our show began with nancy pelosi making parliamentary history, the longest speech ever on the floor of the house calling for the daca vote. we wrap up with a little programming note. eric holder will be on the rachel maddow show tonight. something worth watching "hardball" starts now. misfire. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm matthews in washington. it's become clear this week republicans on capitol hill are carrying out a show trial against the fbi. we're seeing it play out on a near nightly basis. the republican chairman of numerous committees have closed ranks and using a three-pronged attack to impugn the overall credibility of the fbi. the house intelligence committee

led by devin announce has been accusing the fbi of wrongful surveillance and a so-called memo. the senate judiciary committee led by chuck grassley is seeking charges against informant christopher steele and today the senate homeland committee chair led by ron johnson launched a third line of attack suggesting that former president barack obama was himself personally involved in the fbi's investigation of hillary clinton's e-mails. well, the problem is senator johnson attacked but missed. it turns out his charge is not true. to support his dubious claim, johnson cited a newly released batch of text messages between peter strzok and lisa page, the two fbi officials critical of trump in the private texts they exchanged during the 2016 election. in a report he issued today, johnson cherry picked a text page sent to strzok as she was drafting taking points, talking

points for then fbi director james comey. she wrote "potus, that's former president obama, wants to know everything we're doing." from there, senator johnson attempted to implicate president obama claiming that this text raises additional questions about the type and extent of president obama's personal involvement in the clinton e-mail scandal. well, the trouble with the senator's presumption is he showed no evidence the text was refer together clinton investigation that was closed at the time the message was sent. now "the wall street journal" is confirming late tonight johnson's presumption was wrong. according to associates of the fbi employees involved in that exchange, "the text messages show preparation to brief barack obama about russia's interference in that year's election," not as the republican nor suggested meddling by the then president in the federal hillary clinton e-mail investigation. well, this latest insinuation

against the fbi further shows that republicans are desperately preoccupied with smoke screens while ignoring the real threat to this country that comes as secretary of state rex tillerson warns russia will likely interfere in the 201 midterm elections as they did in 2016. >> there's a lot of ways that the russians can meddle in the elections. i think it's important we continue to say to russia, look, if you don't think we don't see what you're doing, we do see it and you need to stop. if you don't, you're going to continue to invite consequences for yourself. >> is the u.s. better prepared than 2016? >> i don't know that i would say we're better prepared because the russians will adapt, as well. >> well, that's pretty thoughtful. furthermore, the head of cyber security at the department of homeland security tells us tonight that the prior to the 2016 presidential election, the russians successfully penetrated the voter registration roles of

several states. there's no evidence that those rolls were altered. joining me is mial harris and evan mcmillan, a former 2016 presidential candidate. i want to start with evan. it seems to me the trump forces on capitol hill are trying to do everything they can to focus onside shows to try to come up with anything like the president was somehow in some strange way involved in the hillary e-mail situation, whatever it was. and we're never quite sure what it was if it was anything. and that somehow he was involved when all they had was one of those fbi agencies saying he wants to know what's going on. he wants to know what's going on is evidence that he's involved in the e-mail mess even though he wants to know what's happening with the russian hacking. >> right, that's right. the president, president obama wanted to know about russian hacking, about interference in our democracy. of course, he wanted to know.

>> he's president. >> he's president. of paramount national security. these trump loyalists in congress in the house and now in the senate are making fools of themselves, frankly. but this is their game. their game isn't to convince people like you and me who see through it. the game is to keep their base, the president's base in a pen and in this alternative reality universe. they're being quite successful with it. quinnipiac says 77% of republican voters think the russia investigation is a witch hunt. 5% think the fbi is biased against president trump. this is the alternative universe that they've create for these voters and all they have to do is keep throwing story after story out there. and it's going to keep people misled. fox is still running with this bogus ron johnson scam today. that's how you keep republican voters misinformed. >> well, it wasn't long before

