before we go, one of trump's most loyal boosters just broke with him over the scott pruitt scandal. laura ingraham says pruitt has got to go. a story we've been bringing you, moisture gate. "hardball" starts now. >> the fixer is in a fix. let's play "hall." tonigh the tourniquet is tightening on donald trump. his right-hand man, his fixer michael cohen now in a fix himself may be about to flip. rather than take the fall for the man who's cut him off, cohen could beeady to del what he knows from payoffs to women to

deals with the russians. the president who made a new friend in singapore now sees an owed friend saving himself from sing sing. good e i'm chris matthews in washington. there are signs tonight that trump's long-time attorney and personal fixer michael cohen may be closer to flipping on the president. under federal investigation in southern district of new york, cohen is suspecteded of possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campai finance violations. today george stephanopoulos of abc news was first to report the law firming cohen will not continue to represent him after friday of this week. most explosive is abc's reporting that "cohen now with no legal representation is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in new york," sources said." this development will likely hit the white house, family members, staffers and staffers hard. nbc news has not confirmed that cohen intends to cooperate but verified cohen is parting ways

with his legal team. that rift according to "the new york times" concerns the payment of legal bills to his lawyers and their relative lack of experience with the federal prosecutor's office in new york. the times" also reports that mr. trump research himself has told people he is angry at mr. cohen over the messiness of the situation. but the president has indicated to allies he is worried if he push mrs. cohen away too hard, it could increase the likelihood that mr. cohen been offer information to the government. cohen has not been charged with any crimes and people familiar with the matter tell nbc news he has yet to speaking with federal prosecutors involved in the inquiry. cohen is best known for facilitating hush money payments to stormy daniels to keep her from discussing an alleged affair with the president. last april, the fbi raided cohen's home, office and hotel room seizing electronic devices that may contain recordings of his telephone conversations. today's reporting indicates his

defense will remain on the case till this friday when they're expected to finish their review of seized materials. eric swalwell sits on the house intelligence committee, greg brower, for fbi official. phillip bump with the west and kate fang, an msnbc legal analyst. kate, i think you've been watching in cohen guy for a while now. he was reading "for whom the bell tolls" the other night. they said when they're fighting the fascists when you have a sad look on your face, that's the one that's about to switch. that's the one about to turn. it's a give away. i've heard that from an actor who has been playing him lately, too. what is going on with cohen? can you tell? >> the reasons we're hearing whether or not cohen is going to be replacing the lawyers, mcdermott will and emory tly representing him. here's the bottom line.

it's expensive. these lawyers in washington and new york are charging almost $1,000 an hour to be able to represent michael cohen. it could be as simple as the almighty dollar and that is why is cohen is dropping these lawyers on friday. it could be the lawyers dropping mr. cohen actually. so you know ->> they have been t all that stuff. all those pafoff information, all the russian connection. this could be too much to handle for these people. >> i don't think it's from a quantitative standpoint. it could from an actual ethical stained point. remember w you hire a lawyer as a client, you make representations to that attorney. attorneys have ethical obligations. while his team of lawyers have been going through a an million documents and only a tiny percentage have been deemed to

be privileges, can you imagine what heavy seen. it could be they cannot continue to represent him because of what they discovered or it could be because they said michael cohen, you should take a deal. you don't have an opportunity to fight this and cohen could say eh, you know what, i'm a fixer, i don't have to take a deal. there could be a strategic decision in terms of a no meeting of the minds irreconcilable differences when we as lawyers dump our clients. it could be a lot of reasons. we hear its money. judge kimba wood in the southern district of new york case with michael cohen issued an order on her own and said hey, parties don't forget you got to pay the special master her money when it comes due. who knows if it's related to the money. it could be something more than that. we do know today michael cohen was in california meeting with his lawyers in the stormy daniels case. it's not just the southern district of new york case he has going on. he has defamation, stormy

