but trump is right. read these things about foreign policy, about the europeans, them really standing up to trump. no they aren't. they are not going to stand up to trump. they will find a way to deal with him. a --uropeans have done what have they done? i don't want to get them too much credit. >> john? >> in terms of policy i think the republican party has changed trump more than trump has changed the party. look to theto future, immigration, seeing it how that is set aside by someone heterodoxy, i think the long-term question is -- is there a coalition of voters? you are need to read this issue of the weekly standard. typically, trump, his supporters over 65 say that we lost that character fight with bill clinton, focus on policy and voters under the age of 40 are pretty appalled by the erratic temperament and moral character and are fleeing the party. going to happen in 2018 and 2020? because wenapback are so polarized over policy and eventually people, the parties will reshape? i don't know, we don'

, proximity the meeting was one floor from donald trump and proximity with donald trump and donald trump jr. and how much they talked about the campaign for a year. so it's hard to believe he didn't know. >> when donald trump jr. said i didn't want to bother him with it, this is someone we heard talking on the "access hollywood" bus, we see him spending his entire weekends playing golf, this is a guy who publically, donald trump, has all the time in the world to discuss all the trivial things that cross anyone's mind close to him, the credibility of i didn't want to bother the big guy with anything as small as this is rather strained in this situation. >> sure. look, you played the clip before of the comment trump made right after this meeting is being set up, which he says he's going to give a speech about some very interesting information about the clintons. and this is right after the e-mail trail shows that rob goldstone is promising the russians meeting at trump tower is going to have some very incriminating information from kremlin files about hillary clinton. so the parallel in th

trump. it is a very straightforward road map through things that are known here, interesting new revelation that paul manafort actually reached out to russia to see how it could work with the campaign, but the heart of this is taking the contradictory and inexplicable things that donald trump himself has said over the course of the past year and laying them out in a very straightforward, very factual way in a way that clearly president trump couldn't possibly explain. >> ruth marcus, also harvard law school graduate, so we have a full team here, the firm of kline, rubin and marcus. >> we get to argue who gets to have their name go first. >> we'll work that out. we have to do it alphabetical, i guess. ruth, i want to point out the various things here, the number of questions in here that exist only because of mistakes donald trump has publically made are quite stunning. he's being asked about tweets that he gave, he's being asked about statements he made in public interviews on subjects that

trump: at 2:00 a.m. early this morning, and by the way, i got back to the white house at 4:30 a.m., and somebody said "oh, that is ok, we can cancel indiana tonight." [crowd booing] pres. trump: i said, "you don't know the people of indiana. i don't have the courage to cancel." [cheers] but at 2:30 in the morning, i had the incredible honor of greeting three great americans who had been held in north korea, and we welcomed them back home the proper way. [applause] pres. trump: and on june 12 in singapore, i will be meeting with kim jong-un to pursue a future of peace and security for the world, the whole world. [applause] pres. trump: the relationship is good. but you remember, everybody in the fake news is saying "he is going to get us into a nuclear war. he is going to get us into a nuclear war." [crowd booing] pres. trump: you know what gets you into nuclear wars and what you know what gets you into other wars? weakness. weakness. [applause] pres. trump: the relationship is good, and hopefully for all

trump is right. i read these things about foreign-policy, the europeans are going to stand up to trump. no they aren't. they are going to find a way to deal with him. europeans -- what have they done? i don't want to give them too much credit. [laughter] >> in terms of policy, i think the party has changed more than trump has. there was already a big fight on immigration inside the party. if you want to look at the future and see how that can be sympathized -- someone like tom cotton, who is a little more of a hawk on immigration without the temperament problems of trump. but what is happening to the republican party? is it shrinking so badly? that is why i think you should read this issue of "the weekly standard." ben schapiro does a good job of laying this out. they focused on policy, policy, policy, and voters under 40 are pretty appalled by the erotic temperament for my moral character and they are fleeing the party. -- erratic temperament and immoral character and they are fleeing the party. is

