good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington where president trump and his allies under siege have launched new counterattacks. on capitol hill acting attorney general matt whitaker battled with democrats on the house judiciary committee refusing to say anything good about special counsel robert mueller's investigation. at the white house the president refused to punish saudi arabia for its murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. but first, a bombshell story pitting pro-trump ally david peck with the "national enquirer" against jeff bezos of "the washington post." on thursday, bezos, who also owns amazon, accuses the parent company of "the national enquirer" of extortion and blackmail. this comes after the "the national enquirer" last month published a front-page expose including personal text messages and photographs.

shortly after publication, he hired a team to find out how the tabloid got hold of those text messages and photographs. in a blog post posted an medium.com, bezos said don howard threatened to publish additional photos unless bezos called off his investigation and made a specific false public statement to the press. there was no basis for claiming that ami had a political agenda. this can be seen as yet another battle in a larger war between trump allies and his critic. in a statement, ami says it was merely involved in good faith negotiations. to revolve owl matters. the company has acknowledged using the practice known as catch and kill to keep two women stormy daniels and karen mcdougal from publicizing their claims that they had affairs with the president. throughout the campaign ami acted as a pr wing, you might say, of the trump campaign,

promoting the candidate and savaging his opponents. for more, i'm joined now by glenn kirschner, former federal prosecutor, mclaughlin mar kay, and eli struggles. and katie fang, msnbc legal contributor. thank you, all. this is like l.a. confidential but in the middle off a huge political fight. give this basis of the blackmail story. >> so we reported last week that jeff bezos had opened and personally funding the investigation into how these text messages ended up in "the national enquirer" >> photographs? >> and photographs. there were a lot of personal details. movement by movement accuracy is as one described it to me. so he's trying to figure out how this happened. he tasks his long-time personal security consultant, a man named given a debacker. >> i know him. >> yeah, he's a storied person in this field, this personal security protection field. and he has determined with a pretty high degree of accuracy

that he believes these were political motivations behind this leak and the publication of these text messages. we had sources telling us -- >> what did he mean by political? why would jeff bezos think the ami "national enquirer" was out to get him for political purposes. >> "the national enquirer" and david pecker have longstanding ties to president trump, which resulted in a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors late last year. they admitted to using their publication to try to help win donald trump the presidency. it's no secret these are high profile allies of the president. they also started looking at the brother of the actual mistress in this case. a man named michael sanchez who has interesting doeksz prominent people in donald trump's orbit. >> so he's the brother of the alleged mistress? >> that's correct. he's longtime friends and business associates with folks like roger stone, carter page, some names that anyone following the news these days would

probably know. >> to get the story straight, everybody knows "the washington post" used to be a liberal newspaper but now they're middle of the road but trump doesn't like them. >> called jeff bezos jeff bozo. was sort of prematurely dancing on his grave. so the president is thrilled of this. he's obviously not a big fan of "the washington post" and by extension, he's not a big fan of jeff bezos. >> katy, talk about "the national enquirer." i didn't know about this until recently, but all journalism is not aimed at getting this tory out. some of this so-called journalism is we'll get dirt and sell you the secrecy. in other words, we'll get rid of it if you pay us. that is blackmail but they call it catch and kill. your thoughts. what do we know about this m.o. of the "the national enquirer." >> yes, to dwhoet illustrious omar little, when you come at the king, you best not miss. that's exactly what's happening now. jeff bezos as the king is

basically calling out ami in the traditional sense of how they do journalism at "the national enquirer." it's the catch and kill. it's let me pay you for the rights of your life story. a la the karen mcdougal situation with donald trump. let me extort you for money so i don't run nasty things about you. but frankly, is it really extortion? while there's a federal crime, chris, that is defined by basically threatening to suppose somebody in exchange for something of value. you give me money i won't run the story. but there idea that inyou admit there really wasn't a political angle to this whole story, then would you basically be giving something of value and that's left to be seen. >> that agreement is weighing heavily on ami tonight. >> let me go to glenn and the law here. if you blackmail someone. it's like l.a. confidential out of san francisco and l.a.

