thanks for watching. join me again 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. don't go anywhere. "hardball" starts now. the three amigos. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. we've got breaking news in the impeachment investigation plus a dramatic white house confrontation between donald trump and nancy pelosi this afternoon. this comes after days aof testimony by administration officials explaining widespread unease how the administration

was carrying out its policy towards ukraine. today lawmakers heard behind closed doors from michael mckinley, the former top aide to secretary of state mike pompeo. and according to npr mckinley during the closed door hearing criticized, quote, what appears to be our utilizeiation of our ambassadors oversees. he also said, quote, i was disturbed by the implication that foreign governments were being approached to procure negative information on political opponents. additionally nbc news reports that in his deposition yesterday deputy assistant secretary of state george kent told lawmakers how career professionals were cut out of the loop. he testified that in a meeting last may, quote, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney oversaw a meeting where he side lined state department officials and tapped three political appointees to oversee you crane

policy. that is according to congressman jerry conally who said, quote, kent told congressional investigators that the trio called themselves the three amigos and elbowed all the other officials at state out of the way. the self-described three amigos were identified as secretary of energy rick perry, u.s. ambassador to the eu gordon sondland, and special envoy kirk volker. they were asiped to carry out trump's agenda in ukraine which some have described a shadow policy just days after ambassador marie yovanovitch was ousted amid a smear campaign led by giuliani and two of his associates. according to nbc news george kent also said, quote, he was told to lay low by a superior when he raised concerns about giuliani. i'm joined now by democratic congresswoman jackie spear of california who serves on the house intelligence committee and robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post."

congresswoman, let me just start with you. we keep hearing in the reports that are emerging from these similar themes, similar story lines, the idea of career professionals, the idea of professionals inside the state department being side lined or pe being told to make way for rudy giuliani and his associates. is that the big picture emerging here? >> i would say the brain trust of the state department, those who have served for 34 years, 27 years have been discarded at a rate i find really alarming. and while i'm not going to share what we heard in the interviews right now, there will be transcripts in which the american people are going to have the opportunity to see how disturbing this activity is. >> those transcripts, do you know when those would be available? >> i don't know when they'd be available, but it's our intention to make all or most of them available, and only take any information off that would be classified in nature.

>> so robert costa, again, it is very similar it seems every day what you're hearing here in terms of what comes out. what is it the picture to you that emerges in terms of specifically rudy giuliani and the role he was playing here? >> based on my reporting this is a portrait of an administration that has enabled a freelance foreign policy orchestrated by mr. giuliani, his business associates and those within the administration working at times against the foreign service officers, the national security apparatus with the blessing at times of the trump white house. and we've seen it in this new testimony from official after official, new implications about the chief of staff, the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and others within the white house. >> and we're also learning fiona hill, she told congress she viewed gordon sondland who was carrying out trump's agenda in ukraine quote as a potential national security risk because

he was so unprepared for his job. according to hill, that is ippart because, quote, his actions made him vulnerable to foreign governments who could exploit his inexperience. now, sondland is expected to testify tomorrow that he did not know if the president was truthful when he denied any quid pro quo. congresswoman, under the role of gordon sondland and his expectations what is it you'd like to hear from him specifically tomorrow? >> i'd like to know from him specifically what the president of the united states said to him in conversations that he had. i want to know what he was directed to do relative to ukraine as ambassador to the eu. he really has no jurisdiction or involvement with ukraine. so that makes everything even more peculiar. rick perry was on "dancing with the stars." i mean when you look at the

cadre of people being put in positions to negotiate with ukraine we're not allowing experts at the state department who have really spent their lives steeped in understanding what the interests are internationally to do their job. and they have really been put out of the loop. and that should distress all of us because it does affect our national security. >> mick mulvaney is reporting, quote, current and former officials said mulvaney contributed substantially to the unfolding political crisis. they say mulvaney met frequently with sondland and details of their discussions were kept from then national security advisor john bolton. and that mulvaney also tolerated meetings between trump and giuliani even after it was well-known he was pressing ukraine for dirt. what do you make of it, what's your understanding of? >> talking to top white house officials and congressional

