to the wait did frowe just win-ners. prouders everyone uses their phone differently. that's why xfinity mobile let's you design your own data. now you can share it between lines. mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. it's a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus get $250 back when you buy an eligible phone. call, click, or visit a store today. quid pro, here we go. let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight the evidence continues to mount on president trump. nbc news reporting new evidence tonight of president trump's

quid pro quo with ukraine. quote, at least three current and former u.s. officials have all made the same startling admission. a coveted white house visit for the new ukrainian leader had been explicitly conditioned on his agreeing to investigations that could have helped president trump's re-election. that includes u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland. he was asked point-blank under oath whether that constituted a quid pro quo. he did not dispute it. according to people familiar with his testimony. this comes after u.s. ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, drew a direct line on tuesday between the u.s. military support and trump's demand for an investigation. and today president trump denounced that diplomat, mr. taylor, he had appointed himself. >> you held up military funds because you wanted ukraine to investigate the 2016 election and burisma --

the company on which hundredth biden sat. >> here's the problem, he's a never-trumper and his lawyer is a never-trumper and the problem is -- hey, everybody makes mistakes. mike pompeo, everybody makes mistakes. he's a never-trumper. his lawyer is the head of the never-trumpers. they're a dying breed, but they're still there. >> the president stepping up his attacks now as the weeks could bring more peril. today a federal judge washington are ordered the justice department to have secret grand jury testimony from special counsel robert mueller's investigation, organized the department of justice to hand over the material by october 30th, george howell also note, quote, even in cases of presidential impeachment, a house resolution has never in fact been required to begin an impeach inquiry. there you go. there's an issue of process the republicans have been raising, need some sort of resolution. according to the judge, no. meanwhile congressional testimony in the inquiry picks up again.

as investigators hear from philip reeker. and nbc news has learned lawyers for former national security advisor john bolton have been in talks with house investigators for a possible interview. bolton left the administration back in september. he says he resigned. the president says he fired him. well, last week the president's former top advisor on russia and europe, fiona hill, testified that bolton was so disturbed by the trump administration's ukrainian efforts, he called it a drug deal. and next thursday investigators are scheduled to depose tim morrison, a national security counsel officer and the first current white house official who will testify. morrison would have been on the july 25th call between president trump and the ukrainian president, so he'll have first-hand knowledge of the whole conversation. but as evidence continues to pile up, evidence the president today dismissed the need for a coordinated response. >> here's the thing, i don't

have teams. everyone's talking about teams. i'm the team. i did nothing wrong. >> i'm the team. for more i'm joined by democratic congressman ro khanna of california who sits on the house oversight committee, mieke eoyang, charles psychs, editor at large. it seems to me this is all focussed on one question, the quid pro quo. the president was conditioning military aid, a meeting at the white house, all the things he had at his disposal on that government, on that president at least saying he was investigating joe biden, just saying it. >> chris, you are absolutely right. this is really simple. the president withheld aid and he was asking zelensky to do a public press conference saying he was going to investigate joe biden. and it's clear what he wanted. biden was winning at the polls at the time and he wanted to tarnish biden. and he views biden as a threat, that's what this is about.

it's not complicated. and that's why the majority of the country now supports impeachment. >> mee ka, let me talk about some of this other stuff. john bolton, the old phrase was politics makes strange bedfellows. think about john bolton coming to the argument this president doesn't deserve to stay in office. >> look, john bolton has always had his own point of view on these things and he's someone not going to bend to a particular team in terms of loyalty. what's interesting about bolton that he's been encouraging people inside when they have objections of what's going on, to make a record. he's telling people go to the lawyers, record all the stuff, and now all that ed is coming forward. and being brought forward to the house investigators. >> while he was working for trump and seeming to be his loyalist, he was building a case? >> that's right. we've seen trump over and over again face note takers as part

of his problem, from comey to bolton. >> these guys know how to keep notes, in other words document what they do. the sort of formal federal employee, actually, the civil servant who wants to make sure she's dotted all the i's and crossed the t's. but here's john bolton, and now a well-known hawk, now he's probably the most respected person in the whole loop in terms of ensuring national security and being the one that would really blow the whistle on a president who wasn't putting national security first. >> yeah, and you would have credibility with senate republicans who of course are going to determine what happens with the president. you think about this last week, it's kind of a microcosm of the entire trump presidency. whether you're talking about ukraine, syria, the testimony of bill taylor lashing out at people as human scum, signaling the department of justice as political opponents and saying i don't need a team, i am the team.

