ages grow and society grows, equality grows together. it's the only way we can correct the institutional and structural inequality that plagues us. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. go ahead, knock this deal off my shoulders, i dare you. let's play "hardball".." >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in san francisco. dares go first. that was president obama today daring his critics for a better way to keep iran from a nuclear weapon. go ahead, tell us what you would do, how would you drive a harder bargain that keeps the major countries behind us that gets the iranians to accept it? if you can't find a tougher doipic route admit the only

real alternative is war, go in and bomb iran and accept the mayhem that comes with it. also tonight, trump and cruz joining on the right. is ted cruz positioning himself to succeed, is he the apprentice apprentice? and the president calls it rape if someone drugs someone to have sex. he was talking about bill cosby. and president obama gave a strong defense of his nuclear deal with iran challenged critics of the deal to present an alternative. i'm hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about, this is a bad deal this is a historically bad deal. this will threaten israel and threaten the world and threaten the united states. i mean, there's been a lot of that. what i haven't heard is what is

your preferred alternative? there really are only two alternatives here. either the issue of iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is resolved diplomatically through a negotiation, or it's resolved through force, through war. those are the options. if the alternative is that we should bring iran to heel through military force, then those critics should say so. >> howard fineman from the huffington post david corn washington bureau chief for mother jones. howard a phrase i've loved, new facts. we have a deal on the table and nobody thinks we can get back to that table again if we leave it ourselves. is that the choice facing the u.s. congress in the 60 days ahead, whether to accept this deal agree there won't be another deal and then go to

military action? will the congress accept that as the choice? >> well chris, they're not going to have much of a choice but to accept it that way, because presidents who come back to the united states with agreements manage usually and i think the president brilliantly framed it that way, to make it a choice between the deal on the table or nothing. the deal on the table or chaos. the deal on the table or maybe war. the president didn't focus all of his efforts on the question of whether he could have gotten this concession or that concession, or some other piece of the puzzle. he said look this is what we could do with the global partners we have with the leverage that we had, this is it or nothing. and i think in this situation, especially with the fact that we have to have the world with us he's right. >> well let me ask susan that question, because it comes down to, if you're a member of the senate or the house of representatives, you have this

choice, kill this deal or accept this deal. can the enemies of the president make it, no that's not the question, it's a question of whether he could have done better? even though that question is irrelevant, because there's only one deal out there. your thoughts? >> i think what we saw today was the beginning of a 60-day campaign. president obama has run very successful campaigns in the past and that's what he's just begun with this iran deal and he's got the presidency on a very complicated issue, that makes it tough for his opponents. that doesn't mean we won't have a resolution. i'm sure it will be introduced but they'll never be able to override or veto. so president obama is making the best case to show the most united america he can. but this deal i think the odds are excellent, almost certain, that it survives, because of the arrangement that he made with congress when they insisted on the ability to review it. >> david, it seems to me he wants more than to avoid disaster. he wants approval.

is that reasonable? can he get a majority of support in the two houses? >> i doubt republicans will give him that majority support in either house. but particularly in the senate. there's no way i think the gop will accept this. they have this abstract form of opposing it. it should have been better, should have been better. the president as he started doing today and the past few days say, what's your better choice? what's your better choice? now matter how many times you ask that of ted cruz john boehner, lindsey graham all they have is you should have been tougher, gotten a better deal. that's in the abstract. they'll keep hanging on to that. because particularly led by the presidential candidates there's no political gain for them agreeing with the president. they've already laid the foundation that whatever he came back with, it wasn't good enough for netanyahu, and that meant it wasn't good enough for them.

