and the federal government has a responsibility to address the issues of this generation. that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern for a new live edition of "politics nation." up next, richard lui picks up with our coverage. live on msnbc. hello, i'm richard lui live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. right now we're keeping an eye on a busy day in iowa, two major political events taking place in the 2020 race. the polk county steak fry where joe biden is speaking and just a few miles away, the iowa people's presidential forum in des moines. among the big stories there, cory booker talking about a message to supporters suggesting that his campaign could be over in just nine days unless he gets the money to continue. much more on that coming up. but we'll start with explosive new details on the whistleblower story involving the president

and ukraine. "wall street journal" reports that president trump repeatedly pressured the president of ukraine to investigate joe biden's son urging zelensky about eight times to work with rudy giuliani. giuliani reportedly had been pushing for ukraine's government to investigate the former vice president and his family. this is the latest development in a story that prompted fresh standoff between congress and the white house and threatens the president with a slew of new issues. the "washington post" first reported an official within the u.s. intelligence communixhun f form chis complaint involving the president. it was over a phone call that the president made to a foreign leader. then friday president trump pushed back on the report at the white house and attempted to deflect blame on his political opponent. take a listen.

>> it didnoesn't matter what i discussed, but somebody should look into joe biden's statement because it was disgraceful where is not given to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. so should be should look into that. >> today joe biden responded to the president's comments. >> trump is doing this because he knows that i'll beat him like a drum and it is an bus of power an every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me. everybody looked at this and everybody said there is nothing there. >> let's go to hans nichols at the white house and hans, what is the latest? >> reporter: back from his golf course, they of course had a late night last night at that australian state dinner and i expect the press office is also fielding a lot of calls trying to figure out just what the president's intentions were,

what he actually said and what he was driving at when according to the "wall street journal" eight times he pressed his ukranian counter part to cooperate with rudy giuliani into this investigation into joe biden's son hunter biden. so from the white house, they clearly want to keep the attention on the biden side of things, but there are serious questions on their side. you have george conway writing that this is even a are more serious charge than the charge for the 2016 election because now it is the president of the united states, not simply a private citizen. you have rudy giuliani trying to muddy the waters. but at the end of the day you have the white house that has an opportunity to clear this all up by either releasing notes of the call or the transcript of the call and so far with the president saying nothing to see here, i didn't do anything wrong, it was a totally appropriate conversation. >> all right. thank you so much, hans nichols at the white house live for us. let's go to our panel.

julie an barnes, our "daily beast" reporter and also our legal analyst barbara mcquaid. julian, you've been following this story for the "new york times." a lot of moving parts. what do we know in terms of the latest of the story specifically the whistleblower and what the whistleblower may have said? >> well, we don't know all of the details of the whistleblower's complaint. but what we do know is that it involves ukraine and it involves president trump's pressure on the ukranian government to investigate joe biden. and so we're all focusing on this july call, this call where mr. trump told the ukranian president to talk to rudy giuliani. he repeatedly made that demand. and he repeatedly -- he at least once said you've got to investigate the biden family specifically hunter biden. >> barbara, the legal issues

around this because of the reporting coming out about quid pro quo, either explicit or implicit, describe the nuances there and whether it makes a difference if it did happen. >> certainly facts are important. but if this did happen, it could amount to a crime of bribery or extortion. bribe ry is a promise, extortio is a threat. but when a public official demands a thing of value, in this instance the information of joe biden that would be harmful to his campaign, in exchange for the performance of an official act that is the release of this military aid. and so we've all learned that sitting president cannot be indicted. but bribery is a high crime or misdemeanor that is specifically included in the constitution. and this idea that there was no quid pro quo discussed in the same phone call is not necessary. i've prosecuted lots of cases and overseen the prosecution of