so if you are a republican senator and you're looking at this, are you thinking anything will get better? are you thinking you want to stake your political future on this guy? because what he's signaled is you're seeing all of it, the corruption, it recklessness, the naturalism and the determination that he doesn't think he actually needs to get his act together and you're going into an impeachment trial. >> charlie you're onto something. who's going to grieve the departure of donald trump in the white house? who's going to grieve it? >> see, this is the problem. republicans are being told it will be a disaster if you're told to remove him, but can you imagine the national relief of his departure but also for republicans who have to start calculating how much more political capital are they going to have to spend? how many more talking points are they going to have to spew?

how many more convoluted position are they going to have to take. right now they can hide behind process but you know it's going to get worse. there's going to be more evidence, fwlmg more smoking guns. it's going to take place on television. and then you have a president who seems to be escalating every one of his tactics and doubling down on every one of the things that got him to where we are right now. >> we talk about this suburban mother and woman, kids listen to this guy on television. they pick it up. mommy, can i call someone human scum? is that okay? human scum? >> i mean, the president is really lowering the level of national discourse. it was really driven home to me today when you saw the coverage of elijah cummings' funeral. >> what a difference. >> the chairman of the oversight committee. but when barack obama got up and talked about what it means to be strong and be kind. and it was such a contrast from a president who used to hold us up to our better angels to a man

who just drags us down into the ditch. >> i was taken. i'm a romantic about politics and i've always had mixed views about bill clinton, but he was unbelievable today and so was the president. and i kept thinking these are presidents raised in christian traditions with the old testament a big part of their culture, right? and they're talking about it and they actually have some religion in their lives unlike this president who uses it built -- politically, right? it's nice to hear it. >> they're unbelievable because they were talking about an unbelievable man. when i was a freshman member of congress i remember he was sitting next to me and he said someone came over and requested a picture and he said let me tell you something, i get asked for pictures all the time and i say it's my honor, my privilege, i'm serving you, thanks for asking. he was a decent, decent human being. and the fact that mark meadows and jim jordan were at his funeral says everything you need to know about the man. >> and they were real friends. >> they were real friends.

>> i saw the way -- those two guys fighting and the way he solved it that day. we're going to talk about him the later in the show. house democrats barrel towards impeachment. a new nbc poll shows american people still divided. no surprise. asked if president trump should be impeached and removed from office the response is 49, 49. for and against. broken down by party, it's 9 out of 10. democrats say yes impeach the guy and get him out of here, 9 out of 10 republicans saying don't impeach him, keep him here. here's an interesting one, maybe the tie breaker. 52%, a majority of independents say he should be impeached and removed. charlie what do you make of that number? it used to be independents were former republicans when i was growing up. that was just another word for former republicans. what are they now? who are they? >> yeah, i don't know. people who probably discuss with both political parties. i think the numbers to look at there are number one how solid is the republican support, and it's still holding. but also what are the state by

state polls looking like for those senators who might be on the bubble, who might be saying privately if there was a secret ballot, they would vote to remove him but don't want to break with him. right now the politics would suggest that it's going to be very unlikely for republicans to break. the thing to watch, though, is the direction. as i mentioned before, what else are we going to see, and particularly when these hearings go onto television, when you have an actual impeachment trial, when even the viewers of fox news have to look at the evidence, when republicans can't hide behind process and people begin to see this pattern of corruption, will that move those numbers, and it's hard to imagine they're going to move them in donald trump's direction. >> would you move into prime time those hearings if you could? charlie? >> yes, if that's an option. look, if you go to put it on tv, you might as well go all the way. >> we play baseball at night for a reason.