this is figure to besis going to be a tooth and nail fight over the idea behind the agreement let alone what happens with the vote count. >> most people agree, don't they we'll never get this team of partners together again, the chinese, the russians europeans. we'll not be able to go back to the table. anyway speaking of netanyahu, here he is on nbc today, he had a message for americans. be afraid. that's watch. >> i fought and i said that this deal poses a great danger to israel and i believe it poses a great danger to america and the world, when you let the number one terrorist regime in the world have a sure path to the bomb and hundreds of billions of dollars with which to finance its terrorism around the world, that's not good for any of us. >> american hawks echoed that message of fear let's watch. >> this proposed deal is a terrible, dangerous mistake,

that's going to pave the path for iran to get a nuclear weapon. we've ensured they back a nuclear nation. >> it's a death sentence for israel. >> this is the most dangerous, irresponsible step i've ever seen in the history of watching the mid east. >> why would you make a deal with someone who's lied to you before? and would you play poker with somebody who cheated you before? we've made a deal with a murderer, with a homicidal maniac, the ayatollah of iran. >> it is catastrophic. if it goes through, it will result in funding terrorism, it will endanger the lives of americans. it will endanger israel. >> israel has reason to worry, and so should you. >> barack obama has planted the seeds in world war iii, one day that will break out right here because of his actions today. >> howard it looks like the safest position for a republican running for president is the

hardest, nastiest assault on this deal. >> yes, chris, i think there are two things here. first of all, that opposition to the deal is largely, not entirely but largely now a partisan party, with the conservative israeli government under benjamin netanyahu basically having thrown in its lot with republicans in the congress. i think politically, strategically, a terrible mistake on israel's part but that's what netanyahu's done. the other interesting thing, it seems to only be about israel when in fact, the sunni arab gulf states, saudi arabia and the others, are just as frightened if not more so about iran getting $100 billion in relief from sanctions, but they're not front and center. because netanyahu has very little credibility and popularity in america and the world as a whole, he turns out to be a very very poor advocate in the court of public opinion,

and i think president obama knows that. they have not liked each other from the beginning. i think it's personal also and i think the president is willing to take this on in a way that's very interesting. israel will get money out of this, they'll get more military support, the gulf states will get more military support to balance it out, in terms of non-nuclear equipment, but this is a high-stakes game i haven't seen quite like this in a long time. >> let's remember, we also have a former vice president who can be just as hawkish as netanyahu. dick cheney emerged yesterday on sean hannity. he warned that the deal with iran could lead to nuclear war. let's watch dick cheney. >> what obama has done is in effect sanctioned the acquisition by iran of nuclear capability, and it can be a few years down the road it doesn't make any difference it's a matter of months until we'll see a situation where other people feel they have to defend themselves by acquiring their

own capability and that will in fact, put us closer to actual use of nuclear weapons than we've been at any time since hir osh ma and nag saki in world war ii. try to understand what barack obama is trying to achieve here but he clearly does not understand or chooses to ignore reality. >> that's dick cheney talking. in the past cheney has offered his preferred alternative for dealing with iran. quote, there have been a number of times where we have been faced with the potential threat of a nuclear middle east. what's worked is military force, and the willingness to go in and use military force to strip military arms from iraq iran and syria, unfortunately barack obama doesn't seem to understand that. he talks about obama being the odd man out in the world discussion. i wonder if it isn't dick cheney who is the odd man out because he took us into iraq including

the 2,400 american clrds soldiers, in a war that made no sense, that created basically the high-ranking officer corps for isis and cost all those lives. i wonder why he comes back into american debate as if he's been triumphant here in the national argument. >> well he's been cheney has been consistent from the beginning of the obama administration, in sounding warnings over and over. and he's right, he and president obama see the world in very different ways. obama is doing now exactly what he said he would do in the 2008 campaign, which is deal with adversaries, try diplomacy, military options as a last resort, unlike vice president cheney and his advice d the bush administration. so he's right. president obama is clearly in tune with other western leaders who are also in favor of this deal. we talked about israel being concerned and saudi arabia being concerned, but our main allies are in favor of this. and some countries that are not

really are allies also think this is the right way to go. >> you know chris, the amazing thing here the bush model was the u.s. more or less on its own could go into the middle east use military force and change reality on the ground come what may. and that proved to not work and then the face of obama getting together with allies even china and russia and working out a deal. they're still sticking to that model and being treated credibly in a lot of places. >> he was elected. barack obama was elected by the majority of the american people knowing this was going to be his approach, to find a way to debate with people who are hostile to us. he had the debate with hillary clinton when she said we shouldn't be negotiating with our enemies. he said no, we should.

