condolences to the families and communities left behind by these officers. that does it for us. i'll be back tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern. "hardball with chris matthews" is up next. it's not supposed to be that way. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews from washington. the house of representatives voted to agree with that old willie nelson song, it's not supposed to be that way. within the past hour the house sent a message to the president, he can't do anything he wants whenever he wants. the house passed a nonbinding resolution largely along party lines that asserts that president trump does not have the unchecked authority to take military action. this comes as the trump administration has argued that the president has the legal

authority to order even the assassination of a top irani official, general soleimani. shortly after the debate this afternoon, speaker pelosi called the administration's position dismissive of congress' constitutional authority to declare war. >> it was disdainful in terms of not consulting with congress, dismissive and the cavalier attitude of this administration, it's stunning. we have no illusions about iran. no illusions about soleimani. he was a terrible person. did bad things, but it's not about how bad they are, it's about how good we are. we all would die for our country. we take pride in saying that. but to kill for our country is a pretty traumatic thing. >> wow. that's well said. president trump has argued the constitution grants him and him alone the authority to do whatever he wants.

his words. >> article 2 allows me to do whatever i want. >> also take a look at one other thing, it's a thing called article 2. nobody ever mentions article 2. it gives me all of these rights at a level that nobody has ever seen before. >> they have an article 2 where i have the right to do whatever i want as president, but i don't even talk about that. >> well, yesterday president trump dispatched some of his top loyalists or sycophants to congress to convince members under his expansive notions of his powers of executive he is justified to do anything. utah republican senator mike lee however called that rationale absolutely insane. in fact, this morning on npr he went even further. >> what i'm most concerned about is about where that goes from here. what comes next? is there another strike coming against iran? if so, at what point do they need to come to us seeking an

authorization for the use of military force? the fact that they were unable or unwilling to identify any point at which that would be necessary yesterday was deeply distressing to me. it was terrible. i think it was an unmitigated disaster. >> well, here's ow president trump responded to that. >> did your national security team really say that it would be wrong for congress to debate military action on iran? >> so here's what happened on that. i had calls from numerous senators and numerous congressmen and women saying it was the greatest presentation they've ever had. mike and rand paul disagreed because they want information that honestly i think is very hard to get. >> for more, a member of the housed services committee, the vice president of programming at third way and with the "l.a. times" as the white house reporter. congressman, my point is this, what did congress want the

president to do prior to calling that strike that killed the general? what did you guys want him to do? >> well, first of all he needed to explain what the rationale was. if this was an attack why didn't he attack the munitions or warehouse or militia but to take out the number two person in iran is not self-defense and if he wanted to go after soleimani for whatever other reason he needed to come to congress for authorization. >> wait a minute. you're saying -- this is so ridiculous sounding what i'm going to ask you. do you want to give the okay on an assassination? >> no, of course he would never have gotten the okay. but there are two problems here. first that he conducted the assassination, second that he did it in total defiance of congress and let's just be real. i mean, yes, soleimani has blood on his hand. yes, he's killed americans and there have been people in this administration who hold a grudge about iran since 1979 and they want to go have this regime fall

and if that's their rationale, it's not some imminent threat but want the iranian regime to fall, they want to have retaliation for our troops that have died, then they need to make that case and come to congress. they didn't because they know congress would never approve that. >> i like the way you break it apart. so let's start with the first one, congressman, very important to me. personally it's a moral issue, historic issue. i don't think assassins ever look good. we called yamamoto during world war ii who launched the attack on pearl harbor. it's not shooting someone in the field. do you believe that should be outlawed? no american president, barack obama, jimmy carter, nobody should be allowed to assassinate. is that your view? >> that is my view. now, look, it's different if you have terrorists and when president obama went after terrorists that were not part of a sovereign state that's fine if you're killing terrorists who

are a threat to the united states but when you have a sovereign state then you have diplomacy. >> i'm with you. for what it's worth i'm with you and for the first second i heard about this. we should not be in the business of assassinating foreign leaders. the house adopted the measure tonight, the nonbinding resolution saying congress should be talked to by the -- at least talked to if not getting confirmation from on a matter of war an act of war. the measure was adopted today just a couple of minutes ago. 224-194. three republicans voted in favor of the resolution limiting the president's power. they include trump ally matt gaetz, thomas mass. ie and francis rooney. max rose is from a republican district of staten island and mcadams who represents a utah

