you are not going to be interfering in american elections. >> not only very different tone than president trump obviously, but also a reflection that sanders now confirms he was briefed by intelligence officials about russian meddling, suggesting that it's been going on for a while. that's one update. i'll be back here at 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. "hardball" is up next. >> to bernie or not to bernie? let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening, i'm chris mathews back in washington. vermont senator bernie sanders has big momentum now after a commanding win in saturday's nevada caucus. now with just five days until the south carolina primary, sanders is looking to build an even bigger lead as the race heads to super tuesday, a week from tomorrow. while his moderate rivals try to

elbow each other out. there is a new nbc poll showing a tight race between joe biden and bernie sanders in south carolina. much more on that in a moment. before we get into tonight's news, i want to say something quite personal. as i watched one sided results of the caucus in nevada, irreached for a historical analogy and used a bad one. i was bad to refer to an event from the last days or the first days of world war ii. senator sanders, i'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the jewish people to ee elected result in which you were a well deserved winner. this is going to be a hard fought heated campaign of ideas. in the weeks and months ahead i will strive to do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion. congratulations, by the way to you, senator sanders, and your supporters on a tremendous win down in nevada. as i mention, there is a new nbc news marist poll of likely

democratic voters in south carolina tonight that shows joe biden leading at 27%. he's fallen at 23%, a 4-point difference, an amazing poll, a six-point margin of error. i don't know what's going on down there. tom steyer is 15% followed by pete buttiegieg at 9 elizabeth warren at 8, amy klobuchar at 5%. among african americans, biden still holds a double digit lead, 35%. that's in south carolina, with senator sanders at 20% and steyer at 19%. very close. and the rest in single digits. again, biden is expecting to get a big boost this week. this is one of the leaders of the country that really has something to say, some real clout. south carolina congressman jim clyburn, the majority whip of the democratic house, he's apparently going to endorse the vice-president. they've been friends for years. thor wi the wind is at sanders' back.

his rival was joe biden. sanders big win, what the washington post calls a reckoning for the democratic party. this is for the post. democrats are entering a season of open warfare of whether sanders is equipped to beat trump and what could be a brutal general election. that's "the washington post." sanders's rivals are sharpening their attacks. >> senator sanders believes in an inflexible ideological revolution that leaves out most democrats not to mention most americans. >> he has great supporters, i don't disagree with that. but we have to be able to win and win senate seats as well. i don't think he can beat donald trump and get a democratic senate and keep a democratic house. >> a massive rally last night in texas. 14 states voting on super tuesday. senator sanders said it will propel him to victory come

november. >> that is the establishment's nightmare, that people are standing up for justice. that is what this campaign is about, and that's why we're going to beat trump. >> joined by new york mayor bill de blasio who endorsed bernie sanders. donna edwards a contributing columnist for the washington post. mayor de blasio, big mo, something we learned from george herbert walker bush. how does it look right now, do you think you've got it locked? >> chris, there's a long way to go. if there is any candidate, you'd rather be bernie sanders than anyone else right now. amazing victory in nevada. more important he formed a multi generational coalition. he's turning out latino voters in an amazing way. he was right on joe bidens' heels in nevada. progressive voters, and now the

poll you put out for south carolina which was supposed to be a walk for joe biden is now neck and neck. something powerful is going on here and i think what the establishment is missing, chris, is they don't understand that voting is emotional. people have to feel something. bernie is tapping into something and getting the kind of turnout and energy that i think is going to be transcendent, not just in south carolina. california, texas, north carolina. this is what we need to beat donald trump. and i actually think the establishment should look at 2016 and say, wait a minute, we didn't have that in 2016. we lost democratic voters to trump. we lost a lot of people who stayed home, people of color, younger voters, progressive voters. bernie can bring all that back and give us a pathway to victory. >> what's the connection between -- i know a lot of rank and file culinary workers voted for bernie this saturday even though their union was holding back and saying we're not making an endorsement because of the issue of the health plan they've already won by contract. then there's you. you're not a kid.