lots of cases where the transaction was done more with a wink and in ordnod. so even if it wasn't an explicit this for that, if that was the understanding and intent of president trump and the understanding of the ukranian president, then that is sufficient for bribery or extortion. >> and is the white house listening to experts like barbara as they do layout what may happen here and this they concerned? >> i want to say off the bat that rudy giuliani's shenanigans as it relates to his foreign work and specifically ukraine have actually been creating rumblings among the democratic caucus on capitol hill for several months now. as we reported at the "daily beast" months ago. democratic lawmakers have been looking for weeks if not months to open a probe into what rudy giuliani has been doing with regards to ukraine. and they recently opened that probe officially and this was

before this all exploded in this very dra platd tick way with this whistleblower complaint. and in terms of your question of how the white house and president trump and his outside legal team including giuliani are planning to handling this, they made it clear publicly and privately how they are going to handle this. even if the most damning version that democrats are currently speculating on does come true and is born out by the facts or transcript of the complaint or whatever, president trump and his allies and his senior officials are fully prepared to simply say so what. they are going to claim that there is no crime here and even if the worst version materializes, they won't give an inch and they will keep attacking the bidens over and over and over again. and behind that, house democrats, there are a lot of lawmakers and aides who have expressed to us their frustrations that when they want to keep that in check and hold

president trump's feet to the fire on this, that they are sort of betrayed by house speaker nancy pelosi who is right now still even at this point refusing to give an inch on impeachment. she is against with going forward with serious proceedings on that matter. where increasing numbers of people in the democratic field, of the democratic caucus, want the exact opposite. so as this story unfolds, we'll see if she budgings an inch. but it doesn't look like she will. >> and so let's build on what you were saying in terms of your reporting on rudy giuliani. and julian, as goes rudy giuliani so goes the president here i guess and what is he doing as the personal lawyer of the president right now in terms of going to ukraine? what sort of risk does he face here based on what you know here? >> well, i mean, the issue here is this military aid. the military aid $250 million in

congress allegely manionally ma. in july the trump administration froze it. ukranians didn't learn about it until august. but this is what he is holding over him. and exactly what rudy giuliani said about that aid is critical. now, giuliani is denying that he ever mentioned that, that he was holding that back, that he was just making the case for a biden investigation and another paul manafort related investigation. but exactly what rudy was saying, he did not get to the ukranian president, he only got to an aide. and so that is one thing the democrats three panels of democratic committees in the house that are investigating it, that is what they want to know. >> so two part question to you barbara. one on rudy giuliani, what does he -- what is the legal jeopardy. and for the whistleblower, what

sort of legal rights does this whistleblower have moving forward, what legal defense does this whistleblower have? >> with regard to rudy giuliani, it is very interesting. you know, there is the statute known as the logan act that came up with regard to michael flynn. he wasn't charged with it, but it does make it a crime for civilians to engage in foreign discussions with foreign leaders. you are not supposed to go outside the apparatus of the government. although he represents donald trump, he represents him in his personal capacity. though he most certainly is seen by ukrainian government and other governments as a representative or agent of the president of the united states and so what he is doing is really playing with fire and it will be interesting to see whether acts can be imputed to president trump. on the other issue with regard to the whistleblower, it is -- the whistleblower finds him or herself in a dicey situation because the language of the whistleblower protection act has a very narrow precise definition of what gets covered and it appears not to cover improcepr y

improprieties by the president. perhaps the drafters did not imagine this kind of scenario. but he finds himself in the same kind of scenario that reality winter found herself in. what do you want to do when they have that information, do you want them to leak it to the press or go through proper channels. and i think that if we silence this whistleblower in this instance, it will send a really damaging message to the people who work in gechlovernment abou what path to take if they are in a similar situation. >> so as congress tries to get their hands on this report, what is the reporting in terms of what the white house may or may not be doing in terms of assisting or not assisting the release of this report about the whistleblower? >> i think it is fair to say based on people i've talked to that the white house counsel's

office is more than prepared to go to the mat on this. they will keep doing what the president's in-house legal counsel and outside legal team have been doing for many months now when it comes to legal challenges and subpoenas and other attempts of accountability from democratic lawmakers and politicians and just stone waws and possibly have it tangled up for years. >> and legally where it might end up? >> well, you know, we have seen the courts intervene in some of these cases, but at a very slow pace. it has been disturbing to see when for example congress has sought to enforce some of its subpoenas that the trump administration has been able to stall, stall, stall and push the ball down the road perhaps even beyond the 2020 election. and so you know, that slow walk definitely to the benefit of the trump campaign. >> slow walk potentially to the supreme court i guess. thank you all so much.

