that does it from our life show from broward county, florida. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now. the reckoning approaches. let's play hardball. i'm chris matthews in washington, fearing the imminent arrival of new criminal charges or a damaging report from mueller president trump appears

petrified by what federal investigators could reveal. with his fate and that of his family hanging in the balance, trump struck out at the special counsel in a lengthy twitter rant when in addition to his accustomed smears and innuendo, trump made strangely specific yet unsubstantiated claims about mueller's investigation. trump tweeted, quote, the inner workings of the mueller investigation are a total mess. they have found no collusion and have gone nuts. they are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. they are a disgrace to our nation and don't care how many lives they ruin. these are angry people, including the highly conflicted bob mueller who worked for obama for eight years. well the truth, which the president seemed to intentionally distort, is that mueller was appointed fbi director by president george w. bush in 2001, serving nearly eight years under bush before staying on for another four and

a half under obama as a holdover. trump then lobbed another bomb calling the special counsel's prosecutors a gang of democrat thugs. as the "new york times" reports, trump's rant comes after three days of private meets with his personal lawyers. even with matthew whitaker leading the department of justice, trump appears strike within fear about mueller's next move perhaps for good reason as politico reports, a deep anxiety has started to set in that mueller is about to pounce and that any number of trump allies may soon be staring down the barrel of indictment in addition to the criminal charge, jerome corsi and roger stone say they are expecting them and political reports donald trump jr. told friends in recent weeks that he believes he could be indicted and according to the "washington

post," the president worried allowed about the possibility that mueller will seek to indict trump jr. as he moves towards the conclusion of his probe. joining me now is joyce vance, a federal prosecutor, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the "new york times" and jonathan lemire is white house reporter for the associated pre press. why is trump in such an uproar, jonath jonathan. >> that twitter diatribe is from a few different things. he is dealing with a number of setbacks since the midterm elections. seemingly by the day the democrats pick up another seat

in the house. that choice has drawn a lot of heat. we saw movement in the senate to try to introduce legislation to protect the special counsel robert mueller and certainly he is suddenly -- even though mueller himself has been quiet, the word around mueller has picked up. whispers here in washington as you just said, further indictments could be coming. the president is sbrinternalizi that coverage. that comes on the heels he spent in the white house behind me preparing for the answers to the written questions from mueller on collusion. the white house's lawyer said they're not touching the obstruction piece but collusion is in the president's mind and despite council from his advisers to keep quiet to not attack robert mueller, that dam broke in a specific way as he unleashed personal and inaccurate attacks about

muelle mueller. >> let me go to joyce. it seems when he goes personally against the prosecutor he expects prosecution so he wants to undermine it saying he's a democrat when the history shows it was george w. bush who made him fbi director and he was held over by president obama but he's no democrat yet he wants to say he's in chaos. is he projecting what it looks like is going on in the white house -- screaming and shouting? it looks like a healthy dose of projection and wishful thinking. maybe there's strategy. it's easy to discredit this president as someone who shoots from the hip. we believe his twitter feed is the window into his soul and what his worries of the moment are but there seems to be a

certain deliberate strategy of trying to undercut the mueller investigation and i suppose if his base is still willing to accept any of the garbage he spews in these tweets maybe mueller will be undercut in their minds but most is made up. some is outright lays miskhark i -- mischaracterizing him as someone who served in the obama administration. my experience is the only people who attack prosecutors and police are the guilty. if you're innocent, you go in and tell the truth but when you're out of strategies to pursue, you attack the police. >> trump attorney rudy giuliani told the "washington post" today that mueller has posed at least two dozen questions to the president about potential collusion saying, quote, there are some that create more issues for us legally than others, whatever that means. according to the "washington post," giuliani said some were unnecessary, some were possible traps and we might consider some