republicans in recent days they tell me he's not providing the president with any kind of real guidance about the lines that could be crossed in foreign policy and diplomacy by engaging with mr. giuliani. in these sorts of discussions he is the acting chief of staff. but really in the eyes of his own associates and colleagues the chief staffer, someone there to enable the president's wishes, work with the president rather than contain the president and that caused alarm on the national security council in particular where ambassador bolton who was then serving in the administration. >> it occurs to me when kelly was chief of sfaf you used to see all these stories out there was he reining ensome in some o president's impulses. the difference between mulvaney as chief of staff and what might have been there before in terms of the discipline maybe it imposed on trump. >> but all of those figures

strugg struggled to contain the president. they tried to act as guardrails but their role was diminish bide a president with overwhelming personality and a firm grip on executive power, much more comfortable with the position than he was in january 2017. for those survivors in this white house, those who continue to serve president trump they have found it difficult to push him in a more mainstream or centrist direction on pall ace because he is running this government they say on instinct and his own world view. >> boung both for joining us. and meanwhile nbc news is reporting the defense secretary mark esper will not comply with the subpoena from house democrats related to their impeachment inquiry. this is an about face from esper who said on sunday that he would comply. >> are you going to comply with the subpoena that the house provided you and provide documents to them regarding the military aid to ukraine. >> we'll do everything to

cooperate with congress. just in the last week or two my general counsel sent out a note as we typically do. >> that the a yes? >> we will do everything we can to comply. >> esper is among numerous current and former officials as well as others implickated in te scandal who have refused to cooperate. congressman, thanks for joining us. what do you make of esper's about face here saying on sunday he'll comply. now he's not going to. do you know what the explanation is there? >> we're not clear about when explanation is other than the fact that trump, mike pence, mike pompeo, bill barr, rick perry,life the president's men continue to try and engage in a stone walling effort to obstruct

a constitutional inspired impeachment inquiry into the wrongdoing that is hiding in plain sight. can so perhaps this is just consist with that pattern. but we know that stone walling of the president and the president's men is beginning to fall apart as you have career diplomats and others stepping forward to tell the truth that will be presented to the american people what has taken place in the context of the trump-ukraine scandal. >> if esper is refusing to comply with the subpoena, what do you do? are you going to take any step s s? >> the refuse tool comply with a congressionally authorized subpoena will lead to an adverse inference that worthy information requested to be provided to the congress it will reflect negatively on the president's conduct and so that

step will be taken consistent with what the chairs have communicated to the administration and the continued stone walling will provide further evidence of a potential obstruction of congress charge. >> so that's interesting in terms of the strategy you're outlining there because in the past we've seen -- we saw this back with republicans trying to get this from the obama administration, democrats trying to get subpoenas from the trump administration, if these things get kicked over to the courts they take forever in the courts. there really aren't any teeth there. what you're basically saying, though, is the strategy for democrats is to say, hey, if you're not going it to comply we're going to assume it's because there's something negative you don't want to tell us and we're going to say you're guilty of obstruction? is that the plan here? >> that has been outlined by chairman schiff and i know to the extent we see continued obstruction from this administration that's a road that we will likely go down. but we're also going to keep our

focus on following the fact, applying the law, being guided by the constitution. you have a situation where the president betrayed his oath of office, he abused his power by pressuring a foreign government to target an american citizen for political gain. he undermined our national security interests and the integrity of our elections. no one is above the law, and that will continue to be the driving and focal point of the impeachment inquiry as we move forward. >> are there certain individuals if you feel even if they're going to ignore the subpoenas, are there certain individuals you feel you ultimately do need to hear from or get documents from? in particular i'm worried about rudy giuliani given how central he is to what's coming outright now. >> the burden right now is on the president to basically explain both the july 25th phone call, where we have his own words, do us a favor, though, where he's pressuring the ukrainian president to

