smearing your name. now they try to distort you. some of us will not allow the distortions to go unanswered. some of us will keep fighting. some of us remember you said it is not the words of my enemies but the silence of my friends that will be remembered. thanks for watching. happy birthday, dr. king. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. the battle of ft lee. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. the web begins to tighten as the investigators of the new jersey governor select a council and move towards the issue of subpoenas, getting christie's

people in the chair and getting them under oath is the main issue. what the investigators need to ask is why every single member of the christie team without exception thought it was in the governor's interest to jam shut the commuter traffic lanes to new york, to render a whole community freeze fried for four days while his gang filled glee like they were high schoolers pulling off a prank on the school principal. nobody in the crew said a word against the caper, not a one. even when faced with resistance they pounded full speed eahead. they proceeded enthusiastically with their plan to punish the people of ft lee. now the governor says he will support an inquiry if he finds it appropriate. does this mean he reserves judgment and the right to claim executive privilege should the new jersey assembly plan to hear

from the chief of staff and counsel charles mckenna or would asking them be inappropriate by the governor's decree? we will see. i am looking for the first time the governor puts up his hand and says no way and that is when probers need to probe with all the power they possess. the governor answered best of all. what made all of these christie people hand picked and put in their positions so determined to stop the traffic, screw the drivers and chuckle about what they had done. heather covering the story for the "wall street journal" which has been doing a hell of a job. assemblyman, what do you make -- you named a fellow here, reid

schar has experience prosecutor blagojevich successfully in illinois. you went national. >> we wanted to get the best counsel we could get. this has become a very complicated issue. ewe started as a simple investigation into the port authority. now we have a lot of issues we have to deal with. we want to make sure that we are not crossing lines but doing it effectively. we believe having somebody like reid schar on our team will give us guidance that we need to make sure this is done well, quickly and effectively. >> i have been watching chris christie very carefully construct his defense. true or not we can assume it is true perhaps as he offers it up, he made a point to say he thought the whole bridge thing was about the traffic survey. then he said he quizzed my staff for an hour and nobody came clean and then said he had two

direct reports. do you think he will try executive privilege on those two people? >> i don't know what his attack will be. i'm curious about his choice of the word appropriate. today me made apology and said he wanted to cooperate. yesterday in the state of the state he said he would cooperate with all appropriate inquiries. we expect his cooperation. we have a lot of questions to ask. and mr. mckenna and o'dowd are among many people we need to hear from. what perplexes me is the lack of curiosity when bridget kelly was terminated and never asked her a question. lack of curiosity when he asked his staff when he gave them a total of 60 minutes. he seems like he doesn't want to

know or maybe is afraid there is something he knows. >> when wildstein went down and the questioning of the staff. if he wanted the truth he would have asked for it anonymously. he said unless you want to take personal blame for this i don't want to hear from you. that is an amazing way to blame the staff for not giving the truth. >> he set a high wall there. my thought. >> very high wall. i think the thing that is most amazing is he knows the name of the staff member on his team that sent the e-mail that closed the lanes, bridgett kelly. >> and who authorized them to do it. >> once terminated he didn't want to hear from her. i would have wanted to ask the question what gave you the impression that you could close the lanes? who told you you could close the lanes? that is very disturbing.

tell me about the journal and how you are heading on this. >> me and another man working on this. and tomorrow will be a big day for coverage so we have the assembly, super commit ey formed tomorrow and a potential senate joint committee that will be looking into this. so there is quite a few investigations going on. >> what do you think about the possibility of a mishmash between the house and senate in trenton? the reporting i'm hearing is the senate is closer to the governor even though they are democrats and he might be able to play it

a little. get them to subpoena witnesses and hold them just kill the story slowly and kill the chance of the house getting its job done. >> the senate president put out a strong statement about this yesterday in terms of forming that committee. he said that he thinks it is time to get to the bottom of this. senate majority leader has taken the lead role in trying to get to the bottom of this. ft lee is in her district. she cares about the commuters and she wrote one of the initial letters to port authority commissioner. i think to this point there is a lot of fuel behind the fire. i mean, lawmakers also have to go around and about their own business. they have a budget that will be

introduced next month. this is, i think, getting serious attention now. >> what about reporting challenges? you are a reporter for a big paper. just in general without giving away problems here, are people talking in the christie world or not talking? >> well, i mean, things have become complicated now. we have legal investigations going on. >> do people answer the phone? >> the governor's spokes men have continued to respond to inquiries. what is difficult and one person that might be subpoenaed is michael juniak, governor christie's right-hand man. he will potentially get

