john: i'm john heilemann. mark: i'm mark halperin, and with all due respect to the newest mcdonald's employee robert gibbs, have it your way. on our dvr tonight, csi-chicago, and from germany with love, but first, miami vice. the new york times has showed marco rubio deep down into the barrel. the $80,000 boat paid for with the republican party account and of course, the traffic violations reported by the times a few days ago.

john, the times is on it. is this legit and is it politically dangerous? john: yes and yes, mark, would be my answer. i think it is legitimate in the sense that you have a republican, who like many republicans, has campaigned against profligacy and the way that the government wastes money. you have to look at his finances, looking at how he has spent and misspent his money managed his money. totally legitimate. and in this case, there are so many lines in that paragraph that are open to additional reporting, additional digging. there's a lot of danger here, i think, for marco rubio. mark: people should not treat this like it's some sort of indictment. it's totally legitimate to look at a candidate's finances particularly someone like marco rubio who has lived an unorthodox life. i do think as you said there is

more to come. people who covered him in florida know that this did not break new ground, but they have more details, and there are more to come, and there are requests for public documents, and some things that are not adding up our being looked at more. i think people on rubio's side who are trying to say this is an illegitimate story or does not matter to be president -- first of all, the reality is it's going to be looked at. second, these are perfectly legitimate questions. john: first of all we will talk , about the defense rubio's campaign is putting forward any moment. but i've got to say, you think about the things that a lot of voters will wonder about -- the fact that rubio -- there are a couple of instances in this story. these are things that have come up before, but i think voters will wonder about them. the houses he bought with no money down. how he got those mortgages. why those mortgages came to him. there are questions. this story raises more questions than it answers. mark: it answers one question. a guy who talks about paying

back student loans bought a -- how a guy who talks about paying back student loans bought a really expensive boat. john: no question. retaliating against the times, is of course republican party tactics 101. the communications director said, first the new york times attacks marco over traffic tickets and now they think he does not have enough money. of course, if he was worth what millions, -- if he was worth millions, the times whatever attacked him for being rich. mark, here is my question. how effective is this traditional republican, in this case marco rubio-centric tactics of attacking the new york times? mark: marco rubio, it has often been said, has lived a lucky life. he was extraordinarily lucky that the times when with their story with the traffic violations over the weekend, because it has created this environment where people who want to rally for marco rubio, can do that on social media. if this story had come out about

his personal finances without the antacid and -- antecedent of the traffic story, i think some republicans would have looked at the times report and said, whoa, this guy has questions about him. do we want to make him the nominee? instead it is just pile on the times, which has happened before. john: i recall 2008, a campaign we are both pretty familiar with. the times misplayed its hands on two stories, one regarding the clintons' personal lives and their marriage and john mccain 's personal life. in both cases, by screwing up the way they did those stories they allowed those campaigns to rally their supporters against the new york times and effectively nullify and the silence the times. this is not the first time that it seems to be a matter of tactics. the times has done itself a world of damage. this should have been the first shot fired, not the previous story, which seems trivial. mark: the times has a huge place.

their stories get treated more seriously than anybody else's. they did good work on this story. but for republicans and on the democratic side for the clintons, they are a publication that can be beat up. it will be interesting to see if they back off rubio or if they keep their investigation going. i suspect it will be the latter. holy schnitzel, batman. jeb bush was trying to look like president bush, but not that president bush. here is what jeb said in berlin today about peaceful resolutions -- peace coalitions and democracy. jeb bush: it will take a serious and united effort of the nations in our alliance. if events can be turned in the direction of peace, ladies and gentlemen, then who else but us, the great democracies of the west, will do the turning? mark: john, we will look more at jeb's speech later, but did

jeb make a convincing case he can perform on the world stage? john: there is a difference between style and substance. the speech was not well delivered. there has been a problem with jeb bush doing prepared speeches -- he's not that good and was not that good today. in terms of substance, he came of relatively moderate. he did not somewhat a neocon. he did not sound like a wild interventionist. he is reassuring on the substance, but on style, he left a lot to be desired. mark: he is a guy that can go in and give a substantive speech. the performance level is not way -- is not what it should be. the bigger speech is monday when he announces. but as we talked about earlier on the show, he is not trying to score points so much as punch the tickets to say, i've done this speech, i'm a serious person leading up to his announcement. john: right, there's literally

nothing in that speech anyone was looking for a way to bash him for being too much like his brother. there is not a single sentence and there. he is tough, he's muscular, he republican, for sure. no one is going to confuse him with barack obama. at the same time, that was a very mainstream republican speech, much more in the vein of his father's foreign policy than his brother's foreign policy. cautious, and probably works to his advantage if he is looking to avoid trouble on this trip. mark: it's funny, for bush's exploration, you have the worst week he had, over foreign policy, the iraqi war. i think in general his best card has been the fact that he looks more like a president, acts more like a president than anyone else in the field and in the end that will be laid to his advantage if he does win the nomination. john: now it's time for what gilligan's island used to refer to as "the rest." today, that's chris christie and rick perry. both have been spending a

