mark: i am mark halperin. john: i'm john heilman. we have been doing this for so long that we don't need to be in the same room. mark: happy national cheesecake day. first hillary's reading list. undisclosed donations speaking fees, tax return errors, and much more. the news regarding the u.s.

hostages took over the news sphere. >> this book has been full of discredited pieces. >> this all went to things like reducing malaria. >> this is not what the voters are looking for in this campaign. >> you, like so many other clinton defenders, are going to be able to tell us what is wrong with the new york times story before you even have red the story and we can consume it. john: the clinton campaign has put more meat on the bones of the rebuttal. whether this storyline is dying down or blowing up? mark: at 6:00 a.m., it was blowing up the new york times. it's a long story. brian fallon put out a document in the middle of the day with some strong rebuttal points. that does not defuse the thing

but if they can reply substantively they can put the story away. john: they had to start addressing it rather than attacking the author, but i say that i believe that before this book was on the horizon that the nexus of money, the state department continues to be a richer vein for people to mind. questions will be raised. this book is not going away. it is not published yet. mark: i think they will not find quid pro quos. they will find instances in which clinton's and other people interacted with people who were foundation people. if you were a donor and wanted your calls return, i have no doubt they got their calls returned. i think will -- people will look at that and evaluated.

not simply ad hominem mccarthy tactics. the author of that book, peter sweitzer, is being deemed a right-wing hitman. josh green broke the news that he is worsening working on a similar book about jeb bush. how vulnerable will jeb bush speeches scrutiny? john: mitt romney was reported to have said that he would be very vulnerable for his work at barclays. josh green wrote about chinese investments in the investment vehicles that jeb bush is involved in. i think this will get a lot of scrutiny. met romney knows what it's like to be in the process of this stuff. mark: we had dan senior on the show talking about this topic. he said that jeb bush is not

like romney. at the same time, there is no doubt that there is a net's is between people on the populist left, populist right, and investigative reporters who would like to take down the clintons and the bushes. unlike the clintons, who made some money jeb made a lot of money working his way. trading on his brain and connections, and i think you will see the paul campaign and others go after this. john: all those campaigns have more working class cred than jeb does. make him the new romney and try to knock him down that way. they will do it on that front for sure. mark: they will turn him into blake carrington. john: that is a good reference. marco rubio now leads the

republican field with 15%. jeb bush is at 13%. the student becomes the teacher. bonus, politico america reports that adelson thinks rubio could be the future of the republican party. to what extent does marco rubio's status as a rising star make him immune from intraparty attacks? mark: it's a real problem. we saw this with obama in 2008, attacking a guy who is supposed to be leading the party is hard to do. it can backfire. you are the guy who takes out rubio with negative ads, but the last could take you. as long as rubio is seen the way he is seen now, it's hard to take him on than a ted cruz or jeb bush. john: harder, but not impossible. the super pacs will be doing a

lot of this dirty work. i think there is enough to look at in marco rubio's background. there is a lot of stuff that went on in florida that will get a look again about his time down there. the bush campaign will not be shy about trying to take him out. mark: we almost have to put a countdown clock on the show. marco rubio has gone third 2015 with only positive coverage. he will only keep rising and building support as long as nobody takes them out. i don't see the right candidate to do it. the bushes are the most written by rubio. imagine if they get caught red-handed going after rubio, the implications of that will not be good for jeb bush and his campaign. john: think back in 2008.

it's hard to take on barack obama with negative stuff, and tell it was too late, but a man bill clinton his attitude was that it was a huge mistake and that hillary clinton should have taken out barack obama early. mark: we shall see. coming up, what john boehner told me about hillary clinton's use of private e-mail. our interview with john boehner is after this. ♪

mark: john boehner planted at kiss on nancy pelosi's cheek. i sat down with him this afternoon. we talked about kisses, tax reform, and the presidential race. i asked him to give me some odds

