general jeff sessions testifies before the senate intelligence committee. i like to go and have a closer look at it. follow me on twitter. we'll see you tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern, ha"hardball" with chris matthews starting right now. trump with defense. let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris mattis donald trump has been thrown on defense. he got lawyered up. after last week's testimony, he's throwing personal insults and attacks calling the former fbi a coward. he tweeted this weekend i believe the leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible, totally illegal, very cowardly. this morning his daughter echoed her father's attack on the comey's testimony and what she called the viciousness of the criticism of her dad. let's watch.

>> well, my father felt very vindicated. and all the statements that he's been making and feels incredibly optimistic. >> is it harder than you thought to stick to the things you want to do because of what keeps coming up, whether it's the russian investigation or something else? >> it is hard. and there's a level of viciousness that i was not expecting, but this isn't suppose to be easy. my father and this administration intends to be transfo transfo transformative. we want to do big bold things. i think that some of the disstra disstrdi di straxs and some of the ve rossty i w -- ve rossty i was blind sided. >> the "wall street journal" reported today the u.s. secret

service has no audio copies or transcripts of any tapes recorded within president trump's white house. well, the agency's response to freedom of information request submitted by the "wall street journal" doesn't include the possibility, they could have been recorded by another enty, meaning the president. sean spicer refused to say when he would confirm or deny the existence of tapes. >> does president trump have audio recordings of his conversation and meetings with fbi director comey. >> he made clear that he would have an announcement shortly. >> any sort of timeline when the president is ready to make it. >> he does have evidence, what is he waiting for? >> i think the president made it clear on friday that he would get back as soon as possible on this. >> what is he waiting for? >> he's not waiting for anything. when he's ready to furtherer discuss it, he will. >> tomorrow jeff sessions will testify before the senate intelligence committee in an open hearing. we'll be able to hear that

tomorrow afternoon. he'll be asked about his multiple contacts with russian ambassador during the campaign. well, yesterday an interview on abc, one of the president's trump, one of his attorneys wouldn't rule out the possibility the president firing robert muller, let's watch. >> will the president promise to interfere and not attempt at any time to order the deputy attorney general to fire robert mueller. >> look, the president of the united states, as we all know, it's an executive. but the president is going to seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government, as well as outside. i'm not going to speculate on what he will and will not do. >> kent star, remember him, he led the white water investigation against president bill clinton was asked about that possibility. let's watch star in action, again. >> it would be a very serious action, but it would again depend on the facts. what is it that bob mueller did that would justify that sort of

thing. we all learn from water gate. >> well, late today, we got word that trump is considering, perhaps, terminating robert mueller as special counsel. that cams ceo christopher. moments ago, he was seen leaving the west wing. i'm joined right now by al frank in minnesota, what did the new book, giant of the senate, senator thank you for this. i don't know. this is such a fast moving train. mueller has been in office a couple of weeks. the president is talking through ne newt. he's past it. >> he's fired one, comey who was leading the investigation. now, we have a special cosel, robert mueller is widely respected. i can't imagine what he would do to legitimately open themselves to being fired, frankly. and, you know, look -- >> doing his job, maybe. >> yeah. i mean, trump and the people

around him are not acting like people who have nothing to hide. >> yeah. >> let me ask you about this whole problem of the attacks on these guys. he uses his family now to do it. which i've said, they're like a royal family. everyone is in it. ivanka is saying we, the strange sort of familiar, what is this role and they had their private attorney. he doesn't seem to be a president with an officer around people that he's working with, president like nixon had, at least a presidency. he seems to be this free individual who has legal problems and a family rather than a president. it's something weird about this. >> she said she wanted to be transform tif and to be transform tif. you've got to point people to be secretary of things. this is a pretty hollow administration thus far. and he doesn't seem to have a lot of focus himself on policy, does he? >> no.

>> no. >> no. >> when you became a senator, you became a senator. he doesn't seem like he's become a president. he still acts like he's own guy out there somewhere else with high-priced lawyer at 1,500 bucks an hour. he doesn't use list. he doesn't use justice department. doesn't surround himself with anybody trusts. i guess i'm asking the intangible, why does he act like a president. >> he -- i don't know. he has violated several norms, shall we say, for president and, actually, also for human being. >> let's talk about that. if you go to rough high school, mine was sort of semi rough, semi. people were rough with each other. they tested each other. it was a pecking order. there was a lot of bullying, not a lot, but enough of it and name calling and nicknaming. he's still doing that. he's going after comey the same way he went after marco, after low energy jeb. he hasn't changed.

