my pleasure. and thank you for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow night, 6:00 p.m. eastern. dvr if you can't watch live. follow me on twitter or check out my facebook page. i just posted a video on my facebook page about a movie i want you to see. i think you'll love it. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. trump has got a bur in his saddle. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. in washington, today, a rare beam of hope. for the first time in months we saw a pair of grown-ups. they're looking into the role of the trump troops played in cahoots with vladimir putin's troops in manipulating the 2016 presidential election. as i said, an usual picture. today at a joint press conference for the senate kejs committee leaders richard bur and mark warner, we heard plans from them for a major set of televised hearings on the

matter. the senate offers reason for hope because the house intelligence committee under the bizarre leadership of chairman devin nunes offers, in effect, zero hope. he's canceled all of his committee's hearings this week after making a secret trip last week to the white house and what has all the appearances of being a coordinated effort with the administration to muddy up the investigation. senate chair burr on the other hand, with a strong contingent of professional staffers working on the investigation has his committee now examining thousands of pieces of intelligence, and they are, as he said today, within weeks of completing that review. well, the committee has also made 20 requests for interviews. among them, jared kushner. their first hearing is tomorrow. the scope of the senate investigation is massive, and the overreaching message, overarching message today was that it will be bipartisan. >> this was one of the biggest investigations that the hill has seen in my tenure here. >> an outside foreign adversary effectively sought to hijack our

most critical democratic process, the election of a president. >> mark and i work hand in hand on this, and contrary to maybe popular belief, we're partners to see that this is completed and that we've got a product at the end of the day that we can have bipartisanship in supporting. >> we're here to assure you and more importantly the american people who are watching and listening that we will get to the bottom of this. >> well, the contrast with the farce on the house side is stark. republican congressman charlie dent today in remarkable bluntness said the only hope for a real investigation of this russian connection is in the senate. >> what i think should happen right now is that the senate is going to lead this discussion, this investigation on the russian meddling into the election. i think that's where it is. it's unfortunate we are where we are in the house. it seems like there's not going to be a house report on intelligence on the russian meddling. so i think we have to turn our

eyes to the senate to see if they can come to a resolution. >> whan amazing admission. meanwhile, serious questions remain about devin nunes' secret strip trip to the white house to review mystery evidence. two days ago, you might recall sean spicer, w has got a rather miserable job these days, said he would look into who actually let nunes into the white house grounds. who opened the door for him? who escorted him. he was asked that again today. here's what he says. >> do you have any information to live up to the commitment you made here on monday to provide details about how that happens in a process you just told us yet again is above board and totally appropriate? >> i don't have anything for you on that at this time. >> have you looked into it? >> i have asked some plymouthrey questions. no, i don't have anything further on that. >> he's the white house press secretary, and he can't answer the question how this guy got into the white house.

this is not foreign relations. joining me right now, senator chris murphy of connecticut, david corn, and nbc investigative reporter kendo lynn. >> ken, from your experience, how good is the senate committee because the house committee is a joke at this point because of its chairman's behavior, his midnight paul revere ride to the white house, whatever you want to call it. what do you make of this thing you saw today, the joint press conference from richard burr of north carolina, and mark warner? >> i thought it was a strong performance, chris. they did exactly what they set out to do which is reassure the american public. richard burr, who was just elected to a six-year term was pretty frank that he voted for donald trump, but that this was really important. he was going to follow the evidence wherever it leads. this could be an unpleasant moment for the white house, but burr seems serious about it. there's always been the potential for a partisan crack-up in this town as you know, chris. but mark warner, the democrat, has been cultivating burrer and

cultivating that bipartisan relationship for a long time now. you saw that pay off today. >> let's talk about mark warner. yuf you're? the senator, senator murphy. i'm romantic about politics. i keep looking for heroes. i saw a gleam today of people doing a serious job of finding out what role trump's people played with the russians in manipulating our elections last year. are you confident they can do it? >> i'm confident they can stick together and make this bipartisan. they have a strong relationship. i think there was some question initially as to whether they were going to let the facts lead wherever they may. >> what made you question them? >> well -- >> what don't you trust? >> well, initially burr was suggesting that there was going to be limitations on the investigation, and i think he's seen previews of evidence that suggest that they have to make this as comprehensive as possible. and i think they've been pushed by the debacle in the house to show the american public that there is going to be a non-partisan investigation. >> what about the committee because you've got people in