effectively interfere in the 2020 elections thereby soliciting foreign interference in a future election. in the context of withholding without any legitimate reason or explanation $391 million in congressionally authorized funding for ukraine. ukraine's a friend, russia is a foe. ukraine is a democracy, russia is dictatorship. russia right now is backing separa separatists who have invaded the eastern portion of ukraine. that country is a in a vulnerabluation and yet all of this was unfolding in that context. the president used a high pressure tactic and we need to get information that he's free to present to potentially explain away his behavior. if not, it's very damning as it relates to the wrongdoing. >> congressman hakeem jeffries, thank you for joining us. and coming up, democratic leaders walked out of a white house meeting just a short time ago after what nancy pelosi

described as a presidential melt down. >> he was insulting particularly to the speaker. she kept her cool completely, but he called her a third rate politician. >> plus the disparaging remarks the president reportedly made about his former defense secretary, jim mattis and facing widespread criticism for withdrawing u.s. troops in syria. the u.s. president today said the conflict there, quote, has nothing to do with us. meanwhile turkey today intensified its military campaign as even the u.s. calls a cease-fire. as even the u.s. a cease-fire it's tough to quit smoking cold turkey.

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welcome back to "hardball." there were fireworks at the white house today out of a meeting on syria after they say the president insulted -- democrats say the president insulted nancy pelosi calling her a third rate politician to her face. pelosi portrayed the president's

behavior as a melt down. >> earlier today the house of representatives voted what? 354-60 opposition to the actions he has take in syria. he was shaken up by it. we have to pray for his health because this was a serious melt down on the part of the president. >> the president came in to my observation angry and defensive. and frankly, it got worse from there. >> he was insulting, particularly to the speaker. she kept her cool completely. but he called her a third rate politician. >> what can i say, i wish you were a politician, mr. president. i think it's a very sad commentary on the president of the united states. >> now, nbc news reports that during the meeting the president suggested there were communists in syria and said the democrats would like that. he also went after his former defense secretary jim mattis for his comments that isis would

resurge if the u.s. fails to keep pressure on it. trump called mattis, quote, the world's most overrated general. the white house responded to the democrats portrayal of the meeting saying in a statement, quote, the president was measured, factual and decisive in the meeting. i'm joined now by jonathan lemire, white house reporter for associated press and shar lei sykes, editor at large for the bullwork. this meeting set the scene here, pelosi, schumer, hoyer, there were some other democrats there meeting with the white house. the subject here was syria, was foreign policy and what happened? >> well, we've now had a few rather eventful meetings between the president and speaker pelosi and leader schumer at the white house. some of it ended rather abruptly like this one. yes, you're right, the topic was syria. but as they got in there the president sort of bitterly started complaining about the impeachment proceedings and that is something that's really come to light in recent weeks.

we've seen the president's rage on this topic. there's a political calculation here being made pie the white house and republicans close to the president and they think impeachment could be a winner for him. they think the public doesn't want this although we are seeing polls trending in the other direction. the president doesn't want this. however, the president himself was not into that idea. we're seeing that anger burst out in recent days and did today with speaker pelosi and the white house now has put out a photo of them gathered around the meeting with pelosi standing up gesturing at the president and the president put it out suggesting it makes her perhaps look weak or, you know, rude to

the commander in chief in the white house. but if you look at the picture more carefully you'll see everyone around the president has their heads down and bowed and pelosi looks in a command position of strengths and the democrats walked out of the meeting soon thereafter. >> reportedly the president's comments about jim mattis and you can think back a couple of years ago, obviously brought him into his cabinet trump did. trump used to celebrate him at public events, talk about him as mad dog, he seemed to love that nickname. from that reverence to what he's saying today, what do you make of it? >> well, first of all it's going to be a really long year, isn't it? look, this president has been petty and petulant before but you really got the sense as jonathan described he was rattled by this. this doesn't seem to be the performance of a confident man but also his willingness to insult men like general mattis, i think it carries some risk for him. because one of his strongest constituencies has been the military, right? he wants to bond himself to the

military. and you talk to anybody in the military or national security and they have the utah most respect for jim mattis. and jim mattis has been very restrained and very reluctant to speak out until now. but, again, here's a president who is acting out of glandular impulse making decisions of life or death while clearly ignoring and now insulting his own generals. it's a moment where, again, perhaps we're not learning anything new about who donald trump is, but it certainly underlines it in a very dramatic way. >> you mentioned your sense of trump's frustration just at the presence of the impeachment inquiry. that it was him versus pelosi in that meeting today. does that say anything because i can remember in sort of the fist couple of years of his presidency it wasn't that he was friendly with pelosi but he seemed to be less hostile to here than some other folks and