>> well, you know, he's not going to change. he's 70 years old or whatever he is and he's not doing to change. we thought that maybe he would, but i think it's pretty clear by now that he's the donald trump he was during the campaign and he's -- you know, he's not my favorite president. >> let's talk about him and this talk about impeachment and obstruction of justice. my sense is when you set the bar that high, he wins. if he doesn't get kicked out of office this year, he's somehow the winner because you set the bar so high. get rid of the guy or not. how do you see his survivability in office given the fact we've got sessions testifying in open hearing, a lot of questions have to be answered about the dealings with the russians about all of his people. they're still open with more coming on his trail. >> it's going to be there for another four years or he's not going to be there. >> let's not get ahead of ourselves.

there's a special prosecutor. robert mueller is respected by everyone in this town. he will get to the facts. he will find out what happened. this is an incredible serious attack by russia on the fundamentals of our democracy and whether or not the trump campaign interfere -- helped with that interference is what he will get to the bottom of. i'm not going to prejudge that, we shouldn't prejudge that. both intelligence committees in the house and the senate are going to do their jobs tomorrow, they'll be asking the attorney general about some of his testimony during this confirmation hearing, i would imagine, which he actually answered -- he didn't answer a question i asked. he answered a different question that he made up. and that was, did you meet with any russians and he said something it wasn't accurate. >> it's fresh news on that, it

looks like. he had the meeting at the rnc, the republican convention and he apparently met with him in his office. he calls these courtesy meetings or bump ins or whatever they are. there's talk of another meeting he had last april at the may flower hotel in washington. what do you make of that? >> senator leahy and i wrote a letter to then director comey asking him this very thing, whether there were more meetings. you'll remember, that for seven weeks after he gave this false testimony. he didn't correct it. he didn't correct it until the washington post actually said that he had met with him a couple of times. we asked, specifically, about this meeting at the may flower and other meetings, too, in a private letter to the director and that we've now made public. i think jeff sessions has -- i think he should appear before the judiciary committee again. it was us he gave the false testimony. >> is this three strikes you're out. three times you forgot the

meeting with the russian. >> well, you know -- >> could that be the memory or failure of memory. >> you know, he'll probably explain whether this third meeting was an actual meeting. they've intercepted some contacts and his people. he may have been exaggerating the meeting. you know, because he what was important. i met with jeff sessions. >> let me ask you about this -- >> you're an important ambassador. >> comey's testimony last week, he made an illusion to the fact there may be another reason why sessions should be kept out of recused from any investment or investigation of the russian connection because of stuff -- what was he talking about, if not this meeting? >> i don't know. i mean, he did recuse himself and then he should not have participated in the firing of comey, which he did. i think he violated his own recusal. so that -- >> trump said it was about

russia. >> yeah. it was about russia that the president says about russia and he said i recuse myself for anything that had to do with russia. so that's something they should ask about tomorrow. and also i don't know, i'm not on the intelligence committee, so evidently in the classified setting comey must have said something else about that and now i'm sure they'll get into it tomorrow. >> i can't let you leave. i want to ask you about this relationship between trump and his cabinet people who he hardly knows. what did you make of the flexions around the table, they said thank you for the blessing reince priebus had of having the position. >> i think the people there after the very very last. he had just got to take people to work, for god's sake. if they feel blessed to be in his cabinet or to be around him or to be his chief of staff for at least another week or so,

they should feel very blessed. i feel very blessed to be here. >> i think that may be appropriate in this case. thank you senator for coming over. >> a certainly the capitol. it's great. you may be my favorite senator now. for a long time. you're up there. >> she's a great senator. >> calling for greatness. >> we're going for greatness. you're the youngest one of the three. thank you. >> thank you. it's important. >> thank you. >> bless you. >> too funny. senator al frank -- this is a great book, good on substance and humor, either one jus fisted by this book. giants of the senate. >> bless you. >> by the way, and maybe there's some appointment involved from the family, unleashed an attack on special counsel, the man leading the russian investigation, let's watch the news story here. >> comey's yesterday was created

