their phone in order to come back home. legal experts point out the fourth amendment ban on unlawful searches and seizures in this country doesn't historically apply to the border. and that's going to do it for our monday edition of "the 11th hour." "hardball" start right now. mccain to trump, put up or shut up when it comes to caps." good evening. put up or shut up, that's the message john mccain has isn't to president president trump this weekend. word today that trump's replacement for obamacare will mean 14 million less people getting insurance.

here was senator mccain on this little matter today. >> the preside has one of two choices, either restrakt or to provide the informatn that the american people deserve because if his predecessor violated the law, president obama violated the law, we've got a serious issue here to say the least. >> do you have any reason to think that this charge is true? >> i have no reason to believe that the charge is true but i also believe that the president of the united states could clear this up in a minute. >> in contrast speaker paul ryan tried kissing off the wiretapping accusation. let's watch him in action. >> you said you're working hand in glove in selling the news health care plan. the president sends out four tweets about his predecessor wiretapping him. did that help or hurt?

>> that wasn't partcampaign. >> how much did that hurt or help you? >> this is going to be an unconventional presidency -- >> there's unconventional and then there's off into new territory. >> there was a deadline for the justice department to turn ofrp any evidence it has of wiretapping by president obama. late today the justice department told the leaders it need more time to review the request. the president's spokesman, sean spicer, tried deflecting the matter, say it was a department of justice issue, even though it was the president that made the stupid charge. and spicer dodged the president's inflammatory tweet saying the president didn't mean to use the term wiretap literally. let's watch him squirm out of this one. >> he said in quotes wiretapping.

the president was clear in his tweets that it was wiretapping, that that spans a whole host of surveillance type options. >> you said when he meant wiretapping. >> no, he had it in quotes. >> so you're interpreting it. >> he cited other reports in his conversation with you? >> he did. >> congressman, president trump has let it hang out there for a week now that his predecessor wiretapped him. how can they get away with it?

i think the real grown up here is john mccain who says put up or shut up. your thoughts, congressman. >> sadly you see them backing away from this and i think they figure they can get away with it, the same way they apparently have gotten away with the fantasy there were 3 million fraudulent votes cast, the same way they got away with the notion this was the most well attended inaugural in history. this president does not get called to account for putting out false statements and this one even though it involves, you know, something of historic magnitude, an accusation from one president to his predecessor, you know, this one sadly will slip into the memory hole as well. it just doesn't seem to stick to donald trump when he flat out lies. >> someone should tell the speaker of the house that

laughing isn't funny. i don't think it's even constitutional for him to get involved in wiretapping but how would it be done? >> i don't have the wildest clue. the president didn't ask for a prosecutor, he asked for somebody to investigate. >> no, he made -- he didn't call for an investigation, sean spicer later covered up. he accused the president and said he was sick for doing it. >> chris, here's the bigger problem. they are in campaign mode too much when they try to win the day instead of the week or the month. i sat in a bunch of focus groups

last week in rust belt states, they still like him, they love his agenda when you ask what's one thing you wish he would change, they save quit shooting from the hip. they want him to be a little more stable and focused. i think this becomes a problem for them when they have to get into n the weeds answering something the president said. >> sean spicer said wiretapping could be a whole bunch of possible techniques. but trump said "terrible, just found out that obama wiretapped my phones during the very sacred election process. this is nixon, watergate, bad or sick guy." he's referring to the former president. let's watch what sean spicer said a week ago.

