twitter. or check out my facebook page for behind the scenes videos and more. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. bannon banned. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. amid today's crossfire of news. start with the dumping of steve bannon from the national security council. it looks like nsc director general mcmaster finally had it with the self-styled leninist, talking government desz construction and using the nsc as his political playground. a big win for grown-ups. how about this afternoon's rose garden assault on syria? looks like trump has got military action at the ready. that chemical attack on those kids may have changed everything. third, how long can this president play sha harrah zaud,

spinning out one story after another to shift attention from his russian dealings? one of the major knocks on donald trump from his opponents during the campaign was that he lacked the temperament to handle international emergencies. let's watch. >> on foreign policy, donald trump is temperamentally unfit. >> donald trump has proven himself to be temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be president of the united states. >> i wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing donald has tweeted because he's losing it. i mean we're liable to wake up one morning and donald, if he were present, would have nuked denmark. >> well, today facing mounting crises from a north korean missile launch to a chemical weapon attack in syria, president trump said he will take responsibility for handling them both. but he also repeatedly blamed president obama again and again. let's watch. >> i think the obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis

a long time ago when he said the red line in the sand. and when he didn't cross that line after making the threat, i think that set us back a long ways not only in syria but in many other parts of the world. that's another responsibility we have, and that's called the country of north korea. i'll tell you, that responsibility could have made -- been made a lot easier if it was handled years ago. the iran deal made by the previous administration is one of the worst deals i have ever witnessed. the world is a mess. i inherited a mess. whether it's the middle east, when it's north korea, whether it's so many other things, i inherited a mess. we're going to fix it. >> a mess. well, despite his current attacks on his predecessor back in 2013, let's not forget donald trump urged then-president obama not to attack syria. remember that? well, president trump told reporters today his views on

syria and bashar assad were changing. meanwhile there was a major shake-up on the president's national security team. as i said, president trump has dumped his chief strategist steve bannon from the nsc council. the decision was reportedly made by security adviser h.r. mcmaster. what's behind that removal. ? nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. kristen, you and i were talking today trying to get through the machinations that led to the removal or the dumping, i'd like to say, of bannon from the nsc. what's behind it all? >> well, let me give you the official line, chris, and then i will tell you what i've learned in the past couple of hours. the official line is that steve bannon was brought in to essentially oversee the first national security adviser, michael flynn, to make sure that he was carrying out the president's vision for the nsc, which essentially involved making it less bureaucratic. they said making it sort of the opposite of the nsc under the former national security

adviser, susan rice. now, we also know there were tensions behind the scenes. in particular, it was revealed that ezra watt nick cohen, who is one of the names that was involved in that whole giving of intelligence information over to intelligence chair devin nunes, his job was protected by steven bannon and some others after h.r. mcmaster, the new national security adviser, wanted him out. so we know that that may have ruffled a few feathers behind the scenes. i'm also told according to one of my sources that there are some tensions between bannon and jared kushner, who is of course the president's son-in-law and one of his top advisers as well. the question is what does that mean, chris? this is a big shake-up certainly. he's not going to be at the principal's table per se. he still is going to be in high-level meetings. he still has the highest national security clearance or security clearance, i should say, here at the white house. so he's still going to be

engaged in a lot of these high-level meetings and having a seat at the table. however, he's not going to be making the decisions for the national security, particularly when it comes to some of those foreign policy tests that you just mapped out with north korea and with syria, chris. so this certainly is a big shake-up. less than 100 days into this administration, chris. >> thank you so much, kristen welker from the white house. president trump today called the chemical attack on civilians in syria an affront to humanity, and he said it crossed a lot of lines for him. president trump also said he stands by his statement put out by the white house yesterday that said, these heinous actions by the bashar assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution. president obama said in 2012 he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons, then did nothing. for years, donald trump by the way has said he was against taking action against assad. let's watch. >> now it's such a mess over there with everybody involved, and the airspace is very limited. you know, it's not that big an

area. the airspace is very limited. so now you have -- what are we going to start world war iii off of syria? >> i would have stayed out of syria, and i wouldn't have fought so much for assad, against assad. >> what you're saying is assad can stay in power? that's not your interest? >> no. what i'm saying is we have bigger problems than assad. >> let syria and isis fight. why do we care? i look at assad, and assad to me looks better than the other side. >> president trump faces a major test on that. joining us right now is howard fineman, global editorial director for "the huffington post." susan page of usa today. and mike befall, the former ambassador to russia. let me go to a couple thoughts here. first of all on the bannon thing, which i really think, it seems to what's happened is he's a sort of in-house leninist has finally got using the nsc as his play pen. i think he did bring cohen over there. he got him over there, protected his job.

