night 6:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have some special guests. don't go anywhere, "hardball" with chris mathews is up next. >> a trumper confession, it was quid pro quo. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening, i'm chris mathews in washington on the week of the 20th anniversary of hardball on msnbc. first he said he didn't know it was a quit pro quo for military aid. now he admits that he did. that's how a crucial witness in the impeachment inquiry has just blown president trump's cover. the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland now admits he personally spelled out the terms of the a quid pro quo to ukraine, a fact he omitted from his testimony last month. in a stunning move, sonlands amended his testimony to house

impeachment investigators saying that other witnesses have now refreshed his recollection about certain conversations. he now confirms that he made clear to a top ukrainian official that military support was contingent on ukraine's plans to deliver on trump's demands. according to stoppedland's updated testimony, he now recalls telling a u.s. aide, i said that the resumption of the u.s. aid would likely not occur until you crane provided the public anti-corruption statement. with this relevation, sondland has become the fourth witness to afirm a quid pro quo. military aid in exchange for political dirt. and this comes with the release of sonland's testimony last month, which paints a damming pick how the president extorted ukraine, through his personal lawyer. sondland says that trump repeatedly ordered him to quote talk to rudy guiliani last month, saying ukraine is a

problem. he portrayed their squeeze of ukraine as an escalating set of demands, which became conditions for american support. and sondland said that those demand quote kept getting more insidious as the time line went on and while sondland said he could not pinpoint when he finally realized trump and guiliani were seeking durt on the biden, the conditions on ukraine came to include an investigation of both the 2016 election and burisma, the company linked to hunter biden. the damming statement sondland said, those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting between trump and slelen ski. and he testified that after realizing what was afoot, he believed the demands on ukraine were improper, if not illegal. i am joined now by nbc news national political reporter and white house correspondent for pbs news hour and glen kirshner federal former prosecutor. josh, tell us the story of

gordon sondland and how he switched from a guy who temd e seemed to be helping out trump to a guy going 180 from and saying there was a quid pro quo, no military aide without dirt on biden. >> sondland said previously and republicans seized in the text messages he had said he had spoken to trump and clear there had been quid pro quo, no quid pro quo. now sondland is saying look all i was doing is representing what the president told me. >> that might not have been the case. in fact, he didn'tly the it was the case. we know right around that same time he was telling the top aide to zelensky you need to do x if you need to get y. a source said look if i tell you i'm pretty sure the mafia is going to brake your windows if you don't pay up, that's neither extorting you nor is it excusing the mafia. it's passing along my best sense of the situation as it has to be. so sondland is trying to split the difference saying i conveyed

what the president told me it also was not the case and i told the ukrainians what i knew was the situation. >> now he was telling the ukrainians you better do this, you won't get that, he was executed the request i'd pro quo. >> i think we can take the term quid pro quo and call it what it is, it's bribery. bribery, chris, is nothing more than providing money or some kind of enduesment to a government official to take an act or decline to take an act. that's what trump did. he was trying to induce president zelensky to stand up in front of cameras somerset where, somehow, and saying we're investigating the bidens. that's bribery. let's start calling it what it is, it's one of the three or four in the constitution, treason, bribery, other high crimes and misdemeanors. what are the republican senators going to say now? >> we now have four witnesses, including one we thought was a trump yip, this trumpy now said

quid pro quo. >> what republicans will say now is they will continue to be nimble the easy way to play it, the nice way to put it, they are going to continue to adjust their message. the message seems to be moving towards this was problematic for president trump, but it wasn't impeachable. all my conversations with republicans, none of them are saying these people aren't credible. no one is saying they are making this up hor the transcripts are fake as the president said, this was a remarkable change by ambassador sondland here. you have him the day before his tran crypt is coming out saying actually i want to add a little bit here, now my memory is pre fre refreshed, his attorney was pressing him what do you make people are saying he is critiquing himself, this is self serving. he didn't want to engage on that he basically did say this is someone that wants to do what's right and talk to the congress an present his side of the story. >> does anybody believe politicians or anyone like this? does anyone believe he had his memory refreshed? >> it's freshed.

