Fine. You know why its going to be just fine . Because there was no collusion. From what i hear, its ending. Trump also knows the democrats are coming and with greater strength with up to 40 new seats in the house of representatives, the body that impeaches president s. It has been a sobering reckoning for donald trump as he seeps deeper into the most perilous time of his presidency. A rebuke of last weeks midterms elections. He faced war with the media after a federal judge ordered hy him to restore a Reporters Press pass and the existential threat the Robert Mueller mueller poses to he is presidency and the liberty of his family members. Trump was asked about his twitter ramp against the special counsel and what may have triggered it. Yesterday you seemed agitated but the mueller im not agitated. The whole thing was a hoax. There was no collusion. Im very happy. Reporter trump announced hed completed the written answers to questions in the russia probe, insyiisting he ha done it all by myself. My lawyers dont write answers, i write answers. I was asked a series of questions. Ive answered them very easily, very easily. Im sure theyre tricked up because they like to catch people. You have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentio intentions, but, no, the questions were very routinely answered by me. By me. Im joined by the White House Reporter for bloomberg news, Michael Schmidt from the new york times. David jolly former republican congressman, no longer affiliated. Let me go to michael on this. Michael, can you report now what is in the questions that trump says are so easy to answer but he hasnt done it yet. Easy but i havent done it. They have had the questions since february since march of this year. They know what the topics are. They knew in september that mueller would take written respons responses. They said the responses were going to go on wednesday. They still havent gone. Why havent they gone . What is holding them up . Mueller wanted to sit down with the president. He made the accommodation to allow him to give written answers. He has gone that far. Why is it that the president cant hand it over . Lets go to the possibility that theres a conflict between the president and his attorneys because three days of arguing with them, hes come up with nothing. He doesnt want to release. Somebody says i want a release and somebody says dont do it. Do you think theres a part in this that says in the end you dont testify in you dont have to, the oldest rule for a defendant. There is zero chance any lawyer would allow him to answer the questions by himself and, b, ever get in front of a grand jury and talk to mueller. That is never going to happen. If hes subpoenaed and it goes to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rules that he has to testify in front of the grand jury, hes just going to take five. This president is never going to testify. What about this takehome exam hes been playing with . First of all, this business about i wrote them myself and all that excitement that he had today for us, that just didnt happen. Thats just a lie. Well, why would he lie . By saying i personally put these words on this paper, doesnt that put him more in a perjury trap . Absolutely. Hes given away a defense because one defense was to say the lawyers made me write that. You cant have your lawyer go in and testify in the grand jury box. Technically he has to be the one to answer the questions. I worked in the world of politics for years lawyers have been working on these questions for weeks but technically he has to be the one who says he answers them. If he signs it, cynthia, if he signs the statement, does that make him culpable for perjury, even if he didnt write them . Yes, if he signs them. But can you see him saying to the American People and testifying and saying the lawyers told me to do that, the truth is i was very busy, i was negotiating treaties with north korea and trying to avoid nuclear war and i didnt pay much attention and therefore i had no intent. Heres the thing, he wants this to be over. He doesnt want this to drag on. Whatever is stopping this is so powerful that it is continuing to allow it to drag on. They need to get some sort of answers from him before they close the investigation. That is whats delaying it. Is this the last step in the process . You suggest it is. He thinks so. Everyone thinks they know what muellers going to do. We dont know. We think its close. Theres one thing that is likely holding this it could be a dispute over these questions. It could be his lawyers said in exchange for submitting these questions they want some assurances that this is it, that these are going to satisfy you, that youre not going to make him come in still for an inperson interview. If we give you these questions, thats it, youre done, youre not going to come back at us with a subpoena for something else. I think his attorneys want assurances. Most of us on the journalist side, everybody are watching trump looking like hes caught right now. He doesnt look happy. Despite the tanning parlor he goes to or whatever, he doesnt look healthy, doesnt look happy, looks agitated and then we got word he fought with his attorneys for three days and then went out to this smiling number he did today but nobody believes it. Why . Whats wrong . At this point i think donald trump should plead the fifth. Heres why. The answers he submits will be a sworn statement from the president of the United States. Even if the lawyers think theyve nuanced it so it not committing perjury or revealing culpability to criminal responsibility, reform will not agree to no followup. Donald trump doesnt know which corner hes in because he doesnt know what other information bob mueller has gotten from corroborating witness. This isnt donald trump and verifying am i telling the truth on what i said a year ago, its am i telling the truth based on what bob mueller has from others, which is the reason for the panic and i think the reason donald trump should plead the fifth. Cynthia . I definitely agree. I think bob mueller would never make the deal that the lawyers