Sentencing recommendations of trumps longtime political adviser roger stone. Especially after the president congratulated him for taking charge in the matter. In an interview with abc news today barr said the president never asked him to intervene in the criminal case but condemned trumps tweets. Here he goes. Public statements and tweets made about the department, about our people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors and the department that were doing our work with integrity. Well, barr was also asked if hes prepared for blowback from the president for speaking out this way. I am responsible for everything that happens in the department. But the thing i have most responsibility for are the issues that are brought to me for decision. And i will make those decisions based on what i think is the right thing to do, and im not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. You know, i think the i cannot do my job here at the department with constant background commentary that undercuts me. Barrs remarks came as trump was again praising his attorney general in a radio interview with geraldo rivera. Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had picked william barr instead of Jeff Sessions when you yeah, my life would have been a lot easier. A lot of the countrys life yep. My life would have been a lot easier. What about but i might have been less popular. Because they say they like that i fought it, they like that i won. They like that my base is much more energized. According to the New York Times today, barrs criticism of the president was a shock. People close to the president said they were caught off guard by the interview. In an Interview White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, the president wasnt bothered by the comments at all and he has the right just like any american citizen to publicly offer his opinions. President trump uses social media very effectively to fight for the American People against injustices in our country including the fake news. Well, the president has full faith and confidence in attorney general barr to uphold and defend the law she says. Im joined by white house reporter, greg barr senior fbi aofficial and u. S. Attorney. And jason johnson, politics editor at the root. Jill are we to believe first of all, i dont generally believe this press secretary. With are we to believe that the president s jolly about being rebuked by his own attorney general . What we know right now, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, is that the president knew that barr was going to do this interview but did not know what barr was going to say. What does it mean when you say knew this is the Justice Department for the New York Times. Why would that even be brought to the president as tension . Theres something fishy about this white house knew ahead of time. Of course they knew. Its an interview. Did they know he was going to trash the president . They did not know he was going to go there. Why dhe put out the word they knew he was going to have the interview . This looks like theyre putting little kissing cousins together. Theyre making it look like were all in this together when they just took a shot from the attorney general. Its unclear at this point, a lot of questions about how whether it th was a disingenuous kind of statement from bill barr, who you have to understand was under a tremendous amount of pressure from doj employees, from republicans to act. I think barr, whatever you think of him, knows whats coming next when he does something. Hes a very careful person. Hes a classic washington lawyer. He must know if he tells the president to shut up and stay off my lawn, if the president goes back on his lawn again and starts talking about justice cases, which he will do, theyre going to have a reckoning. I dont believe any of this, chris. I dont believe it at all. Are we on a different planet . I believe the earth is round. Thats about look, i dont believe they didnt know about this. They knew about the interview. You think they knew ahead of time he was going to take a shot at the president . I believe that somebody in the white house had an idea one way or another. William barr has done everything that donald trump has wanted him to do. And the idea that hes suddenly mad now about trump you dont hes been doing this for years. He never had a problem pvp. You dont think he made a point im not going to be made a fool of anymore, im not going to look like the president s puppet . Ive always assumed bill barr has that point, but there is a lot of cynicism in town right now about this particular episode. I for one dont think the president s ego can handle even an orchestrated wink and a nod criticism. But the bottom line is still that we still dont know what happened. Why was the supplemental sentencing memo filed . The first memo, some 25 pages, made perfect sense to me. It was aggressive. Ill tell you as a former u. S. Attorney ive never read a sentencing memorandum that was not aggressive. Thats what federal prosecutors do is seven to nine years a lot for lying to congress and intimiding witnesses, tampering with witnesses . Yes and no. For lying to congress alone, yes. That would be a lot. The guidelines wouldnt provide for that much. But for threatening a witness with physical violence, thats the kind of thing that changes this equation. And thats what happened here. Never mind the fact that the audience to that threat says im not sure i believed it. Yeah, he did. But nevertheless, when targets of criminal investigations threaten with physical violence witnesses, federal prosecutors take that seriously, and i think americans want them to take it seriously. So thats what happened. My view is im skeptical. Im not cynical. I dont laugh at everything. I think he is tired of being looking like he looks. Reputation is everything in d. C. Among the other