go to my facebook page, there's so much going on on my facebook page, i also want you to follow me on twitter make sure you go there, you can say horrible mean nasty things to me, can you do it anonymously. i'm just kidding. "hardball i" with chris matthews starts now. >> tap dance. let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris matthews from washington. dooms day for his claim that president obama ordered a wiretap on him. today the ranking member of the senate intelligence committee said it never happened. richard burr and mark warner said, we say no indications that trump tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the u.s. government. even before or after election

day 2016. yesterday the leaders of the house intelligence committee held a press conference. they see no evidence. here's the republican chair devin muniz. >> the people we talked to, i don't think there was an actual tap of trump tower, you have to decide, as i mentioned to you last week, are you going to take the tweets literally? if you are, then clearly the president was wrong. >> paul ryan weighed in today, he too said he sees no evidence. >> this is something i was unaware of, until we saw a few press courts on this, the intelligence committees in their continuing widening ongoing investigation of all things russia, got to the bottom at least so far with respect to our intelligence community that knows wiretapping existed. >> and then there's president trump who refuses to back down.

president trump has evidence that he will reveal at a date and time of his choosing. >> we will be submitting certain things and i will be perhaps thinking about this next week. but it's right now before the committee, and i think i want to leave it -- i think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. i mean, let's see whether or not i prove it. i just choose not to do it right now. i chew to do it before the committee. maybe i'll do it before i see the result of the committee, i think we have some very good stuff. we're in the process of putting it together and i think it's going to be very demonstrative. >> i think we have some very good stuff. that's the president of the united states talking. does that sound familiar? it wasn't the first time donald trump promised information that didn't exist. >> i have people that actually have been studying it, they cannot believe what they're finding. >> you have people now down there searching, in hawaii.

>> and they cannot believe what they're finding. >> anyway, no evidence ever materialized that donald trump did concede president obama was born in the u.s. john stanton, his senior national correspondent for buzz feed news. i want to ask you about the gravity of the president's dishonesty here. your thoughts? >> well, you know, i serve on foreign relations and deal with international delegations. he's essentially sending to the world that he doubts our intelligence agencies. so how does he then bring a coalition together to respond to an international incident. for me, it's pretty humiliating when i have to deal with northern leaders and they ask us, what's going on in the united states? you know, i mean, you have the

one quote, but what about the three million votes against him? what about the thousands of people protesting after 9/11. this is a very serious and dangerous pattern. >> the reason i'm concerned here more than normally about this president, is that -- you saw that, it's like recidivism he's going back to the worst of donald trump. a person that doesn't have any mental control, he said, i have inspectors, i have investigators down in hawaii, discovering all kinds of weird stuff about the president not being an american national -- not being a native born in america, therefore not being qualified to be president. he said this as if it was actual information. he said i have information in hand and i'm going to present it. this stuff -- this is strange -- i'm afraid of the word liar, i hate that word. he seems to be completely making stuff up again.

what is the world -- what is angela merkel, these regular political leaders, grown-ups from around the world. what do they make of dealing with a guy who's capable of making up this full moon stuff. >> absolutely. >> this crazy stuff. the information he talks about that doesn't exist. >> right, but i do think at some point we need to call it what it is, and it is lying. he doubles down and puts his staff in terrible positions, i felt sorry for sean spicer today, he had to double down and try to defend this. it makes no sense, how can you continually say this, when all of the leaders of the intelligence committees and the house and senate are saying that it's not true? what does he say to the rest of the world? >> all he has to do is call his fbi director and say, you have anything on your counter intelligence, anything on this? he could do it in two seconds, he doesn't want to do it, because that would blow his cover, as you said,

congresswoman, sean spicer played baghdad bob trying to defend the president's wiretapping claims. let's watch. >> the president's been very clear when he talked about this, and he talked about it last night, he talked about wiretapping, he meant surveillance, and there have been incidents that have occurred, devin muniz con the have stated it more beautifully. you choose not to cover that part. >> despite the findings, the bipartisan findings of the senate intelligence committee -- >> no, they're not findings, they're two -- there's a statement out today, they have not begun this, as you know yesterday, or two days ago, the department of justice asked for an additional week. >> does the president still stand by -- >> he stands by it, but you're mischaraerizing what happened today. >> does he feel like it was broadly sur veiled? which is it? >> he was very clear about this last night, he talked about it as you said. >> yeah, he was, he meant it, he put it in quotes, it was very broad, that's what he meant by the use of the term. >> so was it phone tapping or --

