Well, i feel badly for general flynn. I feel very badly. He has led a very strong life. And i feel very badly, john. I will say this. Hillary clinton lied many times to the fbi. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and they destroyed his life. I think its a shame. Hillary clinton on the fourth of july weekend went to the fbi not under oath. It was the most incredible thing anyones ever seen. She lied many times. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and its like they ruined his life. Its very unfair. Well, Hillary Clinton was interviewed over the fourth of july weekend back in 2015. But former fbi director james Comey Told Congress earlier this year that she didnt lie to the fbi. Did Hillary Clinton lie . To the fbi . We have no basis to conclude she lied to the fbi. Did she lie to the public . Thats a question im not qualified to answer. I can speak what she said to the fbi. Did she did Hillary Clinton lie under oath . Not to the fbi. Not in a case were working. President trump spent the weekend defending himself on twitter and blasting james comey, the fbi and the Justice Department. On saturday, trump tweeted i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the fbi. In the past, the white house had only claimed flynn was fired because he lied to the Vice President. The tweet seemed to confirm that the president knew flynn had lied to the fbi, a crime, by the way, according to comey, trump asked him to drop the investigation into flynn. So he lied. He thought he discovered that flynn had lied and then asked comey to take care of the guy. Talk about obstruction. Yesterday trumps lawyer dowd said it was he who wrote the tweet, not trump. He said he mistakenly conflated flynn lying to the fbi with lying to the fbi. He then told the Washington Post that the president knew in late january flynn had probably told the fbi the same inaccurate account he gave to the Vice President. Well, also yesterday, the president took an incredible shot at his own fbi. He wrote after years of comey with the phony and dishonest clinton investigation and more running the fbi, its reputation is in tatters. Worst in history. Eric holder, the former attorney general responded, nope, not letting this go. The fbis reputation is not in tatters. Its composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great apolitical job. Youll find integrity and honesty at the fbi headquarters and not at 1600 penn avenue right now. And senator Lindsey Graham of North Carolina had this warning for president. There is an ongoing criminal investigation. Comey may be part of it. You tweeting comment regarding ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril. Id be careful if i were you, mr. President. Id watch all this. Heidi przybyla, Eugene Robinson and former fbi special agent clint watts. I want to start with heidi. It seemed to be the more ludicrous part. Whenever trump gets in trouble like the witness for the prosecution just named, its Michael Flynn coming at trump with everything hes got because he has to save his life, basically. He is going after hillary. Its classic deflection. And there is something that is not clicking there that doesnt oh dour him that its not going to work to try and discredit Hillary Clinton who is not under investigation. Its his campaign thats under investigation. And then secondly, to try and impugn the fbi. Every time there is an institution that is providing a constitutional check on his power, he goes after it, whether its judges, the news media, even the Budget Office now with his tax plan. The penitentiary too. Gene, this is the guy at war. He is like sampson in the temple. Im going to bring this place down. Yeah. Im going bring everything down. First of all, going after the fbi. How stupid is that . The fbi caught nixon. This is flailing. Hillary clinton are words that evoke a reaction among his base and among republicans in general. So its like a sugar high. He gets that sugar high from yeah, i stuck to it Hillary Clinton. But meanwhile, inexorably, the fbi and the Mueller Investigation come closer and closer and closer. And he starts flailing when something happens like flynn flipping. And he realizes that in fact this is not only not over, but its just beginning. You know, heidi, it sounds like one of those old comedy shows i would go on and just say paris hilton, and everybody will laugh. Just say it. Say kardashian. It doesnt mean anything. What it . Its just a word. Well, what he is doing is he is creating his own news here with an obstruction case. And the question is were having these discussions all day long on cable news about obstruction and how he is building an obstruction case. Point valid. But why . The why is still the much more important question of why was it worth it to tell all of these lies . And now were seeing that the collusion piece of this, piece by piece starting to be built out. And every week it seems there is a new member of the team who knew something about the discussions that were going on with the russian. Clint, lets go to the Law Enforcement part of this, clint. Here is the question. It seems to me he is going to war with the people that are the national police. Theyre the investigators. They get the facts to robert mueller. Why would he go to people who have an incentive already to go after him because he may have broken the law, but now may have an incentive institutionally forced every day by his attacks on the fbi . This is more trump first, america second. I was worried a years about russia tearing down democratic institutions. Im more worried about our president tearing down democratic institutions. He is