the warriors. i'm not trash talking just yet, but you know. >> celtics next year, baby. >> celtics next year. >> beat them if you wan it to go longer. that does it for my hour. thanks. i'm nicolle wallace. i'll sue he back here monday for deadline white house at 4:00 p.m. rolling seven. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews from washington. once again president trump's out there defending russia while snubbing america's closest allies. departing today for the g7 economic summit up in canada, the president called for russia, for russia to rejoin the group of seven. the international organization comprised of the world's leading economies. he wants russia back in. russia used to be a member of the g7, but their invasion of ukraine and subsequent occupation of crimea got them

ejected back in 2014. well, today, speaking over the noise of his helicopter at the white house, trump said that the g7 countries should allow russia to be readmitted. >> russia should be in this meeting. why are we having a meeting without russia being in the meeting? and i would recommend -- and it's up to them -- but russia should be in the meeting. it should be a part of it. you know, whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run. and in the g7, which used to be the g8, they threw russia out. they should let russia come back in because we should have russia at the negotiating table. >> we got a world to run. nbc news reports that the president's comments on russia were not planned and caught some white house officials off guard. at the same time that trump

seems to be advancing russia's interests, his tough talk on trade is alienating america's usual allies at the g7. yesterday trump publicly lashed out at canadian prime minister justin trudeau and french president emmanuel macron, saying, please tell prime minister trudeau and president macron that they are charging the u.s. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. and when it comes to the uk's prime minister, theresa may, quote, the telegraph is reporting that trump will not hold formal talks with her according to the telegraph. allies to the president say, quo, trump has grown frustrated with theresa may's school mistress tone and has expressed annoyance at mrs. may's frequent demands. now an adviser to tro due told the new yorker magazine the goal of the g7 summit as become to get allies together to try to contain the amount of damage trump is doing. president trump's also expected to cut short his time at the g7 summit to travel to singapore in

advance of his meeting with north korea's kim jong-un next week. for more i'm joined by "usa today" washington bureau susan page, mother jones washington bureau chief and msnbc contributor david corn, and weekly standard contributor editor, troy sykes. susan, this is a cartoon. he's always been accused of being in cahoots with russia. now he's in cahoots with russia. he's acting like moscow's guy in quebec. >> and bring russia back in without addressing any of the things that got russia kicked out. >> grabbing crimea. wasn't that part of the republican platform as adjusted by the trump people? >> that was then. this is pretty remarkable because what he's going to now is basically a g6 summit plus the united states. since they started holding these in 1975, we have never had a situation where we are so at odds with our traditional allies. >> french president macron responded yesterday saying the u.s. is also now at risk of being kicked out of g7.

quote, the american president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a g6 country agreement if need be. as democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut said, this is exactly the kind of chaos and instability vladimir putin was hoping for when he intervened in the 2016 election to elect donald trump. let's watch chris murphy. >> listen, can now see why the russian government cared so much about getting donald trump elected. i think that putin is getting exactly what he wanted. he has paid no substantial price for interfering in our election. he has not moved one inch inside crimea or ukraine, and he is now being let back into the club. and so the message coming from last week and this week seems to be that if you're a friend of the united states, you get treated really shabbily. if you're an enemy of the united states, you get top-class treatment. >> this is weird. it's like we hear that the

republican members of the congress are afraid to challenge trump. trump's afraid to challenge russia. he's always backing them. he acts like vice president pence acts towards him towards russia. >> i don't think he's afraid. i don't think he cares that russia attacked the united states in 2016. we say meddled, intervened. it was an information warfare attack. he doesn't give a darn about maintaining relationships or more importantly values with our allies. it seems to me he wants not a g7 but really a g2, him and putin. >> he's got a jihad right now to use another unfortunate phrase. >> he has this affinity, this psychological affinity for putin. to talk about him joining the g7, put ago side crimea, after what he did to the united states, something, a basic fact that he has not recognized or talked about in public. and, you know, there are a lot

