Led by devin announce has been accusing the fbi of wrongful surveillance and a socalled memo. The Senate JudiciaryCommittee Led by Chuck Grassley is seeking charges against informant Christopher Steele and today the Senate HomelandCommittee Chair led by ron johnson launched a third line of attack suggesting that former president barack obama was himself personally involved in the fbis investigation of Hillary Clintons emails. Well, the problem is senator johnson attacked but missed. It turns out his charge is not true. To support his dubious claim, johnson cited a newly released batch of Text Messages between peter strzok and lisa page, the two fbi officials critical of trump in the private texts they exchanged during the 2016 election. In a report he issued today, johnson cherry picked a text page sent to strzok as she was drafting taking points, talking points for then fbi director james comey. She wrote potus, thats former president obama, wants to know everything were doing. From there, senator johnson attempted to implicate president obama claiming that this text raises additional questions about the type and extent of president obamas personal involvement in the clinton email scandal. Well, the trouble with the senators presumption is he showed no evidence the text was refer together clinton investigation that was closed at the time the message was sent. Now the wall street journal is confirming late tonight johnsons presumption was wrong. According to associates of the fbi employees involved in that exchange, the Text Messages show preparation to brief barack obama about russias interference in that years election, not as the republican nor suggested meddling by the then president in the federal Hillary Clinton email investigation. Well, this latest insinuation against the fbi further shows that republicans are desperately preoccupied with smoke screens while ignoring the real threat to this country that comes as secretary of state Rex Tillerson warns russia will likely interfere in the 201 midterm elections as they did in 2016. Theres a lot of ways that the russians can meddle in the elections. I think its important we continue to say to russia, look, if you dont think we dont see what youre doing, we do see it and you need to stop. If you dont, youre going to continue to invite consequences for yourself. Is the u. S. Better prepared than 2016 . I dont know that i would say were better prepared because the russians will adapt, as well. Well, thats pretty thoughtful. Furthermore, the head of Cyber Security at the department of Homeland Security tells us tonight that the prior to the 2016 president ial election, the russians successfully penetrated the Voter Registration roles of several states. Theres no evidence that those rolls were altered. Joining me is mial harris and evan mcmillan, a former 2016 president ial candidate. I want to start with evan. It seems to me the trump forces on capitol hill are trying to do everything they can to focus onside shows to try to come up with anything like the president was somehow in some strange way involved in the hillary email situation, whatever it was. And were never quite sure what it was if it was anything. And that somehow he was involved when all they had was one of those fbi agencies saying he wants to know whats going on. He wants to know whats going on is evidence that hes involved in the email mess even though he wants to know whats happening with the russian hacking. Right, thats right. The president , president obama wanted to know about russian hacking, about interference in our democracy. Of course, he wanted to know. Hes president. Hes president. Of paramount national security. These trump loyalists in congress in the house and now in the senate are making fools of themselves, frankly. But this is their game. Their game isnt to convince people like you and me who see through it. The game is to keep their base, the president s base in a pen and in this alternative reality universe. Theyre being quite successful with it. Quinnipiac says 77 of Republican Voters think the russia investigation is a witch hunt. 5 think the fbi is biased against President Trump. This is the alternative universe that theyve create for these voters and all they have to do is keep throwing story after story out there. And its going to keep people misled. Fox is still running with this bogus ron johnson scam today. Thats how you keep Republican Voters misinformed. Well, it wasnt long before President Trump himself weighed in on those messages tweet new fbi texts are bombshells. This comes after the president said in the wall street journal interview that fbi agent peter strzok had committed treason. Senator ron johnson said these new Text Messages raise questions about the leadership of the fbi. Do you have confidence in the current leadership of the fbi and doj . I have questions about some top level managers in those departments carryovers probably from the previous administration. I have questions. I think theyre legitimate questions. Let me go to maya on this. It seems we have two things you can could with your brain in 2018. You can actually think towards the next elections coming up in november. Thats exciting. You can think about sports and the fact that