because it's nicer to play baseball in the dark, it's because people are watching television at night. what do you think about that? the trial of the century for prime time. letting the senators vote in prime time. >> i think the coverage will happen. regardless of whether they do it during the day or not. and i think the question for nancy pelosi is who's really your audience here? are you trying to convince the members in the chamber, the nation? i think the replay will happen regardless. i don't know it matters that much if it's in prime time or not just as long as you have the video. >> just remember anita hill testified in the daytime. clarence thomas testified at night. who won? meanwhile another central figure in the impeachment probe is speaking to reporters right now intentionally. i don't know this term but i'm learning it. giuliani, here it is, butt dialed nbc news reporter rick shapiro last week. the two had spoken earlier that day, but around 11:00 p.m., get

the time of day, giuliani accidentally off the top of my head with a message exactly three minutes long. the words tumbling out of giuliani's mouth was not directed at shapiro but he was speaking to someone in the same room. this isn't the first time that giuliani accidental or butt dialed someone. a few weeks earlier he did the same thing, this time railing against the bidens. let's listen. >> these things follow a zblarn i tell you what bothers me about this entire episode the most. why do you have people like rudy giuliani conducting american foreign policy. in the call that's leaked he's talking about policy towards

turkey and bahrain. and the front liners, the reason they've come out is they're so offended that the president's personal lawyer is conducting american foreign policy. >> to what effect? getting the president's dirt. >> and making money. >> charlie, anything too indecent. i imagine porn stars, blah blah blah, imagine every "access hollywood," everything trump's done. the people never do a body-check and say imagine if the guy other side of the aisle did this. they don't do it, do they, charlie? >> maybe giuliani's not that good a lawyer and he shouldn't be the guy the president trusts to do these things. he really is a liability to the president and i thought it was interesting the president doubled down on his full-throated support for rudy

giuliani. so all those republicans were saying maybe we can distance the president from rudy giuliani, throw rudy giuliani under the bus. no, they're joined at the hip. again, if you're a republican united states senator, you're going into this impeachment trial, you know that that's just another one of those wild cards. >> i would never blame rudy more than being trump's henchman. that's who he is. he's trump's henchman. anyway, congressman ro khanna of california, mieke eoyang, thank you so much, and charlie sykes. coming up, the united states government is at war with itself now as the impeachment investigation ratchets up, news bill barr's justice department is launching a criminal inquiry into the origin of the department of justice's russia investigation. president trump is getting his wish to investigate the investigators. plus, the president shields himself from negative coverage ordering all federal agencies in the u.s. government to cancel subscriptions, catch this, big thinking here, "the washington post" and "the new york times."

that's how he's erasing out opposition. and we take a moment to reflect on the life as i said of congressman elijah cummings. >> there's nothing weak about kindness and compassion. there's nothing weak about looking out for others. [ applause ] there's nothing -- there's nothing weak about being honorable. >> we have much more of that to get to tonight. what a moment it was at that church in baltimore. stay with us. ♪ limu emu & do hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ]

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hey. ♪hey. you must be steven's phone. now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi. download the xfi app today. welcome back to "hardball." thanks to attorney general bill barr, what an attorney general, president trump has finally gotten his wish to investigate the investigators. nbc news is reporting that john durham the federal prosecutor tapped by barr to conduct an administrative review into the origins of the russia probe is

now pursuing a criminal inquiry of that probe. according to "the new york times" which first broke this story, quote, the move gives the prosecutor running room, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges. the move also creates an unusual situation in which the justice department is conducting a criminal investigation into itself. "the new york times" add said the opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms mr. trump is using the justice department to go after his perceived enemies, you think? it's unclear what crimes have been committed in fact, what crimes are we talking about here? william barr launched the review in may even though the inspector general has been pursuing a similar inquiry. in fact, bill barr who is becoming the president's most trusted allies is personally overseeing the investigation of the investigation right now traveling the globe in an effort to dig up proof of a conspiracy theory.

critics say the attorney general has also played an active role in the president's personal defense. just a few months ago barr's justice department tried to keep the ukraine plot buried and declining to investigate the complaint. attorney general bill barr is also directly implicated by the claim remember by that whistle-blower but declined to recuse himself. for more i'm joined by joy ainsley, joshua kens ler, former counsel at the department of justice. and michael hayden. i've got some expertise but i want to start with julia. is it a wild-goose chase? is this like him going down to hawaii to look for the real origins of president obama? is this o.j. looking for the real killer? how serious is this investigation?

