that does it for me. two programming notes, one i will be guest hosting for rachel maddow tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern if you're watch aths news, i'll be here back at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. the last word" has a special guest tonight, stormy daniels' lawyer. "hardball" starts now. >> home alone? let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'll chris matthews in washington. a lawsuit by a porn star and a threat of trade war. just another day at the white house. meanwhile, the west wing is becoming emptiyer by the day. >> the latest -- according to

nbc news, a source close to cohn said the decision to resign was abrupt. entirely due to irreconcilable differences based on trump's tariff plan. the white house said today the president will sign the plan by the end of this week. both democrats and republicans have warned of the risk of a trade war. axios reports cohn considered the announcement a personal embarrassment. "he had boasted to his wall street and hamptons buddies he had kept the president on the right track -- on trade." there's growing alarm now of a potential brain drain at the white house coordinating to the "associated press." cohn's departure sparked fears of a larger exodus. the president tried to preempt the concerns yesterday. let's watch. >> the white house has tremendous energy, tremendous spirit. it is a great place to be working. many, many people want every single job. i read where, gee, maybe people

don't want to work for trump. believe me, everybody wants to work in the white house. there will be people, i'm not going to be specific, but there will be people that change. they always change. sometimes they want to go out and do something else. but they all want to be in the white house. so many people want to come in. i have a choice of anybody. >> i have a choice of anyone to work here. on capitol hill today, there was bipartisan concern as i said about cohn's departure. let's watch. >> how do you feel about gary cohn leaving the white house and its effect on trade and tariffs? >> well, i'm concerned that who the president will turn to for advice. i think mr. cohn was a outstanding public servant and somebody obviously how about had the credentials and experience to help the president to decide what the policies of the government should be. >> the white house getting hollowed out and the number of people capable of doing things, doing real things whether you agree or disagree ideologically

is getting smaller and smaller. >> the president's spokes woms sarah sanders told reporters there are a number of very accomplished smart, capable people around the president. >> why are so many people leaving this administration? >> look, this administration is -- has had a historic first year. we're going to continue to do great things. this is an intense place as every white house. and it's not abnormal that you would have people come and go. >> going for the back dad bob title. indeed, something historically abnormal is going on about the number of senior people leaving the white house. i'm joined by ashley parker. "the new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker, west columnist, eugene robinson, and david jolly former u.s. congressman. tonight some breaking news. from this time "the new york

times." the times" is reporting president trump spoke to witnesses about matters they discussed with special counsel robert mueller. they reported "the special counsel in the russian investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months in which president trump asked key witnesses about matters they discussed with investigators," according to three people familiar with the encounters. the first vold don mcgahn and the second reince priebus. as the "times" reports, legal experts says trump's contact with those men most likely did not rise to the level of witness tampering but potentially a problem and shared them with mr. mueller. we're joined by "new york times" reporter mike it will schmidt who broke the story. this is odd in the sense that i do you as a nonlawyer that this looks like the wrong thing to do. you shouldn't be talking to people who have just talked to the prosecutor because it

suggests you're riding helicopter on these people. >> number one rule is investigations don't talk to witnesses, don't talk to prosecutes. and leave that alone. the president has largely disregarded that advice from his lawyers. it's particularly interesting because the president got into so much trouble for trying to talk to comey and that was disclosed -- this is head scratching for a lot of people watching it. >> what does this tell us about the intensity factors in the white house in terms of the president trying to check on what's coming at him? >> i think the president can't help himself. he's curious and he wants to know as much as he can and he wants to try and find out as much as he can about the mueller investigation. and you know, obviously anyone in his situation would be curious in that way, but the problem is that it creates this appearance that doesn't look good to mueller because it looks

like, why is he doing this. and you know it's something that. >> can you report what the president asked his colleagues and what he asked of priebus and mcgahn? >> he asked priebus how it went. priebus discussed some of the topics that had come up and said they had been cordial and nice to him. the president went into a rant about the russia investigation and the matters related to mcgahn weren't related to a january meeting he had done on how trump had asked mcgahn last summer to fire mueller and trump said -- had told rob porter that the white house needs to get out the word that the story wasn't true. mcgahn needs to put out a statement out that it was false. and this -- mcgahn found out about this and later had a conversation with the president in which the president said to him, look this didn't happen. mcgahn said yeah, it did. there was back and forth between