there like dianne feinstein, ron widen, a passionate problemive from oregon. then you have these neoconguys on the other side like tom cotton from arkansas. these people hate russia. >> yeah. >> so they're not trump's bud dir on this. >> you have other serious republicans like james languageford from oklahoma, susan collins of maine. i think we have to temper our expectations. the house intelligence committee is not by tradition an investigatory body. >> they have subpoena power. >> but remember who are the really, truly good professional investigators? that's the fbi, right? >> well, they ca subpoena everything they've got. >> that's right. eventually the truth may come not through one of these committees but through the fbi -- >> one thing you and i understand, i certainly understand, is the power of television, and i watched it with the army mccarthy hearings bringing down joe mccarthy. we saw it in godfather 2. television, with a really good

staff operation, with good investigation and people under oath and the power of the subpoena, you can break these people out from under their rocks. you can bring up jared kushner is going to be under oeblth. these guys like christopher steele are going to be talking on national television for weeks. this has the power to blow this thing up. >> it has the potential to do that, but the chairman, richard burr, while he was very strong today, has to be committed to going all the way. we've seen with the 9/11 investigations, we saw with iran-contra that there were a lot of political infightings about who would testify and who would get to question them and how far it would go. in that case, oliver north got the better of the committee because there were restraints on what the committee could ask him. >> television values of the -- brendan sullivan and the whole way they handled that because in a way, and those people did not handle it right. they let other guys show up in uniform. they sat 20 feet above him and made him into the victim. >> and a lot of things they were not allowed to ask him about. but putting that aside, there are about 10,000 decisions that

burr is going to have to make in the next couple weeks and months. >> let's talk about the big one. >> to see whether he will go for every witness. there may be some witnesses in south korea. will he be able to get from the fbi what he needs to. >> will they get sally yates to talk and explain what she did with regard explaining the role that michael flynn played with the russians? >> i tnk they will. she's willing to testify. the white house says they're not going to stop her. from that public testimony today from burr and warner, it sounds like they're going to bring her before the committee. >> what about christopher steele, who did the famous dossier, which is getting a lot more credibility than it did? >> i think it's important that the dossier which looked sort of out there at first is getting truer and truer as facts come out. i don't think there's going to be a few good men moment here. it's not going to be testimony that's going to break this thing wide open. >> you can't handle the truth let me go to ken on this.

ken, what about these other witnesses? do you think they'll be able to get them, first of all, christopher steele? they're going to get manafort. he's already agreed to show. senator murphy has a good point, and, david, that there might be some restraints on the truth. what would they be? what could be kept from us? >> i think the fbi has a lot more work to do, though, before we have a smart hearing because, for example, christopher steele, even if he would come to the united states to testify, which is not clear at all, he -- >> because the russians might try to kill him. >> he's not sure how the trump administration would greet him either. >> well, they won't kill him. >> i don't think they'll kill him, but he's concerned about legal jeopardy potentially sources tell me. but he's made a series of allegations in the dossier. they are unproven, and the fbi is investigating them right now. so if he came to congress and repeated these allegations, that would be pretty unsatisfactory. we sort of need the fbi to get to the truth or falsity of these things. i mean the allegation is a conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia to, you

know -- >> in cahoots. i want to ask you about vladimir care met sa, a putin critic who has twice been poisoned. he testified before a senate commite today. let's ask him. >> in the last several years, investigative journalists, hunl rights activities, whistle-blowers have met untimely deaths. sometimes there are near misses. one happens to be sitting before you, mr. chairman. twice in the past two years, in may of 2015 and just last month, both times in moscow, i experienced a sudden onset of symptoms consistent with poisoning that led to multiple organ failure and left me in a coma and on life support. and contrary to the claims by the kremlin's propaganda, we never asked the united states for any kind of political support. all we ask is that you're honest about what is happening in russia. >> what do you make of that? >> i don't think there's any risk to someone's life for testifying before this