because of his manipulation and because of his leak and his deliberate intent to force it to happen. >> i think that what republicans ought to focus on is closing down the independent counsel because he's not independent, he apparently is very close to comey. we know comey hates trump. you have to assume that that has to leak over to mueller. you have to assume the people that mueller are going to bring in are essentially justice department people who are 33-1 in favor of clinton over trump. this cannot be an honest independent investigation. >> that's the former speaker. he got the witness protection former. and breaking news nsa director mike rogers just walked into the senate skiff or he'll be meeting with senate intelligence committee meetings. i'm joined right now by usa today and the washington post columnist gene robinson and with nbc ken delaney. i had to go to the expert for a second what do you make of this

latest, all of a sudden, the president his people newt, his colleague, perhaps his surrogate are putting out the word, your life is limited here in special counsel. >> the interesting thing about gingri gingrich. he was pointing to some of the legal experts had contributed money to democratic candidates in the past, one he gave to hillary clinton's senate campaign. what have we come to in this world, if we're going to judge everybody by a few hundred bucks and we're doing to suggest that a guy like bob mueller or the people he hired can't be trusted and conduct an independent investigation. and, chris, if i could just go back -- >> it is an argument, though, i have to say, if yo ear on the other side of the -- if you're on the other side of the trial you'll say, look, you're tainted, is that a couple of hundred bucks we're talking about, how much money do these

lawyers give? >> i don't have the exact numbers in front of me. it wasn't more than a few hundred, maybe a thousand. >> to most people, that's money. >> for sure. >> let me ask you, why would you want to put the word out through newt or anybody else, there chris, that he's walking out of the west wing a few moments ago in real time, it just happened and he's putting out the word through judy, good reporter that he -- that this president may fire the special counsel, why are they so ready because they'll have another one. >> if they fire him, another one will come along. >> i don't think we can discuss possibility here that donald trump is trolling his critics because he knows this will drive everyone bananas and he knows that people will go to defcon 7 over this. he loves sticking it to people and getting everyone talking about the latest outrage. i can't imagine it's serious. if it is, you know, if you've got people like ken star saying it will be a horrible mistake. you've got to have a reason to

fire someone, what has robert mueller done. >> let me ask you, what did you think about the senator's comments just now? >> i think, chris, i think he made some news in that interview with you. he said for the first time, i think i heard him say, that the reason that people think there was a third meeting between jeff sessions at that may flower hotel, had to do with intercepting communications between he and his people. that has been like speculation and i had some indications on that, no one confirmed that. i like to go back and ask senator frank what he's basing that on. that's really interesting. you can be sure that he's going to be asked about this matter tomorrow. i'm waiting to see, will he flatly deny under oath that he had a meaningful encounter with the russian ambassador at this may flower hotel event. >> how much bad memory can this guy, sessions, get away with? he forgot the two meetings, at what point did people say, he's got a serious mental problem, not mental, dementia, and you can't remember, you'll remember

one of the one for three. he's heading for strike out here. and the other thing. why did you let the president wrestle you out of the oval office so he can talk to the fbi director you know he's not suppose to have investigations with the guy. >> what did you do with that information? it was your job to run interference and to make sure they can be independent in a criminal investigation, chris. >> thank you. raised some great questions tonight, with always, great background on this. thank you so much. het let me bring in susan, this has an acceleration rate. just talk politics. why would a guy with president's psyche, why would he want to have the word that he's about to fire. he said the other night, $1,500 an hour means expensive lawyer, he's lawyering up because he thinks he's in legal trouble. he says i know a way of getting

out of legal trouble, fire the prosecutor. it just stinks. >> we've had two people who are close to trump and who we think are talking to trump suggested he might fire bob mueller. >> why would they do that, that's okay? >> they must be -- he -- i cannot imagine the president trump doesn't understand, this is not like some lawyer that works for the trump corporation. this would be a controversy that dwarf the one that followed the firing of comey. this would be a political -- >> that's right. >> exactly. >> the comparisons to water gate that people have begun to make, it will fuel. >> they tried every trick, executive privilege taking -- talk immunity, now they're talking oh, we'll fire the prosecutor. >> you're right. this is third world. >> he can suggest that the president is just trying to stick it to everybody by following this rumor. he's succeeding, this would be huge. this will be explosion. >> and even the license that aren't for real, independent judiciary.