of ways you can run the world without letting putin in the door and giving him a seat at the stable table to reward his behavior. and he is just outright oblivious to that. i think he really wants it to be he and putin rule the world together. that's not fear. it's a dark bromance. >> you know, charlie, back in the first gulf war, i have to give credit to certainly jimmy baker, the u.s. secretary of state, and the first george bush president because they're able to put together really a world coaliti coalition. even japan and the germans paid for the money to pay for the war. the arab league. they got everybody on our side. this guy, president trump seems to want to only go into the fight with his fists out there and nobody else on his side in the fight. he doesn't want any allies as we go to singapore. and we're going to need them. any sanctions we nail against the north koreans are going to have to be back the up by the

world or else they're useless. why doesn't he want allies going to singapore? he's making enemies. >> well, you know, several things jump out at me. first of all a reminder, what a lousy negotiator trump is despite thimage, the fact that he would give up something this valuable to vladimir putin and getting nothing in return. that he would give it to him for free. the second thing strikes me is just the hubris of all of this. with all of the questions about his ties to vladimir putin, all of the questions about whether he's beholden to russia, the fact he would sort of go out there and say, you know what, i don't care what anybody says. i'm going to destabilize this alliance. i'm going to alienate our closest friends, and i'm going to appease vladimir putin on the world stage. you know, think about that. that here's a guy who is acting like, what, he's bulletproof, that he does not need any allies. he doesn't need any of that coalition to do what he wants to do. it really is, even by trumpian standards, an extraordinary

moment. >> you know, this is what they said about john foster dulles underize enhour. he was the bull that carried the china shop around with him. this isn't the first time trump has supported russia's occupation of crimea. back in 2016, trump denied having any involvement in changing the republican platform to reflect a softer position toward russia on ukraine. >> why did you soften the gop platform on ukraine? >> i wasn't involved in that. you know, the people of crimea, from what i've heard, would rather be with russia than where they were. you have to look at that also. >> well, that same summer trump also said he'd consider recognizing crimea as part of russia. susan, i don't know. returning to the scene of the crime, i'm trying to find out why he keeps going back to this love affair with russia. by the way, i was watching the pictures there. i know this is superficial. but i'm watching what has got to

be the prettiest g7 in history, the part of canada overlooking the st. lawrence. everybody looked like they were part of a happy party getting together, a coalition of the world. the japanese, everybody there. and we're the odd guy out. we're the bull in the china shop. >> in a way this is quite consistent with i think president trump's view of the world from the start, which does not respect traditional alliances, has kind of an america first, america alone quality, doesn't want free trade in the same way previous presidents have wanted. >> is this a psychological condition? >> i don't know how to explain his attitude toward russia, but i think his attitude toward america is a kind of for freort america. >> look at these guys. this is an interesting bromance going on here. he's not doing that with any of our allies with the west. >> it's not just putin. putin is the number one guy. but with the chinese president, with the north korean

dictator -- >> he likes bullies. >> he seems to want to make friends with these people more than maintain the existing relationships. even if we have trade disputes and policies, we share values. there's liberal western democracies, and japan, we share a set of values in a world that's increasingly polarized and where these values are under attack. he has no regard for that and feels drawn to the people who would attack these values whether it's putin or china or a dictator like kim jong-un. and that also is inexplicable. >> it is explicable by one standard. he likes bullies. he wants to be run by one. let me go to charlie on this. your thoughts. >> well, i agree with everything that's been said here. but, you know, part of this is how dangerous this is not just for, you know, the economy and the country and the alliance, but also for trump himself.

you know, when you think about all the things that can go wrong if, in fact, you break up this alliance, you know, we are on the brink of a trade war, a tariff war. all the kinds of things that might derail the economic boom that he obviously has been -- not to mention, you mentioned before the destabilization of our ability to negotiate with the chinese, with the north koreans, with the iranians. all of that is in play. so he's destroying something that he doesn't appreciate, he doesn't understand, and he doesn't appear to care about the consequences of all of these things that he's doing. >> yesterday mr. trump said he doesn't need to prepare very much for the summit with kim because, as he put it, it's about attitude. well, he's showing a lot of attitude. today he told reporters he's been preparing all his life for the meeting in singapore. let's watch him. >> were you serious about really not needing to prepare for the kim summit? >> i didn't say that.

