j before we go, tomorrow msnbc will have special live coverage of the march for our lives rallies. it begins at 10:00 a.m. east we were many of your favorite anchors, i will also be a part of the coverage bringing you the latest from the march at 6:00 p.m. and again at 10:00 p.m. but most importantly, "hardball" starts now. hope and despair in washington, let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington where huge crowds will march tomorrow calling for action on gun violence. later in the show, i'll talk to three student organizers from parkland, florida. in contrast to that inspiring message, we have to start with what has been perhaps within of the craziest 24 hours of the trump white house so far, and that's, of course, saying something. the president ordered new

tariffs on chinese imports, sending the markets plunging yesterday and today and potentially sparking a trade war. he teased he would veto a congressional spending bill only to back down within hours. he reshuffled his legal team with a clear message for robert mueller. and most dire of all, he signalled a major shift on foreign policy with the hiring of john bolton, one of the country's most veirulent war hawks. that coincided with more troubling news about the president. last night a former "playboy" model spoke out about what she said was a ten-month affair with trump. on sunday, we'll hear from another woman alleging a sexual relationship. adult film actress stormy daniels. last night, the attorney for daniels sent out this cryptic tweet showing a disc inside a safe. he wrote "if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is this worth? later in the show, that lawyer michael avenatti will join us here live on "hardball." first, about the last 24 hours.

trump removed his national security adviser replacing general h.r. mcmaster with john bolton, a war hawk on iran and north korea. >> i think my views on the iran deal reason laid out and what some would say are countless op-eds and speeches and appearances. i think my view is the same as the president's which he's described as the worst deal in me american diplomatic history. north korea has a play book of phrases depending on what their propaganda strategy is. i think their history over decades is that they, like iran, like others, use negotiations to buy time to conceal their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile activity. >> look at that guy and listen to him carefully. meanwhile, president trump teased a potential government shutdown when he tweeted, i'm considering a veto of the omnibus spending bill. he backed down this afternoon, reluctantly, he said.

>> reporter: mr. president, why did you are threaten veto if you knew you had to sign the bill. >> well, you'll figure it out in 20 minutes after you look at it. i looked very seriously at the veto. i was thinking about doing the veto but because of the incredible gains that we've been able to make for the military, that overroad any of our thinking. for more on all of this, i'm joined by the pbs hour in's yamiche alcindor, former national security council spokesperson ned price, "new york times" columnist michelle goldberg and "washington post" white house reporter ashley parker. thank you all. yamiche, let's start with bolton. i think we'll talk more about him in the second block and that was the shocker. in terms of long-term impact, he may be the most fraught because he has a history. well, let's go back to the axis of evil. they knocked off the first one under w, they got two more to

go. that would be north korea and iran. so he has an agenda this guy. it's war. your thoughts? >> well, there's so many people that supported donald trump mainly because they didn't want him to be an interventionist president, they didn't want him to be getting into war with other countries and here he goes and adds someone as a national security advisor who still thinks the war in iraq was a good idea, who's written articles about offensively attacking north korea and he had to actually make the promise he wouldn't get america into war just to get the job so that doesn't bode well for where he is. however, president trump has not been someone who's signalled he really wants to go to war. he's gotten into those back-and-forths with north korea but he hasn't said he wants to be hawkish like john bolton but it's hard to understand whether or not john bolton will completely switch gears to be trump's yes man. >> well, donald trump's choice of john bolton as his national security adviser is startling considering the issues trump ran on as a candidate, as you said, yamiche, it was an america-first platform critical of republican

orthodoxy on foreign policy. for his part, bolton is a leading advocate for military intervention around the world and what they call on the neo-con right "regime change." let's watch. >> unlike my opponent, my foreign policy will emphasize diplomacy not destruction. >> i think the only diplomatic option left is to end the regime in north korea. >> sometimes it seemed like there wasn't a country in the middle east that hillary clinton didn't want to invade, intervene in, or topple. >> our goal should be regime change in iran. >> obviously the war in iraq was a big fat mistake. >> you've called for regime change in iraq, libya, iran and syria. in the first two countries, we've had regime change and obviously it's been -- i'd say a disaster, i think we agree. >> i don't agree with that. >> i don't agree with that. ashley, you don't need an opinion on this, nobody does, the record. trump ran against stupid wars, against neocon agenda of going

