the hearing room that you won't see anyplace but on my facebook page. go to my facebook page to see a lot of videos. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. sessions in session. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews up in new york. donald trump's attorney general faced tough questions on capitol hill today. jeff sessions was grilled by the senate intelligence committee about his role in the firing of james comey. comey's testimony last week and sessions' own meetings with the russian ambassador, meetings he didn't initially even admit. well, sessions' testimony comes nearly a week after comey testified that the president spread lies about his firing and questioned the attorney general's role in his dismissal. president trump has said the fbi was in virtual turmoil under comey's leadership. well, today sessions, the attorney general, said he never

discussed performance concerns with comey before his firing. let's watch him on that. >> the fact that you'd worked with director comey for some time, did you ever have a conversation as a superior of director comey with his failure to perform or some of these accusations that he wasn't running the fbi in a good way or that somehow the fbi is in turmoil? did you have any conversations with director comey about those sessions? >> i did not. >> well, sessions also addressed comey's testimony last week about his private meeting in the oval office with the president. comey said he confronted sessions and told him that could never happen again. here was sessions, however, today. >> would it be fair to say that you felt like perhaps you needed to stay because it involved the fbi director? >> well, i don't know how i would characterize that, senator rubio. i left. it didn't seem to me to be a major problem. i knew that director comey, long

time experience in the department of justice, could handle himself well. >> in another stunning moment, sessions said he never received a classifies briefing about the reconstruction election meddling itself. >> do you believe the russians interfered with the 2016 elections? >> it appears so. the intelligence community seems to be united in that. but i have to tell you, senator king, i know nothing but what i've read in the paper. i've never received any detailed briefing on how a hacking occurred or how information was alleged to have influenced the campaign. >> you received no briefing on the russian active measures in connection with the 2016 election? >> no, i don't believe i ever did. >> he could have gotten one if he asked for it. headlines from the hearing, sessions called the suggestion of collusion with russia, a detestable lie, and he strongly rejected the argument that his recusal from the russia investigation meant he should not have been involved in comey's firing. but sessions dodged all questions about his interactions with president trump even though he said the president hadn't

asserted executive privilege. for more, i'm joined by nbc national security reporter ken dilanian. you watched the whole hearing. what grabbed you? >> well, it grabbed me jeff sessions locked in his story under oath. there was no collusion with russia. at this point if anybody says there was on jeff sessions' part, they got to prove it. secondly, though, he could not deny that he met with the russian ambassador in the mayflower hotel as we were talking about last night. he said he didn't recall, and he may have had an encounter. he disputed there was a private meeting. i thought one of the biggest revelations of the hearing was when he said he had not been briefed at all about any of the russia hacking. we understand he's recused from the russia investigation, but the attorney general is a member of the national security council. the russian hacking intreally raises the question what is the trump administration doing about it? james comey testified that donald trump never asked him about in their nine encounters. now we have the attorney general of the united states say he's

never gotten a single classified briefing about it. and then later in the hearing he acknowledged we really don't have a good strategy for counteracting russian hacking or other cyber attacks. so, you know, i think more questions need to be asked of this administration about what exactly they're doing to prevent the next hacking in 2018. >> he is the president of the united states. he ought to be looking out for us and what the russians are up to should be pretty much at the top, they and the north koreas. what they're up to should matter the most. thank you, ken. i'm joined by senator martin heinrich of new mexico. he was in the hearing today. senator, what did you think of the fact that it didn't seem to bother the attorney general that he was whisked out of the room in the oval office so that the president could have a private tete-a-tete with the fbi director? why would he want to talk to the fbi director except about something to do with the fbi? i mean they weren't planning a kids' school picnic. it is by nature something to do with the job of fbi director. >> and i don't think we ever got a good answer for that, but we

didn't get a good answer for a number of thgs i think we saw a pattern today of this attorney general refusing to answer very basic questions in front of this committee. and they chose to stonewall and obstruct this investigation. >> what do you make of the fact that sessions seemed to have no problem with firing comey even though the president said he fired comey because of the russian investigation, and sessions was recused from having anything to do with the russian investigation. well, how about getting rid of the guy prosecuting it? that had something to do with it. i don't know how he's recusing himself if he's firing comey, the guy investigating the whole russian matter. >> at the very least, he should have realized how improper that looks. you know, there's sort of this parallel universe thing going on here with the attorney general, with the psident as well, and it seems tt facts don't matter. the president can say one thing. the attorney general comes and says something else. the two don't add up together. but that's how this