committee, but this is serious, and it's part of a pattern of putin going after his political opponents. >> you know who doesn't believe any of that? watch this. there's donald trump. he's dismissed any criticism of vladimir putin. watch this charade. >> a person that kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. obviously that would be a concern, would it not? >> he's running this country, and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in this country. >> do you respect putin? >> i dory inspect him? >> do you? why? >> well, i respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean i'm going to get along with them. >> he's a killer, though. putin's kia killer. >> we got a lot of killers. what, you think our country is to innocent? you think our country is so innocent? >> i don't know what to make of that. go ahead. >> in june 2013, he tweeted out will putin come to miss universe in moscow. will he become my bff, best

friend forever? it's really ludicrous that the president of the united states is cozying up and playing nice and playing footsie with a fellow which does create an atmosphere where people are poisoned, thrown from windows. this is why this whole russian trump scandal kind of got fuel to begin with, because no one could make sense out of what he was saying, from the left, from the right, from the center. none of it makes any sense except if there are things in the dossier that might be true. >> you know i grew up during the -- i don't remember the army mccarthy hearings but i remember my mom watching them. i think she was on mccarthy's side. it's an irish thing. but i certainly remember the watergate hearings. and after a couple weeks of that, things started to happen that. dean's testimony, the testimony of all these characters that came out of the wood, and you finally found out nixon had a taping system. things happen. full bright and his happening on

vietnam. >> you're right that's how water gate played out, but remember even without these hearings, the story is coming out every single day. so this story is naturally evolving. the truth is eventually going to come out. the hearings may precipitate that. even without the hearings, i don't think there's any way to ultimately avoid the trump administration coming face to face with the truth. >> you think we're going to find out? >> i think the trend line is going in one direction. >> my favorite question. would it spriesz you more than that they weren't involved in this electn in helping the russians help th or that they were? >> it would surprise me if tre was no coordination between his campaign. i don't want to believe that's true, but at this point it's -- the facts point in that direction. >> i think the case may be if it wasn't coordination, at least encouragement. >> if michael flynn was talking to the russian ambassador before the election, which the ambassador says shall if you know they're attacking us politically with this covert operation and you say you'll get a better deal -- >> that's what i'm asking. >> i think it's just an important caveat. i don't know that i think today that donald trump was involved in this. there's no suggestion that the

evidence points there yet. >> what about him asking get us hillary's e-mails? >> encouragement. >> thank you, senator chris murphy. david corn, thank you. ken dill lynnian, thank you. coming up, hillary clinton got political last night for the first time since losing the election. her comments were sparked by an incident during yesterday's white house press briefing. let's watch. >> i'm sorry that that disgusts you. you're shaking your head. i appreciate it, but -- okay. but understand this. that at some point the facts are what they are. >> so you can't shake your head if you're in a white house press briefing. that's head control. anyway, the reporter, april ryan, is going to be here in a minute to talk about that. plus two former allies of governor chris christie are sentenced to prison. they're going to be felons, felonsor their involvement in the 2013 bridgegate scandal. and after the failure of the republican health care bill, president trump acts like he

wants to reach across the aisle to get real things done. i don't believe it considering his track record of attacking democrats personally. it's hard to buy. and let me finish tonight with trump watch. you won't like it. this is "hardball," where the action is. about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. -sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? -i would. -i would indeed. well, let's be clear, here. i'm actually a deejay. ♪ [ laughing ] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org. cfp. work with the highest standard. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

ivanka trump is now officially a government employee. the white house confirms that trump will be sworn in as assistant to the president and as moved already into her new office in the westing of the white house. the first daughter released a statement saying,'ve heard the concerns some have wh my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and i will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the white house office subject to all the same rules as other federal employees, closed quote. this will mark the first time a president and his or her child has worked together since dwight hiez eisenhower and his son john. we'll be right back.

