that does it for the beat tonight. you can always find us on facebook at the "the beat with ari." "hardball" has promised is up next. finding more, let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris mat use. san francisco, roy moore republican colleagues, a new powerful voice that has weighed in. united states attorney general and former senior senator from alabama, jeff sessions joined a number of his former colleagues in saying he has no reason to doubt the women who have accused u.s. senate candidate roy moore of sexual misconduct allegations moore denies.

here's the attorney general. >> i took the liberty of reviewing federal crimes against children, particularly those dealing with sexual or physical abuse. as you well know, lee coughman, wendy miller, debby watson gibson and beverly young nelson, these young women have accused this individual, judge moore, who is running for a federal office, the united states senate, of child sexual activity. do you believe these young women? >> i am -- have no reason to doubt these young women. >> powerful statement there. yesterday another woman beverly young nelson came forward to accuse moore of sexual assaulting her when she was 16. roy moore has adamantly denied the allegation, has said he does not even know nelson. let's watch him. >> the people of alabama know me. they know my character. they know what i've stood for in the political world for over 40 years. i can tell you without

hesitation, which is absolutely false. i never did what she said i did. i don't even know the woman. i don't know anything about her. i don't even know where the restaurant is or was. if you look at this situation, you'll see that because i'm 11 points or 10 or 11 points ahead, this race being 28 days off, this is a political maneuver. >> maybe they should confront each other. that would be good. anyway, as of now 15 senators are called on moore to withdraw from the race. five have withheld comment. a majority are qualified their remarks by saying the allegations are true, moore should step aside. it's too late to remove moore from the ballot, mcmcconnell told reporters he had spoken to the president and he was exploring all options. let's watch mcconnell. >> there's no question there's a deep concern here. roy moore should step aside. the women who have come forward

are entirely credible. he's obviously not fit to be in the united states senate. and we've looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening. obviously this close to the election it's a very complicated matter. and i think once the president and his team get back we'll have further discussions about it. >> that was forboding. this comes in the wake of two explosive reports from the new yorker magazine and a.l..com which allege that quote gadsden locals say moore's predatory behavior at a mall, restaurants not a secret. the magazine and newspapers spoke to more than a dozen people who had heard for years moore had been banished from the mall. locals were troubled by roy moore's interactions with teen girls at the gadsden mall. the new yorker requested a

comment from the moore campaign, the request went unanswered. msnbc spoke with an employer of that mall. >> there's another employer roy moore is banned, the police officer, security guard said he's banned from the mall. if you see him -- he didn't say he was banned. if you see him, let me know. i'll take care of it. i requestquestioned why, and the officer would not tell me. after he left, i asked my manager and he said he had been bothering the girls in the mall. and at the mall at that time was -- >> we're going to stay with jeff in our lane and we're going to talk about the issues that we continue to talk about. they're going to have to make their own judgments about roy moore. they're going to have to make their own judgments about doug

jones. i'm applying for a job. he's applying for a job. and that's the way people of alabama need to look at this. who would i hire to represent me in the united states senate? >> that was pretty smart. anyway, this evening nbc news reports that according to fec filings, the rnc has pulled out of a joint fund raising agreement. i'm joined by kyle whitmore, heidi presblaw, and john raybender. political strategist. what do we make, kyle, of this tape robocalls or recorded voice, it looks to me like they're trying to start real trouble in terms of the media there. what do you make of this? >> yeah, this seems to be dirty trix to discredit "the washington post" here in alabama. it's a robodialer that news station here in alabama, wkrg is

reporting about right now. it claims to be from someone named bernie bernstein, swallow that one if you can. >> sure. >> who is calling from the "washington post" to pay $5,000 to $7,000 to women who have claims that they're not really going to investigate, but they are going to report. and then they give an e-mail address where you can send those claims into. of course it's a bogus e-mail address. it bounces back. marty barren from the "washington post" put out a statement saying this is fraudulent. this is not how they do business. media throughout alabama are explaining to people, no, this is not how national media work. they do not pay for stories the way you might see tabloids do. >> i want everybody to listen now. we've got the robocall. listen to this now, and everybody watching will know what game is being played here. regional prejudice, anti media