client donald trump in a couple of weeks. i repeat rudy guiliani talking to everyone except apparently donald trump. we'll i'm sure have more on that and discussion of a potential interview with bob mueller. that does it for "the beat." "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. >>> how scared is trump? this scared. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris math you ooze in boston. the bbc is reporting according to sources in kiev, trump fix ter michael cohen received $400,000 for setting up a meeting with president trump and the ukrainian press poroshenko. we have not verified that report. faced with the evidence on trump's web of eastern promises, the president himself is setting up what appears to be a fifth amendment strategy not answering robert mueller's questions on the ground his answers would tend to incriminate him and claim that as justification for taking the fifth which trump himself associated with gangsters but also on the political ground now that the mueller investigation is out to get him. indeed, presi

we're talking about donald trump. >> how about donald trump jr.? >> absolutely donald trump jr. i think the president will be a father and look out for him. but the son-in-law? i'm not convinced on that. look what, we're talking about here is a dereliction of constitutional duty by the other branch of government. by congress. and i mean, we're talking about norms and customs, we were talking just a moment ago before we went to governor blagojovich's lawyer about how you know, it's not settled whether the power of the parole of the of president. it used to be that there was processes and procedures that a president would have to go through. there's a person in the white house or in the doj whose seoul job it is to vet people for parole. what happened yesterday with dinesh d'souza from the reports i read, a three-minute phone call where the president says we've never met. i don't know you. you've been done and i justice. i'm pardoning you tomorrow. three minutes, a phone call. the president of the united states. such a powerful power he has. >> he does it with impunity. thank you.

trump's legal team. and that makes john dowd suspect number one in this leak because he is now outside mr. trump's legal team. in fact, john dowd quit the trump legal team within a week and a half of getting those questions from the special prosecutor. the special prosecutor's office could not possibly have leaked the document because they don't have the written list of questions that was created by john dowd and jay sekulow. john dowd has denied today that he leaked those questions. john dowd can now fairly be described by "the new york times" or anyone else as a person outside of trump's legal team. john dowd is also the star of a dramatic scene delivered as the lead of "the washington post" report tonight complete with the terrible dialogue of a terrible hollywood screenwriter that john dowd has told nbc news he thinks is an accurate representation of the scene. and that means, of course, it is a scene that makes john dowd the hero, the less for trump supporting readers. in a tense meeting in early ma

he said trump directed. he said something came out of this retention fee that michael cohen had access to and he could pay it off month to month without having to tell the president he had gotten the money. he got in trouble by saying this was to avoid an election eve daft disaster for the candidate. he said it on "fox & friends" yesterday morning. today he says it had nothing to do with an election. trump still didn't direct the money but he paid it. and also it wasn't to do with the election, but with the trump brand and his relationship with his family. >> which is difficult to square because everything we know about donald trump is that he's a penny pinchers and controls all his money. he's a micromanager of the bills for his building. >> when he pays the bills. >> so it's surprising that $130,000 would just somehow leave his bank account and him not note about it or question where the money was going. that's the argument the lawyers are making tonight. then the other issue with the political motivation,

what is it that they didn't understand about the trump voter and the trump base regarding donald trump. >> i think he didn't understand that it's very hard for people in certain circles on the east and the west to understand the way the average voter thanks. my home contractor, working class person said to me, i don't care what he says, i just care about what he does and i think that sums up the way people in the working-class think. they have to be judged by results. if a carpenter puts a nail into a strut and it's crooked, he could be fired. i hired professor can spout off about anything and they're not hold accountable. these people understand results and that's we see with donald trump. >> i see your point. that was great in your book. let's talk about palm beach. it was alien to me, but you write that behind the hedges, the game that palm beach plays, their scams, murders, jealousy, bigotry and occasionally generosity to make the tv shows look like nursery tales. talk about how donald trump came in tomorrow largo and his whole personality, how he took that place. >> this is typica

trump. the times said donald trump jr. responded approveingly according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. the times adds, quote, after mr. trump was elected. mr. nader paid mr. zamel a large sum of money, described by one associate up to $2 million. donald trump jr.'s attorney released this statement. prior to 2016 election, donald trump jr. recalls a meeting with erik prince, george nay der, they pitched him on a social media platform, he was not interested in. erik prince's roll in arranging the meeting contradicts his testimony to the house committee in a way that sure looks like perjury. according to the transcript he had this exchange. aside from writing these papers donating, supporting in a -- mr. prince, yard sign in myrd -- my yard. mr. rooney, so there was no other formal communications or contact with the pain? mr. prince correct. joining us now the co-author of the new book how to rig an election to be published tomorrow. and david frum is back with us. brian your reading of this. >> it speaks to their

