Without giving evidence made another startling comment about women immigrants getting raped at levels never seen before. Amid all this, trump has reportedly sidelined his chief of staff and is publicly standing up to his living it up epa director scott pruitt. Pruitt is facing mounting questions about ethics and spending habits. Theres his reported taste for Luxury Travel that he often sits in first or business class. Pruitt said he needed to because of unpleasant interactions with other travelers meaning those pesky citizens in coach. Hes the first epa exadministrator to have a 24hour security detail at all times. His office requested a bullet proof Sport Utility vehicle with socalled run flat tires and pruitt wanted to use flashing lights and sirens in his motorcade, a perk more commonly associated with the presidency to expedite local tripses in washington to the airport or just to dinner. Including at least one drip top le diplomate a trendy french restaurant he frequented. According to times, at least five officials at the epa were reassigned or doe meted or requested new jobs after they raised concerns been spending habits. A spokesman called them a group of disgruntled employees. There are the questions about ethics after reports pruitt paid just 50 a night to stay in a capitol hill condominium linked to a lobbyist whose firm represents oil people. Heres pruitt this week defending himself. Why did you then accept 50 a night to rent a condo from the wife of ive washington lobbyist. Lets talk about that. That is something again that has been reviewed by officials here. Theyve said thats market rate. Youre renting from the wife of a lobbyist is that williams and jensen, major lobbying firm. Exxonmobil is a client. Mr. Hart has no clients. Does exxonmobil have business before you. Mr. Hart has no clients that the have business before this agency. According to wall street journal, john kelly told President Trump last week hes convinced pruitt needs to step down, in other words go. Today white house spokeswoman Sarah Sanders addressed his job security. Lets watch her. President feels that the administrator has done a good job at epa. Hes restored it back to its or purpose. Were continuing to review any of the concerns that we have. Ill keep you posted if theres anything if theres anything further on that front. Has done a good job, not is doing a good job. This morning trump tweeted pruitt is doing a great job but totally under siege. Thats the president talking. That might not be comfort to pruitt as trump defended other cabinet members he later was forced to force out. Sfkt tom price is also here. Today, dr. Price still lives the scout oath, helping to keep millions of americans it strong and healthy as our secretary of health and Human Services and hes doing a great job. David shulkin, our secretary has done a great job. The va was a mess. And theyre all gone. After nbc reported National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster was going to be replaced, spokesman Michael Anton said that he was just with the president and mcmaster both of them together in the oval office, President Trump said that the nbc news story is fake news and told mcmaster hes doing a great job. Theyre all gone now. Im joined by Yamiche Alcindor did, Jonathan Lemire and politics editor at the daily beast sam stein. Yamiche, are you a godfather fan . Have you noticed fredo, you broke my heart . Your mother dies. Youre gone from here going out in the boat saying your hail marys. He seems to do it in the same ritualistic way. Tom is it telling michael to kill fredo and hes not doing it. Essentially explain that for the people who watched the godfather. The fact the president is defying john kelly reportedly telling him. I like the godfather references. Theyre very sophisticated. Really good. But the fact that the president is defying his chief of staff hosteling him to resign and telling him that he needs to go and the fact that you have sarah saeshds who is basically saying look, hes kind of under review, i think scott pruitt has a lot to worry about. If he does another interview like fox news and comes off looking that crazy again, the president is not going to have him much longer. Tell me this trade craft you engage in white house coverage. How come we know what john kelly told the president about pruitt . How can we know him he told him to fire him . He tells somebody in the pressey told him to firefighter guy . Cooperate with more than one person. Several people in the building can give accounts can of a conversation. It looked like it was fed. Just a thought. That would goose the move, wouldnt it . Get the word out i told you to get rid of the guy. Trump sometimes acts in contrarian purposes to what his chief of staff advised him. Pruitt was in the oval office today for a meeting where he was going to talk about rolling back regulations, fuel efficiency standards and pleaded with the president , made his case. This is why i should still be in the job. Hes lost a lot of support within the west wing but still has unlike David Shulkin who lost his job, still has a lot of outside support. People in the industry. People hate the environment. People who may not want to protect the environment and they have been in the president s ear saying this guy is getting conservative done. They get their own scar tissue on their own and dont want it from people under them. This guy is taking a lot of bad hits, the ethics teams out there and maybe the environmental teams out to get him. He doesnt want that hanging on his administration, does . He no, and were reporting tonight that one of the sub ports here is an incredible amount of tension that exists between senior white house. The beast. Senior white house staff and senior epa staff in which part of the reason than pruitt went on anddon this media tour is because he thought he would get no air cover from anyone else in the