>> reporter: does the president believe that former president barack obama committed a felony? >> his tweets speak for themselves. he wants to ensure the house and intelligence committees look into the matter. >> heidi, this is serious business. i'm not going to let these guys worm away from it. mean we can't put this away for a couple weeks but this will be a bone that i chew on. i do not understand how the president of the united states can accuse the former president of the united states of a felony. your thoughts? >> sean is right. the tweet speaks for itself. it says wiretap. he accused the former president -- he made not only an inflammatory statement, a defamatory statement and accused the former president of a felony. it's part of an escalation of

pals things that the president is saying both in person and on twitter in terms of like t 3 million people who voted illegally, here's the pattern, he called for an congressional investigation to try to bury that. even if we don't know there's any kind of legal consequences or recourses in terms of catching him in a lie, it's important to do that because of this pattern of escalation, one, to discourage him from continuing to do it and, secondly, because there's millions of people out there, chris, who believe these things. we may laugh at it but they believe it. >> i don't laugh it. i'm not like the speaker of the house who is a giggling mimes here. and let me go to jim himes here. it's been said to the justice department give us any reason, any evidence to believe there

was wiretapping by the former president. now they say we can't get the information. this a yo yo operation. this is to keep this crappy story alive, isn't it? why else would they be doing this? they know they didn't wiretap. why don't they talk? >> well, they may. we've got an open hearing coming up on the 20th by fbi director comey. he may take the opportunity to say what he's wanted to say, which is to debunk this story. the investigation is already so large. it's going to take time. i think it was their best bet on how to make this thing go away by saying okay, guys, now it's your problem. it's a serious enough charge, can you count on us on the 20th to ask the people who are there. >> what's so complicated about

finding out there was a wiretap ordered on the president? >> well, it's not. the president could have the fbi or comey in the office in seconds and get the answer. >> kellyanne conway was asked about the president's wiretapping claim by a local reporter up in jersey. let's watch her. >> do you know whether trump tower was wiretapped? >> there are many ways to surveil each other now unfortunately -- >> do you believe that was -- >> there was an article this week that talked about how can you surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets, any number of different ways and microwaves that turn into cameras, et cetera.

so much we know that is just a fact of modern life. >> sure. >> well, you heard no answer there of course. today kellyanne said she wasn't talking about specificallyeffort to surveil trump power but speaking broadly about surveillance techniques. let's watch. >> why would you make a suggestion like that without any evidence? >> i wasn't making a suggestion about trump tower. those are two separate things. >> that's what you were asked about. >> and i answered him about surveilling generally. >> but you have no evidence that that surveilling was used at trump tower. >> i'm not inspector gadget. i don't believe people are using microwaves to spy on trump tower. i'm not in the position of having evidence. that's what investigations are for. >> it looks to me they're trying to bury this story in words. and words have nothing to do with the question that was asked, was the current president wiretapped by the former

president? if you don't know the answer, just say i don't know. >> well, look, i actually have to give some credit to kellyanne conway. she's very loyal to this president. she works for this president. she doesn't have a good answer. she hasn't been included on that why the president said what he did -- >> why is she making the rounds, then? >> she didn't necessarily go on the round on those particular topics. >> they're up there in the national agenda right now. >> but they ask what they want to ask her. >> imagine coming on this show if you're the president's counselor, and your boss within the last week has accused his predecessor of having tapped his phones and not be ready about an answer. >> let be honest. what we're seeing clean -- >> fair enough. you're saying what i'm saying. >> i am saying what you're saying.

to be honest with you, she's deserves credit for -- >> it's called the run around. >> that's not what i'm saying. >> phrase it i don't way. >> in this particular case, sheech has said the president has information that she is not authorized to have and therefore she can't talk into the situation. all she did was to talk about what surveillance means and that it's much broader than what meet think it means. >> you can google surveillance and get answers like -- >> get her on the show. >> okay, john, you're doing your john. thank you john brabender, john himes. president trump needs to realize if he breaks obamacare, he owns it.