around, freedom agenda, whatever you want to call it, they cost us trillions and trillions of dollars, killed hundreds of thousands of people and yet trump seems to have learned the message, at least rhetorically, then he brings bolton in. >> you're right. they're not ideologically aligned if you look at what they both have said. what the president does like about him is bolton's tough talk. the president is someone who likes to taunt kim jong-un and speak roughly and brashly on twitter. he likes that about bolton. he likes he's seen bolton on television defending him. and one thing i've heard from west wing aides is it's less about ideology or policy and more about a personal chemistry and sense of connection and the two men, at least now for a couple of weeks at least, seem to have that. >> michelle, i hate to go down to this "variety" magazine way of looking at this, picking people out of the green room at fox, but that seems to be a pattern. lawrence kudlow. you go through the list now.

he's just picking people he's seen on tv and he likes the cut of their jib, despite their mustaches. >> we've entered the worst-case scenario part of the trump administration and in a way because it -- what is it, 15 months in, we've been frogs in a pot acculturating ourselves to escalating levels of insanity over the course of the last year and several months. i think if he'll watch tv, reacts to his tv, the puts his tvs in his cabinet. it could have happened earlier in the situation. there could be panic among republicans in congress instead, people have gotten used to, like i said, more and more and more dysfunction and so we here in this dystopian situation where john bolton, the last person in

the world who should be anywhere near the national security bureaucracy. this president has -- he has dupes y s y dubious legitimacy at best, he doesn't have spop ypopular supp the country and we are stumbling toward an apocalyptic war that will kill millions of people, turn america into a pariah and there's no way to talk about what a dangerous spot we here in without sounding insane. but i think republicans in congress are underreacting and letting us down and putting us in danger because they're so afraid of a mean tweet from trump or the reaction of his inflamed base. >> you know, ned, we're not talking about bite-sized wars like we had under bush sr. invading grenada or arrested noriega. these are bite-sized wars. they have casualties, but not horrendous. you're talking about a real country, iran, it's a real country. western style defense system for

years built up by the west and us. you go to war with iran, you're going to war with a real country. snaek crazy, we don't know what they will do. >> whether donald trump knows it or not, he is building a war cabinet. you have john bolton as his incoming national security adviser. this is a war cabinet and a war cabinet will do one thing. we have to talk about these men, both of them are eager for conflict, as you said, with north korea and iran for -- over the course of years but they're going to have opportunities trump likes -- and i accept that interpretation, he likes tough talk, he likes guys on television, people on television who will speak in his macho way. but macho talk has a way of translating itself into reality, other countries hear you. look at the history of world war i. both sides talk tough.

>> well, the challenge is donald trump has no core beliefs, he has no principles. >> let's talk about the constituency. working class people in the gritty states he won the election with, he didn't win in fancy places, he won in wisconsin, pittsburgh, indiana, michigan, pennsylvania. he won where working class people who have been voting for roosevelt and kennedy and everybody else for decades voted for him because he seemed like a guy who cared about the working class and they fight the wars. they're the guys who enlist and women who ebb list, spend their careers and get shot up and lose legs and get disfigured and they're the ones who come home and their parents know it. so they voted for trump. what are the reasons they voted for trump. >> bolden is the hero of the weekly standard, of the "wall street journal" op-ed page. he's the guy who beats the drum for war everyday and sort of laughs about it through his mustache. he thinks it's fun. michelle, would you give us a sense of -- how about an oral

portrait of who -- because people tell me he's not even a neo-con. neo-cons will put the sugar in with the medicine and say oh, we're for freedom and all this. this guy is just a hawk. >> yeah, that's the difference is that neo-conservatives had also an ideology and spreading democracy. john bolton wants to change regimes, he doesn't necessarily care what comes after it as long as they sort of accede to american unilateral power and so, yes, he supports regime change in iran, in north korea and possibly in other places in the middle east. he is disdainful of appliances, of multilateral institutions and even people who defend him. if you read the defenses of him in some of the conservative publications, that i say well, maybe we should give the hawks a chance. right? i don't think anybody disputes the fact -- >> they only need one. >> -- that we're more likely to go to war with john bolton in that position. >> they only need one chance and they push the button.

