i'm ari melber appreciate you watching. hope to see you this sunday on the special report of the first 100 days of trump even though he says they don't matter. stay tuned. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts next. williams starts next. tonight, closing in on 100 days. why the president now says the whole idea is ridiculous. and 100 days of resistance. fighting back in the streets, on the hill, and within the president's own party. also tonight team trump calls new york city soft on crime. wait till you see how it went over with the nypd. "the 11th hour" begins right now. good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. day 92 of the trump administration. and tonight the president and his family are in government housing, choosing to stay home and spend the weekend at the white house, and with eight days until that mythic 100-day mark

it could be a working weekend. in fact, the white house is talking about three big possibilities for next week when congress returns. health care, tax reform, and avoiding the government shutdown. more on all that later. today reporters asked trump what he could get done in just the coming week. >> mr. president, how are you? >> hi, everybody. >> can you speak briefly about all the legislative action you're planning next week, how you're going to accomplish all that? >> it's going to be great. it will happen. >> you're going to do health care and tax reform -- >> we'll see what happens. no particular rush. we'll see what happens. but health care is coming along well. government is coming along really well. a lot of good things are happening. thank you folks. >> you think you're going to get a health care bill next week? >> doesn't matter if it's next week. next week doesn't matter. >> you heard the man say it. in an interview with the associated press today the president called the 100th day

of his term an artificial barrier. he posted on twitter, quote, "no matter how much i accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, and it has been a lot, including supreme court, media will kill." but as with so many things, back on the campaign trail candidate donald trump was all about those first 100 days. >> just think about what we can accomplish in the first 100 days of a trump administration. it would be so great. >> just think about what we can accomplish in the first 100 days of a trump administration. >> just think about what we can accomplish -- >> in the first 100 days -- >> -- of a trump administration. >> so in concluding, just think about what we can accomplish -- >> in the first 100 days of a trump administration. >> so there was that. even the president's harshest critics agree the rollout of the man who is now addressed as justice gorsuch was a big achievement. it showed a unified republican

party. and gorsuch himself proved to be a quality jurist. but along with that win there's also been failure and delay and lack of organization and hundreds of vacant jobs unfilled. then there's the resistance that started up and flooded into the streets during his first full day as president. then it was off to airports, protesting the travel ban, both versions of which have been blocked by federal courts. another big defeat, the administration's attempt to refeel and replace obamacare. never made to it a vote on the floor of the house. and during this congressional recess many republican members have faced their constituents back home and have gotten an earful on health care, those who dare. let's bring in tonight's panel. yahoo news and finance editor bian achlts golodryga. eli stoke lz, white house reporter for the "wall street journal." and in washington michael crowley, politico's senior foreign affairs correspondent. good evening to you all. eli, is that sound the sound of

goalposts moving? he seemed to have mentioned 100 days a few times. >> it's good that after 92 days you can recognize that sound. we've been hearing that from the beginning and throughout the campaign. he is always moving the goal post. it's interesting. this entire presidency thus far has been a lot of reverse engineering. he will say something and then his staff at the white house will set about trying to make it so. just a couple of weeks ago as it just a couple of weeks ago as it pertains to the 100-day mark it was donald trump who was agitated about this himself saying we have to make it so. when i say this is the best 100 days of all time it has to look that way. how are we going to sell this? you have seen a lot of executive orders over the last days a lot of activities, you see this rush on the legislation where they want to do health care and tax reform. put those on dual tracks and at least start on both of those. so you see a lot of activity. you know, we could judge his first 100 days on a different metric if he hadn't set out and said this is the best of all time. never mind that fdr passed 76 pieces of legislation his first

100 days. a different time, different kind of congress. but it's donald trump who's out there using the superlatives, saying this is the best ever. he does not have any significant legislative achievements. he has a supreme court justice. he has a redrawn red line around chemical weapons. he has perhaps some diplomatic progress with china. beyond that a lot of the promises have been fulfilled with executive orders and a lot of those don't have many teeth. >> it is so clear to watch him in that brief give and take with reporters today coming back from the treasury department he wants to make it clear that next week is not a big deal, if it happens next week fine, if not fine. he wants to not like the standard of measurement, the 100 days. is that a bit like on the eve of the s.a.t.s saying you don't like number 2 pencils? >> yeah. he wants ton like it when it doesn't work to his interests. he's been teasing this thing like nothing else. the 100 days. a few weeks ago he said it's

