donald trump so intent on hiding? now, tomorrow, michael cohen will go back. he's testifying in a closed setting to the house intel committee. i'll tell you tomorrow for our special coverage, we have congresswoman val demmings who will be question cohen. she joins me tomorrow along with sam nunberg and the rev al on "the beat." that does it for me. "hardball" is up next. stonewall. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in los angeles. donald trump's son says his father's people should stonewall demands for evidence. in other words, give up nothing to the investigators. he's responding to the house judiciary committee's demand for documents from over 80 trump people and organizations. there they are on the list. that list, which was issued just yesterday includes the president's company as well as members of his family, including jared kushner, donald trump

junior, and eric trump himself. in a radio interview with fox news, the president's second son, eric, says he intends to fight the judiciary committee over the materials he's been asked to provide. eric trump says he's backing the advice of former prosecutor and trump ally, joe digenova, who's urging the targets, all of them, to stonewall congress and plead the fifth amendment, if necessary. here's eric trump in that radio interview today. >> yeah, we're going to fight the hell out of it. and we'll fight where we need and we'll cooperate where we need and -- but the desperation shows. >> joe digenova, a u.s. attorney, you know him well, former u.s. attorney for d.c., saw the -- saw all of the demands, the 80 plus requests for documents that has eric trump's name on it, too, and says, this is his advice. cut 11. >> this is a letter to 81 people to produce documents. everyone should refuse and when suspected, they should take the fifth. because this is a perjury trap. this is not a legitimate

investigation, it is a fishing expedition. they're trying to get people up there to make them look bad and make the president look bad. >> will you take his advice? >> i think he's spot-on. >> that recommendation to rebuff the committee's demands by any means is eerily similar to the fateful advice that former president richard nixon once relayed to aides embroiled in the watergate investigation. listen carefully right now to what nixon told his attorney general, john mitchell, back in 1973. >> i want you to stonewall it. the president's son now agrees that everybody should plead the fifth, yet the president himself has previously made clear that he thinks -- what he thinks of people who ever take the fifth. >> there are five people taking the fifth amendment. like you see on the mob, right? you see the mob takes the fifth.

if you're innocent, why you taking the fifth amendment? >> well, this comes as the house judiciary committee under chairman jerry nadler appears intent on fulfilling its oversight responsibilities. as "the new york times" notes, that investigation could seek to gather -- together, tied together, the scheme to pay off miss daniels, the firing of james b. comey as fbi director, mr. trump's attempts to remove the special counsel, robert mueller. the president's apparent dangling of pardons and threatening of witnesses to the investigation and other events. to no one's surprise, the president today slammed the house judiciary committee, calling their investigation nonsense. >> the witch hunt continues. the fact is that, i guess we got 81 letters. there was no collusion. that was a hoax. there was no anything. and they want to do that instead of getting legislation passed.

81 people or organizations got letters. it's a disgrace. it's a disgrace to our country. it's too bad, because i would rather see them do legislation, we negotiate out legislation, where so many things, actually, things that we agree on, like infrastructure. but they want to focus on nonsense. >> he didn't do infrastructure when he had a chance. he gave the wealthy a $1.5 trillion tax cut. don't ever forget that. we all wanted him to do infrastructure, right, left, and center. he didn't do that. he chose to give the money to the wealthy. anyway, meanwhile, in a review of things to come, the white house is refusing to comply with a request for evidence by the house oversight committee. trump has also refused to turn over any information about jared kushner's security clearance. altogether, these simmering confrontations could set the stage for a number of subpoena fights, don't you think? i'm joined by harry litman and yamiche alcindor. thank you both on the legal front here. i'm fascinated by this thing in "the new york times" today. how the house investigators led

by -- led by -- >> nadler. >> nadler, yeah, jerry nadler. of course, i've known him a million years, jerry nadler, that they're going to go into the question of tying together payoffs to the women, trying to get flynn off the hook with comey. firing comey, going after mueller. i mean, all -- how would they fit together? it sounds like a rico charge, a kind of rack ets charge. >> well, look, legally, people have been talking about that for a long time. but he's going to tie it together thematically. the umbrella term is abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and in fact, the charge he's making, and there's a lot of reason to think is there's continuity between trump, the candidate, trump the nominee, trump the president. he's run his businesses the same way, crooked and corner cutting. and he's going to try to show a general pattern. but each of these things, when you hear the charge about this fishing expedition, asked which shouldn't be fished for, each of the incidents really does sound

