mark: i'm mark halperin. john: i'm john hellmann. "with all due respect" to enron, we -- a-rod, we don't need any juice to enhance our performance around here. straight in my thigh. speaking of home runs, happy national babe ruth day. the weekend campaign. the clintons feel their pain. jeb bush makes it rain. the republicans gay right daisy

chain. ted cruz talks at an event in an apartment posted by gay businessmen and says gay marriage is an issue for the state. one of the businessmen posted an apology to facebook, saying the reaction has shaken him to his bone. who has handled this particular brouhaha the worst? mark: three-way tie. [laughter] mark: ted cruz, i think, if you take his explanation and the explanation for the accounts of what happened at the event, i think he is trying to have it all ways. totally appreciate how people who support gay rights believe that this is the civil rights issue of our time and they feel strongly, but calling for a boycott for people for associating, i think they went

too far. this guy's apologies most abject apology of all time. he is flapping in the wind. he had ted cruz in his house and said he did not google him? all bad. john: i think riser is the worst. even if you are a gay person who believes ardently and same-sex -- in same-sex marriage, you can two have someone over to your house that you disagree with. there is nothing wrong with that. to cower this way, the the -- in the face of this chastisement in a craven way, it is ridiculous. stand up for it and say i was doing this in the spirit of open dialogue. mark: he claims in his abject apology, i'm sorry, i did not google and youtube enough to understand. john: ridiculous ridiculous anyone who invites ted cruz to their house has to know who ted cruz is. mark: on the other hand, senator cruz is the least culpable.

even he putting out a statement to avoid trouble on the right flank, yeah, and gay-rights supporters say the boycott for what they did goes too far. john: too far. mark: according to the new york times, jeb bush told some donors that his political organization has raised a lot of money in 100 days. how much money you ask? by some measures, any more than any political operation has raised in recorded history. jeb bush is doing wunderbar. but by other metrics, there are concerns in the bush world including questions over whether jeb bush is doing enough to define himself with skeptical voters. so the question is besides , fundraising, is the charge that he is wasting part of this year accurate? john: if i was a supporter of jeb bush, i would be terrified concerned, all of those at some level. we have cited this back he is raising a lot of money. money matters a lot. but in the end, money only

matters of it translates to the votes. if you go around in new hampshire and other places, it is hard to find the core loyalists jeb bush needs to win a nomination. he needs to go out and court to those voters. mark: some folks push back and say he is trying to define himself. i think there is a lot of cost of not getting in. the two biggest from me, this is from republicans closest to bush, one is you cannot do find -- define yourself in the same terms if you are not a candidate. this looks too cute by half. he is a full-time presidential candidate that is undeclared. it ruins his brand authenticity. john: he has issues with the base. i think he can get over them what he has to make the argument. mark: he's not doing it. john: i'm way for james to tell me to shut up. jeb missed two cattle calls. a summit in iowa and a sheldon adelson impress-a-thon. who, anyone say jeb bush, other than jeb bush, won the weekend?

mark: i've got two picks for this, the first is iowa conservatives. not jeb bush, not chris christie, but almost every other major candidate and iowa. john: he is kowtowing. mark: all speaking a really conservative message. rick santorum talked about international relations and the economy. the rest of them talked about social conservative issues and it shows that while i think a more moderate person can win these caucuses, it shows that that part of the parties going -- party's going to be really catered to. the other is george walker bush got a great reception and shows within the party, he is really popular in vegas. john: not as toxic as he once was. i say sheldon adelson won the weekend. i mean, the guy. there is a sheldon adelson primary. he has his own primary. people came out to kiss his ring. he will continue to be a winner for some time.

i will go far away and say that the big winner of the weekend was barack obama at the white house correspondents dinner. killing it, as he does every year. he is a great comic performer. mark: he was good, but he has been better. john: there is james. mark: another bad day in the media for the clinton campaign. item number the clinton one foundation has acknowledged "mistakes" in the handling of some of the foreign donations. bill clinton reportedly got paid $200,000 by goldman sachs for a speech he gave in 2011 months before the gotham city firm started lobbying the clinton state department. that is according to the "international business times." and if you missed the sunday shows, here is a sampling of what the clintons got. >> what still boggles the mind is why doesn't hillary deal with this herself? >> the sloppiness in the greed that follows on this. >> it is about the appearance of conflict of interest and everyone seems to understand this is a huge problem. >> this is not a hard case that the republicans need to make that they are in this for themselves.

