tonight. >> thank you. sorry we ran out of time for the campaign fact check tonight. we'll do it next time, but i wanted to hear more from our guests tonight. chris hayes is up next. grabbing the news, let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews, in green bay, wisconsin, here for an hour long town hall with donald trump tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. parties running head to head and hillary clinton slightly ahead of bernie sanders. but the big news tonight is national. interrupting the horse race on both sides is the news that trump campaign manager, corey lewandowski, was charged with simple battery today, after turning himself into police in jupiter, florida, this morning. the misdemeanor charge stems

from a march 8th incident, michelle fields, formerly with breitbart news. she said she was grabbed by lewandowski, when she was trying to ask trump a question. over head surveillance video, which police say parallels the story fields told them. the jupiter police also cited a bruise, which she posted to twitter after the incident. here is what trump says moments ago in janesville, wisconsin. >> corey is a good guy. by the way, the easiest thing, corey, you're fired. i can't do that. can't do it. so fortunately, i have a taping system, you know, very, i'm rich, so i have tapes all over. so this young woman, who complained, was, oh, she was talking about being thrown to the floor and all of this. i said that's horrible. we saw the tapes.

did anybody see the tape? what did you think? right? nothing. women, what did you think? what did you -- >> you just kept walking. nothing wrong. >> she wasn't like her face stayed the same. if somebody squeezed your arm or did something really bad, don't forget, initially she said thrown to the floor. but if somebody squeezed your arm or hurt you, wouldn't you start screaming or something? did you see any change in her face? >> i reran toen a wide screen, and there was nothing. >> yeah. >> she is -- >> same. >> that all came -- it's horrible. it's horrible. honestly, it's horrible. the best thing i could do is, i can't destroy -- a beautiful wife and children. and i'm not going to destroy a man for that. and you know, when i saw that on the tape, i say oh, this is terrible. it's my tape. maybe he touched her a little bit.

but i didn't -- it was almost like he was trying to keep her off me. >> well, meanwhile, a new national poll by nbc news has trump approaching the 50% mark among republicans, and those leaning republican. trump is at 48%, cruz at 27%, kasich at 18%. three out of five now believe that trump should win the nomination if he leads in delegates, even if he is short of the 1,237 delegates. meanwhile, a big change in the democratic fight. hillary clinton's lead in half, with sanders now getting 47% of the men and hillary at 45%. a week ago, she led by 6 points among men. i'm joined by nbc katy tur, radio host, charles sykes, here in wisconsin. conservative author, ann coulter. the weight of this infraction,

how much weight does it have in the campaign? can you tell? >> reporter: you can tell by donald trump's own actions. it does not have a lot of weight in terms of how donald trump is viewing corey lewandowski. it does have a lot of weight in terms of public perception. that's why you saw donald trump have an impromptu press conference on his own plane earlier today. that was not scheduled. that was something that was done to address the allegations head on, and for him to stand by corey lewandowski. i think it's pretty clear that he is going to remain, keep corey lewandowski on his team. it doesn't seem like there is anything that can happen with the campaign manager, at least as of now, that would make donald trump reconsider his employment. take a -- consider corey's history with the trump campaign. he started long before donald trump even announced, a few months before donald trump announced. he wasn't considered a heavyweight in terms of political operatives on campaigns previously. he doesn't have a large campaign under his belt.

he was sort of a lightweight campaign operative, working on what was deemed back then, a campaign that was sure to go nowhere. right now, donald trump is on the verge of clinching the republican nomination, and corey lewandowski is being credited with much of that, by doing what so many campaign managers would not do, which is let donald trump be donald trump. all of the times that donald trump has said things would have sunk other candidates, corey lewandowski has stood by his candidate and said this is just donald trump being donald trump, and this is who he is. he is going to speak honestly. he is going to speak truthfully. say what he thinks. by doing that, donald trump has really resonated with his supporters out on the campaign trail. i spoke to a number of them today, and asked them about these allegations, about these now charges, these criminal charges, this criminal charge. and how they feel about it, whether that would change their support. i asked women and men. all of them said this was