private eyes get hired, take a picture of a guy with his girlfriend, to put it bluntly. this is classic. >> in 10 words or less the law of extortion. chris, $1,000 or i break your thumb. , right? that's it. it's threatening harm to obtain a thing of value. it seems to me what we have here is a threat of harm. harm doesn't have to be physical harm. it can be harm to one's reputation, which we have here because ami was threatening to suppose these indelicate pictures and text messages of bezos, right? in exchange for a thing of value. what value were they trying to get? they were trying to catch and kill stories that bezos and the "washington post" were trying to investigate and perhaps report. i see this as classic extortion. katy is right. there are a lot of bells and whistles on the federal extortion laws, but at its core

this is extortion. >> they wanted to stop bezos from investigating. with the help of gavin debecker. what were they looking for? what was bezos looking for on ami? >> this is the the big-ticket question. why did ami and perker respond so amma nighically. ? it seems they are desperately fearful of something. is it really just about some of their stories are politically motivated? duh. so i think that really is the $64,000 question. >> today the president remained uncharacteristically sound. asked by reporters if the president was aware of the allegation. here's what he said. >> is it president aware of the bezos situation? what is the white house's reaction? >> i'm not sure if he's aware of it. we're not going to get into a conversation about something between jeff bezos and a tabloid magazine. >> president trump has not been shy about sharing his opinion. in january days after the

"enquirer" broke its bezos story, the president tweeted so sorry to hear the news about jeff bozo being taken down by a competitor who's reporting i understand is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the amazon "washington post." hopefully the paper will soon be placed in better, more responsible handling. he's comparing "the washington post," which is a pretty good newspaper with the "national enquirer." i can't stop laughing at what trump says. it's insane. who believes this crap? >> it's a long way beyond parity. he's been saying that national enquirer deserves the pulitzer prize and ragging on the "washington post." and has ever since he's been president >> this is a jack kennedy living quietly in poland kind of stuff. look at this stuff. >> it's not the post east coverage, it's the fact that bezos is the richest guy in the world and that is something that rankles donald trump.

he's always gotten under his skin and there are a lot of questions being asked. obviously the president didn't comment on this today. he was getting a physical. he was going back and forth to the helicopter. we've seen him often answer a lot of questions. he didn't do that today. was he tired after the physical? maybe did he want to avoid these questions? possibly. what glen is talking about is really the key requequestion. why was "the national enquirer" so sensitive about what they might find about how they obtained those texts? >> we're going to get to this saudi thing in the next block. why are they putting out these propaganda documents without any explanation of who's paying for them. they weren't. sources familiar with the matter say federal prosecutors are looking into whether ami, "the national enquirer" owner, violated it's nonprosecution district are investigating whether they

violated conduct. in december ami signed the agreement in exchange for providing information in its role in a payment to play boy model, karen mcdougal, who claims she had an affair with trump prior to his presidency, which trump denies. they stipulated ami should commit no crime whatsoever and should ami commit any crime consent to the date of signing this mounted a agreement, they shall photographer be subject to prosecution. glen, your area here. it seems at minimum it should say you don't commit anymore crimes. i mean, if they're involved in extortion and/or blackmail here, i would think that would violate the agreement >> ami blew it here. they could barely make it three weeks, let alone three years without violating another crime. this case, this extortion charge may not have to go to court and be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. all they're going to have today

is prove by a preponderance of the evidence. manafort is being proved to have lied and violated his plea agreement. so this is not going to bode well for ami. >> well, katy, it's not your fault you're reporting this stuff, but it seems like president trump came to office with this gallery of this world we didn't know about. we wouldn't know anybody about pecker who does catch and can kill or stormy daniels or karen mcdougal. this horrible rose gallery of people. the world hedges from, roy cone world, it's horrible. now we're basically doing l.a. confidential in the white house, this kind of crapola story we got to cover here. your thoughts? >> but for the hubris of donald trump, we wouldn't know about the hidden secrets behind those curtains and the create for donald trump is you surround yourself with people like that, you're obviously going to be implicated by guilt. it's that association by guilt.

