His intel chiefs public refuting their warning to congress that russias up to the old tricks again in 2020. Trying to help trump get reelected. Trump fired his top intel official for giving that warning. Ill talk to one of them who is trying to stop Bernie Sanders and trump in november. Pete buttigieg is joining me live and ill speak to someone who knows more about the nevada politics former senator harry reid. We begin tonight with the aftermath of the explosive New York Times report that in a briefing last week u. S. Intelligence officials warned house lawmakers that russia is meddling in the 2020 election to help get President Trump reelected. Today in a rally here in las vegas, however, trump argued the democrats were the ones pushing this story of russian interference. I was told a week ago they said you know theyre trying to start a rumor, its disinformation. Thats on the thing theyre good at. They get nothing do. Do nothing democrats, theyre that putin wants to make sure i get elected. Listen to this. So doesnt he want to see who the democrat is going to be . Wouldnt he rather have lets say bernie. Wouldnt rather have bernie who honeymooned in moscow . The briefing with us at attended by members of both parties and included information that russia intends to interfere in the democratic primaries this year as well. A short time after the president spoke, the Washington Post reported that vermont senator Bernie Sanders had been briefed that russians were interfering to help him in the primaries. Sanders acknowledged he has been briefed about a month ago on that point. Lets watch. The Intelligence Community has been very clear about it. Whether trump recognizes it or not or acknowledges it or not they did interfere in 2016. The Intelligence Community said theyre interfering right now in 2020. What i say to mr. Putin if elected president , trust me you wont be interfering in american elections. Thats very different from trump who seems to be encouraging it all the time. Meanwhile nbc news has confirmed that trumps anger that lawmakers were even briefed on the act led to the ouster of Joseph Maguire whose term was supposed to expire march 4th. After the briefing trump eresulted at maguire demanding to know why lawmakers were briefed on the u. S. Russian intelligence operation. The office of the director of the National Intelligence, quote is nearing a meltdown. In fact, todays maguires Principal Deputy announced hes stepping down and trump has tapped Richard Grenell with no intelligence experience to temporarily run the office of dni. Im joined by natasha britton. Larry pfeiffer, former secretary of state and a Senior Editor for the Washington Post. What are the implications of this, what more do we know about the fact that the russians are trying to help trump again and are interfering in the primaries for the benefit of Bernie Sanders to make the democrats more vulnerable. Who knows what . What to you make of this and the fact that were getting briefed on this it this week . Well, break the glass, call the firefighters in the nearby county, the russians are coming. Im not surprised. This is something bob mueller told us in his hearing on capitol hill. The russians have been coming after it. They did it in 2016, they did it in 2018. Theyre doing it in 2020. Their goal is to be disruptive. They want to mess with us. They will have favored candidates. Clearly they see Donald Trumps time as president as being beneficial to Russian National interests so of course they are showing a preference. The fact that theyre helping Bernie Sanders as well according to the recent reporting shows that theyre equal opportunity players. Theyre going to mess around wherever they can mess around because they want to find those divisions that exist in america and exploit them. Do they want us to have a clown as president . They want us to have a president who is going to have policies that will ultimately work to russian benefit. So those policies include policies that break up alliances, that remove american from regions of the world where were doing, you know, gods work. And if that means, you know, supporting donald trump than thats what theyre trying to do. Natasha, president denies it. He still denies they did anything against the country in 2016. He covers at it up and represses the news again and again. All the while seemingly pulling our troops out of syria, kissing up to putin. Everything he does is helping putin. Its just in broad daylight, the whole thing. Except for the truth. Yeah, chris, so the dangerous thing here obviously from the National Security perspective is in part the fact that the president of course wont acknowledge that this russian interference is taking place. And that hes continuing to politicize russias interference, framing it as an issue where, you know f the democrats leaked this, it will hurt me other than this is something we need to take seriously from the National Security point of view to preserve the integrity of the elections. We know this isnt a partisan issue, that the russians are allegedly trying to help Bernie Sanderss campaign, whether its to sow chaos, we dont know, because we dont have that underlying intelligence that tells us exactly what theyre doing. Right . This is also a big question is how are the russians interfering here . Is this a hack and dump operation, a social media operation . Thats something we dont know. With intel officials selfsensing and trying to prevent kind of the most damning information getting to the political allies to the president , which may never find out. That of course should worry voters going