we are in the middle of a big story here at msnbc in new york. and i can tell you we have a lot coming. tomorrow morning special coverage begins at 9:00 a.m. of the judiciary hearing. tonight msnbc prime time has you covered. i'll be filling in with some expert analysis on all in today and again at the "last word" with lawrence and don't miss any of the line-up including with rachel and chris matthews which starts now. the whole damn story. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight we can see that these are not different stories but a single story with a consorm of players playing their distinct

parts. an omb director telling us to get over it. a partisan congressman moonlighting as a gop operaterative and a columnist pushing conspiracy theories. we've learned all these players were dark alley partners in a common scheme to bewin in 2020. president trump telling ukraine he wanted a favor, rudy giuliani working hand in hand with the omb which controlled the arms aid and giuliani working the phones with the bunch and omb, all working with a french columnist who pushed out their dirty message. not lone operative, not lone operators, not a vague troop of allies but a confidence gang, a syndicate, a mob all advancing the corrupt plan to discredit the case against trump in 2016 and destroy the hopes of a democrat challenging him in 2020. in other words, one and the same

criminal enterprise. that's what we're learning from the final report by the house intelligence committee today, which just minutes ago cast a momentous vote to approve their findings in the impeachment inquiry. the 300-page report is the basis for the core articles of impeachment, which the judiciary committee will determine later this month. chairman adam schiff delivered a damning indictment of the president's conduct. >> this report chronicles the scheme by the president of the united states to coerce an ally, ukraine, that is at war with an adversary, russia, into doing the president's political dirty work. and he was willing to sacrifice the national security of the united states by withholding military aid and diplomatic recognition in the form of that white house meeting in order to get what he wanted. >> well, citing, quote, overwhelming and clear evidence of prum's misconduct the report states that the house inquiry,

quote, uncovered a months long effort by president trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign intervention interference on his behalf in the 2020 election. the committee found that, quote, trump conditioned official acts on a public announcement by the new ukrainian president, a politically motivated investigation. and also charges that senior u.s. officials including the vice president, the secretary of state, the acting chief of staff, the secretary of energy and others were either knowledgeable of or active participants in the president's scheme. it could be said that the report to support two articles of impeachment at least. one for abuse of power, another for obstructing congress, which the committee calls unprecedented. in fact, the report today says it would be hard to imagine a stronger or more complete case of obstruction than in that demonstrated by the president since the inquiry began. the ort also contains damaging new revelations about rudy giuliani, showing that the

president's personal lawyer was in touch with the office responsible for freezing that military aid to ukraine. personally on the phone with him, at&t records show at the peak of the pressure against ukraine this past he placed multiple calls to the white house switchboard and situation room. so he was in the loop, so was the president. the phone lines also showed back in april giuliani received several calls from the omb, which controlled military aid to ukraine. and that's when giuliani was leading a smear campaign, by the way, against former ambassador yovanovitch. i'm joined by eric swalwell. betsey woodrough swan, ben rhodes, and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." i'm holding the report here, congressman. is this how it's going to read?

i'm asking this dead seriously. what's it going to be in the history books for all-time? this is the report that's going to say why trump faced impeachment, right? >> this report will stand the test of time, chris. it's just a question will my republican colleagues stand the test of courage. >> let me ask you about this rudy giuliani role, the fact that giuliani was on the phone with the omb, that controls the funds to ukraine, what does that tell you? >> rudy giuliani is trump's lawyer. so we proved in our case donald trump is rudy and rudy is donald trump. and they are inp inseparable, but lawyers act on behalf of their clients and almost everyone that knew of this relationship said rudy was asking as trump's guy. and donald trump told them talk to rudy, he's my guy.