district. mika, what do you make of this vote and the breakout, the fact it was overwhelming by the democrat, eight democrats did not go along wit. three republicans did. >> yeah, look, the last time we had a vote like this, you had they have of them say i'm not going to support limiting the president's power here. democrats have expressed concern about it willing troops in the region. the rest of the caucus think that going to war with iran is a step too far and that -- >> an act of war if and the president needs to come to them first. some have this concern about the security of the troops and the flexibility of the president. >> anyway, the morning ahead of the vote the president tweeted that was today hope that all house republicans will vote against crazy nancy pelosi's war powers resolution. on the house floor republicans did fall in line defending the president's authority. here they go. >> the president has clear authority, a duty, in fact, to

respond to attacks against american citizens and u.s. forces. that isn't my opinion. it's clear from article 2 of the constitution. >> the resolution is insincere and unserious. it's insincere because we don't like the president and he took action and we can't stand split this is another partisan attack against the president of the united states for killing general soleimani who is a terrorist in an area where the president had the absolute legal authority to operate. >> president trump's leadership was justified and right. >> i get the feeling here, eli, congressman, we'll get to you in a second. it's your branch of government. the president really wants to send a message to congress, screw you, i don't care what you think. i won't call you the night before. when reagan attacked granada, it wasn't the biggest military operation but it did cost lives on both sides they called up the democratic speaker of the house and said this is what we're

doing and tip said, do you want my agreement, i won't give it but thanks for calling. it was the courtesy. they didn't get that courtesy this time. >> no and the president has been delivering that since he took office. his idea of article 2 of the constitution and the powers it gives him. that's just who he is and he has been flouting congress and you heard the comments saying this is just democrat, they don't like the president so they're doing this. that is how they explain away the impeachment inquiry and the response to everything that it's personal and the president believes that everything is personal. he talks about how well he gets along with mike lee. he thinks the matter of what the democrats are doing, just as them being against him for personal reason, not based on his behavior -- >> calling her crazy nancy all the time. >> i've heard from people this week close to the president, close to his campaign say, what, you expect him to tell congress they're trying to impeach him. why would they tell the democrats? interesting that when the missile strikes were coming from iran the other night the vice

president was dispatched to get on the phone with not just republican leadership but with democratic leadership also so as they bluster about this and i don't think this is going to deter the president anyway from behaving exactly the same way going forward but interesting that the other night they were in touch with leaders on both sides. >> you know, congressman, as a member of the house, by the way, it's a wonderful thing to be a member of the united states congress. it is a wonderful thing and think of the state of the union and the great thing about our state of the union address coming up in a month, the 4th of february the night after the iowa caucuses. we'll watch. every american practically who has any brains is watching the state of the union and you see up there the statement of the speaker of the house, the vice president of the united states from another party in this case and the president all there in this trinity picture there to signify the fact of how the government works together. i don't -- here's the president saying he's basically flipping the bird, if you will, to be crude about it to the congress. i could call them up, i'm sure

some staffer said to the president, maybe you should notify the speaker or at least call up mitch mcconnell and tell him what's going on and he said the hell with that. i'm not going to tell them nothing. that's what's going on now, an act of war without any consultation at all. >> well, chris, the problem has been that the congress hasn't been willing to use our ultimate power which is the power of the purse. you remember this because you're a student of american history. what brought the vietnam war to an end wasn't just the protest it was senator frank church who introduced an amendment to the defense authorization act and basically told nixon we're not going to give you any more money for our troops in vietnam and six months later nixon brings the troops home. gaetz and i had an amendment to say no dollars were going to an offensive war in iran. this was two months ago. it passed the house with 27 republicans, it was stripped in committee and we then gave the pentagon $738 billion without those ajdmentes. there used to be a time when

congress actually exercised the power of the purse and that's what we need to do again. >> well on the "today" show, vice president pence was asked why the administration did not share detailed intelligence with members of congress, even in a classified setting. >> if we were to share all of the intelligence and, in fact, some of the most compelling evidence that qassem soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against american forces and american personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have, it could compromise those sources and methods. >> well, yesterday senator mike lee, republican of utah, slammed that kind of talk. >> we never got to the details. every time we got close, they'd say, well, we can't discuss that here because it's really sensitive. we're in a scif. we're in a secure underground bunker where all electronic devices have to be checked at

