right. exactly. so. i got to get to "hardball. "that " that's our a time. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. bomb shell, let's play "hardball." [ music playing [ music playing ] >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington tonight. a huge charge in the investigation of donald trump. attorney michael avenotti has released information the russian oligarch made a payment of a half million dollars to trump's fixer michael cohen. he says the $5 million went into an account for actor film actor stormy daniels. this story could connect the trump business from moscow to the president's personal life,

whether trump has been on the hook the powerful features in the russian government. the very essence of the mueller investigation. avenotti posted an executive summary of his research late today. his report lists a number of allegations abc news has not yet been able to verify. the oligarch in question, he deposited the money into an account used to repeat to pay off stormy daniels. he was sanctioned last mont by trump's treasury department. just four days ago, the "new york times" reported according to people close to the agency, federal agents spopd mr mr. vekselberg, searched his electronic devices ap questioned him. they confront him after he stepped off a private plane about two months ago. the russian billionaire has not been identified as a suspect in the investigation. but the "new york times" report thad vekselberg was present for

the president trump inauguration and that 2017 dinner where michael flynn was amongst the guests of honor. nbc could not reach connor comment tonight. we have joined my julia ainsley, justice reporter for abc news, barbara mcquaid former u.s. attorney for the eastern of michigan and a staff writer and msnbc contributor. it's from avenotti, but it's a bombshell. because it connects a russian oligarch paying $500,000 into a bank account, basically, which michael cohen was using to pay off hush money to stormy daniels. this the an amazing connection. your thoughts. >> it's an amazing revelation. chris. when we first started poking around on this i can remember a year or more than a year ago, asking people in counterintelligence, what should we be looking for? they said, follow the money. that's exactly what this document does. it shows a string, that trump's personal attorney paying hush

money then having those bank accounts replenished by foreign governments in is this case russia. the government at the heart of the mueller investigation. i just didn't expect it to come from the attorney for an adult film actress who had an alleged affair with the president. that's not where i saw this going. it makes it really difficult. we have to piece all of this apart now. physical out what exactly is true. where this information came from. when we're not seeing the raw document those reports that michael avenotti is pulling all of this from. we will be doing that in the coming days. what it makes me want to see now is donald trump's tax returns and more o information on the trump organization. of course, we are able to see a sliver of the way trump did business by getting into his attorney's bank account. what about other bank accounts? other people who did business with trump? people who are loyal inside his circle, are they being resnad are they doing this kind of

business? we can be sure that michael, robert mueller knew about this payment before we did and possibly even before those raids. because that oligarch that you point out, chris, at the top of the show. he was stopped at some point this year. >> that could have well been before this early raid on michael cohen's apartment. we can be sure that this is something robert mueller knows a lot more about than we do. >> natasha, i have been watching this case like all of us for so many months. i keep seeing the macro-economic facts here the russians with all their cash. they can buy houses always over europe, they got so much cash, these oligarchs. have you all that supply of money out there. have you donald trump's insatiable desire for more money. not just to expand his business and his sons businesses and to pay up debts. all this demand for cash and his own personal problems, where he has to have this regular supply of 35k to pay off his problems. supply and demand. trump needs cash.

the russians have it. as president he hads a a candidate it seems to flow into each other in a classic economic modem. your thoughts. >> and julia's point about this being very surprising the fact that this revelation came from stormy daniels' attorney general it is shocking. there are two stories at play, stormy daniels attorney michael avenotti seems to be implying the payments from this oligarch were going to cohen in order to reimburse him to pay stormy daniels off before the election. in that way the russians were trying to make sure the stormy agreement would not come out before the election, therefore -- >> in keeping that quiet? >> -- to allow trump to win. >> it's a part of the whole pattern? >> possibly. that's what avenotti is asserting. there is another angle to this, which is that this was simply cash for access. vekselberg was doing business. >> a play of money $13 billion. he has a few bucks and change for the american president is

clearly what he got for him. let me go to barbara on this question of the law. we have been hearing about bank fraud, mail fraud, all kind of stuff. big time stuff. we know about the raid on michael cohen's everything, his office, his accounts, his apartment, temporary hotel room, etching, his laptop. were they looking for a russian connection there? >> reporter: you know, i don't know if they were looking for a russian connection. but this is a really interesting development and certainly one that robert mueller likely knew about before we found out today. but you mentioned that interview visit at the airport when the oligarch came to new york city. it seems, perhaps, a possibility that some of the information they gathered from that visit including looking at his electronic devices is what developed the probably cause to search michael cohen's office. if that's a connection there. possible crimes, with sun a campaign finance allegations, because it's illegal to accept funds from any foreign national.

