your dvr. of course follow me on twitter @greta. also go to my instagram page because that's where i post a lot of pictures. i'm all over social media. thank you for watching again tonight. we'll see you tomorrow night, 6:00 p.m. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. can trump gag comey? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. president trump said today he's pulling america out of the landmark paris climate agreement, joining two great powers, syria and nicaragua as the only countries on earth not to take part in the agreement. also tonight, former fbi director james comey will break his silence one week from today in a hearing before the senate intelligence committee. comey has been cleared to testify by the special counsel overseeing the investigation. and according to "the wall street journal," he's expected to tell congress that the

president asked him to his face to back off the flynn investigation, a claim that could bolster allegations that the president tried to obstruct justice. well, the explosive hearing is set for next thursday, as i said. that is if president trump doesn't try to block comey from talking. as "the new york times" reported late last night, quote, putting the highly anticipated hearing on the calendar would force mr. trump to decide whether to invoke executive privilege and try to prevent mr. comey from testifying. well, that's because courts have recognized a president's constitutional right to keep his discussions a secret in most ip stances. however, trump might have already weakened his case when it comes to his right of privacy here. that's because he's publicly commented on his conversations already with the former fbi director on multiple occasions. let's take a look at how these characterized those exchanges with comey. >> did you ask am i under investigation? >> i actually asked him, yes. i said, if it's possible, would you let me know am i understand investigation? he said, you are not under

investigation. >> people suggest that the question that apparently "the new york times" is selling, that you asked comey whether or not you had his loyalty was possibly inappropriate. could you see how they would think that? >> i read that article. i don't think it's inappropriate, number one. >> did you ask that question? >> no. no, i didn't. but i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. all i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be, and i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape, or form to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn, and also as -- >> no. no. next question. >> well, comey's testimony comes as the pace of negative stories about russia threatens to overwhelm the trump presidency. i'm joined right now by nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. so i guess we're back to that wonderful old phrase, executive privilege. does it apply here? >> reporter: well, it could. but here's the problem. there's no way that the president can stop donald trump from testifying for a couple of

reasons. one is a practical reason. mr. comey doesn't work for the federal government anymore. mr. trump can't tell him to do anything. normally the way it would work is this. if you're the president and i'm having a conversation with you in the oval office and then you later decide to assert executive privilege, you order me not to testify. i work for you. i follow your orders. we don't have that situation here. so that's the practical thing. but the second thing is what you just alluded to. the president -- it's going to be a lot harder for him to assert his executive privilege if he's already been talking about his discussions with mr. comey. in essence, he's opened the door. you know, chris, when people go up to the congress and they assert their fifth amendment rights, they just keep reciting over and over again, i'm not going to talk. i assert the fifth amendment because their lawyers tell them rightly that once they start down the road, once they answer some of the questions from congres congress, they've waived in essence the privilege. so for all these reasons, it would just be very difficult for the president to order mr. comey

not to talk. and one other thing. mr. comey can simply begin his testimony by saying, i'm not going to talk about anythings that privileged. >> let me ask you about the memo because it's well known now that comey kept records of his conversations with the president. he's very studious about that and went back and put down on paper everything the president said to him. i understand the special prosecutor is going to keep him from showing those to senators. is that real? can he be kept from doing that? >> he could. this is sort of a gentleman's agreement to some extent between comey and mueller. you have to remember, they're hardly strangers. they are good friends. mueller was the director of the fbi for 12 years. comey certainly knew him during that time and afterwards they've kept in touch. i'm sure they can work this stuff out. who knows what james comey may have at home this isn't classified? he might have copies. congress could subpoena them. i'm sure he'll do whatever mueller wants. he'll try to -- in other words, he'll try to accommodate everybody. he'll try to give the senate and

