agencies, it's going to have ramifications like charlottesville. we're going to see it play out. >> my thanks. that does it for our hour. i'll see you back here monday for deadline white house at 4 p.m. another day, another bombshell, let's play "hardball." good evening, i am steve kornacki in for chris matthews. president trump began this week in helsinki claiming he believes russian president vladimir putin over his own intelligence. as the repercussions of that continue to reveberate, "the new york times" first revealing the president's personal lawyer and fixer michael cohen secretly recorded a conversation

during the presidential campaign with then candidate trump in which they discussed a potential payment to karen mcdougal. you can hear cohen and trump quote discussing a plan by cohen to attempt to purchase the right to mcdougal. mcdougal alleges she had a roughly ten-month affair with trump that began in 2006 and lasted into 2007. this is what she said earlier this year. >> i was a different girl. i had fun, i was in the playboy scene. i was just enjoying life as much as i could. and, you know, when i got with him actually there was, you know, a real relationship there, there were real feelings between the two of us. not just myself, not just him. there was a real relationship there. and i was kind of out of sight,

out of mind with everything else. and deep inside i did have a lot of guilt but i still continued. >> the white house has denied the affair. four days before the election "the wall street journal" revealed the national inquirer had purchased mcdougal's story only to hide it from the public. a process known as catch and kill. ami a parent company of the national inquirer is run by david pecker. hope hicks told "the wall street journal," quote, they had no knowledge of any of this. today's recording seems to undercut those claims. a source familiar with the president's legal strategy tells nbc news that the president was unaware that he was being recorded. and late today cohen's lawyer lanny davis issued the following statement. obviously there is an ongoing investigation and we are sensitive to that. any attempt by any spin cannot change what is on the tape.

for more i'm joined by michael schmidt who broke the story for "the new york times," the political reporter for politico, thanks for all 06 you for being with us. michael, who reported this to start with, let me begin with you and just begin to take us through the basic heres. this is about a conversation that took place in the fall of 2016 during the campaign. at that point the national inquirer had the rights to this story, to mcdougal's story and the conversation was about potentially paying the national inquirer for that, is that right? >> this was going to be a payment to buy the rights to the story, to essentially ensure that it continued to remain silent. this was in september, just two months before the election. in november the campaign denied any type of deal or knowledge of

anything, any money that went to her. but this conversation is brought up in the context of the inquirer payment that was made to the model. now, cohen secretly recorded the president's lawyer saying he did not know cohen was recording at the time. it's only two minutes long. michael cohen recorded a lot of things. >> in terms of there's a discussion here, but do we know if there actually was a payment? >> so there's ultimately never a second payment that is made. that's what the president's lawyers are saying today, tat this payment was not made. and what they're also saying is that the tape indicates that the president did not know, there's no evidence that the person knew that months earlier the national inquirer had a do it by the model story. there's no indication of a payment for that, and that's why giuliani is claiming that it's a

good thing for the president. >> let me bring in katey and our legal expert here. from a legal standpoint, when you look at what's reported today and all the other questions that's been swirling about michael cohen and these alleged payments, what do you make of it legally? do you see any kind of a crime here? >> so the crime we need to be focusing on is whether or not there's been a violation of federal campaign finance laws. was there a evaluation of the krub tribution limits and was there a violation in terms of a failure to disclose this contribution was made? fundamentally it doesn't. you know, you don't have to be a lawyer to be concerned about a client's credibility. what wave heard thus far is denial by the trump administration in november of 2016 that they even knew about this, but clearly that's a lie, steve, because in september of 2016 on a tape you've got trump and cohen talking about it.

so what do we have in terms of legal kind of take away from this. well, now we have the answer to that question why was michael cohen making these tapes. these tapes were his insurance. these were tapes made to ensure if he needed to use them later he'd have the opportunity to do so. >> when you say campaign finance violation, for folks trying to put that together, you're saying this is potentially damaging information for donald trump during the presidential campaign so the campaign finance aspect would be a payment designed to keep that quiet would essentially amount to campaign spending? >> absolutely. so it's the idea that you are making a campaign contribution for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. and you always not only have to follow the moment but look at the timing of the payment. this payment was done in terms of the ami payment two months prior to presidential election. and the conversation we're

hearing about between trump and cohen is maybe we should buy thesis rights from ami. he didn't want anybody to know about this. >> rudy giuliani the president's lawyer confirmed the recordings to "the new york times" saying the conversation was less than two minutes long. "the wall street journal" confirming tonight it was taped in person. quote, the payment was never made, adding if mr. trump had told mr. cohen to write a check rather than send cash so it could be properly documented. you know something about trump world. first of all, the idea that there's somebody this close to donald trump, the guy they call his fixer, michael cohen, the idea he recorded this conversation and now potentially more conversations, is that something that was ever you think on donald trump's raid, that that could be going on? >> clearly he said today he was quoted as saying he was very surprised michael taped him.

