are you free to do karaoke with me and randy credico next? >> i might be able to pencil you in, ari. >> table for three. tara dowell, thank you very much. that does it for me. i'll see you tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. to russia with love. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. stunning details of president trump's phone call yesterday with russian leader vladimir putin have once again stirred intrigue and outrage over trump's apparent unwillingness to hold putin accountable for anything. "the washington post" was first to report last night that president trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers tuesday when he congratulated russi

russian president vladimir putin in his reelection. in all capital letters, saying "do not congratulate." that advice went ignored by the president. and as the president said himself in the oval office just yesterday, he did congratulate putin on his recent election victory. >> i had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. the call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future. >> without a credible opposition candidate, of course, vladimir putin won a fourth six-year term on sunday with almost 77% of the vote. what a joke. however, as we saw in his previous elections, the vote was tainted. cameras at polling locations captured several instances of people stuffing ballot boxes. election observers have reported numerous allegations of fraud and intimidation. and yesterday's call with putin comes after russia's believed to

have used an internationally banned nerve agent on a former russian spy on british soil. yet according to "the washington post," trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn the recent poisoning. well, the news of trump's call with putin elicited a sharp rebuke from senator john mccain of arizona, who said in this strj statement, "an american president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections." and senator chuck grassley of iowa echoed that opinion, saying "in lig calling him a criminal. >> what he has done in london, killing people with nerve gas? that's a criminal. i wouldn't have a conversation with a criminal. >> the most alarming came from former cia director john brennan, suggesting trump's

behavior means russia could have something on him. >> the russian may have something on him personally they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. the russians i think have had long experience with mr. trump, and may have things that they could expose. >> something personal perhaps? >> perhaps, perhaps. >> so they have a hook in him. anyway, responding to the groundswell criticism, today trump responded the fake news media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. they are wrong. getting along with russia and othersis a good thing, not a bad thing. joining me is phil rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post" and msnbc analyst. susan page is washington bureau chief for usa today. and david cornyn is bureau chief for mother jones. and author of the hot new book, number one on "the new york times" best-seller list, "russian roulette." that's something else for you, my friends. comrade. i'm just kidding. we're all talking about the russian. phil, i am amazed by this thing

here. absolutely amazed by this thing. trump is told do not congratulate. he does it. why does he have national security people at all? why have anybody writing him his notes if he is going to ignore it all and do exactly what they say not to do? now everybody knows he is out there cozies up to a dictator who won a sham election. >> it's incredible reporting by my colleagues carol leonnig and others. look, the president was told not to congratulate putin on this election because it's not a free election. it's not a fair election. that's the video you just played showed. >> this is like calling up guy after watching a wrestling match on television, a professional wrestling match, and saying congratulations on your victory. >> trump must have done at that at some point. >> it's a joke. >> he was urged to stand up to putin a little bit and confront him on that poisoning attack in britain. he chose a different tack, different from what his security advisers were urging him to do.

we elected him to do those calls. >> what about the hook? what about the hook? the brennan charge? he's got something on him. nothing else explains it. >> i don't know. that's what mueller is looking into. he may have something. they may have something on him. they may not. i don't know the answer to that. but bob mueller sure knows more. >> why do you think brennan said it? >> i don't know. he was the cia director for all these years for the period in that election when they began looking into the russian interference in the election. so clearly he is saying it based on some knowledge he has from his time at the cia. but he obviously didn't specify that. >> david, what do you have on the back they have something on trump? >> well, we know and we go into this in the book that the first memo that christopher steele sent in was that for five years or longer, the russians had tried to cooperate and cultivate trump. and there is a lot of attention paid to this one particular allegation, which steel in the book says at best it's 50-50. but we talked to other people who talk about trump going to