the trump agenda. i am an outsider like trump. he beat to sitting congressman. this was a really bad night for sitting members of congress who are running for higher races. two lost.diana, on, but did not break 50% of the vote. amy: tim murphy, let's go back to west virginia and talk about the pro-marijuana, pro--- pro-coal democrat who voted for trump -- and now regrets it. he won the democratic primary for west virginia's congressional seat. >> we haven't had anybody in washington, d.c., in quite sometime that has oxley fought for the third congressional district. we have it. we are a state that is broke. we're not really a state, we are a connolly. everything we have in the state has been sent out to make other people millionaires and billionaires. amy: tim murphy come your comment? >> at first glance, he looks like a unicorn in democratic does she got elected to a seat that donald trump carried with like 70% of the vote in 2016. riding a significant wave and was virginia and across the country. he

trump is obviously the president. to say that they're just kind of arbitrarily having at it day by day i think underestimates them. so i think they could be putting out what i would call trial balloons. whether it's the idea of pardoning people or taking the fifth. seeing how that will play with their republican base. because at the end of the day, all they need is 34 republican senators if the house were to issue articles of impeachment. 34 republican senators to vote not to remove him. with that long game in mind, as long as that republican base stays by the president, these 30% to 40% poll numbers in front of the president, he wins at the end of the day. he may take the country and tear the country apart through it, but i think he's focused on himself and self-preservation. if they have that long game in mind of those 34 republican senators and their base, you know, throwing out the evidence that's negative to them or, in fact, what i think is the prosecutor and mueller team is sharing evidence with the trump team

trump new mr. cohen had succeeded in keeping the allegations from coming public at the time the president denied it. >>> also breaking, new developments from the wall street journal about michael cohen's access to cash, the journal reports, he gained access to as much as $774,000 through two financial transactions during the campaign as he sought to fix problems for his boss public records show. those transactions could factor into a broad investigation of his business affairs conducted by manhattan prosecutors and the federal bureau of investigation. according to the wall street journal in february of 2016, cohen nearly doubled the amount he could use on a bank credit lined tied to his manhattan apartment. increasing his ability to borrow by $245,000, three months earlier he gained access to another $529,000 through a new mortgage that he and his wife cosigned on a continuedmin numb owned by her parents at trump world tower. it isn't clear whether michael cohen used these sources of cash to settle

on trump's campaign? >> no, they were not. they were spying -- a term i don't particularly like -- on what the russians were doing. were the russians infiltrating trying to gain leverage and influence which ways they do. >> why doesn't he like that he should be happy. >> he should be. judge jeanine: if ever you weren't sure who to believe, i'll make this happy for you. the obama administration was so determined to get hillary clinton elected and donald trump defeated that they let hillary skate on her illegal activity and created a narrative on donald trump. a false predicate, a fake dossier paid for by hillary clinton, the dnc and the fbi to get a court order to spy on the trump campaign. they were allowed to spy for a year. they kept it closed. only the highest levels of the fbi. not the field office. they planned insurance their girl hillary didn't win. they leaked information harmful to donald trump to the press. it was the head of the fbi at the behest of james clapper who privately told the presiden

problem for donald trump. >> plus, is this man about to be the next major trump scandal figure? >> i hope not. >> new scrutiny over an rnc mo you go's big payment to a playmate. then the backdoor attack on the mueller probe continues. >> do you have confidence in rod rosenstein. >> what's your next question, please. >> how the trump tax cuts for harley-davidson led to hundreds of people losing their jobs. >> thank you, harley davidson, for building things in america. >> when "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. breaking news tonight and it looks like potentially bad news for one michael cohen potentially even worse news for donald trump. "new york times" first breaking the story now confirmed by nbc news that cohen's long-time business partner gene freedman has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after pleading guilty today to stealing around $5 million worth of taxi fees from new york state. in exchange, free man will be avoid jail time and been assist government prosecutors in state or federal investigations according to a person briefed

