this story. the levinson family, they've waited long enough. too long. ten years is way too long. and iran needs to come clean. we don't forget our fellow americans. we all need to help on this one. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow night 6:00 p.m. eastern. if you can't watch live, set your dvr. if you have something to say about, go to twitter and do @greta, well, say what you want about me. "hardball" with chris matthews starts rite now. tapped out. let's play "hardball." >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight as we meet, donald trump's unfounded claim that he was wiretapped at trump tower by president obama flips around like a fish out of water. republicans in the congress refuse to pick it up off the floor and put it out of its misery or throw it back where it came from. and since friday, president trump has offered zero evidence

to back up that absurd accusation. instead, his people say congress should investigate. here's sean spicer today. >> is the president the target of a counterintelligence investigation? >> i think that's what we need to find out. part of the reason that we have asked the house and senate to look into this is because of that. the concern that the president has, and why me asked the senate and house intelligence subcommittees, to look into this, is is to get to the bottom of what may or may not have occurred during the 2016 election. >> the president said he was tapped. >> i understand that. that's why -- no, no, that's not what i said. what i said was that -- hold on. >> he said he was a target of an investigation, that his wires were tapped. >> one at a time. i said the president made clear on sunday he has asked the house and the senate intelligence committees to use their resources and their processes to examine the facts and come to a conclusion. >> that's not what he asked, what you asked, sean. he said the president wiretapped him. anyway, the charge worthy of a

third-world troublemaker that somebody wiretapped him under mines the cent of the american democratic system and certainly the peaceful transfer of power between presidents in this country. republicans in the congress have a responsibility to say, aye or nay. congressman devin nunes and senator richard burr issued sort of swish she statements saying their committees, "will make inquiries or will follow the evidence." senators lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse, however, who lead a judiciary subcommittee sent a letter to that department today asking about any wiretapping warrants against the trump campaign. good for them. senator graham said today the country needs answers on this. let's watch him. >> president trump claims that president obama administration targeted his campaign, trump tow tower, in the tweet. i have no knowledge of that, but he's challenged the congress to help him so let's help. not trying to compromise classified information.

not trying to compromise an investigation. the question is, has there ever been a warrant issued? this is a major deal for the country. i want to get to the bottom of it. >> he knows what he's talking about. what's at stake is the reputation of the u.s. country -- of america, you might say. the president accused the u.s. government under his predecessor of tapping his phones. wow. well, senator tim kaine said today that kind of behavior coming from the white house has its effect. let's watch. >> so that he's saying he was wiretapped or that his, you know, inaugural crowd was bigger than it was. it shouldn't surprise us, but it is shocking. you don't want to see that behavior in the president. i've wanted congress to up its game in the previous administration and we definitely have to up our game in this one because, you know, our citizens and folks around the world, they've got to see some adult behavior. they're not seeing it out of the white house right now. >> joining me, senator chris murphy of connecticut, member of the foreign relations committee. senator, i know you hear this, i'm hearing it from my family, i'm hearing it from paul today

in rwanda. countries all around the world that look up to us, even if they're left, right or center or corrupt or clean, they do look up to the united states as a good model for how to run a democracy. representative democracy. and they're changing their minds now. yesterday, in the paper today, this is rwanda talking, rwanda, saying they're no longer going to look to the west because we don't know how to run a country anymore. family members over in vietnam hearing the same thing from the communists. it's unbelievable what this president is doing with this wiretapping nonsense. >> yeah, listin', this isn't the cold war where you only have two suitors, soviet model and american model, right? you have lot of people who are affectionate for the alliance of free agents today wlrhether it wibe russia, china, whether it be brazil. the united states isn't a very attractive ally any longer so this really does have consequences for us as we're trying to build alliances, we're trying to build coalitions around the world to fight extremists, to fight challenges

like global warming. we can't do that if people feel embarrassed to be associated with the united states. you combine that with the fact that the state department has essentially been neutered, e s eviscerated by this administration thus far and watching in real time as america and america's image withdraws from the world. >> do you know any republican senator or member of the house who's a republican, any party member of any party who believes the president believes he was wiretapped, who even believes he believes it? >> i don't think anybody knows exactly what donald trump believes and what he doesn't believe. i think what's scary to many republicans is that they've had the opportunity to walk this back and they're putting not only the presidency and the reputation of the presidency, but the reputation of the entire country at risk, the longer that this floats out there. the reality is is congress can ask the department of justice as to whether there's a wiretap, bul but if there's an active investigation, the department of justice may not tell us, so its difficult to get to the bottom of this -- >> what do you mean, an active investigation -- wait a minute.

