About it. Or other things, the pay game from ceo to a regular work is an astounds 350 to 1. This must change. Thats what this election is all about. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. The secret service spills a sex story. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington. Remember that trip to cartagena president obama took two years ago . Remember the trouble the secret service got itself into that weekends, the boozing and the prostitutes . With the president blaming it all on a couple of knuckle heads. Fasten your seat belt. There it is, the news that the white house was given information suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight
guest of a member of the president s advance team but government investigators kept that information from its report on the handling of the secret service episode. So the advance team member, the difference being, he never got exposed, never suffered the punishment doled out to a dozen agents who got caught up in the whole matter. Joining me now, two white house correspondents, Kristen Welker with nbc news and david with the Washington Post. Post. Jonathan dock had a sex worker at his hotel room on that trip to colombia. Quote, the hotel logs for dachs stay, showed that a woman was registered to his room at on april 4, including an attached photocopy i. D. Of the woman. It matches that of a woman advertising herself as a prostitute. Dach has denied hiring a prostitute or bringing anyone to his room. This secret Service Agent who is added to the witness list, along with the hotel logs, is he going to come forward . He came forward to talk with the investigators. His eyewitness account stands as far as, the question is whether theyll continue to talk about this publicly, i dont know. But as far as the Inspector Generals Office is concerned, its an open question as to what happened. What the white house is saying, they interviewed johnny dach more than once and he said he did not have a woman in his room. Other people on the trip said they did not see anything suspicious. So the white house dropped the investigation. But i think what were seeing is that theres plenty more
evidence, from those other people from the White House Advance Team, in the hotel lobby when he came in at midnight . They were with him part of the evening. He got there the day before. Came back to the hotel with his colleagues, at that point, there are questions about what happened overnight. The secret Service Agent who testified here, any reason to disbelieve any of them . Any reason they have a reason to be incompetent or dishonest in making these claims . I think the logs from the hotel showed this guest was registered to the room. Many other agents who were implicated has the same evidence and they ultimately were found culpable. The white house has pointed to one case in which an agent was purported to have a woman and proved he did not, but overwhelmingly, with this was the initial amount of evidence
that impacted others. Its a concern among the agents who suffered consequences, also in the Inspector Generals Office, those who investigated thought this should be fully aired. Lets look at how the white house has reacted to the incident. From the Washington Post, secret Service First provided evidence to white House Counsel indicating dach registered a prostitute into his room at the hilton. This is whis what jay carney to reporters days later. There have been no alleged misconduct anyone on the white house staff. Theres no indication that any member of the White House Advance Team engaged in any improper or conduct or behavior. Kristen welker and i have been talking on this matter during the day. The Washington Post treat it as a major story. They believe the evidence is there that the white house did not act on this the same way they did in dealing with the secret Service Agents. Whats your feeling up there . Well, it does raise questions about transparency. Why didnt we learn when this investigation was going on, that the white house had evidence to suggest that this woman was signed into the room of johnny dach. Ive been speaking to mouwhite house officials throughout the day. Theyre pushing back against this report. They theyre defending the review that took place. I spoke with a former official who was engaged in that review who said they interviewed johnny dach three separate times, as well as several officials who were on that trip with him and no one saw this woman coming into his room at the time, or into the hotel with him. And the question is [ all speak at once ] thats the big question. Im just talking about the fact, not the right or wrong, or the gravity of the situation. What im asking, was there anybody in position to deny the facts of the story, the fact there was a log, an agent who did see it . Was there anyone there who did not see this happening at midnight . Is anybody claiming he was present when he came into the the white house is saying, based on the people they interviewed, they didnt see him go into the room with someone. Now what were seeing is this witness come forward, speaking out anonymously saying that, in fact, they did see him walk in with this woman. And the question was, where was this witness at the time of the initial investigation . Having said all this, it raises questions about transparency and your seeing the congressman who wrote a letter to white house chief of staff, demanding to see all the documents from that ve view. I think youll see the calls growing louder for the documents to be released. Im told right now, there are no plans to release the documents, but i think thats where the conversation has in the coming day. The lead investigator later