like the sorts of things you've got to worry about if you're in oversight mode. >> can you put together a perjury charge based upon all that stuff, as disparate as paying off women you had relations with to threatening, threatening -- how many times did he threaten sessions? he just intimidated the guy to do something. yelling at him because he didn't recuse himself. it seems to me like obstruction of justice to me. >> yeah, so obstruction, there's a number of charges you can put together, perjury. you need to swear and trump has been able to allude it, except, there is an indication. this is one thing that was really important about the cohen testimony. there's an indication that his written testimony said that he never told cohen anything or never knew anything from stone about the timing. if that's wrong, that's perjury. but obstruction, there are six, seven potential obstructions, but the granddaddy of them all, the comey firing and the cover-up of it, including speaking of trump jr., the

actual phony story that they concoct on air force one. >> yamiche, i've been away with my wife and some relatives over in new zealand, so i missed some of this behavior. but i tell you, what is refreshingly familiar is the behavior of eric trump. my god, this guy goes along with joe digenova, who's basically a wild man conservative, who does -- doesn't want to do anything but defend trump these days, saying, stonewall! i mean, stonewall is nixon stuff p pi pip. i mean, the idea that he's advised all these people around his father, oh, just don't go along with these calls. is eric talking for the old man or is he out of the action? >> i think it's hard to see whether or not he's talking to his father, but what i can say is the behavior of eric trump mirrors the behavior of the white house. i've been talking to officials all week, and what they tell me is the white house is going to do what they legally have to do. the key word there, they're waiting for there to be a

subpoena. the officials i've been talking to tell me that the president and people in the white house have been gearing up since the democrats took back control of the house. >> yamiche, i've got to interrupt. this is too wild. this is too wild. so the president of the united states is writing out checks to cover up a relationship he had with a -- whatever, adult film hero or whatever the hell she was. and he's doing this and that's called executive -- that has to do with the nation's business? that's not the nation, that's donald trump's business. how can they call it executive privilege? >> well, that's going to be the big question. can they actually get away with this? are they going to be -- is this going to be able to hold up in court? i can tell you that that's what the white house is going to say. and they're going to say with we're using executive privilege, just like every other president did it. of course, what's not said is not every other president had private meetings with putin with only a translator. not every other president had hush money payments and possibly checks written while in office to pay off an adult film star for not talking about it during the election. so there is, of course, a different context here, but the white house -- and that's the

line they're giving me, chris. every single day when i ask, i say, what's going on now? and they say, well, this is all about presidential harassment. the key other question i want to bring up quickly, i've been asking and i haven't gotten a clear answer, what's the white house going to do to coordinate with all the people who don't work in the white house? with people like eric trump, like don junior, and people who might be suspected and ask for documents later, like sean and ivanka trump. >> by the way, stormy just appreciated the upgrade. you just called her an adult film star. >> i work for pbs, so that's what we call her. >> anyway, that's the code there. i want to bring in democratic congresswoman, katie hill of california who sits on the house. you were so impressive, congresswoman, about this whole mess -- >> oh -- >> no, it's a fact. you are one of the stars, using a word we unfortunately just used in another context. >> that's okay. >> but i really think about this question of a son out there free lansing for his dad, saying, i'm

going along with joe digenova, a wild conservative, and saying we're not going to give any documents. what is your committee going to do, led by jerry nadler, when people start saying, no, we're not giving you nothing? what are you going to do? >> so i'm on overnight, which is led by chairman cummings, but you know, i think we're going to have -- we're going to have to pursue every measure that we have to conduct our constitutional obligation, which is overseeing the executive branch. >> so what would you do -- what would you do if a request for information from this family and its crowd didn't come through? they refused to respond? you're in overnight, they're on judiciary, but what's the difference? go ahead. >> if it's me, i'm going to subpoena. and i think that's exactly the direction we're going to go. i think to me, the biggest thing is we have to show the american people -- listen, we all know, this is just from growing up, right, throughout our lifetime, the whole phrase of pleading the fifth is when you're guilty. so, you know, i think that that's a really telling thing for us to see, that the white

