn. back to you. >> sara, thank you. >>> jeff sessions is another staunch ally trump is considering for cabinet jobs. a transition official tells cnn that sessions is a leading contender for attorney general. the former attorney general was the first sitting u.s. senator to endorse trump. back in the 1980s, sessions was accu accused of making racially tinged remarks. >>> sources familiar with the process say former texas governor rick perry is in touch with the transition team about the role of energy secretary. the energy department is the department perry could not remember during the 2011 republican debate when listing the three he would eliminate as president. like many other contenders, perry is under consideration for other positions. >>> and newt gingrich will not hold a post in the trump administration. he says it is not physically doable. instead, he plans to focus on strategic planning for trump. gingrich's name has been mentioned for health and human services secretary and secr

by the way, again, flynn, let's talk about general flynn. >> it's confirmed. >> general flynn makes the appointment of somebody who is temperamentally sound like mitt romney all the more important. >> whether romney would have the weight -- there have been secretaries of state that have not had the ear of the white house. >> john kerry. >> or colin powell. michael flynn will have president trump's ear. that signals to me -- a better signal for what direction donald trump wants to go than putting mitt romney in -- >> the one thing i learned about donald trump and mika and i have over the past 10 or 11 years. he cares about who got him good information last and who got him bad information. if you get donald trump bad information and you embarrass him, you go to the back of the line very quickly. he's very loyal right now to general flynn because what happened during the campaign. but the one thing i've known about trump's management style is it's based on performance. he's not, like, you know bush 41. i was with him at yale 50 years ago. i can't fire him. it's not that way. >> this pair o

flynn a registered democrat has been by trump's side for much of the campaign. >> general flynn, how great is he? >> reporter: acting as a top adviser and high-profile surrogate. >> the next president of the united states, right here. >> reporter: another trump loyalest, senator jeff sessions emerging as top candidate for attorney general. if picked he could face a tough senate confirmation fight over accusations of alleged racist remarks made 30 years ago. those remarks caused him to be rejected for a judgeship in 1986. >> i think if anybody had a rob with his record they would have run against him and made that very clear. but senator sessions will be qualified for any number of positions. >> reporter: trump is also reaching out to a former adversary. >> donald trump is a phoney, a fraud. >> reporter: the president-elect meeting with 2012 republican nominee mitt romney this weekend. the two planning to talk about how to govern moving forward amid speck laying that they could discuss romney serving as secretary of state. >> i think if the two of them can get-together, mitt romney is

flynn wasn't supposed to share it. they say he was trying to convince pakistan to stop sheltering terrorists. asked by e-mail about the allegation, flynn told cnn, it is not true. not even chose. flynn declined to comment further for this story. in a separate incident, the two officials cnn spoke with, said flynn did not follow established security procedures when he shared classified intelligence with allies. flynn has acknowledged that one, telling the "washington post," the investigation on me was for sharing intelligence with the brits and australians in combat, and i'm proud of that one. that was substantiated because i actually did it. flynn said he had permission to share the classified information. in both cases, sources say the retired general was informally reprimanded at the time but never charged with wrongdoing. in 2010 while still serving as an officer, the cia was so furious at flynn for publicly disclosing shortfalls, it complained to the pentagon which had signed off on the article. flynn joined tremen

flynn has ak nond that one. telling the washington post the investigation on me was for sharing intelligence with the brits and australians in combat and i'm proud of that one. that was substantiated because i actually did it. flynn says he had permission to share the classified information. in both cases sources say the retired general was informally rep manted at the time but never charged with wrong doing. and in 2010 while still serves as a senior officer he published an article criticizing the state of u.s. intelligence operations in afghanistan. cnn had tlaernd the cia was so furious at flynn for publicly disclosing short fall, it complained to the pentagon which had signed off on the article. flynn joins tremendous access and credibility with donald trump. >> what makes general flynn different from so many others is he's the one can the real experience fighting on the ground and afghanistan and iraq. >> donald trump has offered the national security advisor job to general flynn. on the phone now mark hert