, corporate tax reform this year? 50-50, says the speaker. those are the odds that he put on hillary clinton getting elected president. we also raise questions about the e-mails, allegations about the clinton foundation. a lot of talk in washington about hillary clinton, two issues. the funding of the foundation and president clinton speaking fees, and the e-mails when she was secretary of state. on the foundation, do you know enough to say that she did something wrong? >> there are a lot of questions about what the foundation did, what speeches the president -- former president gave. there are a lot of questions being raised. they will have to answer the questions. mark: there is nothing you would say is wrong, illegal unethical? >> i don't know about the facts to make a judgment. mark: the same thing about her e-mails? >> she violated the law.

the idea that she was going to use her own server and do official business on it goes against every transparency issue that the president likes to tout. mark: what's the law she violated? >> she has to use an official account. mark: there is a statute that says that is required? >> she sign that when she got there. at some point, they can't ignore the fact that there are a lot of public documents on the server that the american people have a right to see and we believe that it is time for mrs. clinton to turn that server and all those documents over to the inspector general at the state department. let them sort out what is official, with private. i have no interest in her private e-mails. mark: she has made it clear that she will not do that

voluntarily. if it comes to it, could you see yourself being supportive of the subpoena for her server? >> i have not made any decisions, but all actions are on the table. if we need to do that, we may have to. mark: you yourself would be open to supporting it? >> if we need to do this but it is important for the american people to know the truth about what happened in benghazi. it is important to know what was going on at the state department before, during, and after the events that occurred in libya. mark: based on the two controversies and the totality of what you know about the clintons, are they ethically and morally fit to return to the white house question mark -- white house? >> i know the clintons well. i have known them and they are good public servants, but there are a lot of questions that are

being raised. at some point, they will have to answer the questions. mark: do you think they are ethically and morally fit? >> they are good people. mark: what do you think the odds are that she will be the next president of the united states? >> no idea. mark: issue for medical? >> no question. she could be the first woman to be president of the united states. the arts -- odds are where you would guess, 50-50. >> jeb bushmark: jeb bush. you have been a fan of his. you have been nudging him to run. i know that privately in the last election and this one, you have been keen on him to run. what makes you think he would be a good candidate and/or president. >> we have been friends for a long time. i think he talks about the

values of our party. secondly, he has a track record as governor of florida conservative governing record that is exemplary. he has a handicap, the name is bush. as i told him, i would not look up poll for the next seven months. it will take people a while to figure out that he is not his brother or his dad. i think he is a good guy. good man, done a great job but it's a wide-open field could i not endorsing anybody. i have a lot of friends in this race actually. mark: some people say can't we find anybody but these two families? what's your view of that? >> it's a nonissue. mrs. clinton and jeb bush will

have to get through a primary process. it will not be a coronation. you will have to earn it. it they have earned it -- if they have earned it, people will get over this and begin to look at mrs. clinton and jeb bush and their records and what they have to offer the country. mark: not as a problem, but as a phenomenon do find it weird that those two families keep having candidates. >> it's not unusual, but yes. mark: corporate tax reform or lowering individual rates? >> i don't think the individual site is on the gender. there is an effort underway to look at corporate tax reform. the challenge is how you deal with 70% of american businesses that don't pay corporate taxes they take personal tax rates. whether they be partnerships, llc's -- it would be difficult

to do corporate tax reform, but not also doing the tax for entities. mark: what are the chances of that passing question mark -- passing this year? >> 50-50 this year. mark: should we use covert action in iran? >> i will not talk about the covert side, but the people who have been running iran for the last 40 years are not interested in working with us. mark: would you like to see regime change? >> i've>> yes. mark: my theory is that you want to be known as the kissing speaker, true? >> the first person i ran into was nancy pelosi and i gave her

a paeck. we have to work together. why we have different ideas it is important for leaders to have a relationship and be up to talk to each other, and she and i have a good relationship. this particular visits we have done a big bipartisan bill that would not have happened without her corporation. she deserved a kiss. mark: you are fine with us calling you the kissing speaker? >> i've been called worse. mark: how much longer would you like to be speaker of the house? >> i don't know. mark: what is the range? >> there is no range. one day at a time. some days are more fun than others. i came here to fight a fight for a smaller, less costly, and accountable government. that means more better jobs, better wages nothing the

