for a change, conservatives actually getting things done. >> it is rather remarkable to see the allegation of cultism accepted and offered as a point of pride. a final thought on our show. that does it for "the beat." we'll be back at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. the bare truth. let's play "hardball." is donald trump the new big bad bear of the republican party? back in the time of ronald reagan, they said it was russia we needed to fair, those people over in moscow. >> there is a bear in the woods. for some people, the bear is easy to see. others don't see it at all. some people say the bear is tame. others say it's vicious. and dangerous. since no one can be sure who is

right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? if there is a bear? >> well, now the republicans are afraid of a new big bad bear. he's right here in this country. >> a lot of them would vote for it if it came to a 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 corker amendment. oh we're going to do everything we can to block it. >> has it gotten this bad that the republican party is no longer driven by desire to protect the country from a foreign foe but to protect its own members from getting beaten by its own leader? good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. the transition of the republican party is now complete. once the party that championed golde cold warriors like reagan is now the party that blindly follows its own bear, donald trump. throughout his presidency, trump

rebuffed republican orthodoxy and cozied up to the same ought trocratic leaders republicans once repute yeas. republicans are pledging allegiance to their leader or pay the price. a party that once championed free trade has largely turned to protectionism under mr. trump. sermons have been replaced with attacks on immigrants and black athletes. a trust but verify approach to foreign policy giving way to a seat of the pants style in which rogue regimes like north korea are elevated and democratic allies like canadaing are belittled. the president even seems to be telling the moscow line on some of his moscow policy decisions. according to "the wall street journal" is, putin gave trump the idea to stop joint military exercises with south korea. the current chair of the republican party rona mcdaniel had a stark warning to any republican who dares to oppose the president tweet "complacency

is our enemy. thin that does not embrace donald trump's agenda of making america great again will be making a mistake." her tweet was a reference to these comments smee she made on fox. >> anyone who doesn't embrace the trump agenda and doesn't recognize the issues that propelled us to victory in the white house is going to be making a mistake. >> for more i'm joined gray meesh alcindor, david corn, washington bureau chief from mother jones, david jolly, former republican congressman from florida and robert costa from the "washington post." david, i want to talk to you about your republican party. is it still there? is the big bad bear now the man you're afraid to poke? it used to be the russians and now it's the leader of the party who is see the fearful that's the goal of any elected

official, do not dare poke the bear. >> that's right, chris. the gop that we knew is dead. it's over. this is the party of donald trump. not just because of shifts in policy. we eevolution of policies at times in both parties but the tone of the party has changed dramatically and the imprint of trump has forever changed the party. consider reagan spoke to better angels, bush 41 spoke to a thousand points of light. bush 43 to conservatism. donald trump mean spirited bigotry. he has his followers through gas lighting and lies and he has broken the back of the mainstream gop. it no longer exists. >> robert costa, it seems to me the republican party used to be somewhat libertarian, congressman falls in love with a woman from buenos aires and says he's hiking and they say well, love is love, love is blind.

he might have made a foofl himself but he's going to be our congressman. then he dared to challenge president trump. he dared to do something that was weirdly unorthodox. what do you make of that? that's the sin you can't commit. >> at this point, no one's spoiling for a fight with president trump in the 2020 primary race. as a long-time reporter on the gop, what's surprising is this orthodoxy from president reagan survived so long. parties evolve and sometimes die. this populism has gripped elements of the democratic party and, of course, the republican party in recent years as different voters have struggled with the global economy. >> but the bushes pushed, the nafta, trump wams -- president reagan was a free trader that believes in coalition building. george senior bush was a giant in coalition building in the first gulf war. they used to be proud of their ability to assemble under james

baker the secretary of state. that was a proud aspect of the republican party. now we're cashiering our allies. >> they're transactional. they got the tax cut and the conservative judges including on the supreme court. they're willing to have a transactional relationship with this outsider figure who has somehow taken over a party that was traditional, that was conservative because that's the only way they feel they can survive. they talk to their own voters in their states and districts and say the voters are with trump. >> president trump commended kim jong-un as a tough guy as bret baier pressed the president about human rights abuses under him. let's watch that exchange. >> you call people sometimes killers. he is a killer. he's executing people. >> he's a tough guy. 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, i mean that's 1 in 10,000 that can do that. he's a very smart guy. a great negotiator. but i think we understand each other. >> he's still done some really bad things. >> yeah, but so have a lot of other people done some really bad things. i could go through a lot of nation whereas bad things were done. >> and that's godfather talk. the president's attitude toward the abusive tactics mimic something he once said about putin. >> he's running his country and at least he's a leader unlike what we have in this country. >> again, he kills journalists that don't agree with him. >> well, i think our country does plenty of killing also, know, so you know. >> what do you mean by that. >> there's a lot of killing going on, a lot of stupidity. >> thuggishness is okay as long