so i think he is clearly surprised this occurred. although trump spent most of his arrear threatening business acquaintances and lawyers and other journalists he was taping them. i think there's -- you know, i don't know legally how much this issue with the payments are going to come home to roost for the president in the way it's actually threatening him. i don't think campaign finance law violations are really going to be a threat to him. i think the issue of michael cohen goes beyond this sort of thing. what does he know about the transactions with russia, a new trump tower in moskow, and seder brought ukrainian peace plans to michael flynn. there's always these moments in which michael cohen is intersecting around the mueller issue. and that's part of what mueller

is looking at, trump's inner circle intersecting with russians or russian cut outs who influenced the outcome of the 2016 campaign. >> that's the bigger picture thing that's been hanging here because michael cohen gave his interview to abc, hires lanny davis. there's been a sense he's trying to convey a message to donald trump. one of the sort of guessing games is who's trying to send the message to who here? is this another example of cohen trying to send a message to trump? is this a message trump is his team are trying to send to cohen 234. >> i'm sure we can ask mike schmidt about it, but we don't want to give anything away. if the source is michael cohen and his lawyers it says one thing. if it's rudy giuliani or the president and his attorneys it says another. i think you could see it as a warning shot or a cry for help or a signal he's willing to

cooperate. and some people have suggested if it's the president's attorneys or rudy giuliani then they see it as potentially good news for the president or they're trying to get out ahead of a bad news story. at this point there are a lot of lawyers who have their hands on the material that was seized on the fbi raid on cohen's office and hotel room. there's a lot of potential sources. >> michael, i know i -- i wasn't going to ask you to reveal a source or anything. but is your sense -- do you have any sense of the motive of who was leaking this? >> no. you know, i think sometimes that's stuff is looked at too black and whitely in the media, that things are sort of doled out and handed out. look, this is an important part of the current trump story. trump faces a sort of two front war legally here. in new york there's an investigation focused on cohen, but trump's lawyers don't really know the full extent of what the authorities are looking at.

so fighting over what the u.s. attorneys office in manhattan can have and can look at and whether anything is protected that michael cohen has. obviously michael cohen has not formally agreed to cooperate with the federal government, and the lawyers still don't know the full extent whether the president has any exposure there. on the other hand they have the investigation in washington, but they have a very important decision to make but they've continued to put off with whether to allow the president to sit for an interview. one of the issues they do not want to be questioned about in that interview is michael cohen. he said that is certainly off the table. >> results of that issue of the national inquirer ami, david pecker and the chairman, he has been friends with trump for decades. since the early stages of his campaign in 2015, mr. trump, his lawyer michael cohen, and mr. pecker have strategiesguised

protecting him. this is story unto itself, tim, the national inquirer i don't think they typically endorse presidential candidates. there's a closeness here that extend well back before donald trump was a political character. >> and speaks to i think trump's history of coddling or cozying up to gossip writers and tabloid press. he always maintained close relationships with the people who wrote those columns and he would dole out little bits of gossip about the business world or political world or society in exchange for favorable coverage. and his relationship with the national inquirer sort of a

grande mal version of that relationship. ibturn pecker gave him coverage. that's the quid pro quos. >> if the national inquirer had this story and there was a discussion potentially about paying and then there was no payment, why wouldn't there be? if you're running for president, you're worried about it and this is what it's going to take to get it buried, why wouldn't the payment then happen? >> i can't speak to why the president didn't pay or there was no agreement reached for the payment, but i do think one of the most interesting aspects of what happened today is the fact that michael cohen taping his client, which formal federal prosecutors i spoke to today is totally unethical and almost completely unheard of. really undermines this narrative we've been talking about for months is cohen's loyalty to their client. someone who tapes their client and potentially exposes them to this, do they really have that

