donald trump vociferously in a much noted speech. we're going to keep an eye on this when i come back tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern. but don't go anywhere. "hardball" with chris matthews is up next. witness after witness. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight, more damning evidence that the president tried extorting political dirt from a foreign leader by denying him desperately needed military aid? in testimony released today by the house intelligence committee george ken, the deputy assistant secretary of state for european and eurasian affairs said it was made clear to him that the president wanted nothing less than president zelensky to go to a microphone and say three things -- investigations, biden

and clinton. earlier this week, gordon sondland testified that military aid approved by congress would not be released until that message was delivered by zelensky. and now in an explosive report, "the new york times" reveals president zelensky was so desperate he was prepared to deliver that message in an interview scheduled with cnn. unwilling to lose the military aid he badly needed zelensky, he decided to bow to trump's demands yet he was spared when the funds were mysteriously released this september. kent was so alarmed, that he memorialized the conversations in a state department memorandum expressing his concerns that it was injurious to the rule of law. he'll join ambassador taylor next week with the first witnesses as they bring the impeachment inquiry out into the

open with public hearings. shannon pettypiece, nbc news digital senior white house reporter, and ari melber sticking with us. i want you to start here. this guy now has laid it out. the words were direct, go to the nearest microphone and say what the president wants you to say, that you're conducting a national investigation by the ukrainian government of the president's enemies. >> in a way that one detail almost nails trump more than anything simply because donald trump is so obsessed with television. and it doesn't seem like a national security official or anyone else would have come up with that exact idea as this has to be on tv, it's made for tv, those three words. >> yeah, ari, thanks for sticking around. ari, i think that is a great

image. it's like the district attorney in some big town, a big city, metropolis, i'm going to bring charges up and gives sort of a reality that would endure all the way through next year's election and always that picture to use of a top leader of a country saying we are now investigating just like, you know, in a classic big town story. >> bingo. and good to stick around and play hardball, chris. you give me the pictures, i'll get you the war. you give me the pictures i'll get you the conspiracy theory. >> i worked for that company, that was hurst. thank you. >> and conspiracy theory in politics it doesn't have to be true, half true, it doesn't even have to be all that believable. if there's smoke, if there's pictures, if there's enough to get it going, as elise said this has the fingerprints and feel of the donald trump campaign because it's got to be televised

and that's why it's a misreading of all this to say oh, was it true or not. donald trump famously attacked all of his rivals in the primaries with nicknames, attacks, went after ted cruz with a jfk conspiracy theory. it's all about getting the smoke, the fire, the heat on the other people. and this has those fingerprints and that's why this testimony adding up is damaging, chris, because what we're seeing is more and more people who were on the inside, in the room, on the call, dealing with the money and they're confirming not just one bad phone call, not just one bad idea, not just one bad request, do me a favor, they're confirming step by step by step the bribery conspiracy plot. >> and in this case we're getting the news today that the president of ukraine was ready to take that next step in the conspiracy because he was so desperate to get those jfblavel

missiles he was ready to walk up to that microphone until he got the word two months ago they were going to get the aide anyway, so he didn't have to make an ass of himself. >> bribery quid pro quo is this for that. it's bad to request an investigation into your enemies. but i can tell you the constitution doesn't answer that question on the nose, chris. whereas once you get the quid pro quo as you just put it, the investigation for the money, hold up the money, "the new york times" report tonight saying because of the money they were going to do it, well now you have the quid pro quo bribery. and lead it to donald trump to find only one of the two offenses explicitly listed in the constitution. one is treason, the other is bribery. >> you're a great journalist. and every night i watch you you prove you were right to go to law school.