been the most productive 13 weeks in presidential administration in history. now we have gone through a 24 hour cycle saying we are going to have tax reform, a government health care plan, avoid government shutdown and finality on this wall. 12 hours later he says no, no, no, who cares it is an arbitrary date. the thing with this president is when people go back and look at what happened with health care and the debacle there the argument is people were saying this isn't something he was really that passionate about, it was tax reform that he was really passionate about and that's what he wanted to implement first. and that doesn't seem to be the case right now. he seems to be throwing out this magic date of next wednesday is when tax reform is going to happen. his budget director says yeah, maybe not so soon, talk about june, not next week. a lot of confusion. >> eli, does the resistance get points or credit? they're not around a leader but it really has sprung up organically. >> it has. it has. you saw -- there's some strong ominous winds for republicans blowing out of georgia's 6th congressional district this week and perhaps out of montana and some other places. it remains to be seen who wins that seat in june down in georgia.

but we saw it on the sunday after trump's inauguration. we saw the protests. we saw millions of people in the streets. we've seen it weekend after weekend after weekend. the energy, the enthusiasm gap that favored republicans after the campaign, it has flipped in a big way to democrats. november 2018 may seem like a long way away but you see the angst among republican members of congress going home to town halls and wondering if we don't get some of these things done what are we going to do. and i think that angst is really what's bringing them back to the table on the health care bill because there is i think consensus not with everyone but a lot of republicans do worry about going home and saying oh, yeah, that thing we said we were going to repeal and replace for six, seven years, we didn't do it. >> michael i'm looking at your latest piece of work. the headline is "trump wades into french elections." for people who were busy this friday tell the folks what you mean and why it was notable. >> well, brian, a lot of people in america might not be focused

on the fact that there is a potential crisis around the corner in europe. france is having a vote on sunday in their presidential election. there are four candidates who are neck-and-neck. two candidates are going to come out of that vote and they are going to compete in a may 7th presidential election. okay? so two people will come out sunday. one of those two is going to be president of france. one of those four is marine le pen, who is the far right populist nationalist leader of the national front party. she recently visited moss koerks had a photo op with vladimir putin. she has talked about france withdrawing from the european union, at least partially withdrawing from nato. hardliner on immigration. a lot of parallels with donald trump. and there is going to be a minor or maybe major freakout if she is one of the final two candidates, particularly if her opponent is one of the people she is perceived as being -- having the potential of defeating easily. it would be a major crisis in

europe if marine le pen becomes president of france in two or three weeks. donald trump had been staying out of this election. there had been a lot of anxiety in europe that trump would -- that trump was sympathetic to marine le pen, that steve bannon, his political counselor, is a supporter of these nationalist movements in europe and that he has been whispering in trump's ear saying maybe you should help out le pen. but trump had been staying out of it. then this morning he tweeted about the terrorist attack in france last night saying it would have an impact on the election. that was widely interpreted as being kind of a subtle throw of support to le pen because she's been i real hard-liner on muslim immigration into france, talks a lot about terrorism. but then in an interview with the a.p. today, brian, trump went much farther saying he thought le pen is the strongest candidate, would have the strongest policies in response to these threats that france is facing. it's basically a de facto endorsement, brian, of this woman whose candidacy is already causing a minor freakout in sort

of establishment circles in europe and whose victory as president would be a total crisis. the markets will be rocked. so just -- i would wrap this up by saying that over the past several weeks we've seen donald trump and officials around him reassuring europe saying we like the eu. we like nato. we want a strong europe. today i think he undid weeks of those reassurances by signaling no, again, donald trump is actually sympathetic to these nationalist populist movements that could change the face of europe as we know it and the transatlantic relationship as we know it now. >> bianna, starting with brexit through donald trump and now france. we have german elections upcoming and so on and so on. you could be convinced that something is happening around the world? >> something is happening around the world. and i have to say that part of donald trump's reaction today and some of the comments he's made and tweets he's made sort of in favor of le pen or at least suggesting that she will be the likely victor was a knee-jerk reaction following president obama yesterday