into to 2020 election. Well, just a question again. He used the word rumor. Its not a rumor its been reported by the dni, right from the briefing he got the other day. How does he get away with calling the own information he gets from his top intelligence people rumors . This is why he has removed acting dni joe maguire because he began to speak the truth. He started to tell his officials to go to congress and say, look, give them a briefing on whats happening here. Trump has installed this loyalist, ric grenell, who will not is known to be fair as a russian hawk in his past, but he was promoting the wikileaks exposures and he wont push back on trumps instinct to downplay this. Lets talk about the philosophy at work here. You know and i know back after world war ii even ho chi minh modeled his declaration of independence on. Lets have free speech, lets have free press, thats the goal. Is that what the real jealousy is all about . Putin has a lame state with a gas station and he cant make anything sew hes so jealous of our culture which is a hell of a lot more dynamic that he has to screw us up . Is that what it is all about, just smearing us by saying we cant run straight elections . I cant get inside putins head, but i would point to the more practical point that he has. Which is its estimated about half the wealth that russia has generated since putin has come to power has been stolen and he moved outside of the country. If its outside russia its findable. There have been efforts by some in congress to tighten some disclosures. To make it harder for example to buy real estate in miami through dummy corporations. To have know your client rules an these a threat to putin and his inner circle. This is why he disliked Hillary Clinton and why he would be most afraid of Elizabeth Warren. That is the threat to putins livelihood you said hes a kleptocrat, a thief, people around him are all thieves and his primary goal is to loot russia . That has been his primary accomplishment as president is to steal half of the countrys mobile wealth. All through today, people people in this administration are talking to journalists saying look, trump was only upset because maguire stepped outside channels. Trump was saying why is he telling congress this . When he didnt tell me. As if this is a mere matter of protocol. Its important to bear in mind that the New York Times reported in april of 2019 back then, more than almost a year ago that the anyone national sorry, the director of Homeland Security secretary nielsen wanted to talk to the president and was talk by chief of staff mulvaney do not talk about election security, it make him go up in smoke. He demands to be in the dark and hes surrounding himself with people who understand the price of keeping their jobs is not to talk to him, not to talk to the government and not to talk to the congress about the integrity of elections. So now he has to keep therefore he can keep saying these are rumors because no one has sat in the room and told me about it. The briefing that congress got, including schiff and others, they got that briefing. The Washington Post reports that he learned about piersons remarks is the ranking republican and the staunch trump ally. His suspicions are fueled by mr. Nunes himself. Patel played a key role as a key staffer in helping to discredit the russian probe and guess what, a Senior Adviser for Richard Grenell. Patel had previously served under nunes on the intelligence committee. This name kaj patel is like roger stone, who is he . He worked for nunes. He had something to do with the midnight right that nunes came back and took stuff back to the white house the next morning now hes working for grenell. This boob is running National Security for intelligence. Yeah, so patel was a senior top staffer for devin nunes an he was responsible for a lot of the work that devin nunes did with regard to questioning the origins of the russia investigation, questioning surveillance alleged surveillance of the Trump Campaign, trump himself by the fbi in 2016 pushing this theory that you know the Obama Administration quote unquote unmasked certain people within the Trump Campaign that appeared in intercepts, intelligence intercepts. This is someone who has been extremely skeptical of the underlying intelligence that informed the idea that russia intervened in the 2016 election in order to help trump win. This is someone who worked hand in glove with devin nunes during his three year crusade to try to undermine the russian investigation. Now he went to the nsc, he worked there as a counterterrorism official for a few years an hes been transferred over to odi and he was mentioned in the impeachment hearing because fiona hill testified that he was actually so close to the president that the president actually at one point thought that he was the top ukraine person on usc, feeding him information on that so he pops up in many different areas. Let me go back to larry. Whats the future look like of our National Intelligence agencies . It seems like trump wants a bunch of toadies like grenell. Wants to make sure they dont tell him the truth and to serve his partisan interests. So you know im obviously concerned. What you want at the top of the Intelligence Community are people steeped in National Security, people who have an understanding of intelligence. You dont want people who come in with preconceived notions and then cherry pick intelligence in order to solidify that preconceived notion. This is now the second acting leader in a row, its the third leader in less than a year and if the president is to be believed we might