daniels and theule mer investigation. >> congressman swalwell, is this a case where the "hardball" being by mueller is reaping fruit. >> if he switches now, is it too late to be creditable? >> no, and there are people who have done very bad things who can still be honest what they saw around him. happens all the time. >> velacchi. >> happens all the time. take a step back. the president has a fixer. innocent people don't have fixers. the last president who's had a fixer didn't fare so well. this guy shows a lot. >> who was the last president who had a fixer. >> probably richard nixon didn't fare so well. if he starts talking, i think the president's in real trouble. from what little we saw about michael cohen in our investigation, he was all too willing and eager to work with st the republicans werl

too unwilling to learn more about his bank records, travel records and phone logs. bob mueller learn owl that. >> craig, i'm looking at this treasure trove. apparently cohen was recording telephone conversations can probably with his client. all this stuff is now in the hands of master deciding how much it's going to be used in this investigation. >> there's clearly a lot there. he clearly knows a lot about all things trump. this will be interesting in terms of what e ison with this team, time will tell. what will be most telling is who he hires next. if he hires a first rate legal team, we know he's serious where fighting this or serious about cooperating and wants a team that be cooperate effectively with the xwrus district in >> cohen's cooperation could pose a number of possible dangers for trump when it comes to the payoff for stormy

daniels, the president professed to not know where the money came from until rudrevealed cam >> do you know where he the money to make that payment. >> they funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it. >> taiit. cohen also shed new light on his connections to russia and what the president knew about those relationships as we recently learned michael cohen received aid $500,000 payment connected to viktor vekselberg who reportedly was or is close also learned cope's efforts to build a trump tower in moscow went on far longer at least till june of 2016. that means trump was trying to build a hotel over in russia and get some rusch rubles at the was psying american votes.th there's the s mcclatchy last april a couple months ago that appeared to kroob great part of steele's

dossier, the report the special counsel has evidence that michael cohen kretly made a late summer trip to prague during the 2016 presidential campaign. nbc news has not confirmed that reporting. phillip, tie it all together. this guy is a, i don't know, a pinata of information from russia to women t payoffs to god knows what. all they've got to do is crack him. it all comes out. >> he didn't even mention the fact that he worked for almost a organization even prior to the campaign being. there's probably no one trump's inner cir who knows more about trump's dealings before, during and after the campaign than cohen. he has his finger in nearly every report out there that is potentially bad news for donald trump. there is a michael cohen angle to it. if you look just at that the campaign period, we have on one end of the scale this payoff to stormy daniels of $130,000 where there are very likely campaign finance violations of that. then the other end you have the steele dossier and allegations

michael cohen was central to coll between russia and the trump campaign. those are unproven at point. we don't know that's true. those are the two polls of formation just within the campaign period that are robert muestigators would love to know more about. on either end of the campaign, he knows all sorts of things, as well. >> how do you think george stephanopoulos and abc news got the story he's about to go state's evidence? >> based on what the story says, it suggests someone close to michael cohen, it's not clear. >> could it be the president of the united states? >> i mean, i wouldn't speculate on that. >> say to george somebody, i haven't talked toit's just trad. george was just over with the president. did the president tell him michael about to switch? >> it's certainly possible. we'll find out down the road. >> it's a big story abc is standing behind. greg, what would you rather do if you were michael cohen? would you make a deal with

mueller and hope for a reduced sentence or no prison time or wait for your pardon from the president? which side do you join here? >> expecting a parred is a dicey proposition to say theleast. there's bit of a track record of late of issuing pardons by this president but that's a ugh thing for a target like doen anticipate and expect. he's under a lot of pressure. he's potentially, he hasn't been charged with anything yet at you mentioned but potentially he is facing a lot of exposure. he has to be thinking about his future, his family's future and hopefully listening to his lawyers going forward. >> you hear bank fraud, mail fraud to a civilian like me that sounds like serious federal crimes involved. >> it's very serious. i would submit he's a very, very valuable witness for bob mueller and his team and there's a lot there. so. >> congressman, talk about the politics of this. in the end it's going to come down to a report from mueller? it's going to go to the house, your house where y sit.

