al: i' al huntm. mark: i'm mark halperin. >> mr. turnbull goes to washington. >> mr. trump goes to washington. >> mr. trump goes to washington. mr. trump, as you mentioned, goes to washington. mark: greetings from the bloomberg washington bureau, down the road from where both parties are getting ready for their annual conference of the e powerful pro-israel

lobbying group. donald trump's speech will be by far the one to get the most attention. later in the program, we will show you my conversation with a pair of rabbis who are concerned with his policies and frederick. the first, -- but first, check out the ovation at hillary clinton got this morning when she spoke to apac and called on mr. trump for suggesting he wouldn't take sides in the israeli-palestinian conflict. >> yes, we need steady hands, not president who says he is neutral on monday, pro israel on tuesday, and who knows what on wednesday, because everything is negotiable. well, my friend, israel's security is nonnegotiable. al, we will listen to more of her later. what market can she put down for donald trump?

al: i'm going to get to the pro-israeli side of you know matter what i do. they could have been a stronger speech she gave, and it was clearly directed at him. later, at the end, she said "if you see bigotry, oppose it. if you see violence, condemn it. if you see a bully, stand up to it." mark: president obama has troubled relations with apac. armorhard to imagine his secretary of state having such a home-court advantage, but she was. she has made it difficult for him to come with a better reception. can he do well enough tonight to at least even things out? al: i think he can at best diminishes disadvantage. what kind of marker has she set for trump, for herself? she tried to cleanse the record

today, and whatever residual resentment there was, which was minimal to begin with. mark: for whatever reason, and much to the frustration of barack obama, the clintons can take the same position she does, but american jews trust her and her husband more than they trust barack obama. do.they and we ought to note that this is the conservative side of jewish americans. strong for hers and has problems with him, that does spell trouble. mark: but there are plenty of democrats -- it's a very big crowd. she was a pro. she gave a very well-organized, classical speech. a lot of pressure on him tonight. we will talk more about that. today at the washington, d.c. post office, which is supposed to become a trump hotel, he held a press conference. it was an extraordinary event. i was there, along with other reporters.

he took a lot of questions. but one that got a lot of attention was the possibility that house speaker paul ryan might be working behind the scenes, despite what he says publicly, to four donald trump. he responded by saying that republican leaders are reaching out to him left and right. >> he called me last week; he couldn't have been nicer. he was very -- could not have been nicer. i have many millions of people behind me. we want to bring competence back to the country. we want to bring sanity back to this country. we want to do a lot of great things. to be honest, the republicans should be embracing -- look. there's something happening with our country that has never happened to the extent of has happened now. millions of additional people are going out and voting in primaries, an in the democrats cased, they are down 35%. nobody cares about hillary and burniernie.

we are up 72% and it looks like even much more than that. that's because of me. can can play games, and i only take him at face value -- i understand implicitly, i understand a lot of things. but he called me last week and he cannot have been nicer. i spoke with mitch mcconnell, he could not have been nicer. if people want to be smart, they should embrace this movement. if they don't want to embrace this movement, they should do what they are doing now, and the republicans will go down in a massive loss. mark: so al, trump repeated what he said, that he is getting calls from republicans in congress who attack in publicly but say privately that i will be for you. presso said in ithat conference that he met with newt gingrich and current members of congress in one of the first such meetings we know about. how is he doing in terms of reaching accommodation with

official republicans? al: so-so. i expect newt gingrich to be with him. paul ryan, privately, does harbored tremendous reservation. he's a disciple. --ere is no one who is more the problem trump has is the people who worry about the politics, the losin of statesg. people worry about his positions. there are a number of others who say is he f to be presidenti ? mark: i understand the balance between saying i'm an outsider. but what is in it for him to try andwin members -- al: i think he has to do it on his terms, which he is trying to do. hecan't say i have sold out, can't give a wink and a nod. his interest to say

that i can come close to putting this party together. i don't think you can. mark: i don't think it will help them at the convention. delegates;s are on and if he has official washington on his side, i think it is more likely he can get the last 50 or 75 80's. al: he won't have official washington, but some. they have not been in any way intimidated. i think he is as strong as ever. mark: although you do see some criticism for saying, we know what he thinks privately, why is into being more outspoken? al: well, he's the speaker of the house. he's the chairman of the convention. ryan's in a difficult position. mark: yeah. even some conservatives have been critical of him. in twoaid, donald trump dozen republicans converged for a 90 minute meeting in town. among those reportedly in attendance, senator jeff sessions and chris collins and tom reed, who both endorsed him,

as well as jim demint. al, he has gotten some endorsements. as trump said, others are considering endorsing him. what risks does a current member take if they endorsed donald trump? al: for number of them, a big risk. and a big risk if they don't. it can be a lose lose. charlie cook, as good at political wise men as there is, moved 10 house races today toward the democratic side. many were held by democrats anyway, but people are saying that the house can be in play. barbara comstock out here in suburban maryland is petrified of running on a ticket with donald trump. there are other people who will really pay a price. mark: it is surprising that you have people like that -- chris christie, rick scott, but so few others.