the two of them. >> thank you, mike schmidt from the "new york times" for breaking that story to us while we got it from you. let me go to ashley parker. this seems to be -- i want to get to the crazy empty house at the white house where everybody seems to be leaving. but this question where the president is now denying he told mcgahn to fire comey. >> well, it seems like in reading that article which again is not my story, but is that he pushed, the president denieded that to mcgahn and mcgahn gently reminded the president that actually, sir, you did ask me to do this. this gets to sort of a central problem the president has which is he often when he's saying something in the moment, he says what he wishes it to be. and then he seems toes genuinely believe it. some people would say he was lying to mcgahn, other people would say he was simply misremembering. but it makes him a very

unreliable narrator and hard to deal with. it's one of the reasons his lawyers are res stoent have him go before them and certainly something verbal rather than written questions and a reason you're seeing the exodus in the white house. he's difficult to deal with and people are finally saying i've had enough. >> i guess, peter, the question is how do you restrain somebody who can't remember that you weren't restraining him last time if he doesn't have a conscious memory what he's told people to do, how do they think they can influence what he doeses? >> very challenging client for any lawyer, of course. michael was right and ashley is right. this is one thing lawyers make clear to their clients, don't talk to witnesses even if you have nothing but benign intent, it can easily be misinterpreted. going back to the bill clinton era when the monica lewinsky case and he calls in his secretary and leads her through

a series of false stories saying you were always with us, the door was always open. that was later used against him as an example of obstruction of justice. that's why the presidents shouldn't be talking to witnesses. i think that that's the kind of thing that mueller will look into as he tries to build a case, whatever the case he's building. >> bill clinton the president at the time was trying to convince betty, more than a secretary, she was a major professional figuring in that white house in the government that somehow she being in the adjoining room was somehow in the same room and tried to conflate an the right wing loves to do, conflate to circumstanceses. thank you for the memory, an important memory. gene, i don't know whether the new york people we talked to the last couple days, because they value gary cohn, they look up to him. a leader of a major financial house, goldman sachs. he's a heavyweight up there. but in washington, he's another employee. he's hired by the president, another one of those guys like

i'm sorry, like don regan who goss an inflated idea who he was. he thought he was prime minister down there and the president reagan was some sort of old time sort of hanging around hindenburg type that didn't matter anymore. he learned he was not in fact in charge. does this president need these people that think of themselves that is important? does trump need gary cohn or people like him around him? >> he doesn't seem to want them. look, if you hire the former president of goldman sachs pretty important job as your chief economic adviser, then you know, i think he expects you to follow his advice on fundamental things. things fundamental to him. >> but trump trumpet to the world he was a protectionist. when cohn arrived he knew he was going to work voluntarily for a protectionism and then he says i can't believe protectionism is

going on here and it was and is. >> cohn is making perhaps i think made the mistake, people treat this man as if he's a 2-year-old. he can be humored and you make excuses for this. but he can be led in that of this direction. he's not a 2-year-old. he's a grown man who has been like this all his life. and knows exactly what he's doing. going back to the first story, he knows he's not supposed to talk to witnesses but -- >> okaying. > figures people will say trump will be trump. trump will indeed be trump. >> he's our president right now david jolly, somebody may go to the white house thinking they can put the president of the united states in a play pen and pacify him and keep him there while they run the place themselves. the president puts his staff people in play pens. gary cohn didn't think the job was big enough for him, trump thought it was and was unsatisfied. is this a 10% of whatever, are

we making a bigger story, everybody's making this into a huge story. all the major papers say there's a problem with trump in the traffic, people coming in and out of the white house is too swift, it's not healthy. is it nor not important? >> no, this is a big story. the country needs experts around had president whether you agree with their ideology or not, when it comes to the economy and national security, we need people smarter than the current president advising him. look, they're leaving for one reason. and it's donald trump. there's an old ax yox in industry that's true in politics, you never leave a good job but you do leave a bad boss. donald trump is incapable of knowing the seriousness of this office. we've become conditioned to accept the condition of mediocrity. cohn left if you've got a shot at protecting a shred of your reputation, you leave the white house now. >> with cohn out, an commercial