you're a grown up. tell me what you have in common with those kids like the war, tuition being expensive. they have generational concerns. how do you as an adult connect with that? >> i have kids. >> you said it's multi generational. >> it's multi generational. i have a 22-year-old and 25-year-old. climate change. let's start right there. i believe bernie and his embrace of the green new deal and the forcefulness with which he talks about climate change will address it, it will determine the lives of my children. it's very easy for me to feel strongly that a guy who has been a consistent progressive his whole life actually stands for something. no one doubts he's the real thing. what you see is what you get with bernie sanders. and is drawing people into the political process. look, in 2008 it was barack obama who brought young people in, who brought african americans out in record numbers.

that's how we had the opportunity to win in 2008. we're going to have the same opportunity in 2020 to beat trump if that kind of passion and energy, a movement really, is our campaign, not business as usual. the american people do not want a status quo and i feel this as a parent, where you have to wonder if the next generation is going to be worse off than your own generation. that's what most americans think right now. and bernie clearly speaks to the profound change people want. i think it's a i don't say the spectrum. >> mayor, hang out. you write the main story for the front page of a newspaper that shows up in your hotel room every day across the country in usa. do people want a change, revolutionary or radical change from the past or do they want a designated driver? a democrat to get them home safe? >> if they wanted a designated driver joe biden would do better than he's done in this race. the question i think democrats are having with bernie sanders

now, is he donald trump in that he'll strike a chord or is he mcgovern to lead the democrats to a catastrophic election returns in november? i think it's hard to know. you see him generating a lot of enthusiasm as the mayor was saying. he's got a core of support. he did show breadth of support this time around. but he's also, he's also a democratic socialist who supports medicare for all, who speaks fondly of castro's reforms in cuba. those are things that may be a hard sell with parts of the electorate that democrats may need. >> he talks about -- excuse me. he talks about enlarging the voter pool to bring young people in, people that haven't voted for years, people don't like the way this country has been running the last 30, 40 years. that is a real hard sell because the people that tend to go to church tend to go to church. the ones that tend to vote tend to vote. how do you change that dramatically? get them registered to vote, new

people? >> one of the things we saw with barack obama's candidacy, even the young people who were showing up at the polls, there were many more of them had shown up before. i do think it's possible for the top of the ticket to really motivate that. i don't know that we've really seen that yet in these three contests because voter turnout has been, you know, slightly higher -- >> it wasn't good in iowa, it was good in new hampshire. >> we don't know that yet. what we know is it's going to take not voting against someone, but something and someone to vote for. and if somebody wants to beat bernie sanders, then they're going to need to come out and beat him and not scare people away from him and hope that's going to -- >> it's going to be a nasty election, negative in both directions. today the biden campaign released a digital ad accusing senator sanders of trying to

undermine president obama with a 2012 primary challenge. >> when we rally together to defend our president and all the progress he made, they had his back. he had his back. and you had his back. but back in washington, there was one guy with another plan. >> i think it would be a good idea if president obama face some primary opposition. >> bernie sanders was seriously thinking about challenging our first african-american president in a primary. when it comes to building on president obama's legacy, bernie sanders just can't be trusted. >> what do you make of that, mayor? >> i think that's a little desperate, chris. look, talk about what we need to do to build on president obama's legacy. well, of course, we have to defeat donald trump. we have to build the kind of grassroots coalition that president obama built and believe -- and i think donna's right, that we can bring in young people. we can turnout more people of

color. we can change the electoral map. it happened in nevada. this party is evolving constantly. things like medicare for all represent what a vast number of democrats want. they want to make sure there's universal health care. you can quibble over details. they want to make sure people get health care when they need it. they want to make sure there is an aggressive approach to climate change. this party right now wants to take what we've done in the past and go far beyond because right now people are hurting in this country. and, look, how can we be beat by donald trump who actually in 2016 ran to hillary's left some of the time, got people feeling like he was the guy who was going to take on the elites. obviously that was a snow job. bernie is the real thing. i think what's going to happen is everyday people, including a lot of those voters who strayed to trump, are going to say okay, this guy is actually on the side of working people. he actually means it. and they're going to be moved by