let's narrow this down. >> sure. >> you're saying if they wire -- if -- who? what active -- i'm taing talkint the schism question, did president obama order a wiretap on candidate trump? there's -- what active investigation would that be? would involve that? you mean if there's an active investigation as to what his role was with the russians, you mean? >> -- corre >> no. correct. i don't think there's any doubt the covert agents or department of justice could answer the question as to whether or not president obama ordered it. the question of whether there is a wiretap or was a wiretap, that's something that congress often asks and doesn't get answers. >> okay. here's a reaction, by the way, senator john mccain to the president's charge. >> i think that the president of the united states who has stated categorically that trump tower was wiretapped, that he should come forward with the information that led him to that conclusion. it's a very serious charge against the previous president of the united states.

>> well senator mccain, i think, is from the sane era of politics. here's how some other top republicans reacted including senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and chair of the senate and house intelligence committees. >> i think we have an existing committee, the intelligence committee, looking at all aspects of what may have been done last year related to the russians or the campaigns and we'll leave it there. >> have you seen any evidence of that? >> mr. leader -- >> no, i haven't. >> we don't have anything today that would send us in that direction, but that's not to say that we might not find something. >> i have not seen that evide e evidence. as you know, i think a lot of that was maybe a little bit -- the multiple tweets were perhaps a little bit strung together. as you all know, the president is a neophyte to politics. he's been doing this a little over a year. and i think a lot of the things

that he says, you guys sometimes take literally. sometimes he doesn't have 27 lawyers and staff looking at when what he does. >> what do you make of that? that's a cover? that's explaining a guy's behavior? it's like he's -- he's treating the president as if he's in a crib and wants his pacy. he talks about him like he doesn't know what a tweet is. he knows how to tweet better than all of us. he gets up at 6:00 and does it. he accused the previous president of wiretapping him. there's nothing complicated about this. why doesn't mr. nunes, chairman of the committee, call up the fbi director, said was anybody asked for a fisa warrant on this? did anybody ask permission to wire this guy or not? end it. this is going to float out there for months and years. >> yeah, listen. i wouldn't tweet my 8-year-old like that. the fact is we would hope that an adult would occupy the oval office and we couldn't expectwo

team of 27 lawyers around him to decide whether he should falsely accuse the previous president of the united states of tapping his phones. that's a ridiculous standard. and in the end, yeah, it is pretty simple to get to the answer to this question. there is no evidence that barack obama tapped donald trump's phones because it didn't happen. and republicans right now could ask the questions necessary to get at least that answer. maybe we won't know if the fbi was or is investigating trump, but we can get the answer to that question, republicans can. >> okay. thank you very much, senator chris murphy of connecticut. well, there was troubling reporting in the "the new york times" today about president trump's mood swings last weekend. according to "the times," he was in high spirits after he fired off the posts, those tweets but midafternoon after returning from golf, he appeared to realize he had gone too far with his tweets although he still believed mr. obama had wiretapped him according to two people in trump's orbit. in some conversations that afternoon, the president sounded uncertain of the procedure for

obtaining a warrant for secret wiretaps on an american citizen so he didn't know how you would do it but said obama did it. anyway, meanwhile, we're getting reaction on former president obama's reaction to the news. according to nbc, our network, a source close to him, told nbc news, mr. obama rolled his eyes. and the "wall street journal" report, he was livid over the accusation that he bugged the republican campaign offices believing mr. trump was questioning both the integrity of the office of the president and mr. obama, himself. of course, he was. i'm joined by "the wall street journal's" carol pllee who wrot that article. and the "washington post's" phil rutger who's been all over this thing. carol, did you notice the way that this young, relatively young member of congress, nunes from california, i don't know much about the guy, treating the president like he's a little baby. you know, he gets a little upset once in a while, says things he really shouldn't and doesn't have the help of advisers like lawyers around him so he does things that really don't make

much sense, but we shouldn't blame him because he's a neophyte. he's a neophyte. >> yeah. there's definitely -- >> that's a defense. that's what a criticism looks like. >> there's -- that's the republicans -- the republicans -- >> why are so they -- >> they're greading him on a curve. >> they're helping him hide. by the way, boehner, when trump was running around saying obama was an illegal ill grant frmmig kenya, people asked him, tell your fellow members it's not true, he said i don't tell them how to think. this is the way they behave in the republican party today. they're so intimidated by this guy, trump, that they just cover for him. your thoughts. >> well, i think, yeah, the republicans don't want to get crossways with the president. >> why? >> they also -- >> why are they afraid of him? >> because they have flithings y would like to actually get done in congress and don't want to pick a fight with the president. and they also are taking -- they're aligning with the white house in terms of the cleanup of this where you have the white house saying, well, we don't -- look at it, we'll look into it