administration seems to roll. >> you're new to the senate, but what is this new governmental gag rule that people who work for the president must never discuss or don't have to ever discuss conversations with the president, ever, about anything? all they have to do is say, i don't think that's appropriate. i'm not citing executive privilege, i just don't want to do it, and i'm not going to do it. it looks like they're all singing that song now. >> absolutely. i think so far it's been an effective way of stonewalling the committee. i asked some pretty silly questions because i am new, and i'm not an attorney. i said what is the legal standard here? and there is no appropriateness legal standard. they seem to have plucked this from thin air, and they're hanging on to it. now we see this pattern of director coats, the attorney general, of admiral rogers all saying -- using this as an excuse not to answer some very basic yes or no questions. >> how is the special counsel, mr. mueller -- how is he going to investigate this whole

question of collusion, if it happened, if he can't get anybody to talk to him? >> well -- >> under oath, i mean. is anybody in the administration going to participate in this investigation,r are they all going to stonewall to use your word? >> i can't speak for the special counsel, but from what i understand, a special counsel has some tools that are not at our disposal to get to the bottom of this. and i think we will just have to watch and see that play out. >> maybe it's a cattle prod. thank you very much, senator martin heinrich of new mexico. i'm joid by u.s. congresswoman jackie speier of california, a member of the house intellence committee, and also "the washington post's" phillip bump. jeff sessions refused to say today whether comey's handling of the russia investigation had anything to do with his firing. watch. >> so do you concur with the president that he was going to fire comey regardless of recommendation because the problem was the russian investigation? >> senator feinstein, i guess

i'll just have to let his words speak for himself. i'm not sure what was in his mind explicitly when we talked with him. >> did you ever discuss director comey's fbi handling of the russia investigation with the president or anyone else? >> senator feinstein, that would call for a communication between the attorney general and the president. >> i understand that. >> i'm not able to comment on that. >> you are not able to answer the question here, whether you ever discussed that with him? >> that's correct. >> let me go to jackie speier. congresswom congresswoman, thank you for joining us. i do think hes had an inability to remember anything. i'm serious. he three times met with the russian ambassador apparently. at least he won't deny it. now he can't remember any of those meetings. i think if i met with the russian ambassador, i'd remember it, especially this guy, kislyak. he looks like a character out of "dr. strange love." he really does look like the russian ambassador, and the accent certainly would give him away. why do you think he keeps

forgetting these meetings? it seems very convenient to forget all questionable meetings, all of them, every one. >> he has a serious amnesia problem. >> maybe it's a better for him. he's not responsible for any meeting because he can't remember any of them. ignorance is bliss for this character. your thoughts. >> what is really troubling about this is that their paychecks are paid for by the american taxpayers, not by donald trump. and yet right now all they're doing is protecting the president at the expense of the american people. what's intesting aut sessions, when he was a u.s. setor, he was all over russia. he talked about how russia had to feel pain after they invaded ukraine and that in crimea there was a spilled bottle of milk that couldn't be put together. so he's totally flipped on russia now as part of the trump universe, and i think what we've seen is that until it goes to the courts frankly, until it's

challenged in the courts, we're not going to get the kind of responses from the executive branch because there is no executive privilege that's been actually invoked here. so to somehow concoct this new form of privilege that doesn't exist really creates an imbalance between the executive branch and congress. >> let me go to phillip bump on this. this is a new doctrine. >> right. >> hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. these seem have said pretty confiden dftly they don't have to answer any questions. >> essentially what they're trying to do is avoid this phrase, executive privilege. >> why? does it sound imperious? >> the analogy i use for this is it's as though someone went and said, i'm note going to testify because in the future i might want to invoke the fifth amendment. i'm not invoking it now, but in the future i might want to so i'm not going to testify against

myself. that's essentially what they're doing. i think they think it will be viewed by the american people as suggesting that he's culpable in some way, but i also understand there is probably a likelihood that these people that are going to speak about conversations with donald trump, that may be countermanded by what donald trump himself says. how donald trump may eventually portray these conversations may not line up with what they're saying. >> congresswoman, do you think these guys are afraid of trump? i have never seen such fealty, such obedience. they're afraid to speak out of school. they're afraid to do anything except give these almost religious phrases to the president when they're in his company. it is pretty powerful stuff. people like sean spicer look scared to death. do you feel that when you're near trump? this intimidation power he seem toss have over his people? >> well, i thankfully haven't spent much time with the president, but i would say for those that are in his orbit, they're all interested in keeping their jobs and probably