>> are you surprised as the ranking committee member, you know, devin nunes of california he's been opposing all this investigation was in fact an operative. he was moonlighting. he was on the phone with rudy's bunch, with lev parnas, did that surprise you when you learned that? >> no, a lot of things surprise me. that did not surprise me at all. he's got priors. he was the midnight runner in the russia investigation going over to the white house. but i guess maybe what was surprising for the american people was that the ranking member used all of his time during a serious impeachment process not to get to the facts, understand what it meant, but to falsely attack the chairman when now we've learned he was just projecting. he was projecting on schiff what he was actually doing which was ensnaring himself and involving himself with indicted witnesses in this investigation. >> somebody should tell all people involved in politics that either side, when you're an

advisor to the president you're not an operative. you don't go out and do stuff on your own. when you're a member of congress you vote, you think, make decisions where policies should go but don't go out and do stuff for the president. the report gives a play by play analysis of the president's scheme. first forced out marie yovanovitch followed a smear campaign led by rudy giuliani. trump then put giuliani and the so-called amigos in charge of ukraine and then the president froze military assistance to ukraine over the objection of career experts and conditioned a white house meeting on getting the investigations he was seeking. he went onto personally ask ukrainian president zelensky for those investigations and by august the release of military aid was also conditioned on that announcement. finally the president relented and finally released the aid

only when his scheme was exposed to the public when he got caught. betsey, this report has got the one 'n only damn think in it. >> and it's all in the record. they cite numerous documents and numerous public testimony. public testimony and publicly released private testimony from more than a dozen witnesswise detailed knowledge of the way that this operation played out. one thing that struck me about this report as important is that it really puts front and center a piece of the conversation that i think got lost over the last few months and that is the extent to which the clearest public example of a quid pro quo had to do with the president of ukraine wanting to meet with trump in the white house. trump's associates said explicitly that unless the president of ukraine announced an investigation into a company linked to the bidens, that meeting wouldn't happen. and there's literally no dispute that the president of the united states was holding that white house meeting as leverage to try to get a political gift. >> peter, what struck me is the number of interplays among these

people as i open the program with in the cold open the connection involving the ranking member -- republican member on the intel committee, devin nunes involved in these conversations with lev parnas, the associate working with rudy giuliani. rudy on the phone with somebody at omb and also at the white house. it's like picking up a rock when you were kid and seeing all the bugs underneath it and how all the bugs were interplaying with each other. it's all connected it seems. your thoughts. >> yeah, and one of the tricks, of course, is it also reveals how much there is still to be learned. this investigation while it's gone on for a couple of months and the intelligence committee is basically through with this portion of it there are still these unanswered questions. there are these gaps in the story line. we don't know who rudy giuliani was talking to on those phone calls. that's an intriguing bit of new evidence produced today. we don't know, you know, what some of the people around him, these shadowy figures now under

investigation were doing in some of these phone calls and meetings and so forth. we've never seen rudy giuliani testify on this. never seen mulvaney testify, never seen john bolton testify. they all refused or were not asked. mostly refused. and the house intelligence committee decided not to pursue a lengthy court battle because what they argued we've already got enough evidence. but it does leave a lot of open questions. >> well, let's talk about common sense here because do you think rudy giuliani was calling up omb to get full funding for title 12 programings? rudy giuliani had one interest. he's in ukraine, fighting to get dirt on biden. what's going on? >> exactly. that's what we'd like to know exactly that. for instance we talk about the 13-minute phone call to an omb member. i don't know the answer to the

question. does mick mulvaney, does he still have a phone that would be registered to the omb? i don't know the answer to that question. that would be an interesting question to know about. mick mulvaney was involved as we know from previous testimony in facilitating a lot of this pressure on ukraine. a lot of things we'd like to know. doesn't mean we will, doesn't mean the next committee won't try, but one of the things about his report shows there are still these interesting questions we'd like to ask. >> tell us how you see all these connecting rods between the various figures. nunes, ranking republican, rudy giuliani lawyer and fixer overseas. all these guys, even george solomon who writes all these fringy columns supporting these theories about the ukrainians back in 2016, it all seem tuesday be connected through phone calls the way you look at it now. we can see it. >> no, it is, chris. and the bottom line is this is not how our government is

