mark: i'm mark halperin. john: i'm john heilemann. with all due respect to "the new york times," this is a christie's ally and this is a kirstie alley. gov. christie: with all due respect. john: happy national chocolate park day. indictments, indictments and more at stake. first, chris christie. his old pal pled guilty to two conspiracy counts of bridge gate while his lawyer said evidence exists implicating the governor in the scandal. paul fishman did not lay a finger on the big man himself. in a press conference this

afternoon, he said this -- paul fishman: based on the evidence available to us today we will not bring further charges. john: after today, with respect to christie's 2016 ambitions, is he on shaky ground or firmer ground? mark: shaky ground. if you take today's plea deal and the fact the prosecutor showed these facts, christie will not be indicted, he is on firmer ground. it is hard for me to believe these three people were the only people involved. mark: you saw his people trumpeting the fact. we are exactly where we were the day he gave that press conference a year ago where he said no connection, no connection. nothing has changed. all of that is true. he is a guy with very little

credibility but there is something about the fact that he keeps saying he has something and he is willing to say the christie people should notice that. mark: there is tension. one of the people indicted today says he's not telling the truth. fishman is a very cautious prosecutor who indicted the guy. there is ambiguity. from a political point of view governor christie will continue to travel. this is a good day for him. it is not just about bridgegate anymore. governor christie cannot totally breathe easy but this is a good day for him politically. john: there are a lot of things may have looked at. they have looked at other things so that is still out there. i hate to use the cliche. the thing we don't understand is why fishman said what he said. mark: he said it for a reason.

he maybe felt an obligation for christie to say the governor is telling the truth. that is the most sensible interpretation to me. it is a little weird. from a start to finish this week, the boldest headlines came out of baltimore. maryland's attorney general marilyn mosby announced the indictment of six officers involved in the death of freddie gray. here is how the very impressive mosby framed these criminal charges. marilyn mosby: to the people of baltimore and demonstrators across america, i heard your call for no justice, no peace. your peace is sincerely needed as i worked to deliver justice on behalf of this young man. to the youth of this city, i will seek justice on your behalf. this is a moment, this is your

moment. let's ensure we have peaceful and productive rallies that will develop structural and systemic changes for generations to come. you are at the forefront of this cause. as young people, our time is now. mark: in a week where there was faltering political performances, mosby was incredible today, making a huge impact personally and as a leader. are these indictments enough to calm baltimore down? john: she is a very impressive young woman. making her debut on the national stage. a star is born. more importantly, she is giving voice for all the people who have been part of the unrest in baltimore. have been frustrated and upset.

they heard a woman that speaks for them. she campaigned on this issue she said she would be tough on police. she comes from a police family. she made good on her word. everyone in baltimore will still say this is not enough. we still need to see convictions for us to be satisfied, but this is a start of letting some of the steam out of the balloon. mark: she did a good job not just in her poise and indictments, but the words she chose to deal with the community -- incredible. she has an extraordinary future. john: agreed. if you missed all the news on hillary clinton and her family's foundation, allow me to sum it up for you. politico says tailspin. india influenced. the boston globe says insufficient donor disclosure. the foundation says the $68 million to help others. hillary says i have a really good speech on wednesday. mark, was this week a good week or a bad week in terms of hillary clinton's chance of ending up as president?

mark: this is the hardest question i have ever been asked. john: it is not. i asked you what the square root of 81 was. mark: she got great coverage for her speech. one of the great speeches for. the bad thing that happened -- it was burned with elites that the clinton cash scandal will go on and on from the point of view of not just republicans and the media, but a lot of democrats. on balance, a bad week but you could argue. john: i applaud her for the speech. that was a good speech. great. this story in "the boston globe" about the clinton -- the health-care initiative which is -- for four years, did not disclose any foreign donors or amounts. it is the most egregious flaunting of the agreement they made with the obama administration. i think it is really quite ridiculous and burning a knot. we are seeing poll after poll