i said i've been preparing all my life. i always believe in preparation. but i've been preparing all my life. you know, these one-week preparations, they don't work. just ask hillary what happened to her in the debates. so i've been preparing for this all my life. >> what is he going to hover over kim jong-un like he did in the debates with hillary? i don't know what he means. >> the trouble is you can kind of bluster your way through a real estate negotiation. maybe you can. >> i'm sure you've decided not to buy a house. that's how you do it. >> nuclear weapons do seem something that have a lot of details involved with them. you know the north koreans are going to come in meticulously prepared for what kind of deal they want to strike. and you worry that the president will be in there and not be able to kind of make a smart deal because he won't understand all the -- >> they want to keep their missiles and grab south korea. how does he win? >> well, you know, when reagan was in office, he wanted to be

appointed a special ambassador to solve the cold war. he said he could figure it out, and within an hour, have an arms deal with the russians and everything would move on. this was 30 years ago. so i do believe he thinks that -- that he thinks he's been preparing for this his whole life. but as susan said, usually these things are resolved before the summit begins. a lot of technical detail, monitoring, verification. none of that has happened. if you get to any of these issues, he can't talk about a single one of them. >> we're going to see starting monday. we thank you, susan page, charlie sykes. thank you, david corn. coming up, special counsel robert mueller is turning up the heat on former campaign manager paul manafort. this guy is facing decades of prison. manafort's been hit with another indictment now, this one for obstruction and conspiracy charges for tampering with witnesses. the new indictments come just hours after president trump insisted once again he has the absolute right to pardon himself. we'll get to that next. plus mitt romney makes a

bold prediction. romney says trump will win reelection in 2020. well, he'll win in utah. after years of mocking the guy, trump now says romney's a straight shooter. that's what it takes to be his friend. anyway, the "hardball" roundtable is here to make sense of trump's obsession with russia. the latest trouble with scott pruitt. finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. he won't like this one. this is "hardball," where the action is. ail? you won't find that on a map. i'll take you there. take this left. if you listen real hard you can hear the whales. oop. you hear that? (vo) our subaru outback lets us see the world. sometimes in ways we never imagined. you totanobody's hurt, new car.

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leak classified information. >> the senate staffer at the center of that case, james wolfe was charged with lying to the fbi when he denied having contacts with three reporters. but he wasn't charged with leaking classified information. the prosecutors in that case seized a year's worth of phone and e-mail records belonging to a "new york times" reporter. we'll be right back. ♪ he holds your house in the palm of his hand ♪ ♪ he's your home and auto man ♪ big jim, he's got you covered ♪ ♪ great big jim, there ain't no other ♪ -so, this is covered, right? -yes, ma'am. take care of it for you right now. giddyup! hi! this is jamie. we need some help.

welcome back to "hardball." there was breaking news today in the russia investigation. special counsel robert mueller filed new criminal charges against trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort. and also one of his longtime business associates. according to the new court documents, prosecutors accused the two of witness tampering. the federal prosecutors have asked that a federal judge revoke or revise manafort's release, his parole. president trump was asked if he was considering a pardon for mr. manafort. here's what the president said. >> do you believe that you are

above the law? >> no, no. i'm not above the law. i'd never want anybody to be above the law. but the pardons are a very positive thing for a president. i think you see the way i'm using them. and, yes, i do have an absolute right to pardon myself, but i'll never have to do it because i didn't do anything wrong. and everybody knows it. there's been no collusion. there's been no obstruction. >> and here's what he said about manafort. >> will you pardon paul manafort? >> i haven't even -- i haven't even thought about it. i haven't even thought -- i haven't thought about any of it. it certainly is far too early to be thinking about that. they haven't been convicted of anything. there's nothing to pardon. >> why would he be talking about pardoning himself then? ruth marcus, deputy editor of the "washington post" and an msnbc contributor and paul butler, former federal prosecutor and msnbc analyst. let's start with the law here for a second.