>> no, it was surveillance, i think we've covered this like ten times. >> anyway, here's the senator, mark borner, he's the democrat in the intelligence committee, he responded to sean spicer after today's briefing. the bipartisan leaders of the intelligence committee would not have made the statement they made without having been fully briefed by the appropriate authorities. it's very clear if you read the statement right now, let's go to congressman -- it's very clear that they're saying any kind -- there was no surveillance of any kind. not just the word wiretapping, which the press used, not just about president obama having something to do with it, they said there was no government of any kind surveillance on trump tower and mr. trump during the campaign or after it. a complete denial of what trump's talking about. >> zero evidence, chris. and this is intentional. this is donald trump rolling a smoke bomb into an investigation

where the dots continue to connect. when i was a prosecutor, i would tell juries, if a witness deliberately lies about a fact in an investigation, you can choose to not believe anything that person says. and right now, we have a president who continues to not be credible. that's unfortunate, because we want the president of the united states, reblican or mocrat, to be credible. >> well, let's just forget ideology for a while here, here's the problem, the president of the united states has to talk about north korea. very tricky questions, he's got to deal with iran, and about their meeting the deal they struck with us on nuclear development, opposing it. all this depends on the word of the president of the united states. how is it doing? >> well, that's a good question. if you define it from a traditional standpoint, not very well. i mean, the international stage, he's not particularly credible. people are not looking at it and saying, this guy's -- we can

believe everything he's going to say. if you look at it from donald trump's position, i think it's fine. he's playing to his base, right? and for his base, they don't care if he lies or not. they're fine with it, as long as he is being aggressive and muscular and sort of this uber masculine kind of a thing. and that's kind of what he's doing with all this. and so long as he -- >> that's okay, if he -- >> that's what he cares about. >> yeah, but unfortunately, maybe i shouldn't said unfortunately he's president of the united states. back in august, donald trump promised never to lie to americans. let's watch. >> i've travelled all across this country, laying out my bold and modern agenda for change. in this journey, i will never lie to you. i will never tell you something i do not believe. >> congresswoman bass, tell me what you think of that statement in the light of what he's been saying now, just what he said about the president being some sort of illegal alien from

kenya, now saying the president was a felon because he somehow had a plumber's operation to go after him at trump tower. john stanton says it doesn't really matter because his own people -- >> it does matter. >> it matters to the real world. >> it absolutely matters, the thing about it is, he's been consistent. he lied through this whole campaign, before his campaign. it doesn't seem to matter to him, we need to stop for a minute and take a bigger view of this this. we know there's going to be a problem somewhere in the world where we are going to need partners. he will have no credibility. they will ask him, where did the intelligence come from, was it the national enquirer or the cia. we have to be able to believe the president. i'm afraid he's eroding that around the world. >> i'll get back to you, congresswoman. let me ask you a big picture question. someone sent me a recording of franklin roosevelt addressing

the country, a real president, talking to the american people about their sons going to battle in normandy. trying to liberate europe and praying with them about the dangers they face. even saying things like, we may be thrown back a couple times. we don't know if it will work the first time. here we are praying we can liberate europe and end the threat to the united states. mothers and fathers have to believe in a president. when they send their kids into battle. an uphill battle like it was liberating europe from the nazis, what do you have a president like this to do. how is a president that says things that are off the wall. not just out of right field or left field, completely off the wall? how does that build that trust? >> post iraq war. >> i guess that wasn't really a question, it was a statement. >> post iraq war, the country is skeptical when a president presents evidence about a threat to america. and so i think president obama did a good job of restoring that trust, but we will be