house is encouraging people to do that, that you have everybody on that side of the issue saying, plead the fifth. that's a major problem. and it causes all that much more suspicion and a need for us to go in every possible way to get this documentation, to bring people -- to bring the -- the people in the white house and the other kind of affiliated characters in front of the committee to show the american people what's going on. and frankly, if they're not, if they're hiding that information, then that arouses that much more suspicion and we've got to do whatever we can to uncover it. >> you're on oversight. explain something about the dress code on your committee. the right-wing republicans, the tea party types show up like they're working for cnbc in the morning. why do they show up with the white shirts on, they don't unbutton their collars or roll up their sleeves. they wear that dress code of the nba graduate. and they had nasty looks on their faces. they were really angry. what's the story on their sort of sentiments? why do they hate anybody who criticizes trump?

>> you know, i -- i think that there's this -- there's just this sentiment that they have to protect the president and that anybody who is, is questioning whether the executive branch is doing what they're supposed to be doing is partisan. and that's just not the case. i mean, i mentioned this in the committee hearing, but i come from a half democrat, half republican family. my district is pretty well evenly represented between democrats and republicans and independents. and this isn't about partisanship. this is about whether the person in the white house is breaking the law, whether they are coordinating with outside foreign entities and whether we as the american people are the priority and we're being kept safe. and so the fact that republicans who are supposed to be this party of national security, they seem to have forgotten that. and they're also supposed to be the party that really wants to curtail the executive branch and maintain constitutional authority. again, that's all gone by the wayside. and i think that that shows you exactly why they're trying to protect the president, is because they're afraid of what he's capable of doing to their base, and they're afraid of

getting unseated. but i think they're going to end up on the wrong side of history on this, i've got to tell you. >> -- on one, remember? >> go ahead, you're talking to him. yamiche. look, in an interview with abc news today, trump's former lawyer, ty cobb, expressed his disagreement with the president on the special counsel's probe. among other things, cobb praised robert mueller and defended his investigation. let's watch. >> what do you think of bob mueller? >> i think bob mueller is an american hero. i've known him for 30 years as a prosecutor and a friend and i think the -- i think the world of bob mueller. he's a -- he is a very deliberate guy. but he's also a class act. and a very justice-oriented person. i was there for the white house. rudy is there to represent the individual. but keep in mind that you can criticize the strategy, it wouldn't have been my strategy. you know, i don't feel the same way about mueller.

i don't feel the investigation is a witch hunt. >> harry, is that a concern among other republicans who were thoughtful about this? that this president is facing -- you know, from a real straight arrow, a threat from a real straight arrow, not a partisan. >> yeah, that's why it was so foreboding when rosenstein first appointed him. look, this is not like a disagreement. rob mueller -- i mean, bob mueller is an american hero. period. full stopped. everybody knows it. and those who are posing otherwise are trying to do a political talking point that everyone knows is not legitimate. the tape you brought from watergate, that brought nixon down. that was from the very end of the story. here it's something that's actually boasted about, same with this notion of promiscuously taking the fifth. best i can tell, the whole thing is to try to keep this 41 to 46% on the reservation and keep the republicans torpid and thinking,

you know, we can just parry everything and ignore it. everybody knows it's a legitimate probe. everybody knows mueller's the real deal and the rest is just politics and bogus claims. >> yamiche, you're the expert, you're the reporter here about reporting. it seems to me that what broke nixon wasn't politics, it wasn't tip o'neil, my old boss, it wasn't any of that, it was the evidence. when you heard of him basically a calling the shots on the watergate cover-up with bob halderman, saying he wants the cia to tell the fbi to get off the case because it's a national security matter, that nailed nixon. he quit. will it take something like that to break the republican phalanx around trump? >> i think so. because we go back to this idea that the republicans are going for an audience of one. they want all of their antics and all of their arguments to be seen by president trump. in this case, when you saw michael cohen in that hearing, what made him -- what made that hearing so important was not just because he was talking about president trump and all the things that he thought he said he heard, but it's because he brought the check that president trump wrote while in office in august of 2017.

