Show: HARDBALL Date: June 9, 2016 Guest: Nina Turner, Heidi Przybyla, Eli Stokols, Michele Bachmann
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST OF HARDBALL: The strength of attack. Let`s play Hardball.
Good evening, I`m Chris Matthews on San Francisco in this big day of American Politics. Today, President Obama bugled charge for Hillary Clinton and the war against Donald Trump and played, meanwhile, a respectful tap to honor the Sanders campaign. With brisk authority, Obama seized command of the Democratic Party`s calendar for action endorsing Hillary Clinton as his presidential successor.
Scheduling an in-person campaign hit alongside the candidate next week in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He left no room for further intraparty bickering. The President`s endorsement came in a video realized this afternoon. Let`s watch it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know how hard this job can be. That`s why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don`t think there`s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. She`s got the courage, the compassion, and the heart to get the job done and I say that as somebody who had to debate her more than 20 times.
So I want those of you who have been with me from the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that I`m with her. I am fired up and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Well, that video was released in a very short time after the President met with Bernie Sanders, himself, in the oval office. And according to the President`s press secretary, Josh Earnest, today`s endorsement did not come as a surprise to Senator Sanders.
The meeting at the White House was just part of a very busy day Senator Sanders had in Washington. He also -- Senator Sanders did travel to Capitol Hill where he spoke with the democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, and New York Senator, Chuck Schumer, who we expected to be the next leader.
In the afternoon, Sanders met with Vice-President, Joe Biden, at the Vice- President`s home on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, of course. In the next hour, Sanders is said to address a crowd of supporters here in Washington. Sanders said he will continue campaigning for the DC Primary which is next Tuesday.
However, he said today he will work with Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power, and I will work as hard as I can, to make sure that Donald Trump does not become President of the United States.
I spoke briefly to Secretary Clinton on Tuesday night and I congratulated her on her very strong campaign. I look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: While also tonight, politically Senator Elizabeth Warren will endorse Hillary Clinton. She`s going to make that endorsement in an exclusive interview with our colleague, Rachel Maddow here at MSNBC tonight.
Senator Warren is said to make a speech, by the way, taking on Donald Trump in the very next hour from now. Well let`s begin with NBC`s Chris Jansing who covers the Sanders campaign.
Chris I got this strong sense that the President was acting with brisk authority after meeting with Senator Sanders at the White House today saying basically, I`m going to take control right now of what I`m doing in this campaign. I`m setting my own schedule. No more waiting for Senator Sanders. Your thoughts about how it went over with the Sanders people.
CHRIS JANSING, TV COMMENTATOR FOR NBC: You know I just got off the phone with Jeff Weaver, who is his campaign manager, and, you know, folks inside his campaign, people who were at his house last night as they came to this realization of what was going to happen, say, he had been on this kind of slow trajectory towards this.
But yes, it all moved so fast today, and clearly the President, who the Sanders campaign felt had been treating him fairly, respectfully, and he got that respect today in the oval office for more than an hour and a half with Vice-President Biden, but it was time to move on.
And frankly, they say that by the time the California results came in, Bernie Sanders, himself, had come to that realization as well. That the letter he wanted to send out in pers -- to super delegates saying to them, You know, I`m the one who`s better against Trump, really didn`t have the weight behind it.
But the folks at this campaign rally right now, Chris, are the reason that that upcoming meeting with Hillary Clinton is so important. I just randomly walked out into this crowd, it`s a lot of young people as you know from being in Washington all these years. It`s a very politically savvy crowd. They know everything about what happened today. There is an air of disappointment about what has happened, what has transpired. That Bernie Sanders is essentially going to, as one person put it to me, go over to the other side.
But talking to a dozen people, let me give you my count Chris. Seven people said that they would definitely vote for Hillary. After all, we`re democrats one put it. Not a single one said they would do it enthusiastically. All of them raised a question of her honesty and integrity.
One person told me he would definitely vote for Donald Trump and then there`s the key area. Four people who said that they weren`t sure and what Bernie Sanders had to say, how that meeting goes with Hillary Clinton, and how wholeheartedly he supports her will impact the way they vote in November, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Sounds like a good poll. Anyway thank you, Chris Jansing at the armory. Anyway, Washington Post Political Reporter, Robert Costa is our MSNBC political analyst. He`s been traveling with Bernie Sanders this week. He`s up on Capitol Hill tonight.
Robert, you were the one who scooped this story that the President was going to make his move today. What does it tell you? To me it shows attack, control, he was going to set the pace for this whole operation of winning this election this November. He was going to be the commander in getting that done.
ROBERT COSTA, POLITICAL WRITER FOR WASHINGTON POST: With my colleagues, Juliet Albin(ph) and John Waggner(ph), we`ve been working on this story all day, and Juliet was able to get that specific scoop, and what we found out from the White House is that the Obama Administration, the Obama team, has been planning for days to get behind Clinton.
There`s been a lot of talk, but the Obama team has always been savvy in how they`ve reached out to Sanders. The President had a call with Sanders on Sunday, gave him a heads up, so everyone`s been in the loop here. It`s privately been about getting everyone on the same page and not having frayed nerves.
MATTHEWS: Why today?
COSTA: Why today? Because, in the mind of top democrats, leaders in the Senate, the people at the White House, the race is over. They appreciate Sanders, they want to integrate him into the platform and into the party`s agenda, but they don`t want this lingering on and they see Sanders continuation through this D.C Primary really as just his last stand so he can go through this whole process.
He`s not as defiant as he was a few days ago.
MATTHEWS: What do you think the President`s determination to blow the whistle on this fight, call it off, say it`s over today, and then telling secretary -- or rather Senator Sanders that early this week, did he put -- was it his pressure that made the Sanders campaign relent in their aggressiveness or was it their own plan to do it themselves?
How much influence did the President have on the course of events this week politically?
COSTA: He had a significant impact because the President has been making it clear to the Sanders people, and to Senator Sanders himself, that he`s been -- going to go with Clinton, but the process is very important here because Senator Sanders has political capital. He`s accumulated a lot of it in this campaign and so the White House wanted to be careful, it wanted to tread carefully and make sure Sanders got the respect he feels he deserves and the White House feels he deserves.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much, Robert Costa. Great reporting by the Washington Post and you, sir. Anyway NBC`s Kristen Welker covers the Clinton campaign and she`s been reporting from the White House all day.
Kristen, do you know what role Secretary Clinton played in the timing of the President`s announcement or did he do this, in his own autonomy, to establish his own leadership of what he`s going to do between now and November.
KRISTEN WELKER, TELEVISION JOURNALIST FOR NBC NEWS: I think it had a lot to do with the timing that the President wanted. Having said that, Chris, I`ve been talking to White House officials and Clinton campaign officials for days. They both used the same term. They wanted this to happen as soon as possible. So I think they believe this was the soonest possible date that President Obama could effectively endorse Secretary Clinton.
In terms of the rollout again it was taped on Tuesday and the White House kept saying he`s not going to endorse her until that meeting wraps. So we knew that this was imminent, Chris. It came really, very quickly after that hour and a half meeting wrapped and it underscores, I think, the urgency here. That the Clinton campaign feels, that the White House feels, President Obama wanting to play a big role in this campaign, taking on Donald Trump.