this whole country has become illegal. it's become a criminal court. let's bring in senior director ned price. you're getting to this question now not only was this president -- the newly inaugurated president of ukraine feeling the nerves, feeling the pressure, he was ready to walk up to that microphone and do exactly what trump wanted to do until he got the word i don't have to make a fool of myself, we're getting military aid. >> there were very few comical emments of the transcript released today. one element you can't help but laugh at is george kent is recanting how the ukrainians were somewhat perplexed what they were supposed to do. they thought perhaps they shouldn't go on cnn, but then they also saw a trump tweet where president trump was disparaging fox news. so for a while they were sort of in this position of well, what

do you do, you guys told us to make this public, we're willing to do it but how exactly do we do that? i think the broader point here, chris, is every single one of the defenses the trump administration has put forward from the fact this was only about corruption, from the idea this was a means to get europe to do its full share, and finally bringing us to this other defense that you know what, the aid actually flowed, no harm, no foul. i think what was reported today really obliterates that argument because it shows that the ukrainians knew they were in a vice, they knew they were in a bind, and they knew they had to go out and publicly declare they would undertake these politically motivated investigations or else this aid wouldn't flow. it was only the clock that ran out. if that would not have happened i think we'd have a very different ending to the story. >> yeah, i think they should put the picture of this president next to the word extortion in

websters dictionary. in his testimony released today george kent describes his conversation with lieutenant colonel alexander vindman of trump's call with the ukrainian president. according to kent vindman's read out was defer than any i'd received. ken asked that vindman did not share the majority of the call but the conversation went into the direction of some of the most extreme narratives that was discussed publicly. shannon, it was worse than we could imagine, it was the drug deal. the smelly demand, the country under duress, really was under one, and trump was holding them up. >> you know, it's interesting. that is a recurring theme you hear from people in the white house. as crazy as it looks on the outside, it is even more crazy on the inside is a motto i've heard through this

administration. there's some damaging stuff that came out in this transcript and some other transcripts. and that will have the ability to be public testimony next week, so the nightly news can get a sound bite on some of these things and print can now be brought to life on television, but i do think there's a risk for democrats here and at least this is what republicans are hoping they will also now get their public crack at these witnesses. and like we saw with the mueller testimony and kavanaugh testimony, having these public hearings might not go as well for the democrats as they hope. if republicans feel they're able to chip away at these witnesses -- >> how do you chip away at vindman, at taylor, at this new guy kent? >> well, we'll see. look how they went after christine blasey ford trying to bring up things how she had a fear of flieg ying or whether ot she did. look how linldsey graham was abe to grand stand -- and kavanaugh

ended up getting confirmed. so they're hoping to follow a similar model once these witnesses get in front -- >> he's going to be impeached. >> but will he be removed from office? >> that is the goal. the goal is to impeach the guy. you know when you were kids, when we were kids you picked up a rock and under the rock you'd see a lot of bugs. and as you portray the white house you pick it up and you see all these bugs skralblingp under there. >> so many witnessed this actual request and it actually took as long as it did to come to light, that it wasn't a bigger deal that hundreds of millions of dollars that had been congressionally mandated in the name of our national security interests could be held up for

the political whims of the president. if that isn't a gross abuse of power, nothing is. >> if not for this whistle-blower, we would not know about it, so what else is there? >> people got the drift, well sondland got it, he didn't want to say about it, but he did get the drift. he was deputized basically to join the three amigos and become one of them and work under giuliani in this hijacked foreign policy. and i'm impressed at the consistency of the testimony of these 13 people who have spoken to the intel committee in the scif, the private room in the capital. do you think there'll be a problem with head winds of republicans stirring it up and detracting from the witnesses, and smearing people, that they can actually put a dent in this testimony? >> we have no doubt they're

going to try. and in fact we've already seen that. we've already seen that even against decorated patriots, men and women who have served this country and the state department and the department of defense including in uniform. but i think, chris, what they're going to do, and we've seen a resurgence of this in recent days i think because the testimony has been so damning, they're going to go back to what they think is the original sin. they're going to go back to the whistle-blower, an individual who by now is entirely irrelevant. and that is precisely because every single claim that was put forward in that original whistle-blower complaint has since last month been actually put on the record by these various individuals who have under the threat of perjury provided testimony that actually attaches a name to each and every one of those things. and beyond that, beyond what was in the whistle-blower complaint, we have learned so much more about the scope and scale and really the audacity of this plan