nationalist like peter navarro seemed to be on the rice in the white house. in june of 2016 is, he appeared on "hardball" along with alf cole president richard trumka where he offered this bizarre defense of his candidate donald trump. let's watch. >> donald trump is -- has a platform that you guys are dreaming about. he is taking every step. >> he's a fraud. >> the afl-cio has recommended for a president to take. >> he's a fraud. >> that may be but we're going to find out. >> that may be. >> your workers don't believe he's a fraud. >> they believe that he is the guy. >> you just said it may be that trump's a fraud. what did you mean by that? >> here's what i mean. trump says he's a fraud. i say we'll find out. my view is your workers don't think he's a fraud. i don't think he's a fraud which is why i'm supporting him. >> that was a strange -- ashley, that was a strange defense of your candidate saying he may be

a fraud. i don't know. what's his name, nunberg said that roger stone may lie. i don't know he may lie once in awhile. these people's defense of each other is narrow simply in terms of loyalty but not qualifications or basically professional morality. >> sure. in this white house, the tone starts at the top. and the president demands absolute loyalty. you do see that. and there are sort of weak defenses of one another. that's not taking into account all the ways people are publicly knifing each other. there is a sense among a lot of people in the white house that they're not actually that loyal to trump personally. he is sort of this vehicle or vessel for them to try to move their opinions. as is in the case with kae gae, when they're unsuccessful they'll leave. that is the damning praise from people who don't always respect the boss. >> peter baker, that would suggest why we're getting great

reporting out of the white house. they don't rest the guy. usually you had your manifest responsibility to have a moral commitment to the boss, you believed in the person. you worked for them for that reason. and that was the only reason you worked for them. they weren't replaceable parts, these bosses. i don't understand how people think about this president as somebody who happens to work with them but doesn't deserve their respect or loyalty but ratted out pre day to the press. i'm not knocking your sources but they seem to be prolific. they're everywhere. >> yeah, you make a good point. there are definitely people in the white house who believe strongly in president trump and his agenda, believe strongly in his presidency. it is true a number of people in the west wing are more jaundiced about him. they roll their eyes at night with friends and colleagues like hit critics do. they tend to talk outside of school a little bit about what they're encount kerring because they're frustrated. they may be there because they

believe in his agenda but not in him, they may believe they're helping the country get through a difficult time. you're right, not everybody there is a complete loyalist. >> david, you've been a politics. have you ever had people working for you that you thought were really just there out of career ambition no, love or affection for you or even honor for you? did you have anybody like that around you? >> well, no. if you saw it, you smoked it out. and respectfully to peter's point, he's being very generous to a lot of white house staff. they're there largely a number of underqualified people there out of self-interest. only people who believe in his agenda are the steven millers of the world. those are the wrong people we want in the white house. >> that makes it a happy hunting ground for journalists. >> it does. you've never had a leakyer administration. >> what does it tell you about the quality of the administration? >> there are a lot of mediocrities in the white house. >> this is a rough jury. i have to respect. i do respect this jury.

it is tough and coming in in i would say in a geet attitude. they're guilty. thank you ashley parker, michael schmidt was on the phone. i thought he was on a ship to shore phone. peter baker, eugene robinson and david jolly. the legal battle between adult film star stormy daniels and donald trump. she says the nondisclosure agreement she signed isn't valid because the president didn't sign it. do trump and his attorney have a fighting chance to keep her quiet? that's ahead. plus, more new details about the russian investigation as robert mueller's investigators digging into secret meetings between trump allies in the say shell islands. the uae and the trumps threat of a trade war opened up a gaming rift between the president and many republicans. and it could smother over the economic message they hoped would cut their losses in this year's midterm elections.

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cleans where brushing may miss. helps remove stains and prevent stain build up. use polident daily. attorney general jeff sessions traveled to california today to formally announce that the trump administration is suing the california over its immigration policies. in a speech top california law enforcement officials, sessions blasted the state's so-called sanctuary laws saying it made it impossible for federal agents to do their jobs. and crack down on illegal immigration. he said the laws are being pushed by radical extremist who's want open borders. governor jerry brown accused the attorney general, catch this, of trying to apiece his boss, president trump. >> this is completely unprecedented. for the chief law enforcement of the united states to come out here and engage in a political stunt, make wild accusations,

many of which are based on outright lies, that's unusual. i do think this is pure red meat for the base, and i would assume but this is pure speculation, that jeff thinks that donald will be happier with him. i'm sure donald will be tweeting his joy at this particular performance. >> jerry brown, still amazingly state-of-the-a state-of-the-art. we'll be right back. get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more moments to remember there are some things you can only get when you book with us. get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com

