Last night he dropped this bombshell that you need photo id to buy grocery. That does it for me. Ari is going to be in tonight for rachel maddow. Chris matthews and hardball starts right now. Caught in the swamp, lets play hard ball. Acting like a ships captain in a typhoon. Calling the investigation a witch hunt, the media, the enemy of the people. Good evening, i am Chris Matthews and steaming swamp like
washington that has just been drenched with rainfall. It is wet in this town and steaming. President trump is waging an increasingly desperate battle. Case in point is the president s cavalier tweet in which he calls on the Justice Department yesterday to terminate the russian probe all together. Quote Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions should stop this witch hunt right now. One of the most overt message that president has taken to date to shut down the probe. Trying to protect the president , trumps allies are trying to downplay the significance of his tweeting. Saying President Trump is only expressing his personal opinion. Not an order, it is his opinion. The president is stating his opinion. I think i have clarified this
probe to be eliminated and wants his Attorney General to do it right now. Thats his current position. Yeah, it does seem like he is lashing out more and more lately. Upset at the coverage of his meeting of Vladimir Putin in helsinki, upset at the news of Michael Cohen having taped his conversation about possible pay off to a woman who claims he had an affair with her. He is feeling the pressure, feeling the heat and he is lashing out. Yesterdays tweet takes him further up towards the line. So far he hasnt been willing to cross. Has to give an order saying fire rod rosenstein, fire mueller. So he inches up close to the line and makes his Point Of View wellknown. But so far not willing to cross it. Even he thinks that might be too dangerous. I would think this special
counsel hears a guy that says fires me and takes it seriously. Not that is an eightyearold bagging on the crib. It means something. And the president s defenders acts like an eightyearold banging on the crib. When we look at the president s tweets, tweets equal evidence. Statement of a party opponent. If the president would end up a defendant in a court, those tweets prove his state of mind. Who he was angry with. And what he intended to do. Guess what are not add missable in court, walk backs. It will never modify what the president tweeted about in court. The same holds true for rudy
Chris Matthews debates hot political issues with politicians, newsmakers and Washington leaders. Believe he is giving the president an opportunity to say his peace and have his answer be heard. He is going to push that paper back and say i think we will pass. That is one of the reasons giulianis proposal to mueller is we will answer questions on collusion but not on obstruction. They know if mueller believes comey or other witnesses trump is going to contradict them and there he is in perjury. The tease that has been going on is ask questions about motive. I dont think you can ask somebody as wily as trump about his motive. It is a subjective analysis. If you ask him these questions of fact, did you ask the comey, to let his buddy Michael Flynn off or did you not, i dont think they are ready for questions of fact. What do you make of that . His motives are plain. Made them plain through his tweets and through his statements. The question, they are putting out is can he be charged with obstruction if he is the head of the executive branch. Laying out a theory that because the president of the United States, he cannot be guilty of obstruction. It is in his authority to change the personnel or even end an investigation outright. Particularly as shannon says might not hold up to a court of public opinion. Republican house isnt going to go there. That is a fair assessment. All of these impeachments going back to Andrew Johnson have been through opposition parties. Johnson was a democrat. Let me ask you about this
subpoena question. Nixon had a respond with the tapes. The Supreme Court require he turn over the tapes showing him basically obstructing justice. Clinton had to turn over whatever he turned over. Testify in open hearing on tape. Why wouldnt they just subpoena the guy, do it and get it over with. The Department Of Justice has a policy, that we, they, do not subpoena target of investigation. A target of investigation nixon was a target. Yeah, but there is a doj policy, not a law. So we cant hand them a grand jury subpoena which is a court order and direct him to testify because he will be incriminating himself. There is an exception to that policy but in my thi30 years we cannot have it apply. Can you make it jump in
civilian language. Cant be indicted and therefore he cant be a target. Can be a target because he could be indicted and they could delay a prosecution until after he left office. Right now in real terms, i believe he has morphed into a target. How bob mueller chooses to proceed, it is open. Do we know why mueller wants to talk to a guy as wily and slippery as trump. Why does he want to do this. When you look broader at his mandate, it is to look into whether or not the Trump Campaign colluded. Well, if he lies to you, then you have him on making false statements or perjury. He has an investigation to conduct. People who work with him say he is going to conduct a thorough