their reputations. so right now the better part of valor is to just kind of go with the program. and there's a script that's being played out. that cabinet meeting was -- i mean it was really very difficult to watch. >> you are the same religion i understand. i never heard anybody say it was a blessing to serve donald trump. i don't know. that word jumped out at me. that was pretty much of a -- i think an overstatement. what did you make of that? that's what reince priebus said, a blessing. >> a blessing. well, i think that he was at a loss for words, and frankly that's the word that came out. but the president's not god although he certainly acts like it sometimes. >> i think he needs a theurus to come up with a better word than blessing. in the heated back and forth with senator ron wyden, the attorney general responded to comments from james comey last week that he was aware of facts that made sessions' engagement in the russian investigation problematic. here we go. >> the question is, mr. comb

sa -- comey said there were matters with respect to the recuse thal were problematic, and he couldn't talk about them. what are they? >> why don't you tell me? there are none, senator wyden. there are none. i can tell thaw for absolute certainty. this is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and i don't appreciate it, and i've tried to give my best in truthful answers to any committee i've appeared before. and it's really -- people are suggesting through innuendo that i have been not honest about matters, and i've tried to be honest. >> wasn't it comey himself, phillip, who put out the word there was some other reason why he had to recuse? it wasn't secret innuendo. it was comey. >> right. he said i would talk to the senate committee in closed session, that there was something he couldn't say publicly.

a li later on, he tipped his hand about what that may be. he suggested that the leak that came out of that closed session about this possible mayflower meeting between sessions and kislyak was that cause. but i think that sessions was very much playing the part of an incensed person. >> the attorney general of the united states can't remember any meetings he's had with the russians at all, and he's going to keep telling us i can't remember. all these phrases to prevent yourself from a perjury rap. anyway, u.s. congresswoman jackie speier, it's good to have you on. coming up, much more on those reports president trump is considering firing robert mueller. he doesn't like special counsels coming at him. what's really going on there? and would republicans finally turn on trump if he gave mueller the ax? plus we now now the russian hack was more widespread than previously thought. russian hackers broke into election systems in 39 of our 50 states. isn't it surprising that

president trump never asked how to keep it from happening again? and trump says he never asked james comey to take a pledge of loyalty. oh, yeah? and yet trump's got a history of doing just that with everyone else around him, getting bows of loyalty. we'll get to that with the "hardball" roundtable tonight. finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. he won't like it. this is "hardball," where the action is. we're on to you, diabetes. ti's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. but you've never had 'em quite like this. at red lobster's lobster & shrimp summerfest, the lobster and shrimp you love are teaming up in so many new ways.

like new coastal lobster and shrimp, with a lobster tail with butter and herbs, sweet, smoky bbq red shrimp, and shrimp crusted with...get this...cape cod kettle chips. or try lobster and shrimp overboard. a dish this good... makes. it's the highlight of the season, and can't last. so hurry in. this is great. the senate rules committee reversed a decision late today that would have barred reporters from conducting interviews in the halls of the u.s. capitol. this morning, the committee suddenly changed that policy going against years of tradition and said tv reporters would now need prior approval from the rules committee to do those interviews. reporters fought back today as did some democrats, and late today that decision, as i said, was reversed. they can still interview you, mr. and mrs. congressman, and we'll be right back.

my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year gog back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

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. this clearly cannot be an honest, independent investigation. >> welcome back to "hardball." we've seen this week that president trump's most ardent supporters like newt gingrich are ramping up their attacks on special counsel robert mueller. ann coulter tweeted, sessions never should have recused himself. sessions should take it back and fire mueller. and the far right website newsmax is attacking mueller's team for making donation to democratic candidates. of course it wasn't too long ago that some trump allies were praising mueller. gingrich tweeted just last month that robert mueller is a superb choice to be special counsel. his reputation is impeccable for honesty. now christopher ruddy of newsmax

has raised the possibility that president trump is considering a wait to oust this special counsel. he would need the cooperation of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who today assured senators he had no reason to fire robert mueller. >> now, as i understand mr. rosenstein, in this matter you are actually the one exercising hiring and firing authority because attorney general sessions is recused, is that correct? >> yes, that's correct. >> and at this point have you seen any evidence of good cause for firing of special counsel mueller? >> no, i have not. >> if president trump ordered you to fire the special counsel, what would you do? >> senator, i'm not going to follow any orders unless i believe those are lawful and appropriate orders. >> is there anything to some secret plan that's out there from you or anyone in the administration to try to go and remove the special counsel? >> there is no secret plan that involves me. no, senator.