it was on that basis the voters chose him over mccain. so ever since the cairo speech by this president, we are getting a different approach to the middle east. it may be wrong, one never knows in the near term, but it's what he promised. to me, that's refreshing. anyway, thank you all. coming up is ted cruz auditions to be donald trump's -- dare i say the word -- apprentice? the two met today in new york and cruz is sounding a lot like trump when he talks about illegal immigrants. cruz is sticking at the farthest right position in trimp's slip stream. plus, the plight of the four americans held in captivity by the iranian regime. we'll talk to the sister of one of them. and president obama's surprisingly strong response about bill cosby. he said if you give someone drugs and have sex with them without consent, then it's rape.

he was blunt, and truthful and. n and some say there's a u.s. invasion of the lone star state. this is "hardball," the place for politics. am i the only one with a meeting? i've got two. yeah we've gotta go. i gotta say it man this is a nice set-up. too soon. just kidding. nissan sentra. j.d. power's "highest ranked compact car in initial quality." now get 0% financing or a great lease on the nissan sentra. ♪ ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business...

that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? >> the latest suffolk university/usa today polls show americans choose hillary clinton over seven possible republican candidates. let's go to the "hardball" scoreboard. clinton leads jeb bush by four points, 46-42. she tops marco rubio by just six, 46-40. clinton beats huckabee by nine 49-40. over rand paul by ten 48-38. walker 48-37. carson, by 13, 49-36, and she fares best against donald trump, 51-34, a 17-point margin.

it also makes sense to me. we'll be right back. s, pecans and other delicious nuts specially mixed for people with hearts. i said people with hearts. because hearts health is important. that's why i've researched optimized and packaged this mix just for you. not you. so if you have a heart start optimizing your nutrition with my nutrition. planters. nutrition starts with nut.

i like donald trump. you know there are a lot of folks in washington right now that seem to be crawling all over themselves to smack donald trump. i'm not one of them. i think he's bold i think he's brash, and i think he's got backbone. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was ted cruz on "hardball" last week. as we showed you last night, trump has catapulted to the top of the republican presidential field by railing against mexicans blasting immigrants as criminals. now it appears cruz is auditioning to be trump's afept prentiss. he said trump called him wanting to arrange a meeting at trump tower for the meeting. why is cruz meeting with trump? earlier today cruz answered that question. >> i'll say this. i think donald trump is bringing a bold brash voice to this presidential race. indeed many of the politicians who are running out of their way

to smack donald trump have for years or even decades been vocal advocates of amnesty. these are critical issues and they're issues i've been fighting for a lot of years. in 2013 alone, the obama administration released 36,000 illegal aliens who had criminal convictions, including 116 murderers. one question anyone should ask president obama or especially hillary clinton, does hillary clinton think it is appropriate for the federal government to release 116 murderers who are illegal aliens? i don't. does hillary clinton think it's appropriate that in 2013 the obama administration released over 15,000 illegal aliens who had drunk driving convictions. my girls are 7 and 4, they're on the road every day to school. the idea that this administration is releasing over 15,000 people with drunk driving convictions who are here illegally, that doesn't make any sense.

people are fed up with it. and i think that frustration with politicians in both parties who say one thing and do another, i think that's going to be front and center in the 2016 election. >> matt sclap isand willie brown join me now. >> matt, ist seems like it's a combination of a focus on crime and illegal immigration. your thoughts? >> the fact is donald trump is doing well in these polls because he's striking a chord and not just a republican chord. he's striking a chord with people out there in the country who say, when you have a border you're not policing when you have a visa system that's out of control, we don't know who's staying in this country, you don't always get the best people said in your country. and crime is a part of this and we ought to cut down on crime and crack down on crime. and anybody who's going to defend the criminals in these

