List for Flynn's Replacement; Flynn Resigns amid Firestorm; House Intel Chief Calls for Probe; Labor Secretary Nomination Trouble; Christie Meets President for Lunch.
BERMAN: All right, we have more breaking news surrounding the resignation of Michael Flynn as national security adviser. The Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee just said that he wants an investigation into the issues surrounding this, but not - not what you think. Let's bring in our senior Capitol Hill reporter Manu Raju for more details on this. David Nunez, what does he want to investigate, Manu?</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, he just told reporters that he's very concerned about the leaks that have been surrounding the calls between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador. And he says that is something that he wants to look into. He's very concerned about the leaks. Now, I had a chance to just ask him, well, what about the discussions between president-elect, at the time, Donald Trump and Michael Flynn about Russia and whether - did the president-elect at the time instruct Michael Flynn to discuss the issue of sanctions or discuss anything with the Russian ambassador. And Mr. Nunez said, well, that is actually something that could be covered by executive privilege. In other words, something that he does not think that Congress would be able to look into. So that is one issue. There is a lot of questions about what exactly the president of the United States knew, and whether or not he told his national security adviser, incoming national security adviser, to discuss the issue of Russia's sanctions as they were come into power. But that's not something that the Congress, at least this committee, the House Intelligence Committee, which is looking into Russian meddling in the elections, plans to look into. Now, I did speak to another member of that committee, Peter King of New York, the congressman, the Republican congressman, said that he thinks that Donald Trump should - should actually detail to the public exactly what he said to Michael Flynn at that time, should divulge it. And I said, well, do you think that if he does not there should be an investigation into this by Congress? He said - he didn't really go that far. But he said that he does think it's incumbent on the president to detail those conversations. Now this all comes, John and Poppy, as Democrats are coming for a full independent investigation about what happened, but Republicans in Congress believe it can be done through the existing committees to look into this issue of Russia, Russia hacking. But, of course, there's disagreement with - about the scope of the investigation with Mr. Nunez suggesting that it will not look into the issue of Donald Trump's discussions with Michael Flynn.</s>HARLOW: But it's just pretty incredible when you think about what the public has the right to know and what the public should know. And it echoes what the president - what the president just tweeted -</s>BERMAN: Right.</s>HARLOW: Saying, this is about illegal leaks coming out of Washington, not about the issue that the vice president was lied to or the national security advisor just forgot.</s>BERMAN: And it is notable, by the way, that the statement from the chairman, the Republican chairman of the House Intel Committee -</s>HARLOW: Echoes -</s>BERMAN: Comes within the same 10-minute period -</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>BERMAN: That President Trump tweeted. We don't know if, in fact, those are coordinated messages, but they're coincidental to say the least.</s>HARLOW: Absolutely. On some other important news, and that is the president's pick for labor secretary. Someone who's been controversial from the moment he was chosen by the president, Andrew Puzder, former CEO of a big fast-food restaurant chain, under fire now, not just from Democrats, but from four Republican senators who say we're going to wait until we support him. We want to hear what he has to say at the confirmation hearings. This is notable, Manu.</s>RAJU: Yes, look, we'll see if they actually vote no. That is the big question. Right now they're saying they do want to hear some of the - his positions on key issues, but also some of the controversies from his past, most notably his hiring of an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper, later paying back taxes, but also messy issues involving his divorce from three decades ago and allegations that he faced at the time of domestic abuse. Something that actually his ex-wife at the time has since withdrawn, but also has become back into the spotlight because she appeared in disguise in the mid '80s after that divorce on "The Oprah Winfrey" show to discuss these issues. Now, senators on that committee have actually reviewed that "Oprah Winfrey" tape, that episode, in which she appeared on that tape. We have not seen that publically. But expect senators on that committee to ask Mr. Puzder about that at this hearing on Thursday. But Republicans, the leadership, big business groups are pushing very hard for his confirmation. They think it could be among the hardest, if not the hardest of Donald Trump's nominees to get confirmed. But they need to make sure they limit those defections to no more than two Republican senators because if it's three or more then he's not going to get the job. Poppy and John.</s>BERMAN: And, Manu, a quick question here. You know Paul Ryan, the House speaker, the House leadership, they're going to hold a briefing momentarily and Paul Ryan will be put in one of those situations that he just loves.</s>HARLOW: Right.</s>BERMAN: He's going to face questions about President Trump and issues no doubt surrounding the resignation of Michael Flynn. Any sense how the speaker will address this?</s>RAJU: It remains to be seen. I think that he probably will support what the president has done so far. He will probably say it's up to the president to choose his own national security team. You're not hearing a lot of criticism from the House speaker towards the president of the United States since this - since Donald Trump won the election. I don't think you'll probably hear much of that today. You do hear some disagreement about the issue of Russia, but it's done in a more gentle way, not in a way to provoke a fight between the White House and the House Republican leadership. So watch him to be pretty gentle in that regard.</s>BERMAN: Manu Raju for us on Capitol Hill, where the news is breaking as well. Thanks so much, Manu. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie picked a heck of a day to go to Washington and have lunch with the president. He will be at the White House in a little bit. I wonder what they're going to talk about today? Mr. President, what's new in your life?