that's it for "the beat." we'll be back 6:00 p.m. on monday. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. >> who do we pardon next? let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews up in new york. it feels like we are finally at a tipping point. the walls are closing in on president trump. his lawyer is under criminal investigation. he's considering firing deputy attorney general rod rosen tine who he blames for the mez he's in. james comey new book landed like a bomb on the doorstep of the white house last night. undeterred by the risk of obstructing the special counsel probe, he appears ready to

protect those willing to remain loyal to him opposed to the rule of law. in a surprise move, he issued a pardon to the former top aide to vice president dick cheney, scooter libby convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007. speaking before the pardon this morning, white house adviser kellyanne conway insisted the move was not intended to send a message. howeversley did draw a clear parallel to robert mueller suggesting libby was the victim of an overzealous special counsel. >> critics say this is sending a message it's okaying to lie under oath and obstruct justice. >> the president is not sending that message. >> what message is he sending i guess. >> why is he pardoning scooter libby? >> i can't confirm that. >> the president maintains he was right. >> many people think scooter libby was the victim of a special counsel gone amoking. > we learned the president's

personal lawyer michael cohen is under criminal investigation for federal crimes he may have committed in his personal dealings. the news revealed during a hearing held friday over cohen's efforts to prevent the government from using materials seized in monday's raid on his office, hotel room and everything else. late today, "the new york times" reported president trump called cohen to check in on his long time aide. they chatted today trying to figure out what was seized. the paper further reports mr. trump's advisers concluded the cohen investigation is "a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel's investigation." wow. it adds that the president's increasingly isolated and mounting a response and that some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves. for more, i'm on the phone with reporter michael schmidt who broke the story. also with us is ashley parker,

white house reporter for "the washington post." phillip bump, will with the "washington post" and jennifer rogers, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. that's a good place to be from tonight. michael schmidt, what, what are you able to report tonight about the president's sort of psychological condition right now? is he able to take this hammering in the threat of who knows what in that wild bag of stuff that the u.s. attorneys now have gotten their hands from mr. cohen's office? >> thanks for having me, chris. the largest issue to understand here is that for the president and his advisers, they see the new york investigation has far more problematic. they understand the contours of the special counsel's investigation and think there's no there there. they have understood what mueller is looking at, the issues related to russia and obstruction. i think they're fine.

they're far more concerned about a new york issue. what is it that was taken from cohen's office? what is it that the authorities have now? why is it they went with such aggressive move to execute a search warrant, an extraordinary thing to do to the president's lawyer? to understand where the president is to understand he has a smallie team that's down to just jay sekulow, john dowd recently quit. they're trying to rebuild the team as they figure out what's going on. >> what we know i think we know about michael cohen's role with donald trump is he goes to mr. cohen for secret things involving him personally, embarrassing relationships he's had. people he wants to quiet, to shut up, to put it bluntly. he will use whatever means he can to accomplish that goal. what legal vulnerability does that place the president in? is it because he's afraid michael cohen might it be facing serious charges and therefore, will flip?

>> that's what we don't know and that's what the president's lawyers don't know. what it is they have about the presidential relationship with cohen, what does it show, what is it that cohen was helping the president do? was it campaign finance issues where cohen was helping get money to women to silence them before the election? is that something that ties back to the president? is it things about business matters? is it stuff about cohen's issues with medallion taxi authority that he had in new york city? that's the thing the president doesn't understand. why is it that the deputy attorney general overseeing this investigation felt that what was in michael cohen's office was so important that they could go to a federal judge and get special authority to essentially break down the door. >> can you report on a connection between what you just told us, the fear that the president shares now with michael cohen because of the criminal perhaps legal vulnerability of cohen in

addition to his own which used to get him flipping against the president on anything that might be helpful to the prosecution in washington, and this surprise pardon of scooter libby? i'm sure there's other motives for pardoning him today but the timing of this looks like he's signaling 0 michael cohen particularly look, relatch, i can pardon you. i can let you keep your law license. you'll not face any criminal charges, you not be a felon because i have the power of the pardon. >> what we don't know is what is it that the president talked to cohen about today. if you talk to legal experts any defense lawyer they say witnesses, subjects in an investigation should not talk to each other. the government does not like that. it looks like they're coordinating, getting their stories together. why is it that the president goes to such an extreme thing to call michael cohen today to do that? the president knows it's something he should not do. he got into trouble for this about trying to talk to don