as irrelevant. peter, you don't get to choose what questions you answer. this is a take home exam. they're taking a loot of time with it. three days in a row now. what is trump afraid of in those questions. ? can we tell? >> it's a great question. i hope someday if i get in trouble with a prosecutor i get to pick and choose which questions i think are relevant. this is a president who managed to avoid an actual interview in which you have to respond in the moment without the ability to have a lawyer help you write the answers. this is the best way a president could have to respond to questions from prosecutors because you have a take home test with the books in front of you. you consult with your staff and lawyers about what you have said previously in order to make sure you don't trip over your own past words and have any contradictions. the traps are obvious. anything that gets at intent or

that he wants to impede the investigation goes to obstruction. neigh gets at acknowledging knowledge of that meeting in trump tower that his son and son-in-law took with russian visitors offering information on behalf of the russian government would contradict something he said in the past. if they ask him about the statement he helped draft, that he basically dictated in response to reports about that meeting that could open up a can of worms. what he doesn't know is what special prosecutor robert mueller knows so when you answer these questions you don't want to say anything that will contradict in evidence the hands of the prosecutors because you can get yourself in severe trouble. >> j.oyce, not everybody has an escape route. saddam hussein ended up hiding in the ground. and i'm thinking about trump. he has pardon power which we don't know how limited or unlimited that. is he has whitaker in there as attorney general. he could possibly stifle any reports or indictments i guess.

he's got a bunch of good lawyers, i think. how does trump away with what looks to be coming at him the next several days or weeks which is indictments of his family member, indictments of people who will rat him out like roger stone. and, of course, impeachment. >> trump's strategy in the most difficult moments of his life has been to blus, hit hard and keep on hitting and maybe that works in a business context, but this is the first time i think in trump's liar that he has come up against a criminal investigation. he's had some luck in civil courts. this is robert mueller, the former director of the fbi, this is not a group of angry democrats, but rather a group of very well experienced very straight up the middle prosecutors who know how to get about their jobs. i don't believe that this group breaks and bends because the president blusers and i'm sure

he has the pardon power and he can pardon people who aren't himself, at least to a certain extent and maybe that gets some of his friends out of trouble but he can't use the pardon power to keep people, for instance, roger stone, to keep people from cooperating with prosecutors because if he uses the pardon power in that way, it's just an additional layer of obstruction. i don't think mueller will go after him with kid gloves as regard to the president obstructing justice. >> we're getting text messages that roger stone received the text messages show that credico appeared to have given stone updays about when wikileaks would release information. in august of 26 rcredico reportd

that julian assange has kryptonite on hillary and six days before the democratic e-mails were he released in october of 2016, credico said big news wednesday and that hillary's campaign will die this week. credico asked stone for a favor from trump. quote "why can't you get trump to come out and say that he will give julian assange asylum." peter, boy, that looks like a narrative to me. one guy is getting the dirt for hillary and at the same time that guy who got the dirt or knows it's coming is trying to get a break for assange from the president coming in. it seems to be all there. >> the question becomes what did roger stone know about wikile s

wikileaks. >> didn't he know russians had hab hacked into the democrats? >> we knew the -- they had been hacked. i'm not 100% sure how we have to look at it. the important mart isn't wikileaks. wikileaks was acting as an agent for the russian government and if roger stone knew that and he was acting as an agent of the trump campaign, that's the linkage prosecutors have been looking for. it may or may not be a legal link or illegal. joyce would know better than i do. there's a big debate as to what constitutes conspiracy, that's the legal term, not collusion but we're seeing dots being linked together and we'll see when these indictments come out

to see how far they go. >> the narrative that i think would work with republicans who are continuing to face voters, i don't mean ryan costello or charlie dent or flake because they don't count as republicans as far as i say because they don't face republican voters but what seems to work perhaps if we lived in the age of watergate where there good republicans who faced reality, faced evidence, you can show that trump has been in bed with the russians in terms of financial support for years in his business, if you can show that he had a happy idea about getting help from them in the campaign, that he had interlocutories like roger stone and getting that information to him and encouraging its use by wikileaks to destroy hillary clinton, it seems to me you have a narrative there of collusion. right there. and throw in the tower meeting in june with his son there. >> i think that that's right and we don't know what mueller has. he could be about to reach a