probably got him to do that weird meeting in the night with nunes which embarrassed everybody. it looked like a caper, and they got caught doing it. it was amateur hour, and i'm sure that mcmaster, the head of nsc, said keep that dope out of my operation. number two, i'm sure that in a hot house like the white house, jared kushner said, i told you he's a little nuts. i think it was a down grade. there's no other way to -- >> i think that's right. >> they took him out of the nsc. bannon is down right now. >> he's not gone. he's still there. but definitely down. it's kinds of the establishment pushing back. now mcmaster has a relatively conventional, traditional kind of security council that he is in charge of. it's also a sign of how powerful jared kushner is. the portfolio he has is extraordinary. i can't think of a non-chief of staff, a non-national security adviser with the breadth of a portfolio that anyone has had -- >> ude and kuse in the old days of saddam hussein.

do you see it the way i see it, that this is a groun grade because he screwed up with this whole thing with cohen going over, saving this job, and then nunes with the midnight briefing. it didn't work. >> it's one thing to maneuver around in hollywood making movies, which bannon was dabbling in. it's another thing to be second echelon at goldman sachs and do deals and so on. here you're dealing with a guy mcmaster, who is a past master. that's as tough as politics gets inside of this city. what mcmaster did is bide his time. >> by the way, he looks like the guy you're describing. he looks tough. >> he bided his time. he bid his time here in the sense that he skeed for some changes on the staff. he asked to get rid of a couple bannon people when he first came in. mcmaster did. he lost that battle initially. then he just sat back and waited for bannon to make some mistakes which, which, as you say, he

did. >> he did, probably. >> a couple other mistakes bannon made. this is not related to national security, per se. he encouraged the president, and he himself went to the freedom caucus during the health care debate and say, we're taking names. you're either with us or we're going to destroy you. >> this is bannon? >> this is bannon. >> didn't work. >> it didn't work. and trump likes nothing less than a ploy that doesn't work. let's turn to syria now. today president trump said in the rose garden his view on syria and assad is changing. you bet. watch this. >> i like to think of myself as a very flexible person. i don't have to have one specific way, and if the world changes, i go the same way. i don't change. well, i do change. and i am flexible, and i'm proud of that flexibility. and i will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big

impact on me h. b. big impact. and it's very, very possible, and i will tell you it's already happened that my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. >> this is a dramatic statement from a guy who we all thought was hooked up with putin on dealing with assad and keeping assad as part of his grand arrangement for the future. and now it looks like he's ready to just chop the guy's head off because he nailed him. he said, he did the chemical attack. i'm not sure we're sure of that. but he certainly said he did, and it looks like there's no way he can do any business with this guy. in other words, the whole russian notion of, you know, a north-south fight with us on the side of the russians against isis and everybody else, it doesn't look very good right now. >> absolutely. i mean he made a giant policy change today, at least rhetorically. he made it clear that he didn't like what happened, and it's going to lead to policy changes. now, there's problems with that.

it's easy to talk tough. it's harder to follow through on a policy that executes on that. and now he faces a real dilemma, the same dilemma by the way that president obama faced in 2013 when i worked for him. everybody was outraged by it, but what is he going to do in particular because vladimir putin is mr. assad's ally. i actually hold the russians responsible for those chemical weapons still being there. we worked with them back in 2013 to get rid of all the chemical weapons. apparently that didn't happen. what is he now going to say not only in terms of actions in syria, but to his colleague, president putin? >> you know, the producers around here and i -- more so the producers, are very upset about this chemical attack as human beings. >> these pictures -- >> these pictures bring home confusing middle east policy to a very personal level. why would a leader use nuclear weapons against kids? and then you see what happens. they're trying to mop them off