prejudice, pulling out all the stops to misinform the listener to this robocall. let's listen. >> hi, this is bernie bernstein, i'm a reporter for the "washington post." i'm calling to see if anyone at this address is a female 54 to 57 years old, damaging remarks for a reward of $5,000 to $7,000. we will not be fully investigating these claims, however, we will report -- >> heidi, you and i are friends long enough to watch these things. this looks like the dirtiest, sleaziest trick. new york accent, jewish name, it is so over the top or under the top. i don't know. i guess they're aiming at the lowest common denominator, a person who would buy this crap. >> it's so completely obvious. they are hitting all of the trigger points both of the base in terms of ethic prejudice, in

terms of prejudice against the media, that the media is -- this is all just a hit job. and, actually, making every single point that roy moore is trying to make about this, setting up the idea that this is all a paid hit job by also including in there the fact that these women might be even paid to make up these stories. so it's almost as if it comes -- or could come directly from his supporters trying to set this up as, yeah, a really dirty trick. and who knows who's going to fall for it? >> let's look at it this way. john, i want to talk to you about hard politics. does mr. moore have any alternative but to fight this out and hold his ground, stone wall against the charges and get elected and do what he can from there? is this the only thing he can do? if he quits now, he admits he did these things. >> i'm going to say negative things about roy moore and i'm not even getting $5,000. the truth of the matter is,

there's one accuser, i thought everybody had to be cautious. five credible accusers. the tipping point for me, when roy moore said to my understanding i dated some of those teenagers when i was in my 30s, but i made sure i got the approval of their mother. to me if you're 30 and need approval from somebody's mother to date them, there's probably something wrong with that to begin with. sure, he can do that. if he believes in the jvalues, all he's doing the letting a another democrat to win this seat. he can fight this better as a non-candidate than as a candidate. this is the going to live with him the entire time if he does indeed get elected. it's only going to get worse. if he truly wants to prove he's innocent, i would strongly recommend he get off the ticket and the ballot and go defend himself. >> i'm wondering if that's really the case. anyway, kyle, let me ask you this about this. what role does jeff sessions the attorney general, what does the

fact he will not defend this guy mean to the people of alabama? >> two things. absolutely, two things. jeff sessions is probably the most popular public official in the state of alabama, or from the state of alabama. can't quite explain that myself, but it's true. and much of his following overlaps with much of roy moore's following. this maybe not a complete one to one comparison, but it's a significant overlap. if anyone is on the fence about believing this, they now have someone that they see, that they know, they trust, saying that, yes, they should take these allegations seriously. and you put that next to the sort of flailing about that we're seeing from the moore campaign with whether these auto dialers are from them or someone allied with them, who knows? but today kayla moore is sharing -- i know fake news has become a loaded term now.

but she's sharing stuff on her facebook page saying that the old hickory restaurant didn't even exist and there's clearly, like, advertisements in the gadsden newspaper showing that stuff exists. it shows the desperation they're seeing. when you see someone like -- for alabamans to see someone like jeff sessions to give credibility to these accuser, he doesn't have reason to doubt them, that's going to impact alabamaens, especially tomorrow when there is a steering committee of the alabama state republican party that is meeting to try to figure out how to make heads or tails of this situation. >> heidi, what strikes me in all these accusations, they're all delivered by people who have nothing to gain except that they believe something like this should be stopped, that he should be stopped. and but the one that grabbed me was this one today about the mall, and the fact that employees of a shopping mall

which had a couple high end stores in it, had a movie theater, sounds like a nice place for teenagers to hang out, as they do in most malls, this guy would be banned, so notorious in his menacing of these young girls that he would be banned. i mean, this is -- the fact that everybody would know, we don't let roy moore around here anymore. he wouldn't be banned from the u.s. senate, but 450he'd be ban from this shopping mall. it really cuts to a new level than just horrible, felonious behavior, notoriously felonious behavior. >> it's like they had a neighborhood watch out on roy moore. yet he ascended to all these high positions and no one spoke out. chris, this is also a moment in which we as a nation are getting an education on the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and the temerity of any victims to ever speak out.