the door and they still refused to tell us. i find that really upsetting. >> mike, that statement by the vice president was siycophantsy at large. they could have said here's what we're doing tomorrow or this is what we're doing in a couple of hours. they didn't have to give them all the details of their sources. that's ridiculous what the vice president said. we know why he said it. he had to cover for the president. >> it is ridiculous. in the bush administration in the gang of eight they would brief nancy pelosi on some of the most sensitive intelligence that the nation had. rendition programs, detention, august these torture techniques. she never said a word of it to anyone even as she was out there forcefully opposing the president. she is a woman who knows how to keep a secret. they could have told her. she wouldn't have said anything to anybody. >> eli the idea that the speaker would get on the phone, get me soleimani, incoming is coming. it's absurd. >> but if you live in that world where she the enemy and the

president is the hero of the story people are willing to believe that. i mean that's just -- that's something that the president will continue to spin out there. you know, he's always attacking crazy nancy, nervous than si. i mean, the world -- >> what do you think? let's be blunt. the hill how it works passed a nonbinding resolution. this is -- this is operated on a provision of the war powers act of 1973. it was to curb presidents in situations like vietnam and these operations like assassinations, is this going to do anything to calm or limit, rather, a president like trump? >> no, i think what's going to limit the president trump and the reason we saw yesterday he seemed eagle story kind of step back from the brink here, it was the politics. it was understanding after he made this decision to approve that strike which surprised the generals who gave him the option that he took that severe option. >> to assassinate. >> to assassinate. that surprised him. once the reaction, what he saw what that unleashed was going to come back from iran he realized

i'm going into an election year. i don't know where this is going. he became a little more circumspect in being the tough guy. it's the politics and self-interest, not the fear of congress -- >> the fear of war. >> correct. >> anyway, thank you very much. congressman khanna, as always, ro khanna. mieke eo yang and eli. the muddled and mixed iran strategy. he alternates between making threats and offering olive branches. it's hard to get the clarity here of what we're doing over there. leon panetta who served as defense secretary and cia director joins me next plus speaker nancy pelosi responding to calls to turn over the impeachment articles says she'll do it soon probably. here she is. >> no, i'm not holding it indefinitelily. i'll send them over when i'm ready. i think we should move smartly and strategically. >> but the delay is setting the

stage for a major collision of events with impeachment, trump's state of the union address and the iowa caucus all potentially happening at the same time so what's the speaker's exit strategy here? we've got much more to get to tonight. stay with us. days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. trumpand total disaster.mplete let obamacare implode. nurse: these wild attacks on healthcare hurt the patients i care for. i've been a nurse in new york for thirty years. i know the difference leadership can make because i saw what mike bloomberg did as mayor. vo: mayor bloomberg helped lower the number of uninsured by 40%, covering 700,000 more new yorkers, life expectancy increased. he helped expand health coverage to 200,000 more kids

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our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast. finally to the people and leaders of iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve. one of prosperity at home and harmony with the nations of the world, the united states is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump extending a threat and an olive branch, you might say, to iran during his speech at the white

house yesterday. the president offered an iran policy that "the new york times"'s david sanger called a strategic muddle. sanger writes that the speech made it hard to see how the two countries could break out of their cycle of confrontation and revenge. he added, it showed that after three years in office trump has yet to resolve the two conflicting instincts on national security that emerge from his speeches and his twitter feed, bellicosity and during a spike last month the wall street said the flash point might have started with a misunderstanding showing iran's leaders believed the u.s. planned to attack them prompting preparation by tehran tore a possible counterstrike. the president continued his own series of mixed messages towards iran yesterday doubling down on economic sanctions. >> the united states will

immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the iranian regime. iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism. the time has come for the united kingdom, germany, france, russia and china to recognize this reality. they must now break away from the remnants of the iran deal or jcpoa. we must also make a deal that allows iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. >> i'm joined by leon panetta who served as director of the cia and secretary of defense, white house chief of staff as well as a longtime member of the congress of california. mr. secretary, i have to tell you, i got to ask you to unpack this bag. i don't get it. you've got pompeo, the secretary of state and you got mike pence who are religious zealots who