russia over previous years and engaging in personal conduct that might lead to what they call kompromat. >> you say cultivated in a nice way. blackmail. >> there are two ways to do it. steel talked about dangling business deals in front of him, which they certainly did. that proved to be correct. but having spent a year on this, we found that michael isikoff, my co-author and i, again and again that trump showed he was obsessively almost in love with putin. it was important that putin come to miss universe. it's important that he meets with putin. he kept calling him best friends. he has an aspirational affiliation with putin. but at the same tile, a lot of this was to get business out of russia. and he formed this pattern that everybody around him finds inexplicable. >> everybody that goes to russia, at least the few people i know who have been there know there is somebody waiting for you, like the girl of your dreams you met on the subway platforms. you heard the stories about spying and how it works, spy tec

unique. doesn't trump know that anybody he meets is not by accident? there are no accidental romances in russia? they're all set up by the old apparatus of the old kgb. >> the question about why president trump as a candidate in office has been so friendly to vladimir putin is a fundamental question we have been unable to answer. the fact is we were asking that question at the republican convention when they changed the platform, the republican platform in ways that were friendly to russia. i think that we just don't know whether it's because there is compromising personal material, whether there is financial ties that we don't know about, or whether he just likes strong men. he is in effect expressed admiration for those kind of men. but let's hope with the russia investigation we will answer that question. >> asked yesterday on whether the vote was free and fair, press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said it's not our place to criticize a foreign election. here she goes. >> does the white house believe that the election in russia was

free and fair? >> look, in terms of the election, they were focused on our elections. we don't get to dictate how other countries operate. what we do know is that putin has been elected in their country, and that's not something that we can dictate to them how they operate. >> actually, in world war ii we went to war against the dictators. and we called them that all through the war. the dictators against democracy. that position you just heard from sarah sanders is not only at odds with long-standing u.s. policy, it also contradicts this administration's own message towards other repressive regimes like venezuela. president trump has had no problem criticizing allied leaders and their alice. he has even threatened to end the nato alliance. let's watch. >> i always thought america was this great leader. what she has done in germany is insane. it's insane. they're having all sorts of attacks. >> when i was in asia i spoke to

a couple the countries about it, and they looked like this. you know what this is? that means they know they're getting away with murder and they got to start helping us out. >> your president, he is the british prime minister. >> it looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship. >> the pope is being told that donald trump is not a nice person. for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. >> i'll tell you about nato. it's obsolete and we're paying too much money. either they pay up, including for past deficiencies, or they have to get out. and if it breaks up nato, it breaks up nato. >> okay. i'm roman catholic, but i do notice something here. when he attacked the pope, it's like jesus in the biblical books talking. i say unto thee. he even puts the hand up like that. let's come back to one possible explanation of why he is always cooing with vladimir putin. >> from the beginning, when i was more pessimistic about this guy around the edges, i admit around the edges, i thought

maybe he will pull the grand deal, the grand slam. no more messing around with bashar assad and games playing. we're going to end this thing. we're going to cut a great east-west deals and the northern country, the ones that worry about islamic terrorism. we're going to get something done because these two guys are going to do it together and kill all the old alliances to do it. i guess that's not still a reasonable expectation with this guy is up to. >> i mean, we're 14 months in and that hasn't happened, right? there is no grand bargain here with russia. >> by the way, syria under bashar al assad is still there. there has been no deal to bring him down. >> but what we do know is what the u.s. intelligence chiefs testified to congress in the last few weeks is that putin, or russia under putin's command is continuing to try to influence our election. it's a threat for the 2018 midterm elections. >> does he know this? trump knows this. >> he watches tv. he hears these briefings from his advisers. he should know it. >> the story about the president's conversation rattled the white house, especially because the leak, and it is a

leak of sensitive details surrounding the call came within hours. in other words. within hours of the president talking to putin, everybody knew that his briefers said don't do that, and they all knew it officially. that means someone leaked the president's briefing papers, leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal. and now the associated press reports that the white house is conducting an internal investigation. additionally, trump has told confidantes that he believes the leak was meant to embarrass and undermine him, said white house officials and outside observers. the president suggests it was done, here it comes, ready? the deep state. minutes ago, the "washington post" further reported that president trump's senior advisers were thrown when he told russian president vladimir putin on tuesday that he expected to meet with them firm. it include nod mention of a possible meeting. susan, i want to talk. we were talking before we got on the air. i am appalled that two or three people that might have seen a memo headed to the president,