>> you don't have to. >> he's covering his butt. >> after reviewing these other people's opening statement, suddenly he can recollect, recall this conversation. i think sondland's team knows this does not make him as a great witness. >> his lawyer sounds like a rinky dink, just tell them you don't remember. >> house democrats even side to put him forward in those opening hearings or they decide some of these other decorated career servants might be better? >> president trump, i got to talk about the prime defendant here, the guy who may well be impeached in the next month, what's he thinking? can anybody defend me? nobody wants to defend me, knowing, not even this trump right i gave him the job of what ambassador to the european union, he still won't stand up for me? >> first of all, i was at the white house all day. it was a quiet white house. this was a president who didn't have any public event today. >> that tells you in some ways the president isn't out defending himself as the transcripts come out.

the defendant is essentially wanting republicans to display this fierce loyalty. mitch mcconnell says if president trump gets impeached he will be acquitted. so you have republicans saying we are seeing all of this we still think we know it will end and it will end up with president trump still not -- >> a rope-a-dope senate trial, that's all true, that's all true. then they give the seen feld defense not that there is anything wrong with it. >> i love your word nimble. i don't think you nimble wour aye out of bribery. the question is are they going to follow the rule of law or are they not in if they're not at what cost to our republic? the one thing i like about sondland giving the president up. he's not a never trumper. he was an always trumper until perjury seemed to be a little more important then he had to tell the truth. you know, will it matter? will the rule of law matter? >> the argument they will made is quid pro quos happen in

foreign policy all the time. is the thing a legitimate foreign pales ask pursuing corruption or was this a personal thing? if there is any wiggle room there, that's where the republicans -- >> they didn't it's personal. the president said these are bad people, they wanted to take me down, talking to the ukrainian officials, direct quotes in these transcripts. you are saying this nation a lot of sense, this is in some way very, very personal for this president. >> as yosh just mentioned, sondland confirmed his december denial of a quid pro quo in a tech message came directly from the president, himself, describing that conversation with the president sondland says, i asked him one open-eneded question. what do you want from ukraine? he said, i want nothing, i want no quid pro quo, i want zelensky to do the right thing. sand lond added i don't know if it was the truth or wasn't the truth. that's what he told me. he was only obeying orders. >> like every bad mafia line.

listen, i'm not telling you to hurt anybody, i'm just sayin' -- that's what we have here. it's so transparent that it's laughable. >> what do we make of this volker's testimony about rudy guiliani having to tell them, everybody this, do what rudy tells you to do. >> we learned from these transcripts that pompeo was essentially rolling his eyes at guiliani saying this is a problem we've got to deal with and the impression from folks around him was pompeo and the state department wanted guiliani out of this but had to hit a brick wall in trying to get guiliani removed from the ukraine policy -- >> everybody is word is passed among foreign policy civil servants, foreign officers, do what rudy wants? >> yeah. >> this is mob stuff. >> rudy is the enforcer. do what this guy wants. >> the president in the meetings essentially say two things, one, rudy guiliani is going to hand him this, talk to him. he also is in some way

implicates people around him. there is this mention of the attorney general, the mention of the secretary of state mike pompeo. so i think it will be interesting to see what other characters emerge and whether or not those people will be as loyal to president trump as he thinks they will be. >> it looks more and more like that drug deal bolton called. ambassador swrolker one of the 35 amigo, one of the three henchmen for the president. he testified he warned guiliani the former mayor was off base when it came to his theories about joe biden. according to transcript of his deposition, he told guiliani it is simply mot credible to me that joe biden would be influenced in his duties for money or anything like that he said the negative narrative about ukraine mr. guiliani was furthering was the problem. it was, in my view, it was impeding building our relationship the way we should be doing this. this is the hardest thing to absorb. there are human beings, including the president who believe that somehow the

democratic national committee server somehow found its way to kiev and it's sitting over there in physical space in reality, that is, in fact, and what to the hacking. it wasn't a hacking by the russians. it was a hacking by i go es the y guess the ukrainians who somehow got the server over there. that's what they wanted investigated. this whacky theory. >> i just got back from kiev on friday night, chris. i can tell you i did not find the server anywhere over there. i did look for it. this is similar to something -- >> people buy crazy, i said this before, i remember the cover of the national enquirer, they took a picture of jack kennedy when he was alive and made him older in a high school play, dusted him up, made him look grey and had this older jack kennedy photograph looking out through a curtain. jack kennedy the alive in poland. this crazy talk is in the president's head. he buys into this kind of stuff that they run in the national

