we, of course, will have all the details for you right here on "the beat." that does it for me. catch me tomorrow morning 5:00 a.m. eastern on morning joe. first look. "hardball" with chris mathews starts right now. /s >> a simple private transaction. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm chris mathews up in new york. donald trump smells trouble. it shows in his anger and he's plenty angry right now, attacking everyone bringing evidence against him. the legal threat to this president is, by the way, growing by the day. there are serious new revelations on the russia front. over a dozen trump associates have been caught in interactions with russians. prosecutors in the michael cohen case have meanwhile implicated the president in a scheme to break campaign finance laws. court documents reveal that by helping the president buy the silence of stormy daniels and

karen mcdougal, cohen acted in coordination with and at the direction of individual one, a.k.a., donald trump. and now trump appears to be leading his own legal defense via twitter. in a series of tweets containing, for those who care, a spelling mistake, the president earlier today tried quoting something he heard on folks. quote, democrats can't find a smoking gun tying trump to campaign, no collusion. i love this. as legitimate transactions saying, so now the dems go to a simple private transaction. that's what he calls the payoff s to quiet the women. call it a campaign contribution which it was not. it was done correctly by a lawyer and it would not even be a fine. lawyers' liability if he did make a mistake, not me. cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. witch-hunt. that's how trump talks, especially in tweets. with multiple investigations into the president and his associates, the washington post writes today, trump is stepping into a political hail storm.

quote, rather than building a war room to manage the intersecting crises as past administrations have done, the trump white house is understaffed, stuck in a bunker mentality and largely resigned to a plan to wing it. according to in report, the white house has calculated most gop base voters will believe whatever the president tells them to believe. that's probably right. joining me right now is emily jane fox, senior reporter with vanity fair. he sits on the house judiciary committee. thank you, congressman. phil rucker is coauthor of the report in the washington post i've been reading from. and paul butler, former federal prosecutor. a private -- a simple private transaction, congressman. i want to talk to you about that because he's talking about payoffs to two women in the midst of a campaign that his own lawyer says were basically a campaign expense to keep these two people quiet by catching and killing their stories, upwards

of about a third of a million dollars. a lot of money, maybe up to half a million. what do you make of that claim that it's just a private transaction, business transaction in the middle of a campaign to shut up these people that said they had affairs with him? >> well, that's another silly nonsensical statement by the president of the united states of america. what is important to note here is that these court filings were put forth by the southern district of new york, not the special counsel. so this is the trump justice department claiming that the president of the united states, during the campaign, defrauded the american people. this is as serious as it gets. but that said, we still have to allow the process to play itself out, let the southern district of new york complete its investigation. let the special counsel bob mueller complete his investigation. let them report to the department of justice, the american people, and then we can decide how best to proceed. in the interim, we're going to continue to focus on our agenda, lowering health care costs, increasing pay, cleaning up the

mess and corruption in washington, d.c. >> you know, let's go to phil rucker of the post. you cover the white house. you're the white house chief. it seems to be trump's defense is school yard behavior, the kid on the school yard if he can pee on the opponent, attack a vietnam record, if he can make it personal with nicknames, he doesn't need lawyers. that seems to be his approach now. >> yeah, i think that's right, chris. he has this undying faith in his own ability to drive that message. the problem is when mueller comes out with a report, there are going to be facts in that report. there is going to be a narrative that is meticulously detailed based on two years of an investigation and trump may end up needing more than just his instincts and messaging abilities to beat back those facts. that's why so many of his allies, especially on capitol hill are concerned with the lack of preparation inside the white house for what's to come. >> well, trump could have good reason to fear what comes next

