trump to the press. we are going to do something about it. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. in a speech at cpac president trump reiterated that the american media is the enemy of the people and vowed he was going to, quote, do something about it. that was at 10:30 this morning. let's watch. >> a few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. they are the enemy of the

people. because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none. i love the first amendment. nobody loves it better than me, nobody. i mean, who uses it more than i do? but the first amendment gives all of us, gives it to me, to you, to all americans, the right to speak our minds freely. it gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly. the fake news doesn't tell the truth. doesn't tell the truth. so, just in finishing, i say it doesn't represent the people, it never will represent the people and we are going to do something about it. >> we are going to do something about it. this afternoon, president trump made good on that threat.

"the new york times," cnn, politico and other organizations were tolds they were not allowed to cover the briefing. sean spicer held an on the record closed door session with a group of reporters the white house approved. cnn said this is unacceptable by the trump white house. this is how they retaliate when we report what they don't like. we'll keep reporting. the executive of "the new york times" says nothing like this has ever happened in covering multiple parties. we protest the exclusion of t"te new york times" free med ya access to a transparent government is a crucial, national interest. others spoke out against the white house action. a spokesperson for the wall street journal said they strongly object to the white house's decision to bar certain media outlets to this gaggle. we will not participate in such

closed door briefings in the future. let's listen to sean spicer defending today's action. >> i think we have shown an abundance of accessibility. we brought more reporters into the process and the idea they can't get their question answered, we have gone above and beyond with making ourselves, our team and briefing room more accessible than any prior administration. i think you can take that to the bank. >> i'm joined by glen thrust, correspondent for "the new york times," bob woodward, an associate of "the washington post." i want to start with glen. you are in there. this decision that sort of se segregates out journalists from normal access to briefings with the press secretary. what do you think of it? >> it'sal cuelated to accomplish a couple goals. the first is to get sean spicer

off television, which hasn't been going his way. remember, he has an audience of one. we know, for a fact, the president watches him nearly every day and critiques him. the other thing he is trying to do here is divide and conquer us. those of us excludeed from the briefing, get angry at the people in the briefing. that is not going to happen. it has not happened, i should say. the last thing they want to do and the biggest political thing here is one steve bannon talks about is for us to whine about it so we can say the media elites are being denied our privileges. i don't think it's going to work here. the real stories are the real stories. it's not about the press, it's about them answering questions or sean spicer giving contradictory or answers that are later proven to be factually incorrect. >> i remember richard nixon

saying the press is the enemy in private, but picked up on the recordings he recorded in his own office. this guy is saying outside to the world, the press is the enemy of the american people. that seems to be an escalation when you stay press is the enemy, almost un-american, accusing them of being against the american people. dan, what do you make of the latest, i don't want to say flop. we have never had a white house say you can't cover us because we don't like the coverage. president nixon said the press is the enemy of us, that is the nixon administration. it's different to say the press is the enemy of the people. you know, i couldn't agree more. we need to get on, do our jobs, keep asking the questions, the tough questions, do the deep digging, investigative reporting. we understand what's going on here. it is an effort to divide and conquer, divide the press from the people and divide the press

among themselves. i don't think, in the long run, i don't think in the short run, it's going to work. we have never seen anything like this in the white house. even during the worst of the nixon period, we didn't see this happening on any basis. >> if you had to look behind you going into a press, a chance to talk to the press secretary and saw one of your competitors said you can't come in the room, what would you have done? >> i would have walked out of the room. i'm proud to say several news organizations did that today. i think more, including the wall street journal would have done it if they realized what was going on. the press needs solidarity here. chris, we can't emphasize enough, a great deal of this is very calculated and a smoke screen, to take away from stories such as what did happen between associates of candidate trump and for that matter,