with the poison already on them. the kids are dying in front of us. it's indiscriminate killing of people in the cruellest way. >> i think it's actually these pictures that prompted president trump to change positions on assad although as the ambassador was saying -- >> look at this. look at this kid. >> he has not made any commitment on actual action he's going to take. interestingly, president trump today did not mention russia in his remarks unlike nikki haley at the u.n. who did finger russia as a key player protecting assad and these attacks on civilians. >> i have to believe, chris, that there's enough organization now within the white house with mcmaster there and at the national security level and so on that it's no -- that there was a coordinated thing where the president wasn't going to go after russia in the rose garden. but nikki haley did big time. she called russia out big time, and i don't think that was freelancing by nikki haley. i think that was intentional. that was interesting, and that was important. by the way, on bannon, it wasn't bannon who went to iraq to check out the situation there

recently. it was jared kushner who went. and bannon was not at the white house briefing today. you know where they said he was? they said he was up on the hill working on a health care deal. that's punishment. >> ambassador, what do you think putin does when he sees the president trashes and basically indicts, if not declares war against assad, his guy, his warm-water port, his guy, his satellite, whatever? what happens to the russians in their view of what trump's going to be like? >> well, well before this horrible tragedy, already the kremlin was losing faith that president trump was going to be able to deliver on any of his campaign promises about a warming of relations with russia, in part because it's been rather dysfunctional in general. so they don't know what the foreign policy in. and in part because of the ongoing scandals involving russian involvement in our elections. this is just one more chapter to that, and i'm really interested in what secretary tillerson is

going to say when he sits down with president putin. is he gooding to repeat what the president said today? i hope he does. but then they have to have a policy to follow through. it's one thing to talk tough. it's another thing to actually do something different about it. >> let's talk politics for a minute. both of you on this side of the table can explain it. the whole tenor of news coverage by mainstream reporters, the times, the post, everybody else, you guys, has been that there was something going on in the campaign from the trump side of the russian equation. yesterday -- rather today -- everything moves so fast. this afternoon -- i mean things are moving by the hour. trump comes out against a russian ally over there, assad. is this his way of clearing that up? i didn't have a deal with russia. look, i'm out against their number one ally. i'm not in bed with putin. >> i think he's going to have to go a lot farther than that if that's what he's up to. that's part of the overall equation here.

i think that's one of the reasons why bannon is being slowly eased off the stage here because despite the efforts of the white house to turn that russia story into a story of susan rice, you know, and all that business -- >> you're doing that. that's what they wanted you to do. >> i said despite their efforts to do it, it's not going to work. the big surround of all of this, mcmaster, the intelligence community, the fight within the intelligence community, the election, syria -- all of it is the story of russia and the united states. and unless donald trump gets clear of the notion that he's somehow a puppet, witting or unwitting, politically he's in trouble. the republican base is not going to buy the notion we're suddenly going to link arms with russia. the republican base is not going to buy that. >> he didn't do it today. he didn't talk about russia. i don't think you break with russia unless you talk about russia. >> okay. i'm talking politically here susan. i'm always thinking politics, and i think trump is too although he is episodic. >> he's flexible.

>> i don't think he has an idealology. he doesn't have party loyalty. he doesn't have position loyalty. it can all flip in a second like we saw today. look out, assad. we'll see if he goes after him. i think he's going to have to hit assad in the next few days to back up what he was saying in the rose garden today. by the way, he had the arm around him of abdullah, a real leader, a genuine leader, the king of jordan. thank you. coming up, now that the fbi is ramping up its investigation into that connection of the trump campaign may well have had with russia, president trump is throwing out bright, shiny objects. well, first it was donna brazile giving debate questions to hillary. now it's trump says former obama national security adviser susan page was giving out names of trump people from intercepts. but the facts of the case say otherwise. that's ahead. plus president trump is nearing 100 days in office. he's got nothing to show for it. no thing, no legislative accomplishments, nothing despite

full republican control of both houses of congress. and the "hardball" round table is here tonight. the three big international tests facing the president tonight. and later this week, china. he says he inherited a mess, but what about it? finally let me finish with trump watch. this is "hardball," where the action is. let me talk to you 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. drop and give me 50. what's in it for me? sir! excuse me! well, thanks to hotels.com