you have to be pretty high up to get the paper, that he is about to read what he is supposed to say to other major world leader, putin. and within hours, no loyalty to him. it wasn't a deep state. it was somebody who had access to hiss paper. >> they both saw the briefing paper beforehand, right, and they knew afterwards he had not done. >> that is a loft information. that is a lot of information. it's very closely held information. for the white house, and actually for even those who are not president trump's alli particularly, this is as important as the leak itself. this is a leak to the white house in history. >> but who would know except somebody in the room listening on the phone? >> exactly, he doesn't have a party line. nobody else is listening. >> well, there may be a memo written after the fact. >> by whom? >> by people who were there listening. >> in the room? >> in the room. >> but even that's closely held. >> that's very closely held. i'm still -- the fact that he said to putin, well, i'll see you soon, this is a guy who for years loves the idea of meeting with putin.

and every time they get together, he doesn't talk about the election. and when he met with him for the first time as president in november 2017. >> there is putin there. >> he came on air force one and said he tells me he didn't do anything. you got to take him at his word. he really seems sincere. he loves putin. he wants to meet with him. he wants to be his bff. >> why? why the love affair? >> he identifies with strong men, not just with putin. and he has always wanted to be big in russia. and i think he sees the presidency as a stepping stone, as a way the get big in russia or something else, because he is not exacting from his own set of priorities. it seems psychologically driven and a pattern he developed when he wanted the make money. when he ran for president, he had a secret deal with russia while running for president without telling anybody. >> you know, my wife and i sit and look at all the national

geographic. i do not understand this bromance, whatever the hell it is. it is scary there is something there. i think john -- john -- >> brennan? >> john brennan has something up his sleeve. he is the chief speak, anyway. thank you, phil rucker. thank you, susan page. we missed you the last couple of weeks. david cornyn, thank you. the president is facing lawsuit news from an "the apprentice" contestant, an adult film star. a former playboy playmate. and that's on top of the russia investigation being led by mueller. with all these scandals in play, which one poses the biggest threat nearest the president. which one can get to this guy, penetrate all his legal defenses the soonest? plus once upon time a time u.s. congressman paul ryan promised to stand up to donald trump. >> if i see episodes where conservatism is being disfigured, if i see ideas and

comments that mislead the people as to who we are as republicans, i'm going to speak out on those. >> bs. but these days ryan just goes away with what trump says. so will voters hold him accountable this summer? we're going to speak to randy bryce, the daemocrat, one of them, who is looking to challenge him to reelection to the house. trying to knock off paul ryan. and republicans don't seem to mind trump's trouble with women, his coziness with putin or his threats to fire mueller. all that is fine as long as he is on their team. finally let me finish with a look at our two political parties today. how far left are the democrats? how far right interest republicans? great new statistics from the pew society. this "hardball," the place for politics. and the first thing they asked was 'are you ok?' they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too.

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congressional district. lapinski narrowly defeated his challenger. that's a close primary. his win comes despite an intense press by democratic groups and some democrats to oust him from the democratic district he represents. an eighth term in congress as republican judges, catch this is a holocaust defire who has been disavowed by the republican party. we'll be right back. whoooo. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget?