the public as much as he can in both these open and closed sessions, and then he'll try to accommodate mr. mueller's restrictions as well. >> what a day it's going to be a week from now. pete, thank you so much. pete williams from nbc. this all comes amid new questions about whether the president's inner circle has fully disclosed the extent of their contacts with russian officials. the fbi and the congress are examining whether trump, jared kushner, and jeff sessions met privately with the russian ambassador at the mayflower hotel last april. nbc news reports five current and former u.s. officials said they're aware of classified intelligence suggesting there was some sort of private encounter back then. anyway, a justice department spokesperson says the attorney general did not have any conversation with russian officials at the mayflower hotel. if such a meeting did take place, it would also appear to contradict the attorney general's statement in march that he never discussed the campaign with russian operatives. here he is. >> i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian

intermediaries about the trump campaign. and the idea that i was part of a, quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. >> totally false. i just love that assurance. joining me right now is ken dilanian, michael steele, bianna golodryga, and eli stokols, white house correspondent with "the wall street journal." who can i start with? what do we make of this three strikes you're out problem with jeff sessions? he said he didn't have two meetings. then he said he didn't have a third meeting. >> the important thing is they flatly deny on the record, the spokesperson for the justice department flatly denies that jeff sessions had a private meeting with kislyak at this event. but at the same time, we've got

current and former officials telling us there is some classified evidence to the contrary. and now we know that the congress is investigating. the fbi is also interested in this meeting. this was a widely understood meeting. it was reported on at the time. nbc news was there. it was a foreign policy speech that trump gave. before the speech there was a vip reception. kislyak and other ambassadors were there. >> why is trump giving a speech at a russian leaning think tank way back last march? i mean this russian, russian, russian thing, what is it about? >> i've been made to understand that's one of the reasons the fbi is interested in this meeting. was this the beginning of how russians tried to infiltrate the trump campaign? >> who hooked him up with dmitry sames? >> unclear. >> this is right around the time the democrats noticed their network had been hacked. >> i mean if it was the government with the new guinea -- i mean why so much russian, russian, russian, all through the campaign, right

through the transition period, to the point where they're giving back those compounds now? >> that's the question and sort of the pattern of collective amnesia we continue to see, all these people that seem to forget the meetings they had with russian officials until they're reported on in the press. then they have the epiphany and remember that. they are sort of trying to tiptoe and tap dance around these. he said i didn't have -- when he testified in his confirmation hearings, what did he say? he said, i didn't have any meetings with the russian officials as a representative of the campaign. anything that i met with them was about senate business. this wasn't about senate business. we know that based on the timing and who else was in the meeting. >> some people think there's some places in the world you get money from now. you get money from russia, china, the saudis. they have money. you go to them. is trump just used to dealing with russians because that's where he got his capital? >> they fund the hotels. they fund the golf courses.

so they have been a very important part of the funding stream, particularly for projects that apparently the trump enterprises wanted to do overseas in parts of europe and certainly in russia. so they've been -- they've had that kind of connection for a while now. so all of a sudden, the president -- and this was the problem of not understanding what you are transitioning out of. you're transitioning out of this business relationship into a political relationship where you have guys like the folks here on this panel sitting there going, so, what are you two do something. >> a lot of people think he's adding to the business relationship, not getting rid of it. russian leader vladimir putin appears to be softening his denial about russia's role in the 2016 election. while he maintains there was no state role in the hacking that went on, he hinted yesterday that private hackers acting independently of the government, he said, could have carried out the attacks. quote, if they are patriotically minded, they start making their contributions which are, well, from their point of the view to the fight against those who say

bad things about russia. let me go to bianna on that. bad things. it sounds like an 8-year-old talking. he says if somebody says bad things like hillary clinton, squash her. >> how much more in your face could that have been? if you think about it, what's most stunning about what he said today is he's gone further in a way of at least acknowledging this was a private citizen, a patriotic private citizen perhaps that was hacking into the u.s. elections. he's gone further than the president of the united states has gone into acknowledging that russia participated in hacking into the u.s. elections. of course vladimir putin then went on to sort of piggyback as to what donald trump said early on, that it could also have been some 400-pound person in china or in the basement of their parents' home, and he said, well, who knows? with technology these days, they can just be blaming us, the russians, but it could be coming from somewhere else. but that really did stand out to me that he acknowledged to a