pane, you know, congress, take a look -- >> thal look into it. >> what happened, more importantly, what the democrats are doing, this winds up being a gift to them because you have people like schiff saying we're going to oblige him on his request, look into this. the white house is going to wind up getting all the things they didn't really want like hearings on this. and a further investigation into this. >> congress loves hearings. let's face it. they go on and on and on, get on tv, on and on and on. when do they get to a conclusion? >> a big one on march 20th. >> when you talk to white house officials as we were doing this week, this is the last thing they want to talk about. want to be talking about health care, tax reform, about angela merkel's visit next week, about all these other issues and stuck having -- >> how long have you been around? let me ask you a question about having to get flak for the president. i thought about what kind of job that would be, i think it would be a very difficult job. people like josh earnest know how to do the job well.

it's doable. i've never seen a press secretary have to deal with a president that's saying stuff he or she doesn't believe. i mean, really. spicer has -- ever since the crowd measurements back in january 20 -- he had to lie for the president which is a terrible word to do, but he had to do it. had to say, oh, yeah, 3 million to 4 million out there and all this. this time around he doesn't want to do that. he's saying, i'm telling you what the president says. then somebody asked yesterday, do you believe him? he said, that's a cute question. it's not a cute question. you ask the president's spokesperson if he or she believes what the president is saying. it's a reasonable question. >> he has really distanced himself from that, it's interesting to watch. he said, you know, if you ask him, what you zdo you think? he says it doesn't matter what you think. >> it does matter. >> we -- >> he says it's above my pay grade. that's a tired old line. you're the spokesman for the whou white house. it's not above your pay grade. >> it's your job. he got into the job. decided to bt -- >> he doesn't want to have his

career ruined, i can tell. he's pulling away from trump. he is not lying for him. >> this is a pattern in donald trump's life, he inserts things that are got necessarily true, tries to find evidence for it. >> did you see kellyanne's pivot the other day? he knows so many things we don't know. she didn't say -- she's covering for herself in this case. thank you, carol lee. thank you. it's a tough time to be a straight reporter. this is not a straight world. phil rutger, thank you. coming up, the rolling disclosure on trump's potential russian connection continues. today we learn trump's former campaign manager corey lewandowski gave carter page leave to go to russia last summer. it just keeps growing and growing. plus on this international women's day, the trump administration's considering separating women, or mothers from their children if they try to enter the country illegally. that's going to be wonderful. i mean sar castically. it's going to be table.

the "hardball" roundtable here tonight to talk about the challenge of separating fact from fiction today and trying to get to the truth during the trump era. finally let me finish with the trump watch. you won't like this one, either. you're watching "hardball" where the action is. oh...not the smooch method! come on... what's going on here? you know how ge technology allows us to fix problems before they... they slow production, yeah. well, no more catchy business acronyms. wait, we don't need to smooch? i'm sure we can smooch a solution! we just need to "hover" over the candice, problem until...

just let it go... hey, sorry i'm late for team building. smoooooooch! that felt right. what's wrong with you!? he's so trusting... well, when he was a candidate, donald trump said he loved wikileaks. the website that collaborated with russian intelligence to help defeat hillary clinton. well in fact, he repeatedly professed his love for wikileaks. >> by the way, did you see another one, another one came in today, this wikileaks is like a treasure-trove. this wikileaks is unbelievable. what we've learned about her and her people. we love wikileaks. boy, they are really -- wikileaks. they have revealed a lot. boy, that wikileaks has done a job on her. hasn't it? i tell you, this wikileaks stuff is unbelievable. it tells you the inner heart. you got to read it.

now, this just came out, this just came out, wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> well now wikileaks, the beloved wikileaks, released a trove of what it says are cia documents showing how the agency broke into smartphones and even tvs for spying and today the cia said it had no comment on the authenticity of those documents. when we come back, we'll talk to u.s. congressman waukeen castro of the intelligence committee about the latest wikileaks dump and what we're learning about president trump's relationship with russia. back after this. that could sense vehicles in your blind spot. take on the unexpected, with six 2017 iihs top safety picks. it's clear why we're america's fastest-growing auto brand. get to nissan now for 0% financing on 11 models & no payments for 90 days.