enquirer and those tabs. >> and the president's homeland security adviser at the time tom bossert told him this was a debunked theory, there was no evidence of this. we see time and again this gets in his head. we heard the president said over and over again, these guys tried to take me down. he has an image about ukraine and you can't shake it. >> is that because manafort was selling that story to him? >> probably because it seems rudy guiliani played a large rule in fermenting that as well. >> they tell ne the president basically heard some ukrainian officials criticizing him and as a result they decided essentially the whole country was against him. >> that is also informing why he feels to personally aggrieved by ukraine. >> i think his whole body reequitys truth. he couldn't accept the fact that barack obama was elected president. he said he was a birther from some other country. it didn't happen. he has to say the russians didn't help me. he came one this dock a maimy

ukraine theory. anything to get out of his head he lost. he's not the winner. thank you for reporting. thank you, coming up. more on today's impeachment bombshell is about sondland reveals new details on ukraine's shake jounl, how rudy guiliani forfeited american diplomacy in ukraine for trump's political benefit. meanwhile, republicans in congress are unwavering support for president trump and after today's developments, they're already practicing their new spin. wait until you hear this. well, i don't want to call it selective day in america today, polls closed in kentucky and virginia for governor moments ago, key races, what did they give us? probably a veshlth of donald trump. you may not like it. we may like it in some states. we get the latest numbers from steve kornacki later this hour. say with us. later this hour say with us.

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welcome back to "hardball." today's transcripts continue to paint a damming portrait of a president and his hen pmen willing to extort a vulnerable ally if exchange tore dirt on political opponents. what is now coming into sharper focus is the extent president trump and hess allies employed multiple government agencies for his further gains. a key figure in the scandal secretary of state mike pompeo, whose credibility as america's chief foreign affairs officer has been called into question. that's putting it lily.

according to ambassador gordon sondland's testimony, pompeo was aware rudy guiliani was running a shadow foreign policy and did nothing. he says he discussed the actions with secretary of state and pompeo rolled his eyes and says yes, it's something we have to deal with. sondland adds the state department was fully aware of the issue, and there was very little they could do about it if the president decided he wanted his lawyer, that's guiliani, involved. i am joined by roberta jacobson senior adviser offal bite stonebridge group and elise -- labit. >> i have been called worse. >> by the way, elise september me flowers. >> i think there were chocolate covered strawberry surface i was making a list. thank you very much. all the good people. over there in mexico you have expertise here, what happens when a president of the united states decides to ignore the state department, ignore u.s.

foreign policy, sub just gait it all to it political interests, brings in a henchman guiliani, everyone is cold take orders from guiliani, he's the real boss here? >> well, i think, chris, first of all, congratulation on the 20 years. >> thank you. >> but i think one of the things that you end up with is foreign policy that doesn't serve the person public or the american interests. which saw in the iran contra scandal in the mid-'80s what foreign policy or operational policy run out of the national security council instead of the state department means. we had convictions in those cases. now we have it taken a step further. it's not even run out of the white house, it's private. >> that is deeply demoralizing to career foreign service and career diplomatic professionals who serve multiple presidents across parties and who have suddenly been you know

completely disempowered from pursuing the aims that they believe were their instruction when they went to those countries. >> so we have u.s. policy based upon alliances versus nato and ceto and all the other alliance pacs we've had over the years. they work well for us, the u.n., eb know what is policy is. we are trying to keep peace in the world, aggression at bay. all the good stuff like russian aggression at bay. all of a sudden you find out when you are working on a ukraine desk, which is the most vulnerable country for russia's goal for the restoration of the inner empire, everybody knows putin wants. all of a sudden there the a guiliani over there, a former mayor of new york is trotting around, whose purpose is to get dirt on joe biden. >> that's right. and you see these diplomats trying to do this careful day out, like some of them like sondland, very loyal to trump and wanting to make him happy. others -- >> they paid a million buck also

for his inauguration. i wouldn't call that really natural loyalty. >> well, it's this toxic mixture of fear and loyalty and wanting to stay in power. then you see those dip lo pats like curt volker exercise bad judgment but thought he could manage it and thought that he could kind of placate trump and show a little will egg to trump with this statement but also get the ukrainians what they wanted in terms of the aid. so this is the whole thing that you know these diplomats, they work regardless of administration, i can't even remember whether it was a republican or a democratic administration when i met roberta all those years ago. but they served any administration and this is the first time that diplomats are actually saying i cannot honestly say that the commander in chief is working on behalf of u.s. interests, regardless of what party they serve. >> well, secretary of state pompeo has played a central role in this evolving scandal and has not been credible in his