great way to start the show. thank you for your expertise. still ahead, cory booker's call to action, a plea to his supporters to go all in on his campaign or he will have to leave the race. every day, visionaries are creating the future. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

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the word is it is the largest in history, not the number of candidates per se in iowa today, it is the steaks. 10,500 steaks, all of them

mostly grilled. plus vegan options for two of the candidates that are there. 12,000 tickets have been sold to chomp down on all that good stuff. but, oh, yes, there are the 17 democratic contenders attending what is being called iowa's largest poll being city steak fry. though they grill the steaks. more on that in a bit. each candidate gets ten minutes to try to get folks to put down their knives and adding to the pressure the next fund raising deadline is just thine days away. that is a deadline that could possibly push senator cory booker out of the race. nbc obtained a memo written by his campaign manager to his staff, the message here, they need to raise $1.7 million before september 30th. that is the deadline. or he is out. cory booker addressing the issue himself this afternoon in iowa. >> we may not have as much money as some of these folks who are

raising more than us, but we have more heart, we have more hype, we have more hope, and we are going to show them what the future of the democratic party looks like. >> joining us thousand on the ground in des moines, our road war your, vaughn hillyard, josh lieberman, also with me alex who first reported on the booker campaign memo. vaughn, we'll start with you. tell us what was the tone, was it desperate, was it confident, did they feel like they are going to make it to the finish line laid out there? >> cory booker was very straightforward saying that he doesn't believe that it is a matter of his messaging. i said do you need to change anything about your campaign here in the last 135 days. and he said no, he said it is just a matter of finances. he said for any campaign to sustain not just through iowa, south carolina, nevada, but also

through super tuesday. you have to have the resources. and he said that any campaign that does not should be evaluating their future. i want to play a little bit of aen exchange wha aen an exchange with cory booker earlier. >> what are the stakes? >> i'm in to win and beat donald trump. so if you believe in my campaign, you believe in high voice being on the stage, this is a determining moment for us. you either will reach the $1.7 million to stay in this race or we'll have to make really tough decisions at the end of this quarter. >> two things. 17 candidates, still 17 democratic candidates are taking the stage here at the polk county steak fry and at the same time the "wall street journal" poll released this week we should note nationally democrats say that just 9% say that they are firm in support behind a certain candidate. that means about 90% of voters say that they are still up for grabs. and talking to voters here, very

similar sentiment. >> all right. let's head over to alex seitz-wald. you originated this story for us. the question for the campaign, how much cash they have on hand, how much debt do they have, all these unfortunate realities when it comes to running a campaign. >> yeah, that's right. the reason campaigns end typically is not because they don't have a chance to win, it is because they can't buy plane tickets or pay their staff. and cory booker is not saying that he is not able to do that, but he is not able to expand as he needs to do before voters actually head to the polls. he is saying he doesn't want to stay in the race just for the sake of staying in the race, but only if they can build a much larger campaign that will be necessary to compete. you are talking about california, texas, big, big states. and in this memo that i obtained from cory booker's campaign

manager, he said that there is only four advocacandidates that resources and everybody else might run out of gas before we even get to the voting next year. so that if democrats out there want to have more options, if they want to see more of these candidates sticking around, they can't wait, they need to start supporting them now. >> yeah, by the wallet is often it does happen. and josh, tell us what you are hearing about the event the other day, the people's presidential forum. >> yeah, this has been a display of how so much of the energy an mating the democratic party right now is on the far left among those who are really attracted to the progressive populist issues. we've been hearing candidates talk about the "green new deal," about free college, about medicare for all. elizabeth warren talking about busting up the big agricultural companies here in iowa. we also saw a standing ovation