how does this -- when you get witnesses like cohen and manafort potentially like flynn already, is that going to carry any water with your republican colleagues. >> not until they pay a price. that price is coming in november but they right now are looking at what happened to mark sanford la t. d deeb straight. >> they're going to pay a price. >> why do the republicans march like they're in the north korean army, smiling in unison, they exprsions.ame facial every time you see a bunch of them together, they're the same face. >> it's very cultish. the president's attorney a bi crimes he is exposed for and none of them want to speak up and say anything. we're not going to change their minds at this po we have ge their seats. >> you're talking about the republicans, not the north koreans. >> bowing of them come november we go into the majority and change their seats. a l of them will see trump can't save them. >> i think it's likely he will get arged. with the north korean summit out

of the way this week, there's new pressure on the president to testify before the prosecutors. mueller's intent on quickly resolving a central issue with trump's legal team, whether the president will sit for an interview after months of negotiations, the two sides must find common ground or gear up for a legal fight likely to go all the way to the supreme court. phil, why could trump ever agree to go and testify under oath if he could avoid it? then he would have to say under oath what he says publicly which no one believes. >> it is the case donald trump k wither ie past.willing there's probably an aspect of truth to that. he thinks he's very good at negotiating and can work his way through these things. >> bill clinton is a lot of smarter. >> bill clinton thought he could get around itell. certainly, there is no one offering legal advice to president trump who recommends this is a good idea. the but the potential supreme

court fight, it's not clear trump's team would win that fit. it coo protract the entire mueller investigation which mueller wouldn't and certainly trump wouldn't want it either. >> i wouldn't put it past trump to say no to a subpoena and test it. >> then he has to deal with it month after month. whs sitting down, he doesn't have to do that. >> he might as well go after the supreme court. thank you eric swalwell and greg bauer and phillip bump and kate republican senator bob corker of tennessee says his party is like a cult when it comes to falling in line behind president trump. the number one sin in today's republic party is crossing donald trump. plus, trump is bragging there's no more nuclear threat from north korea telling everyone here at home they can sleep well tonight. does he believe his own hype after giving so much to north korea for so little in return? and the "hardball" roundtable takes on the republicans

cult-like mentality tonight. plus, it sounds like a broken record bcott pruitt's at it again this time raising new and more ethics questions and now a big name on fox says he's got go. meanwhile, let me finish tonight within trump watch. this is "hardball" where the acti it took guts to start my business. but as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with i i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet?

the house of representativ will vote next week on two competing immigration bills. the news comes after a group of moderate republicans fell just two votes short of the 218 needed for a discharge petition. that would have given moderate republicans the ability to circumvent leadership and force votes on wide ranging immigration measures including protections for dreamers. that's what theoderates want. instead the house will consider a hard line immigration bill as well as compromise legislation still being written. we'll be back. , but not in time. hey, no big deal. you've got a good record and liberty mutual won't hold a grudge

by raising your rates over one mistake. you hear that, karen? liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. how mature of them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ crawl inside, wait by the light of the moon. ♪ applebee's to go. order online and get 20% off $20. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

welcome back to "hardball."

a senior republican senator is now calling his own party cultish. for their blind loyalty to president trump and fear of upsetti upsetting him. here was senator bob corker of tennessee earlier today. >> look, we're in a strange place. i meant's almost you know, it's becoming a cultish thing, isn't it? and it's not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation. >> corker's scathing attack comes a day after he criticized fellow republicans for not supporting legislation to prevent trump from imposing tariffs on some of our closest allies. let's watch. >> a lot of them would vote for it if it came to vote. but no, no, no, gosh, we might poke the bear is the language i've been hearing in the hallways. we might poke the bear. the president might get upset

with us as united states senators if we vote on the cork ker amendment. so we're going to do everything we can to block it. >> the bear used to be the russians. of course, corker feels free to criticize the president because he, sena corker is retiring nd of this year and one reason many of his fellow republicans are less inclined to speak up, they want to get re-elected. last night south carolina republican mark sanford who once said the president should just shut up lost to primary challenger katie arrington. ade hiscisms of the president a centerpiece of her campaign. the president weighed in on that race hours before the polls closed tweeting mark is sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to make america again. another trump ally cory stewart won the nomination to take tim kaine in the fall. stewart has a history of