think about why is it that ami, which is by virtue an extension all accounts an e tension of donald trump and his surrogates. why would ami cordsinate legal liability with jeff bezos, which is what donald trump tweeted about. he said that shareholders of amazon should know about how bad jeff bezos a guy is. and that's exactly what ami said interestingly when they told bezos team it was okay to do all these stories. what's an interesting twist is the following. the deputy general counsel for ami worked at amazon for nine years. you would think the deputy general counsel would have a pretty good idea how jeff bezos operates. and so i think they've underestimated jeff bezos and his reaction at this time. >> i've been trying to figure out motivate, why people do what they do. why would pecker, the head of

ami, owner of "the national enquirer," want to get back in the good graces of the president of the united states? well, he signed an immunity agreement, which means he's part of trouble trump's in because he told them stuff they wanted in exchange for his freedom. he wants to get back in his good graces. so he unleashes his dogs, photographers and perhaps the brother of bezos' girlfriend and puts it all together and he goes to war so he can win the graces of the president back. what do you think? what other motive is there? >> that's certainly what a lot of folks in jeff bezos' orbit seem to suspect. the president doesn't like snitches. i don't know if he's used that exact word, but he said it should be illegal for people to flip in exchange for prosecution. michael cohen -- he's not michael cohen's biggest fan. these days. so that obviously gets under his skin and if you're david picker,

that's potentially beneficial and lucrative person to have on your side and to have distance between him and the president in very many years, i would imagine you would want to are repair that relationship. >> we have to have somebody challenge him in the next year, so here we go again. it's too bad we need you so often. eli, our buddy here. katy, thank you for your site on this. coming up another possible motivation for the "enquirer"'s wore, this battle. why the owner of "the washington post" believes david pecker is tied toyota saudis. why is the "national enquirer" the best friend in the country the saudi arabia government including its crown prince and murder of khashoggi. a combative hearing today of the man overseeing the russia investigation, attorney general matt whitaker. bottom line, he wouldn't say one

good word about robert mueller for fear of what the boss man might say. plus a late-breaking story out of virginia. it gets worse. a second woman has now accused lieutenant governor justin fairfax of sexual assault saying it's worse than just sexual assault, it's rape, saying he raped her while in college at duke 19 years ago. we have a lot to get to tonight. stay with us. aaaaaahhhhhhhh! ballooned your car. call meeeee! (burke) a fly-by ballooning. seen it, covered it.

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welcome back to "hardball." the alliance between president trump and david pecker head of ami and the "national enquirer" isn't the only motive bezos subcontracts for pecker's alleged blackmail. in his post yesterday, bezos suggests pecker's tarabia calle. for reasons to be better understood, the saudi angle seems the hit a sensitive nerve, he wrote. he brought one of saudi crown prince's advisors to an oval

meeting with president trump while pecker, quote, was considering expanding his media and events business into saudi arabia. last year pecker also published a 97-page progressed spread praisi oncluded ordered the butchering of jamal khashoggi last year. he's guilty. the crown prince did it. the white house remains the lone defender of the crown prince after refusing to meet today's deadline set by congress to determine if the saudis were responsible for khashoggi's murder and butchering. i'm joined by gregory mix. congressman thank you for coming on this friday. this story has how many twists and turns, but the idea of ami, "the national enquirer" its owner david pecker and having some alliance with khashoggi's

crowd, the crown prince's crowd is really disturbing. when you think why would it come to this based on making money, what other purpose could it have to go around the country and every bookstore and every hudsons or street corner, kiosk, has almost 100-page glossy propaganda piece saluting the kingdom of saudi arabia. your zbloukts absolutely right. follow the money. what does saudi arabia have a lot of? money. why does he want to do business in saudi arabia? to protect money. independently say if you would look at some of those dots where the dollars are coming from and the financial scenario or situation that pecker money. when i think about it, just think about the president, for example. when the american banks stopped lending him money, two places where he was going to get money

was through russia and saudi arabia. and so while they his good friend, mr. pecker, who was buying up stories to keep certain things out of the paper, not go to the where? saudi arabia in this instance. i would dare say that we need to look at it what took place and follow that money line and then you may get your answer >> you know, there's also another piece in this. i read the post-every morning. one of the paper's columnist, jamal khashoggi, was killed and butchered in daylight pretty obviously at the accommodatcons turkey. they act like they could get away with it because they figured out this president. this president will not give them trouble over it. >> you're absolutely right. virtually every country in the