today's major drama at the white house was over the president's threat to blow up a spending bill. the continuing resolution he said he decided to sign the bill reluctantly. let's watch. >> there were a lot of things i'm unhappy about in this bill. there are a lot of things that we shouldn't have had in this bill but we were in a sense forced if we want to build our military, we were forced to have. i say to congress, i will never sign another bill like this again. i'm not going to do it again. nobody read it, it's only hours old. some people don't even know what -- $1.3 trillion. it's the second-largest ever. >> the president's initial reluctance came as a surprise to everyone in washington. just yesterday paul ryan had this to say about where the president stood. >> oh, yeah. the president supports this bill, there's no two ways about it. on big bills, that's what i do with the president, to walk him through the contours and

complexities of the legislation we passed and yes he supports the bill no two ways about. >> it about a thousand years ago we had a president named barack obama, i think, it seems like a thousand years ago and he was no drama obama. did this guy create this pearls of pauline today, i might not sign it, i will sign it, blah blah? >> it's a great cliffhanger for a tv show but he created it to give you a sense of the chaos. none of his aides knew what was coming. it was not just paul ryan. you had the vice president going out, you had mick mulvaney going out. anyone who supported this bill the president humiliated and undermined by what he did this morning, and if you talk to west wing aides, they had no idea. when the president said there was going to be a news conference on the bill, they didn't know if he was going to sign it, not sign it, rip it up, rant about it and then sign it -- which is what he did -- there was no signal on what he was going to do. >> he does this all the time. and what happened? according to "washington post,"

your paper, people familiar with trump's thinking said the president was frustrated with the bill and the coverage it was receiving on fox news where critics took aim at the level of spending in the bill. here's another case of where he seems to be -- it's all this shadow boxing and performance art like he's out in the street corner doing performance art just to keep us talking about his latest craziness. >> well, to keep us talking about his latest craziness and to keep us from talking about the latest craziness surrounding him. >> this is wag the dog? >> you have to look at it through the context of the firing of mcmaster, this crazy veto threat today and then the tariffs announced on china. >> so a trade war and a war like war cabinet being installed so we won't talk about stormy? >> i wouldn't put it past this president. >> come on. you're shaking your head, ashley. that's utter irresponsibility.

>> i don't buy the theory the president is this master artist of distraction taking one awful scandal and replacing it with another. i think he does what he does -- >> he's just peripatetic? go wherever he can in an hour? a trade war, government shut down, a war hawk, a new lawyer, fired his security guy everything in a matter of minutes. your thoughts. what's he up to to create this crazy world? >> i agree with ashley. i thinkic and impulsive and the due is going to come due. we haven't had to pay the price for having an unfit president yet but you're starting to see it with the dow, the trade war and is we'll see it with the plummeting place of america in the world pretty soon. >> i watched the dow again today. it took another frightening drop. this is -- i think it's beyond

direction. this is scary business. it's a trade war. thank you yamiche, ashley, michelle, ned. coming up, the war cabinet with the addition of john bolton. president trump put together a group of hawks that pushed for war with iraq, iran, and north korea. and that's very much at odds with how candidate trump campaigned. please remember, he ran against stupid wars and those who pushed them. plus, a former "playboy" model details the relationship she says she had with donald trump for ten months and the lawyer for stormy daniels teases the world with what could be a bombshell in this case. he tweeted this picture of this disk in a safe saying "if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is this thing worth?" michael avenatti, the guy teasing us with this stuff, is joining us live tonight in a few minutes. ahead of tomorrow's march for our lives, three students who survived in parkland florida are here to tell us what gun safety laws they want washington to enact. let me finish with a thought about all these young people

