Morning Joe's regulars dug into the stunning New York Times story that broke last night: that presidential adviser Michael Flynn was scheming to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.

"The first thing to be said about this, Joe, what a difference an election makes," Ken Delanian said.

"As you know, this story has been around for a while, people have been reporting on it. The House Oversight committee fused information from whistle-blowers who felt confident to come forward because Democrats are in power and there would be an investigation. There's an issue of ethics and bad policy. On the issue of ethics, Flynn was advising this group, the Marshall plan for the Middle East, Flynn was advising them during the transition and campaign. he had a financial interest with this group. he came into office and Derek Harvey told the NSC, we already decided we're going to do, they said, no, you can't do this. You can't just hand over nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. There are procedures for this, a law called the Atomic Energy Act that you have to comply with. There has to be a review. Saudi Arabia has never agreed to the conditions of enrichment, to what it would do with the by-products of the fuel to make us comfortable to do this.'

Harvey and Flynn disregarded this and tried to push it, even after Flynn was fired by the FBI, Harvey continued to push it and said he was talking to Flynn after Flynn left office. Finally, H.R. MacMaster put a stop to it and said, we're not going to work on it anymore. H.R. MacMaster is gone and this plan is back on the table and they fear this is back on the table.

"To give nuclear technology to a regime that takes a bone saw to a Washington Post columnist because he, the leader, doesn't like the words written by the Washington Post columnist, dismembers him, tortures and dismembers him and after carving up the body, buries it all over Turkey," Scarborough said.

"Speaking of Turkey, Flynn also writes an op-ed the day of the election day. The day of the election, doing the bidding of Erdogan, somebody trying to kidnap somebody residing in America. Flynn may have been a part of that, too.

"Not only is this idea about Middle East Marshall plans still on the table, Jared is going on a tour to discuss the economics with others including Saudi Arabia. And Tom Barrack," Willie Geist said.

"He has had longtime ties to the Middle East through business. He spoke in prime time at the Republican convention in 2016, he ran President Trump's inaugural committee. He is at the center of this. Let us remind ourselves last week he dismissed the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, saying the U.S. does bad things, too."