basically just a distraction from the fact that donald trump is going to get into office, they hope, and change things in washington. create jobs. they think this is a side issue. not a main stage issue for their support for donald trump. so it doesn't waiver them in any way. but when it comes to the gravity of this situation, i think that it is just, you have to wait and see whether this plays out. if their campaign manager accused of putting his or her hands on a reporter, there would be some dire consequences. we've heard ted cruz say that. we've heard john kasich say that. so far, with the trump campaign, that does not seem to be the case. chris. >> well, let me go -- hang in there, katy. let's go to charles sykes out here. how do you think this will get into the bloodstream? let's face it, the verdict on this incident, long before there is a trial, if there is a trial, will be next tuesday here in wisconsin on the 5th, when you have primary. if trump loses it, a lot of people say it's because of this incident.

>> no, it's because of the narrative, and because of several things. i mean, this comes at a time when donald trump has a real problem with women. i think there is a certain amount of denial about that. national polls showing 70% disapproving of him. in the milwaukee metropolitan area, he has a 25%. conservative women in wisconsin looking at donald trump and repelled by the way he treats women. he has a problem with women. this fits into the narrative. and you know, this is one of these incidents, could have gone away so easily, just have apologized. apologize when it happened. be willing to admit something was done wrong. this campaign just continues, apparently they've made the decision that their brand is they never say they're wrong. never apologize. they think that that is weakness. when i asked him the other day, real men stand up and say they're sorry. they have backed themselves into a corner. this doesn't tip the bounds, but it feed news the negative. donald trump, trust me, has a problem with women in wisconsin.

you're going to see that next tuesday. >> are you for cruz? >> i've come out in favor of cruz, because i'm a never trump guy. >> i sort of got that perspective. i think we have to identify that, yeah. let me go to ann for trump. what do you make of this? two things that trump said today that may be conflicting. one, he said it wasn't that big a deal, it wasn't like a physical, you know, notion of assault. he said it wasn't appropriate, shouldn't have been charged. then he says i care about his family, his wife and his kids. it would be one thing to say i feel sorry for the guy, i'm going to be loyal to the guy. is that smart to minimize it? >> i think it deserves to be minimized. i mean, i feel like i'm living -- rush is the front-runner

president candidate, the candidate's campaign manager does what his job is to stay with the candidate. brushes past her and now conservatives are -- at least cruz supporting conservatives, are acting as if there is these that we need a safe face for women's shoulders. if another campaign aid brushed shoulders with a female reporter, that oh, he would be asked to go. no, i'm sorry, there are few things when trump, i will criticize my guy for, in this case, he is the victim. not the victimizer. >> well, i can understand there will be a lot of argument on what the video shows or doesn't show. what about the bruises on her arm that she showed after the incident? if you had bruises like that, if i had bruises like that, somebody manhandled me. >> that could be anyone at that event. it could be someone right before the event, right after the

event. would you accept this in any other case? i wouldn't accept it against bill clinton. >> you mean you think she's lying? >> i think there are bruises. >> ann, you this i she's lying. >> it is quite clear she is lying, when she says he grabbed her and nearly tried to forcefully pull her to the ground, she lost her balance. trump is right. it's one of the first things i noticed, her face is placid the entire time. even if it was a justifiable touching, in a concert, bar, and if that is a battery we just saw on that screen, i've been down and gang raped at bars on the new york city subway. but if that -- if that is such an egregious touching, trump is right. co bring -- he could bring a lawsuit against her you would are her face respond. you don't see that. you see their shoulders brushing past one another.