so i think republicans are probably going to need really hard evidence and bob mueller, as far as everyone can tell, is really going to be looking for that hard evidence. that's why we see the president saying, wow, i didn't know ag bill barr really liked mueller as much as he did. i didn't know they went back for a far. but it's because barr sees mueller and says, he's a credible person. he's someone who will take this job very seriously. and as a result, if mueller does find something, you can definitely bet he's going to have evidence to back it up. >> well, the trouble is for all of these republicans, if they look to the future, they must realize that donald trump is not likely to go to mt. rushmore. he's much more likely to go back to trump tower. and their question should be right now, do you want to go there with him? thank you very much, u.s. congresswoman, katie hill of the house overnight committee, thank, harry litman and yamiche alcindor of pbs. coming up, 48% of registered voters -- actually, 46% of registered voters and 88% of republican voters believe that president trump is doing a good job. can anything that come out of these investigations weaken the gop support for trump?

actor/director rob reiner will be here in a minute. plus, two big names, michael bloomberg and hillary clinton announced today they're not running for president, but the field of candidates is still growing. so who has the best chance to win against trump? and trump's troubling record on racist. michael cohen acceptance he's a racist. there are very few african-americans on his administration, of course, and one is on his way out. i'll talk about that with trump former senior adviser omarosa manigault newman. much more ahead. stay with us. ult newman much more ahead. stay with us like you can do it all. but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by asking your healthcare provider about vraylar. vraylar treats acute mania of bipolar i disorder. vraylar significantly reduces overall manic symptoms,... ...and was proven in adults with mixed episodes who have both mania and depression. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia,

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what you love. that's what inspired us to create america's most advanced internet. internet that puts you in charge. that protects what's important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome. you know what i like about this? number one, i'm in love, and you're in love. we're all in love together. there's so much love in this room. it's easy to talk. you can talk your heart out. you really can. there's love in this room. you can talk your heart out. it's easy. >> love means never having to say you're sorry. welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump,

basking in love of his most ardent supporters at cpac this weekend, where it was clear the president's wildly popular within his party. trump's overall approval rating is at 46%, up a bit in our nbc/"wall street journal" poll. but the poll also shows that he has the approval of 88% of republicans. basically, nine out of ten. robert costa wrote in "the washington post," acquiescence to trump is now the defining trait of the republican party more than two years into his president. and texas republican senator john cornyn told "the washington post," we're not going to turn on our own and make the democrats happy. in other words, the reason they're sticking with trump is they don't want to make the democrats happy, right? joining me right now is robert costa, the man who wrote that, national political reporter for "the washington post" and film director and activist, rob brennan. now, we have one absolute straight reporter, ron, and we have a guy with a lot of opinions. so robert, tell me about the republican party. can you report on this strange allegiance to trump that seems to pass through every traffic accident, every reckoning, every absurdity, every misbehavior personally and politically, and

yet it grows even stronger. what's going on in the republican party? >> it's pervasive across domestic policy and even on foreign policy. think about secretary of state mike pompeo, defending the president's comments about otto warmbier and the north korean dictator kim jong-un. national security adviser john bolton, again defending the president on the sunday shows. then you have cpac and the conservative base, gop base, all there with the president. i asked former senator jeff flake about this today, chris. he said it's about fear. he said the republicans fear the president. he has all the political capital in the party. >> why is it that a guy like the late john mccain would do something maybe a lot of people who aren't republicans believe in, like campaign reform, turn on him with a vengeance because he did that. mccain/feingold. and yet when trump breaks the rules -- i mean, i'm talking about things like fiscal responsibility. post world war ii alliances, which were basically put together by democrats and republicans together. breaking all of that -- breaking

all the rules. and yet they don't hold any of it against him. is there any -- i don't know if there's any press -- have you ever seen it before? >> we've never seen it really in the conservative movement or the republican party over the last half century. those conservative principles from buckley, goldwater guided the gop for decades. but because of george w. bush's presidency, the iraq war, the economic collapse, many republican leaders tell me there was a vacuum, an opening for populism, and nationalism to take its grip, and you add in the personality-driven politics of president trump, and you have now him dominating that party. >> that's right. free trade was another thing they believed. anyway, during michael cohen's testimony last week, many republicans in the oversight committee of the house focused fiercely on anybody when they attacked anybody, including cohen, who attacked their guy, the perceived enemies of the president, of course, rather than defending the president. >> i want everyone in this room