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as if the internal white house drama were not enough, adult film actor stormy daniels is suing president trump. the porn star whose real name is stephanie clifford is asking a los angeles court to void an agreement she signed to not disclose what she says were her intimate relations with donald trump because while she and trump's lawyers signed it, trump didn't sign the contract. daniels lawyer explained why

he's taking this action on "today." >> a lot of the amount of misinformation that's out there, some of which has been disseminated by mr. cohn and others she believes it's important the public learn the truth what happened. >> trump's long time personal lawyer michael cohen has previously said trump denies the allegations and sarah huckabee sanders reiterated that point earlier today. let's hear her. >> the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear none of these allegations are true. this case has already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that, i would refer you to the president's outside counsel. >> well, the civil suit a copy of which first obtained by nbc news says daniels had a relationship with president trump from 2006 to 2007. it then alleges years later during the 2016 presidential campaign, mr. trump and his personal lawyer michael cohen

pressured her that would be stormy daniels, into signing a nondisclosure agreement or hush agreement for $130,000 and a guarantee that she would not share any texts, photos or information about the alleged relationship. mr. cohen previously said he used his own personal funds to an fail tate the payment to daniels and neither the trump organization or campaign of trump's was party to the transaction. a copy of the agreement appears as evidence in the lawsuit. while president trump is not named in the document, the suit alleges stormy and trump entered into the agreement under pseudonyms daniels as peggy peterson, trump as catch this name, david dennison. the signature line for denison you can see there is blank. he didn't sign it. michael cohen has not responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit. yawn dowd we know him has declined to comment.

for more, katie from miami. you've got a big question. what's this all about? who is going to win. >> so as a legal perspective, stormy daniels has a little bit of an uphill battle. california law stands for the proposition just because you didn't sign an agreement doesn't mean it's still not enforceable. what do i mean by that? why did she get $130,000 and why did she take that pone if it wasn't to keep her silent. the reality is, is she going to prevail in court? you know what, michael cohen seems to think not. he has run to a private arbitrator and gotten a preliminary temporary injunction keeping her from speaking out. stormy daniels has taken the high road by going to the court and seeking a declaration whether or not that agreement is enforceable and asking the judge to basically set the playing field for any potential litigation between her, donald trump and michael cohen.

>> i didn't realize the power of this nondisclosure till i heard today one of the provisions was if she did talk about the alleged affair with the president, backing in what, 2006 or whatever, 2007 that, she would have to make a payment of $1 million. i sound like austin powers, a million dollars every type she says anything. >> that's right. >> is that a familiar feature of these nondisclosures that kind of panel? >> it is called a liquidated damages provision. it does say each breach, not just in total, chris, but for each breach of this disclosure agreement or nondisclosure agreement, donald trump could get $1 million from stormy daniels and get his $130,000 back. as you noted at the beginning of the segment, it's michael cohen's money which begs the next question why is he spending $130,000 of his own money if it wasn't to affect the outcome of

the election we just had. >> have you seen any contract like this where they charged somebody who violated it because they said something to a talk show host enforced for like a million dollars? has that happened? i guess i would have heard about it. >> it's the collectibility factor. is stormy collectible a million dollars for each, the answer is no. the other thing is michael cohen himself is talking about this violating the confidentiality of this agreement. so it seems like everybody involved here as unclean hands in one way or another. >> last question, why is she doing this and filing to get out of the contract? i keep thinking she goes on "60 minutes" or another talk show. how much money can you get? nobody around here seems to know what kind of money is involved. is she doing a mini series on it? how much can you exploit ow of this thinging? ing. > it depends how salacious is your interest in this. they could do a tell all that

gets her maybe a million bucks. donald trump is somebody that everybody's interested in. maybe people want to know about his pro clive vits. maybe she's interested in sharing. > it doesn't seem to interest. people especially the cultural right. i still say he never would but if barack obama had been involved in something this seedy, they would be jumping up and down in joy on the right attacking him as a she's ball instead of giving this guy a bye. a mulligan -- >> that's his mully cuban. >> and katie phang, thank you. robert mueller has a new cooperating witness in the russian probe. he could have lots of info on secret meetings between the trump team and the russians offshore. interesting where they agreed to meet, russians and trump people way far from here where nobody would be have caught them doing it but they did catch them. "hardball" is coming back with more action. pass please.