client's interests at heart? is he really up holding his responsibility to his client? maybe he was not the kind of ride or die sidekick we all thought he was. >> as a lawyer, is that something you've heard of before? >> you can do it new york. you can tape your clients, tape other people. it's a one party consent state. why are you doing, well it's true. you want to make sure you have this information if it has value later on, and that's why. to quickly answer that question why that payment was never made, why do you have to make the payment if he was already made president by the end of november? >> i know a lot of people i think if they felt their lawyer was recording them probably wouldn't have that person as a lawyer much longer. thank you all for being with us. and coming up the white house in an uproar over comments by trump's top spy. officials claiming director of national intelligence dan coats

has gone rogue after rebuking trump over what the presidented at the helsinki summit. and with trump digging in and now inviting vladimir putin to the white house other republicans are speaking out like never before. plus president trump's meeting with putin received widespread condemnation with some even calling it treasonous, but has it moved a needle when it comes to the president's poll numbers? we have some new poll numbers. and the question of what really happened in that one-on-one with trump and putin. the "hardball" round table going to tackle that and that new reporting ofl donald trump discussing payments related to playboy model karen mcdougal. this is "hardball," where the action is. (vo) why are subaru outback owners always smiling? because they've chosen the industry leader. subaru outback holds its value better than any other vehicle in its class, according to alg. better than rav4.

better than grand cherokee. better than edge. make every adventure a happy one with subaru outback. get 0% apr financing on the 2018 subaru outback. when the guy in frontd down the highway slams on his brakes out of nowhere. you do, too, 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 mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ well, that was quick. the nfl's two month old national anthem policy now on hold today. this as the league and the

player's association head back to drawing board. of course back in may the nfl said players could not sit or kneel during the national anthem but could remain in a locker room as a form of protest. the player's association said not good enough to that and the two sides are now trying to work out a more acceptable compromise. of course, president trump felt compelled to weigh in on this urging the nfl to impose a stiff penalty on players who kneel. be right back. alright, i brought in new max protein ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. i'll take that.

[cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors. new ensure max protein. where we're making the next generation of multiscreen welcadvertising possible.ght, we have the broad and targeted reach you need to access the customers you're looking for on tv and digital platforms. then we connect you to our team of media experts, who are ready to help you maximize your budget while elevating your advertising effectiveness. sounds like an advertising opportunity knocking. visit comcastspotlight.com today.

we have some breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again? >> vladimir putin coming to the -- >> did i hear you? >> yeah, yeah. >> okay. >> yeah. >> that's going to be special.

>> welcome back to "hardball." that was was director of national intelligence dan coats learning that president trump invited vladimir putin to washington for a second meeting. the invitation comes amid a week of dizzying answers from trump over russian meddling in the 2016 election. answers that put him squarely at odds with his own intelligence agencies. "the washington post" reporting today, quote, inside the white house trump's advisers were in an up roar over coat's interview. noting at moments coats appeared to be laughing at the press, playing to his audience of the intellectual alete in a manner that was sure to infuriate trump. coats has gone rogue said one senior white house official. trump defended his dealings with putin. >> getting along with president putin, getting along with russia is a positive, not a negative. now, with that being said if that doesn't work out i'll be the worst enemy he's ever had. >> but republican congressman

and former cia operative will hurd of texas offered a dire warning of the president's increasingly cozy relationship with putin. writing quote, over the course of my career i saw russian intelligence manipulate many people. i never thought i would see the day when an american president would be one of them. despite widespread condemnation late today trump responded to his critics on twitter writing, quote, i got severely criticized by the fake news media for being too nice to president putin. in the old days they would call it diplomacy. if i were loud or vicious they would have criticized me for being too tough. remember when i was criticized for being too tough with chairman kim. michelle, let me start with you. it's interesting to watch coats. we show his reaction for the potential for a putin visit. there was also the statement he put out without white house clearance this week when trump seemed to side against him with

vladimir putin, putin standing right next to him. someone in coats' position right now, if trump is watching him, is there any protection for him based on the reaction you've seen this week where trump would say, you know what, i better not touch this now? or do you think coats is in danger of going right now? >> i don't know if danger is the right word. he's decided he's perfectly willing to step aside if that's what it takes. i mean, i sort of think the honorable thing for coats would be to forthrightly resign and protest. although i understand the argument when you have an administration that's this corrupt and this much of a threat to the stability of the world and the national security of the united states that you want kind of a patrioter in a position to influence things to stay in place. although i think one thing we're learning when we found out he didn't even know, for example, putin is coming, we can kind of ask questions how much of an