that shows american voters across the spectrum, especially independents, see her as untrustworthy which is a huge problem. mark: there is a new poll today that suggests people are not excited about her candidacy. we talked about this yesterday -- bernie sanders' announcement was strong. john: he raised a bunch of money in one day. mark: iowa and new hampshire are willing to listen to new voices, particularly iowa because people want to hear other voices. they don't just want a coronation. i thought on the positive side for her -- going after these law enforcement issues. people are going to obsess if she is repudiating obama or bill clinton. one of the things that made this speech strong, she believed everything she said. it was from the heart. big thing for her. john: i will say it again -- no doubt we have clamored for her

to do something of substance and she did it well. her performance was great, but i have to say there is -- currently, there is no objective metric that is getting better for her right now. the polling is on a downward trend. as you said, we know from all the facts we have, people want competition in this race. mark: let's move on. it has been a wild week in news. the coming days to get wilder. check out our calendar for what is coming up. tomorrow in south carolina republican party of south carolina will hold a lot of republicans -- jeb bush, ted cruz, lindsey graham, rick santorum speaking to activists. the same day in louisville, the kentucky derby and then in vegas, mayweather versus pacquiao. sunday is the day to nurse your hangover because the workweek starts with two big additional campaign announcements for president.

carly fiorina and ben carson. then tuesday, mike huckabee joins the race during hope arkansas. hillary clinton is going to las vegas as well. across the pond, john cleese and others will be watching as we well the u.k. election. plenty to watch. which one of it will get the bulk of your attention? john: if the kentucky derby and the prizefight were in the same place, i would watch that. i will pay most attention to mike huckabee. he has been the missing person. great skill and made it clear he will run for several months and has been nowhere to be seen. this is a chance for him to be a player in this race or not. i want to see what he does. mark: that is the event i am watching, too. if you look back at 2008, he did not emphasize his arkansas

record enough and he got hammered as being too liberal. whether he raised taxes too much. he had a democratic legislature. today his campaign put out a video which we will talk about in which he really emphasizes the arkansas record and the fact he chooses to do the announcement in arkansas -- you saw rand paul do an announcement. at some point, if huckabee can be a first-tier candidate, he has to make the case on his record and tuesday will be a big day. john: now to the most important news -- morrissey. that guy who used to be the lead singer. he is coming to madison square garden. the new york post reports the arena is caving to the singers demanded that no meat be served

at his performance. the principal question -- should artists be allowed to dictate what fans are allowed to eat or not? these paid good money. could artists tell them you cannot eat that? mark: this is the second hardest question i have ever been asked. of course, the fans should eat what they want to eat and of course, the garden should not bend to this. on the other hand -- john: if you go to the show, you will have a brisket in your pocket. mark: i think it is fantastic for the artists to reach out to his fans and say this is what i believe in. you know what, if it does not sell out, he has to deal with the implications. john: i think it is screwy. i would accept it if it was a place i would be compelled to eat barbecue.

coming up, i go into larry flynt's office. we will be right back. ♪

john: i sat down with somebody you did not expect to make news about the 2016 election -- larry flynt. the first amendment crusader the self-described smut peddler who cares and a big fan of hillary clinton as it turns out. thank you for welcoming us here into your office in los angeles. i know you wanted us to come see you because you have something in your mind. i want to give you the floor. larry flynt: i'm endorsing hillary clinton for president. john: what is it about her? why do you endorse her?

larry: i take a look at the supreme court and realize congress will not do their job. they want to make rules that everybody else lives by. we have a right meaning court for half a century. if hillary is president, she will have an opportunity to appoint, two maybe three justices to the court. we could shift the balance. john: there are a lot of people that regard hillary clinton as a feminist icon. she could be the first female president. she has a lot of liberal female supporters who i imagine when they hear your endorsement of her, they will think -- given the way you have made your money.