promoting the birther conspiracy theory about president obama and also a vocal supporter of confederate monuments. what a sweetheart he is. i'm joined by john feehery and cornell belcher, an msnbc political analyst. cork ser not exactly a bomb thrower and not comparing this guy to james jones and drinking the kool-aid and cults. that's pretty deep. >> listen, upsetting the ruch voter not necessarily the president but the trump vote ser bad politics. >> he's talking about the bear. >> the bear is the trump voter. sanford, it's easy to complain when you're leaving. get on your soapbox. that's the easiest thing to do. the hardest thing is run again and compete and win these voter and appeal to them on the issues they care about. they care about jobs, national security, they care about rising wages and they care about immigration and you know, mr. corker is leaving and you know, no one cares. >> you're making his point, john

just made the point. the only guys free to speak their minds are the ones leaving. > certainly bush didn' hold the base of the republican this wnd as someone who worked for obama, he didn't hold the base of the democratic party this way. there is something very erent ing on here. i said it himself, trump said i could shoot someone and i wouldn't lose any support. there is something different with trump than everyone bush and obama. the question for me becomes can you be the party of trump. speaker boehner has it right, this is trump's party now. can you be the party of trump and the party of middle america? yes you can do well empty primaries. the republican they nominated to take on virginia is way out of line with virginia. i think. >> is he still a birther? >> once a birther, aren't you always? >> trump switched. >> if you look at cory stewart, he had pretty big name i.d.

the guys he ran against no one herd of before. >> can you run in the republican party this november without trump's blessing. > it's awfully difficult to run against trump in any way and win anything. >> are you proud of this party? are you proud of this party. >> i'm proud of very unemployment. >> are you proud of your party. >> i'm always proud of my party. >> my party right or wrong. >> it's representing voters very effectively. >> what's the party? is this party of bush and reagan or is this now the party of trump? listen, i don't have a. >> i've never seen anything like this. your party was a free trade party. it was good on deficits and fiscal responsibility. trump comes in and changes all the rules and you guys say yes, sir. >> and law and order. >> you say yes, sir, are you proud of that? it's a heel clicking party. >> the evolution of trade has been substantial over the last 20 years. look what rob porter did, trade ambassador. whether he ran for re-election

before trump, he talked about steel. >> you just told me anything trump wants he gets. >> right now, is he extremely popular. he's extremely popular. >> where is the principle and i'll do anything the boss tells me to do. there's no principal there. during his concession speech, congressman sanford who is looking pretty good defended his past positions like down in buenos aires. let's watch. >> there's been too much made of are you for one personality or against it. what we're about as a nation is not being for or against one personality. again, we're a nation of laws and not menace the founding fathers said. i stand by that belief though in this case it may have had had significant electoral consequence. >> lost the primaries. sanford's opponent kate arrington backed rubio during the presidential election. last night she declared the republican party of trump while attacking democrats who stand in

the president's sheer sheaf is. >> they believe in higher taxes, bigger government, fewer jobs and that's the proble it's not -- is the job of washington to fix it. we are the party of president dnld jump trump. >> there it is. >> no doubt about it. if you look the primaries, but also the popularity ratings, trump has about 90% approval rating with the republicans. pretty high. >> the only guys taking on the president right now are michael flynn, probably manafort and probably cohen. >> thing they will. >> thank you feehery for being in t barrel one more time. as i mentioned earlier, virginia is one of the five states to hold a primary last night. the state is expected to host one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country. last n fer wexton beat t five othtes for the right to take on barbara comstock. comstock is viewed as one of the country's most vulnerable house

republicans and toughest incumbent. hillary clinton won that district by ten points during the 2016 election. if democrats have any hope to take back the house, the path goes directly through the 10th district in virginia. 42% very powerful, thank you for coming on tonight. let's talk about you and barbara comstock. comstock is one of these tough incumbents that they're survivors. how are you going to knock her out? >> well, i have deep roots in the district and a record of winning tough elections and then delivering for my constituents once i'm elected. i think those things resonate in the district. barbara is out of touch. she says one thing and does another. she. >> how about guns? talk about your guns difference. >> absolutely. i mean, t b area of contrast. barbara comstock has as a rating from the nra, one of the top recipients of money from them despite having been in congress for only a short time. i have been fighting for gun