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i love to see businesses that just started from ground up grow into further success. it just feels good to know that i'm helping someone else. my first goal is to learn about their business, what they're currently doing in their advertising. pull some research, create a great story. trying to figure out some way of building some kind of trust in a very quick moment. you have to love to work with people. our goal, without a doubt, is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. ♪ can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> no, nobody that i know of. >> you're not aware of any contacts during the course of the election? >> how many times do i have to answer this question? russia is a ruse. i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge, no person that i deal with does. >> welcome to "hardball."

last month, president trump denied that anyone in his campaign, as you just saw, had any contacts with russia during the election. but in making that statement, the president directly contradicted the word of russia's deputy foreign minister who said just days after the election that, "there were contacts during the campaign." we now know that thee members of trump's national security advisory committee, senator jeff sessions, j.d. gordon, carter page, all spoke with the russian ambassador during the campaign. additionally just before the republican convention, carter page traveled to moscow where he delivered a commencement address -- ken vogel of politico reports, "page e-mailed campaign manager corey lewandowski and spokeswoman asking for formal approval for the trip and told by lewandowski he would make a trip to moscow but not as an official representative of the campaign." corey lewandowski telling politico "i don't remember that, i probably got a thousand

e-mails at that time and don't remember every single one i sent. i wouldn't necessarily remember if i had a one-word response to him saying he would do something as a private citizen." page left the campaign in september. trump campaign officials later distanced themselves from him. late today a source close to former utah governor jon huntsman tells nbc news that huntsman was offed and has accepted the position to be the next u.s. ambassador of russia. joined by u.s. congressman joaquin castro of texas, serves on the house select committee on intelligence. also here, ken vogel who wrote the story, chief investigative reporter for politico. congressman, you're in there and i guess my question is, we know an awful lot thanks to the 17 intelligence agencies about the way russia wanted hillary to lose and if it could be really lucky, get trump to win. how they wanted to undermine our democracy. that's all on the record. we also have a lot of other things on the record. how trump romanced or bromanced the russians all through the campaign. said wonderful things about their little instrument called wikileaks, said wonderful things about vladimir putin, about everything over there, how he's

going to be their allies in the world against isis, et cetera, et cetera. seems to me a lot of information is out there about the symbiotic relationship between trump and the russians. what do you know more, or can you hichbt nt at where you thins story's going? >> you know, chris, insaid very clearly as have others on this committee, we need to get to the bottom of one question. did any americans conspire with the russians who interfered with our 2016 presidential election? and specifically, did anyone associated with the trump campaign help those who interfered with the 2016 presidential election? when we keep seeing more and more connections between trump advisers, at least coming out in reports, these trump advisers and the russians. and so, of course, this just speaks to how important the investigation is. >> well, doesn't the -- i mean, my experience over the years is the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence effort in this country, which all other countries have, they have all kinds of electronic wiretaps and information like, leb trelectro

communication, involving the russian ambassador and officials who look like they might be under cover. why can't don't we get that information out? when's it going to come? the information. the nsa's got it, the cia's got it, certainly the fbi. what's the wait for? >> that's a great question. you know, i've been critical of the pace of the investigation at least in the house committee. i said last week there is a gap between what the intelligence agencies know and what the committee has been told. adam schiff, the democratic ranking member, has essentially said the same thing. so i'm with you on that. i think we should be moving in a brisker pace. you see there's a few hearings on this issue that have now been scheduled and publicly hopefull start moving at a quicker pace because all americans deserve an answer to these questions and getting to the bottom of it really is fundamental to our democracy. >> we know what russia did to

help get trump elected and as a candidate, trump repeatedly made overtures to putin. let's watch him. >> i think i g'd get along very well with vladimir putin. i just think so. wouldn't it be nice if actually we could get along with russia? and what's wrong with are russia wants to drop million-dollar bombs on isis? i say, good. putin said donald trump is a geni genius, he's going to be the next great leader of the united states. my attitude, when people like me, i like them. even putin. russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. we got a lot of killers. what, you think our country's so innocent? >> let me go to a couple things that do matter here. certainly our policy toward ukraine. our policy toward crimecrimea. i think either administration, democrat or republican, obama who normally a republican administration, would say russia, big bear, hold back,