larry: i'm sure hillary does not approve of everything i do. if i had a choice between anything i have seen in the republican field or hillary, i will vote for her. john: do you think of yourself as a feminist? larry: oh, yeah. people think i am the misogynist of the century. i can't change their way of thinking. i never had a model come into my office and say she was exploited. john: the you think sexism is one of the biggest obstacles hillary clinton will have to overcome to become president? larry: i don't think it plays at all. other than that, i don't think

it will bother anybody. john: one of the things a lot of people look forward to in the potential of hillary clinton as president, bill clinton being in the white house. i know you have said bill clinton has told you you are his hero. tell us that story. larry: it was during the trial of his impeachment. it was not looking very good for the president at the time. that seemed to make everybody stop and say hey, what are we doing here? john: you ran into him in las vegas at one point and he came up to you -- larry: he said i was his hero. john: you mentioned the bob livingston thing. you did this in the past with him and you have tried to do it

by making ads to have somebody come forward to talk about their sexual scandals. you have tried to hire investigators. i'm curious in 2016 if you plan to be involved in the campaign in that way -- looking into the lives of republicans. larry: no. 30 years ago, you could take a politician down with just a sexual affair. you cannot do that anymore. a politician from louisiana -- he got reelected to the senate and ran for governor of new orleans. there must be some kind of complicity and corruption in order to really be able to --

john: presumably, you think that is not the worst thing in the world, right? that had been so much controversy around sexual indiscretion. larry: there is hypocrisy around my company. i don't think there should be hypocrisy in politics. that is the reason why -- you got two mistresses while married. you'd think he's ward cleaver. he's not. john: the famous father on "leave it to beaver." you tried to do this with romney in 2012 as well.

larry: nothing sexual. just tax returns. john: will you do that kind of thing? will you put any resources into the notion of trying to investigate any of the republican nominees? larry: if we find a lead and think there is something to it we will definitely look into it. john: there is some chance you could be like a pro-hillary super pac? larry: hillary does not need any help from me. john: you think about rand paul, ted cruz, jeb bush, scott walker, mike huckabee -- that range of people. which of those -- are there any of those you would find remotely close to acceptable as potential president? larry: i think if you are a climate denier, that disqualifies you to be president.

rubio, who seem to have everything going for, all the right talking points. it troubles me somebody like him. i don't think -- if bush shoves enough money into this thing, i think he could get the nomination. i don't think in his wildest dreams he could beat hillary. he could never get away from his brother. as much as he would like to. they are too many questions to be answered and too many questions nobody has the answer for. this is really very unfair to bush, but my grandfather used to have a saying -- the apple does not fall very far from the tree. john: i know i asked you about your past endeavors to snoop around or trying to find

information on these republicans. if you think about that field, who strikes you as being the most likely to have skeletons in their closet? larry: mike huckabee. john: really? larry: the most adamant one. john: i spent more time with larry flynt and his amazing office. we will show you more of our conversation soon. up next, governor huckabee kicks off his campaign in a way that reminds us of a certain show on hbo. our debut of "true candidates" is next. ♪

mark: former arkansas governor mike huckabee plans to announce his presidential bid on tuesday. today he put out a political preview. it is pretty standard stuff. giving speeches, old footage of him. then things get a little weird. you see here a shot of the clinton, some hammering, black and white. a woman looking off into the distance. it is a little weird and got us to thinking the elements in this video might be more appropriate somewhere else. may be in a different kind of teaser video. ♪ >> you wonder ever if you are a bad man? governor huckabee: i will lead with moral clarity in a dangerous world. there is a difference between right and wrong, between good and evil. i will keep all the options on the table in order to defeat the evil forces. >> this is a world where nothing is solved. that are greater ideas at work.

>> you ever seen something like this? >> no, sir. governor huckabee: power needs to be local and limited. >> it is a really great story. governor huckabee: any drunken redneck can walk into a bar and fight. a leader only starts a fight he is prepared to finish. >> we keep the other bad man from the door. mark: after the break, we will whet our appetites for the morrissey concert. ♪

john: morrissey fans -- if you need some meat for the concert at msg, just drop on by because we have a surplus. how is it? you think meat is murder? mark: it is delicious.

fiorina presidential announcements. up next, "taking stock." sayonara. ♪