ton of time in the early states. governor perry in new hampshire and governor christie almost exclusively in the granite state. he says he has the blessing of his family if he wants to run. much of the political class has already written these guys off today, but -- off for dead, but is either chris christie or rick perry showing signs of life? mark: there's no doubt if you ask if they could be a nominee they will laugh and shake their head. both those guys are working superhard. they both have something to prove. in rick perry's case, if certainly the last time he can run. if none of the top candidates becomes a formidable front runner, those two guys, what they have in common, they are great retail politicians. i think voters are taken to them more than the elites are. john: it's a little unfair that that is true they found the

polling we know about. there is no sign that either one has gotten hot with voters. but they both suffer from the same problem. rick perry became a punchline in 2012. chris christie became a punchline over bridgegate. amazingly, i think perry is more probable at least in the sense that he is good with the republican base. christie has to fight the headwinds of the coming -- becoming a punchline, about economy in new jersey, and he is out of line with republicans in those early states. mark: the one thing i see these guys do in great amounts is organize. it will be interesting to see if either gets in there and organizes. where was rick santorum in the you mention the polling -- where was rick santorum in the polling this time years ago -- four years ago? both of these guys are laying the groundwork. i think they are both the kind of guys that can get hot at the end of the factor in this race. john: this is a much tougher

field than 2012. a much tougher field. mark: up next, we take you inside the chicago courtroom where dennis hastert was arraigned. ♪

♪ mark: the big political news here in chicago today was the arraignment of former house speaker dennis hastert on two felony counts of cash withdrawals and lying to federal investigators. this was the scene there today. in many ways, a typical court appearance. cameras swarming around. a pretty short proceeding, a not guilty plea from the defendant. there was a lot of human drama inside the courtroom because of the identity around the defendant and the allegations around the charges. our guest tonight chicago sun-times. she and i both were in the courtroom when hastert was arraigned.

thanks for coming in to talk about this. first of all, describe the scene outside the courtroom compared to when blagovich was on trial. guest: very similar. more intense, because we have not seen pastor to et al. since these charges came to light. -- haster att at all since these charges came to light. he was trying to get out of his car. the lawyers kept saying, oh, my god, oh, my god. mark: there was a lot of tension, i felt, but also solid because of the nature of the allegations and the charges. in the courtroom, hastert came in and sat there for an hour or more for the preceding started. talk about how he looked. guest: he looked pretty uncomfortable. he looked like he could not wait to get out of there. some people were saying he looked fidgety.

we thought that he just looked -- at one point, i think he had his hands and he was looking down, kind of like a stunned man. like, why am i here, how can i get out of here? mark: a very solemn look on his face. he mostly stared straight ahead. at one point one of his lawyers said something and the two of them smiled and laughed, and hastert did not break that very stern look on his face. so he pled not guilty -- but he did not speak. his lawyer did. talk about the proceedings and what struck you as far as what actually went on besides the not guilty plea? guest: it was predictable, pretty typical at this stage of the case. probably what was most striking was the judge, his family won't -- his family is very well known in chicago. his brother is the head of the republicans in the illinois house. they are well-known politically.

that was probably the most compelling part of the hearing. mark: the judge for a long time explained his connections to the hastert family. hastert's son worked at his law firm. the judge himself has given political donations to hastert. he said, basically i am going to recuse myself unless both sides say i shouldn't. why doesn't he just recuse himself? for a normal person, a judge should not be someone giving donations to the defendant? guest: that was when he was a private citizen. one thing that was really compelling was the judge said, i did contact your staff when you were a congressman and asked to be a judge and did not hear anything back -- mark: even that you could say, the guy wanted to be a federal judge badly that now he is a federal judge, which is kind of funny. he stood ramrod straight, and hands clasped in front of them listening to the judge following the proceedings. i was struck by the fact that

is -- that this is a guy who was speaker of the house, in an international figure. i was struck by how timid he seemed. his shuffle. the way he held himself similarly as speaker, but a timid guy in the proceedings. guest: you could barely hear him. all he said was yes, sir, yes, sir. i agree, that was very striking. again, these allegations are incredible and they are he spent an incredible amount of money trying to hide this secret. this thing is out so you can imagine all eyes are on him. mark: in the legal proceedings they talked about the one thing -- he is free on bond. they said the guns that his sons keep in the house had to get off the property. otherwise, what do we know about the next discovery or possible plea deal or anything like that?