influence he's really able to have. >> tin urin terms of reaction f republicans the headline has been shawn hannity. i think he's been the loudest and squarely by trump's side. but i've noticed outside of that i felt i've noticed more dissent than usual. is that true on the right or is this another thing where his base is going to line up with him? >> if it's his base they're 100% whatever he does is right and whatever excuse it is the white house puts out on his behalf they are behind. if it -- you know, you've got other people in the gop, they've been outspoken, they've disagreed with him. you've got similar situations with coats. we were talking a minute ago with coats and his future. nobody knows. look what happened with rex tillerson. there's been another scenario today as well with federal chairman jerome powell.

powell -- trump had said on an interview on cnbc about the rate hikes and he doesn't think they need to be raising rates when the markets already positioned for rate hikes and we're going to get another one. so it's another chance for another appointee, somebody else, powell, is going to be in the same position on do i raise the rates again. so you've got coats who's i guess the trump administration is looking at has gone rogue and now you may have another person. >> and coats said he felt duty bound to correct the record after the president sided with putin over him in hel singy. over the past week top justice and intelligence officials have all been crystal clear about their conclusion. >> it's undeniable that the russians are taking the lead on this. i think anybody who thinks that vladimir putin doesn't have the stamp on everything that happens in russia is misinformed. it is very clear that virtually nothing happens thereof any kind of consequence that vladimir

putin doesn't know about or hasn't ordered. i think we're pretty sure about that. >> my view has not changed, which is that russia attempted to interfere with the last election. >> the russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential campaign is just one tree in a growing forest. >> and in his new york times op-ed, writing, by playing into vladimir putin's hands the leader of the free world actively participated in a russian disinformation campaign that legitimized russian denial and weakened the credibility of the united states to both our friends and foes abroad. michelle, you were talking a minute ago about the idea of maybe out of principle as somebody like dan coats resigning. i guess the case you hear for him staying for folks who are critical of this administration is if he goes, if somebody comparable to him goes maybe he

gets replaced by somebody who doesn't put out that statement this week that says, hey, the president may have said this in helsinki but here's what we're seeing. >> i think that's a debate by everyone who at one time seemed to have a shred of honor in this administration. should they go because they're clearly working with something that's disgraceful or should they stay and try to mitigate the damages as much as possible? i'm sympathetic to that argument when it comes to national security people, people who are nat position to hopefully push back should, say, trump try to recognize the russian annexation of crimea. but i also think that at a certain point, you know, again, given that coats -- i think it's pretty clear that what coats think about trump's performance over this last week you would have a real galvanizing impact i think if a few highly placed,

highly respected people stepped aside and then spoke out against the situation that is -- that people will say quietly is so outrageous it seems to have come out of some over the top hollywood movie. but people are slowly coming to terms with the fact this is reality is this is really as bad as it looks. >> and there is that suggestion put out there by the president, on twitter we started this segment with it that there be a visit from vladimir putin to the united states, to the white house this fall. on top of everything else that's been expressed by some of these skeptical voices. this fall, on the eve of the election you want to go through with this all over again on american soil? >> that's right. that's why everybody's caught a bit off-guard because the midsternals are very important. if something happens to trump it's going to be up to, you know, the house and the senate. but what you were saying, i'm going to push back a little bit

because the trump administration, they approved the sale of legal aides to ukraine and sanctioned a total of 100 targets in response to russia's occupation of crimea -- >> so you're paying the case that, look, as close as he is rhetorically and in terms of seemingly to personally like putin, there's been policies from the administration? >> well, he is agreeing that -- trump i feel like is hard on russia, but the problem of it is he likes putin personally. there's been some sort of bromance with putin. look, george w. bush said that he liked putin, that they had a good relationship. >> there's a personal policy disconnect. >> nor had putin funded george w. bush's fortune. i think what you see again and again in this administration is

this bifurcation between the administration's as a whole policy and what the president would personally like. then we know reportedly trump blew up and was furious that he'd been he felt manipulated into doing this. so you see his administration trying to carry on a sort of normal hawkish republican foreign policy and all the reporting suggests that trump has tried to curve that in every way that he can. >> then you get that reporting and he says nobody has been tougher on russia. it has been dizzying. thank you both for joining us. and up next trump says that summit with putin was a great success. what do americans think about it? we've got some polling numbers. i've heading over to big board. this is "hardball," where the action is. ♪ ♪ [ screams ] ♪ [ laughs ]