coming to washington this beak end. a good sign? we'll see. this is "hardball," where the action is. ources 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. ♪ next chapter ♪

former georgia governor and senator zell miller died after a battle with parkinson's. senator miller served two terms as georgia's governor and went on to win a special election for the u.s. senate. he famously crossed the party aisle in 2004, delivering a rousing keynote speech at the republican national convention that year in support of then-president george w. bush. after that speech, he joined me for an interview that we won't soon forget. if a republican senator broke ranks -- sorry, a republican senator broke ranks and came over and spoke for the democrats, would you respect him? >> yes. >> why? >> of course i would. i've seen that happen from time to time. look -- >> what did jim jeffords? jim jeffords of vermont switched

parties after getting elected -- >> if you're going to ask a question. >> that's a tough question. it will take a few words. >> get out of my face. if you're going to ask a question, step back and let me answer. [ cheers and applause ] i wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel. now that would be pretty good. >> well, senator miller and i exchanged very friendly letters in recent years, fairly recently, and i'm so glad we did. he deserves our respect for his public service in government and his, of course, beloved u.s. marines. zell miller was 86 years old. we'll be right back. ♪ a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth.

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you know what's not awesome? angig-speed internet.th. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. welcome back to "hardball." president trump's appointment of john bolton to the top national security post at the white house is a stunning reversal for a president who campaigned against foreign entanglements. as undersecretary of state during the earlier years of the

bush administration, he was a top cheerleader for the invasion of iraq hyping the idea that saddam hussein possessed nuclear weapons. let's take a look. >> iraq, despite u.n. sanctions, maintains an aggressive program to rebuild the infrastructure for its nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs. >> there's no doubt that the program was clandestine, heavily camouflaged and has been going on at a carabonsiderable magnit for at least five years. we have very convincing evidence that iraq maintains and extensive program for the production and weaponization of weapons of mass destruction. it's our strongest hope that by eliminating the regime and eliminating the weapons of mass destruction, which are functionally the same thing, that we give the people of iraq an opportunity to live in freedom. >> well, even though no weapons were ever found in iraq, bolton told the washington examiner in 2015 "i still think the decision to overthrow dad was correct."

however bolton's predisposition to intervention and willingness to engage in protracted wars abroad is fundamentally at odds with the positions candidate donald trump took during the campaign. let's watch. >> the point that i want to leave with you in this very brief presentation is where i started. there is no united nations. >> that was the wrong clip. anyway, david corn is washington bureau chief for "mother jones" and co-author of the number one "new york times" best-seller "russian roulette." it hit the list this week. mika oyang is also here, vice president of the national security project. mika, i'm stunned. i'm not stunned because i think trump doesn't know many people. i think it comes down to chancy gardner in being there. he likes to watch. how do i get rid of mcmaster, i better bring in bolton. but bolton is a 180 from what he campaigned on.

>> bolton is interested in getting into conflicts. trump says he's the deal maker, bolton is not good at negotiations, he doesn't know how to help the other side get to yes. so we have a guy that never met a conflict he didn't like. >> did you hear what he said about north korea? unless they agree to total denuclearization, anything that looks like a nuclear weapon, no deal, walk out. well, what kind of a negotiation is that, david? >> it's not. he's not goold d at negotiation he lied like the others during the time. and he's not good at running staff. the job of the national security adviser is to be the traffic cop between the department and the state department. >> honest broker. >> an honest broker. and when he had a job in the george w. bush administration in terms of proliferation, he pushed aside or fired people who challenged his view. he claimed that cuba was developing biological and chemical weapons to give to other countries. the analysts said that's not