subpoenaed and will have to testify accordingly. he is still working for the administration and has not stepped down. it is tricky. just now about half an hour ago we reported bill stepian now has an attorney. we are still waiting to see when bridgett ann kelly gets an attorney. as the investigation continues there is more and more legal counsel involved in this and makes it tricky and complicated. >> let me get back. it seems to me you are in a position and i was somewhat familiar with this back then. chairman of the u.s. house had to handle the impeachment of richard nixon. he was a regular democrat. he wanted to make sure you know the history. i'm sure you know. tip o'neil pushed him and said i

am going to pick a guy. you seem like you are taking this seriously to pick the best person you got. this will be a big deal for new jersey, either get a good case and get the information out or fail to get the information out. it's high stakes. >> it's a serious matter. it is a serious matter because public resources were abused and the real effort to conceal the abuse of resources. we need to get to the bottom of it. this did one important thing that is not good and it used public confidence. when it saw the bridge could be used to exact political revenge. we have to restore public trust. and that's a very big task for us to do. we have to do it right. we have to have the right resources and the right legal

counsel. this has become a lot more complicated because we are in the governor's office and looking at possibly more agencies to look at and more people to talk to. we need to make sure we get it right. there is also other investigations going on. we want to make sure we respect the jurisdictional boundaries that are applicable. we look for the best help and we think we found it. >> thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. coming up a mean spirited political trickster trying to run up the score in an easy reelection. sound familiar? the more we learn about chris christie the more he looks like richard nixon. two of the best minds in politics come out to talk. president obama meeting today with almost all 55 u.s. senators with one goal in mind preventing republicans.

this year more democratic seats are up and republican money machines are spending big against the democratic incumbents. imagine if an american president's girlfriend broken hearted in a hospital when she found out he is cheating on her with an actress. this happened in france. would that sell here? what is in and what is out for us when it comes to covering sex and politics? this is "hardball." announcer ] this is the story of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment

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so far no direct evidence that ties governor christie directly. the entire scandal has an eerily familiar ring. when christie defended himself he strongly denied wrong doing. >> everybody in the country who engages in politics knows that. on the other hand that is very, very different than saying someone is a bully. i am who i am but i am not a bully. >> and declaring he wasn't a bully the governor echoed the words of another leader, of course, president richard nixon. >> people have got to know

whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. >> not a crook, not a bully. >> there are similarities. george packer wrote in new yorker magazine some of the parallels are weirdly exact. whether or not he ordered the water gate bugging he wanted to run up the score going into his second term and he was a mean spirited man. that is an argument. governor christie sought to run up the score by going after democratic endorsements even though he was gliding towards a victory. according to the "wall street journal" quote interviews with mayors and other new jersey democratic officials show that mr. christie's allies fostered a perception of better access to those who cooperated whereas those who stayed neutral say

they felt locked out. the parallels don't end there. both are prized msnbc political analysts. i love personalities in politics. i love people who understand they have the 5:00 shadow. you want to know who is telling the truth. i'm looking at bridget kelly. maybe the name grabs me. sounds like something out of a detective novel. >> raymond chandler. >> i was thinking like falcon. is she telling the truth? we don't know what she is saying because she is not talking. >> everything she knows is everything. she knows it all. >> that is one of the weird parallels that george packer was talking about. not only do you have a guy who like richard nixon began as a prosecutor, investigator, who

prides himself on the tough guy image, this administration put out youtube videos about him yelling at people. you have a sort of insecure guy on the periphery of the republican establishment. and you have a guy who is determined to tough it out, i think, surrounded by people who with one word, i think, could possibly take him down. bridget kelly is an example, stepien is an example. samson who was in the same picture with christie after the bridge closings began. >> let me get through nixon comparisons. nixon denied ordering the break in but fostered a culture in the office for dirty tricks against enemies and had a history of condoning break-ins in the past. he is on tape organizing one at

the brookings institution. here is nixon. so if you're working for richard nixon and ordering break-ins all over the place. it is all on tape. i'm not a nixon hater. it is all on tape. maybe it is only to knock off the dnc. >> christie says let's get this bozo. >> christie with bridge gate at best is minor league nixon. nixon swung for the fences. he secretly bombed a country.