challenged. whether it's from iran or north korea or some other adversary, we will be challenged under this presidency, if donald trump cannot make the case to the american people that we have to answer that challenge, because he lacks credibility. that's going to make us less safe. >> let's talk about mr. comey coming to your committee on monday. can you -- are you going to ask him a direct question? was there any bugging? >> yes. >> was there any wiretapping? >> i think that will come from -- >> go ahead. >> i think that will come from our ranking member, adam schiff who will kick things off for us. there will be a lot of questions about people in donald trump's orbit, and their travel to russia, during the campaign. i'm interested in carter page, who after it was revealed june 2016, that russia was attacking us, as the senior foreign policy adviser for the trump campaign, with permission from the campaign, travelled over to russia. why were the individuals being attacked, going over and meeting

with an adversary. >> let me go to john stanton. if torrow morning, trump gets up at 6:00 in the morning and says, it's saturday. will his people buy that crap? you say they'll buy anything, will they buy that? am they change the day, take the day off, not go to work, because he says it's saturday? will they believe him that much? you said they believe whatever he says, will they believe an objective lie? >> they believe or disbelieve a lie, they don't care if he lies. >> will they go to work? >> don't they -- >> will they go to work or stay home. >> you say it doesn't matter. will they go -- they don't believe him? >> no, they don't believe him when he lies, no. >> all they care about, is that he's doing the things he said he was going to do. creating chaos within the

establishment that's what he's doing, and that's what he wabtded. >> please keep coming back. coming up, none of the key congressional leaders believes trump's wiretap claim against president obama. that's not the end of trump's problems tonight. he's facing criticism for giving up classified material in in an interview with fox. that's ahead, and that was last night. blocked again. trump's revised travel ban was stopped by going into effect by two separate judges last night. he specifically targeted muslims, he's done in by his own campaign blusters. trump has a credibility problem, don't you think. will our allies be able to trust him in times of crisis, like if north korea decides to launch a nuclear weapon? we'll be here to talk about that horror. let me finish tonight with trump watch. this is hardball, where the action is.

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his attempt last night too explain his unfounded allegations that he was wiretapped. he failed to reveal that the cia has been hacked.

until he spoke last night, there was no received. why he didn't seek evidence from the fbi to back up his claim. he stated, that the cia had been hacked. >> every intelligence agency reports to you, why not immediately go to them and gather evidence to support that? >> because i don't want to do anything that's going to violate any strength of an agency. we have enough problems. and by the way, with the cia, i just want people to know, the cia was hacked and a lot of things taken, that was during the obama years, that was not during us, that was during the obama situation. >> now, the ranking democrat in the house intelligence committee is accusing the president of leaking classified information saying in a statement today, in his effort once again to blame president obama, the president appears to discuss something that if true and accurate would

otherwise be considered classified information. the president has the power to declassify whatever he wants. this should have been done as the product of thoughtful consideration with intense input for anyone else to do what the president may have done, would constitute what he deplores as leaks. as we already know, wikileaks which disclosed that cia material is outfitted with r.t. it looks to me like a case of a president or anybody, playing defense. if you think you were bugged or tapped, wiretapped by the previous president, why don't you ask the fbi or cia. well, the real reason i don't is because they've been hacked and they're not trustworthy. that was a desperate reach for an excuse, that he souldn'

have done what he di talk too much. >> they're tnot supposed to be political agencies at all. a president who's willing to use news reports on intelligence matters to make allegations about the former president barack obama and on many different fronts, regarding national security, he's relying on outside sources, rather than federal agencies. >> in this case, what was his source in saying that the cia was hacked did that come from the daily briefing? was it classified information? or is this the stuff he gets from the national enquirer? >> it was somewhat of a vague statement, if it was from a classified briefing, i think that would raise red flags. he's saying the president has the right to declassify information. but if your president chooses to declassify information, usually they go through a long process discussing that with the intelligence agencies and

intelligence officials, not just doing it, from the oval office or in an interview. >> what's up here, is he just so desperately on the ropes and reaching for anything? to use the excuse that i can't trust the cia to tell me what's going on? it's the president's primary source of intelligence. every day they come in with everything they know about the world. sit down with him, and tell them all they know. it's his agent. doesn't he know any history? now he's dumping on the cia and saying, well, they got hacked. therefore they're useless to me. >> this has only inflamed this distrust. you see it coming back the other way, where folks in trump's orbit believe there's this deep state of intelligence officers who are out to get them. whether he's revealing information about whether the cia was hacked. >> he doesn't want to admit he