that. we cannot afford to put up a candidate who cannot move people emotionally to vote. and i think that's the lesson of 2016. >> well, the fracture field on the moderate side continue to split. after third place in new hampshire, amy klobuchar, the senator from minnesota, finished 6th in nevada. she told reporters she's not going anywhere. >> when you look at the actual number of people who have cast a vote, i have the third biggest number. so why would i get out? that's not even a close call for me. and i think why would you have a call for the two women to get out when you have two billionaires in the race? >> nbc news reports that klobuchar's campaign has a new delicate strategy ahead of super tuesday. quote, focus on smaller states less frequently visited by the candidates. less liberal and less diverse. you know what's different except maybe i'm part of the

establishment now, i'll accept that. it used to be when you went to the democratic events -- i've been sneaking into them since '64 -- '64 -- '64 atlantic city. they had pictures of kennedy and truman, and obama. we salute the democratic world back to -- there is no ancestor worship. whatever you want to call it. that tradition, legacy, we'll do it again. as the mayor said, it's revolutionary, it's new, we want to do stuff. a separation of the past. what's going on? >> i don't think we've gotten to the convention to know that, have democrats embracing all of our past heroes. hopefully we can add a couple heroines in there. >> hillary clinton. >> i do think it's going to be really important to have what i describe as an ideological consolidation of the party.

we used to talk about geographic consolidations. this is not going to be the year for that. whoever gets the top of the ticket is going to have to figure out how to bridge the ideological divide. and i'm not really sure -- >> that is the argument. >> i absolutely do. >> do you think bernie sanders would pick a non-progressive, somebody known as a moderate for a running mate? >> the honest answer is who knows. >> what are you doing here? mayor, i'll ask you. you're part of the coalition up there. do you think bernie will pick a fellow person like himself or go in the middle and balance things out? >> it's too early. >> you say you're riding, you're going to win this thing. >> chris, my personal view, i haven't asked him. my personal view is he would choose a progressive. an important point to your previous question. look at bernie's work in

vermont. he worked with senators, independents, he worked with john mccain to pass federal legislation to help veterans. don't paint bernie with too simple a brush. he is a solid consistent progressive that believes in something. i think you've seen this over the years, chris. some people up who have an ideology are much easier to work with across the aisle. you know where they stand. >> that's actually true. >> i've seen his relationships with other senators up close. i think he will work to bring this party together. by the way, in philadelphia at the convention last time, bernie did everything you would ask a candidate to do in deferring to hillary clinton, calling for acclimation, showing respect for her. i think that more moderate democrats will do the same for bernie. i think the hype here of the ideological division has to be looked at in the prism of if someone clearly wins, right now that's bernie sanders, if we get to a place, we have to get rid

of donald trump and put issues aside. if you look at the things that have been voted on in the u.s. senate, vast majority of democrats would agree on those things and i think we can get together. >> my friend, mr. mayor, you said something nobody is smart enough to say. the ideological leader, whether it's franklin roosevelt -- not donald trump, he's not an ideologue. ronald reagan, tip o'neal. you can gorsuch from a principled position. everybody follows you because they think you're 3reprincipled. you have the street cred. that person has such cred because they are leader of a principled position. you're right. i never heard anybody else say that. you're right. i agree with you. mayor bill de blasio of new york city. thank you, susan page and donna edwards. coming up, senator sanders is coming under fire today from democrats and republicans for these comments on fidel castro.

>> it's unfair to simply say everything is bad. you know, when if i dead castro came into office, you know what he did? he had a massive literacy program. is that a bad thing even though fidel castro did it me? a lot a lot of dissidents were imprisoned. >> information will be withheld or denied like trump's national security advisor denying russia is trying to help trump get re-elected. here he goes. >> look, who knows what happened at the house and the intelligence committee. i haven't seen any evidence russia is doing anything to attempt to get president trump re-elected. >> see no evil. we have much more to get to tonight. stick with us. e your hand! i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual!