if you talk to some of these women now being interviewed they are saying it wasn't until the other stories came out, the initial story on leigh corfman and the climate hero in, harvey weinstein hadn't, roger ailes, all these women who went before them to tell 1/3 stories that they found the strength to come out and share their storys as well. in the past, just like roy mor signed in a yearbook, many of these women did have the community to fear, that people wouldn't believe them, and that there would be a backlash, and counterattacks, dirty campaign to tarnish their reputations. to your point, nothing at all to gain. >> house speaker paul ryan emerged, he urged moore to end his campaign. and jeff flake would vote to expel moore if he got in there. >> he should step aside. number one, these allegations are credible.

number two, he should -- if he cares about the values and the people he claims to care about, he should step aside. >> if roy moore wins would you be open to voting to expel him? >> yes, i would. >> john, you're the political guy. what do you make of this election? i want to be honest, put all the factors in play here. one reason moore people think they can pull this out besides their lead so far in the polls is the abortion rights issue, very strong and culturally conservative evangelical state. they go after -- moore is reminding everybody that doug jones is pro-choice, for abortion rights. can that turn this election? >> yeah, i mean, it's -- >> that values question. >> it's a good question, does being pro-choice trump somebody who has a completely different problem that a lot of people would find the seriousness about that as well. we may find that out on election day. republicans from leadership on down have been united behind

condemning the behavior and standing up for the credibility of the women that have come forward. that's helpful for the republican brand to show they are not going to worry more about this election than they are about what's right and wrong. i think it was the right thing to do. >> well said, john. i also think it's interesting that doug jones, the democratic candidate down there for senate is pushing the issue of a job application. it's not a judgment over values or even party identity, who do you want to employ as your u.s. senator? it's obviously the best chance he has to make that the issue, the who, not the what. kyle whitmire, thank you. attorney general jeff sessions says he wasn't lying when he testified he didn't know anyone in the trump campaign who had contact with the russians. he just didn't remember. why did he remember shooting down george pop ldop list's ide

of -- >> they are ag saying that to investigate the uranium deal, the one the right wing wants you to think is the biggest scandal since the rosenbergs. is trump using -- asia, he was frustrated, that was his word, he couldn't sick the department of justice on hillary clinton. the round table has come here tonight with much more on roy moore. let me finish tonight from california where i'm met with the dangerous last campaign waged here in 1968. this is "hardball" where the action is. ♪ (woman) one year ago today mom started searching for her words.

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trip was a tremendous success. let's hear him. >> it was red carpet like nobody i think has probably ever received. i've made a lot of friends at the highest level. whether it's china and the incredible -- the incredible opening they gave us, people really have never seen anything like it. and japan likewise, it was a tremendous rollout. and south korea, as you know, we made a speech. i believe seldom has there been the opportunity to speak for somebody from the outside world in that hall. coming to the philippines was terrific and coming to vietnam was terrific. vietnam treated us incredibly, as did the philippines. we just could not have been treated nicer. >> it's like he's talking about the opening of a new golf course. we'll be right back. ♪ video-game dance music

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back to "hardball." attorney general jeff sessions testified before the house judiciary committee today for the first time since the revelations from two former trump campaign aides raised serious questions about the truthfulness of sessions' past statements. at the center of his testimony today was his assertion last month he was not aware of any campaign surrogates communicating with russians. here's what sessions said in october. >> you don't believe that surrogates from the trump campaign had communications with the russians? is that what you're saying. >> i did not and i'm not aware of anyone else that did. >> since making that statement, the unsealed plea deal of george papadopoulos side the testimony of carter page said sessions was in detailed communication. he presided over the famous march campaign meeting, papadopoulos revealed he had

connections that could involve a meeting between then candidate trump and president putin himself. he recalls that meeting now, but only after hearing about it in news reports. >> i do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel that mr. papadopoulos attended, but i have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting. after reading his account and to the best of my recollection, i believe that i wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the russian government or any other foreign government for that matter. but i did not recall this event which occurred 18 months before my testimony of a few weeks ago. >> well, sessions also said he did not recall being informed that carter page planned to go to moscow despite the fact that page testified he told sessions in advance of the trip. sessions got heated on that point when pressed by democratic