so if those funds were paid to stormy daniels to help trump when the election, that could be a campaign finance violation. but we've also seen now is this troubling pattern of lots and lots of money coming into trump and michael cohen from russian sources in cash. if they know that that is the proceeds of criminal activity, then reinvesting that money could also be the basis for money laundering charges. >> let's get back to the way people look at this case. people are so hardened to the fact that the president of the united states has had this rocky sex life, whatever you call it. august these relationships. even according to guiliani they had a regular slush fund on a regular basis to pay off these hush money cases. now you have, it seems to me, a connection with russia. if he needed to refill his bank account with mon from russia, that puts him on the hook. >> 83, i'm thinking back to the washington post story from last week about how the president was able to buy all these properties with cash. remember at the time the press,

the reporter open our air tries to say does that mean this money is coming from russia, from places where it shouldn't be? they didn't know that at that time. now being able to see, if all of this is correct, the way this bank account was repalestinianished, not just by russia but from other governments and u.s. companies who wanted to pay for that access. i think what natasha points out is really key. whether or not this money was a direct correlation to payment to stormy daniels or other people who trump wanted to keep quiet is a little harder to prove. what seems to be really clear is that there are governments who are able to buy influence over this president and perhaps they have been doing so for a long team. >> well, natasha and everybody, this is the big popper of a question, you know, vladimir putin must have known all about this and has known about it for months. his oligarch over there, they all know each other, everybody with connections to america. every russian has an american an here's this guy victor

vekselberg who apparently had the money to write a check for a half million dollars to this fixer for president trump. that's who he is. the fixer, gets a half million bucks from this oligarch. you have to wonder vladimir is chuckling on this president. >> the reason why vekselberg was flying in and out of the occupation, he was trying to get deals ap he was sanctioned and stopped on one of the trip by mueller's agents and mueller asked him about these payments that he made to michael cohen. so mueller knows. the questions is, were these payments related to the election in terms of keeping stormy daniels quiet or were they related to a broader campaign for access in we've seen previous indications the trump campaign was trying to reassure the russians they would be lifting the sanction on russia when trump was inaugurated. so was this a part of, during the year, it was so unclear, whether they were going to impose new sanctions.

was this an effort by vekselberg who has interest in the occupation, clearly that didn't work. the sanctions now keep him off u.s. soil and the part away from mueller. >> people just joining us, we have a bombshell story from michael avenotti. he's got his story out tonight, apparently a solid one that russian oligarch, victor vekselberg watched by our government has been given a half a malto his fixer used to pay off stormy daniels. barbara, how would he get this information? it seems he may have gotten it from mule early. i don't know if he got it from mueller. second question as a prosecutor, why would he put it out? why would it be in avenotti's interest to throw this bombshell out now? how is guiliani, second question, go on television one more time? because there is a big question in the paper, wouldn't guiliani be shut up by trump?

because he isn't doing the job very well. how can he go on tv on this media tour and answer any of these questions? how can he explain an oligarch was playing for trump's girl problem, to put it bluntly, it's a girl problem. what is it in your thoughts? >> well, first, i would be highly doubtful robert mueller would share this information with michael avenotti. it is not in his interest to do so. it is not his style to disclose those kind of things, who would? michael avenotti would be very public in his crusade against president trump. anyone who has this information. people who work in banks, people have access to this information. see what michael avenotti is doing, support his cause, may have shared this information with him. my guess is as we said earlier a sheriff of what robert mueller knows. why is michael avenotti doing it? it seems he is putting as much pressure as he can on president trump in his efforts to resolve his dispute between him and stormy daniels, so stormy daniels can be free to tell her