in the cohen case as you said, phil. noukts reports what the prosecutors did not say in mr. cohen's sentencing memorandum is that they have continued to scrutinize what other executives in the president's family business may have known about those crimes. the incoming democratic chair of the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff said trump could be the first former president, when he becomes a first former president, to serve time in jail. let's watch. >> there is a very real prospect that on the day donald trump leaves office, the justice department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite sometime to face the real prospect of jail time. >> and the incoming democratic chair of the committee responsible for drafting articles of impeachment, the judiciary committee, joining on the west side of new york here, trump's knowledge of those payments could be an impeachable offense. let's watch jerry nadler. >> if proven, are those impeachable offense s? >> well, they would be impeachable offenses whether they are important enough to

justify an impeachment is another matter. before they became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office. but the fact of the matter is what we see from the indictment ands charging statements is a much broader conspiracy against the american people. >> paul, let me analyze this history, pressed as a professor. is it provable, if you spend money in a p.r. capacity to cover up a sexual affair, is that a campaign expense? is that established law now? because i wonder about that. your thoughts. >> yeah, so, i think a judge would find that if a candidate pays hush money to his mistresses to try to get elected president, that counts as a campaign donation. that's a thing of value and, therefore, it must be reported. there is a limit under the federal campaign law, the maximum contribution from an

individual is $2700. according to the mueller sentencing memorandum, michael cohen got $420,000 for covering up the payments to the mistresses. >> can any candidate have a right to spend on their own behalf, though? i don't like the law, but isn't that the law? >> a person can spend his own money, but you can't give money to somebody else and make it look like it's their transaction. so, you're right, chris. intent is going to be very important, but we have both michael cohen and president trump lying about the purposes of these payments for months and months until their lies are uncovered by robert mueller. so this, this consistent lying shows what prosecutors call consciousness of guilt. they knew they were doing something wrong, and importantly in this statement, mueller -- actually, the federal prosecutors in new york say that trump directed and coordinated

these payments. if we think about this as another kind of organized crime, michael cohen is just the c concigliary. >> let's put it together. when donald trump ran for president he got caught up in the access hollywood tape which reince priebus thought would kill his campaign. he was ready to walk. talking about how he can do anything he wants with him, complete impunity because he's a celebrity, big shot. now we find out he was acting that way. he thought he could have these alleged affairs, we'll say alleged, but he was paying monday toy keep them quiet, paying a lot of money but he had a lot of money, still does, using a magazine to buy these stories and kill them to cover up his sexual behavior, okay. so it's to me ironically -- in washington we say what goes around comes around. i said this on friday. isn't it ironic trump is now having to pay for -- he has to

pay for that, what he did in his attitude, because his attitude expressed in the access hollywood tape is exactly his attitude. >> you could call it irony or you can call it karma. this is something that as the president said today, he wanted to be a simple and private transaction, but the way the universe has worked it has been anything but simple and it has become the most public and possibly the most damning story of his entire presidency. it is something that could potentially land him as an unindicted coconspirator in this case against cohen. >> what do you make of the fact that -- i'm in new york once in a while, every couple weeks. i'm in new york. it isn't the deep state, not a bunch of liberals. it's a bunch of prosecutors, hard nose prosecuters in the southern district of new york which is rudy giuliani country. the president is being nabbed, great word for it, nabbed by those guys. >> these are not only people from his home city, in the southern district of new york, but this is his justice

department weas well. they are new yorkers. they belong to his justice department. these are not people who are part of the witch-hunt necessarily. these are people who are in his own government. >> let me go to congressman -- by the way, congratulations, congressman, you have a big role. i spotted you, you are on your way. you may be speaker some point fairly soon. who knows. do you think you can actually impeach a president for basically covering up sexual miss behavior? i mean, we had this with clinton. everything is different in life, but it was somewhat related. it never seemed right that that would be the basis for throwing a guy out of the presidency. certainly progressives and middle of the roaders and journalists in some cases. it seemed to be a witch-hunt to use the phrase used lately. how do you impeach a president for his sexual misconduct covered up, even if it is illegal? your thoughts? is it appropriate to do that?