president trump himself weighed in on those messages tweet "new fbi texts are bombshells." this comes after the president said in "the wall street journal" interview that fbi agent peter strzok had committed treason. senator ron johnson said these new text messages "raise questions about the leadership of the fbi." >> do you have confidence in the current leadership of the fbi and doj? >> i have questions about some top level managers in those departments carryovers probably from the previous administration. i have questions. i think they're legitimate questions. >> let me go to maya on this. it seems we have two things you can could with your brain in 2018. you can actually think towards the next elections coming up in november. that's exciting. you can think about sports and the fact that the eagles won the championship or you can focus on what is probably really important which is did the russians interfere with our election in 2016 which is probably true already and what role did the winning candidate

who is now our president play in that russian interference. to try to find it out. get all the details in terms of collusion, all the details there if there was obstruction and what was trump up to in possible money laundering. i'd like to know the answer answers to all those questions. what are the republicans interested in finding out? what do they want to know they don't know the now? i don't think this guy johnson looks that serious a person. i don't think announce is that serious a person. i look at them being led around by their staff all looking for jobs at the white house. there's something screwy about these guys. when you ask them a question, they don't seem to know the answer or even that interested. they seem a little numb. you go wait a minute, if this guy's behind all this thing about writing these memos and seems intellectual, how come when you interview them on television, there's not much brain power there. >> i don't get it. somebody's pushing this thing for the white house. they're working together. it's fascinating to watch.

i don't like it. what's going on here in terms of changing the focus of the public away from this investigation of the president and the russians into this other space? >> you are right, chris. i wish like you that we actually had a serious investigation going on into what happened with russia interfering in our elections. this latest series with these text messages clearly after announce' so-called bombshell memo actually bombed they needed to resuscitate another attempt to delegitimize the fbi as the russia investigation picks up steam and begins closing in on you know donald trump. their desperation around this would be comical if it wasn't so serious. this is the same ron johnson who just weeks ago was up in a tizzy around a secret society and then he's had to walk that back. maybe they were joking. it's the same donald trump tweeting today about these bombshell fbi texts who said that those missing text messages

were going to be one of the biggest stories ever. oops, it turns out they weren't missing at all. it's really a disgrace what's happening. i think you have to look what's going on with republicans in congress, as well. where are they? when are they going to say enough is enough. >> as maya just mentioned this is the second time senator johnson jumped to conclusions based on text messages he's been given. last month he and other trump defenders can were in a frenzy because one of the messages contained a reference to a secret society. that led johnson to allege fbi agents were conspiring against the president. watch him here. >> what this is all about is further evidence of corruption, more than bias but corruption at the highest levels of the fbi. that secret society, we have an informant talking about a group that were holding secret meetings off site. there's so much smoke, so much

suspicion. >> stop there. a secret society, secret meetings off site of the justice department. >> correct. >> you have an informant saying that? >> yes. >> two days later however, johnson conceded the text about a secret society could have just been a joke. >> after reading those transcripts or the text messages, do you think it was made as a joke? >> it's entirely possible. let's see what the next texts. >> let me go to evan. i smell a lot of staff people, a whole bunch of them all ganging around trying to get big jobs with the trump administration at nsc around the eisenhower executive building. they bring announce down, give him material, accepted him back the next day to the west wing using him like an operative. these congressmen and senators are acting -- they're not even staffers, they're operatives working for the trump crowd. this is not the regular republican party. i don't see a republican party. i hate to say it.

