as opposed to not working and the one time in history when a president was quote disgraced in office. it's 9:00 p.m. eeastern here on msnbc. and we think it's more delicious than eating polenta right off the table. don't go anywhere. "hardball" is next. >> what's the defense? let's play hardball. good evening, i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. tonight marks the end of yet another consequential week for trump's presidency. the case for impeachment is coming into focus with the repeat depositions of four current and four former policy officials. their testimony this week alleged that the president himself put his personal lawyer

in control of his agenda on ukraine. the ambassadors were used to advance domestic political objectives while other career professionals were side lined and that rudy giuliani's quote shadow policy alarmed top security officials inside the white house. and perhaps more troubling still for the president his white house is republican allies are all over the place when it comes to a defense against the impeachment drive. trump has tried attacking the whistle-blower. he's also tried to block officials from testifying, although many have now defied that order. he continues now to insist that there was no quid pro quo, but his own white house chief of staff mick mulvaney said otherwise yesterday. >> did he also mention to me in the past that the corruption relate today the dnc server, absolutely, no question about that. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. >> let's be clear what you just described is a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into

the democratic server happened as well. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. i have news for everybody, get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> now, while mulvaney leader tried to take back those comments the political damage was already done. politico reports that, quote, republican lawmakers felt exasperated by the white house's lack of discipline and white house lawyers were similarly aghast mulvaney undercut so many of the arguments they could use to defend the president. here's how intel chairman adam schiff summed it up. >> things have just gone from very, very bad to much, much worse. the idea that vital military assistance would be withheld for such a pat wantently political n for the reason of serving the presidential election campaign is a phenomenal breach of the president's duty to defend our

national security. >>life this could spell trouble for the president as he tries to resist the unfolding impeachment inquiry. as "the washington post" put it, quote, contrary to weeks of denials from the president and his defenders, a growing body of evidence makes cheer it was trump himself who repeatedly pushed his own government and a foreign power to intervene in do mestic political concerns, enlisting and ensnaring a growing number of administration officials. i'm joined now by a white house reporter for npr, philip bump a political reporter for "the washington post." frank figliuzzi, assistant director for counter intelligence at the fbi. and michael steele, a former chairman of the rnc. frank, let me just start with you. pig picture, the testimony this week, certainly a lot of reporting, a lot of leaks coming out there. what is the picture in terms of

what the ukraine policy was and who was setting it? >> let's review just the last three weeks where, steve, we've gone from an anonymous whistle-blower complaint to dedicated professional after career professional after career professional now providing depositions that i think are beginning to crank the republican armor. and we've heard thatthi those depositions will eventually be released to the public. these people that are giving depositions and telling the truth are really our modern day version of heroes. this is form of bravery we see occurring all broken first by that anonymous whistle-blower who said i'm not going to take it anymore. and the public sentiment and certainly the gop sentiment seems to be we've got a problem. when we hear a congressman from florida like francis rooney,

nancy pelosi might be right about all roads leading to putin, we know there's a problem developing. >> we cite that problem at the top, there are folks around the president, folks at the white house who i think the word was aghast at what mick mulvaney came out there and said yesterday. does that sentiment extend to the president himself? >> well, president trump publicly when he was asked about this he said that he felt like mulvaney clarified this topic or clarified his statement. but it seems the fact that mu mulvaney had to issue that clarification amid something went wrong at that press conference because basically he was walking back what he explicitly said and that he had multiple tup multiple opportunities to clarify. and hours later he came pack and said basically he didn't say what he actually said. so that can't be a good sign for him.

and he's standing in a white house where he's still the acting chief of staff and has never even i guess been promoted to full chief of staff. >> well, frank, you were mentioning this a minute ago. mulvaney's defense of that quid pro quo with ukraine appears to have potentially had an impact on some republican lawmakers that are taking him at his word. here's republican congressman francis rooney of florida today. >> what might have been gray and clear before is certainly quite clear right now, that the actions were related to getting some of ukraine to do some of these things. >> and not a republican lawmaker here but a prominent republican nonetheless, john kasich, the former republican governor of ohio today came out in favor of impeachment saying mulvaney's remarks were the tipping point. >> when i heard what mulvaney said, the chief of staff to the president, it pushed me really all across the rubicon.