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he's here. bill? karolyn? nope! no, just a couple of rocks. download the my account app to manage your appointments making today's xfinity customer service simple, easy, awesome. i'll pass. welcome back to "hardball." senator sanders' growing lead in the fight here is causing concern among some congressional

democrats who worry he is the nominee -- as the nominee he could hurt the party's chances of winning back the senate this november and maybe keep them from getting the majority in the house. some democrats are telling nbc news, quote, having sanders at the top of the ticket could drive away suburban voters who favored democrats in the mid term elections and the small number of closely divided districts and put potential senate seats out of reach in gop-leading states. joe clyburn echoed those concerns over the weekend. >> if you look at how well we did the last time and look at the congressional districts, these were not liberal or what you might call progressive districts. these are basically moderate and conservative districts that we did well in. and in those districts it's going to be tough to hold onto these jobs if you have to make the case for accepting a self-proclaimed democratic

socialist. >> democrats captured the house majority in 2018 with a net gain of 41 seats including 31 districts won by trump in 2016. that's quite a pickup. sanders dismissed those concerns telling reporters we're going to have to get young people more involved in the political process and expand minority voting. we have the campaign to do that. they'll be eager to get every single democrat -- i think there is a verb missing there. everybody to the socialist label. take a look at how they plan to do it. >> so, if bernie sanders is the nominee, you could be closer to speaker. >> it's not because of bernie sanders is the nominee. it's because of what they embrace. they embrace bernie sanders's policy. they embrace socialism. they're just embarrassed of bernie. >> former director of paid media for hillary for america. and kristen hawn, blue dog democrats. if you take suburban its, it's a

coat. it generally means white, upper middle class or upper-upper middle class. it means people have jobs, life insurance and pay decent amount of taxes who don't want to pay more taxes, want to keep their health insurance and have a job. >> yep. >> how does bernie grab those votes? it's a challenge. >> it's a challenge. i was listening to the mayor before. i struggle to see how -- i get that he's a change candidate. i don't agree, how somehow mayor buttigieg, gay man running for president is also -- right. i'm struggling to see how these voters -- >> voting for a gay candidate isn't going to hurt you financially. i mean, these are different cultures. i think the suburbs is ready for a day leader. >> they are. they're doing well. we had to make the case in the midterms. and we saw people in these

districts, the justice came in -- spin-off from the bernie organization from awhile back -- and lost by and large these primaries. i don't see how all of a sudden they're voting for a socialist. >> i think a lot of voters 18, 14, whatever, they'll vote for national health insurance, medicare for all, the label. it's the same thing. i want that, i want that, that's good. republican runs in the presidential election, says i'm not going to let your taxes go up. i want na, too. they may want both. they want the republican advantage financially and the social programs the democrats are for. that may explain why voters splflip back and forth. >> there are always competing interests. i remember when it was toxic to talk about obamacare. these things change over

elections. elections are dynamic. primaries are supposed to be messy. they're laboratories. here's the thing about sanders. i think establishment democrats have to start looking toward the future and stop looking toward the past. i am an establishment democrat. i've worked for hillary clinton, harry reid, john edwards. i can see a path to bernie sanders building a winning coalition. i'm not saying he's absolutely going to do it. i'm saying there is a way that bernie sanders can stitch together a winning coalition -- >> what is it isn't that? >> i think expanding the latino -- he did that in nevada. look and see what he's going to do in california. let me be very clear. i'm not a bernie surrogate. i'm unaffiliated in this primary. democrats have to get their heads out of the clouds a little bit and see there is a candidate that can be a movement candidate-- >> to be totally brutal, how do you get the haves and have notes to vote for the same candidate? >> i think it's a mixture of the

issues. you have to be aspirational. that's one thing we do know. you have to talk about how people are hurting. we can see that, too. and trump only talks about how people hurt. >> by the way, that's what bernie does, all of that. >> midterm victory, everybody talks about 2018 in part because they increased support among white men and educated women. sanders does the worst among those women in hypothetical match up against president trump. the worst. he leads by 2 points within the margin of error in that category. they all beat trump by ten points or more. we've said that before, white women in the burbs. i think they'd be turned off by trump's indecency. his attitude toward women, what do you call it, loesch behavior. i don't think that's enough to carry the day.