are neocon, total fanatics and seem to want regime change. have you a president who is a political bandit -- he will take these ideas of zealotry, i don't think he hates iran. those two do. you get a speech with language like regime, all the favorite language of the neocons and a president who talks about wanting to love the people of iran at the same time he killed one of their biggest heroes and threatens to destroy all their cultural objects. everything of value to them historical historically. figure it out. you're a pro. tell us what it's about. well, look, the bottom line is that this administration has no clear or concise strategy to deal with any of the flash points in the world. we don't know what the policy is really in north korea. we don't know what the policy is on china, on russia and we don't

know what the policy certainly is in the middle east. the president says one thing about how he would want to withdraw our forces from the middle east, how he would like to leave those countries in the middle east to take care of themselves. he talks about withdrawal. he criticized alliances. and in the end he then talks tough about having to deal with them. and so do people that are close to his national security team. so it's mixed messages, chris and i think that's what we're dealing with. we're dealing with the situation where there are so many mixed messages and the potential for miscalculation is so great that it is totally unpredictable as to what will happen between the united states and iran. >> well, mr. secretary, you and i grew up the same way with the same value, i think. i think it's fair to say that the word assassination doesn't make me happy. it makes me morally bleak.

i didn't think we were assassins. we had a hand, of course, in the coup in vietnam. you could argue about patrice -- you know some of the crown jewels of the cia. we played roles we shouldn't have played. are we doing it again? are we back to that, assassination? >> i hope not, chris. you know, as you said, we've been through an awful lot and i think learned a lot of lessons about what we should and should not do. and i think it's pretty clear that this country ought not to engage in the assassination of leaders in other countries. now, what we did do was we went after the terrorists who were involved in 988 attack and i think that was justified and that was something we had to do for the defense of our own country. it was the right thing to do. i'll tell you, even in the raid

to go after bin laden, we -- i personally went up to capitol hill and i briefed all of the gang of eight, the key players, so that they were aware of the fact that we had -- we thought we had found bin laden and would be conducting an operation. it was the right thing to do. nothing leaked as a result of that. but what it did do was it established a partnership that is extremely important to our form of government when it comes to military action. >> was that an assassination -- i don't think the right word. i think assassination referred to government officials. generals, people like yamamoto, in that case was that the purpose to kill him or bring him back dead or alive or what? what was the mission? >> the mission was to go after bin laden and clearly under our rules of combat, if he -- if it looked like he would surrender

they were to take him as a prisoner of war. so that was the direction. when he fought back, obviously the team there shot him and killed bin laden but we were abiding by the rules of war and that's the way we should operate as a country. we should not, i mean, this talk about going after cultural targets is against everything the united states stands for because the last thing we want to do is act like terrorists do. we are the united states of america. we have a very different set of values and we ought to stick to those. >> i thought last night i said i don't know if you agree. when you go after people's cultural, the things they grew up, in our country it's the liberty bell and statue of liberty, you blow them up you're getting to every american. it's not a government-to-government thing. it's attacking a people and i

wonder how trump understands that. he said yesterday he wants to be friends with the iranian people. i wonder, you start going after cultural things you're really going after persian history going back 6,000 years or 8,000 years. i mean you're going after the pyramids in the case of egypt. you're basically saying, let's fight, it seems to be. >> look, chris, we're operating right now on the brink of war in the middle east and the problem i see with this president is that he is totally inconsistent about what he says. i mean, he talks from the gut. he tries to talk tough. he talks about going after cultural sites. at the same time they asked the secretary of state and secretary of defense and they said, no, it's against the law to go after cultural sites. finally the president says, no, we shouldn't go after cultural sites. it's those kinds of mixed messages at a time when there's

a tremendous amount of tension between the united states and iran that creates the basis for a miscalculation that can lead to war. >> thank you so much. mr. secretary, do you have a candidate for president yet? >> not yet, chris, but i just -- i just want somebody who can beat trump. that's all. >> that's fair enough. thank you so much, former secretary of defense, former everything, leon panetta. thank you, sir. good luck with the institute out there, the panetta institute. up next, more reports today of behind-the-scenes grumbling about the delay in sending those documents or those articles of impeachment. boast of them over to the senate but publicly the republicans are walking back their problems with that, with the impatience. they don't have any more impatience with pelosi. she is calling the shots at her will. she says when i'm ready i'll send them over. that's tough. that's leadership. you're watching "hardball."