look, i fought with people on the air about is there a quid pro quo and did this rise to the level of impeachment. i now believe tit does. >> it also comes as -- >> it was shocking in my opinion for the president to do so. we certainly can't have presidents asking foreign countries to provide something of political value. that is after all against the law. >> romney is among the republican senators who are thought to be at least potentially in position to break with the president if he's impeached and he goes on trial in the senate. michael, let me ask you about that. i think congressman rooney, his comments he's not saying he's for impeachment but he's not saying he's dead set against it

either. how significant is that to you? >> i think it's a loosening of the tether between the president and republicans in the house and the senate. the senate has always been sort of that back stop for whatever the house does because, you know, the consensus is, steve, the house members are all going to line up and be against any form of impeachment. that may be a little soft right now. what i think is going to be more telling than what a republican senator or congressman does is the fact that you have now a number of people inside the administration who said i don't care about your executive privilege moniker you want to lay on top of what i have to say. i'm going to go testify. that could be the biggest and most significant break in the wall that republicans have tried to put up around the president, you know, to explain all of this, you know, from marco rubio going oh, he was just kidding to others saying, well, i'll just

have to wait and see. well, what they're waiting and finding out is the republicans have a problem now that members of trump's administration are going before the house committees and really giving more context to the bigger problem the president has. >> you know, phil we're having the conversation here will republicans in the senate end up breaking with trump, will there be republicans in the house do, there's an assumption built into a lot of this speculation that impeachment is inevable, it's going to happen. does it seem inevitable that the house will vote to impeach him? >> the only way in which i would say it doesn't seem pelosi wants to make sure there's some semblance of bipartisanship. it seems pretty clear right now. we passed the 218 mark on impeachment inquiry three or four weeks ago. it seems pretty clear right now

she could probably corral enough democratic votes to pass impeachment in the house. whether or not she wants to send it to the senate with at least some republicans, i think that's a question mark. >> there's different signals that have been sent from republicans it seems who are hesitant i would say to break politically with the president and they seem to be trying to find a line here that they can all latch onto. what does the white house want them saying? >> well, they clearly don't want them to say that aid was held up so that there could be an -- ukraine could investigate the dnc's server. what they seem to want to be focusing on is this idea of there was corruption and the president was concerned about that. and then he was also concerned about other countries chipping in. and that's why aid was held up. but even that idea of corruption it's never really clear what

exactly they mean by corruption because the only corruption that was discussed on that call that we have the transcript of with the president -- with trump and the president of ukraine is the dnc server and the bidens. and so when they talk about corruption, even that seems to include the president's political opponents. and they haven't really outlined what other corruption concerns they have. >> michael, you were alluding to this a minute ago. but it seems like just politically speaking here, republicans are in a very tricky position because what trump is forcing them to say if they want to be on team trump on this is that they're okay with the call, that it was a perfect call, that there was no quid pro quo even though mick mulvaney came out and said that yesterday. that has to be the line. if they don't take that line, that puts them in opposition to trump. and then they've got to answer the question if you have a problem with what trump did and he doesn't, do you have to do something about it?

>> that's the ultimate question. if you have a problem with what trump did, if you have a problem with what mick mulvaney said, if you are concerned by the testimony that is as far as we know so far is indictable in terms of what the president's behavior and actions were with president zelensky of ukraine, then republicans have to act accordingly. the problem is, steve, to your point is that they can't. because in order to stay on the good side of trump you have to fall in line and begin to spew out the same problem of lies and distortions and misdirections that he himself are putting out every day. classic example this week is one senator linda graham who was so outraged by the president's behavior and efforts with respect to syria, pushed back hard. and what did the president say, lindsey stay in your lane, do judiciary, don't think you're bigger than this.