mcgahn what he talked to the special counsel about. once again, he feels it was okay to go ahead with na. >> michael hold on. jennifer rogers worked in the southern district of new york, u.s. prosecutors there. what do you think it's all about? what's it look like? >> well, you know, it's unclear what they're finding in the documents they seized when they look at them again on monday. >> we know of the documents. there's the karen mcdougal case, the stormy daniels case. >> right. >> the "national enquirer" matter. >> we got a little bit more from the papers filed today about the temporary restraining order. some of it was redacted. what was unredacted they mentioned financial crimes and other crimes related to cohen's businesses. they did not mention campaign finance crimes. that part may have been blacked out. it looks like they had a fairly targeted universe of things related to cohen and his byes. they're going to review those things. it's unclear whether or not trump is reed to any of those matters they're looking into. but it looks like they'll be

charging michael cohen and if he cooperates that opens up a whole new potential. >> we hear wire fraud, bank fraud. it sounds federal, scary, like big felonies. >> they are. wire fraud, mail fraud are all 20-year maximum counts for each one. they do stack up to a lot of time. these are very serious crimes. losing his law license is the least of it if he ends up charged in federal court. >> ashley, this story seeps to be at the point almost a psychological condition of a president. i have to tell you, i've wondered at his ability to handle it so far. all this is buffetting up against him one time now with new york. how does he prioritize things to worry about? >> that's a good question. our understanding is the president is incredibly frustrated and angry about a number of these issues, the raid on michael cohen on monday

caught him by surprise. and in many ways he hasn't said this, but there was a sense that was the red line that had been crossed. and people in the president's orbit and i have to be clear, there certainly are still some people cautioning him on a shake-up of the justice department, but you started hearing from a lot more people who fed that more aggressive instinct of his to say you know, this is a step too far. this is unacceptable. imagine if this happened to hillary clinton with her lawyer. you really do need to do something. and you know, of course the comey book is also going to infuriate him. you saw in his tweets. the book hasn't even actually come out yet. there's going to be a publicity tour this weekend and into next week. on a lot of fronts, under assault and under siege. he's had to compartmentalize and make very important decision on syria we'll likely be hearing

about later tonight or later this weekend. >> watching huckabee sanders today, i get the feeling he's note of concerned about he can't win the battle with pr this week. that this will be comey' week. >> the president's tweets this morning sort of drove just as much news on comey's book as comey's own revelations. that is largely true. this is someone who the mere fact of comey's continued existence continues to irritate the president. comey seems well aware of that. it feels like there's nuggets and anneck does specifically designed to needle the president. they're just getting rolled out on television and in interviews in a very savvy way for maximum impact to drive president trump crazy. >> phil, what is he still trying to hide? what are the lawyers for the president trying to hide from the u.s. prosecutors? >> what they were trying to do today is two things. they were trying to make their case what should happen before

of this evidence is reviewed is either they, cohen's attorney themselves get to clear which things are pringed under attorney/client privilege. >> i understand that's only conversations between client and lawyer on how to defend him. in other words, legal discussions. legal strategies. >> there are au sorts of boundaries. >> now how to hide the money or make the payments. >> that's excluded. there was also the conversation today about who his clients actually are and one of the things the judge got frustrated with today is cohen's attorneys were unable to say who his clines were. even after they were given two different recesses they were unable to do so. they were commanded to give that information monday morning at 10:00 a.m. and the judge said they need to have evidence saying this person is a client of cohen's and here is the proof for it. obviously the rationale is the government can't move forward with divvying up who is covered by attorney/client privilege or not till they know who the

clients are. all of this as the prosecutor is just a new delay tactic. >> scooter libby was indicted. james comey investigated the bush administration's role in leaking the i'd of cia officer valerie plame. yosef wilson questioned the administration's rationale for declaring war in iraq and fitzgerald concluded libby lied about his role in leaking news to reporters. i'm joined by valerie plame. also an author. i didn't think we would be back together professionally. it's nice to see you. this is to me. >> back again. >> it's extraordinary. scooter libby was guilty as hell. he lied under oath. i remember the whole conversation coming out with tim russert and me and all that stuff. he was covering for cheney. that's how you pronounce his name. now this president pardons him as some sort of exhibit to show

he has the power of the pardon as far as i can figure. that's what this is about. what is your sense of why you would pardon this guy after all these years? >> yeah, chris, here we are again talking about scooter libby. fact is though this is not about me, it's definitely not about scooter libby. it's this was a matter settled in the past but it is very important to donald trump's future. i think the that the he's got a very small audience that he's doing this for and that would include paul manafort, michael flynn, jared kushner and, of course, his lawyer that you were just talking about cohen. exactly. that you can -- if you are convicted of crimes of a national security nature, don't worry about it. trump will take care of it. as we know, trump values loyalty bob au else. that's what he asked for when he had his sit down dinner with comey. we're seeing this roll out.