lawyers. You ever walk into the Metropolitan Club or somewhere, some nice restaurant, theyll be laughing at you. Anyway, even though theyre all frauds and say great to see you. Anyway, in a radio interview today trump again attacked the four prosecutors who withdrew from the case, the stone case, in apparent protest over the Justice Departments reduction of their sentencing recommendation. Here he goes. I dont think they quit the case. I think what they do is they felt they got caught. If you want to note truth. I dont think they quit for moral reasons. I think they got caught in the act by me. Now, what am i going to do . Sit back and let a man go to jail maybe for nine years when murderers arent going to jail look, you have some of the most serious horrible rapists and everything else, they dont go to jail for nine years. So hes acting as if we in the public and the press believe that these prosecutors were trying to sneak this sentencing guideline by him. Like he wouldnt know that his lackey, his henchman roger stone getting nine years, up to nine years, wouldnt be noticed by the president. Thats what he just said. They were trying to sneak it by me and they got caught. Thats indeed what he said there. The president hasnt just gone after these prosecutors. Hes also gone after the judge in the case. Who has yet to sentence. Whos going to sentence next week. Why would he do this . This is the wacky part, greg. Why would he publicly tweet he wants the sentences reduced . And why does he publicly threaten the judge, who has yet to render a sentence . None of it makes sense. Of course what he could do is simply let the process play out, let the judge sentence stone, and then if he doesnt like it exercise his constitutional prerogative to issue a pardon or commute the sentence. But of course this president doesnt do anything the way that normal president s do anything. And so it makes no sense at all. Well, lets try to figure out is barr on the level or is barr playing a game . I think barrs playing a game and i think this is working the refs. This isnt just about roger stone. This is about this larger message, i am donald trump and if you do anything, if you investigate anybody, if you prosecute anybody, if you look into anything, if i dont like it im going to come after you so you better keep your head down and do what i want you to do. Is it a joke . Is barr playing a game here, pretending to challenge the president when hes simply in bed with him . I honestly dont know. But i think a lot of people will point to barrs previous conduct again and again coming to the president s defense, declaring that he didnt obstruct justice in the Mueller Investigation when thats not something that muellers team actually concluded on. He has come to the president s defense again and again. Hes described this all as a hoax. He has described the ukraine investigation as unfounded. He is somebody whos continuously stood by the president s side. And clearly regardless of his intention here the president , at least according to the statement tonight, is taking this so you dont believe hes on the road to damascus here . No. Timing is everything. There are no coincidences. You have the president s criticism and then you have this inexplicable supplemental filing which the interview today, as tough as he was on the president , i didnt think that the a. G. Adequately explained the supplemental filing. That makes no sense. He didnt explain why they lessened it. Why a supplemental filing had to be made the day after the original filing. The original filing made perfect sense what do they want to give stone . At his age, hes almost as old as me, hes in his late 60s. Four or five years is a long time in your late 60s to face prison. Well, you could make that argument with a lot of whitecollar, purely whitecollar criminals. Is Bernie Madoff really a threat to society . Or does he deserve to be in prison for a long time because of the way he victimized innocent people . And the amount of money involved. Exactly. I prosecuted large ponzi scheme type cases where ask kevin bacon. Victims who lost their life savings have come to me and they asked why isnt the Death Penalty being imposed in this case . I said we dont do that in whitecollar cases. They do in china. Well, thats a whole other story. Look, the sentencing recommendation made sense under the federal guidelines. Its ultimately up to the judge. There was simply no reason for the president to weigh in. But when he did for the a. G. To direct a supplemental filing is making everybody very cynical about this. I would think that normally in a normal presidency which we may get back to in a year or five years, maybe one year hopefully, maybe, a president would stay away from a case directly affecting himself. When your henchman is caught, your henchman is caught working for you not robbing gas stations but doing dirty work for you and covering up for you, i would stay away from the prosecution. Especially since the president has indicated every time he has asked, been asked whether he intends to pardon stone, hes really suggested that thats something hes at least considering. Stay in there, roger. Hang in there. Anyway, according to the New York Times, the handling of the stone case has had a Chilling Effect inside the department of justice. Prosecutors across the United States who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, thats cool, said this week theyve already been wary of working on any case that might catch mr. Trumps attention and that the stone episode only deepened their concern. They also said they were worried mr. Barr might not support them in politically charged cases. Greg, this is your piece of work here. Youre working on a top case, youve got to bring a 2u6 case against a scary guy and youve got to wonder is the president behind me and the attorney general . Any u. S. Attorney out