situations is just beyond me. >> when is the republican party going to take steps to do that. you've had the presidency for eight years under w. >> he tried. >> no. when are you going to do something about arranging a uniform, fair progressive immigration system and hiring system in this country that you intend to enforce? if somebody comes here to get a job, shouldn't they have to do it legally and why does your party oppose true enforcement of that law? they have. >> i think george w. bush tried to get a comprehensive immigration bill through congress. there's no question that one of the reasons that this has totally broken down in this congress is because president obama acted unilaterally with his executive pen, which does not acknowledge the fact that -- >> wait a minute. he did that after he failed to get -- no no get the timing right. if you can't get the house of representatives to agree to a comprehensive deal which had been passed in the senate with pretty strong republican

support, how can you blame the president for moving on his own, if he could get it done legislatively? >> because just like reagan in 1996 who signed an immigration bill you have to acknowledge that sometimes you don't control congress and you have to work with those republicans -- >> congress passed a very good bill in 1986 and they never enforced it because of people who said we have to have illegal hiring in california and other places because of the economy. they said for economic reasons we couldn't stop illegal hiring. you know the history. >> you work on the hill. >> i did. >> the president doesn't get to dictate what's in a comprehensive bill. he has to work with the people the american people have sent to congress. >> you're saying it's the democrats' fault? >> no. but obama blamesears a lot of the blame that we can't get a bipartisan agreement.

new numbers from "the washington post"/abc poll out today. in may, before his talk about illegal immigrants in crime, he was viewed favorably by 23%. un unfavorably by 65%. now the numbers have flipped. why do you think republicans like the sound of this guy now? >> i think he's offering simplistic responses in view of a violent act in san francisco. he's taken full advantage of that opportunity and he is in fact ignoring, and so are they all of the other things that need to be considered when you react to such a violent act. >> late today, cnbc's john harwood asked ted cruz about his motives for supporting trump all of a sudden. let's watch. >> do you see him as a plausible occupant of the oval office plausible president of the

united states, or are you simply defending him because you expect him to collapse and you want to inherit his votes? [ laughter ] >> well let's be clear i'm running to win, so i expect everyone to collapse, i'd like to inherit all their votes. so at the end of the day i will readily plead guilty to that, but also say i like donald. he's bold. he's brash. part of the reason people are supporting donald trump right now, is they're fed up with politicians in washington who don't tell you the truth. they don't do what they said they would do. and a lot of his support reflects that right now. i appreciate that brashness. >> as the head of the american conservative union matt do you see him as a plausible president? because notice then ted never answered that question. do you have an answer? >> you know i, like a lot of americans, are watching him. trying to figure out what this guy's all about. he's a phenomenal media presence. is he somebody who can operate inside the oval office and lead the country?

that's what this process is about. >> so you think it's plausible, in other words? >> definitely. >> he's a plausible president of the united states, donald trump? >> definitely. >> mayor brown? >> no of course not. as a matter of fact i think mrs. clinton is just hoping the republican party continues with its insanity towards donald trump and nominate donald trump. that will almost ensure we'll have the first woman president in the history of this country. >> what about bernie sanders, is he plausible? >> he is. he is. he has the talent. he's been elected to the u.s. senate. trump has been elected to nothing. >> so you have to get elected in order to qualify to be president. i wish they had put that in the constitution. but they didn't. being an outsider at this particular time in american politics sure seems to be an advantage. >> well, i disagree with you whole heartedly, unless of course you show talent, skill,

humanity and common sense. trump provides none of those things. >> that's the american debate. thank you both. up next the iran nuclear deal comes as four americans are being held in iran. i'm going to speak to the sister of a former u.s. marine who is in prison right now in iran who at one time was sentenced to death. this is "hardball," the place for politics. can a business have a mind? a subconscious. a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought.