the leader of the executive branch. He should be the one setting the tone for the fbi. He should be supporting them, pushing them in the right direction. If he does believe theyre in tatters, which i believe is absolute nonsense, the best way to go about that is be a leader, set an agenda. Instead he is going on the attack. And thats going to backfire on him. It may solidify his base. But its also undermining our country. He is actually weakening the credibility of the federal Law Enforcement agency for the entire United States. He is going to sow doubt in their ability, and he is going to hurt the ability of our Law Enforcement and judicial systems with his claims. So he is an enemy of the state whenever he is pushing against the fbi in that way. And if he finds that the fbi is in tatters, well, i would sure like to know how he would like to improve that because he has never offered anything about why its both in tatters or what he would do about it. Its a sad state of affairs. His National Security guy lies to the fbi. The president fires him for doing so and then goes to head the of the fbi asks him to let general flynn off. When he doesnt let general flynn off, he fires the head of the fbi. Trump is going to war with the fbi. Anyway, to cover up with what he did with russia. Well get to more on that. Yesterday Dianne Feinstein of california described the case against donald trump as looking more and more like obstruction of justice, which is what were talking about here. The president trying to stop the fbi from doing its job. Here she is. I think that wehat were beginning to see is the beginning to put together the case of beginning of obstruction of justice. We see this in the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place in some of the comments that are being made. I see it in the hyper frenetic attitude of the white house, the comments every day, the continual tweets. And i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey. Well, he fired the fbi director comey. The question, will he try to fire mueller . Trump doesnt always surprise us. You can usually see where he is heading. Youre laughing because he does pretty much address the ball pretty clearly. He sends the telegram message clear. He wants the public on his side, his 30 some percent to think mueller is trash shirks clearly trying to discredit the investigation. Well, maybe that his is his ultimate goal. But he has to go through many hoops before he gets there. He cant directly fire him. What you see now from far right media commentators is talking about how much money mueller is spending on this investigation. And there is still no proof of collusion. By the way, we dont know that. You mean just added 1. 5 trillion to the National Debt are worried about economy. We dont know there is no proof of collusion because were not the investigators. Yet they are trying to undermine this investigation. And impossibly, i would look for other after avenues to attack t investigation, maybe not an outright ambush of the investigation. Heidi is absolutely right. He is trying to draw this line, theyre trying to draw this line between obstruction and collusion when as you said, we dont know what mueller has on collusion. I would argue that you would make a prime facie case for obstruction at this point. He did fire the fbi director and say it was because of the russia investigation. So aside from a tweet this weekend, he did that, he said that to lester holt. But the collusion question, at least from my im not a lawyer. Just looking at the investigation, it seems to me that mueller is not anywhere near done with collusion. And in fact may be just getting started. I think thats the kind of thing he wants to hear more from flynn about. Many of the president s tweets this weekend took aim at the justice system, as i said. For example, he wrote many people in our country are asking what the Justice Department is doing going to do about the fact that totally crooked hillary, after receiving a subpoena from the United States congress, deleted and acid washed 33,000 emails. No justice. And then he said i never asked comey to stop investigating flynn. Just more fake news covering another comey lie. Well, according to james comey in february, trump told him i hope you can see your way clear to letting flynn go. What do we make of that, clibt . He is really going down to destroy all people around him, not just the fake media. Everybody else is a fake. Everybody is out of step with johnny. Everybody, whether its the independent free press, an independent judiciary, a Justice Department, and an fbi out to find out the truth, anyone who gets in his way, he turns into public dirt. Thats the strategy. Yeah, its a discrediting approach. Its what authoritarians do all around the world. Weve seen that repeatedly. Now theyre modeling their behavior off of our president which is somewhat ironic and also scary. What i think this really comes down to is what does it take to push the American People and keep our bearings straight. We just see accounts now where the special counsels office has filed for manafort, who was allegedly working with someone in russia to try and change the narrative in english in the newspaper article around his own case. This continues to go on. And its to discredit all institutions. And i dont know who that serves other than trump. I dont know how that makes America Great again. I dont know how that helps the American People. And ultimately, it leaves us divided. And the president s First Mission above all others is to unify our country that we are the United States for a reason. And we are quickly becoming the divided