when it was trump himself. he has fostered this culture of leaking. people get their point of view across not by necessarily having a meeting with him but by getting it out there on the air waves. and it's very much a culture he created. i think it is revealing that we're not talking about the remark itself but the leak of the remark. i think that is because however vulgar this aide was, she wasn't saying things that donald trump himself hasn't said in some other form, questioning john mccain's heroism. and his character. and i have no doubt charlie's absolutely right. it must give the president a bit of trouble internally to see a man of this character rebuking him in such a way. >> even charlie as people are talking about the white house making this effort to do this turn, let's talk about the leaks. this is a leaked problem. this is not a morality problem. this is not an appropriateness or basic humanity problem. there are those who are skeptical and say you know what, in the end, donald trump probably doesn

or trump. and i don't think he is facing that decision yet. >> harry litman, as you know in under oath testimony and fbi introduce, there is a huge difference between i don't recall, i don't know, and answers the difference between i don't know and i think so. that takes an investigator from nowhere, the i don't know. when you switch that to an i think so as a witness can, because that's within the range of their possible choice, that's in the space. it's in those spaces in those interviews where witnesses can try to protect someone or just not try to protect them at all. >> you know, it's true, although, in fact, the most frequent perjuryious statement anyone might make is i don't recall. it's so frequent that people who do know are coached by lawyers to say that and think it's safe, and indeed, it's almost an impossible perjury case to bring. but yes, there is going to be a lot of news wants to the either endorsement of or undercutting of trump. i would say, by the way, this is also true at t

he said trump hears that you don't like what trump is doing. and i thought wow, that you're trump. >> tonight exclusive video of bill gates describing what happened the two times he met donald trump. >> both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between hiv and hpv. >> when all in starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. today one year into the mueller probe, donald trump is fund-raising off the fact that he is mired in the worst criminal investigation of a president since watergate. trump e-mailing supporters today with this message on this anniversary of the greatest witch hunt in american history it, i am asking you to renew your sustaining membership for the 2018 year to show the witch hunters that not a single patriot backed down from our fight. fact check. some of the people who were burned at the stake would probably disagree with you there. take that, witch hunters. keep in mind that the supposed witch hunt has ensnared the president's campaign chairman and his former national security adviser among

a key trump supporter. and lanny davis that serve as special counsel to bill clinton and has a new book out. gentlemen, welcome back.let's start with rudygiuliani's statements this week. did they help or hurt the president legal case? >> i think they are irrelevant. what matters if is if the payment was legal. i think discussion of it serves really no useful purpose in terms of the facts. as far as i am concerned, it's a nothing burger. >>chris: we will get into that payment what i want to ask you because some trump advisors fear and on his comments this week about what the president knew and when, that would giuliani has waived his attorney-client privilege and that he can be honest about his discussions with donald trump in court. are they right? >> i think they are possibly right. he's a crisis manager by his own description and he committed three cardinal violations of crisis management which i also do. number one, don't make matters worse for a client. i think by what he has said on television, is expo

and so the trump administration is very much dependent -- the trump administration is now dealing with a kim jong-un who feels that he has a really strong negotiating position. >> well said. made for tv welcoming ceremony overnight, president trump also had some unexpected praise, i don't know where it came from, for north korea's leader. let's watch. >> we want to thank kim jong-un who really was excellent to these three incredible people. they are really three incredible people. >> you know, there's also possibilities that you're watching what looks like a reality show. he talked about the idea of a big crowd in terms of ratings at 3:00 in the morning. would have thought about ratings when you're bringing home captives who have been over there for a while? tell me what historical echo -- i remember when reagan had been horrified like we all were, by the loss of 241 marines in lebanon when that barracks was attacked. i wonder if he can mask it that way, what's going on with everything, with stormy daniels and all that, in this short run. >> first of all, we're overwhelmed by headlines

tower, trump jr. and other aides met with gulf emissary offering help to win election, you may have thought to yourself, yeah, sure. i've known about this for a long time. the trump tower meeting with donald trump jr. and the -- hold on. what's that word "gulf" doing there? gulf emissary? i thought the trump tower meeting was with russians. is this a whole different trump tower meeting? yes. yes, this is a whole different trump tower meeting. pinch yourself. "three months before the 2016 election a small group gathered at trump tower to meet with donald trump jr. one was an israeli specialist in social media manipulation. another was an emissary for two wealthy arab princes. the third was a republican donor with a controversial past in the middle east as a private security contractor. the emissary from the two wealthy arab princes told donald trump jr. that the princes who led saudi arabia and the united arab emirates were eager to help his father win election as president." okay. now, they were eager