I spoke with a White House official just moments ago. I said, Part of this personal for President Obama because of the birther issues, because of some of the personal attacks that Donald Trump has made against President Obama. This official acknowledged, look, he doesn`t like Donald Trump very much.
But that is not what`s motivating him. He wants to protect his legacy and he wants to get out there and fight for Secretary Clinton. Of course, someone he has worked with very intimately.
MATTHEWS: Again, good reporting. Thank you Kristen Welker. NBC NEWS Political Director and Moderator of MEET THE PRESS, Chuck Todd`s with us though.
Chuck, I heard something today. It was a sense of attack, the president grabbing with authority, the role he`s going to play, and not as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton, but someone fighting for his own legacy as well and someone on the attack.
Talk about why they are going to Green Bay. Of course, that`s where I had my hour long interview with Donald Trump that got him into trouble there.
CHUCK TODD, HOST OF MEET THE PRESS DAILY ON MSNBC: Right.
MATTHEWS: It seems to me, the classic NFL Title Town, it`s the Packers, it is that area of the country. The way I see it is Trump`s chance to win the Presidency, the chance he has to get those football towns like Green Bay.
TODD: Right.
MATTHEWS: And Chicago, not Chicago, probably Pittsburgh, Cleveland, places like that he needs to win this Presidential election. Those towns are --
TODD: I won`t lie. Look, I`m mildly surprised they picked Wisconsin and I say that because frankly, I`m surprised they didn`t go back to Unity, New Hampshire. Number one, I think she needs help in New Hampshire, but Wisconsin`s a state that isn`t going to be in the battleground.
I mean, I think Wisconsin, I think the Never Trump Movement was strong there.
MATTHEWS: Well how does he win without Wisconsin? I don`t get it. What`s on the map?
TODD: Well Wisconsin, isn`t on the map anymore and that`s a problem for Trump. A lot of states may get off the map, but that`s all I`m saying about Wisconsin, but, look, I think your larger point, Chris. Which is, it`s definitely the Rust Belt states.
MATTHEW: Yes.
TODD: The Rust Belt mentality, though Wisconsin, for separate reasons, is really not -- is out of reach for Trump, but it is those -- the Pennsylvania, that corridor, the Rust Belt Corridor.
MATTHEW: Yes.
TODD: That does, that is Trump`s one opening, right? And that is the opening they want to shut down. That`s what Obama successfully shut down against Romney so obviously Clinton wants to do that.
But, let`s talk about the bigger legacy issue here. You`re absolutely right. A presidency, you don`t become an era. All right, you don`t become an era unless you get that third term. The Reagan Era, right? He got it, he got the third term. Two-Terms Presidencies are certainly more successful than one-term ones as far as the history books, but boy, if you can elect your successor that`s a big deal.
Reagan got it. Doesn`t happen very often. FDR got it and, you know, helped when getting -- when Truman got that first full-term. It expanded that even more.
And, Bill Clinton didn`t get it when Al Gore decided to shun Bill Clinton, who was professionally popular, but not personally so. And, obviously, George W. Bush didn`t, so this is a big legacy moment, I think, for Barack Obama. And if he gets the third term, it feels, as number one, she can protect some things and cement them in.
But I think it does add to the mystique that, okay, he remade the democratic party. Right?
MATTHEW: Yes.
TODD: And very much, this Democratic Party is not the party of Bill Clinton. And Hillary tried to run it with the Party of Bill Clinton in `08.
MATTHEW: Yes.
TODD: It didn`t work. This is the party of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton embraced that. Obama started --
MATTHEW: I want us to argue here a little, Chuck.
TODD: Sure, all right.
MATTHEW: Because, you saw the interview with Fallon, and the President said he wants -- he criticized the Republican Party saying they need to go back to being a center-right party because we need two good political parties this country to sort of compete for power and for running the country.
TODD: Right.
MATTHEW: He said, We need a Center-Right Party again and we need a Center- Left Party. Not a -- to me, I heard him say, Not a left party. Not a Bernie Party.
TODD: Yes.
MATTHEW: Did you hear that?
TODD: I did.
(COUGHING)
TODD: And it was a reminder that everybody in the Democratic Party has looked at Obama through their own lens. If you`re progressive, they wanted to believe he was progressive. If you`re more a centrist, then a lot of democrats wanted to believe he was a centrist.
You saw it, I remember in `08, when you would see red state Senators endorsing him in -- that were very conservative Senators. At the same time, you were seeing very liberal house members endorse him for the progressing of the party. So, he was always sort of that, but at the end of the day, you spend time with him, he`s a pragmatic progressive is probably the best way I would describe him.
I think in his bones, he is farther to the left than Hillary Clinton, farther to the left than he has been governing. But there is a pragmatic streak to him that strives for that middle.
MATTHEW: I agree.
TODD: And I think that that`s that middle in the Democratic Party. Not center, but center-left is what he is striving for.
MATTHEW: Yes, so interesting. The notching and the nuancing is what makes politics exciting. Anyway, it`s not all the sweeping distances. It`s the nuance between center-left and left, and center-right and right are what we usually fight about most of the time. Thanks --
TODD: By the way, Chris --
MATTHEW: Yes?
TODD: By the way, a popular, outgoing president always matters to the party that is running -- that is trying to replace him. And I`ll tell you, if he`s over 50 percent -- Clinton was over 50 percent, Gore won the popular vote. Reagan was over 50 percent, Bush won the presidency. You know, Bush wasn`t and we saw what happened.
MATTHEW: Yes, I think he may be Reggie Jackson come October. Mr. October. We`ll see. Anyway, thank you.
I`m talking about the president. Who would have known that a year ago. Thank you, Chuck Todd.
We`re now waiting for Bernie Sanders, the Senator from Vermont, to take the stage at a rally in Washington, D.C. His first event since President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton. We`re also waiting for a double-barreled attack against Donald Trump by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vice-President Joe Biden. That`s all coming up, within the next hour right here on MSNBC. This is the place for politics.
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MATTHEWS: Welcome back to Hardball. There`s also another strong progressive endorsement coming tonight of Hillary Clinton from Senator Elizabeth Warren. She`s going to announce her support for Hillary Clinton in an exclusive interview with my colleague, Rachel Maddow, at 9 o` clock tonight.
But before she does that, she`ll deliver a very, expectedly, very harsh speech against Donald Trump. She`s set to speak at the Constitution Society in DC, alongside Vice-President Biden.
And NBC`s Kacie Hunt is there. Kacie?
KACIE HUNT, CORRESPONDENT FOR MSNBC: Hi Chris. We`re expecting Elizabeth Warren here momentarily to deliver a pretty blistering critique of Donald Trump specifically related to those comments that he made about the judge and she will also try to tie Trump in with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, and the rest of the Republican Party. So, I think, you know, one thing we`ve heard from the Clinton campaign is this idea that Donald Trump is not a normal candidate.
They`re trying to say that he shouldn`t be anywhere near the Oval Office. Elizabeth Warren is trying to expand that argument to make sure that -- or to try to portray Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan as also outside of the mainstream. Partly because, they`re connected to Trump.