that is a real country. >> exactly. and you can't fire prosecutors your way to exoneration, you can't do that. >> we have institutions in this country, which we saw represented today by the court decision by the ninth circuit blocking. the immigration ban yet once again. >> that shows independent. >> we have institutions that are braced for situation that seem unacceptable. i think firing the special counsel within his presidential power will be seen as an affront to the legal system. >> well, the intimidation factors of everything he's pulled as an intimidation factor. by the way, i've got tapes, be careful what you say. then you realize if you study trump, we're all students of trump. he lives in the moment. that very moment, when he said tapes, that was only for that moment. he doesn't have any tapes. and then -- >> it was something to say to get him to the next moment, to win the moment. that's not like winning the day or winning the moment. >> nixon had tapes. but he told the truth. and when can the tapes that the

guy told the truth that witnessed it. having a problem -- i'm sorry. i don't know what it's going to take for a republican controlled congress to impeach a republican president, probably quite a lot. but the fact is, we can make the judgment. the american people will make it whether this guy is observing the basic responsibility of his officer and it's going to matter because he can't just ride over the constitution. >> we'll continue to have situations where it does something that hurts him in the long term by a tweet that raises question about whether he has tapes. this does not serve as long term interest. when people around him tell him that, he clearly does not take it. >> says my speech for the day democratic party, nor some other republican challenger has got to get the spunk and the guts to walk out to the american people and tell them why it matters that we have a president like this and shouldn't. they can't just go to the courts and expect them to save their butt. somebody has got to win the political argument which is becoming pretty flagrant. if he fires the special counsel.

if you don't get this message and you're not paying attention. thank you. coming up, the attorney general and the district of columbia right here filed suit against president trump for violating the constitution. they say he's in breach of the cause by keeping ties to his big trump businesses. what they're really after is trump's tax returns, apparently, plus president trump doesn't want to visit great britain until they like him better. trump said about london's mayor, he may be waiting a long time. as john mccain said they're standing at world stage -- what's better under obama, that was a tough one for john mccain to say, but an honest one. but trump's bizarre meeting where one by one, the members of his administration went around the room saying what a great job the president is doing. this is pretty third world stuff, don't you think. let me finish tonight with trump watch, he won't like it. this is hard ball with action news.

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. to find smarter solutions. to offer more precise and less invasive treatment options than before. like advanced genomic testing and immunotherapy. see how we're fighting to outsmart cancer at cancercenter.com/outsmart

mostly muslim nations. >> the band was directed in a religious group. confident now that the ban will be upheld by the supreme court, fat chance. we'll be right back. i don't miss much... definitely not the traffic. excuse me, doctor... the genomic data came in. thank you. you can do that kind of analysis? yeah, watson. i can quickly analyze millions of clinical and scientific reports to help you tailor treatment options for the patient's genomic profile.

you can do that? even way out here? yes. even way out here. even way out here? that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. i told you we had a fortune. get closer to your investment goals with a conversation. its witnessed 2 diy duos,s 31 crashes,: 4 food fights, and the flood of '09. it's your paradise perfected with behr premium plus paint. the best you can buy starting under $25. only at the home depot.

live-streat the airport.e sport, binge dvr'd shows, while painting your toes. on demand laughs, during long bubble baths. tv on every screen is awesome. the all-new xfinity stream app. all your tv at home. the most on demand, your entire dvr, top networks, and live sports on the go. included with xfinity tv. xfinity the future of awesome. this is america. we have a constitution. our founding fathers were concerned about corruption. they were concerned about a

president of the united states not focusing on the people's business, but being worried about personal business. what we're doing is exactly what is necessary in this circumstance and we look forward to the litigation in court. >> welcome back to hard ball, the attorney general and the state of maryland announced today they're suing president trump. they say that his continued financial interest and his business empire violating the anticorruption clauses of the u.s. constitution. they claim the president's receive millions of dollars in payments, benefits and other valuable consideration from foreign governments and persons acting on their behalf as well as federal agencies and state governments which are barred by -- he's barred by the clause of the constitution. can't have a profit or anything else coming from anything but the government. president trump has said he's transferred his businesses to his son. on the campaign trail he and his family promised to put the company into a blind trust. let's watch this commitment to