was lying, he doesn't want to admit there is no wiretapping. all the intelligence people in both houses, the speaker of the house, said there was nothing to this story. so desperately to hide, like there's an audit. i can't give you my taxes because they're under audit. fan sense. he can't tell us what's going on, because he's afraid to make a phone call. why doesn't he call the fbi, call anybody and find out there's no wiretapping. >> it fits his pattern. it will end up adding to the problem, it will be the story, follow-up stories, cause for investigation. >> he hides from this dishonesty as long as he can, until the subject changes, he he sneaks out of the hotel opening. >> on this subject, on russia, i think that his response, the throwing crazy stuff out there, is causing him more problems than extending the story. >> the documents released today by elijah cummings, show that

michael flynn received fees of $68,000 from russian companies in 2015. that includes $45,000 from the tv network propaganda network rt, which hosted flynn. i saw that dinner, i assumed he was getting paid for that. and a gala, it doesn't look like a gala with him there, with putin there. the intelligence committee has described that as part of a state run propaganda machine. the total he got from the russians includes two $11,000 payments. in his defense, michael flynn's spokesman told the washington post that flynn signed up with the speaker when he left government service. these are speeches he made after leaving -- we know that. congressman cummings expressed his concern. prohibits retired military officers from receiving gifts from a foreign tate. i cannot recall any time in our

nation's history, someone who violated the constitution, by accepting tens of thousands of dollars from an agent of a global adversary that attacked our democracy. >> here's the conversation here. all this money pouring into the pocket of a guy who was part of a campaign that was aided by the russians. >> money for the russians, his soviets, they still act like soviets to help trump. all this together keeps adding up. >> michael flynn the retired general that won't go away, his problems, his relationships with different business interests has been something that's playinged the trump white house. not only when he was there for a brief period, but ever since, because we're continuing to learn more and more each day here at the post and other news organizations about this web of relationships, flynn has amassed ever since he left full time military service. >> the web of relationships, well said. it just keeps getting more and

more. the soc that trump finds himself in. there's so much stuff connecting him to russia. all this keeps dripping out. >> and i think that's sort of what i'm talking about, when i say it's almost like the cover-up is worse than the actual connection. >> no, it's worse. the connections are worse. >> this is an example of bad vetting. it should have been known. when the trump folks were vetting him, this should have been something they were addressing, he was out of time, when russia was very much -- the connections to russia were very much in the news. it seems like it either slipped by. >> i think it's worse than the price of -- years passed in this country, you don't hear the word russia, now we hear it all the time from one source, trump. russia, russia, russia, money, money, money, coming from russia. it keeps entangling him, this is extraordinary, something's up. up next, trump's revised travel ban was shot down by two

separate federal judges in the last couple hours, done in by trump's own campaign rhetoric, he wanted to stop muslims from entering the country. that's ahead. various: (shouting) heigh! ho! ( ♪ ) it's off to work we go! woman: on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. and each job created by the energy industry supports two others in the community. altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. these are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing america's emissions. energy lives here. at angie's list, we believe all while reducing america's emissions. there are certain things you can count on, like a tired dog is a good dog. [ dog barking, crashing ] so when you need a dog walker or a handyman, we can help you find the right person for the job. discover all the ways we can help at angie's list.