states of america. So he is destroying the fbi whose head he just named and had confirmed by the senate. Anyway, President Trump pounced on reports this weekend that mueller had removed one of his investigators last summer after the investigator reportedly sent Text Messages expressing antitrump political views. The investigator had also led the investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server. Trump tweeted report, antitrump fbi agent led clinton email probe. Now it all starts to make sense. Gene . [ laughter ] well, that doesnt make much sense to me. So mueller fires an fbi guy because he said some things on social media that perhaps made him look biased. So mueller does the right thing by getting rid of him. And somehow that confirms the president s view that mueller you know how backwards this is, though . It is that clinton, koiccomeys handling of the clinton investigation that the democrats all blame for some of the late shifts in the election handing the election to donald trump. So what does he mean by it all makes sense . Just one thing, though. There is not one person in the country that doesnt blame james comey what happened 11 days ago. Thats right. Im sorry, clint. Weve got toned up this segment. Thanks for coming on. Coming up, Michael Flynns guilty plea has appeared to open up several new avenues of Robert Muellers russia investigation. Weve done obstruction. Collusion starting to look very, very interesting. Plus, a leading republican strategist says impeachment is closer than you think. But would the gop actually go forward against trump . And a president who endorses an accused child molester, a top senator who attacks the working class for spend mongolia on booze, women and moves. And another says there is no money left to help poor kids get health care because of the mammoth tax cut that just gave money to the rich. Would they be saying this if it werent trump in charge . Thats the Republican Party of today. Finally, let me finish tonight with trump watch. No, he is not going to like it. This is hardball, where the action is. Person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions and open up a world of possibilities. Save 30 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com work on the cloud with open technology, and open standards. The ibm cloud. The cloud for business. Yours. The cloud for business. When food is good and clean and real, its ok to crave. And with panera catering, theres more to go around. Panera. Food as it should be. President trump today announced he is slashing the size of two National Monuments in utah. The largest rollback of public lands protection in u. S. History. The president s proclamations which the bears ears and Grand StaircaseEscalante National staircase by nearly two million acres. It could open up the land for exploitation and exploration. Trump signed in Salt Lake City where he was flanked by republicans including orrin hatch, a key proponent behind the move. I dont know whats going on with hatch. He encouraged hatch to run for reelection. You are a true fighter, orrin. I have to say, ive gotten to know him very well. Ive gotten to know a lot of people very well you. Meet fighters, and you meet people who you thought were fighter, but theyre not so good at fighting. He sea fighter. We hope you will continue to serve your state and your country in the senate for a very long time to come. [ applause ] senator hatch. He did not want or deserve or need the blessing of that man. Anyway, the president s comments came amid new reporting from politico that says trump is going all out to get hatch to run. A push aimed in no small part at keeping the president s long time nemesis mitt romney out of the senate. Well, that makes sense for trump. At least thats thoughtful. He wants to keep somebody away from him he is afraid of. Well be right back. Is this where you typically shop . Is this where anyone typically shops . Its time to switch to the capital one venture card. With venture, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, everywhere, every day. Not just airline purchases. Seriously. Double miles. Everywhere whats in your wallet . Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Welcome back to hardball. In the wake of the news emerging from Michael Flynns plea deal, President Trump can no longer dismiss his former National Security adviser as a lone operator. As we learned, Jared Kushner told flynn to get the russians to back off the israeli settlement question. And kt mcfarland spoke about the transitions response to a u. S. Sanctions on russia. Additionally, the New York Times now reports to mcfarland, quote, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions announced hours before by the Obama Administration in retaliation for election russian meddling were aimed at discrediting mr. Trumps victory. Additionally she wrote mr. Flynn would be speaking with the Russian Ambassador miss kislyak hours after mr. Obamas sanctions were announced. Could she sent the email about sanctions to transition official tom bossert who forwarded it to another trump election adviser including Reince Priebus and sean spicer. It suggests they were more widely discussed among transition officials that could open up new avenues of investigation for special counsel mueller. Im joined by malcolm nance, msnbc Political Security analyst and joyce. Joyce, thank you very much for this. I have to say watching this thing, you now see the chain of command. Somehow trump deputize his top people, whether its kt mcfarland or his soninlaw, Jared Kushner, to use flynn to get in the door with kislyak and send all kinds of