the voter. >> my children are older and they're wiser and i think they're going to do a great job. if i put it in a blind trust, that wouldn't bother me at all. >> i will sever connections i'll have my children and executives run the country. >> be totally separated from the business. the business will be small potatoes compared to what he's doing this for. >> my father already said he'll put the company into a blind trust and it would be run by us. >> he said he'll have nothing to do, he's much more concerned. he said it to me. he's much more concerned about america. >> well, the attorney's general who brought the suit today have also made it clear that they intended to demand the president's tax return to determine the extent of the violation. maryland attorney general brian frost who brought this suit today. paul butler is on the show all the time and legal analyst and formal federal prosecutor. i want to have attorney general make the first case. forget the law for one second, how much does this violate the

pledges he made about blind trust. >> absolutely he did. he hasn't put his properties into a blind trust, period. >> is that something you can do when you have a corporation, can you put in a blind trust, is it doable? >> you could with a corporation, widely held, but not with the kind of companies that he has. >> what should he have done to avoid the hastle he's in right now with you? >> that's where -- >> what could he have done to avoid this. >> he could have sold all the properties that yield payments from foreign governments. >> sold the whole trump empire. >> and you think he would have done that, that was -- >> i signed up for this. he never said he would do that. >> it doesn't matter what he said. it matters what the constitution says. >> paul, what's your thinking about this and what he's done wrong what the remedy might be for what he has done. there needs to be one. >> really important case. there are a lot of open legal questions, the supreme court has never decided a case in which interpreted the clause. the monument clause means that the president can't get gifts from foreign governments. another question is, what's a

gift. is a gift if you own a hotel and somebody stays at the hotel. they're paying the hotel, that within the purview of gift. also, what's the remedy. if the concern is now for nationals are staying at the trump hotel to try to hcarry favor with the president. putting the president in blind trust, they're still going to know they're staying at the trump hotel. lots of open questions. >> what do you respond to that? >> well, first of all, a monument are more than gifts. >> the definition includes profits and things like that. >> exactly. >> it's really any payments from a foreign government. and, look -- >> let's talk about what i think bothers me. it use to be if you wanted an interview, if he wanted an interview and you go across from jerusalem, you had to buy a whole row of motel rooms, basically, hotel rooms, even if you're staying there for an

hour, he was getting some money through a cousin and there's the danger much more macro big row scale. he had a president benefitting that stinks. >> we do, look, he's marketing the trump hotel in d.c. >> somebody said apparently if you stay in one of these resorts, you might get the bump into the president of the united states. i can think of the expert, what is the remedy besides sacking the guy. you'll throw him out of office. >> it's up to him. >> he can divest. he's selling it to, his kids. >> it doesn't matter to the united states. that's his problem. >> do you think that will happen. >> i think the supreme court. >> surely that's what's going to happen. >> i think the supreme court is going to tell him. >> i understood, the pain in the butt. i don't have a problem with somebody causing a pain in the butt to trump. it's fine. it's politics. for the question, where does it go. where does this get done. paul, first. >> so, you know, part of the

illegal challenge standing the district of columbia mirror, actually hurt by trump's business entanglement. we'll have to wait and see, again. i think the real action here is in the pretrial motions, judge is likely to say before this -- we make a big federal case about this. why do you guys try to work out something, some kind of compromise. we don't have to deal with the big constitutional issues. just have something common sense. this is a bad look. isn't there something that the trump administration and merely d.c. can agree to that can at least create the appearance. >> release your tax returns. do you think that you can actually get tho tho the point getting them to actually turn it over. >> i think we're entitled to all of the financial dealings that he has, we can get all of that documented. we look at that, but that's not -- that's not the basis of -- >> i want your reaction. look at this, the ranking member

of the house intelligence committee, u.s. congressman, we know him, he's ranking, he's from california, he's weighing in on the reports. trump is considering, terminating firing robert mueller as special counsel. shift tweets, if president fired bob mueller, congress would immediately re-establish counsel and appoint bob mueller again. don't waste our time. your thoughts on that, paul, first. firing him seems so, if you're talking about it premature and talking about impeachment or conviction, it seems to fire the top counsel, there's going to come -- more coming. i don't think they'll get a better one than mueller. >> this will be water gate on steroids. special counsel who has bipartisan support and respect to be fired by the president of the united states would make you wonder, what is trump so afraid of. why does he want an investigation. supposedly, an investigation