it's really -- it's quite shameful. >> i think the whole thing is shameful. we know the history of the iraq war was wrong. there were lies told especially by cheney about nuclear weapons in the hands of saddam hussein that were not true. he knew they were not true. scooter covered for him. then they wen after trying to deny anybody that be tried to interfere with their plan. here's a political question. donald trump ran against stupid wars. he ran against the neo-cons can, against the scooter libbys and the john boltons and the whole crowd of them that got us into that war in iraq because he said to the working people of this country, you're the families that have given us these soldiers to get maimed and killed. you have given us the people to fight these wars. the working people said no more stupid barpz now trump comes back and pardons one of the main people behind the war, one of the criminals behind this thing. to me it's an awful statement to the people that voted for him. what do you think? >> chris, i think you're

absolutely right. but i don't think in this moment, the public is generally interested in relitigate the past. it's about looking right now what donald trump is up to. and exactly why. and i'll tell you, i am looking at this not in a personal way, but in fact, looking, using what my career was with the cia. i'm trying to analyze this. what is he hiding? why is he doing this now? i think the timing, it's not-coincidence. furthermore, doesn't he have more important things 0 to do like think about syria, for instance? >> i'm with you. i still remember though. i'm not going to forget how they talked us into this war with 4,000 americans dead, 100,000 other people dead because of their thinking they could justify this war of theirs. say hello to joe. we've got breaking news. it keeps coming in. mack clachy is reporting special counsel robert mueller has

evidence that michael cohen secretly made a late summer trip to prague during the 2016 presidential campaign according to two sources familiar with the matter. part of the steele doesyer is confirmed with a powerful kremlin figure about russian meddling in the u.s. election and would be one of the most significant developments of the investigation thus far. peter stone broke that story and peter put it together in terms of this whole puzzle of russian collusion. >> well, the confirmation nags cohen was in praging is pretty important because he has conveniently denied for months that he took a trip there in the summer of 2016, late summer as the steele dossier alleged. we don't have the timing precisely right. that's not been confirmed yet but it does certainly undercut his comments going back months. and it does bolster the chief --

a chief contention in the steele dossier that there was a meeting, an important meeting with russians there. now, we don't know yet that the russians he discussed in the does yaf koci jev, who is a powerful legislator and ally of putin was at the meeting as the dossier alleged. we've not confirmed that part yet. there are other parts unconfirmed. but it does appear to be a significant break through for the mueller probe as they look at potential collusion between the trump campaign and moscow. >> thank you so much. let me go to is michael schmidt still on? michael, what's your reaction to this? >> let me go to jennifer on this. the legality of this question. we were talking about this whole question of scooter libby and this pardon offer. what's it say to the people out there keeping information away from the prosecutor right now who might want to flip now?

>> well, it's troubling obviously because they're trying to develop these witnesses and already have developed witnesses in rick gates and michael flynn. if he were to pardon them, all of a sudden, what's going to happen with those witnesses? it seems to be a message to them given the timing. it's questionable whether it's an obstruction in and of itself. he's clearly incidentally interfering with the investigation. you have to prove intent to show it was obstruction. >> ashley, this question of the dossier looking more profoundly accurate now. the fact that elements in it now will, what did or didn't happen in the hotel but the question how that aretative presented to the government about the role trump played in russian relations. >> well, that's the thing about the dossier. when you put aside all the fair criticisms that it was funded by opposition research by political opponents of the president, that

it does have this one very eye-popping and scandalous detail about the hotel room, there seems to be no evidence to prove that true, this would not be the first detail from that dossier that would actually turn out to be true. and to be borne out. so despite the dossier's roots, despite the fact that not everything in there is true, a number of details have already been proven true. and this just seems to add yet another and add to that heft. >> doesn't mr. cohen, the president' lawyer have to explain what else he might have been doing in prague besides meeting with that russian figure? >> it seems like this is a home run. let me go to phil on this. >> i agree. there are a lot of allegations in the dossier involving carter page. this is michael coe hen who is close toes president trump. this was a concrete allegation about cohen being in prague.