world with the exception of the united states president has put the blood -- blood on the hands of mbs, except for this president. the u.n. has, every country has. there's a big question mark as to why this president does not come out solidly with the rest of the world because all of our intelligence agencies also put the gun or the knife in the hands of mbs. only one person that doesn't, the president of the united states. >> in the past president trump has been very sfloelk his support of the crown prince. the probable killer of khashoggi. let's watch. >> i spoke with the crown prince yesterday. and he strongly said that he had nothing to do with this. this was at a lower level. >> the cia looked at it and studied it a lot. they have nothing definitive. and the fact is maybe he did,

maybe he didn't. >> whether he did or whether he didn't, he denies it vehemently. we have an ally that said they did not commit at the top level, the crown prince, the king, they did not commit this atrocity. >> we are with saudi arabia. we're staying with saudi arabia. >> david ignatius. you can go to any prison and find people and ask them what the crime was that put them in there, they're going to say they didn't do it. it sounds stupid for the president to say he said he didn't do it. >> he keeps asserting mohammed bin salman's innocence. there's a process going on in the kingdom to get to the bottom of this. from the beginning i think the thing that people in the u.s. who want a strong u.s./saudi relationship have said is the saudis have to show us something like this can never happen again. that's what i would like to hear

president trump say. we want to be clear that mohammed bin salman has changed systems, is taking responsibility for what he's done, there's accountability and hasn't happened. >> the idea i won't kill anybody again. but let me ask you this. what's the access? we had ami, the notorious "national enquirer," which is basically a sleaze mag. you know what it is. it deals in scum. and you have the saudi arabia government and president trump. what ties them all together? >> one thing that ties them together is saudi arabia, as you suggest. david pecker, the head of ami has been trying to do business with saudi arabia, has been particularly close to the circle around mbs, the crown prince. you described this 97-page puff piece that they produced about the new kingdom. he brought people who wanted to

do business into the white house. at the same time he's donald trump's friend and media adviser. so the fear -- >> david peckerish. >> my boss, our "washington post" owner, jeff bezos, said in his statement last night about all this that he is concerned about the saudi ties to both pecker and to the white house. he says this is still to be explained, but there's obvious reason for concern. >> congressman, the president shows no interest in observing any deadline. he basically says i don't have to observe it, just like that. he doesn't care. >> this is not just sometimes say democrats are only going to against the president on this. this is democrats, this is republicans, this is the senate, this is the house. you know, we are all concerned

about what has taken place and we've all listened to what our intelligence have come up with. in fact, the house of foreign affairs committee we're going to do a hearing soon bringing our intelligence agencies in so we can get some of the information that they have on the record and get it out so that the american people can clearly see what did, in fact, take place with the killing of "the washington post" reporter. look, this president, you know, to me, his state of the union speech, he rightfully talked about nicolas maduro from venezuela and some of the things that he did there. he should have also talked about mbs and what has been taking place there and the guy he's going to have a summit with, kim jong-un, who is another guy who killed a lot of folks and o presses his people. he should have talked about all of them. >> thank you so much, congressman meeks. and thank you, david.

i'm auto huge fan of your. they don't walk away. it's like the searchers and the great old movie. don't quit the case. >> he was our friend and colleague, and the fact that the paper stuck by him and is insisting on accountability is something we're all proud of. up next, friction on capitol hill as trump's handpicked nominee for attorney general, temporary attorney general, and the man overseeing the russia investigation right now gets grilled by congress. lots of friction and fireworks up there today. hear what he had to say, or refused to say. he wouldn't not say an aowe at a of credibility to robert mueller because he has to talk to the boss man. right after this. t after thisys. but believe me... i'm not your average consumer. that's why i switched to liberty mutual. they customized my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and as a man... uh... or a woman...