president trump and russian intelligence? did anything happen or not? a lot of this is designed to throw off the coverage of the really important stories and have us talking about press access. make no mistake about it, this is going to continue. president trump thinks he is winning a so-called information war. we'll see as he goes along. >> bob woodward, sir? >> first of all, i think glen makes a really good point. that is, we shouldn't whine and if we sound like we are an interest group only concerned with ourselves, it doesn't work with the public. at the same time, we need to continue the in-depth inquiries, the investigations, i think everyone has accelerated this work. the other question to ask, is there any justification for trump and people like in his white house responding this way. the only justification i can

think of, which really isn't a justification, but accounts for this emotional spasm of, my god, this is the enemy of the people. i know that reporters have talked to people in the trump house, the trump white house about very sensitive, intelligence operations that we find out about in the press and i think trump is horrified that this is out there and these are not necessarily thing that is are going to be published, but trump is a newcomer saying, my god, how do reporters know about these things. so, we have to stop it, we are going to do something. as he said the other day, he's calling the justice department and this means leak investigation. >> he's talking about telling them to put out the word there's nothing to the story, which is extraordinary, isn't it? comy, the fbi director to say

there's nothing about my people's relationships with the russians during the campaign. >> something happened. that isn't going to work either. i think in the media business, we need to show and be advocates for transparency and over the decades, i tried to make the argument to people in government, it's to your benefit to have the public and the press know what's going on because if not, dan rather knows this so well, the nixon bunker and you become increasingly isolated and then the anger can get translated into something like nixon's plumbers or the wiretaps on reporters and become illegal. it's in everyone's interest to tamp this down. >> in all our great history,

walter cronkite loved the space program. the thing about ours is we were open about it. we said there was a man aboard, not a monkey, when the ship didn't come back. we were proud of that. cnn reported the white house chief of staff, reince priebus asked the top fbi official to push back the story about the contact with russian officials during the campaign. as bob mentioned, one by "the new york times" characterizing it as intelligence officials and another by cnn describing them as being in constant contact. glen, this is your world there of trying to figure out these stories in the white house. the old trick of flattery, you deny an aspect of the story or it isn't accurate because one piece doesn't fit the facts when 90% does.

what is the white house plan to deal with the charge that there were some level of communication between trump people, and russians during the time the russians were trying to undermine our electoral process. >> that's what is curious about this. a couple things are happening. first of all, in some instances, i can't speak to that story, the white house is not responding to inquiry on fact, which makes things difficult. the other thing i find an interesting characteristic of this white house that i have not seen is the use of categorical denials. on one of the stories, reince priebus, the white house chief of staff described it as garbage, total garbage. you hear from spicer, unbelievably or absolutely or in an instance yesterday, talking about something being 100% wrong

or 100% true. i have never heard that kind of language out of spokes people at any level. i covered the new york city council, they wouldn't do that. ultimately, that kind of stuff is going to come back to haunt them. nothing, as it turns out is 100% true. thanks. coming up, oscar weekend and politics will be all over the place. that's ahead. plus, our picks for the oscar winners. this is "hardball," where the action is. way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia

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you're a funny guy. best of the oscars. funny how? how am i funny? scorsese finally wins. could you double check the envelope? show me best picture. what's the difference? show me best actor. i do not take tonight for granted. thank you so very much. get all the greatest scripted and unscripted oscar moments on xfinity x1. the oscars, live sunday, february 26th 7eâ4p on abc.

welcome back to "hardball." since donald trump was elected president, awards shows have been political. let's watch. >> there was one performance this year that stunned me. it was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. >> i think what i have learned from working on "moonlighting"

is that we see what happened when we persecute people. we get caught up in the detail that is make us all different. i think there's two ways of seeing that. there's an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique and the opportunity to go to war about it. that person is different from me, i don't like you, let's battle. >> this sunday's oscars will include more award winners speaking out about the president with a past of critiquing the awards. here is trump in 2015. >> the academy awards last week were absolutely terrible, boring, ugly, everything. i have the perfect host for next year, me. >> wow. he didn't get the job. it is what americans tune in for. joining us, ted johnson. ted, do people like political speeches? i remember marlon brando receiving the award and patty's