♪ whoa, whoa, whoa. your one item would be the name your price tool? it helps people save on car insurance. why wouldn't it save me? why? what would you bring? a boat. huh. ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. i'll take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors.

nis it to carry cargo... greatness of an suv? or to carry on a legacy? its show of strength... or its sign of intelligence? in crossing harsh terrain... or breaking new ground? this is the time to get an exceptional offer on the mercedes of your midsummer dreams at the mercedes-benz summer event, going on now. receive up to a $1,250 summer event bonus on select suvs. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

all right, we've been talking about that trump-putin summit in helsinki, the fallout, the widespread condemnation. even republicans speaking up, a lot of them, against what donald trump did over there. the question, what are americans, what do voters make of it? we've got some polls, sort of the instant reaction. the first polls that have come in after that summit, after that press conference. we can give you the read out. this is axios, again nearly 65% disapprove of trump in his handling of the putin summit.

and his press conference 55% disapprove in one. and the a very similar finding, 55%. so clear majority disapproval for the president, for his behavior, for his actions over there in helsinki. when you break that down and look at the party divide, probably not a big surprise here. overwhelmingly democrats not happy with what happened there. republicans, 68% apruchb of trump there and 79% in the other. pretty strong republican support. and again independents sort of tipped the scales here. basically two to one disapproving of what they saw there. so that looks like the headline. but is it a little more complicated than that? there's a third poll that came out this week and they wanted to see how deeply held were those folks have, it's interestinged when they added that option because here's what the result looked like. suddenly you've got plurality

approving, 41% approving, disapprove 35%. that not sure option 24%. and that not sure option was taken really by just one group here, the independents. among independents, look at that, a third of them chose the not sure option and approve ends up getting a plurality there at 38%. certainly when folks are pushed to do you approve or disapprove, it's clear the instant reaction is they're going to disapprove. when you start accounting for maybe how deeply held that view is, it gets a bit more muddled. this is my tease ahead to sunday because on sunday there's going to be the release of a new nbc news wall street journal poll, a much more comprehensive look to that summit, his behavior and approval as well. up next our round table is going to join us to talk about

implications, what are the potential ramifications for both of them. you're watching "hardball." sfx: [cell phone dialing] no. no, no, no, no, no. cancel. cancel. please. aaagh! being in the know is a good thing. that's why discover will alert you if your social security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites.

money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management.

welcome back to "hardball." more now on our top story. according to "the new york times" president trump's former personal lawyer michael cohen secretly recorded a conversation in 2016 with then candidate trump regarding a payment related to playboy model karen mcdougal. following his meeting with russian president vladimir putin in helsinki on monday. the question is no matter how damaging the cohen story, will it provide a much needed distraction from the president regarding helsinki? let's bring in our round table. never before in american history would you suggest that a story like today's about donald trump and his lawyer and the phone call and the payments and the

inquirer was anything but terrible politically for an administration. and yet this is a president who there were -- john brennen was out there the other day saying this president is guilty of treason. and now comes a story of something more on the salacious side. is this part of the trump formula, that something happens that gets the world crizzy and something else happens and it moves aside? >> he's also tweeting out today about the nfl and players kneeling during the national anthem. we don't know why this came out now. it's certainly theorized it was to cover up the helsinki conference as you say. michael cohen is finally deciding he's going to cooperate with the prosecution -- woo we don't know how this material was obtained, whether it came out of that raid of his apartment and he didn't want it to surface and there was some push back on

that. or whether he's saying the writing on the wall here, the president is no longer standing with me. we just don't know how it got out there. but if he has now decided to go ahead and cooperate with prosecutors trump's in a lot of trouble. >> that becomes the longer term to the extent there's a longer term question. but immediately it does strike me that, you know, we had a major event with almost no parallel, no precedent in modern america history. we had some between american presidents and leaders of nations we had tense relationships with but they never went like this one's went and yet we end the week talking about this. >> right, but we are still talking about putin and russia. he's not knocked the latest scandal out of the headlines. specifically i mean the russia scandal. i don't think this is having the intended effect if it was in fact put out by the trump administration. i think there's another person