i've gotten used to being rewarded. that's right. what did you just say private? he's a captain, sir! a captain? where? on tv. following orders isn't always rewarding. but hotels.com is. who are you talking to? unlock instant savings now and earn free nights to use later. hotels.com. surprise winning investigative website public ca broke the story this week that despite placing his business empire in a trust, president trump can withdraw money from the business whenever he wants to without disclosing it. that's not separate. here's what white house secretary sean spicer said about that report on monday. >> just because a left-wing blog makes the point of something changing doesn't mean it actually happened. i'm not aware that there was ever a change in the trust. and the idea that the president

is withdrawing money at some point is exactly the purpose of what the trust -- why a trust is set up regardless of an individual. >> new golf balls. while trump organization attorney alan garden confirmed the report, that trump could pull money from his businesses anytime he wanted to. and while that language was not included in a january 26 summary of the trust agreement, garten says it was always part of the actual deal. isn't that cute? we'll be right back. only invisalign® clear aligners are made with smarttrack® material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile.

see how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah.

welcome back to "hardball." ever since he claimed that former president obama wiretapped him, president trump has engaged in a variety of efforts to justify that allegation as a way to deflect attenti attention, of course, of the investigation into his campaign's potential collusion with russia during the campaign. well, today the president went further suggesting to "the new york times" that foshler national skeert adviser susan rice did something wrong by requesting the names of americans swept up by incidental surveillance. it's actually routine for a

national security adviser to do her job, to make such a request for intelligence purposes and it's the intel agencies themselves, not susan rice, that decides whether to grant those requests. in spite of that, the president told the times that this is, quote, such an important story for our country and the world. it is one of the big stories of our time. however, he declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself, quote, at the right time. well, the president's newest unsubstantiated allegations is likely another attempt to deflect from the russian investigations which could implicate top associates close to him. two members of the house intelligence committee, joaquin castro and denny heck, both predicted yesterday the investigation into russia and trump will lead to convictions here. let's watch. >> have you seen any hard evidence of collusion yet? >> i guess i would say this. that my impression is i wouldn't be surprised after all of this

is said and done that some people end up in jail. >> he said he would not be surprised if people ended up going to jail. i will be surprised if people don't end up going to jail. >> this also comes as the film times reports that the fbi is devoting more resources to its investigation of trump starting next month. joining me now, glen thrush, who interviewed the president today, shane harris, and bill gaffens, a former assistant fbi director in new york. bill, i want to start with you. tell me about the fbi and what it means when they create a special unit in d.c. what does that tell you about effort? >> chris, it just -- it shows you that there's two important things here. the gravity of the case involved and the concentration of manpower to arrive at a conclusion. this isn't one of those cases where after a year's worth of investigation, it can end up with a question mark. this is a case that has to be resolved. we have to arrive at a conclusion as to what happened

in this case. so the way it's set up right now from an administrative standpoint, headquarters, everything falls through headquarters. so any leads are immediately covered. headquarters has contact with all the other intelligence and investigative agencies with their headquarters in washington, d.c. as well. so it's one of those things where you gather the information in the field. you bring it back through headquarters. it also gives the director the ability to have an upgrade every single day or -- >> what about if you pick a list and you go through carter page, roger stone, paul manafort, michael flynn. you go through a list of every name we've heard connected to russia. would you be assured now looking at this investigation, within a year we will know all communications between those people and russians? will we know it? >> chris, i've been around long enough and been gone long enough to understand that you can never

say -- reach any definitive conclusion with this much information that we have. there is so much more to be done and so much more information to be garnered that it's very difficult to say when this thing will end. >> but do you believe that we'll know everything about those people i mentioned, what they had to do with russia? >> i have no way of knowing. i just -- that would be just a wild guess, and i don't do those kinds of things. >> let me go to glen thrush on this. glen, these efforts by the administration have had success. they've been able to divert attention. they've been able to throw up a name like susan rice. they've been able to throw up donna brazile. they throw these names out like firecrackers, and i mean they explode, and they get in the press. is this just the power of the president we have to live with? mainstream journalism has to cover whatever malarkey there is out there? >> thanks for that. >> i am taking a shot, okay?