supposed to work. all the people we saw testifying at those impeachment hearings, former ambassadors, public and civil servants, they did not want to caro out this corrupt scheme. they knew it was not in the u.s. national interest. they knew it was putting extraordinary pressure on an ally of ukraine that's been invaded by russia. so what happened is in order to carry out this quid pro quo, to pressure ukraine trump essentially had to setup a shadow foreign policy through people like rudy giuliani, bringing in someone like gordon sondland who has no role in ukrainian policy. outsourcing some of these dirty operative deeds to devon nuance. and i thought where chairman schiff is very powerful is making the case why we have to act in that urgently. the republicans want to make it seem like well, everybody does it, everybody's a little corrupt. no, actually. we've never seen anything like this quite in american history where the proefz the united

states is essentially setting up a shadow foreign policy apparatus. for the people who will carry out his personal agenda, not the national agenda. and that's really at the heart of this whole thing, chris. not only is it abuse of power but urgently raises the question whether we have a government acting in the national interest or the personal political interest of the president. and the republicans give this a pass. and we as americans can't have confidence the president won't solicit further interference in the 2020 election. >> well, the committee cites that, the intelligence committee in this report today cites the president's defiance of lawful subpoenas and his threats to witnesses to make the case that the president has obstructed congress. to that point the report says the damage to our system of checks and balances and to the balance of power within our three branches of government will be long lasting and potential irrevocable if the president's ability to stone

wall congress goes unchecked. congressman swalwell, your reports on this. it seems to me it lays out two premises. one is abuse of power by the president through this whole criminal enterprise, i believe. and i his destruction or defiance of congress. are those to be do you think the suggested articles of impeachment coming out of your committee to judiciary committee? >> they'll be considered, chris. and first, yes, the president used your taxpayer dollars to ask a foreign government to cheat an election only to benefit him. that's abuse of power. that's bribery. second, yes, he has defied lawful orders to produce documents and witnesses. what i think is remarkable is history will look back on this and say there's probably no investigation of this size, of this magnitude that relied on so few documents to be able to make such large sweeping uncontradicted conclusions. that's because the brave people who did come forward, but step

back and look at the 12 people the president told not to come forward. and the 71 different document requests that we made. we were still able to prove 300 pages worth of misconduct by the president. >> thank you so much u.s. congressman eric swalwell, member of both the intel and judiciary committees of the house. coming up, starting new details in the impeachment report puts republican congressman devin nunes, the midnight rider, in the middle of the ukraine scandal. why was the ranking republicanen on the intelligence committee talking to several key players in the ukraine pressure campaign? was he investigating himself or covering up for himself? and as articles of impeachment start to take shape the judiciary committee's case takes shape what can we expect from the first hearing 10:00 tomorrow eastern. and he's once again putting his

thumb on the scales to help his boss. we've got much more to get to, his only client, by the way, the president of the united states. stay with us. the way, the president of the united states stay with us through the at&t network, edge-to-edge intelligence gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. from using feedback to innovate... to introducing products faster... to managing website inventory... and network bandwidth. giving you a nice big edge over your competition.

that's the power of edge-to-edge intelligence. walkabout wednesdays are back! get a sirloin or chicken on the barbie, fries, and a draft beer or coca-cola - all for just $10.99. hurry in! wednesdays are for outback. outback steakhouse. aussie rules. wednesdays are for outback. wean air force veteran made of doing what's right,. not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

in terms of the ranking member it won't surprise you i'm going to reserve comment. it is i think deeply concerning that at a time when the president of the united states was using the power of his office to dig up dirt on a political rival that there may be evidence that there were members of congress complicit in that activity. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was house intelligence committee chair of course adam schiff, the hero of this piece talking about the ranking member of his committee. republican congressman devin nunes, he sits next to and nunes had a number of undisclosed