to shakedown one of america's partner, a partner that, by the way, is on the front lines of russian aggression. so even if this question isn't about ukraine and protecting ukraine's territorial integrity, it's about pushing back on russia, a country that has revisionist aims and ambitions that if it could would take it far beyond kiev. >> i just wondered whether devin nunes is a match for adam schiff. we'll see. thank you, shannon, for that unpleasant news. seeing all sides of what's going to happen here. coming up, president trump reportedly wanted a repeated performance from his attorney general bill barr. hold a news conference and tell the world i'm an innocent man just like he did with the russian probe and obstruction of ju justice when he said you didn't do anything wrong, and why did

barr so no mas, too far? and i'm betting on jeff. much more to get to. stay with us. eff. much more to get to. stay with us >> chris, i want to congratulate you on 20 years of "hardball" and i want to thank you also for being -- but you did a good job then and you did a fine job on "hardball." so thank you very much. >> congratulations, chris. cong. hey jay. jay? charlotte! oh hi. he helped me set up my watch lists. oh, he's terrific. excellent tennis player. bye-bye. i recognize that voice. annie? yeah! she helped me find the right bonds for my income strategy. you're very popular around here. there's a birthday going on. karl! he took care of my 401k rollover. wow, you call a lot. yeah, well it's my money we're talking about here. joining us for karaoke later?

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justice department shortly after the early details of the trump ukraine scandal broke in late september. trump wanted attorney general william barr to hold a news conference declaring the commander in chief had broken no laws, though barr ultimately declined to do so. and that's according to people familiar with the matter who say trump's request traveled from the president to other white house officials and eventually to the justice department. and now advisers to trump say the president has mentioned barr's demural to associates in recent weeks saying he wished barr would have held a news conference. the president may have been hoping for a repeat performance of barr's performance last spring to clear him. and we do know the doj blocked the whistle-blower's complaint from congress and decided not to investigate the call themselves. i'm joined by the co-author of

that report in "the washington post" carol leoning and carl butler. thank you both. this story not only did he try to get him to cover for him again, to get an exoneration, do you have an idea why barr ni finally had some stones and said i'm not going to do it? >> what we can tell from the outside, chris, basically barr did not get this directly from the president but it was passed along. very similar to the way the president has asked mcgahn and cory lewandowski -- dancoats, please tell everybody i'm not under investigation. >> what does that tell you about his m.o., his character, he can't tell people to their face what's going on? >> i don't know because sometimes he does tell them to their face. barr was uneasy about all this and you can imagine why.

remember that mick mulvaney stepped to the podium at the white house briefing room and essentially acknowledged a quid pro quo. and after that moment you've got a statement from the department of justice and from bill barr saying we weren't aware about a quid pro quo. how uncomfortable must it be if you are the attorney general you've said there's no crime here, and the chief of staff announces -- >> could this be a good lawyer? not a great person, but a good lawyer? because in the case of the mueller report he was able to skate. he said there's just enough wiggle room which he did. "new york daily news" there's a thousand witnesses saying they had a conversation with the president of ukraine holding him up. >> i think that's right, chris. i think that barr is reading the writing on the wall. it's obvious that the president will be impeached for conduct -- >> in this matter. >> in this matter for conduct

that is clearly corrupt. so he's making this last ditch effort to salvage his reputation -- >> can he fend off this matter of behavior from the other behavior the president was engaged in? >> i don't see how. it's true the evidence in the other investigation is even more call pemming, but mueller found ten instances of which trump probably committed obstruction. that's how barr has been acting as the president's lawyer, fixer. again, if he's finally trying to show some integrity and represent the interests of the united states as opposed to president trump, high time but too late. his legacy is ruined. dollar trump's own account of conversation with ukrainian president zelensky showed he urged zelensky five times. barr denied the involvement but it didn't end there. the doj then distanced itself from the white house again last month when trump's acting chief of staff implicated the department in a quid pro quo.