interested in putting out stories and that's to your point, michael cohen. the way to make contact with trump, the way to communicate with trump is through the media. and everyone knows that leaking information to the media helps to get a message across to trump. whether that message is to try to chide him, like we know there's been allegations general kelly is someone who leaks in the media as a way to try to change trump's behavior. i don't think that would be lost on michael cohen because he knows how the trump orbit works and if you look at the twitter feed he's very clearly sending smoke signals to donald trump talking talking about how he values freedom of the press. all of those things are clearly targeted at none other than donald trump. >> there are clearly provocations here from donald trump's former personal lawyer, his fixer, we always use that word. if that theory is correct, the

president doesn't seem to be responding to them the way perhaps cohen hopes. >> that's because the relationship is already dead. i don't think it's smoke signals. he's facing immense legal bills, we're talking high six figures, we're talking kids he's got to put through college. he doesn't have any business. and the amount of time he's going to be spending on the mueller probe and southern district probe and the amount of money, it's going to cost a lot. same with lanny davis. i think when michael cohen when he's been attacking the president on twitter, indirectly, mind you, is really ready to flip and make a deal. and with these tapes or the revelation of it, it's saying, hey, i've got something attractive, let's strike a deal. and he's also trying to cast himself as a new version of don dean. he's not good like ray donovan at fixing things because we wouldn't be in this mess if he were. and second, being the new john

dean of this era, he's not calling everything out and blowing a whistle. he's trying to save his own skin. >> i guess the skeptical take in terms of cohen and cooperating, flipping, whatever term you want to use here, he has been sending all these signals and he keeps sending all these signals. does that mean prosecutors are maybe looking at him and saying there isn't much here as you might think? >> there was a lot there. so much material was taken out of his office. it's being gone through now by the special master, and the vast majority of it seems it's going to be available for prosecutors to sift through. there's so much there. i think it's to the point both of you made. he's not only signaling to president trump but to all of us, this is where i'm going folks, i'm done, i'm not going to take a bullet for the president as he one point claimed he would. it does seem to me there's not a

chance -- he's already flipped and this surfacing of the tape is not something done by trump's team or rudy giuliani but clearly by michael cohen to say it's time. >> it's fascinating he mention to take the bullet for donald trump comment, and apparently he was taping him when he said that. up next with top level officials still in the dark what was discussed in that two hour meeting in helsinki, is it a good idea for president trump to have a second meeting in washington this fall? tomer sati. while we're honored, we don't do it for the awards, we do it for you. we have low fares on over 4,000 daily flights on average to 100 destinations, just so we're ready to go when you are. everything we do is done with you in mind. but, hey, if they want to reward us for rewarding you, we won't stop them. putting people first. that's transfarency.

at outback, there's one way to cook a steak. perfectly. and three ways for perfect shrimp. introducing steak & shrimp, starting at $15.99. whether you choose bbq, garlic butter or sweet & tangy shrimp, it'll be perfect. and for a perfect outback meal at home, order now. alright guys let's go! let's do this directions to the greek theater (beep) ♪can i get a connection? ♪can i get can i get a connection?♪ ♪can i get a connection? who would have guessed? an energy company helping cars emit less. making cars lighter, it's a good place to start, advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less. improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here.

well, roseanne barr is once again courting controversy following a racist tweet about former white house advisor valery jarrett. bar goes on an expletive rant saying she thought valery jarrett was white. >> i'm trying to talk about iran and the iran deal. >> i know, but you told me about this 300 times. >> that's what my tweet was about. >> i thought the [ bleep ] was white. i thought the [ bleep ] was white. >> be right back. deal, right? wrong. your insurance company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. maybe you should take that pen and use it

to sign up with a different insurance company. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ when heartburn hits... fight back fast with tums smoothies. it neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum tum tum tum tums... smoothies... ...and introducing new tums sugar-free. with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were very saggy. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with new sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. introducing more sizes for better comfort. new depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. and help you feel more strength & energy in just 2 weeks. i'll take that. ensure high protein, with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure®

at outback, there's one way to cook a steak. perfectly. and three ways for perfect shrimp. introducing steak & shrimp, starting at $15.99. whether you choose bbq, garlic butter or sweet & tangy shrimp, it'll be perfect. and for a perfect outback meal at home, order now. or sweet & tangy shrimp, it'll be perfect. the winter of '77.uring i first met james in 5th grade. we got married after college. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester, neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru. welcome back to "hardball." president trump began the week by spending two hours in a