will clear his name if you're trying to fire the guy who is doing the investigation making it looks like you have a lot to hide. >> i understand why he doesn't want his tax returns, first of all people like privacy. he's maybe not as rich as he said, all kind of reasons personally. there's no reason you should be afraid of special prosecutor unless he's got something wrong. >> he looks more and more like a guilty man. i mean, he's firing do he wanted this job because he thinks there's something, don't you think. >> i don't think he'll undertake it. >> i think what's scaring mr. trump, paul, and mr. attorney general, i think he's afraid of, mueller means it. they use to say that about bobby kennedy, he means it. look out. thank you, gentlemen, thanks for coming on this show. we'll be right back. we'll be right back with more. what's with him?

he's happy. your family's finally eating vegetables thanks to our birds eye voila skillet meals. and they only take 15 minutes to make. ahh! birds eye voila so veggie good

i needed something more to help control my type 2 diabetes. my a1c wasn't were it needed to be. 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 suppose to do, release its own insulin. 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 a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain in your stomach, or symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing. 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. once-weekly trulicity may help me reach my blood sugar goals. with trulicity, i click to activate what's within me. if you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

here we are right near the u.s. capitol, walking across the street, business as usual, that's the message from the white house today with president trump basking in praise of his first full cabinet meeting, praise from his people, the cabinet member and on going turmoil of the russian investigation, let's watch. >> we have done, as i said, about as much as anybody ever in a short period of time in presidency. >> mr. president, thank you for the honor to serve the country, it's a great privilege you've gec given me. >> can't thank you enough. >> i want to thank you for

getting this country moving again and also working again. >> we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing that you've given us to assert your agenda in the american people. >> it seems like robert, meeting with his cabinet. let's bring in hardball round table, bureau chief for the washington post, the national reporter for the "new york times" and thrush white house correspondent for the "new york times." it's great to have this slugger's row on tonight. and a couple of things, first of all, before we get to the fun part, before the leader, what do you make of the fact that coming from chris, the word cumming from newt gingrich, i assume as surrogate. why are they putting tup notion that the president might fire the special counsel just named to investigate him. that's the only reason to fire the guy, he's investigating you. >> it is unbelievable. they must feel and, you know, my reporting has not yet yielded anything that puts this close to

the president. but somebody in the president's orbit must have said yes to this and must feel they can get away with it. the question that i have, is why would they float this when they know that there will likely be a backlash, not just from democrats and we've seen stuff from adam shift tweeted about it. from republicans, this is the button to push if you want to ali alienate republicans. >> i think it's incredible, the thinking behind this can be because you had james comey admitting the reason he shared his memo he wanted a special prosecutor appointed, that gives a little bit of leeway to say, he was picked so quickly afterward. however, i can't imagine if he gets rid of robert mueller that the republicans are going to have a hard questions for him and push back in a way that he hasn't seen before. >> the deputy attorney general named him, it's not like he has second thoughts given this new information, he doesn't have the

standing to fire special prosecutor under the normal way we picked them this way, i will not fire except for cause when it cams to archy cox. >> there may be a way for him to do it. i think if he were to try to do it, i wouldn't be surprised if the deputy attorney general resigned. >> i can see is an outsider. you know, guys who defends guilty people. that's what they do for guilty people. you don't defend the innocent. glen, this guy -- look at the mo of this president. he doesn't have anybody in the cabinet that's standing up and speaking for him. he doesn't have a counsel in the white house. what does he do and goes out to his own life. he's got ivanka defending him. i say it again, she should not be speaking for a father, it's a family, ownership of the white house, a take over and they're using a private attorney. it's a strange way to be present. i'll get back to nixon. he was defending his presidency. he talked about -- he talked

about a cancer and the presidency. this guy doesn't act like he has a presidency. he doesn't look or behave like it. >> one of the issues here, we're hearing the that his relationship of -- has deteriorated really significantly in the past five or six weeks. mcgan was against the comey firing and trump feels that mcgan is not out there defending him in an appropriate way. kaz wits his private attorney and somebody he's got a real relationship with. he says the same sort of deportment, i think, mcgan had a lot of people in that west wing are starting to understand the real perils here. it's not entirely clear to me the president gets it. >> i mean, when i think about -- >> did you see him at the manner of the cabinet. i know that people along the window. like kellyanne, they're trumpi s trumpies. too much of it is mildly embarrassed that he's sitting