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i hope she testifies. we have no problem with her testifying, plain and simple. the report in "the washington post" is 100% false. >> welcome back to "hardball." despite the assertion right there of press secretary sean spicer yesterday, that was him yesterday, "the washington post" stood by its story overnight that the white house tried to block former acting attorney general sally yates from testifying before the intelligence committee. according to the post, yates had made it clear to government officials that, quote, her testimony to the committee would probably contradict some statements that white house officials had made. well, correspondence with yates' attorney shows that the justice department asserted executive privilege to claim that yates' testimony could not be disclosed without the consent of the white house. she had been scheduled to appear yesterday before the house intelligence committee. well, that was until republican chairman devin nunes canceled the hearing last week. nunes denies that the white house was involved in that decision, but his actions today to effectively shut down the investigation in the house at least for now.

here's what ranking democrat adam schiff said about that canceled hearing late today. >> there's no reason to delay the hearing that we had scheduled for this week. as we were talking about earlier, if this is all about trying to avoid sally yates testifying, we now have the white house saying they're in favor of it. we're in favor of it. the public is in favor of it. so there's no reason to put this off. >> joining me right now is msnbc political analyst robert acosta and april ryan, white house correspondent. i want to start with april here. let me ask you this. the white house claim is that -- well, i should say chama nunes' claim is he hasome secret deal where he goes someace, and h dealing with perhaps a whistle-blower, and what everybody believes is he's working in cahoots with the white house, that they're a part of some cover-up to protect trump from any kind of question about his nonsensical claim that he was wiretapped. >> you know, that is -- that is

the question that we are asking in the white house. we are also asking sean spicer -- major garrett asked the question today. you know, who let nunes in? we don't have that information, and he's been saying he's going to give it. not only that, i talked to a former obama administration official just a few weeks ago, a very high-ranking official in national intelligence. and they said this president does not act like a person who is innocent. so the question of collusion -- >> yes. >> -- circulates. the question of impropriety circulates. and to come to the white house to say you're in need of a secure location when others on capitol hill say there are secure locations and there are committees that deal with sensitive information. why not there? why go to the white house? >> well, there's reasons for that. let me go to robert. two questions. did the white house interfere with the testimony, sally yates' coming and testifying before the house committee?

"the washington post" says they did. they tried to stop it through exclusive privilege. is that the story? >> "the washington post" has stood by its story, believing and reporting out with a lot of details about the reluctance within many parts of the administration to have yates come forward. the specifics about what the white house did and who are the players inside of the white house who are really pushing yates remain some areas to be explored. but certainly there was a frtration within the top ranks of the administration about yates. >> here's the question i have, ani don't know the legal definition of obstruction of justice here. but here you have the white house in cahoots apparently with somebody. the chairman of that committee, letting him come down to the white house to get some sort of helpful information because the white house, as of today, thanks to major garrett, we know won't answer the question as to who opened the door, who escorted him to wherever he was going. the next day he shows up at the white house with, guess what, i got some good information for you, mr. president. the president never asked him where he got it. did you get that here?

thank you for helping me. he said he did it to clear the president from the political heat he was facing. he admitted his motive. let me go to you on this, april. he admits he was doing it to help the president out politically. and he's the chairman of the committee investigating the president. how does it work? >> how does it work? so now speaker ryan has to really look at this and see if he can really be a credible chair of this intel committee. does he need to be off? he says he's not going to recuse himself, but you have a u.s. attorney general who has recused himself from the russian investigation, and you have this chair of the intel committee going to the white house back and forth with information as this process is under way. >> did you ever hear of a press secretary telling a member of the white house press corps to shop shaking their head? he did that to you the other day. are you not allowed to express skepticism of wh he says? you have to show you're all lemmings there, and you all obedntly acct his word? >> obediently. that's interesting. the bottom line is i did not

shake my head the first time he said that. i dropped my head to listen and to figure out a question. and then later on in dismay, i shook my head. >> he said in disgust. he was reading your mind. i'm just teasing. but it was strange behavior. i'll let you off the hook on that. anyway, the white house continues to deny that there's anything to the russian story though questions about the investigation seem to be exas operating members of the administration. sean spicer again appeared annoyed yesterday when april ryan here asked him to address some of those stories. >> you got this yates story today. you got other things going on. you've got russia. you've got wiretapping. >> no, we don't have that. you've got russia. if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a russian connection. i'm sorry that that disgusts you. you're shaking your head. i appreciate it. but -- okay. but understand this. that at some point, the facts are what they are. >> well, there you are. that exchange triggered a reaction from hillary clinton last night.