don't be grabbing back those countries on your border so easily. you got back crimea, we'll fight about that. certainly don't make any moves on the larger part of ukraine. now we get the sense that the platform in the republican convention this year, the plank dealing with that, was changed and look at this, during the same week the trump aides spoke with the russian am babassador cleveland during the republican convention, the trump campaign watered down an amendment to the party platform that supported ukraine against russian aggression. trump's campaign chairman, paul manafort at the time, denied responsibility for the change as did trump, himself. trump also defended russia's right to seize crimea from ukraine. here he is. >> everybody on the platform committee had said it came from the trump campaign. if not you, who? >> it absolutely did not come from the trump campaign. >> so nobody from the trump campaign wanted that change in the platform? >> no one. zero. >> why did she soften the gop platform on ukraine? >> i wasn't involved in that. you know, the people of crimea

from what i've heard would rather be with russia than where they were. >> well now politico is reporting a ukrainian operative with suspected ties to russian intelligence consulted with paul manafort during the political o ukraine he played a role in changing the platform language. ken, what do we make of this? in they soften up the republican platform, usually a hawkish party, softened them up because they have inside operatives in the republican operation here, we ought to know about that. >> they're quick to say, in fact, the language in the platform ended up being tougher than it was before this amendment was proposed. wasn't as tough as -- >> not thanks to them. >> right. certainly. we have reporting that does suggest, in fact, there were representatives of the trump campaign who did play a role in watering down that proposed amendment that would have been much tougher. so it's yet another example where they come out with a blanket denial, say we candiddi have anything to do with the platform, turns out they did.

flynn says to the vice president of all people, i didn't talk about the sanctions with the russian am bass dr. turns out he did. sessions tells the judiciary committee, i didn't talk with any russians. the biggest problem for me, they cannot get their stories zragt he straight here. >> if it comes out, congressman, you may be the first to know on the intelligence committee, that there was a positive role by the trump people in getting the russians to do what they did in terms of screwing up the democrats in the general election, with all the hacking and they played a role in that, would that be impeachable? >> if at the end of the investigation it's found the president's advisers played a role in aiding the russians who interfered with the election and the president knew about it, then that is historically significant and it's a betrayal of our democracy and certainly i think many people would move for impeachment. >> thank you so much. u.s. congressman joaquin castro of texas, thank you, ken vogel, for your amazing reporting these days. up next, it's international

women's day. while they have rallies around the country right now, they're going on, the homeland security secretary is considering a plan that would separate mothers from their children. remember sophie's choice, if they cross into this kun this c illegally. a debate is coming up about that. this is "hardball" where the action is. oh yeah sure... ok, like what? but i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement? we're absolutely doing that. but there's no law you can't make the most of today. what do you want to do? i'd really like to run with the bulls. wow. yea. hope you're fast. i am. get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change. investment management services from td ameritrade. tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be. mom: oh no... tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there, so she didn't miss a single shot.

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see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. learn more about better breathing at mybreo.com. welcome back to "hardball." around the world people are celebrating international women's day today. in the united states, organizers of january's women's march on washington use the this occasion

to plan a national demonstration called a day without a woman. women. it's plural there. thousands of women abstained from their -- it's a great word, abstained from their day jobs and took to the streets. that's a live picture looking at right now from new york outside the trump soho hotel. they're rallying against the discrimination and division they say the president espouses. here we go. >> i think it's important that the country know that women are standing together against hate and division and discrimination. >> what we have to do now is do what we can is protest and stand up and let the country and our elected leaders know what's important to us. and so that's what we're doing. >> in washington, several female democratic lawmakers symbolically staged a walkout in support, there they are, in red. 21 members of the congress. >> we know one thing for sure, that when women succeed, america succeeds. >> well the other end of pennsylvania avenue, donald

trump honored the day by dropping in on his wife's luncheon and tweeting on international women's day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in america and around the world." and "i have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy." the tweets drew immediate criticism because of trump's record on women. his administration is also under scrutiny for its lack of gender diversi diversity, intention to defund planned participaenthood. and to separate women and children to cross the border illegally. secretary john kelly confirmed the administration was considering that proposal. here he is. >> our department of homeland security personnel going to separate the children from their moms and dads. >> yes, i am considering in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network, i am considering exactly that. they will be well cared for as we deal with their parents. >> joining me right now for more, maria teresa kumar, ceo of

