Chris Matthews (screen capture) Color me stunned. For years I have watched MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. It comes on at 4pm in my time zone, and that times out well with my work schedule and I can catch up on news I might have missed. I like Chris, although he’s gotten a bit flint-ier in recent years, but he’s smart, experienced, and I liked the pace of the show. As I tuned in today, Chris announced at the top of the show he was retiring. Like, now. He spoke for about two minutes, told his audience he will miss them but after a conversation with network heads, he decided to retire today. He spoke of his love of politics, apologized for any comments he has made about women, and then he abruptly left. Cut to commercial. He seemed to reference the report by writer Laura Bassett who penned an essay last week accusing Matthew of flirting with her in 2016. Bassett wrote that before an appearance on Hardball she was in the makeup chair next to him when he allegedly said, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” After the commercial break, Steve Kornacki was on camera looking stunned and said “we have to fill the hour.” Stunning moment in television.
And here's the shot when the commercial break ended and the camera cut to a stunned Steve Kornacki, who was obviously not prepared for Chris Matthews' announcement, nor to fill in the hour of airtime when #Hardball would usually run. pic.twitter.com/idqhwvi3rl
THAT WAS IT. Chris Mathews is out of the building. @SteveKornacki runs to the desk, in tears, voice breaking with "I'm shocked. We'll take another break."#Hardball
There are mixed signals coming out of Washington this morning as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has reportedly offered to resign in the wake of a New York Times story last week that alleged he offered to ‘secretly record’ Donald Trump in the White House in an effort to reveal the chaotic nature of the Trump administration.
Axios’ Jonathan Swan tweets that Rosenstein has already ‘verbally’ resigned.
It was not immediately clear whether he expected to be fired by Mr. Trump or whether he planned to resign.
Justice Department officials said on Monday morning that he was on his way to the White House expecting to be fired.
But over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein called a White House official and said he was considering quitting, and a person close to the White House said he was resigning.
It was also unclear whether Mr. Trump would accept a resignation that would likely thrust the administration into further turmoil just weeks before November’s midterm elections.
NBC’s Pete Williams says Rosenstein WON’T resign but will force Trump to fire him to get rid of him.
.@PeteWilliamsNBC is reporting on @MSNBC that Rosenstein is heading to the WH. But that he *won’t resign,* according to Williams’ reporting.
Rosenstein will demand that if the WH wants him gone, they’ll have to fire him.
Apparently, it makes a big difference in how the position would be filled depending on if Rosenstein is fired or quits.
If a resignation occurs, Trump can choose whoever he likes to fill Rosenstein’s job.
But if he is fired, Trump will need to appoint an already-Senate-approved candidate.
The big question many are asking is who would oversee the current investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller with Rosenstein gone. The answer seems to be solicitor general, Noel Francisco.
If Rosenstein is gone, the Mueller probe would be supervised by Noel Francisco, the solicitor general