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welcome back to "hardball." the "new york times" reporting that special counsel robert mueller secured the cooperation of another witness in the unfolding russia probe. george nader is a lebanese american businessman and adviser to the crown plins of the united arab emirates. his meetings with the trump transition team have drawn scrutiny biff financial impropriety. mueller appears to be examining

the influence of foreign money on trump's activities and askinging if george nader funneled money from the emirates to the president's political efforts. perhaps more significant is nader might shed new light on a meeting he attended in the seychelles a remote chain of islands in the indian ocean just before trump's inauguration in january of 2017. it was there that erik prince, the founder of the private security company blackwater and informal adviser to the trump transition met with nidder and the crown prince of the uae and joined bid a russian oligarch who they saw as a conduit to the russian government. prince said the meeting was not related to business. but "the new york times" reports emirati officials had a very different impression. at the meeting the officials believed mr. prince was speaking for the trump transition team

and a russian fund manager kirill represented mr. putin. i'm joined by jeremy bash, former cia chief of staff and national security analyst and a former u.s. acting solicitor general. first jeremy on this meeting. walks like a duck, talks like a duck. what's this meeting with a russian right before the inauguration out in the say shells? >> it appears to be another secret trump putin back channel, appears to be an effort by russian oligarchs to find individuals close to the trump team. erik prince in addition to being the founder of blackwater is also the brother of one of trump's cabinet members, betsy devos. >> who did the president get connected with first, erik prince or betsy devos? i'm curious about the relationship. >> betsy devos has been a republican fund-raiser for many years. erik prince was holding himself out as someone having access to

the trump inner circle. that probably peaked the confidante of putin. >> what would be the topic? >> it could have been about big policy issues like sanctions. prince was involved in a lot of counter-terrorism partners of the united states. it could have been about business. it's interesting bob mueller got a grand jury subpoena, a cooperating witness, he held someone at dulles airport. >> nader. >> this individual who was at the meet who brokered the meeting and bob mueller is very interested in what was discussed. >> one last question. do we know whether the lebanese american business guy who was in the seychelles if there was there present at the russians were dealing with the trump guy? was he overhearing the conversation? >> there are reports in the times, he attended the meeting. >> according to the times," he once worked as a consultant to

blackwater. the transcript of prince's testimony to the house intelligence committee shows he did not disclose ha george nader was present at the meeting. in fact, adam schiff asked specifically did you meet anyone else in the seychelles from your company or any other shays there? and erik prince said no. that is suspicious. neil, what do you make of this case and who you thinking what mueller's up to and fishing way offshore to a meeting in the seychelles right before the inauguration? >> jeremy is right saying there's evidence here there's some sort of russian thing going on. it further illustrates the narrative rule number with trump is there's always a russian. this is another russian we haven't heard of before. it furthers the collusion conspiracy piece that one has been, that, mueller has been looking into. there's a separate piece of the story which is the uae and whether or not they might have influenced the election. it's a federal crime section

3121 says for a foreign national interfere with to give money to a u.s. campaign and there's angations in that "new york times" article that says that oh, the uae might have been doing that. that's something mueller will be looking at. it's important to read that story in light of what you just reported a few minutes ago "the new york times" story about michael schmidt about trump actually coaching witnesses or saying hey, what did mueller ask you about. >> talk about the law. what's the law say about debriefing people after they've been interviewed by the people with mueller? what's the legal status? >> it is one of the most dangerous things do you. as a lawyer, as a defense lawyer, you would always tell your client, do not talk to witnesses because you'll get accused of witness tampering. whether or not you did or not, there's an intent standard. it looks so bad. basically you've got donald trump acting like a two-bit criminal and saying to witnesses

like priebus, what did you say? were you nice to me and so on. that is horrible. i'm a defense lawyer. i love a challenge. i represented bin laden's driver. bin laden's driver acted with far more integrity in every stage of the investigation than donald trump has so far. this is just the published report what we know. if you're mueller you're looking at this and saying heavens me, what is this guy up to and what is he hiding? one last thing, mueller already knew this. i guarantee you 100%, he didn't have to wait for the "new york times" half an hour ago, that is priebus's lawyer bill burck is an excellent lawyer. i'm sure priebus told his lawyer exactly what happened in the oval office and the very first thing burke did was pick up the phone and call mueller and say here is what happened. >> here's two questions from me. what was trump -- if trump was talking to these people like mcgahn who had talked to the investigators, would he try to find out which direction they were going in and why does it