he denied it. >> when the steele dossier was first released in january of '17, michael cohen adamantly denied the allegation he was ever in prague. in fact, he tweeted a paragraph of his passport saying i have never been to prague in my life, fake news. as mcclatchy reports investigators traced evidence that he entered through germany apparently during august or early september of 2016 as the ex-spy reported. he wouldn't have needed a passport for such a trip. both countries operate with open borders. >> this is -- this was also at the time the dossier came out. one of the several things used as an effort to undermine the dossier to say look at this. they said he was in prague. that's not true. we can't assume any of this is true. the allegation he was meeting with a russian, that he was there in prague, that substantiates part of the dossier. if there is -- if mueller has any hint he was meeting with russians there, it's really hard at that point to view you this,

the dossier completely much less this particular aspect of it as anything less than hugely significant. >> and trump's strategy which is find the weakest point in the dossier and challenge it. the hotel room accusation. that didn't happen, therefore don't believe the dossier into it seemed to us observing the trump team they saw this as an easy thing to be able to rebut. they seized upon it. i'm blown away. i spent a lot of time reading the dossier and hearing it on the show is the first time i heard about it. this is a very significant development. >> ashley, your last thought on this dossier development tonight. >> well, i think the key thing is it also shows to you, why there were questions why did the feds, you know, break down michael cohen's door. why did they raid his home, his hotel room and office. this just shows he has been unfrufl in the past.

they had reason to believe he'll be untruthful again. there's probably a lot more to discover as they go through what they seized. >> peter, tell me what you think the impact of this information is ha he did go not feeding a passport coming through germany, that he did so meeting apparently with the russian figure as charged in the dossier. >> well, again, we don't have the confirmation yet that he met with a russian there, but it lends a lot of credence to the allegations in the dossier. major fact that cohen spent so much time and so much energy denying the whole idea of a prague meeting, denying any collusion with russians, this is a seriously undercuts his credibility. and you know, i think it strengthens the argument, strengthens the evidence from potential collusion and that there will be a lot more focus on you know, trying to confirm the other parts of in that a top

russih legislator. >> how do you know he was there? >> we have sources who have tracked it and we trust our sources. >> do you have any documentary proof? is it witness documentation, witness evidence? >>. >> we have sources who have told us they have traced it and it's credible. >> thank you so much. peter stone. >> and that the special prosecutor has evidence of it. >> go ahead peter. >> that's it. >> okay. thank you so much. peter stone with mcclatchy with a breaking story tonight that turns out michael cohen was busy over there in prague on behalf trump perhaps it looks like. clearly contradicting what he claimed before he had denied being there on a mission with regard to meeting with the russians during the 2016 campaign. it's been reported he was in fact in prague. thank you peter stone for that breaking stone from mcclatchy. thank you to our other guests on the, ashley parker, phillip bumpo, and jennifer rogers.

coming up, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who oversees the investigation is telling friends he's preparing to be fired. do you believe it? if trump goes ahead and fires rosenstein, mueller could be next, of course. tonight, democrats say if either one is fired, that's grounds for ip impeachment. some democrats and big ones believe that. that's ahead. plus, jim comey is under attack by the president. the white house and the republican party. as copy's new tell-all book pushed trump past the tipping point. the "hardball" roundtable is here with three things about the russian investigation you might not know already. let me finish with trump watch. won't like this one. this is "hardball" where the action is. this is frank's dog. and this is frank's record shop. frank knowns northern soul, but how to set up a limited liability company... what's that mean? not so much. so he turned to his friends at legalzoom. yup! they hooked me up. we helped with his llc, contracts, and some other stuff

that's part of running a business. so frank can focus on the beat. you hear that? this is frank's record shop. and this is where life meets legal. leo, i knoh!i'm late. my wallet! card lock from capital one. instantly lock your credit card. in case it goes... arrivederci. mona! that smile. technology this convenient... could make history. what's in your wallet? coming up later in the show, the other big story of the day. the new excerpts from former fbi director james comey's new book. this sunday, i'll host a special documentary about comey offering a look at the man who copies to

loom over the russian investigation. >> a war of words senior dominating the headlines. on one side, a hotly anticipated tell-all book. on the other, a president's tweet storm. as a prosecutor and director of the fbi, james comey says he held himself to the highest standard of integrity. only to be attacked by a president and by both sides of the aisle. now he is finally responding in his own words. and on his own terms. >> headliners is james comey airs this sunday night at p.m. eastern on msnbc. you don't want to miss it. we'll be right back. ...aging everything. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace. really... never heard of it. the question is... who's going to fix all of this? an actor? probably not. but you know who can solve it? business. because solving big problems is what business does best. so let's take on the wage gap, the opportunity gap, the achievement gap. whatever the problem, business can help.