and what did lindsey do, shirked it down. and even with someone who gets to play golf with the president on sundays and supposedly has his ear, and gets the twitter smack down and they go silent. back to my earlier point, it doesn't matter what the senators and dprsz do, i think the country is going to be looking more and more what people in the administration decide to do who were in the room, heard the call and realized this is constitutional problem. >> phil, we were talking a minute ago about the house, the assumption built in democrats have the votes in theory, they're going to go ahead and impeach. the other assumption is the republicans have the votes in the senate and there's going to be an acquittal if it gets there. >> i was describing to someone earlier last week i wouldn't have put a dime in vegas from the bet of removing him from office. i think things have changed at least a little bit. >> what are the odds?

>> but that said the graphic you guys showed earlier only had 13 senators on it. i mean you need to have 20 senators from the republican side who join this vote to actually remove president trump from office. that's a lot of senators, and it seems really, really unlikely at this point in time. but again you asked me of course four weeks ago i was like no it's not going to happen. you ask me a week ago, still seems that way. this week does seem -- >> this is the week some hesitation entered into the -- >> and also syria. if he is losing his base on other issues as well it gives them more of an incentive to say you know what, maybe someone else is better. >> we had some testimony, and there could be more coming. what are you looking for next in terms of what folks in the administration might be able to provide ipthen these hearings? >> well, first of all i'm eager

to see thed depositions release publicly. because as you guys just discussed this is potentially what's going to change public sentiment. and if you change public sentiment you change the hearts and minds of those senators who realize it's too painful to stay joined at the hip with the president. i think if we see more national security threat concerns come through, if we see the president placed squarely even more than he is in the center directing all of this behavior, he can't be teflon anymore, like he did with the special counsel investigation, i couldn't control the hacking and social media propaganda operations, manafort was with us for a short time, he had plausible deniability. >> thank you all for being with us. and coming up, president trump decides that millions of

taxpayer dollars will be spent at his own golf resort next year when he hosts the g-7 summit. the white house not at all concerned by those who say this means trump is profiting from the presidency. >> we had members of our military office, secret service, advance teams, we had several people, the state department, all of them came back and made the remations recommendations president that doral is the perfect place to hold such a summit. >> syria policy from retired military commanders as former defense secretary jim mattis getting in a jab last night. >> i earned my spurs on the battlefield, martin, as you pointed out. and donald trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor. >> we have much more to get to. stay with us. h more to get to stay with us

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it's very importantly only five minutes from the airport. the airport's right next to it. with doral we have a series of magnificent buildings. we call them bungalows. they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views and we have many hundred of acres so that in terms of parking, in terms of all the things you need, each

country can have their own villa or their own bungalow. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump back in august making the sales pitch for his trump national doral course in florida. and yesterday acting chief of staff mick mulvaney made it official. mulvaney said a dozen locations were vetted including one hawaii and two in utah, but denied to say how doral was picked. >> it was almost like they built this facility to host this type of event. i don't talk about how this place runs on the inside. so if you see our paper on how we did this, the answer is absolutely not. >> mulvaney argued that the

summit would be at cost and said the president would not profit from the event. "the washington post" reports, quote, that decision is without pres dependent in modern american history. the president used his public office to direct a huge contract to himself. it adds the resort quote has been in sharp decline in recent years according to the trump resort's own recent records. two house committees, oversight and judiciary have already demanded information about efforts to steer government business to the president's resorts. the choice of doral brought widespread condemnation from democrats and some republicans. here republican congressman adam kinzinger of illinois. >> i actually read the emoluments clause yesterday. i don't know if it's a direct violation but i don't know understand why at this moment they had to do that. do it in d.c., do it in miami at

a different resort. >> for more i'm joined by walter schwab and currently senior adsizer for responsibility and ethics in washington. and anita kumar. thanks very much both of you for being with us. walter, let me start with you. mulvaney says the president won't profit from this. therefore not a conflict. assess that claim. >> well, that's a ridiculous thing for mulvaney to say. essentially it boils down to this, the president of the united states participated in a contract award to his own business. this is figerative equivalent if he reaches into the treasury, grabs a chunk of money and says don't worry, i'm not taking more than i'm spending. that's no defense at all. and certainly if it had been mick mulvaney who owned this property he'd be prosecuted and