true, he shoved them aside. guess what? he was wrong. so how is he going to do this job? he's going to tell trump whatever he wants to hear and trump is famous for listening and caring about the last guy in the room. >> let's get to the seat of the hurricane, mieke, why? why does a guy like dick cheney make up that they had nuclear weapons? just lied. why do they want these wars? is it because they don't like the look of their face or they like knocking off weaker countries? these are real countries they're coming up against now. iraq is one thing, iran is a real country. these are serious military forces, sophisticated as hell country. you're going to war with iran, you're going to war. israel i wonder is a match for iran. those countries are teetering in a balance of power over there in the middle east. we go to war with them? >> and because we went to war in pee iraq, iran's hand is strengthened and we haven't devastated their military like we did with iraq prior to going in. one of the problems with hawks is they are overly optimistic

about the chances of success and how easy it will be. >> why? what do they know about military life. >> they don't, act which you will -- actually. they're so confident and arrogant about their own judgments that they dismiss any concern. >> remember the great scene in all the civil war movies? "gone with the wind," all these southern white guys with their big hats on and nice pretty gray uniforms "we can't wait to go to the civil war." what? you got good generals but you don't have the machinery of the north. are you crazy? you're going to beat the north in a war? it's the same mentality. we're going to win this war. >> well, bolton did say at the time that we would not have to be in iraq too long. so wrong, wrong, wrong. and in -- >> but the war will pay for itself. >> in 2009 we at "mother jones" got a tape saying the only way to deal with the iran nuclear program would be for israel to have a nuclear strike, not just a war, but a nuclear strike on iran. that's how far he goes. so forget about trying to talk

-- >> where does that lead to if israel does that against an islamic country. >> i would say one easy term is apocalypse. this is where they're at. >> it's one thing to support the iraq war before it started but when you look back and see what hell it was, $4 trillion of our treasury, all these dismembered americans, they're all over the place. >> and hundreds of thousands of iraqi civilians. >> hundreds of thousands of dead people and you say it looks good in the rear-view mirror? even w wouldn't do it again. i think w knows he was hoodwinked by cheney. thank you david corn and mieke. up next, a former "playboy" model details her alleged affair with donald trump. it's happening as the attorney for stormy daniels tweeted out this photo. there it is, teasing what may be a bombshell bit of evidence. that's attorney michael avenatti. he's coming here right now and this is "hardball." what a night. very strange. where the action is. c.

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welcome back to "hardball." president trump is under siege from three separate lawsuits filed by an adult film actor, a former "playboy" model and a former contestant on his show "the apprentice." it doesn't look like it's about to let up. last night, for example, former playmate karen mcdougal broke her silence in an interview with cnn. she said she had a ten-month extra marital relationship with trump around the same time as adult film actor stormy daniels.

she was asked if she had regrets. here's what she said. >> no regrets except the fact that he was married. >> if melania trump is watching this, what would you want her to know? >> it's a tough one. >> or say to her? >> yeah. what can you say except i'm sorry. i'm sorry. >> around the same time mcdougal's interview aired, the lawyer for stormy daniels, michael avenatti, tweeted this cryptic picture with the following message, if the picture is worth a thousand words, how many is this worth? keep your eye on that. white house press secretary sarah sanders says trump denied the allegations. for more, i'm joined by michael avenatti, attorney for stormy daniels. i think you're a match for the president, sir. i've been watching you do it quite so well. this is a picture, i assume, a tape of her taking the lie

detector test? would that be a good yes? >> no, that would not be a good guess. appreciate the compliment. >> we're getting close it. it is a dvd? >> let me tell you this, chris. that dvd contains evidence of this relationship and let me tell you why i sent the tweet. i sent the tweet as a warning shot to michael cohen and any other supporter of the president and to the president himself. to the extent that they plan on disparaging my client, lying about what happened, or spinning facts that have no basis in reality after this "60 minutes" interview, let that tweet be a warning to them. it's time for the non-sense to end. they need to come clean about what happened. they need to come clean about the $130,000 payment. they need to come clean with the american people. it's just that simple. >> so it's a dvd. some people thought it was a cd but thank you. it involves moving pictures, i guess. something that -- who's in the pictures? your client and the president together?