denials. he evaded the call between president trump and zelensky, here he goes. >> what do you know about those conversations? >> so you just gave me a report about it. i think a whistleblower complaint. none of which i've seen. >> catch this. you notice how he plays dumb there. i don't know now, the martha raddatz. two weeks later that same secretary of state mike pompeo acknowledged being present for the call himself. he played dumb on national television on sunday. didn't he know he'd be caught. yesterday we learned a former aide michael mckinley told members of congressmen he spoke three times about a public show of support for ambassador yovanovitch, the target of rudy guiliani's smear campaign but that i would to get that commitment. in october he told abc he never heard anything from mckinley. here he goes. >> you know from the time that ambassador yovanovitch departed ukraine until the time that he

came to tell me that he was departing, i never heard him say a single thing about his concerns with respect to the decision. >> so you were never asked? >> not once, not once, george, did ambassador mckinley say something as to me during that entire time period. >> he's not telling the truth. >> no, he's not. i think one of the things we've seen over the last few weeks is that the career diplomats who testified on capitol hill have given depositions under oath have been proven right consistently. and so i guess the assumption is that people won't believe these folks who are you know faceless bureaucrats tore deep state. but, in fact, what we've seen is that their major allegiance is to the truth and the advancement of u.s. objectives. >> the other guys like pompeo's major allegiance is to trump. remember that line in man for all seasons if i were as loyal to my lord as i was to my king i would not now be naked to my

enemies. at some point pompeo will be naked to his enemies. >> i think he is stripping down. look, he also when curt volker and other diplomats went and told him what guiliani was doing and they were trying to keep the ukrainians on the straight and narrow. he's like, thanks, i'm glad are you doing that. it's kind of in these horror movies you find someone and he says, i'll protect you, then he's the villain all along. i think there is -- i've never heard of a instance where secretaries of state are not standing by their people, you know, we all know about his political ambitions. >> so in wichita, will this sell? >> no. >> when they find out this guy has been hog tied by a president of the united states. >> look at the editorials, look at the editorials are already saying he's made four trips this year and they're saying to kansas. he thought he was going to get to go talk about some nice, you know, nice things and already the reporters are questioning him about immigration -- excuse me impeachment.

he's like i'm not here for that. and don't forget that editorial just the other day that said secretary pompeo, if you want to run, run. if you want to be secretary of state, be secretary of state. >> the "new york times" is reporting pompeo is facing a revolt in the state department, itself. confidence in his leaders has plummeted among career officials who accuse him of abandoning veteran diplomats criticized by mr. trump and letting the president's personal agenda infect foreign policy, mr. pompeo has done more damage to the 75,000 person agency the state department and even his predecessor recollection tillerson. ambassador, he's worse tan tillerson, this is going downhill. >> i think this is going to be a tough race. i think in the end what really really gets to the career diplomats is not standing behind peel when they're doing their job. and so, even if they may have disagreed with a policy aspec or

you know not thought something was in the best interest, 99.9% of the time they sa lite lute and do what they're asked by a secretary of state. but you have a state department right now where people are uncomfortable with decisions for personal political gain or for things they think are against international law. >> u.n. ambassador of mexico, our ambassador, was there ever a chance they were going to pay for the wall? >> no. >> thank you. >> ambassador roberta jacobson, i thought i'd love to get on the record, thank you. coming up, republicans are twisting themselves into almost comical knots trying to put a benign face on ambassador sondland's damming reversal of testimony. maybe there is a quid pro quo for the military aid. he's inventing it all now. it is a key perry mason moement. my memory is refreshed. hard truth. are you watching "hardball." th are you watching "hardball."

chris mathews, one of my favorite show, your analysis, hard hitting interviews, thank you so much for your work. >> "hardball" is the political standard for gold news. it's because of you. congratulations for 20 years. we are all looking forward to 20 more right now. right noweven t. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. i have moderate to severe pnow, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ nothing is everything. keep your skin clearer with skyrizi.