>> let's hear charles sykes on this. what you do you think of the gravity? what about the gravity of the assault? can you -- can a civilian watching this from afar play jury in this? >> guys, this is not the bruzeder film. he needs less enablers out, getting frustrated. i compared him to a 12-year-old on the playground, only apart by 40 years. look, the problem is, you need to see it in context. this is a guy who on a regular basis insults and demeans women. i am a conservative. i don't want to play the victim card. the reality is, this a man who wants to be president of the united states. and on multiple occasions, his contempt for women, his bullying of women, has become an issue. and somebody in his life, you know, some of the women in his life, ivanka, take his cell

phone away, get him away from twitter and tell him, you know, every single time there is an incident like this, you do not need to insult the woman, don't need to a smear the woman, go off like this. because again, here is -- this is my real problem here. donald trump wants to be the president of the united states. i am a conservative. i don't want to see hillary president. he is go to go into a general election, where conservatives like me, who have spent the last ten years saying no. >> but you're against him on principle. let's be honest here. you don't agree with his politics. you don't agree he is a true conservative. apart from all this, this just lays it on for you. you're against him in principle. >> no, okay, chris, i can tell you why i'm against him. part of is this character and the way he treats people. >> tell me. >> no, i actually. >> the reason, is the principle -- >> no, it's also a character problem. it's the kind of person he is. it's the way he interacts with people. he is the kind of person that is

a father and grandfather. i tried to talk to him about that. if you saw your child behaving this way, a young man, what would you say? would you justify it? would you mock people. there a certain magesty, and he debases it by the way he behaves. anybody talking right now, you've been with him, you would have to deal with him, it is not always pleasant, he has been tough back to you. does this fit with anything else he has done before? this lewandowski, defending his campaign manager, does it fit with his attitude that you've seen expressed by his behavior and words towards women or not? >> i don't think i'm in a position to say whether or not this fits with a pattern of donald trump's behavior towards women. i think what it does fit with is

the pattern of the campaign in general, which is to never back down, no matter what. i think you need to take a look at the progression of this incident and how the campaign has responded from the beginning up until now. at first, they were saying very adamantly that this did not happen. corey lewandowski himself went on twitter, called michelle fields delusional. said i did not touch you. i have never met you. donald trump told me repeatedly that this was not true. that if it was true, there would be video to support it. now, today, there is video. the trump campaign says that they gave this video to the police department down in jupiter, they have filed a charge of battery against corey lewandowski. that's a misdemeanor charge. today, instead of saying there is video, he did touch her, but we don't think it's a big deal, he is instead blaming michelle fields and saying had is not something that what she was describing in the first place. in reality, michelle fields

never said that she was pulled to the ground. she said she was almost pulled to the ground. she said that she managed to maintain her balance. i do want to give you a little bit of background as to what kind of event we're at. i know ms. coulter said she rushed the candidate during a time that was not supposed to be a question time. the reality is, this was a press conference. it was a press conference at his golf course. donald trump finished his remarks and then walked up the aisle and took a number of additional questions from the press along the aisle. michelle fields was one of those members, one of those reporters who was standing there walking alongside him, as a number of reporters were. this was not a campaign rally, not a public event. donald trump was in a room at his own property, who within. >> this is not the time for taking. >> ann, respond to that quickly if you can. >> members of the media, let me finish. members of the video who have been vetted, brought in through secret service and that the

campaign gave credentials to. there might be a point where donald trump takes questions from the media, but the reality is, donald trump continued to take question from the media and stopped to talk to a number of reporters. he even stopped after the incident, and talked to reporter in the hallway. >> talking to the daily mail today, they've already told michelle fields to back off a couple of times. yes, this was a press conference. she did not participate in the press conference. this was as donald trump was leaving the press conference, surrounded by secret service. he was generously taking questions. the secret service was blaming michelle fields here and told her twice to back off. she was touching the candidate, which she wasn't supposed to do. and this is utter nonsense that he has any problem with women. >> okay. >> so far, he has been crushing with women voters, women employees, women friends, his

women people who know him, so he is absolutely fabulous to women. and just because you are hysterical doesn't mean that he has done anything wrong. >> okay, thank you very much, katy tur, always great reporting. thank you, charlie sykes. great to meet you. thank you, ann, as always. chaos, donald trump hinting he may break his pledge, saying the party isn't treating him right. he has promised riots if he doesn't have the delegates if denied the nomination. what leverage, big word in business, what leverage does he have if he doesn't win? one week before the wisconsin primary in the democratic race getting tighter. hillary clinton has the delegate lead, but can bernie sanders win back the momentum with a big win here in wisconsin next week. it seems very possible. and on the eve of a huge day in politics, with four presidential candidates appearing right here on msnbc, the "hardball" round table is here with a look ahead what we can expect from the town

hall from donald trump tomorrow night. a lot, i expect. let me finish with the up and down democratic race for president. that's what it has become. up and down. this is "hardball," live from green bay, wisconsin. today, the place for politics. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. (announcer) need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards with a single click.