told senator staffers he felt pressure from his peers to withhold evidence and that decisions were made with Political Considerations in mind. A Committee Looked into the allegations and this was their conclusion. The Sub Committee did not substantiate those allegations. Thats true, but they also did not disprove them. What the Sub Committee found was that the investigator told congressional investigators that he felt this pressure, but his superiors said they did not do anything improper and there was no Political Considerations here. So it was a he said, he said and there no way to determine one way or the other. But you had a witness who said they would put pressure on them not to go forward and put it in the report . Absolutely. He suffered consequence. He was put on administrative leave. This lead investigator went to cartagena, interviewed hotel staff, these are things the
white house did not do. The white house said this was a volunteer travel. For us to send an investigator would be inappropriate. It would look ridiculous. But thats what this igs report determined with face to face interviews in cartagena. He was put on leave for what his boss was said an unrelated matter, but he believes was retaliation. So whats the whole theme . I think the white house was quick to say that none of their staff was involved, none of the advance team, of which this person was a member. And that there was no substantial evidence, jay carney said three days after questions were raised about whether or not a white house person was involved. Quickly said no repeatedly that anybody had been involved. Now were finding out that the investigation and evidence was presented to the white house and it continued after that and was not made public that that was going on. Do you believe that they have
nailed down the truth that Jonathan Dach had a sex worker in his room that night . No. What it says, there was information presented by the secret service to the white house, that this information exists, that the woman was registered to this room. There was additional evidence in a separate investigation by the inspector general. The question is, what did the white house do with the information . Thats the accountability question. Dongets you share the skepticism from the witness here . I think its worth reviewing. And the question to the white house, did you review this thoroughly and and they said none of their Staff Members or travel associates on the trip were involved, when the agents were being disciplined, said all the team with him has to be held to the highest standard. The question is the whether the white house looked thoroughly into that question, even they they were saying they had done
so. Do you believe he was given preferable treatment because of his fathers ties to the white house . He supported some of the first ladys initiative whats your evidence that he got favorable treatment for his son . Theres no evidence. The question was, the inspector generals lead investigator into this report said that he had been pressured by his superiors to remove information yes, absolutely. [ all speak at once ] so were going to hear. Let me go back to kristen. Are we going to have a couple days back and forth between the people who talked to the post and the white house denying they have credibility. Where is this going . I wouldnt be surprised. And i would make a couple of points. I think this underscores the tensions between the white house and the secret service when theyre going through this incredibly difficult time, a pivotal time for the secret
service. The secret service feels as though there was special treatment. I think that could be a challenge moving forward, as you know, president obama just appointed a new interim director of the secret service. Joe clancy. Hes charged with trying to get the agency back on track. Ive been told that the House Oversight committee is launching its own investigation into these four recent breaches. Cartagena, the 2011 shooting in which it took the secret service four days to determine the bullets hit the white house. The atlanta incident when president obama was in the elevator with an armed man. And the most recent one, the white house fence jumping in which an intruder made it deep inside the white house. So i think well be learning more about all of the breaches in the coming days. I can tell you, according to a Senior Administration official, the department of Homeland Security plans to appoint a fourmember panel by the end of this week to start reviewing all of these scandals that have rocked the agency. Thank you so much, Kristen Welker and david. Well see how it develops. Coming up, republicans may have found an issue to run on this november. Fear. Fear itself. Republican candidates across the country are using things like the threat of isis and ebola to scare the voters into voting against democrats. Lets see if its working. And what the democrats can do to fight it. Its hard to fight the notion of fear when its so imminent. This is hardball, the place for politics. Special discounts, new technologies. Like smart pick ups. Theyll only show up when you print a label and its automatic. We save time and money. Time . Money . Time and money. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome all awesome i love logistics. Man [ laughs ] those look like baby steps now. But they were some pretty good moves. And the best move of all . Having the right partner at my side. Its so much better that way. [ male announcer ] have the right partner at your side. Consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Go long. Weve got a slew of new senate polls tonight and for that we check the hardball scoreboard. To new hampshire, shaheen is over brown, 4741. In line with the polling weve seen there all along. Brown could win if theres a republican sweep. Next, dan sullivan leading