similar to trump. i think giuliani came from his own law firm, giuliani and brasswell and he was not able to make a transition to working with other people. as we see even now. when he went on television. he kind of went rogue. he wasn't working with the legal team. this is typical giuliani. he's used to doing what he wants, how he wants to do it. i think there was a lot of people upset that he didn't really take into consideration that he was part of the law firm and he was just doing his own thing? >> so heidi przybilla. rudy giuliani with these appearances on tv has referenced the mueller probe. we've heard comments from vice president pence yesterday saying it's time to wrap up the mueller probe. we heard chief of staff, we'll hear these comments shortly, john kelly suggesting the same that not much has been found, maybe it's time to wrap this up. you've got new reporting about what's happening on capitol hill in reaction to all that. >> nbc has exclusive new reporting about a movement afoot on cap

trump is. i think a critical point that he made was that we knew everything, really everything that might be asked and had prepared answers at the various stages. i don't think that's the case with mr. trump. so i think he would -- -- >> what do you think -- let me ask you this. what do you think about something in a a lot of trump defenders say and that he has tweeted about, for what it's worth, which is the argument that if there is no high-level collusion provenible at least on the part of the president and that the whole thing turns to obstruction that can by way of analogy look a little bit like what some of the clinton folks said about bill clinton which is he ultimately admitted to things that many people thought were wrong and objectionable but there wasn't an underlying felony and to the extent the argument was about obstruction it wasn't enough. what do you say to that? >> that doesn't make any sense. obstruction is a very serious offense. and i think the big risk to president trump i

quick one on him. >> voters saw through the fake trump and then the real trump come through. voters showed what happened there. >> harris: fake trump. let's talk if we can about a national message. you know, we saw something in pennsylvania that was interesting with conor lamb. you saw a democrat who pitched a little bit more to the right. you have joe manchin today in that hearing with gina haspel for c.i.a. director confirmation saying, "i support you." he is in a red state. is there a concern in november that he could lean right and put your guy in trouble? >> no. i think what is happening is he has a record. conor lamb ran as this person that says i'll say whatever it takes to be ecollected to this office -- elected to the office. yesterday, conor lamb voted against c.r.a. to return auto lending and it was not supposed to be done by law. he will build a record. he can't stand on the sideline and say i don't have an excuse. i was in the district. folks will see through conor lamb. keith ross stands for conservatism and the working class. he will come through there. i think

trump. because mr. trump is at the other end of michael cohen on this. if freidman turns on michael cohen, delivers michael cohen in some way in the form of a criminal liability to the feds at some point, michael cohen then if not sooner starts getting crushed by the feds, how strong is michael cohen to resist any temptation to give the feds something they might want to know about donald trump? >> i think the new book would be called the art of the squeal. michael cohen when he was young, his uncle owned a catering hall in brooklyn called the el caribe. the gym there became like the ravenite social club, the headquarters of the russian mafia in america. there were a lot of italian gangsters that would hang throughout. a couple of genovese guys, from the lucase family, all became. joe messino would never become a rat. he took singing lessons. the only thing i can think is that michael cohen may be so -- may be the only guy in brooklyn deluded enough not be a rat. now when you see him walk into court, he just doesn't even know where he is. he walked into c

ivanka trump. that name sake just opened up a store in trump tower. and while they may have a stake in the trust and the ceo runs the firm, ivanka still owns it and the value of her brand has only increased with her position in the white house. let's remember what her job in the white house is. look at her twitter profile. adviser to the president on economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. so as ivanka as a private entrepreneur, her company is benefitting from the chinese government rewarding her with trademarks while we are in the throws of trade talks between the united states and china. and, yes, it could be a coincidence that the president wants to lighten up on zte as ivanka is getting trademark approval which may be the normal course of business, but it stinks to the high heavens begging the question why do both? >> you can thans question noah book bind center you deal with issues of conflict of interest every day. >> we said from the beginning that the president and ivanka trump should no