they are quiet on the sidelines. republicans are behaving like sideliners whereas this little group of people, the same group of munchkin running around back and forth with the april paper saying i've got something. i've got this thing. this has been going on for two or three months now. your thoughts? >> my thoughts are just that there's enormous party pressure to -- for the relevant chairmen of the relevant committees to undermine this investigation. that's what this is happening. look, i don't know that you can -- i wouldn't put it on the staffers, frankly. certainly there are aligned staffers but they're staffers. the members, the principals, they have to take responsibility for this. >> what's the little signal coming? >> the party. it has to be the party. it has to are far more powerful than the staffers. >> you mean mcconnell? >> this is a campaign. i don't know if it's mcconnell or sort of the rnc. but this is too coordinated too

sustained for it to come from staffers or even from these menace individuals. this is a republican party leadership effort, and i can't say who exactly. but this kind of pressure, this kind of coordinated campaign has to come from on high. enormous pressure from the president i'm sure from the white house itself. the idea of course, they're coordinating. that's been a question. are they coordinating? president always coordinate with loyalists in congress. right now president trump cares most about protecting himself and his family from the consequences of potential wrongdoing. so he's engaging with his loyalists in congress to try to help protect him as much as possible. that's what's happening. > you're right about the roman nofs trying to avoid being dumped out of power. myia, one of the producers thought it was like king john in beckett where he puts up, will someone rid me of this meddlesome priest and they find

their ways whether it's nunness or johnson of wisconsin, they put their hand up and say i got something for you, something to dump on the fbi. it's so the -- it's what we're watching. your thoughts, maya? >> they fall into two categories, the republicans in congress are either one, looking the other way and doing nothing and being content in the ruthless pursuit of their own policy agenda and then have you another category actively engaged in helping and doing the president's bidding around trying to discredit the russia investigation. they're sort of only those two things seem to be happening with republicans in congress. it's gotten so bad that now you see some people on the right who are saying and urging that republican voters actually have a moral obligation to go to the polls in november and vote out this gop congress because even they know that the only way that we are going to at this point have any check on this

administration is if the democrats take control of either the house or the senate. >> let me go back to evan. last question. if the financial counsel robert mueller comes through with what looks to be an evidence founded indictment in the form of a report and he sends it to the justice department and the justice department forwards it over to the house, will they act? >> this republican. >> or just say, republican red congress, if it's still republican led in the house, will they act on what is the substance of an impeachment measure. >> no, this is republican conference in the house will not do it. i know there are some members some republican members in the house who certainly would vote to hold the president accountable. but in some collectively they will not do it. they won't do it because the base is still very strongly on president trump's side as i said before. they don't trust this investigation. they're putting enormous pressure on their members, their representatives to fight back. and that's why in part you see

the actions we're seeing from announce and johnson. the republicans in the house will not hold president trump accountable even if there's facts. >> what has happened to people like orrin hatch? what happened to them? come on, evan. you know those guys out in utah. what happened? i know a little bit. what happened to the regular republican conservatives who used to believe in the constitution and now they let trump trump over them? dump on them. >> this is what happens. for a long time the republican party had crazies, crazies in talk radio, members of the base that were out there. and they were sort of kept in the bark corners of the political activity, the political scene. those people have been empowered by president trump, leaders like those that you mentioned are -- have been unwilling to stand up to them and lead and say no, this isn't right this isn't fact, this isn't where we want to go as a party. now those fever swamps as charlie sykes likes to call them

have risen to the point they control the party. that's what it is. now it's even harder to stand up for them. >> i wish hatch and the others -- mccain is doing and a few others. i wish more would do it. thank you maya and evan. >> coming up, the senate reaches a big bipartisan deal to fund the government again and avoid a shutdown. will house democrats go along with it if there's nothing in it for the dreamers? >> marching orders. the president tells the military to start planning a grand military parade in the streets of washington like the ones kim jong-un presides over over in north korea. unbelievable. the democrats get another sign they might win back the house in november. history is on their side, but only by a little bit. we'll talk about that, how close this could be in november. let me finish tonight with trump watch. it's about the parade. he loves a parade. this is "hardball" where the action is. rokerage fees. fees?