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well, nancy pelosi says she's holding firm despite mitch mcconnell's plan or push to begin the president's impeachment trial. reasserting herself again today she said she still needs to see the formal terms of that trial before she allows it to begin in the senate. >> i'm not holding it

indefinitely. i'll send them over when i'm ready and that will probably be soon. we want to see what they're willing to do and the manner in which they will do it but we will not let them say, oh this, is just like clinton, fair is fair. it's not. documents, documentation, witnesses, facts, truth, that's what they're afraid of. >> well, this comes as wavering democrats appear to have gotten pelosi's message. early today congressman adam smith of washington state, for example, appeared to second-guess the speaker. >> yes, i think it is time to send the impeachment to the senate and let mitch mcconnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial. >> now, watch this. hours later smith said, i misspoke this morning. i do believe we should do everything we can to force the senate to have a fair trial. well, likewise, senate democrats today appear to be falling in line with speaker pelosi's position. here they go.

>> would you like to see the speaker send the articles over now? >> well, i think that's up to the speaker. >> trials have witnesses, cover-ups don't. it's appropriate for speaker pelosi to do everything she can to secure witnesses. >> i think she will make the right decisions at the right time. >> well, this impasse continues it's mcconnell's questionable statements last month that are still fueling the concerns at the heart of the standoff. that's because he actually admitted last month that he'd conduct a bias proceeding in favor of the president. >> everything i do during this i'm coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position. >> i'm not impartial about this at all. >> exactly how we go forward i'll coordinate with the president's lawyers. >> i'm not an impartial juror. >> i'll take my cues from the president's lawyers. >> i would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the senate. >> well, as the country awaits the president's trial in the

senate the timing could have big implications for the month ahead. you'll see what is in store coming up next. you're watching "hardball." ♪ limu emu & doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ]

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welcome back to "hardball." with the schedule -- while the schedule of trump's impeachment trial is still in the hands of nancy pelosi clearly the timing carries big implications for the month ahead. this month even as it starts by next tuesday, for example, look at the calendar. you only have three weeks there. that would leave just three weeks until the state of the union which is the fourth circled right there the day after the iowa caucuses which is that monday the 3rd giving mcconnell more reason to push for a quick acquittal. that schedule would give democrats three weeks until the iowa caulks and a month until the new hampshire primary a week after that taking five presidential candidates offer the campaign trail. the senators can't campaign while sitting in their chairs. in other words, we're already looking at a collision of major

events in the month coming. joined by geoff bennett who did a great job substituting looking good and michael steele from the republican side, former spokesman for house speaker john boehner and former chief of staff to nancy pelosi. i'll give you a chance to shine for the old boss. everybody thought it was brilliant by her to hold this thing up because it has shined a big light on this awful behavior by mitch mcconnell saying i'm the president's -- at what point does her power dissipate? how long can she -- she said i'll do it when i'm ready. >> she he knows that. as long as we're hear talking about about the trial and the fairness she can continue to do this. as long as democrats remain in line, the point she has to get

out of this thing, the trial is going to be tainted unless mitch mcconnell agrees to -- >> suppose he never agrees and just goes ahead and goes mum. >> republicans will talk process and democrats will talk about a -- >> what i was watching, good work, okay. speaker and i agree with you up to a point. here's the question, i watch serious senators the other day and congressman smith and a lot of people like dianne feinstein and they're all back in line after several hours. look at this picture of lyndon johnson with his dog holding the dog up by its ears. that is what it looked like. >> look. >> michael, it looks like the democrats were told, get back in line. >> of course, they were because this is a stunt. it only works if they maintain -- >> a stunt. >> they said it's a powerful position. >> that's what he's going to say. >> look, mitch mcconnell doesn't want to impeach the president, therefore he doesn't want articles of impeachment from the house and she's threatening to

withhold he doesn't want like saying i have a sack full of skunks and you don't get it unless you do what i want you to do. stupid strategy. >> here's the question, suppose jeff an objective person here, suppose senator kaine from virginia which he promised to do exploits a privileged motion and calls for the call, you know, subpoena of the witness, john bolton. how do republicans senators who are at the edge of being defeated for re-election this november vote against it. >> schumchuck schumer said they standing with him to start it without witnesses will stand with him as it progresses when there is a question about whether we call witnesses and chuck schumer said this question of we'll deal with this later. later might not ever come and the house -- >> isn't it a privileged motion for any senator to say i want to bring in john bolton by subpoena? >> you're right about that. it is. but the thinking now is that those republicans who democrats had hoped would break with them likely won't.