But, I think the most interesting thing tonight, she obviously is going to -- is expected to endorse Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow`s show on MSNBC later tonight. But I think overall, it seems she is very, very willing to be kind of the progressive advocate that Hillary Clinton frankly needs. Not just for party unification, but because she needs that excitement that we saw on the Bernie Sanders side. Elizabeth Warren can do that for her, Chris.
MATTHEW: She sure can. Thank you so much, Kacie Hunt who`s with Elizabeth Warren. We`re going to have the speeches, by the way, from Senator Warren and Vice-President Biden here live as they happen in the next several minutes.
By the way, Donald Trump`s also facing plenty of criticism from members of his own party these days. Not just from the democrats. Ohio governor, John Kasich, yesterday, joined the growing list of Republicans who are expressing their strong reservations saying he`s still not ready to support Trump. Here`s Governor Kasich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH, GOVERNOR OF OHIO: Right now, the divisiveness, the division, the name-calling, it just doesn`t go down well with me. If you`re going to insult Hispanics, if you`re going to turn off minorities, if you`re going to, you know, have a reckless suggestion on foreign policy that`s not good.
Why would I feel compelled to support someone whose positions I kind of fundamentally disagree with?
UNKNOWN MALE: You don`t --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW: While Trump has always heard that, in response to that he retweeted a post today on Twitter which reads, Quote John Kasich, the voters have spoken. We want Donald Trump. You agreed to support the nominee. Get on board or leave the GOP. That`s a retweet from Trump.
Well this comes as the presumptive nominee, Mr. Trump, today met with Reince Priebus at the Trump Tower in New York and from there hunkered down with donners at the Four Seasons Hotel.
NBC reports while some donners have expressed their apprehension about Trump, the campaign called it a good meeting.. That`s what the campaign called it. I`m joined by MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele, he`s former chair of the RNC, and former Republican counters(ph) Michele Bachmann.
Michael, you first about this thing. Is this a healing or not? This outrage, I think that`s the right word for it.
MICHAEL STEELE: POLITICAL ANALYST FOR MSNBC: Yes.
MATTHEW: About how Trump referred to that judge reviewing the class actions suit against Trump. You?
STEELE: Now I think it`s a wound that was cut pretty deep for a lot of folks. Largely because, they`re on the hot seat to have to answer for it in some way. They don`t want to do that. They`d rather focus on their own campaigns or the issues they are trying to promote. So it cut pretty deep in that regard. The Trump approach to it so far seems to have not been much more on the healing side of it. It`s just been more of this is what it is side of it.
And that`s not helpful. And certainly the tweet to John Kasich, again, is not a way to sort of bring someone into the camp who may be reticent to join on board. So there are a lot of pieces that have got to get picked up here in my view. On all sides.
This effort to stop Trump and try to do something at the convention is nonsense, but Donald Trump also has to recognize that he`s got to soften it a bit for some of these guys. They`re sensitive that way, you know.
MATTHEW: You know, what surprised me about Trump is he won the nomination handily, he won all the primaries he needed to win, he had a hell of a lot of votes, and the minute he did it he was, I don`t know, asleep at the switch. He never really came back and whacked Secretary Clinton after that inspector judge report which was a happy hunting ground for him to go after Hillary Clinton.
He just let it go. And then he got into this intermural fight with this judge that has nothing to do with his presidential campaign that I can figure. And then he never went after Hillary Clinton after that foreign policy speech last week. He just doesn`t seem to be fighting the good fight for his campaign lately.
Would you explain what`s going on with Trump lately?
BACHMANN: Well I think that Trump doesn`t change. Trump has been the same guy from the very beginning of the campaign. He`ll be the same guy all the way to the first Tuesday in November. We`re going to see him fight, fight, fight Hillary Clinton and it`s just going to go forward with what -- blocks what he wants to do to make American great again.
I think what you`re seeing on the Democrat side is you`re seeing the full house. The -- all of the aces getting laid on the table with the President coming out, Elizabeth Warren, Vice-President Biden, Bernie Sanders is going to lay his sword down. Everybody`s coming together because this is a woman who is under a criminal investigation.
MATTHEW: How do you know that?
BACHMANN: She`s a weak candidate, let`s face it.
MATTHEW: Well, what do you know? We don`t know that yet.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEW: What makes it -- what do you know that we don`t know? The reporters haven`t reported there`s a criminal investigation on Hillary Clinton. Where did you -- tell me what you don`t know that what we don`t know.
BACHMANN: Well it`s out in the media. That the FBI is looking into her and clearly that`s a criminal probe that she`s under. That`s never happened before with a nominee. She`s a weak, damaged candidate. That`s why the President and everybody has to come out and try to help prop her up right now and, in contrast, Trump is a really tough guy.
He`s a strong guy and the math shows that the people, the votes, that`s really all this is about, who`s pulling the lever in November. The votes are with Trump.
MATTHEW: Ok.
BACHMANN: Hillary is doing really poorly in the polls.
MATTHEW: I just want to get back to one question. I heard your assault in Hillary Clinton fair enough, but why did Trump, the candidate of the Republican Party for President of the United States, get into a fight with a judge and then go after his Spanish name? I mean, why would he go and accuse him of bias with so little evidence, if -- really no evidence.
He accused him of being bias because of his background and possible anger at Trump for what he has said about walls along the Mexican border and rapists coming across. The assumption he made is this judge is unfairly angrily at me because of what I have said about the people he came from as a family. I mean, is that ok for a President to talk like that?
BACHMANN: Well this is really kind of an amazing commentary coming from you, Chris. Because, isn`t this kind of the positon of MSNBC every single day?
MATTHEW: To do what?
BACHMANN: You look at race and you equate perspective with race. That`s what the left does.
MATTHEW: I don`t think I do. Who are you talking about doing that?
BACHMANN: Religion also to the left that you equate -- you equate perception and perspective and that`s wrong. That`s wrong.
MATTHEW: Give me an example congresswoman. Give me an example. Give me an example.
BACHMANN: Give you an example?
MATTHEW: Yes. Of where I ever accused a person of behaving a certain way because of their ethnicity.
BACHMANN: Ferguson would be a great example or the fact that you`ve got a white judge and a white jury and you have an African-American who is found guilty of a crime. So it`s automatic imputed racism or the whole concept of white privilege.
MATTHEW: When did I do that? I didn`t do that.
BACHMANN: White privilege meme right now is all about perspective.
MATTHEW: I have never done anything like that. I don`t get into identity politics like that.
BACHMANN: Flip on MSNBC any day of the week.
MATTHEW: Well give me the day of the week you saw someone do this. When did you see a judge execute --
BACHMANN: It`s the whole white privilege agenda.
MATTHEW: When have you heard on MSNBC anyone say, from this network, that a judge is guilty of bias against minorities in a criminal case? Because he`s white or she`s white?
BACHMANN: Oh I didn`t -- go back and just review your tapes from the last week. I mean, this is like every day on MSNBC.
MATTHEW: What day of the week was it?