have you adjudicated the issue of pardoning yourself yet? where are you on that one, paul? >> i would love to. i'll pardon you for obstruction and you for collusion. >> no collusion. just want to let you know. >> that's right. the president has extraordinary power, pardon authority. it comes from the divine right of kings, which is why trump loves it so much. i don't think he could pardon himself. again, it's not an issue that the supreme court has ever considered. if you look at the structure of the constitution, it's all about no one being above the law. impeachment is the process to get rid of a high official. but the constitution specifically says after impeachment, that person can be indicted, can be charged with a crime. >> so, therefore, pardoning yourself would be a relevant thing to a president who wants to avoid being convicted after he leaves office? >> well, by implication, you shouldn't be able to pardon yourself if you could be subject

to criminal prosecution after you leave office. >> exactly. because then anybody who was impeached would just say, okay, i'll pardon myself. >> by the way, you could commit any crime you wish, including something technically on fifth avenue? >> right, and why wouldn't any president just pardon himself -- >> it's like giving yourself a nobel peace price coming in the door. let's talk about manafort. i'm stunned by his stoic nature. we watch him doing these walks back and forth to the courthouse over and over again, each time carrying a heavier burden of a potential sanction, of imprisonment. what is it adding up to? 30 or 40 years this guy is facing, and his choice, do i trust trump and a pardon? do i trust special counsel mueller if he'll give me a break. >> this is, what, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the united states, failure to register, and now

obstruction of justice. even just with the failure to register, we see how aggressive mueller is being. only seven people have been charged with that crime in the last 40 years. so, again, it's all about squeezing manafort. here this is when we understand that robert mueller knows a whole lot more than we do. rick gates, manafort's guy, is cooperating with mueller. i think he's got to have told mueller something. mueller really wants manafort to strike a deal to cooperate. >> is this because he needs manafort to nail him on collusion? this is his big star witness that he knows -- after all, manafort has all these relations with ukraine and all this. if he worked for trump as he did for all those months, trump would have talked to him about this. he wouldn't have been outside the loop. that's why if i were the prosecutor, i'd say, you know what, this guy right here we're looking at was part of the whole thing from the beginning, all those months we were talking

about russian collusion potentially. if i get him, i get the story. >> maybe. we don't know yet what manafort has. we do know he is taking what was a very bad hand because there's a lot of very easily proven money crimes, you know. you've got to file the bank statements, things like that. he's taken that very weak hand or a good hand for mueller and made it that much worse with these witness tampering allegati allegations. >> wouldn't it be common sense to say i wouldn't be in any of this trouble now, the government would not have come after me for all i'd done in the past if i hadn't hooked up with trump? i'm going to unhook myself from trump. >> the dude is 70 years old. many of these are 20-year felonies. mueller's obviously very eager to cut a deal. why doesn't he do what michael flynn, george papadopoulos, carter page has done and make a deal? again, this is the time to do it if -- >> here's more on the new

indictments. manafort and his longtime associate with russian intelligence ties, konstantin kilimnik, have been charged with two new counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct. both are accused of knowingly and intentionally persuade another person with intent to influence, delay, and prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding. sounds like tampering. >> it sounds also like special counsel mueller has a bad attitude about witness tampering, about trying to interfere with the process. >> he's not the only one. >> you have judges too. judges take that more seriously than a lot of prosecutors. so what that means is, you know, sometimes we think what if there's only evidence of obstruction, not evidence of collusion. >> right. only evidence of obstruction, yeah. >> again, there's been a question about what mueller would do. i think this sends a signal that he would actually bring a case if it's just obstruction. >> on the other side of the fight, this is of course stormy daniels. why do you think rudy is going

out there so far on a limb, trashing this woman? president trump told reporters that he's considering -- just a minute. president trump also asked by reporters if he supported rudy giuliani's recent comments that women like stormy daniels that work in pornographic films don't deserve respect. here's what trump said? >> rudy is rudy. but rudy is doing a very good job actually. doing a very good job. >> is being a porn star respectable work? he said it's not. >> he said what? >> he said a porn star is not respectable work. >> i'm not going to disagree with him on that. >> in other words, a porn star is not to be believed. according to "the new york times," the president has frequently instructed his lawyer on what to say about topics related to ms. clifford and the special counsel cooperation. it should be noted president trump has made brief cameos in three playboy movies not that that's the most relevant thing