>> yeah, i think we have to proceed carefully as it relates to impeachment because it is the ultimate political death penalty put into the constitution for extraordinary circumstances. now, it may be the case that down the road once the mueller investigation has concluded and the facts are presented to the american people, all options at that moment may be on the table. but that's hypothetical at the moment. we do know the president has conduct the himself as an organized crime boss, woefully inappropriate. consequence for some of his inappropriate behavior as a result of the blue wave that took place on november 6. democrats picking up 40 seats as well as seats at the state level across the country, and we'll see what happens over the next two years. but the right thing to do is to let bob mueller be bob mueller. let the southern district of new york, professional prosecutors led by republican appointees, complete their work before we as democrats and the house decide

how best to proceed. >> crime boss. thank you. former director james comey was asked this weekend by nicolle wallace if the president is an unindicted co-consingapore or after being implicated for making the payoffs to the two women. let's batch. >> is the president of the united states right now an unindicted coconspirator? >> i don't know. not in the formal sense that he's been named in an indictment where you can actually say that this defendant and named others or others by pseudonym, that's how you name someone as an unindicted coconspirator. if he's not there, he's certainly close given the language in the indictment -- in the filing that the crimes are committed at his direction. >> if trump wasn't the president and someone went to court in the southern district of new york sponsored information that they directed a crime, what would happen to that person? >> well, that person would be in serious jeopardy of being

charged. >> you know, phil, you cover politics like i cover it. the irony is the way in which this whole case has begun to sort of simulate what happened with clinton. clinton was investigated for something called whitewater, which was a dry hole. nothing came of it. then it switched over to paula jones somehow and paula jones flipped over to monica lewinsky, and he got in trouble for lying about monica lewinsky, about covering up a sexual relationship. here we have a president investigated for a russian connection and obstruction of justice part of that, flipping over ending up with a discussion this past weekend about covering up lying about an affair, couple affairs. what do we make of that under our political system, that this is the way -- this is how we rock and roll these days? >> yeah, well, chris, it's not the first time that the cover up would be worse than the alleged crime, but the president is in a heap of trouble here and he tweeted on friday, he tried to

claim, look, these court filings, there were three of them in the span of a couple of hours friday night, that they totally clear him as the president and that is just not true. the president is now implicated in a federal felony related to the southern district of new york case in new york. >> translate when he says it clears me. what does that mean to anybody else on the planet when he says something -- when he has all this damaging evidence about him paying off these women through a circuitry through the national enquirer ownership? it's all caught on paper, and he says that clears me, what kwiend of translation would you give that? what is trump saying to anybody that's listening, it clears me? is he talking to his 40% who believes anything he says? >> exactly. he's trying to create an alternate reality. he's been doing this for sometime with regard to the investigation. it's his strategy to continue to do that. he feels like he can use his megaphone, his twitter handle to communicate directly to his supporters to tell them what to believe and they're banking

on -- he and his advisors are banking on those tens of millions of americans out there to believe him. so when he says he's totally clear, they will think he's totally cleared. >> i guess it's like the germans believe the name we never can quote or mention said that poland invaded germany. that's why world war ii started. poland invaded germany, remember? he was able to get away with that baby. thank you, emily jane fox. congressman hakeem jeffries. you're on your way up. i mean it. >> phil rucker. paul butler as always, sir. russians interacted with at least 14 more than a dozen trump associates had contacts with the russians in the campaign and during the transition. what is this russian thing? what is this deal with the russians? we've had people like barack obama and bill clinton and they never had any russian friends. how come these guys have so many russian -- what is this going on here, russian, russian, russian? every single one seems to have a russian date.

why are they all matching up? what's this linking up about? plus a story we've been following closely, the vote they'very in north carolina. that sort of was. dallas wood house, executive director of the republican party is going to join us. that's going to be knocking around. with the upcoming departure of john kelly from the white house, trump finds himself in search of a new chief of staff. nobody wants to be chief of staff at the white house. that used to be a big deal. finally finish tonight a world apart. this is "hardball" where the action is. i'm snow. and just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. and while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. crash! and your cut-rate insurance might not pay for this. so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands?