messages to the russians. This idea that this is not conspiratorial, that this is not a kohl losive effort with the russians is out the wound. Theyre working together at the top. And what a great deal it was that putin is going along with not reacting to the sanction. Just what he wanted him to do. He is applauding his own missions success. How could he step back and say i dont know nothing . Its really an interesting situation. I guess the most important question that muellers team will have to make a decision about is whether or not there was an illegal objective of this conspiracy. Because as you, you know, lay out, there is no doubt that these people are collaborating together, making sure that flynn is talking to kislyak. And the only real question at the end of the day was there an overt act taken by this group towards an illegal objective, which is what the law would require to prove a conspiracy. I want to bring in malcolm on this. Just an hour or two ago, we found out that trump personally intervened with the republican platform writing, and he personally intervened to get the kind of plank involving uukraine the way the russians wanted it. I mean, its not like the monkey typing merry christmas, that this might happen in a million years. It would only happen if they intended to it happen. Why is this president mucking around on russias business . Why does he have all the stuff in the world . He is about to be nominated for president. He is thinking what can i do for the russians in ukraine. Its impossible not to see a plan here at work. Its a Million Dollar question. Weve been asking that question since the beginning of this campaign. Why is he so favorable to russia . And the word why is what the Mueller Campaign is going after. Because this started as a Counter Intelligence operation that was looking for americans in communication with russian intelligence officers. So as that would translate down to the platform where he wanted to have broader relations with russia, perhaps he ordered someone to soften that position. But you have to understand, Paul Manafort was now on the scene at this point. And he had worked deeply for the pro moscow government in the ukraine you. Have you to determine was this orders or was this just, you know, act a questions sense to his his pal in moscow. Unless manafort said this is the key to russian interests here. I mentioned npr is now reporting on the effort to water down an amend last summer. Diana denman, a republican delegate who supported arming u. S. Allies in ukraine told people that trump, jd gordon said at that trump directed him to support weakening that position in the official platform. Denman is expected to week with the house and Senate Intelligence committees this week there are a lot of real hawks around the president who you would think would take the ukrainian side against the russians. Thats deal. Fight russia. Then the president weirdly just seems to be carrying water for the russians against the ideology of those people supporting him. Unless its for some particular interest, it certainly cant be claimed as ideological because trump is supposed to be some tough guy with the world. A real nationalist. He sounds like a russian nationalist these days. Im sorry. Its completely inexplicable. You even have flynn just a few years earlier taking this sort of hard line view. And suddenly there is a point at which he too jumps over. On ukraine and russia there is a shift. You have this strange convergence of events. You have the russians on the one hand allegedly taking a lot of action that made a trump win in the president ial race easier. On the other hand, youve got activity like this change in the republican platform, which i is now being attributed by at least one source to President Trump, and potentially other things like not implementing sanctions that congress has passed. And the question for mueller is do these two completely inextricable time frames, the trump softening on russia, russias help in a u. S. Election, do those add up and meet in the middle with some sort of an exchange between these two where there was a quid pro quo, and then mueller would really be in formal collusion, in criminal conspiracy territory. Ive heard years from prosecutors like yourself how hard it is to prove bribery. Because you almost have to have a tape recording or at least one witness overhearing if you do this, ill do that. Thats a quid pro quo. It cant just be assumed, can it . You have to show a conversation somewhere where some guy or woman said hey, here is the deal you. Help us out on ukraine, were going play ball with you on this other stuff. Right. You cant assume it you. Do have to prove it. This why were seeing mueller engage in this methodical he is moving as quick as possible, but he is also dotting is and crossing ts. They will get if in fact there was a bribe or a quid pro quo, there will be a lot of circumstantial evidence along the way. Theyll reach the point where that evidence, maybe one piece of it alone wouldnt hold firm. But all of it taken together will establish the broad. And thats how these sorts of public corruption case, because thats what this really is, thats how these cases are built. Meticulously, piece of evidence by piece of evidence. Thanks, joyce. In an in depth report, the Washington Post has revealed the topics of keen interest, thats its phrase to chief investigators include how Foreign Government officials and their emissaries contacted Trump Officials as well as the actions at interplay of flynn and Jared Kushner. As we learned on friday, flynn also asked the Russian Ambassador to help block a u. N. Resolution