i am taking a shot. you heard it. >> look, if the president -- you know, the point is if candidate donald trump makes these kinds of allegations, that's one thing. the fact that the president of the united states sitting in the oval office with the full power of the presidency decides to use the bully pulpit of an interview -- and by the way, we did not prompt him to start talking about susan rice. we came into the office, my colleague maggie haberman and i, to talk about infrastructure. we had ten detailed questions to talk with him about infrastructure. and, boom, right out of the box he starts talking about susan rice. first he makes an allegation essentially that there are other obama administration officials who are complicit in the same kind of unmasking behavior. we asked him for the names. he refused to provide them. he then said again that this was one of the biggest stories in the world and how dare we as a news organization not cover it. we informed him that we have, in fact, covered it. you know, and then in terms of

his characterization of the case as he moved along, it became obvious to me that it was important to ask whether or not he viewed this in criminal terms. and he accepted that predicate when i asked him, do you think that you did anything wrong criminally? he said that. i think that when the president of the united states says this, you know, for good or for ill, we have to pay attention to it. it is smart tactical politics, chris, insofar as it diverts attention. and one thing he said in the interview that is true, susan rice is not a particularly polished public performer. we saw that on the sunday shows after benghazi. sometimes she appears to be sort of defensive and a little bit skittish. she wasn't great on andrea mitchell yesterday. and this is a president who's very much looking, as you said, to change the narrative. and he pounced on it. you know, that said, there are questions that need to be asked. but as you know, a lot of the experts that we've interviewed

as an organization have said it is highly unlikely that ambassador rice's behavior represents a widespread pattern of surveillance against the trump campaign. >> let me go to shane on this because i think that the president has -- he reminds me of one of those james bond cars that spews out the oil slick behind them when they're chasing him, you know. the car behind him goes skidding all over the place. i'm not saying glenn did that, but they're pretty good at that. they get the grease on the highway, and you don't know which direction you're going anymore. glenn's not laughing. this is really good. but glenn said the fact that if a president of the united states comes out with the moon is made of blue cheese, headline above the fold, trump says moon made of blue cheese. >> right. well, i don't know. >> the president is alleging a fairly vast conspiracy here. >> i don't understand the criminal element aspect. >> if she checks a name out and she sees somebody is dealing with russia or turkey and says who the hell was that guy or person and she finds out who it

is, they're not even accusing her of disseminating it. they said somehow looking is up is a crime. >> there's a process. this is not an allegation where susan rice went into some database and started unmasking names. >> yeah. >> there's a process. several people review it. there are multiple steps. she can only request that an identity be known. that has to go over to an agency like the nsa, where it's reviewed. they can tell her no. there's documentation of all of this. >> let's talk trade craft here. let me go to glenn on this. do you know this story began, as we all know, with this weird old testament thing bically that president obama wiretapped president trump during the campaign in trump tower. from that, we get this variety of possibilities that are conflated that somehow set that up as truth. do you notice, glenn, how they do this? it has gone so far afield that it's her checking out the names

of some intercept and seeing who this person is has now somehow -- wiretapping trump during the campaign when now we're talking about something that happened during the transition involving some of these peripheral figures perhaps. nothing to do with wiretapping. nothing to do with president obama. nothing to do with trump even. having to do with nothing, and yet trump uses it to back up his crazy campaign theme that somehow during the campaign, he was being wiretapped. your thoughts. >> well, look, you know, first of all, i'd love to see a chart, just a chart that includes all of the news stories that that one tweet spawned. just think about this. a month of crazy diversionary coverage. the whole nunes affair, which is quite likely -- again, i still think he's a very compromised broker in terms of his investigation. sooner or later he's either going to be replaced or -- >> maybe it knocked down bannon a couple of pegs. we'll see. >> think of how much manpower and energy on the white house staff, and the other thing about it, chris, is they've gone

through various theories in terms of the pushback. remember last week we had a former obama administration official who had been gone since 2015, who they trotted out as saying something which sean said from the podium was exculpatory. so it's very, very clear that they're looking for some pushback. but, again, look, the susan rice angle from a tactical perspective from the white house is not a terrible political pushback. rice has been a target of the right for a long time. >> they don't like her. >> again, chris, it gets back to the basic problem that this president has. he is always playing to the base. so picking on susan rice and creating susan rice as a target riles up the base. he gets a lot of these people who are sort of turned off by some of these losses that he's had, the compromise that he was forced initially to make on health care, and he riles them back up. >> okay. >> so the thing about the president is everything he turns to seems to corner him in the same political box.