congressman hakeem jeffries. let's watch that moment. >> at that meeting carter page told you that the -- that he was going to moscow in a few days. is that right? >> yes. >> okay. >> that's -- and he -- >> thank you. >> he said it was a brief meeting as he was walking out the door. i don't recall that conversation. but i'm not able to dispute it. >> understood. reclaiming my time, i've got limited time available. >> that does not -- does that establish a -- some sort of improper contact. >> i think you understand -- >> with russians. he's not russian either, you know. >> you understand, sir, i get to ask the questions. you provide the answers in this capacity and no longer in the united states senate. >> i made no response to him, didn't acknowledge it, and you're accusing me of lying about that? >> throughout the hearing sessions maintained his story had not changed and that he did not lie to congress in his past testimonies. joining me is democratic

congressman hakeem jeffries in new york in that hearing you just heard. and betsy woodruff joins us from the daily beast. congressman jeffries, this is a question of the law. if you keep saying you forgot, you forgot, does that save you from a perjury indictment. >> it absolutely does not. i pointed out in the first part of any questioning of jeff sessions that he, himself, made the point in october of 2016 that when hillary clinton said i don't remember over 35 times, that if that was intentional, that itself could constitute the crime of perjury. now it turns out that jeff sessions earlier this year testified before the senate intelligence committee, said i don't recall approximately 30 times, same thing before the senate judiciary committee today, repeatedly said i don't recall at least 25 times.

so it was a classic case over and over and over again of selective amnesia when convenient. it's clear, chris, that he has been less than truthful on multiple occasions when testifying before congress about contacts between himself, the trump campaign and russia. and that's a serious thing. >> did you notice anything sort of ethnic about his attitude in answering your questions, something that rattled him, he seemed disturbed it was you asking the questions? did you sense anything there? >> not necessarily. i do think he seemed a little agitated that i referenced his own words in a speech that he gave when justifying his vote to remove bill clinton from office on the charge of perjury. and jeff sessions referenced, during his senate floor speech, the fact that when he was a u.s. attorney he prosecuted a young police officer who failed to provide accurate testimony during a deposition even though that young police officer subsequently corrected the

record. now, chris, i pointed out, simply that he has repeatedly done the same exact thing and sessions said that bill clinton should be held to a standard that is the same as that young police officer, seems to me reasonable that the attorney general of the united states of america should be held to the standard that jeff sessions held that young police officer to when he ruined his life and prosecuted him for perjury. >> are you concerned about his hiring standards at justice, his lack of diversity? >> well, last reason to be concerned, cedric richmond, the chairman of the congressional black caucus had a very thorough question and answer session with the attorney general, and in response to a question from congressman richmond about his senior staff, the attorney general indicated he had no diversity as it relates to african-americans in his senior ranks. give all the important issues under the jurisdiction of the department of justice, including

the criminal justice system, voter suppression, the upholding of civil rights laws in an era of increased hate crimes, it would seem to me to be reasonable that the doj should reflect the gorgeous mosaic of the united states of america and it does not. >> thank you, sir. anyway, the congressman, has you mentioned, when confronted with specific questions about russia and the campaign, sessions repeatedly said he could not recall. >> i had no recollection of this meeting until i saw these news reports. >> did anyone else at that meeting, including then candidate trump, react in any way to what mr. pop dpapadopouls represented. >> i don't recall. >> did you dis cuss meeting with kislyak and flynn? >> i do not recall. >> did anybody forward you communiation from mr. papadopoulos. >> i don't recall it. i don't recall ever being made aware of that before. i don't recall it.

i do not recall such a conversation. i don't recall it. >> in your testimony today you have stated "i don't recall" at least 20 times. is that fair to say? >> i have no idea. >> betsy woodruff, thanks for joining us. give us a sense of how that plays when people read in newsprint i don't recall again and again. do people believe that? i mean, it's always possible there's so much going on in a campaign you don't remember things. but it does seem selective he only remembers stuff when recalled to his attention and only when he is forced to, as you know in journalism. it's called rolling disclosure, you admit what's been proven already, nothing more. >> it's something we're used to with the entire trump organization. before sessions, the testimony today, he had not just significant failure to recollect all sorts of details about what happened on the campaign, but then he came forward with a certain new piece of information