if trump had the poll numbers he had, he would get a lot of endorsement. al: he won the massachusetts primary and won it convincingly. a couple months later, the governor came out against him . that is not what you normally see. mark: but that is massachusetts. just -- i wonder what the tipping point will be. when will members of congress think it is worth endorsing him? are they holding back on politics, on principle? he has a lot of people who you would have thought would endorse him. al: they want to see -- will there be a conservative candidate? how do they play that? can they duck and bob and weave and do the muhammad ali? this is something that hasn't -- d ted cruz and john

kasich aren't picking up many endorsements either. when we come back, ted cruz has a big election in utah and arizona. we will talk about his chances, up next. ♪

mark: out in the wild, wild west, two states are holding their presidential contest on the republican side, leading up to the utah caucuses. trumppoll shows donald not in first, not the second, but in the unaccustomed place of third. ted cruz, who picked up the endorsement of the governor, is oll. in that pull, abov

50%, winse gets over all the delegates. he also invested time and money in arizona. it is close, but generally considered most trump country. but al, the cruz folks think there is the possibility of stealing that stayed away from him. how good are his chances of winning, and if he does, how big a deal is it? al: they would be a big deal. -- it would be a big deal. those who voted on primary day showing momentum. -- this problem in utah is where john kasich becomes relevant. if you get more than 50%, you take all the delegates. if kasich ends up with 33, that could deny cruz. he'd like to have a sweet. trump has not done well in states with mormons. i wonder why. al: the former governor, mitt

romney -- i think there is a sense that this is a guy who has not been a logistic hell. both,unless cruz won them wisconsin become such a big deal. al: it does. north dakota is before that, and he does well there. if he comes close in arizona and triumphs in north dakota, that sets him up well for wisconsin. manageruz's campaign just really wants kasich out of the race. i'm not sure if that's true of the northeastern states. i think he has a pretty good argument in wisconsin. cruz could win wisconsin. al: come up with the conspiracy -- you go here, you go here, but there seems to be little evidence. mark: and although kasich is in play in arizona, he is playing hard in utah. he has the support of another member of the establishment there, mike leavitt.

there is no doubt that, if cruz has a great night tomorrow, it could change the race. it puts them in a commanding position vis-a-vis kasich. when it comes to the anti-trump arsenal, new fundraising numbers show that the outside group devoted to stopping trump's march to the nomination race at a decent $4.8 million. another group spending big raised $4 billion in the same month, four times as much as they raced in january. there are other avenues you could give to stop trump, including supporting case against cruz. -- supporting kasich and cruz. if you are a lovely person and you want to give money to stop trump, where's the best place? al: you and me, because nothing has worked so far. mark: [laughter] al: they have to have a message. you and john made this point. it ad hoc,just doing

that is one of the reason it hasn't worked, and they have to have more consistence -- mark: to me, the cruz super pac is the best place to put the money. in terms of pure political strategy, it has to be a way to stop him. the cruz super pac is pretty well-funded, and they have done some work that you could argue has had an effect. if trump will be stopped, it will be by ted cruz or john kasich or both of them. al: i agree. and then what do you focus on?? is at the business deals, the trump university?all those have been tried and nothing has worked. people are spending a lot of time trying to figure out -- they're hoping republicans will do their work for them. cruz i'm amazed that ted