convicted of a felony and wouldn't be able to say oh, i broke even. >> that comment he said he's not happy about this but then he said why not just given all the questions this raises, all the grief this causes the white house, why not just have it somewhere else? what is the answer to that? >> that is great question and one i was wondering yesterday because as you mentioned the house is investigating this. this is part of the impeachment inquiry right now. why would he do this? no politician would do this because of the optics alone. so i was talking to the people close to the president who say at this point in this presidency he's done so many outrageous things, things that aren't the norm and he knows he can get away with it. his supporters still support him. it's about the same as it's been for the last 2 1/2 years and he feels -- fearless -- was the word used with me and he also feels bulletproof. why not go ahead and do it? he can get away with. >> and mull vapy says yesterday

12 different sites were considered, i think hawaii, utah. do we know anything else about this? he's saying there was a selection process here. do we know anything about that? are there any records to support it? >> i'm sure there are some records but we don't have access to them. they're not being trance parent about it at all. and you heard that comment from mick mulvaney saying if you want the paperwork we're not going to give it to you. basically they claimed there were 12, they did certain site selections and everybody came back and said this was the place to go. but we have no idea if that's the case and what they really looked at. if you look at this property i'm sure there are some benefits but there's also some negatives. and one of the things i've heard is they will probably have to do some changes, some up grades to accommodate all these world leaders, that there are not enough of these spaces that are exactly the same. so are they going to put in money to upgrade the facility?

we don't know that. >> just a few days after his inauguration in 2017 then president-elect trump said he would serve ties from the trump organization and play no role in its operations saying he'd give complete and total control of the business to his sons. >> and what i'm going to be doing is my two sons who are right here, don and eric, are going to be running the company. they are going to be running it in a very professional manner. they're not going to discuss it with me. again, i don't have to do this. they're not going to discuss it with me. >> walter, he says they're not going to discuss it with him. at the same time this whole segment is about the president using his platform to promote his club. and now to bring the g-7 summit there. >> you know, on the day he gave that press conference and said those words i spoke out and said that this is meaningless because

the conflict of interest doesn't stem from running the day to day operations. it stems from his financial interests. and now we're seeing he's determined to prove me right because he is the one who's going to profit from this. he owns the business. he participated in the procurement. i mean, the bottom line here is there is no definition of corruption that would not cover the president participating in a contract award to himself. so if this is not corrupt, nothing is corrupt. and that's exactly what he wants, and it seems to be exactly what the united states senate is determined to have be the case. >> they asked if it was appropriate for the president to hold the g-7 at his resort. couple different reactions from republican senators. take a look. >> i don't have any concerns about it other than politically how it appears. he's the president, if he feels

he did anything wrong he doubles down on it and talks loud and to some degree i don't mind that. on the other hand, as i always say there's tremendous integrity in his boldness and his transparency. >> show me where there's a violation of law. i'm not sure that there is, not that i'm aware of. >> a little mix of comments there, anita. i'm curious, though, in this moment the president is asking republicans in congress to defend him on ukraine, defend him on it call, defend him on quid pro quo, defend him on syria. a lot of them haven't been willing to do that, and now to defend him on this. is that causing any kind of -- is that causing resentment among republicans in congress? is that going to have consequences? >> i've actually been surprised how few republicans have called him out. you mentioned a couple, but for all of those there were several who said that at the end, which is they admire him, and it's

fine they they don't think there's anything wrong with that. remember he's been doing this exact same thing for it last 2 1/2 years. foreign leaders have been to mar-a-lago. the prime minister of japan stayed at mar-a-lago. so there have been other things that are exactly the same where he is getting money from foreign governments and he's also getting money from taxpayers there federal agencies, secret service staying there when he's there. it's been the same issue for the last 2 1/2 years. this is on a grander scale but we did want hear much about it in the last 2 1/2 years from republicans. so there's no reason to believe they would be any different. and still ahead, public support for impeachment may be on the rise. one new poll shows it is, but it is the kind of issue that will bring members to the polls. michael bennett joins us next. s michael bennett joins us next.