further degree than the president of the united states after being told that by 17 intelligence agencies. >> i think the president should be paying close attention these days. i think he should stop making fun of people that weigh 400 pounds. "the washington post" reports the trump administration is moving to return to diplomatic compounds to russia. of course it comes after the russian embassy said this on twitter last week. russia is seeking to return its diplomatic property in the u.s. asap. otherwise, we will have to take counter measures. a senior communications adviser at the state department told nbc news that the u.s. and russia have reached no agreement. so, ken, why are we giving back -- in this quid pro quo world we deal with in the russians, you spank me, i spank you, we're giving him two whacks in a row. >> this would be a stunning repudiation to the -- i spoke to a senior official, and he said

despite all this russia stuff donald trump remains interested in providing a fig leaf to russia. >> it's not a fig leaf. it's that other thing. what's the thing where you're offering them up something -- >> i mean they haven't changed their behavior on ukraine. >> what are we getting in return? >> on olive branch. go ahead. >> they haven't changed their behavior. there's no real foreign policy case. they're not cooperating with us in syria or anywhere. >> why is he making nice? why does he keep doing these nice things? >> he believes fervently, i'm told, that this will be a good thing for the united states. >> why doesn't he come out and say, that's why i've been talking to these guys since last year? why doesn't he say, i'm trying to crack this stupid cold war thing? >> it's baffling because it is such an outlier to -- everything else is america first. we watched him walk away from a climate change accord today that 190 nations signed on to. last week at nato he was thumbing his nose at all these

natoallies. yet with russia, it's the opposite. you can understand why given what's gone on and what the intelligence community believes about the meddling in the investigation, why all these things sort of -- >> bianna, coy make an argument. make it's strained but we've been fighting this middle east thing since i was born. it's the issue of the sunnis have the shia and the question of despotic regimes we don't like, like in syria. maybe a big deal from the top would work. that's obviously what he's trying to do. cut some deal to get the thing changed in syria, in damascus. is it for money? what's the big secret here? what is it? >> news flash, nyet is your answer as to whether or not russia is going to cooperate in resolving anything in the near term in the middle east. i think this all goes back to sanctions. i think the pressure that this president and administration is

facing right now makes it virtually impossible to lift sanctions. so what could they possibly be doing? to offer anything else in exchange for the sanctions, it plays right into "the new york times" article from earlier last week that suggested that administration officials wanted to issue an executive order lifting sanctions the first week in office. and it also sort of makes sense now if you look at vladimir putin's reaction when we expelled these diplomats from the u.s. instaeds ead of reciprocating a expelling u.s. diplomats, what did vladimir putin do? nothing. he welcomed diplomats to a new year's party at the kremlin. all of this suggesting that in a few weeks woorks ger to have a new administration. >> last question, carter page. it's one thing to say you didn't have a meeting, but then to come out and say the meeting was off the record. we all agreed it was off the record. and it's a conversation, by the way. when is the last time you had a conversation with somebody just

at a party and say, by the way, none of this will remember this. it's a total secret. >> i'm a reporter, so i have conversations like that all the type. >> carter page is not a reporter, so it's not off the record. you don't go to a bunch of people at a party and say, let's agree we never talked about this. in other words, he's hiding something. >> what this serves up for me is what my mama told me when i was a young boy. when you open your conversation with a lie, you're going to end it with a lie because you're going to not remember the first lie you told. >> yeah. >> so that's how you wind up saying, you know, oh, this never happened. and then like 15 minutes later, agreeing, oh, yeah, it did happen. you don't know what the lie is, and the lie is growing, and it's getting bigger and bigger for the administration. and it's touching too many people to control it. >> do you know what it is? >> i think that's what these gentlemen are trying to find out. >> is it a grand deal or petty personal interest? >> i wouldn't be surprised to see it's a combination of both. i think the way the president has come to the table with