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welcome back to "hardball." president trump is facing three separate lawsuits now followed by an adult film star, a former playboy model, and a former "the apprentice" contestant. this trifecta, if you will of allegation leaves the president legally exposed and in even more political jeopardy. in los angeles, karen mcdougal, a former playboy model sought a lawsuit seeking to end a confidentiality agreement with the parent company of the

national enquirer. she joins stormy daniels who is also suing to get out of her nondisclosure agreement. meanwhile, in new york, a judge ruled that summer zervos, a former contestant on "the apprentice" can proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the president. during the campaign she, along with more than a dozen other women accused the president of unwanted sexual advances. in her complaint, zervos says of the president, knowingly and intentionally and maliciously threw each and every one of these women under the bus with conscious disregard of the impact that repeatedly calling them liars would have upon their lives and reputations. well, the white house has denied all the allegations. well, looming over all this is the russian investigation, of course, and a pair of tweets this morning, the president ramped up his attacks on special counsel mueller. trump cited law professor alan dershowitz, arguing mueller show never have been appointed in the first place. i'm joined by msnbc political and legal analyst, and rebecca

la grande, defense attorney here in washington. thank you both for your expertise. maya, i want to ask you. when you think about this from trump's perspective, if you are enlightened, if you're a good attorney, what's his biggest threat? >> i think the biggest peril that trump faces in all of this, you know, stems from the fact that he is a pathological liar, and the potential for perjury. and to that extent of the three cases that the women have brought, the summer zervos case presents the most immediate threat because the court has just ruled that that defamation case can go forward which opens him up to the potential for discovery and a deposition where he would have to testify under oath, which is why i also think that the lawyers who are representing him in the mueller investigation are terrified for having, you know, him sit down with bob mueller. because whether he sits down voluntarily for an interview, as you know, lying to a federal

investigator is a felony, or if he sits down in front of a grand jury where he would be under oath as well. and so i do think that is the greatest peril that he faces. with the likelihood of appeals in summer zervos' case, which could extend the time-out for a deposition to actually happen. it's very possible that the first place that he will, you know, sit down and be interrogated in a way that would open him up to the potential for perjury if he is not truthful might be with robert mueller. >> let me ask you about the zervos case. she has charged him, suing him basically for defamation. to win the case, he has to deny any contact with her, any of the things that she said is true, right? >> yeah there are a couple of different ways he could win. oddly, his best chance of winning might be that he has defamed so many women that it's actually a little difficult to pinpoint when he's calling

summer zervos -- or when he is calling summer a liar versus calling other people a liar. but, yes, summer will have to show that what she said was true. that inappropriate contact with donald trump happened. and that when donald trump stood up and said repeatedlily these women are liars, that woman is a liar, when he said those things, he knew that was false, and he did it intentionally to harm. >> and his defense has to prove that he was telling the truth, that he didn't have an affair or any encounter of that kind with her. he didn't try to harass her or do what she described him doing. >> the burden is on the plaintiff and he is the defendant. the burden is on the plaintiff to prove that this happened. but a jury would get to hear a lot of information and a lot of facts to decide who is more credible. >> maya, we went through a number of these precedents. they're all a little different. bill clinton with paula jones got into a situation where he lied eventually. we all heard of that in that discovery. that ended up taking him into

the monica lewinsky case. do presidents have to face down in these depositions, do they have to go in the box, if you will, and answer questions under oath while they're president? is that establishes a precedent now that he those deal with, trump? >> that has been established as a precedent. and in fact that is what the court, the judge in new york found in refusing, denying the motion to dismiss that was brought in summer zervos' case. she went straight to the supreme court case in the paula jones case and found that you are not immune from a civil suit when you are engaged in purely personal private unofficial conduct. and that you can be held to standard, you know, for a trial in a civil suit. and that's exactly what has been found. his lawyers will appeal that. they will work their way i'm sure through the new york courts and maybe into the supreme court, which will push the

timeline out for this. but i think her opinion is on very solid ground, given the precedent in the supreme court decision, in the paula jones case. although the fax were somewhat different, it was federal court versus state court. the lower court judge has addressed that. and i think it will hold up on appeal. >> i do. >> rebecca agrees. yesterday stormy daniels tweeted about her case. had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, et cetera. and ps, i'm not going anywhere. let's watch. >> right now we're playing three dimensional chess, and these guys are playing tic tac toe, quite honestly. and they're not even playing tic tac toe that well. they have stepped into every trap we have laid in this case the last two weeks. it's remarkable. >> remember car, we just met. excuse me. this guy avenatti has struck me from the beginning as a killer. he loves television.