seem like he's tampering if he talks to them after their testimony? >> because it's not -- there's no -- like a one-time thing where you go in and that's it, no. there's often repeated interactions between a witness and law enforcement. >> so he could be seen as coping them for future testimony. >> exactly. >> it looks like they're getting their story straight. not only that, but he was coaching mcgahn. >> like the menendez procedures with the phones hooked up together. they taped together the phones. >> it looks like he was coaching mcgahn to say remember, i never told you fire bob mueller. he had to say did you tell me to fire mueller. >>. it shows the president was not even telling it the truth to his own guy and the president did want to fire bob mueller. >> why did he tell him that, to get a different testimony out of had im. >> to say publicly you've got to cover me. >> he's scripting the guy. >> maybe it doesn't rise to the level of formal crime of witness

tampering. we're talking about the president of the united states in the oval office doing these kinds of shenanigans. whether it's a crime or not, it is the most poor judgment imaginable. >> nobody's shocked. thank you sir. up next the white house threat of trade war sparked a real war between trump and the republican leadership in congress. they're worried his latest move could cripple them. they want to talk tax cut from now till november. now he's talking trade. you're watching "hardball." you might take something for your heart...

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my job is to help educate our first responders on how to deal with natural gas and electric emergencies. everyday when we go to work we want everyone to work safely and come home safely. i live right here in auburn, i absolutely love this community. once i moved here i didn't want to live anywhere else. i love that people in this community are willing to come together to make a difference for other people's lives. together, we're building a better california. president trump has tried to dismiss the chaos engulfing his white house by saying he likes conflict. he's got plenty of that. his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports led to the resignation of gary cohn. it's put trump at war with his own party. watch this. >> there's a high level of

concern been interfering with what appears to be an economy taking off in every respect. the best way 0 characterize where i am and where our members are is we are urging caution that this develop into something much more dramatic that could send the economy in the wrong zpleekz every now and then we'll have a different approach how we should tackle problems. but it should acknowledged there is a problem here. we want to make sure it's done in a prudent way more surgical so we can limit unintended consequences. >> the working class voters elected republicans in 2016, that's who we need to be responsive to. my hope is either this doesn't get implemented or gets implemented in a fairly small way. >> unbelievable. "the new york times" reports the plan is revving up republican doubts about trump. and than it could have big implications for the midterm elections writing republicans are banking that a robust economy they can attribute to

their tax cuts and roll backs to overcome the deep disapproval of mr. trump personally. they don't want to do anything that could threaten economic gains. meanwhile politico reports the proposal is allowing democrats to hug trump when republicans have been trying to position the opposing party as detrimental to trump's economy. people from the rust belt have rushed to praise trump. so will trump's conflict provide an unsuspected unintended boost to a blue wave? we'll tackle that next with the roundtable. are defined by the things we share. and the ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable.

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that's what really drives me to- to save lives. welcome back to "hardball." battle between president trump and congressional republicans couldn't come at a worse time as two polls out today paint a grim picture for the party's prospects this november. a new monmouth university polls shows democrats hold a nine-point. 50% for democrats, 41 for republicans. the quinnipiac poll has democrats leading 48-38. that's of likely voters. these are important votes. the jeff mason from routers, karine jean-pierre from move on org and adolpho franco from rnc surrogate. talk about the two things that republicans from my limited

inside view of the republican party, which is okay, you can start with this, running on tax cuts because it's a good positive for everybody. everybody gets a different piece of the pie, some big, some small. everybody gets something. they didn't want to talk about anything else. trump wants to burp out something that causes confusion to get off whatever he has to get off. he starts talking about trade. is that the plan? >> i don't think he's burping something off. >> why did he do it? >> wasn't this a centerpiece of his campaign. >> not now. >> what do you mean not now? >> go ahead, you're right. >> now is a perfect time to do what i think he has done very successfully in other settings. >> he caught his leadership off board. >> he caught them off guard on other issues in the past. today, already the white house is talking about carve outs. today there's mr. kushner in mexico this is part of the president's first of all plan.