>> have you been saving this for 50 years? >> we are talking about watergate. >> christie has a long way to go to reach those levels. >> i hate to break it to you, if everybody had known nixon bombed cambodia he still would win the election. >> with the christie thing they are only playing for small stakes, maybe showing he is more of a bully. nixon was playing for the global stage. to go and do what his aides are accused of doing is about as cheap and about as small minded -- >> it seems to me -- >> i think that is true. i think what we are looking at here is character. we don't really know the story of chris christie's character. that is what makes this

compelling and what made his speech yesterday compelling. it was more interesting after he started talking about what he wanted to do in new jersey. that performance with this guy who thinks he can tough it out through this thing who said at one point of course we will cooperate with all appropriate -- that means they will try to not cooperate to the extent possible. >> executive privilege. >> a loop hole. who decides what is appropriate? and then surrounded -- like nixon it is a prosecutor, a guy known for investigations who is now in an executive position trying to use what he learned as an investigator to protect himself in this situation. >> this would make him really like nixon. nixon tried not to release the tapes and tried to kill the investigations and got the cia involved. >> let's look at the comparison

on tape. this is june 23, 1972 tape. you can hear the president telling his top aid to obstruct the investigation and how to do it. [ inaudible ] . so you have the president of the united states telling people go to the cia and tell them to stop the fbi investigation because it it is interfering

with what they are up to and keeping secrets about the bay of pigs. chris christie -- mr. christie, a republican complained that the executive director for the port authority of new york and new jersey was pressing too hard according to a person familiar with the matter. for the record christie denied "wall street journal" report. there is another way going to somebody el somebody else in government saying let's cut this off. why would a governor say use your offices and stop this investigation? >> we know there was a cover up. came wup a cover story, a traffic study. his chief associates at the port authority stuck with it. they came up with this cover up and it kind of stuck for a couple of months. that is part of the

investigation. at the end of the day -- >> why would he risk calling cuomo up? >> because he probably thinks there is something at risk here. >> why would he risk telling a democrat he is afraid of an investigation? >> to me the most nixoniian moment was when chris christie said maybe there was a traffic study. >> the same way -- here he is using the same attack to the press. christie and nixon both took snarky attitudes. remember christie last month? >> i work the cones, actually. i was actually the guy out there. i was in overalls and a hat. i was the guy working the cones out there. you really are not serious with

that question. >> in other words, shutup, clowns. nixon was asked in a press conference about tv coverage whether it angered him or not. here is his classic nixon response. >> i have never heard or seen such outrageous, vicious reporting in 27 years of public life. and yet don't get the impression that you aroused my anger. one can only be angry with those he respects. >> do you like that smile? one can only get angry at someone he respects, a direct shot at everybody covering him. >> this comparison works but you are comparing -- at the end of the day, does he think he can do

what nixon tried to do which is really mount a cover up and keep an investigation at bay? i think things have changed so much and he is so far out on the limb he will not be able to stop the investigations and it will eventually have more information. >> on one level the comparison to nixon is ridiculous. on the other more important level you have to examine a politician -- >> do you know where on austin powers where you say the wrong thing your chair vanishes. >> you have to evaluate. for chris christie the port authority is the pentagon. >> like cambodia. >> higher paying jobs there than in the government. >> it is a cash cow. it is a question of character. >> i think it is going to get big. thank you.

up next goes from bad to worst for chris christie. his idol bruce springsteen teams up with jimmy fallon to parody the bridge scandal. ♪ ♪ until then you're killing the working man whose stuck in the chris christie new jersey traffic jam ♪ [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york.

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we need is reliable. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. after a week long tsunami of damaging headlines chris christie might be asking whether he is stronger than the storm. and the bruising he took on late night couldn't have helped. jimmy fallon joined by bruce springsteen who happens to be chris christie's idol. the two performed a christie themed parody of "born to run".

♪ jammed with drivers with no place left to go ♪ ♪ and the press conference went on and on ♪ ♪ it was longer than one of my own damn shows ♪ ♪ someday governor i don't know when this will all end ♪ ♪ but until then you're killing the working man whose stuck in the traffic jam ♪ ♪ i got to take a leak >> that's what i was thinking. that is going to be around for a while. chris christie may be known for thick skin but this must have cut deep. he has made no secret for his love for bruce springsteen which

borders on infatuation. let's hope that doesn't put him over the edge last night. everyone knows elected officials take a lot of heat online. if you read the comments section you know how nasty the critics can be. something all public figures learn to endure. a few made light of the mean tweets in a series of dramatic readings. >> i saw david vitter in