>> chris, i'm not going to answer any more questions about that media. >> let's go back to this bodily threat, threat of bodily harm. was it a luke abracci threat? "you sign or your brains are on the table?" >> well, the american people will hear about it on sunday. >> you're here and you said it was a threat of bodily harm and i wondered, was it delivered in person or on the phone? >> chris, here's what i'll tell you. the threat was delivered in person, my client is going to describe it in detail on sunday. the american people are going to hear from her. they're going to judge her credibility. it was very frightening to her and i think they're going to come away with a firm understanding after that interview of exactly what happened here. >> i'm getting the picture here. is it fair to assume -- you can tell me right now, michael, as the attorney, that the reason she signed the non-disclosure agreement was not just the money they offered, because the money

was substantial, $130,000. but it was against the danger of breaking the deal and having to pay millions and millions for each utterance that might have been seen in the courts as a violation of the deal. was the threat part of the reason she signed? >> i think absolutely. when the president's fixer exerts pressure on you to sign a document, you don't ask a lot of questions. you do as you're told. and i think the american people are going to learn from her on sunday and thereafter of exactly what happened here and our position, chris, has always been the same. we want the truth and the facts to be known to the american people. period. >> is this a basis for disbarment if this was a lawyer that made that physical threat to get someone to sign an a contract? >> i'm not an ethics expert but let me tell you that i would never do that. >> but it was a lawyer that made the threat. >> i'm not saying it's a lawyer made the threat. >> you just accepted the argument, that recognition. i thought you just said that.

>> i accepted your hypothetical, chris, you're a very skilled questioner. >> i think we've narrowed it down to this was an attorney, it was a threat of bodily harm and you have a copy of something together on a dvd. is that your power play? >> i don't think that's fair but you're a skilled questioner, aapplaud you. >> i think you're doing a hell of a job. i don't think you're in this for money and i don't think your client is, either. i think there's something in this that's big time. is this power and abuse of power? infidelity is not new on this planet. i it's been around since biblical times. it's painful and wrong. most people think it's wrong but it occurs and my question is is that about -- is the evil you're trying to track down and punish infidelity? beyond that what is it? you get up in the morning and you want to do it with this case? >> it has nothing do with

infidelity. i know people are interested in the salacious details, et cetera. i get it. it's much bigger than that. it's about the coverup. it's about people in positions of power abusing that power. putting people that are less fortunate, that don't have a many resources as they do under their thumb threatening them, intimidating them and engaging in thuggish tactics. those days as it relates to my client are over and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened here and the american people are going to learn the truth. period. >> to get that, will you depose trump? >> if necessary absolutely. >> let's talk about the trump position on this. i'm sure you can imagine his position. during the scandal in britain, a sex worker was involved, when one of the british guys who was the foreign minister at the time, he said "it didn't happen." and her answer was "well, he would say that, wouldn't he?"

isn't the trump response the normal response? no, it didn't happen. how are we going to get trump to admit it happened? how is that going to happen? >> well, i think we've seen this in politics before. i'm a student of history. we saw that ultimately with bill clinton. we saw it with gary hart and the monkey business. we saw it with john edwards. we saw it with a number of politicians. sooner or later they have to come clean with the american people and sooner or later this president and michael cohen are going to have to come clean about this $130,000 payment, the threats and the intimidation and how they put this woman under their thumb. >> you're working pro bono. how long can you fight this case? that's a great advantage for your client. it costs money, implied money even if you don't take it out of your pocket, it's money you're losing fighting this case. you're not doing something else to make money. how long do you promise your client you will fight this case? >> to the end. i'm a young man, i'm in for the long haul, period. >> you're something else. michael avenatti, i'd like to meet you some time over dinner. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you so much.

i think you're going to be difficult to fight. up next, we'll meet three high school students from parkland florida in town for tomorrow's big march for our lives. you're watching "hardball." is helping build the new new york. starting with advanced manufacturing that brings big ideas to life. and cutting-edge transportation development to connect those ideas to the world. along with urban redevelopment projects worthy of the world's top talent. 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. to grow your business with us in new york state moyou know, could never happenl shoothere. but those same people are the ones who saw all the signs and never said anything. the obsession with guns. being bullied. even posting on instagram about shooting up the school. i mean, no one said anything. i mean, i'm sure tomorrow somebody will wish they had said something.