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unstopand it's strengthenedting place, the by xfi pods,gateway. which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> no, nobody that i know of. nobody. >> so you're not aware of any contacts during the course of the election if >> look, how many times do i have to answer the question? >> can you say no -- >> russia is a ruse. to the best of my knowledge, no person that i deal with --

>> to the best of my knowledge over and over again, to the best of my knowledge. welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump in february of 2017 denying any contact between his campaign and russia. thanks to a flurry of recent court filings, we now know president trump's former lawyer michael cohen updated trump on his real estate project in moscow while trump was a candidate for president. and special counsel robert mueller's sentencing memo friday, we learned more about the extension of russian outreach during the campaign. according to the memo, cohen spoke with a russian national who claimed to be a trusted person in the federation -- i love this phrase -- political synergy -- how about collusion? the washington post found in public records and interviews showed russians interacted with at least -- look at those pictures. keep those pictures up there, please. these are trump associates during the 2016 campaign, three trump family members, nine associates -- all with russia

connections, if you will. some offered dirt, a lot of them offered dirt on his opponent hillary clinton repeatedly. offered to sit down with vladimir putin and broker a meeting. i'm joined by the representative of bloomberg opinion, and ken dilanian, national news and security reporter. i want to get back to you, ken, because you have this wide sweeping notion of the whole thing. and i think you've got a pretty good counter punch to what trump has in his brain that he's denying. but you're not denying it. it's your job to tell us about it. so, what does trump think when he's watching a broadcast like this and he's hearing us talk about 14 people around him all had russian contacts? is he saying that's natural? no big deal? how does he explain this russian thing that no other presidential candidate has ever been involved with? >> the thing is, chris, he might have been able to explain it. he did have a policy of trying

to reach out to russia and have an approach with russia. he denied it, so he lied about t. and i use that word "lie" t as clear now those clips that you played, those were lies. he knew that michael cohen was reaching out to the russian government. we now know from the friday court filings. it's not something you forget. they were trying to build a tower in moscow. so i don't know what he thinks. but to me the only mystery left now is whether this was mostly the russians trying to infiltrate and recruit trump people or was it the trump team reaching out to the russians, or was it some combination of both 1234 as you know, chris, a u.s. government official approached by a russian government official for a lunch meeting has to report that. they're an adversary country and co-opt americans. they're not our friends. there's been nothing like this in a campaign -- >> hillary clinton was wrong to avoid being transparent, but this guy seems like -- why does

he hide -- he won't even tell us -- he's not going to tell us he's worrying about the dossier, something he did in the hotel? what is the dirty little secret that makes donald trump keep covering up? >> well, i suspect it's money. i don't think the answer to that is complex. >> why is he embarrassed by the fact he was a tycoon who warranted to wanted to be a bigger tycoon? >> he's not embarrassed -- he is wary of the implications of providing information that fills out the narrative that there was active forced trading going on between the kremlin and the trump campaign for a far longer period of time than i think we still know. i think it's important to remember that a lot of the people that are on the trump campaign and trump himself did not think he was going to win. he entered the 2016 campaign essentially as a marketing opportunity, and that's why the people around him, i think, were also grifting. the sentencing memo on michael

cohen -- >> let's talk about that. >> we now know he met in 2015, that that rolls the clock back a little bit later. they were in the earliest stages of trump's -- for the presidency. one of his close advisors was approached by a russian who asked him if he wanted to try do a transaction. >> by a guy -- let me get back to, ken, they wanted synergy. in other words, we both want to beat hillary. the russians, vladimir hates hillary. you want to beat hillary clinton. let's work a deal. that sounds like what synergy is like to me. >> absolutely. the filing says that particular meeting with that particular person didn't come to fruition. it also says trump discussed with michael cohen outreach to the russian government to talk about the trump tower project and other points of mutual interest. i mean, you know, and this was all hidden, chris, from the american voter. you know, you know this. even if republican primary voters had known the extent of donald trump's russia ties, it's not clear that he would have