story without fear of sanctions pursuant to the contract that may or may not be enforceable. finally, should rudy guiliani be out there talking about these things? he said the other day he has been on this media tour. yet he's only made it about halfway through learning the facts of the case. you know, it's really important to learn the facts. >> when he learns this one today, thanks to the media, he's going to choke on it. there is no way he can explain it. how can you disentangle the russians paying a half million bucks to shut up to be blunt about to it. hush up somebody who has a story to tell about their relationship with the president of the united states? this is -- collusion. this is a collision of stories. i didn't expect to get tonight in the midst of this iranian deal. the fact that he's killed the iranian deal the fact that he is now facing the charge that his problem, his sexual relationship he was trying to keep quiet has been paid off by a russian oligarch. >> chris, if i can take a guess

how guiliani might try to explain this him he might get back to the talking point we heard over the weekend that $130,000 is no big deal to someone like donald trump and he'll say why in the world would he need foreign money to pay that off? and he'll also be -- >> to keep it quiet out of his checkbook that way. that's one reason. >> so they used it to replenish the funds. it's not exactly clear why exact will i that coiffure was replenished at that time. what he will have a hard time explaining away, a, why wasn't trump aware of it until media reports came out? that wouldn't make sense. why wouldn't the president-elect be made of allegations like the stoerpdz affair and he will have a hard time if not to keep stormy daniels quiet for what purpose? why would all of this money be coming into michael cohen's account, especially at the time when donald trump is taking public office? that i don't know how you can explain away.

>> we believe michael cohen didn't notify his client a fixer for a buddy in moscow come through with a check for a half million dollars? he wouldn't tell him that? >> it's quite unbelievable. when i spoke to michael cohen's client, he told me he understands what i was talking about. i asked him about the avenotti report. >> he knew about snit. >> he did know about it. he said it was not a payment. when i spoke to avenotti, he said it is absolutely incorrect to say this is not a payment. >> what's an alternative way to describe a half million dollars given from one party to another? >> i don't know. he hung up on me and told him never to talk to me again. >> i love to hear your trade craft. thank you all for being here tonight. coming up, president trump pulls america out of the iran nuclear deal. we thought this was the big story all afternoon. it's a move contradiction say makes us less safe. i think. so it could lead to war. remember when trump campaigned

on no more stupid wars in the middle east? now the neocounts have his ear. that's over with. so much about stupid wars. he is now heading towards un, programs. plus, real worry in the republican party that don blankenship will win tonight in west virginia. >> that primary could be a boost to senator joe manchin in the general this november. polls close at 7:30 eastern. we'll be on the air. it's 15 minutes from now. we'll give you the latest. a stunning fall of a hot shot long been mr. trump's number one nemesis. what happened to new york attorney general eric schneiderman? what happens now in the investigation that schneiderman was leading? let me finish with trump watch. this is a big one. this is "hardball" where the action is..

more news on the russian investigation. on monday, rudy guiliani tells cbs news mueller rejected a proposal to allow the president

to answer questions in writing. guiliani told the "wall street journal" trump's legal team hopes to decide by may 17th whether trump should testify at all. one person close to the president's legal preparations told the journal in an informal four-hour practice session, mr. trump's lawyers were only able to walk through two questions. given the frequent interruptions along with many mr. trumps lo if -- lo kwashsness -- loquacousness. mr. elliot, what's your wifi password?

wifi? wifi's ordinary. basic. do i look basic? nope!

which is why i have xfinity xfi. it's super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey! let's basement. and thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. so sophie, i have an xfi password, and it's "daditude". simple. easy. awesome. xfinity. the future of awesome. welcome blacome back to "ha" in his biggest foreign policy move to date, president trump today announced he was withdrawing the united states from the iran nuclear deal and reinstateing sanctions related to their nuclear program. >> this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. it is clear to me that we cannot

prevent an iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. the iran deal is defective at its core. america will not be held hostage to nuclear black mail. we will not allow american cities to be threatened with destruction and we will not allow a regime to chances debt -- chants death to america to gain deadly access to earth. >> our allies, are blowing up a deal by all accounts is working and most ominously risking some sort of conflict in the middle east. last ike, french president, emanuel macron, withdrawing from the deal would have dire consequences. here's macron, that would mean opening up pandora's box. it would mean war, it would mean

war. the deal was implemented to curtail the nuclear program and for all the president's tough talk, he offered no evidence it wasn't working. in fact the iaea which monitors eastern's program says as recently as march iran was complying. >> as of today, i can state iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments. we have had access to all the sites and locations which we needed to visit. >> joining me now from london is nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle, president of the plow shares fund and msnbc national analyst and a former state department official in the obama administration. i want to start with joe. there was no violation claimed by the united states even trump with his full cry of neoconism today and crazy regime talk and the whackiness never once said iran broke the deem.