have another one in a short order. It involves 17 different departments and agencies spread across the United States government. The dni himself is by statute not the strongest individual. Hes not as strong as the cabinet secretary so he has to be somebody that can persuade and cajole and coordinate the activities of a bunch of different organizations thats different to do when you spend two or three months in the chair so that obviously has me worried. I would say though the community is very large. Thousands of people, all of them dedicated to the mission of providing the truth to policymakers. Regardless of what the policymakers think. Well, once again, the president has decided to take personal advantage rather than National Interest in mind. Now we have a national Intelligence Community basically thats been set up temporarily to protect him and not the country. Thank you natasha, larry and david frum tonight. Coming up we have two special guests tonight. Former senator leader harry reid a big force for decades. He joins me here. Does he think that Bernie Sanders is unstoppable . And what would a nomination would mean for the Senate Candidates . Plus Pete Buttigieg is going to join me. He faces a major test tomorrow of course. We have much more to get to in nevada on the vegas strip. Stay with us. music playing this is the first day of my life i was born right in the doorway now i dont know where i am, i dont know where ive been but i know where i wanna go and my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. Ahh no, come on. I saw you eating poop earlier. My focus is on the road, and thats saving me cash with drivewise. Welcome back to hardball. By this time tomorrow night well probably know who won the nevada caucuses and today theyre each making their case to the voters of course. Michael bloomberg who isnt on tomorrows ballot here in nevada is conceding he didnt do so well in wednesdays debate here and is already focused on what happens next. Bloomberg sat down with the reverend al sharpton for an exclusive interview set to air this weekend on msnbc. Heres a bit. You tell me what did you feel about your performance and when well, it wasnt my best night. Blame nobody but me in the end i get advice from people. But its up to me to decide what to do. What i found they were all yelling at each other and they werent focusing on donald trump which is what we should be focusing on in the Democratic Party. And i didnt have a chance to really say what i wanted to say. I have another debate coming up on tuesday. They brought up nda and stop and frisk. Are you going to release the nda. I may do something. I want to keep you in us is puns. Bloomberg said that three women who worked for him will be released from the agreements. Harry reid addressed the possibility of a brokered convention telling the Washington Post i do not think that anybody, Bernie Sanders or anyone else should get the nomination simply because they have 30 of the delegates and no one has that many. Im going to talk to harry reid, the most influential figure about that and much more after this short break. Youre watching hardball. The better question would be where do i not listen to it. While im eating my breakfast. On the edges of cliffs. On a ski lift. Everywhere. Download audible and start listening today. The best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. Thouwhich is Breast Cancer metastthat has spreadcer, to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. Ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr her2 metastatic Breast Cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. Patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. Ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. Tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. Before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. Common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. Be in your moment. Ask your doctor about ibrance. Got a new one, minimike, how did he do in the debate the other night . Minimike. Heres a box. Minimike, he was a beauty. What happened to how about that pocahontas screaming at him. She forgot she forgot that she lied about her own heritage. Biden is very angry. Getting angrier and angrier and bernie is screaming and going crazy. Welcome back to hardball. That was of course President Trump going after the democrats during a midday rally here. Hosted earlier today here in las vegas. Were on the strip in las vegas. Politico is reporting by the way that republicans are watching the surge of Bernie Sanders with glee. Eager to tie all Democratic Candidates to socialism. According to politico, quote republicans up and down the ballot are already casting their democratic rivals as socialist puppets who would remake the economy in his fashion. And another said that he is terrified that sanders can become the nominee. I think hes i think hes clearly the favorite whoever he runs up against. As an american, frankly, look im a conservative so Everybody Knows my story as an american its kind of scary to me that Bernie Sanders could be the nominee of the other major party in this country, a socialist. To me thats kind of scary. Im joined now by former nevada senator and Senate Majority leader, harry reid. Thank you so much, senator. Lets talk about the big stuff nationally. There were a lot of talk especially from Bernie Sanders about big stuff being done. And getting it through the u. S. Senate like medicare for all for the time youre born to the die you get medicare. Student loan all repaid. Free College Tuition for state universities. When it comes to getting 50 to 60 votes in the senate what are the chances . Well, its not now, but in the legislative body it is really hard to get things passed. Thats why i have come out months ago and medicaid for all just wont work. I said it wont work. It takes away insurance from the 70,000 culinary workers here in las vegas and all unions in the country. Medicare for all will not work and anyway it wouldnt pass the congress. Do you to get a simple fact of the parliamentary rule if youre going to create a new program like medicare for all, or student loan repayment, or free College Tuition, does that take 50 or 60 votes . 