conclusion that there's simply insufficient evidence that there is any conspiracy between trump or folks in the campaign and the russians but he could also be sitting on something that would be enough to convince the most stalwart republican. there are puzzle pieces that don't fit into trump's puzzle pieces. there's the trump tower moscow deal. there's the change to the republican party platform during the campaign. it significantly weakens the republican party's stance. so there are a lot of pieces and we don't know what evidence mueller has developed in an effort to make them all fit together so that we can understand them but it could be that the time at which this is brought down whether it's an indictment or a report that goes on the hill, there will be movement on the republican side as regards to where this president sits with them. >> jonathan, tonight in your report -- and we don't have the report for the associated press

but what is it that explains? why is trump so angry, so jittery? he's making ridiculous charges which don't hold up among the cray cyst about the fact that somehow robert mueller, some local hack democrat, he's not that at all, he's a public servant put in office by republican presidents. what's driving trump crazy. why is he running around like the mat hatter in the white house these last three days? >> two things. there is a sense that the investigation could be closing in. perhaps not on the president but those close to him. perhaps even members of his own family, also the mueller probe is in husband face again. for months the president was able to focus on the midterms, night after night attending rallies, appearing before adoring crowds, delivering harsh rhetoric of the democrats, pumping up the caravan as a threat to national security. that's what he loves to do.

that's over. it's almost like coming down from a sugar high and now he's back to the day-to-day governing and trying to deal with this mueller probe. trying to come up with the written answers to these questions that have been submitted while coming under siege for his performance in paris when he didn't go to the american cemetery to pay tribute to the world war i dead and bracing for the democrat takeover of the house of representatives. that will open up a whole slew of investigations into the west wing. >> home alone. thank you so much, joyce vance, thank you peter baker and jonathan lemire. coming up, a resolution in florida's hotly contested senate rac race. what's the end game for democrats? the senator is still behind the vote of about 12,000 votes. could this bat go to the supreme court? not exactly friend lly territor

for democrats. plus, president trump had several events focusing on the military claiming he's done a lot for them. but for a man who campaigned on mo more stupid wars, he sent thousands of troops to the southern border of our country to fight a faux or phony war. and the democrats have won the house but do they have a leader. despite strong opposition, nancy pelosi insists she has votes to become the speaker of the house once again. finally, let me finish trump watch. this is "hardball," where the action is. watch. this i"hs ardball," where the action is. not long ago, ronda started here.

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you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile. with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. ...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. welcome back to "hardball." deadline day in florida's election recount but in a resolution, n the united states senate race and incumbent bill nelson is now -- the resolution will have to wait until at least i figure sunday when the hand recount is supposed to be finish. after a machine recount found scott holding less than a 13,000 vote lead, still within a quarter of a percent margin, a hand recount was ordered.

that's supposed to be done by sunday. all 67 counties in florida had a deadline of 3:00 p.m. today to finish the machine recounts. democrats requested an extension but a u.s. district court judge rejected that this morning. this morning, judge walker slammed state officials and lawmakers saying florida is, quote, the laughing stock of the world, election after election and we chose not to fix this. he also ruled 4,000 rejected mail-in and provisional ballots can be counted. the deadline for that count is saturday at 5:00 p.m. president trump said in an interview the florida race should have been called on election night. he tried to excuse republican losses last tuesday by claiming without evidence that people are illegally voting saying the republicans don't win and that's of potentially illegal votes. when people get in line they have no right to vote and that go around in circles, sometimes that go to their car, put on a

different hat, put on a different shirt and vote again. all that is made up completely. i'm joined by val demmings and mark caputo, senior writer for political. mark, a general question. i grew up in the northeast, big cities, ethnic. i know there are certain cities where there are questionable votes. theodore white used to say there are certain states you can vote on being exactly as it comes in like minnesota and wisconsin. they don't have a big city machine thing going on, politicians who live to be elected so make can make a living. is florida a generally honest state? >> that's probably a trick question. >> it's not. i'm asking for hope here. >> you're in the wrong state or talking to the wrong reporter if you're looking for hope. we have a history of election controversies and snafu. starting in 2000 was our biggest election meltdown. compare that to basically a