the eagles won the championship or you can focus on what is probably really important which is did the russians interfere with our election in 2016 which is probably true already and what role did the winning candidate who is now our president play in that russian interference. To try to find it out. Get all the details in terms of collusion, all the details there if there was obstruction and what was trump up to in possible money laundering. Id like to know the answer answers to all those questions. What are the republicans interested in finding out . What do they want to know they dont know the now . I dont think this guy johnson looks that serious a person. I dont think announce is that serious a person. I look at them being led around by their staff all looking for jobs at the white house. Theres something screwy about these guys. When you ask them a question, they dont seem to know the answer or even that interested. They seem a little numb. You go wait a minute, if this guys behind all this thing about writing these memos and seems intellectual, how come when you interview them on television, theres not much brain power there. I dont get it. Somebodys pushing this thing for the white house. Theyre working together. Its fascinating to watch. I dont like it. Whats going on here in terms of changing the focus of the public away from this investigation of the president and the russians into this other space . You are right, chris. I wish like you that we actually had a Serious Investigation going on into what happened with russia interfering in our elections. This latest series with these Text Messages clearly after announce socalled bombshell memo actually bombed they needed to resuscitate another attempt to delegitimize the fbi as the russia investigation picks up steam and begins closing in on you know donald trump. Their desperation around this would be comical if it wasnt so serious. This is the same ron johnson who just weeks ago was up in a tizzy around a secret society and then hes had to walk that back. Maybe they were joking. Its the same donald trump tweeting today about these bombshell fbi texts who said that those missing Text Messages were going to be one of the biggest stories ever. Oops, it turns out they werent missing at all. Its really a disgrace whats happening. I think you have to look whats going on with republicans in congress, as well. Where are they . When are they going to say enough is enough. As maya just mentioned this is the second time senator johnson jumped to conclusions based on Text Messages hes been given. Last month he and other trump defenders can were in a frenzy because one of the messages contained a reference to a secret society. That led johnson to allege fbi agents were conspiring against the president. Watch him here. What this is all about is further evidence of corruption, more than bias but corruption at the highest levels of the fbi. That secret society, we have an informant talking about a group that were Holding Secret meetings off site. Theres so much smoke, so much suspicion. Stop there. A secret society, secret meetings off site of the Justice Department. Correct. You have an informant saying that . Yes. Two days later however, johnson conceded the text about a secret society could have just been a joke. After reading those transcripts or the Text Messages, do you think it was made as a joke . Its entirely possible. Lets see what the next texts. Let me go to evan. I smell a lot of staff people, a whole bunch of them all ganging around trying to get big jobs with the Trump Administration at nsc around the eisenhower executive building. They bring announce down, give him material, accepted him back the next day to the west wing using him like an operative. These congressmen and senators are acting theyre not even staffers, theyre operatives working for the trump crowd. This is not the regular Republican Party. I dont see a Republican Party. I hate to say it. They are quiet on the sidelines. Republicans are behaving like sideliners whereas this little group of people, the same group of munchkin running around back and forth with the april paper saying ive got something. Ive got this thing. This has been going on for two or three months now. Your thoughts . My thoughts are just that theres enormous Party Pressure to for the relevant chairmen of the relevant committees to undermine this investigation. Thats what this is happening. Look, i dont know that you can i wouldnt put it on the staffers, frankly. Certainly there are aligned staffers but theyre staffers. The members, the principals, they have to take responsibility for this. Whats the Little Signal coming . The party. It has to be the party. It has to are far more powerful than the staffers. You mean mcconnell . This is a campaign. I dont know if its mcconnell or sort of the rnc. But this is too coordinated too sustained for it to come from staffers or even from these menace individuals. This is a Republican Party leadership effort, and i cant say who exactly. But this kind of pressure, this kind of coordinated campaign has to come from on high. Enormous pressure from the president im sure from the white house itself. The idea of course, theyre coordinating. Thats been a question. Are they