russia, based on his business relationships with them, that to him is more personal and more important than almost anything else. >> so you give me syria, i'll give you three hotels. it's like monopoly, right? because most people who are progressive i know think there's money involved. >> that's a mystery that i think the investigators are trying to unravel, and we're trying to get pieces of it. but what we can see is the administration's eagerness to sweep this under the rug. you have not seen this white house say, we're confident. we're going to let this investigation go forward. you see them frantically trying to sweep these things away, trying to divert attention to things like the leaks, to the unmasking of names. that's what they want to focus on. they do not appear like they have nothing to hide. >> why doesn't mcgahn or somebody in the white house say, mr. president, why don't you walk in the press room and tell it all. >> how do you know he hasn't? >> i don't know. we haven't heard. it hasn't leaked out yet. >> he's apparently not in charge at the moment. >> you know how you know? he's still there. that's how i know he didn't do it. >> in the shadows. >> if you do, i think you're

gone. >> we know the opposite. he's told senior intelligence officials to say there was no collusion. >> to say nothing. they're gagging everybody here. we'll see. he'll be watching comey next week, and we'll be doing it. thank you, all. coming up, a very special guest tonight. we're going to be joined by al franken, the minnesota senator, the author of a new book, al franken, giant of the senate. the other big stories of the day. president trump pulls america out of the paris climate agreement. he says he represents pittsburgh, not paris. how bold. well, tonight, reaction from the mayor of pittsburgh. he's blasting trump for getting out of the landmark climate deal himself. and what we heard today from the president in the rose garden was dark and deeply cynical. it may have been trump's darkest speech since the inaugural. and the "hardball" roundtable will be here to dissect it all. finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. this is "hardball," where the action is.

hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon. great. see you guys there. we would not miss it. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. i love to learn.

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the paris accord would undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty, impose unacceptable legal risk, and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump announcing his decision to withdraw from the paris climate agreement, a deal signed by 195

countries and aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. the european union said in a statement today it was a sad day for the global community. president obama said the decision was a rejection of the future. in making the announcement. president trump said other countries were laughing at us. let's watch. >> at what point does america get demeaned? at what point do they start laughing at us as a country? we want fair treatment for its citizens, and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. we don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won't be. i was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. >> well, the mayor of pittsburgh responded in a tweet. as the mayor of pittsburgh, i can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the

paris agreement for our people, our economy, and future. i'm joined right now by himself. bill, thank you for joining us. i don't know why trump picked pittsburgh. maybe because it's alit rative with paris. what's he up to? >> i don't know. actually in the city of pittsburgh, hillary clinton won with nearly 80% of the vote. >> so he wasn't talking for you guys? >> no. no. >> when i go to pittsburgh, and i've grown up thinking of it as a steel city and kind of smoggy because of the industry in the old days. >> not kind of. >> when i go there in the last 20 years, it's green. it's beautiful. it's a gorgeous city. lots of clean air. i guess you want to keep it that way. >> you know what, pittsburgh is basically the best example of a city that you could use to talk about what the paris agreement had the potential to do and will have the potential to do. we, in the 1980s, had 19% unemployment. we lost more people because of

our economic collapse than the people who left new orleans after katrina, and they never came back to pittsburgh. and we had to brush ourselves off and reinvent ourselves. and we didn't look to the past to try and build our future. we built a new future, a future in artificial intelligence and robotics, in medicine and technology and finance, and we've been able to do it in a way that also cleaned our environment. for the president to choose pittsburgh and to say that he's representing us is a far stretch at best. >> you know, you're younger than me, i can tell. i was talking to my grandkids on the phone the other day and we're looking at each other, talking to each and they're out in california. when i group, that was unimaginable. that was buck rogers. now we're living in it because of science, because science has done amazing things. how could trump say science isn't science? i just don't understand what he is claiming. by the way, i don't think he's being honest about this either