been as successful. it just raises so many questions that trump essentially hid from the public. >> well, the question of blackmail comes up. the whole thing about -- comey was -- i'm sorry, we're talking about michael flynn is now security advisor meeting with kislyak and all those meet togz talk about sanctions. the russians knew about those meetings. >> and trying to cut deals with the turks. >> they're all open to blackmail. >> same with the saudis. jared kushner scrambling to refinance the family's sky scraper on 5th avenue. >> starting friday we learned a lot of stuff, guys, we learned about michael flynn. we learned about cohen. and each time we learned a little about them, we learned how the president of the united states is more susceptible to blackmail, ken, because if all this stuff that he's hiding comes out, he's afraid. and he ought to be afraid. any time vladimir putin wants to put it all out, he can. and so everything that trump's afraid of can be put out by putin at any time putin feels like it.

that suggests to me, a typical voter, he's not an independent operator as our president. he's worried about putin. >> as an example, chris, the russians have known for a long time. in fact, when michael cohen reached out to putin's press secretary to reach out in the moscow tower project, peskov got back to him. trump and cohen story was that never happened. the project was cut off well before the primaries. the russians have known that that was a lie. they've known this for sometime. that's one small example. another one of these interactions brings us into today's story. maria butina, this russian agent agreeing potentially to plead guilty and cut a deal with the government. a man named aleksandr torshin working with her, russian central banker, he reached out to kushner during the campaign to try to propose a meeting between trump and putin.

he rebuffed him. he ends up sitting next to -- congressional investigators don't know how that happened, why that happened, and they find that very suspicious. >> i want to put two points together. we have to end this segment. trump worries about this being disclosed. everything we're talking about disclosed. and that smirk on the face of vladimir putin every time you see him in the company of trump fits together. putin knows what trump's worried about. and that's the key to this whole thing. putin knows what trump is worried about. tim o'brien, thank you. ken dilanian. up next, the never ending midterms. one midterm race is still undecided as official investigate vote theft in north carolina. this is "hardball" where the action is. - [narrator] the typical vacuum head has its limitations,

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we're gearing up right now in case we do have a special election. this is in the hands of the north carolina state board of elections that's launched an investigation. a week or so ago they made a really unprecedented move to -- if they decided in a 9-0 bipartisan decision to refuse to certify the results of this election. based on the fraud and the irregularities and the illegal activity that are there. so we're gearing up to be in this fight. ultimately this is a decision of the board of elections. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was democratic candidate for north carolina's 9th district, dan mccready gearing up for a reelection.

just a few weeks ago it looked like it would be republican mark harris who defeated mccready by a slim margin. his victory is now tainted by explosive allegations of absentee ballot tampering. on friday harris said he was unaware of any wrongdoing -- unaware. let's watch. >> if this investigation finds proof of illegal activity on either side to such a level that it could have changed the out come of the election, then i would wholeheartedly support a new election to ensure all voters have confidence in the results. >> the heart of the allegations is a man by the name of mcrae dallas who is a person of interest being investigated by the board of elections. according to buzzfeed, wan man signed a blank ballot and handed it over to dallas. he delivered it signed, sealed and delivered to the board of elections. i'm joined by dallas wood house, completely different person, executive director of the north

carolina republican party. let me ask you about this. do you think a tainted election should count? >> chris, we think that this is dee employerable and it shows systematic -- >> should a tainted election count? >> chris, the problem with that is i don't know what that means. it's not an objective standard. but we clearly have a problem here and we may very well be headed for a new election. we need to treat mr. mccready right, we need to treat the voters right. we also have the problem of 286,000 cast legal ballots that are not in question here, and so unfortunately, as good a job as the press has done about this, and i wrote a column thanking them for their sunlight and their disinfectant, we do have to let the nonpartisan investigators tell what we know before we move to that special election, although it seems like we may very wellheading that direction. >> what do you make of a guy, a candidate who pays a political