>> he spends so much time in diversionary tactics it's hard to believe he has time to be commander in chief. by the way, i can't believe to see what bobby moynihan has planned for you, sir. thank you. up next, president trump is closing in on his 1 hundredth day in office. and so far no legislative accomplishments at all. this is "hardball," where the action is. growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash bk on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

i use what's already inside me to reach my goals. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's supposed to do release its own insulin. trulicity responds when my blood sugar rises. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen. and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. trulicity is not insulin. it should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take trulicity if you or a family member

has had medullary thyroid cancer, if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing; a lump or swelling in your neck; or severe pain in your stomach area. serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and indigestion. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. with trulicity, i click to activate what's within me. if you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar numbers with a non-insulin option, click to activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

welcome back to "hardball."

president trump has racked up zero wins since being inaugurated in january. and as the politico playbook writes today, quote, trump will get through one-third of his first year in the white house without a single major legislative accomplishment. republicans control both house and the senate of course. the president's influence should be at its peak right now, but nothing's getting done. following the disastrous breakdown of the republican plan to replace obamacare, of course, something they've been promising now for eight years, the prospects of passing big-ticket items like tax reform and a infrastructure package look weak. trump is also facing two international crises that may require a u.s. response, the chemical weapons attacks in syria and the missile launch by north korea recently. one victory the president may see is the confirmation of neil gorsuch to the supreme court, but since he hasn't put any wins on the board yet, does this mean his favorite word which he has described so many rivals now applies to him. >> we have a bunch of babies

running our country, folks. we have a bunch of losers. they're losers. they're babies. >> what would you say to george will? >> well, george is a major loser. >> when i watch a george will or a charles krauthammer, i watched them for aryears. they're losers. >> look at these people. what a bunch of losers. you are a loser. >> rosie is a loser. >> bill crystal, he's got some magazine. i don't know what it is. what a loser! >> like poor mitt romney. poor mitt. i understand losers. i understand losers. you can make a lot of money with losers. >> i think the losers are nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. >> she how he's changed? he's in the white house, and he's still talking like that. joining me now is senator rich blumenthal. senator, let me ask you about -- i guess gorsuch is coming in the wrong way. is that how you see it, without 60 votes?

it looks like it's going to happen? >> if it happens, and there's still hope it won't, it will be because donald trump and the republican leadership in the senate essentially have blown up the rules. they changed the rules and are going to win, if they do, only because they have left that wreckage in their wake, and there's a reason they call it the nuclear option. it has fallout. the repercussions may well be long-lasting, and they are the blame to donald trump as well as the republican leadership here. >> let me ask you about legislative tactics because i remember your old mentor and my hero, patrick moynihan used to talk about you have to sequence things when you bring them to the floor. in his case, they said when they were in that first term, instead of doing health care, which didn't work, they should have started with welfare reform because then we would have had a democratic version of welfare reform instead of the one bob dole liked later on. in this case, they can't off health care because if they don't get a health care

replacement for obamacare, they can't do tax reform. it looks like they're really stuck on the republican side. how do you see their problem? >> they are stuck, chris. you're absolutely right. and sequencing is important. and as our mentor used to say, everybody is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts. and the facts are about health care that it is complicated as donald trump discovered. and they have yet to reconcile those conflicting facts that made the affordable care act so difficult to reach as a matter of consensus. and now trumpcare is in tatters. the immigration reform that he touted, basically a muslim ban, is equally in tatters because the courts have struck it down. and the neil gorsuch nomination, if it succeeds, will be only because he changed those rules, which may leave the supreme court as well as the senate a

lesser institution because he's dragged them down. he's demeaned the courts by his constant relentless attack. >> richard blumenthal of connecticut, it's always great to have you on. thank you for coming on. up next, trump sven galley, steve bannon, is removed from the national security council. he likes to shake things up and destroy institutions. by the way, the united states military is maybe our great institution. anyway, big problem coming up in international affairs and we don't have any clear notion of who in the white house is calling the shots. not bannon anymore. you're watching "hardball," where the action is. 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. when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™.

liberty mutual insurance. ♪ ♪ wanna get away? now you can with southwest fares as low as 59 dollars one-way. yes to low fares with nothing to hide. that's transfarency.