safety in richmond for years and i'll continue to do that on the trail and in congress. >> what's the difference between you and the incumbent republican you have to beat this november on immigration? what's the difference? >> we live here in virginia 10 in a diverse district. we have a big muslipulation. comstock was silent when donald trump started the muslimban. we have a big international airport in our district. i was there with other elected officials and hundreds of people from the district protesting and lawyers and barra not a peep. >> what about this ms-13 trump keeps talking, the gang from latin mirk is itting is that a danger you're not faying up to? talk about it. >> republicans want to equate ms-13 and immon and conflate those issues. they did it in 2017 in our statewide elections and it failed mibly. voters are smarter than that and

don't respond well to the race bait achk fear mongering. what's really important are the fact that comstock is refusing to sign on to discharge petition for daca protections and rather than take a stand on something, she stands for nothing. >> do you want trump to campaign against you? would that help you? >> i don't think anybody can control what the president does. >> give me a word for him. >> did i visive. >>senato huh. >> did i visive. >> yeah. can you go any furtheren than that? >> i mean his whole. go ahead. >> his whole persona is about dividing us and making us weaker by dividing us. we need to come together and we're stronger when we focus on our or commonaties. >> that's a good message. state senator jennifer wexton hon won 42% against a wide field. that's a good number. congratulations. up next president's trump back

in washington, d.c. and selling the deal he made with kim jong-un. he says everybody should sleep well tonight because there's no longer a nuclear threat from north korea. does he actually believe his own stuff? his hype? i don't know. does he ever believe anything he says? how would we know? this is "hardball" where the action is. stoppable. stoppable. ♪ but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by talking to your doctor. ask about vraylar. vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in ults. clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks.

high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which cwhich can be fatal; dedizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; more than just your bipolar i. and trouble swallowing may occur. ask about vraylar. but as it grew bigger and bigger,ness. it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet?

but behr premium stain y can weather any weather. overall #1 rated, weathers it all. find our most advanced formula exclusively at the home depot. welcome back to "hardball." president trump return from his summit with north korean

dictat kim jong-un and immediately became a salesman for the guy. his claims on twitter this morning seemed wildly premature even naive. he wrote today president obama said thatth korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. no longer. sleep well tonight. that's the president. and everybody can now feel much safer, the president tweeted today than the day i took office. there's no longer a nuclear threat from the north korea says the president. for the record, experts believe north korea has as many as 60 nuclear weapons and last year they tested long-range missiles that could r here. senator chris van who is responded this is delusional. same arsenal today as it had 4 hours ago. does he really think his big photo op ended north korea's nuclear program? hope this does not equal reality. joining me is joe cirrincione and m nuclear security analyst. we were arguing about this

arguing about if he can no longer sort of stand out and threaten people with nuclear weapons, does that reduce the threat that he actually will use them? in other words, can he saber rattle after coming out of singapore? >> no, kim is not going to saber rattle. that does not reduce the threat. historically the way the military evaluates threats is on cape be the not intentions. because intentions can change. yes, i would say the threat is reduced, the world is safer now. but it is not gone. this summit process didn't eliminate will the north korean threat. they have a vast complex, spent five decades building it up, missiles, nuclear production facilities. we're a long way from eliminating that threat. >> in a new interview on fox news late today, donald trump again offered startling praise for the autocratic ruler of north korea kim jong-un. let's watch this. >> chairman kim wants to resolve

the problem because he knew that we weren't playing around. i wasn't playing around. he's not playing around. i think we have a very good relationship. we understand each other. >> you call people sometimes killers. he is a killer. he's executing people. >> he's a tough guy. hey, when you take over a country, tough country, tough people and you take it over from your father, i don't care who you are, what you are, how much of an advantage you have, if you can do that at 27 years old, that's one in 10,000 that could do that. so he's a very smart guy. he's a great negotiator. but i think we understand each other. >> he's done some rea things. >> yeah, but so have a lot of other people done some really bad things. >> what does that mean? that is michael core yoenny t out of the god fer one when kay says senators kill people. he's talking about we're as bad as he is. why does he say that about our