because number one, he's talking about renegotiating. if he doesn't believe in the climate change situation, what's to negotiate? >> i mean the whole argument about climate change has already been debated. it's over. the rest of the world except one country and it's basically as we know because of politics. now, the more critical issue is why do all corporations in this country support the paris agreement? why do even fossil fuel companies support the paris agreement? because they understand where the economy of the world is going, and it's not going to stop because we're not going to be a part. >> not the koch brothers. >> well, but the rest. >> but tillerson is. the secretary of state believes in it. that's different. >> so does shell and other major corporations. but the question is if we're not going to be a part of the future and the economics of the world, then we're just guaranteeing it's going to happen in germany

and southeast asia and other parts. we have an opportunity, and we're going to take it in pittsburgh. tomorrow i'll sign my own executive order, and it will say, we are going to follow our agreements with paris. i was there in paris with almost 500 other mayors from around the world, and we realized then that federal government wouldn't implement this plan. it would be up to us. and tonight i stand with 61 american mayors who are going to do the same thing, and we're going to make sure that we follow this agreement. >> you got to run against pat toomey someday. you got to knock that guy off. you'd be great, a great senator. thank you, mayor bill peduto of pittsburgh. when we return, the "hardball" roundtable on what we heard from trump today. some of the darkest stuff we've heard since his inauguration speech. that's ahead. this is "hardball," where the action is. -where? -san francisco. -when? -friday. we gotta go. [ tires screech ]

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i'm melisilissa rehberger. gunshots and explosions went off at a casino in the philippines. hundreds feared it was terrorism. police say it was a lone gunman. robbery may have been the motive, and it does not appear to be terror related. the nine u.s. supreme court justices sat for their first group photo today. the court is expected to have a busy final month before it goes on recess in july. back to "hardball."

america is $20 trillion in debt, cash-strapped cities cannot hire enough police officers or fix vital infrastructure. millions of our citizens are out of work, and yet under the paris accord, billions of dollars that ought to be invested right here in america will be sent to the very countries that have taken our factories and our jobs away from us. >> welcome back to "hardball." the president's speech today pulling america out of the paris climate accord had echos of one he delivered on inauguration day. that speech on inauguration day became infamous for its use of the phrase, american carnage. let's remind ourselves what it sounded like. here it is again. >> for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists.

mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities. rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation. this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> for more i'm joined by the "hardball" roundtable. "time" magazine's michael sheer, yamiche alcindor, and jeff bennett, a new guy on the block. jeff, i remember the first batman movie. it was very dark. they're all bad people in the streets of gotham. that's how he portrays the country. he did it again today. is that the vision he has of -- this is a pretty nice country actually overall. >> you know, the politics of victimhood, i think, are a rich vein in american politics. we saw president trump, you know, use that to great effect during the campaign. he's used it when he talks about the russia investigation. he's the subject to a witch hunt. he was before the naval academy and talked about how no one's

been treated worse than he has. >> wasn't that pathetic? that builds men and women of greatness, doesn't it? let's all be victims together. by the way, congratulations on being officers. >> but this sense that america is getting over on the little guy, that's a message that resonates with his supporters, and i think that's what he was trying to speak to in framing the speech today. >> 195 countries, maybe minus one, us, they're out to get us? that was his message. >> what stuck with me about this message was the fact he was really contrasting. he said paris or pittsburgh. this idea was that these two cities are now somehow at war and that if we care about climate change and we think about the climate and we think about how we're going to lower our carbon emissions, that that's somehow taking away american values. so to me, it obviously is persuasive to his supporters but -- >> as david gregory used to say, unpack that. i know exactly what it means, but i want to tell me, what does the word paris say to his supporters? what does the word mean to them?