coordinating . President always coordinate with loyalists in congress. Right now President Trump cares most about protecting himself and his family from the consequences of potential wrongdoing. So hes engaging with his loyalists in congress to try to help protect him as much as possible. Thats whats happening. Youre right about the roman nofs trying to avoid being dumped out of power. Myia, one of the producers thought it was like king john in beckett where he puts up, will someone rid me of this meddlesome priest and they find their ways whether its nunness or johnson of wisconsin, they put their hand up and say i got something for you, something to dump on the fbi. Its so the its what were watching. Your thoughts, maya . They fall into two categories, the republicans in congress are either one, looking the other way and doing nothing and being content in the ruthless pursuit of their own policy agenda and then have you another category actively engaged in helping and doing the president s bidding around trying to discredit the russia investigation. Theyre sort of only those two things seem to be happening with republicans in congress. Its gotten so bad that now you see some people on the right who are saying and urging that Republican Voters actually have a moral obligation to go to the polls in november and vote out this gop congress because even they know that the only way that we are going to at this point have any check on this administration is if the democrats take control of either the house or the senate. Let me go back to evan. Last question. If the Financial CounselRobert Mueller comes through with what looks to be an evidence founded indictment in the form of a report and he sends it to the Justice Department and the Justice Department forwards it over to the house, will they act . This republican. Or just say, republican red congress, if its still republican led in the house, will they act on what is the substance of an impeachment measure. No, this is republican conference in the house will not do it. I know there are some members some republican members in the house who certainly would vote to hold the president accountable. But in some collectively they will not do it. They wont do it because the base is still very strongly on President Trumps side as i said before. They dont trust this investigation. Theyre putting enormous pressure on their members, their representatives to fight back. And thats why in part you see the actions were seeing from announce and johnson. The republicans in the house will not hold President Trump accountable even if theres facts. What has happened to people like orrin hatch . What happened to them . Come on, evan. You know those guys out in utah. What happened . I know a little bit. What happened to the regular republican conservatives who used to believe in the constitution and now they let trump trump over them . Dump on them. This is what happens. For a long time the Republican Party had crazies, crazies in talk radio, members of the base that were out there. And they were sort of kept in the bark corners of the political activity, the political scene. Those people have been empowered by President Trump, leaders like those that you mentioned are have been unwilling to stand up to them and lead and say no, this isnt right this isnt fact, this isnt where we want to go as a party. Now those fever swamps as Charlie Sykes likes to call them have risen to the point they control the party. Thats what it is. Now its even harder to stand up for them. I wish hatch and the others mccain is doing and a few others. I wish more would do it. Thank you maya and evan. Coming up, the Senate Reaches a big bipartisan deal to fund the government again and avoid a shutdown. Will House Democrats go along with it if theres nothing in it for the dreamers . Marching orders. The president tells the military to start planning a grand military parade in the streets of washington like the ones kim jongun presides over over in north korea. Unbelievable. The democrats get another sign they might win back the house in november. History is on their side, but only by a little bit. Well talk about that, how close this could be in november. Let me finish tonight with trump watch. Its about the parade. He loves a parade. This is hardball where the action is. Rokerage fees. Fees . What did you have in mind . I dont know. 4. 95 per trade . Uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee . Guarantee . Where we can get our fees and commissions back if were not happy. So can you offer me what schwab is offering . Whats with all the questions . Ask your broker if theyre offering 4. 