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whereabouts are unknown. president obama was asked about those americans at his news conference today. here was that exchange. >> there are four americans in iran, three on trumped up charges and one, whereabouts unknown. can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscience of this nation unaccounted for in relation to this four americans? >> i got to give you credit for how you craft those questions. the notion that i'm content as i celebrate with american citizens languishing in iranian jails, major, that's nonsense. and you should know better. i've met with the families of some of those folks. nobody's content and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get

them out. now, if the question is why we did not tie the negotiations to their release, think about the logic that that creates. suddenly iran realizes you know what, maybe we can get additional concessions out of the americans by holding these individuals. makes it much more difficult to walk away if iran somehow thinks that a nuclear deal is dependent in some fashion on the nuclear deal, and by the way, if we had walked away from the nuclear deal we'd stilling pushing them just as hard to get those folks out. that's why those issues are not connected, but we are working every single day to try to get them out, and won't stop until they're out. >> joining me now, the sister of one of those held in iran. a former marine who was visiting

his grandmother in in tehran when he was arrested and tried for spying. what was your reaction watching that back and forth between the major and the president? >> you know it's hard for us as a family. we're really hurting, chris. and i have to admit that it's never enough for our family until amir is home. the announcement of this deal although diplomacy is better than hostility and we don't doubt that amir's case has been tied, unfortunately to the outcome of those negotiations, we hope now this is just the beginning. we want to see that moving forward, amir bringing home the americans is a priority now, it's not just raised on the sidelines, and it's something that is going to result in positive outcomes and no longer the reassurance that it's going to continue to be raised. what is it going to take to bring amir home? this august he's going to be

there now four years and amir will now be the longest held american in history since the overtaking of the u.s. embassy in 1979. so it's very painful. we're really struggling as a family. >> do you have any reason for hope -- well can you -- maybe you'll have to answer this bleakly, but are there any signs out there that they may be willing to budge now that we're working together on the nuclear front, that they might consider this as a another sign or opportunity for cooperation? any sign that may be the case or is it just as bleak as it was before? >> no, i think that we were reassured up until the announcement that on both sides an outcome that was positive would only reinforce a positive outcome for amir and our attorney in iran has assured us there are viable options for amir. this administration has assured us they will continue to push

and raise this case. so, again, for us as a family going on four years i'll believe it i want to believe it, i want to see these efforts in place, but until my brother is home on american soil it's never enough. >> well i'm not sure this is helpful, but republican presidential candidate donald trump says there should not have been a deal with iran excluding the americans. here he is. >> we have four prisoners over there, we should have said let the prisoners out. they shouldn't be over there. one's in there because he's a christian. he's a pastor. one's in there, a writer. they shouldn't be in prison. so he should have said we're not doing anything let him out. if the right messenger delivered that message. i'll go a step further. they should have been out from the beginning of the negotiation not the end. but who would think we do a negotiation and we have our four prisoners. >> this is so tricky. do you think tough talk is the

answer like do this or else whatever. whatever? >> you know, i can't speak from a policy standpoint all i know is that the urgency needs to be made clear. my husband and i were in vienna we passed letters to the iranian delegation to the state department. my brother went as an innocent man, as a tourist. what he's being held accountable for is his service to the u.s. military. we're not even sure if those are the charges, but we speculate. because when they say he's been charged for cooperating with a hostile country, that's the only thing that we can understand. unfortunately now that hopefully there's this diplomacy and america is no longer a hostile country, we hope the iranian government will give him access to his attorney that his case can be reviewed, and the viable options that even the iranian government had presented for

amir were amnesty on 1/3 of his ten-year sentence which has already passed. given the fact that my father has been diagnosed for cancer and has suffered two strokes, a humanitarian or a conditional release. again, these are options that are viable that they themselves have raised in their own mandate. we hope they'll take that into consideration, given the fact that there's improved diplomacy and moving forward, bring amir home. >> let's hope. i hope it's doable. thank you. >> thank you, chris. up next, president obama speaks out on the bill cosby controversy. i'm going to speak with the reporter who asked him whether the comedian's medal of freedom should be taken back by our country. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. . the apocalypse? we're fine. i bundled renter's with my car insurance through progressive for just six bucks more a month. word. there's looters running wild out there. covered for theft. okay. that's a tidal wave of fire. covered for fire.