>> i think to the people that i've talked to, it means elite. it means people who are -- >> foreign. >> people who are foreign, but also people who don't understand you. people who think they're better than you. that's what he's using you. you think paris. i mean even to anybody, you think paris, and then you think pittsburgh, i mean where do you want to go? >> i remember popeye doyle. i don't want to use too many movies, but i remember french connection 2. he said i'd rather be a lamp post in new york than the president of france. >> donald trump has bragged several times about how well he knows paris. >> the waiters are not arrogant and awful. they're fine. >> he'll brag about how the old paris is gone and how he knew it back when. >> oh, there's too many arabs there now. that's what he says now, isn't it? >> every white house has to figure out, you know, how far to stick with a campaign and how to

govern. he just went all campaign here. >> let's get to the problems here. jeff, he's pulling one of these repeal and replace numbers because he knows he's hearing from ivanka and some of the more smart people around him, this is going to look bad, dad. you look like a troglodyte here. what's he going to replace it with if he doesn't believe in climate change? >> this is about a four-year long process. as a matter of fact, it takes so long that the exit of this actually ends the day after the 2020 election. >> oh, really? >> yeah, but i was -- >> so the new president, if it's a new president, he or she can stop it? >> this is absolutely going to be coming up in the -- >> trump, as i said, also challenged democrats to join him in renegotiating a new deal on climate change. let's watch this because i don't think it makes sense if you don't believe in climate change. >> i'm willing to immediately work with democratic leaders to either negotiate our way back into paris under the terms that

are fair to the united states and its workers, or to negotiate a new deal that protects our country and its taxpayers. [ applause ] so if the obstructionists want to get together with me, let make them non-obstructionists. >> now, again, the contradiction, he says he doesn't believe in climate change although two white house staffers were asked today and they wouldn't answer the question. but if he does believe in it, the science of it, then what's to negotiate? >> that's the number one question. but i think the idea that the white house won't say whether or not he doesn't agree with climate change, of course it's something that has been proven by scientists, but if you have to have that conversation, then there's nothing to negotiate. if you don't believe that the world is changing -- >> who is he talking to? >> he's talking to his supporters who want to think that the climate isn't changing because they want their coal-mile-per-houring jcoal

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>>we're ba with the "hardball" roundtable. michael, tl me something i don't know. >> we just finished a cover story on jared kushner, and the takeaway i had from it was people talk about how he's more moderate, more socially moderate. >> is he democrat? >> yes, everybody in his family is a democrat. but he also was surprised by how much he thought trump was right during the campaign, and he actually think trump's right on a lot of issues, so he's not a classic democrat. but the real thing that biepds him to the president is that they're both new york real estate guys who came from the burbs into manhattan and believed that they made themselves with their wits, and they believe they did it with transaction. if you look at the stories of jared coming in after charles gets sent to prison and the story of trump coming in after fred sort of hands him the reins to manhattan to make it big, they're very similar. >> okay. i got it. in other words, they're very self-confident. >> yes. >> so democrats who are desperate to find a new governor

for ohio are trying to get jerry springer to run. they say that because he is well known on tv, that he would somehow have the kind of appeal that trump would have. >> i like springer, but no. >> and at the national level, sights set off 2018. they need to pick up 24 seats to win the house majority. they have their sights set on recruiting and running military veterans in some of the 79 districts that democrats view as winnable. >> patriotism is a good thing, and people that serve ought to be get recognized. anyway, michael shear, yamiche al dcindo alcindor, jeff bennett, thank you. when we return, al franken. you're watching "hardball," where the action is. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be help starting your business, vendor contracts

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when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. stick around. al franken's coming here next with his new book, "giant of the senate" and what it's like to actually do satire in the age of trump. how do you satirize trump. it's already done. back after this. right. but you want to fix it. right. so who sent you? new guy. what new guy? watson. my analysis of sensor and maintenance data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. there you go. you still need a pass.