throwing his hat for -- his support for macron, sort of the centrist candidate in this race. you can't help but think this is a competition in some sort of way between president obama and president trump over who they support in this race. >> eli, we don't want to get people all riled up. it is late on a friday night after all. but i want to run comments by the budget director here, former congressman, now budget director mulvaney. we'll listen to what he has to say, and then we'll look at what he means and explain it on the other side. >> the next four days will tell you a lot about the next four years. we have finally boiled this negotiation down to something that we want very badly that the democrats really don't like. and that's the border wall. at the same time there is something they want badly that we don't like very much, these cost-sharing reductions, the obamacare payments. >> so border wall, obamacare. what is looming that he would be talking that way? >> he's trying to bring democrats to the negotiating table over the next week as they negotiate some sort of deal to

keep the government up and running. and when they talk about funding, the president wants money for this border wall. democrats -- there's no way democrats -- chuck schumer said today i thought mexico was paying for this border wall. they're not moving on this because of the politics, because their base will kill them if they go an inch toward working with donald trump at this point. but also this is donald trump's border wall. they're not going to support that. and they're not going to come to the table and say oh, yeah, give us that, give us this little crumb as you repeal obamacare and we'll work with you. i think what the republicans are realizing is they may need some democratic votes on some of these things, especially on a deal to keep the government open, and i think they're not going to get it this way. so i think their caucasus really what has to sort of come together and figure this out. >> and it does appear to be tone deaf for him to be saying -- or equating the border wall, which is not popular with republicans or democrats, just to put that out there, with health care and subsidies. you see what happens at these town hall meetings. it's not just democrats who are outraged and want to keep their affordable care act. it's republicans as well.

i'm not sure what leverage he's thinking they're having by saying a dollar for a dollar, a wall for subsidies. >> and michael, is everyone aware that shutting down the government would be the only achievable way to get congress's approval rating down below where it is right now? >> yeah, you know, congress every now and then decides it's a good idea to do this. i have never seen any benefit coming out of it from congress. i don't know how much lower congress can go at this point. john mccain likes to make the joke it's down to basically friends and relatives. but i think it's a pretty sure bet that congress does not come out looking good if that does happen again. >> we are asking everybody to remain in place. we have got to fit in our first break. coming up, russia and the trump white house. perhaps you've heard of the topic. who is set to testify under oath? and what could it mean for the investigation on the hill? plus, the trump administration just called new york city soft on crime. and new york city has responded.

>> we did not become the safest big city in america by being, quote unquote, soft on crime. >> that and much more when "the 11th hour" continues on a friday night. finding time to get things done isn't easy.

but we've got the digital tools to help. now with xfinity's my account, you can figure things out easily, so you won't even have to call us. change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay?

do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount i would say to president trump and to attorney general sessions, if you believe this statement is accurate come here to new york city, look our police officers in the eye and tell them that you believe they're soft on crime. >> when i read that statement by d.o.j. this afternoon, my blood began to boil. cops are hurt every day. cops are killed in the line of

duty. i find this statement to be absolutely outrageous. >> welcome back to "the 11th hour." new york city's mayor and police commissioner there firing back at the president and his attorney general jeff sessions. sessions just yesterday sparked outrage for his "island in the pacific" comments that happened to be about the 50th state of hawaii. today turned his sights on so-called sanctuary cities, cities who don't detain someone solely because of their immigration status. the d.o.j. again threatened to cut off federal funding for law enforcement to those cities. new york got something extra. in a statement accompanying the letters, the justice department specifically called out what it called new york city's soft on crime stance as causing an increase on murders. quick fact check here. new york city's crime stats thankfully have been trending down and not up. another way of thinking of this story is this. six blocks from here on a foggy

and damp evening here in new york the midnight shift is about to begin in trump tower where members of the nypd stand post no matter the hour or the weather and maintain 24-hour protection over the president's new york home. many of them in body armor, carrying assault weapons. they might be the most surprised to learn new york city is somehow soft on crime. back to our panel, still with us, eli stokols, bianna golodryga, and michael crowley. bianna, jeff sessions, interesting judgment call here, attacking the 50th state as an island in the pacific. and today new york city, home of the president, legendary home of the president. >> and i couldn't help but think of one of the president's most powerful moments throughout the campaign and that was at the debate when he defended new york city on 9/11 and all of the heroes who came down it's towers to try to help people and save people. that was his moment against ted cruz when ted cruz made a dig at