that's changed dramatically. >> he respected her. he told people around him he thought she was a first rate politician, not a third rate. that of course has not really come to pass as they've developed a very adversarial relationship goaded on by some of the investigates this year with the democrats launching probe after probe and the white house stonewalling at every turn and now of course the impeachment inquiry which has really changed things. and i think this explosion happened at a syria meeting is not a coincidence either because that topic is one of the very few where republican senators have been very vocal about breaking with him, including some of his staunchest allies like lindsey graham. and while still unlikely enough senators would defy the rank and file as you all know is very high, but if he is impeached it would be the republican senator whose have his fate in their hands. they're the ones who would vote

in trial to remove him from office. and i think there's a sense as well the president is not used to taking criticism from all sides including republicans in the senate who have normally stood by him. >> the house has voted against his syria policy with a lot of republicans crossing over before that meeting. and senator mcconnell he was in the meeting as well, he just told reporters, quote, i didn't have anything to say in the meeting and i don't have anything to say about it now. charlie, what is your sense, too, jonathan brings up how republican senators are reading trump right now, how they're looking at him. what's your sense of what they're seeing and how they're processing it? >> it can't enhance their confidence in the commander in chief. one of the things that's frustrating president trump is he's used to being able to dpikitate events, dictate the news cycle and this is an incident and right now we're seeing in syria it's clearly out of his control.

he does not actually control the messaging the way he would like. and it's not just republicans in the senate who are looking at this and even members of the house willing to vote against him, but there are some significant constituencies out there including evangelical christians who have been very, very hostile i think it was interesting but lindsey graham went on cbm, on the 700 club and compared donald trump to barack obama, said he was pursuing an elizabeth warren foreign policy. you know, in the world of republican conservative politics this is firing real bullets because this is the first time i can remember that you have seen the president willing to alienate conservative christian voter as part of his base. so he's got more political problems than i think he's willing to admit at the moment. >> all right, charlie is sticking around. jonathan thank you for joining

us. up next president trump today vigorously defending that decision talking about, trump saying what's happening over there, quote, has nothing to do with us. you're watching "hardball." nothing to do with us. you're watching "hardball. ket oi want....." "it's the easiest, because it's the cheesiest" kraft. for the win win. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. governot just the powerful and well-connected. that's the american promise. but big corporations and special interests are in control. nothing's happening for real people. our democracy has been purchased. the candidates running for president have great ideas. but we can't get anything done unless we make our democracy serve the people again. i'm tom steyer.

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on the defensive from both republicans and democrats president trump is standing pie his decision to pull back u.s. troops in syria clearing the way

for a turkish incursion. trump brushed off concerns about the volatile situation in the region saying, quote, it has nothing to do with us. >> the kurds have been fighting for hundreds of years. that whole mess, it's been going on for a long time. syria may have some help with russia, and that's fine. it's a lot of sand. they've got a lot of sand over there, so there's a lot of sand that they can play with. >> later trump presented a litany of claims to try to bolster his position. >> the president erdogan said it didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time. semicomplicated, not too complicated if you're smart, but it's a semicomplicated problem and i think it's a problem we have very nicely under control. we're not a police force or a fighting force. we're the ones that got isis. we're the ones that took care of it. specifically for me, i'm not going to get involved in a war between turkey and syria, and that's the way it is whether it's good or bad, that's the way

it is. >> today the white house confirmed the accuracy of a letter it says was sent to the turkish president three days after trump signed off on a small incursion. in it president trump writes history will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen. don't be a tough guy, don't be a fool. earlier today 129 house republicans joined the entire democratic caucus in approving a resolution opposing the president's actions on syria. meanwhile vice president mike pence and secretary of state mike pompeo on on their way to turkey to demand a cease-fire. it is unclear if the turkish president is unwilling to do that. back with me is charlie psyches. joining me now is the white house correspondent for "the washington post." anne, let me start with you. you mention pompeo and pence on their way there to try to get turkey into some kind of cease-fire. the emergence of this letter which was dated a week ago and