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don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. welcome back to hardball, a federal judge in hawaii offered a temporary restraining order on the new travel ban which was scheduled to go into effect today. a religious discrimination is the reason for his order,

writing, the illogic of the government's intentions is palpable. the notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed. here's some of what those men have said in the past. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> i said, we have to have a temporary ban on muslims, and now people are sort of saying, wow! that's not a bad idea. when i first said it, everybody said, no way. we're going to have tremendous problems, it's getting worse and worse. and those problems are coming from a certain sector. >> the muslim community has to help us, they're not helping us, the muslim community is not reporting what's going on. >> i think islam hates us.

there's something there that -- there's a tremendous hatred there. i'm looking now, people were so upset when i used the word muslim. you can't use the word muslim. remember this, i'm okay with this. i'm talking territory instead of muslim. >> the changes you're looking to make, as it rela to persecuted christians, do you see them as a priority here? >> they've been horribly treated. >> when he first announced it he said muslim ban. he called me up, said, put a commission together show me the right way to do it, legally. i put a commission together. >> one of the differences you're going to see, it's going to be responsive to the judicial ruling which didn't exist previously. those are mostly minor technical differences, fundamentally, you're still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country. >> last night at a campaign style rally in nashville, donald trump lashed out at the judge's ruling.

>> a judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries. >> this is the opinion of many, an unprecedented judicial overreach. this ruling makes us look weak. which by the way, we no longer are, believe me. >> we're going to take our case as far as it needs to go. >> this is a watered down version of the first one. >> this is a watered down version. and let me tell you something, i think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way, which is what i wanted to do in the first place. >> a federal judge in maryland earlier this morning, issued a second restraining order against the travel ban. relating to the portion issues visas against six muslim majority countries. there they are. theodore chiang pointed to trump

as religious demonstrated. >> attorney general, i should call you, what do you make of your states out there doing this. is this the language of the campaign that gives context to what's going on here? >> it's a big part of it, it's a muslim ban. trump has said it's a muslim ban over and over and over again. before he implemented the executive order the first time, after he issu it, and before the second so it's unquestionably a musl ban, and as a result, it's unconstitutional. >> it's -- it's the position of your judge, the federal judge in your state and in hawaii, and i assume other states that no matter how it's worded, if it addresses muslim majority countries and we have this history of saying it's a muslim ban, it's a muslim ban? >> i guess the question is, can trump unring the bell? he's defined it with his own words and it's been targeted at muslims the judge in hawaii

said, yeah, it's possible. at some point in the future, he may be able to come up with something that isn't a muslim ban, but this one is. >> you can't unring the bell. michael? >> no, i -- >> rudy giuliani is becoming troubling here. >> i think you can unring the bell to this extent. what trump says is not what the order does. >> it names muslim countries. >> it does, but it's not a muslim ban. any muslim who is in the united states goes abroad can come back home. it's not a ban on muslims entering the united states, that was an appropriate interpretation of the first order, given that it impacted on those who had visas and green cards. >> it does say, if you're a muslim and student in syria. >> you're one of those six countries that identified by both administrations as problematic in the arena of terrorism, then yeah, that -- >> well, suppose -- >> let's talk about this, fair and unfair.

does it really help our safe safety -- that kid can't come. does that mean we're breaking ourselves. >> sudan. probably would have a problem coming, those countries do not vet, do not have the appropriate processes in place to make sure -- >> that's the argument? >> the fact is, i was talking to a bunch of kids at towson university in maryland this afternoon, one of them from africa, i don't want to identify him, he's a muslim. he's studying at towson, he said, i'm afraid to go home, my parents have invested their life savings in my education. >> he would be able to come back under the new one. >> he would be afraid to go home

because he can come back? >> they don't know the nuances of the latest trump travel ban? >> there's no new answer here, it's pretty straightforward here. it does not apply to that student at towson university. >> i wish i had the older version? just said it last night. >> right. >> if i were the parent and the president of the united states said i wish i -- >> that's not the version before the courts and it's not the version before -- >> in trump's head, it's the version he wants. >> both the first version and the second version don't make us safer, they make us less safe. they give ammunition to isis and its buddies and they undermine our allies, they also are bad for our economy. they send a message to this kid at towson -- >> only if i'm not in new york. >> why did trump say wish i had the first version. >> that's what he wishes. but that's not what the executive order is. >> he may be into a muslim ban. >> he might be. but i'm looking at this order and -- >> rudy giuliani is the guy i

believe. he's my friend. he tells the truth, it's a muslim ban. he said so. up next, trump's growing problem with the truth now that lawmakers in both parties at the top of the intelligence world say they're debunking his claim that president obama wiretapped him. what does the rest of the wld think about this kind of behavior? can i take the president at his word?

