well, good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. and what kind of day was today in american politics? today, for starters, we watched marco rubio go after trump's nominee and we watched donald trump call cnn fake news while comparing u.s. intelligence to nazi germany. it was as if he was making up for the 168 days that gone by since his last news conference

in july. it was an action packed session. here now a sampling. >> i want to thank a lot of news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies. who knows? but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they, in fact, did that. a tremendous blot. because a thing like that should have never been written. it should never have been had, and it certainly never have been released. president putin put out a statement today that this fake news was fake news. now somebody is going to say, of course he's going to say that. >> since you're attacking us, can you give us a question. >> go ahead. >> mr. president elect. >> go ahead.

no, not you. not you. your organization is terrible. >> you are attacking our news organization. can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir. >> quiet. quiet. go ahead. she's asking a question. don't be rude. don't be rude. >> can you give us a question? >> don't be rude. no, i'm not going to give you a question. you are fake news. go ahead. >> i think it was disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. i think it is a disgrace. and i say that and i say that. and that's something that nazi, germany would have done and did do. as far as hacking, i think it was russia, but i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. the democratic national committee was totally open to be hacked. they did a very poor job. if putin likes donald trump, guess what, folks? that's called an asset, not a liability.

i have no deals. i have no loans and i have no dealings. we could make deals in russia very easily if we wanted to. i just don't want to because i think that would be a conflict. over the weekend i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai, and i turned it down. i didn't have to turn it down because, as you know, i have a no conflict situation because i'm president, which is -- i didn't know about that until about three months ago, but it is a nice thing to have. but i don't want to take advantage of something. we're going to create jobs. i said that i will be the greatest jobs producer that god ever created, and i mean that. finally, obama care, i thought it was never going to be asked. it will be repealed and replaced. it will be essentially simultaneously. it will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week but probably the same day.

could be the same hour. so we're going to do repeal and replace. very complicated stuff. >> it was her rowing television the first time around. it got more interesting tonight because in the last hour, the director of intelligence, james clapper released a statement on the intelligence leaks about the president-elect after speaking with him tonight and we quote from it. i expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security. we also discussed the private security document, which was widely circulated in recent months among the media, members of congress and congressional stuff even before the intelligence community became aware of it. i emphasize that this document is not a u.s. intelligence community product and that i do not believe the leaks came from within the intelligence community.

the intelligence community has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions. however, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security. that last paragraph is key for reasons we'll get to in just a second. first we bring in our panel. msnbc political analyst nick cal wallace, chief business correspondent ally vel shi and senior foreign affairs correspondent for "politico," our friend michael kroully. welcome to you all. nicole, is what just happened, director clapper confirming the cnn story, which led to the shouting match with correspondent jim acosta, which made donald trump label cnn label an entire network fake news. >> this all became clearer to me tonight.

i watched kellyanne conway on cnn. and the strategy is to conflate the information that was posted on buzzfeed in a 34 page -- >> they layed out a dossile for everyone to see. >> the trump strategy is to conflate that product with what was briefed to mr. trump, which was hard evidence of russian involvement in not just our election, but attempts to hack the state department and companies. they were prepared to tell him about this other stuff that was floating out there. and james clapper's statement seemed to be trying to explain that intel comes in different buckets. some of it is stuff gathered from human intelligence. some of it is just stuff we tell a president because it's out

there and it's about him. so i thought that what director clapper was trying to do was now to sort of calm the waters by putting these two things back in the two different buckets in which they belong. >> michael, what do you think happened today? >> well, you know, i think that trump pushed this war with the intelligence community. although, clapper may have calmed the waters a little bit tonight. that's a nice phrase that nicole just used. but he pushed it to a new level with this line about nazi, germany that was breathtaking. it is extremely unsettling to see the president-elect accusing his opponents as nazis. it makes you wonder what kind -- what this relationship is going to be like when he actually takes office and how is this

breach mended? the clapper statement is a step in that direction and maybe a recognition that the rhetoric is just getting out of control in a way that ultimately hurts everybody. that struck me the most. i also thought that, you know, briefly on russia, it was interesting to see trump say that he would not necessarily get along with vladimir putin. he said we may not get along. but then at the end he said something to the effect of, well, what's wrong with putin wanted me in office? you know, that's an asset. that's an asset if putin wants me to be president. i thought that was kind of probably unintentional double indan tra there. that's when you're running an operative in another country. i don't think that's what trump meant to say. but a little bit of a mixed