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. in your capacity as acting attorney general, have you ever been asked to approve any request or action to be taken by the special counsel? >> mr. chairman, i see that your five minutes is up and so -- we -- i am here voluntarily. we have agreed to five-minute rounds. >> what's he? an egg timer? that was the man who's been overseeing the mueller investigation, acting attorney general matt whitaker sparring with house judiciary chair jerry nadler. the question on many minds of democrats has he, the ag, talked

to president trump about the special counsel's probe? whitaker said the answer is no and he wouldn't discuss it but insisted he hasn't taken any actions to interfere. >> we have followed the special counsel's regulations to a tee. there's been no event, no decision that has required me to take any action and i have not interfered in any way with the special counsel's investigation. >> despite his reluctance, democrats grilled him on a host of issues. >> in your final week, keep your hands off the mueller investigation. >> are you overseeing a witch hunt. >> congressman, it would be inappropriate for me to talk about an ongoing investigation. >> i want to know whether you talked to president trump at all about the southern district of north carolina's case involving michael cohen. >> congresswoman, as i mentioned several times today, i am not going to discuss my private

conversations with the president of the united states. >> so yes or no? >> no matter what the question is. >> congressman eric swalwell pressed him. >> can you say right now, mr. president, bob mueller is honest and not conflicted. >> congressman i'm not a puppet. i have answered your question as to what i believe about the special counsel. >> congressman, thank you so much. eric swalwell joins us from the hill. congressman, did you get a sense that he was afraid to say anything good about mueller? >> i did. good evening, chris. i got the sense this was a man who wanted to please donald trump. the only person who he really, i think, considered important in this hearing as he knew trump would be watching. but also i got the sense he was afraid as to what would happen to him if he didn't give the rights questions.

my colleague, david cicilline pressed him that president trump lashed out on him when the indictments came out, and he got really nervous and was very evasive. they're afraid of trump. but i asked him a simple question. is mueller honest? he said yes. is mueller conflicted? donald trump tweets all the time that he's conflicted and he said he didn't believe him to be. and then i said, can you just say right now for the president to see, mr. president, mueller is honest and he's not conflicted. you could tell that made him nervous. so i saw that pattern all day long >> you know, i don't hear anybody saying anything against mueller. in this town where it's brutal the way people go after each other -- >> he's a saint. >> ptthe president is afraid of that. i watched a good bit of it and there was lots of friction, some

fireworks. the hearing didn't seem to get anything from this guy. it was almost like a defense. he said, okay, i'm not going to blow it. that indeseemed to be his strat >> we don't talk about that because that's department of justice policy. i asked him why last week did he say that the investigation was nearly complete and if that was the same way that mueller would characterize it, and said no, but he promised that the investigation would follow the evidence. and so the question, of course, is how would mueller characterize it and why are you saying something different? >> what was the answer? because a lot of us in the press jumped on that thinking, only this is in coming february, the end of the whole thing, and now that seems like that was just his speculation, right? that's what he's saying now? >> i think wishful thinking,

really, chris. we learned just yesterday from the manafort filings that we saw in the transcript there there's a lot more work mueller's team is doing. there's more redactions. i don't believe this investigation is anywhere close to being done. >> what about roger stone's basement, all that stuff in fort lauderdale? i mean, everybody seems to have whole basements filled with tapes and e-mails. these libraries these people have of trouble basically >> we just want them to be able to follow that evidence. today was really a damage assessment of the rule of law because it's had a wrecking ball taken to it the last two years. you can imagine why mr. whitaker might have been surprised these questions were coming because for two years he and his colleagues were protected by republicans who didn't want to ask questions like this. you saw my republican colleagues just coming to the realization they're in the minority. and the reason they're in the

minority, i believe, was because they weren't willing to put these types of checks and screws to the administration when all these abuses were going on. >> do you think the power of the democratic-controlled house is enough now to be an added reason to have some faith that this administration, many president, and the new incoming attorney general, bill barr, will let mueller release his report unscathed and unredacted? >> we're going to see that report, chris. hell or high water, we're going to see it because the american people gave at us power to do so. so i'm not worried about that at all. one other thing people should know, republicans are now saying you guys are just going to do these investigations. we also had a heading on the voting rights act, infrastructure, and we had a hearing the first one in eight years on background checks. we can walk and chew gum and it's going to be a new congress people are going to see. >> i'm going to note that with glee at the end of the show

tonight. thank you, congressman erica swalwell of california. up next, a restrained decision from the supreme court on a abortion rights. find out which conservative member sided with the liberal judges for a 5-4 decision for a pro-choice decision right after this. n right after this is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundred of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. discover.o!appy. get geico. i like your card, but i'm absolutely not paying an annual fee. discover has no annual fees. really? yeah. we just don't believe in them. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover.