for castro as he was talking about reversing the president's immigration policies. and congresswoman ilhan omar who has attracted a lot of ire from the president giving a real red meat spooem speeeech here. but the question is are the democratic candidates backing themselves into the corner on some of these progressive economic issues that will play very differently once we move into the general election. >> thank you so much, josh. alex, as well. vaughn, i have to ask you while we still have you this des moines. they call it a steak fry and i'm a steak fan here. they don't actually fry these steak, they grill them. so why call it a fry? >> things don't always have to make sense, richard. i was asking someone some long time iowans that very question and it is because senator tom harkin who retired from the senate back into 14, he decided to call it the iowa steak fry

despite the steaks being grilled. is there a reason beyond that? i've been told no. just because tom harkinment with a wanted to call it such. and just a quick note. folks as they are fleeing the rain, a speaker just announced that new york city mayor bill de blasio is now coming up on stage and then of course everybody laughed because everybody is trying to make sense of all this. just like trying to figure out why it is called a steak fry. >> because he has withdrawn. all right. thank you so much, vaughn. thank you all three. still ahead for you, politics of the whistleblower scandal. both the president and his alleged target joe biden thousand both fund raising over this very controversy. ng over this very controversy.

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time now for we said they said. we're following the president's decision to send more troops to saudi arabia after last weekend's drone strikes on two saudi oil plants. here is how the foreign press covered the escalating feud between the u.s. and iran. >> the united states is rapidly escalating itd rhetoric against iran. secretary of state mike pompeo denounced the strikes on two oil plants in saudi arabia as an act

of war. >> i don't expect the americans to use military force at the moment. i think that none of the actors involved can really afford to start a war on this. >> the united states has an election looming which means that it is not going to launch an taattack on iran. saudi arabia is already struggling in i can't. >> and looking to tehran, they denounce responsibility. >> an interesting reaction from washington to these attacks on the aramco oil facilities. a lot of blame game going on. >> he has not called for an all-time war. >> friday president trump slapped a new set of economic sanctions on iran's national bank in response to the drone strikes. "the guardian" said the latest flare upexposted trump's

bankrupt middle east policy. the tehran times says the retaliation on saudi oil facilities check mates trump, it add as if the president launches an attack against iran, he will risk causing a global recession which will negatively impact the u.s. economy and hence his chances for re-election. that is our weekly we said they said. the president plays defense today. today the "wall street journal" reporting that trump repeatedly pressed ukraine's president to investigate joe biden's son. trump tweeted earlier, quote, now that the democrats and the fake news media have gone bust on every other of their witch hubtd scheme hunt scheme, they are trying to start the ukraine witch hunt. while at the same time trying to protect sleepily joe biden will fail again. biden pulled no punches in response. >> what the house finds, he could be impeached but i'm not making that judgment now. the house should investigate.

this appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power. >> let's bring in now democratic strategi strategist basal and asusan. where we are in this story arc? just two, three days in to it. it has moved in the space. what about joe biden and his son. >> and that is what donald trump does. he always looks to camouflage the real problem. don't forget this started off with a whistleblower coming forward to the inspector general who then forwarded it to the dni and then the dni did nothing with it. the dni is supposed to send to congress. they didn't. then the inspector general, trump employee, said this is too much, there is such urgency to this whistleblower's complaint, i'm going to go to the house. and that was stopped.