he is good at it. he is saying i've got all these other women i'm going to bring in. i've got all these cases coming to me. they're knocking on the door. it looks like this thing is going to grow. and his client, stormy daniels says i'm not going anywhere. >> yep. >> she is a living person who knows how to make her case on televisionand we're going to see it on "60 minutes," a piece of this. it looks to me like they're up against -- trump is up against trump-likes who know how to do this. >> or better than the attorneys trump hires. trump's -- the agreement that trump or trump's agents had stormy daniels sign is not even spelled right. they didn't even spell disparagement right in the title. >> why did they put a place for him to sign on this and then not have him sign? it seems to be either you don't put his name on it. >> it's sloppy. >> and then say you're not going to silent. so you have an incomplete document that the other side can use at will to get out of it. what's this about? >> it's a terribly sloppy agreement, frankly.

and stormy daniels' attorney is right to be excited about this case. and i think what the trump team must know is likely to happen here is the band-aid is going to get ripped off. >> let's talk about that, myia. when you put down a bill, even a contract that is signed, delivered and bind everybody, fine. but when it says you mention one aspect of this on some television show that nobody watched. there is something on a website, if you do it once, it's a million dollars. if you do it in the second sense, it's another million. the third. isn't that so big a penalty box that it won't be enforced? i mean, i just wonder. nobody has that kind of cash. hardly anybody does. certainly not some adult actress or whatever. wouldn't that be thrown out by a judge saying this is ridiculous? a million dollars for every time they burp any information about this thing? >> well, chris, yeah, you've hit on something. absolutely. and you've hit on something that actually her lawyer has raised and she has raised in her case which is the fairness of that

liquidated damages provision. because basically, she has in exchange for $130,000 signed on to an agreement that subjects her to a penalty of $1 million for every time that she violates this. and of course the president in the notice of removal that they did to federal court has already suggested that she has violated at least 20 times which would be $20 million. and so the question is that fair or is it unconscionable? if it's unconscionable, it could be deemed invalid. >> i can't see a regular jury of normal people agreeing to that kind of payout. thank you, maya harris and rebecca legrand. paul ryan was supposed to act as a check, remember that, on president trump's worst impulses? in fact he has been one of president trump's worst boosters. they're all toad east. democrat randy bryce is going to answer the question. he is looking to challenge ryan this november. he is going to join us right here next. this is "hardball," where the action.

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look, it's no secret that he and i have had our difference of opinions. it's no secret that i've shared my opinion about his tweets and the rest. but what i see is a president who is fighting for the things that i'm fighting for. i see a president who is fighting for an agenda that will make a positive difference in people's lives. >> welcome back to "hardball" that was of course house speaker paul ryan last year, last year.

noting that despite his differences with the president, president trump, they're fighting for the same agenda. well, despite ryan's claims during the election that he would stand up for republican values, the speaker has done his best to not directly go after the president. this was his response last summer, for example, when reports were floating around that president trump might get rid of attorney general jeff sessions and replace him with someone who would fire special counsel robert mueller. >> it's up to the president to decide what his personnel decisions is and any possible fallout that comes from that. >> personnel decisions. here is what he said after president trump said there were fine people on both sides in that charlottesville rally situation. >> he made comments that were much more morally ambiguous, much more confusing. and i do think he could have done better. it is very, very important that we not make this a partisan food fight. >> and entirely avoided this question about president trump's accusers. >> what is the difference between his case and the case of