-- i don't get a sense of what he thinks the silver bullet is. al: because nothing has worked so far. mark: all right. switching now to slightly overseas, in havana, president obama held meetings with the cuban president, raul castro, marking the first official talks between the two governments since the cold war. afterword, during a press conference, they met side-by-side and spoke about normalizing relations between the countries but also acknowledge conflicting views on how cuba should be run. >> the relationship between our governments will not be transformed overnight. we continue, as president castro indicated, to have some very serious differences, including on democracy and human rights. mark: president castro got pretty heated at times when he was asked about political prisoners and human rights violations in his country. president obama was pretty gracious throughout. they both had a lot of photo ops. how's this trip going so far for

america? al: just imagine if bill clinton tried to do this 20 years ago. he would have been murdered. but in know what? the times have changed.this the terrible regime . they were harassing the ladies, the dissidents before obama even got there. raul castro denied their prisoners. but now -- let's see if we can change them. i don't think it will hurt obama. mark: public opinion has flip so dramatically. you have members of congress, republicans, supportive of this. senator gutierrez is now supported. i think some of the photo opt has been rough and did not send back the best message, but for most americans, this is a vestige of the cold war. while president obama take huge hits in the conservative media, this is probably a good trip for him and for the party, which

wants to be open and forward-looking on this issue. al: i'm sure he thinks of his legacy. mark: when we come back, more of hillary clinton's speech to aipac. her best lines in jobs, after these words. ♪

mark: welcome back, here at washington, d.c., where hillary clinton spoke to aipac this morning and gave a well-received speech. let's look at that now. we will break down some of what she said. jab she tookanother

a donald trump's promised to be "a neutral guy" as president. israelie sat in hospital rooms, holding the hands of men and women whose apart and lives were torn by terrorist bombs. i have listened to doctors describe the shrapnel left in the leg, the arm, even the head. that's why i feel so strongly that america can't ever be neutral when it comes to israel's security or survival. whenn't be neutral, rockets rained down on residential neighborhoods, when civilians are stabbed in the street, when suicide bombers target the innocent.

some things aren't negotiable, doesn'tn whe understand that has no business being our president. mark: it is going to be interesting to see if trump revisits this question. at the time he said it, he didn't seem to think he was making a gaffe. he thinks it is better to say he's neutral. al: he was thinking like a dealmaker, and unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. mark, there was not a pro-israeli delegate -- she p raised her ties with netanyahu, it was only five years ago when she talked about the indignity of occupation. you didn't hear that today. i suspect some of her policy advisers worried she went too far, but as you said, it was a very effective speech. mark: the peace process is so

broken down that with the exception of settlements, there aren't many top choices to make, unless you are like trump and you want to break off into an area that is not safe. but if you want to play it safe, it is clear where you need to come down. al: if she is elected president, to go through four years without having the israeli/palestinian issue would be novel. mark: although she will benefit from following the president she would follow, because the israelis would be happy with anyone. al: and goodwill for her husband. mark: clinton continued to use the speech to convey that she understands concerns and jewish communities, both in israel and abroad. >> the united states and israel must be closer than ever, stronger than ever, and more determined than ever, to prevail against our common adversary and to advance our shared values.

>> [cheering] [applause] >> this is especially true at a time when israel faces brutal terrorist stabbings, shootings, and vehicle attacks at home. parents worry about letting their children walk down the street. families live in fear. just a few weeks ago, a young american veteran and west point graduate named taylor forse was murdered by a palestinian port.rist near the job ho these attacks must end immediately. >> [applause] and palestinian leaders need to stop inciting violence, stop celebrating terrorists as martyrs, and stop paying rewards

to their families. ofk: what this made me think him thinking of a possible trial/clinton election is on for policy she has this mastered. she could master anything. how tough is this going to be for trump? what would it take to match her on foreign policy? al: i figure will be difficult, and who knows what the world will bring us? that could change everything. but notice the way she artfully handled the radiance. she was a supporter of the arabian nuclear deal, which many people oppose. to spend most of the time denouncing the iranians. she is very clever. i think her weakness is that is just too much of interventionist and co kim trump convince people he can pull that off? mark: specificity is a character

issue. i suspect the clintons are concerned that trump is trying to make the general election personal and the clintons will just talk about policy, and try to convince the public that is what counts. rabbis who hadle their concerns about to donald trump. we will talk about that next. ♪

♪ as mentioned earlier, candidates there lining up at the aipac policy conference in

washington, with the conservative bent, and now we have two people who know the aipac audience well. earlier, i spoke with two rabbis, one from sinai temple out in los angeles and one from maryland, and our conversation took place less than a mile away from here at the historical society of washington, d.c. joiningthank you for us. my grandmother would be proud. about donald trump. >> it has been a huge topic of conversation. in part because nobody knows what the implications are of a presidency.acy or >> i think his question --

think his statement about neutrality, people are anxious to see if he elaborate and provides more detail since he has been so much about that neutral term in the debates. so what is your posture about people walking out during speeches? the am not in favor of walk-out. aipac is to honor all of the guests, but that does not mean we have to applaud and cheer and celebrate, but there is a jewish tradition of and giving him the benefit of the doubt of what policies he will lay out tonight. sympathy forhave those who walk out?