(CROSSTALK)
BACHMANN: This is what comes up. That`s why it`s so incredibly hypocritical the double standard that is being laid on Donald Trump. It`s ridiculous.
MATTHEW: Ok.
BACHMANN: The reason why Donald Trump is so successful is because he`s really made a convincing case --
MATTHEW: Ok.
BACHMANN: -- to the voter. That he`s tired of the direction of the country and he`s going to shift it so the people have jobs to make more money --
MATTHEW: Ok.
BACHMANN: The country`s going to be in a better place, we`re going to be respected, we`re going to be stronger. That`s what people want.
MATTHEW: Ok. Can I get -- let me interrupt for just a second. Michael Steele, let me ask you about this problem with this judge.
And I -- this has legs, this story as you know.
STEELE: Right.
MATTHEW: And you just said so a few moments ago. I think it`s because if you`re a conservative, any American may be concerned about illegal immigration and people have a right to be concerned about a law not being enforced the way they like it. Fair enough.
But when it looks an ethnic shot particularly against the who is second generation or first generation.
STEELE: Right.
MATTHEW: His parents came from Mexico and against him on something that has nothing to do with him breaking the law. He`s a law-abiding, very respected justice federal judge. It`s not about being illegal or anything like that.
STEELE: Right.
MATTHEW: But it goes after him because he has a Spanish name. It takes away the cover, if you want to be tough about it, of people being concerned about the law being broken on immigration when, in fact, they do have a problem with another ethnic group, but what -- tell me why the politics breaks on this.
STEELE: Well, the politics breaks on this because it`s part of a meme that Trump has put out there rather successfully from the very beginning of his campaign. And that`s fine.
And here`s the rub that I have with this whole thing. This lawsuit has absolutely nothing to do with his running for president.
MATTHEWS: Exactly.
STEELE: This lawsuit, in fact, doesn`t even go to trial until after the election. So the question then comes out, why are we having this conversation now, particularly in this interregnum between your securing the nomination and Hillary Clinton getting it last night?
Those five weeks were critical weeks, in my estimation, in which he could have gone after the 38,000 jobs that were reported last month, the IG report.
(CROSSTALK)
STEELE: He could have gone after the Clinton Foundation. So -- so -- so continuing that meme that relates back to his first day talking about Mexicans, et cetera, is not a successful argument, for my view, because it`s not something people are tuned in to because they don`t know anything about the lawsuit. And then it does elevate to race because that`s the only thing they can focus on because the lawsuit, for them, is not relevant to running for president.
MATTHEWS: Thanks so much, Michael Steele. It`s great to have you on. Michele Bachmann, thank you for coming on the program, as well.
And we are covering a big night in politics, of course. If you`re just joining us, President Obama has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president today. He did it today. And Senator Sanders is set to take the stage at a rally outside RFK stadium in Washington, D.C., at any moment now. It will be his first public appearance since -- first public remarks, certainly, since the Obama endorsement of Secretary Clinton.
And today, Senator Sanders met with the president, Vice President Biden and Senate Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer. So he`s meeting everybody here, getting a lot of respect in Washington. He said today he`s looking forward to talking to Hillary Clinton about working together to defeat Donald Trump. He said that, Secretary -- Senator Sanders.
But he`s still taking part this next Tuesday`s D.C. primary. So he`s still out there getting the votes.
Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren is getting ready to launch a broadside against Trump tonight. She`s released the statement. It`s very tough. Senator Warren and Vice President Biden are both are set to attack Donald Trump at an event at the Constitution Society in Washington. And we`ll bring you that one live from both of them when it happens.
And as we wait for these live events to begin, let`s listen to what President Obama had to say about Senator Sanders in that video released today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just like eight years ago, there are millions of Americans, not just Democrats, who have cast their ballots for the very first time. And a lot of that is thanks to Senator Bernie Sanders, who has run an incredible campaign.
I had a great meeting with him this week, and I thanked him for shining a spotlight on issues like economic inequality and the outsize influence of money in our politics and bringing young people into the process. Embracing that message is going to help us win in November. But more importantly, it`ll make the Democratic Party stronger and it will make America stronger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Well, one of Senator Sanders`s biggest backers has been former Ohio state senator Nina Turner. She`s with us right now from Cleveland. Senator Turner, thank you for joining us.
NINA TURNER (D-OH), FORMER OHIO STATE SENATOR: Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Your thoughts, reflections, emotions even right now.
TURNER: Yes, well, it`s heavy. You know, it`s heavy for us Berners right now. The senator has done more than run an incredible campaign, and I think the president captured part of what Senator Sanders has been able to accomplish beautifully, especially in terms of lifting young people.
But it`s more than just a message, Chris. This is really -- as you and I both know, elections are about power and who gets that power and how they use that power once they get it and who they use it for. And to me, that really is what this is all going to come down to when all is said and done.
If the Democrats are successful in November, how will they use that power? Will they use the power to do some of the things that Senator Sanders has been fighting so -- so valiantly for.
MATTHEWS: Yes. Well, the question of power is what I think about all the time, and sometimes it drives Senator Sanders crazy when I think about it because I`m always bringing it up because we know how it works. You know how it works. You`ve been in a legislative body.
TURNER: Oh, yes.
MATTHEWS: You`ve been a legislator. You know how it works.
TURNER: Yes.
MATTHEWS: In Washington, to get anything done along the lines that Senator Sanders has been talking about -- college tuition at state universities and colleges, doing something with Social Security benefits so there are stronger benefits for people depending on them, entirely depending on them, health care as a right. All of that has to be legislated through a mixed bag of conservative, liberal and middle-of-the-road (INAUDIBLE) middle of the road, conservative and liberal members of Congress. You need 60 votes in the Senate to break the filibuster, unless you use, you know, reconciliation, one tactic, one vote a year, basically.
How does -- how does Sanders, your guy -- I`ll be blunt about it. How does he help that happen going forward?
TURNER: Well, it goes back to the political revolution that he was talking about. Senator Sanders is very clear that you cannot do it alone. You have to go out to the people. And that is what`s so beautiful about his -- the revolution. The revolution may not have necessarily transformed itself through absolute votes, but I have been saying that this is so much bigger than the math. This is really about social studies. It is about all those things that...
MATTHEWS: Yes, but how does it get through to the Congress? How do you break through to members of Congress?
TURNER: It`s doing some of the things -- it`s taking it back to the people and giving the people the power -- well, the power is already in the hands of the people, but reminding them that they do have that power. That power comes through elections.
And I think Senator Sanders has really started that, Chris, in that he has made the requisite investments into some of the state races in this country...
MATTHEWS: Yes, I heard that.
TURNER: ... and some people running the (ph) Congress. You got to get more progressive people elected. And the way you get that elected, you give people a reason to vote, Chris. And just being anti-Trump, in my opinion, is not just a sole reason. It`s not just going to be the thing that`s going to motivate people, especially Democrats.
And I did get a chance to hear your conversation with Chris Jansing, when she said about four of the people that she interviewed absolutely said they were going to be looking to see what Senator Sanders did.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I agree.
TURNER: They were not ready to commit.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Senator, look, I think if you`re -- if you want some optimism from me...
TURNER: Yes.