mick mulvaney claimed withholding military aid to ukraine the president was trying to gain their cooperation and investigation the doj was already carrying out. yet a senior official said if the white house was withholding aid from ukraine with regard to any investigation by the justice department, that's news to us. the president is flying loose out here all by himself saying just call this guy barr, he'll handle the matter, he's got an investigation under way. he can work right into that. he never told barr how he was setting him up to be a collaborator in this scheme. >> i told my attorney general he's going to handle this, meet with him and we'll get it all wrapped up. it's so different this time around than the mueller probe, chris, because obviously what's happening here is all this information is actually coming out. witnesses are going to give their information, and what does it say one after the next, what are they alleging? this claim that we were interested in corruption in ukraine is baloney.

this claim that there was no quid pro quo is -- is hockey -- >> extortion. >> george kent's testimony is so striking because he basically said all that the president wanted was an announcement at the microphone that they're going to investigate. because announcement is all he needed, an announcement is all he wanted. >> before we take him out of this mess, it was his justice department that put the kibosh on the whistle-blower at the beginning. remember the guy that went over to the general counsel -- inspector general, he goes over to the white house and gets the word from the justice department actually don't go any further with this, hold this. >> so the barr justice department sumarily dismissed

the whistle-blower complaint. barr has been defending the whistle-blower complaint to ukraine. barr has been galivating around the word trying to investigate this bizarre conspiracy theory about how somehow ukraine, italy and france were involved at the start of the russia investigation. he's still doing the president's bidding and still representing trump more than he did the united states. >> i want to say, carol, it's reporting like yours edited by real professional editors and great newspapers that is making this story. >> because they understand it, they read the paper, watch this program and others and they get it because of sharp reporting like yours. and thank you for coming on tonight. >> happy anniversary to chris. >> 20 years. paul butler, thank you for that, sir. up next former u.s. attorney jeff sessions is looking to make a political come back. by the way president trump makes fun of people with southern accents. you hear that down there.

he makes fun of you. nice guy. you're watching "hardball." >> when i first met you, you were sharp, you were smart, you were in courageable, and after all these years your still sharp and smart. >> chris, from one to another congratulations on a very successful 20 year run, may you enjoy the next 20 years as much as you have in the past. 20 yea as you have in the past. it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there? doctor bob, what should i take for back pain?

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if i had one do over it would be i would not have appointed jeff sessions to be attorney general. jeff sessions didn't have a clue. the attorney general says i'm going to recuse moskow, and i said why the hell didn't he tell me that before i put him in? the only reason i gave him the job because i felt loyalty. >> welcome back to "hardball." those were just some of the examples of president trump's public attacks on his attorney general jeff sessions who was forced out last year by the president. sessions now wants his old job back as senator from alabama. he's expected to join what is already a crowded field, however, of republicans running to unseat democrat doug jones in 2020 next year. "the new york times" reports that president trump sent word to session, quote, he would publicly attack him if he ran. what is the point of this?

and "the washington post" reports that the president has even joked to senators and white house aides he would move to alabama and compete against sessions himself in the primary. what does that mean? for more i'm joined by robert costa, and hal raines. robert, why would a president talk about going down and competing in a primary in a senate nomination when he's already president of the united states just out of spite? >> just a few days ago on the way to that kentucky rally trump was musing to his allies about senator sessions and his reentry to politics later this week saying he shouldn't get involved, he didn't want to mess with his own voters in a state like alabama, but he certainly wasn't going to endorse senator sessions and he made sure senator sessions through different emissaries got that message. >> you're a local down there in

that state. you're in pensacola now, but you're from there. i think this guy is unbeatable. the guy won with 96% of the vote or something last time he faced the voters of alabama. wouldn't he win in a primary and general? >> i think jeff sessions immediately becomes the front-runner in the republican senatorial race. the vote is early march, and i think he's as close to a sure thing as you see in an alabama contest at this point. he also represents a very serious threat for doug jones who ran a brink campaign in 2017 to defeat both trump and roy moore. but this is hardball politics alabama-style. and the fact is defiance is a single trait that alabama -- white alabamians treasure most in a candidate. fighting trump will remind that