>> there's so many unknowns here, but it is hard to separate the politics from this especially because william barr right at the time he was opening this investigation tasking john durham to run it -- said i think there may have been spying into the president's campaign, which goes far below -- >> that's a use of a term, spying. there was an investigation of the president's campaign with russia. >> this was authorized. this was signed off by multiple people. judges have to continuously sign and renew fisa warrants which allow them to continue an investigation like this. they also have been going down roads we know that have been in prop gated -- propagated in conspiracy theories. none of that has teeth yet. i think the real potential damage from people i've spoken to is we're getting to this place where the justice department can be used as a retaliatory tool. say you're someone in the fbi or

cia now being asked to do a campaign investigation. well, are you now going to have a fear, especially if that's for a federal office , that person wins and then starts-to-an investigation into you? that's not the way our justice system is supposed to be setup. it's not supposed to be a retaliatory tool. but now this investigation has more tools or it may have had more tools months ago but we know it has the tools now to impanel a grand jury, subpoena testimony, which means those career folks inside the cia are starting to lawyer up. >> they're afraid they're going to be a target. back during the watergate days, at least john mitchell, whatever you thought of him, he went to prison had the decency to leave the justice department, become nixon's re-election chairman. this guy feels he can use his position as attorney general for total political purposes like going around the world, digging up dirt on, what? his own department? >> this whole thing just reeks of bad faith and part of it as

-- is that personal role, a sense that the attorney general, the same one who tried to distort the mueller report before it came out, he's succeeding in distorting it in a lot of people's minds and now traveling around the world personally personally eliciting foreign government cooperation with a probe that seems politically motivated, partisan and driven by the white house and seems to have no real basis. instead as you noted there's an inspector general investigation into these events. >> doesn't he have a day job? he's traveling to all these countries, italy, u.k., australia, all around the world digging up dirt basically on his own department because his president has sicced him on it. >> he is going around meeting independently with these different foreign intelligence

agencies. our foreign partnerships are critical to the success of u.s. intelligence. >> that's how we catch the bad guys. >> absolutely, and these are carefully managed relationships. i think of it as a gardener tilling a garden of exquisite flowers and they require just the right amount of vitamin and water and pruning. what happens, these foreign governments begin to wonder, hey, our intel relationship is not going to stay below that political waterline where it historically has stayed. maybe we need to start back a little bit. >> what's the world think of us having this character that has turned american government into sort of a criminal enterprise, a seedy enterprise? >> i think most of our partners around the world think this too shall pass. i think they're hoping there'll be some reason, and this individual will no longer be president, you know, within a year or two. but i also think they are

calculating what will happen if he remains for another four years. >> you know, the name of the department of justice now at the building is the robert kennedy building because robert kennedy really led the fight for civil rights when he was attorney general. there was a notion you could get justice from the justice department. how's that for an idea? >> and let's not forget too these cooperation agreements which are so central in order to know what the justice department needs, think about the next time say isis becomes a bigger threat, how much we're going to need those relationships to work. and it's interesting to call william barr a character, pause -- because there are a number of pieces of evidence we've seen over the past six months that shows his affiliation, his strong favoritism towards the political leanings of this president. but recently he really tried to draw a line he's not like rudy giuliani. when he got lumped together with him in that ukraine call when the president used their names interchangeably as someone that can call up a foreign government and get information.

we know he was upset by that. it's interesting that's the line. >> you know what this remind me of, mccarthy period, when roy cohn went around the usia bookstores and libraries ripping out when they saw his communist literature, a joke. this guy's traveling the world like a joke. >> and our foreign partners increasingly see it that way. think about what happened in 2016. a foreign partner tipped us off to something that was a major counter intelligence threat. we know that now. that is hundreds of pages of volume i of the mueller report. what sort of foreign partner would want to tip us off now? >> thank you. i think everyone is a good public servant. i can tell. thank you. you, chris, are a great journalist. >> thank you. >> the more and more i get impressed when we put somebody in the space or public servants, thank god we've got them not just politicians. although there are some good

politicians. you just saw bill clinton today and barack obama. good politicians. they were politicians today and, boy, were they wonderful. up next, president trump is ordering all federal agencies to cancel its subscriptions to "the washington post" and "the new york times." i guess he doesn't want the deep state reading these newspapers anymore. he only wants coverage that makes him feel. this is so great, in the words of a senior white house official today, he only wants to read newspapers that make him feel beautiful and powerful. he is the wicked queen. he's the wicked queen. he only wants to see mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? he wants to hear you're the fairest of them all. it's literal now. no naughty newspapers and federal agencies, just him. i am the team. here he is. he's the team. you're watching "hardball." (burke) at farmers insurance,