so there is -- it is very dangerous to think about a serious whistleblower complaint and dealing with national security that this white house has stopped. now, the reporting since then has been to do with ukraine and a lot of things, but the fact is that we have not nor has the congress heard from the whistleblower. and that is where we should start. start off with the fundamental problem in hand. donald trump is interrupting national security matters. and he is making our country less safe by allowing things to go through the proper protocol. >> and trump is hoping obviously that this would deter other potential whistleblowers there coming forward. my sense is that there are other people that might be willing to actually step up but this kind of action says no, you know, not only are we not going to make you heard, but we made potentially retaliate against you. adam schiff to his credit essentially is sending messages to this whistleblower and others potentially to say come can directly to the committee, to

his committee. i'm not sure that that actually happens. i hope it does. but, you know, to biden's point, if there were no other reason to go forward with the impeachment or try to move the needle a little bit, this is just adding to that. >> and what do democrats do if the president, which he does very well, has already pivoted the story line here saying look at the bidens, don't look at what potentially this whistleblower has. we don't know yet. >> we don't know yet. but i think the democrats really need to -- and it is not as sexy as impeachment talks, but buckle down and do their work and their message should be this president is interfering from the house -- from this other branch of government to doing their work. and use all the examples. you know, corey lewandowski's testimony in front of the committee this week was deplorable. and it was a stalling technique. he claimed privilege that does

not exist. so that is where i think the democrats -- just as good government. i mean this happens to be the thing that good government could be good politics, but just do your job. >> i'll do you one further. arrest him. if you have it in your power to do so, send this message. >> adam schiff said it does not need to be explicit to be tray your country. and that message is not necessarily being heard and what does he mean to say here. >> what he means to say is pretty much what we've been saying and i'll continue to say, which is the democrats should use whatever power -- >> is he saying he knows something, and he probably does -- >> he probably does. >> he did get testimony on the 19th. >> that's right. and they probably do. and that is why it is that much more urgent to send a message that, look, you are not going to walk away with impunity, we have to those these folks accountable. and the privilege didn't even extend to lewandowski.

why is he allowed to act the way he has. because that would not exist if it was a republican congress and democrat sitting at that table. >> nor from the republicans. that's what you need to do, take a lesson there. a friend of mine said to me you can't play by the rules against a cheater and think that you will have a chance of winning. it just doesn't exist. they have to change the dynamics. they are used to going -- >> so what if -- >> well, of course, if i submit a, it will -- >> they are stalled at the moment. what can happen, will they have to wait until after the 2020 election? barbara mcquaid was saying that you could expect to into he on for a year or more. >> the intel committee really -- adam schiff seems to be on top of it.year or more. >> the intel committee really -- adam schiff seems to be on top of it. if it is legal or not for the whistleblower to come forward, but find out what that complaint is. he is entitled to that complaint

and that could be fast tracked. >> are democrats ready to come up with something out of the box as are you suggesting here to get around what has happened repeatedly when the congress has tried to get something done? >> i hope so. i know nancy pelosi -- listen, i'm a supporter of nancy pelosi. i think she's been doing the right thing so far in trying to sort of balance protecting her members, trying to make sure that she can still have a democratic congress in 2020. but sometimes we are a bit too a cerebral for our own good and signs of strength will make a difference because in the same way adam schiff is signaling to the whistleblower come straight to the committee, we also need to be doing things to say to folks don't hide behind privilege that doesn't even exist. >> checks and balances, still watching that happen. thank you both. always great to have you on this saturday. up next for you, it is a disappearing act. we'll take you to glacier national park, what scientists call a marker for global climate

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a day after the biggest worldwide climate protest, activists got down to work. today is international coastal cleanup, the largest volunteer eftd to cle effort to clear out the oceans and water ways. in santa monica, it is a beautiful day. and what are volunteers doing? i was watching your feed a little bit earlier. you were talking about scooters and plastic and more. >> reporter: yeah, we have seen a lot of stuff come off the ocean and the beaches here. coastal cleanup day coming on the heels of the global climate strike. and a lot of the volunteers using that momentum of that

movement to come out here and really make a difference, a lot of them picking up trash off of our beaches and even divers going into the water and getting debris and trash off the ocean floor. and what was astounding to see is just how much plastic and debris we have in the oceans and on our beaches. we talked about we saw plastic forks and cups and bottles, single use straws and even some scooters that came out of the ocean well. but so much of that has a negative impact on marine life and human life which is such a big deal here on our beaches. now, of course we also did see a lot of volunteers here just in sants monday any ca santa monica, we picked up more than a half a ton of trash on just a few hundred yards of this beach. >> thank you so much for the reporting. and as part of our week long focus on climate change, a best of now from all in with chris