in the world. >> it should also be noted that whether or not president trump had an affair with stormy daniels or had a sexual encounter with stormy daniels, we certainly saw him in a very happy picture with stormy daniels. >> does anybody on the planet not believe her? >> um -- >> everybody believes her. >> i'm told by rudy giuliani that the first lady doesn't believe her. >> yeah, but we don't believe because the first lady's press secretary said he's never talked to her about such a thing. why is rudy doing this? making up conversations he had with the first lady he never had with her? why is he trashing this woman? he's getting down into the muck here. >> he's a tv lawyer and in some ways, it's working. so his job is to attack the prosecutor. you don't have a defense, you go after the prosecutor. and, again -- >> he's not even representing the president in the stormy daniels case. >> it's true. but, again, when you look at how a lot of folks are responding to the investigation now, they're buying this line it's time to wrap it up.

it's political. again, ultimately this is going to be a political decision. it's impeachment, and that's his base. >> if you want to keep your credibility, mr. mayor, stop saying things that nobody believes, that this thing didn't happen. president trump told reporters he's considering granting a posthumous pardon to muhammud ali. here's the president on this topic. >> i'm thinking about muhammud ali. i'm thinking about that very seriously and some others, and some folks that have sentences that aren't fair. but i am thinking about muhammud ali. in fact we're doing right now recommendations on, you know -- frankly we're doing recommendations on muhammud ali. >> here's the thing. the supreme court overturned that conviction against ali in 1971. in a statement released to the press, quote, we appreciate president trump's sentiment but a pardon is unnecessary.

the u.s. supreme court overturned the conviction of muhammud ali in a unanimous decision in 1971. >> what i would like to understand about this is not just why he's thinking about muhammud ali. >> you know why, because he's popular. >> but here's the thing. he has a problem with current nfl players. >> yeah. >> who are protesting violence against black men by taking a knee, not respecting according to the president the anthem. but he's considering pardoning muhammud ali, who didn't want to serve his country for better or for worse during the war. so, you know, put those two thoughts together. >> i don't think trump says, let me see, am i being consistent here. i don't think he did that. paul? >> if you pardon 50 people or talk about it every day, by the time you get around to pardoning paul manafort and michael cohen or roger stone -- >> people won't notice. >> it won't be a big deal. sometimes you can also do the right thing for the wrong

reason. so this pardon of mrs. johnson this weekend, who had this crazy long sentence for a non-violent drug crime, that was the right thing to do. >> see, he's setting up the standard. i do the right thing on pardons and i'm going to keep doing it when it affects my case. up next, president trump has called mitt romney a failure, poor, and even walked the way he walks. but now that romney is predicting trump will win in 2020, trump loves him. that's how it works. that's ahead. this is "hardball," where the action is. i'm your phone, stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hide-n-seek. cold... warmer... warmer... ah boiling. jackpot. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. so get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem... ...like me. mayhem is everywhere. are you in good hands?

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let me put it very plainly. if we republicans choose donald trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. his domestic policies would lead to recession. his foreign policies would make america and the world less safe. he has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president, and his personal qualities would mean that america would cease to be a shining city on a hill. >> i don't know what to make of that. welcome back to "hardball." that was mitt romney warning americans back in 2016. now in the midst of his utah senate race, he's changed his colors. he told a group of republican donors last night that, quote, i think president trump will be renominated by our party, my

party easily and i think he'll be re-elected solidly. i think that not just because of the strong economy and because people are increasingly seeing rising wages but i think it's also true because i think our democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of american thought. here's how trump responded to that little joy this morning. >> well, we're doing well. look, mitt's a straight shooter. whether people love him or don't love him, mitt romney is a straight shooter. and, yeah, he had some very nice things to say. i appreciate that. that's good. >> i'm joined by dana milbank. there he was at the hinckley institute at the university of utah saying how awful this guy is, and here he is now lavishing praise upon him. >> i think the problem here is mitt romney is a principled man trapped in the body of a very timid politician. look, he's got a primary on june 26th. he wasn't expecting to have a primary, but he's got an