the president has committed that no one will lose access to coverage, howie. >> then candidate trump said everybody's got to be covered, not, well, that's just an interesting number. >> well, chris, we're offering coverage to everyone. >> it means more people covered than are covered right now and at an average cost that is less. i believe we can firmly do that with the plan we laid out. >> now they'll be able to pick the plan they want, pick the doctor they want. they'll be able to do a lot of things the other plan was supposed to give and never gave. >> that was president trump and members of his administration defending of coverage under the president's proposed american health care act. the congressional budget office determined if passed, it would reduce the federal deficit but that 14 million would be uninsured by next year and 20 million by 2026. and colin powell said the

pottery barn rule, you break it, you own it. >> so the press is making it look so wonderl, so at if we end it, everyone's going to say, ah, remember how great obamacare used to be, it was so great. it's a little bit like president obama. when he left, people liked him. when he was here, people didn't like him so much. by repealing, it by getting rid of it, by ending it, everyone is going to say, oh, it used to be so great. >> democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer were quick to react to the c.b.o. report. leer's what they had to say late today. >> i hope that they would pull

the bill. it's really the only decent thing to do. numbers are important. they see the numbers. they should know how that transfers into people's lives. >> the republican hand-picked, head of c.b.o. has confirmed what we democrats have been saying all along, trumpcare would be a nightmare for the american people. remember when president trump was a candidate? he said everyone will be covered and costs will go down. we now know that he had no intention of keeping either prom us. >> i'm joined by republican congressman barton of texas. congressman, what's your reaction when the heard the c.b.o. announced that 14 million fewer people will be covered right away if it's passed?

>> i respect the c.b.o but they're not infallible. in fact, they're seldom ever right. 19 million americans under the affordable care act chose not to take coverage, even though it was mandated. they either paid the tax penalty or ty asked for a hardship exemption. 10 million americans did go into the private exchanges. so it seems a little bit illogical that all of a sudden 14 since there were only 10 million that chose the individual exchanges, i don't see how you get to their number. >> you said you respect the congressional budget office and chuck schumer pointed out that the leader of the c.b.o. was picked by republicans in your caucus and now you say you respect them but you don't trust their numbers. explain. >> well, it doesn't matter to me

who the director is. the c.b.o. is almost always wrong. now, sometimes they're wrong high, sometimes they're wrong low, but in my 32 years in congress, i can't recall them ever being right. >> ruth, let me ask you about this. politically i think of willy loman, this guy, trump, not a liberal, was making promises about getting the same coverage at a cheaper price. well, maybe not at a cheaper price but the same coverage. >> attention must be paid to c.b.o. scores. it's very nice for the congressman to wish away these c.b.o. numbers but it's complete

logic when you take away the individual mandate to require the purchase of health insurance, when you spend more than a trillion dollars less in terms of subsidies and medicaid costs, it makes absolute sense you are going to have fewer people with insurance coverage. and whether that's 14 millioor 16 million, whether it's high or it's low, it's still a really icant number and i think there's a lot of angst among republicans on the hill right now looking at those numbers and gulping a little bit. >> when we return, let me finish with trump watch. this is "hardball" where the action is. when we have a cough or cold, we fight it with everything...

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trump watch, monday, march 13, 2017. i have this theory about donald trump, about who he wants to be. up know how you hear a lot about the resistance, i think donald trump wants to be the resistance. he doesn't want to be the person responsible for getting your health care coverage, the person who you call or blame when it's not working for you. donald trump wants to be the

person who gives speeches and/or tweets attacking the current program. he wants to be the resistance. this explains his arms-length distance to the republican bill. he'll be happy if it gets stopped in the house or senate because then he could blame the democrats. no matter what bill gets passed, donald trump will get caught shorthanded. there's even less a chance of the congressional democrats that are going to help him destroy obamacare. that leaves him, donald trump, with the prospect of signing a health care bill that cuts millions of americans from their health insurance. does anyone expect those family to vote for him, donald trump, bring him back into office the next time? no. the best bet for donald trump is to end up in a position to be able to blame someone else. watch the next several weeks and see what i'm talking about. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. join us tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern.

see you then.

in west virginia -- >> we're going to put the miners back to work. >> some of the promises that he's made come through, we can see at least a little bit of a turnaround. >> racked by unemployment, povertan