let's watch the former secretary of state. >> april ryan, a respected journalist with unrivaled integrity was doing her job just this afternoon in the white house press room when she was patronized and cut off trying to ask a question. too many women, especially women of color, have had a lifetime of practice taking precisely tse kinds of indignities in stride. >> comment? >> i was shocked that she did it, but she's right. >> thank you. let me go back to robert again. robert, this question about trump, and he does -- well, you got to cover this guy straight. you've got a very difficult job. you can't have an opinion about him. you can only have news that day. you've got to report from daily. it does seem to me that they're very sensitive about this rush been story, and they want to kill it. they don't want any more investigations. they basically humiliated the house committee out of existence really.

the senate committee, i think, forms a bit of a threat to them. your thoughts? >> there is certainly unease within the white house. speaking to a top white house official today, and i heard about these meetings that happened last night at the white house. i said, what was that all about? was it about staffing, personnel? they said, no. the meetings last night were about the ongoing investigations trying to come up with a strategy, making sure everyone within the top ranks of the white house is on the same page, and so that you see it wearing down some people within the west wing about the ongoing questions about russia and possible connections or collusion. these things loom over the campaign. now they loom over the white house. >> is sean spicer going to last? >> sean spicer is close with chief of staff reince priebus. and he has become, from what i'm told from multiple sources, closer to the president in recent months than he was during the campaign. i don't see any movement of spicer away from the white house at this moment.

he remains close to the chief of staff, and in the day to day conversations with the president. but as we all know, president trump in past has been known to make changes. i have no reporting to back up any sort of personnel change t no >> april, doou have any sense he's getting a little desperate there going after you like that, worried about your head shaking and stuff like that? >> he's frustrated. ize clearly frustrated and i know for a fact he was frustrated with my second question yesterday. i asked about condoleezza rice, and the former secretary of state in the george w. bush administration. my sources have been telling me that she's coming friday, and she will be talking to this president, president trump, about issues of russia and secretary tillerson. >> and she's going to challenge them on what they've been doing? she's no friend of russia. she's an expert. >> she's an expert, but she will be talking about russia and tillerson fray. >> usually experts on russia are not friends of russia. anyway, thank you robert. thank you april. keep up your dukes. up next, judgment day in the

bridgegate scandal. this is terrible. well, for anybody to go to prison on this. two former allies of chris christie were hoping to avoid prison for their involvement in this 2013 traffic jam on the george washington bridge. that's not how things played out today. we're going to have the story for you in just a minute. this is "hardball," where the action is. who's with me? we're like a basketball team here at ally. if a basketball team had over 7... i'm in. 7,000 players. our plays are a little unorthodox. but to beat the big boys, you need smarter ways to save people money. we know what you want from a financial company and we'll stop at... nothing to make sure you get it. one, two... and we mean nothing. ♪ ♪ and you're about in to hit 'send all' and we mean nothing. on some embarrassing gas. hey, you bought gas-x®! unlike antacids, gas-x ® relieves pressure and bloating fast. huh, crisis averted.

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may cause low blood sugar. it's time to turn things around. lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. i'm milissa rehberger. re what's happening. a federal judge in hawaii says he will rule today on president trump's revised tvel ban. the government is asking the judge to allow the suspension of

new visas for six muslim majority countries. seattle is suing president trump over his executive order cutting funds for so-called sanctuary cities. the city's mayor says the order is creating fear and uncertainty. 12 people have died in southwest texas in a head-on collision between a bus and a track. elderly church members were on board that bus. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." two former members new jersey governor chris christie's inner circle were sentenced today four months after being convicted for their roles in shutting down of toll lanes at the george washington bridge in 2014. bill baroni, the former director of the port authority, was sentenced to 24 months in prison. that's two years. and bridget kelly, christie's one-time deputy chief of staff, was sentenced to 18 months in

prison for her roelt in the bridgegate scandal. the september 2013 shut down of the george washington bridge was a political retribution scheme to target the mayor of fortly over his refusal to endorse christie's re-election. it was kelly's e-mail to the prosecution's witness, david wildstein, which produced the strongest evidence. kelly told weinstein in that e-mail, time for some traffic problems in fort lee. in the weeks following the bridge closure, christie mocked a reporter for even asking about the scandal and any role he may have playedt a press conference. >> i work the cones actually, mac. unbeknownst to everybody, i was actually the guy out there. i actually was the guy working the cones out there. you really are not serious with that question. what happened? no, i haven't. listen, just because john wiz knew ski is obsessed with this and loretta wine berg, it just