to think about this. the first announced witness for the 116th congress is a guy who is going to prison in two months for lying to congress. michael cohen, fraudster, cheat, convicted felon, and in two months a federal inmate. >> he's going to prison to lying for congress and he's the star witness to congress. >> there is an agenda for all this happening here today. and i believe, frankly, that that's to bring the president down, to impugn the president. >> you're a pathological liar. >> you know, it's just one more example, mr. cohen, of your skirting the truth. >> well, he doesn't like those guys as a group, the sort of looking like nba types. they don't like anybody but the president, but do you think they like the president? >> no, i don't think they like him. and there's a couple of really big differences, costa was mentioning, this -- if you remember, if everybody compares this to watergate, they always

do -- but watergate, when nixon won in 72, there was a democratically controlled congress. and there was the indication that a crime was committed, a break-in to the dnc. two years of investigating by democrats exposed all of that criminality. trump comes to office with a republican majority, who protects them. he has that plus state-run media and fox news. which completely keeps driving home the idea that trump is okay, that everything's okay. right now, you have a democratically controlled house. not senate, but house. with that democratically controlled house, you are now, for the first time, going to be investigating the president. but you've got headwinds, because you still have that, you know, that state-run tv. >> let's talk about that. back in those days, you and i

are roughly the same age. i think i'm a bit older than you. >> a little bit. >> little bit. >> let's talk about this. back in watergate days, '73, 'high pressu '74, the republicans who voted for nixon, almost half the country, more than half the country, were watching cronkite every night. they were hearing that straight news on watergate every night. >> and they were also watching -- >> not hannity. >> exactly. and they were watching on television this thing unfold. the american public will see all of this unfold. and when you talk about 81, you know, inquiries that jerry nadler is making, it's not a fishing expert -- expedition, it's 81 because there's that much criminality. they're looking at a lot of criminality. that's going to be laid out. right now you have 64% of the america thinking that trump has committed a crime and that's going to be 100% by the time

they're firnished. they may not all accept it, because you still have the state-run media. >> another question for you, robert. let me ask you about the senate. the house is basically in line with the president, we see that, representing the people at home, nine out of ten. but the senators have broken ranks here. they've broken the phalanx. you have four republicans, at least, maybe up to ten, who are going to vote with the rejection of the president's declaration of a national emergency. that's a real shot around the world. and everybody in the world is going to know that if the u.s. senate breaks with the president on his claim that we're facing a national emergency. how do you explain the difference between the house and the senate? >> it's a quiet ideological rebellion right now in the u.s. senate over emergency powers. this is not some national outcry about president trump overstepping his executive boundaries. and it reminds me going back to watergate, it took until the summer of 1974, for many republican senators, to outbreak -- to out and out break with president nixon. a lot of republican senators, i was at the capital today, told me they're probably going to stick with president trump, maybe break with him here or

there on something like a national emergency. but for the time being, through 2020, unless there's some kind of evidence that comes out from the mueller report, a smoking gun, they say, where they really have to move away from him. >> well, you know, nixon called george wallace, the guy who split with vote with him in '68, basically helped him get elected. he said, can you help me with these southern senators. and wallace said "no". >> you're going to see -- an impeachment process takes a couple of years. so there's no advantage to impeaching at this point. because, you're just going to run up to the 2020 election. and those republican -- there's a smoking gun, what smoking gun? what are they going to say? there's a phone call with president trump on the phone with putin saying, hey, listen, elect me president, i'll lift the sanctions. there's no smoking gun. >> so what happens here? give me a prediction for this year. >> here's what happens. you -- there's going to be a lot of people with a lot of investigations, a lot's going to come out. the american public's going to hear it. we're going to go into 2020. he's going to lose in 2020, because you can't win with just

a base. if you want to add in schultz, i don't think he's going to do that much damage, but let's see. you can't win with just a base. he loses and then the southern district of new york comes in and he's going to be indicted. he's going to be indicted and he's going to -- >> you're the best of hollywood democratic activist i know. you're always smart. >> well, thank you. >> you are, you're always smart. >> mark my words. >> hillary's not running. >> nope. >> bloomberg's not running. >> nope. >> two moderates are not running. does that help biden if he runs? >> i think it does. i think it does. to me, he's the guy. what i like about joe biden is, if he gets the nomination, he's going to win. and if he wins, he puts america right back on the world stage and our credibility comes back very quickly. >> so he's good in two arenas, the general election and being president. how good is he in the arena of the democratic primary fight? >> tough. it's going to be tough. it's going to be a very tough fight. and i think, you know, nobody's going to drop out right away, but i would love to see him with