country? >> the far right and many other people have long denounced in moral equivalency. everybody does bad things. no, they don't do things like this. >> who is is the last president who poison someb in an airport. >> his half-brothernd kill h ung. >> people --residents of the united states cannot knock people off. >> what's going on here? two things, he genuinely admires tough ought tro crates. it's very clear. >> dictators. >> dictators, ruthless thugs, people who can run a syndicate. the second thing is he's doing a sales job trying to draw kim in, i'm going to love yo come with me. we can be friends. agree to this paper. >> he puts a movie together for the president. he shows a movie of how north korea is going to flourish and become some happy hunting ground for travelers and tourists and young couples. it's going to the home for whatever. let's take a look at it. a flashy four-minute video produced like a fake movie

trailer showing how great. the white house said the national security council put this together. look at this, majestic, look at the future of north korea. symphonies, science, everything. look at this. >> the two of us together, right on the road. >> ski slopes. it's az it's meant toonvince the north korean leader to end his country's isolation. let's watch part of that video now. >> destiny pictures presents a story of opportunity. a new story, a new beginning. one of peace, two men, two leaders. one destiny. will this leader choose to advance his country and be part of a new world, be the hero of his people? will he shake the hand of peace? and enjoy prosperity like he has never seen? >> well, there's the leung there and cigarette boats and all this future. i was thinking, is it going to

be like club med over there now? he talked about the beachfront properties and how good they'll be for resorts. he's talking to a thug and communist. >> and talking aboutdos and developments, maybe a trump tower. pyongyang hasn't mentioned that yet. you know that's the next move. this is like the film you see in a time share office. this is a real estate salesman's con job. just sign on the dotted line. that's what he's doing. >> see how they'll put the water and sewer lines in? it does remind me of an old movie with a bad guy, what's the one about -- real estate movie. thank you joe. up next, glen gary glen ross. the republican partyoming more like a cult than a republican party? this is jonestown? the "hardball" roundtable sticks with us. plus scott pruitt's at it again. first we learned i want the to land his wife a chick-fil-a

franchise and went to find donors to go find her job. he's using his people, isn't he? is he going to last in your watching "hardball." elp hand eve a better world. that's why we, at the coca-cola company, make shore breaks with actual coconuts. tea, organically. treats for celebrations. water with added minerals for taste. dear future us, that's why we're striving to do good. our communities get the education they deserve. we're doing this today... ...so you can do even more. the coca-cola company ...so you can do even more. a hilton getaway means you get more because... you get another day in paradise. get a sunset on a sunday. get more stories to share. get more from your summer getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com

but as it grew bigger and bigger,ness. it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy.

everything. what's in your wallet?

welcome back to "hardball." we're back with more on today's top stor signs tonight that trump's long time attorney and fixer michael cohen may beser to breaking to cooperating with prosecutors. "the washington post" is now reporting late tonight that the pressure on cohen has intensified and the focus of the investigation adding that amid his escalating legal concerns, cohen is feeling neglected the long-time patron for whom he has long professed his loyalty. for more i'm joined by susan page "usa today," eugene scott from the "washington post," sam stein from "the daily beast." susan, this is begins to look like a mob movie. you've got johnny five angels. you no?

remember him? johnny five angels, you know? he's caught. he knows the mob's after him. he's got to go somewhere. he's ready for witness protection. >> family dynamics are a complicated thing especially when you pay lawyers big fees, you're out of money, under pressure and being veged on two fronts. >> where's daddy. >> are you alone? that's perilous for michael cohen. kind of perilous for everybody. >> the president has proven his willingness to say i can pardon anybody on aerg and i've been doing it. give me muhammad ali who doesn't need it. i'll give it to anybody, jack johnson. why doesn't he just do it? nobody's explain this had to me. get this guy out of the way, give him a total pardon for life like gerry forward gave nixon and walk away for the trouble. >> there's been concern thatisn cohen as michael cohen is to trump. perhaps this was a one-sided friendship and maybe that's what

cohen is seeing and feeling right now. >> if you pardon a guy totally, you don't have to talk. they can just not talk. >> doesn't cohen have to be decided or charged with something before? >> nixon never indicted. >> go ahead and do it. >> you you're working on abc's report tonight. some have speculated he may have gotten the tip from the president. >> there's very little obvious respect for the norms going on and certainly wouldn't shock the system if there was back chan what's striking to me about all the stuff is the context in which it was takingce where the assumption cohen flips it be a catastrophe for the president. there's a line in the post piece, arospect that them see potentially dire. the only reason you would see someone flipping as potentially dire is if there were guilt. this is the pretext for everything. >> we keep hearing about mail fraud and bank fraud. >> unless he knows something. >> don't youssume it? >> at this point, yes.