shows you they really have nothing to do. >> he's talking about members of the new jersey legislature. here's what governor chris tooe said this morning prior to the sentencing of his two former aides. >> the judge will do what the judge believes is appropriate, matt, and it's not my role or anybody else's role other than the judge in that courtroom to pass sentence on people who have committed crimes. >> msnbc's steve kornacki joins me now. steve, let's connect the dots here. christie and the two people who are now felons. what's the connection in this concern? was christie the leader, or was he simply the bystander of these crimes? >>le with, look, his name came up in the trial, and we've also got indications at least when it comes to bridget kelly that maybe at some point now that this is the legal part of this is almost at its end, she may something in public in an interview. the closest thing you have to a judge -- to the judge here passing some kind of verdict on christie is in her sentencing

today, she talked about a culture in trenton that you're either with us or you're against us. she was sentencing bridget kelly. she said she had some sympathy of the situation that bridget kelly had found herself in because that was the broader culture of the administration. but in terms of like actually connecting christie to giving an order, to being fully in on it, anything like that, that was never here. >> steve, the problem with that is we've had clean governors of new jersey. we've had tom kane and people like that who would have never set up a culture like that. it makes it sound like it's in the atmosphere of the building itself in trenton. the governor sets the tone if you're governor of a state. is that the normal way anybody would look at this from the outside? it wouldn't be the building. the atmosphere comes from the leader. >> i think the other thing you have to keep in mind here is the timing of this. this goes all the way back to 2013. what was 2013? it was chris christie's re-election year. remember, he was a national political hero in 2013. he had guided the state through sandy. he was the leader in every poll

you took of insiders about who is going to be the republican nominee in 2016, and what did he want to do? he made this very clear to people. he wanted to run up a huge margin in blue state new jersey. he wanted to win the latino vote in 2013 in new jersey. he wanted to crush his democratic opponent by 20, 30 points. he wanted to roll that into 2016 so he'd be an unstoppable force, and i think -- this is not to say that he ever gave any kind of order or anything like that. none of that's ever been proven, but you could see how a culture could emerge from that where if you're at any level in this administration, there is an incentive to do anything that you could possibly do to increase his margin even if it's by five votes, ten votes, 20 votes, 100 votes. >> speaking of numbers, when you have a campaign being run in your office and you're governor, and the entire campaign is about rewarding and most especially punishing democratic mayors who don't go along for your second term, who do not endorse you, all that's going on around you when you're governor, and he can claim innocence of this whole

scandal. how does he do it? how does he say, i don't know anything about this thing? >> well, that's the other thing. when these reports first emerged, you had the story in september 2013. that was when we first learned about the lane closure. remember, it really wasn't until january when that e-mail came out that you just showed, time for some traffic problems in fort lee. that was the first time chris christie had to admit that something was up here. if you look at his actions in those four months, again, you'll never be able to prove anything. it sure looked like a governor, though, who didn't want to know anything. >> yeah. we also know about a lot of organized criminals that are able to get stuff done because they want it done without getting their fingerprints on it. anyway, i'm not going to say it's exactly the same, but it's certainly a political parallel. steve kornacki, all my experience in politics is it comes from the top. people behave like the boss. great work by the way. this was your story. trump says he's ready to work with the democrats when it comes to health care, but are they willing to come back to the negotiating table? is he serious about talking to people he calls clown head or

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we're going to be doing a great job, and hopefully it will start being bipartisan because everyby really wants the sam thing. we want greatness for this country that we love. so i think we're going to have some very good relationships. right, chuck? i see chuck. hello, chuck. >> hello, chuck. welcome back. he was talking to the democratic leader of the united states senate he's been trashing for weeks. last night president trump hosted a bipartisan gathering at the white house, seemingly offering an olive branch to the democratic side. it was an unexpected move from a president who has made a habit of using democrats as targets for personal insult. >> if the democrats who have --