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>> welcome back to "hardball," that was donald trump, of course, on sunday this week, saying the republican would wins the most delegates should get the nomination at the convention this summer in cleveland. while trump is almost sure to have more delegates than his opponents, they could vote to for another candidate, if he is short with the 1,237. trump back in december signed a pledge and rule out an independent bid. he is saying again, that he is being mistreated by the republican party. trump's campaign is appealing to the rnc right now to challenge the delegate results, for example, from louisiana, after ted cruz managed to secure unbound delegates in the state's process. here is what trump said about this and his pledge to the party yesterday. >> i win louisiana, and i was asking, i said why am i getting less votes. give me a break. but this is the republican primary politics.

again, i signed a pledge to be a good, honorable guy, and maybe they're not treating me honorably, we're going to find out. >> today, trumped tweeted, i have more votes than cruz or kasich and not being treated properly by the rnc. they've hired veteran republican operative paul manniford as their convention manager. i'm joined by scott clug, as well as michael steele. we've got a new poll that jumped at me. four out of five republicans are leaning republican people said they think trump will be the nominee and three out of five, 57% said he should be, even if he doesn't get the requisite 1,237. in other words, if leads in the numbers, he should be the nominee. >> that's a strong number. but absolutely means nothing, because the rules are the rules.

the reality is, when you go into the convention, it is presumed by the party that you will have done the necessary due diligence and homework and layout the battle plan to capture the nomination. that's what this primary process is about. so you know, the fact that trump is now seeing himself losing delegates to cruz in louisiana, even though he won the popular vote in a big way, is not a matter for the rnc. the it's a matter of the state law and that's why you have to get on your game, not just a matter of winning the primary, you have to also win the process of the delegates. >> more like golf than football. you put it in the cup or lose. you still have to put the ball in the hole. let me ask you about this incident today. is this incident with the arrest, i guess, technically arrest of corey lewandowski, down in florida, is this up there with like the 47% comment

by mitt romney last time around? is this one of those colorful, unfortunately incidents that tells you a lot about a candidate in a way that hurts and becomes a large statement going down the road? is it one of those, or an incident that will pass? >> well, it has the -- it should pass in the overall scheme of things. but coupled with certainly the recent engagement on the wife issue with ted cruz, it is starting to create a narrative potential donald trump supporters that is causing them to hesitate. and even some hess station among supporters who may not be as avid or rabid as others, but what he is doing to hurt his improved opportunities going into wisconsin, than otherwise helping. this may feed the narrative that started about a week ago, and only he can stop this at this point. but it doesn't seem like will is really much effort in that vein right now.

it will be interesting tomorrow night with your town hall tomorr night. >> it will be. i expect it to be very interesting tomorrow night. >> i think he needs to. >> let me go to scott, who has been a congressman for many years. scott, nice to see you again. you're with kasich, and i i understand that. let's talk politics for a second. is this the kind of incident that could hurt trump in the long run? >> let me turn it a different way, chris. trump to some degree only has himself to blame. you can understand this. you're long time political operative. there are two parts of the came game. he has ignored the ground game. he has reached out to somebody who was actually involved in the reagan/ford fight back in the 1970s. so he has a smart political operative in place now, and he has to fight them battle ground by battle ground. there are a lot of delegates that are up for grabs, like

colorado, so he is smart to get involved with this right now to try to scoop those people up. the interesting question is why it took so long to figure that out. >> but your guy jumped on this today, so he must think this a winning for -- he says he is not going to run a negative campaign, but he is now pointing to trump. exploiting this thing as of today. he is. >> well, i personally don't think it has legs. i'm supporting john for president. i don't have to agree with him for everything. it is a misdemeanor charge. it isn't going to go any where. i find it hard to believe he'll resign over it. i think a week from now, it will be off the front page, if it lasts that long. >> let's take a look at what kasich said, scott. here's john kasich on the trump situation with his campaign manager. >> first of all, i don't know this guy. i don't know exactly what happened.