government solution everything that the people on the other side of the aisle want. i am engaged in that fight. as long as i am, i will be here. mark: 10 years maybe? >> no. mark: less than six? >> probably. mark: lesson for? >> -- less than four? >> let's not get into this. mark: we will have part two tomorrow here on the show and the more on bloomberg politics.com. ♪

john: the last time that guy cecil was on our show, we had

the midterms. is hillary clinton going to win the nomination? guy: john: yes. yes. john: boehner said he would be open to the idea of the subpoena what you have to say about that? guy: he stumbled on the follow-up question. i find it funny that a member of congress does not have to disclose anything about the private communication and is attacking hillary clinton. i think it will all pass. john: she has said she will testify not clear whether that will happen, but do you think this issue is under control?

guy: i think it is under control. i would remind folks that the hearing that will happen is about e-mails, but it is also about benghazi. it will have surpassed the committee's investigation into 9/11, watergate, the kennedy assassination. when you wrap all this up, it will be much ado about nothing. john: mark, chime in. mark: take us inside. when you're being attacked by something like this, negative information out there, it seems like there are two responses. one is to go negative on the attackers and tried to say -- the other is to respond. it is wise to do one of the other, the both, how do campaigns decide? guy: in this particular case they are responding with the facts. i think you mentioned brian

fallon's response today on a number of the accusations or open questions or however you want to describe what was going on with the books. in this particular case, the facts are clear. nothing was wrong. this is all hyperbole and suggestion and open-ended question, but on the other hand it is not fair to separate in this particular case the deliver of these questions or hyperbole with what he is saying. this guy works for organizations funded by supporters. it's not unfair to point that out when you look at the suggestions he is making and the open-ended questions he keeps bringing out. john: there is -- he seems to have done some think white smart here. by getting the new york times and fox news to do their independent reporting with advance copies of the book, they are now putting their stamp of

approval on this book. that is a weird thing, unusual thing and savvy thing it's a different kind of challenge for the clinton campaign to deal with. guy: i don't think the public editor of the new york times thought it was particularly savvy, but the reality is that when you look at the new york times story paragraph 12 and 13, it reveals the facts of the story that mark is talking about, which is hillary clinton was not involved in the decision. that nine agencies including the defense department, treasury department, and the state department, were all involved in the process, and she was not directly involved until after it happened. whether it is savvy or not, in this particular case we are finding as facts become revealed that this is a lot about nothing. john: here is a different angle on the same question. the clinton world has been fantastic at gutting books like

this before they make any waves. carl bernstein's book, they would get a copy early and use than you are times in washington post, wall street journal to undermine the book before it appeared. they seem flat-footed here. they see mike they did not know this was coming. how could it not be? guy: it reveals the way this clinton operation is communicating. brian fallon communicated today adopting new technologies to communicate directly with people and getting to the bottom of the facts, which is revealing about not only this particular case, but the ways this clinton campaign is different from previous campaigns. mark: independent of this whole situation, one of the two things that have been strongest about clinton since she became an

official candidate, and the weakest? guy: first of all, over the course of the two or three days of the campaign, they cover three things. first, they set a tone for the campaign being about everyday americans and telling the stories of real people who are planning their lives, struggling to make ends meet, and identifying her with solving those problems. second, in terms of the culture of the campaign, they have clearly communicated to staff to supporters, to donors, to anybody interested in the campaign that this is a different type of campaign that she has run before. the biggest challenge with the clinton operation is that everybody expects it to be fully funded, fully run, fully staffed from day one. i think they have compensated for that with this ramp up. john: thank you for coming in. i'm sad you are not with the campaign. i assume i will see you in brooklyn. we will be right back. ♪

john: part two of our john boehner interview tomorrow. until then, sayonara. ♪

pimm: hello, i am pimm fox. this is what i am taking stock of on this thursday, april 23 2015. comcast may drop his $35 billion bid to buy time warner cable. comcast is planning to make a decision today. the former fcc commissioner says no deal would be better for consumers. >> comcast, if they proceed, is making a smart decision for