>> rudy giuliani was talking about the m. of the president when he wasn't president. he had a girl situation, a woman situation. there was a method for dealing with that. he had the regular draw of $35,000 a month. basically laid it out for as rudy did. >> well, i'm sure that wasn't the best thing that he could have done but it certainly gave the suggestion that something happened. that's why i think why we also see the president panicking and tweeting saying nothing happened. it's behavior you wouldn't expect from someone who is innocent. >> in fairness, he was his fixer before he was a presidential -- a president who needed to worry about some of the optics of things you might fix. right? so michael cohen will know things presumably knows things about previous chapters of donald trump's life that may not be the best thing to have. >> especially if you're a pro-life president. >> the undertone of this article is there are two competing investigations and the one happening about the previous

white hocerevious campaign experience been feed into the next one and mueller was trying to parlay that into getting trump to talk about the peace plan he got from ukraine. >> you're so sophisticated. outgoing republican senator, i love this phrase, outgoing, they start talking when they're outgoing, they become outgoing. bob corker calling out his fellow republicans as being like a cult, like jonestown or something under president trump. let's watch. >> we have a lot of people who are willing to do the things that they feel are right for our country. we have some who are fearful of upsetting the president. agwould mostly be around the leadership. but it's not a good place for us to be. >> corker said part of the cultish behavior comes from concerns over getting re-elected. south carolina congressman mark sanfo lost his primary last night after poking the bear ublicans republicans don't want the tweet i got last

night. there's no motivation like self-motivation. gene, roosevelt couldn't get rid of people. he couldn't purge them when he tried in '38. it wasn't doable. maybe the democratic party is more loosey-goosey but they don't take orders like the republicans do. >> right now they're seeing the nervous and afraid. what's been interesting to me. >> don't they want a local independent. >> not at all. haven seen that at all. one of the things i find interesting about corker's word rsonality cult was happening way before what we have now. back when corker was encouraging people to get on the trump train. i haven't seen a lot of self-reflection admitting what role they played in creating this. >> another scaal for scott pruitt today. the west reported that pruitt had a top aide a epa aide official person contact republican donors people with money to help his wife, pruitt's wife land a job with a

conservative political group. sam, this guy like a pez dispenser keeps coming out one after another. >> this has to be the sixth segment that we have done in which one of the topics is another pruitt scandal. it is remarkable the way he brushed aside ethical considerations in his actions and the extent to which trump doesn't care. what i have been able to get out in my reporting is one of the things that binds these two together is the mutual conception they are targets of an unfriendly press corps. so trump almost em pa that sizes with pruitt's apply the. >> it's all your fault. you guys in the press. >> we were the ones who made pruitt go. it's going to be a verb to pruitt. that's my word. he keeps doing it. the roundtable is sticking with us. up next, they tell me something i don't know. you're watching "hardball."

disrupting business and taking on a life of its own. its multi-cloud complexity creating friction... and slowing innovation. with software-defined solutions, like hpe onesphere, you can tame the it monster. hewlett packard enterprise. clouds, apps, and insights faster. you might be missing something.y healthy. your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite. ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. it has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3. ocuvite. be good to your eyes. kyle, we talked about this. there's noonsters. but you said they'd be watching us all the time. no, no. no, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24/7. we just bundled home and auto and saved money. that's nothing to be afraid of. -but -- -good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] ♪ i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle.