obviously, they haven't. >> just last week the state department says they are in compliance. >> we are the ones that break the deal? >> now this gives iran a way out. they can leave the deal, without penalty, without consequences. they could restart their program in a matter of months. this puts us back without our allies on our side, without the sanctions we are able to put on globally. this puts us back on a path to war where we were in 2011 and 2013. >> before we got this deal, thanks to obama and john considerry and the rest of them, zarif, all the people the russian the french, everybody, people like john bow were out there banging the drum for war. he said we got to go bomb iran. bomb iran. let's take a look at him. john bolton before. if you want a clue to what could come next. look at the man president trump chose to be his next adviser, john bolton. hef has been one of the loudest

advocates of regime change an endorsed a military strike here. let's watch bolton in action. >> you've written an op ed in the "new york times," here's a headline, an eye catcher. to stop iran's bomb, bomb eastern. what do you mean? >> just as israel twice before has struck nuclear weapons programs in the hands of hostile states, i'm afraid given the circumstances that's the only real option open to us now. >> you want to bomb them, really? >> well, i'd rather we weren't in this position. but we have followed policies for close to 30 years now that have left us with no other option. there is a lot we can do and we should do it. our goal should be regime change in eastern. >> okay. regime, other chick haurks big on talk, no military experience in his life. here we go. now they're dock it again, he said the only alternative to, he didn't say there was an alternative. he said the alternative was to attack iran. now there is no deal what is to

stop this character now in the president's ear from pushing for an attack? >> let's be clear, he is the brants heaped this deal. president trump is driven by pettiness behind obama. he says there isn't a deal he hasn't pulled the occupation out of. he hasn't struck a deal in office either. >> he wants to erase barack obama and get rid of obamacare and this. >> john bolton is the one who has an ideology, regime change appeared in this speech out of nowhere, when this was a technical deal directed at stopping iran from a nuclear bomb. this was never a deal intended or preventing iran from all of this other nefarious activities in the region. >> we all knew this at the time. president trump's predecessor barack obama here issued a rare statement rebuking today's announcement as misguided. he wrote --

on the other hand lead, of israel, saudi arabia and united arab emirates back president trump's decision. notice let's go to richard engel on this, what do you make of this amazing -- we saw this coming. it's been coming for a long time. here we are breaking in the pottery barn breaking something we will now have to fix. >> reporter: well, sometimes news can be both anticipated and shocking at the same time. and i think that's what happened now. people that i have been speaking

to think that there were self consequences that are going to come from this. it decreases trust in u.s. commitments. it emboldens the hardliners in iran. it makes conflict in the region more likely and it surrenders the moral high ground to iran, none of those pos theive outcomou-- positive outcomes. >> do you think it's possible they will resume their nuclear program? >> reporter: it's possible. i wouldn't say that's their first reaction. if you heard rouhani the president of iran, standing by at the podium. he was ready to go with a statement. the trump's speech was broadcast live in iran even though it was almost midnight and it switched right into rouhani's statement he said iran was going to stick with the deal, a five plus one deal. meaning the permanent members of the security counsel plus one,

plus germany. now it's just five. but we will stick with the deal. we will keep ahead and our economy is strong. he added this threat. but if there is no benefit for iran and the deal effectively collapses entirely, then we could restart our industrial nuclear program, as he called it. but i think that was really a sign to the hardliners. because he now faces a serious problem within the country. there are many people in iran who told him and told the people, never trust the u.s., don't do a deal with the united states, they're never going to commit to this deal. they'll never honor it. now they will go back to rouhani and say we are, we were correct. so if he can continue to have money coming in and have some sort of deal functioning, with the other signaturetories of this deal, that i think he stays on. if that starts towi to wither a it starts to fall apart and the

hardliners get more and more of a voice, then you will see internal conflingt within iran. you will see -- conflict within iran. you will see this entire structure breaking down. i think over time, maybe not even over a large period of time, we will see increased tensions and conflict in the middle east. >> part of this looks like trump's obsession with getting rid of anything barack obama accomplished. it smacks of pettiness, getting rid of obamacare in the history books. thank you, richard engel. much more of you fellas when we come back. we will be talking about this unfortunately for a long time. by the way, in west virginia, the republicans are nervous. don blankenship could pull off a win, giving a big boost to democratic senator joe manchin. we will give you the latest on where that race stands in a minute. stick with us. this is requested hardball" where the action is.