>> i think they can build a strategy around we're going to get these sometimes trumpers, independents predisposed to trump because of economics. those we went after for hillary clinton and didn't go out way, i don't know if you build a strategy. most build middle in. we should build progressive out, build progressive and sell to moderate. >> during his interview with "60 minutes" last night, senator sanders criticized the authoritarian nature of cuba, authoritarian nature of that country. but complimented some of fidel castro's educational things. >> it's unfair to say everything is bad. when fidel castro came into office, you know what he did? he had a massive literacy program. is that a bad thing even though fidel castro did it? >> dissidents in prison didn't. >> and we condemned that.

let's be clear. i don't think kim jong-un is a good friend. i don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator. vladimir putin, not a great friend of mine. >> the comments were sharply criticized in south florida with hundreds of thousands of cuban exiles. help me out. debby who flipped a heavily cuban republican district in 2018, tweeted, as the first south american immigrant who represents thousands of cuban-americans, i find bernie sanders' comments unacceptable. he clearly and consistently criticized his authoritarianism. he's acknowledging cuba made progress especially in education. of course, the castro record begins with a lot of firing squads and stuff like that. this guy and the lack of

political flee dom down there, that's a big hurdle. >> you saw swift and harsh rebuke of what he said last night by leaders in florida specifically. look at florida >> they lost their country. they lost their country. >> stephanie murphy is a vietnamese immigrant herself. >> again, it's generational. the younger cuban-americans do not have -- >> even someone open to bernie sanders, that's problematic. his dough mystic agenda, socialism, that socialism, that's not problematic. he has to clean up his campaign. >> he's consistent. i let bernie speak for himself. thank you. up next, are we going to do all we can to prevent outside interference in the election? trump was more upset that our intelligence agencies briefed

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intelligence community. this began when congress received a classified briefing that the kremlin has a preference for trump while also intending to help bernie sanders in the democratic primaries. trump not only said he disbelieved that russia would help him, but in a stunning reprizal, he asked that his acting director of intelligence joseph mcguire for telling him, telling congress. trump's tendency to shoot the messenger puts the people that work for him in a precarious official. according to three officials, trump's violent reaction could cause advisors to withhold unsettling information. ominously one said some believe the president can't be trusted with this politically sensitive information any more. now trump's national advisor is questioning what the intelligence committee was told in the classified briefing. yesterday roberto brian said he's willing to believe russia would aid bernie sanders, but

hasn't seen anything to suggest, guess what, that russia is helping trump. a how >> how is russia interfering in the 2020 election? >> there are reports they want bernie sanders to get elected president. that's no surprise. he honeymooned him in moscow. i haven't seen any intelligence russia is doing anything to attempt to get president trump re-elected. why would they want him re-elected? that doesn't make any sense to me. >> mcguire's ouster comes as a so called hit list, like that phrase, of officials he wants to purge from the u.s. government. that's coming up next. you're watching "hardball." is a. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40%

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welcome back to "hardball." after removing joseph mcguire from the country's top intelligence job, president trump chose a political loyalist richard grenell to replace him. now we are learning there could be more politically motivated shake-ups to come. axios is reporting, for example,

the white house has assembled detailed lists, wonderful, lists of disloyal government officials to oust and trusted pro-trump people to replace them with. aides say the president crossed a psychological line he calls the deep state. he feels justice to state to defense to homeland security is filled with snakes. that's the word. i'm joined now by democratic congressman of illinois, member of the house intelligence community. charlie sykes, editor at large. i don't know, it is very nixonian. you don't get rid of your intel. you could get in real trouble. you don't know when the revelations are coming, who is hated, who is about to be toppled. you really don't know what you're doing. >> that's right. he says that they're snakes in his administration. i agree the white house is a

snake pit. but you don't go around getting rid of truth tellers. you don't fire mcguire because he told the truth about what's happening with potentially 2020 election interference. i think that the viewers of this program probably already understand that the director of national intelligence was formed back in -- after the failures of 9/11 and the weapons of mass destruction debacle with regard to iraq. and the american people wanted their intelligence community to come together and have people who could get it right. and if we don't get it right, we're going to have similar failures in the future and that's absolutely not the direction the american people want. charlie, you know, that was a good point by the congressman. get rid of the stove piping. each agency had its own source of information and kept it to themselves. we didn't know what was going on before 9/11.