message there on putin was interesting. >> that is a term of art in the dark arts. ally, i just wrote down this wrote from the greatest hits mash up we just aired, and i wrote it down the first time today. i have a no conflict situation because i'm president. >> right. >> you're our business brain. >> yeah. >> how true is that? >> well, so, there's -- if you take a very legal interpretation of conflict of interest, we know that the president has a narrower -- he has narrower exposure than any other federal employee. he has the emoluments clause. most businesses and most politicians take a slightly broader view of this to say will a reasonable surprise that i am gaining from certain activities? and that's where donald trump doesn't seem to have a filter. he doesn't seem to understand that you sometimes have to go farther than people expect you to in order to accommodate the

perception of conflict of interest. and he came out today in his speech. he actually had his lawyer come out and explain how he was going to separate himself from his business interest. and i have to say i think they did a poor job of it. all we have learned is a trust will be established and his sons will run it. and he says his sons won't talk to him about the business and his lawyer says his lawyer will only find out if a business deal was done is if he reads it in the newspaper. his lawyer referenced this and said that you -- if somebody comes in and pays market rates for this, that's a transaction. it's not a gift. but we know that's not how business works. we have heard quotes from people say they will stay at trump's hotel because when you are meeting the president you want him to know you are staying at his hotel. >> can i say that. i'm back from two days out in the real world. i was in pennsylvania. i asked people about this.

i said do you worry about his conflicts? do you worry about his relationship with putin and with russian involvement? people -- it's not that they don't know this information. they know all of this. they have heard all this. people who are democrats that voted for trump the first time, it's not that they distrust us, they don't care. they don't care. >> i would imagine in pennsylvania, the biggest concern is employment. >> they will going to give him a pass. here's what he gets about voters and what kellyanne conway gets, their base of support loves the war against the media. they love what he did today. their base of support is going to give him so much running room to do a deal with dubai if he wants to or not. but the question is how much fortitude does the media have? it is going to be income.

it is going to look like -- this is just -- this is going to be another day at the office for us. it is going to look like that every single day. >> let's young about ohio, youngstown, ohio. wages go up, prosperity comes back. they have had 18 or 20 earthquakes. everybody else worries about fracking causing earthquakes, but when it brings you your job, you don't. but we shouldn't stop warning people about the danger that comes with us. >> what you saw feels extraordinary, but the divide they're straddling is their base loves what he did and we have going to have to toughen up and take it. >> i think what you say is very well said, but remember that is not a majority. it is not a governing majority. he got i guess 45% of the vote, if i'm within a point or two there. and that's not enough to sustain him over four years to have a

very successful presidency. he's got to build on that. you know, we have -- and this assumes that all these issues don't chip away around the margins and catch up with him. >> sure. >> so i think you are describing something true and accurate and important. at the same time, i don't think it is enough for him. i do think he needs to broaden it and he's not doing it right now. >> can i go back to your point at nazi, germany and this is important because of the people that could make life very difficult for this president. he is the number one client of the entire intelligence infrastructure in this country. and if tested, as many people fear, in the first 90 days, if kim june yun is fuelling a rocket, guess who we will have to quote, the u.s. intelligence community. so this is playing with fire, is it not? >> absolutely, brian. he's going to need them for what

he has said is his top priority, which is crushing isis, keeping the nation safe from terrorism. that's a huge amount of what the terrorism community does. it's not the cold war. spy versus spy is not the overwhelming focus, even though they are spending more time on it. he needs these guys to monitor terror threats in the u.s. and guide his actions in the middle east. that is central to his campaign platform, what he says he's going to do as president. and it is not going to be any easier than it was going to be a few weeks ago. >> everyone is going to stick with us. we have to fit a break in here. but coming up on the other side, of all the days for russia to come up, this was the day donald trump's nominee for secretary of state started his confirmation hearings. that's ahead when the 11th hour continues.

donald trump's nominee, an eagle scout out of central casting for texas faced the foreign relations committee for his first confirmation hearing. the most contentious exchange was with marco rubio. not surprisingly, the subject was russia and putin. >> is vladimir putin a war criminal? >> i would not use that term. >> there is so much information out there. it should not be hard to say that his country has committed war crimes in aleppo. you would agree for a military to target civilians.

i find it discouraging your ability to cite that, which i think is globally accepted. mr. tillerson, do you believe that vladimir putin and his crow crownys are responsible for the murder of journalists and police cal opponents. >> i have no information to support that claim. >> are you aware that people who oppose him wind up dead, and do you think that is coincidental or do you think it is quite possible or likely that they were part of an effort to murder his political opponents. >> people who speak up for freedom in regimes that are oppressive are often at threat, and these things happen to them. in terms of assigning specific responsibilities, i would have to have more information. >> none of this is classified, mr. tillerson. these people are dead.