contacts, phone calls with both rudy giuliani and lev parnas who is one of giuliani's indicted ukrainian henchman. he had three calls in april and another three days later. the nunes call came on the tail end of a launched conversation. well, nunes has repeatedly attacked schiff alleging he coordinated with the whistle-blower. here we go. >> the democrats have zeroed in on an anonymous whistle-blower complaint. it was cooked up in cooperation with the democrats on this very committee. they lie to the american people about that cooperation and refuse to let us question the whistle-blower to discover the truth. >> well, now these phone calls

show it was nunes himself who was secretly communicating with the same people his committee was supposed to be investigating. in other words, he wasn't just defending republicans, he was defending himself. and back with me are betsey woodruff swan who wrote this story and peter rhodes. now we find out he was part of it, he was on the phone with this russian guy character and he was on the phone with him, lev parnas, on the phone with omb and all of them. what do you think about the fact it turns out he was one of the gang? >> well, i wish i could tell you i was surprise but it's consistent with what devin nunes has done. and look, chris, you spend time on the hill. those people are supposed to look out for their constitutional responsibilities. even in the obama years, the most friendly obama committee chairman or ranking member would stand up for congress' prerogative, it's kind of

unprecedented you had this guy up there in a very key role who sees his role purely as doing whatever donald trump's political interests are. so the oath is not to the institution of the congress but what can i do for donald trump, can i spread conspiracy theories to discredit the very real allegations -- >> i'm going to go deep before you get to the reporting here with betsey. why would a congressman behave like this? why would he go down to the eisenhower office building next to white house and pick up some dirt and then the next morning goes back down to the white house and says i just found something that supports trump's position? why would he become an operate chb? w why is a congressman running around like he's an employee of this president? do they got something on him? does he have a staffer who's leading him in the wrong direction because he's really working with the bad guys? why would nunes do this?

what's his motive? ben? >> well, i think, you know, it's a signal of where the republican party is today in 2019. devin nunes doesn't see the way he gets ahead as doing his job, serving his constituents, trying to do right by the constitution, trying to do right by our national security. he thinks is to be the most pro-trump guy up there, and when he's up there putting on these performances, out there trying to dig up dirt, false daughter by the way on the bidens what he's doing is speaking to an audience of one which is donald trump. but he also knows there's an entire media world out of there people consuming this same type of conspiracy theory. he's not thinking about the rest of us but only about donald trump and that narrow audience going to believe whatever it is donald trump tells him to believe. and meats where the republican party tragically has come to. they don't have an institution of responsibility.

they have responsibility to donald trump and donald trump's audience. >> betsey, to you. how'd you get the reporting on this? what's nunes about? >> at the daily beast we were the first to report there was a connection between congressman nunes and lev parnas who was on associate of giulianis and helped him with his biden investigation. one told me on the record that parnas was helping nunes in his investigative work. and since then -- >> who's investigative work? >> the work nunes was doing at the time. later those liars went -- >> is that the same digging up the trump people were doing? >> what they say based on their conversations with parnas is that they were helping nunes work on this project of investigating the bidens and burisma. >> well, that's the trump mission. >> exactly, the same basic project. and the gist of it and what's important to remember here based on my conversations with the folks who work with lev and the others involved is there's not the traditional bifurcation you

would see between the legislative and executive branch but rather all these guys were basically team trump and they were all working toward the same end. >> everything doesn't relate to watergate, but this dark alley second government unofficially just like in the days of nixon, we had the plumbers out there, and all these people outside their official roles like rudy giuliani and someone head of omb, mick mulvaney, duffy, somebody over there and this guy solomon a fringy columnist for the hill, they're all working in league to push one mission that will eventually get trump re-elected. >> presidents often use or have used in the past private citizens as intermediaries in both politics and policy. we've seen that even with foreign policy. the difference here is what's alleged is that it was being used in furtherance of the president's own personal political interests.