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the house approved a massive $1.1 trillion compromise spending bill earlier. it is expected to pass the senate later this week. president obama travelled to north carolina today to announce the creation of a new manufacturing innovation institute. j.c. penney says it is closing dozens of stores and cutting

thousands of jobs. the company struggled to turn itself around and boost sales. now we take you back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the far right is doubling down in the mission to destroy president obama. they want to kill affordable care and make it harder for minorities to vote. the path to victory in 2014 is to take over the u.s. senate. republicans need to win six seats to take control of the senate and mid terms are historically rough for the party in power. since world war ii lost an average of six seats. to make sure that doesn't happen president obama outlined a three pronged assault to destroy enemies and protect friends.

at the center of the plan a populous message about economic inequality. and then work to improve the affordable care act which would give vulnerable swing state incumbents some cover. and then the fundraising. conservative rain makers are unloading millions right now. the co-author of "double down" and the columnist with the university of georgia, republicans are favored in at least three races where democrats are retiring. it could come down to personalities. i like these races. republicans are going after at least three vulnerable democrats including kay hagan. mary landrieu has been elected many times in louisiana and mark

pryor in arkansas. mitch mcconnell has to face a formidable democratic challenger. and georgia. democrats are pinning hopes on michelle nunn. john harmon it looks to me, the way i'm doing this i'm focusing on people that i think a lot of the viewers will be watching and caring about. people care about michelle nunn. they want to knock off mcconnell. a lot of people do. i think kay hagan in north carolina looks to me like a very attractive incumbent who should get reelected if there wasn't the weird swing to the right that might be looming out there. >> i think all of that is true. the republicans have to basically -- the electoral map running in their favor they have to pick up six seats.

as you point out there are some vulnerable republicans, as well. if you have the elections today given the bad fall that the administration had, the president's approval ratings, the national tide against obamacare right now, republicans would have a decent chance of picking up the senate. we have a long way to play. >> what can change? >> he has a lot of control or some degree of control over that key element making sure the affordable care act looks not like a disaster ten mungs from now but like it is improving and getting on stable footing. that might get a lot of air out of the republican tide. >> do you think the glass ceiling is gone? i pointed out a lot of the women because i know a lot of them and i root for some of them certainly. i have a feeling they are in good shape as candidates.

are they equal terms now with men? >> i wouldn't say equal terms but women are doing well in the senate, first of all. patty murray, senator from washington who brokered the budget deal which looks bound to pass which will end the sequester, more or less. many women senators are doing well. it also depends on having good candidates. and kentucky and georgia are both excellent candidates. michelle nunn grew up in a political family. she knows what she is doing. she is raising money well. and all of that matters. it also matters that president obama is finally paying attention. he now understands that he has to get involved in these mid term races. he has to level the player field as much as he can and he has to

raise as much money as he can and that matters, too. >> let me go back to john. how does this president regain his heroic stature? not saying he was super popular but he was seen as a hero to a lot of people. i think he lost that for a while. how does he champion the election and re-election of friends in the senate especially in the south in red states even in the case of kentucky, georgia, louisiana, arkansas, north carolina, all red states. today he is visiting north carolina and talk about employment and kay hagan says he is in washington too busy to join him. it is only an hour ride in a plane. >> in a lot of states up for grabs republicans spend a lot of money and try to take democratic seats away those are states where the president has never been all that popular and now is less popular. it is hard to see that he

will -- if he had heroic stature he would get it back in those places. he can raise a lot of money. he is heroic on the fundraising. he can help drive democratic turnout. some of the incumbents are not going to want to stand up for the president. i'm not sure he will be all that welcome in a lot of the states going forward. he can dowhat he can. the fact that he understands how important this is, something he has not done or taken much interest in in the past, campaigning for or fundraising for down ticket democrats he understands how important it is and if he doesn't hold on he will have a harder time, as hard as it has been and harder time getting anything done in his last two years in the white house. >> that is a bad sign. if he loses the senate he lost the congress. if the people voted in '08 vote again it is a good year. >> if the people voted in '10 vote again he is screwed.

>> who shows up cast the verdict. if you sit at home you didn't help the country. up next talk about scandals. a president's affair with an actress sends his girlfriend, the country's first lady to the hospital broken hearted. doesn't seem to bother the people in france. we will talk about why it doesn't and why it would normally bother us. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. we're open to it.