new york. now for this to happen, i can't imagine that the president is happy about jeff sessions saying this about his hometown. he's very territorial and possessive of new york city. >> it happens to be a very sensitive moment in the city. they lost yesterday a new york city firefighter, 14-year veteran, father of a young daughter. and today both police and fire kind of came together for a procession. there's a funeral next week. so just a sensitive period. eli, we have to reduce this to politics, however. whatever jeff sessions is up to, he has been among the activist cabinet members for the base. >> he has been. i was thinking of the exact moment between donald trump and ted cruz had in the debate. that was a powerful moment for trump. i think the administration could point to immigration more and say this is a huge success, border apprehensions are way down, we're -- i.c.e. has been unshackled, criminal undocumented immigrants are being deported at higher rates, these are all the things they said they were going to do,

delivering on that promise for the base. and the president is not really out there talking about it all that much. jeff sessions went to the border, gave a very fiery speech, said this is the trump era now, this is different. and now offending people in the president's hometown. jeff sessions, if he and the president have a conversation about this i'm sure that president trump will say lay off the police officers and the fire -- the first responders in new york city. you know, think about it a little bit. >> it's unnecessary. >> yeah, unnecessary. and politically it's better for them to talk about san francisco and other places than new york city for political reasons. but i think just generally as we talk about the 100 days they could be talking about immigration more. they haven't just yet. and i think it's just -- you know, striking, given the president's rhetoric over the course of the campaign and how much that really defined -- that one issue defined his campaign

it was a staple of all his speeches, you don't hear much about it at this point even though they have taken pretty decisive action. >> michael as next week begins people are going to be kind of recentered back on the topic and the investigation into russia. can you help to reset us, the status of it? and what are the big ticket bold-faced names we are going to hear under oath and testifying? >> right. well, you know, brian, it has faded a little bit from the headlines. there was kind of a turning point with the syria strike a couple weeks ago that sort of reset the table. and then rex tillerson went to moscow and the conversation around that was the confrontational relationship that seems to diplomatically at least in this moment seems to be emerging between the trump administration and the kremlin. though trump is saying he would like to see a breakthrough in the relationship with russia. that's an ongoing story. but the investigations proceed. they are happening slowly. they are going to take a frustratingly long time for everybody involved. both people who want to see the

goods and people who want to see exonerations. but this is -- what we are going to see next week is the house intelligence committee kinds of getting back on track after the -- i guess you would sort of say the keystone cops antics of devin nunes that wound up forcing him to recuse himself from the investigation. we are going to have a really interesting hearing. sally yates will testify, who was the deputy attorney general who was pushed out of the trump administration. she was there, and in fact informed the trump white house that national security adviser michael flynn was subject to blackmail because he had misled other administration officials about his contacts with the russian ambassador. so she was right at the heart of some explosive interactions in this administration. we are also going to hear from john brennan, the cia director. i think you are going to see the story reemerge in a big way. and it's going to force -- you

know, when these hearings happen, brian, and there are events coming out of capitol hill, they kind of create their own momentum because then sean spicer is forced to respond, trump starts tweeting. so it really triggers this sort of domino effect where i think we are going to be spending a lot of time talking not about only the investigation but trump's reactions to it next week. so it's going to be very interesting. >> eli here's what else is going to happen. people are going to watch the hearings and there is going to be this predictable round of questions by party. and it's going to cause a lot of good people in the audience to say why can't this be taken out of their hands? why can't this be an independent investigate? is the answer to that in large part still that it would take six to eight months to stand up such a thing and with our attention span these days interest would fade? >> i don't know that interest would fade. what we've seen with this white house and thissed a straying how it has galvanized the country on both sides i don't think it would go away. i think americans want answers on this.