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welcome back to "hardball." as house democrats continue to pursue more depositions and documents iptheir impeachment inquiry a new survey find a majority of americans support their effort. according to pew 54% approve of the house's decision. it was 50% when they polled it last month. there was before details about the call was made public.

several state pollerize also showing support for the inquiry. and joining me now is a senior senator from that state. senator, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> thanks, steve. >> let me start on the question of impeachment. a couple of weeks ago you have an interview to politico. you drew a distinction between trump had committed impeachable offenses but you have not drawn a conclusion if he should be impeached. given the reporting on those depositions and what mulvaney said yesterday is that still your view or has it changed? >> i think the guy has clearly flaunted the rule of law, he's committed impeachable offenses. and i think if the facts continue to support what i think he's done, he should be impeached as a result of it. >> what is the difference between saying you have no doubt he committed impeachable offenses but you're not sure on impeachment? >> i think that if the facts

hold up the way they are he should be impeached. we're just at the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. they're going to go through it and look at the facts. the facts are pretty terrible. the guy clearly tried enlist a foreign power to advance his own political interests. he's now got the g-7 coming to his failing resort in florida. i mean, i can tell you this, the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves with this guy as president of the united states. he has flaunted every single norm that's important to our democracy and what we should expect of a president. and i think he's put himself in a terrible position. >> you don't need a reminder of this but if the house does vote to impeach president trump, it would be up to either acquit him or remove him from office. mitch mccomon wednesday laying out what would happen in the senate if there were an impeachment trial. >> under the impeachment rules of the senate we'll take the

matter up. the chief justice will be in the chair. we'll have to convene every day, six days out of seven. at 12:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon. >> and just before making that statement mcconnell met with republican senators. according to npr he told his caucus the trial could last as long as 6 to 8 weeks. senator, there's been a lot of speculation how mitch mcconnell would handle a trial. you hear 6 to 8 weeks you expect that to be a pretty meaty thing. what is your confidence level if this gets to the senate, this is going to be a thoroughly trial? >> my confidence level is very low but the american people need to insist on this. i mean, mitch mcconnell will do whatever he can get away with. and i think it's really important for us not -- i wouldn't want anybody i know to be as cynical or malevolent as mitch mcconnell is. but we need to be as struteemgic

as he is. and he's been strategic all along when the comes to judges, climate, when it comes to guns. and he's going to do exactly the same thing here. >> i want to ask you about your campaign for president, the fourth democratic debate held earlier this week. there was a discussion about medicare for all. you said it would be a mistake for democrats to sign-on to this plan. you talked to somebody from politico. you said just listen to this debate, medicare for all shouldn't have even made it to the debate stage. why is that? >> well, only 30% of democrats support it to begin with, and i think that if we pursue medicare for all, we're going to fight a losing battle for the next ten years over medicare for all when what we should be doing is creating universal health care for everybody in this country. what we should be doing is make sure we have a tax code that actually supports the dignity of work to make sure we're dealing

with climate change so that we're pursuing a progressive agenda again in this country. reforming the way our government works, making sure everybody in this country that has the right to vote is eligible to vote. we've got an important agenda that we've got to pursue in this country. and i appreciate bernie's ideological commitment to medicare for all. at least honest enough to say how he would pay for half of it, and that's by raising taxes for people making $29,000 a year. the american people are not going to go for something that raises taxes pie $31 trillion over the next ten years for the privilege of giving up the choice for themselves and their family about whether they want to pi private insurance or have a public option. and i don't want to give up that progressive agenda. we spent the last ten years not accomplishing a lot of things, the kids in my old school