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all these people have been doing it for a really long time, from "the new york times," which is a fake news, we don't even want it in the white house right now. they're fake. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump earlier this week going after two of his favorite media targets. the white house is now telling all federal agencies in this country, i don't care if you're in alaska, cancel your subscriptions to "the new york times" and "the washington post." it's not clear how the white house plans to enforce that. stephanie grisham said not renewing subscriptions across all agencies will be a significant cost saving. hundreds of taxpayer dollars

will be saved. she's one of them, isn't she? but according to "the daily beast," this type of move is a comfort mechanism for the president. quote, it's all part of trump's ideal scenario. as one senior white house official sar donically put it, erectoring a defensive barrier between himself and news coverage that doesn't -- i love this -- make him feel beautiful and powerful. for more i'm joined by sam stein, and ron reagan. author and political commentator. i've been waiting all day for this. what do you make of a guy that won't read anything that doesn't make him beautiful and powerful? >> his own tweets make him feel beautiful and powerful. listen, the donald trumps of the world are terrified by people like you and sam and all the fine reporters at "the washington post" and "the new york times". this is page right out of the tyrant's playbook. you need to control information. you can't have the truth just widely dispensed out there for anybody to have access to. you have to put people in your

own personal little bubble where you make the reality and you decide what truth is. and that's what he's doing. >> you know, i once read that the official government newspaper beats the -- it began every single main bar story on the right-hand side from the top of the fold, the lion of judas. and it seems that's what trump wants, the lion of judah. you know? >> impossible. who's going to write that for him? this is a disturbing development i would say. it's comical in one sense because it's so silly and petty. but on the other hand, it's also what ron talked about, it's like an authoritarian impulse to control the press around you and also be comforted by the good press. which i don't think serves him well particularly, but i don't think he cares about that. in addition to canceling subscriptions, he has staffers print out tweets of his rallies but only the good ones.

>> he's watching "fox and friends" while in his bubble bath. he starts his day the happiest that he can. if you want to know what coverage makes trump feel beautiful and powerful just look at his twitter page. this morning he tweeted a quote from fox business anchor and informal adviser lou dobbs who defended the president from the impeachment inquiry and called him an absolutely historic president. dobbs has been a vocal defender of the president with comments much more like he would expect to hear on north korean state tv. here's some of it. >> this president is a historic achiever, a historic president. this president has already assured his place prominently in presidential history. we have a president who is a true leader in my opinion. one i happen to believe will be regarded as one of this country's greatest presidents, indeed our greatest. at every level on every floor, this white house is energized. there's sunshine beaming throughout the place and on almost every face. it's winner and winning central, and our white house, our

president is at the top of his game. have a great weekend. the president makes such a thing possible for us all. >> you know it's a fairy tale with the queen saying mirror, mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all. he says, well, if the postwon't say i'm the fairest of them all? how does he start his day without some reality check? like in swimming, you're a great swimmer, you have to push off from the wall. doesn't he have to push off against reality at 6:30 in the morning? >> no. >> go ahead. >> no, no, no. >> what does he use for fodder in the morning? >> do you see these pictures of kim jong-un on the white horse kind of terrified hanging on, but there he was. that's got to be next with trump. they're going to get a white horse, put him on top there. that's what we're going to see. lou dobbs for god's sake is what he cites as the most ridiculous figure on fox, that's got to be his favorite, of course.