one-on-one meeting with russian president vladimir putin despite the fact many u.s. officials are still in the dark about what was negotiated behind closed doors, trump has already reached out to putin about a second meeting. this time in our nation's capitol. dan coats has said he doesn't know what was discussed in helsinki and when asked about a second meeting he had this to say. >> oh, goodness. first of all, i know you're going to ask me about the agenda is. we will be looking at what the potential intelligence risk could possibly be and we'll make that information known to the president. >> would you recommend there not be a one-on-one without note takers? >> if i were asked that question i would look for a different way of doing it. >> we are back with our round table. evan, tara, and beth. evan, the idea of having a second meeting this time in

washington, does trump have to have something to show for the first one before the second one? >> yeah, the president has nothing to show for it. he claims he has all these achievements but he's unable to list what they are. we have all these great achievements on new york, but he's not saying what it is. where vladimir putin is going out and saying what he got from trump. i think that the president was humiliated in helsinki. he's now trying to change the topic and talk about what the nfl should be getting in penalties for kneeling. >> tara, i got to think the politics of this, the idea of this something like this happening in washington, something like we saw this week happening in the middle of october, the politics of this, democrats have got to be looking at it and saying are you

kidding? >> i think we're excited. democrats would be excited about that. look, democrats are running on the culture of corruption. and we already know that there's polling to suggest that that messaging is working. in addition to running on local issues in the local districts because the districts are all very distinct and diverse, they're running on this. and the polling supports its effectiveness. and another indication of its effectiveness in the state of alabama you had republicans in the republican primary running on corruption. and also russia speaks to trump's corruption. it is yet another indication that he is thoroughly corrupt. just like all these corrupt officials he has, this is all tied into one message he has and i think it's all having an impact. >> clearly something resonated with him enough where he felt like he had to try to make some

kind of statement, walking back some of his comments there. and as he came up with the idea of i meant to say wouldn't and would, he still seemed conflicked about even going that far. do you think that any of the criticism he's gotten from within his own administration, from within his own party, even for some folks on fox news, not shawn hannity but others, do you think that's registered with him at all? >> that extraordinary moment in that press conference when he said i went back and looked over, he was reading for notes and looked rather glum. it didn't look like it was something he was excited to talk about. and just the very next day we learned he would like president putin to come back here. this is very typical of the president. he might get shamed into making a grudging statement as he did with that would versus wouldn't, but then he sort of likes to lean-in and go for it.

on the very thing he's being most criticized for it, he's going to double down. but if he's inviting putin back, putin hasn't said yes to this yet, there's no agenda. even with a russian president there would be an agenda and he's throwing out the rule book, and he knows his supporters love that, so why not? >> and announced, revealed it on twitter. that's certainly a statement of the era we're leaving in. you're watching "hardball." ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪

uhp. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪ i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪ yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪

[ sobs quietly ]

all right, we're back with the "hardball" round table. evan, tell me something i don't know. >> there's been a lot of talk in new york state with the car tez victory that the -- new polling is showing that cynthia nixon is on -- she's really on life support. i mean andrew cuomo is dominating her in every region. and in new york city cuomo performs best against nixon. i think it's a publicity stunt engineered by de blasio. >> not as many sex and the city fans here. >> cairo, illinois, has had public housing segregation for decades. and that public housing segregation has continued. ben carson's hud under ben

carson has made it measurably worse. he's closing down the public housing that exists there and now he's giving people vouchers to try to find housing. these are people who can't find housing because it's an area that's racially segregated. so the white public housing in that area has been maintained for decades. there was a point where they even stopped mowing the lawn and cloning out old apartments and fixing apartments and really nothing was done to these people. and the people of cairo have fought for decades. the first hope they got was under the obama administration and ben carson has taken that away. and that's something no one is talking about. >> and there really are other candidates out there in the world but we do spend a lot of time talking about her. she and bernie sanders got together today, went to kansas and campaigned for two democratic congressional

candidates. they're bringing the message that what can work in the bronx or ver empmont can also work in heartland. with new reports that there is a tape that donald trump is on it and that michael cohen made it. why is this news breaking right now as this legal pressure builds across the board on trump's lawyer and fixer michael cohen and the white house has continued to battle back a scandal of putin proportions? i can tell you i'm very excited to learn the answers because we have several key people who can shed light on this question. michael cohen taped donald trump two months before the election and they discussed secret payments to be made to karen mcdougal. she has since prevailed in a suit with a media outlet related to all those aio