all you have to do is look at where they are right now. the only thing they can do is delay because they've screwed things up royally, believe me. >> i know chuck schumer yesterday with fake tears. i'm going to ask him who is his acting coach because i know him very well. i don't see him as a cryer. if he is, he's a different man. >> '17 is going to be a disaster, a disaster for obamacare if we don't do something. let it be a disaster because we can blame that on the dems that in our room, and we can blame that on the democrats and president obama. let it implode. >> the losers are nancy pelosi and chuck schumer because now they own obamacare. they own it, 100% own it. and this is not a republican health care. this is not anything but a democrat health care. >> as president trump continues to plot a path forward after friday's bruising loss on his

care, his trumpcare. democrats are suddenly in high demand. the real question is will they play ball. i'm joined by jeremy peters, ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post," and stead herndon. first of all, do you believe trump? do you believe he wants to deal across the aisle? hey, chuck. >> it's hard to believe him. i mean this is someone, like you said, who has been trashing democrats. >> personally. >> and personally talked about a lot of the big leader in the democratic party. it's hard to believe that now he would make an overture, especially when we haven't seen any policy that would suggest that the white house would do anything the democrats would support that wouldn't be from the right side of the aisle. so it really is tough to think that he would. >> ashley? >> well, i will say does he want to deal? trump is a guy who always wants to get a deal. he cares about the top line, and i think he is happy to get the

deal however he can. in that sense if he believes democrats can help him get a win or a victory, you know, as he would see it, then i think absolutely. >> does he have the brains to pull that off? >> think he wants to do it. >> does he have the brains to do it? it takes legislative skill to put a way to break the rule and take on the democratic leadership. he has to put together a coalition of enough republicans and all the democrats on infrastructure, for example. there are things they could do, but it takes breaking the republican logjam. he has to break apart the tea party people from the ryan people and try to get something done over there. >> i don't think it's a question of blairains. i think it's a question of understanding strategy and ngress. i think he certainly does not understand that. i think he learned a few lessons from the health care debacle. >> you think? >> i do. >> the white house is sounding a surprising note of contrition, at least privately, about how they screwed this up. if they want to do it again, they're not sure they can do this again, come back at it and have a successful outcome.

but they acknowledge they're going to have to do it a lot differently. >> it's almost like the republicans created religion, and it's called reaganism. it's a religion, and you have to always like reagan's tax cuts. for democrats, that's obamacare. if there's one thing that unites all democrats, it's their pride in having given the country at least 9 hope of a national health care system, right? and now to ask them to repeal it because i read as of a few hours ago they're still talking repeal. why should a democrat go along with that? it's not a reasonable bargaining offer, is it? >> it wouldn't seem that would be the issue he would find much democratic support on. maybe infrastructure like you mentioned previously. if he can come with something that doesn't repeal the signature accomplishment of the party in the last ten years -- >> which is an entitlement. the right wing hates entitlements. >> i don't know that he hates them, though. >> he's in a party that does. >> this is so dead. health care is dead. there is no way they are going to come back this year and touch it. maybe the house passes something so the house can say, see, we got our act together. >> okay.

let's just try to be idealistic. suppose you're nancy pelosi and you say, you know what, obamacare does need some tweaking, some fixing. you go to the house and you say, look, we got to get 50 republicans to help us do it. can they get 50 republicans to join them, to break the rule and get it to the floor, get past ryan? >> i don't think so, no. >> well, how do they work together again? if you can't fix obamacare, which shou a democrat lift his finger? you made that point. >> that's my point about policy. it's hard to find a point that has a meeting ground where all these ideologies can meet, especially if you're talking about health care. anything that doesn't go as far as repealing would be something that would be unpalatable to the right. then on the other side if if they do do that, you can't imagine them getting any democratic support. >> tax reform means two different things to different people. to republicans, it means low irthe taxes of rich people. lower corporate taxes, lower

capital gains. i understand their point of view. to democrats, it means get rid of loopholes, clean up the system. how can they possibly reach an acomization? >> not just that. it means different things to different people within the trump administration. what's fascinating to me is they said this is going to be different than health care. we're going to drive the train. but it's unclear who they believe is going to actually be the conductor. steve mnuchin is telling people he's the point person. gary cohn is telling people he's the point person. >> do you think the democrats will ever go with a national sales tax? i'm going to answer my own question. never. democrats work for working people and poor people who spend every nickel they make. so if they're taxing them on sales tax, you're taxing them all over again. >> tax reform -- >> it's an indirect rressive tax. >> tax reform -- the tax reform to beat will make the health care repeal debate look like passing a resolution to name a