line attacking what's her name, richardson. what do they want? they want left wing arguments from celebrities or not? right wing? >> yeah, yeah, i don't think the people who tune into the oscars are tuning in to hear political speeches, they are tuning in because there might be a favorite moving being nominated or what people are wearing. they want to see the celebrities in a more intimate atmosphere. they are not watching for them to say something political. i have to say, it's almost expected now with the oscars, especially if you made a topical movie to say something, to speak out about that issue and this year, it happens to be speaking out about president trump because he has, you know, weighed in on so many issues that these movies are actually about. >> i get the sense, whoever gets first dibs are the stars repeating will be boring.

if you are up front. >> i think that could be. you don't want to step on somebody or steal their thunder. >> i think you do. you want to be the first one to do it. not the one that later says i have heard that. >> i think ted is right, nobody tunes in for that purpose, but as he said, this is the soup we are all living in now. this is the soup we are eating and drinking. trump, as we saw today, so much of his actions is expression and limiting the press and things like that. that cuts to it. >> here is an upset. i love la la land, i'm not putting it down. i loved it. we are going to watch a clip from "hidden figures" the most important movie. >> i have to mention, you are -- that's heavy stuff. >> yes, it is. >> women handle that sort of -- that's not what i mean.

>> what do you mean? >> i'm just surprised something so taxing -- >> mr. johnson, if i were you, i'd quit talking right now. >> i mean no disrespect. >> i will have you know, i was if tirs negro female student at graduate school. any given day, i analyze the levels of air displacement, friction and velocity and compute over 10,000 calculations by hand. yes, they let women do some things at nasa, mr. charleston. it's not because we wear skirts, it's because we wear glasses. >> i wrote about this trend in the oscar nominees, quote, hollywood figured out something about itself, it's not about glamour and looks, it's about people have a personal commitment in their life. they go out and say, here is

something i care about and i'm going to make it work. that's why i love la la land. one loved the black culture, the jazz culture and he was in love and going to build his life around it. she didn't get it because of looks or passing an audition. she wrote a play nobody went to. >> i'm totally with you. so many movies are reflecting deep, core values. let's not forgot arrival. it opened the friday after election day. i thought no one is going to feel like going to the movies. this is about mutual understanding, overcoming pair ra nou ya, welcoming a stranger and overcoming fear. it's gang busters. the movies have done well. >> they are not robot movies. sorry, ted. hold the robots. we'll be right back with you, ted, my friend, to start off the picks. make your picks.

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we are back with ann from "the washington post," a great film reviewer and ted johnson is also with us. he's going to give us best picture picks. picture best director, what is the surprise coming? ted? >> surprise, i think denzel washington for best actor. people haven saying, hey, it's going to be casey affleck but, washington won the sag award. that was a bit of a surprise for people. actors make up the biggest part of the academy branches. >> he's the meryl streep for them. he's gotten two. >> that's right. i think it is setting some sort of a record. i'm sure there's a record in there he will set. >> go ahead. ann, what is the surprise? >> i think i could see a scenario where the front-runners are la la land and moonlight.

i could see a scenario where that vote splits and they could sneak through. it's a very beloved movie. people agree with you, chris. it's the one movie that over the holidays i recommended more than any because it is such an easy movie to love and appeals to so many people. >> they found a way to make a movie, mainly about african-americans, which was so inclusive in the way it grabbed everybody that went to see it. it wasn't a small movie. tough go for the scenes. the scenes, these attractive people. you realize they are doing good stuff. he was not necessarily a good guy, but became one. >> it's an old fashioned popcorn movie you can take the kids to. >> if you are really nasty right wing, go see it. if you are a reasonable conservative see the movie. ted, i have family members that amazed me that love that movie that are more conservative.

ted johnson, thank you, sir. not enough time for you, we could do a whole show with you, brother. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you, ann, my favorite. that's "hardball." thanks for being with us. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. per roll

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