my understanding is that the report is that he grabbed somebody. that's frankly totally and completely inappropriate. it could have been one of my daughters, for that matter. look, i think i've said what i have to say, which is if it was me, if i was in this circumstance, i would take some sort of action. either suspension or fire him. >> well, michael, that was softly stated, but strong. fire the guy, suspend the guy. this is my daughter, it's bringing it home to the old family feuds we've been through the last week or so. bringing in family members, like cruz brings in his two children. everybody seems eager to make these a family affair. there is kasich doing exactly what cruz and trump have been doing, bringing in the family issue. fair enough, i guess, but interesting interplay going on now. it's in the bloodstream. >> it goes back to what i was saying before about the whole narrative on the wives that has taken place over the last ten days. kasich has pivoted indirectly

into that. in other words, you know, talking about in the accumulation inside the trump campaign, yeah, i would suspend or fire. that's to get people to start thinking about that in those terms. it's an interesting way to do it. i don't know if it really will have as much legs as he hoped going into next week. but again, it's feeding a narrative that only trump can stop. >> the ads run by cruz and also the ads run by kasich. scott, abnormal restraint on this one, i have to congratulate you, even if you're wrong, you might well be long. night to talk to you again. michael, as always, great to have you on. up next, closer than ever, new numbers. look at this, show the numbers tightening. these numbers are amazing, just ahead of the wisconsin primary. can sanders pull an up set, or like ohio.

wisconsin will matter in the democratic side as well as the republican side next week. this is "hardball," out here in green bay, wisconsin. the place for politics. that's a lot of dishes& no problem. i'll use a lot of detergent. dish issues? get cascade platinum. one pac cleans tough food better than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. cascade.

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she went down three points among latinos. big lead among delegates, despite sanders' victory. joy reed, national correspondent for msnbc and josh, here in madison wisconsin. you're local. very important, wisconsin. if sanders wins here, he is not only lived off the land of having won this last weekend, hawaii, east coast, with some wind in his back and he might just be taking her on now. this is something i thought was gone a couple of weeks ago. he is back. >> well, this is a roller coaster race. i kind of sympathize with what you thought a couple of weeks ago. a lot of people did. but one thing that's important is this is a vibrant race. i've been watching it here on the ground in wisconsin, and people are really excited about it. so we shouldn't be surprised

that as a candidate posts a series of wins, which is what happened for bernie sanders last week, that people say, wow, okay, he is viable, he is looking like he is doing okay, and folks move to him. but you are really right about one core thing, chris. that is that wisconsin is pivotal. for sanders at this point, he has to keep posting wins. he has got to, you know, have a steady pattern of victories, because it builds momentum. as long as he does, he is in good shape. in wisconsin, he has a real shot as you get to some of those later states, that's a hard game. >> i wonder, joy, what's also going on, the calculation voters are making. normally, bernie sanders would be too far left, too old, whatever, too you know, too much a back bench for all these years. voters may be thinking, hey, anybody could beat trump. if we get the guy the nomination, he could become our next president. they may be thinking that now.

>> i think the national polling, which is meaningless at this point, bernie sanders polls really well against donald trump and theoretical matchups. so i think you're right. the better trump does, the voters on the democratic side you know what, we can take chances. but just to sort of revise what you guys were talking about a moment ago, those western caucuses were built for bernie sanders. they were caucuses first much all, the demographics, 6, 7% turnout, where he has been doing really well the whole time. he was supposed to win there. i think wisconsin is important, because demographically, it's also a state built for bernie. 89%, white population, 6% african-american population, and it's got lots and lots of college campuses, where he tends to do really well. so it's a state he should win. what bernie sanders has to do is two things. win where he is supposed to, right, win states like wisconsin