>> i'm joined by the democratic senator from new hampshire. how confident are you -- maybe that's the wrong way to phrase it. are you confident that the president's not going to find a way to dump the special counsel who is basically prosecuting his case? >> well, that's why i wanted assurances from rod rosenstein that first of all, he is the direct line of authority to robert mueller as the independent counsel and that he understands what the statute says that there have to be certain reasons to fire a special counsel, and the president cannot do that. and that attorney general sessions has recused himself. so rod rosenstein is the direct line of authority, and he made it clear today, and i certainly don't see any reason why we should not believe what he had to say, that he is giving the special counsel total independence to do this investigation. i asked him if that was on the

record. he said, yes, that is. and he doesn't see any cause at this point why special counsel mueller should not be allowed to do his job. >> why are we hearing the patter of little feet, if you will? why are we hearing from ruddy and from newt gingrich, all this talk about dumping mueller? where is it coming from? can you tell? >> well, i can't tell, and i have to wonder if there's nothing to hide here, why are people so concerned about what the special counsel might find? i mean we keep hearing from president trump that he has nothing to hide, that he's happy to come before congress and testify. and yet we hear all of his allies being very concerned about the investigation that this special counsel mueller is engaging in. so i think it raises serious questions about what really is going on. >> do you have a hunch what they're hiding, because they've been talking executive privilege. they talked the fifth amendment. they talk about immunity. everybody seems to think there's a "there" there.

what is the "there"? do you know yet? the collusion with the russians, what is the nature of it? >> i don't think we know that. that's why it's very important for this independent investigation to go forward and to get the information out. it's in the white house interest. it's in congressional interest, and it's in the public interest to find out what this investigation is going to show and to do that as soon as possible. >> well, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, u.s. congressman adam schiff of california, told me last night that congress would step in if mueller was ousted. let's listen to congressman schiff. >> if he were to fire bob mueller, congress would immediately take up legislation to re-establish the independent counsel law that expired, and we would appoint bob mueller. the president is not going to get to pick the person who investigates these allegations. there's just no way i think even this congress could sit for that. >> senator, do you think it's conceivable that if the

president does chop or ax the special counsel, that the u.s. congress would go back to watergate days and establish a true independent counsel and name the person, mueller, again? >> well, i think what we saw after president trump fired former director comey was that it created much more of a controversy. it didn't put to rest the questions that people had. it increased those. and i think if he thought that created controversy, trying to fire special counsel mueller would be -- that controversy would be magnified multiple times. so that is not the answer. i do think congress would step in. robert mueller has support on both sides of the aisle in congress. we've heard democrats and republicans say it's important to get to the bottom of this investigation, and that's what we need to do. >> sounds good. thank you so much. senator jeanne shaheen of nam. in a statement last name, the white house press secretary did

not exactly deny christopher ruddy's statement that the president was considering measures to remove mueller, peerly saying mr. ruddy never spoke tot president regarding this issue with respect to this subject. only the president or his attorneys are authorized to comment. today ruddy took issue with spicer's statement and stood by his story. >> i never claimed that i had spoken with the president or i got any information from the president. i think the white house communications office is doing a disservice to the president by not focusing on the fact that you have several now top prosecutors with director mueller that have donated to obama's campaign and hillary clinton's campaign. this is a partisan -- i believe it's a partisan effort to get the president. do i think that he will actually fire him? no. but do i think it was an option or has been an option? yes. >> i'm joined now by republican strategist john feehery and jonathan capehart. let me start with john feehery. what do you make of the president's authority, whether he does it directly or