president trump, who was also accused by a number of women and also denied it? >> i think roy moore, i don't know -- i'm focused on congress. >> not much of an answer there. but ryan doesn't shy away from praising the president when it benefits him. here is ryan last night, just last night. >> since taking office, donald trump has held true to what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail. go figure. here is a man who ran for office, said what he was going to do, and is doing it. he promised the forgotten men and women of this country that they'd be forgotten no longer, and that is the mantra that has guide him every single day in the white house. >> well, this defense by ryan of the president hurt ryan in the midterm elections? i'm joined by randy bryce, hoping to run in wisconsin's first district election. forecaster larry sabato recently moved that seat from safe republican to only like

republican. what do you make of him? i know all the great press. i've never been impressed by what he has done. >> right. >> he talks about the president the way the president talks about putin. it's cozying up to. it's toady behavior. and he never seems to do anything no. >> tell me about your pitch against him. how are you going to beat him? you have about three minutes here. >> we've seen what happens with 20 years of paul ryan being in washington, d.c. the policies that has been passed and aren't doing anything to help the people of our district. he has been cozying up to billionaires, lobbyists, special interests and things like this tax scam saying we can't afford social security, medicare and medicaid after just giving $1.5 trillion to people who don't node $1.5 trillion. >> he is going after social security, medicare and medicaid. i always thought he didn't like those programs. he is an ideologue. he doesn't like that stuff. >> these are the things that helped him get to where he is. and now he wants to cut it for everybody else. >> what has he benefitted from

personally? >> well, his father passed away and he used social security to get through college. >> i see. >> and now these things he wants to take away from everybody else without giving them any credit for his success. >> wow. he got survivor's benefits. i always thought that was a good argument for democrats this year. because the republicans led by him are going further than trump even. they really want to get rid of these programs that have been around since roosevelt and certainly since johnson, that every middle class and working class family depends on. >> right. we need to have something in place. and that as a permanent solution. these are things that people rely on when they have hashed times in life. that's why for the past 20 years i've been struggling, and paul ryan doesn't know what struggle. that's why i'm running, to make life easier for not just the people of the first district but everybody around the country. >> the late governor of pennsylvania said when you get old and sick, all you have is your family, god and health insurance. i don't think ryan understands that. >> no. absolutely not. >> does it bother you he never stands up to trump and has

misbehavior? >> he did stand up to him once. that's when it seemed like his donors were going to be under attack when donald trump called about issuing tariffs. which that's not a bad idea. but i don't think donald trump is the one to trust to be able to enact some kind of a tariffs to help protect. >> what is your profession? >> i'm a union ironworker. >> good work. thank you so much. randy bryce, union ironworker. up next, has the republican party lost its moral compass? they don't seem to mind tabloid headlines swirling around this guy. by the way, if anything like this had anything to do with barack obama, they would have gone after him hammer and tong. where there is an ongoing love feast with vladimir putin. that doesn't seem to bother them either. weren't they against moscow before? you're watching "hardball." ♪ get into my car ♪ get into my car ♪ ♪ get outta my dreams ♪ get in the backseat, baby ♪ get into my car ♪ beep, beep, yeah ♪ ♪ get outta my mind

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welcome back to "hardball." the republican party appears to have lost its moral compass in the age of trump. it was once the union of the old

conservative party and the small government warriors that stood for fiscal restraint, traditional family values, strong foreign policy and an emphasis on law and order. let's listen. >> we republicans have been blessed with grassroots supporters who are committed to the ideals of individual freedom, family value, free enterprise, and a strong america. >> we need once again to be willing to fight for freedom, free markets, and traditional moral values with everything we've got. >> well, now that president trump is being sued by an adult film actor, most congressional republicans would like to avoid discussing the president's moral values. here is speaker ryan. >> i'm not even -- i haven't put -- i haven't put a second of thought into this. not on my radar screen. >> hmm. well, then there is russia. republicans like speaker john boehner used to speak out forcibly against the kremlin. compare that to louisiana republican senator john kennedy's reaction to trump's congratulatory phone call to vladimir putin.