not in furtherance of national foreign policy. that's why you saw fiona hill who was running russia and europe policy at the nsc completely left in the dark while john bolton apparently objected to this saying it was all, you know, some sort of a drug deal metaphorically, it was outside of what was supposed be the normal channels. and it wasn't as fiona hill said she learned through testimony a rogue channel, because it actually was responsible directly to the president as she concluded, it was not sort of on its own, it was part of what the president wanted. it just happened to be he took it outside of the government he doesn't trust people inside the government, and perhaps he would have thought they might not have gone along with what he was trying to accomplish. >> ben, last thought from you because you've been in these businesses, all these different agencies and institutions, and it looks to me we have a band here, a syndicate of people who basically have other jobs at congress or working omb, former

mayor or whatever, lawyer, they all had a mission in life which was to do this dirty deed, hold up, a shakedown ukraine for dirt or at least a statement, a declaration of dirt on the guy at the time trump figured he was running against. >> we have to keep our eye on the ball here which is how fundamentally kruptdi fundamentally corrupting to our system. we are using this cast of characters to leverage taxpayer dollars, white house visits to get announcements of investigations into his political opponents. if that is in our system, no semblance of checks and balances. and that's why you need this impeachment process in order to restore any accountability to american democracy. because if this crowd can run around and carry out schemes like this in ukraine who knows

what we're not see in other parts of our world. that's why it's so important for congress to assert its constitutional role right now. >> and i think any republican who's thinking about this, who takes a pause to think and not just to follow mutt admit to himself or herself if barack obama had done this kind of thing, it's hard to think what they wouldn't do to them, and they have to admit that about themselves. just admit to yourself, if obama had done this stuff, had cut a deal against american interests for his own political interests, you'd be nailing the guy and you wouldn't be worrying about it. you wouldn't feel hesitant, you'd be nailing him. and that's the truth. great to have you on the show. up next, will republicans turn tomorrow's impeachment hearing, the first real impeachment hearing before the house judiciary committee into a circus? buy your tickets already. it's coming. a member of that committee joins us next. you're watching "hardball." f ths us next. you're watching "hardball.

♪ (loud fan noise) (children playing) ♪ (music building) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate.

xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. fine for some. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™". 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 ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ for a limited time, get a outb4-course meal your holidays even better! starting at $15.99. treat yourself to the perfect gift today, because the aussie 4-course won't last long! and now, get a $10 gift with every $50 in gift cards. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean! i'll only use an oral-b! oral-b. brush like a pro.

welcome back to "hardball." tonight's vote on the intelligence committee formally sends the impeachment investigation over to the house judiciary committee which holds its first impeachment hearing tomorrow morning at 10:00 eastern. if what we saw in the house intelligence committee hearings before is any indication, republicans already have their play book, that's a good word for it, a political theater

already set led by two. let's watch their shenanigans here. >> gentlemen is not recognized. >> i have a point of order, though. >> gentlemen is not recognized. i do want to respond -- gentlemen is not recognized. >> there are four transcripts that have not been released -- >> gentlemen is not recognized. >> holy cow. >> are either of you here today to assert there was an impeachable offense in that call? shout it out. anyone? >> mr. radcliffe, if i could respond let me just reiterate -- >> i've got one minute left. >> you asked the witness a question. >> i withdraw the question. >> did he tweet it, did he do a press statement, did he do a press conference? do you know you how that happened? you got all three of them wrong. they get the call, they get the meeting, they get the money. it's not too plus two. it's 0 for 3.