they have patience and a lot of them would like to see an independent investigation on this. because our politics are so polarized. everybody sees everything, you know, through, you know, everything is a roar shack test these days. i think that something -- if people would believe in an independent panel investigating it, i think a lot of people would like to see it. >> and yet bianna, have you been surprised overall that it's kind of a given that russia had their finger on the scales of our election, they were a player in the presidential election and the outrage is only what it is? >> yeah, and we sort of take vladimir putin's word for nyet, i had no impact on the u.s. election whatsoever. we know it's happening in other elections around the world, in europe and mexico of all places as well. it is an easy tactical approach by the russians that's not expensive and it's something they have succeeded at. what surprises me more is that this president and those around him in the campaign are under fbi investigation. which by the way could take unto

two or three years. is the fact that we're not focused on what to do in the next presidential election, 2018, to prevent russia from doing what they're doing now. why aren't we focusing on that. >> and michael just to say it's been speculated they are players in the french election, that it's happening on a rolling basis as we speak. >> thank you for cuing that because i was going to jump in. and i think people should focus on that again. i mentioned marine le pen was at the kremlin one on one meeting with vladimir putin last month. western officials are in broad agreement that the kremlin is meddling in the french election. fake news, propaganda. potential e-mail hacking. they are running the same playbook in france. if they manage to help marine le pen win in france it is a complete earthquake across europe that will resonate in the u.s. global markets, people should be tuned in to this vote on sunday and the final vote on may 7th. >> thanks to three of the very best on a friday night. eli stokols, bianna golodryga,

and michael "mad dog" crowley. >> thanks, brian. >> coming up after the next break for us as president trump deals with the threat of north korea i'll speak to the top democrat on house foreign affairs. that's ahead when "the 11th hour" continues.

renewed fehrs tonight that north korea could conduct another nuclear test as it prepares to celebrate its army next week.

officials from the u.s., japan, south korea will meet in tokyo next week to talk about how to deal with this standoff. we are joined tonight by new york congressman elliott engle. he is in his 15th term representing his district in the bronx. he is the top democrat on the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, thank you so much. i know you had a harrowing evening trying to fly here in the fog. you have made it to our studio in washington. i want to ask you two questions about the coming days. number one, the carrier battle group misdirection aside are you comfortable your government will say and do the right thing should north korea decide on another test this weekend? and have we put too much faith in china's ability here? >> well, i think there has been a lack of consistency, frankly, from the administration. on the one hand, china's probably the only country that can have any influence over north korea. the president says if china helps that perhaps he will negotiate a better deal with

china for trade. i think that's kind of insulting. i think the chinese know what to do. we know what we want. saber rattling doesn't do anybody any good. and i think that we've just got to do something. we can't walk away. we can't make bellicose statements. we need china. we need to work with them. because kim jong-un, who knows what's going on in his mind? >> i have to ask you as well about the other front we are going to be watching in foreign affairs this weekend. and that is the french election, probably headed for a runoff. what do you think is happening around the world? do you think we're in the middle of something right this very minute? >> i do. i think there's an unease around the world. i think we've seen it in other countries in europe, in spain, in greece, other places. we've seen it in the united states in my opinion, people are dissatisfied with the regular

order and they want something different, even if that something different might be much more destructive. people are looking for an alternative. they are unhappy with their lives. they are unhappy with the way things seem to be going. you know, you have ms. le pen in france who has come from a party full of anti-semitism. it's really very disconcerting that people are turning to these fringe candidates and adopting them and mainstreaming them. because you have to have consistency when you are in office. it can't be fly by the seat of your pants, one day i'm going to do this, next day i'm going do do that. i'm going to make election promises and then i'm going to contradict them. i think we are in the middle of something. and i hope the world wakes up before too much goes by. >> and congressman, do you give any high marks to the new administration? in your bailiwick. they have, what is it, one official at the state department confirmed and that's the secretary of state.

>> well, and worse than that, brian, they want to cut the state department by about a third, 33%, 31%, 37%. it's all in the third range. i'm told that morale at the state department has never been lower. people don't think they are looked upon with any kind of importance. we need diplomacy, we need diplomacy to prevent wars. we need u.s. programs like u.s.a.i.d. that feed people and help do things. it's a great boon to the united states because people look at us as people that care about them. so even the thought of cutting it by a third, that anyone could be serious about it, is very, very disconcerting. and i think the president and the administration ought to rethink it. i know in congress we are going to fight it on a bipartisan basis because we have the power of the purse. the president can propose anything he wants in a budget but congress has to pass it. and i know there is bipartisan support against such draconian

cuts for the state department. >> congressman, again thank you, despite your distress in trying to get home to your district tonight. we sure appreciate you taking the effort to be with us on the air on a friday night, congressman. >> my pleasure. >> thank you congressman. elliott engle, democrat, of new york. coming up, chris matthews grading donald trump's effort as president thus far. the host of "hardball" is our guest when "the 11th hour" continues.