post office after someone. >> ashley, who is going to vote for national sales tax? that's what ryan loves. >> i don't quite know yet. >> it's frightening. people say another tax? >> and it's going to be difficult, especially politically after he spent the campaign talking about opposite things to come in and pitch that to the american people. you would see that he would run into a fight. >> no, it's not going to happen. people don't like new taxes. they hate old taxes. new taxes are despised. the round table is sticking with us. up next, these three will tell me something i don't know. we'll be right back. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be help starting your business, vendor contracts or employment agreements. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you every step of the way so you can focus on what you do. we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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when the first lady made a rare public appearance today at the state department to honor women. melania trump presented 13 recipients with the women of courage award. the award recognizes those who have demonstrated leadership while advocating for women's rights. here she is. >> we must continue to work towards gender empowerment and respect for people from all backgrounds and ethnicities. remembering always that we are all ultimately members of one race, the human race. >> we'll be right back.

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i just want a ceremony. he's that desperate to get an achievement. >> ashley? >> i just reported a profile of second lady karen pence, and there's an image of her as a sort of church going midwesterner, dutiful wife, mother of three, and that's all true. but what i found is she's incredibly powerful behind the scenes and has real influence on the vice president, who still has real influence on the president. >> doesn't surprise me. astead. >> i just got back from district of house freedom caucus -- >> i live in a world like that. >> i just got baone thing i was surprised is how many people are taking on trump's language. they were upset that democrats were blocking the health care bill, but not president trump. >> a third of the people still with him? how many do you think in. >> i would say so. there was some type of consternation but not a lot. >> thank you for that. we'll be right back.

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trump watch. wednesday, march 29th, 2017.

i've been waiting for some heros torrive in this travesty we've been watching, this russian intrusion into our democracy and the bizarre traffic of trump people heading back and forth to moscow and these random meetings with the russian ambassador not to mention the remarkable pen chant of this president and his campaign staff to do business with the kremlin and its loathsome oligarchs. call me an optimist but i believe we saw a good sign today. the chairman and ranking democratic member of the senate intelligence committee, senators richard burr and mark warner presented themselves today as grown-ups, two men capable of pushing hard for the truth in this embarrassing episode. most important, i've learned this over the years, is their commitment to full-scale televised hearings on the matter with all the various characters brought into public light and placed, i believe, and i'm sure, under oath. we learned from watergate the senate hearings well planned, well prepared and televised elevate the public's understanding. the mere fact of getting these people to talk with the cameras and bright lights on them seems

to bring the truth to the surface. it shakes the cobwebs from their minds, gives us answers to what otherwise remain mysterious. we learn quickly who looks credible and who looks like they're hiding something. it will be intriguing to hear from christopher steele, the former mi 6 figure who prepared that dossier on trump and the russians to learn what conversation did occur between all these trump people and the russian a russian envoy and what business trump has been doing with the russians. i have faith the two men we saw today will do this for us. i believe the senate intelligence committee with its complement of committed democrats and anti-russian neocons could forge just the alliance we need to get the truth. trump must hate what he saw get started today. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" in chris hayes starts right now. good evening from seattle. i'm chris hayes. we have another big lineup of news tonight, including the president's curious display of understanding or

misunderstanding of the opioid crisis as the white house today announced a new commission. my exclusive interview with the activist and journalist twice poisoned in putin's russia, today testifying before congress. and the fbi director is now claiming he had a plan to tell the world about the investigation into the trump campaign. but we begin with the coming out party for the least publicized but perhaps most important investigation into the trump campaign's russia ties. this one is in the senate. it has a chance to have a big impact. after a week in which house intel committee chair devin nunes repeatedly undermined the credibility of his own committee's investigation, leaders of the senate intelligence committee today offered nunes an implicit rebuke, telling reporters that when it comes to a serious bipartisan investigation of trump and the russians, they've got it covered. >> having served as an adviser on the trump campaign, can you say hand over heart that you can oversee an impartial and serious investigation? >>