and i know who can help them do it. you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles. kayak. search one and done.

you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. 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. just broke. that will special counsel robert mueller has evidence michael cohen secretly made a late summer trip to prague during the campaign according to mcclatchy news service. u.s. congressman joaquin castro.

this is a case where there was alled actions by michael cohen, the president's fixer, lawyer, whatever you call him. he did this secret stuff for the president. and one of the things alleged had he something to doing with working with the hackers over in europe. the russians. how do you put it together? >> this is -- i just got off a plane in san antonio and saw the news. if it's true, if bob mueller has found this out and confirmed it, it is a big liability for michael cohen. he has denied it au along and certainly did not tell the house intelligence committee that he travelled to prague. it was completely denied any kind of incident like that. so there is legal liability for him if this is true. >> what do you see here in collusion terps? russian collusion with the president? >> well, it seems like a key element like this if he was

dishonest about that, then already their story very much starts to fall apart. it means there's a lot more digging that needs to be done. hopefully bob mueller is doing it. it also speaks to the fact that the house intelligence committee should not have shut down its investigation. and really needs to reopen it. and hopefully, the senate can continue on this trail. >> do you any -- nunes the chairman of your committee finds out there was a meeting in prag and financially supported their hacking, it could go all the way, do you believe that that had mean nunes would become chairman in fact not just in theory and would do something with this story. >> would he actually -- do you have any hope? in percentage terms between zero and 100% what, chance do you think nunes also reopen the investigation of the russian collusion based on evidence there was such collusion. >> i would put it at about 10%. unfortunately, devin, most

rationale reasonable people would tlooul absolutely do that, but devin unhas not conducted his investigation or himself that way. >> i think he's become a toldie. thank you, joaquin castro. a member of the house intelligence committee. david cornyn. david, paint the context of this now. mcclatchy has this story apparently got it from the u.s. prosecutor from the special counsel, mr. mueller's office. they do have evidence now there was in fact a contradiction fromming what mr. cohen had said i was never in prague during this time. now they have evidence that he was. >> if this problems to be true, it's a stunning investment, chris. if you go back to the christopher david steele memos which is where the whole michael cohen, prague angle began, you know, the memos allege that cohen went to prague and had connections with russians in a way to coordinate russian

involvement in the campaign. now, i'm not saying these allegations are true. but they are very, very explosive if someone that close to trump had any connection with russians and any involvement with the intervention. michael cohen has told me and has stated publicly he was not in prague. this is all a complete lie. so if it turns out he was in prague, well, then the next step is, again, if this is true, well then what was he doing there and are his other denials as empty as the prague one. >> so the president's on the phone today with michael cohen. this story's breaking tonight. this evening on this show in this hour that he was over there at a time he claimed he wasn't there and possibly was involved in doing what he's alleged he did not do, get together with the russians, a russian over there. what did the president talk on the phone with this guy about today in this is an amazing conversation between the president and a guy who has this

state's evidence to use against him if he decides to flip. >> i mean, chris, it seems like their phone call could have lasted three hours. they could be talking about stormy daniels, about recordings michael cohen has, about paints now we know that mike cohen made about other mistresses, not necessarily for trump but elliott broidy, one of his fellow rnc fund raisers. there's so much going on in the last week. >> why did he trust michael cohen? why would he trust michael cohen? i assume he's a nice guy. >> no, no. he's not a nice guy. >> why is he trusting him with all the dirty secrets. >> he's a pit bull to said he would take a bullet for donald trump. he's beak the roy cohn to used to be the tough new york mob lawyer who used to be donald trump's mentor when trump was younger. >> i would want to -- i wouldn't

want to soil the name of scooter libby that badly. since i have you on, is the pardoning, and that's a serious thing, the pardoning of scooter libby dragging this guy's story back from the days of the war in iraq, pardoning this guy who kept a secret for cheney, here's a reward for you michael cohen for you if you keep my secrets? >> scootser libby was quicked of lying to fbi'gs and obstructing justice. so donald trump is sending a message here that that's an offense that doesn't bother him that he did it, as you noted, to protect vice president dick cheney. >> i know that. >> that's why elied. so the example of scooter libby is very, very relevant to what's happening now. it's hard not to see it as a message being sent by trump top everybody else, not just mike cohen, that obstructing justice in the name of protecting your boss is not such a bad thing. >> so well done.