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>> former attorney general eric holder today told poe at this time cohe believes special counsel mueller could legally prosecute president trump on obstruction of justice charges. "if there's a technical case there now, he was asked and he said i think so. there is a case. during an event this morning holder was also asked if he thinks the president will speak to mueller's investigators. the former agi argued trump might plead the fifth. let's go. >> it's entirely possible that you know, he could use his fifth amendment privilege which would be you know, almost fatal for any other politician. but as this president says, he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and not suffer any negative political consequences. the number five is kind of an interesting one. he uses fifth avenue. there's also the fifth amendment. i don't know you know, i think that's at least a possibility. >> eric holder's comments came

during a breakfast sponsored by the christian science monitor. he also signaled he's open to running for president himself, eric holder in 2020. >> are you possibly thinking of running for office? >> you know, i'll see. i'm focused on ndrc at this point. i think i'll make a decision by the end of the year whether or not there is another chapter in my government service. >> president? >> we'll see. >> he has to do more than see. he's got to crank it up a little bit. we'll know more about the prospects in 2020 for the demes and what's going to happen this november, that's more interesting. we'll be right back. the only nu♪ ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ staying ahead isn't about waiting for a chance. it's about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. ( ♪ ) the one and only cadillac escalade. come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac escalade. get this low-mileage lease on this 2018 cadillac escalade

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welcome back to "hardball." earlier today senate democrats and republicans announced a bipartisan deal on government funding. the two the parties seem to have forgotten what it's like to work together agreed to a budget that lift caps on defense and more important the deal would put an

end to the bitter cycle of short-term funding deals. here we go. i hope we can build on this bipartisan momentum and make 2018 a year of significant achievement for congress, for our constituents, and for the country that we all love. >> after months of legislative log jams, this budget deal is a genuine break through. after months of fiscal brinksmanship, this budget deal is the first real sprout of bipartisanship. >> the new budget would lift sequestration, extends the children's health insurance program chips for ten years, it includes disaster relief and opioid response funding and sets aside $20 billion for infrastructure. i don't think that's enough. but the deal does not include a proposal what to do with the roughly 7 had 00,000 daca recipients. mcconnell only promised to hold a vote on immigration bill. reaction to the senate compromise in the house was less than receptive.

>> this spending bill is a debt junkie's dream. >> how many of your colleagues do you think might vote against this deal? >> i don't know. i think it will be a good number. >> a number of us are concerned about the fiscal reality of a bill that will come due not on our grandkids but really on our children. >> and the house minority leader nancy pelosi said she too opposed the deal because it didn't do anything to protect the dreamers. she then embarked on a talkathon demanding that speaker ryan have a vote on daca. >> every day courageous dreamers lose their status. every day the american dream slips further out of reach. i don't know when we would have had another opportunity that matches today for us to just get a simple commitment from the speaker of the house that he will give us a vote. there's no guarantee. this is about the children. it's about the children.

you see the recurring theme of the dreamers wanting to give back to america. it's not just an issue. it's a value. it's something very important to us. i had no intention of yielding back, mr. speaker. find a solution that then builds trust in a bipartisan way addressing their needs we're talking about. who we are. our basic request is honor the house of representatives. give us a chance to have a vote on the floor. >> today was the longest speech delivered in the history of the house going back to 1841 when the filibuster was terminated in the house. what's not clear is how effective the speech was as a strategy. i'm joined by robert costa, "washington post" political reporter and msnbc political analyst. let me ask you about this thing here. why would chuck schumer drop the daca constituency in this big fight to keep the government open? >> we always talk about the bases driving each party.

the appropriators, the committee chairman ranking democrats have been spoiling for a deal for months telling that to the leaders in each chamber. they wanted this deal and say push the immigration fight a few weeks down the road. >> have they got a guaranteed fight a few weeks down the road? >> that he would rather get the spending deal done, get the money they want on the domestic and military side and go full throated fight into the immigration. >> what changed? a few weeks ago they said we will die on this fight. we will fight on this hill for daca, for the dreamers. that's our fight. if we don't get the dreamer bill, we're not going to keep the government open. >> you saw how long the government shutdown lasted. red state democrats said we don't want a showdown over immigration. we want a spending deal. if the base wants to fight over immigration, have the fight but don't put it on our shoulders. >> what happened around january 20th, all of a sudden that big