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welcome back to "hardball." as the house democrats have continued to turn up the heat in the impeachment inquiry, republicans have been defending president trump mostly by changing the subject, unable to defend the president on the merits, they're resorting to distraction. you know like the fans at a basketball game using their hands, signs, anything to make the player miss the foul shot. look, they all do that. i don't like those people anyway. their latest obsession anyway the republicans have been trying to out the whistleblower. his identity is protected by federal law. >> we also now know the name of the whistleblower. i say tonight to the media, do your job and print his fame! >> we need to know who this person is, because without the complaint, there would be no impeachment inquiry.

>> to call out in a rally for votes at stake do your job, name him, is that responsible? >> yeah, i think it's very responsible. i think it's irresponsible to allow an impeachment process based on a non-source. >> that was bad eye contact there. ambassador gordon sonlands having changed his testimony, trying president trump to a quid pro quo with ukraine, how republicans now try to deflect and spin this one. we already have the answer from one top republican. that's next. you are watching "hardball." ne. you are watching "hardball." i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98% of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

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your vantage point you are wanting to focus on ambassador sonlands instead of focusing on ambassador volker who was the ukrainian envoy who actually talked to the ukrainians, who actually had the responsibility. >> and in a tweet a short time later meadows argued the volker-sondland laid it out, president trump wanted to clear up ukraine. blatant partisanship. there he switches from it didn't happen to it did happen but there is nothing wrong with it as they say the seinfeld defense. mitch mcconnell wouldn't comment but he did speculate if a senate impeachment trial were held today. >> i will say i'm pretty sure how it's likely to end. if it were today, i don't think there is any question it would not lead to a removal. for more i am joined by

democratic congresswoman donna edwards of maryland who is a contributing columnist for "the washington post," the former republican congressman from florida, david, let me ask you about the republican party here. it seems like they've got this sort of pivot they do. they'll either say it didn't happen. if it did happen, it's like in the early '50s i'm not a communist, in the end so what? but the pivot is familiar. i didn't do it, if i did do it, so what. they seem mark meadows did exactly that. >> sure. >> in about an hour. >> and it was a shameless moment by mark. and it's a shameless moment by the likes of lindsey graham as well. you know three years into seeing them twist themselfs into a defense of donald trump and, chris, i think it's appropriate at times not to ask why. but to simply contextualize their behavior and condemn it. just leak we can contextualize the fact that donald trump lies to the american people. key contextualize that and say the president is lying.

i think it's important that we condemn moments like this by mark meadows what we saw from lindsey graham and acknowledge we are a weaker nation tonight because of the behavior of congressional republicans. they are defending the man in donald trump and in doing so are turning their back to the nation. what the testimony of these diplomats continues to show is that there was rampant widespread corruption within the trump administration. we know that and, frankly, it probably touches the vice president and secretary of state as well. and instead of defending the nation in the midst of this peril the president put us in, they continue to obfuscate to try to destroy critical thinking and destroy truth for the american people. it is shameless behavior. we need to condemn it each time we see it. >> i do it again, i compare it to those idiots behind the foul line and the a game or a college game. they can't play basketball. so they sit in the stand and

they wave those stupid things to distract the guy from taking the foul shot. the democrats have a foul shot here. they caught the republicans. they have a right to put that ball in the basket. so what do the republicans do interest they lost the play and they wave those stupid things. now they'll bring up any subject, who was the whistleblower as if that's relevant? >> so this is why it's really important for democrats to be very focused, begin the hearings, bring out the him the, continued the release of the transcripts. so that the american people can see for themselves what happened here. >> what percentage of the manner people are open minded to getting the truth? >> the you know, i don't know that. >> 50? >> half, maybe 51. but the point is, you have to put the evidence in a clear andco gent way before the american people. i think that's going to happen and not be distracted by republicans. we expect them to play all kind of shenanigans. they've already said they're going to move other people who were contentious onto the committee so they can disrupt.

>> mark meadows. >> let them do that. democrats don't have to respond in kind. get the questions out. let adam schiff tell the story. will at the time council ask the question. >> that sounds perfect. senator lindsey graham offered this assessment with the ukrainian president's call back in smept. >> if are you looking for a circumstance where the president of the united states was threatening the ukraine to cut off aid unless they investigate his political opponent, you would be very disappointed. >> that does not exist. >> well, asked about today's revelation, however, graham told cbs he wouldn't read any of the transcripts and dismissed ambassador sonland's reversal adding i've written the whole process off, i think this is a bunch of bs. he told numbers news he was some guy presuming something. >> i don't know about this guy, lindsay graham him i think these capable of saying anything.