trump. the lead starts right now. >>> rage, regret and russia. president trump unloading on his attorney general saying he wishes he'd hired someone else over jeff sessions' refusal to stay involved in the russia probe. >>> he's calling it nixon 2.0. really? stormy daniels' attorney claiming there could be recorded conversations between president trump and michael cohen. what might the tapes reveal and how much of it might be what was referred to as the michael avenatti publicity tour? >> plus, a new study claims to have the real death toll in puerto rico, and it will make you sick to your stomach. >>> we begin with a key conservative republican disputing president trump's trail of lies about that confidential fbi source who talked to campaign staffers in 2016. the president and minions have painted this as the obama administration having sent political spies to gather political dirt on the trump campaign. but congressman trey gowdy of k south carolina who is on the house intelligence commit

>>> and trump's tv tapes. one of the president's accusers, former apprentice contestant summer zervos is looking for evidence on mr. trump on recordings of his longtime television show. what does she expect to find? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're

they plant what they want to be acontributed to the trump administration a trump born policy advisor and arrange a meeting for him who hears this news and we are off to the race. none of it is real. none of it. and the collusion -- fallen apart and the on instruction there is no obstruction the president cannot obstruct by doing his constitutional duties. what we are left with here is look at the length to which stheez people have gone to a, prevent trump from winning and after that, doing their best to get rid of him. >> reporter: that was rush on his show rightly calling out the corruption on the russia probe and explaining what had is all about. thank god people understand it. the reaction the cohost. two shoes. host of waters. we need waters we live in jesse waters and fox news contributor. i will start with you tonight. rush is right. >> it will me where he is wrong? >> rush is wrong because the mueller probe is not over. the -- you can say after rush is wrong is wrong. [laughter]. all right. >> 10 point victory that is unfair. there are 19 indictments i know they are not -- col

remember, the trump tower meeting between donald trump jr. and the russian lawyer, okay, the senate released the documents and in spite of what the media is telling you, a total t dog, going nowhere, we'l explain. also a stunning report, new from the fbi, launched the secret investigation, and has a name, enter the trump campaign, only days after they rigged and put the fixation and the clinton email investigation. "the new york times" is inadvertently confirming everything we have been telling you about all of us regarding the massive abuse of power and corruption. also tonight, congressman mark meadows, jim jordan, ron desantis, they are fighting back hard against the doj and their obstruction.ha they are urging the president to get involved. we need the documents released. they are demanding to see it. a lot to cover and tonight's breaking news monologue. ♪ we start with another stingingng step back for the special counsel robert mueller. president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani sing tonight robert mueller will not seek a presidential indi

trump is the story. >> kimberly: just like trump is the wall. they keep trying to kryptonite trump but it's not working. >> juan: the coverage is negative, doesn't mean it's not true. the key here or -- >> jesse: everything he is doing. >> juan: i didn't say everything. a lot of what he is doing. not true. was interesting to me because i thought you guys would all agree with nick kristof that hey, get off trump's back and why are you so focused on trump? but i think you are right, jesse come in terms of storytelling, everyone knows the stories people follow our stories about people and may be stories about events and finally ideas. if you get into myanmar. he listed guns, opioids, high number of people in the country who lack health insurance, and genocide in myanmar. people say it's interesting but gosh, tell me about trump because i know it. i'm following it. following it like a soap opera. >> greg: we talk about guns constantly. the opioid thing was out there. >> kimberly: a miami high school creating uproar after inviting a special guest tri

donald trump jr. and a russia lawyer with ties to the kremlin. senate judiciary committee released thousands of pages of testimony about the meeting today from donald trump jr. and others who have come before them. among the headlines here, donald trump jr. was anxious for opposition research or dirt on hillary clinton. but meeting attendees said no valuable information was provided. donald trump jr. said he didn't recall telling his father about the meeting, but as nbc news points out, trump jr. was, quote, grilled about a phone call he made to a blocked number during the planning stages of the trump tower meeting, but said he didn't remember who he spoke with. asked whether his father used a blocked number, trump jr. said i don't know. this as the senate intelligence committee released a report today that backs the conclusion from intelligence officials that russia interfered in the 2016 election with the goal of helping donald trump. and finally, shannon pettypiece of bloomberg is reporting today t