60 votes, however, remember thats only talk. We have never had a major program, medicare, medicaid. Obamacare doesnt matter what it is. If the president isnt in favor of it, we wont have major changes. I dont care who it is. You have to have the president and the majority . No, you have to have always in the senate you have to have 60. Although chris ive said and i believe this, with what the republicans have done and my friend Mitch Mcconnell with the senate, its not a question anymore if the filibuster is going to be gone its when it will be gone. You cant take 60 votes on everything, and thats not the end of the world. We have bicameral election, we have six year terms so having the house like the senate isnt going to be all that bad. Senator sanders was the only candidate who said that the person with the most delegates should be the democratic nominee. Even if they dont receive the majority of delegates required to cinch the nomination. Here he goes. Should the person with the most delegates at the end of this primary season be the nominee even if they are short of a majority . I think that the will of the people yes. Thank you, guys. Who gets the most votes should become the nominee. Well, the rules currently state if no one gets enough delegates it would go to the second ballot where superdelegates wound able to vote. Its the opposite position he had taken ahead of the 2016 National Convention where he argued that even though Hillary Clinton had the most pledged delegates the superdelegates should support him instead. Here he goes. The case well make to the superdelegates is everybody at the democratic National Convention is going to want to defeat donald trump. And i should point out to all of the democratic delegates going to philadelphia in every instance we beat trump by far larger margins than does Hillary Clinton. So if the delegates to the democratic National Convention want to make sure and we better make sure that we defeat trump and defeat him badly we are the campaign to do that. Well even without a majority . Absolutely. Heres the question, if you get Bernie Sanders or anybody else with 35 of the delegates and 36 in the other should he get the nomination . I have said for weeks now you cant have somebody with 32 of the vote think theyre going to be the nominee, what about the other 68 . If youre the nominee play by the rules, get a majority thats what i believe. What is going on right now with all of the moderates running . Arent they all dividing it up . All of on the blunt, all of the nonbernie candidates are dividing up that vote. Its too early. Well have candidates start to drop out. Some are running out of money. Im worried about that. Because this seems to be the year that nobody is dropping out. Amy klobuchar, is she going to drop out . Is buttigieg going to drop out . I think youll find within the next month people are going to start dropping out because theyre running out of money. You cannot run a president ial campaign on a shoe string. Lets talk about bloomberg. Im watching were on the strip here tonight. Its beautiful. I have never seen more people walking by the way. Everybody is walking up and down the strip here. Theres billboards the biggest billboard i think i have ever seen going after the president President Trump because he cant get his wall built. How much hes lost in the casino business. It rips him on every single thing. What do you think about the money that Mike Bloomberg is throwing into this race . Well, heres how i feel about Mike Bloomberg. Im a big i have always been opposed to Citizens United since the Supreme Court decided that money can come from anywhere in the campaign. However, anything that bloomberg is doing is not illegal. Its not unethical. And im glad that hes focused on getting rid of trump. And i can never be too critical of bloomberg because hes no one in the country has done more on guns and climate than Mike Bloomberg. Would you be happy if he was the nominee . Well, he would be a good president but hes a long, long way from that. Do you think hes handling himself as a candidate out in the debates . You know its a new venue for him. It was the first time around and it was hard for him. Well, they didnt make it easy on him, did they . What did she call him, horse never mind. Great to have you on. Thank you so much, senator harry reid. Still ahead, down to the wire here in nevada and the gloves are off. We have all of the cliches tonight. Were going to the caucuses tomorrow. Who is landing punches and how could it change things tomorrow . Next on hardball. And Pete Buttigieg is goingto join me here live. Stick with us. Cologuard colon Cancer Screening for hardball is sponsored by some things are harder than you thought. And others are easier. Like screening for colon cancer with me, cologuard. Im noninvasive and you use me at home. Im also effective. I find 92 of colon cancers using dna in your stool. So why wait . Cologuard is not for those at high risk for colon cancer. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your Healthcare Provider if cologuard is right for you. Most insured patients pay 0. I need all the breaks, that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Earning on that eclair. Dont touch it dont touch it yet let me get the big one. This one . No this one . Yes no. The big one theyre all the same size with freedom unlimited, youre always earning. Let me get them all. Im gonna get them all. I cant decide. My agerelated macular degenso today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision. Because he said a multi vitamin alone may not be enough. D its my vision, my morning walk, my sunday drive, my grandsons beautiful face. Only preservision areds2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. Its how i see my life. Because its my vision. Preservision. Fidelity now has zero commissions for online u. S. Equity trades and etfs. And fidelity also offers zero account fees for brokerage accounts, plus zero minimums to open an account. And only fidelity offers four zero Expense Ratio index funds directly to investors. With all of those zeros, there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. Fidelity. So maybe ill win saved by zero welcome back to hardball. One day before the nevada caucuses the campaign for the democratic nomination is getting increasingly heated. Though Mike Bloomberg isnt on the ballot here in nevada his billboards, his tv advertisements, public statements are very present here. Bloombergs going after Bernie Sanders for his past votes on gun rights, for example. And bloomberg tweeted a thread the nra put Bernie Sanders in congress, writing that bernie is among the corrupt. In an interview with 60 minutes argued that bloomberg wont be able to handle trump in the debates. Were you surprised how up prepared he seemed to be for some basic questions at the debate . I was. You know, in thats what happened in a democratic debate, you know, i think its quite likely that trump will chew him up and spit him out. Im joined now by the National Correspondent for the new York Magazine and a political reporter for the l. A. Times. A couple of thoughts, first of all lets go to bloomberg first. He started hes dealing with three of the ndas how do you think that will work . It wont work. Post me too do you know how many there are . We dont know of he made some jokes that people didnt like. I think that gives the rivals plenty of room to keep on attacking him. Well find out the three jokes. I think this gives warren an opportunity to say hey i got results on this. Her whole thing was im going to treat bloomberg like i like trump and she can say i pressured him into this making this significant change. This is going to be a drip drip drip purely in terms of other campaigns saying putting pressure on him for the coming weeks. I didnt think of this, but this is great. Looks like bernie will win out here, so number two means a lot. If biden gets two hell do okay in South Carolina next week. If Elizabeth Warren wins out here, my god, she might be back in the game. Right. I think we saw that at the debate. She went in knowing that she had to shake things a bit. She came fully prepared. How do we know she won . I dont know that she won but i think were talking about the idea she made she put bloomberg on the ropes. Here we go. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren as you mentioned has made a pointed attempt to differentiate herself from Bernie Sanders. Here she goes. Democrats want to beat donald trump. Theyre nervous about a narrow vision that just doesnt speak to americans who see real problems and want to see real change. But they are also worried about gambling on a revolution that wont bring along a majority of this country. It is i am a democrat through and through. I have rock solid values and i know how to get things done. I dont want to president just to yell at people. I want to be president to change things thats why im going there. So could it be shes angling already to be the nominee out of the second ballot . Meaning if you want a democrat, bernie is not a democrat she is. Bloomberg is not a democrat, she is. If you want a compromise candidate who the progressives will accept shes the most progressive along with bernie. Yeah, its true about the way shes now in the last few days positioning her candidacy but its not about the second ballot at the convention but about right now. Many people have thought shes trying to replace bernie this race but what shes trying to do if you look at what shes talking about, shes trying to be the alternative to bernie right now. Not all about just moderates versus progressives right now. Shes trying to say to the people we who were longing at biden, buttigieg, klobuchar, maybe im going to be the person to get behind. Thats what im saying. But youre moveling it up faster. Its what youre saying and what she is is saying too. Is there a space between bernie on the democratic socialist list, if you will, and the more moderate people beginning with biden and amy and buttigieg . Is there a space to sneak in there and say you want to go a little left, lets not go too far left. I think thats what the trying to hit, especially for those afraid of Bernie Sanders being the nominee. Okay, if youre not down with biden she shaky for you, im a viable alternative. She is taking it everything to the right of bernie. She shakes off the label. Socialist. She does havent the i dont think she has comments about what dora and castro. I think its her mannerisms too. She doesnt come across as bernie. Bernie is yelling and shaking his hands and shes more polished. Waving both arms in the air and red faced. The reason we know this is working in the short term than she has in the last in the last few hours. I think well have a scorecard tomorrow night. If biden wins number two. Shes looking good for South Carolina. If she wins number two, shes back in the race. Thank you both. President ial candidate Pete Buttigieg is joining us next. Youre watching hardball. Ttle and latch on to the affirmative its okay but dont mess with mister inbetween oh, oh, announcer ® onceweekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like james lower their blood sugar. A majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. Heres your a1c. Oh my a1c is under 7 announcer and you may lose weight. 