>> instead of downplaying russia's disregard for democratic values and human rights, we should call on them and call them out on it. publicly, forcefully, and frequently. the united states should insist that russia reset its own oi policies. >> i think the president -- i mean, i don't read too much into it. i think the president was being polite. i think the president knows that mr. putin with all due vice president a thug. >> i think with people and presidents you have to watch what they do, not necessarily what they say. >> well, here is house speaker newt gingrich defending independent counsel ken starr's investigation of president bill clinton. >> we are a nation under the rule of law. and no person, including the president is above the law. there is something profoundly de15ing and destructive to have the white house systematically

undermine an officer of the department of justice. >> well, put that in your library. anyway, now the party of law and order has remained virtually silent as president trump as attacked the credibility of special counsel robert mueller. in one of the few exceptions has been, of course, arizona republican senator jeff flake. he wrote on twitter "we are begging the president not to fire the special counsel. our only constitutional remedy is after the fact, through impeachme impeachment" but senator flake is leaving the senate after this term. and the rest of the senate is whistling past the graveyard. that's coming up next with the "hardball" round table. just the result of dell emc working with callaway to gather data - and design best-in-class clubs, transforming the player into a bonafide golfer. oh! maybe it is a magic wand. magic can't make digital transformation happen... but we can. that's the power dell emc, part of dell technologies.

welcome back to "hardball." president trump's recent attacks on robert mueller have ratcheted up concerns he could try to fire the special counsel. bipartisan legislation to prevent such a move has languished in congress for months. on tuesday, members of the republican congressional leadership weighed in on that matter. >> i received assurances that his firing is not even under consideration. we have a system based upon the rule of law in this country. we have a justice system, and no one is above that justice system. >> yeah, i just don't think it's necessary. i don't think bob mueller is going anywhere. >> let's bring in the hardball round table. lexy mccamon, george wills, and john fear is a republican strategist. now we know everybody's baseball card, here we go.

not about the mulligans and all that but is the fact that 84% of rank and file republicans self-identified voters like trump explains everything here? that. >> is a big part of it. because they identify more as trump supporters than the republican, with the republican party. democrats i talked to on the hill complain all the time about how republicans in private will say something critical of trump. but in public they say something that is positive or at most neutral. my question is what has changed since the 2016 election? he told us that mexican immigrants were rapists and murderers. republicans barely said anything. >> so what is your point? >> why should we expect him to change now. since he was rung, he wasn't even president. congressional republicans haven't been standing up to him. >> george, if barack obama had been accused of the things that trump has, just without going into all the details, i don't think he would have suffered, would have benefitted from mulligans. i don't think anybody would be issuing mulligans. your thoughts. >> let's go down the list. start with protectionism.

republicans are supposed to be opposed to big bossy government. government does not get bigger or bossier than when it tells the americans what they can buy and in what quantities and at what price. the republicans exist to speak the truth about entitlement programs. but they're going to be silent on that. they're running a trillion dollar deficit with the economy at full employment and synchronized with world growth of about 3% right now. >> where is paul ryan who is an ideologue and ayn rand conservative. where is he on all this? >> he decided it's not going to happen. therefore, they're all down to the but gorsuch reply. this goes wrong, that goes wrong. but gorsuch that is supposed to annul a lot of since. >> including the mulligan. >> yes. >> we're just talking about "darkest hours." i always remember that churchill quit the tories in the early part of the 20th century over

trade. he was free trader. and they would go very hard on protectionists. how does your party drop the beliefs they had for modern times about free trade? >> i think that the republican party reflects the will of its voters. its voters have shifted on issues like free trade. >> have they shifted their thinking or their loyalties? >> they've shifted on their thinking. i think the party really does reflect where the voters are. and the voters have seen free trade. and most of them like free trade. but a lot of them have real concerns about it. you see the hollowing out of ohio. free trade has done something with the steel industry and that is not all that positive. i do think you can have these beliefs that you cling on to, but you have to understand the politics is different. and politics, when you're talking about defending trump. i remember when we tried to impeach bill clinton over his infidelities, his lying in the oval office. and you know what? the voters didn't care. they didn't care because the economy was going strong. i'm not saying what donald trump