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>> here's what's happening. riots gripped athens, protesters

threw gasoline bombs and smashed store fronts in the latest rounds of clashes. president obama is in oklahoma where he gave a speech about economic opportunity. tomorrow he'll become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he visits a correction center in that state. and nasa has release the first ever images taken by pluto. taken by a spacecraft launched nine years ago, came within 777 miles of the dwarf planet. now back on "hardball." >> welcome back to "hardball." on his press conference today, president obama was presented with a question about bill cosby. here's what happened. >> would you revoke the medal of freedom from bill cosby? there's no precedent for ve revoking a medal. we don't have that mechanism.

i'll say this. if you give a woman or a man for that matter without his or her knowledge, a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape. i think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape. >> historically, the crime of rape was deemed of capital offense punishable by death right up to 1977. according to court documents, cosby said that in a legal deposition that he gave sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with. cosby has never been charged and denies the assault allegations upon many are petitioning the white house to revoke cosby's medal of freedom. it was awarded to cosby in 2002. kirsten gillibrand of new york joined in the effort. we're joined by the white table.

april ryan who asked the president about cosby. and also jonathan capehart and ryan grim, washington burrow chief of "the huffington post." april, back to you, did you have any hesitancy about that question, was it hard to bring that up for you personally? >> it was hard number one, as a journalist, you know the president's trying to keep a tight ship and you just want to ask one question but when you get the president, you try to throw it all in there. i had three questions and the last one was bill cosby. and i had been asking in the white house briefing room of josh earnest about the possibilities when we were hearing the women's groups were asking for the president to revoke his medal of freedom. then the congressional leaders were looking into it. so it was presidential. you know bill cosby did receive a medal of freedom from george w. bush. it was a presidential question to ask.

everything comes to the president and that's the in-between. >> are you satisfied with his answer there's no mechanism to revoke it? >> some of the thought in the white house, and the president did say that, he didn't want to set the precedent, and there would be a precedent if he did it. the thought in the white house there are so many medals given to so many different people who deserve it for what they have done, but then you have people who could have done other things as well. so you start a chain reaction of pulling everyone else's medals. so that's some of the thought in the white house that i was getting prior to the president's answer today. >> let me go to jonathan. i liked the answer because it was a sharp statement of rights and crime. rape is a crime. it used to be settled by execution in the old days before the supreme court said it was cruel and unusual. but in terms of its severity i thought he nailed it. >> yes, and the other thing about the president's response i felt like we had gone full circle.

remember the white house press conference where he was asked about the arrest of harvard professor skip gates at his own home and he spoke openly about how he thought the cambridge police quote, acted stupidly in arresting the professor in his own home. the fire storm that erupted after that as a result, many people point to as the reason for the president being very reticent to talk about anything related to race either directly or indirectly. today, we saw the president snap back to that barack obama, someone who was forceful someone who was speaking his mind. but this time aware that because there's litigation involved, that he had to make it clear that he wasn't going to get into the details, but generally speaking if you do x, then y is the case and the way he did it today, i thought, was incredibly forceful. >> and i want to piggy back on what jonathan said. some of my sources in the white

house said the president has zero tolerance for rape. and president obama has been very much in the forefront of dealing with women's issues. his first law he signed into law was the lilly ledbetter act. then the women and girls initiative that's headed by valerie jarrett, his senior adviser, who is a woman. then you also have the president dealing with issues of sexual assaults in the military and on college campuses. he's against that. so i was told that he's very passionate about the issue of rape. he has zero tolerance for it. >> let me go to ryan. you get in here because i think that was so smartly said here. because i do think, of course it was a capital crime, of course it's a major crime on the books. it is a crime. you don't have to argue about it being zero tolerance. it's done it's evil it's evil. i thought he handled that with a sharpness that showed he's up to date in the public conversation with women and men. i thought it was up to date. that's what i liked about it. your thoughts? >> yeah he did it extremely well. just as jonathan was saying