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now, al, you've been covering these midterm races? >> uh, yes. >> any general trends seem to be emerging? >> yes. this one appears to be the roughest campaign year ever. >> negative campaign something. >> oh, yeah. yeah. i've been covering politics for a long time, and this is without a doubt the most mean-spirited

year i've ever seen. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was then. comedian al franken on the set of snl while talking about the midterm elections of 1994. flash forward 22 years now, and his new book is al franken, giant of the senate. senator franken writes about president trump's takeover the republican party, and he said it has its root in the fact-free, right wing media bubble and in newt gingrich's pioneering of the politics of destruction back in the '90s. i'm joined now by democratic senator al franken of minnesota. who is author of al franken, giant of the senate. i have to tell you, people that say they're funny and they're not. i never thought cosby was that funny, actually. >> oh, no. he was funny. >> i think silvers was funny. i think caesar was funny. sergeant bilko was a show i couldn't stop laughing at because of the sheer inanity of it. your sense of humor, i don't know how to describe it but i was reading this outside

yesterday. i'm going through it and sitting there all by myself. no audience. i go, this is a rock, a riot. this stuff about how the obama administration does a billion dollars almost in reconstruction of this country, rebuilding all kinds of projects around the country, and they put a sign up that says, "funded by what". >> the a.r.r.a., instead of by the stimulus package. >> and nobody in the world said, thank god for -- whereas if trump had put it up, it would have been trump all over the thing. it would have been self-aggrandizing and everything. the senate, i thought about running for the senate about 3 million times, and i didn't do it. is it like what you think it's going to be, being a senator? is it like in the movies with -- well, let's see, peter lawford and walton pigeon and charles lawton all walking around seriously? >> it's exactly like that. the great debates on the floor.

no, it isn't. >> paul douglas. >> you know, part of the reason i wrote this book is to answer the question i get asked the most, which is, is being a united states senator as much fun as working on ""saturday night live""? and of course the answer is no. >> right. >> why would it be? but it's the best job i've ever had because you get to get things done. but it can be enormously frustrating, and this book is about my journey to the senate. talk about vicious races, i was in a very vicious race my first time. all my writing and stuff i had said as a comedian was put through a $15 million machine called the humorizer and -- >> and that is to make everything you said dead-pan serious. you really mean this, right? >> yeah.

it took out all the irony. it took out any context. in satire, you use things like hyperbole, and it was pretty ugly. so that was an ugly campaign. i won by 312 votes, and i got to the senate. i wanted to prove to the people of minnesota that i was going to do their work and i was serious about it. i think i managed to do that, and i got reelected by a very comfortable margin. so i've loosened up a little bit, and part of that is this book. >> this book, by the way, i thought that scary part about being a senator is you get up monday morning. you go into the office around 8:30 or 9:00. you show up and there's a call from the mayor or whatever. i think in pennsylvania, it might be up in the northeast or somewhere in the northwest, and the mayor says i'm coming down this week. i'm excited about this secure bill of mine. i'll be working with your legislative people all week. i'm thinking, i want to write an op-ed piece for "the new york

times" today. i don't want to do this. but you do. i hear you do like to do this. >> i do. i meet with constituents from minnesota. that's a large part of what i do, and i meet them in minnesota, but i also meet them when they come to washington. that's a very important part of the -- that's one of the best parts of the job frankly, which is finding out what people need, also what they're doing, which is incredibly great, including minnesota has been a leader on climate, on energy and renewable energy and energy efficiency. and other states like california, obviously, are going to continue carrying the ball. i mean that's the part about this that we can be somewhat optimistic about, this horrible decision today. but it is an incredibly satisfying job. you know, paul wellstone, who -- >> great man. >> a great man, and i dedicate

the book to him and to sheila, his wife. he said that politics isn't about winning. it isn't about money. it is about improving people's lives, and that's the benefit. that's what i get a kick out of. two weeks in, i passed a bill. johnny isakson, from georgia, pretty conservative republican was my co-sponsor on a bill that got service dogs to veterans of iraq and afghanistan that suffered invisible wounds, ptsd. >> thank you. i think that's a great thing to do. i've been at some of those events. it's funny about senators. when i worked there in the '70s, i'd watch these great old senators like -- well, some of them were not all great, but frank church, humphrey and all. they were all out of the movies to me. they would walk around in almost a senatorial walk.

