Rat pack. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im chris matthews, in washington. A Republican Campaign that reached the bottom yesterday, is now being fought in the sewers. First it was a Smear Campaign pitting one candidate against the others spouse. Today, a bat of rats. It began with the online ad by antitrump super pack. It urged the target of audience to vote for ted cruz. Trump reacted with an ominous warning to cruz that he was ready to spill the beans as he
put it on cruzs wife heidi. Then he double downed with an unflattering photo matched against a glossy photo of Melania Trump. Advocate of planning marital infidelity, denied on the record by several women. Well, ted cruz denied the allegation on social media, and again with reporters today. It is a story that quoted one source on the record. Roger stow. Donald trumps chief political vis advise er. It is a tab lloyd smear. It is not surprising that the tweet occurs before the attack comes out. I would note that mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He is a man for whom a term was coined for coplating with a rodent. Donald trump may be a rat, but i have no desire to coplate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics. Well, the Campaign Statement today, donald trump said he had nothing do with the story. Im joined by msnbc robert costa, Michelle Bernard, and former virginia congressman tom davis. Thank you. Robert, give us this is pretty dirty stuff. What are there any facts here about how the story got into the National National enquirer . I dont believe them, because i dont think its a source for fact. But where are we this . Any where but smear back and forth . No facts, no evidence. The Washington Post has been trying to report out the story,
just to understand whats going on, and there is no evidence of anything close to the National Enquirer. This a campaign that has really devolved. He says he didnt plant it. I have no idea whether or not the cover story about ted cruz in this weeks issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but i had absolutely nothing do with it. Did not know about it. I have not, as yet, read it. Ted cruzs problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone. While they were right about o. J. Simpson, john edwards and many others, i certainly hope theyre not right about lyin ted cruz. Thats the most ridiculous statement. He is hoping it is right, robert. Why would he even say he hopes theyre not right, the lyin ted cruz as he put it . Days away from the wisconsin primary, theyre really at odds
at each, its almost his toric. The nastiness between cruz and trump. Animus. When you look at trumps social media activity, it has not brought evidence to the fore about cruz as all, but certainly not shutting down the National Enquirer story. Thats a statement of the rivalry between both of these men. Now, roger is a wellknown figure in political circles, he is he does inside jobs. Lets put it this way. He is a nixon. He rose up with nixon. He is a nixon guy. You dont want to put it on television. He knows what he is doing. Is there any reason to believe that he is the source of the story . If he was, why he put his name in it and why would they put him some sort of commentator, rather than the source . Would that be legitimate for them to do that . Here is what i can report about roger stone. He is still in regular contact
with donald trump. But he is not part of the Trump Campaign in any formal way. He actually left the Trump Campaign last year. But he is still a long time confidant, and he is someone trump you could call him a trump associate in a casual way. He was the lone person quoted in the National Enquirer story. This is someone sw long ties to donald trump, not part of the donald Trump Campaign. Lets talk about ted cruzs response. Obviously, when your wife is attacked, on her looks, basically the way the thing was set up, although she is an attractive woman, they whacked her on that. In this whole thing about cruz and his infidelities, according to the National Enquirer, nobody believes it, until real evidence in the world about any problem like that. Does this seem to be, National Enquirer to you or a trump story . Where did it come from . Trump sourced or enterprised by the National Enquirer . In politics, when youre political reporter, things are floated to you all the time. 99 out of 100 times, nothing without evidence ever floats to the top of the National Political conversation, so its odd to see something that has no evidence that is a National Enquirer story that purports to know about five women. To even talk about it, there is no facts or evidence. How is this going to affect the wisconsin primary coming up on the 5th of april. Theyre very socially conservative, mi conservative milwaukee, republican like scott walker. They care about issues, they care about social issues. I think this nastiness is going to influence that contest. Stay with us, robert. Let me bring in michelle and tom, in that order. What do you make of this . I dont even like quoting the National Enquirer, once cruz reacts to it and makes a big bold statement, all the language
that we have to be careful about using ourselves, what do you say . He is in the fight . He wanted to respond to it. He is in the fight. It is part of the National Discourse on both sides. You know, and im still so taken aback by the level of the discourse and the fact that we are even having this discussion, having it at a national level. Donald trump, whether he placed the story or not, or somehow involved, you know, it almost im wondering to the extent the Trump Campaign believes he is now running for the general, and this is going to help him. Donald trump has made a career during this Campaign Season of appealing to people who feel marginalized, and what weve seen, if you take a look at the reporting elsewhere, the advent of these mens Rights Groups who feel marginalized, they support donald trump, they love this, they love the picture of his wife. Lets go back to what we think might be marginally true. Roger stone would love to be