MATTHEWS: ... from my ability to see these things, I think Hillary Clinton, thanks to who she`s running against in this general election, has a shot at a mandate, not squeaking in but coming in with the Senate behind her, maybe 52 or so senators, enough to get working on that 60, maybe getting close enough in the House of Representatives where they can find a few Republicans they can work with.
I mean, she can actually come in maybe not like Reagan yet, but she could come in like George, Senior, came in. And she could come in 54-46, something like that, maybe better than that. And that means she`ll have power, what you`re talking about, and you got to have power before you can use it.
TURNER: You do.
MATTHEWS: But you`re right, you have to use it. If you don`t use it, it atrophies.
TURNER: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, thank you. And please keep coming on, Senator Nina Turner...
TURNER: Thank you for having me.
MATTHEWS: ... the great voice for the progressives.
We`ve been watching, by the way, former NAACP president Ben Jealous at the Sanders rally. And as we wait for Senator Sanders, let`s bring in John Heilemann, the managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, the co-host of "With All Due Respect" on Bloomberg.
So what is the "Double Down" this year? What is the "Game Change" this year? What -- is it the president? Is his role going to be the big story, if you write a book about it? I don`t know if you`re writing a book again, John, but is he going to be the big -- I -- I think he is. He`s fighting for -- for really -- I said it there, reelection, basically. I know Trump`s going to exploit it, but he wants a legacy.
JOHN HEILEMANN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I mean, if you thi9nk about the Democratic side of the aisle, Chris, there`s no doubt about the fact that President Obama`s going to have a huge role to play for a couple of reasons, one of which is, obviously, unusually for a president this late into his second term, he`s got an approval rating over 50 percent. That`s as high as it`s been in his entire time in office. So that`s a big deal.
The second thing that`s true is that President Obama has a unique connection to his coalition, to that coalition that helped him win office twice, non-white voters, college-educated women, millennial voters. They - - they`ve been very attached to him. He has an ability to rouse them that Hillary Clinton can rely on.
He`s going to raise a lot of money for Hillary Clinton. He`s -- you know, the Clintons are great fund-raisers, but Barack Obama is still, as of now, the greatest fund-raiser in the history of the Democratic Party and having him out there for her is going to help a lot.
The other thing is that, you know, as you point, he is -- his legacy is at stake. And I think not only is it the case that he`s emotionally invested in seeing her get -- in seeing her succeed him in order to protect his legacy against a potential Trump presidency, but he also has a lot of personal skin in this game.
Donald Trump embodies some of what -- what Barack Obama thinks of as the darkest sides of American politics. He was the face of the birther movement. He is the guy who made Barack Obama produce his long-form birth certificate a few years ago. I think he has -- there have been a lot of dark forces that Obama has confronted as president, and Trump has been for him the face of those forces. And I think he has a persona -- a personal sense of, like, wanting to see that guy beaten.
MATTHEWS: Are you still there, John?
HEILEMANN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I agree with you completely. And I think his personal is a good, old -- nothing wrong with a little vengeance here and there.
HEILEMANN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: But I also think the positive part of this is there`s some personal chemistry now between the president and the presumed nominee now.
HEILEMANN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Tell us about that. What can you tell us? They worked together for four years. They fought with each other. And you know, you and I are probably boxing fans. I always was growing up -- anyway, I think people, after they`ve boxed a while, it becomes a weird kind of relationship develops there.
But here`s Senator Sanders about -- John Heilemann, thank you for joining us. Here`s Senator Sanders about to speak.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Washington!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Let me thank all of you for coming out. Let me thank Ben Jealous.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Let me thank Cornel West.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And let me -- let me thank all of you for being part of the political revolution!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: We have...
AUDIENCE: Thank you, Bernie! Thank you, Bernie! Thank you, Bernie!
SANDERS: Thank you. You know, a little bit -- a little bit over a year ago, we began this campaign. And what the punditry thought is that the campaign would not go very far. Well, here we are in mid-June, and we`re still standing!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And we are standing after having won 22 states.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the results have not yet come in from California!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: We have won over 10 million votes.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And in every state and non-state -- I am aware of this issue here in Washington, D.C....
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: ... and I hope that the next time I`m back, we`re going to be talking about the state of Washington, D.C.!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: But in every state and non-state that we have run in, we have won by very large votes with young people!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the reason that that is significant is that this campaign is based on a vision that our country must focus on social justice, on economic justice, on racial justice, on environmental justice!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And when the overwhelming majority of young people support that vision, that will be the future of America!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: This campaign has done as well as it has because we are doing something unusual in American politics. We`re telling the truth!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the truth has to do with the reality of our lives as we experience it, not what we see on corporate television.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And what is that reality? That reality is that we hear all of the time that we are a democracy. But the fact of the matter is, even excluding the issue of Washington, D.C., not having elected representatives in the Congress...
(BOOS)
SANDERS: ... is that all of you know that, increasingly, big money is buying elections.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Right now, you have a couple of brothers called the Koch brothers.
(BOOS)
SANDERS: They are worth tens of billions...
MATTHEWS: Well, that`s Senator Bernie Sanders, of course, outside RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
Well, across town, Senator Elizabeth Warren is giving a speech in which she will blast Donald Trump. Let`s listen to Senator Warren.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: ... stand up for the Constitution and to stand up against those who would undermine either one of them. That`s what we do.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And each and every person in this room has committed themselves to that fight. And thank you for that commitment because I got to say, we`re going to need you.
Four simple words are engraved above the doors to the United States Supreme Court, "Equal justice under law." That`s supposed to be the basic promise of our legal system, that our laws are just and that everyone -- everyone - - will be held equally accountable if they break those laws.
Now, look, we haven`t always fulfilled those promises, but it is the absolute standard to which we hold ourselves, even when we fall short. And a vital part of that struggle is the fight for a truly professional, independent and impartial judiciary -- absolutely...
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: ... a place that is governed not by politics, not by money, not by power, but by those four simple words, "Equal justice under law." Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Now, three years ago, I came here to deliver a warning about how that promise is under threat. And I talk pretty bluntly about how we are losing the fight over whether our courts will remain a neutral forum, faithfully interpreting law and dispensing fair and impartial justice, or whether the rich and powerful interests will completely capture the judicial branch.
I talked about how year after year for more than 30 years now, powerful interests have worked to rewrite the law and tilt the courts to favor billionaires and giant corporations. We talked about cases that protect giant businesses from accountability, cases that made it harder for individuals to get into court, cases that gutted long-standing protections for consumers to keep them from being cheated, and cases like Citizens United, which unleashed an avalanche of billionaires, super-PAC dollars and secret corporate money and a mad dash to tilt the rest of government in favor of the wealthy.
And today, I am here to update that warning because what we`ve seen over the past three years, accelerating over the past three months and even the last three weeks, is alarming. Powerful interests are now launching a full-scale assault on the integrity of the federal judiciary and its judges.
Now, this assault has two major elements. First, tearing down our centuries-old process for appointing judges, and second, viciously attacking judicial nominees, potential nominees and even sitting federal judges at the first sign that they might put the rule of law above devotion to the rich and powerful.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Now, earlier this week, I released a comprehensive report on the Republican campaign of obstruction against President Obama`s nominees. It details how Senate Republicans have delayed or blocked votes on key nominations throughout the entire Obama presidency.