welcome back to "hardball." a surprising defender of roe v. wade leads the u.s. supreme court today. yesterday the court blocked a louisiana law that women's groups said would leave just one doctor in the whole state able to legally perform an abortion for the approximately 10,000 women in louisiana who seek abortions each year. chief justice john roberts sided with the court's furlough liberals to block the anti-abortion law. the newest justice, kavanaugh, as expected, voted with the other conservatives of some coming up, breaking news tonight

in virginia. a second woman is accusing lieutenant governor justin fairfax of sexual violence. her allegiances that he raped her and his response, next. her and his response, next

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stace accuser, meredith watson was raped by justin fairfax in the year 2000 while they were both students at duke university. it goes ton to know add additionally we have statements from former classmates corroborating that ms. watson immediately told friends that mr. fairfax had raped her. the statement calls on fairfax to resign. he responded to the accusations tonight saying i deny this latest unsubstantiated allegation. it is demonstrate bly false and i demand a full investigation into these unsubstantiated and false allegations. fairfax says repeatedly tonight an earlier allegation who says fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004 during the democratic convention in boston. i'm joined by geoff bennett. this story is disturbing and worse every day.

what's the latest tonight this friday night? >> reporter: chris, i tell you what, up until an hour ago when the second accuser came forward, this political crisis, the spiral political crisis had really hit a holding pattern. there was a sense that there was safety in numbers because all three top democratic officials in this state because all three of them were politically compromised in different ways. there was less external pressure on any one of them to resign. but that has all changed now with meredith watson coming forward alleging that lieutenant governor jason fairfax raped her when they were both undergrads at duke in 1y62000. that has done little to calm the calls for him to step down. even terry mccullough, the former democratic governor of the commonwealth saying that justin fairfax has to step aside right now, chris. >> the conundrum for him, i don't know if he's guilty or not but it looks bad.

if he quits, he's admitting guilt of a rape charge. wouldn't he be putting himself in that situation? >> reporter: yes that is precisely why the governor ralph northam said he didn't want to step down because of his own allegation, the blackface controversy. for him to step down would be an dmifgs wrong doing. he's been telling people he wants more time to clear his name, and strangely, he may now have that time seeing as both of his successors, particularly jumper fairfax are dealing with scandals of their own >> the calls for him to resign are pouring in. three 2020 contenders, kirsten gillibrand, elizabeth warren, have called on fairfax to quit. terry mcauliffe said the allegations are serious and credible. it is clear to me that he can

origin effectively serve the people of virginia as lieutenant governor. i call for his immediate resignation. patrick hope tweeted today, on monday i will be introducing articles of impeachment for lieutenant governor jumper fairfax if he has not resigned before then. susan, questions of statute of limitations. we're not talking about misconduct, assault, now we're talking about rape. >> it makes blackface look like a lesser crime as offensive as it is. what do you look for? evidence, did the woman involved tell anyone about it >> corroboration. >> and did other women come forward. one of the things is when multiple women come forward with a consistent story, that has a lot of force. you have two women with no

apparent connection. we don't know of any connection between these two women, telling consistent stories in different locations several years apart. now, the lieutenant governor says it's demonstrate bly untrue and if he has evidence it's de. if he has evidence, he has a right to put that forward. but this is serious. >> terry mcauliffe, who is going to run for president who many of us believe and may well be a factor, the nomination, certainly, he wants to separate himself entirely. he wants to be clean hands on this. the speed with which the other democratic front runners, kirsten gillibrand and booker and warren, they don't want to look like they have a separate standard for a democrat. >> reporter: right. you're right about that. they have to. democrats have enforced a zero tolerance policy when it comes to misconduct in their ranks, whether it is allegations of bigotry or racism or sexual misconduct because they don't

want to look hypocritical when they criticize president trump for his perceived shortcomings on those issues and women and people of color are a part of the democratic base and virginia is a swing state and they will have to come through to campaign, for all of those reasons, that's why it's a much easier decision for the front runners, potential democratic candidates to make when they say that fairfax has to step down. >> in the hardball world of politics, i look at al franken, is the message from northam this week, if you're charged and you feel you're innocent or even if you feel like what you did is exceptional to your life generally, hang in a couple days and see what happens because he may survive. >> in northam had stepped down at the point everyone said he must step down, he'd have stepped down by now and we would have an entirely different crisis. >> fairfax would be under the same scrutiny.