investigation. Would not necessarily be a thorough investigation. More signs that the Special Counsel is still scrutinizing donald trump jr. s meeting. Nbc news is reporting that mueller has requested an interview with russian pop star emi emin, who helped set it up. He confirmed he did speak to donald trump jr. About the trump tower meeting. I think the president is unwise to walk into a perjury trap against a group of smart people no one is smart enough to take on all of muellers team. This is knnewt gingrich. You have been saying, people have been saying this is about politics. There is not going to be a trial, acquit or a verdict, or a judgment against him, a condemnation. In the end it is going to depend on who carries the house. If the democrats carry the house, most people think they will win. I simply have to deal with the fact that a partisan house is going to impeach me or narrowly not. And i will live that and still get elected in 2020. Is that the strategy. Certainly one strategy. And as you rightly pointed out. We have learned that they dont succeed unless they are bipartisan. The democrats werent willing to
abandon bill clinton. Right now, even if the senate were to go democratic, it would be one or two votes. They wouldnt have the 67 votes that they need for conviction. If he chooses not to resign, then if republicans bail on him like they did during nixon. That doesnt seem likely at the moment. We will see. If they decide he is more trouble than worth keeping. There is a scenario in which he gets hammered in the election this fall and if he rallies his base. Bill clinton did well after impeachment. His Approval Ratings went up and not down. Anything that can happen. Nixon had nobody that was his problem. And trump has fox. Thank you. Day three of the manafort trial. According to reports the president is monitoring what is happening over there. First big battle. First big test. The scarey world of q anon. Who are these Internet Conspiracy Theorist and why are they showing up at trump rallies. And ivanka, she does not agree with her father the media is the enemy of the people. And bringing you the latest going on in willkesbarre, pennsylvania. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of My Favorite Things the new united Explorer Card hooks me up. Getting more for getting away. Traveling lighter. Getting settled. Rewarded learn more at theexplorercard. Com todays white house briefing, five u. S. National Security Officials warn russia
a is attempting to interfere with the election. Here is dan coats. We acknowledge the threat, it is real. It is continuing. And doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the American People can have trust in. Asked if the president has raised those concerns in his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Coats said he still doesnt know what the two leaders have talked about. Well be right back. Like safe driver, paperless. The list goes on. How about a discount for long lists . Gold. Mara, you save our customers hundreds for switching almost effortlessly. Its a gift. And jamie. Present. Together we are unstoppable. So, what are we gonna do . Insurance. Thats kind of what we do here. Its a hightech sleep revolution. The sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts. So you wake up ready to run the world. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Welcome back to hardball. Third t third day, the trial of paul manafort. According to associated press, President Trump is closely monitoring News Coverage in the manafort proceeding. And has provoked a flurry of
tweeting. In the courtroom itself prosecutors are laying out just how lavish manaforts lifestyle has been. Spent 450,000 on landscaping on a vacation home. And he spent more than 1 million on clothing. Including 15,000 for this jacket made from ostrich. Who wants a python jacket. Facing multiple charges of bank and tax fraud. The charges predate itself. First test for Special Counsel muellers prosecution. I am joined by Cynthia Ox Nee and josh gershstein. Why is this guy ostrich jacket and loot from eastern europe. It is completely over the top. They are really being fought at every turn by the judge who is in charge. He is telling them move on. Move on right now. You have seen more pictures that you have shown to the audience more pictures than the jury has seen. Pretty much will allow one or two in and then makes him move on. Dry testimony about the wire transfers, banks in cypress and going through line by line about how invoices were paid. It seems to me it is all
paper. Accounting is Tricky Enough for most people. It seems they are going to buy the argument for the prosecution. If you looked at the indictment, the indictment goes and they will get a copy of the indictment in the jury room and it goes line by line and list after list. These kind of cases are boring. But they have it nailed. Yeah. You are politically in tuned. Well, it is a continuing to move manafort to try to get him to try to flip. He has this indictment and the indictment in d. C. And my guess is he will have a third indictment that has to do with obstruction and a conspiracy to violate campaign