sessions is a little reminiscent of george wallace. but it's important for people who understand politics back in conventional rules to understand that alabama voters have what kyle whitmier, a local columnist called sustained cognitive dissonance when it comes to political races. so they will vote for trump at 62% or better as they did previously, and they will send jeff sessions back to the -- at least give him the nomination for the senate without feeling any conflict at all. and i think the real danger for trump, he's going to carry this state anyway. but if he keeps calling jeff sessions a jerk and an idiot and a dumb southerner and mocking his accent, that will hurt trump and it won't hurt sessions at all. >> robert, i think all the time will trump straighten out and fly right the last three months of the general election next

year and act like a normal president? because he could get re-elected perhaps by doing that. and my questiere he's clearly suggesting he's not going to change. he'd rather follow his hatreds than his interests. he could lose the senate over his anger against jeff sessions. >> based on my reporting senator sessions is going to face real competition in this primary. you've got the former coach of auburn football, he's in the race. the white house and mitch mcconnell are averse to senator sessions runningmism they think there are other candidates in this race. so there's not going to be an embrace of sessions. the only person you see wrapping their arms around politically of sessions is a long time senator and former colleague, senator richard shelby who's pledged his support. if the white house doesn't endorse another candidate, they

may make sure trump voters turn an eye to another. >> shelby is one of the great survivors in american history. >> chris, i don't want to disagree with robert's knowledge of costa -- i mean of washington. but the facts on the ground in alabama are very different. bradley burnes' supporters are hoping he'll withdraw tomorrow and refile for his old house seat. i've talked to lots of affluent republicans here on the gulf coast, and this is sessions' home ground, and they all agree that sessions is going to kill burns chances and most of them believe he will be the republican nominee. and let's touch on senator shelby. shelby's endorsement, preemptive endorsement of sessions last week was a very important event

for this reason. alabama has a split republican party among populous lines. sessions base is in the church going rural republicans. shelby is the guru of the affluent republicans in birmingham and montgomery and mobile. and his signal to them is to all you birmingham law firms and other people in the republican establishment, sessions is our guy. we need him for nasa in huntsville, the medical center in birmingham and the ship building industry in mobile. >> i love the way you talk, hal. i love this inside stuff, thank you. and robert, as always thank you for your analysis. up next it looks like republican lawmakers are taking a page from the trump play book, attack the investigators. with evidence continuing to pileup, real evidence that may be their only option to save at

least something of themselves. you're watching "hardball." >> it's reverends al sharpton wishing chris matthews a happy 20th anniversary, 20 years of excellence. >> wow, 20 years. that's practically -- you realize an entire generation has grown up. >> warmest congratulations on your 20th. i don't know how america did without "hardball" for the previous 220 years. without "hardball" for the previous 220 years or could it play out differently? 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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in their campaign to transform america democrats are becoming increasingly totalitarian, suppressing dissent, defaming the innocent, eliminating due process, staging show trials and trying to overthrow american democracy to

oppose their socialist agenda. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump last night at a rally in louisiana attacking democrats over the impeachment inquiry. public hearings begin in the house next week, as we've told you. but the democrats or the president's republican allies are still tying themselves in knots to come up with a defense of him. >> if one witness says there's no quid pro quo but multiple others says there is, what do you do with that? >> we've got the transcript where there's no quid pro quo. >> it's actually getting easier to defend the president from a standpoint there is no linkage between aid. in fact what we're hearing today is this a part of a broader analysis of foreign aid in general in terms of what we should do. it wasn't just ukraine where the aid was held up. >> well, unable to defend the president on substance republicans have moved on from attacking the process or perhaps nobody has embodied the