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at what they do is indispensable, and i couldn't ask for a better partner. >> i stand before you here today to invite you, students and parents from across america, let us pray with our legs, let us march in unison to the rhythm of justice, because i say enough is enough. america, we are your future. why won't you protect us? >> welcome back to "hardball." that was dimitry hoth, a parkland high school survivor. hundreds of thousands of teenagers are set to march on washington in the march for our lives. they're demanding gun control legislation with a simple message -- never again. organizers say more than 800 events are planned worldwide

tomorrow in conjunction with the main event in washington. joe biden offered encouragement on capitol hill today. >> these kids are going to change. they're going to change the culture. they're going to change the gun culture because they have no agenda, they have no special intere interest. and they're going to change their parents' attitudes who maybe thought this wasn't an issue that was of great consequence but i think it's going to change. >> joining us is delaney tarr, chris grady, chris has been on before and sophie whitney. they are all seniors at marjory stoneman douglas high school. i'm going to let you talk. tomorrow's your day and tonight is your day here. delaney? i love that first name, delaney. you've gone through a lot. what's changed over your feelings since the horror of the

day itself as it marinated in your head? >> i mean, i think the feelings bounce around a lot because it's very much a roller coaster of emotions at all times. one moment you can feel completely fine, then the next it hits you like a brick wall. >> do you have images of the lost classmates? >> images of them -- >> coming into your mind? >> oh, absolutely. especially when we go to the school and we have to see the empty desks. but we take that pain and turn it into action and i think that's what we've continue to do and the best thing we can keep doing. >> chris, what do you make of the history of gun laws in this country going back to the s.e.c. amendment? i haven't seen much change? >> yeah. the second amendment is something, obviously, a lot of americans hold dear. it's in our founding documents but that doesn't mean it can't be a regulated amendment like all of the other ones are. so we're not trying to take away anybody's second amendment rights, we're just trying to stop these things from happening. we're just trying to save kids' lives.

>> what would impress you that the senate and congress does and the president signs? what would make you say to yourself, you got the message? let me go to sophie. what would impress you and then same answer, same question. what do you want to see in terms of action? >> as of right now i would just like to see them present any gun bill or even say the word "gun" in anything. >> wow. is it that bad? delaney? >> i mean, we do, we want them to say the word gun. we want them to address the issue directly because it feels a lot of the time like they're stepping around the issue. that's something you see a lot when it comes to the bureaucracy of our country. >> why are they afraid of the word "gun"? i'll ask you a basic question. they say taxes and cut taxes, they use words like that. they're not afraid of -- regulation, they love to say we're getting rid of regulation. >> well, i think it's the gun culture. a lot of americans are obsessed with their guns so a lot of

politicians might not want to upset their own voters if they bring up that word. >> the culture in the 60s, there was the black panthers. do you think your generation is different, sophie? >> i just think that -- >> because of the school shootings? you grew up in the shadow of columbine. you haven't had a waking conscious moment of your lives when you didn't think about school shootings. this is sort of new, you know. >> we've grown up around these shootings and it's kind of been normalized by society that oh, another school shooting happens. it's become too normal and that's not okay. people are dying and it can happen anywhere. it happened in one of the safest cities in florida, in the country. and it's just -- >> it looks so safe, your school. >> we all felt incredibly safe. >> in today's "washington post," author paul taylor writes, "according to the most recent general social survey, just 18% of people between 18 and 24 say

most people can be trusted. that's less than half the share of older adults who felt that way in 2016 and the lowest number recorded in the half century this question has been asked. two weeks ago, the president promised congress would act on guns. let's listen. >> in recent weeks i've met with the victims of school shootings including the courageous students from marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida and the aftermath of that terrible tragedy. we're taking very strong action on things like even background checks, making them tougher. it's never that easy but it's moving along and a lot of great things are being done. we're making it much tougher but a lot of things are happening right now as we speak. >> congress did take one small step. the omnibus spending bill includes the fix nics act which modestly improves the background check system for buying guns and allows federal research into gun violence. federal research. this afternoon, in advance of