double digit gap between how many people will vote for democrats this november and will vote from republicans went from double digit down to half a dozen. is that it? they were dripping away and losing their advantage come this november on this daca thing. >> leader pelosi knows. >> sure, they all saw internal polls that saw it narrowing for democrats and believe the democratic base will be there in february and march ahead of the daca deadline to fight to push it the republicans around. >> thank you, robert. for more on the personal side of the debate, i'm joined by samantha ramirez herrera. thank you so much for coming on. i know sam is a short name. thank you. how do you react to the changing environment where a couple weeks they were going to die on the hill for you guys people who came here with their parents and undocumented and now it looks like they've got other objectives, democrats. >> well, right now, chris, it is such a psychological turmoil

going on. i actually met with dreamers in los angeles yesterday. and let me tell you, there are students that are not enrolling in school anymore. there are small children that are actually showing up to school crying, there are people that are you know, dropping out of school. there is so much turmoil going on right now. and to hear that there won't be a deal that includes daca protections is disheartening. it is disanning but not surprising. they have been kicking this football around. we don't see any solutions coming forth. but i also want to commend the dreamers still proactive that are still out there, you know, just asking that protections come for us. >> i agree with you about the football. it's an old metaphor. you're being used as a community for political back and forth. yesterday john kelly spoke to reporters about undocumented immigrants eligible for the

obama era daca program. chief of staff kelly told reporters president trump's immigration plan would benefit more than just those who registered for the protection of daca. let's listen. >> there are 690,000 official daca reg graistranregistrants. and the president entover what amounts to be 2 1/2 times that number to 1.8 million. the difference between 690 and 1.million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses but they didn't sign up. >> what do you make of that language? >> it's not surprising. but i'd like to also state that you know, there is a large number of daca people that could be in daca that have not yet met the age requirement to apply for daca. there are also people, there's a fee that is included to pay for daca. there's a lot of people that

can't afford to pay that fee and there's also -- there's also a lot of people that don't trust the government. they don't trust it any longer. you know, there was a campaign promise that was made that said that daca would be rescinded soon. why would anybody sign up for something that you know, has no future? >> have you ever thought about maybe this is too tough, you are a civilian, a regular person, not a lawmaker. let me ask you a question we argue about all the time around here. what do you think would be the elements of a final resolution of this fight over immigration? illegal immigration. what can we do to the 11 million people here to the people still trying to get in this country? how should we regulate it? what should be done? >> well, we have a dream act in place that has been on the table for 17 years. for me, the solution is a clean dream act. >> okay. you don't want to address the overall question of immigration? >> well, the dream act would actually allow us to sponsor our

families, our parents. it would be some sort of amnesty which i know a lot of people are against. >> okay. thank you so much. it's great to have you on to give us a human face to the fight. san man that ramirez herrera. president trump wants the pentagon to stage a grand military parade down the streets of pennsylvania avenue, seen more in the streets of north korea like that than here in the usa. why does the president want to do this thing? why do we want that here? this is "hardball" where the action is. don't we need that cable box to watch tv? nope. don't we need to run? nope. it just explodes in a high pitched 'yeahhh.' yeahhh! try directv now for $10 a month for 3 months.

no satellite needed. what can a president [ do in thirty seconds? he can fire an fbi director who won't pledge his loyalty. he can order the deportation of a million immigrant children.

he can threaten an unstable dictator armed with nuclear weapons. he can go into a rage and enter the nuclear launch codes. how bad does it have to get before congress does something?