there is no precedent and no mechanism to do this and then a pause, however, let me describe the precise situation that everybody knows has occurred and then let me pass judgment on this general type of situation, everybody knows that we've now passed judgment. for all intents and purposes that, his medal has been revoked. the president of the united states condemning you in front of the entire country. and partly -- >> the entire world. >> and partly what he means by no mechanism, there was an actual ceremony where he was handed a physical object, which he walked out of the white house with and took it back it his house. >> it was placed around his neck. >> s.w.a.t. teams have gone into houses for less. but there's no practical way to go retrieve there's no mechanism set up like the olympic olympic committee, if they take away a medal, they can go and

take it back. so they don't have that for these medals. but it's been symbolically revoked. >> and i think the principle of the president of the united states got getting involved in a criminal case is smart. talking about nixon being guilty, everybody knew it, but don't say so, that gives his defense attorney something to argue from. i don't think the president should be trying cases. anyway, thank you. the roundtable is stays with us. up next, conspiracy theorists are worried that a military exercise that began today say front for a government takeover. but ted cruz has called the pentagon and they say it's not a government takeover. did he really make that phone call? anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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that exercise began today. some on the right have trumped up fears that it is a government invasion of texas after the military released this map showing the area of operations for the exercise. the southwest of the united states labelling the state of texas and other areas, hostile territory, hostile being in quotes. ted cruz sought insurance that's this isn't a military takeover of the state. >> i understand the concern that has been raised by a lot of citizens. i think part of the reason is we've seen for six years a federal government disrespecting the liberty of the citizens. my office we've reached out to the pentagon to inquire about this exercise. we're assured that it is a military training exercise. and i have no reason to doubt those assurances but i understand when the federal government has not demonstrated

itself to be trustworthy in this administration, the natural consequence is that many of the citizens don't trust what it is saying. >> let me to go ryan. in what world of metaphor or what does a person who is a united states senator, i certainly respect that position calls up the pentagon or has a staffer call the pentagon and ask them are you invading texas? first of all, if there was a seven days in may kind of thing going on where there was a military coup afoot. a dictatorship afoot. they wonderful say of course not. so what is this really? is this a phony event? there was such a telephone call. there was such an inquiry, a serious inquiry. are you invading texas? is this the crazy clown car taking over our universe? how do we think like this? your thoughts. >> i don't think the question would have actually been formulated in the way that he is describing. is this an invasion, is this a

coup. >> what assurances was he getting then? be liberal in your thinking here. >> i don't believe that the staffer who was asked to execute this request would have carried it out. i think he or she would have reported back. i talked to the pentagon and they said don't worry. >> right. one could only hope the staffer didn't do it. you know what chris? the thing here is senator ted cruz is one of 100 people in the ooupts senate which is a branch of government. i think it is incumbent upon him. he doesn't have to call the not pentagon. he should tell those people who he represents calling asking wlor the use military is invading, no. the fact that we're talking about there at all is the height of ridiculousness. >> are you saying to me that he actually draws a check from the u.s. government on a monthly basis? that he actually has 100 staffers being paid by the

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believes there will be another deal for the basic reason we will not have other major countries in on the deal. they believe we've gone as far as we can with diplomacy as far as the iranian government goes. if you dome like this deal you're calling for a military attack on iran. if you're calling for that be prepared to defend the potential consequences. not being a large fan of dick cheney on such matters, i believe they serve a public service here. they want to plan. a clear alternative to the leadership we're getting from president obama. let me leave you with one more important point about the upcoming presidential election. the minute we started talking about iran's nuclear danger i realize the oddness of considering donald trump in this context. does anyone want him on our military trigger? does anyone really want him in nuclear matters? if you believe the iranians are untempered for this deal imagine them on one side of the table and him on the other.

he is now leading the polls for the republican presidential nomination believe it or not. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight -- >> without a deal we risk even more war. >> selling the deal. >> if the alternative is that we should bring iran to heel through military force, those critics should say so. >> highlights from the press conference. >> that's nonsense and you should know better. >> then trump continues. >> i'll tell you a vote that i'll win, the hispanic vote. >> plus inside the unbelievable escape of a mexican drug lord and water wars. a report from the sky on wildfires raging after years of drought. >> the fire will burn