>> it feeds the aura of what people have about the clintons. mark: that is a lot of negativity from normal allies. so the question will be, how will hillary turn the page? perhaps by asking iowans to literally turn the page with a dramatic op-ed. it was an "the des moines register," however, the column was so anodyne, it would not make news on the slowest newsday of the year. is the clinton foundation controversy burning out or blowing up? john: i don't think either one. it is not burning out. that is the one it is not doing. the book is not even out. there will be more stuff in the book. there are now hundreds of reporters are chasing leads on this story. i think this thing could burn for a while unless hillary clinton does something to douse

it. mark: we said it about jeb bush, i will say about hillary clinton. it would be good for the process and them politically if, rather than going around with the message of these vagaries, they went out with specific ideas to try to not just turn the page but to get people to focus on them. they are two of the smartest most prepared people to be president we have ever covered. this op ed was just not intended to be a serious part to advance the debate. it is early, but they are both suffering from the expectations that they are not meeting. john: i agree. we do not normally do this on the show, but the video from the air of the chaos in the streets of baltimore right now is just impossible to ignore. after the funeral of freddie gray, protesters attack police and things got really ugly in the streets of baltimore. today, as i said mark, what does that mean for the city? mark: this today, it is the latest outbreak. we had some over the weekend as well. the mayor and the rest of the city are really going to have to get there arms around the unhappiness.

so far they have not been able , to do this. it surprises me because this is a relatively diverse city, african-american mayor, this is a city that should be able to handle this and they are not. john: this is an episode out of "the wire." it is a diverse city, but there is tension between the african-american community and the police department for a long time. it has been simmering for a while. it has the urbaneness of new york. it is not as big. it is bigger than ferguson and smaller than new york, which is almost a worst possible thing because it can get out of control and not enough to cushion it like a new york with the eric garner thing. mark: you can be outraged in baltimore, but let's pull together. john: how serious are the clinton foundation's conflict of interest infractions? certified wise man dick lugar will tell us. a behind the behind the scenes documentary on the

correspondents' dinner. ♪

mark: our guest tonight is president of the lugar center. our older viewers will know him as richard nixon's favorite mayor, our younger viewers as a former senator from indiana for a time, dig lugar thanks -- dick lugar, thanks for coming in. you were one of many people coming cleaning many senators, hillary clinton with her husband leading a foundation. you had concerns about contributions to the foundation as well as president clinton's speaking fees. tell us what you want to be on guard against for the public interest. fmr. senator lugar: the first foreign relations committee john

kerry chaired was on secretary clinton's nominations. my staff, the minority staff had been negotiating with the clinton folks because i stated it seemed to me to be impossible for someone serving as secretary of state with a husband who had been president of the united states to receive gifts coming into the family foundation without there being questions raised, quite apart from any corruption that might be involved there. we made this very clear at the hearing and questions then. the floor statement i made at the time when she was confirm. i must add that i said that i was going to support her, in fact i used the term it you needed to be a big leaguer in order to be secretary of state and i think she was a big leaguer. the problem then in the problem still is now, in my judgment because gifts have continued to come into the clinton foundation and they have done great work.

a lot of international humanitarian work. but the fact is my formula for her was so long as you serve as secretary of state, no foreign gifts should come into the foundation. that alleviates the problem. if you don't want to go that route, we have a set of stipulated ideas as to how you might mitigate disaster. mark: so senator, based on what has been disclosed about what the foundation did, what is your level of concern or outrage about what the clinton foundation and secretary clinton did? fmr. senator lugar: i don't necessarily have a sense of outrage. i am not attempting to judge gift by gift. i would simply say that the situation is one that is simply made. internationally, quite apart from people in this country. that is, there will be persons who are part -- are private

individuals apart from governments who believe they will curry favor with the united states of america, and they may be special concessions, through gifts to the foundation. this really has to be taken off the table. i think at this point the clintons are embarrassed by the situation and they are saying mistakes were made in some sort of tax form revision may need to be made, but it is a more fundamental one. it ought to be faced now, and it ought to be faced when someone needs to pledge that there are simply no gifts if a person serves as president or secretary of state. john: one of the things you said at the time is that willie will be up to bill and hillary clinton. they are the only ones who can do this the right way and maintain a sense of trust that there are no conflicts of interest. mark just asked you about the totality of things.

you look at the totality of things that they did a good job or do you think they failed? fmr. senator lugar: i think they did a reasonable job in the sense that you look at it as a batting average. how many times there might have been confusion or speculation on the part of foreign powers quite apart from any money taken by the clintons, privately or publicly. that will be for many people to judge and my guess is, sadly that we are in for quite a period of weeks or months of examining the situation because it is a point of vulnerability. john: does it bother you? there has been one part where the government of algeria made a donation after the earthquake in haiti. it was not disclosed to the department. does that give you concern? fmr. senator lugar: it does. the state department, even under the rules that the clintons were proposing, were supposed to know about all these things.