stormy daniels welcome back to "s

just closed in west virginia, where we are covering a primary. zon bla don blankenship is looking for a big win. it's too early to call. let's go to steve kornacki. he's on the big board tonight. >> polls closed. we will take you through what we can expect very quickly in the next 90 minutes if the past is prolonged, probably a third of

the vote in west virginia will come in, in the next 90 minutes, we will know is blankenship for real? are the reports, the idea of him surging is based on internal polls. there is not a public poll out there showing. but republican internal polls that have set off panic in walk. that's the basis. so we will find out in the next 90 minutes, if he's for real. is he in the game? is he pulling away? we have polls closing in north carolina, two republican members of congress facing potential credible primary challenges, polls close in ohio. jim renacci going against sharod brown. two gubernatorials. mike de29 i wine, richard cordray, against dennis kucinich. we can show you this. chris we have a lot of numbers in indiana. this is for the republican

nomination to oppose the democratic senator in indiana. a state trump won by 20 points. a fifth of the vote is in. we're calling this too early to call. we're saying that mike braun. he is leading this this race. a businessman trying to position himself as an outsider. these are two members of congress right here. we are seeing braun run up big numbers in trump country in the southern part of the state, also hold his own in each of these congressional districts. nbc says he is leading in this race. again the headline, though, is west virginia closing. we'll keep an eye on those numbers, chris. >> he's a great one. we will be tracking the returns as they come in throughout the night as steve said. up next the stunning fall of a political star. year of attorney general eric snyderman had long been a thorn in president trump's side. now he is facing stunning allegations that he physically assaulted women. you are watching "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball" a key adversary, president trump is now out of a job. eric schneiderman resigned abruptly after the "new yorker" reported allegations of physical violence from four women. two of schneiderman's accusers spoke on the record. both were in relationships with snyderman and allege he repeatedly hit them after drinking frequently in bed and never with their consen. one said schneiderman would almost always drink two bottles of wine and bring a bottle of scotch and get plastered five nights out of seven. schneiderman denied assaulting anyone, saying, in the privacy of intimate relationships. are you laughing? i engaged in roll playing and consensual activity. one of the reporters that broke this story a super reporter, spoke to my colleague andrea mitchell today.

>> he is basically saying that this was just roll playing. it's 50 shades kind of grey kind of thing. he had their consent. but we spoke to the women themselves. they said, we did not give our consent to this. they were, they complained. they told him to stop. it was not fun for them and it was not role playing. it was the real thing that they describe as assault. so, you know, they said, they stressed, there is no am biguit in this. this isn't shades of grey. from for them it's simply black and white. >> wow. he positioned himself as a champion of the "me too" movement. he filed a civil lawsuit in february against harvey weinstein. the washington post reports this resignation could have big implications for the trump investigation.

for more by the washington chief usa today and democratic strategist and political analyst and a republican strategist. i understand your reaction kornell, i think i've seen everything when i watched stormy daniels on saturday night live playing herself telling the president a storm is coming. now we live in a new universe, i know we do. now the sir galahad of this affair turns out to be this guy. >> if you will be a hero of the "me too" movement, perhaps you better not have this in your closet. >> the dr. jekyll/mr. hyde going on. >> he had launched an investigation against the manhattan d.a., now he's launching an investigation against him for possible criminal charges in connection with with this. >> this sort of behavior we are

hearing about is not partisan in nature? >> no, it's we guys have a problem. right? >> well, this isn't nompblg i wouldn't call it new york values, but anthony weiner. who is the recent governor up there? >> spitzer. >> right. >> all kind of situations up there. all different. but all problems. >> good, powerful men we haifaing badly. it's a time olds thing. it into evidence to stop. look, this was a guy, you mentioned spitzer. spitzer and cuomo, this job, attorney general of new york is kind of a big deal on the national platform. this is how you be him the next governor of new york and this quick downfall, you know, good. the right thing happened. women came out. and he's stepping aside. >> why are we just learning about this now from the "new yorker request itself from ronan pharrell and certainly lately ronan established himself as a