district need us to accomplish. like my plan to reduce childhood poverty by 40%, which we can do in one year in this country without adding one federal bureaucrat and what 3% of bernie's plan of medicare for all would cost. that's why i'm in this race because there's a completely different agenda that's a progressive agenda that's about making sure everyone in this country has got the economic opportunity they have for themselves and family. and for us to be able to sustain this democracy, steve, which i'm deeply worried about. not just because of trump but because of the massive income inequality we have in this country. >> i've got to ask you, too, this week you weren't in the debate. you did want meet those polling thresholds set there. in a month the thresholds get higher. some of the candidates that were on the stage this week doesn't look like they're going to make that. it doesn't look like you're in

line to make that. >> i think i've got an agenda that cannot just eupify democrats but also bring back some of the 9 million people who voted twice for barack obama and once for donald trump. i'm the only candidate in this race that's ever won a national election in a swing state and i think that's important as well. so i'm going to keep putting one foot in front of the other. we're running a vigorous campaign in iowa and seeing a good response and i had to make a decision about whether i was going to continue to spend money or whether i was going to communicate with iowa and i made the choice to communicate with iowa. and steve, you know what these polls look like. i mean you know better than anybody else. the support for the leading candidates in this race is actually pretty soft and then you get to mayor pete and you've got a whole bunch of us who are trading somewhere between 0 and

3. and frankly it was hard to watch people on that stage who are either polling the same as i am or polling worse than i am now. it turns out it's a lot easier to go from 9 to 2 or 9 to 1 or 0 than it is to go from 0 to 2. but i'm not as well-known as the rest of the candidates in the race. i do think i've got an agenda when people hear about it they're going to say this is direction we should go because it's the way we win the presidency and it's how we win purple states that's going to give us a chance to get the senate majority back. >> all right, up next trump claiming victory with his deal in turkey. turkey gets everything it wants. what does the u.s. get other than a reputation some say for abandoning its allies. you're watching "hardball." abandoning its allies. you're watching "hardball. your . when you've got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds-

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i just spoke to president erdogan of turkey. we're doing very, very well with turkey. there's a cease-fire or a pause or whatever you want to call it. there was some sniper fire this morning. there was mortar fire this morning that was eliminated quickly, and they're back to the full pause. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump insisting that a cease-fire in north eastern syria was still in effect despite reported gunfire and explosions. just yesterday turkey and the kurds signed off on a pause in fighting after talks between vice president mike pence, secretary of state mike pompeo and turkish president erdogan. the cease-fire was supposed to last five days in order to allow kurdish led troops to withdraw from a safe zone along the border. the unite nations it reporting roughly 1,700 people from the region roughly women and children have now fled.

nearly 500 people have been killed since the offensive started. but during his rally in dallas last night president trump compared the deadly fighting in syria to a fight between school children. >> it was unconventional what i did. i said they're going to have to fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight. it's like two kids in a lot. you've got to let them fight and then you pull them apart. >> the president who was once a fierce defender of the kurds seemed to have shifted positions. take a look. >> i think the kurds are great people. they're incredible fighters. they're wonderful, a warm, intelligent allies. the kurds who by the way are no angels. the kurds are great fighters and great, great people. the kurds are some good people, some people. i do respect the kurds. as an example. the ones that >> yesterday, trump told

reporters the turks wanted to clean out, his words there, a 22-mile region currently inhabited by syrian kurds and today he tweeted president erdogan wanted a cease-fire to work and that, quote, the kurds wanted the ultimate solution to happen. stay tuned after the break to find out what the turkish president has said in return. you're watching "hardball." n ren you're watching "hardball. at outback, steak & oh no, it's gone.ck. phew, it's back with lobster mac & cheese. it's gone again. oh, it's back with shrimp now!