indirectly, to get rid of a special prosecutor prosecuting him or investigating him? >> well, listen, i think the president should not take the advice of newt gingrich and others to fire robert mueller. i think that would be politically disastrous for him. now, having a special prosecutor is always a pain for any president. i think of what happened with bill clinton. the initial investigation had nothing to do with monica lewinsky, or lawrence walsh had nothing to do with iran-contra. special prosecutors are a pain. yet you cannot fire a special prosecutor. he doesn't have the authority to do it. that's rod rosenstein's authority to do it, and i think if he tried to fire rod rosenstein, that would be a huge disaster also. so the president is better left not taking the advice of some of his friends on the outside. >> let me go to jonathan. i guess you agree with that but i want to ask you this. what is the president hide something even allow the rumor, all of a sudden you get this buzz going on. he's thinking about bringing the ax down on the guy investigating him. one more piece of indication, if

not evidence, indication he's hiding something. what's he afraid of that he would be willing to even think about getting rid of mueller by his own hand? >> right. i don't know. i think hopefully that's what all of these investigations will get to the bottom of. and if the president thinks that by removing robert mueller from his duties investigating all this is going to stop the investigation, he has another think coming. all of this we have seen from the white house, from this president, and from this administration with regards to the potential or possible collusion between his campaign and the russians has been ham fisted. what the president should have said is what jeff sessions said, attorney general jeff sessions said in his opening statement at the hearing, which was to give a full-throated statement that investigating what happened in this election is vital to our national interest. >> yeah. >> that it should be about the country, not about the personal,

political, or even legal prospects of the president of the united states. >> well, house speaker paul ryan and republican leader kevin mccarthy today downplayed this story but also advised against attempting to fire mueller. here they are again. >> i think in the best case for the president is to be vindicated by allowing this investigation to go on thoroughly and independently. so i think the best advice would be to let robert mueller do his job. there's no debate that's going on here, you're saying. >> you're creating a debate that's not happening. >> yeah. i heard this is like a rumor you heard last night, so there's not some big debate that's occurring on this. >> what do you make of ruddy? is he out for sim himself or for the president ? is he working for newsmax or the president, his organization or the president? what's going on? you got to make a call here. >> he's working for newsmax, and i think this is probably good for him. i think he's also trying to be

someone who is trying to give advice to his friend, president trump. i don't think it's particularly good advice. i also think having some of these voices on the right, you know, say that robert mueller, despite his sterling reputation and he does have a sterling reputation, you know, it's kinds of like when you're in the nba and the coach is yelling at the referee. mueller is the referee, and sometimes you have to yell at the referee to make sure he stays in his lane. and his lane should be sticking with the russia investigation and not getting outside the lane. what often happens with special prosecutors is they go in looking for one thing and they find other things that have nothing to do with the initial investigation. >> i've never heard riding the ref as advice for a president of the united states. thank you, john feehery. thank you, jonathan capehart. up next, the election hack by the russians went far deeper and broader than we previously know. all these states in our country that were hacked into. amazing. we got to get to that, and we're going to get to it in just a minute or to. this is "hardball," where the action is.

wait, our data center and our clouds can't connect? michael, can we get this data to...? look at me...look at me... look at me... you used to be the "yes" guy. what happened to that guy? legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. so, you're saying we can cut delivery time? yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. he's happy.t's with him? 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

when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis.

taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur. now's your chance at completely clear skin. just ask your doctor about taltz. now's your chance at completely clear skin. dearthere's no other way to say this. 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

i'm milissa rehberger. jurors in the bill cosby trial reviewed the star's deposition testimony on the second day of deliberations. cosby is charged with assaulting andrea constand in 2004. he denies those allegations. an american student freed from a north korean prison is on his way home. otto warmbier was serving a term. his parents say their son is in a coma and had to be medically evacuated from that isolated nation. back to "hardball." it's not about republicans

or democrats. they're coming after america, which i hope we all love equally. they want to undermine our credibility in the face of the world. they think that this great experiment of ours is a threat to them, and so they're going to try to run it down and dirty it up as much as possible. that's what this is about, and they will be back. >> pretty well said. run it down and dirty it up. that was former fbi director james comey just last week, warning that the russians were not done meddling with our american democracy. as the trump/probe into potential collusion continues, a bombshell report out today reveals that the russians' cyber attacks on american election infrastructure went further than previously reported. according to bloomberg, the hacking was so widespread that russia was able to infiltrate systems in 39 of our states. bloomberg also reports that the obama administration was so concerned by this breach that the white house contacted the kremlin and warned them the