>> we have become familiar with the laws of succession. if the lieutenant governor steps down. the governor gets to a point, and you could set up a situation where that person conceivably ends up succeeding to the governorship down the road if he isn't forced out. >> like jerry ford. >> this is unbelievable. thank you for this friday night reporting. this is getting worse and spiraling into worse and worse. as always, thank you, sir, thank you, susan. up next, trump is experiencing the unpleasant collusion of divided government. all he had to do was watch the house committee. and he's going to see how unpleasant 2019 and 2020 are going to be. stay with us. as a fitness junkie, i customize everything -

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the evolution of cancer care is here. cancer treatment centers of america. comprehensive cancer care network appointments available now. elections matter. people who got out and voted last november proved this in historic fashion. they knocked the republicans out of one party control. they opened the government to the kind of partisan oversight that any democratic government needs if only to stay clear of corruption. the man living in the white house isn't happy with this development. hardly a month after democrats took control of the house of representatives, president trump is seeing what a divided government looks like and he doesn't like its looks. this week began with the house intelligence committee voting to send more than 50 unredacted russian related transcripts to special counsel robert mueller.

this never would have happened if this was chaired by devin kn nunez, including going down to the white house to race back to the white house the next mortgage with something he had got -- morning, with something he had gotten the night before at the white house. while president trump was spending his time attacking democrats, democrats in the house were embarking on their oversight of the president and his policies. it kicked off with a bang with elij elijah cummings taking re republicans to task. . and then the house judiciary panel looked into how background checks could ensure that dangerous individuals could be prohibited from being able to obtain firearms. it's the first time, the first hearing the committee has held a hearing on gun safety in eight years. and then the house was scrutinizing the administration's child

separation policy at the border and a judiciary committee, grilled acting attorney general, matt whitaker on his dealings with the robert mueller probe with the president, with democrats back at the front, it's not always going to be pretty but if they do their job right, it will be important. this country has been riding too long on one wheel. that's hardball for now, thanks for being with us. all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in" in. >> in your capacity as acting attorney general, have you ever been asked to approve any requests or action to be taken by the special counsel? >> mr. chairman, i see that your five minutes is up, and so -- >> donald trump's acting attorney general finally faces the public. >> we're all trying to figure out who are you, where did you come from and how the heck did you become the head of the department of justice. >> tonight, what we learned from

matt whitaker about the mueller probe. >> would you say special counsel's investigation is a witch hunt? are you overseeing a witch hunt? and family separation. >> do you know what kind of damage has been done? >> then new allegations about blackmail and the "national enquirer" and why it could mean trouble for the president. >> i have always said, why didn't the "national enquirer" get the pulitzer prize. >> and a "washington post" block buster report. >> i'm going to end illegal immigration. >> on a pipeline of undocumented workers from costa rica. all in starts now. >> good evening, from new york, i'm joy reid in for chris hayes. when the president appointed matt whitaker to be the acting attorney general last fall, violating the justice department's order of succession and possibly the constitution, democrats feared it had nothing

to do with whitaker's qualifications which were severely lacking and everything to do with his loyalty to donald trump. and with his public hostility to the mueller investigation. in his combative, often evasive testimony today before the house judiciary committee, his first public appearance in congress, whitaker did little to ease concerns that he's a political hack, installed to run interference for the president. the acting attorney general defended his decision to not recuse himself from overnight of the mueller investigation despite having been advised to do so by ethics officials. he denied interfering or discussing with the president but given the opportunity to declare the legitimacy of the special counsel's work, whitaker declined to do so. >> there have been guilty pleas from flynn, manafort, gates, and dozens of indictments, including 13 nash