95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. Former attorney general eric holder today told poe at this time cohe believes special counsel mueller could legally prosecute President Trump on obstruction of justice charges. If theres a technical case there now, he was asked and he said i think so. There is a case. During an event this morning holder was also asked if he thinks the president will speak to muellers investigators. The former agi argued trump might plead the fifth. Lets go. Its entirely possible that you know, he could use his fifth amendment privilege which would be you know, almost fatal for any other politician. But as this president says, he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and not suffer any negative political consequences. The number five is kind of an interesting one. He uses fifth avenue. Theres also the fifth amendment. I dont know you know, i think thats at least a possibility. Eric holders comments came during a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science monitor. He also signaled hes open to running for president himself, eric holder in 2020. Are you possibly thinking of running for office . You know, ill see. Im focused on ndrc at this point. I think ill make a decision by the end of the year whether or not there is another chapter in my government service. President . Well see. He has to do more than see. Hes got to crank it up a little bit. Well know more about the prospects in 2020 for the demes and whats going to happen this november, thats more interesting. Well be right back. The only nu that youll ever need staying ahead isnt about waiting for a chance. 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The two the parties seem to have forgotten what its like to Work Together agreed to a budget that lift caps on defense and more important the deal would put an end to the bitter cycle of shortterm funding deals. Here we go. I hope we can build on this bipartisan momentum and make 2018 a year of significant achievement for congress, for our constituents, and for the country that we all love. After months of legislative log jams, this budget deal is a genuine break through. After months of fiscal brinksmanship, this budget deal is the first real sprout of bipartisanship. The new budget would lift sequestration, extends the Childrens HealthInsurance Program chips for ten years, it includes Disaster Relief and opioid response funding and sets aside 20 billion for infrastructure. I dont think thats enough. But the deal does not include a proposal what to do with the roughly 7 had 00,000 daca recipients. Mcconnell only promised to hold a vote on immigration bill. Reaction to the Senate Compromise in the house was less than receptive. This spending bill is a debt junkies dream. How many of your colleagues do you think might vote against this deal . I dont know. I think it will be a good number. A number of us are concerned about the fiscal reality of a bill that will come due not on our grandkids but really on our children. And the House Minority leader nancy pelosi said she too opposed the deal because it didnt do anything to protect the dreamers. She then embarked on a talkathon demanding that speaker ryan have a vote on daca. Every day courageous dreamers lose their status. Every day the American Dream slips further out of reach. I dont know when we would have had another opportunity that matches today for us to just get a simple commitment from the speaker of the house that he will give us a vote. Theres no guarantee. This is about the children. Its about the children. You see the recurring theme of the dreamers wanting to give back to america. Its not just an issue. Its a value. Its something very important to us. I had no intention of yielding back, mr. Speaker. Find a solution that then builds trust in a bipartisan way addressing their needs were talking about. Who we are. Our basic request is honor the house of representatives. Give us a chance to have a vote on the floor. Today was the longest speech delivered in the history of the house going back to 1841 when the filibuster was terminated in the house. Whats not clear is how effective the speech was as a strategy. Im joined by robert costa, Washington Post political reporter and msnbc political analyst. Let me ask you about this thing here. Why would Chuck Schumer drop the daca constituency in this big fight to keep the government open . We always talk about the bases driving each party. The appropriators, the Committee Chairman ranking democrats have been spoiling for a deal for months telling that to the leaders in each chamber. They wanted this deal and say push the immigration fight a few weeks down the road. Have they got a guaranteed fight a few weeks down the road . That he would rather get the spending deal done, get the money they want on the domestic and military side and go full throated fight into the immigration. What changed . A few weeks ago they said we will die on this fight. We will fight on this hill for daca, for the dreamers. Thats our fight. If we dont get the dreamer bill, were not going to keep the government open. You saw how long the Government Shutdown lasted. Red state democrats said we dont want a showdown over immigration. We want a spending deal. If the base wants to fight over immigration, have the fight but dont put it on our shoulders. What happened around january 20th, all of a sudden that big double digit gap between how many people will vote for democrats this november and will vote from republicans went from double digit down to half a dozen. Is that it . They were dripping away and losing their advantage come this november on this daca thing. Leader pelosi knows. Sure, they all saw internal polls that saw it narrowing for democrats and believe the Democratic Base will be there in february and march ahead of the daca deadline to fight