>> the biggest stunt in disrupting the impeachment investigation so far was led by another republican back this october when florida congressman matt gates led a group of trump defenders in storming the secure room where deputy secretary cooper was supposed to testify. democrats are bracing for a circus atmosphere from the likes of gates and gordon. republicans on the famously combative panel were known for shouting and screaming. for more i'm joined by democratic congresswoman karen bass who's a pro, and of course she serves on the house judiciary. how can a chairman -- i watched chairman nadler sitting there and he always seems a little bit surprised by their misbehavior, but they are going to be doing points of order like joe mccarthy. we know it's coming.

how do you fight with that crapola? >> oh, i think that the chairman is going to be very well prepared and very strong. he is not going to put up with the juvenile nonsense that you saw in the intel committee. and you know what, when you have members act like that, that is an act of desperation because they have nothing to challenge the report on the substance. >> well, congresswoman, while i have you, nothing stops those people behind the basket at an nba game from waving those crazy things around to screw up the guy doing the foul shot. these republicans will just say it shows they're desperate. now, they're just screwing up the foul shooter. they're skcrewing up the presentation of what nancy pelosi wants to be, solemn. how do you stop them? >> i think the chairman is going to stop them using the parliamentary power that he has. if they move to adjourn, we just vote them down until we

continue. i think that we are very well prepared. we know what they're going to do. we certainly have seen what they have done every time we have a judiciary meeting. and i'll have to add in, too, the ranking member you bow he's auditioning because he wants that senate seat. so he's definitely performing for trump, they're performing so they can get on fox and innightly news. we know this. >> that might be true. >> i think we're going to be able to push back. >> i went to catholic school. if you did that you're out in the hallway and you're gone. how do you stop these clowns? >> it's about democrats trying to use the fact they won back the house and the nancy pelosi speaker to really try and quiet down these republicans, but i will say the president has really put out a mandate for republicans. he said i want to see you fiercely defend me, i want to see you be strong. nancy pelosi all seem to have these democrats and matt gates

shutdown that deposition. what you see is republicans really trying to prove that they have president trump's back. >> anyway, they'll ultimately fall to the judiciary committee to draft articles of impeachment. they're coming in the next couple of weeks against president trump. nbc news reports according to individuals involved in that process there could be three to four articles of impeachment drafted by the judiciary committee. we got that in ukraine and that whole trade, that shakedown. one on broader contempt and we know that because they won't let a witness show up and potentially one related to the mueller report and obstruction of justice. "the washington post" reports democrats have already debated the scope of charges to bring against the president and mueller related charges running for the existence of moderates wary of impeachment blow back as well as democratic leaders who sought to keep impeachment narrowly focus on allegations trump pressured ukraine to investigate his political

rivals. congresswoman, my hope is that republicans will take the weakest link -- in other words the weakest article they'll attack and say you can't throw the president out of office for tweeting something that could be called witness intimidation. they'll take your weakest charge and make it your main charge. how do you deal with the choice of articles? >> well, first of all, i think that tomorrow is going to be a really important hearing because we're going to delve into the impeachment process, what does it mean high crimes and misdemeanors, bribery, et cetera? i think that the evidence we have is strong. again, maybe the president of the republicans will come forward with some actual evidence that refutes what we already know. i don't know that they'll do that because they haven't done that yet, but i think bribery is written right into the constitution and i don't know how you can look at what the president did any other way.

if we need you to do a favor nod to get the aid and you're talking about a nation that was under attack, it can't get more egregious than that. so we know they will lie. that's what they do consistently, but i think we will have the american public on our side. 50% of the public feels he should not just be impeached but removed from office. and you know what the percentages were when it was the clinton impeachment. it never got above 30%. so he's already in very serious trouble. >> will the troops be home by christmas? will this be over by december 18th or 20th? >> the first i have is that the vote to impeach the president, it seems more and more likely that will be over before christmas and then we'll to a january senate trial. i think mitch mcconnell has said i know how this is going to end, and i think you have to worry watch -- >> it will end him being impeached, though. >> it will likely end in him being impeached but you have to watch republicans and right now

republicans are in lock step with the president and he's feeling good about that. republicans will continue to say there's no one that said president trump specifically told them to hold this up and that's the argument they're making. >> there's the president meeting with the prime minister. i think nobody wants coal in their stocking and impeachment is coal in your stocking. >> they need to have a ballot in the senate. >> that would be interesting. u.s. congresswoman karen bassverb have a nice impeachment. up next trump's defenders are using a debunked russian conspiracy theory pushed by putin to push back against impeachment. are they unaware or just unconcerned about being played by putin? and it's true. you're watching "hardball." putn d it's true. you're watching "hardball. (burke) a "rock and wreck." seen it. covered it. at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two

because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ thouwhich is breast cancer metastthat has spreadcer, to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy.

ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance.

welcome back to "hardball." well, since his election president trump has successfully brought republican orthodoxy to its knees. until recently the republican party presented a hawkish stance towards russia. well, that ideology crumbled under the weight of the trump administration. here's trump earlier today in london for the 70th anniversary of nato. >> i think it's a good thing to get along with russia, and i campaigned on it and i go to the big stadiums and people like it. >> president trump's grip on the republican party is so strong that some republican officials are now parroting russian talking points in order to defend trump. >> the democrats were heavily involved working with ukrainians to dirt eup the trump campaign in 2016mism. >> the 2016 election ukrainians were very big in what we now know was a russian collusion or russian hoax. >> every elected official in ukraine was for hillary clinton. is that very different than the

russians being for donald trump? >> we all know russia meddled in the election, but that's not to say ukraine didn't influence the election. >> ukraine tried to interfere in the 2016 election. >> these men are just a few of the players who seem willing to go to extreme measures to defend this president. the attorney general of the united states, of course, he's reportedly set to put his thumb on the scale of justice in a fairly brazen act. and that's coming up next. bill barr at his worst. you're watching "hardball." t. bill barr at his worst you're watching "hardball. my body is truly powerful.

i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. i take it once a week. it starts acting in my body from the first dose. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. i have it within me to lower my a1c. ask your doctor about trulicity. wean air force veteran made of doing what's right,.

not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa man 1 vo: proof of less joint pain woman 1 oc: this is my body of proof. and clearer skin. man 2 vo: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. avo: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections,

including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. man 3 vo: ask your rheumatologist about humira. woman 4 vo: go to humira.com to see proof in action.

welcome back to "hardball." anyway, "the washington post" reports today that attorney general bill barr has told associates he disputes a key finding of the inspector general's report into the origins of the fbi probe, the surveil of the trump campaign in 2016. the inspector general michael harowitz is set to release his report next week. and he will tell "the post" it was opened on a solid legal and factual footing. according to "the post" barr has said harowitz didn't have the information to reach that conclusion. let me start with you as a prosecutor. this -- i don't know what the justice department is under barr, but it's not a justice department. it's something else. he's coming in and saying the i.g. was wrong to say the fbi

was operating cooperatively when it started to surveil the trump campaign because of its possible corruption with russia. >> we have an attorney general of the united states who has no commitment to the truth. he lied about the mueller investigation. he lied to congress when he said he didn't know mueller was upset. he made accusations about spying when they didn't exist. he put his thumb on the scale of the investigation, flying off to italy to interview a witness when he's never interviewed a witness in his whole life. >> sounds like devin nunes. >> he sounds like devin nunes, and they both are committed and it's the same problem that they should recuse. devin nunes should recuse to this investigation, and he should recuse when it comes to trump. but instead of the rule of law ehe's into the rule of trump. it's a very sad thing and not clear to me how we're ever going to get the independence of the justice department again or work together to establish that with the fbi, a working rapport.

>> you can't simply be a republican and it's sort of like trump with things like taxes. you have to go the deep dive with him. you have to say i believe in all the crazy ukrainian theories, i believe in all this stuff, i believe the fbi was spying on trump back in 2016 to use that awful word. you have to buy it all. >> the sessions and tillerson heads are on spikes outside the white house gates to do it the way crow just said. >> there's no cafeteria guys. >> because trump doesn't care about the policy stuff, he cares about the crazy stuff. and the crazy investigation he's doing, which is also in its own way a replay of the ukraine problem because putting pressure on allied governments to join him in fabricating accounts dispashdi disparaging their own people, their own diplomats to confect a

