am brian. the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. lets play "hardball." good evening, i am chris mathew, up in new york. last night, 84 million americans watched the greatest long island drama, there was a winner and a loser. trump refused to release his tax returns for his birther claim and his attack on her, hillary clinton's looks of stamina. today, trump declared victory. well, now they're saying that i not only won the nbc presidential forum, last night's debate, nice. if that was nice, what's horrible?

on fox news, he gave an excuse of what he knew was a bad night. >> i thought it went really well. i had some hostile questions but it was okay. >> she hit me on birther and she hit me on a housing deal from many years ago that i settled with no recourse and no guilt. >> i was asked about my tax returns which i told about 500 times. you know -- i think i really did well when i was asked normal questions. i think i did really well. those answers are not answerable. i had a problem with the microphone that did not work. i don't know if you saw that in the room. i wonder if it was set up that way on purpose. my microphone in the room, they could not hear me, it was going on and off. i don't want to believe it was a conspiracy theory. it was crackling and she did not have that problem.

that was to me is a bad problem. >> hillary clinton piled on. lets watch her. >> anybody complains about the microphone is not having a good night. >> later in the day, in raleigh, clinton celebrated her performance. >> anybody see that debate last night? [ cheers ] >> oh, yes. one down and two to go. [ cheers ] [ applause ] >> and he made it very clear that he did not prepare for that debate. [ laughs ] >> at one point he was kind of digging me for spending time off the campaign trail to get prepared but just trying to keep track of everything he says took a lot of time and effort. [ laughs ] [ applause ] and i said yeah, you know what, i did prepare, i prepared to be the president of the united states .

as the candidates clashed a number of issues last night, the points of hillary clinton came in the debates of policies of race and gender, especially gender. lets watch. >> donald started his career back in 1973 being sued by the justice department for racial discrimination. so he has a long record of engaging in racist behavior. >> she mentioned alicia machada. >> one of the things he said was a woman in a beauty contest. he loves beauty contests and supporting them and hanging around them. he called this woman miss piggy and he called her miss housekeeping because she was latina.

>> where did you find it? >> donald, she has a name. she has become a u.s. citizen and you can bet she's going to vote, miss machada. >> this morning on fox news, donald trump defended himself and his words are the worst. >> she was the winner and she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a problem. we had a real problem and not only that but their attitude. we had a real problem with her. hillary went back in the years and found the girl and talked about her like she was mother teresa and it was not quite that way but that was okay. >> that was okay, she was not quite mother teresa. joining me now, trump campaign's senior adviser and april, my pal, you have an attitude. he talks about women in minority

and lets start with the gender thing, machado, at the time he put her in the fitness center with the camera and telling her to lose some pounds. i think hillary clinton hit hard on it last night, your thoughts, april. >> oh, here we go, number one, chris, here is the problem, he was a professional, contestant beauty pageant, a person who was talking about a woman he was promoting and he talked about this woman who was not professional and disclosed what her problems were and to call her miss piggy. how many of us have had issues with weight back and forth and donald trump does not seem to be the smallest person. no one called him orange.

>> actually, a lot of democrats do. >> moving on and you will have your time to speak. and to call her miss housekeeping, that's stereotype cal and degrading. there are a lot of other women particularly who he's trying to bring in the fold of the republican party and vote for him, who don't look like that model size or the pageant contestant. >> what did you make of her shot of him. he likes hanging around of this contest. >> what was she up to there, was it something she was nailing there? >> she may have been, you have to remember that he's also into entertainment. i heard that he likes to hang around rappers, he's into the glitz and limelights.

when it comes to people, it seems like he had a deficit there. >> that's pretty funny. >> this is one of the areas. >> i am glad you think it is funny. >> this is one of the areas where i think donald trump should have been prepared. megan kelly went through a lot with him. these were familiar points of attack and he did not seem ready. >> first of all, as far as hanging out with celebrities, she's always out in the hamptons. she was saying hanging around with beauty contests and young women. >> she can talk about her husband, he's been doing that as well, there is been plenty of pictures. all of this is a huge distraction from the issue that people actually cared about. >> half of the country and women are women. >> they cared about the way they treated. >> do you think people care mr.

trump who's an investor 20 years ago of what he said about women >> the bill clinton's issue was 20 years ago. >> may i speak, you spoke. >> thank you very much. >> you are welcome >> the real issue that people care about in this country is the economy, we have not had national security. >> he did not bring it up. >> yes, he did talk about isis. >> hillary clinton had her lawyer bob bennett threatened pictures -- they smeared those women and jennifer flowers and they tied to smear monica lewinsky. >> they settled that case and settled that amount. >> do you think he should go

after her personally regarding with bill clinton's behavior. >> if hillary clinton continues to go after him with made up charges like this one from a woman who was disgruntle. >> you think she made it up? we got a video with her. >> she wanted to be in the pageant. i don't want to litigate that issue. if hillary clinton continues to go after him continuously. >> chris, chris. >> if we get on the merry-go-around of sex and behavior, it is going to go around 360 degrees. >> ivanka verses marla. >> he's got to back off. >> kathy lee -- >> why would he backup hillary clinton. >> and back when they were

having an affair. if you want -- >> do you want to talk about affairs? >> i cannot even follow this. >> i would love to talk to you about issues. >> okay, let me ask you this -- >> it was 20 years -- >> is bill clinton's behavior as a husband relevant to this presidential election, yes or no? >> hillary clinton's behavior and response -- she was an enabler. >> is it relevant? >> it depends on how the question is asked. if it is about hillary clinton staying with her husband, that's her marriage. wait a minute. if it is something specifically she did to the woman, that's the issue. >> it is not about bill clinton and his issues 20 years ago.