that condemned israel for building settlements in disputed territories. Nbc has identified kushner in Court Documents as, quote, the very Senior Member of the president ial Transition Team who directed flynn to contact officials from Foreign Governments, including russia to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution. Malcolm, this is part of my whole problem with the administration, besides the existence of the president himself. And this is this romanoff way of running the golf. What the hell does Jared Kushner have in his background that justifies him calling World Leaders one at a time, including russia, and telling them how to vote on an egyptian resolution before the Security Council . I mean and then you find out this guy knows nothing he may have an attitude, a position about israel. He as got no Foreign Policy experience or anything. He carries water for nobody in the American People. Handy is out there deciding this stuff on a world stage because hes the soninlaw. Well, if you want to be generous its a joke. Yeah. But if you want to be generous you could say this is them reaching out and making contact with foreign officials as part of their transition duties. But we can see plainly that the Mueller Investigation is determined that thats not the case. They were carrying out Foreign Policy. Sure. Sort of literally telling nations what to do and to ignore the sitting president. The question is what is the motivation behind their actions. Everyone suddenly hid this. And when you start hiding these activities just like to call the shots. They werent willing to wait for january 20th. Youve got jared out there. He probably has some kind of attitude. There he comes out and says were going crash through the obama policy, which is to make his or pull back on the settlements across the green line. So why not just crash it right now. Dont even wait for the inauguration. Thats what it looks like. Yeah. But you can understand that. And that would be almost reasonable, you know, to have that as i like to call it masters of the universe attitude now. Now we run government. Well can do whatever we want, even though were not in power yet. But on the other hand, you also have to come to the fundamental question that you discussed in your previous segment. Why lie about this. They spent enormous amount of resources to cover this all up. I know the answer. Joyce, you have one more minute here. I want to give you half a minute. If he really wanted to create a rapprochement with russia and prevent a second cold war from develop, getting any hotter, what would be so embarrassing about that, that he has to hide every inch of it . That to me is the profound question. I dont get it. There is no reason that they had to hide any of this. Even the meetings themselves. Yeah. Joyce . You have sow when youre talking about sessions. Youre talking about having these contacts. And literally lying to federal law officers about it. Then what you have is the fundamentals of conspiracy and miller know. Im getting pushed here. Joyce, do you have any thought about why they would cover up could be a grand purpose piece . Well, you know, its interesting. You always assume if people are covering up, there is a reason for it. People dont typically lie unless its a Martha Stewart situation where theyre afraid theyve one something wrong. Here the ultimate question at the end of the day is where they lying to cover up collusion. And more and more were seeing pieces of evidence that indicate there was a lot of improper exchange, whether it goes all the way to collusion, i think is something that well find out in the next few months. Well said. I love the way that Martha Stewart handled that very bad situation, by the way. She took her punishment and moved on. Thank you, malcolm nance and joyce vance. Up next, are we getting closer to impeachment . And would republicans go along with it, even if the case were proven . Thats a good question, with a republican house. This is hardball, where the action is. Shawn evans its 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Everyone deserves attention, whether youve saved a lot or just a little. At pnc investments, we believe youre more than just a number. So we provide personal Financial Advice for every retirement investor. Combined with two converging currents, the Mueller Investigation looking for that obstruction of justice charge, and then alabama. Roy moore coming to the senate possibly in a week, and he becomes the face of the Republican Party for the next year when were already in danger of losing the house. Its likely well do that without him. Lose the house. Trump gets impeached. Were closer to impeachment now i think than we think. Welcome back to hardball that was Alex Castellanos with a warning for his fellow republicans and new questions about whether or not the president obstructed justice in the russia probe. As axios points out, trumps legal team points out the president cannot obstruct justice. But notes the one thing that everyone agrees on is the house of representatives with its impeachment power alone decides what is cause for removal from office. For now at least the house is run by republicans. Well, thats consoling. The first article of impeachment against Richard Nixon for example which passed the House Judiciary Committee charged that the president was in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has prevented, obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. Similarly, the third article against president clinton said he has obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. Who recently wrote a great article, the