he's never like this. i think something's going on at school. -[ sighs ] -he's not engaging. i think something's going on at school. but as it grew bigger and bigger,ness. it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet? take a look at this. tonight on "jeopardy!" look who showed up in one of alex trebek's clues. >>. >> this host of "hardball" gives a behind the scenes portrait of a presidential brother i "bobby kennedy." nick? >> who is chris matthews. >> yes. >> and the name of the book is "bobby kennedy." we'll be right back. the smart ones look to fidelity to find them. we give you research and data-visualization tools

toelp identify potential opportunities. so, you can do it this way... or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade. fidelity. open an account today. ♪ (honking) when your craving strikes, you need your wing nut. ( ♪ ) no one can totally satisfcraving, quite like your wing nut. in the movie a lot of times, i tend to play the tough guy. but i wasn't tough enough to quit on my own. not until i tried chantix. chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may incle seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell ycare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. my favorite role so far? being a non-smoker. no question about it. talk to your doctor about chantix. (man)(woman)n about it. beautiful just like you. (woman) oh, why thank you. [both scream] (burke) coupe soup. and we covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ we're back with the roundtable. susan, tell me sething i don't

know. >> and you just said don't people want a local person w they vote for somebody for election. we've got a new poll out of ohio, a u.s. network stuff folk university poll. we asked do you want your vote in november to be a message to change where trump is going or support where trump is going. 49% of ohio voters a republican state that went for trump say my vote is intended to change where trump is going. only 28% said it's to support where trump is going. here's another interesting thing. only one in five voters say my vote is not related to my message about trump. >> so everybody's admitting. >> trump is driving even ohio in local elections. >> gene. >> dennis hoff, a brothel openee pimp," won his gop primary last night and it's credited donald trump with paving the way for people like him to get into politics. >> is nothing sacred? >> sam. >> how do i top that? as of this morning according to

the president, t longer a nuclear rom the north korea something you didn't know. because it's true. looks like secretary pompeo says they're hoping to get the start of denuclearrization by the end of the president's first term. >> i'm still responding. thank you. let me ask, i guess no more time. thank you. when we return, let me finish tonight with trump watch. it's pretty tough tonight on trump. not surprising. he's getting ahead of his skis. that's an old obama phrase. you're watching "hardball."

woman: it felt great not having hepatitis c. it's like a load off my shoulders. i was just excited over. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starvoni your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if s'vever had patitib, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines yoke ing herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness,

headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist out ha but as it grew bigger and bigger,ness. it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card

from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet?

trump watch, wednesday june 13th, 2018. the republican party is in the process now of purifyingtself of anyone who i step with president trump. listen to them. they all sound like they've been scripted by sean hannity marching along in stuff locked cadence and regimental discipline speaking in one voice is, smiling in unison, contorting their faces into the same expression as the man next to them like scared to death soldiers marching in pyongyang. look at what happens if you get out of step?

you're gone like senator bob corker or jeff flake or ngressman charlie dent or ryan costello or trey gowdy. if you're not in tune with the white ho lip syncing with sarah sanders you're dead in trump's eyes. none of this has anything to do with what we used to consider republican values. the gop stood for free trade, trump stands for trade wars. the grand old party called it self the party of physical discipline before the new guyde tax cut. it used to be alliance building against the enemy. now it's lunch and bromances with the enemy. one has to ask if it is still possible to ask, what will happen to all this heel clicking when trump's gone? will the party of lincoln and reagan be proud it nelt before donald trump's altar? whatever you want to say about mark sanford who trump's people knocked off in yesterday's primary, you feed to add this. at least when he embarrassed

mself a few years , at least of te re the now beckoning to trump's allure can't even claim that. that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. >> tonight on "all in." >> i'll do anything to protect mr. trump. >> the president's lawyer at a legal crossroads. >> michael cohen is a very talented lure. >> could mhael cohen's br attorneys be a prelude to a flip or a pardon. >> are you considering a pardon for michael cohen. >> thank you very much. >> let's go. >> stupid question. >> then. >> il say proudly that the republican party is the trump party. >> trump takeover of the republican party. >> it's becoming a cultish thing, isn't it. >> and the candidates he's bringing with him. >> i'm proud to be here with this flag. >> and nbc news gets inside the detention facility t locke out sena merkley. >> can i go in with you, please. >> i'll talk to the leader of the house freedom caucus