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hillary clinton may be facing token competition. her list of possible challengers is shrinking. brown said no way. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren rejected a run and martin o'malley said he won't run if clinton does. who does that leave? and we will by right back. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins.

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suggested the president of the country was to certain extent about character although i am not willing to engage on his attacks, i have been here three years and three days and without hesitation being president of this country is entirely about character. >> that was a popular scene from that great movie "the american president." when bhikal douglas responds to attacks on his character for having a girlfriend. he had an affair. anyway, yesterday france's president spoke out for the first time in response to revelations made by a tabloid that he's been having a relationship with an actress on the side. news of the affair sent hollande's long time girlfriend sent france's first lady to the hospital. nerve their personal life goes through trials. these are painful moments.

i don't know how painful they are for him. i have a principle that private affairs are dealt with in private. this is neither the place or time to do it do you think that would fly here in the country? >> eugene robinson was editing the post for years, he's had a deal with these, he's a pulitzer prize winning writer michelle kosinski covers europe. let's get the facts first. i always want to be where you're at, michelle. you're always in a great place. somewhere continental. explain how the french are able to deal with matters we would consider sticky, they say, c'est la vie? >> yeah, nice choice of words there, sticky. i think they like to say, they love to say these are personal matters this is private, they don't care, and they do take

certain things in stride. things like public nudity. someone is photographed sun bathing topless. something like this is different. they will tell you on the street, we don't care what he does in his private life, this is the biggest story over there, i was in paris two days ago, it was wall to wall coverage. i mean this is what everybody was talking about, from intellectuals to taxi drivers. >> why? >> i think the details of it, he is hugely unpopular now, his ratings are down to, by some estimates 15%. and also, the nature of it, the fact that he was photographed being not very discrete, because you know to the french, discretion is everything 37 they want to at least be toastful about it and then they'll cut you a lot more slack. he was photographed with this motorcycle helmet on, showing up

very late at night with his recognizable bodyguard. the actress shows up, he shows up later to the apartment. i mean, the story has many bad layers. and then he's photographed the next morning leaving. and the french just don't really tolerate the boldness of this, especially for someone so unpopular, and by the way, the first lady or shall we say first girlfriend is equally unpopular there. >> let's go back to the question, when we were growing up, there were things called the european version of a movie. my wife and i went over to africa, she's watching a french movie, what goes on in these movies is unbelievable by our standards. surprise a president of the united states, bill clinton or spitzer or one of these guys came out and said, my principle is that private life factors

should stay with the private life. >> good luck with that. >> how come, what is the new line. it used to be, gene, it was sex plus, you didn't just write about it, if a guy is gay you didn't bring it up, you didn't out people. you didn't out girlfriends unless there was a lobbyist or someone in the office place that broke the rules. >> things have changed, the big change started with gary hartmann, he said follow me, right? and so -- >> and then your colleagues said -- have you ever cheated on your wife. you sent back journalism 20 years with that question. that went on. >> i think the ball has moved, even in france. can you imagine anyone asking that question at a press conference. we had a whole second family, and so i think attitudeses have changed over there, it may have something too do with the way the media works now, with the instantaneous nature of the

coverage. u big witty of cameras, also in this case, the inspector clouseau factor of the motorcycle helmet and everything. come on. >> it's great having you on, we needed this story to get you on. we just came up with this within. thank you so much. we'll be watching the nightly news every night from a fleiss place like paris. we'll be right back after this. . around here you don't make excuses. . you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. anncr vo: introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. while, it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply,

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let me finish tonight with this, say this for the french, they know their standards, president after president has had an affair during his term of office. they have known, and they haven't cared. here in this country this new world it's not at all clear what should be considered within the circle of political and press coverage. it used to be that a sexual relationship of itself wasn't enough to warrant open media scrutiny. it will had to be a tryst with a lobbyist. i don't know what's in and what's out. it's vital to know once you run for president, everything gets thrown into the hopper. what goes unreported for senators or governors becomes front page news. once you're in the presidential world. and that means we can expect more episodes of candidates who thought they new the rules

getting hung up and ruin ed enjoying a rivalry of a run for the white house. not much to go on, but a useful bit of reality for those thinking of jumping into the run in 2016. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. chris christie is ready to move on. in fact a lot of people on the right are ready to turn the page on the george washington bridge scandal, it's over, he's apologized, time to move on. >> without a doubt we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. >> not for nothing, governor, but these inquiries aren't happening to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. in fact, it's hard to imagine anyone in