journalist. nobody knew he had a drinking problem. knocking down two bottles of wine and going for the bourbon. you cannot hide that, chris. >> i think you are right. you are a billionaire. you have the block for becomes here. it's remarkable. i agree with kornell? you are right. there is a variance aspect. >> you need a hedge fund guy. but this is, it shows again the "me too" movement, they can't get indignant about. >> it's well deserved. >> speaking of headlines, avenotti tonight, i'm telling you, trying to get to the russian thing? a half million dollars from this oligarch, vekselberg under investigation by the fbi. now it turns out he gave him a half million dollars that may have been used to pay off stormy daniels. it ties everything together. >> not everything. we need the north korea story to be a part of stormy daniels.

>> a lot of socioover lays here. it's stunning. if i were mueller, i'd say thank god this is getting some publicity to it. trump was relying on russian money for all kind of things. >> we are pretty sure mueller knows a lot more than we do and he's known about it for some time and has been pursuing it. it gives the sense that this is not a witch hunt or an empty investigation but finding ann extraordinary developments. >> when you look at how angry he got at people for putin's miscall the demps that he plays to putin and russians. it all makes sense. >> explain why. i was getting to all this putin few all this. >> his oligarch was given a half a million bucks. >> putin knows all. this i hate to say this for an american president. democrat or republican, nobody seems to say it. but this guy seems to be in the pocket of the russians. >> that seems to be a dangerous thing. >> it's tied into the marital embarrassment, which would normally be the case with most

men, husbands or we've, you try toy keep something secret it's so morally embarrassing, rudy guiliani says, no, it happens all the time we have a slush fund. that's your queen sacrifice. yeah, we do this all the time, he's always messing around, covering it up with money. it's not an election violation. it's just who he is. that was just events. what is rudy guiliani go to say tomorrow on "fox and friends," how does he explain the russian piece of this? >> the problem is you never sent rudy guiliani out into the press. have we not learned that yet. there is no amount of talking points that will be quoted back. he will say whatever comes to his mind. >> what is he going to say? he's always taken money from the russians? >> i don't think he will say. that i thought schneiderman would keep stormy daniels out of the press for a day. avenotti made sure that wasn't going to happen. journalists said to me recently the kind of thing, a pulitzer prize in 2008 happens four-to-five times a week now.

>> the reporting now is he's pulling guiliani back. not let him be out there so much. >> when you think about the political impredictions we know that among trump supporters, the idea that he had an aware with stormy daniels has not cut into his core support. if it turns out she was paid off by a fund with money provided by a russian oligarch, maybe that makes it be a more politically devastating allegation. >> nope. >> no? >> as i mentioned earlier the associated press reports the president is growing irritated by guiliani's off message media blitz. saying trump has begun questioning whether guiliani should be side lined from television interviews. he disputed those reports.

. >> i try to keep tell under control the president, himself. despite those assurances, white house aids say if rudy doesn't change his behavior, they expect the president to fire guiliani. what good is guiliani if he can't talk? he's a talker a singer. this is what he does. >> how good is he if he can't talk? i think at some point he has to bring the people together, do a little less talking a little more leading. >> new york politicians are in constant conversation with the media. you know that, since the days of ed koch, it's constantly back and forth. how am i doing? back and forth. that's what they do, they talk. >> they're not bashful, when you are serving the president, you should first do no harm. arguably, rudy guiliani is doing harm. >> arguably. >> i'm not sure, trump seals to be unharmable. he seems to be holding about 42%? that's fair. >> nothing seems rock soiled. he rocks people, because they're so angry at the political

establishment. including the mitch mcconnells. we will see this perhaps tonight in west virginia. they don't like the republican oligarch much more than the political party is this that's true. >> that will be tested in west virginia and it's true. >> and in indiana, too. every outsider wins. >> even the people who are insiders have been in congress for years are running as outsiders. right? forget they have actually been. >> they've thrown away their uniforms. >> the inside is women in primaries. it's damaging for them in an election. breaking news just in, the avenotti story we told you about the half million dollars has been reviewed. they've gone over the financial documents. nbc news the supports, avenotti's accounts of the transactions. we have nbc news behind the charge that a russian oligarch, many victor vekselberg. i'm learning these things, gave michael cohan half million dollars. apparently that money was funneled. there is my new word, funneled