we knew more than we acted on, but we didn't know enough. the president doesn't want the stove pipe to point to him. it's an astounding fact. >> it's astounding, and dangerous. this isn't about political inviting. this is about national security. you have the president bending intelligence agencies about not protecting us or our country or national security, but protecting him and from inconvenient information. to turn paranoia into a personnel policy is something that ought to be of tremendous concern. i'm glad you're spending time on this. i almost get a sense we are numd. this has become normalized. think about a president telling intelligence agencies, if you tell me anything i don't want to hear or if you tell the american people threats they face that are inconvenient to me, i'm going to sack you and i'm going to surround myself with loyalists regardless of their

qualifications, regardless of their background because all that matters is loyalty. not effectiveness, not patriotism, but rank loyalty to him. >> i keep thinking of the wonderful memo, al qaeda to attack in the united states within like a week before 9/11. anybody acted on it? trump's legal advisor would like to see trump re-elected. one current person said it overstated showing intelligence preference for trump. the members of congress are briefed. the kremlin, russia's putin want trump. is that the same as they attempt to make sure they intervene in the election process to make sure he is? >> i have to be careful and not comment on the details of the briefing and what was said. what i can say is based on

everything we know about the published reports, there are two conclusions everyone in the intelligence community that has come to us and reported to the public has said russia did interfere in 2016 to advantage trump. and two, they're interfering and plan to interfere again in 2020. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't seem to buy into either of those conclusions right now. that is what's deeply disturbing in the aftermath. >> but they will. i'm watching this. it sounds like "fox and friends" has taken over everything now. yeah, but i do believe they're helping bernie sanders. on a honeymoon, went on the sister cities thing. they'll say that, but if it has trump involved, they won't admit that. how do they get half information? your thoughts. >> the national security advisor is making it a trumpesque

comment when he assesses the intelligence. what's interesting, bernie told the russians to stay away from them. they don't want their help. i would like to hear the president of the united states say the same thing. i don't think we'll hear that. >> thank you. congressman and charlie sykes. up next a major milestone in the #metoo movement. he is convicted of two counts of sexual assault. could put him in jail for 25 years. you're watching "hardball."

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welcome back to "hardball." hollywood producer harvey weinstein was found guilty today of sexual assault in a new york court. in a milestone moment for the #metoo movement which took off after reports in 2017 of allegations of the powerful hollywood producer. there he is in the picture. he was convicted of a criminal act in the first degree in the case of merriam haley who said weinstein forced a sex act on her. he was won viktored of third degree rape in the case of jessica man that he raped her in a new york hotel. he was found not guilty of physical force or immediate harm

in the case. he was found not guilty on predatory assault which required a pattern of assault. allegations were too old to be prosecuted on their own. in a press conference, manhattan district attorney sy vance talked about the bravery of the women who spoke out against weinstein. >> this is the new landscape of sexual assault in america, i believe, and this is a new day. it's a new day because harvey weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed. to the survivors of harvey weinstein, i owe and we all owe an immense debt to you who had the courage beyond measure to speak your story to the world. >> after the verdict today, weinstein was handcuffed and remanded to jail. he was originally supposed to go to rikers island, but his

spokesperson told nbc news tonight he was instead transferred to bellevue hospital in new york city. that's in manhattan. nbc does not know why he was diverted. weinstein faces between 5 and 25 years in prison now and will be sentenced on march 11th. he maintains his innocence, of course, and his lawyers say they'll appeal the court's decision today. however, he faces additional charges of assault in los angeles pending that trial. i'm joined by katie fang, an nbc contributor. and ron allen. it's a grim day, a good day in many ways. what was it like covering this case? the historic significance of it must have been there. >> it felt like a huge big day outside the courtroom today, chris. it was a day that people thought would never come because going into this trial, the expectation was he might be acquitted. the most complicating factor was the accusers maintained relationships with weinstein