finance laws. And mueller is trying to push towards that. And this is the first piece of moving towards that. And you were telling me, that you think maybe the manafort people are showing leg on this, niceness to the white house saying we have stuff that is going to come at you. When you try a case in federal court, you have to give to the defense all the statements you have. So everything gates said since he flipped about everything. And going against manafort, everything he has told the fbi. The defense has that. And they are using, going to use it in the trial. I dont think people realize that. Interestingly, that comes right before trial, the prosecutors go through their file and make the
copies. Let me jump over to josh. What would a smart Defense Attorney do. What is he going to say, i have on my hands all the dirt they have on me, but also the dirt they have on you mr. President. How about you give me a break like a pardon. A lot of people think the end game here is some kind of pardon. This is such a difficult case for the defense, they have these mountains of paperwork showing this guy was paying all these high, hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal bills from accounts like places like cypress and the grenadines. While trump may be willing to comment on the manafort case, it seems the white house is trying to keep the president s allies
from doing the same. According to politico, told them some interpret this as an attempt to keep them from talking about the trial on tv and to starve it from oxygen. It might leap over to him, this bad news from gates. And the white house is very careful to keep their fingers away from this thing. This manafort case. About the time the prosecutors give all of this information to manafort is the same time that giuliani starts to talk about how there was another meeting that gates was present. And so i think they are seeing this and it is affecting them. How is mueller looking at this. First battle he needs to win . He definitely has to win it. They are being forced to limit the evidence that they put forward. The judge is moving them along. There really is a mountain of evidence here on tax evasion in particular and cutting it down to half a mountain may not do damage to muellers case and denying the atmospherics. They probably can figure it out from the paperwork alone. The prosecution has the advantage. It will be done at the end of the week. Thank you. Up next, what is q anon and why are supporters of this fringe group and its conspiracy showing front and center at trump rallies. Got pictures, another crazy group out there aligning itself with trump. Elite group of people, out to screw you in every possible way
according to thgroup. Not so cute when theyre angry. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. To me, hes, phil micwell, dad. O golfer. So when his joint pain from Psoriatic Arthritis got really bad, it scared me. And what could that pain mean . Joint pain could mean joint damage. Enbrel helps relieve joint pain, helps stop irreversible joint damage, and helps skin get clearer. Enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, Nervous System and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. Tell your doctor if youve been someplace where fungal infections are common, or if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Since enbrel, dads back to being dad. Visit enbrel. Com and use the joint Damage Simulator to see how your joint damage could be progressing. Ask about enbrel. Enbrel. Fda approved for over 15 years. Beast detailed some of the conspiracies. Plotters in the deep state tried to shoot down Air Force One and foil President Trumps north korea summit. A cabal of global elites. And now trump is going to fix it all with thousands of sealed indictments sending the likes of Hillary Clinton and barack obama straight to guantanamo bay. An area we are going to have to weigh into. We see real people, citizens of the United States wearing qs all over them. What do they believe . It is bizarre. This started on secure internet f forums and they believe that President Trump is engaged in a good versus evil struggle. He has enemies, he points to the president , enemies of the people. He has got the witch hunt. So three known groups of people he calls the enemy. It is a need of these people from the far, far, right Hillary Clinton hasnt been locked up. So they imagine this nefarious oo cults. Who makes this tshirts . He is enjoying himself, but look, somebody who is more serious. These are people who you go to amazon to buy these tshirts. Someone at this rally with a wooden q he is wearing. They are real people and had a
rally in d. C. In april. What do they agree on is this kwc q person, or group. Who is the leader. This is a good conspiracy, right . They think q is their ally. Someone in the trump administration. A reporter asking trump are you q. Is it Michael Flynn. It is so crazy. But people believe it. And where is it going politically . They are hard core trump people. Who are The Good Guys in the p pantheon. Mattis, kim jongun. Good guys . Yes. This seems like extreme trump. Do a marvel comic figure. And take it to that dimension. And the good are the trumpies. A fantasy world. Look at this. Are they going to endorse, is kwcq, going to endorse candidates. An armed man in an armored truck shut down a bridge. Q targeted michael avenatti, it is strange stuff. Where do you see it by this november, election day. If the democrats take back the house, maybe a Conspiracy Theory how they stole the election. We are going further into that sphere. William, you can have this beat. You keep this beat. Thank you, up next, ivanka trump speaking out about an issue that she and her dad may not see eye
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