the fact of all the events that have happened since that letter was sent apparently, does that say anything about the prospects of the u.s. having much influence with turkey here and trying to force a cease-fire? >> well, they sure haven't had much influence if you go back to the fact that letter has presumably been sitting on president erdogan's desk for a week now and he's done absolutely the opposite of what president trump is asking him to do in that letter. and on top of that you add with mike pence sitting there looking on today the president undercut jaubt every argument the vice president would be making to president erdogan about why he should even consider a cease-fire. and starting with the that the president said this entire situation has nothing to do with us. well, if you're erdogan, you think, okay, great. so i had a phone call with the president when i told what i wanted to do and he said that's a really bad idea and then he

sent me a letter saying that's a bad idea, i did it anyway and there's been no cost to me. and by the way the vice president is coming over and sitting across the desk from me and saying can you really please pull back and be nicer while his boss the president of the united states says i want nothing to do with any of the above. >> charlie, we were getting into this a minute ago but i want to ask you about the politics, the confluence of ukraine and syria, the two things happening at the same time and what the political significance among republicans is going to be because i hear two theories about this. one is, hey, you'll look at the house vote today. two thirds of republicans broke with the administration. you look at lindsey graham, you listen to the volume of sort of confrontation from the white house and republicans and you haven't seen anything. is that an indication the damn is breaking in general or the other theory i hear is well, syria gives republicanans outlet

to separate themselves politically on something without having to do impeachment. which one of those sounds more right to you? >> i think the second one is because i think the president in his mind will distinguish between policy which he doesn't care quite as much about and this gives them a little bit an out and the president has shown the ability to compartmentalize but they're all watching in what's happened the last several days and, by the way, the universal reaction to that letter is that cannot possibly be real. it looks like it was written pie a 9-year-old in crayon, but this is what irrelevance looks like, this is what weakness looks like and it's really an extraordinary scene. and they began with erdogan saying he might not even meet with pence, he's clearly brushed off all the warnings from the president, brushed off calls for a cease-fire, and you think about the diminished role of

america in the world and you wonder whether what trump voters signed up for and whether this is something that republicans are going to be comfortable with going forward because imagine where they're sitting right now arguing for five more years of this kind of behavior and this kind of decision. >> we're also getting more details about the president's meeting on syria, at least ostensibly on syria with congressional leaders. three sources tell "the washington post" the president mentioned several times he's not concerned about terrorists 7,000 miles away after democrats left republican congressman liz cheney reminded the terrorists responsible for 9/11, quote came from 7,000 miles away and minority leader chuck schumer told the president fewer than a hundred isis prisoners escaped after his turkey decision and

claimed they were the least important ones and did not concede that part about them being the least dangerous. and the signals the president's sending both in public and apparently inside this meeting today versus the signals his administration is sending, there's some differences there. >> yeah, you might say. on the question of the escaped isis fighters this is really potentially a pretty big problem for the president going forward on top of a number that he already has related to the syria, turkey beb occdebacle. i'm the one who's stamped out the caliphate, i've been tougher on terrorists than any of my predecessors, i was willing to do things to be tough on terrorism than nobody else has done. if all of a sudden he has a bunch of escaped isis fighters running around and potentially trying to make their way to the

united states or another allied country and it can be traced back to his decision to essentially abandon u.s. guardianship of those areas, that is a problem that is likely to far outlast this immediate question of whether he can leberage this way out of this with turkey and kind of move onto the next crisis. >> thank you both for joining us. appreciate it. up next going to head over to the big board, show you some poll numbers. you've got initial numbers saying one thing in the presidential race but how about the first state that votes? the picture looks a little bit different in iowa. different in iowa. turn on my tv and boom, it's got all my favorite shows right there. i wish my trading platform worked like that. well have you tried thinkorswim? this is totally customizable, so you focus only on what you want. okay, it's got screeners and watchlists. and you can even see how your predictions might affect # #yo joo joo