five people pleaded guilty, including trump's campaign chairman and trump's -- >> for crimes committed long before the trump campaign. >> don't bring in subterfusion. >> i had me, keith, for a second. you have a point. there was clearly political corruption at the highest level of the fbi. and that undermines everybody's confidence in our independent judicial system. and by the way, in the department. that is not good, okay? but we can see two things at the same time. and that is an independent and separate issue, that while connected to the impetus for the special counsel has nothing to do with what the special counsel has discovered. we can separate that whoet going down the bunny holes on partisanship on either side which has to do with the truth. >> the nation"national enquirer targeting trump's personal attorney, michael cohen. discover card. hey, i'm curious about your social security alerts. oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ewww! being in the know is very good. don't shake! ahhh! sign up

pleased to be here. >> jeff bezos, amazon.com ceo. >> donald trump jr. >> ivanka trump. >> eric trump. >> welcome. they're open for business. critics say he will do for america what he did for the trump organization. critics say we may be witnessing the reverse, using american power and taxpayer dollars to bail out the trump organization one last time. joined by liz plank and ben clemens, former prosecutor and chief legal counsel to governor deval patrick. ben, is this a problem? >> well, it's more than a problem, ari. and it is more than a conflict of interest. it is a blatant violation of the constitution at a minimum. there may be criminality as well. more information is needed to know whether there's criminality. unquestionably, the latest dealing with the flip flop on what the commerce department did with respect to -- within 70 hours of trump getting the benefit, his organization getting the benefit of a half billion dollars in loans from china is just a straightforward ee mol ments violation. >> you're saying barring gifts from foreign governments. what makes it a gift than a c

who's donald trump? if you had to define yourself as a smart person or tenacious person, which of those most suits you in terms of who you are as a guy? >> now sources telling "the daily beast" that tmz's leader, harvey leaven there curried favor with trump by covering for trump during certain scandals. tmz pushed articles about hillary clinton. then when a trump accuser shared her story of allegedly being groped by trump on an airplane, one source says levin made it his mission for days to discredit her. it was just part of tmz's news gathering. two days after jessica drake accused trump of sexual assault, tms published an article saying it was all an publicity stunt because she also opened an online sex shop. she sought financial approval from their parent company to buy a trump tape. it is unclear whether the gold air was to publish the tape or help hide it. i am joined by "the daily beast" reporter who broke this story. he was the executive editor of "the national enquirer." thanks for being here. >>

trump. after that artist rendering was released, donald trump tweeted a sketch years later about a nonexistent man. a total con job playing the fake media for fools, but they know it. executive editor of the must read legal read above the law, what do you make of the case? donald trump going to learn today if he so much as thinks about stormy daniels, michael avenatti is prepared to sue his brain stem. trump thinks that he can kind of say anything about anybody to anybody. and michael avenatti is doggedly pursuing him at every opportunity it's kind of an officer and a gentleman. he is using every means fair and unfair to get donald trump into a deposition at which point avenatti wins. >> i don't know, there is two things about this case. one is can you sue the president? >> yes, you can. they're suing him in his personal capacity. so they're able to sue him. look, the case is light on the ground. >> what does that mean? >> we had had a few defamation cases based on twitter. but that is still

>> of course the issue isn't personal dislike of trump, but whether donald trump wants to work with his republican party in control of the judiciary committee to actually get votes on that bill. we will be watching that does it for our show. i'll see you back to you 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. >>> the iceberg cometh. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews from miami. with rudy giuliani at the helm of the president's legal defense team, donald trump is on all-out war footing against the special counsel's russia probe. a new report in "the washington post" today illustrates the alarming degree to which the president is consumed by this investigation. which the authors describe as a steaming locomotive. quote, the mueller operation, like the former marine commander who leads it is secret and methodical. ten blocks wisconsin in the white house, president trump combats the probe with bluster, disarray and defiance as he scrambles for survival. according to "the washington post," the probe has been a near constant distraction for

howie: kathy, this was because donald trump, jr. and kellyanne conway seemed to enjoy downfall. >> still, this is the way journalism works now. we had the story come out and now comes the analysis and you do have a president in the white house that has his own allegations going on, sexual allegations from different women, the stormy daniels is every day in the news, so we hear now that this man, democrat resigned because he couldn't lead because of what was going on in his personal life, so people are turning around and say, can our president lead at this critical time given what's going on with these allegations. so it only makes sense that the news cycle can start turning. this is the way journalism is. howie: and also reflects, some partisanship in the media, so two very different. >> maybe, maybe. howie: nbc has conducted, completed internal review of the matt lauer firing and decided that senior management was unaware of the sexual harassment allegations against the former today anchor. that probe got criticism, it was conducte