>> do you know who likes it? sherrod brown, bobby casey, joe manchin. democrats are jumping on this because they said this. >> they're allowed to do whatever it is they want that's going to help them. more power to them. >> you don't agree with them? >> no, here's what i'll say. in 2016, bernie sanders won west virginia on a progressive economic message by 51% in the primary. it resonated. what did he talk about? about health care for everyone, about raising the minimum wage. there is a way to talk about the economy that dras are not doing a good enough job about it in a holistic economic plan way which we're not doing that, just about a small sector of the population. >> why should republicans talk like democrats? >> i'm talking about democrats. >> i agree with that. >> talk about it in a way that resonates. that's what i'm talking about. >> we deeb this had a lot during the campaign. bernie sanders constantly talked

about trade. constantly. that was a centerpiece. and wait, and hillary clinton backed away from tpp. >> bernie sanders, donald trump and pat buchanan on trade. >> there is very little difference but in this respect, president trump has run a populist nonconventional agenda. on this. i think this has been consistent. i think the bottom line is, this suggestion quickly that somehow he's isolated, the secretary of treasury is still there. gary cohn will have a job in the administration. >> the perception and the talk, the chat here and everywhere else, i've been pushing back on this is this guy's home alone. all the big brains left him. he doesn't have smart people around him. is that a true story? >> i don't think he's home alone. certainly he's lost a lot of important people. >> he's still going to o got mad dog mattis. >> hope hicks was a huge, huge

funs in his administration. i'd like to go back to. >> getting rid of a guy that doesn't agree with him, gary cohn doesn't agree with him. >> he said he likes having conflict and people give different views. the proof of that will be when we see who does he appoint to take over for gary cohn? does he like to continue having that chaos or not. >> what happens when your party loses 30 seats in the house. >> not going to lose 30 seats. what happened to the blue wave. >> we'll talk in november. >> it's texas. >> up next these these will tell me what i don't know. you're watching "hardball." 3, 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today... for your chance to win a free treatment.

you can do it. we can do this. at fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. -whoo! we're back with a wild roundtable. you guys are tough and you two disagree which is right. keep doing it. >> tomorrow at the white house, there's going to be a meeting between mcmaster another person people thought may be moving out with his counterpart from south korea. that could kick off potential. >> are we going somewhere? >> that could kick off the process of potentially having

talks between the u.s. and north koreaing. > so the olympic helped. >> the president thinks so. >> wow. without dennis rodman. go ahead. >> puerto rico estimates that there will be an additional 200,000 more puerto ricans from puerto rico residing in the mainland by the end of this year. >> because of the hell out there. >> yes, because of the hurricane and what's going on. i think the thing that i wanted to add to that was what happens after november is we're going to start talking about 2020. if you look where they're going. they all go and. >> north or south? new york or florida. >> moving to florida. let's not forget donald trump. >> of to everyone's surprise, the president tomorrow will announce the tariffs and carveouts and more surprisingly, he will announce miss gae cohn's replacement will be larry kudlow or -- >> i like larry.

>> thank you, karine jean-pierre. we'll be right back. today, innovation in the finger lakes is helping build the new new york. once home to the world's image center, new york state is now a leader in optics, photonics and imaging. fueled by strong university partnerships, providing the world's best talent. and supported with workforce development to create even more opportunities. all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov.

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let me finish tonight with this. 50 years ago next week, robert kennedy declares his candidacy for president four years after his brother john had been assassinated. one of those who feared for his life was his other brother ted who argued against his running. richard nixon watched the

announcement with foreboth. "we've just seen terrible forces unleashed he said still watching at blank tv screen. something bad will come of this. god knows where this is going to lead. nich on who maintained an outsider's connection with the country's nervous system knew the way the kennedys stirred the country for them and against them. there were those in the country rear guard segregationists can organized crime figures, communists hard right as well as hard left who hated jack but hated bobby more. bobby refused to show fear. he challenged students using defermts to avoid vietnam while the poor kids got drafted. when dr. king was shot kennedy went into an african-american neighborhood and told the people the dred news. right to the end he depended gun own eners join him in keeping weapons from the hands of the criminals and mentally disturbed. he waded into the crowds of his supporters exposing himself risking his life in his

determination to end i a war that was destroying his country. always do what you're afraid to do, it was his motto and he honored it to the end. bobby kennedy a raging spirit. please get on am zan or barnes and nobody and read this book that tells so much that we believe especially now. that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. if it's a day ending in "y," we have big breaking news tonight. there's news on the stormy daniels front. kamala harris and elizabeth warren both joining us in the show. we begin with the breaking news from the "new york times"". this is that the president evident united states donald trump has been talking to witnesses in the mueller investigation. joyce vance and barbara mcquaid are both former federal prosecutors. th