they were very -- what's the right word? processional in the way they walked around, and they really did act like they were british actually. and you're not like that. but this picture on the cover of this book is so deep in levels of satire. you look like paul douglas or phil hart. >> the gravitas. >> the hand out there, the meaningful hand in the foreground and the fireplace in the background so you can be contemplative, and holding the globe. >> the globe shows the global reach of such a giant and the gravitas on my face is befitting a giant of the senate. now, in fairness, i do tell the reader that he or she can decide for him or herself by the time they finish the book whether or not i am, indeed, a giant of the senate. >> well, here you are in action here during the confirmation

hearing for energy secretary rick perry. >> i hope you are as much fun on that dais as you were on your couch. >> well -- [ laughter ] >> may i rephrase that, sir? >> please. please. please. oh, my lord. oh, my lord. >> well, i think we found our "saturday night live" sound bite. >> rick perry. what a duo you are. i mean i just think whenever i see rick perry, i think of burt parks from the miss america contest. there's just something about him that's so show business-y looking. >> what he was referring to is the fun on the couch, was i was sitting on a couch and he was in a chair during our courtesy meeting, and i liked him very much. i didn't vote for him because of some of his answers about climate, but he had been a

governor longer than any other governor in the history of texas. and he had prepared very much for our meeting and, you know, i hope to work with him in ways that we can. i like rick perry more than i expected to. >> well said. you know, i want everybody to buy this book. i think this book really -- in this age of trump, people need a little comic relief and also serious relief because you've got both in this book. this book is serious enough to read as a serious book and fun enough just to read for fun. it is really -- the beach isn't quite ready for you. maybe it is. it's june. the beach is ready. this is a great book to take with you. you know you buys these at stores. you also get them online. al franken, giant of the senate. in a way, he is. thank you, senator al franken, for coming on "hardball." we'll be back right after this. you're watching "hardball," where the action is. what if technology

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trump watch, thursday, june 1st, 2017. i was at a small african country listening on a short wave radio when we put a man on the moon. yesterday i spoke on the phone with our grandchildren in california while looking at them play. science. what mankind has wrought over these centuries, what the human mind has learned and master through zeal and vision and method and testing. science. and now we have a president who wants us to go the other way as if we're living in a world of science fiction, as if we were in a planet of the apes where science is treated as suspect, as something to be gagged, smothered, and buried. donald trump is not a stupid man. if science could make him a buck, he'd use it.

if science would get him votes, he would applaud its findings. what he's decided to do is that he can nail down his base in coal country, in the corporate boardrooms if he denies science. the proof that he doesn't believe what he's doing right now can be found in the nonsense of today's presentation. trump talks about renegotiating a new climate agreement. what? with 195 countries? we've got 195 countries to agree to a change so that we, the united states, can join the effort? if trump doesn't believe in the dangers of global climate change, if he doesn't sea the seas rising, those giant ice bergs breaking off, storms more threatening, what is there for him to negotiate? if he doesn't believe in the purpose of an agreement, why go back to the table? what does repeal and replace even mean in this case? it's hard to think of the worst thing this president has done, but so far this might just be the one. someone should tell the guy that all his hotels from mar-a-lago to scotland, all his golf courses, all the places he may

go in this lifetime happen to exist because this planet all of us share makes it possible. even the most selfish human being on the planet, which he threatens to be with this act, should be able to get that into his brain. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> all i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be, and i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> save the date. fbi director james comey will testify in public one week from today as the russia probe expands to encompass trump himself. then -- >> it could be russia, but it could also be china. >> putin all but admits what trump has spent so much time denying. russians hacked the democrats. >> it also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay? >> and surging with nationalism but short on facts. >> so we're getting out. >> trump abandons the paris im