this is "nightline." tonight, president trump's legal team's new strategy claiming the president can't be charged with obstruction of justice. is it true? the president continuing to support his former national security adviser today. even after he admitted to lying to the fbi. >> i feel badly for general flynn. i feel very badly. he's led a very strong life. >> plus, the great christmas light fie of the brightest is back on. meet the happy couple who turned their home into a life-sized gingerbread house with interactive displays and an incredible grand finale. and dating on the dl. how prince harry and meghan markle kept their moments from

prying eyes. but first, the nightline five. >> this is charlie. this is charlie not coughing because he took delsum five hour. this is charlie sitting very, very still. and this is charlie not coughing while getting a little too into nana's party. because he took delsum. the joy of not coughing. number one in just 60 seconds.

♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. it's been a whirlwind few days for the white house. president trump scoring victories in the passing of the gop tax plan by the senate and

the overwhelming decision in favor of his travel ban by the supreme court. but along with that came serious legal concerns. here's abc's david wright. >> breaking news in the russia investigation. >> we begin with president trump and his words for michael flynn. >> michael flynn pleading guilty to lying to the fbi. >> reporter: today in washington, a news blizzard. massive storms brewing on several fronts. the trump white house the center of it all. in congress, a hotly contested tax bill on the verge of becoming law. >> historic tax relief as a giant present for christmas. >> reporter: in alabama, a pivotal senate race rife with controversy down to the wire. tonight the supreme court finally allowed the most recent incarnation of the president's long-delayed travel ban to take effect. and of course, overshadowing it all, there's the russia investigation. >> i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together

of a case of obstruction of justice. >> reporter: on any given night, any one of these stories could be leading the news, but in the trump era, it's all coming at you at once. this latest news storm started friday with michael flynn. he pled guilty to lying to the fbi. that's a felony. now he's helping the special counsel. >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: the president insists he has nothing to fear. >> what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. there's been absolutely -- there's been absolutely no collusion. >> reporter: possible collusion may not be his only problem. on saturday morning this tweet from the president set off a firestorm because it seemed to suggest for the very first time that trump knew flynn had committed a crime when he fired flynn. quote, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. that's potentially significant.

>> do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> reporter: because former fbi director james comey has given sworn testimony that trump asked him to go easy on flynn. >> i understood him to be saying that what he wanted me to do was drop any investigation connected to flynn's account of his conversations with the russians. >> reporter: comey didn't back down. trump ultimately fired him, too. trump insists he never pressured comey to stop investigating him. >> the more the president knew about what flynn said to the fbi before he took action on comey, the more perilous it is for him. but there still remains an argument that you're going to need more than just he fired comey because of the flynn investigation. >> reporter: the white house scrambled to distance the president from that saturday tweet. trump's lawyer insisted he drafted it for the president. another white house official

called it sloppy. the president also went on the attack, accusing comey of running the fbi into the ground, its reputation is in tatters, he tweeted, worst in history. he also questioned the integrity of the special counsel's office after it came to light that robert mueller fired one of his top investigators in the russia probe last summer for sending what were potentially anti-trump texts to a colleague during the campaign. this morning trump brought up clinton again, this time defending mike flynn. >> hillary clinton lied many times to the fbi. nothing happened to her. flynn lied and they've destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> reporter: today the white house legal team floated an extreme option, testing out a controversial new theory that a president cannot obstruct justice because he's the chief law enforcement officer and, therefore, has a right to express his view on any case. >> i think what the trump team is trying to do here is conflate

the question of can he be charged with obstruction of justice ever with could he be charged with obstruction of justice for firing james comey. >> reporter: he has control of personnel. >> he can make decisions for whatever reasons he wants. the problem for them is, i think if there's an obstruction charge here, it's going to be based on a pattern of conduct. it's not just going to be based on firing james comey. >> reporter: all of this at the start of a week that has more bruising battles ahead. early saturday morning the senate narrowly passed tax reform, 51-49. >> the tax cuts and jobs act as amended is passed. >> reporter: not one democrat voted in favor. >> we're talking about massive, massive tax cuts. >> reporter: the house has already passed its version of the plan. the president is hoping to have a version of the bill that's acceptable to both houses on his desk before christmas. >> this is a big legislative win, the most significant one for the trump administration thus far. and this is something to take