operative a bounty to deliver the most absentee ballots? because harris did that. by the reporting, he paid this guy dallas to win among -- >> i think his name is pronounced a little differently. he sure as hell ain't me, i tell you that. >> i'm asking you, is it right or wrong to pay a guy -- not to help win an election, but i'll only give you the bounty if i win the most absen teen ballots. that's at the heart of the corruption, the belief that you can deliver a victory among the absentee ballots in that county especially, bladen county, if you control the way they were harvested. they went around and collected them. he knew what he was doing, he paid him. he wanted to win the absentee ballots in that county. he paid him 40,000 bucks if he won. among the absentee ballots, and he did. doesn't that seem corrupt by itself? >> i think that's a fair question. i really do.

and i think we're going to have to get to the bottom of that. you know, there are legitimate absentee ballot drives, but this is looking more and more like not one of those. and, you know, i know mr. harris personally. it is hard for me to conceive that he personally would be part of what looks like a corrupt operation. i would think it would be other people associated with him, but those are questions that are fair to be asked and you're right, sir -- you are right, sir, to ask them. >> let's talk about cheating. i have never been involved in politics, covering it, i love democracy. i love the fact that you fight to get people to vote for you. the idea of cheating is like taking drugs in baseball. i don't accept it. i don't think a guy should be in the hall of fame if they cheat or gamble on any team. i take those positions. isn't it important that we say to people if you cheat, you

don't win? if you cheat, you don't win? isn't that a good standard? >> absolutely and i agree with everything you said. i just want to say when you were fighting out for senator frank moss or ed muscy, you did it because you believed in their political positions and that their policy positions were -- would result in betterment for the society. that's what good republican activists do. that's what good democrat activists do. >> i agree. >> these are paid political mercenaries. we have a long way to go. we have the question of certification. we have the question of the long-term systematic failure that through three governors administrations, one republican, dozens of boards of elections, criminal prosecutors who have not been able to get hold of this. we have to find out why and we have to change this so it never happens again. and we have to hold the people that have done this criminally responsible. >> thank you. >> and they need to go to prison

for long terms. the only way, chris -- and i'm glad you're focusing on this. the only hope north carolina has is the disinfectant provided by the media does not go away when we answer the question of what happens in the night. >> i'm with you. >> we need it for many years to come. >> the city i grew up in. you agree with me. >> absolutely. this is the worst thing i've ever seen. >> up next, new hiring. president trump's in the hunt for a new chief of staff, but qualified willing candidates are apparently hard to come by right now. isn't it interesting? this is one of the great jobs in america, chief of staff to the president, he's having a hard time filling it. you're watching "hardball." (music throughout)

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john kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. we'll be announcing who will be

taking john's place. it might be on an interim basis. i'll be announcing that over the next day or two, but john will be leaving at the end of the year. >> john will be leaving -- i love that, he's not retiring, he's leaving. welcome back to "hardball". the search is on for the next chief of staff. the president announced over the weekend john kelly will be leaving by the i understand of the year. nick a yerz wouldn't accept the position. u.s. congressman mike meadows, nick mulvaney, steven mnuchin, even acting attorney general matt whitaker -- another job for him. whoever is chosen will have to face democrats with their new subpoena powers as the likely release of special counsel's report. trump criticized president obama

of going through three chiefs of staff. for president trump it will be less than two years. let's bring in the round table tonight. republican strategist for the washington post, michael blake, assemblyman. assemblyman, you first. what's trump's problem? >> do we have time to say that, chris? >> why can't he pick? these are great jobs. >> it's utter chaos in the white house. when you think about how they're going to have three chiefs of staff in less than two years, it is an absolute mess. it shows that not only do people not want to be in the white house, they're afraid of what will happen if they're actually there. i had the honor of working at the white house under president obama for 2 1/2 years. there is nothing describing is that kind of honor you can't have. when you see you're walking into investigations, you're walking into consistent lies, absolutely no direction, why would anyone want the seat? the other concern is, chris, trump was saying on saturday they had someone in mind in a day or two. they can't even get everything