hayes. friday's show featured reporting across the country and beyond. we'll start with jacob soboroff in guatemala. >> there is lot of talk about a humanitarian crisis, but the reality is the real humanitarian crisis is right here. >> yeah, lack of opportunities, no credits, no insurance, just think about starting a cultural entrepreneurship without all the safety nets that any other farmer would have. >> reporter: we headed toward our next stop afternoon evn evet of the country. and then the following morning to another village where farmers are also struggling. this is the way into the community here. this is a reality that lot of small farmers deal with. you have to pay attention to rattlesnakes and you can drive as far as you can get and then you have to hike. this is elizabeth, we made to her farm and she is showing us what she grows or more

accurately what is not growing here anymore. [ speaking foreign language ] this is corn and obviously this corn is dead. so that was a watermelon. and this is what happens when a watermelon doesn't have enough water. >> and also talking about losing jobs there unfortunately because of the drought. now to the glaciers, at glacier national park, calipa perry pic it up from here. >> reporter: here people travel to see one of the last 25 remaining glaciers, this the jackson glacier. and in this part of the state, nothing escapes the issue. the signage even explains what is going on behind it. >> it is gorgeous. and we are worried about the receding glaciers. every time we come, we hope that they will still be as much there the next time. but they can disappearing slowly. >> i think the oh, my god moment is going to be seeing the places

that they love, the places close to them go down. and realizing that their kids are not going to be able to experience that and that the quality of the lives of their kids and grandkids are going to go down and not up. >> and from montana, we'll take you to mississippi. flooding this spring left parts of the delta under water. and tremaine lee is in vicksburg. >> does it gives you certain about what might happen next year? >> wishing i was old enough for retirement. >> reporter: normally when the mississippi river floods, the arm coarmy core engineers trieso redirect the water. but this year the river was so swollen that the corps opened louisiana's spillway for longer than it ever had dumping an estimated 10 trillion gallons of water into lake pontchartrain increasing the water volume

seven fold. and all of ended up off the mississippi gulf coast. >> we had the largest number of dolphins die, about 143 dolphins and about 195 sea turtle. >> and what is killing the dolphins? >> primary factor is the river water coming through the spillway, it has mud, clay, insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers, which creates toxic allege gi blo algae blooms. this is fresh water lesions, and these salt he water animals are exposed for a long period of time to fresh water. >> and the trump administration this week shut down efforts by california and major automakers to raise emissions standards above the national average. that is where jo ling kent is. >> reporter: this is the hybrid

edition of the accord and it is at the center of a nasty high stakes political battle. so we suited up to see what is on the line. in july, honda along with ford, volkswagen and bmw voluntarily struck a deal with the state of california to meet stricter tail pipe emissions standards. >> climate change is real and we have to address it through improving the fuel economy of our products and through transitioning the fuel that our products use from gasoline to electricity. >> reporter: the goal of the deal, increase fuel efficiency to nearly 51 miles a gallon by model year 2026. 13 other states are following suit. by contrast, the trump administration wants to drive in the opposite direction and roll back obama era standards to 37 miles a gallon. >> and that is just a small portion of the reporting our correspondents did from across the western hemisphere. for all in with chris hayes, in fact you can see the full reports tonight on a special all

in with chris had climahayes at p.m. he was a friend, mentor and confidant of donald j. trump and led to one of the most famous reported quotes from his presidency, i'll talk to the director of my where is my roy cohn, next. oy cohn, next proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2 vo: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. avo: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,

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. where's "where's my roy cohn," that's the question president trump asked in angry after jeff sessions recused himself from the russia investigation in 2017. president trump wanted an attorney general who would protect him, someone like roy cohn, a controversial lawyer that did represent trump in his nonpolitical career. as the doj finds itself at the center of a scandal, some are accusing them off protecting the president. did trump get his roy cohn in attorney general bill barr? cohn was also a friends, lawyer, and mentor to the current president. now a new documentary is diving deep into cohn and how his lessons helped mold the career of then-apprentice donald trump, effectively changing u.s.