attacks could set off a broader conflict between the two countries. i'm joined by the reporter who broke this story, also clint watts former fbi special agent. mike, thank you for joining us. give us a sense of what you were able to report today in common sense language. >> sure. i think the important point to note is the obama administration and the national security establishment, when this stuff was going on, didn't think that the russians were trying to tinker with the actual vote tallies on election day. but they were looking at the systems the russians were hitting voter databases, the kinds of systems that poll workers use on election day. and what they saw was an attempt at what they figured was going to happen was an attempted attack that would disrupt the election day. so you show up at the poll. your address is different. your name has been changed. you know, the data that allows you to vote is different, and you're not allowed to vote. you're going to start thinking that the whole thing has been

fixed. and i think that that's really the thing that obsessed the obama administration as they were going into it. what we know now, though, is that attack didn't just happen in a half a dozen states or 20 states. the russians' signatures, the footprints of the russian hackers were found in systems, both local and state systems in 39 states, which is four out of five. that's pretty widespread. >> where did they succeed in messing up the list? i know when you go to vote, a woman oftentimes -- it's a volunteer -- opens up this big book and finds your name and underlines it and all of a sudden you've gotten recorded as voting because your name shows up there. was there any case in 2016 where that does happen, where a vote went in to vote and their name wasn't there as it should have been? >> so a lot of systems have been electronic, so the old paper poll books are becoming electronic poll books. the question is could you have gotten in those systems in electronic poll books? what they did find is that in cases like illinois, they saw

the russians trying to actually change that data. so that led them to the conclusion this wasn't about sma espionage. >> did they succeed in any of the 39 states in messing up our system? >> what happened you had people in the situation room monitoring this to see what happened. but for months before that, the dhs had been sending special teams to the states for weeks, and the think the obama administration felt that by the time it got to election day, they had warded off this threat. >> clint, tell us about this, what it means to the average voter. we're three years from the next election basically. are we likely to encounter real success by the russians by then in screwing up our voter lists? >> they've already achieved success. their secondary -- >> he said they hadn't been able to actually affect the voter list. >> their success comes from s

sowing doubt in democracy. if you remember back last summer, they had buyer's remorse with trump. they were tearing down clinton. they weren't sure trump was going to win, so their secondary line of attack was to undermine the mandate to govern, that clinton didn't really get elected. the main things they pushed were voter fraud, the election was rigged. >> did they actually change anybody's voting? >> the hacking was there and they hit the databases so they could use provocation to power that influence. you hack the rolls so that people have doubt. >> they didn't change any of the names. >> they did have to. >> how far are we from that? >> here's where it gets weird. they actually did this in preparation that clinton would win. this was the backup line. then she didn't win. so you had this, you know, laid out there. they didn't actually change it. but what's really causing panic is the 2018 elections. >> last week former fbi director james comey was asked about president trump's interest in the russian cyber attack. listen to this. this is the scary part about

somebody asleep at the switch. >> did the president in any of those interactions that you've shared with us today ask you what you should be doing or what our government should be doing or the intelligence community to protect america against russian interference in our election system? >> i don't recall a conversation like that. >> never? >> no. >> do you find it -- >> not with trump. >> right. >> i attended a fair number of meetings on that with president obama. >> mike reilly, this is scary that the president of the united states, the chief law enforcement official really of the whole executive branch, the top person in our system had no interest -- has had no interest so far in finding out what the russians have done so far. certainly that is relevant to what you've discovered. you've gotten more reporting than he has interest. >> i think that the people we're talking to that looked at this investigation, that was the big fear was for whatever reasons, the russians didn't pull the trigger on a major disruption on election day in 2016.

but they learned a heck of a lot about how our systems work and how they're connected. so the real question, the real fear is they're going to deep learning, and they can pull that trigger in 2018. they can pull that trigger in 2020. they can do it selectively. they can do it in a state, a congressional district. that's the real fear, so that raises the question, what are we going to do to make sure that doesn't happen? >> when you see somebody casing the bank, it's time to start protecting the bank. thank you, michael riley. thank you, clint, as always. up next, trump's love of loyalty. he says he never asked comey for a loyalty pledge, yet he seems to expect it from everyone else in the government. the fealty, almost medieval. he wants people to do these incredible prayers to him. that's what you have to call them. you're watching "hardball," where the action is.