where he is supposed to but surprise us somehow. win in some states he is not supposed to. states with large minority populations and big primaries, not just caucuses. so i think the atlantic region swing will be even more important to his viability. >> you know, john, we all know where bernie sanders is most strongest, that's college campuses. that's caucuses. that's in the more progressive states like washington, oregon, is it right to the cache of voters. >> wisconsin democrats, remember, that's a specific grouping, are actually very progressive. there is simply no doubt of that. they sent russ feingold for three terms and possibly this year. i think much of what joy says is correct. i would add one counsel, though. interesting aspect of wisconsin that i don't think much of the

national immediate where is covering. they are a a very proud dairy state. so is vermont. bernie sanders as he has come to wisconsin, with farmers talking about how bernie sanders is good for farmers. that's a smart strategy and the last guy i saw do that really well was a guy named jimmy carter back in 1976, when he pulled a surprise win in wisconsin. >> chris, if i can add one more factor. >> jerry comes to wisconsin. interesting. ben and jerry and cheese. all coming together in the dairy state. >> i think one of the other things to watch is bernie sanders up to now has gotten incredibly positive media coverage, that he gets coverage, it's always about his big crowd, a bird on his podium, and sunny. as the contest becomes more negative, including sanders going more negative on hillary clinton, it will be interesting to see how it plays with the democratic electorate and whether that changes the calculations of voters in the

race. >> i think bernie can get negative and get away with it. that's the way i'm reading the press coverage. he is getting a good ride. barack obama got a good ride as we all know. i was probably part of it. bernie sanders will enjoy a good ride in the press for a long time. a couple of weeks from now, we'll probably be saying the same thing. thanks for the inside view. wisconsin guy, great to hear your thinking about the importance of this state. it is very important. up next, the "hardball" round table with my preview of my town hall tomorrow night. 8:00 eastern tomorrow night, here on msnbc. part of a big lineup of candidates, starting with the town hall with john kasich at 7:00 p.m., my town hall, trump at 8:00, hillary clinton coming here at 9:00 and bernie sanders at 10:00. wow. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

how do you like paul ryan? how do you like him? do you like him? you don't like him. all right. wow. i was told be nice to paul ryan, because, really. all right. well, he is the speaker. he is a nice guy. he called me the other day. he was very nice. but i'm a very surprised at this statement. wow. are you all republicans? >> welcome back to "hardball," this was donald trump of course, speaking? janesville, wisconsin, the hometown of house speaker, paul ryan. there weren't many fans in the crowd.

last week, ryan thinly veiled shot at trump. here it is. >> our political discourse, the kind we see on tv and the kind that we experience among each other, it did not used to be this bad. and it does not have to be this way. politics can be a battle of ideas. not a battle of insults. >> well, according to politico news magazine, trump decided to hold his rally in janesville, shortly after you heard those words. quote, trump has made a habit of holding rallies in his rival's backyard. joining me now on the "hardball" round table, ruth marcus, cornell belcher, and franchess ca chambers. ruth, who i often agree with when i read her column, what do you think, how big a mega

tonnage, how powerful a story will be in that corey lewandowski, the campaign manager for donald trump, was arrested for simple assault today in florida? how big a story will that become at the republican convention in cleveland? will it still be a big story? >> no, but that's because there is so much in the campaign that has been so overwhelmingly bizarre world. i think that the lewandowski itself is, you know, i'm sticking with my two. but it's a piece of a larger narrative about trump, about violence at his rallies, whether his rhetoric condones the violence and things like that. >> i hear it too. what is your view of this thing? i'm not sure it's blown up bigger than i thought. nightly news on nbc, it was the first six or seven minutes. it was huge. i don't know how big it will

play in the papers. i assume front page tomorrow. your thoughts. >> as we've seen in the campaign, there are a lot of issues that have come and gone that you might have thought would have stuck around a little longer, but as ruth was kind of alluding to, then the next day, there is something else bizarre going on in the campaign that makes front-page news and then that's the big story. we have a long time before we get to the convention and there is a lot of things that could happen still. but of course, john kasich stating today that it could have been his daughter. >> that's raising the level. making it a family issue. >> trying to crack the narrative about donald trump and his campaign. >> what is the number out of ten, how important? >> i would say it's a four. a little bit more important than the two, but i would say -- >> why. >> because of the narrative it plays into. not the specific incident, but the narrative about trump and his rallies. >> i'll compare this. you don't neat a break cornell,