case for normalizing impeachment. And republican strategist john fear. I want to get to three point in the next five minutes. Can we all agree that obstruction of justice has to be impeachable . Because if a president can do anything he wants with the justice system, he is basically i he is an emperor, if he can just ignore the law. Can we agree on that . I think so, yeah. John . Impeachment is a political matter. I its gore the politicians to decide. Suppose there is proven obstruction . Thats a good case to make. You to make to it the politicians. They have the right to ignore it . They have the right to ignore it. Especially in the senate. Im just saying from a practical perspective. Ezra, im older than you guys. Weve been arguing what high crimes and misdemeanors means since i was born practically. You in your article say basically its not a legal term, its a political judgment like in the british house of commons. Its a noconfidence vote. If you dont like this government, if you dont like this Prime Minister you want to get rid of him, you vote no confidence. I wouldnt say high crimes and misdemeanors is meant to be like a noconfidence vote. James madison talks about impeaching a president for capriciously firing executive branch officials. The First Federal official ever impeached. Is that marbury . No, that was the federalson papers. He is rambling at people from the bench. He is commented. Thats a high crimes and misdemeanor standard. Its very clear they mean if you talk to constitutional scholars Something Like breach of public trust. The problem is, as john says we have to find that for ourselves. I think we underuse it. I think we underuse. Were afraid to talk about it even. Weve had 45 president s. How many do you think should have been impeached . Worthy of impeachment . More than between zero and one counting president nixon. Well, weve already had twoyrks but not removed from office. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee dodged questions whereby obstruction of justice case against this president amounted to an impeachable offense. However, she went on to say this. The concern rises with the day. The concern about this white house rises youre concerned about the ability of this president s to do the job rise business the day . Oh, yes, oh, yes. Ive been here for 25 years now there is a kind of instability, unpredictability. Its one issue after the other. Do you believe its time to think about getting him out of office . I believe its time for us to finish our investigation. And i dont want to bias any part of the investigation with premature thinking. Suppose, john, we had a president who instead of being a normal president , got up every morning around 6 00, read the papers and started going crazy. Start aid tacking everybody he doesnt like, every institution he doesnt like, pretty much like groundhog day in the movie, just over and over and over again. Every day is the same. Instead of doing anything different or growing in the office or learning or taking it seriously, every morning its personal between somebody like he and comey or Hillary Clinton. He is ranting about these people who are coming at him. Do you think that kind of president should be impeached . That kind of president. The question is can you impeach a president for bad tweets . Consistently bad tweets . And i dont think you can. Depending unless commutes political judgment. Some people from the getgo have wanted to impeach this president from the very beginning when he got elected. So it hasnt really evolved from that. Now republicans are not going to impeach donald trump. Democrats are not going to impeach bill clinton. And so thats a political judgment. Now if things get so bad, if the country gets so bad, if the vast middle of the country decides that donald trump is completely incompetent and the country is going down the ditch, thats a different thing. But thats not happening right now. Not when we have a political struggle within washington, d. C. People who wanted him to be impeached since he got elected still want him impeople. Ed. Why was clinton impeached . He was of sound mind and body. He made a mistake. He covered it up. Republicans made the judgment that he lied under oath and should have been impeached by that. Well, he did. Why did they say that was enough to kick him out . He made the decision that impeachment was a higher form of sense cher. No. They knew they had no chance of removing him from office. The senate was never going to convict him. They knew that. Did you think they knew is that. Im not sure they knew that thing is the bigger issue. We do get to decide. Give me some president who should have been impeached. No, im not going to go backwards. We have a president right now. Should donald Trump ControlNuclear Weapons . Okay, suppose the economy was going down frighteningly downward, 25 unemployment, and going further. And he had no ability to deal wit. And you could tell, he had no plan. Should he have been impeached . Im not sure we knew at that time that Herbert Hoover had no ability to deal wit. We saw the market. They were jumping out of windows. I think it was clear when it was clear what hoover was doing was a total disaster, you were close enough to an election that he was moving. I think complete incompetence circumstances i think going to war in iraq measured up to that standard. Thank you, ezra klein and thank you john feehery. The president has officially endorsed a man accused of pedophilia, we know about that, roy moore. And a Top Republican is defending tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires by implying that average americans are just wasting their money on women how do you actually mean that . Loose women . What retalking about here . Going down to the bar and buying drinks for everybody . What is he talking about . And of course booze. Youre watching hardball. So thats the idea. What do you think . Hate to play devils advocate but. I kind of feel like its a game changer. I wouldnt go that far. Are you there . Hes probably on mute. Yeah. Gary wont like it. Why . Because hes gary. phone ringing what . Keep going yeah. laughs voice on phone its not millennial enough. There are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you so were doing it. 