>> i understand what they intend, but i do not think the message is what they intend. i think they intend to protest the statements he has made that are objectionable, but you do not make a point by inviting them to your home and then turning your back on them. did not show up, i think i would have more sympathy, or if they decided not to invite him, i would understand that, but the purpose of aipac is whoever is in power in the united states and israel and the different communities, so i have sympathy for the intention, but i do not have much sympathy for the execution. mark: there is something we are familiar with, which is is it good for the jews? i will start with you, rabbi. is donald trump good for the jews?

there is a lot yet to be seen. with what the jewish community would like? x based on what we have seen so far, -- >> based on what we have seen so far, what we have heard about whole ethnic and religious groups in women, meeting people with broad brushes and issues.pical things that have been turned in the not dod distant past -- the not too distant past, and if he is going to stick to those tropes, i would say he is not good for the jews. if he can offer something more inclusive and more humanitarian, then i guess he could be good for the jews. if donald trump called you

and said, rabbi, i am tinkering with my views, what would he do? thing i wouldst do is say, if you called me earlier, i would tell you things not to say, but now it would be to say something substantive, not that i will make america or i want toat again, so hear a specific policy that i can understand and grapple with, and the second is i want to know what it is you intend to do about hezbollah, iran, the threats that surround israel, other than saying "we will stem, them," becausesh that begins to sound hollow, and just said, you do not disdain the value of welcoming the stranger. there was a great german philosopher that said in the

stranger is found the idea of that stranger is automatically supposed to be disdained and put outside of the circle -- you have to still talk that to about the concerns that are, in fact, central to this country about immigration and the economy and so on without making ophobicna phobic -- a xen declaration. isn't it possible that someone new good help broker peace? raskin: i think it is entirely appropriate to care about both populations and the outcome of both people.

what an american leader or president should do, but to speak about neutrality, there is a moral tinge to that. that is to say there is an equivalence that might be applied between terrorism and ands and the lawlessness the democratic, modern, liberal state of israel. that is a problem with that term, and that is what has trouble us as israel supporters. honesty and welcoming of both sides and being concerned about the outcome, but neutrality -- your sense with where hillary clinton stance with aipac, as opposed to barack obama. if she on more solid footing with aipac? wolpe: i think you put it

correctly, that she is on more solid footing. i think there is a sense that the emotional connection is much deeper with hillary clinton that it was with barack obama, that for the stateing of israel that most people feel that he did not have in his gut. -- central to an administration that was at times , so much thatipac it became a personal wi-fi than data -- personal quasi vendetta -- next, donald trump goes postal. the post office. inyou are watching us washington, d.c., you can now listen to us on the radio for

bloomberg at 99.1 fm. ♪

♪ : earlier today, just about the time president obama was holding a press conference with , donald trump was holding a conference at the old post office, a building that will soon be a trump hotel. partially done, not quite done. he also took questions on the also at the, and press conference, i got things started early in the press conference by asking about the

presumptive democratic rival. leaving the past aside for a moment and looking forward to a general election between you and secretary clinton, for voters, how would you differentiate yourself from her? think i'm very different from hillary clinton, to put it mildly. i have a different style. will do muchk she with our trade agreements, which are killing our country. i do not think he will understand. the money being drained out of -- with other countries and the amount of money we subsidize them with our military, which no one even talks about, so, you know, we have to make our country's solid, and we have to make our country, frankly, -- we have to , and we country solid have to make our country, friendly, rich.

it has been decimated over the years. we have to get the right equipment. political experience and know-how. we want to get the equipment that they really want and not the equipment they are getting because politicians have access to certain companies, and we are going to rebuild our military. mark: you talked about being inconsistent. mr. trump: she does not know anything about my policy. look at libya. look at anything you want to look at. and they have not worked. myyou look back at projections and my prognostications, they turn out to be very, very accurate. that nothould say everybody thinks he is the presumptive nominee. asking about if you are intimidated by the clintons, he made a classic trump face. -- does hehave a

seem to have a bead on this? al: no. he gave you nothing. you asked a good question, and he -- mark: as he often does. "i am going to build the strongest military ever." what is your different strategic approach? he has not answered any of that. and he talked about the advisors. i agree with the one you just said. thinking about things in my mind sigh, i think trump will try to e, i thinkind's ey trump will try to negotiate down. am theaying, "i outsider." her as the