guest: we don't have a hands on the plea deal, they -- we don't have a hint on the plea deal. that was my the things i was looking for. when these discussions are farther along, they might make reference to it in court -- mark: do you think that the prosecutor is reluctant? it seems like an obvious case for a plea deal? guest: it does. usually if they can avoid trial, they will. it's a sure thing. the next thing, is the deadline the judge sets -- getting back to that -- public circuit is seen as a ridley -- friendly attorney in general to defendants. it will be an interesting thing to say here, because hastert might not want to roll the dice. mark: and the way the judge set this up, either side can basically say we want you off the case and he will be off the case. there's going to be more

too, on the question of how hastert lived his life. guest: certainly. and there have been reports of two different individuals who are alleging they are the victims of hastert. whether there is more, we will have to wait and see. mark: thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ john: jeb bush is days away from announcing his run for president. his preamble is looking like a world leader. he gave a speech in berlin, and here to break it down with me is albert hunt junior, citizen of the world. let's get to jeb bush talking about the importance of alliances in the world. jeb bush: 70 years after the cold war, that alliance is as

relevant today as the day it was founded. who will say otherwise? as we watch the fate of ukraine slowly unfold in tragedy, and who wishes we had less military strength and credibility at a time when iran stands on the threshold of becoming a nuclear arms state and win it continues to support terrorism in the middle east? who else but us will build the global effort to thwart a terrorist army that now holds large parts of iraq in syria? john: seven years ago barack obama went to berlin not quite -- obama went to berlin talking about the importance of alliances. here is jeb bush talking about them. what you think about the tone and the substance coming from a republican at this point in time? al: it's interesting. there have been great speeches by americans in berlin.

jfk, ronald reagan, barack obama. this will not join that list. as mark said, he didn't do harm. but it's interesting when you compare it to the obama speech seven years ago, that's exactly what obama talked about, but obama did it in the context of criticizing george w. bush's administration for their unilateralism. i think jeb bush my instinct will be much more all-time lateral. -- multilateral. john: you think so? you heard his first foreign-policy speech, he sounded a lot like george w. bush. and neocon through and through. al: i am not sure that george w. bush was a neocon. i think that cheney dragged him there. there are no policy differentiations -- domestic or foreign -- between jeb and his

brother, but it do think it's interesting. john: let's go to the next piece of video. here is jeb bush talking about a very important issue for germany, and at this moment, russia. jeb bush: there should be a clear understanding of first of all, our support for the russian people, that we need to make it clear that while mr. putin is a ruthless pragmatist, he will push until someone pushes back that we should never do it in a way that pushes russia away for a generation of time. that ultimately russia needs to be a european nation and that everything we do ought to be to isolate its corrupt leadership from its people. we are beginning to realize the reset button did not turn out so hot. john: a little sting in the tail, but by and large that is quite a statement. al: who can argue with the reset

button being off the track? that's absolutely right. it was much more measured. i think it was probably more realistic. we need russia for a lot of things. we need them for iran, for iraq, for syria. there was less saber rattling then i think some of the republican right would like to hear. john: do you think that will come back -- obviously like a -- obviously it's not a gotcha thing, but do you think his republican rivals and especially voters will look at him and say, boy, he is kind of a softy? al: i think it will be thrown back at him by rivals. i do not think it will be a determinative issue. if russia does something bad, perhaps. john: let's listen to our last clip here, jeb bush talking about his dad. jeb bush: you will understand if i note as a point of personal pride that my dad, the greatest man i've ever met, the greatest man alive in my humble opinion -- [applause]

jeb bush: when he was president worked very closely with chancellor kohl as east and west came together. that unification, as you all know, was not inevitable. many doubted it. many in this country doubted it in the united states as well, whether it should even be attempted. but chancellor kohl was adamant and my father was deeply supportive. the work was done and because of that germany is whole and free. john: interesting, the praise for his father, not in the prepared text. he ad-libbed that. what you think the motivation was to talk about his dad that way? al: to a dinner five foreign-policy with bush 41. if you look at that record managing the end of the cold war -- an absolute success. germany reunification, success. as opposed to bush 43 were you cannot find any foreign-policy success. you guys know more about politics. but let me tell you something

about math. if you could get from 41 to 44 without going through 43, jeb bush would be a lot better shape. john: i can't do better than that. that's a fantastic point. i love it when our -- al comes here and does math. coming up next the best headline of all time. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ john: millions of years from now, after we humans inevitably destroy each other, aliens will visit earth and dig through the artifacts we left behind, and there is no doubt that even they will be impressed from this. this headline from the new york post. "headless body in topless bar." vincent musetto passed away. he may be the only headline writer whose name makes it into a story. headless leaves us speechless. mark: instant classic. remember, we are on twice a day

at 5:00 and at 8:00. until tomorrow, for john in d.c., me in chicago, see you soon. sayonara.

brad ma takes manhattan. : i'm brad stone in for emily chain -- chang and this is bloomberg west. coming up, leaders of streaming business sound off on apple's new music platform. i will ask pandora and rhapsody how they went on competing with tim cook. plus, investors are betting on plans for a stock split at netflix's shareh