to push it the republicans around. Thank you, robert. For more on the personal side of the debate, im joined by Samantha Ramirez herrera. Thank you so much for coming on. I know sam is a short name. Thank you. How do you react to the changing environment where a couple weeks they were going to die on the hill for you guys people who came here with their parents and undocumented and now it looks like theyve got other objectives, democrats. Well, right now, chris, it is such a psychological turmoil going on. I actually met with dreamers in los angeles yesterday. And let me tell you, there are students that are not enrolling in school anymore. There are small children that are actually showing up to school crying, there are people that are you know, dropping out of school. There is so much turmoil going on right now. And to hear that there wont be a deal that includes daca protections is disheartening. It is disanning but not surprising. They have been kicking this football around. We dont see any Solutions Coming forth. But i also want to commend the dreamers still proactive that are still out there, you know, just asking that protections come for us. I agree with you about the football. Its an old metaphor. Youre being used as a community for political back and forth. Yesterday john kelly spoke to reporters about undocumented immigrants eligible for the obama era daca program. Chief of staff kelly told reporters President Trumps immigration plan would benefit more than just those who registered for the protection of daca. Lets listen. There are 690,000 official daca reg graistranregistrants. And the president entover what amounts to be 2 1 2 times that number to 1. 8 million. The difference between 690 and 1. Million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses but they didnt sign up. What do you make of that language . Its not surprising. But id like to also state that you know, there is a large number of daca people that could be in daca that have not yet met the age requirement to apply for daca. There are also people, theres a fee that is included to pay for daca. Theres a lot of people that cant afford to pay that fee and theres also theres also a lot of people that dont trust the government. They dont trust it any longer. You know, there was a Campaign Promise that was made that said that daca would be rescinded soon. Why would anybody sign up for something that you know, has no future . Have you ever thought about maybe this is too tough, you are a civilian, a regular person, not a lawmaker. Let me ask you a question we argue about all the time around here. What do you think would be the elements of a final resolution of this fight over immigration . Illegal immigration. What can we do to the 11 Million People here to the people still trying to get in this country . How should we regulate it . What should be done . Well, we have a dream act in place that has been on the table for 17 years. For me, the solution is a clean dream act. Okay. You dont want to address the overall question of immigration . Well, the dream act would actually allow us to sponsor our families, our parents. It would be some sort of amnesty which i know a lot of people are against. Okay. Thank you so much. Its great to have you on to give us a human face to the fight. San man that ramirez herrera. President trump wants the pentagon to stage a grand military parade down the streets of pennsylvania avenue, seen more in the streets of north korea like that than here in the usa. Why does the president want to do this thing . Why do we want that here . This is hardball where the action is. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. What can a president [ do in thirty seconds . He can fire an fbi director who wont pledge his loyalty. He can order the deportation of a million immigrant children. He can threaten an unstable dictator armed with nuclear weapons. He can go into a rage and enter the Nuclear Launch codes. How bad does it have to get before congress does something . I was your guest at bastille day and it was one of the greatest parades ive ever seen. To a large extent because of what i witnessed we may do Something Like that on july 4th in washington down pennsylvania avenue. I dont know. Were going to have to try and top it. We had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might. It was a beautiful thing to see. Welcome back to hardball. That was President Trump last year telling french president macron he wanted to try and top the french bastille day military parade. According to Washington Post, at a january 18th meeting between trump and top generals his desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a president ial directive the marching orders were, i want a parade like the one in france, the post reports quoting a miller official. Secretary of Defense James Mattis today said the military was presenting is options for the parade to trump right now. Lets watch. I think were all aware in this country of the president s affection and respect for the military. Weve been putting together some options. Well send them up to the white house for a decision. This spectacle appears to be nothing more than a saber rattling move by the president , his very own big hands parade you might