if ivanka trump were not in the white house, if ivanka trump were not employed there, if ivanka trump were not sent across the globe in official capacity. >> i wouldn't have that debate. but okay. >> but we cannot have that debate. >> she's -- >> at all. because, you know, leaders have said they have told reporters off the record they know that the best way to curry favor with the kplacommander in chief withe president of the united states, is to play nice with his daughter. >> right. >> they have said that. >> yeah. >> repeatedly. and here we go. china giving trade marks that will be worth millions and millions of dollars in the future to ivanka trump into the fastest growing market in the world. it's worth -- it's worth millions and millions. and now we're seeing donald trump finally deciding he's worried about jobs in china? >> yeah. well, you know, chinese jobs is the centerpiece of the campaign. i don't know if you remember this, the notion of making china great again. no? maybe not. look, this discussion -- >> i do remember. i do remember instead of make china great again, it is

this guy trump, he goes away. not sure exactly when, but he goes away, he leaves a stain on the legacy of mike pence. he leaves a stain on the legacy of paul ryan. he leaves a stain on the legacy of devin nunes, he leaves a stain on the legacy of mitch mcconnell. he leaves a stain on the legacy of every republican who will not raise their voice at a critical time -- a critical cross roads for this constitutional republic where the president of the united states is interfering with an investigation into the president's operation and by the way, this is after the president's campaign manager, you know, has been indicted. this is after the president's head of national security has been indicted and is cooperating. this is after the man that the president said was one of his top foreign policy advisors has been indicted and is cooperating. this is after one of the guys that ran trump's campaign helped on the inauguration committee and even was working in the white house in the beginning was indicted and is now coopera

that is the essence of one donald trump. people see on tv and think they know everything about him, but they have very little details that have never come out about him but he uses for hairspray, making decisions about hiring or not hiring people like romney. he thought he was hawkish but he doesn't let these details come out. he doesn't want people to know that he has a 100-dollar bill to the senators and workmen as tips. when asked about that he said he had given or will give and this took place the night before new year's eve i asked him about the 100-dollar bills and he said food for you that. he's trying to obfuscate. he doesn't want that out. he doesn't want -- he wants this tough guy image and any personal details like that that might show that he is a very compassionate guy, he doesn't want that out, but it's in this book. >> host: talkbout your interview with the president because it sounds like there might be about 11 questions. what were you glad you asked him about and what do you wish that you had asked? >> gues

trump. he's taking the queues from donald trump. he is basically just an shill for donald trump and he's also taking on the entire rule of law and undermining our system of justice and attacking the fbi, attacking the u.s. attorney's office. i mean, he actually referred to the fbi agents who executed a valid search warrant on the office of michael cohen as a bunch of storm troopers. now, as part of that u.s. attorney sort of alumni, this has raised major concerns of us communicating with each other over the last few days and helpful to read an e-mail i got that i think really sums it up. and it says -- i won't name the person that did it. i haven't talked to him about saying this on national tv but he said for those who regard the united states attorney's office in the southern dris ticket of new york of a model of prosecutor's office should be, it was distressing to see the former leader of that office, rudolph giuliani, telling sean hannity that fbi agents acting under the supervision of that office, quote, storm troopers. closed

and stand up to donald trump. as governor, you can trust me to do what's right- because i always have. >>> all right. welcome back to "hardball." we've got to talk about the midterm elections, folks, because something big might be happening right now, or maybe it isn't. let's go to the big board to show you what i mean. so this is something we've been tracking. obviously everybody who is following these elections has been tracking throughout the trump presidency. the generic ballot. you call people up. you ask them, you want to vote for the democrats? you want to vote for the republicans for congress? remember at the end of last year, democrats built a double-digit advantage on this question. remember they just won that special election in alabama. they were up 13 points on average at the end of the year in the generic ballot. well, guess what's happened more recently? that thing has been tightening, closing, and now if you average them together, the margins just four points. you falk to republicans who are trying