interviewed by the National Enquire enquirer. Suppose thats what was done here, an associate of trumps, jumping in and basically helping to push the story by giving the quote. Is that grounds for cruz to jump back and blame trump. When you lie down with dogs, you get flees. Every time trump drags somebody into the mud with him, they got tarnished. Rubios undoing is when he got down in the mud and tried to take him head on. Cruz should have stayed on top. Trump has already marginalized a lot of votters. Could he have gotten away with it. Ignored a National Enquirer. You have to respond to this now. But this goes back a couple of days in terms of trying to meet trump at his own level. Youre not going to beat him at that. Wisconsin, Russ Feingold won a three way primary where he was trailing two weeks out with two frontrunners throwing mud and he came up a clean guy. This is an opportunity for
kasich, look how low this thing is. Can i remember, wisconsin is, regardless of how conservative it is, there are also conservatives in wisconsin who believe that the women, a womans proper place is in the home. That you get a goodlooking wife, and she stays at home and says nothing. Wisconsin is the state where you mean stepford wife. Look, public state on the record during a discussion about the reauthorization of the violence against women act in wisconsin, who said, and im paraphrasing here, but very closely said, one could argue that money is more important to a man than a woman. So this entire twitter war thats going on between donald trump and ted cruz is appealing to men who believe exactly what that state legislate tore said and no coincidence this is happening right before wisconsin. This is about waukesha county, higher income, better
educated. This doesnt help anybody to get in the mud. These kind of personal taxes have the potential to damage trump among women. Wall street journal polls find 70 nationwide, amazing number, a negative view of donald trump. 70 . Among republican voting in the rhymery, 47 said they cannot imagine voting for trump. Devastating among women, come november, between a hypothetical matchup. 58 to 31. Robert, thinking about this, the clinton people, over in brooklyn up there in new york, are they sitting there thinking, my god, theyre putting film together for us, reference and news stories, we could just referring to trump and his attitude towards women . Its not just the democrats in brooklyn, its democrats in washington, they look at the senate man, and even the house, chris, even the house of representatives, which most
people didnt think months ago would be up and competitive. Now democrats believe privately and some publicly, if he turns off women as he does in this new poll, new places could be in play that they never thought. To me, tom, it comes down to women being treated as theyre a auditioning to be runway models, an donald trump will pick the latest, and you know, anybody else he will diminish them as a human being. This is the way it comes across. Carly fiorina was very good on that point, every woman in america knows what you meant when you knocked my look. Thats certainly true for educated women in particular. They dont want to be judged that way. Weve got a gender gap. Women will elect the president of the United States. I can see the commercials. Where are you going to go . I can ask you this question . Where am i going to go . Vote for trump or the alternative . Im going to vote for the
alternative. When the video comes out with men, im going to quote one person, but the man who supports donald trump who says that heidi cruz looks like a dog who needs to be put down, thats reported by the daily beast, or the man, these are from mens Rights Groups called the red pill, but listen, and for the man who supports donald trump that says Melania Trump looks like a good first lady to me, bill clinton would not be having an affair with the secretary of the white house if the first lady looked like that, every woman who sees those commercials and people speak like that will be running to vote for Hillary Clinton. Who . Whatever super pac or concerned citizen thats going to put these things together. Youre with the idea. I would take a quick sprint to Hillary Clinton. Thank you so much, robert, thank you, tom davidson, Michelle Bernard for declaring. As john said, john kasich is looking to break through this ugly fight and possibly win
wisconsin. Governor kasich will be my guest monday night on hardball. Coming up, the wisconsin primary, could Bernie Sanders actually topple Hillary Clinton and win the democratic nomination. A long shot, but it could happen. Plus, eliminating isis just days after, u. S. Air strikes have killed the islamic second in command over in syria. It comes as republicans have ramped up their criticism isnt doing enough. The hardball round table, reporting on the nasty fight between trump and cruz. Finally, let me finish with trump and cruz itself. This is hardball, the place for politics. Windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. Kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. Hey cortana, find my katydid video oh this is so good. laughs