did was great. but you look at the lives of jack kennedy. jack kennedy, could he survive under this kind of scrutiny with these times? >> dick cheney, by the way, went out and said deficits don't matter anymore, george. >> yes. he said reagan proved that deficits don't matter. and they don't matter politically. the country doesn't care at deficit, which had a president, barack obama who led an exemplary life. i thought he was too good a family man. he was home every night instead of hanging out with politicians. he did everything right. nothing, he never got any credit from conservatives for that they never said well, at least he is a good family man. they couldn't even give him that. yet trump is running around like sinatra. >> i think republicans gave him plenty of credit for being a good family man. >> you're a regular guy. i don't think i read many columns that conservative columnists. >> did not like him because they

did not like his economic policies and didn't like his social policies. but as a father they never condemned him for that. >> there is no condemnation for trump and his endest mulligans. >> this is the argument we hear all the that republicans in congress want to focus, they don't want to focus on the crisis of the day. they want to focus things help them move the agenda forward. at some point when these controversies are mounting, special when i the president of the united states is suing a private citizen for $20 million who is accusing him of an extra-marital affair. that's unprecedented and unfair. >> what agenda they moving forward? two trillion-dollar deficits? what agenda in foreign policy? it is one thing to say we won't do wilsonian spreading of democracy at the point of a bayonet. it is another thing to call up a thug and a killer. he praised him on morning joe.

it is one thing to go from wilsonianism to that? >> i think they're afraid of trump and his base which is shifting. they don't wants to lose those base voters. >> i don't think i ever thought about the red line, that material, the new term is red line. is there a red line where the republican base will say, you fire mueller. i don't think that's a red line. >> i don't think so either. >> it would be a tremendous mistake. but the republican base is now trump base. they elected there guy because he is politically incorrect. they want someone politically incorrect. he is for the free market and someone who has doesn't taxes and growing the economy. that's what they like. >> not for the free market. >> let me ask you a bottom line political question. is there any chance that the senate, which is going to remain roughly balanced after this. somewhere in the 40 yard lines. that they'll ever could not

stliktd president or remove him from office under any circumstances? >> it is hard to 46th future. you can't rule anything out. could it happen but i don't think it will happen. >> george? >> no. >> i think it would be incredibly difficult. >> two-thirds is incredibly difficult. the roundtable is sticking with us. any believe the health of our water sources is essential to the health of our communities. 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.

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night, donald trump and the republicans raised $32 million. and trump was beloved in that big hall. they like the guy. >> that's something that i don't know. thank you. when we return, let me finish with a look at our two political parties as they stand today. you're watching "hardball."

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let me finish tonight with a look at our two political parties today. first the democrats. put any interpretation you like about but the number of democrats who call themselves liberal has grown dramatically. ten years ago, 28 dpers. today a much larger chunk. 46% do. the share of democrats who call themselves moderates has shrunk from 44 pierce decade ago, down to 37%. yet something else jumps out of the new pugh poll. democrats are nowhere near as ideological as republicans are. 68% of republicans, more than two-thirds, call themselves conservatives compared to the 46%, less than half of democrats who call themselves liberals. while there are still a decent number of democrats, 15%, who call themselves conservatives, only 4% of republicans confess

to being liberals. so republicans have more conservatives than democrats have liberals. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts now. tonight on "all in." >> i think i would get along very well with vladimir putin. >> president trump defends his praise for russia. >> i don't think you congratulate someone for a fake election. >> tonight, why trump is ignoring his national security team. what is the president thinking? >> and why he refuses to confront vladimir putin. >> that the russians may have something on him personally. plus, new reporting. the saudi crown prince bragging he has jared kushner in his pocket. then -- >> karen mcdougal had a sexual relationship with donald trump. >> the