but here's the other part. this is the reason why one of the reasons why the speaker is still delaying the transmission of the articles of impeachment. mitch mcconnell has said he wants the trump trial to mirror the clinton process. well, the clinton process had a thing in it called a motion to dismiss which is what it sounds like and there's a concern that republicans, namely mitch mcconnell will try to introduce that toward the beginning of the process, not near the middle or towards the end so that's one reason why democrats are trying to negotiate that motion to dismiss. >> you know this as well as anybody. this weird calendar. nadeam, we have important events coming up like the picking of a democratic candidate to beat the president that begins at the all important iowa caucuses which you know and everybody here knows has become a great predictor of who is the nominee. winning that baby and you're probably going to be the nominee. we're all watching that. at the same time we know the night after that in washington coming out of iowa will be a state of the union address. watched by every american.

can a president be in the act of being tried at the same time he's addressing the country -- the state of the union is great, of course, i'm in ray trial right now. what kind of situation is that. >> a couple things. one, i don't think president trump would ever pass up an opportunity to be on tv so he will go to the state of the union. he will deliver the state of the union. he will stick to the script that he usually does? and the speaker will introduce him. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> absurd. >> absolutely she will do that. but in terms of the presidential and term of the trial the people that get hurt the most are the democratic senators who are running. >> i agree. senator lindsey graham not running for president who has said he'll vote to acquit the president, already said that today threatened to move forward without the articles of impeachment. here goes lindsay. >> if she doesn't deliver the articles of impeachment, my goal is to do it without her and get this thing done. >> how do you move forward with the senate trial without the articles of impeachment? >> you'd have to change the rules. >> is he a victim of the

invasion of the body snatchers? what happened to that guy. >> different from what you would have expected a few years ago. >> what happened to lindsey graham? he'll do anything now. his tail wags no matter what the president says. >> he likes to be part of the conversation and relevant and wants to get re-elected. >> you have to do that in south carolina. >> in order to get through the primary, yes. >> i was going to say he's running for re-election and knows president trump is more popular in south carolina than he, lindsey graham, is popular in south carolina. so all of his decisions are made through that prism. >> we'll have his opponent coming on, jamie harrison coming tomorrow only a couple points behind him according to some polls. kind of hard to believe. geoff bennett, great job on "hardball." michael steele and nadeam elshami, thanks. what is shaping up to be a knockdown drag out fight for votes in the early primary states. it is getting strange. steyer is back. tom steyer is back in the debate. you're watching "hardball."

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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. ♪ welcome back to "hardball." less than a month now until the iowa caucus. it's coming up. the new hampshire primary a week later. polls in early states show that the democratic presidential race, you heard it here, is wide open now. in new hampshire, for example, a new poll shows pete buttigieg, new hampshire with 20 points

followed by joe biden at 19. bernie sanders at 18, elizabeth warren at 15 and since the september poll, look at this progression, buttigieg has doubled his support, warren is down 12 points in her neighboring state because you have the media market of boston goes right into new hampshire and just out tonight two new polls from fox news and that's a good poll, by the way, in nevada and south carolina, also show warren losing ground in those states. she's now tied with or behind guess what, tom steyer. tom steyer. and elizabeth warren. because of these polls now qualified for next week's democratic debate. for more i'm joined by the senior adviser to historic campaign and the democratic pollster. i don't have anything to offer here. i've been following this like a lot of you guys since the dawn of my life and i -- all i see is more people either changing their minds, pulling back from the front-runners, a little drift to the center, a little bit. but i'm not sure. >> see what happens in campaigns, right?

you have a back and forth and people move, right? one of the things i always say, look, i'm a pollster but people obsess about the horse race number way too early. >> it's three weeks, four weeks out. >> we've been we have been obse this for the last four or five months, right? >> excuse me. sportscasters obsess about sports. i obsess about politics. so, look, i thought there was a pattern here. i thought elizabeth warren was really strong a month or two ago. >> things happen. >> i thought she was going to jump to the left of ernie and he was going to be yesterday's news. he's coming back. >> really quickly, the debates matter, right? and debates mattered a lot for her. the attacks that you saw them leveling both klobuchar, mayor pete and biden leveling at her about her health care plan, they hurt her. clearly it helped mayor pete who wanted that lane anyway.