as you're my pal. this is frightening talk from an american president. >> this is about values. he is praising -- it's okay to meet with your enemy. we try to do this all the time to negotiate arms deals. he meets with there guy who is a thuggish dictator who employs death camps, summary executions, mass forced starvation and says hey, pretty good guy. he's doing this at 27. how old was hitler when he took over the german government? he seems to have no feeling for any sense of values, american values or any other. the scary thing is sec talk this way and there's not a single political appointee or aide in his administration who finds or takes offense with this and says i can't work for a guy who praises a fellow who runs concentration camps and republicans on the hill except for corker don't have -- you don't hear a peep out of them.

this is about values, not about a change in policies. >> i was ablazed at this purging. fdr didn't defend joseph stalin on the purges and that kind of stuff. this guy is purging people in his own party. he punched mark sanford the other night and said you're out and it worked. >> president trump was always about a cultive personality. people aren't scared about president trump as much as his voters which are having massive amounts of people, millions of people who voted for trump because they saw this idea that someone who had a lot of money, who was successful. they weren't talking about people that had republican values or policies. i argue the moment he won that nomination is the moment the republican party knew that the party that they knew was no longer there because president trump is praising all these people. >> there are people out there look, my father was one, there are people sort of regular not rich republican who's believe in small government, believed in lower taxes, didn't like

communists. these were true values. what happened to those people? >>ing ander. >> you say it's the republican party. >> anger has replaced values. it has replaced ideologies. >> i think it's resentment, well said. retiring senator bob corker of enten is one of the few who dares to speak out against this president. yesterday he said the republican party was becoming a cultish thick. that's c-u-l-. let's watch. >> we're in a strange place. it'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. >> the president's eldest son was asked about the senator's comments. here's what he had to say about corker. >> i think that's ridiculous. i think if it's a cult it's because they liking what my

father's doing. >> okay, fine. david, you've been elected to serve in congress by a republican membership in the tampa area. those people in tampa, those republicans have they gotten so angry as david corn their anger and resentment against the establishment in this country is so great it overrides all over principles? >> it is and those are the cultish elements. the north korea example is very informati informative. this is a president who is is historically incompetent when it comes to foreign affairs. he's into the selling his base on the competence or the merits of the north korea meeting but on his own strength. the fact that this is a president they can believe in, that is yes, a strong man but somebody that can stand up to dictators. fltsz the underlying element of this, as well. a president who retreats from his peers at the g-7 who can't go toe to toe with people equally as competent. instead he positions himself with a much weaker dictator on the world stage to show his base

that he is a strong president. they are believing in his strength, not in his competency. >> is this some sort of real -- it's not pop ualism. it's no nothingness. are his people so anti-foreign, anti-canadian, anti-european that they'll take his side against people are pretty much our people, our friends over there? >> you know, i think of what he has done. >> do they hate merkel, theresa may, justin trudeau? do they really despise those people to join the president bullying them around. >> the elements of racism and bigotry have existed in the republican party but we have seen past presidentsion those elements. donald trump has embraced those. it was part of his path to victory. >> also. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> i was going to say when you're out talking to people, there is this idea when they heard america first they saw everybody that wasn't american as an enemy.

it was shocking to see him basically talk all this trash about trudeau and get on a plane and not be able to sign a joint communique with our allies and come out with a joint statement for north korea. the people i talked to are eating it up saying this what we voted for. >> i think it was positive eye. >> dallas: in "french connection 2:"who said i would be a lamp post in new york than the president of france." is that the sentiment of our president today, he would rather be a light post in new york than president of france? >> yes, that is his perspective. >> thank you. that's a good answer. that's a good answer. i like your short and sweetness. >> maybe i should leave it there. you can stitch this all together. okay, well, just saying, i'll leave it there then. >> i love your yes, sir. >> let's, go. yamiche, david corn, david jolly and the great robert costa, a man of few words.