i was your guest at bastille day and it was one of the greatest parades i've ever seen. to a large extent because of what i witnessed we may do something like that on july 4th in washington down pennsylvania avenue. i don't know. we're going to have to try and top it. we had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might. it was a beautiful thing to see. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump last year telling french president macron he wanted to try and top the french bastille day military parade. according to "washington post," at a january 18th meeting between trump and top generals his desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive "the marching orders were, i want a parade like the

one in france," the post reports quoting a miller official. secretary of defense james mattis today said the military was presenting is options for the parade to trump right now. let's watch. >> i think we're all aware in this country of the president's affection and respect for the military. we've been putting together some options. we'll send them up to the white house for a decision. >> this spectacle appears to be nothing more than a saber rattling move by the president, his very own big hands parade you might say. it's an archaic show of strength reminiscent of what nixon did when he came back in 1970 and ordered is the white house police get new baroque style uniforms for special occasions can, white jackets with gold braids, shiny bets and peaked caps. that was the uniform for months. i'm joined bid someone who remembers it george f. will, a "washington post" columnist and contributor. what is it in presidents that

occasionally strokes their need for these shows of baroque power? >> i guess. every parent knows that if you have an obstreperous infant you can distract him with a bright shiny thing. this is a bright shiny thing. if it satisfies his military urge in a way that otherwise might be satisfied with a war on the korean peninsula this would be a good thing. i don't think the troops will like it so much. no one joins the armed services other than to protect this country. they didn't join to participate in a pageant to satisfy the parade envy of a president. i'm not sure the president knows that an abrams tank weighs more than 60 tons. if you're going to bring in the thanks it's going to be expensive and difficult and might chew up the avenue a little bit. >> i hadn't thought of this clearly. they would not just be parading

but parading in review the commander in chief would be returning their salutes. >> we've done this before after the civil war ended, after the victory in world war i, world war ii, after the victory in the 1991 gulf war. what are we commemorating this time? no particular victory involved. >> it's strange. senator john kennedy of louisiana warned today that a military parade is something that north korea or russia would do, not the united states. let's hear from him. >> i think confidence is silent. and insecurity is loud. america is the most powerful country in all of human history. everybody knows it. and we don't need to show it off. we're not north korea. we're not russia. we're not china. and i don't want to be.

and for that reason, i would be against flaunting our strength. we don't need to. everybody knows we have it. >> it's hard to beat that, isn't it. >> it's very well said. north korea can't make food. can't make shoes or butter or poetry. what they can do is make their third world country with first world missiles or getting it there. the united states uses its military to protect what we're proud of, freedom. we don't need to do this 37 using these men and women as a prop to satisfy the kind of animal spirit of the president seems to me unworthy. >> do you think there's another piece of this? totalititarianism. i wonder whether there's a reason we grew up watching may day parades and parades with nazis. it seems like all powerful leaders like parades. it's a fact. >> they do. that's the difference between people who have a parade for the parade's sake to slow off.

>> that's the french one he was taken with the horses. >> french are very good at this. we spend twice as much of our much larger gdp than they spend because our military is busy. two-thirds of the planet are covered with water and it's all policed by the united states navy. our forces are stretched. their budgets are emaciated as a result of the budget control act of 2013. this strikes me as an optional flippery. >> here we have, we're looking at which nobody likes in this country. we hate that kind of regimentation which is frightening to think how much discipline went into those people jumping up and down like that in unison. i know you're not a sentimentalist. we have olympics coming up this week on our network, nbc. i like the idea the north koreans and south koreans will get together on their ski teams and other teams.

i running if that's running into the face of a war on the korean peninsula? they're not looking like they want to go to war with each other. >> they've been living together for a long time. and i think they're used to it. it's possible something could come of this. the ping-pong diplomacy started the opening to china that culminated in 1972. stranger things have happened. but not many stranger things than this being an opening between this astonishingly successful open society of south korea and this astonishingly grotesque country to the north. >> they seem to feel they know their cousins more than we do. i wouldn't be calm. thank you as always. up next, democrats pull off another upset victory in a district where president trump won big in 2016. will they take control of the house and the midterms? we'll scare you a little bit. this election coming up in november could be very, very close. you're watching "hardball." the finger lakes