that he now says came to mind. you know, namely the fact that he said he told papadopoulos not to talk to the russian government or to any other foreign got government. that's a new piece of information that sessions said he now has been able to remember despite not being able to remember a host of other basic facts that journalists and members of congress have been pressing him on. even if it's possible, the case that the attorney general is being completely forthright and that his memory was jogged by all these news reports. it goes without saying this creates significant credibility problems for him in congress and, you know, with people reading about the way that he talks about how this whole campaign and the russia connections have played out. >> i want to add to that a little bit. you can jump in. i think if i were a guy from -- a senator from alabama and i was a regular american lawmaker and all the sudden at a meeting in a presidential campaign somebody, carter page who i don't know starts talking about going to moscow, why are you telling me

that? somebody else is talking about meetings with russians, maybe some dirt on hillary? you'd remember that stuff. it jumps out at you. it's so exotic. it's not the stuff politicians talk about. they don't talk about russians all the time. i don't want to sound like a nationalist completely here. it's unusual conversations about countries across the world. thank you for joining me. up next, the justice department is considering whether or not to appoint -- they say they are. a special counsel to investigate nothing. hillary clinton did nothing to do with the ruranium deal, and t was legally done. what about trump? we'll see what he's up to. he's pushing sessions. he said he's very frustrated with the fact that the department of justice isn't going after clinton. he wants them to. he doesn't understand our constitution. this is "hardball" where the action is. small businesses show their love to you.

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you know, it is -- it's just awfully good that someone with the temp a meant of donald trump is not in charge of the law in our country. >> you'd be in jail. >> donald trump campaigned in part on a promise to pursue a criminal probe against his opponent hillary clinton. late yesterday came the news that the justice department may be looking into whether a special counsel should be set

up. it came in response to a question or request from republicans on the house judiciary committee. assistant attorney general steven boig wrote to lawmake e, the attorney general has directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised in your letters. that would include, quote, whether any matters merit the appointment of a special counsel. attorney general jeff sessions who once told reporters or senators, we do not punish political enemies in america. let's watch him. >> frankly, i appreciate yesterday's letter saying you were considering appointing a special counsel. that you sent to us. but my concern is, we sent you a letter three and a half months ago asking for a second special counsel. and if you're now just considering it, i -- what's it going to take to get a special counsel? >> and we will use the proper standards. that's the only thing i can tell you, mr. jordan.

>> i appreciate that -- >> you can have your idea. sometime we have to study what the facts are and to evaluate whether it meets the standard that requires a special counsel. >> as the republicans pushing hard for a special counsel, the attorney general's boss, president trump, he's also on the case. let's watch. >> you know, the saddest thing is that because i'm the president of the united states i am not supposed to be involved with the justice department. i'm not supposed to be involved with the fbi. i'm not supposed to be doing the kind of things that i would love to be doing and i'm very frustrated by it. >> i'm not involved with the justice department. i'd like to let it run itself. they should be looking at the democrats and at podesta and all that dishonesty. a lot of people are disappointed in the justice department, including me. >> i'm joining with barbara

mckwad. michael, do you get a sense the attorney general is trying to keep his job here by slow walking this thing and turn it over to the bureaucrats? >> he certainly appeased the president for now. this is something the president really wants. if he had a special counsel to point to on the other side and say there's a special counsel investigating democrats, it would distract from the problem engulfing his presidency, robert mueller. the russia investigation has intensified in the last couple weeks. there's been charges. this would offset that. >> barbara, what would you investigate if you were a prosecutor in the federal justice department, investigate this decision by this inner cabinet tasks force, they approved the uranium deal, agreed to it, signed it at the cabinet level. what would be the body of the crime to investigate? it was all done transparently and by the correct procedures.

>> i believe that the theory that i have heard is that there's some sort of bribery count that some thought that hillary clinton approved this deal in exchange for a large donation of the clinton fund. bribery has a five-year statute of limitations. this all occurred seven years ago. i think it would be difficult even to begin to investigate something when so much time has passed. there's a reason we have a statute of limitations, evidence gets stale. i imagine one could interview all the people involved. it seems to me we are tasking senior federal prosecutors on a fool's errand. >> don't you have to initially establish the fact that hillary clinton put her hand to a document that she had some briefing on the subject, had some involvement in the decision to approve that sale? >> yes. you know, if it is a bribery theory, you'd have to show that in exchange for anything of value, this donation, she committed some sort of official act. that official act would have to

be some act to have been taken to approve this deal. i don't know that there's any evidence of that. >> i'm sorry to be short. i think it's a closed case. up next, the controversy surrounding roy moore again. attorney general jeff sessions has no reason to doubt moore's accusers. that comes amid new reports the alabama senate candidate used to troll, that's a great word for the grown up, troll the local mall looking to pick up teenage girls. that was his reputation. it's why he was banned from the gadsden mall.