to stormy daniels. >> a hell of a story. >> incell. >> -- incredible. >> you look mystified. >> he won't stop laughing. >> it's a democratic strategist. after all the arguments, you karnths i think susan made the right point. you can't say there is nothing there. >> there is clearly some "there" there. i think we will find out how far it goes. i think brace yourself. this seems bad. >> okay. what about my argument a few minutes ago this is about macro-economics, russia, overflowing with cash. they've made all these gol gashings have cleaned up after the communist stamplts they have houses they don't live in. money, splurnling money. guiliani, not guiliani, trump needs the money to cover up his problems, for expansion of his bes to cover the debt his son picked up on 666. all this need for money, supply

and demand. trump's wanted money the russians got it. now the russians got him on a hook. >> another argument for getting big money out of politics. i don't know he had internationally as well. it's a corrupting influence in our politics. >> they didn't want the money for politics. he wanted it for trump. >> yeah, but the lobbyists are giving away money for their special interest was. putin is buying what he's paying for. >> he's buying our country. >> it's an investment. >> absolutely an investment. i'm sure they did not expect at the time for donald trump to become president of the occupation. but if you got that kind of money -- >> that's the only russian enterprise that succeeded in the last 100 years is buying trump. roundtable is sticking with us. up next, these three people will tell me something i don't know. you are watching "hardball."

this is not a good headline if you are epa administrator scott pruitt. senior white house aides are urging president trump to fire pruitt and his enthusiasm may be cooling because of the on going cascade of ethical and legal mistakes. cascade of mistakes. we'll be right back. back wi.

susan -- it is a hard table. susan, tell me something i don't know. >> we're watching the west virginia primary for whether -- for republicans will nominate don blankenship who will have a

lot of trouble in the general. you could watch the ohio governor race on the democratic side for the same test because you have richard cordray against kucinich. >> the dennis kucinich. >> backed by the bernie sanders group, and cordray backed by elizabeth warren and -- will the energy of the democrats get behind kucinich and possibly less electable than cordray. >> you're probably rooting for kucinich. i know you are. >> he is. which means i'm not. democrats are getting frustrated with the -- the success of packing the courts. demand justice and organization just starting up and going to mobilize democrats -- >> isn't the barn door been open too long. a hell of a lot of appellate judges -- go ahead. >> there is a lot of polling out on the iran deal the one with just the facts show about 21% support and 20% oppose. and most of the obama pollsters

trying to give the american people the answer they want. >> what do they want? >> they don't know. >> i wish i had time for a comeback. >> thank you. we'll be right back.

trump watch, tuesday may 8th, 2018. the big thing is he promised the opposite. donald trump the candidate railed against stupid wars. those who didn't vote for him

cheered that one candidate in 2016 saw the stupidity of the iraq war. the terrible nature of this push for regime change and in every case where we didn't like the government. wasn'ted someone to blow the whistle on this arrogance and he did and the stupidity and arrogance that went with it and today he moved to kill the deal with iran. that promised to be an alternative to the hawks pushing forth an american attack on that country. what do we expect now? this we know, prior to the deal, president obama struck with iran, people like john bolton were all out there pushing for an american attack on iran's nuclear sites. now that same john bolton is sitting in the white house directing u.s. security policy. does anyone not think he's hoping that trump will join him in his goal of the u.s. strike. john bolton doesn't change -- like dick cheney and those like him. he's always for the war option. always ready to cry bombs away knowing that others will be the ones in the air and in the field facing the enemy.

i think all of the people voted for trump believing he would stop this endless call for war should take notice. the president spoke today at 2:00 p.m. eastern was not the candidate who promised so loudly and relentlessly he would stop this endless push for stupid wars. and that is "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. it is another astonishing night of news with big primaries happening right now in indiana, north carolina, and ohio and west virginia. the polls are closing so we'll bring you results as they come in. and also today the president of the united states announced his decision to pull out of the iran nuclear deal with some of the strongest allies, a move likely to destabilize the middle east and u.s. relationships with europe. but we begin tonight with astonishing reports that the president's long time personal