white house. He felt he had to defend himself. Kelly told him to stop doing television. Correct. At the felt like he had to plead his case. Kellys move is a big gamble if you ask me, to let it be known you want this guy gone, if trump turns and does not fire pruitt it, completely undermines kellys standing within the administration. I think theres multiple balls in the air here. I think kellys in a tough spot, too. Jonathan, youre reporting that trump is freezing out kelly. Theres no question kelly has lost a lot of influence within the west wing, that the president has stopped consulting him for a lot of key decisions. He an opposed the hiring of john bolton. Trump did it anyway made the job offer when kelly wasnt there. Kelly didnt accompany him to maralago when trump went on a twitter tirade and tariffs. He wasnt on the call when trump called putin and congratulated him and said to him, good job on your reelection. We know kelli is frustrated too and that is told people around him he hoped to make the year mark which would be july. He started expressing doubts hell get that far. The president s is this is all connected to him feeling like i can govern with my gut. Can you report now that the president of the United States even though hes the top person in our government has to sneak around his staff guy to get something done . Has told people around him he has stopped telling kelly what he wants to do. Hes also telling people if he got rid of john kelly he might not have the another chief of staff. Trump is making it known not only might i get rid of this general but i might wing it on my own because im tire add of listening to people. Why is trump raising the temperature this week . Its the end of the week. The china war, the rape on the border, the caravans. What is this whole i think when things get difficult for him when he starts to get nervous about his right ward corner ann coulter, he feels the safest thing is to raise the temperature high and get his people behind him even in the short run. Part of that is because hes going back to campaign mode. He felt most at home when he was out there. April of 20918, hes going into campaign mode. Theres no election right now. If you listened to him in west virginia, i was standing there watching. Wait, are we talking about rapes and immigrants again and throwing the paper saying im bored with infrastructure so ill go on a tirade about voter fraud and theres no evidence that millions voted illegally . When he gets frustrated he goes back on this tirade. Theres something to the fact that heres a man who throughout his life, his professional life has never been handled. No ones told him not to do things. Its worked for him. Yeah, he got bailed out. Some kind of billionaire and hes president. He says what have you guys done. Thats objectively true. Youre talking about me and im him from his point of view. And to be and at this point in his presidency, the people who came in with him to handle him, the people brought in to handle him have largely been diminished or put aside. At this juncture, hes going back to the idea that kib net tick Energy Around everything. Always being premiering something, always dangle a firing. Always be fighting with somebody. The media moves minute by minute. Isnt he right he has to grab the attention that have minute. He doesnt have to. At the wants to. Who else will if he doesnt . There is a vacuum na could be filled by someone oppositional. This is rare for a president to feel like he has to nominate every single headline. In an interview this morning, trump said he wasnt likely to attend the white house Correspondents Dinner this year. Heres what he says is his reason. I sort of feel that the press is so bad, its so fake, in many cases they literally make up sources. Nine sources within the white house have said. There are no nine sources. So i just think that i want to get it straightened out with the press before i do it. Its probably pretty unlikely. I didnt do it last year. Had i had a rally instead. It was much funnier. The dinner was a massive failure. Im going to turn you i probably wont do it. You know, hes now posing as the scolding School Master like he has to wrap our knuckles as if you know hes going to find the press, you know, in error here. Hes not going to say they have changed their ways. This goes back to the fact that he felt wounded when he did go to the white house Correspondents Dinner and was ridiculed and had to listen to barack obama say all these jokes. It goes back to the fact he doesnt want to be embarrassed. At his core he wants to be respected. Hes the star if he goes this time. Hes the star. Hes the star. He cant take a joke. There are people around him. You think he didnt like the gridiron . I think he had a reasonably good time. Remember the Al Smith Dinner and the later stages of the campaign. Hillary clearly beat him that night. It was a charity dinner. He lost the room. He was so mean in his remarks. They werent funny. They were biting. He got booed. Its a largely catholic affair and he said shes here to pretend he doesnt hate catholics. He got booed. This is not his natural element. This year he is permitting white house staff to go when last year they couldnt. How gracious, thank you. The al smith din ser a bloomberg crowd. Its a rich crowd. Hes one of the poor guys in the room. If he feels like we have to come to an understanding with him before he attends, hes better off not attending. We will be nice to you for seven straight days. I dont think its going to be well see who this comedian is. Thank you, yamiche and john and sam. Coming up, the russia probe. Muellers investigators are reportedly tracking down President Trumps Business Partners even showing up unannounced at their homes armed with subpoenas. Now theres word muellers team is particularly interested in trumps longterm it were attorney Michael Cohen. This investigation is