there is two things helping mayor pete. in a democratic primary there is always this outsider, challenger. i think sanders had that lane last time against hillary and rosa and to a certain extent mayor pete is trying to capture that right now. >> what do you think about a guy who is 37 years old. he represents the 300th size city in the country who question him saying why aren't we going with people with more experience. why are we going with a new kid on the plok. he had 8,000 votes in his election. that's his claim to fame. >> it's incredible. think about the fact that at this time last year he was virtually unknown. he had no donor base. he had no name id, and he raised $76 million in 2019. it is really significant. and he's winning in iowa and new hampshire right now. >> both. >> we're talking about, by the way, what we're obsessing over

about, you know, the horse race, what we're also obsessing over is the first four states. we have to keep in mind, chris, and you both know this, 5% of the delegates will be awarded in this primary contest after the first four states. 40% will be awarded after super tuesday, largely more diverse. >> mike bloomberg is already leading in michigan. >> you said iowa was a determiner. it historically has been. i think you will see iowa and new hampshire mean so very little moving down the road historically. i think donald trump turned over sort of the tables in the primaries last time around. i think you will see the tables turned over in the primaries again this time around. when you look at the states that are much more diverse going into march, i think pete is going to -- mayor pete is going to struggle and elizabeth warren will struggle because they have struggled to connect with minority voters. >> you won't have a front runner that comes out of the first four

states. >> today buttigieg announced his first endorsement from the member of the congressional black caucus. we know him. he ran for the governorship recently. this comes as buttigieg struggled with support from african-american voters. he says african-american voters only need to learn more about buttigieg's record as mayor and his, quote, forward-looking vision. here is the congressman. >> he worked with a coalition, a diverse coalition to address housing issued. he reduced unemployment in the african-american community by 70%, poverty by 40%. when he takes that experience, eight years as a mayor and couples that with a forward look in vision, he will be very attractive to the african-american community. >> i wonder. i don't know, cornell. because he's young. he's gay. he's married to a man. it's all in the public record now.

there is no hiding his baseball card. why is he not working with the african-american community? >> i think if you look at the troubles that he's had there in his city with the african-american community, it is kind of hard to argue that you can make a profound sort of resonating case broadly with african-american voters when you are having so much trouble with african-american voters right in your own city. >> what does it mean to you when you say in this case a white candidate doesn't know how to -- he doesn't have finesse. he doesn't have the chemistry. what do you think is his problem? >> i think his problem is you have seen the african-americans in his city rebel against him. >> firing the police commissioner. >> right. you have seen him have a lot of issues. and, look, the social media is not doing any justice. i have heard the influences on social media make this case. if you can't solve for criminal justice reform in your own city, how can we trust you on the national stage? >> who do you see winning? >> the overall race?

>> well, the first couple months. >> i think it will come down between biden and bernie sanders. biden will represent the moderates. bernie sanders is going to be able to coaless the progressive wing of the party, and we will see the two of them battle it out. >> the more we talk war, the more it helps bernie. >> with our eyes on australia right now, trump dons his blindfold. you're watching "hardball." (whistling)

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as i speak to you tonight, fires continue to burn across australia, the land down under that looms as the current climate catastrophe. just look at that. president trump was given the opportunity today to expand his views on climate change. here's what he had to say. >> it's a very serious subject. i want clean air. i want clean water. i want the cleanest air with the cleanest water. the environment is very important to me. >> here is what he did today. he deposed degrading half century old environmental impact statements. he proposed killing the ability of local communities, native tribes and others to delay or block mining, drilling infrastructural construction in order to protect the environment. trump did all this to speed the digging of new mines, new

pipelines and other projects that harm the environment. it's a classic case of a politician. in this case, the country's top politician saying what he knows people want to hear but doing what he sees as in his political interest, not much more to say. and that's "hardball" for now. all in with chris hayes starts now. >> tonight -- >> they said it was a mistake for the senate even to have a debate about the president's war powers. we've got constitution. >> congress moves to check the president. >> this is a statement of the congress of the united states. >> as the house votes on a war powers resolution. >> to protect american lives and values, we are passing today a war powers resolution. >> tonight how the president has lost public opinion on his escalation of the iran crisis, unpacking the wild attacks from the people defendin