>> the old mike flynn, definitely. i don't know the new mike flynn. >> yeah. i would say the new mike flynn is deeply worrying. that's who we have seen for the last year. someone who has attacked muslims as awe group, someone who has tweeted also from the alt right, basically things that seem racist on their face. and also, in a more disturbing level, we found out that he is actually as a lobbyist been getting security briefings. he is a lobbyist for foreign entities, foreign companies that are linked to foreign governments and has been receiving briefings while he is doing that. i think in it the drain the swamp concern, there's something still there. >> one thing on flynn, we're talking about list world view and combative personality. but his association with trump, how close he is, it's revealing about this whole transition. he is there because he is loyal. he was one of the early people who would go up to the top of trump tower, brief trump on foreign aaffairs. flynn was in the running for vp because he was there early. >> what we should learn here? i'm ta

flynn was fired from his defense position in 2014. he says it was over his stance on radical islam and expansion 67 al qaeda. joining me now, retired brigadier general mark kimit, who served with michael flynn. you know him? >> sure. >> is he the right man for the job? >> he brings an incredible background as an intelligence officer and more importantly, an incredibly hard worker and somebody that works well with senior leaders, and his job as national security adviser is going to be to work that very delicate balance between the department of defense, department of state, treasury department and intelligence community to give best advice to the president. >> flynn does not agree when we talk about actually the muslim ban that donald trump has spoken about in the past. but he does agree with donald trump on waterboarding, also agrees on killing suspected terrorist families. might we actually see these views put into practice by flynn? >> well, first of all, i'd be very, very surprised if those practices were put into place, because i

flynn has talked about that. he believes he was pushed out because of his very strong views on islamic terrorism. others i have spoken to say he was pushed out because of his contentious management style. alisyn? >> okay, barbara, thanks so much for all of that background. so here with more on national security issues and general flynn's potential role is democratic congressman from massachusetts and iraq war veteran congressman seth malten. nice to see you, congressman. >> good to be here. >> what do you think of general flynn possibly being national security adviser? >> well, you know, general flynn testified before our committee several times, and i would say that his views were pretty extreme among all those who testified before us. >> such as? what were some of the things that stood out to you? >> well, for example, he was so focused on just the terminology around islamic terrorism, without real regard, i think, for how isis was actually recruiting people around the world. you've heard people like general pe

in regards to michael flynn, he said i'm pleased that lieutenant general michael flynn will be by my side as we work to defeat radical islamic terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges and keep america safe. as for mike pompeo, he will be a brilliant unrelnting leader for our intelligence community to assure the safety of america and our allies. yesterday we were wondering when names would be put to paper and we are seeing that this morning. >> let's continue our discussion. jim sciutto, i want to focus on the national security adviser pick, general mike flynn. he is a very controversial figure because basically, in a nutshell, he says that americans are justified in their fear of muslims. what more can you tell us about the general? >> i think in all honesty, we can go further than saying controversial, right? he has repeated offensive statements, statements that could only be described as offensive during the campaign. we are talking about sessions with some possible statements three years ago. i will read a couple tweets from general flynn in the last several months during the c

pompeo, flynn, it's not like they're just out of the wilderness. these are people who have been around power and probably are not going to be automatically incompetent at their jofnlts the third thing to say is they have donald trump's charm, which is to say they are extremely sharp-el lowed individuals. and it's like he's taken all the hard and bad bosses in the world and so far is bringing them together. so if they work as a team, maybe they will be a very tough team, but they could work on eac other, and it could be hard to hire people under them because these are people famous for being really hard on those around them. >> woodruff: ruth, what do you make of the national security picks? >> disturbing on general flynn and less disturbing on congressman pompeo. i think it's important to understand donald trump is president-elect and he has the prerogative to pick people who will implement his policies and who have his confidence, but i don't look at it just as the national security team, i look at it as a whole, and i'm very worried he is picking

one lawmaker described flynn to me as erratic. throughout the campaign flynn particularly riled up other former military men and women over his decision to dive into politics, lobbying sharp-tongued verbal grenades at hillary clinton, the obama administration, muslims, even u.s. allies. now flynn is under fire for lobbying for foreign companies while at the same time sitting in on classified intelligence briefings right next to president-elect trump. it's a decision sources say would drive government security officials ballistic. >> the next president of the united states right here. >> retired lieutenant general michael flynn, once a registered democrat, will now be the president-elect's closest advisor on the greatest threats to u.s. national security. but with views that are a marked departure from long-held u.s. policy from both parties. he has called islam itself, not radical versions of it, a threat. in tweets such as this one during the campaign, fear of muslims is rational, he wrote. and in public speeches, even calling is