>> my god. nixon had only rabbi corf. >> what do you make of this? what's it going to do to the media? i watch him on the south lawn. like your he uses the south lawn and you can pick out which questions because the helicopter makes enough noise and you pick out the ones you like. i'm with sam on this. he points out to the questions he likes, are they really asking those questions or does he make that stuff up? >> they're asking the questions. he does go out and take questions all the time which is nice i suppose but there's no white house briefing. he says whatever he wants, he lies repeatedly and doesn't really suffer consequences for it. but i think the scariest part is it's not just that he uses the media, it's that the media can use him too. you called allow dobbs an informal adviser. it's not that informal.

lou dobbs gets called into meetings at the white house. we know tucker carlson, another one that's been favorable in his coverage of the president was advising president trump on foreign policy, and we know "fox & friends," literally the chyrons can determine u.s. policy that day. so it's one thing to manipulate the media. it's another thing to have the media manipulate you. so it's a weird kind of bizarre and also a little bit frightening relationship that's happening. it's not symbiotic, it's acidic. >> i think it's okay for the media to advise politicians as long as you do it publicly. >> yeah, i suppose, but being dialed into the white house trade negotiations -- >> >> anyway, while the president may choose not to read the newspaper about himself we know that he is being updated with tweets about his performance. and that was confirmed when fox nation host tommy lauren posted this picture of a thank you note of one of the president's tweets. the list includes tweets from right wing media figures, the

rnc official account and for some reason chuck best known of the host of the 1980 game show "love connection." this is what he wants, ron. this is what he wants. >> it's the game show connection there. he was a game show host and chuck woolry was a game show host. sam makes a very good point there, though, this is not just a guy who bullies the media on the one hand and influenced by another. he's a guy easily plagued. everybody knows if you hit him with a couple of compliments, he'll do anything then. you can suggest anything and if you think he's great and beautiful, then he'll go along with it because he doesn't have any real ideas of his own. he's just looking for affirmation. >> so a bunch of white guys go outside to rig the skiff and they all go racing down to the basement of the capitol under the president's tutelage and the next day they get a nice perfumed note saying how great they are for doing that. they look like fools. thank you, mr. president, you

made us look like fools. we did what you wanted us to do and now everybody's laughing at us. great advice. ron, you're a treasure. thank you so much, sir. and sam, without you -- nothing. >> sam's a treasure, too. >> thank you. up next, a decent and righteous man, a north star, a guiding light in congress, former president barack obama, bill and hillary clinton, house speaker nancy pelosi all eulogized elijah cummings at the church up in baltimore. we're back after this. it's either testing an array of advanced safety systems. or it isn't. it's either the peace of mind of a standard unlimited mileage warranty. or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event.

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welcome back to "hardball." capitol hill was in baltimore today as congressman elijah cummings was honored at the church that he attended for decades. nancy pelosi and former president bill clinton spoke at the funeral. >> elijah was master of the

house. >> he held himself to a high standard, and that is why i've called him the north star of congress, our guiding light. >> he pushed back against the abuse of power. he was unwavering in his defense of our democracy. he had little tolerance for those who put party ahead of country or partisanship above truth. >> his legacy is how ardently he honored his oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. [ applause ] >> everybody could see he was the real deal, he was doing what he believed. his heart was in it. no matter how hard he fought and how passionately he argued, he tried to treat everybody the way he wanted to be treated. in his lasting legacy to us we

should think again about the prophet elijah. when we get discouraged and don't know if we can believe anymore, we should hear him. >> but it was former president obama who spoke for history today, and that's coming up next. you're watching "hardball." as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ some farms grow food. this one grows fuel. ♪ exxonmobil is growing algae for biofuels. that could one day power planes,

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for congressman elijah cummings' funeral. here he is. >> elijah was a kind man. there's nothing weak about kindness and compassion. there's nothing weak about looking out for others. there's nothing weak about being honorable. you're not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect. the honorable elijah e. cummings. but elijah cummings was honorable before he was elected to office. [ cheers and applause ] there's a difference. there's a difference if you are honorable and treated others honorably. outside the limelight. he would remind all of us that our time is too short not to fight for what's good and what is true and what is best in america.