welcome back to "hardball." as president trump seemed to shift his syrian policy from one of passive observation to active engagement, his chief strategist today, steve bannon was missing from the audience. a white house source told nbc news that bannon, who today was moved from the president's national security council,

quote, only does foreign things that are vital. ard could be to nbc he's attended every press conference but this one. the president's most trusted allies, jared and ivanka kushner were in the front row of course today. politico is reporting that jared kushner and steve bannon have been clashing lately, and one person familiar with kushner's thinking tells politico that kushner believes bannon is more of a problem than reince priebus. i guess reince priebus is considered a big problem. for more i'm joined by our round table, jason johnson, politics editor for the road.com. michelle bernard, president of the bernard center for women, and john brabender, republican strategist. by the way, michelle, you have the same deal as king abdullah, right? you cannot be defeated for re-election. let me start with you, michelle. this bannon thing, i love it. >> yeah. >> because i think bannon had a lot to do with this guy cohen, who was feeding all this little material in the middle of the night to nunes. he made nunes look like a dunce. he humiliated him, made the president look peripherally like a dunce. this caper that everybody

unraveled in a matter of days or hours made the president look like he was weirdly goofy, not the kind of guy he wants to look like. i would blame bannon. >> well -- >> and now he's been downgraded. >> well, he's been downgraded. according to "the wall street journal" -- >> he's a leninist by the way. >> as a matter of deflection, "the wall street journal" has bannon being quoted as saying that susan rice -- of course everything is susan rice's fault -- was operationalized the national security council, and he was put on to deoperationalize. >> well, he's operationalized it. that's what he did, though. but, michelle, that's what he did do. you're supposed to be advisers, not running around at midnight -- >> i don't disagree wument i'm just saying here's the blame game. he says he was brought on to -- >> okay. the problem with their cover story, two months ago they got rid of michael flynn, the guy he was in there to watch. two months ago. the guy who is supposed to be the commissar, keeping his eye on, left. this excuse that they've come up

with, he's been downgraded. >> he's embarrasses. he's not invited to the parties the way -- >> in the front row -- i'm sorry to interrupt, but i think it's really important. kushner and his wife were sitting in the front row on the white house lawn today. steve bannon is in an avowed anti-semite. how on earth would kushner and his wife be able to work with a man -- >> avowed anti-semite? >> he's a member of the alt-right. >> he vows this? he's really that bad? >> yes, he really is that bad. >>. >> look, he's a member of the alt-right. i don't think he should have been in the administration to begin with given his associations. maybe he's being embarrassed publicly now. he didn't go to meetings anyway according to most reports. he only went to one meeting. at the end of the day, as long as he's got open door privileges, this might be one of those oh, don't throw me in the briar patch sort of thing. it seems like he didn't really care about being on that committee. >> it was the biggest deal in the world when he got on that thing. everybody said how can he let

some operative into national security decisions. john brabender, do you like this guy, steve bannon? it looks to me like he's a super nationalist and probably some weird kind of leninist because he wants to destroy all government institutions. >> let's be first a little fair to him. >> that's why you're here. >> it took bob from season 2 of the apprentice who got thrown off after the first episode and put him on the -- >> you're putting down omarosa. the point is here somebo . >> here's somebody that had a master's degree in foreign affairs but i think everybody is missing the bigger story. the bigger story is there's a reset going on. i think the administration is very frustrated that their agenda is not going the way they thought. i think they believe and -- >> who is the they by the way? >> i think trump is. >> after trump, who else besides him? ivanka? >> ivanka and jared kushner. >> if you looked at the campaign, it's always the kids. >> it's the romanovs.

it's the royal russian family. >> every campaign does this in the first 60 days. what they're doing is saying, look, steve bannon, he's a strategist. let's get him out there. let's not put him inside the administration. >> but what's left, john? what do they have left? when they get rid of bannon, they get rid of michael flynn -- >> they didn't get rid of him. they reassigned him. >> michelle, i know you've got republican contacts. i don't see anybody who survives. it looks to me like the only ones surviving are family members. ude and kuse here. that's all they've got. >> well, and general mcmaster. >> yeah. he's a grown-up. >> he got his way. he's got his people on the nsc in the places where they should be. >> he looks tough. >> yeah. i wouldn't mess with him. >> you don't understand a loyal -- [ overlapping voices ] >> what they realize -- and i'm glad they did -- >> giuliani, good-bye. michael flynn, good-bye. governor christie, good-bye.