thank you, david corn. your book is "russian roulette." about this whole thing. jim himes also of the house intelligence committee. congressman, what do you make of the fact there is now a factual argument? this isn't about theory or interpretation. the guy was either in prague that time. people don't go the to the prague every weekend. he was in prague at a time he said he wasn't there. he was there according to mueller's investigation. what's that tell you about the dossier and its credibility and what trouble the trump is in now that his fixer has been nailed? >> yeah, it's a great question, chris. i'll tell you, it raises two other questions and makes a very obvious point. question number one, what was said in prague with michael cohen? who did he meet with? what was said? what was the purpose that have trip. number two which is more interesting, why did he need to lie about it. let me be clear. i'm just reading the story and i don't know the background. if there is proof he was in prague, why did he need to lie

to everybody including committees of congress about the fact that he was there. and then, chris, here's the interesting thing. you know, i've sat for six months now hearing the defenders of the president build their entire case around the idea that the steele dossier, you know, what carter page calls the dodgy dossier which the president neg guys as having any bearing on reality, their whole point has been to attack this dossier. if it turns out that in fact, this individual was in prague, that's actually a verification of one of the key charges in the dossier. i would point out further that really it's the one thing they he would up and said it's not true because michael cohen said he wasn't there and showed his passport. the whole case built around the idea, the fisa warrant, the investigation -- which was not true -- is built on the fact this dossier is inaccurate.

that entire case falls apart. >> there's still talk rosenstein might get fired this weekend. would you be for impeachment hearings if that's the case. >> i'll tell you what. i've been thinking a lot about this in the last 4 hours. i would say if rosenstein is fired with the intention and it all kind of comes together right now. the pardon of scooter libby i'm pretty sure the president never heard. >> he's a neo-con pinup boy. go ahead. >> but we know how trump used to feel about the iraq war and nobody did much more than scooter libby did to promote that war. now he gets pardoned? >> didn't you see that coming when he hired bolton. in total violation of the campaign he ran on with stupid wars liking with iraq. they're coming back together like a konga line. i'm with you. it's an awful political

betrayal. >> what's important here, look, if he fires rosenstein with the intention of ending this probe, that is in my opinion and i'm not even a lawyer in, my opinion that's very clear obstruction of justice. but what is priority number one, two, and three if that happens is reconstituting through congressional action, we're going to having to call chuck grassley and you know, the republicans who have been tut-tuting and saying ending this investigation is political suicide, it ends the presidency. this will be the moment when congress needs to say hey, without prejudice, wes are reconstituting this investigation. regardless, the american people need to know the truth. the only way is if that investigation. >> are you saying it's going to take for the wall to fall for rosenstein to be fired for these republican leaders to get their act together to protect the special counsel? >> well, you know, the bill that would protect the special counsel is moving through committee over on the senate side. i would tell you this, as one member of congress, it is not in

a veto proof position right now. so you know, this would be a moment offing for an awful lot of legislators. are you going to, even though your primary voters at home may not like you standing against the president, are you going to stand up for the rule of law in the united states or let the president end an investigation. >> maybe it's cruel to say, i think the republican leadership is more like chairman nunes than not. thank you so much, jim himes of connecticut. mueller has evidence michael cohen was in prague during the 2016 election, apparently to deal with the russians. much more after this. he's trying to tell us something. let's see what forensics thinks. sorry i'm late. what did i miss? wanna get away?

now you can with southwest fares as low as 49 dollars one-way. yes to low fares with nothing to hide. that's transfarency.

i'm all about my bed. this mattress is dangerously comfortable. when i get in, i literally say, ahh. introducing

the leesa mattress. a better place to sleep. the leesa mattress is designed to provide strong support, relieve pressure and optimize airflow to keep you cool. today is gonna be great. read our reviews, then try the leesa mattress in your own home. order now and get $125 off, plus a free pillow worth $75. and free shipping too. go to buyleesa.com today. hey! we didn't have a homeowners claim last year so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. well, that seems fair. we didn't use it. wish we got money back on gym memberships. get money back hilarious. with claim-free rewards. switching to allstate is worth it.