republican slippery spin quite like senator lindsey graham whose defense of trump has evolved over the past two weeks. >> show me something that is a crime. if you could show me, you know, that trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing. i've looked at the phone call, i found nothing wrong here. i'm not going to entertain impeaching the president over this matter. period, done. i'm not going to read these transcripts. the whole process is a joke. what i can tell you about the trump policy toward ukraine, it was incoherent. it depends on who you talk to. they seemed incapable of forming a quid pro quo. >> what kind of a defense is that? with evidence piling up against president trump republicans are resorting to some of trump's tried and true tactics like smearing the other guy. and that's coming up. you're watching "hardball." not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out

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welcome back to "hardball." in the six weeks since house speaker nancy pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry into president trump republicans have turned themselves into pretzels trying to defend the president. but with every day bringing more and more evidence of indefensible behavior some of trump's fiercest defenders are turning to trump's favorite tactic, attacking the investigators. in an interview last night senator lindsey graham tried to claim that ambassador gordon

sondland changed his testimony to affirm a quid pro quo with ukraine because he's in cahoots with democrats. >> now, here's a question. why did sondland change his testimony ini've been a lawyer for a very long time, and when somebody changes their testimony they suddenly recall something they didn't know before, and makes me incredibly suspicious. >> well, appearing with president trump at a rally last night louisiana senator john kennedy took his cue directly from the president himself going after speaker pelosi. >> and you know what our democratic friends have done for him? speaker nancy pelosi is trying to impeach him. i don't mean any disrespect but

it must suck to be that dumb. >> for more of that we tu-- oney heroes says there's such a thing as defining devancy downward. even guys like this respected senator is talking like he's on a street corner yelling crap at somebody out the window. >> it is a complete change of the republican party, and it's unfortunate. but democrats should not take the bait, right? they should not be talking back to these senators or to the members of the house. they should keep the focus on what's really important, and that's this impeachment process, this impeachment inquiry. it's hard not to fight back, hard not to push back, but don't take the bait. >> explain the politics of crash talking. can you ignore the evidence, do

you just bolster your base? >> when you don't have an argument you attack people. and that has worked for trump to some degree. but, you know -- >> like his father ted cruz killed ted kennedy. >> at the time it seems so ridiculous but then you realize a lot of people actually believe that. they look in the tabloids and think oh, my god this really happened. but these guys don't have a case. a normal communication where you have a coms team that would coordinate with the senators and all the members and they say we think this is the best way and go out and test it. coms is like landscaping. if the grass is cut and hedges are trimmed they don't pay much attention to it. but trump is going to do his own coms, but people won't go out and take the risk because he'll simply change the message. here's what we're going to say about it and we're going to

stick with that. that's not how trump operates. he's going to change the story and everybody's going to look foolish. so everybody's afraid. you have a dysfunctional coms system, so there's no message. the consistency of the testimony that's been given is remarkable. the inconsistency of the argument against impeachment by the republicans has been abysmal. >> lindsey graham, for example, the guy -- he's been around for a long time. i used to think he wanted to be one of those classic southern senators, serve their whole life and end up having a building named after you. you know the history of those guys. richard russell and all those guys, and now he just looks like he's working for trump, not for history. >> that's the point i want to make. the communication strategy is pretty simple right now. it's an audience of one. you are talking to one and one person only and that's president

trump. so if he says what he wants you to say and/or he hears what you're saying, then check that mark for communication strategy. you only have one person to poll test and that's president trump, and that's unfortunate, right? because these members and these senators are not looking into the future. they're looking at today. >> what about legacy? the reason to be a senator is to have a legacy. i think in the long run you get some things done and in the long run and anyway today president trump, jr. -- well, donald trump, jr., not quite president went on the view with his girlfriend, former fox news host kimberley -- to promote his new book. he echoed senator graham. >> did gordon sondland lie then when he changed his testimony yesterday? >> i don't know why he changed his testimony. he says something on the record -- or she's afraid of