opponent who is hugging trump, who is surgically attaching himself to donald trump. he's way ahead in the polls. he should win it, but he's so timid he doesn't want to take any chances. he saw what happened to martha roby in alabama this week. >> isn't he a symbol -- i had hoped a few weeks ago that he would be the sort -- sort of take on the role that john mccain has been playing, the leader of the reasonable republican party against trump. >> i had been hopeful of that. i believe i used the word "savior" that seems to have been a bit -- what romney said today doesn't mean that's what he's going to say tomorrow. i expect when the primary is in his rearview mirror, i will go back. >> they have frequently traded insults in the past. these are real personal things by the i wa. these are political lines. these are personal. let's watch them. >> there's plenty of evidence that mr. trump is a con man, a fake. he's playing the members of the

american public for suckers. he gets a free ride to the white house, and all we get is a lousy hat. >> mr. isitt is a failed candid. he failed horribly. that was a race that absolutely should have been won. i don't know what happened to him. >> he creates scapegoats of muslim and mexican immigrants. he calls for the use of torture. this is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss. >> poor mitt romney. poor mitt. >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> and he walks like a penguin onto the stage. have you ever seen? like a penguin. >> i don't know what to say. i mean it's funny because i've never heard a politician say another guy looks like a penguin even if he does. >> and he does kind of walk a little bit like a penguin. >> charlie chaplin walked like a

penguin. i can't keep up with this stuff. one guy calls him a crook. the other guy -- i mean and now they're buddies again. >> look, romney shot at trump and missed and now he doesn't have the power in this relationship. trump has a lot of power. with one tweet, he can make mitt romney's life miserable. >> every forgets, six years ago, 2012, romney's running for president. he goes out and kowtows to trump out in vegas. remember that scene, or am i making things up? no. this is the reality of the politics now with these two guys. >> of course. romney in the first place was sort of the original flip-flopper before the situation. but you have to understand the stranglehold donald trump has over republicans right now. you're with him, or you're out of there like bob corker and jeff flake. >> anyway, romney has a pattern of using trump when he needs it politically. here's president trump endorsing romney back in 2012. >> it's my honor, real honor and privilege, to endorse mitt

romney. governor romney, go out and get 'em. you can do it. >> thank you. thank you. >> how can you believe in politics when you watch this crapola. dana, you're the best. you don't need to be a satirist to do this. up next, the "hardball" roundtable tries to make sense of trump's obsession with helping moscow. today he's moscow's man in quebec. what does he owe russia? plus the trump justice department cracks down on obamacare, but could that be a gift to democrats. partly democrats and voters who want to vote this fall like obamacare. you're watching "hardball." ime o unplug and be together. with my bladder leakage, i'm not doing that anymore. when i went hiking with the other product, it just didn't fit right and i was always readjusting it. so, now our camping trips are their camping trips. but with the new sizes of depend fit-flex, it feels like it was made for me. i'm ready to get back our time together. introducing more sizes for better comfort.

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welcome back to "hardball." calling for russia's reinstatement to the group of seven, president trump offered his own history of sorts. let's listen to the president. >> it used to be the g8 because

russia was in it. and now russia's not in it. now, i love our country. i have been russia's worst nightmare. if hillary got in, i think putin is probably going, man, i wish hillary won because you see what i do. >> his most recent embrace of russian interests obviously suggests otherwise. let's bring in the "hardball" roundtable, jeff bennett, shannon pettypiece and jeremy peters. okay. explain. why is he so russia's man up in quebec today? he's carrying their water again, even though everybody's watching him carrying their water. >> and it's this huge concession to russia absent any sort of reciprocity. the one thing we do know is it has been vladimir putin's goal for decades to drive a wedge between the u.s. and its allies. whether by design or by accident, the president is bringing that into fruition. it's not as if he hasn't been warned about this. when he floated this idea of a