i think their rules are a bit loose. it will remain to be seen. the specific gift you suggested gives me pause. john: there was a story in "the new york times" last week about a deal with uranium, russia, a canadian company. complicated story. the clinton campaign has pushed back on it. on the base of what you know about that story, i will ask you the same question. does that story concern you with its specifics? fmr. senator lugar: yes, it does. the people that were involved in the transaction concern me. i'm not certain how you can rationalize in good faith and with full confidence the american people that there would be a deal involving russians and energy that would not raise concerns. as a private citizen, former president clinton or his wife, hillary clinton, are free to make investments. people may question whether they ought to be doing this or that

but this is not a question of privacy or making investments. -- private citizens making investments. this is a public official secretary of state of the united states of america at a time in which confidence in the integrity of our system is always at stake. it is simply a deal that should not have occurred. mark: i want to talk about the iran nuclear devotions. would you describe the clintons and their dealings with the foundation as secretary of state as corrupt, careless, or something else? fmr. senator lugar: i would be n't be inclined to say careless, but careless after they were warned. i cited the initial hearings for her nomination, the floor debate. these issues were raised then. they were not afterthoughts. that is why it seems to me from

the beginning they were forewarned that there were some of us who felt that ethically, it was not good judgment, quite apart from statecraft. mark: you have been encouraging the nuclear negotiations with iran. i'm wondering what your message would be to his fellow republicans who basically say no deal struck with this president with the iranian government would be a good idea? fmr. senator lugar: i would say that barack obama is president of the united states. he ought to be doing the very best he can on behalf of this country and the negotiations with iran are very important. that's too the united states, -- that's to the united states, and to iran, and to many others. i believe that you ought to pursue those. i appreciate the fact that senator bob corker has been working in a bipartisan way, the foreign relations committee voting 19-0, on legislation just the other day that will make it

possible for the senate to review what occurs. if something does occur by june 30, and to move ahead. i would save right now that -- say right now that there are amendments that are being suggested, such as iranians ought to recognize israel as a part of this deal, for example or that it ought to be a formal treaty, as a matter of fact. 2/3 majority as opposed to the majority that is inclined to be the case now. other amendments of that variety. the battle still goes on in this country quite apart from the negotiations in iran. those will be difficult enough. it will be not semi-miraculous but remarkable if by june 30 the two parties come to a conclusion that is clear that the iranian nuclear program will be set back. the centrifuges will be

declining in number, there will be access by international atomic -- or the energy association, or anyone else. mark: we wish you could talk more about the deal, but we appreciate you coming in. fmr. senator lugar: thank you very much. i appreciate it. mark: the white house correspondents dinner like you have never seen before after the break. ♪

john: we went to the white house correspondents' that are, that infamous tornado of celebrities, journalist, and cocktails that make washington a lovable or detestable place. we asked griffin hammond to put

together a short film. richard: on saturday night, our red carpet coverage featured a diverse cast of characters. >> this is the fab four. >> the one, the only, martha stewart at the end of the table. richard: it made for crazy moments. >> sing it. >> i can't remember the words. >> obviously in a cage match superman wipes his own ass with batman. richard: what you didn't see is how crazy it was to cover this event and how much this transforms for washington, d.c.'s is not. the 35,000 square-foot international ballroom isn't ready yet. just down the hall from the dinner at the side of bloomberg's cocktail party, the set pieces are arriving a day in advance. bloomberg tv spends the day building a set for saturday's live broadcast. as c-span tests their mics and camera positions, you can start

to envision president obama's seventh trip to the podium. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. richard: even empty, this is an intimidating room to stand in front of. just imagine when 3000 people get here. they are going to funnel most of these attendees through this entryway. once the red carpet is ready saturday afternoon, mark takes his position. john is a floor below in the bloomberg cocktail party. the hotel is swarming with police and secret service. here the helicopter overhead? -- hear the helicopter overhead? when i get to the red carpet, i try to stay out of the way. when i replay the footage from our robotic camera overlooking

the red carpet, i can see how creepy i look. i present to you my first-person account of this madness. john: we had an incredible time. our thanks to walt clive fraser, our fashion correspondent at the white house. we look forward to it again. we have something new featuring john cleese. ♪

john: the powers that be asked us if we wanted to interview john cleese, and we said "ni!" mark: "ni!" john: that is later this week. mark: up next, it is "taking

stock," and we say to you sayonara. ♪ just because i'm away from my desk doesn't mean i'm not working. comcast business understands that. their wifi isn't just fast near the router. it's fast in the break room. fast in the conference room. fast in tom's office. fast in other tom's office. fast in the foyer [pronounced foy-yer] or is it foyer [pronounced foy-yay]? fast in the hallway. i feel like i've been here before. switch now and get the fastest wifi everywhere. comcast business. built for business.

pimm: this is "taking stock." i am pimm foxx. apple posted earnings and reported a 33% jump in profit the last quarter. ipho