>> i think lindsey graham should we sign if he's not going to do his job. these chaerm of the senate judiciary committee and he said he's not going to look at the facts of the allegations against the president of the united states he worked with a foreign nation to corrupt the domestic relations in 2020. if lindsey graham is unwilling to do his job, he needs to request it the united states senate and he should hand in his bar license to the state of south clone. we will never understand why lindsey graham has abandoned the conviction of old and instead chosen to embrace donald trump. chris, this is the challenge that we face, that democrats, frankly, face. a lie is much easier to sell to the american people than the truth s. a lie can be sexy. look what they've did around the mueller report. no obstruction, no collusion. when we actually know there was obstruction. it's shown there and kudos to the democrats for leaning in on this, you are hearing them use words like betrayal, broo ibry, you are seeing them talk to the press each day because they have the facts on their side. in the face of a republican party led by donald trump and

lindsay frame who are lying to the american people, who are saying that truth doesn't matter, democrats have to be able to sell the american people on the damming truth that the president conducted or committed impeachable behavior. >> you know, richard nixon when he was caught in watergate with the tapes, june 23rd tape, he said later i gave him the sword and they shoved it in with relish. he admitted he got caught this guy trump will never admit. >> he will never admit he is caught. he's not going to just you know sort of lie there. i think that that's why it's really important to put this in front of the american people. i mean, lindsay frame has basically said i'm going to be a juror, but i refuse to look at the evidence. >> that's a good one. >> mitch mcconnell said the same thing. i know the outcome, but i refuse to look at the evidence. this is not acceptable. the american people will see it for what it is. >> all i can figure out these people have constituents back home, including south carolina and kentucky that hate the liberal democrats so much, so

much they'll put up with any crap from these guys. any crap. thank you. it must be the explanation. they can't like these guys. david jolly thank you for your political position. >> you bet. up next, the polls are closing several big races across the countries. president trump put himself in the middle. he will be the savior, the chinese gordon going into kentucky. steve kornacki joins us next with the latest returns from the states having governor's election, virginia with their entire legislature. tonight, you are watching "hardball." ture tonight, you are watching "hardball. . >> michael mathews. myths michael from colorado coming from new hampshire to congratulate you on 20 years of "hardball. request itself. >> chris, thank you for the 20 years. looking forward to the next 20 years. >>o, claunk i thank you for 20s years and thank you for throwing the best pitchs. >> i cannot think of a better time to have chris mathews on year than this trump era.

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if you lose, they will say trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. this was greatest. you can't let that happen to me! >> all politics is trump. welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump just last night rallying his base in lexington, kentucky, ahead of that gubernatorial election making the case that all politics is trump. the president won kentucky in 2016 by nearly 30 points. polls show a much closer race for governor. mississippi is holding out a competitive governor's race tonight. if virginia controlled the state legislatures is up for grabs. polls are already closed in kentucky and virginia as we speak. both parties are watching these races for early indicators heading into 2020. coming in now with what we know is msnbc national correspondent steve kornacki. steve, teach us. >> we have got a real race here n. kentucky you mentioned trump

won the state bishop 20 points. what you are seeing is half the vote is in. you see a five-point lead here state wide right now. we expect this to end up a lot closer than that that lead just in your introduction there, that shrunk, this is the largest county in the state,everson county, the city where louisville is. a bunch of votes came in there. this is democratic county. this is the mother of them all. andy beshear. he is leading it by 17,000 votes right now over matt bevin in jefferson county. look at this number right here. only 21% of the precincts in the largest county in the state are reporting. already you can see beshear has a plurality of 17,000. so he is going to add a lot to that in jefferson county be every the night's over. >> that is the story in fayette county. this is where lexington, the university of kentucky, you see again very early, only 5% of the vote is counted here and already