The purpose of this obstruction is to try to hold open federal positions for as long as possible. The purpose is also to hamstring the president`s ability to protect consumers and workers, to hold large corporations accountable, to promote equality -- in other words, to undermine the fundamental principle of equal justice under law.
The centerpiece of that strategy has been a blockade of federal judicial appointments, and it is much bigger than just the United States Supreme Court. From the day President Obama was sworn in, Senate Republicans have used every procedural tool at their disposal to try to slow down his nominees.
They spent months abusing the filibuster in a naked effort to preserve a right-wing majority on the D.C. circuit. And after capturing the Senate in 2015, they`ve just slowed judicial confirmations down to a trickle. Judicial emergencies multiply. Cases pile up. Courts are starved for help.
And now the Supreme Court of the United States sits paralyzed, unable to deal with its most challenging cases all because extremist Republicans who reject the legitimacy of President Obama are determined to make certain our courts advance the agenda only of the wealthy and the powerful.
It is outrageous, and it is up to us to fight back!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Senator Republicans, do your job! Give district court nominees their votes!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Do your job! Give circuit court nominees their votes!
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And do your job! Give Merrick Garland his vote!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: That`s right.
The nomination`s blockade is just the first part of the assault on the judiciary. But there`s a second, even uglier line of attack, intimidation.
Now, justice demands a judiciary that is made of independent lawyers who can provide insight and expertise from every corner of the profession. But Senate Republicans and their big business allies don`t like nominees whose resumes reflect insufficient devotion to the interest of the rich and the powerful.
So, they smear them, defense lawyers, public interest lawyers, plaintiff`s lawyers. Nominees with these professional experiences are just regularly slandered. Their integrity is questioned.
And scores of Republicans just automatically line up to oppose them. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama has attacked the integrity of several of President Obama`s nominees. For what? For having some association with the American Civil Liberties Union. Apparently, being connected to an organization whose principal purpose is to defend rights guaranteed by the Constitution is an automatic disqualification.
Sessions vowed that the nominations process would become -- and I got his quote here -- "a more contentious matter if we keep seeing the ACLU chromosome as part of this process." And he meant it.
During her confirmation hearing to be a district court judge this year, Senator Sessions just plain insulted Paula Xinis, a former federal public defender and a civil rights lawyer who worked on cases, among others, of police abuse.
So, he asked the question whether or not she could assure the police officers that might be brought before your court that they will get a fair day in court and that your history would not impact your decision-making.
I just want you to guess how many times Senator Sessions has questioned a fancy corporate defense lawyer, asking if they would assure victims of fraud or people poisoned by toxic waste or people injured by shoddy products or employees who were fired illegally because they tried to join a union if they would get a fair day in court.
Judge Xinis was rated unanimously well-qualified by the American Bar Association, yet she was barely confirmed, with nearly three-dozen Republican senators voting against her. This approach is corrosive to the legal profession. It`s corrosive to our courts. It`s corrosive to the rule of law.
And it`s the responsibility of every lawyer, no matter who their clients are, to stand up and fight back.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: The attacks around the Supreme Court vacancy have been even uglier.
Now, at one point, Senator John Cornyn, the number two Republican in the Senate, who is from the state of Texas, announced the any nominee -- this is any nominee -- put forward by President Obama would be beaten like a pinata.
And his right-wing billionaire and big business allies, they have actually made good on that threat. When rumors, just rumors, circulated that Jane Kelly, a highly respected federal judge, might, just might be under consideration, the Judicial Crisis Network, which is this shadowy right- wing group that`s financed with dark money from the billionaire Koch brothers, this group ran television ads attacking her for her service to the nation as a federal public defender.
Now, as you all know, the president eventually nominated Merrick Garland, a judge that is so revered for his professionalism that, days before he was announced, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch called him a fine man who the president could easily name to fill the vacancy.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: And then what happened? Scores of Republican senators refused to even meet with him. The Judicial Crisis Network started again, spending millions of dollars on television ads to demean this man.
The NFIB, a right-wing lobbying group that claims to speak for small businesses, but is actually swimming in cash from conservative billionaires, announced that it would oppose Garland`s nomination because, in cases involving federal agencies, the judge ruled in their favor 77 percent of the time.
Now, that`s a punchline a room full of lawyers will appreciate, because every lawyer in this room knows that federal law requires judges to defer to most agency actions. But, apparently, it doesn`t matter anymore whether or not Judge Garland follows the law. What matters is that he doesn`t bend the law to suit giant corporations.
Judge Garland is not a politician. He`s a judge with an unimpeachable record of putting the law first. And, for that sin, he faces a nonstop national campaign of slime. He faces historic disrespect from the Republicans who control the Senate.
It is despicable. It must end, and we must end it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: The goal here is pretty straightforward. It`s to tilt the game. And it`s working. Eighty-six percent of President Obama`s judicial nominees have either worked as a corporate attorney, a prosecutor or both, while less than 4 percent have worked as lawyers in public interest organizations.
Now, professional diversity is missing from the federal bench. And justice suffers for it. But even disqualifying judges based on their professional background enough for Donald Trump.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: Trump tells everyone who will listen that he is a great businessman. But let`s be honest. He is just a guy who inherited a fortune and kept it rolling along by cheating people.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And, you know, when that`s your business model, sooner or later, you`re going to run into legal trouble.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: And Donald Trump has run into a lot of legal trouble. Oh, yes, Trump University, which his own former employees referred to as one big fraudulent scheme.
Now, many of Trump University`s victims ended up deep in debt, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and no way to pay it off. Trump`s employee playbook said, look for people with financial problems, because they make good targets.
He even encouraged his sales force to go after elderly people who are trying to create a little financial security, because Trump figured they were vulnerable.
Now, I taught law for more than 30 years. And you can ask any lawyer in America, and they will tell you, that sounds a lot like fraud. And...
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: I`m just saying.
And, by the way, that is exactly what Donald Trump is being sued for. He`s being sued for fraud and worse, for targeting the most vulnerable people he could find, lying to them, taking all their money, and leaving them in debt.
Now, some of these people are fighting back, because, in America, we have the rule of law. And that means, no matter how rich you are, no matter how loud you are, no matter how famous you are, if you break the law, you can be held accountable, even if your name is Donald Trump.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: But Trump doesn`t think those rules apply to him.
So, at a political rally two weeks ago, and almost daily since then, the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States has savagely attacked Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over his case.
He`s explained, we are in front of a very hostile judge, Trump said. Frankly, he should recuse himself. He has given us ruling after ruling, negative, negative, negative.
Understand what this is. Trump is criticizing Judge Curiel for following the law, instead of bending it to suit the financial interests of one wealthy and oh so fragile defendant.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Now, Trump also whined that he`s being treated unfairly, because the judge happens to be, we believe, Mexican.