like a kamala harris on the ticket or amy klobuchar. he's got to have a woman. you have to have a woman on the ticket. >> i think you're right. who's talking? >> remember that line from 2004, date dean, mary carrie. democrats might have a similar choice in 2020. do they want to go with a liberal who's a favorite in the primary or going to go with the more electable candidate, someone who's more toward the center? >> i know a howard dean guy, he's right near me right now. thank you, robert costa. thank you, rob reiner. up next, hillary clinton and michael bloomberg announced today they're not running in 2020, so who will have the best chance? who do the democrats think is their best chance to beat trump, generally? stay with us. e to beat trump, generally? stay with us

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welcome back to "hardball." two big names announced today they're not running for president next year. hillary clinton and michael bloomberg. and in announcing his decision today, bloomberg issued a warning to democrats. he wrote, "it's essential that we nominate a democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat donald trump and bring our country back together. we cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our chances in the general election." right now, a dozen democrats are in the race. yesterday, former colorado governor john hickenlooper became the latest to join what's expected to be the largest democratic field ever. with so much at stake, the democrats now begin the task of convincing voters that they can win iowa and the general

election coming in november next year. right now, i'm joined by former assistant managing editor of the "los angeles times." bob shrum is a longtime democratic strategist and director for the center of political future at usc. john, i'll start with you. christina, most people in conversation now think about the election, do we want to go with an ideologue or somebody that could have a better chance of winning? are those -- is that a legitimate distinction? an ideologue, of course, senator sanders is a socialist, happy to be on the left, strong core. is he a better bet in a party than somebody who's a moderate and might appeal to those people who have been questioning whether to go back to trump a second time? >> it's the heart ferris miarea. this is the big debate that republicans have, that i think republicans just don't have the same debate. >> they don't have a heart or a mind? >> you have that huge field of candidates, you know, every time of person from every time of place. is there really a too liberal in

that? you know that no matter who the candidate is, the president is going to paint them as a socialist, you know, gun hating, all those things. >> on one case, he won't have to do it. because bernie will throw it right back at him. he'll say, i am a socialist and you're a capitalist bad guy. >> could be. but in that sense, the fighting over who's a little bit more moderate, i don't think that's the debate they're having. i think democrats are shell shocked and terrified that trump will win re-election. >> two cases, goldwater, in your heart, you know he's right. and of course, mcgovern. we went through that. ich i was at the democratic convention and people were giddy with happiness. they loved picking mcgovern. >> so was i. i was mcgovern's speech writer, so i couldn't be anything but happy. look, that was probably an unwinnable election, no matter who the democrats nominated. after the eagleton debacle, when mcgovern picked somebody who was a flawed vice president -- >> would a moderate like muskie done better?

>> he wouldn't have won the election. and i think it's no mcgovern's credit that he stood up against the vietnam war, told the truth about watergatega. i think there's a bit of a parlor game going on here about, are we going to pick someone on the left or pick someone who's going to win? democrats are very pragmatic in these primaries, if you look back at history. i think that overwhelmingly, people are going to say, who has the best chance to beat trump. >> polls show, they want that to be the choice. they want a winner. >> they want to beat trump, number one. number two, someone like biden is feared tremendously by the trump people, in pennsylvania, in wisconsin. >> if he gets there. >> if he gets there. but once again, it goes back to the nature of the electorate. it goes back to what rob reiner was saying or in your last segment, you guys were talking about this. in 2004, it was date dean, mary carrie. they thought kerry had a chance to win, but dean didn't have a chance to win. >> former secretary of state

hillary clinton is ruling out another run for president. i thought she already did, but she did so in an interview recently, in fact, today, with news 12's tara rosenblum in new york. let's watch. >> i'm not running, but i'm going to keep working and speaking and standing up for what i believe. i want to be sure that people understand, i'm going to keep speaking out. i'm not going anywhere. what's at stake in our country, the kinds of things that are happening right now are deeply troubling to me. >> well, it's not the first time secretary clinton has said she's not interested at this time, but this time appears to be twin ty. president trump couldn't resist, of course, tweeting, crooked hillary clinton confirms she will not run in 2020. rules out a third bid for white house, awe, shucks. does that mean i won't gept to run against her again? she will be sorely missed. sarcastic guy, isn't he. president trump has made a habit out of going after hillary clinton. watch him. he can't get off it. >> hillary is the one who broke the law over and over and over