voter latino, and former campaign manager for mitt romney, katie packer. both are attorneys. you have a tough job now. we have to talk about it. sounds like sophie's choice -- not sophie's choice. the idea of separating children from their mothers. obviously alleged to have broken the law, come across the border, may be asylum seekers. we don't know. may be poor people looking for a job. we don't know. trying to meet some relative here. we don't know. the idea of putting out the word, hey, we're going to separate you from your kids as a way of saying we're going to make you pay for this. >> well, certainly the notion of separating children from their parents -- >> as a punitive action? as a punitive action. >> as a punitive action, is very unseemly. what i understand, though, about what he's talking about is there is an angle to this that's trying to address the child trafficking issue. that it's not just separating children from their parents -- >> that's what he said, though. >> it's separating kirn from adults. >> i understand that. >> were you helping him here? are you helping him? that's not what he said. >> there might be an angle there

that could be sort of salvageable but this notion of taking children away from their parents -- >> that is the -- you're very good at this, katikatie. i got tell you, for -- mothers carrying a baby, carrying an 8-year-old. >> what you're referring to, secretary kelly is also looking at this idea if a parent has someone bringing over they child, they're going to charge the parent with human trafficking. that's just as bad. so this idea that we are -- the majority of the people that to rming right now in south america are fleeing sexual viviolence, violence, themselves. >> what countries? >> el salvador, honduras primarily. not only going to the united states, going to costa rica, belize, where they mostly have family members. >> what do you make of this proposal to punish people for crossing the border illegally? >> it's cruel.

it's anti-american. >> do you think that will -- >> at the end of the day, you're trying to get to safety for your family, america has been the beacon of hope. most of these folks are refugees and saying if i have to get separated, i will do it. the problem is even amnesty international has found a lot of these detention systems are completely abhorrent. they're anti a lot of international rights. >> what should the u.s. government do? >> they should actually process asylum seekers and -- >> if they're not asylum se seekers, what do you do with the ones who are not seeking asylum? >> the yoert majority of them a. >> what about the ones who are? >> everybody believes we need to have secured borders but in a way that is not cruel. >> you're always good at this. >> it's not going to happen because it's not good policy. >> let me ask her about the difference between -- can i talk to you for a second, ask you a question? what's a difference between a republican view of international women's day and a democrats' view? what's the difference between

your point of view from a party point of view? >> well, i think for republicans everybody's feeling a little sort of protested out. like every day there's some new protest and at some point you say to yourself, you know, when is there going to be sort of a general discussion of the things that you actually object to instead of just this daily protesting of everything that trump does? and you can't hear anything because -- >> what was your reaction to trump's comments, mexicans are rapists. islamic women -- what do you -- billy bush was who listening and fluffing him on you might say gets fired, trump gets elected president. doesn't that amaze you? >> it does amaze me. >> that conversation about women. >> it makes him a very flawed vessel for a comment like he made today. >> did you vote for him? >> i have very publicly said i did not vote for him. >> i know you didn't. go ahead. >> i think -- what he brought on, the way he brought on sexual

violence into a conversation allowed people to have for the first time a conversation between their spouse as and the loved ones. at the same time, what he signals is it almost didn't matter. >> because he won. >> because he con. >> 42% of women voted for him. >> no consequences. 53% of white women voted for him, too. no consequences for those actions. the reason people keep marching, these are people who may not have voted and are coming into the political process, saying what do we do next? our job is to harness sthat. >> you know what i learned? women say, men are all like that. i go, they're not like that. >> more are like that than you think. >> that's possible because you just defined the possibility of it. yeah. >> you know what -- >> thank you. >> back again, for the very first time, trump lost young white men. >> yeah. millennials have good values. millennials have good values. maria, we all know that. maria teresa kumar and katie packer. katie packer, what a great name. up next -- katie packer. up next, the "hardball"

roundtable will be here. tonight separating fact from fiction and getting at the truth in the trump era. that's what we're going to talk about. finding the nonfiction in the fiction. you're watching "hardball" where the action is. ( ♪ ) upstate new york is a good place to pursue your dreams. at vicarious visions, i get to be creative, work with awesome people, and we get to make great games. ( ♪ ) what i like about the area, feels like everybody knows each other. and i can go to my local coffee shop and they know who i am. it's really cool. new york state is filled with bright minds like lisa's. to find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin. search for our page, at bp's cooper river plant, employees take safety personally - down to each piece of equipment,