category five hurricane, very powerful. this looks like a category one storm we where we had damage to the roof and windows and it's a wake-up call to fix the elections machinery and the laws and perhaps pump more money into the system. >> nice try, mark, but it's not an act of god. it's an act of man. what is it about this? there's been no evidence of cheating. trump made this up. it's trumped up again. there is screwups about deadlines but i always wonder why do your state -- why do you set these deadlines but requirements that every vote has been counted and a recount by machine and a recount if it's still closer by hand but it has to be done but -- it has to be done by date. so one or the other to me. complete done, get the job done or meet these deadlines and you can't do both. >> chris, florida is the state that keeps you up every election night and when you listen to

what the judge said, look it's embarrassing. i wish he hasn't said it but i understand it. what we should be concerned about in florida from the governor, the president if he'll interject himself into florida politics and every voter is that every vote is counted. every person deserves that and you're right. multiple deadlines, we should be concerned about every vote. those who went to the polls, those who mailed their ballots. >> i'll get back to mark and then you. when i write a check or pay for something, starbucksing something, i write chris matthews, i don't write christopher j. matthews. you do that in florida, your vote doesn't count. >> possibly, it depends -- >> possibly, i'm told if it isn't the same as you filed your registration, if it isn't christopher j. matthews with two "t"s, if it doesn't look like that, it doesn't count. is that the case? >> that can be the case if you're casting an absentee

ballot and your signature on your envelope that you mailed the absentee ballot in doesn't match the signature on file and one of the arguments senator bell nelson is making -- with some measure of success -- is that there are not clear and consistent standards from county to county and that's probably where your biggest problem comes in. >> let me ask you about the democrats. senator nelson is back by 12,000 votes. on a recount it's the same, 125b9,0 12,000. what is he trying to do here? he's got these hot shot lawyers that keep litigating and litigating. >> senator nelson has been a great senator for our state. i think when you look at his record of service he deserves for every vote to be counted.

if your grandmother didn't bring her glasses and she circled in the bubble not exactly right next to her name, a hand count can show you. and like mark was saying with the signature, if you leave out your middle initial your ballot could count. if we're see your about making sure one of the most basic rights given to us is honor then we should do the hand count. >> how can i dispute that? in this case the democrats are going to the court. last time it was it was republicans who went to the supreme court and got the whole florida thing thrown out and gave it to "w." this time around, why would the democrats -- senator nelson and his lawyers -- think they'll get any satisfaction from this kavanaughed supreme court? >> two things here. number one, they have to have a manual recount under florida statu statute. the margin of a race is less than a quarter of a percentage point so there has to be a

recount. the problem for bill nelson is margin. he was down by 12,562 votes before the recount began and now he's probably down by about the same margin after the recount and what he needs to do is find more votes. because florida has various laws which disqualify ballots that if they cast in other states would be valid, they wants to expand the pool of ballots, expand the pool of potential pool of votes to see how how to expand the electorate. now he has had a measure of success today. judge walker ruled at least partly in his favor to allow a number of absentee ballots to be considered. the problem that bill nelson has is time and math. he has different lawsuits pending, not all of them will get accepted 100% and there's a math problem. he has such a big margin he has to overcome that it's difficult to see how considering the state's voting rates and patterns he can make up that

difference. if there are over 4,000 ballots, we don't know the exact number that will be counted after people prove their signatures are their signatures and their vote should count. he's down by 12,000 votes so he'll need more than 100% of the 4,000. he'll need 110%. and you can't do that even in florida. >> so like the batter in baseball who runs out the fly ball knowing it will be caught but he still runs to first. meanwhile, the democrats' blue wave grew again with another flip in a contested house race. nbc news declared democrat jared golden the apparent winner maine's second district defeats bruce poliquin. that brings tha s their total seats with a half dozen races outstanding. but in an interview with nbc news, vice president mike pence down played the democrats' victory. >> we made history by expanding our majority in the senate. we won great elections in and