And when he got called out, he doubled down by saying, I`m building a wall. It`s an inherent conflict of interests.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: He has personally, personally directed his army of campaign surrogates to step up their own public attacks on Judge Curiel. He`s even condemned federal judges who are Muslim on the disgusting theory that Trump`s own bigotry compromises the judges` neutrality.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: You just can`t make this stuff up.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Now, like all federal judges, Judge Curiel is bound by the federal code of judicial ethics not to respond to these attacks.
Trump is picking on someone who is ethically bound not to defend himself, exactly what you would expect from a thin-skinned, racist bully.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Now, Judge Curiel can`t respond, but we can. We can tell his story.
Gonzalo Curiel was born in Indiana, not Mexico, to immigrant parents who worked hard their entire lives and who were handed nothing. He went to Indiana University for undergrad and then he went there for law school. And for 13 years, he worked as a federal prosecutor in Southern California, fighting the Mexican drug cartels as a leader of that region`s narcotics enforcement division.
He collaborated with top Mexican officials to disrupt the culture of corruption between the Mexican government and the most powerful and deadly cocaine smugglers in North America. And the effort was pretty impressive. On both sides of the border, money launderers, street gangs, assassins were arrested and prosecuted.
But that success came at great cost. Witnesses were killed. Mexican officials were murdered. Judge Curiel himself was the target of an assassination plot. And he spent the better part of a year living officially in hiding under the protection of the U.S. Marshals.
Later, after his years of service as a prosecutor, Judiciary Committee was appointed to the California state court by a Republican governor who calls him an American hero. He was nominated to the federal bench by a Democratic president, and he was confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate.
That`s what kind of a man Judge Curiel is.
What kind of a man is Donald Trump? Donald Trump says, Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself.
No, Donald, you should be ashamed of yourself.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Ashamed.
Ashamed for using the megaphone of a presidential campaign to attack a judge`s character and integrity simply because you think you have some God- given right to steal people`s money and get away with it.
You shame yourself, and you shame this great country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Donald Trump says, they ought to look into Judge Curiel, because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace.
No, Donald, what you are doing is a total disgrace, race-baiting a judge who spent years defending America from the terror of murderers and drug traffickers, simply because long ago his family came to America from somewhere else?
You, Donald Trump, are a total disgrace.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Judge Curiel is one of countless American patriots who has spent decades quietly serving his country, sometimes at great risk to his own life.
Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone, and who serves no one but himself.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And that is just one of the many reasons he will never be president of the United States.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: But here`s the thing. In spite of these shameful attacks, nobody doubts that Judge Curiel will continue to preside over Trump`s case as a fair and neutral judge, because Judge Curiel is a lawyer with integrity. And that`s what lawyers with integrity do.
Judge Curiel has survived far worse than Donald Trump. He has survived actual assassination attempts. He will have no trouble surviving Donald Trump`s nasty temper tantrums.
You know, when first asked, though, about whether he would condemn Trump`s comments about Judge Curiel, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader said, well, gee, you know...
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: ... Donald Trump is certainly a different kind of candidate, heh, heh, heh.
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: And then, after days of pressure, McConnell finally said, attacking the judge is stupid, and that Trump should -- quote -- "get on script."
What script is that, exactly?
(LAUGHTER)
WARREN: And where do you suppose that Donald Trump got the idea that he can personally attack judges, regardless of the law, whenever they don`t bend to the whims of billionaires and big businesses?
Trump isn`t a different kind of candidate? He`s a Mitch McConnell kind of a candidate. Yes.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: He is exactly the kind of candidate you would expect from a Republican Party whose script for several years has been to execute a full- scale assault on the integrity of our courts, blockading judicial appointments so Donald Trump can fill them, smearing and intimidating nominees who do not pledge allegiance to the financial interests of the rich and powerful.
That`s the kind.
Now, Trump is also House Speaker Paul Ryan`s kind of candidate. Paul Ryan condemned Donald Trump`s campaign for its attacks on Judge Curiel`s integrity.
Great. Where`s Paul Ryan`s condemnation of the blockade, the intimidation, the smears and the slime against the integrity of qualified judicial nominees and Judge Garland? Where is he?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Yeah.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell want Donald Trump to appoint the next generation of judges. Those judges to tilt the law in favor of big businesses and billionaires like Trump. They just want Donald Trump to quit being quite so vulgar and obvious about it.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Yes.
So, look, Donald Trump chose racism as his weapon. But his aim is example the same as the rest of the Republicans, pound the courts into submission for the rich and the powerful.
Senator McConnell recently said he`s -- quote -- "pretty calm" about Donald Trump, because what protects this country against big mistakes being made is the structure, the Constitution, the institutions.
Mitch McConnell is 100 percent wrong. Our democracy does not sustain itself. Our Constitution does not sustain itself. The rule of law does not sustain itself.
There have always been those with money and power who think that the rules shouldn`t apply to them, those who would pervert our system of government to serve their own ends. They have tried it before, and they`re trying it now.
And all that is required for the rule of law and our independent judiciary to collapse is for good people to stand by and do nothing. Now is not the time to stand by. Now is the time to stand up. Now is the time to say no. Not here, not in these United States of America. No.
(APPLAUSE)
We are not a nation that disqualifies lawyers and judges from public service because of race or religion or gender or because they haven`t spent their entire careers representing the rich and the powerful.
We are the nation of John Adams, a lawyer who defended the British soldiers after the Boston massacre and then went onto serve as president of the United States.
We are the nation of Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer who defended accused killers and then went onto serve as president of the United States.
We are the nation of Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer who fought for racial equality and then went onto serve in the Supreme Court of these United States.
We are the nation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a lawyer who fought for gender equality and went onto serve in the Supreme Court of these United States. That is who we are. We will not allow a small, insecure, thin-skinned, wannabe tyrant or his allies in the Senate to destroy the rule of law in the United States of America. We will not.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We will not. You bet. You bet.
(APPLAUSE)
We are ready for this fight because it is time to fight again as it has been time to fight in every generation for those four simple words that define the promise of our legal system -- equal justice under law. That`s what we`re here for.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: That`s Senator Elizabeth Warren, of course, delivering a blistering speech against Donald Trump and the leaders of the Republican Party.
Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak at the same event shortly, I mean, in the manner of moments.
And right now, let`s bring in our round table guests, Eugene Robinson is MSNBC political analyst and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for "The Washington Post", Heidi Przybyla is senior political reporter for "USA Today", Eli Stokols is national political reporter with "Politico".
In order, starting with Gene -- your thoughts on what we just heard. The mix of what we just heard. Your thoughts?
EUGENE ROBINSON, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: It was a very tough speech, Chris. She called Donald Trump a thin-skinned racist bully. She called him a thin-skinned racist wannabe tyrant.
You know, it was kind of steam winder. The Trump part was the most incendiary.
I think she previewed a theme that Democrats will use this fall, which is to link the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate to Donald Trump. You know, you endorsed him. You`re going to vote for him. So, you`re with him. That could be a very effective attack.
MATTHEWS: Heidi?
HEIDI PRZYBYLA, USA TODAY: Chris, you just saw, I think, a good demonstration of the full force of the populist kind of assault that`s about to come to bear on Donald Trump with Elizabeth Warren.