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Millions of patients are treated with statinsbut up to 75 persistent cardiovascular risk still remains. Many have turned to fish oil supplements. Others, fenofibrates or niacin. But heres a number you should take to heart zerothe number of fda approvals these products have, when added to statins, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Ask your doctor about an advancement in prescription therapies with proven protection. Visit truetoyourheart. Com people are still making up their minds. Yes. Everything is on making sure we reach them. Not everyone is following the whole thing for the entire year. Right . Some folks are tuning. In you might be the last person that the voter hears in before they make their decision going in. Welcome back to hardball. That was the former mayor of south bend, Pete Buttigieg speaking to his staff ahead of tomorrows caucus. Buttigieg currently is the delegate leader nationally a by two. Two over Bernie Sanders. Hes just up by two. After strong showings in both iowa and new hampshire, the real clear politics average has him tied for third with Elizabeth Warren. Sanders holds he holds a double digit lead over everyone. Joining me right now is mayor Pete Buttigieg. Mayor, thank you for joining us. I guess everyone watching the democratic fight sees the same picture. They see one guy going up on the left as a selfdeclared socialist. Maybe climbing to 25 to 30, maybe. And then you see four moderates all dividing up the rest of the pizza pie thats the problem. Hes got three slices of the eightpiece pizza pie and you guys are fighting it over the other five pieces. How do you get three to match his three with three other people fighting with you . Well, thats where weve got to come together and i would encourage voters who dont believe that Bernie Sanders is the right answer to look at their options. I am the only candidate who has beaten him at anything. So far in the voting thats gone on this year. And we need to get our act together or we could wake up in about ten days and find that either bernie has an insurmountable lead or only choices are narrowed down to Bernie Sanders and bloomberg neither of who speaks to what the party wants right now, wanting real bold progressive change but rather bringing the American People together. The extraordinary moment, most people want what we want, higher wages, action on the climate, our job is to gather the majority together to win the nomination and to make sure we defeat donald trump because this is our only chance. You know, i think that bernie hasnt gotten a lot of the vetting. A lot will come out in the next six months that he was on castros side against jack kennedy. He said he was physically sick when he heard kennedy speaking against communists in cuba. I wonder about that kind of ideological pedigree. Once its fully vetted does he have a chance at the convention . What will happen when people really understand where hes been coming from ideologically. Im talking about sanders. This is coming out again today. Look, most americans and for that matter most democrats dont identify with the socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil. Capitalism has all kinds of failures which is why we need a strong democrat to raise the wages but when you take i all the way to one side and when you have a my highway or the way kind of politics thats how you see bernie going through vicious attacks tloul some of his supporters, demonstrating the kind of division that lies in wait for us day after day if hes the nominee. The thing is we dont have to. We can put forward a strong, bold progressive, an actual democrat who has demonstrated the ability to draw independents and even some republicans into the fold, which is exactly what were going to need to defeat donald trump, and we must defeat donald trump. Now hes saying today that those dirty things that were said about the leaders of the Culinary Union were said by the russians. Hes trying to blame it on the russians. The dirty talk, the horrendous attack, he said the russians probably did it. What do you make of that dodge . Look, a lot of the frustrating behavior by his supporters isnt just online. Its in person. And at a certain point, you have to ask what leadership is drawing out of people. I believe leadership is about how you motivate people to treat other people. And one of the things were proud of in this campaign is how we have been able to create a sense of belonging. I get that no candidate controls all of their supporters, but look at the pattern here. Look at the tone. And as toxic and divisive as our politics have become today, the time has come to seek a leader who will strike a different tone. Sometimes folks ask me why i dont wave my arms around more, why im not louder. Im very passionate about the issues that affect this country, but i also think