governors offices around the country and we didn't really see that blue wave in the house of representatives come our way. >> he's got the same da vinci code avuncular nature that cheney had. the democrats picked up -- i thought -- they got up to 40 victories. what is he talking about? >> the vice president can deny all he wants, we had a blue wave last tuesday night and they're still coming in. the votes are being counted and we're picking up seats. it was a blue wave. >> he says in the that avuncular way. that's dick cheney. u.s. congresswoman val demmings, mark caputo, thank you. despite ditching outings to honor veterans over the weekend, telling florida voters to ignore military ballots, trying to privatize veterans care and sending troops to the border to defend against an imaginary invision, president trump said he's done a lot for veterans.

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fidelity. open an account today. ♪ welcome back to "hardball," throughout the campaign, donald trump pledged to stop fighting stupid wars. >> unlike my opponent, my foreign policy will emphasize diplomacy, not destruction. our failed establishment has

brought us nothing but poverty at home and disaster overseas. that's what we have. disaster. the wars we never win. you're tired of the reckless foreign policy to crazy wars that are never won. >> but in he cent weeks, his administration has been struggling to defend the continued presence of roughly 5,000 troops at our southern border. the ploy to fight the ultimate phony war against asylum seekers. president trump has been under increased criticism from skipping two veterans events over this weekend, one in france and one at arlington national cemetery. then on tuesday, a day after veterans day, he called for the florida recount to end even though military votes aren't due in until tomorrow. according to the "washington post," the president's been angered by some of the media coverage that implied he didn't respect veterans so today -- four days after veterans day -- the white house organized two military events to honor veterans. and trump also tweeted this

message of support. "it is our sacred duty to support america's service members every single day they wear the uniform and everyday after when they return home as veterans. together we will honor those who defend us, cherish those who protect us and celebrate the amazing heroes." for more i'm joined by kevin barrett, executive editor of defense one. it looked like a makeup, bad weekend, bad optics, bad pr, bad image, he made it up today he thinks, somebody at the white house encouraged him to make it up to the troops. >> i don't know what the purpose of this was but it wasn't a great week for optics on how the whole visit to france looked, the border deployment with troops, mattis' trip down there. i don't think it's done the white house any favors to go through these event this is week. >> mattis was asked -- he asked an eisenhower way of meeting with the troops, he's got a great touch and one of the troops got to ask him a question. he said "what are we here for?"

>> he couldn't answer very well. it was like ted kennedy. you have to know why you want to be president. you better mow why you're down there. mattis has been on the hot seat from a lot of people in the national security community who think they're seeing right through this, that this was obviously a stunt, they'll say, this has nothing to do with actual security and secretary mattis should act like a civilian secretary more than a general and if he really doesn't believe that that's what troops should be used for, he should resign. i think a lot of people continually misunderstand how secretary mattis, he's very similar to general kelly in how they feel like look, this is what the president orders, we'll carry out the order and unless there's something illegal we won't do it. we'll make sure the government runs and we're going to tamp things down and he stayed out of the press, he barely commented on it until out of the blue after election day he went down to make this troop call. >> soldiers read the papers,

they know what's going on. they have scuttlebutt, the old term for chatting up about things, don't they know they were being used to go down for a pr stunt to make trump look tough on immigration. >> you see plenty of soldiers saying that but soldiers, like always, they're told that the secretary is coming and they sit and wait for these troop visits, whether it's hot sun in the desert or anywhere else. but i caution any time anybody asks what do the soldiers think because the military is a block on paper but it's not a separate voting block from the rest of the country. people in the military still vote their pocketbook, they still vote for health care and family issues, they have a more concern over national security issues but for something like this i guarantee it's not an army soldier down there thinking i'm so thrilled i signed up and this is what i'm asking asked to do. >> there's a lot of duty they don't like. here's mattis, the secretary of defense, speaking with troops yesterday. >> there's all sorts of stuff in the news and that sort of thing.