coming up, government watchdog reports find james comey made a serious error when he reopened the investigation of hillary clinton's e-mails days before the election. that's a move that helped trump win. why is trump trying to play victim here? he won because of the screwup. plus, republicans are feeling it the heat over trump's policy of separating children from their parents at the border. that is being called inhumane and even his allies are piping up against it. and what if barack obama saluted a north korea general. >> the "hardball" roundtable tackles that and the cult of trump and the latest from far right ringleader, he's something else, stephen king. he famously said a lot of immigrants have calves the size of cantaloupes. who is measuring their calves for smuggling drugs? we finish tonight with trump watch. he won't like it. this is "hardball" where the action is.

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the new york attorney general today sued president trump and his three oldest children alleging a persistent pattern of illegal conduct at the family's charitable foundation as "the washington post" first reported the lawsuit argues that trump repeatedly used the nonprivate to pay off his business's creditors to decorate one of his golf clubs and to stage a multimillion dollar giveaway at his 2016 campaign events. well, according to today's filing the charity was coopted by mr. trump's presidential xin siting is e-mail traffic from trump campaign staffers showing they directed the campaign's expenditures even though such charities are prohibited from engaging in political activities. president trump reacted on twitter blaming sleazy new york democrats for bringing the lawsuit and also said i won't settle this case. i was just excited for it to be over.

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i think the secretary is

right. and that is that the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me, too, me, too. >> you know? >> welcome back to "hardball." that was hillary clinton's 2016 primary opponent famously attempting to put the issue of the former secretary's e-mails to rest. now three years later we may be closer to doing just that. today the justice department concluded its review of the fbi's handling of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation and while it finds no will evidence of the decisions it says former director james comey made a serious error of judgment when he sent a letter to congress reopening the investigation of had mails days before the election and called him unsubordinate for his decision to hold a press conference without consulting the attorney general. it was there he criticized clinton despite he announced no charges would be brought. we all remember this. let's watch. >> although we did not find

clear evidence that secretary clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive highly classified information. >> despite those criticisms, the report says the we found no evidence his public statement announcing the decision to close the investigation was the result of bias or an effort to influence the election. julia ansley, national political reporter for nbc news, cynthia oxley, and jerrold nadler. congressman, it seems the big take away from this report was a, comey was wrong to make that statement he did and the big announcement about hillary's situation in july and very wrong 11 days before the election whether he reopen the whole thing publicly. >> there are two big take-aways. that is one of them. he should not have done either one of those things pep substituted his own judgment for department guidelines and

principles which are designed to make sure they don't affect an election. did he affect the election. secondly. >> on that point, do you think hillary was right 11 days saying the anthony weiner matter opened the whole thing again had an effect on the results. >> certainly it had enough of an effect to change the outcome? it's probably true but you can't prove that. the second take away is that contrary to what the republicans were saying for a year and a half before the election and to this day, there was no bias in the fbi, there was no bias in the department of justice. and they were trying to push the department of justice as they're trying to pressure the special prosecutor now as they're trying to taipt the jury pool against whatever he says now. this is important to say there was no political bias whatsoever. >> what jumped out at me because i'm a political person, i pay attention, read all the papers. i know you were at the heart of

coming from the new york media. do you think it's believable because this is in the report, that james comey, the head of the fbi did not note that huma abedin did, was married to anthony weiner, the congressman in new york who got in all the trouble? didn't though oo know they were together. do you think that's true. >> stranger things have happened. i don't know what he reads or doesn't happen. i don't know. >> let me tell you, it tells me he's not a political guy. i ain't sitting there thinking politically. >> of course he knew. >> of course he knew. >> it's ridiculous. >> you know i don't like to wager but i do think the reason we're asking this question not just because it's fun to play these games in washington. >> this is a new york tabloid story that never quit about anthony weiner. how many jokes did they make about him. >> the real reason why that matters is because of the delay. we found out from there report today as of september 29th, 2016, they had enough