>> all right, we'll make the charges when we have enough preparations to know if any of this is true. >> april, you are my pal and thank you, mark. a lot of last night was reaction faces and it is a new kind of debate with the split screen. by the way, you are right now in the split screen. i am in a larger screen right now. >> i see you, chris. up next, we'll step away from the debate, we learned and heard of the big bomb shell of governor chris christie and new jersey knew all about bridge gate as it was happening realtime. well, there is always the truth and not the truth but apparently this guy had the nerve to say under oath of the serious business. this is "hardball," a place for politics. i love you so much.

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welcome back to "hardball."

chris christie in court today for the prosecution against his two aids of the bridge gate bomb shell. he informed governor chris christie, during a 9/11 memorial event. christie was happy and joked about the jam of the bridge. steve cornacki is reporting. you have been on this case since the beginning. we got hard evidence that he knew and now we got the evidence. he's involved in a plea bargain, is he credible? >> that's the question here t the prosecution defense is going to bring out his political past of this dark arch specialist, they're putting this story out there and they got him admit to under oath when he was 21 or

22-year-old, he stole senator frank's jacket for the debate. this is his character as a political operative and the guy who helped him bring into authority knew about it. he testified under oath already. look, i hope to avoid jail time for this. >> when you are listening to the testimony of what the governor over heard or how he respond, was it in criminating, did it seem like he agreed enough with the plot to be apart of it? >> that's two questions. this is day three of the length closures. winestein is saying -- the other thing that he testified is christie's campaign manager at the time. christie is running for re-election as governor. he told the manager before the

shut down of what was going on. the campaign's manager's response was what's your cover story >> the governor says, yeah, i am the guy that puts the cones out there. reaching away and putting himself away from the act of doing it to the point where he's saying i didn't do that which opens up the question, did he know about it? >> he did not deny knowing about it. the time he denied putting the cones out personally. >> supposedly this conversation took place, he's trying to say, yes, he might have said something to me and i did not understand. >> it is a good way avoiding the fifth. i cannot believe the governor out there campaigning hard last night. >> imagine if he's the vp candidate. anyway, thank you, steve cornacki, it is your story, you are the one that got this. >> there were some other people

>> up next, we'll see how trump and clinton over last night. who broke the rules. we'll check the whole thing against the way you do the debate. you are watching "hardball." xwxe

welcome back to "hardball." tonight we asked how hillary clinton and donald trump stacked up on those rules. with us, our senior for politics at the new york times and our political analyst and megan murphy, boy, the heavy weight for bloomberg. rule number one, one liner. last night we saw hillary

clinton came equipped with a rebuttal that she lacks stamina the looks that needed for the job. here is how she turns the table with mr. trump >> and a release and opening of new opportunities and nations around the world or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about it. [ applause ] >> she had her ringer ready and they jumped for that. this was a big one but it was. >> she was ready. i think one of the effective line was when she talked about the preparation and the debate. preparations to be president and i thought her lines against him on taxes, those were still undecided. how could you appeal to teachers

and police officers and workers if you don't pay your taxes yourself. he said zero for veterans and zero for homeland community. i thought it was a strategic way about race. i got to tell you, trump never stood up for 90-minute to practice. he was good for the first 20 or 25 minutes. i don't care how old you are. you got to train on it. >> in previous debates, on this one, ladies, here is rule number two. show your hard. >> hillary clinton did make an effort to relate to the audience personally to get to the $250,000 speech, too when she told about her father's business. lets watch this. >> my father was a small businessman, he worked really hard and printed drapery fabric on long tables and he dumped the

paint in and kept going. i am certainly relieved that my late father never did business with you. he provided a good middle class life for us. the people he worked for, he expected the bargains to be kept on both sides. >> she weaved it together. >> she opens up with my dad with a regular guy and ends up with, donald trump is the guy that screws regular guys and she put it all together. >> people want to hear stories and people are hungry to hear what's in her heart. she connect this to something bigger and people are questioning about his character. they felt like she was really effective. i think people are still hungry to hear more of her heart. there was another instance of the debate she did that. >> she seems too finished. >> bill clinton had the problem, too. he looks like a road scholar but he was not. he's a kid in the country with his mother raising himself.

he had to get back to that >> i think you know when you look at the amount of money they have made. people don't connect her with the middle class upbringing. she was far more personal and motive when she talks about president obama and how she felt of the birther claim. she talked about his dignity. >> and how much it hurts him personally as a black man and the first president. >> it may have hurt him but he's going to get even. >> for hillary clinton last night, she had it ready to prosecute. i thought some what in a charming way. she looked like she was having fun and i think people like to see a candidate having fun. >> she understood what was at stake. i mean i think that the lines about i hear your point about maybe not connecting but it had a substance and zinc to it.

he did not pay his bills and how can you preach us when you have not paid your bills. >> the short form and they know they got to pay taxes. >> i guess they are coming after him because they audited him. >> if i were her, i would say why are you always audited. kelly ryan. >> and megan murphy and harold ford. thank you for being with us and join me again tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. see you then. this is lulu, our newest dog.

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need any more proof than that? neutrogena. tonight on "all in" -- >> did anybody see that debate last night? >> the ecstasy and the agony. >> my microphone was terrible. i wonder was it set up that way on purpose? >> the fallout, the fact checking and the ongoing fights from the most watched debate in history. >> anybody that complains about the microphone is not having a good night. >> plus -- >> he called this woman miss piggy. then he called her miss housekeeping because she was latina. donald, she has a name alicia machado. >> hillary clinton springs another trap. >> she gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem. >> the republican nominee's stunning day two defense of his weight loss regimen for miss universe. >> she gained about 55 pounds in an area of nine months.