you just punch the trade on what your company commander, your battalion commander tells you because if you read all that stuff you'll go nuts, you know what i mean? >> you'll go nuts if you read about it. he asked what their duty -- they asked what their duty was, he said lay out the concertina wire and after that he wasn't sure. >> he didn't say it clearly like he should have, that the mission is to support the civilian border patrol troops. but that line, he's not the first defense secretary that left to go out outside of washington. i just hope those troops do read because they should know about this. like i said. people see right through this. there's nobody saying this is a wise use of our troops. oerch the right it's a whole lot of -- how much is there -- i'm looking for hope.

people like mad dog mattis, a moderating force and general kelly the chief of staff are hanging in there for patriotic reasons, not just the prestige of the job. >> those two gentlemen already have plenty of prestige before this role. general kelly said to me specifical specifically. the president called him back. i know secretary mattis sees as the buffer to carry out the president's policies as he is right to do. but also to keep the military out of politics as much as possible the in this incredibly hyperpartisan era we found ourself s ourselves in. he said you they not like troops at the border and that's what the president today do. >> you used to cover this.

people who sign up now in this voluntary army, they do it to risk their lives, go to terrible places, i try to think what is it like to be on lookout somewhere in afghanistan. >> we should be talking about afghanistan and syria and africa. >> you don't know what's coming up behind you. up next, nancy pelosi says she has overwhelming support in her bid to regain the speakers' gavel but 14 democrats campaigned on not giving her their support. will lawmakers go behind her now? you're watching "hardball." liberty mutual accident forgiveness

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>> i intend the win the speakership with democratic votes. i have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the house and certainly we have many, many people in our caucus to who could serve in this capacity. i happen to think that at this point i'm the best person for that. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was house minority leader nancy pelosi earlier today expressing confidence she will be the next speaker of the house even as she faces her toughest battle yet within her own party to regain control of that gavel. with democrats presently holding 230 seats -- they may get more -- six more to be counted out there, pelosi will need 218

votes on the house floor come january 3. according ing ting to huffingt7 incoming democrats are prepared to release a letter pledging not to support the letter. there's no official challenge for pelosi, however u.s. congressman marcia fudge, the head of the congressional black caucus told the cleveland plain dealer she's considering it but hasn't made a final decision yet. i'm joined by the round table. leigh ann caldwell is capitol hill reporter for nbc news. michael steele, former spokesman for house speaker john boehner, and jamie harrison is associate chair of the democratic national committee. lady and gentlemen, who's going to win? >> i think pelosi is going to seal the deal. i mean, she has a long road, a lot can happen. she has her first election among the democratic caucus, and then she has the harder challenge this which is on the house

floor. that's on camera and that will be the big test for people who campaigned not supporting her. >> so what happens if a guy or woman says i'm not supporting her, i'm voting against her. can you vote present? >> no. this is the first live televised vote these folks are going to take after promising their constituents something very specific -- i will vote against nancy pelosi. sitting on their hands won't be an opposition. >> to so the preposition matters. >> exact ly. >> if you want to take nancy pelosi down, you have to do in the the caucus. >> nobody from do that. >> and if nobody does that, nancy pelosi is going to be the next speaker of the house and why did i say that? because there's two different groups here, you have democrats and new democrats. there's enough margin in the difference right now where those

new members, there's enough margin not to vote. when i run back home will my constituents be happy. >> they are waiting for everything to fall apart and someone will emerge. that's not a plan. they are expected to organize groundswell. >> how about these politicians who every time they run for election -- >> i think the maximum rleverag is the hard vote is the vote on the floor. it's not the vote in the caucus.

she has the votes in the caucus but on the floor a small group of members, as few as 12 democrats voting no and the house freedom caucus has created the precedent to use that kind of leverage to force a change at the top. >> look at the national numbers on pelosi. i know it's not a plebiscite but the national numbers would like that see a different number. 46% would like to keep pelosi. nobody goes in the voting booth and says i don't like that speaker. they're going to talk about whether or not they'll vote for donald trump and the republicans or the democratic nominee.