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i am a first responder tor and i'emergencies 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. my children and my family are on my mind when i'm working all the time. my neighbors are here, my friends and family live here, so it's important for me to respond as quickly as possible and get the power back on. it's an amazing feeling turning those lights back on. be informed about outages in your area. sign up for outage alerts at pge.com/outagealerts. together, we're building a better california. welcome back to hardball. roy moore has royaled congressional republicans, president trump has largely avoided weighing in on the topic. he's been in asia since the news broke last week. white house press secretary sarah sanders says the president believes moore will do the right

thing and step aside if the allegations are true. when pressed by reporters on air force one on saturday the president said i'm dealing with the president of china, the president of russia. i haven't been able to devote very much time to this. trump returns from asia this evening. while his trip allowed him to leave domestic affairs behind. he must grapple with the tax cut plan, and decide whether to cut ties with moore in the special senate race. let's bring in the hardball round table, political reporter with the guardian, the opinion writer with the "washington post," and the washington correspondent for usa today. >> sabrina, i do get the sense the president is keeping the wide option out there like the football quarterback, he's got the option of whether to drop this guy like a bad habit. >> i think the president wants to avoid any of the political fallout that might be associated

with turning against roy moore. you'll recall that the president already expressed regret for having backed moore's opponent in the primary, luther strange. he knows that prominent conservative media figures have stuck behind moore as well as his own base. so the question is, does he publicly call on moore to step aside or does he do so privately and try to avoid the publicity associated with it and does he encourage jeff sessions who he has been no fan of in the justice department, to consider entering the race. and i think that's the key question is, which direction trump will go in. >> jonathan, are your views of the options he still has on the table? >> i think whatever option the president utilizes is going to be a hot mess. he -- his base, as sabrina said, loves roy moore. the president wanted to support roy moore against luther strange and went against his gut. the other thing is, the president hates losing.

so i don't know what the president's going to do, how he's going to say it. he is going to have to address the roy moore issue. he needs to have a republican in that alabama senate seat if his tax plan and any of his other legislative items are going to get passed. and so, you know, between the allegations against roy moore, the sexual assault allegations against roy moore, the president is in a bouillon base of trouble. i have no idea what he's going to do, when he's going to do it, and what he's going to say. again, chris, whatever he says, it's going to be a hot mess. >> paul singer, if he does succeed by toughing it out, we've had experiences in both parties where people tough it out. clarence thomas toughed it out. clinton toughed it out with monica. there's such a thing with politics, doing it, i don't care how bad it gets, stick to this, stick to my story, rub it into the other side and hit them back

hard. if he does that, if this guy win it is special election if he is, in fact, seated in the u.s. senate, they're stuck with a republican notion of an age of whatever, of 14. that they're defending this guy's behavior. >> right. and there is every suggestion from the senate leadership, including mitch mcconnell that they will immediately launch an ethics investigation against him if he ever takes that seat. the house of representatives, there's a statute of limitations on ethics complaints. they can only go back about six years. in the senate there is no statute of limitations on ethics complaint. they could launch an ethics complaint against roy moore the day he is sworn into the senate. the question, how long will that take and what does it do to the legislative agenda if you have a guy sitting outside the bubble? >> what's it do with this freddy kruger president we have, what happens if he says i want you to vote for this guy up to election

day four weeks from today and the people follow him, do what the president tells me to do and the next thing you know the guy is examined and found to be a sleaze ball. how does trump deal with that? >> i doubt trump is going to say anything to say you should vote for the guy. he may not say don't vote for him. he may not say anything. he's waiting for steve bannon to go out front and say this is the wrong guy. >> according to the daily beast, steve bannon may is be having second thoughts. he's, quote, uncomfortable with the charges of sexual harassment and child molestation that have been leveled at moore. he wasn't convinced the initial flood of on the record testimony was anything more than a hit job. what do you make of this, sabrina? >> this is emblematic of the post trump era, unvetted candidates who used to be part of the fringe and are within the republican mainstream.