in line what they're trying to get done all the time. there is no direction, and that's why no one wants to be there are there. >> what do you think of this white house? would you like to be chief of staff to the president? >> absolutely, absolutely. >> let's get that name in there. let's get your name in there. >> you know, i think the bigger question to me is, it's a natural move up for nick ayers. why wouldn't he be chief of staff for the president? >> three months, that's all he'd give him. >> you have to ask yourself why isn't he all over this. >> he has enemies in the white house. he has enemies. he has the two big roman offs, jared and what's her name, ivanka behind him. that means he's gotten mms -- got enemies because a lot of people don't like those two running the white house. >> it's a tough job. much less a democratically controlled house getting ready

to drop subpoenas. you have only one chief of staffer, that's donald trump. no one is going to be able to corral donald trump. it is an utterly thankless job. he's going to be donald trump. >> he doesn't like having a hall monitor. meanwhile, "the new york times" reporting right now, the aforementioned jared kushner is continuing to hold talks with crown prince mohammed bin salman even after the killing of jamal khashoggi in october. time flies. it's been two months. he offered crown prince advice about how to weather -- is he the p.r. advisor? they've been cultivating the relationship with kushner. given his inexperience, it could make him susceptible. this is great, the royal crown princes are getting together so well. he's cozied up to the son-in-law

because he thinks we're another banana republic, another country you can buy friendship, you can cuddle up to somebody and treat them like royal family members. unfortunately, they may be right. your thoughts. i want do let her take a shot at this. this is your party. >> this is a very -- yeah, it's my party. this is a different administration. everybody knows this is a very different administration. this is not a typical gop-run administration. this is a donald trump-run -- >> is he running this country like a republic or something else? >> no, i think he's running this country like donald trump wants to run it. you have to remember, that's why a lot of people elected him. >> to cozy up to mohammed -- what's his name? i don't know any -- in erie, pennsylvania where he was last night, i don't think anybody voted for trump to become friends with the saudis. >> they didn't vote for him to do that, they didn't vote for a cover up, they didn't vote for jared kushner saying prove its

are more important than people. it's not okay in any aspect. when you are watching -- this is another reason why i think no one wants the job. you have an administration, someone in trump where covering up the death of someone is more important than doing what's right. regardless of party affiliation, it should be actually doing the right thing. there is nothing about the trump administration that shows you doing that. >> m. b.s. the world thinks he did it. >> all of the evidence -- gina haspel, c.i.a. director, goes to capitol hill. we have evidence -- >> they have the guy unable to breathe. torture stuff. >> in the other administration, this is the flip side we're having on the chief of staff. you can't fire jared kushner. that's why there's nepotism, they had to get a special exemption for, you want to have someone accountable to the american people. >> blunt question. why is he looking out for the crown prince? does he like him? what is going on here? >> reporting suggests they were -- the saudi arabian

government was very successful at putting a strategy of bringing jared close to the fold. if you look at the trump organization, the way the trump organization works is by the interpersonal -- >> i think they're all nuts. the idea the keepers of mecca, the saudi family, is going to help israel keep the holy land is insigane. stay with us. belt o'rourke is he the democrat in the 2020 field? you're watching "hardball." say "happy holidays" to money well spent. if additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. new john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. see your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. new year, new deere.

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welcome back to "hardball". the race for 2020 is beginning to take shape. i believe this is the day. they're calling texas congressman beto o'rourke the wild card in this race. the times writes his record setting success with small donors would test the grassroots strength of progressives like elizabeth warren of massachusetts. his appeal to former obama advisors and coalition of young people, women and often infrequent voters could complicate a possible run for former vice-president joe biden. that's a really smart analysis, i think. he's a threat to biden. nbc news is reporting tonight o o'rourke has been reaching out to prominent democrats in the african-american community, including barack obama. andrew gillum, al sharpton. everybody is back with me. everybody, your take on the fact that the times is boosting beto, and they took a real shot at elizabeth warren the other day on the front page. what's up with the democrats?