>> asked my andrea mitchell how he would cast his vote, rubio said he would make a decision in the next couple of days. this is important because of the rule of one. if the dcs vote together, it takes one republican to stop a nomination cold. we are back with our panel. what did we just witness going on there? what's going on? >> if you had seen that marco rubio, he might have been the republican nominee. i have been celebrating and praising marco rubio's admonition for all republicans, not just donald trump when he warned them not to use the wick wickly -- wikileaks material. >> next time it could be us. >> his clarity of thought makes him -- really puts him sort of in a category of his son. john mccain and lindsey graham throw par raids for him.

his questions was so powerful, so direct and so clear and this question of whether russia is guilty of war crimes because of their slaughter of innocence and children in aleppo is a black and white question, and i wonder if that doesn't come back to haunt tillerson has he goes through this process. >> my question is it hasn't gone on that long that we're still not that struck by it. but i remember the air raid drills. that was about an old soviet union. but people haven't walked that far yet to a new russia and a new vladimir putin. >> yeah. you saw that in the senate because it is an older population because they remember more of this stuff. you saw a lot of talk about russia. you saw marco rubio and others going hard on cuba as well.

tillerson had a tougher time with the republicans than the democrats. corey booker spent time testifying against his fellow senator. and then he and tillerson were getting along like two peas in a pod in this hearing. this is serious. republicans in the senate don't like russia. they don't like what russia did in iran. they don't like what they're doing in syria, and they want to hear from tillerson. by the way, they got further than i expected they would with tillerson. >> just to be clear, this isn't also tillerson. this is the first real fracture and fault line between republicans, the republican establishment that donald trump hates and the new trump administration. and they place a lot of their confidence and a lot of their faith in people like general madison. but these are proxy wars against donald trump.

and what they worry are terrible and damages and frightening relexing. i think there is a divide, whether it's ignorance, whether he's unaware with what putin is up to and how he threatens and seeks to affect the elections in all his neighbors countries and what he does to his neighbors or if it's something more sinister. >> michael, i read your wording carefully today in "politico." you used the world taud dri in last night's story. the reason people found a plot line like it at all believable was because of this effort, this campaign of russia normalization and putin normalization. >> right. i mean, there is something very strange about the way donald trump has talked about putin and russia for more than a year now. it is impossible to get trump to say a negative word about putin.

i mentioned earlier that trump has said it's possible he won't get along with putin at the press conference today. he also said if putin is hacking he shouldn't be doing it. but he will not condemn vladimir putin on a whole range of misbehaviors that are widely accepted, including some of the things that rubio cited at the hearing today. i think people find that to be strange and it's why they are receptive to these theories that may be off-the-wall and unsubstantiated. but last point on that exchange, brian, i think nicole sort of got at it there. those are two different versions of how foreign policy should work and marco rubio's is knee you conservatism and it got lumped in. i think what it means at this point is that you think that foreign policy should be guided by morality, human rights and democracy. that's realism.

it's transactional and you can't get too hung up on the nature of ruler and e regimes you are going to do business with. you can't worry about whether they're dirty people. fascinaing divide in the republican party. >> our final break. when we come back, the trump comment at today's news conference that seemed to come out of nowhere.

the last thing before we go here tonight, the trump comment in the middle of today's press conference that might cause lasting damage. >> lindsey graham, i've been competing with him for a long time. and he's going to crack that 1% barrier one day. i didn't realize lindsey graham is still at it. it's all right. i think lindsey graham is a nice guy, actually. i've heard he is a nice guy. >> i was talking about pay back. it probably doesn't feel good for lindsey graham to hear that. he is a power guy in the senate. >> he's part of the group we have been talking about all night that's deeply skeptical about donald trump's instincts on russia. and lindsey graham i think got the better of donald trump in terms of taking his abuse with a great sense of rumor. he smashed his cell phone after donald trump put his cell phone number out on the internet and he was able to remain a critic

all the way through and now he's showing people why he was so concerned. trump's instincts about russia are deeply worrying to him and his friend john mccain. >> we thought it was worth it to have you handle that last point. that's it for our broadcast tonight. "hardball with chris matthews" begins right now. we bring a special report on the stories that broke last night. the idea is to examine the relationship between the press in this country and the people in power who they cover. in his press conference today, donald trump criticized the website buzzfeed and also singled out cnn and provoked a heated exchange with jim acosta. >> i think it's a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public.