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Just days after republicans passed a tax bill that gives a handout to corporations and the very wealthy in this country, President Trump this afternoon showed just how distorted his partys priorities have become. Donald trump officially today, here is the day, endorsed roy moore for the senate, despite all the stories about him, most of them obviously true. Choosing to overlook allegations of Sexual Misconduct by multiple numbers of women, including one accuser who says moore inappropriately touched her when she was 14. Anyway, roy moore has denied the accusations all across and denied the latest one today. The president spoke to moore by phone on his way to utah. A white house readout of the call says it was, quote, a positive call with judge roy moore during which they discussed the state of the Alabama Senate race. And the senate endorsed judge moores campaign. For more from the hardball round table. Katty kay, phil rucker and political analyst for msnbc, and clarence page, columnist for the chicago tribune. So katty, here is the story. Weve seen it since the days the civil rights moved south has become the party of dixie. And alabama the party of poor people. Its not a wealthy state at all. Its not terrific when it comes to education. Pretty good when it comes to football. But otherwise its got problems down there. And its also the party of wall street. Which it is . Trying to make a little limited on land or the guys living off carried interest and the breaks they get on wall street . Who are they for . Its trying to do both and be both and thats its very problem. Dont they put these two together . Its just not possible for one party to encompass the people on wall street who are socially liberal and the people in alabama who are clearly very socially conservative and now seem to think that its okay to give their support to somebody who has been accused of lets not beat around the bush, pedophilia. Youve got a guy like orrin hatch, who was a respectful conservative. Ive known the guy forever since i tried to beat him in 19176 in that race out there. The guy is an lds guy, traditional values. And yet he finds his way into liking donald trump and accepting Donald Trumps leadership today. He is out there saying he is for roy moore. Why would orrin hatch, a straight laced lds guy why would he be for this guy . Because he just spent four hours on air force one with President Trump probably talking a little bit about that alabama race. But the Bigger Picture for someone like orrin hatch is he wants this tax bill to get passed. He wants it to get signed. Why . Its the republican agenda. Its what he has been campaigning on for, you know, 20, 30 years to be in the senate. And finally they have a republican president who can sign some of these laws, or some of these bills into law. This is the socio metric overlay here. Here is orrin hatch who since he first ran for the state talks about a laborer, a member of the union in pittsburgh. He talks about the work 00 people. The average lds person isnt rich, in utah or anywhere. Why would he give them all these breaks . Outside there is no minimum alternative tax. They gephardt the top rate down. They get to give 22 million to their kids without any taxes. Whats that got to do with the average person living in sandy, utah . Orrin hatch is a lot like ronald reagan. They started out as fdr democrats who moved over. But look at the agenda, you know. This is the agenda now of the White Working Class that votes republican, swings over that way. And donald trump wants that tax bill passed too. Selfinterest. He also wants to keep mitt romney from that seat as well. Talking bizarre voting, katty, ill give you interest this delightful one. Construct grassley has asked about the estate tax which republicans just wanted to slash. He argued that the tax, which affects a small number of very wealthy americans needed to be changed. Lets listen. I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have. Whether its on booze or women or movies. Katty, you were mentioning its so what is this, a cowboy movie . Booze, women . Out of the 1950s. Movies. Are they that dirty . Progress on this, and then this senator. I just saw three billboards last night that was a good clean movie. What is he talking about . The implication is if you get this, youll somehow squandering the money. I dont know. I cant even defend it. People with a paycheck are spending their money to put food on the table, to keep the roof over their heads, to get clothe norse kids. Conservative narrative now. I have to count my money to buy shoes this month. I got to figure out the money. I cant go to a restaurant. I dont have a money to go to the movies. If you go to the movies its 12 and 12 for both of you and two box of popcorn it 30 or 40 bucks. Believe 80 not, this connects to roy moore, though. The round table is staying with us. Were setting the bar high again tonight. Were going get what theyre going to talk about. Youre watching hardball. Dad molly trash whoo mom hey, molly . Its time to go bell ringing class, lets turn to page 136, recessive traits skip generations. Who would like to read . molly i reprogrammed the robots to do the inspection. Its running much faster now. See . Its amazing, molly. Thank you. thank you. Well, what are you doing o take care otomorrow 10am . But. Staff meeting. 