>> well, i can tell you in the case of beto o'rourke, in my opinion, he would be fantastic, not running for president, but being the brand of the dnc, being the new face of the democrat national party, and being one of the number one surrogates to help all everybody running for office. >> surrogate, i love hearing that. that was a slight way of saying you don't want him to run. >> it's also kind of ironic since i'm one of the vice chairs of the dnc. maybe we should focus on that fact before we get going. clearly we're going to have a remarkable bench before what happens in 2020. we have other races in 2019, advocate race here in the city and other races going on. that's another thing we can talk to. i'd rather be in our position than the republican position. >> beto o'rourke. >> he's phenomenal -- anyone should think about running. president obama, when we decided to make the move, we were in iowa on march 2007. obviously we made a decision in february. if you're serious about running for president, it can't be trump

is bad. you have to know why you're good. you have to put a coalition together. 15 or 20 people have a chance. >> phil? >> with those numbers, one of the dynamics you have to look out for is trump won because he consolidated a 20, 30% of republican base out of the gates by taking a hard right immigration stance. that carried him through the early primaries. one thing with beto o'rourke, texas got bumped up earlier in the calendar. that's a huge advantage for him. if he's able to stick in it -- kamala harris is on the ticket in california. >> my question as a political pundit, to listen to the crowds they rally. look out and see if anybody is following them. biden has a great name. i don't know if anybody is wildly cheering him yet. this guy threatens him, too. >> the reality is until that

first person makes a move, we're in a wait and see approach. >> give me three people you're sure of running. >> sure of? not going to do that. dnc vice chair, don't do that to me. >> elizabeth -- >> howard schultz -- >> you're talking talking points now. come on. >> they're not running. >> he's talking to consultants. >> the last thing democrats are going to nominate is a rich billionaire. >> you are right. you have to unite the moderate democrats with progressive democrats or you're going to lose. >> everything is about how to fight for the people. that narrative worked going into the midterm and we'll continue into 2020. >> assemblyman, thanks for joining us. i'm going to talk about the time i spent in a world apart. you're watching "hardball."

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let me finish tonight with this. it was africa, wasn't it? well, that was my northern irish grandmother explaining my early success in washington. an immigrant herself, she knew what it meant to go from one country to another leaving everything and everyone behind. she knew how abrupt and life changing it can be, how it can kick you in the butt. 50 years ago i went to a matinee showing of "hair" featuring future star diane keaton. i left behind my parents,

grandparents, ph.d. program, looming economics professors and country. from late 1968 to 1907, i rode a motorcycle in swaziland, africa. i was tucked in the kingdom between south africa and mozambique. my students, clients really, were men who had opened trading shops to serve their local communities. they were incredibly nice to me, always offering a cold drink, coke on hot days. even when there was no way to make it cold. those wondrous years i gave up things that didn't matter. electricity, television, hot water, and enjoyed what does matter. beautiful outdoor weather actually. warm people, doable work and adventure, not least the black mamba they tried to kill minutes after jumping into my car window. it wasn't all work. the second year i took a vacation, hitch hiked all alone to kilimanjaro. after working with the swazi

small business guys i learned, i forgot about the cultural differences that separated me from them. that's what the peace core was about. yes, grandma, it's africa more than any of us can count. thanks for being with us. a"all in with chris hayes" stars right now. >> tonight on "all in." >> [ inaudible ]. >> no, no. >> the president claims no smocking gun as the reality of what he faces comes into focus. >> it's clear that trump is the target and he'll be indicted eventually. >> the government wouldn't make that sponsoring allegation if they weren't seriously contemplating going forward with criminal charges. >> tonight, assessing the chances a sitting president gets indicted. >> he may be the first president in quite sometime to face the real prospect of jail time. >> as democratsimpeachment. >> well, they would be impeachable offenses. >>