will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. dude. your crunching's scaring the fish. find out how american express cards and services dude. they're just jealous. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch with crunchy clusters and the taste of apples and strawberries. (excited) i got one! (jokingly) guess we're having cereal for dinner. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch apple strawberry

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. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

it's an honor to be able to serve you in that regard.

you set the exact right message, and it's being -- the response is fabulous around the country. >> i can't thank you enough for the privilege you've given me and leadership you've shown. >> 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 serve your agenda and the american people. >> it's a blessing. welcome back to "hardball." it was a love fest yesterday for a president known to value admiration. donald trump also values loyalty and as james comey told the senate intelligence committee, this was something trump asked the former fbi director himself for back in january. but trump denies that claim. here he goes. >> i hardly know the man. i'm not going to say, i want you to pledge allegiance. who would do that? who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? i mean think of it. i hardly know the man. it doesn't make sense. no, i didn't say that, and i didn't say the other. >> but trump has asked for loyalty in the past. take a listen to when he asked voters for a pledge during the

campaign. >> raise your right hand, everybody. do you swear that you're going to vote for donald trump tomorrow? raise that hand. i love you! i love you! all right. you can't go back. i'm only kidding. if you want to go back, you can, but i don't think you will because nobody's going to do the job that i'm doing. >> yesterday's cabinet meeting was just the latest display of trump's supporters and staff showering their boss with praise. >> our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned. >> i want to begin by recapping the incredible historic trip that the president and the first lady have just concluded because it truly was an extraordinary week for america. it was an unprecedented first trip abroad. i think the relationship that the president has had with merkel, he would describe as fairly unbelievable. >> every critic, every detractor

will have to bow down to president trump. it's everyone who's ever doubted donald, whoever disagreed, whoever challenged him. it is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe. >> wow. you know, i love videotape. let's bring in the "hardball" roundtable. katy tur, nbc news correspondent, harold ford, and megan murphy, editor of bloomberg. megan and everybody, i am so proud to live in an age where you have videotape because -- >> it's a blessing. >> trump can deny all he wants, but this sort of jonestown performance here with these people, i mean i'm going to go to you, congressman, because i've never seen loyalty demanded so explicitly. he wants them to be his -- >> it reinforces what director comey said. anyone that didn't believe him, you have more reason to believe him. there's a new book out on

tiern tierney, atir annie, and he writes in the book how loyalty is the beginning of the undermining of the rule of law and the cohesion that keeps a society together. i guess he's talking about it at a big level, but you see some of them with trump. it was fascinating to see omarosa being the most powerful man in the universe. he seemed to think this is a win for him personally, and i've never seen anything quite like what happened in that cabinet meeting yesterday. i don't know if anyone has. i mean maybe in other countries you would expect that, but you don't expect a u.s. president would want to hear that. this happens with katy, i know, a lot with her staff, praising her, but she stops them from going down that path. >> that's true. >> in a place like swaziland, there's a notion of kingship and almost a deity in fact, and there's praises and these ceremonies of praise that --

>> that's not what we do in this country, and you had -- that was a great smattering of video. >> montage. >> montage, thank you. but you left a number of things out. >> go ahead. >> i mean stephen miller, after one of donald trump's debate performances with hillary clinton, he came out and said that was the greatest debate performance in the history of america, period. there was that. >> i would call that a shortage of memory more than anything else. >> if you look, though, at the way he has behaved in his organization before he became president, he demanded that same sort of loyalty from his staff. there's a reason why everybody signs a non-disclosure agreement, because he demands loyalty. and it's not just senior members of his campaign staff. it's not just senior members of his organization. it's everybody. it was right down, chris, to the volunteers at his campaign, and not the volunteers that may have had personal interactions with donald trump. the volunteers who would phone bank for him, they had to sign

non-disclosure agreements. so loyalty is something he demands from absolutely everyone. it is very wild and a bit of a stretch to believe that he would not demand loyalty from his fbi director. >> i can tell you by the way, just by the setting, when you tell a guy, well, invite your family next time. this time just you, and then you realize it's going -- what you didn't think was a date ends up being a date. and it's just him and you in the green floor on the state floor of the white house where the tourists walk by. no one else for hundreds of yards away and you're sitting across from this guy, and you go, how did this happen? he must want something. yes, he does. he wants your personal loyalty, and i believe that happened. >> he can demand that loyalty. it's whether you want to give it and give it such a public forum as being a cabinet -- >> what did you think of reince priebus, the cheerleader, talking about the blessing of. >> you're faced with a split. you have people in that cabinet, people like gary cohen, people like reince who think they're there because they can achieve