you see beshear is up to more than a 1,500 vote over matt bevin. he will add a lot there. with the two large ones, it's 32,000 right now. we expect that's going to shrink. one of the stories, the reasons why this is so close, beside the expense in louisville and lexington, it's the story we have been telling the last couple years, why democrats have been making gains? the suburb, state your name areas. let's me point to one particular part of the state. this is sort metro area. these are large densely populated, almost 10% of the voting population, almost 10% in the state will come from these three counties. these are typically republican counties, suburban republican pocketbook issues, that sort of thing. let me show you what's happening there tonight. you do see red in this one, boone county. the last time bevin ran for

governor he got 66% so his support came down 10 points in a corrine county. how about next door, kenton county, 87% is in. the last time matt bevin ran, he got 57% of the vote here. he's down to 47, he's down 10 points. campbell county, 75% is in. bevin got 54% here last time all the way down to 42%. so you have pretty significant movement in some pretty big suburbs here away from bevin toward beshear. the story that i'm seeing tonight, rural strength for bevin being offset by suburban strength up there for beshear and the beshear campaign hopes, and let's see if there's been update, hopes for monster numbers out of louisville and lexington. >> what about trump's impact last night? any way to determine the last-minute switchers, the last-minute deciders? >> well, again, there is rural strength that you can find in

here. there is some rural strength here. you'll see for matt bevin in coal country here, this is traditionally democratic country. here's harlan county. bevin here got 69%. 100% is in. bevin got 69%. four years ago his number here was 62% so he's got gains. >> let me ask you about this, big national question. i get a sense watching trump's numbers nationally that he probably lost some women in the suburbs over the last three years. but i think -- i get the sense since the numbers are holding, he must have been picking up white guys and very conservative women in the rural areas. is he picking up certain places and not just losing? i get the sense it's balancing out. >> this is the story we're seeing tonight. harlan county, for instance, and i can finding other rural counties, there is more strength for bevin than there was a couple of years ago. but you say balanced out, those suburbs, republicans depend on those suburbs. >> okay. i think it will be a close

election. next year looks very close for this president. thank you for this. you are the best, steve kornacki. you are. i do not say anything but the truth here and that is the greatest truth. >> that's really nice, thank you. up next, a look back at 20 years of "hardball" college tours. wait until you see, this is when young people get involved, which we always try to do here, get them involved. you're watching "hardball." chris, 20 years in and you are still throwing the heat on "hardball." you're the first thing i watch after i finish my broadcast each evening. your unique ability to cut through the daily heapings of political word salad has never been more important. to you and the entire "hardball" staff, congratulations on a remarkable milestone, 20 years and wishing you many more. go get 'em, pal. >> chris, congratulations on 20 years of "hardball" on msnbc. as a philly girl, you have always been one of my biggest inspirations. you've turned tough interviews into an art.

you are one of the true pillars of our democracy. >> 20 years of "hardball"? that is just amazing. congratulations, chris matthews. the entire "hardball" team, for your success for your 20th anniversary. niversary. hey allergy muddlers... achoo!

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>> i'm actually al gore while i'm asleep also. >> what are you dreaming of, the white house? >> that was my college tour with al gore at lehman college back in 2002. college tours have been a feature on "hardball" since the show first aired on msnbc back in '99. let's take a look. >> welcome. we're at memorial auditorium here at stanford university. from george mason university in virginia. live from chapman university in southern california. live from the university of albany. live from the citadel. from fordham university in the bronx, new york. live from the university of denver. the university of notre dame. from iowa state university in ames, iowa. senator john mccain, let's play "hardball." arnold schwarzenegger. john kerry. robert de niro. matt damon.

robin williams. the georgetown band. ♪ joe biden of delaware. live from westchester university outside philadelphia, the "hardball" college tour with our special guest, senator barack obama. let's play "hardball." i promised you the president of the united states, and he's here. let's play "hardball." hillary clinton. >> hi, mr. matthews. >> welcome to this exclusive

town hall. tonight with a full hour, our guest is the front-runner for the republican presidential nomination, donald trump. >> i think he wished he didn't go through that door. anyway, be sure to follow "hardball" on twitter and enter to win exclusive "hardball" prizes. that's "hardball" for now. i love the glory years. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> can you say definitively, sir, there was no quid pro quo? >> the man running point on trump's ukraine scheme cops to everything. >> are you here to salvage your reputation? >> i don't have a reputation to salvage. >> gordon sondland admits there was a quit pro quo, that he was the one executing it and he was acting at the direction of the president's lawyer. >> why am i doing