again. we can be sure that what is in those e-mails is absolutely devastating. if hillary clinton were to be elected, it would create an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis. oh, i hope hillary runs. is she going to run? i hope! hillary, please run again. oh, these resisters resist. hillary resisted, and you know what happened? she lost the election in a landslide. >> but hillary clinton had the last word for now when she tweeted this graphic from the film "mean girls" with the character asking, why are you so obsessed with me? and my question is, remember during the debate, when trump like this gorilla leaned over the back of her and hovered over the back of her? he's still hovering over hillary clinton. >> he does it because it works. this is about the base, the base, the base, the base, the base. and when you talk to voters that are still with trump and that ceiling of what others -- 38 to 42% -- >> well, it's 88% of the republican party. >> exactly. they want to say the same thing. they are still talking about the

e-mails. they are still talking about, you know, bill and what he did -- they want to talk about white water, even. you see this happening on the internet. and no matter what the candidate ends up being or who the candidate ends up being in 2020, of course he's going to talk about hillary clinton. he will tie that person to hillary clinton, he will research all of it. >> the area around philadelphia suburbs has seemed to defied all of these elections. biden right now, going in -- i don't know what's going to happen in the next several months, biden going in, going in, amy klobuchar, that kind of a ticket would swim to victory around 75% in the 'burbs around philadelphia. you know they decide everything. bob, i've got to go. >> go! >> christina -- >> what was your last thought? >> i was going to say, look, trump can't win with 42%, unless he has a third party candidate who inadvertently benefits him. it's impossible to draw on inside straits a second time. >> i don't know nothing. >> 364 days from now, california primary. >> i know. by the way, you can start voting in california like now. about a month ago, next year.

thank you, christina bell toneya and bob shrum. up next, michael cohen's testimony has put new focus on president trump's history with the race issue, don't you think, after listening to that last week? "hardball" back in a minute. tht week "hardball" back in a minute. ♪ limu emu & doug

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welcome back to "hardball." last week, when the president's fixer, michael cohen testified before the congress, he gave us a scathing description of his former boss. let's watch. >> i know what mr. trump is. he is a racist, he is a con man, and he is a cheat. the country has seen mr. trump court white supremacists and bigots. you have heard him call poorer countries [ bleep ] holes. his private, in private, he is even worse. >> trump supporters defended him against cohen's allegations, but the president's critics have

pointed -- his critics have pointed to his own past statements. those by the president himself, as evidence. >> trump comes along and says, birth certificate, he gives a birth certificate. whether or not that was a real certificate, because a lot of people question it. i certainly question it. donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. you know what -- oh, look at my african-american over here! look at him! you had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. >> that's about charlottesville. anyway, yesterday, trump got a boost of support from the highest ranking african-american in his administration. we'll hear another view on that one, coming up next. n. we'll hear another view on that one, coming up next. vo: whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure.

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only when you book with expedia. (driver) relax, it's just a bug. that's not a bug, that's not a bug! (burke) hit and drone. 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 ♪ welcome pack to "hardball." following last week's testimony by president trump's fixer, describing the president as a racist, housing and urban development secretary ben carson is defending the president. let's listen. >> i think cohen is trying to ingratiate himself to the people who hate trump. and he figures if he says these kinds of things that that will accomplish that. i have never seen anything even remotely would remind me of racist. and believe me, i recognize a

racist when i see them. >> well, carson, of course, is the lone african-american in the president's cabinet. president trump has been called out for the lack of diversity, of course, in his administration. there's the administration. there's the picture. i'm joined right now by omarosa, a former senior official in the trump white house. you've been listening to a lot of this conversation and i think there are degrees of bigotry. i think everybody knows there are people that are really good and really bad and people in the middle. what is trump? >> i don't think there's a question of whether he's a bigot or racist, the question is how is it impacting his ability to fulfill the duties of the presidency. he's proven time and time again that he does not treat people who do not look like him the same. >> what's that, from his old neighborhood? where do you think it comes from? >> i went back and looked and there was a man in his organization, the president of trump casino, john mcdonnell, back in 1991 who said donald trump said racial things, didn't want african-american dealers dealing in the casino or