And just to pivot off what Eugene was saying, kind of the wind up that she gave to that was really good context because she`s going to basically say Donald Trump is just a vehicle for what has been going on and what we`ve been fighting in the Senate for years with this backlog of nominations and with the smearing of judges and that basically he`s just being used as a tool for a broader corporate backed agenda, which really cuts straight to that kind of populist strain that`s cutting through both Donald Trump`s populist base and Bernie Sanders populist base. I thought it was kind of masterfully presented.
ELI STOKOLS, POLITICO: Hillary Clinton said we`re not going to let this happen here. She`s turning this campaign into a moral crusade and Elizabeth Warren is right on that a better messenger than Hillary Clinton. In fact, so passionate, you can really see in her in that attack dog role.
But she also knows Donald Trump is being told by the Republican Party, by Reince Priebus, he`s being put in a straitjacket. They`re saying, please, behave right now. Just make the case against Hillary, don`t respond to any of these other things. Don`t go after people. Be presidential.
Elizabeth Warren tonight kind of goading him, just making fun of the fact he has to be controlled by his Republican sort of parental figures that he`s the problem child, the 69-year-old problem child of the Republican Party. She`s just goading him into responding, he always says he`s a counter puncher. Going to be difficult for him, I would imagine, not to respond to what she said tonight.
MATTHEWS: Gene, we`re not used to hearing this kind of screed. It`s a strong political argument interweaving personal attacks on Trump. Fair enough, they are -- it`s the political season, making fun of him, identifying him with an ideological movement.
Do you think Trump is believable as part of a movement, a move to grab power for the judiciary, to put it to the work of the business class, the elite? Does he look like a soldier in an ideological army? I wonder if that`s credible.
ROBINSON: Well, right, I take your point, because the difficulty is to imagine him as an obedient member of anybody`s army, right?
MATTHEWS: Yes.
ROBINSON: Donald Trump is his own loose cannon.
I think if she did make the case that Donald Trump is emblematic of what`s been going on, perhaps not in such garish public view. But you`re right that probably the weakest point of the argument is to make Trump a foot soldier in this movement. Trump is his own sort of thing, his own guy.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I wonder one of the things because -- I thought it was masterful speech. She`s obviously a brilliant person and a politician. She`s a hell of a politician, even though she`s come across a philosopher. She`s a hell of a steam winding politician.
But, Heidi, let me ask you about this. Occasionally, when you get into the cheap shots, I wonder why they have to do that, because otherwise it was perfect. Going after Trump is saying all he did is take his father`s fortune and basically lie his way to keeping it going, I don`t think the math really works there. I think he started with a hell of a grub steak obviously, and he got started pretty early with some cash, a million bucks or whatever.
But isn`t it true that Trump made a lot of money over the years, billions of dollars? Is it accurate to say he just took what he got and sat on it?
PRZYBYLA: Sure. There`s going to be a lot of autopsies written on that. He`s definitely a successful businessman, but, for example, in `USA Today", we have a story I was going to give you in the tell me something I don`t know segment, but just about what he`s done during the source of his business practices and how he`s made his money and kind of linking him to a lot of these lawsuits that basically come from the little guy, come from the dish washers and the plumbers and the people who felt like or alleged that they were actually never paid for their work.
So, I think that kind of going after his business record and shining a light on that and looking at how he did business and how he made that money is going to become a potentially powerful argument. Specifically, with those Bernie Sanders voters who don`t know really Donald Trump and his business record.
ROBINSON: Chris, if I could jump in. Heidi`s newspaper today has a great story about the contractors who got stiffed by Donald Trump.
MATTHEWS: That makes sense.
ROBINSON: His sort of way of doing business.
MATTHEWS: Yes, people that don`t pay their bills, they`re called. People that make money by not paying their bills.
When I come back, I want to ask you to put together two things. That brilliant speech we just heard, the steam winder there, and the fact that she`s going to endorse on Rachel tonight Hillary Clinton. How is she able to transport that populism of the progressive crowd and bring it to Hillary Clinton tonight? It`s sort of an interesting way she`s done it, a double header.
A very strong ideological attack on Trump and Trumpism from the left and then say, oh, by the way, tonight, I`m endorsing Hillary Clinton. He`s certainly not a person of the left and how she`s going to be able to do that.
Anyway, the round table will come back and I`m going to challenge them to explain that to me. We`ll get back to our top story this political -- of course, President Obama`s endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
This is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: President Obama taped an interview with Jimmy Fallon last night. And president said he thought Bernie Sanders made Clinton a better candidate. How`s that for irony? Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary. I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas, and he pushed the party, and challenged them. I thought it made Hillary a better candidate. My hope is, is that, over the next a couple of weeks, we`re able to pull things together. And what happens during primaries, you get a little ouchy, everybody does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Ouchy, I love that word.
You can watch the full interview, of course, tonight with President Obama on "The Tonight Show" tonight with Jimmy Fallon.
And we`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: We`ve got two minutes altogether before the show is over. So, I want to all three of you attack this question, can Elizabeth Warren deliver the progressive left to Hillary Clinton?
Start with Gene.
ROBINSON: She can bring a lot of it, I think. I mean, you heard her performance today. It was a very strong speech, I thought very powerfully delivered. And I think she can connect with people. She has improved so much over the years as a politician.
A few years ago, she couldn`t have given that speech that way. She kind of knocked it out of the park today. And I think she really does connect with the left and I think she could be a big factor in this election.
MATTHEWS: Heidi?
PRZYBYLA: Yes, because I think as far as the Clinton campaign is concerned and this applies to both Sanders and Warren, it`s good enough to just go after Trump with those types of attacks. And as far as Elizabeth Warren is concerned, she speaks not just to the Bernie coalition but a critical part of that Bernie coalition, which is the younger women voters.
And I know for a fact from speaking with Hillary Clinton`s campaign that they feel that as long as they can bring over that segment, even if they can`t get a fair number of "Bernie bros" as they`re called, the young men, if they can get the young women, that`s going to be good enough.
MATTHEWS: Interesting thinking.
Eli, your thoughts? Thirty seconds.
STOKOLS: Well, they need blue collar independent voters that Trump had some appeal with, Elizabeth Warren has credibility with them. And as we`ve seen, she is not afraid to bring the heat at Donald Trump at every opportunity, she relishes doing so.
And I think the bridge between the Bernie coalition and the Hillary coalition, the unifier is going to be Trump, he`s going to help the Democratic Party unite. And there`s no more effective messenger than Elizabeth Warren.
MATTHEWS: I just kept thinking, guys -- I agree with everything you said - - I keep thinking tonight that how lucky Elizabeth Warren is that Donald Trump is a public figure and she can say anything she wants about him because those are -- Gene knows these are amazing charges against that guy you can`t make against Joe Smith.
ROBINSON: The libel bell is going off, right? But he`s a public figure, he`s libel-proof. So --
MATTHEWS: That`s what I keep thinking. She`s able to whack him.
Anyway, thank you, Gene Robinson. Thank you, Heidi Przybyla. And thank you, Eli Stokols.
Anyway, HARBBALL is back after this.
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MATTHEWS: That`s HARDBALL for now, and talk about hardball, Elizabeth Warren.
Anyway, join us tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern.
"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.
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