elijah cummings was a man of noble and good heart. may god bless the memory of the very honorable elijah cummings. very honorable elijah cummings. >> i'm joined by former maryland democratic congressman donna edwards who served in the maryland delegation with mr. cummings. she's also a contributing columnist now at the "washington post." you know, it made me feel great today to watch that, all of both clintons and the speaker and president obama. it reminded me of something. >> well, i mean, i think there's a reason for that. i think it's because the nation is really yearning for, you know, voices that speak with clarity and integrity and for a man who, as president obama described, was an honorable man and was fighting for truth and justice right up until the last minute of his life, and i think,

you know, the nation yearns for that. and you know, things that kind of bring us together, that remind us of who we are really and not just the headlines of the day. and i thought it was a perfect day, yesterday at the capitol, today in the new psalmist church. and speaking about a man who, you know, span the spectrum. he could talk to the guy on the corner and presidents of the united states. >> well, congressman cummings was known for having close friendships across the aisle. of course, that was on display earlier this year when he defended republican congressman mark meadows after freshman michigan congresswoman rashida tlaib criticized meadows for using a black woman in the trump administration, lynne patton, as what she called, a prop to defend trump. she called that action racist. >> if anyone knows my record as

it relates, it should be you, mr. chairman. >> mr. meadows, you know, and of all the people on this committee, i've said it and gotten in trouble for it, that you're one of my best friends. i know that shocks a lot of people. >> and likewise, mr. chairman. >> yeah, but you are. and i would do -- and i could see and feel your pain. i feel it. >> wow. what's that like to have a chairman like that? i mean, it's like, it's biblical. >> it is, and i think that, you know, on capitol hill i think right now people are feeling that those are really, really big shoes to fill at a really important moment, and there are few members of congress, and actually, few chairmen who would have done for representative tlaib what elijah cummings did

for her and for mark meadows. and so, i think it's a real loss today that we feel, but you know, when i listened to some of the tributes, most of the tributes to elijah cummings today, what they said to me is that we can all strive to be our better selves, and he called us to do that and i think will continue to call if we do as was said and listen to him whisper in our ears. >> i thought it was great that the democratic party, all its weaknesses, you know, which were often on display, had two presidents up there that we're very proud of, what they had to say today. meanwhile, president trump again used president lincoln as a marketing tool for the republican party, telling the african-american community at an historic black college in south carolina today that he's been talking about lincoln more because democratic policies have left the african-american community down. >> abe lincoln was a republican.

a lot of people forget that. fellas, i think we have to start bringing that up a little bit, okay? people forget that. they don't know that. i'm talking about lincoln more and more because the democratic policies have let african-americans down and taken them for granted, and they have. they've taken african-american communities for granted, and i promise you that republicans will never, ever do that. >> yeah, well, your thoughts. i mean, everybody knows lincoln was the first republican president, and he acts like he just discovered it. >> well, i mean, i think this is so much of the president. he doesn't know our history. he doesn't know -- >> where colorado is? >> he doesn't share our values in the sense of, you know, wanting to preserve and protect the constitution and understanding even, you know, the differences in responsibilities of our branches of government. he has no appreciation for that.

and so, his remarks today, frankly, were no great surprise. and thankfully, 95% of african-americans understand where their bread is buttered, and it's not by the president nafts. >> i wonder if he would even pass a citizenship test right now, the ones given to those becoming nationalized citizens. thank you, donna edwards. i'm serious! up next, celebrating a friend and colleague here at nbc news. t, celebrating a friend and colleague here at nbc news hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one...

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i want to take a moment at this week's end to congratulate my friend and colleague, kelly o'donnell, who last night became the first woman ever to receive the career achievement award for distinguished reporting from the radio and television correspondents association. kelly's been at nbc news for 25 years. she's covered capitol hill, the white house, and six presidential elections, and here she is accepting this great honor. >> as journalists and broadcasters, our stories get to transmit experiences, information, and emotion. ours is also a business that at its very heart is about questions. most we ask of others. the newsmakers we cover. but some are questions best directed at ourselves -- will i be fair? will i be through? will i remember in the more exhausting moments how lucky i am to do this? ours is a business of questions, and i have one more.

could i ask this of the board? could we call this the midcareer achievement award? because i feel like i'm just getting going. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> well, she's right, of course, about everything, also about asking questions. it's what we do. and that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> you see what's going on with the witch hunt. >> democrats score a major impeachment victory in court. >> it's a terrible thing that's going on in our country, no crimes. >> tonight, why a federal judge ruled that the trump impeachment inquiry is valid. what it means for getting more evidence and the former trump official getting ready to talk. >> you know, john's known as a tough guy. plus, the growing backlash to william barr's criminal investigation. what we learned when