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welcome back to "hardball." democrats are hoping for a big blue wave this november. last night they got further proof that momentum is on their side. democrats flipped a missouri state house seat in a heavily republican district that trump carried by 28 points in 2016. that's another good sign. it is for the party after big victories last year in alabama and virginia. there's room for worry. "washington post" columnist karen tumulty warns taking back the house will be harder than democrats think. she writes perhaps the single biggest miscalculation they could expect is to expect trump to do all their work for them. most waves break before they reach the shore. there's a good completion of the metaphor. shannon penny piece is with me, white house reporter for

bloomberg news, gabe debenedetti from poe at this time coand aisha ras cofrom reuters. this question of we're looking at the generic number. people say i'll vote democrat or republican. republicans win even if they're 4% down because the gerrymandering. republicans are now down about 6.5. is that enough to win? >> there is so much that can happen between now and then. especially in this news cycle where things that happen, remember the government shutdown? >> not the shutdown, it cut their advantage in half. >> it would be completely forgotten by then. >> why did it hurt the democrats. >> the narrative democrats gave up on immigration, republicans want to enforce -- >> you think it was they gave up on daca. >> i'm saying that's what the narrative is. >> what hurt them? >> that remains to be seen if it hurt them. >> i don't think anyone's going to remember the shutdown like a

month from now. >> i think they -- chuck schumer decided hanging out for the daca kids alone and letting that be the one issue that you're fighting to end the government on was not smart politics. >> it showed they didn't have the stomach for it. it's either you stick with it and go for it. >> they could have kept the government shutdown for weeks. would that have been stronger. >> either you stick with it. >> you're arguing it would have been stronger if they kept the government shut down for two or three weeks. >> it wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do. that would have been pleasing to their base. either you go all the way to the left and play to the base. >> would that be a smart move for the democrats? >> i think we're going to find out. we're talking as if this is an issue that's over already. we might get more and more shutdowns or mon confrontations over daca as an issue. today you saw nancy pelosi. >> today she spoke for eight hours to make the point she

cares about daca. did she make her point? >> she did for maybe an hour. trump has a way of sucking the oxygen out of the room. she can't get whatever she's looking to. >> what. >> do they really need time to say nothing. >> they need to define themselves. >> ask a politician to go on johnny carson was the number one show. if you give him 15 minutes, they should be able to tell you what they stand for. i'm not sure today you would get a clear statement. >> that may be true. what you would get behind closed doors, what you do get from dras all across capitol hill is who cares. it is true they know they need a message. you tell me the last election cycle which you could point to a specific slogan nat party had and that that worked. the democratic argument is there's oech active dissension from the base. a better deal is not something

these people will be campaigning on. >> that's what they tried in 2016. we're the not trump party. trump had a slogan make america great again. >> do you believe are youing against trump is enough. >> i think the energy is there. they have to be able to capitalize on that. the energy is in the not trump. that's fresh. >> i agree with that completely. what about -- i've heard this every day from now till november talks about i gave you a tax cut. what have the democrats done for you? i've given you a tax cut. don't they have to respond by saying yeah, he gave you a tax cut and going to screw occur medicare, medicaid and social security. don't trust this guy. he's getting the money from the working people. >> i don't know if the rubber will have hit the road on some of those issues by november 2018 yet. i don't know if people will be feeling it the effects of that. >> that's the job of the democrats. >> that's what's working against the democrats really is the economy. that thing are going pretty well.

like that's really one of their main enemies right now. >> that's why you see joe biden get up on capitol hill and say listen the argument we have to be making is you may have gotten a tax cut. >> let's watch joe. cue him. >> i just marvel at some of the things he says and does like what two days ago, anybody who didn't stand up and clap for him was un-american and then maybe even treasonous. >> they say it was tongue in cheek. democrats can't take a joke. >> he's a joke. >> you say the president is the joke. >> yeah, i mean in this kind of stuff. >> whoa. and that's the moderate which can of the party. the roundtable is sticking with us. you're watching "hardball." uh oh. well, you know, you're getting older. um, you might be experiencing some, ah, sensations. ah, it happened to your dad..uh with.. oh, look the tow trucks here! can't wait to be rescued?