if youre trying tteach a kid out a proboscis just sketch it on thscreen. I dont have a touch screen on my mac, im jealous of that. laughs you put a big bug in a kids hands and change their world view. laughs then smash it into a tree. Ch on a perfect car, your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. [engines revving] you cant have a hero, if you dont have a villain. The world needs villains [tires screeching] and villains need cars. Coming up on wednesday, donald trump will be my guest for an msnbc town hall from green bay,
wisconsin. What a date that will be. Taking questions from voters, just before the crucial wisconsin primary on the 5th of april. Be sure to tune in wednesday, 8 00 p. M. Eastern for our town hall with donald trump, right here on msnbc. Hardball returns after this. You seem knowledgeable, professional. Would you trust me as your Financial Advisor . I would. I would indeed. Well, lets be clear here. Im actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way i have no Financial Experience at all. That really is you . If theyre not a cfp pro, you just dont know. Find a certified Financial Planner professional whos thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan. Org. Cfp work with the highest standard. Hey hows it going, hotcakes . Hotcakes. This place has hotcakes. So why arent they selling like hotcakes . With comcast Business Internet and wifi pro, they could be. Just add a customized message to your wifi pro splash page and youll reach your customers where their eyes are already on their devices. Order up. Its more than just wifi, it can help grow your business. You dont see that every day. Introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. Comcast business. Built for business. The pentagon announced a major isis leader has been killed. Here is Ashton Carter this morning. Were systematically eliminating isils cabinet. Indeed, the u. S. Military killed key isil terrorists this week, including we believe hoji iman, serving as a finance minister,
and external affairs. The removal of this isil leader will hamper the ability to conduct operations justin side and outside of iraq and syria. Haji imam is the second in command and operations head. Nbcs Richard Engle broke the news this morning. American special Operations Forces conducted a commando raid stopping the car of the isis second in command who is generally known as haji imam, they first tried to arrest him, the situation escalated, and he and three others in that vehicle in syria were killed. This is a serious intelligence victory. The u. S. Has a lot of information how to find the top isis leaders, and after yesterdays action, the will to go into syria on a very Dangerous Mission and kill them. For more on todays news, im joined by terrorism analyst, a former state department spoke woman. Lets go to tara first of all. What good does it do, how hard is to kill one of these guys. First of all, they wanted to capture him. They wanted to try to capture him. We dont flow if something went wrong or security was at stake. They probably wanted to capture him for intelligence. The effect, its necessary to do it. Its not sufficient. The organization will replace him. There are cells and other parts in the world that will operate with or without the second in charge, but its a blow to the group. You need to take back their territory, their leaders. There will be a time lag on isis capacity, let alone their recruitment capabilities. How do you take an airplane,
helicopters went in and did it . Did anybody see them coming . Dont they have the capability to shoot them down . How did this happen . This is part of the value of having intelligence on the ground and having a full coalition. Mot just a u. S. Led effort. They have more than 60 countries involved with local representatives, and the arab communities regionally also working to stabilize the region and combat isis. This is a coalition effort. Thats key to being able to execute these types of raids and types of high profile. What do you think it looked like, this operation. Look, a number of these operations where special forces have been involved, trying to track down senior isis members and the truth is, its not that easy auto to capture them alive. Theyre usually surrounded by bodyguards and heavily harmed. Information is in their possession will be used by the u. S. To track down further individuals. So look, there is no doubt, this
was planned, im sure they were already prepared for the likelihood that this guy was not going to be captured alive. Was he in a car . Motorcade or a building . Do we know . We dont know right now. There is reports that he was in a vehicle and traveling, but a lot about this we dont know. Its important to emphasize here this is not the endall be all of isis. Back in 2010, we killed the number one, number two and number three guy, all at the same time. And you know, two years later, they took over mosel. The impact is not negligentable, but this is not going to stop terror attacks from happening in belgium. President obama was on a diplomatic trip came under criticism for not cutting the trip shorter after the brussels attacks the other day. Lets watch. While our friends and allies are attacked by radical islamic terrorists, president obama is spending his time going to baseball games with the castros. And standing at a press
conference with raul castro as a prop. Its outrageous that the president of the United States is not in a situation room planning to destroy isis. We are watching an Islamic State that is unfolding their Campaign Plan in front of our eyes, and we see the president doi