politics forever. >> trump settled, but that for him was a victory because he didn't admit he did anything wrong. and it's very consistently with roy's advice. never admit you're wrong. never apologize. >> joining us now, matt tyrnauer, director of "where's my roy cohn," and martin london a retired lawyer who headed the committee that disbarred roy cohn. what is roy cohn? >> he was a fixer and a super lawyer and the mauffia's attorn. many said donald trump is roy cohn. the question gary cohn might be answered with donald trump is his own roy zoan as you were working to disbar roy cohn, what did you learn about him? >> he was a thief, he stole from his clients and then lied about

it. he was indicted three times and beat all three indictments. and he worked for five years to beat our charges. we pursued him for five years and got him disbarred in the process. he accused us of being left-wing yo-yos, dead weitzebeats, and w doing what people accused joe mccarthy of doing. the fact is he had excellent lawyers and in the end he brought in great character witnesses like donald trump who swore that he was a soul of integrity. that was donald trump. in the end i signed a petition seeking to disbar him on all four counts, and the court on which his father sat granted that petition. >> matt, how did you portray president trump in this documentary? >> as the apprentice. there's no question about it. in the period when cohn was the

leading mob attorney, he was also the mentor and creator of donald trump. that type of transactional politics and money, power, greed, self-interest mongering comes from roy cohn. trump learned his lessons there, this is whole motivation for making this disbelieve what about the political tilt that marty was bringing in terms of the accusations of what marty was doing as he was working to disbar roy cohn? >> he made his bones in the mccarthy era. in those witch hunts he was really the demagogue whisperer who invented this kind of smear politics. it's extraordinary that decades later in the '70s and '80s he teaches that to trump, and then decades after that trump implements those lessons to create a smear/fear atmosphere in politics again. >> when you look at what the president is doing right now with bill barr, the sedations if you're on the left is that they are trying to go above the law

or beyond law. are they right at the line? >> they're not -- in my judgment they're way over the line. every new item today, the latest one involving the ukraine situation is just outrageous. he's using presidency to keep the presidency and he's doing it corruptly, as classic roy cohn stuff. and what he is doing is hoping he can run out the clock. if the democrats don't get him before november 2020, then he wins and it just reminds me of matt's film, he quotes roy cohn saying when somebody asks about the internal revenue, he said the goal is to die toeing internal revenue all those millions of dollars. that's what trump is doing. >> 15 seconds to you here, matt. did the president get his roy cohn? >> i think the president is his

own roy cohn, someone asked me recently is bill barr trump's roy cohn. my answer to that is he wishes. i think trump really has got it, unfortunately, himself. >> great you have to both here. appreciate your time. have a good weekend. >> thank you. >> thanks for having us. >> you bet. one final note as we end this hour, today is world alzheimer's day. and i have the chance to stand at yankee stadium's home plate to bring to the sixth leading cause of death in the united states. 6 million americans are living with alzheimer's. to those living out there in a dementia or alzheimer's family, here's to working towards a cure one day. that wraps it up for me this hour. our coverage continues here on msnbc. c. introducing a razor that works differently.

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juul record.leet. big relief. try it. feel it. they took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. juul marketed mango, mint, and menthol flavors, addicting kids to nicotine. five million kids now using e-cigarettes. the fda said juul ignored the law with

misleading health claims. now juul is pushing prop c, to overturn san francisco's e-cigarette protections. say no to juul, no to big tobacco, no to prop c. red-handed. let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. we're getting major breaking news tonight from multiple sources about the president's alarming conversation with a foreign leader that prompted an urgent whistleblower's complaint. "the washington post" tonight has revealed crucial new information that, quote, president trump pressed the leader of ukraine to investigate the son of former vice president joe biden in a call between the two leaders.