3 45 . Tai chi. 6 30 . Sams baseball practice. You are busy. Wouldnt it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do . Yeah. Introducing essential portfolios the automated investing solution. We dont just help power the american dream. Ructure, were part of it. According to a new poll just out today, more adults in the u. S. Identify as democrats or independents who lean to the Democratic Party than do people identify as republicans. Here is the numbers. 44 of americans identifies democrats or lean to democrat while just 37 of americans identifies republicans or lean that way. Its a five point spread. Democrats have historically held the edge. But this year it expanded because of people who affiliate with the Republican Party actually say im a republican. Republican identification has dropped five points in the last year. I wonder why that happened . 14 of americans say theyre independents, but who dont lean either way. Thats up four points. Boy, that makes sense. Well be right back after this. From our family to yours. May all your wishes come true this holiday season. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. Were back with the round table. Katty kay, tell me something i dont know. So scientists are finding that rates of ptsd in american inner cities, some american inner cities are higher than in refugee camps around the world, and they are higher in some of those cities and they are twice as high as they are amongst combat veterans. The rates of ptsd are stunning circumstances this gang warfare . Its general violence and its often children. They cant get away from these environments. And unlike soldiers, theyre not trained to deal wit. Such a powerful statement. Thats news. So chris, President Trump faces a big decision. We expect him to make hit the week about whether to move the u. S. Embassy in israel to jerusalem. It has a lot of implications in the region and around the world. He has been lobbied by arab leaders as well as by the president of france to keep the embassy in tel aviv. We expect hell probably begin the process any good . I dont know. Its a mess down there. President trump already decided on friday to pull out of the United Nations migration compact, which president obama entered us into last year to help the record numbers of refugees and immigrants weve got around the world right now. And so this is Nikki Haley Says we prefer not to go ai lone and well still help refugees. So were not going to take our share anymore. Right. Thank you, katty kay, thank you, phil rucker, thank you, clarence page. When we return tonight, trump watch. This is hardball. avo when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. avo and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. 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Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Trace every precious product, every step of the way, with a blockchain built for business. The ibm cloud. The cloud for business. Yours. Tltry align probiotic. N your digestive system . For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Also in kids chewables. Trump watch. Monday, december 4th, 2017. Justice is grinding its way to donald trump. If he did not collude with russia during the campaign, how do we exclude all the evidence that he did . How do we exclude this new information today that he personally got the gop to change its platform regarding ukraine . Why would an american politician find time in the midst of a president ial campaign on the very eve of the nominating convention to get involved with the geopolitics of ukraine . Specifically russias interest in ukraine. Why would trumps top people, his soninlaw being one of them, be commissioning general Michael Flynn to tell the Russian Ambassador what he wanted done in regard to u. S. Sanctions, what he wanted russia to do with regard to israel . Russia, russia, russia. Its been the pattern of the year. An american president ial candidate new to National Politics focused again and again on the interests of russia. And now in december of his inaugural year, donald trump finds himself at war with the u. S. Government agency trying to get to the bottom of his russian entanglement. General flynn, who went on to all those trump missions to the russians. He lies to the fbi about it, refusing to admit the nature of his missions. Trump then tries to get the fbi to stop investigating the general. Then fires the fbi director for not doing what he said he must do. This whole fandango is about trump and russia, and trump trying to cover it up. And the most mystifying part of it all is the possibility that he, donald trump, was trying to do something good here to end the u. S. Russian course toward a second cold war. But if that is really the case, why doesnt he just say so . Thats hardball for now. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight on all in mr. President , when did you find out that mike flynn lied to the fbi . The president admits he knew Michael Flynn lied to the fbi. Well, i feel badly for general flynn. Tonight, as the obstruction case gross, the president s lawyers review the nixon indication. When the president does it, that means its not illegal. And the president attacks the fbi. Robert mueller poses an existential th