>> let me ask you about tom reid. he said i'm one of these deal making guys and if pelosi says she'll make deals with republicans on the other side of the aisle i'll vote for her for speaker. do you believe anybody will do that who is running for reelection? >> that 's the rumor going around among the anti-pelosi caucus. they think she'll convince republicans to vote for her. she said ask her press conference that she's going to win with democratic votes. >> i have trouble seeing how any republican in any district goes home and wins a primary is. >> if you vote for the candidate of the other party, don't you

vote for the party. i think you give the name of your dacandidate for speaker. >> we have republicans who voted for someone other than boehner for someone other than ryan for speaker, but not for the democratic candidate. >> you can do that, but you're asking to be primaried when you get back home. >> do you still get the chairman on the other side? >> open seating. >> seth moulton -- >> he has been so tough. >> been leading the opposition, say seth gives the speakership, democrats worked their behinds off to win the house and he gives the speakership to kevin mccarthy, what do you think the democrats in massachusetts are going to do to him? they are going to crucify him. that will not happen. when they get on that floor, they're going to have to make decision. it's the same thing that

happened in 2016. do you vote for what's her name in the -- >> i love you're a party man. you're a party man. stick with us, you're watching "hardball." the greatest wish of all... is one that brings us together. the lincoln wish list event is here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with $0 down, $0 due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. only at your lincoln dealer. and a complimentary first month's payment. when your blanket's freshness fades before the binge-watching begins... that's when you know, it's half-washed. next time, add downy fabric conditioner for freshness that lasts through next week's finale. downy and it's done. (burke) seen it, 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 round table. tell me something i don't know. >> senator bob casey of pennsylvania, we can add him to the people to watch for 2020. he told nbc exclusively today, he told me, that we will see when he was asked twice. >> pro-life candidate. >> yes, pro-life candidate, but he won his reelection in pennsylvania, a state trump won, by 13 points. he says he has the key to win rural voters. he said he's done well there and it could be the path. >> very liked. >> is he the 67th or 68th democrat to get into this race? >> don't be that way. >> i can announce today, i wrote a book, i'm going to run for president. >> there he goes, 68 right here. >> thank you, michael steel and

jamie harrison, right back tonight with trump watch. my thoughts for the day. you're watching "hardball." your insurance rates skyrocket

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trump watch thursday, november 15th, 2018. there's an old saying that nothing concentrates the mind like that thought of an imminent hanging, when you face a tragic reckoning, drastic alternatives come quickly to mind. donald trump knows the situation he is in now. he knows that robert mueller

could drop indictments on his family members at any moment, and he could accompany those indictments with an historic report accusing trump himself of high crimes, justifying impeachment and removal from office. the president also knows that other horrors await down the road when democrats control the house of representatives in january and with it the power to subpoena testimony and documents, including his own tax returns. he knows that nothing stands in the way of this happening now that the midterm elections have been held and lost. nothing but him, donald trump. and what defenses he can stand up between robert mueller, the democrats and the white house, trump has his own weapons, of course, his newly aupon theed attorney general could act to stifle mueller's actions. he has his own team of lawyers. and lastly the power of the pardon. no one watching trump the past two years doubts his readiness to but all these weapons into battle. and yet, he seems restless, and worried. imagining that even with all the

weapons in his arsenal, events are moving against him and his family. we need not ask what the president's thinking tonight. it's clear that he's thinking about escape. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in". >> i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. >> donald trump does it again. >> well, matt whitaker, i don't know matt whitaker. >> this time admitting that the appointment of matt whitaker was all about the russia probe. >> matt whitaker's a great agree, i mean, i know ma tt whitaker. >> the push to protect mueller. then, deadline day in the florida recount as democrats keep winning house seats. the new push to regulate facebook in the wake of the "new york times" bombshell. and trouble on trump tv. >> you're not even tired, are you? >> why en