. look, the president has left the congress with no choice and this is not just about holding

the president accountable for not just the thinks emerging in investigates but the actions he's confessed to on television. it's also about the presidency itself because the president ten years or 100 years from now will look back at this moment and draw the conclusion either that no one is above the law or that a president can get away with anything. >> all right, welcome back to "hardball," by the way. pete buttigieg at that democratic debate last night. one of the candidates getting a lot of attention, getting a burst of attention maybe after that debate last night. he mixed it up with elizabeth warren, maybe some of the other candidates got untimely and a lot of talk about buttigieg going to have his moment or if anybody does get a boost from this debate, if anybody surges into contention because of this debate or something else, one thing to keep in mind we're always looking at the national polls.

this is the national poll average right now. warren is pretty close, sanders in third. nobody else in double digitsch it looks something like this for a long time right now, but this may not be the place to look. it may may be the first sign someone's going to start surging in contention in this race. the place to look is probably the first place that votes and that's iowa. the iowa caucuses we know how influential they can be. you win that state, you get momentum. you lose that state, you lose momentum. and the race ipiowa looks a bit different right now. notice we said nationally it's been this way for a while three candidates in double digits well there are four candidates in double digits in iowa. pete buttigieg in iowa he's almost triple that. look at the leader, biden and warren basically a three way tie. buttigieg right now eight points out of the lead in iowa. so if he were to get a boost out

of this debate last night, if he were to jump up just a couple of points he'd be right there in the mix for first place in iowa. so it's a different picture in iowa and obviously between warren, sanders and biden, each one of them only a few points away themselves from pulling away. so iowa is the first place to look. obviously it's a caucus state. you've got a lot of activists whereby people really engaged in the process. it's a state really involvedane political tradition, they can get you traction in iowa that you're not necessarily getting nationally. the other thing to keep in mind with iowa sf can change late and it can change dramatically. think back the last democratic race where the party was trying to come up with a nominee to unseat a republican incumbent was back in 2004. george w. bush was president, the iraq war, and there was a democratic field that looked

much like this. let me show you iowa around this time in 2003, this is what the polling looked like. this was the des moines register. he was the leader. howard dean he was the story of 2003. then you get to kerry and nobody else even in double digits. this is what it ended up looking like on caucus night. kerry won 38%, but look at this one. look where he was, and back at this point he was only at 5%. he surged dramatically and surged late and that was all kerry needed. he rolled into new hampshire a few days later and that was it, he was on his way to the nomination. iowa changed everything for kerry. iowa has changed everything for other candidates including barack obama and on those polls in iowa, they may be a lot more

skin now than all those national polls. still ahead, elizabeth warren was taking fire from all sides at last night's democratic debate. how did she handle it? that and more 2020 news next on "hardball." at and more 2020 new "hardball. and at a great price. ready to upgrade. moving in. moving on up. or making big moves. deliveries ship free and come with a 100-night free trial. no matter your budget. or your sleep style. we have quality options for everyone. so search and shop. save and snooze. and rest easy, knowing that we've got your back. literally. that's what you get, when you've got wayfair. so shop now.

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is something you can actually get done. >> your signature senator is to have a plan for everything except this. >> i'd like it to ask senator warren if she would join me in calling for an end to this regime change war in syria finally. >> sometimes i think that senator warren is more focused on being punitive or pitting some part of the country against the other. >> welcome back to "hardball." there were a lot of fireworks at last night's democratic presidential debate in ohio. as you just heard a lot of it centered around senator elizabeth warren. with her rise in the polls it appears the other candidates now see her as the front-runner. by nbc's count she was the candidate attacked the most last night. 16 times in total compared to only two attacks against former vice president joe biden. warren took the most heat for her response in how she would pay for her medicare for all plan. let's watch. >> will you raise taxes on the middle class to pay for it, yes or no? >> costs will go up for the

wealthy and for big corporations and for hardworking middle class families costs will go down. >> a yes or no question that didn't get a yes or no answer. >> but i do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. >> bernie's being honest here in saying how he's going to pay for this. >> for more i'm joined by democratic congresswoman dona edwards of maryland and the national correspondent for new york magazine. let me start on that clip we just played from warren, this has come up in every day pdebate. she's asked will the middle class are have to pay more in tacks as part of your plan, and the answer is costs will go down. there's a step in the middle where it looks like the taxes will go up but the overall argument but she won't admit or say the part about taxes going up. is that tenable? can she keep doing that the rest of the campaign? >> i think we're going to see.