information to subpoena those e-mails on anthony weiner's computer why did we not hear about it till october 28 there. >> was there a special agent who slowed it down to have a bigger impact on the election. >> a number of people decided not to move forward. one of those was comey and mccabe. they say political bias shouldn't be involved. another one was is peter strzok. it looks like he did have a political bias. >> this special agent who said i'm going to stop trump from being elected? was that just bull talk or bs? >> i think it was. i think what those tapes problem is that strzok and his girlfriend lisa page agreed with the majority of the american people who don't like donald trump and they're entitled to their political poips. >> when he said we're going to stop it, what do you make of that? >> that was rhetoric to his girlfriend. >> what did you make of that? cynthia, wouldn't you use that against some guy if he said i'm going to stop it and i'm a

special agent. >> it's totally appropriate for a special agent of the fbi who is supposed to be above reproach to be writing that. we tell our children whatever you put in your e-mail, nothing is private. if you are working on an investigation this serious, you should not be saying that. >> but the ig specifically found that there was no evidence that any decision or action taken by any of the agents, strzok, page, anybody else was affected by political bias. >> do you there that will stop trump from tattooing this. >> no, he lies about everything. >> here's the problem, it's the strzok and comey breaking all the rules. it was a terrible thing did he for the department of justice. that's the way i look at it as a prosecutor and somebody who wants the justice system to appear fair. do t does taint the whole justice system. >> here's my big question, why didn't he whether he found out anthony weiner had some stuff it, husband and wife were

sharing an the same laptop and some of the stuff he was picking up from hillary, why didn't he look at it, examine it and then make a statement? they could have check this had out in a couple of hours. why did they have to make a big announcement? >> he would have had the luxury if had he acted in september when he was notified about that, he would have had the luxury. there were thousands of emails people were going through. a lot of the e-mails on anthony weiner's computer were copies of things they already had. >> why didn't they look before they talked? >> october 28th, they didn't know quite how many they would have to go through. >> they still got through it. >> that's where hillary has a right to be angry. responding to the revelation comey also used a personal e-mail account to the conduct official fbi business, hillary clinton wrote in a tweet but my e-mails. congressman, you're the political guy here. do you think she's right to say this was biased against her because even though the report said it wasn't biaseded, do you

think the fbi acted in an unpleasant way to hillary here. >> they conducted an honest investigation. i think that comey for reasons of his own personal public relations and for reasons of what he considered public relations of the fbi violated the guidelines and improperly substituted his judgment for the rules. and there be biased the election against hillary. >> we've got a report i read in politico today that mr. mueller is not doing too well in the polls. this constant trashing of him by the president and his people is having an impact. >> especially given the fact he's behaving properly and not answering it and not leaking. the only thing we know about this investigation has been leak proof. the only thing we know about the investigation is from court file packages who has been indicted, what they say and legal filings they make. you've got one side the president and all his allies trashing mueller, trashing the investigation, trashing the fbi. trying to taint the jury pool is

giuliani directly said and on the other side a proper professional investigation saying nothing and answering nothing. >> the good guys are not winning this public debate. >> the one thing we know because of this report is that mueller will be very cautious when he does his release. if he can't get it done by august 1, there won't be a people till after the election. >> are you going to having a shut down? >> august 1st is the magic date, but yes. >> julia. >> the lessons learned from this it is probable we could be in a similar situation. we have a president his party going through midterms, he'll be facing another election in 2020. there are countless investigations into him and his businesses and to his lawyer we saw today. so it could be possible that you could be in this position again where federal investigators. >> how about state investigators? >> or the state investigators. >> in new york city. >> i don't think they're bound. >> i don't think they're worried about the congressional schedule. the ranking democrat in the

house judiciary committee may be the most important guy in the country last year. thank you julia and cynthia. republicans are under increasing pressure due to trump's policy of separating families at the border. some leading conservatives are now calling the practice disgraceful. this is "hardball" where the action is. your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites. that sounds super helpful. how much is it? well, if you have a discover card, it's free. no way! yes way! we just think it's important for you to be in the know. all right! hey... ewww! everything ok? being in the know is very good. yeah, it is. ooo don't shake! don't shake! ahhh! know if your social security number is found on risky sites. free from discover. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember.