incumbent, he just says it is the status quo. al: this is a huge vulnerability. she is an incumbent. and she has others. let's look att, another pair he was also -- let's look at another. he was also asked about the delegates and whether or not he has enough to get it on. some people say we are going to be at 1450. quite a bit higher. the worst that happens is i go back to this, which is not so bad, but i think we are doing very, very well, and i think he will qualify over that number, and if we are 30 short or -- and i think i will qualify over that number, and if we are 30 short or 50 short -- people will have to decide. this is an area where he

is being very shrewd. if he does not get there, he is fine with going back to running hotels. which i do not think i believe. the majority of the delegates wanting to deny him it -- i do not see how you can do it. or more shot,100 i do not see how he can do it. mark: if you free up a lot of people, it is possible that the number goes down and not up. al: the second ballot. his: he was talking about team, and he has hired really experienced people. he has cw operatives who do understand republican politics -- he has hired two operatives who do understand republican politics.

up next, the media and donald trump. media columnist joins us right after this. ♪

♪ in his very first -- today, our friend, jim, wrote this about the often obsessive coverage of the donald trump presidential campaign. there is his call him. we will talk about it it jim joins us from -- we will talk about it. jim joins us from miami. jim: thanks. much of this coverage

is his doing, and how much of it is the media acting on its own? jim: there was a quote that my maureen dodd -- dawd had. mark: if hillary clinton is the nominee, do we think that would be a huge advantage for him,? people -- a lot of the coverage is not positive. when we remember that the war was being discussed a lot, and it was not going well, and they were as long as we were talking about the war, we are winning. as long as we are talking about trump, he is waiting. hunt.m, al

great today. one said no more of this special treatment where you which is a much easier interview, and then i watched stephanopoulos, and he slammed the moderator. if he does it, or to the others in?g to save in -- to cave jim: maybe george decides, hey, those guys are not going to take him on the phone, and i will get a spike in ratings. phone-inu know, a interview is much easier than an in-person interview, and he does well at those. trump, it is like they cannot break in.

these sunday shows, the traditional public affairs shows, those shows were based on here is the candidate. we see them. it is not radio. that responsibility. something they have probably built over the decades. jim, obviously we have seen in past political campaigns that some candidates get better coverage. that happens. than we have seen this time? jim: i have never seen anything like it. you guys have talked about it and that your viewers have seen it, but almost $2 billion in free media coverage for donald trump compared to his next closest competitor, hillary clinton. i think that is a disadvantage for ms. clinton. way lower,ers was and ted cruz was way lower. mark: you just start this

column, and i think for the were seeable future -- to keep writing -- for the foreseeable future, to keep writing about donald trump -- i amyes, i know, and here writing about it. it is a hall of mirrors. he is a huge -- i am not going to use that word. he is a giant story. of course, we are going to have to mull over this and explore it for months to, and for years if he wins the presidency. al: after mccarthy, there were postmortems that were devastating for the press. is ourhis election, business -- i am talking in generic terms, not "the new york times" specifically -- jim: i do not think anyone can

say this period is good to mostly -- is good. todd said he is not going to take donald trump on the phone anymore. another said they are not going to get poked in doing a kind of vc interview. maybe there will be a giant change, and maybe it will happen soon. for donald trump to have a different kind of coverage, and better for democracy to have a different kind of coverage. suits do not want to give it up. i have kind of made the round's to get back in touch of the media industry that i covered years ago -- i have kind of made the rounds to get back in touch with the media industry

that i covered years ago, and donald trump is coming in at a perfect time because he gives people what they need, a ratings eclipse. jim, off to a great start. thanks so much. jim: thank you. mark: we will be back to end the day. ♪

♪ mark: we have got a couple of aipac speech is to go, but so far, who won the day? al: hillary clinton, easily. day. i think aipac won the

they draw all of the presidential candidates but bernie sanders. they take it seriously. al: nobody else can do that. mark: and you can see our new totify streaming tracker show you what republican and democratic people are listening to. coming up next, emily chang speaks to the showtime's ceo, my high school basketball team it, by the way. a thank you tol hunt. -- thank you to al hunt. see you tomorrow. sayonara.

mark: i mark crumpton. you are watching "bloomberg west ." let's begin with your "first word" news.

president obama talking about a historic opportunity, speaking at a press conference in havana with raul castro. president obama: it went up he transformed overnight. we continue, as president castro --icated, mark: belgium police say they have identified another suspect in the paris attacks. najim laachroui was found. the fda is moving to ban surgical gloves made with powder, a feature that is designed to make them easier to wear. only six manufacturers are still