home to your constituents. >> reporter: republicans insist the bill would pay for himself but the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation says the senate version would add $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. >> this bill is unpopular. it's being pushed by a very unpopular president and passed by a very unpopular congress. that's not a recipe for political success. >> this is what it looked like. >> reporter: democrats are calling it a tax cut for the rich that's being pushed through without giving lawmakers time to read it. >> here are the modifications in it. i can read one word, "add this language." can you tell me what that word is? >> it's about 500 hu hu00 pages >> reporter: president trump needs every vote he can get which is one reason today he gave alabama's roy moore his full but seven women have accused moore of sexual misconduct, some

of sexual assault when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. >> mr. moore attacked me when i was a child. >> reporter: allegations moore denies. today the president called moore from air force one and told him, go get 'em, roy. >> i think it's a mistake. i think it tarnishes the republican brand and tarnishes the president to be associated with somebody that is an accused child molester. >> reporter: a new cbs poll finds nearly 3 out of 4 alabama republicans, 74%, don't believe the allegations against moore. the poll has moore ahead by six points among likely voters. the issue hits home for the president, too, for obvious reasons. >> you can do anything. >> whatever you want. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: after the off-color remarks from the "access hollywo hollywood" bus during the campaign, women came forward

accusing trump of allegations. allegations trump denied. today billy bush, the former tb host who shared trump's joke on the bus published an op-ed in "the new york times." the president initially excused his words on the bus as locker room talk. >> that's locker room, that's locker roorm. >> reporter: more recently he's questioned the authenticity of the tapes. >> bush disputes him saying, yes, donald trump, you said that. and that he believes the women who accuse trump of groping them. steve bush is on steven colbe colbert's show. >> stop playing around with people's lives. >> reporter: all of this and it's monday. the week's just getting started. in the trump era, we never know what headlines tomorrow night bring. i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. >> next, even santa may not have

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there is no such thing as too much christmas spirit, right? but when people start reporting you to the police, you might want to tone it down some. tonight we'll meet yuletide zealots taking holiday cheer to new heights to make the ultimate home for the holidays. >> 'tis the season for christmas

competition. in new york out on long island, peter tom ma sello is feeling pretty good. >> how many lights do you have? >> we don't have a huge light count. >> what he does have is a christmas display worthy of a fifth avenue department store window. not just about the lights for you. >> it's not. we love macy's when you go to the window displays. that was magical for me back in the 1980s and whatnot. so we try to re-create it here. we love the vintage feel. >> reporter: there's a santa's workshop. a multicultural choir. ♪ o tannenbaum ♪ >> the holy grail is the african-american choir singer. there's only approximately maybe 12 out there in the world and i have two of them. >> reporter: darth vader there.

nothing says christmas like darth vader. >> absolutely. >> reporter: complete with a candy cane light saber. >> we make everything happy here. that's what i try to embody here. >> reporter: in the past americans have spent as much as $6 billion on christmas decorations in one year. the prices have probably gone up since then. >> we're going to smash the competition. >> reporter: tomisello is one of the contestants on the great light fight where families compete to win a $50,000 prize for creating the most over the top displays. kind of a christmas card version of extreme home makeovers. the bigger, the brighter, the louder, the better. i've done this story for a couple years now. i've been to all different varieties of houses like this. from candy cane lane in the san

fernando valley to brooklyn. >> to me i like to see my whole house filled up. i don't like to see a space. i want it to feel like santa aus house. >> reporter: you've got a space. >> but that's not my house. >> reporter: the big tree had 47,000 lights. more than on rockefeller center. >> that's right. >> reporter: it strikes me that there's this kind of arms race for christmas lights. like every year houses are pressured to do it bigger and better. >> yeah. >> reporter: do you feel that pressure every year? >> not really. i design a display, then make it come to life. >> reporter: he's got a talking lucy. >> merry christmas, you blockhead. >> reporter: olaf. ♪ do you want to build a snowman ♪ >> reporter: then a reindeer doing stand-up comedy. >> which reindeer can jump higher than a house. they all can. houses can't jump.