there. >> i will say they all looked embarrassed, the fact they were kissing the ring. >> all of our reporting, you talk to some of these people and know -- and know what they really feel. you know they were telling you before trump was elected. you had heard all of this stuff from these people that were saying this. but i have talked to some of those people, there are sources for story that say, you know trump is going to have to get it together and listen to me. you're saying, you know it's a blessing -- >> the line is so out of place. you render and things in it, blessings are not one of the things you give to caesar. it's a job. reince looked like -- archbishop of cantburg, it didn't make any sense and any religion. any way -- >> it makes seps for him if all you want is loyalty. >> i want to fight through all of this. i find it. who is running the white house behind the president. who is in the room with him now. is it bannon back. are they back, is that what's going on? >> i like the way what's going

on to the god father. by the way, it was like the worst first date ever. you look really good in that suit, mr. president. i mean, i think that's the issue. >> let's go to the movies. let's see three movies. >> at least they should have given him drinks. i think the issue here, is we write staff stories, we've written an endless churn of these staff stories. this is about donald trump. donald trump is the guy running this show. everything you're seeing here is a donald trump production. >> okay. >> all of these characters moving in and out. >> the round table sticking with us. these people tell me something i don't know. this is hardball with the action news. at lincoln financial, we get there are some responsibilities of love you gotta do on your own. and some you shouldn't have to shoulder alone. like ensuring your family is protected, today and tomorrow, no matter what the future brings.

ask a financial advisor how life insurance from lincoln can help start protecting your family's financial future now. "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business. gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally? microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. there are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. with the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data

faster than ever before. if we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin.

we're back with the round trab table, philip tell me something i don't know. >> the health care, it doesn't have the pass, it's trying to make something happen.

you'll see vice president pence talking about health care tomorrow. look for the president to do more of these events when he travels around the country talking to obama care victims, that's what they call it. >> remember mitt romney, that guy that ran for so long ago, he has been infielding a lot of request from candidates who try to talk on their behalf and campaign with them and making them feel really good about whether or not he could run for presidential bid. >> when would he run. >> we're talking about 2020 already. >> in the primary ris. >> i think trump would win that one, go ahead. >> you know how everyone is talking about north korea, the fwol folks are more concerned about afghanistan and whether there's political stability will topple him, that might be the first major foreign policy the president has to deal with. thank you, glen. president trump's trip to brit is apparently off. doesn't want to go until they like him better. you're watching "hardball" with

the action news. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia buttrust angie's list to help., [ barks ] visit angieslist.com today. trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief.

briathe customer app willw if be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday?! yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. just like the people every business is different.

but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be with customer contracts, agreements to lease a space or protecting your work. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you, every step of the way. so you can focus on what you do and we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom. legal help is here. 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. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

welcome back to "hardball. donald trump moved ahead. it seems to be the big question this week after conflicting reports this sunday that's yesterday, that question whether the president may skip the visit altogether. the guardian newspaper reported yesterday that the president said in a recent phone call that he does not want to go ahead with the visit to the uk unless the public supports him over there. white house press secretary sean spicer was asked about that today and here is his answer. >> just so we're clear on that, her majesty extended the president and we look forwarding to scheduling that trip. there's nothing that was scheduled and we look forward to working out mutually acceptable date with the united kingdom. >> blah blah blah. the reports came during a difficult time. it was politically weakened

after a stinging loss in last week's election. i'm joined by chief correspondent for future stories. you've got one response, let's give it, what's going on and how much is trump dominating british politics. >> i don't think he's dominating. i think this issue is impossible to stage manage. she's now so politically weakened after that election last week, she doesn't feed the downing streak can't without looking over her shoulder and making sure fellow conservatives aren't about to stab her in the back and push her out. there's no ground swell of support in the uk for this visit whatsoever. i suspect in the guardian was a message to donald trump from downing street saying, right now you can forget about this. >> thanks so much. any way the breaking news tonight is that we've got word now that through chris, close friend of president trump who tells pbs, what is the president considering, perhaps, firing

robert mueller, special counsel. joining us right now by phone ranking democratic what do you make of this. why are you putting out the word through newt gingrich, woodruff, why do they want the word out that the president wants to fire the guy who might be prosecuting him. >> i can only imagine that this is part of the effort to tear down bob mueller. but it's continuing with mueller. they're clearly afraid of mueller and his independence and the thoroughness of the investigation he's likely to lead. i can't manage that they're going to be crazy enough to go through with this threat. but, then, i never thought they would really go through firing james comey. so you can't exclude the possibility but i think it's just a way of raising doubts about this, you know, very good man respected by people on both sides of the aisle. >> well, wouldn't they face the inevident blt of replacement.