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they have no sources. they just make them up when there are none. the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake. >> i guess my question is why should americans trust you when you've accused information they receive of being fake when you're providing information -- >> i don't know, i was given that information. >> mr. president -- >> actually i've seen that information around. but it was a very substantial victory. >> welcome back to "hardball." covering the president can be a challenging thing. especially when trying to distinguish the truth from the alternative facts in a white house where its occupant has called the press the opposition. well yesterday in the white house briefing, reuters correspondent ayesha roscoe asked press secretary sean spicer whether the president's tweets should be taken

seriously. this after the white house wouldn't provide evidence that former president obama wiretapped president trump's phones during the 2016 campaign. as trump claimed saturday morning. >> is the white house position that the president can make declarative statements about a former president basically committing a crime and then the congressional committee should look into that and basically prove it? >> that is not a question of prove it, is they have the resources and the clearances and the staff to fully and thoroughly and comprehensively investigate this. and then issue a report as to what their findings are. >> so but president trump's twitter statement shouldn't be taken at face value about what -- >> sure, it should. of course -- why -- no. there's nothing, as i mentioned to jim, it's not that he's walking anything back or regretting it, he's just saying that they have the appropriate venue. >> so how does a journalist get to the truth in the age of trump? joining me in the "hardball" roundtable tonight, three reporters who cover politics and the white house.

ayesha roscoe, white house correspondent, saw her there, for reuters, who asked that question, went back and forth with spicer. david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones. msnbc political analyst. laura bassett, senior political reporter with the "huffington post." that quhestioning of a press secretary who's definitely out of his element. he obviously doesn't believe his nonsense about the president accusing the previous president of wiretapping him yet he has to say things -- i think you almost caught him there, should we take it as face value? i thought you'd almost get him to say no. of course i take it at face value. of course we have to submit it to congress to see if that's true or not. that doesn't make any sense. >> that was the point of the questioning. they came out with a statement after the twitter statements which were declared, president trump said i was wiretapped, president obama did it basically. then now the white house is saying, oh, committees have to look into it and have to see whether they're concerned. that's what i was trying to get at was, well, should we take the

twitter statements which were declarative -- >> suppose trump said the president, previous president snuck into the white house last night and stole my hamburgers. i mean, something really ridiculous. then say we're going to let the house and senate intelligence committee examine it. i mean, the stuff he -- the claims are just -- at what point is spicer or anybody just says i can't take this job anymore, this is stupid, this isn't worthy of my time, i'm going to end up looking like a liar here. >> right. i think that the problem for, at least for the media, is it's almost impossible to fact check some of this stuff. >> he doesn't care. >> because, yeah, then kellyanne conway can go on tv and say, well, you know, we say, well, did you get this from a breitbart story or not? and she says, well, he's privy to intelligence that most people don't know and information that most people don't know and the president should be. how to you fact check that when she says there's information that we just don't know? >> you can't fact check crazy.

the thing is, i've seen people acting as if they're surprised by this. you and i know there's nothing to be surprised by this. he did this for three years about birtherism. he did this about the crowds in the inauguration. he did this about ted cruz's dad -- >> and the 3 million mexicans who voted against him in california. >> he does this again and again and again. we act as he's a rational actor. >> what are you supposed to do? ayesha, it isn't like the old ethiopia where every headline began, lion of juda said this morning and pript nt it as if i true. what are you supposed to do? >> ask tough questions. you have to, you know, if they say things that maybe don't seem to add up, you have to ask them for clarity and then you have to do your own digging. i think it's important for us as journalists to make sure that we're providing readers with the facts. >> okay. >> with what we know. >> when do you get a no on this? i've been saying the congress'

job is to give him a nay. they're not doing anything, not check this stuff out. they say, oh, we're going to buy xerox machines and hire some lawyers and get officers assigned and in six months we'll get down to business, ten years later we might have -- congress does not move lickety-split. >> i mean, i thought their response to the whole wiretapping thing was really awkward. all of them were put in an incredibly awkward position of saying i don't believe what the president's saying, he's still the president, okay, we'll look into it. >> one guy had some guts, had some balls to put it bluntly. that was mccain. one guy. mccain called him on it. as much as he may be bitter against obama, he has contempt for trump. >> he said trump is obligated to prove this. i think that's a pretty fair statement. you accuse the former president of breaking the law. >> yeah. >> it just shows you how far the republican establishment has gone in self-emasculation. >> yeah. >> they will not even -- if crazedy is right in front of them and it's two plus two, they'll say, maybe it is five