welcome back to "the 11th hour." weather he likes it or not, president trump will be judged in one week's time as to how much he has achieved or failed to achieve. the 100-day standard of measurement first applied to congress by fdr is, for better or worse, a form of measurement in presidential achievement. earlier tonight i sat down with our friend the host of "hardball" chris matthews and i asked him how he would sum up president trump's presidency so far. >> well, i think -- the

traditional notion of 100 days started with fdr and then kennedy said not in 100 days, maybe 1,000 days. it was always based on legislation and how well you did in terms of pushing your program through the congress. and by that i don't like doing this especially but it's an f so far. he didn't get health care through. it's logjamed the whole thing because one leads to another and because you can't get health care through it looks like he still can't, he may next week but i don't think so, he isn't going to be able to do tax reform because ahead of those revenue victories they've got to increase the government's revenue before they go on the tax reform. i think he's really logjamed in terms of getting anything done. i say f. >> one response you always give your guests when talk turns to capitol hill is where are the votes, show me the votes. with that in mind what do you say, what's he going to be able to hang his hat on by the end of 2017? >> you might remember, i certainly do. the democratic party was always a party of coalition, not of united ideology. you always had the segregationists in the south,

which was the solid south, necessary in every presidential election. necessary in every congressional vote. that's why the democrats were the majority party. but they didn't agree. the big cities of the north had minority people who were voting and liberals who were voting, ethnic people who were liberal and many things and then you had the southern segregationists, the while people down south who had nothing in common with them except jefferson, they were the party of jefferson, and of course jackson. the republican party's a lot like that. i don't think people like charlie dent from allentown and bethlehem have much in common with the freedom caucus. and i think that's showing. they want to preserve the popular elements of obamacare. people with pre-existing conditions being able to keep your kids in their mid 20s on your health care plan. that's not going to be in any kind of cheap inexpensive essential benefits republican plan. so replace and repeal are very hard to go together. if you're going to repail can't replace with another entitlement program. anyway, my point is i think the

ideal jikality differences within that caucus is going to prevent them from really getting 218 and passing anything. >> chris, we forget this is the first time we've really voted a television star into the presidency. that said, do you think a huge part of his problem is communications? >> yeah, and it's also his strength. the reason he's president, brian, because i used to advise people running for office, think radio. and the reason i'd always say that to them, it's easier to get on radio, especially in a big city when you might have a dozen congressional districts in a city like new york or philadelphia but you can get on radio. and the other reason you can get on radio with an actuality or beep or whatever, a little statement on tape-s because they have to refresh every two hours. so that idea, if you listen to t.o.p. in washington or w.o.r. in new york, or any of those active news stations, there's been a killing in canarsie, blah, blah, blah, something in brooklyn, that kind of bouncing around ping-pong kind of news thing is exactly what trump thinks like. he's peripatetic. trump's always thinking every couple seconds, every second is

a new second, forget the last second. today he was saying a ridiculous standard, 100 days. ridiculous standard. well, all through the campaign he was saying i'm going to do something in 100 days. very -- but nobody remembers that. you have to keep showing the tape with him. it's peripatetic. but the strength of that is we have to cover it. because every time trump does something we have to cover it. and he's president of the united states and it generally is provocative. the danger of that is that foreign leaders are being confronted with this. he threatens the north koreans, he threatens the iranians, he breaks up treaties. he's always in the moment. and you never know how that i going to react in that moment. if he's always pressing and provoking every second, every second's a new opportunity for the other guy, the other side, the bad guys as we see them, doing something really bad. so the danger of a peripatetic mentality, peripatetic nature is the other side gets ginned to the same kind of mentality and activity and they start getting peripatetic. and who wants kim jong un to get peripatetic? nobody. very opposite of obama. we had eight years of no-drama