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parents who illegally cross the border is now facing opposition from some republicans. here's oklahoma senator james langford addressing the issue in a call to a constituent. >> what i'm making a request to the white house on is keep families together as much as we can possibly keep family together for as long as we can possibly keep them together. >> house speaker paul ryan said today that he wanted the issue addressed through legislation. >> we don't want kids to be separated from their parents. i there i just made that really clear. >> nbc's reporting that texas senator john cornyn is planning on introducing a bill that will require that families be kept together while waiting for court proceedings. today jeff sessions said that the bible provides a justification for his policy. let's watch. >> obey the laws of the government because god is ordained the government for his purposes. our policies that can result in short-term separation of

families is not unusual or unjustified. >> here's how white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders responded. >> it is very biblical to enforce the law. that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the bible. but the separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that democrats refuse to close and these laws are the same on the books for over a decade and the president is simply enforcing them. >> however, there's no law that states that families must be separated at the border. it's happening now because it's a policy that the trump administration initiated. i'm joined by msnbc correspondent jacob who has been given access to the country's largest facility for the children in brownsville, texas. he described the former walmart as looking more like incarceration than temporary shelter. let's go to you, sir. my question to you is, what's it like inside there?

>> reporter: it's pretty chilling to go in there, chris. again, they call it a shelter but it feels more like a jail or a prison and to hear the attorney general say that it's not at unusual situation to separate children from their parents for a short period of time, i mean, that's absolutely untrue. it's completely unusual and it's never been done before in this capacity. the reason there are now 30% of the kids inside that facility behind me the old walmart, 30% of the 1500 kids in there that have been separated from their families is because of a brand-new trump administration policy to separate prosecute i should say 100% of the people that enter the country illegally. that results in the separation. the only reason there's an overcrowding crisis inside there and now in tornillo near el paso, they're setting up a tent city which we're finding out tonight is because there's not

enough space because of this new policy. it's disingenuous for the attorney general to say it's not new and same thing goes for the press secretary who stood up there today and said there's nothing new what they're doing. this is new to the trump administration. it has never been done. this way before. >> i've said this before but it's had a sophie's choice aspect from world war ii and the holocaust. what are the kids like when they want to see their mom? what do they do? do they ask to see, can i see my mom and the guards say no, you can't? is that what it's like? kids want to see their parents. >> is the reality is there is no seeing your mom or your dad or your family members when you're inside here. you have the opportunity to call your sponsor if you are an unaccompanied minor and showed up without your parents. if your parents were separated from you at the border, your parents are in federal prison right now. and the only way to get in touch with them is to have that federal penal institution get your parents on the phone,

schedule a time to talk to you and you don't know when you'll see them again. the average stay in here is 52 days. and chris, again, it's not unusual to have unaccompanied minors to come in the united states. in 2014 and 2016 we had a bigamy grant crises where you had a lot of unaccompanied minors. this is a self-inflicted wound from the trump administration a crisis created artificially by separating these kids down at the border, creating the overcrowding situation crisis separations that we're seeing right now. >> jeff sessions said today that children in these facilities are treated well. let's watch him. >> this is hhs. health and human services. something entirely different from the criminal justice system. that they care of these children in a good and decent and proper way. they're provided food and education in naturetive language, health and dental care. >> well, it's hot down there, isn't it, jacob?

it's hot and they're talking about a tent step now with people living in the environment of texas in the summer. >> reporter: what the attorney general said is not incorrect but it's not the issue. the issue is not whether or not licensed child care professionals can give good quality care inside this facility to the children inside there. somebody from the aclu told me you could send these kids to a five star hotel and they would be tra matized for their life from being ripped away from their parents. it's not about the quality of the care inside the facility even though they are only allowed outside two hours a day and for the other 22 they're inside the walmart. that is not new for what's going on inside facilities like this and the other 99 of them in 17 states throughout the country. the trump administration has choseton put a large amount of kids more than ever before, this place is as busy as ever because the trump administration has chosen as a deterrent strategy to scare people into not coming

by saying we're going to rip you from your kids. we know prevention through deterrence was the official border patrol policy in the '90s, all that did was result in more people crossing through more dangerous ways and dieing in the desert or here in the brush in south texas. what's what you'll see. people will stop declaring asylum and go into the country in more dangerous ways. then it will become a true life or death humanitarian crisis. that's the next step in all this. >> thank you, jacob soboroff. can you imagine if obama did it new foot and shows it president trump saluting a north korean general. the roundtable weighs in on that pretty picture. bus rudy giuliani is tamping down reports michael cohen is about to flip. but everybody else thinks he's about to flip. you're watching "hardball." 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.