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welcome back hardball, we're less than 100 days into the trump presidency right now, and his relationship with the truth is tenuous at best. the budget called the america first budget, slashes funding for foreign aid from the state department. let's watch. >> this is what we're calling the america first budget. we had america first and america

first candidate. we now have an america first president, and we have an america first budget. the president believes in diploma diplomacy, we believe this budget protects that core function of the state department. >> when the president's credibility is down, should the united states be retracting from its role abroad? i'm joined by the round table. former state department spokes american, mark jacob sell, senior fellow with the pell center. and normer secretary of defense. i don't really like the word america first, it has remnants and is receipt sent of the 1940s situation, people saying we're not going to fight hitler for all the wrong reasons. this fortress america mentality, which is not going to talk to the rest of the world. and it's scary when we're going to try to communicate with the world. no more diplomacy, no more students coming here, justus all alone surrounded by this moat of

water that's going to protect us. >> we don't know how far down the road the administration will travel. certainly the outline in the budget suggests a severe retraction from that model of american public diplomacy, american influence and the theory behind it, which was advancing american ideals around the world ultimately benefited america by spreading democracy, spreading peace, and lessening the temperature around the world, and that is -- that very thought is one that some of tru trump's supporters have voiced publicly. it will fall to congress to see how much of that old model, including the full brights, frankly. will end up being funded and how. >> we have people around the world that look to us, they're proamerican, in southeast asia,

middle east, europe, all around the world. they look to us, read the paper about us, they hope we'll be a counter force against some of the bad guys in the world. now we're saying, you're on your own? >> this is going to be the challenge. when you eliminate your soft power or the diplomacy, you end up having to rely on your milita mite. this is a national security budget that focuses on the hard power, which is war. not a budget that allows the united states to focus on peace making and peace building, people around the world admire the u.s. want to come here, that often helps us in these situations, when we disagree on policy. if we no longer have this level of engagement and providing humanitarian aid, no longer providing any -- support for freedom of the press, democracy and the governments, other people will fill that vacuum, people like putin, countries like china, who frankly do not have -- who do not share the ideals of the united states. >> well, i mean, put on top of

this a president that's not credible. what's the story on this guy? well, he's saying things like, you know, the president wiretapped me, that's third world crap. how does -- how do we not communicate, what we are communicating in the front pages of their newspapers is, we have something wacky going on here many. >> american credibility, america's reputation, america's values are the strongest weapon we have. you mentioned before america first, the lack of historic literacy amongst members of -- >> they don't know what that phrase means, these guys? >> they missed out on the lessons of the last 60 years, which is hard power has limits. there's a value to it, but telling our story abroad, having organizations that can tell america's story to foreigners engaging at a public level, a diplomatic level, a cultural level is critical to the u.s. ability to have influence abroad. >> and you think people who voted for trump want to pull back, or they want him to be a

little more macho, if you will. but they didn't want to pull away from the world. >> polling during the election suggested that some of the headlines he used then, america first. >> build a wall. >> we're going to cut foreign aid, won over big. now we're getting to the point where you decide what you're going to pay for, and what you're not going to pay for. >> a president's budget is an aspirational document. it never turns out the way they thought. it tells you so much. >> the mexican were going to pay for the wal >> yeah. >> that's a lot of money to pay for the mexican wall. >> this entire diplomacy budget is less than 1% of the federal budget. it's a great investment, cutting, eliminating that and adding more to the military is like rewarding the kid who has a shopping addiction, and doesn't want to buy any things, and harming the child who is making good investments. >> you have a situation where

mull veinny comes out today and talks about numbers, numbers, numbers. what we didn't hear him say today was any sense of a strategy. so if trump wants to make the nation more secure, wants to have a stronger national security budget, he's going at it the wrong way. to combat violent extremism. remember the old eisenhower quote, you can't kill communism with a bullet. you aren't going to destroy islamic ideology with bombs and trump is cutting those -- >> let's start with the fact that we have problems in the world. you never know where we're going to pop up. the iranian students are going to grab -- we don't know when it's going to blow. we have to worry about the fact that if north korea does something, we have a real problem with. we want to get to beijing. talk this guy out of something horrible. we have to be able to count on the germans under merkel, theresa may in britain. we have to be able to count on our allies. trump's telling merkel, i don't