begich by six. Sullivan, 50, begich, 44. Thats consistent with other recent polling showing begich trailing in alaska. This one may be gelling. In kansas, a cnn opinion poll has pat roberts leading greg orman by just one, 4948. Orman could be too much of a question mark for the voters. In North Carolina, kay hag an is up two over tom tillis. 4745. Hagans holding that slim lead and well be there tomorrow in North Carolina. In arkansas, a fox news poll has tom cotton over mark pryor by seven. 4639. Finally to kentucky, the poll has mcconnell leading Alison Lundergan by four, 4541. She can still do it. Well be right back after this. Then theres trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. Our expertise, technology, and high quality parts means your peace of mind. Its no wonder last year we sold over three million tires. And during the big tire event, get up to 140 in mailin rebates on four select tires. [ ] great rates and safety working in harmony. Open an optimizer plus account from synchrony bank. Visit myoptimizerplus. Com to open an account. Service. Security. Savings. Synchrony bank engage with us. Thank you. Ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. I order b14. I get b14. No surprises. Buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster White Knuckle thrill ride. Youre promised one speed. But do you consistently get it . You do with comcast business. And often even more. Its reliable. Just like kung pao fish. Thank you, ping. Reliably fast internet starts at 89. 95 a month. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back to hardball, be afraid. Thats the message from many republicans running from 2014. People like scott brown and tom tillis who have used ebola and isis to knock their opponent. One of the reasons why i have been so adamant about closing our border because people are coming in from normal channels. Can you imagine what they can do through a porous border . The fact of the matter, senator hagan has failed the people of North Carolina and the nation by not securing the border. We have an Ebola Outbreak and we have bad actors coming across the border. The question of how safe we have is being used in attacks against democrats. Youre seeing it in ads like
these. Evil forces around the world want to harm americans every day. Theyre entering into our country through arizonas backyard. Yet kirkpatrick votes with her party against protecting arizona, voted against technology to detect illegal border crossing, she even voted with nancy pelosi against providing funds to secure the border. With Americas National security threatened, warnings of islamic extremists, isil plotting imminent attacks. What does mark udall say . I said last week, isil does not present an imminent threat to this nation and really . Can we take that chance . For the record, the director of the National Terrorism center himself has said theres no evidence isis is plotting to attack the United States here. Senator udall said we need to
respond to the threat posed by isis itself. Yet you have republicans like tom cotton alleging isis is collaborating with mexican drug cartels to cross over the border. Its not just an immigration problem. We now know that its a security problem. The islamic state, collaborate with drug cartels in mexico and have clearly shown theyre willing to expand outside the drug trade into Human Trafficking and potentially even terrorism. Evidence that isis and the cartels are collaborating, several rightwing blogs, including one that quotes someone with no direct knowledge of current intelligence, suggesting that its something that may happen. Then theres this claim from Duncan Hunter from california. If youre talking about protecting americans, isis is coming across the southern border let me ask you they wont be bombing american cities, but they will
be coming across from mexico. Do you have any information or evidence that theyre coming in the southern border now . Yes, yes. Tell me what you know. I know that at least ten isis fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican Border in texas. The department of Homeland Security has said that claim is false. Today the homeland secretary said several middle eastern men were arrested trying to cross the border. But they were members of a Kurdish Group who fight against isis. Joan, i want you to start here. This is so wild, these accusations. They are. And theyre so apocalyptic, i should say, the worlds ending, theres going to be bombings in the United States and california. You dont need evidence to just say it. No. And a lot of this is antimexican. This is one excuse to be a prejudiced person. Admit it, i got no problem with regular illegal immigrants, i dont want the people carrying bombs. Now theyre carrying bombs. Thats why they have the cantaloupe legs now, carrying the bombs over the border. No, its ludicrous, chris. Remember when we have the Child Migrant crisis on the border. Thats been largely solved. But the migrants who carry disease and drugs, theyve been replaced by isis and ebola. Its straight out of the republican xenophobic playbook. We can have a rational debate about whether we love the response to isis and ebola. On the other hand, this goes right into the heart of obama derangement syndrome. Some of these people, especially the rightwing talkers, really like to say the president is sympathetic to isis because of his muslim roots, or that hes
too soft on ebola, because of his africa roots. Right now, david vitter is holding up the funding bill for ebola because he thinks it devotes too much attention to africa. So we can have a rational debate. There are ways to disagree about this. But this is straight out of the obama derangement syndrome Midterm Election playbook. Im amused t