most democrats, most americans, are looking for a president that you can see on the news and actually feel your Blood Pressure go down a little bit instead of up through the roof. We have got to bring together the American People to deal with these big issues and harness the advantage of living in a moment where the American People are with us even on issues where our party used to be on defense, like immigration and guns. This is the time to galvanize and not polarize the american majority. Why do you think of trump saying youre a good debater . You know, im not going to be taking a lot of debate advice or any other kind of advice from this president. I am determined to defeat him. Its going to be important to have the best candidate moving forward who can do it. Im going to be ready to confront this president on everything from the way that he has treated troops and talked about traumatic brain injury to the way hes tried to cloak himself in the language of religion despite his own behavior, to the fact hes turned his back on communities like mine that are full of the socalled what he pretends to care about, the forgotten people. We need a candidate who can go toe to toe with this president , but not somebody trying to play his game. And thats where i worry about Mike Bloomberg. We cant just create some equal and opposite version and expect that to work either. Because people are going to go for the real thing. We need something completely different. And thats what my campaign is offering. What do you think makes Mike Bloomberg like donald trump . You say theyre similar. Well, i think theres a theory out there that says, okay, lets put up one new york billionaire against another new york billionaire, but i dont want us to spend the next few months arguing over who created a more toxic environment for women or any of the other weaknesses that were on such striking display on the debate stage. You know, let me be clear. Mike bloomberg is politically nothing like donald trump. But hes also not like what most democrats believe in. Somebody who opposed barack obama, somebody who opposed increases in the minimum wage. Here we have three mayors who were on the stage last night. The other night at the debate. Im the only one whos actually been a democratic mayor and i think thats what democrats are looking for, somebody who has been consistent in standing for the values of this party and also ready to do it in a new way that can invite independents and some crossover republicans into the coalition to beat donald trump. Do you think the person running for the democratic nameination fnam nomination for president , whether its bloomberg or Bernie Sanders, should declare themselves to be a member of the Democratic Party . Nobody has brought the obvious question up. If youre not a democrat, why do you expect to be nominated by thetimentic shouldnt they have to say that they cant register that way or make a public statement, im a member of the Democratic Party. Shouldnt they have do that . Well, that seems appropriate to me, but at this point, thats academic. We are just a few days away. We have nevada, then South Carolina, and then super tuesday. And if we dont get our act together, those of us who believe that we need to do Something Different than nominate either Bernie Sanders or Mike Bloomberg are just a few days away from waking up and those are our only options. Thats why im asking for support. Its why im asking everybody who shares our vision to go to peteforamerica. Com and help us fund this thing because i dont have billions of dollars to reach into and be all over the airwaves. Its also the vision that i believe is where most voters, most democrats, and ultimately, most americans are. Thank you very much, Pete Buttigieg. Recent mayor. Its been great to have you on. And thank you. Everybody has been watching tonight. Were live in las vegas where were just hours away from the start of the nevada caucuses tomorrow. Youre watching hardball. whistling whistling i am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Can you help keep these iguys protected online . . Easy, connect to the xfi gateway. What about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming . Lets hook you up with the Fastest Internet from xfinity. What about wireless data options for the family . Of course, you can customize and save. Can you save me from this conversation . That we cant do, but come in and see what we can do. Were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. Ask. Shop. Discover. At your local xfinity store today. Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. Ill be back tomorrow here in las vegas at 2 00 eastern time. And then stay with msnbc throughout the day for special live coverage of the nevada caucuses as we break down the incoming results from this crucial third test of the primary season. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight, on all in. This is dangerous. This is dangerous to our country. The president trying to hide russian efforts to get him reelected. They said today that putin wants to be sure that trump gets elected. Here we go again. Tonight, as Mitch Mcconnell continues to block any attempt to secure the 2020 election, new details about russian interference to help trump. And to help the Democratic Front rner, too. Heres the message to russia. Stay out of american elections. Then, the latest effort by republicans to mess with the census. This fake census from the rnc will only serve to increase confusion and distrust. On the eve of the nevada caucus we have a very few nondisclosure agreements. How many is that . Let me