of welcome back to "hardball." following a series of bombshell developments in the special counsel's probe, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is bracing for the worst apparently. he oversees the investigation of the president and is under fire by the president this week for approving the fbi's raid on cohen's office in new york. that raid reportedly sent trump into melt down according to "the new york times." despite mounting indications that the president may soon fire him, nbc news is reporting rosenstein has struck a stoic and right just tone in private conversations he's had this week about the fate of his job. in those conversations he repeated the phrase here i stand in reference to martin luther's famous quote. here i stand, i can do no other.

one source said he seed fully aware he may soon lose his job and at peace with the possibility confident had he done his job, integrity. with the special counsel of expected to issue a portion of his rulings, his firing could bolster an obstruction case against the president or could stop the probe in its tracks. katie fan, nick confessore and jason johnson, politics editor for the root. all three of you, i've been using at metaphor the titanic, the trump administration and trump personally, this pretty ship with one smokestack that wasn't real. not even god could sink the ship heading off into the north atlantic. an iceberg waiting for it, a little bit of it showing above the surface of the water. huge iceberg. every once in awhile we hear 13 russians indicted. they know something about the prague meeting.

there seems to be so much power beneath the surface of this iceberging that it just keeps growing. the new york action this week, none of us thought about that last week. we didn't know about -- everything keeps emerging. what do you know, katie phang? you're the lawyer. this seems to be huge and now they've got the prague thing that disan abuses us of the idea that somehow this dossier is not for real. >> the iceberg has the marquise name of robert mueller on it, right? what's happening here is obstruction of justice requires corrupt intent. it's not just i did what i could do if i was the president of the united states. it'sdy do it with the intent to make sure i wasn't exposed and when you see something like trump getting triggered the way that he did after that raid on monday with michael cohen, you have to ask yourself, what is so essential about michael cohen. now we hear he lied about being in prague. cohen is now a known proven liar. we know evidence has been seized

from his office that could implicate the president. now we hear maybe rod rosenstein, here i stand, willing to take a bullet just like michael cohen said he would. if rosenstein is gone, how much more proof do you need the president of the united states is attempting to obstruct mueller's investigation? i think you have a huge building up case and it's not going to be up for debate. it's going to be uncontroverted evidence that president trump had something going on with the russians. >> we see a bunch of people that could be flipped by mueller. people that trump does business with, seedy characters, a lot of people with criminal possibilities, vulnerabilities, exposures as they say in the legal world. all you have to do if you're mueller go mining these guys looking for what they did wrong to get them to flip and turn evidence against trump. now we have the possibility that he was dealing with the russians over in prague. if that happened, if, if, if, talk about bringing the whole collusion case back to the surface. >> okay, look, the good ship

trump was never meant to go up against a criminal investigation. it was meant to sail up and down the hudson river and anchor off palm beach. this is a real estate developer who has worked in a somewhat shadowy business. he kept cohen around to kind of push people on contracts and figure out problems and be a fitcher. it was never meant to be exposed to a criminal investigation. and hardened federal prosecutors and investigators. and bob all, it was never supposed to be the fact that somebody would come in and take all of cohen's diaries, pis passports, his documents. >> tapes. it's a really big deal to have all that exposed. it was never meant to go to them. >> he kept this guy in new york and never brought him down to new york to get through a senate confirmation hearings. one of my favorite phone callers tells me he was a guy who wasn't there for any other reason except to deal with the problematic stuff that trump had to deal with, women, whatever.

he didn't want to go to a big law firm and get publicity. this was the guy to keep the secrets. now all the secrets are in the bin of the special prosecutor or the new york prosecutors. >> right. here's what makes it even more dangerous. now, if it's confirmed that he was actually doing dealings with russia in prague, that connects can possible criminal behavior on the part of donald trump the businessperson with possible collusion behavior on the part of donald trump the president of the united states. that is the nexus that he never wanted to bring together. you know, cohen is basically his doug stamper from house of cards wi cards". he did all the dirty stuff. >> so now that this guy is exposed yes, will cohen be loyal? probably to a certain point. when you do this kind of work, you do keep tapes of everything. you know at some point it may come down to you. trump is in a precarious position, in his past life, his

current life as a public official and the real question will be is congress going to act to protect the agents engaged in this investigation because the president is going to try and shut this down very quickly. >> the weekend's on us. jason johnson, nick confessore and katie phang. up next the hard table is coming around with a look at james comey's explosive new book. this is "hardball" where the action is. even "close claws." [driver] so, we took your shortcut, which was a bad idea. [cougar growling] [passenger] what are you doing? [driver] i can't believe that worked. i dropped the keys. [burke] and we covered it. talk to farmers, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. my digestive system used to make my feel sluggish. but those days are over. now, i take metamucil every day. it naturally traps and removes the waste that weighs me down. so i feel... lighter. try metamucil and begin to feel what lighter feels like. take the metamucil 2-week challenge and begin to feel what lighter feels like. log on and get started at metamucil.com/2weekchallenge. which is why i use armor tall ultra shine wash wipes.y. they effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. that car is in tip top shape!