you mentioned people who have toughed it out in the past, clarence thomas, bill clinton. you no who else toughed it out? president trump himself. that's another elephant in the room that's bound to be raised if and when he weighs in on roy moore and his fate and the fact of the matter is it didn't matter at the ballot box that trump himself had been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual assault, and it remains to be seen if it will matter when it comes to roy moore. but i think you're going to see more and more of what used to be unacceptable in politics no longer have bearing on the outcome of a race. and that's the trend that's been unleashed, also by republicans having supported the president despite the many statements that he had made that they had claimed were disqualifying. >> jonathan, this is the first time i've seen a schism between president trump and the senators, it's clear they're not comfortable. this is the first time they've openly opposed him. why is this the issue that's broken mcconnell away from him,

ted cruz away from him, paul ryan away from him? why now. >> we have charges -- allegations of child molestation, excuse me, one, and two, the power of the story is that the four women in the "washington post" story that set all of this off, they went on the record. this was not a story about unnamed victims. >> yes. >> they put their names out there. and so it made it difficult for people on capitol hill to turn away. but chris, i have to tell you, i am not entirely confident that if roy moore does indeed become the next senator from alabama, that the senate is actually or congress is actually going to do anything about it. because these folks are living in fear of the people who will have sent roy moore to the senate. >> okay, i agree with you. i think two-thirds expulsion vote is a wild card. the round table is sticking with us. up next these three will give me three scoops. we'll be talking about it

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we're back with a "hardball" round table. sabrina, tell me something i don't know. >> when roy moore was on alabama's supreme court, he challenged a law that was designed to protect rape victims on more than one occasion. argued that alleged sex offenders should be allowed to use the personal lives of their accusers against them in an attempt to discredit them. >> wonderful. jonathan. >> chris, our departed late friend, gwen ifill, who died a year ago today, her alma mater in boston, simmons college, will name one of their schools after her. it's going to be the gwen ifill college of media arts and humanities. >> i lost loved simmons and her paul. >> the series of sexual harassment complaints at the eeoc trending down parts over the past ten years or so, likely to trend back up with the harvey weinstein in the news.

we have been seeing more and more traffic on their website for people who may be filing complaints in the near future. >> thank you so much, sabrina siddiqui, jonathan capehart and paul singer. when we return from california, the dangerous last campaign waged here in 1968. you're watching "hardball." another day of work. why do you do it? it's not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before. ♪ ♪ you're developing ai applications on the cloud.

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♪ let me finish tonight with the dangerous last campaign waged here in california in 1968

when robert kennedy announced for president that march, the day before st. patrick's day, richard nixon was watching on television, having lost to kennedy's brother in 1960 and having lived through his assassination three novembers later, nixon had a dark foreboding. quote, we have just seen some terrible forces. quote, something bad is going to come of this. god knows where this is going to end. bobby himself knew the dangers. his brother had been shot to death in what he could only bring himself to call the events of november 1963. he knew the enemies that he himself had created in the years he had had battling organized crime figures and fighting segregationists. and yet there he wrote an open cars on flatbed trucks, giving himself to the people, standing for the overlooked. challenging the vietnam war. in the end, he left the earth a revered champion for the overlooked, the opponent of the unjust war. i've tried harder than ever in my life to capture him, the man so many of us treasure in bobby

kennedy, a raging spirit. tomorrow night here on "hardball," the man who caught him when he fell that horrible night in los angeles. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel that mr. papadopoulos attended -- >> jeff sessions returns, but his memory does not. >> i do not recall such a conversation. >> tonight, the house interrogates the attorney general on trump and the russians. >> he's not russian either, you know. >> you understand, sir, i get to ask the questions. >> and congressman ted lew on whether jeff sessions perjured himself. >> so i'm going to ask you, mr. sessions, were you lying when you filled out the form or are you lying now? >> plus -- >> he's obviously not fit to be in the united states senate. >> roy moore vows to stick it out as even s