know what she's saying tomorrow. be careful, this guy's a little -- i don't know what, he's been making claims that don't make any sense. it's not exactly the building of an alliance we're talking about here. >> yeah, i mean, merkel is arguably the our meehan leader -- >> she's a grown-up. >> well, she is the european leader. >> she's clearly the most important influential figure in european governance, and she's the person who has the most to lose if the nato alliance no longer means what it has always meant if the european union and its relationship with the united states no longer means that, and if russia feels emboldened to do things not that far away from germany, that she is then -- that has trickle down effect to her, in refugees, in policy, in all kinds of ways. so she really is an extraordinarily important figure who carries with her a great

deal of symbolism for what that relationship is going to end up looking like. does she trust him, does he trust her? can they forage a bond. will she be able to count on him when he says, oh, yeah, i'm in favor of the nato alliance? >> she's a smart woman. she's bringing with her, the ceo's of the largest german companies, she is speaking to someone who puts business before diplomacy. >> thank god we didn't have someone like trump as president as world war ii. we were abe to stand up to communism for all those years. that took american thinking, and not doing this twaddle that's going on now. he you s come in... [ grunts ] we give people options based on their budget with our name your price tool. what does an incredibly awkward between the legs dribble do? what's the matter flo? scared you can't keep up?

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>> wow. they don't get the same money. >> no, and they've joined the u.s. women's soccer league in the same fight. >> i just got back from a trip to north africa, they are really nervous about russian involvement. we've already seen stories about ssian specl forces going to work in egypt. we also -- i've also heard stories about russia today wanting to start a network to challenge al jazeera in the middle east. this is exactly the type of stuff that happens when the u.s. cedes leadership. >> it's like the cold war. go ahead. >> if cutting the state department budget by 30% is an overt way the trump administration is signaling the way it thinks about the state department and the work of diplomats there's a subtle but deeply felt private one, too, which is that rex tillerson has twice now skipped or canceled a meeting with embassy staff and their families when he goes overseas. this is a hallmark of american secretaries of state.

it's something that diplomats serving overseas look forward to, line up for hours. >> he doesn't even meet the people who work for us overseas? >> he canceled the one in mexico city. >> thank you. when we return, let me finish trump watch. you're watching "hardball," where the action is. i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune.

well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today.

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trump watch, thursday, march 16, 2017. well, tomorrow is friday. if the president were to rise at

dawn and say "it's saturday" what would be the meaning of that statement? would his people, those who back him no matter what, check their calendars and convince themselves the calendar they'd been using is wrong and the leader they adore is right? would they say he didn't mean exactly it was saturday but that he was saying that as president of the united states he was declaring friday simply the beginning of a long weekend. would they say something like that if only to get him and therefore his fight to the end supporters off the hook? would they? you tell me. how would they reconcile the man they look up to saying something their brains told them wasn't true but still wanting to believe every word he speaks. again, you tell me. we've been at this point a number of times. trump says that president obama is some stowaway who managed to slip into the country, get all those high-level degrees from those high-tone schools where according to trump "no one knew him." a couple saturdays ago he told us at the crack of dawn that the same culprit, president obama, ordered a wiretap on him. now, guess that?

all the top republicans have said today it just isn't true. the chairman of the house and now the senate intelligence committees and the speaker of the house, all good republican men, say this whole thing about president obama wiretapping trump is nothing but trumped up nonsense. we've been here before and here we are back again to the troubling trump reality. the man in the white house is demonstrably capable of making up claims that have no reality. no better than the weirdo in the basement who calls in the fire alarm to hear the sirens going past. that's "hardball," thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> everybody's got to be covered. >> president trump now admitting the bait-and-switch. >> counties that voted for you would do less well under this bill than the counties that voted for hillary. >> i know. >> as trumpcare puts trump voters in the cross