i do think it is a challenge for her to try to explain this to the american people who, you know, spend their out-of-pocket costs but also understand taxes. and so i think she's going to have to come up a more solid answer. for someone like me who spends $27,000 inute of pocket costs you tell me you're going to bring that down some, i'm with you on that. >> how do you think she held up last night? we mentioned 2004 howard dean became the front runner and they started attacking him. >> they clearly eknew they were going to get all these bows and arrows i should say coming in if you talk to people in her world, she said people are going to come after me. she's obviously the front-runner now. i don't know if joe biden would necessarily agree with that but that is what we saw here. there's very little evidence with what we saw, we did see a

lot of of people. if you look at this question about middle class taxes on health care facing this question specifically in different variations of this question for weeks now it's been the question she gets asked the most. she got six different versions of it then interview afterwards and she's very consist. and i think it's very important to think about the political gamesmanship here. it's obvious she doesn't want a ship out there, but more than that if she were to finally say, fine, i'm going to raise a tax on a the middle class she doesn't want that narrative either. she's been consistent saying costs are going to go down and that's what real americans care about. if you're trying to play a game here, then you're divorced from the reality that every day americans are living and that's been pretty compelling so far. >> what do aiomake of bernie

sanders, there were all sorts of questions coming in last night. just had a heart attack, oldest candidate in the field. the state of his campaign coming out of the debate, i'm curious based on his performance and also the news at the end of the debate that alexandria ocasio-cortez is going to be endorsing it. >> he looked really strong to me last night and i think that was really important because i think people were looking to see, well, how does bernie perform, is he old bernie or is this a new pirn ae? and then he comes right out of that with these big endorsements. now, i'd run for office and sometimes i'm not really sure endorsements matter but this one really could. it could also help to keep people in line after the nomination is over. if bernie doesn't get it, making sure all of those supporters come on board, too. so i think that was a big moment for bernie to prove himself, and he handled it. >> yeah the timing, there's so much talk about is he fading out. i do think certainly that

narrative complicated by last night. another memorable moment, mayor peteputejudge taking on his mandatory weapon buy back proposal. >> if you can develop the plan further i think we have a debate about it, but we can't wait. people are dying in the streets right now. >> listening to my fellow americans to those moms who demand action, to those students who march for our lives, who in fact came with up this extraordinary bold peace plan that calls for mandatory buy backs let's follow their inspiration and lead and not be -- >> the problem is the policy. and i don't need lessons from you on courage, political or personal. everyone on this stage is determined to get something done. >> gabe, pete buttigieg in some ways has exceeded the normal expectations that would exist for a mayor of a city in a presidential race. what are the chances he takes

the next step and actually becomes a contender in iowa and nationally? >> one of the questions has been been asking himself for the last few weeks and months now and raising almost as much money as anyone else he's making a specific bet right now and last night that going after not only elizabeth warren but also beto o'rourke, and also tulsi gabbard playing a punchier role here and you see biden stumbling over and over and at least according to someone like buttigieg you do, and he is trying to say, listen, if you need someone who's going to be able to step up and take this position, i'm there but it's a risky bet. other times you've seen other candidates trying to play this antagonist role in this debate, if hasn't necessarily backfired but it hasn't really resulted in a long-term boost to their campaigns so buttigieg is now specifically making this wager as more candidates tune in and as he spends moren io in iowa t

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we've got you cover would new episodes every monday, wednesday, friday to help you understand what really matters in this historic moment. look for article 2 inside impeachment starting this friday wherever you get your podcast. s. that's "hardball" for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in?" >> if you look at the kurds and again i say this with great respect, they're no angels. >> donald trump once again turns on the kurds as republicans join with democrats to overwhelmingly rebuke trump. the president loses it on nancy pelosi. >> she kept her cool completely. but he called her a third rate politician. >> tonight the latest fall out from the trump debacle in syria. >> we have to pray with his health because this was a serious melt down on the part of the president. >> then another arrest in the probe of rudy giuliani asso