policy objectives for the republican party. y >> we'll be right back. the roundtable roundtable is sticking with us. up next, these three will tell me something i don't know. this is "hardball," where the action is. remember our special night? abdominal pain... ...and diarrhea. but it's my anniversary. aw. sorry. we've got other plans. your recurring, unpredictable abdominal pain and diarrhea... ...may be irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or ibs-d.

you've tried over-the-counter treatments and lifestyle changes, but ibs-d can be really frustrating. talk to your doctor about viberzi,... ...a different way to treat ibs-d. viberzi is a prescription medication you take every day that helps proactively manage... ...both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time. so you stay ahead of your symptoms. viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, long-lasting or severe constipation, or a bowel or gallbladder blockage. pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. if you are taking viberzi,... ...you should not take medicines that cause constipation. the most common side effects of viberzi... ...include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d with viberzi. well, discount all that talk you hear about oprah winfrey for president someday. winfrey herself told the hollywood reporter today that she will never run for me public office. and when asked whether she could

defeat president trump, she said, well, she'll never know the answer to that question because she's never going to run. pretty definitive, i'd say. a real shermanesque statement from the great host for television and very popular american oprah winfrey, and we'll be right back. ay. what do you need? i need the temperature for pipe five. ask the new guy. the new guy? jack trained him. jack's guidance would be to maintain the temperature at negative 160 degrees celsius. that doesn't sound like jack. actually, jack would say, hey mate, just cool it to minus 160 and we're set. good on ya. oh yeah. that's jack.

good on ya. 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. will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess.

to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. katy, tell me something i don't know. >> donald trump's personal lawyer was the lawyer at his organization before that. michael cohen will testify, and he's agreed to testify from a subpoena from the house intel committee on september 5th. unclear why we're going to have to wait until september 5th, though. >> who's smarter, kasowitz or cohen? >> i don't know. i know cohen better than i know kasowitz. >> kasowitz is pretty darn smart. totally different. the website gofundme, which helps these nonprofits raise money, they raised about $2 billion last year. over half of it went for medical reasons. so the country still recognizes that hopefully this president picks up on the fact that

science and research are important too. >> totally different. a little ray of good news for donald trump. tim cook, the head of apple this week, says despite all their disagreements, their falling out over climate, he's putting politics aside, and he's fighting for what's best for america. >> what's he going to fight for? >> he says he's going to work with the administration on other issues like jobs and manufacturing in america. >> great. thank you, katy, howard, and megan furmy. a peace maker. when he with return, let me finish tonight with trump watch. you're watching "hardball."

ray's always been different. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china. oh ... he got there. that's the power of and. when a fire destroyedwith us everything in our living room. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

he's happy.t's with him? 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

trump watch, tuesday, june 13th, 2017. who are you going to believe, me or your lyin' eyes? that's the question grau cho marx asked and it sounds a lot like what president trump is asking us to believe. he told us he would never ask james comey for a statement of loyalty. then we watched the spectacle yesterday in the cabinet room where each official bowed to the leader in the most unashapmed ardency. there's something of a monarchy in this moment. the president's daughter goes on a sunday interview program to defend her father. she speaks of we when talking about the trump presidency as if the family held the office. we're told to address our questions about trump's behavior to his personal attorney as if he were an individual. it's as if the presidency wasn't an office donald trump has to

fill but an acwhiquisition he's made or like a belgian king talking about his congo. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> has the president invoked executive privilege in the case of your testimony here today? >> he has not. >> stonewalling the senate. >> did you not ask your staff to show you the policy that would be the basis for your refusing the majority of questions -- >> the president's attorney general faces the intel committee. >> do you remember linger something do you remember feeling like you needed to stay? >> i do recall being one of the last ones to leave. >> jeff sessions on russian collusion. >> appalling and detestable lie. >> on the firing of james comey. >> a fresh start at the fbi was the appropriate thing to do. >> and the future of the special counsel. >> will you