african-american accountants. i went way back. it must be something that he picked up during his business times and his dealings in new york, but it is not acceptable while he sits in the oval office. >> do you think it was currying favor with people who are bigots? this whole thing about president obama not being american born, did he ever really think that? where did he get that idea from? >> he picks up on these conspiracy theories and he runs with them. that one, he wouldn't release that particular one until we forced him to do so during the campaign when he made that full announcement. we told him it was unacceptable. i personally had a conversation and said not only was it false but it was unacceptable to continue to attack this president who led this country so well, but he had no respect for obama and is continuing to try to dismantle barack obama's legacy currently. >> is that because president obama is really smart and well educated and a good guy and that offends him that he's so good?

was it what president obama said at the black tie dinner. >> it was the white house correspondents dinner. i remember the moment when he was joking and making fun of donald trump and that was the moment he decided to run for president and get back at barack obama. >> republican congressman mark meadows brought in lynne patton, a trump employee who's now an official at hud to push back against cohen's claims of racism. meadows indicated it was wrong because miss patton disagreed with him. this led to the exchange between presley and michael cohen himself. >> would you agree that someone could deny rental units to african-americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as [ bleep ] countries and refer to white supremacists as fine people, have a black friend and still be racist? >> yes. >> i agree. >> let me ask you about who's the president got to worry

about. 80 some questions have come out from the house judiciary committee. these people are going to called in for all kinds of documents and eventually be hauled in personally and subpoenaed. who do you think trump fears most? >> rona graff. she knows everyone. she knows the role they play. who knows what when. she set up the meetings. if she is called to testify, that will be the end of donald trump. >> will she keep seek sglecrets? >> i wouldn't be surprised if she pleads the fifth. >> what do you think scares him? >> i think he's afraid of failure and he knows once he's impeached, that will be the most significant sign that he is truly a failure and he has been running the biggest, greatest and perpetuating the greatest fraud on the american people because he was not able, capable or prepared to be president of the united states. >> what about that love serenade he did on the weekend with the conservatives.

we all love each other. he's not a loving -- he's not a lover. what's all this love and love and love. >> this is a man that totally lacks empathy. he has no ability to connect with people. donald trump was completely unhinged in his two and a half tirade that he went on and on. >> what did you make of that? it was like howard beale, exponential howard beale. everything on his mind, he used the bs word. he's president, does he remember that? >> he wasn't behaving very presidential. he continues to lower and lower the quality and standards of the white house and that office every single time he goes on something -- these bizarre rants like he did. but what's important is what's going to happen now. what happens after these testimonies, what happens when mueller releases his report. >> this is a tricky question because i'm not a psychiatrist ors soologist. does trump have a problem with people of color? >> he has a problem with people of color. there were years that i denied that because i was in his orbit but he exploits them.

when you look at what they did with lynne patton, they gave her a title of vice president even those she was an administrative assistant because he knew he had a problem with diversity. >> omarosa, you are a great guest. this show lights up when you appear. thank you so much. up next, a dramatic medical milestone that's been a long time coming and a really good thing coming. we'll be right back. plan thing coming we'll be right back. plan (gasp) (singsong) budget meeting! sweet. if you compare last quarter to this quarter... various: mmm. it's no wonder everything seems a little better

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. to those who hold faith in human science, a new sign of hope shienes across the horizon. for the second time in history a patient has been cleared of the hiv virus. it offers the most hope yet for the 40 million people living with hiv worldwide and may lead the way to possibly ending the aids epidemic. >> the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer. >> a mysterious newly discovered disease, which affects mostly homosexual men, but has also been found in heterosexual men and women. >> blood transfusions may help spread aids. the aids virus may be carried by a million americans. president reagan called the deadly disease public health enemy number one. critics saz his commit ent -- >> it's now the cause of death

among young adults. >> 25 years ago today the centers for disease control issued a report on a new mystery illness. since that day the virus has infected 65 million people and killed 25 million. >> well, today's development is a tribute to the promise of human science and those who give their sweat and tears to find cures. thank god we have these researchers among us. and that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> the witch hunt continues. i guess we got 81 letters. >> as the president complains -- >> 81 people or organizations got letters. it's a disgrace. >> another investigation is launched. >> to your knowledge did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company? >> yes. >> tonight, new evidence that americans increasingly believe their president is a criminal, as