say. Its an archaic show of strength reminiscent of what nixon did when he came back in 1970 and ordered is the White House Police get new baroque style uniforms for special occasions can, white jackets with gold braids, shiny bets and peaked caps. That was the uniform for months. Im joined bid someone who remembers it george f. Will, a Washington Post columnist and contributor. What is it in president s that occasionally strokes their need for these shows of baroque power . I guess. Every parent knows that if you have an obstreperous infant you can distract him with a bright shiny thing. This is a bright shiny thing. If it satisfies his military urge in a way that otherwise might be satisfied with a war on the Korean Peninsula this would be a good thing. I dont think the troops will like it so much. No one joins the Armed Services other than to protect this country. They didnt join to participate in a pageant to satisfy the parade envy of a president. Im not sure the president knows that an abrams tank weighs more than 60 tons. If youre going to bring in the thanks its going to be expensive and difficult and might chew up the avenue a little bit. I hadnt thought of this clearly. They would not just be parading but parading in review the commander in chief would be returning their salutes. Weve done this before after the civil war ended, after the victory in world war i, world war ii, after the victory in the 1991 gulf war. What are we commemorating this time . No particular victory involved. Its strange. Senator john kennedy of louisiana warned today that a military parade is something that north korea or russia would do, not the United States. Lets hear from him. I think confidence is silent. And insecurity is loud. America is the most powerful country in all of human history. Everybody knows it. And we dont need to show it off. Were not north korea. Were not russia. Were not china. And i dont want to be. And for that reason, i would be against flaunting our strength. We dont need to. Everybody knows we have it. Its hard to beat that, isnt it. Its very well said. North korea cant make food. Cant make shoes or butter or poetry. What they can do is make their third world country with first world missiles or getting it there. The United States uses its military to protect what were proud of, freedom. We dont need to do this 37 using these men and women as a prop to satisfy the kind of animal spirit of the president seems to me unworthy. Do you think theres another piece of this . Totalititarianism. I wonder whether theres a reason we grew up watching may day parades and parades with nazis. It seems like all powerful leaders like parades. Its a fact. They do. Thats the difference between people who have a parade for the parades sake to slow off. Thats the french one he was taken with the horses. French are very good at this. We spend twice as much of our much larger gdp than they spend because our military is busy. Twothirds of the planet are covered with water and its all policed by the United States navy. Our forces are stretched. Their budgets are emaciated as a result of the budget control act of 2013. This strikes me as an optional flippery. Here we have, were looking at which nobody likes in this country. We hate that kind of regimentation which is frightening to think how much discipline went into those people jumping up and down like that in unison. I know youre not a sentimentalist. We have olympics coming up this week on our network, nbc. I like the idea the north koreans and South Koreans will get together on their ski teams and other teams. I running if thats running into the face of a war on the Korean Peninsula . Theyre not looking like they want to go to war with each other. Theyve been living together for a long time. And i think theyre used to it. Its possible something could come of this. The pingpong diplomacy started the opening to china that culminated in 1972. Stranger things have happened. But not many Stranger Things than this being an opening between this astonishingly successful open society of south korea and this astonishingly grotesque country to the north. They seem to feel they know their cousins more than we do. I wouldnt be calm. Thank you as always. Up next, democrats pull off another upset victory in a district where President Trump won big in 2016. Will they take control of the house and the midterms . Well scare you a little bit. This election coming up in november could be very, very close. 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Utilizing pg es talent and expertise in that area trains our firefighters on the gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. The things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. Welcome back to hardball. Democrats are hoping for a big blue wave this november. Last night they got further proof that momentum is on their side. Democrats flipped a Missouri State house seat in a heavily republican district that trump carried by 28 points in 2016. Thats another good sign. It is for the party after big victories last year in alabama and virginia. Theres room for worry. Washington post columnist Karen Tumulty warns taking back the house will be harder than democrats think. She writes perhaps the single biggest miscalculation they could expect is to expect trump to do all their work for them. Most waves break before they reach the shore. Theres a good completion of the metaphor. Shannon penny piece is with me, White House Reporter for bloomberg news, Gabe Debenedetti from poe at this time coand aisha ras cofrom reuters. This question of were looking at the generic number. People say ill vote democrat or republican. Republicans win even if theyre 4 down because the gerrymandering. Republicans are now down about 6. 