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welcome back to "hardball." president trump is shrugging off the human rights abuses of north

koreian dictator kim jong-un following his summit in singapore. now trump is stirring more controversy thanks to video released by north korean state media. in the north korean state media, president trump goes in for a handshake with a north korean general. the general raises his hand in a salute and trump returns the salute. then the two shake hands again. more of this. anyway, today white house press secretary sarah sanders said trump saluted the general as a common courtesy to a military official. that's compare the reaction to what we saw prey president obama was photographed appearing to bow to philippe calderon, maybe because he's taller than the guy trump blasted him writing the amateur, first barack obama was caught bowing to the saudi king but now the president of mexico. i'm joined by adrian el rod former senior aide for hillary

for america. john brabender, and aisha ras cofrom npr. what do you make of this? suppose hillary had done a crisp salute. >> can you imagine? shelled have been article afc impeachment would have been filed against her immediately. we probably would have had more ars before that. >> i remember when jimmy carter kissed brezhnev. that was a bad day. >> look, i think what you're seeing here. >> we're going to play there awhile. >> is a very dangerous trajectory. you're seeing the president of the united states who has more respect for authoritarian leaders like putin and kim than our allies. >> he's smiling in glee. hi, guys how do you know this guy doesn't do the thumb screws or how do you know this isn't the king torer and he knocks off his you canal and other jobs for kim. >> are you now worried that the president is too soft. >> i'm asking.

>> i wouldn't care if he would have done the mack rain fla with the entire north korea army if this is going to lead to the denuclearization of north korea. i think we're at least have a real shot at it. i think he's played this pretty smart and deserves credit for that are. >> he's optimistic. >> this is something that the north koreans will be able to use as propaganda for years to come. so the white house is defending it saying it was a common courtesy. this is something that if things don't go well, north korea has this and they will be able to show this over and over again. >> isn't there a term kowtowing? rudy guiel responded to speculation wednesday that trump's long time attorney and personal fixer michael cohen could be close to cooperating with prosecutors. here's what rudy told fox. >> he's not cooperating nor do we care because the president did nothing wrong. we're very comfortable if he cooperates there's nothing he can cooperate about with regard to president trump.

i am absolutely certain that have from everything i know about that investigation. michael cohen i think would tell you he's got nothing incriminating with the president and really they should stop going after him. they're torturing the guy. the reality is they're trying to frighten him. >> bank fraud, mail fraud, the works. we all watch perp walks. we watch him walking past the cameras looking very sad. >> yep. >> what's up? rudy says he's in if the corral. i don't think so. >> look, i think that every time rudy giuliani opens his mouth and says something, half the time he's wrong. the more analysis we do on everything that rudy says pertaining to this investigation takes us off the game. emmett flood is doing all the work. >> who is? emmet flood. >> rudy is the one out there spouting his mouth. again, half the stuff. >> would you say that if he were here? >> of course i would. >> just checking. john brabender. >> everything keeps talking about he looks unhappy. did he get raided.

he has good reasons. >> all his -- he's recorded all these phone conversations and they've got all the recordings. every time he had a woman to fix to keep quiet, this guy has it on tape somewhere, everything in his e-mail, all there. they're looking through it. >> look, we have not seen one piece of evidence at all that any of this is related. >> because they're holding it. >> well, but we haven't seen it. >> you're banking on making this straight, john, because you'll be on again. you're banking on mike cohen being clean and having nothing on the president. >> rudy is doing a good job saying no matter what comes out, we can't trust anything anymore because of this fbi. >> because of this guy that said. >> the mueller investigation is not leaking. > keep trashing mueller. >> that's what giuliani is saying these things is all about. the investigators know what they have on michael cohen and whether they have anything on the president. giuliani i don't know that he would even know. but i think he's trying to make the case to the public there's nothing happening.