agiceberg. Theres a lot happening under the surface of the water. Plus, President Trump now says he didnt know about the hush money to adult film star stormy davis daniels. And what is the worst Case Scenario for the whole stormy question . Im going to find out that tonight. Indicate fang the lawyer. Can i skip on this thing . And finally outgoing congressman trey gowdy is saying this time on capitol hill what hes been thinking for years. Its a waste and congress is totally ineffective. The latest such candid from charlie dent, bob corker, jeff flake they all tell you the truth on their way out the door. Finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. This is hardball where the action is. Without starting from. It brings your business up to speed, doing more with systems you have in place. It can bring all your apps to life and run them within your data center. It is. The ibm cloud private. The cloud thats built for all your apps. Ai ready. Secure to the core. The ibm cloud is the cloud for smarter business. Secure to the core. Are finding themselves morin a chevroletple for the first time. Trying something new can be exciting. Empowering. Downright exhilarating. See for yourself why chevrolet is the most awarded and Fastest Growing brand, the last four years overall. Switch into a new chevy now. Get 20 below msrp on all cruze and malibu lt models. Thats over fifty four hundred dollars on this chevy malibu. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. Republican congressman Blake Farenthold of texas abruptly resigned late this afternoon effective 5 00 eastern. Earlier this year he announced he would retire at the end of the term following news that he had paid 84,000 in taxpayer money to settle a Sexual Harassment claim brought by a former staffer. He said he would repay the 84,000 but theres no indication he made good on that promise. He said i planned on serving out the remainder of my term in congress but i know its time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve. Well be right back. Applebees to go. Order online and get 10 off 30. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Order online and get 10 off 30. I have no idea how were going to get through this. Follow me. Unitedhealthcare has the people and tools to help guide you through the confusion. Well that wasnt so bad at all. Thats how we like it. Unitedhealthcare. Oh hi sweetie, i just want to show you something. Xfinity mobile find my phone. [ phone rings ] look at you. This tech stuff is easy. [ whirring sound ] you want a cookie . Its a drone i know. Find your phone easily with the xfinity voice remote. One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. Welcome back to hardball. There have been many signs over the last week that the investigation into potential collusion with russia is alive and well. It was revealed mueller, bob mueller is stopping russian oligarchs at u. S. Airports right now. We learned a con rating witness george nader has ties to russia and saw the first prison sentence handed down in connection with the probe. Now Mcclatchy News Service is reporting mueller is interested in the president s Business Partners. Armed with subpoenas compelling electronic records and sworn testimony, muellers team showed up unannounced at the moment of the business associate who was a party to multiple transactions to trumps effort to expands his business abroad. Investigators are interested in Michael Cohen, his personal fixer who is deeply embroiled in the Stormy Daniels segment. Among other things, cohen was involved in business deals secured or south by the Trump Organization in russia, kazakhstan and russia and attempting to develop a trump tower project in moscow an effort that took place while he was running for president. And as the New York Times reported last month, the special counsel subpoenaed documents from the Trump Organization earlier this year. Im joined by kim whaley and Natasha Bertrand who covers the russia probe for the atlantic. Were looking for what this tells us, kim. What does it tell you hes now fishing around and interviewing people subpoenaing them meaning they have to talk and their documents about trumps business stuff . Well, it tells us theyre bloodhounds on trail where the facts go and tells us theyre interested in knowing whether any foreign nationals or governments contributed money to a political campaign. Thats illegal. What got them on that trail . What led them to believe . What sent the bloodhounds thinking unexplained money showed up in the Trump Campaign . Its hard to say. I know from whitewater what we know is just the tip of the iceberg. Theres a whole lot of information and dots we need to connect that we cant because we dont have the information. We do nope they process was ticked off by papadopouloss interview with the australian in london and then of course, at this point, theyre talking gate to gates and mr. Flynn and gates will a righthand first front row seat with mfrt to what was happening in the Trump Campaign. And natasha, weve watched all this week all these different tentacles if you will. Still the question of what happened in the seychelles . And what did nader have to do that . Apparently much deeper tied to the russians than we thought. We thought he was an in between person. He may have been part of the russian deal. Meetings like that going back to trump tower with the family members there and all the time, Michael Cohen and what hes been up to overseas. Is trump was he trying to make money as he ran for president and entang lick both together. Muellers investigation i think was always going to shift into a follow the money type probe in terms of whether or not the president actually had whether or not russian had leverage over the president probably in the form of something financial because of his real estate empire. With regard to nader, there was reporting this week that he actually met with