you know all this stuff. i would a mitt romney, 47% of the country, not being worthy of any attention by him was probably a 9 or 10. what would you give this? >> split down the middle. three. this has been -- >> typical pollster, yeah. >> how comfortable of you. >> no, i think it's a three, because both of my colleagues have said. we've had a campaign season, in a typical campaign season, it would be devastates, but today, it's not. >> i'm going to chime in in defense of my two. >> go ahead. >> this is not the principle. there has been so much stuff coming from the mouth of the candidate himself, the tweeting, the insults, the tweeting the photo, unflattering photo of somebody's wife. what his campaign manager is kind of like in the other ring

of the circus that's going on here. >> i keep going back to these incidents and these campaigns that don't seem important, like when tom dewey, i read about this, yelled at a railroad engineer because he started the train by accident. i never know what sends signals about who you are. you're looking for insights into the candidate. cruz called it this when asked by hallie jackson, whether trump should fire his campaign manager. here is cruz jumping on this. >> it is not complicated that physical assaulting a reporter is a fireable offense. that ought to be the case in any campaign that is maintaining a standard of integrity. >> well, the round table is sticking with us. these three great reporters, and they are that, will tell me something i don't know. this is "hardball," out here in green bay, wisconsin, the place for politics.

we're back with the hardball round table. here we go. ruth, tell me something i don't know. >> hbo has a movie coming out next month called confirmation. it's about the clarence thomas, anita hill hearings. it's how i met my husband. it's a really interesting movie. it's a reminder that no matter how crazy the senate is going over now the garland nomination, it pales in comparison to those hearings that transfixed the country. >> i'd like to hear more. thank you. we'll watch. >> cornell, what can you tell me? >> i can say that black lives matter is no longer considered a marginal group.

47% of plurality now see it as a voice for them that traditional iconic civil rights organizations. they're seeing the leadership baton passed. >> bigger than the naacp for young people? >> yes, it is. >> your thoughts. >> the sanders campaign yesterday claiming that it will be mission impossible for hillary clinton or bernie sanders to come into the democratic convention with a majority of delegates based on just the pledge delegate count. looking at that, that seems to be true. hillary clinton would have to win almost all the remaining delegates except for 600 to be able to do that. that means even the sanders campaign admitting the super delegates will come into play. that's bad news for them as hillary clinton has more than half of them. >> thanks so much. we'll be right back. ing

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let me finish tonight with this up and down race. it strikes me the country needs to take this seriously than donald trump seems to be the alternative. it's either hillary clinton or it's bernie sanders who goes up against the winner of that fight. it's getting close. sanders ahead among men democratic voters. he's cut hillary clinton's lead

in half in just a week. if this keeps up he could be ahead of race a week from now. this race is the old question. is clinton losing or is sanders gaining. hillary clinton is losing numbers. sanders is picking up numbers. there's some factors in the news. sanders strong weekend performance winning a trio of victories out west. also, while it's hard to quantify there's been the latest stories about hillary clinton's e-mails. stories that only add to the murkiness of the matter. the far larger fact is the lack of excitement in the clinton campaign. as soon as she get a lead, she seems to cease making the news. it's as if winning is enough. the goal for sanders is getting voters engaged and exciting. with all the questions and concerns that trump raises, her relative calm might turn out to be a plus.

that's hardball for now. coming up next, "all in" with chris hayes. tonight on "all in". >> he's a fine person. >> the campaign manager for the republican front-runner has been arrested. >> criminal situation over that. >> new video of the incident is out. >> who do you know the bruises weren't there before? >> donald trump vows to stand by his man. >> if you look at that tape, he was very, very seriously maligned. she was grabbing me. does that mean i'm supposed to file charges against her? >> the responses from both sides. what this means for the race and a member of cory's legal team joins me live. the political fire storm that started last night on this show. >> some people feel donald trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in. >> tonight, the clinton campaign