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on thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. like the papaya playa project for 49% off. everything you need to go. expedia. we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. shannon comes first. tell me soing i don't know. >> there's a lot of anticipation about public hearings with jared kushner and donald trump jr. on these russia probes. doesn't look like it's going to happen. our reporting shows republicans will probably block them from public hearings despite democrats wanting to see, why do they want to protect the royal family. >> republicans want to protect republicans. >> do they know they're supporting a royal family, the roman nofs. >> this is the dance they've been doing. >> this is royal stuff. >> i'm going to change directions. earlier in the program you heard

from joe biden. saw eric holder. people are talking how both of them might run for president. we're seeing something unprecedented here where up to three senior members of the obama administration could be running if you add in julian castro going to new hampshire later this month and who said maybe he'll run for president and deval patrick part of the conversation recently. >> do you really think duval would run. >> i'm not sure. i know some of them are looking at it seriously. >> what's the third one you had? >> it was duval, julian castro, eric holder and joe biden. all are pretty close toes president obama who is in his way keeping the fingers on the democratic party. >> one is 77, one is 37. >> president trump has been complaining about nato not carrying is weight and reuters is reporting today that secretary mattis september a letter to nato asking them to i guess kind of step up in iraq and help with training iraqi -- help with training iraqi

soldiers. the europeans don't want to necessarily get involved in an unending conflict. >> that's european of them. thank you so much, shannon, gabe and ayesha. let me finish tonight with trump watch. he won't like this one. you're watching "hardball." which is why we're helping to replenish the mighty rio grande as well as over 30 watersheds across the country. we're also leading water projects in more than 100 communities. and for every drop we use... we're working to give one back. because our products rely on the same thing as we all do... clean water. and we care about it like our business depends on it. when you can squeeze one in wbetween friday and monday at hilton?n there's a vacation at the end of every week.

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carrying the u.s. flag into the opening ceremony on friday night. voted by your peers to do that. the first singles medals winner for the u.s. in the sport of luge. what kind of honor is it when you found out that your peers chose to you carry the flag. >> it was a pretty big shock but it is an honor and privilege to be recognized by all of team usa like that. >> you'll be leading the largest contingent in the winter games from any nation. what can you tell the first-timers about the experience? >> it will be so exciting. you think you have an idea what it will be like. you'll be blown away. it never gets old. it will be just as exciting as you can imagine. >> erin will lead the team on friday. when our coverage begins tomorrow from pyeonchang. trump watch february 7th, 2018. americans like parades. thanksgiving parades, new year's

parades, st. patrick's parade gay pride parades. we like parades for our heroes like lucky lindy and ike. communist countries can always like their may day parades. look at north korea, look at kim jong u.n. looking at all the missiles all ready to launch, lines after lines of strutting soldiers all ready to attack. now president trump's wants the u.s. military strutting their stuff on the streets of washington. he wants those units marching past him looking up at him. saluting him, showing the world what kind of power he's got. i don't know about you, but i find something baroque about this thing. americans know what power we've got militarily. nobody thinks we don't have enough might in this world. nobody doubts our strength. is it the president that has doubts? remember nixon seeing something in europe he liked. he saw the pretty uniforms on the guards protecting the royal palaces over there.

he had some of those made for himself at the white house. how stupid they looked. everyone laughed at him. what if they do the same to president trump and his parade and what if that character over in north korea who loves parading dearly starts thinking this trump guy might be a little trigger happy? that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. good evening from new york. i'm ali velshi. there is a lot to get to tonight including a nbc news exclusive report on the russian government's intrusion into american voter registration rolls before the 2016 election. what could be a new strategy for the president as robert mueller's investigation gets closer to him and later my conversation with senator elizabeth warren. we'll begin with a major shake-up for the trump administration. the man who resigned from the white house today hel