tomorrow's march president trump wrote idea today the department of justice will issue the rule banning bump stocks, we will ban all devices that could turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns." let me ask you about that survey that says your generation and people older than you have less trust in their fellow persons. they just don't buy -- they're skeptical. do you think that's right? >> i do think that's true. we've seen a lot of disillusionment with the system because the more that we learn and the more we learn through social media and through the news and through our schooling and our education, the more rerealize we're not necessarily satisfied with the way things are. that's a pattern you see in many young people but with this growth of knowledge and spread of knowledge it's increased. >> lack of trust, chris? is that a generational thing? cynicism, thinking everybody is out for themselves? that kind of thing? >> it's hard not to be cynical in the wake of events like this, but then you look is at heroes

like coach weiss who put their lives on the line to save kids and you can't become cynical because you'll be tarnishing their legacy if you do. >> sophie? >> i agree. >> are you cynical. >> about a few things. but i feel like cynicism isn't going to help us at this point when we're trying to make this difference in a positive way. it's going to hurt us and make us look insensitive to what happened. >> delaney tarr, chris grady and sophie whitney are saying with us. you're watching "hardball." 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. welcome to the entirely new expedition.

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we're coming right back with the three students from marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. a reminder, we'll have all day coverage of the march for our lives tomorrow. join me for a special hour at 3:00 eastern and then again for a two-hour special, "hardball" at 7:00 p.m. eastern. we'll be right back.

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us, everyone needs to listen to us and we need to be heard and it doesn't need to be half listened or be told we're being listened to, we need to see them taking our statements into consideration and to actually do something about it because we're not going away. >> chris? >> yeah. piggybacking off of what she said. you know, compromise is the most important thing. he supports banning bump stocks but that's just bread crumbs, we need more than just that if we are going to stop things. >> you want a ban on assault rifles? >> absolutely. >> sophie? >> i would tell him he has the power to change things and we're going to be at his doorstep screaming and demanding action and if he can throw a curveball and he can listen to all of these constituents asking for this and he can make the difference. >> thanks so much. an honor to have you all here. delaney tarr, chris grady and sophie whitney.

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let me finish tonight with a thought about these young people coming to washington. on a totally different note, i like to say families planning trips here come and vacation in washington because you already paid for this. i'm referring to the monuments and museums that are open to the public for free. they're wonderful opportunities to learn about our history as a

country, our art and take pride in a truly beautiful capital city. but there's also a right every american has to come to washington on business, that business being our right as a citizen to we the ipetition the congress, to tell our representative what is we want them to do and this saturday, hundreds of thousands, maybe 500,000 high school kids will be here to enjoy this city, though it's a bit cold for a senior class trip, and have their voices heard on a matter particularly close to them -- their safety. especially when they're at school. i think this is all great for the young people, great for the country to have its youth so kpuz yast i c-- enthusiastic to participate in dialogue. the elected officials on capitol hill will know what this generation has to say about guns and their rightful role in our society and also the rights of society with respect to guns. let's hope it matters. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us.

a reminder to tune in for coverage of the march for our lives tomorrow on in network. i'll have a special hour at 3:00 p.m. eastern then msnbc's "hardball" at 7:00. all in starts right now. >> tonight on "all in,". >> thank you very much. >> reporter: is stormy daniels lying about the ashares in. >> the gathering storm. >> after we had been intimate he tried to pay me. >> reporter: the playmate's story is out. the porn star's story is hours away and tonight there is growing concern about what donald trump will do next. plus -- >> i have had no contacts from russians or intermediaries for russians. blockbuster new reporting that trump world was, indeed, in contact with the russian agent who hacked the dnc. then -- >> i looked very seriously at the veto. how donald tru