after the criminal act happened. that made their stories and relationships with him more complicated. but the prosecution was able to put forward testimony from six different women who essentially told the same story. and the weight of that obviously convinced the jury that weinstein was a predator. now he is a convicted sex offender. he is at bellevue for some kind of medical care. his attorneys made the point he has a litany of medical issues they argued he should not be sent to prison. he's on his way to rikers island,. the me too activist, he's going to be in prison for a long time. >> it's not a good place to be for a sex offense. let me go to katie fang. big shots don't go to jail. most people think poor people go to jail. there is a reverse of fortunate.

finally a big shot goes. your thoughts, katie, watching this trial? >> it's an incredible result. harvey weinstein was the iconic face for the me too movement. cosby was convicted. everybody wanted to see what would happen. they had the courage and bravery to bring their stories to life. no matter what happens on march 11 with judge james burke, whether he gets 5 years or 25 years, harvey weinstein is 67 years old. any significant prison sentence will be a very difficult one from him, but then l.a. is interested in harvey weinstein. four felonies are pending against him there, he's facing up to 28 years in prison in california and they're just waiting for the sentencing to be over before they extradite him to california from new york. >> the people who get into

trouble with his power and money have the best lawyers. against the publicly paid district attorneys and things like that, prosecutors, how did it work like that? how did the goods guys win? >> you should never under estimate the power of a good prosecutor. government lawyers are some of the best law firms in the world. the credit goes to the victims themselves. they came forward about incidents in 2006 and 2013 and they were fearful of being discredited. this trial wasn't focused on a woman dragged into an alley and assaulted. this were violated by harvey weinstein because of his wealth. his team started with benjamin broth man at the beginning. the new york district attorney's office decided to take a chance and bring charges. perhaps they would say their

game plan failed by calling annabella shora. she was trying to bolster the sexual assault charges. the jury didn't find him guilty. 20 to 25 years is nothing to sneer at. i'm confident the judge will launch him when it comes to sentencing on march 11. >> ron, did you get a sense there was deal making in the jury room? >> no, not really. they deliberated over five days. they did come back friday saying they were hung on the sexual predator charge, but by saying that, we knew they had apparently found him guilty of the one of the underlying charges. now we know it was two. obviously there is some back and forth and very emotional time in the jury room. weinstein seemed stunned by the outcome of all this. his lawyer said he was sitting there saying, i'm innocent, i'm

inland. how does this happen in america? it was a strong message sent to him. these cases, then there's los angeles. there are more women out there who may still come forward. the d.a. here in new york and elsewhere are looking at cases. there are cases they're looking at in london swlt. >> he may be spending the rest of his life in court trying to stay out of the prison. it's a big day for me too movement, survivors of his attacks, alleged a tttacks. hopefully victims of sexual assault will be believed and taken seriously and the expectation of hope things will change in the criminal justice system. >> an historic day all around. thank you, katie fang, ron allen. we'll be back in a minute. you're watching "hardball." [happy birthday music]

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democratic presidential candidates will debate tomorrow night in charleston, south carolina. ahead of that state's primary this saturday. seven candidates will take the stage tomorrow night. joe biden, michael bloomberg, pete buttiegieg, senator bernie sanders, senator elizabeth warren, senator amy klobuchar and tom steyer. it will be the last debate before super tuesday primaries on march 3rd. this lb the second time mike bloomberg takes the stage even though he is not competing in

that state. south carolina is the final chance for democrats that didn't excel in the first three races to prove themselves to voters and pickup votes in their campaign. i'll be back for "hardball" and post debate coverage with the candidates. that's "hardball." thanks shall for being with us. all-in with chris hayes starts right now. >> tonight on "all in." how senator bernie sanders won a blow-out victory in nevada and became the disputed front runner. >> i will agree with that. >> how to make out the bernie sanders freak out. >> they should be getting nervous. >> the trump purge of disloyal officials is as bad as it looks. and as coronavirus cases grow outside of china, global markets panic, what the trump administration should be doing and it's not. >> we have it under control.

it's going to be just