story whereby donald trump is the victim in his connections to russia rather than as we all know the perpetrator. >> last night tucker carlson of fox told his viewers he supports vladimir putin and doesn't believe we should be in war with russia. well, we're not in war with russia. moments later he went even further. >> i don't think we should be at war with russia and i think we should -- if we have to choose between russia and ukraine, that is my view. >> what do you make of that? >> it is a sign of the moral decay i think a lot of the republican world that you could go from that honorable position to this. unlike some of the other people -- >> well, is the republican party pro-russian now? >> two things are happening. i think there are people who it's just a tactical necessity if you're going to defend trump. you have to say it's just un undeniable he's connected to russia. you start going to the hat rooms

and dealing with the back channels and sinking into a world of white nationalism in which russia is a kind of israel, the white nationalist. >> let me go back to something really hot. ready? this guy's people, parnas and fruman, they're going to somewhere bad. they're seriously indicted. how is rudy escaping the news? >> rudy isn't escaping the nuew. >> so far. >> it doesn't matter what the news is doing but what happens in the southern district of new york. and they've already said there's going to be some form of a superseding indictments. it more you look at it the more it seems rudy giuliani's name will be in the upper left-hand corner. hayes the consigliere of this deal. he is running these witnesses. >> well, it does have a syndicate aspect the whole thing. up next, the 2020 democrats lose an early top contender.

kamala harris. let's talk about her. she's out of the race. but why? you're watching "hardball." s ou. but why? you're watching "hardball. (burke) a "rock and wreck." seen it. covered it. at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ of millions of americans during the recession. so, my wife kat and i took action. we started a non-profit community bank with a simple theory - give people a fair deal and real economic power. invest in the community, in businesses owned by women and people of color, in affordable housing. the difference between words and actions matters. that's a lesson politicians in washington could use right now. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message. mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe

rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. ♪

hi honey, we got in early. without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. yeah, and we brought steve and mark. ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment.

- cis choosing to nurtureild and emotionally support children in urgent need. it's not just about opening up your home; it is also about opening up your heart. consider fostering. kamala harris looked for a while this year like a force to

be reckoned with. remember those 20,000 supporters who came out for her in oakland, remember that assault on joe biden in that first democratic debate? she was on fire as a candidate and then she wasn't. the experts were right her failure was not putting out a clear purpose. but was that? elizabeth warren laid out a bold progressive plan on health care and has to pay for it literally. joe idboon has kept it general championing to win along that wide spectrum of voters. so who knows how particular you have to be as a candidate. but in 2019 heading into 2020 the lesson may be that you do need to decide between the appeal based chiefly on an agenda or one based chiefly on the personal. also between a position that is left or moderate politically. kamala harris was also caught straddling uniquely between being the passionate prosecutor

and pulling yourself back, going after joe biden with charges flying and then pulling back into line with other candidates as if it didn't happen. only then to find yourself surprised when tulsi gabbard laid into the her and she had laid into biden. well, based on a few conversations one in particular i got the sense there was more to kamala harris than ambitioned and more to politics. given her youth and position in the country's democratic state, there's a good chance this will not be the last democratic national campaign. the next time she'll know better what to do when she gets there. actually there's a post-script to all that in a parting shot trump tweeted today, too bad we will miss you kamala, and her response is don't worry, mr. president, i'll see you at your trial. love it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now.

tonight on "all in." >> there is i think grave risk to the country with waiting until we have every last fact. brand new bombshells in the house impeachment report. >> we do not intend to delay when the integrity of the next election is still at risk. >> tonight, damning new evidence that goes to the heart of the case for impeaching the president. >> certainly the phone records show that there was considerable coordination among the parties including the white house. >> new questions about who the president's lawyer was calling inside the white house. what the vice president knew and when he knew it and why one member of congress may be in deep trouble. >> there may be evidence that there were members of congress complicit in that activity. change the channel, turn down the volume. lu