>> reporter: to top it off, they even wowed the judge by turning their driveway into an ice rink. ♪ and the whole thing is organic. what sold them on this house is that it matched so nicely with his christmas display. >> most people, normal people buy christmas decorations for their house, we bought a house for our christmas decorations. >> reporter: it looks gingerbready. at first it wasn't an issue with pete per's husband, drew. >> when i first met peter, he said he was into christmas. but i didn't realize how much. because he was in an apartment. >> reporter: did you think he was nuts? >> i did. >> reporter: but putting this together is a family affair. a christmas season that lasts three full months until they finally pull the plug. how long does it stay up after

christm christmas? >> our last actual day is tip c typically january 6 then we take it down as fast as we can. >> reporter: christmas lights on this scale have been known to cause conflicts sometimes. they say good fences make good neighbors but christmas displays that stop traf not so much. >> if some neighbors had their way, they would be very happy if the fairfield police department could in some way stop this event from occurring. >> reporter: my colleague found out that out in connecticut after neighbors circulated a petition asking police to do something about the excessive traffic caused by this massive display of holiday cheer. >> we were very disappointed that she didn't take the time to come to us and say, i've got a problem. >> reporter: the hol owell family has been turning their house into a light show spectacular for 18 years. they say all donations received

go to the local shriner's hospital for children. how important is this for you and your family? >> it's everything. >> reporter: police have since stepped in to keep the peace directing traffic and goodwill towards neighbors. here in ronkonkoma, that's not an issue. do the neighbors ever kind of knock on the door and say, can you turn it down a little bit? >> we have not had that yet. so what i like to say is no news is good news. ♪ let it go ♪ let it go >> reporter: they're big finale, a dancing elsa. ♪ let it go >> reporter: let it go all the way until christmas. i'm david wright for "nightline" in ronkonkoma, new york. ♪ cold never bothered me anyway ♪ >> our thanks to david. the great christmas light fight airs on abc. how did one of the most watched men in the world keep

his relationship secret for so long? inside the undercover courtship of prince harry and meghan markle. >> abc news "nightline" brought to you by nissan. touch is how we communicate with those we love, but when your psoriasis is bad, does it ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to help people with moderate

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and final tonight, how the most popular prince of england managed to keep his love life a secret from the paparazzi for months. here's abc's amy robach. >> we're learning more about how the palace's newest royal couple kept their relationsp under cover for so long. >> keeping meghan and harry's operation under wraps was a cloak and dagger operation. meghan had a job on "suits" so she couldn't fly around as much as harry could. he would jump on a plane and fly into toronto. they're in a huge city where there's nowhere to go out to restaurant dates about it was up to the friends of meghan to open up their doors for places to hang out. >> even going on double dates in both toronto and london. >> the other couple they went on double dates was was his

favorite cousin princess eugenie. >> reporter: and part of that cloak and dagger operation, quiet 24/7 protection early on. >> she'll know how to deal with the kidnap threats or if someone is following her. >> reporter: markle now transitioning to royal life in the public eye, but it's a transition that's been in the making for some time. >> i fell in love with meghan so incredibly quickly was sort of confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned. everything was just perfect. this beautiful woman who tripped and fell into my life and i fell into her life. >> reporter: prince harry picking out the diamond from botswana. >> it was a trip to botswana in may of this year where he selected the diamond and kept that as a secret from pretty much everyone around him. botswana is somewhere very important to prince harry. w