obama. purposefully he kept things calm, cool, and uneventful. he didn't want excitement. he wanted to go upstairs with his beautiful wife and his beautiful daughters and enjoy a normal family life sew could raise the kids well. he didn't want to be jumping around in the milled of the night beep -- what do you call it? tweeting. imagine obama tweeting at 5:30 in the morning. it would sound crazy. trump, that's what he does. that's who he is. >> let's talk about the polls. let's call it just for argument's sake 60-40. 40% approval rating, thereabouts, for the president. that would indicate that 60% of the folks out there are at least receptive to whatever it is the democrats are selling. have you any evidence that they're ready to take 60% consumer interest out for a spin? >> you know what i'm going to say. there's no leader in the democratic party. that's why. they don't have to agree on a candidate. that's why. they don't have to agree on a personality. first of all, i think the 40's higher in some cases. he won 46 with the electoral college. the latest polling before he

went to polling was in the 30s. there's a new book that says there's always a margin of support that doesn't show up for trump in the polling. that's why hillary didn't get it right. i think trump's more popular than people tell pollsters say they are. i know nap the susquehanna poll in pennsylvania in the campaign she was up by eight, hillary clinton and a real poll where somebody human calls you up and says who are you vogt for she wins that by eight. when a machine calls up with a tape recording he wins by three. or two. but he definitely wins. and the point is people aren't willing to say they're for trump but they are. i'm not sure it's 40. in a one on one way democratic candidate i think he can still do okay. he might even win again. but i do think the democrats have a leadership problem. with hillary they had one. now they don't have a leader. but i'm be sure they agree on much except they don't like trump. i know you knew that was the answer to the question when you posed it. >> like any courtroom lawyer. >> never be surprised. >> chris, you were the first major media figure i saw to use

the word "nationalist." "nationalism" for what you saw emerging as trump's political persona. do you see that waning or still on the rise? and french elections in mind. what worries you as you look around the world? >> well, you and i were very heartened by the fact that europe was going to unite, and we were very heartened by the fact that at the end of the cold war countries like hungary and the baltic states joined it. we're thrilled europe's getting together with the common currency in some cases except sterling with the common currency, common measurements. open borders. all that good stuff. that's coming apart because of immigration and because of re-emerging anger, anger and nationalism i think over immigration, too much too fast i think is often the case. just too many people coming in, too much cultural threat. it's normal. it's always been like this. we don't like it because we're americans. we say it's a value. we're not sure everybody in the world agrees with that and we

don't either at times. we try to adhere to it as much as we can because we're a nation of immigrants. but i think le pen could win. i don't know whether there's going to be a pullback. but she's in the finals, which is a couple of weeks from now. we'll have to wait and see. we had a guest on "hardball" who said she'll win the general, the final vote. he's a french reporter for a radio station over there. i sense it's moving toward her. just look at the movement. her father was getting in the low teens at best. it's a movement. i think we're in a nationalistic feeling right now. put buchanan was considered as you know and i know an outsider, in fact almost a person who shouldn't be heard from at some point. his nationalism is right out there now from trump. right out there. it's about immigration, looking out for ourselves. unfortunately redolent of america first, right before world war ii. it sounds -- it has a bad smell to it sometimes. let's not kid ourselves. it has a racial smell to it. and an ethnic smell to it. it's not just about looking out for the economic interests of

the people who live here and are citizens. >> chris matmatthews, host of "hardball." thank you as always good to talk to you. >> coming up, with the trump administration pledging more action on immigration including more i.c.e. agents in the field, an exclusive look at some of those agents on the job today. that's when "the 11th hour" continues.

welcome back to "the 11th hour." can you believe this is going to be the next thing? but with a government shutdown looming now, the white house is pushing to get several priorities paid for in the bill congress has got to pass to keep the government up and running. one of those priorities, sean spicer told reporters today, quote, "we want hiring of immigration agents." well, in an nbc news exclusive correspondent gadi schwartz rode along with some of those i.c.e. officers and agents already on the job. >> reporter: on any given day in los angeles the first immigration arrests happen before the sun comes up.

nine teams like this one spanning southern california with lists of immigrants with criminal histories targeted for deportation. >> we don't do raids or sweeps. what we're doing, again, what you're seeing that's happened all this morning is targeted enforcement operations. >> reporter: i.c.e. agents waiting for this man to walk out the door before moving in. >> just relax. >> i go to work right know. >> okay. >> reporter: david marin is a field office director for i.c.e. and has enforced immigration laws under four presidents. >> if you're here in this country illegally you should be deported. >> reporter: at the last house agents try knocking on a window. >> policia. >> reporter: but a woman inside flashes an immigrant's rights card like this one saying they will not cooperate without a warrant and the agents stand down. >> she basically showed you a card from an attorney. >> right. that says don't talk to i.c.e., i'm not going to let you in. you know what? and so you know what? c of course we're going to abide by that.