because we don't have all the facts. >> are they afraid of getting a nickname? what are they afraid of? >> i talked to one house democrat who's trying to get a republican on the bill that trump wouldn't like and the guy said i can't do it, trump will start tweeting at me. they're afraid of trump. they're afraid of the base has been trumpfied. they're running scared. they want him around to sign the medicare privatization bills and whatever they come up with, anything in health care. they can't -- listen, once you say the president is nuts there's no going back from that. >> yeah, but some of this, i would hope, would penetrate to the 35%. do you think it will? >> i think -- i mean, i think -- >> will it penetrate to objective people that are reasonably objective? >> i think people can be logical and look at what's happening and draw their conclusions. i think especially when, you know, the rubber hits the road and you have to start looking at policies and what's going to come out. >> i wonder if it's like when you get married to someone, you realize they're different than the one that courted you and you

go, but i'm still stuck. >> it's not different, though, he was like this the whole campaign. >> that's true. >> aren't you smart? thank you. the roundtable is sticking with us. up next, these three will tell me something i don't know. i should have known that. bp uses flir cameras - a new thermal imagining technology - to inspect difficult-to-reach pipelines, so we can detect leaks before humans can see them. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

♪ ♪ . . whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor. this just in, hillary clinton posted a video message to snapchat urging her supporters to keep up their fight. take a look. >> there's a lot to fight for, planned parenthood, education, health care, jobs, every issue is a woman's issue so stand up,

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swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness or confusion. ask your health care provider if you're tresiba® ready. covered by most insurance and medicare plans. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ aisha, tell me something, you're amazing, you take on spicer. just wrap im, go ahead. >> well, in honor of women's day, speaking of one of the most powerful women in international politics, german chancellor angela merkel is coming here, we hear top on the agenda will be ukraine and russia and also that president trump might press her on getting germany to pay its fair share on nato. >> i will think germany would have paid early. >> it will be interesting to see with how she deals with president trump. >> she's his equal by any standard. >> you mentioned john mccain because he took a strong stand

on the wiretapping stuff. he's taken a strong stand on the russian stuff, the white house is enraged about john mccain and they are trying to find ways to politically marginalize him and elevate other voices within the party like senator named tom cotton. they want mccain sidelined. >> i'm with mccain on that one. by the way, mccain will never be forgot within what he accused with that woman that accused obama being arrogant. that's profile in courage stuff. trump hasn't done one of those yet. >> i talked to health experts about trumpcare today and what it would do. >> you're saying it, aren't you? >> i'm saying trumpcare. >> like people wouldn't say reagan airport for years but you're saying trumpcare right away. >> it restricts abortion in four different ways and defunds planned parenthood. >> explain the abortion piece. >> it would drive abortion insurance completely out of the market so there wouldn't be an option for women to have abortion coverage anymore and it defunds planned parenthood. >> totally? >> the health experts said it

would drive up unintended pregnancies. >> so it would do away with all birth control help for people. >> exactly. and have the opposite. >> that's a counterer effort for the pro life people. anyway, i think if you believe in avoiding abortion, anyway. ais aisha, thank you, please come back. david corn, always and laura basset, yes. i'm out of good words. when we return, let me finish with trump watch. you're watching "hardball." finally. hey ron! they're finally taking down that schwab billboard. oh, not so fast, carl. ♪

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trump watch, wednesday, march 8, 2017. we have a man in the white house who thinks nothing -- that's a phrase to keep handy -- of speaking nastily and outrageously about his predecessor. why not? when he called obama an illegal immigrant from kenya the republican speaker of the house said it wasn't his job to tell people how to think. and with him now calling the former president a criminal, no leader up there in the congress is willing to come out and throw water on the president's fish story. this isn't about how big he says his hands are or how many people he can see on the washington mall or how many elusive illegal voters he says were out there last november. it's about truth and untruth. the truth that the russians helped him win the election. the untruth that president obama had him bugged. i understand why his people want this accusation of his to disappear on capitol hill. it's an old trick. it's what spiro agnew did when he faced indictment for accepted bribes for maryland contractors. he headed to the speaker asking him to be tried by the congress. he figured the case would be

buried. he didn't get away with it because tip o'neill blew the whistle and sent him back to the courts who did the right thing and ran him, spiro agnew, out of politics. let's hope the leaders of congress today will have the stuff to tell donald trump to take his bugging accusation and stuff it back where he got it. th that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> we are out in full sell mode all around the country. >> a white house in sell mode raises the stakes. >> i'm just raised the stakes. >> tonight, as defectors grow, can president trump close the deal on a health care plan that hospitals, seniors, and now doctors oppose? plus -- >> this will be a plan, you can use your plan and you know what the plan is, this is the plan. >> a compelling case that trumpcare will hurt trump voters most. with senator bernie sanders. then -- >> there is no reason that we have to think that