summit between him and vladimir putin, there were people in the white house who warned him against it. yet the president has this warm rhetorical embrace of vladimir putin. >> how can he be head of the free world if nobody is following you, shannon? >> he seeps to like his adversaries more than his friends. like our reporting indicates the sam thing. he has been told by the national security and foreign policy establishment in his own administration, do not do a summit in austria with putin. yet he does it anyway. his lawyers warn him, do not do an interview with mueller. he wants to do it anyway. >> well, he says he does. >> he's meeting with the north koreans to have -- to see the handshake and that warmth between him and the north korean delegation. he is closer appearing to his adversaries than his allies at this point. >> you know, either he's dealing with russia in plain sight and he cut a deal with them during the election and they did stuff for him, gave him all the dirt on hillary, and all that stuff, and now he's paying it back. he's doing it so openly. what's going on? >> i think it's much more base than that. shannon raises a good point.

he's acting out. he's doing exactly what everyone is telling him not to do because they're telling him not to do it. we've seen this with him time and time again. the whole charlottesville eruptions, both sides when he said very fine people or something, i think that ultimately had more to do with people saying, trump point condemn these folks. >> was he trying to get people to attack him because that helps him politically, when the media attacks him. >> look, i think this whole g7 issue is sort of a symptom of the larger issue here, which is the u.s. realignment to our allies because the west has been imploring the president to stay in the iran deal, to stay in the climate accord. >> but these people -- look, macron is a popular figure in this country. certainly justin trudeau is. maybe they're young attractive leaders but -- >> i think they like putin for being strong and for standing up to -- you know, i think they

might like putin better than they like trudeau. >> let's talk about health care because it matters to more voters than a lot of this stuff, jeremy, what do you think about the fact that our polling is showing that among the issues voter cite, they cite obamacare as their top issue? >> i think that's going to change in a couple of weeks. i don't think -- >> it's not a huge lead. it just is number one. >> it's number one and number one is always economy and jobs, always. i think this is -- >> but that isn't economy and jobs. it's health care. >> it is health care but it's related to economy and jobs. i don't think this election is going to be litigated over obamacare. i think it's going to be driven over impulses of are you satisfied with the direction of this country, or are you not? health care plays into that of course. but it's ultimately going to be about what do you want to do? do you want a change in november after this, or do you think -- >> you and i worked for large organizations that actually give you health care as part of your program, of your package. people that don't have it, it

would seem to be very important. >> what's the republicans' plan to fix it? until both parties -- the problem is the parties aren't talking about issues right now, chris. they're talking about whether or not donald trump is the worst president in history or whether or not he's the greatest president in history. >> it's interesting. >> i was just going to say i covered health care for ten years and every two years everyone told me this is the health care election, this is the health care election, and the one time it was, it was about getting rid of health care and blocking people from having health care. so despite the fact that health care is eating people's paychecks, i think it is complicated, and i think it is easier -- >> well, despite the fact that health care is at the top of our list, on thursday the justice department told a federal court it considers key provisions of obamacare unconstitutional. the justice department would no longer defend crucial provisions of the affordable care act. now, there's a phrase that worked on the center left and left. people do care about being able to buy health care even though they've got some health problems. >> well, that's right.

>> real people. >> republicans are attacking the most popular part of the affordable care act, which is this prohibition against targeting people with pre-existing conditions. i will add, though, in covering more trump rallies across the country than i can remember, talking to trump supporters, the thing they say they care about the most is health care interestingly enough. >> how are they going to get it from him? >> that's the question. democrats think this is a winning issue because chuck schumer says they're going to spend august on health care. >> we'll see. he's not calling the shots in the senate by the way. finally the scandals around epa administrator scott pruitt piling up. ordering a staffer to get a used mattress from a trump hotel, trying to get a chick-fil-a f n franchise for his wife. despite all that, president trump still a fan, at least for now. here he goes. >> scott pruitt is doing a great job wp within the epa.