you can do better. is that their thinking you can't get a tougher prosecutor if he finds a way to sack this one, he may be, you know, a weaker person to replace them. >> well, if that's their hope, it's not going to work because what this would prompt if he were to fire bob mueller, congress would take up to re-establish the independent counsel that expired and he would point bob mueller. the president is not going to get to pick the person who investigates these allegations. there's no way i think even this congress could sit through that. >> you can't pick your prosecutor. here is news max, ceo. as i said a close friend said on pbs tonight, here he is. >> i personally think it would be very significant mistake, even though i don't think there's a justification and even

though, i mean, here you have a situation -- >> you don't think there's a justification. >> for a special counsel, in this case. >> let me ask you about this, that will probably be taken up by the senate, counterparts tomorrow, that the attorney general who certainly been problematic in this whole matter, turns out he may have had another meeting with the russians last year, he never accounted for and never admitted to. >> that will certainly be a topic and the attorney general disclosed any and all meetings that he had. we know that he didn't disclose that during his testimony. he later supplemented his testimony. now there's an allegation that even a supplement wasn't accurate. that's pretty serious business. i'm sure the senate is going to want to ask about that they'll want to seek to corroborate what james comey testified. was he asked to leave the room by the president of the united states. did he have a conversation there

after with the president about his discussion with jim comey and later have a conversation with mr. sessions don't leave me alone with the president again. >> do you think he's honored his recusal for any russian matters i eluded to his sitting there when they fired comey who was fired because of the prosecutor and the russian connection and didn't have the attorney general sit there and go along with it, the firing. >> absolutely not. absolutely not. how do you honor a recusal that says i won't be a decision maker when it comes to russia investigation and recommend that the top guy who is doing the investigation be fired. it just doesn't add up. in fact, at the time of that memo and the attorney general's own letter, my observation was the principle problem with the rosenstein memo is that it was addressed to the attorney general who had recused himself. so, new york city he absolutely hasn't honored that and much as we have tried from rob ros

rosenstein and others what are the parameters of the recusal that we could not have been able to get a clear answer. >> richard nixon, the president wanted to fire -- 1973 wanted to fire cox, independent counsel at that time. he told the attorney general to do so. he committed himself to the congress not to do so. he had to resign. did the same thing, the deputy attorney general. he had to resign. he was fired actually and had to go to the judge to get anybody to do it. what would happen this time if the president told jeff sessions to fire the prosecution, wouldn't he have to quit soon. >> i would think that the attorney general character to resign, certainly given that he's recused himself, he could take no part in that decision. i would happen that rob rosensteen would resign before he would implement that.

i feel very confident that we would move quickly in congress and i think we might even find the republicans standing after this president and ultimately detri mentd detrime detrimental. >> monday june 2nd, june 12th, 2017. i went to my colleague's reunion and learned a lot. first, roughly, three squaquart of my class, most if not all the rest voted for donald trump. some of those who did struck me as gun hoe protrump politics. what's interesting i think that we held a good conversation saturday morning with good participation and nobody got mad at each other.

there were some towel snatching. it was impressive illustration that it doesn't have to be the nasty stuff you get from the bad actors people can only speak by putting someone else down personally. i think this country is really in for the rough arguments for the next couple of years that goes for both parties. republicans have to start talking sensibly and courageously about how far they're willing to go with this president. democrats are going to have to talk about where they stand politically, if they're going to move left, they have to consider if they really believe that's where they want to be and where they want the party to be when the voters take a look at them. the only question is whether they're going to make a stronger in our democracy or weaker. i don't want this president, donald trump, to be a reason for both parties to lose control of their bearings. one party already has and that's requested hard ball for now. thanks for being with us. "all