may be pressuring, which is they dont ever have to have followups. These questions do not reportedly cover anything about the obstruction. Theres no way bob mueller would agree hes not going to ask the president questions. That could be the holdup, that they still want answers to obstruction questions and the president s lawyers want a guarantee that if we answer these questions on collusion, youll leave us alone on the investigation. Asked who might replace whitaker as a permanent attorney general, a question that did not mention the Mueller Probe at all, trump digressed into a rant about the mule are pro muelle probe. Michael, he knows why he put whitaker there. It was to protect him from the russia probe. Hes saying keep those people down. Hes trying to keep distance from himself and whitaker as the press for whitaker has gotten worse and worse. Theres questions about why hes truly there and the president keeps moving closer and closer to the side. Thats usually what he does to people right before he dumps them. Right before the tweet comes out. Sergeant schultz, i dont know nothing. There seems to be no idea who the next attorney general is going to be. Hes had two years to think about it basically. I cant get any sort of clear answer out of anyone. Cynthia, maybe youre the one, does anybody think that whitaker is not going to be the line on which trump is going to fight and stick with whitaker all the way . Heres the interesting point that john, you made the other day of all people. That is if rosenstein said to mueller, no, you cant do something, that would have been over because rosenstein had so much credibility. If whitaker says, no, you cant subpoena that witness and whitaker has to Tell Congress under the rules, whitaker doesnt have the same credibility. They might say youre not properly assigned. If youre trump, you antwant guy thats going to back you up and take the heat. I know but because whitaker doesnt have credibility, it weakens his investigation. Everybody said around here three weeks ago it has to be rosenstein, its all in the rules. Its all part of our judicial culture, all these little rules and ethics rules and trump says, look, ive been shooting the moon all my life, im not going to play by your rules. Im going to pick my guy and dare you to get rid of him and im going to keep him there. I know im going to keep him there because if mueller gets free reign, im dead. If youre donald trump and youre trying to pick out a fall guy, it is matt whitaker. Matt whitaker could do all the dirty work over the next six to eight weeks and then trump could nominate somebody and make whitaker the fall guy. This is why were seeing the anxiety is weve been living for two years where there is no oversight in the United States congress for any of this, no subpoena for testimony from any of these administration officials. That all is about to change. That is why i think were going to see donald trump start to play by different rules, rules that even further confront some of the constitutional norms weve seen over the past several years. Is this his avenue, michael, these months before january 3rd when the new house comes in . I guess so because whatever he does will get scrutiny then. Where are the places that he can go . If he does something in this period of time that the democrats dont like, theyll bring it up in the beginning of january. It doesnt really matter. You dont think hes like hudihud i houdini. He might be politically houdini. Hes got 90 republican party. If he makes the democrats look like fools for impeaching him and be like clinton and have his approvals go up after an impeachment. The only republicans that come out against trump are those heading out the door. That would be corker, goodbye, flake, goodbye, charlie dent. Nobody who sticks around for the National Election challenges trump. Nobody. You have to have somebody. Name the howard baker, the one republican who would stand up. I cant. Its a different republican party. You have to assume the evidence is going to matter. David jolly is gone. It seems like the only people willing to stand up against trump are those who dont have to stand against trump with the voters. Chris, i was a sitting member of congress in december of 17 who called on trump to drop out of the race. There are several reasons i probably lost my last race. One was redistricting and that was the other one. You confront this president you lose. Thats a greater test of leadership. Instead republicans have become more trumplike, theyve fallen in line on the hill. Theyre not howard baker. We know that. Thank you. Coming up, the Justice Department is preparing to criminally charge wikileaks leader Julian Assange. Could this help prove the conspiracy to get trump elected in 2016 . I think so. And in california, the wildfires continue to devastate the state. The president blamed the fires on gross mism managmanagement a threatened to withhold money. What message will he have for them tomorrow . Plus, shes in it to win it. Let me finnish tonight with trup watch. This is hardbalhardball. S h. Darrells family uses gain flings now, so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. [darrells wife] isnt that the dogs towel . [dog sfx] hey, mi towel, su towel. More scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. Traders theyre always looking for advantages. The smart ones look to fidelity to find them. We give you research and datavisualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. So, you can do it this way. Or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. Fidelity. Open an account today. Open an account today. Whenshe was pregnant,ter failed, inlaws were coming, a little bit of water, it really it rocked our world. I had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. We called usaa. And they greeted me as they always do. Sergeant baker, how are you . They were on it. It was unbelievable. Having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa now thats a privilege. Were the bakers and were usaa members for life. Usaa. Get your insurance quote today. [ready forngs ] christmas . No, its way too early to be annoyed by christmas. You just need some holiday spirit thats it this feud just went mobile. With xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. And with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. Youre about to find out you dont even know where i live. Hello see the grinch in theaters by saying get grinch tickets into your xfinity x1 voice remote. A guy just dropped this off. Hehehehe. Welcome back to hardball. Since the outset of the Mueller Probe itself, investigators have been establishing the broad scope of the russian conspiracy intended to help elect donald trump in 2016. A key piece of that puzzle is the role of the wikileaks leader, who made it his mission to leak state secrets. Kremlin operatives gave wikileaks the democratic email that had been hacked to heighten their impact on the 2016 u. S. President ial election. The russians gave their stuff to wikileaks to put out. Now nbc news reports in a Court Document filed by mistake revealed that the Justice Department is preparing to criminally charge assange himself. The clue was found in a motion filed last august in a completely unrelated case, a case brought by the same federal prosecutor who is also v investigating wikileaks in the Eastern District of virginia. It stated the complaint would need to remain sealed until assange is arrested in connection with the charges and can therefore no longer avoid or evade arrest. Assange has been living in the ecuador i ecuadorial estate in london. Im joined by senator Richard Blumenth blumenthal, a senator from connecticut. Glen, take a minute. How does this all connect . Well, chris, weve seen with some of the indictments that bob mueller has returned for hacking into and trying to impact our elections. We are about to see, we all believe, the american side of that. As soon as bob mueller shows his cards, whether by returning indictments, authoring a report to congress or both. Now weve got Julian Assange and wikileaks right smack in the middle of it. And obviously what i find most intriguing about this is the president was benefiting from the fact that wikileaks had these illegal emails, they were disclosing them for obviously political reasons, and weve seen that montage of the president saying wikileaks about 1,200 times, wikileaks, wikileaks, wikileaks. Ill tell you, thats the president exploiting stolen information for his own purposes. And that is yet another potential crime, receipt of stolen property, exploiting it for your own benefit. So i actually think the assange piece is right smack in the middle of the russian piece and the Trump Campaign piece, and its going to be really interesting to see what happens if we get our hands on assange. As glen just mentioned, wikileaks played a major part in trumps closing arguments again Hillary Clinton back in the 2016 lebs. He election. Heres candidate trump repeatedly praising wikileaks doing the president s bidding. This wikileaks is like a treasure trove. This wikileaks is unbelievable. What weve learned about her and her people. Oh, we love wikileaks. Wikileaks. They have revealed a lot. Boy, that wikileaks has done a job on her, hasnt it . Ill tell you, this wikileaks stuff is unbelievable. It tells you the inner heart. You got to read it. Now this just came out. This just came out. Wikileaks. I love wikileaks. Senator, i think they call that soft intel in the spy game. Its open right there in the public. I mean, right in public you see candidate trump benefiting and wanting more benefit from the russians through wikileaks. He knew what he was doing. It looks to me like this would be part of any kind of report from mueller when it comes. Perhaps soon. It should be part of any report that bob mueller produces and, in fact, i am going to be introducing legislation that requires a report along with full disclosure of any findings and evidence in the event that he is fired or hes forced to resign. And the key word here is the one you used, chris, conspiracy. Roger stone, who may well have had advanced knowledge, a close friend of the president and a confidante, others who may have disclose to donald trump about what was going to appear in wikileaks, all of it amounts to a potential conspiracy and thats exactly what the collusion charge may involve. There are at least three Trump Associates who have reported ties to wikileaks, jer own corsi, roger stone and donald trump jr. Theres hot one, all who have been subject of recent speculation of coming indictments. Theres a suggestion that corsi had advanced knowledge. And we know that roger stone who clammed to have a back channel to wikileaks discussed the release of those emails in a text message conversation just before they were leaked. And atlantic said donald trump jr. Exchanged correspondent with wikileaks telling others wikileaks had made contact. Lets start with this. Glen, everybody on this program working with me fort the last 2 years knows everyone has been pushing trump to run for president for 20 years. Roger is always close at hand. Hes always been pushing trump to run. He cant disown him now, can he . Or will he . Thats what makes roger stone one of the potentially big ticket cooperators. If they can crack open roger stone he doesnt want to go to prison. He doesnt want to die in prison. He doesnt look like he would thrive in prison. If they can crack him open and get all the information that trump may have had or he may have provided against trump, thats going to be looking forward, chris, lets Pay Attention to if the u. S. Gets its hands on assange and can extradite him from the ecuadorean embassy. Hes a big fish but mueller will look to why dont we pull one of those israeli numbers and just go grab him. They will step to anybody as a potential cooperating witness, except the biggest fish, the president. Everybody below him, including assange, is in play. Senator, what do you know about how close this report is coming . We had people on tonight, smart people. Cynthia and michael of the new york times, they know whats going on. They all seem to be suggesting that the last element in this whole report