being attacked like so many of us have for so long by a vicious left running a -- >> she sounded intimidated by this guy. >> i watched that same amount of cheering and thinking what's going on. so let me ask you about your old boss, nancy pelosi. she's still full-fledged and campaigning on a weekend. how can she keep doing it? >> she doesn't stop. the work doesn't stop. just because you're dealing with impeachment, dealing with usmca, closing a -- a potential shutdown of the government, it doesn't stop. she has to hit the road and raise money for democrats because it's important. it's the system we're in. and there's no one better, right? >> i think she's a legislative wonder. >> i was at her book signing

twenty-two weeks ago and i kept saying there's no way she's coming, she was there. >> when i first started with the san francisco examiner, she showed up. i mean out of nowhere. i thought she was -- up next 20 years of "hardball." >> chris, congratulations on this anniversary. playing hardball for 20 years. >> you know every nook and cranny about washington politics and i love hearing all the stories, sitting next to you on a flight to the next debate or primary, while paying respect tuesday a former president lying in state. history unfolds in front of us here. happy 20th. here's to many more playing "hardball." more playing "hardball.

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- when you're volunteering, mo"it's not my job."rmirez!!! that's because right where you live, there's a need for your time and skills and effort and talent. please consider volunteering and feeling that feeling that you helped someone today. i can see the first black president there. the reason i say that is i think the immigrant experience combined with the incredible education, combined with the beautiful speech, not every politician gets help with a speech but that speech was a piece of work. it sure was. welcome back to "hardball." that was in 2004 up in boston after i listened to then senator

barack obama give his rousing keynote address at the 2004 democratic national convention. that was a historic night. and over the past two decades i've had the honor of not only a front row seat to history but to have a voice in the national political conversation. >> i never thought i'd still be saying this the night after the election but this race is still too close to call. it's only five weeks, a few recounts and a few trip tuesday the u.s. supreme court but tonight this country will have a new president-elect. one week has passed since terrorist attacks destroyed the world trade center and damaged the pentagon. the big story tonight, countdown to war. it's 2:30 in the morning baghdad time right now and we're in the fifth dale of this war. president trump declares the war with saddam hussein has come to an end. governor jay gray is out of office, he's out of office and

chosen arnold schwartznegger to replace him. a historic day as democrats take the gavels of power. california congresswoman nancy pelosi elected the first woman speaker of the house ever making her second in line to the american presidency. in two hours the president sells america on escalation on our partner iraq in civil war. and i saw barack obama declared for president. tonight huge political news, john mccain has pulled the most stirring come back since the big screen come from behinds of rocky balboa. with today's dropping out of midromney the senator of arizona looms as the presidentially nominee of 2008. hillary clinton, over and out, the news broke out last night. hillary clinton is suspending her campaign and endorsing senator barack obama this saturday. our 44th president is going to be barack obama. it has actually happened.

we watch this develop like an old polaroid film for two years now and there it has. this horrific tragedy in connecticut, to understand how things like this happened which will always be known for this. a history of americans is being written tonight. the supreme court of this country heard arguments. it's happened after four campaigns of promising to enter a presidential campaign, donald trump has made the leap at least into the first debate. the election is of course and donald trump will be the next president of the united states. proving all the polls wrong trump racked up victories in states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, ohio, and florida. well, today was a day of history. the country's top investigator of an american president shifted the verdict on the president's guilt or innocence to the u.s. congress. as i said earlier in the show the question now is to impeach

or not to impeach? today the united states speaker of the house made the decision to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us all these years. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> in the best interest of my client to unravel the corruption in ukraine. >> rudy giuliani's quote campaign of lies. >> rudy giuliani is a great gentleman, a great crime-fighter. >> tonight even more damning new details on the president's push to extort ukraine. and new reporting on just what rudy giuliani and william barr were willing to do to help him. >> where is william barr? where is he? >> plus -- >> the house and the american public must see all the evidence for themselves. >>ia dishiary chairman jerry nadler joins me live to lay out exactly how