excuse me. >> no, no, no. they were never in. >> carter page, roger stone. >> what they understand is the job is half about the legislation and half about getting the narrative out there. they knew they didn't get the narrative out there. now they're moving people all around. they put katie walsh over at the super pac. >> what will they get through? >> i think health care will get through this year. >> oh, wow. >> irdon't think there's a chance of that happening. [ overlapping voices ] >> you saw the job that mike pence did -- >> by the way, you don't need to -- next, these two will tell me something i don't know. this is "hardball," where the action is. c. wondering, what if? c. i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people.

and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. i was thinking around 70. to and before that?re? you mean after that? no, i'm talking before that. do you have things you want to do before you retire? i'd really like to run with the bulls. wow. hope you're fast. i am. get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change with investment management services.

well, apparently georgetown university's basketball team has stricter rules about nepotism than the current white house. georgetown this week hired former star patrick ewing to be its new head coach. trouble is patrick ewing's son, patrick ewing jr., was already on the georgetown staff. now ewing jr., oh, my god, he's out. he won't be able to stay on staff because the university's real nepotism clause. contrast that with what's happening across town with ivanka trump and jared kushner getting plum jobs inside the trump white house. nepotism lives at 1600 pennsylvania avenue but not at georgetown. we'll be right back. ure. 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. what's the best way to get v8 or a fancy juice store?s? ready, go! hi, juice universe? one large rutabaga, with eggplant... done! that's not fair. glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day.

it'that can make a worldces, of difference. expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. we're back with the round

table. jason, tell me something i don't know. >> yesterday the mayor of ferguson was reelected. yes, the same mayor, matthew noel knowles, who was there during the riots got reelected for the second time since the ferguson riots. what's worst, even though they're 24,000 registered voters in the city, only 1% turned out. >> what was the minority turnout? >> it was still really low. i did an interview with the people today. they say the folks -- as angry as they are at knowles, he's the devil they know. he beat an african-american woman for that position. >> whoa. michelle? >> my tell you something you don't know says it all. i've got one tweet for you by bernice king, daughter of martin luther king. if only daddy would have known about the power of pepsi. yesterday pepsi had to pull an ad starring reality star kendall jenner, who ends racism by handing a cop a can of pepsi. you know, she's modeling. she's in a photo shoot. she joins the protesters, and this white woman ends racism by

handing the cop pepsi. >> it had something to do with joan crawford, the actress. john. >> for years progressive rock fans were outraged that the group yes was not inducted into the rock & roll hall of fame. so two years ago, republican democrat consultants got together. they're being inducted. >> two big ones from him tonight. thank you. we'll be right back.

my insurance rates are probably gonna double. but dad, you've got... ...allstate. with accident forgiveness they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. indeed. it's good to be in, good hands. is to always keep track of your employees.r micromanage them. make sure they're producing. woo! employee of the month! you really shouldn't leave their side. vita coco coconut water, hydration comes naturally.

trump watch, wednesday, april 5th, 2017. something strange in the neighborhood. today word got out that trump's consill yarry, steve bannon, has been dumped from the national security council. maybe more important, the president has delinked himself from putin. putin backs the syrian regime of the assad family. trump now holds the assads responsible for firing nuclear weapons on kids. we've all seen the pictures now. on the dumping of steve bannon from the nsc, it sounds like general mcmaster has had enough of bannon using the nsc as his playground. on the declaration of hostility bashar assad, i'm impressed. trump's ability to pick up on public sentiment. he knows how regular people react and no one likes the pictures of those kids in syria, these pictures of people trying to wash poison chemicals off of them. this is the most vicious part of a vicious war. trump knows it. knows how it moves this country.

i think some sort of military action is now in the wings. the guy who promised to keep us out of stupid wars may have seen an enemy he quite simply wants to fight. at least he did this afternoon in the rose garden. tomorrow, who knows? at least steve bannon won't be in the nsc calling the shots. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> i do change, and i am flexible, and i'm proud of that flexibility. >> bannon is out at nsc. >> it's not only not going to get better. it's going to get worse every day. >> the ex-breitbart publisher removed from the national security council as the president does some high-stakes ad-libbing on foreign policy. >> my attitude toward syria and assad has changed. >> tonight, the white house shake-up with senator chris murphy and congresswoman maxine waters. then as