>> reporter: back at the processing center the men rounded up are waiting to call their families. sergio rodriguez is a felon with a history of burglaries and drugs. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> "no one's perfect. everyone makes mistakes." >> reporter: he tells us his wife has cancer and he has five children. he says he doesn't know what's going to happen with his wife. he says he's the one that takes care of his wife, he doesn't know what's going to happen with his daughters. santiago mondragon has been convicted of selling drugs and he's been deported four times. he says that the reason why he keeps coming back is because of his daughters, what are they going to do. >> reporter: i.c.e. says they would have rather detained these men while they were in jail but many law enforcement agencies won't honor immigration holds after judges have ruled in several cases their use was unconstitutional. >> our preference would be to take these individuals into custody in a secure environment at a jail or some other law enforcement facility. >> reporter: so instead arrests happen at their homes, in public, or at work.

in the immigrant communities news of any deportation leads to fear. high-profile removals like guadalupe garcia derayos who was deported in front of her kids. or this week news of a dhaka recipient being sent back to mexico. families terrified that minor criminal offenses or those with no criminal record could be deported. what about people with families here? >> that's an unfortunate consequence of our immigration laws. right? but we don't make immigration laws. our job is to enforce them. >> reporter: marin says the laws are the same but this administration is bringing change including nor resources and details on who should be targeted. >> we've sort of shifted in that spectrum of criminality now includes everyone that's not only been convicted of a crime but those that have entered here illegally, whether they've been convicted of illegal entry or not. >> does that mean that i.c.e. is prepared to go after everybody? >> that's not necessarily what we're doing right now. are we prepared? if we do get that order and

that's what we're told to do, we're going to do it. >> reporter: leaving millions of undocumented families living under an american contradiction. we are a nation of laws and we are a nation of immigrants. >> that's what the front line looks like. our thanks to correspondent gadi schwartz for that. coming up, the event today that went into the win category for the new administration.

last thing before we go here tonight, our attempt to keep pace with the blistering pace of news. let's remember it was only monday when these pictures came out of vice president mike

pence's trip. leather jacketed and intense, staring across the way to north korea where the soldiers took time out from looking menacing to take some keepsake photos of the visiting american. pence later said in a speech, quote, "the era of strategic patience is over." on tuesday, we learned what president trump called an armada was actually not on its way to the sea of japan, but in fact the strike group sailing alongside the carrier "carl vinson" was thousands of miles away in the indian ocean and steaming in the other direction. it is now aimed right at the korean peninsula. also on tuesday a special election in georgia's 6th district became national news. democratic hopeful jon ossoff narrowly missed the 50% needed to win the election outright and faces the republican challenger karen handle in june. in a very red district it was still a surprising result.

big announcement from fox news came on wednesday. bill o'reilly was out of after 20 years on the air. he left the highest rated cable news show after 50-plus sponsors left the show themselves. o'reilly still denying the allegations and likely to get a huge payout on the way out. the italian prime minister visited the white house on thursday in a joint conference with president trump. the president accused iran of violating the spirit of the iran nuke deal. he also seemed confident the situation in north korea will be taken care of. also today a development that goes in the win column for the 45th president. a negotiated release for an egyptian american being held for three years in an egyptian jail. today she visited him in the oval office. that's going to do it for our broadcast for tonight and for this week. thank you so much for being here with us. have a good weekend and good night for all of us from new york.

tonight on "all in" -- >> just think about what we can accomplish in the first 100 days of a trump administration. >> what that the 100-day mark is a, quote, ridiculous standard. >> tonight a panicked white house now trying to hold health care hostage to pay for the border wall. who's going to pay for it? >> mexico! then as the house russia investigation gets back on track, david cay johnston on new concerns over who is buying trump condos and what that gets them in return. plus why the white house is taking shots at new york cops. >> come here to new york city. look our police officers in the eye and tell them that you believe they are soft on crime. and new reporting on bill o'reilly's secret strategy to keep his job. >> more proof the american media is corrupt.