there in the country worth his or her salt should just simply do their job, they should be explained to the ausa today ausa. Assistant United States attorneys. They need to know theyre going to be supported by the u. S. Attorney, theyre going to keep their heads down, do their jobs, theyre not going to worry about what washington and certainly not what the president thinks. Yeah, there are certain reporting requirements that u. S. Attorneys have to do through the Deputy Attorney general and the attorney general. But they should not be worried about the tough cases and certainly not worried about political cases. They should just do their jobs. Key word by barr in his statement to the reporter for the times, integrity. He wants it back. Whether he deserves it or not, he wants it back clearly. I dont think he has any, and i honestly think his statement to me was look, im already doing what you asked, dont make it so obvious. I think it was a performance. Hes already doing what the president wants. And this isnt just are you comparing it like the guy did in goodfellas, went out and bought a big fancy car. Dont buy expensive cars after you steal the money with me. Exactly. Youre making it too obvious youre working with me. Jill colvin. I love the commentary. Thank you, greg brower. Thank you, jason johnson. Tuming up, since last weeks impeachment acquittal, President Trump has been freewheeling in pursuit of his enemies. And a new report tonight indicates hes using the doj to undermine the mueller report. Here he goes again. And one those perceived enemies, one of them is former cia director john brennan. Hes coming next right here. Plus a blistering escalation in the ongoing duel between trump and former white house chief of staff general john kelly. Theyre at it. Kellys speaking out again with trump responding to kelly, just cant keep his mouth shot. Whos talking about that . And later two polar opposites. The Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders on one side and the billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg on the other. Michael moores here to take make his case for sanders. And Thomas Friedman joins me on why democrats should choose Michael Bloomberg. Weve got much more to get to tonight. Stick with us. O ore to get t tonight. Stick with us. Ggle . Introducing oreida potato pay. Where oreida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this. With this. When kids wont eat dinner, potato pay them to. Oreida. Win at mealtime. sensethe lack of control when iover my businessai,. Made me a little intense. But now quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. vo save over 40 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. Hi with the worldse first invisible trailer. Invisible trailer . And its not the trailer right next to us . This guy . You dont believe me . Hop in. Good lookin pickup, i will say that. Oh wow. Silverado offers an Optional Technology package with up to 15 different views including one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible. Wow. Thats pretty sweet. Thats cool. Oooohh thats awesome. Whered the trailer go . I love it. Its magic. Wherever we want to go, autosave your way there with chase. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Oh no, here comes gthe neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his Xfinity Customer Service is. Im mike, im so busy. Good thing xfinity has twohour appointment windows. They have night and weekend appointments too. Hes here. Bill . Karolyn . Nope no, just a couple of rocks. Download the my account app to manage your appointments making todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Ill pass. Welcome back to hardball. President trump has made clear his goal of using the government to fulfill his political goals. Hes weaponizing the government, you might say. But now after being rebuked by his own attorney general late today for intervening in the case of roger stone, trumps still trying to intimidate the federal judge who will decide stones fate next week. Believe it or not, hes still at it on stones case. Yesterday he targeted judge Amy Berman Jackson about another case of that of his former Campaign ChairmanPaul Manafort. Trump said, is this the judge that put Paul Manafort in solitary confinement, something that not even mobster al capone had to endure . How did she treat crooked Hillary Clinton . Just asking. I dont think Hillary Clinton was in prison. Anyway, now the New York Times is reporting that the Ongoing Investigation into the origins of the russian probe itself also appears to be driven by trumps political interests. According to people familiar, the u. S. Attorney leading that inquiry, john durham, appears to be pursuing a theory that the cia under its former director john brennan had a preconceived notion about russia or was trying to get to a particular result and was nefariously trying to keep other agencies from seeing the full picture. However, fbi and nsc officials have told mr. Durham and his investigators that such an interpretation is wrong and based on a misunderstanding of how the Intelligence Community functions. Im joined now by john brennan, former cia director in the obama administration, and paul weather, former prosecutor. How do you respond to this inquiry . I think its kind of silly. Is there a criminal investigation on analytic judgments and the activities of cia in terms of trying to protect our National Security . Im certainly willing to talk to mr. Durham or anybody else who has any questions about what we did during this period of time in 2016. So i dont know i have not talked to him yet. I understand that im on his list of people to be interviewed. But it clearly i think is another indication that donald trump is using the department of justice to go after his enemies in any way that he can. Could his indictment against you, at least whats leakin