if you say it enough, you can make this case we're innocent. but people often do say they're innocent but can still end up getting charged. >> if he's done anything wrong mueller is going to catch him. this guy looks serious. finally one of your favorites iowa republican congressman steve king is under fire after retweeting a british political activist who described himself an admirer of hitler. he retweeted the boast. opposition to mass migration in italy and commented europe is waking up. will america in time in the "huffington post" reported king said he didn't realize he had retweeted a nazi sympathizer. it's not the first time mr. king's far right views sparked controversy. he told news max that most immigrants were drug mules. >> for everyone who is a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and have calves the

size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. they would be legalized with the same act. >> john, what's with the crowded cantaloupes? wasn't dan burton shooting cantaloupes to see if shot hipd or not? does he measure the legs 0 to see if they're cantaloupe size? >> i'll be the first to say he shouldn't have retweeted. if he didn't know who he was retweeting, he shouldn't have waited the entire day to discredit it. >> where do you put king opt spectrum? hitler being 10. >> i'm not going to get into that. i'll let steve king defend himself. the problem i have when this type of thing happens is it takes us off the real discussions we need on illegal immigration and the reforms that need to happen that america wants to have happen. this is something where we just get off message. >> aisha stephen king keeps doing it. >> republicans have to decide

what message and what's important to them. is it important they stand up if someone retweets someone 0 who is a nazi sympathizer? is that important for them to stand up against? that's something -- >> do you believe this guy king didn't know he was retweeting this nazi guy. >> of course not. white nationalists are part of the trump party coalition. that's why you're not seeing a lot of republicans who have the courage to criticize steve king for his tweet. >> up next these three will tell me something i don't know. you're watching "hardball." at some point, we are going to be able to beat als. because life is amazing. so i am hoping for a cure. i want this, to uh, to be a reality. um, yeah. a hilton getaway means

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of are you confident he can continue given all the ethics violations. >> i haven't paid that close attention to it. i don't know enough what pruitt has or has not done to give you a good comment. >> paul ryan apparently hasn't seen a newspaper in a few months. he may not want to the excellent on the myriad of controversy squirrelling around the epa administrator. the national review says pruitt should be canned. arguing this is no way for any public official to treat taxpayers. last night fox news host laura ingraham tweeted pruitt's bad judgment is hurting trump. he's got to go. senator james inhofe of oklahoma says every day something new comes up and unless something drastically changes it's time for him to leave the job. sarah huckabee sanders today was asked if the president still has confidence in pruitt.

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-not today, ron. those we love is an act of mutuality. we can help with the financial ones. learn more or find an advisor at massmutual.com we're back with the round table. adrian, tell me something i don't know. >> democratic women want to run for office. in 2016, 950 women contacted emily's list seeking support. this year it's 36,000. very exciting. > 950 to 36,000. all the evidence is this is a big women's year. john. >> shortly after president trump was elected, u.s. senator bob casey from pennsylvania stood up and said he's happy to lead the resistance a new poll was related a few hours ago that showed 56% of pennsylvanians either aren't voting for him or

are undecided showing he's one of the weakest democrat senators. >> do you think barletta is going to win. >> yes, i am. this is going to be a battleground that goes into 2020. >> you personally will bring him across the finish line. >> do you want to make a contribution. >> no, i might make a bet. >> quick statistic for you. president trump has pardoned five people and issued two commutations at this point in his presidency compared to the past three president who's at this point had issued zero pardons or commutations. >> what's your point. >> he is different from other presidents. instead of other presidents waits, he's jumping right in. >> a lot of them waited till the last second when nobody was looking. marc rich. thank you. of when we return, let me finish tonight with trump watch. it will be short and sweet tonight. you're watching "hardball." the emotions that bring us together

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trump watch thursday, june 14th, 2018. could it be that donald trump so recently a pro-choice big city democrat joined the republican party in order to destroy it? think of the principles that have been undergirding account party, respect for the rugged individual, opposition to excessive government power, a cringing who is at this time toward federal deficits, hatred of communism and communists personally. here you have the new leader of the republican party operating in plain sight to destroy each and every one of these

principles, these pillars of the grand old party itself. and what happens if someone in the party and the gop tries to stop him? he's accused of poking the bear. wow. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> i wanted to make this out of the goodness of my heart. >> the president sued for running a lawless slush fund. >> donald trump gave $1 million, okay? >> tonight, the new lawsuit alleging persistently illegal conduct during the 2016 campaign. then the justice department reports. james comey helped elect donald trump. >> i am a big fan of the fbi. i love the fbi. >> hillary clinton's campaign chairman joins me for reaction. plus, the white house defense of the president's salute of a north korean general and citing the bible to defend child separation. >> i would cite you to the apostle paul. >> the