5. Is that enough to win . There is so much that can happen between now and then. Especially in this news cycle where things that happen, remember the Government Shutdown . Not the shutdown, it cut their advantage in half. It would be completely forgotten by then. Why did it hurt the democrats. The narrative democrats gave up on immigration, republicans want to enforce you think it was they gave up on daca. Im saying thats what the narrative is. What hurt them . That remains to be seen if it hurt them. I dont think anyones going to remember the shutdown like a month from now. I think they Chuck Schumer decided hanging out for the daca kids alone and letting that be the one issue that youre fighting to end the government on was not smart politics. It showed they didnt have the stomach for it. Its either you stick with it and go for it. They could have kept the Government Shutdown for weeks. Would that have been stronger. Either you stick with it. Youre arguing it would have been stronger if they kept the government shut down for two or three weeks. It wouldnt have been the smartest thing to do. That would have been pleasing to their base. Either you go all the way to the left and play to the base. Would that be a smart move for the democrats . I think were going to find out. Were talking as if this is an issue thats over already. We might get more and more shutdowns or mon confrontations over daca as an issue. Today you saw nancy pelosi. Today she spoke for eight hours to make the point she cares about daca. Did she make her point . She did for maybe an hour. Trump has a way of sucking the oxygen out of the room. She cant get whatever shes looking to. What. Do they really need time to say nothing. They need to define themselves. Ask a politician to go on Johnny Carson was the number one show. If you give him 15 minutes, they should be able to tell you what they stand for. Im not sure today you would get a clear statement. That may be true. What you would get behind closed doors, what you do get from dras all across capitol hill is who cares. It is true they know they need a message. You tell me the last election cycle which you could point to a specific slogan nat party had and that that worked. The democratic argument is theres oech active dissension from the base. A better deal is not something these people will be campaigning on. Thats what they tried in 2016. Were the not trump party. Trump had a slogan make America Great again. Do you believe are youing against trump is enough. I think the energy is there. They have to be able to capitalize on that. The energy is in the not trump. Thats fresh. I agree with that completely. What about ive heard this every day from now till november talks about i gave you a tax cut. What have the democrats done for you . Ive given you a tax cut. Dont they have to respond by saying yeah, he gave you a tax cut and going to screw occur medicare, medicaid and social security. Dont trust this guy. Hes getting the money from the working people. I dont know if the rubber will have hit the road on some of those issues by november 2018 yet. I dont know if people will be feeling it the effects of that. Thats the job of the democrats. Thats whats working against the democrats really is the economy. That thing are going pretty well. Like thats really one of their main enemies right now. Thats why you see joe biden get up on capitol hill and say listen the argument we have to be making is you may have gotten a tax cut. Lets watch joe. Cue him. I just marvel at some of the things he says and does like what two days ago, anybody who didnt stand up and clap for him was unamerican and then maybe even treasonous. They say it was tongue in cheek. Democrats cant take a joke. Hes a joke. You say the president is the joke. Yeah, i mean in this kind of stuff. Whoa. And thats the moderate which can of the party. The roundtable is sticking with us. Youre watching hardball. Uh oh. Well, you know, youre getting older. Um, you might be experiencing some, ah, sensations. Ah, it happened to your dad. Uh with. Oh, look the tow trucks here cant wait to be rescued . Esurance roadside assistance lets you know when help will arrive. Thats insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. You have any questions, uh. Im good. Awesome. You or joints. Something for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Well be back with the hardball roundtable. Lots of headlines from these three right after this. Were facing 20 billion security events every day. Ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks. Actually, we just handled all the priority threats. You did that . We did that. Really. We analyzed millions of articles and reports. We can identify threats 50 faster. You can do that . We can do that. Then do that. Can we do that . We can do that. Tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity wealth management. On thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. Like the papaya playa project for 49 off. Everything you need to go. Expedia. Were back with the hardball roundtable. Shannon comes first. Tell me soing i dont know. Theres a lot of anticipation about public hearings with Jared Kushner and donald trump jr. On these russia probes. Doesnt look like its going to happen. Our reporting shows republicans will probably block them from public hearings despite democrats wanting to see, why do they want to protect the royal family. Republicans want to protect republicans. Do they know theyre supporting a royal family, the roman nofs. This is the dance theyve been doing. This is royal stuff. Im going to change directions. Earlier in the program you heard from joe biden. Saw eric holder. People are talking how both of them might run for president. Were seeing something unprecedented here where up to three senior members of the Obama Administration could be running if you add in Julian Castro going to New Hampshire later this month and who said maybe hell run for president and Deval Patrick part of the conversation recently. Do you really think duval would run. Im not sure. I know some of them are looking at it seriously. Whats the third one you had . It was duval, Julian Castro, eric holder and joe biden. All are pretty close toes president obama who is in his way keeping the fingers on the democratic party. One is 77, one is 37. President trump has been complaining about nato not carrying is weight and reuters is reporting today that secretary mattis september a letter to nato asking them to i guess kind of step up in iraq and help with training iraqi help with training iraqi soldiers. The europeans dont want to necessarily get involved in an unending conflict. Thats european of them. Thank you so much, shannon, gabe and ayesha. Let me finish tonight with trump watch. He wont like this one. Youre watching hardball. Which is why were helping to replenish the mighty rio grande as well as over 30 watersheds across the country. Were also leading water projects in more than 100 communities. And for every drop we use. Were working to give one back. Because our products rely on the same thing as we all do. Clean water. And we care about it like our business depends on it. When you can squeeze one in wbetween friday and monday at hilton . N theres a vacation at the end of every week. Whatever type of weekender you are, dont let another weekend pass you by. Get the lowest price when you book at hilton. Com dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. Carrying the u. S. Flag into the Opening Ceremony on friday night. Voted by your peers to do that. The first singles medals winner for the u. S. In the sport of luge. What kind of honor is it when you found out that your peers chose to you carry the flag. It was a pretty big shock but it is an honor and privilege to be recognized by all of team usa like that. Youll be leading the largest contingent in the winter games from any nation. What can you tell the firsttimers about the experience . It will be so exciting. You think you have an idea what it will be like. Youll be blown away. It never gets old. It will be just as exciting as you can imagine. Erin will lead the team on friday. When our coverage begins tomorrow from pyeonchang. Trump watch february 7th, 2018. Americans like parades. Thanksgiving parades, new years parades, st. Patricks parade gay pride parades. We like parades for our heroes like lucky lindy and ike. Communist countries can always like their may day parades. Look at north korea, look at kim jong u. N. Looking at all the missiles all ready to launch, lines after lines of strutting soldiers all ready to attack. Now President Trumps wants the u. S. Military strutting their stuff on the streets of washington. He wants those units marching past him looking up at him. Saluting him, showing the world what kind of power hes got. I dont know about you, but i find something baroque about this thing. Americans know what power weve got militarily. Nobody thinks we dont have enough might in this world. Nobody doubts our strength. Is it the president that has doubts . Remember nixon seeing something in europe he liked. He saw the pretty uniforms on the guards protecting the royal palaces over there. He had some of those made for himself at the white house. How stupid they looked. Everyone laughed at him. What if they do the same to President Trump and his parade and what if that character over in north korea who loves parading dearly starts thinking this trump guy might be a little trigger happy . Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im ali velshi. There is a lot to get to tonight including a nbc news exclusive report on the russian governments intrusion into american Voter Registration rolls before the 2016 election. What could be a new strategy for the president as Robert Muellers investigation gets closer to him and later my conversation with senator elizabeth warren. Well begin with a major shakeup for the Trump Administration. The man who resigned from the white house today hel