one of them, retired general michael flynn. there's republican senator jeff sessions and republican congressman mike pompeo. now more on the team as it starts to take shape. >> reporter: lock her up. lock her up. >> reporter: lookingists, hard-liners, now the core of president-elect trump's national security team. the choices revealing the next administration's security posture. one defined not by a pragmatic move to the middle but instead, by a move deeply into conservative orthodoxy. >> i told donald trump this isn't a campaign, this is a movement. >> reporter: jeff sessions, a crucial voice inside trump's team and his first senate endorsement, now in line to be the next attorney general. >> we need to bring back big-time leadership, and that donald trump. >> reporter: michael flynn, trump's closer military adviser and former head of the national intelligence agency is security adviser. mike pompeo, a former army officer, member of the house intelligence committee, and harsh critic of hillary clinton, now in line to be cia di

so this mike flynn thing is done. discussed as much compared to the other people who have to go through the senate confirmation process. but the choice of mike flynn is a different kettle of fish than anything we might have expected from the trump campaign. mike flynn calls islam a political ideology hiding behind a religion. he calls islam a malignant cancer. president putin and take money to go to a gala. he's been a frequent guest on russian state television and says he sees no difference between russian state television and for example msnbc. he will now be the closest person to the president on a day-to-day basis on all foreign policy issues, on all military issues, on all national security issues, and he is way outside anything that anybody on the consider to be the mainstream, either in thought or temperament in terms of national security issues, and it's done. and trump gets him unless he has some change of heart or awakening of conscious about doing something like this for such a key position. i would also sa

for general flynn, that might be a blessing. last year, he attended the anniversary party for russian state-sponsored television. there he is there. and just to the right of him. see that handsome guy? that is russian president vladimir putin sitting with general flynn, who explained his actions, saying he was paid for that appearance. that is his defense, going to the dinner with vladimir putin and honoring state russian tv. his defense was i was paid to be there. now he will be national security adviser to the president of the united states. general flynn was fired from the defense intelligence agency from 2014 as what was described from one side as leadership clashes. he explained it as, the military fired me for calling our enemies radical jihadists. i think it is fair to say, i think his supporters would concede that he is a fringe enough choice that you would probably hear, probably impotent opposition, for somebody like him having a big important role in the white house. a former colleague said his thinking process is not

mike flynn, though, is registered as a democrat. sessions and flynn were early trump supporters. pompeo initially backed marco rubio but got onboard with trump much later in the race. a former adviser in the white house, axelrod -- donald trump is sticking with those who brought him to the dance, but to many americans it will seem a monstrous ball." from david axelrod. all three picks accepted his call to serve, but how much political baggage do they bring along with him? michael flynn does not need to be confirmed by the senate. a white house appointee, bud the oth but the other two require senate confirmation. sunlen serfaty joins us from new york city. we know senator sessions was deny add federal judgeship back in the 1980s. what can you tell us about that and about the senator's resume? >> reporter: only 1986, denied that federal judgeship, wolf and only 39 years old at the time. but he was dogged by allegations and even testimony from those who work with him that said he had repeatedly made racially charged statements. now sessions denied that at the time. clearly some of t

donald trump offering a role to michael flynn. our sources have not said if flynn accepted that position. flynn has been at donald trump's side throughout the campaign and throughout the transition process as trump works to build a government. flynn may seem like a logical pick. donald trump is having meetings raising eyebrows. he spent thursday meeting with south carolina governor nikki haley. some sources say he is considering for secretary of state. as for this weekend, he will meet with mitt romney. mitt romney was the earliest and fiercest critics of donald trump. sources say they are expected also to discuss the secretary of state job. whether trump will go with one of these past rivals and name them to a cabinet position is still to be seen. he may just stick with safe picks like flynn. back to you. >>> thank you, sara murray jeff sessi . jeff sessions is a name discussed for the attorney general. the former alabama attorney general was the first to endorse trump. he was nominated for a federal judge in the 1980s. that was