outside he's being attacked very viciously by the press. i'm not saying that he's blameless, but we'll see what happens. >> i'm not saying he's blameless. by the way he's doing a good job inside that building, but he's ordering his moisturizer inside that building and all these other stupid things the guy has got radioactivity all around him. >> absolutely. you know, if this were a different situation with fewer cabinet defections and firings and exits, you would probably see scott pruitt gone. but what's going on here, the key words that trump said right there, were that he is being attacked by the press. that is what trump is responding to. trump, just like with roy moore in alabama, the reason that trump supported roy moore wasn't because he thought that roy moore would be a great senator. it's because he identified with the persecution that roy moore was suffering. and he sees a fellow persecuted soul in scott pruitt. >> here's the thing, though. i remember two months ago white house officials would say if there's one more controversy, that's the end of the line for

scott pruitt. that was like six or seven scandals ago. >> he's deregulating and that's all they want to do. business people care about two things. they want lower taxes on themselves and they want deregulation. the roundtable is sticking with us. coming up, these three will tell me what i don't know. you're watching "hardball." liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ...to give you the protein you need

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for the caps, the next stop would be the white house. here is president trump on that today. >> if they want to be here, it's the greatest place on earth. i'm here. if they don't want to be here, i don't want them. >> i think trump loves the fact there are three russians on the team. this week, trump, by the way, rescinded -- trump did, his invitation to the super bowl champion philadelphia eagles to visit the white house this week after most of the team's players said they didn't want to come to the white house and meet trump. today he said he's not inviting the eventual champion. we'll be right back. yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. that's why i got a subaru crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek.

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who's already won three cars, two motorcycles, a boat, and an r.v. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron. we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. jeff, tell me something i don't know. >> it's friday. at least top flight attorneys have turned down the trump administration requests to serve as the number three at the justice department. this person would be at the center of a firestorm if donald trump fires rod rosenstein. i'm told these folks don't think it's worth the risk to their careers. >> they'd be ready to play the

role? >> that's right. >> i've been on trump/mueller interview watch for months now, it seems. i just talked to giuliani last night. he said he is leaning pretty far against doing an interview at this point. they're preparing for a subpoena fight. so that could be our next show at the supreme court. >> so the trump pardons that he keeps issuing and floating, today it was muhammad ali. there is a certain method to that, even though it seems a little bit crazy. he's trying to rile up black voters. because he knows that in certain states like missouri, claire mccaskill, a democrat, is not popular at all with black voters. so he's doing what he does best, trolling. >> and kim kardashian was an example of that, that he admitted. >> thank you, jeff bennett, shannon petty piece, jeremy peters. trump watch. interesting for him, too. you're watching "hardball." never thought i'd see one in real life. [ dinosaur screeches ] the park is in the past.

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trump watch friday june 8 wealth, 2018, i wish our president god speed on his way to singapore along with a warning, north korea does not want what we want. they want south korea. have wanted it since they invaded and nearly overrun that country in june of 1950. to reach that goal going forward, they want the united states to end its strategic alliance with the south, removing our 32,000 troops from the 38th parallel. the president should not be taken in by kim jong-un's talk of writing a peace treaty

between north and south korea. that peace treaty will have one clear purpose, to remove the justification for us keeping those 32,000 troops now on the way of another invasion from the north. the danger is the president will agree to removing our troops with a promise from north korea to will its nuclear weapons program. a promise like this is worthless. to declare the real number of weapons they have and allow them to be inspected. president reagan says trust but verify. without verification, there is no reason to believe a word kim jong-un says. a final warning, we need to be specific about what we, the united states, agree to do. if we agree to denuclearize the entire korean peninsula, we need to specify that does not mean removing our troops and ending our strategic alliance with south korea. we removed our nuclear weapons from south korea under the first president bush. it's time for kim jong-un to do the same with his nuclear weapons under president trump. what matters is not the smiles or words of next week or the

cheerfulness of the occasion, it's the reality that arises from it, will we be safer or not? we've had munich, we've had yalta, let's not let singapore join that list. that's "hardball" for you. thanks for being with us. bob mueller making two big moves late today, charging a new person in this russia probe, a russian national linked to putin's intelligence services who spent years working for paul manafort. mueller also adding new charges against manafort in this new indictment, that includes obstruction and witness tampering. the new defendant ran the kiev office for paul manafort's firm. the new indictment a result of mueller busting manafort for that laegsd witness tampering earlier this week. everyone understood it because mueller was asking a judge to revoke manafort's bail over those alleg