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i just want to thank and congratulate, though, president erdogan. he's a friend of mine, and i'm glad we didn't have a problem. because, frankly, he's a hell of a leader and he's a tough man. he's a strong man, and he did the right thing. and i really appreciate it. and i will appreciate it in the future. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump yesterday praising turkish president erdogan after having warned the turkish president days earlier not to be, quote, a tough guy. president erdogan suggested he was offended by that letter saying turkey would, quote, do what's necessary when the time comes. we haven't forgotten it. it would not be right for us to forget it. amid scattered fighting erdogan has threatened to resume military operations despite the negotiated cease-fire. they were surprised how easy the negotiations were.

we got everything we wanted, said the official. for more i'm joined by jennifer ruben, opinion writer with "the washington post," and christina greer at fordham university. >> let me start with you, jennifer. something i think we've never seen during a trump presidency. written by a senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, criticizing in strong term's trump's policy here. he said withdrawing is a grave strategic mistake. embolden our enemies and weaken alliances. what do you make of the significance of this, and will it ultimately have -- will criticism like this ultimately have any affect on policy? >> it would be nice as mitch mcconnell mentioned in that op-ed president trump's name. so i think there is bipartisan

criticism both of the initial decision and this ludicrous, quote, deal which makes nevil chamberlain look like a negotiator. they now have absolute control over this area, a much larger area than we were willing to initially give them. and they are in the process of ethnic cleansing that is moving or killing all of the turks in this area. it is a humiliating defeat by the united states, and that's why this week in overwhelming terms the house including 129 republicans joined in condemning this move. so i think if mitch mlk kaunl feels this strongly perhaps he should be tougher on things like buying influence from foreign governments and his entire relationship with putin. i find it remarkable he can be so harsh and so exacting on this

absolutely inane policy move that really serves no one but trump's ego, erdogan, syria, iran and yet write an op-ed that doesn't mention the president's name. >> a few polls that have come out on this and seems pretty strong opposition to trump's policy here on syria. watching the events over the last 24 hours, the news developments right now, how deeply do you think the american people because oftentimes you have that reality in politics, if it's happening overseas, it doesn't necessarily rej str. how much do you think this registers, do you think? >> i'm not exactly sure ow deep it's penetrating into the american psyche. they don't the history of syria and turkey, but what is sort of permeating in various communities they're seeing democrats and republicans say this is very bad idea and it

will destabilize not just that region but quite possibly our country as well, we still knock on wood had an external threat at the magnitude of say 9/11. so that conversation about making isis sort of a greater threat with some of these deals that the president is making, i think that is actually resonating when some people are perking up and saying well if lindsey graham who has literally been the puppy of the president since he was sworn in, if he's slightly saying this was a bad idea -- >> you're making the point there this is one of the only times in trump presidency you've got democrats and republicans -- >> in lock step if people lindsey graham or even mitch mcconnell he even had the courage to write the op-ed without having the courage to mention the president's name, that is an alarm for a lot of american citizens. and so even if they don't know about the region they still know something is off. you also have to remember we

have so many hundreds of thousands of americans who have family member who are in the military whether they are deployed or not. so they're also paying attention to what we do and don't do in some of these dangerous areas because that could mean their family members could be deployed or put ipharms way from a president who has absolutely no understanding of international policy whatsoever and his generals have now said as much. >> my apologies we're a little tight here. appreciate both of you being here. we're back after a quick break. a couple of exciting announcements we want to tell you about. you're watching "hardball." l you about. you're watching "hardball. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean!

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no on big tobacco. no on prop c. and before we go i want to tell you about a new project i'm working on. today we are launching a new pod cast. in fact within the last few hours it wept live. it's called interarticle ii, in impeachment. going to break down what's new, what it means for our 2020 election and as you say wherever you get your podcasts and even more exciting news than that, even more important news than that, monday night chris matthews will be back in this seat. the important news there, though, chris matthews back on monday. that's "hardball" for now. thank you for being with us.

all "in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on a special edition of "all in." does the trump and rudy show go beyond ukraine? >> you have to ask rudy those questions. >> tonight the case that trump's debacle with turkey and rudy's search for dirt on biden are part of the same story. plus stephanie ruhle on what may be the most corrupt act by any president ever and the msnbc return of steve schmidt. >> we've reached the hour that george washington warned us about. >> live from studio 6a from