we are both in tip top shape! armor all, it's easy to look good. roundup for lawns has arrived to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming a single blade of grass. roundup, trusted for over forty years.

welcome back to "hardball." james comey as a new memoir papers a devastating portrait of president trump in unsparing detail you must say. in an interview with "good morning america," he spoke candidly about his most sensitive exchanges withive include can the scene at trump tower when he and other officials briefed the trump transition team on russian election interference. >> president-elect trump's first question was to confirm that it had no impact on election.

and then the conversation to my surprise moved into a pr conversation about how the trump team would position this and what they could say about this. they actually started talking about drafting a press release with us still sitting there. and the reason that was so striking to me is that's just not done that the intelligence community does intelligence. the white house does pr and spin. no one to my recollection asked so what -- what's coming next from the russians? how might we stop it? what's the future look like? it was all what can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had. >> let's bring in the "hardball" roundtable, jonathan lemire, caitlin huey-burns, from real clear politics and shelby holliday with the "wall street journal." your picks. i want to do this like dunking or apples. what did you find in that book?

we have one copy here which we're sharing with all the programs. i'm not allowed to take it out of the building. >> that exchange is important. the idea that the president and his team made no effort to try to figure out what happened with the election interference and how to prevent it going forward. >> how does comey explain in. >> he said he was mystified. instead they talked about public relations. and then after the rest of the intelligence officials left the room, they talked about the salacious charges in the dossier. and that would be a theme. three or four different times the president brought up unprompted what happened in that moscow hotel room. >> that's the part of trump that i do understand. that's the thing that any husband would want to deny. >> it sounds all of. it's almost at the edge, with trump, you can only say almost, unbelievable. >> comey makes the point he says that trump said to him it, hey, i want you to deny this and investigate this.

>> that seems reasonable. >> except copy says if that's the case, it's hard to investigate something you say doesn't happen. and the idea it would attract more attention by investigating it. >> caitlin, what grabs you in the book. >> the reaction from democrats looking at this book. remember, before copy was fired was denigrate the by democrats who thought he had swayed the election. you do have excerpts or bits that show that have enough for democrats to look at and say look, i told you. then have you republicans reacting to some of the more salacious things he talks about here. if i were trump, i would let the two sides kind of hammer it out and then move forward. >> in other words, let comey hang fire. >> politically, he is very open about how he grappled with his decisions in the final moments of the campaign, too. he goes back and he's brutally honest what he did with hillary clinton's e-mails and he didn't want an illegitimate president to become the president without

the public knowing what she was going through but he assumed all along she would be the president. it puts that key moment into perspective. it is also something that republicans are latching on to as well as the hands passing. >> i can't wait to hear arguments among progressives. we like this guy tonight. jonathan thank you. caitlin and shelby. we'll be right back. ♪ come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away. ♪

♪ come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away. ♪ feet go here.... you know what goes here... and your approval rating... goes here. test drive the ztrak z540r at your john deere dealer today. a reminder to tune into

msnbc this sunday night. i'll be hosting a documentary about james comey. it airs this sunday as i said at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. what a night for him. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ this is what getting your car serviced at lincoln looks like. complementary pickup and delivery servicing now comes with every new lincoln. i won. giving you, the luxury of time. that's the lincoln way.

the full value of your new car? you're better off throwing your money right into the harbor.

i'm gonna regret that. with new car replacement, if your brand new car gets totaled, liberty mutual will pay the entire value plus depreciation. liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. all in with chris hayes starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes on there friday the 13th, the republic is feeling somewhat prean pock lip amid a torrent of news, the country now stands on brink of both a military attack on syria and the syrian government currently allied with russia and others as well as a constitutional crisis provoked by what many expect to be the firing of deputy attorney general overseeing is the russia probe. according to multiple reports, the man responsible for those decisions appears to be in the midst of a total meltdown. according to o