>> the email, the email, what what, the email. >> the email, the email, what what, the email. to whom it may concern-- the official email. let me start over. what what! the official email. to whom it may concern-- this official report is to notify you that sending e-mails from a personal account is not an appropriate method of preserving any such e-mails that were -- would constitute a federal record. what the crap?

you at a minimum, you should have surrendered all e-mails dealing with government business before you left office. sincerely, state department. sounds russian. are you a spy? this appears to be a very serious issue. i'd love to respond to your e-mails. unfortunately it has already been -- deleted! now on with the show. ♪ mark: hello, everyone. today we are talking about e-mail. the state department's and spectre general released a report on hillary clinton's use of the world's most famous private e-mail system while she was serving as secretary of state. the scathing report confirms a lot of things we already knew, like that her e-mail practices violated state department rules, but that she was not the secretary only to do business on this account.

this tough report written by barack obama's government told us some things. clinton herself and some of her aides did not cooperate with the investigation. when staffers raised questions about her e-mail practices, they had been told it had been reviewed and approved by the department's legal staff, despite findings that there was "no evidence that the staff reviewed or approved secretary clinton's personal system." the clinton camp says, nothing to see here. but republicans were quick to jump on the news and condemn the front runner's judgment. yes, of course, those questioning her judgment include her likely general election foe, donald j. trump, billionare. mr. trump: as i say, crooked hillary. crooked hillary. she is as crooked as they come.

she had bad news today from some reports. they weren't so good. not so good. the inspector general's report -- not good. but i want to run against hillary. i just want to run against her. look, i don't know if you are going to be able to. it could be we are going to run against crazy bernie. mark: "not good," says donald trump in anaheim about this report. we'll talk about this during the show all night. this has been a low-grade fever for her campaign. what has it become now in the wake of the report? john: i don't echo donald trump that much, but this time -- not good. the report is scathing, as you deemed it, and it does confirm a lot of things that we knew before, all of them bad. it raises new things, which is follow up reporting about those in the state department being told "nothing to see here" at the time.

politically the ball of wax still rests with the fbi investigation. will there be some criminal charges brought against any clinton aide, etc.? that is the big kahuna, politically. this brings it back to the surface and brings something trump to seize on. today will not be the last time he talks about this, i am sure. mark: it's not a legal indictment, but a indictment of her judgment by an independent investigator. we will see if the clinton campaign attacks the investigation. i will say this. she should cooperate. i am sure her lawyer is saying that she cannot cooperate while the fbi is investigating. if she wants to get all the facts out, she should have cooperated with the investigation. john: 2 key things. for a year we have heard this is not all that unusual. this report makes it clear it was unusual. the presence of a home private server. and secondly, they made a big point of saying that she always wants to cooperate with

everyone. she has offered to testify at the benghazi committee, meet with the fbi. her being willing to address these issues is an important political talking point. not only should she have done it for the sake of good governance, but on politics. mark: the romanian hacker that claims that he breached her server pled guilty in federal court. john: as part of a deal with federal authorities. mark: the report says there was one instance in which the server seems to be under some threat by someone hacking into it. that will be looked at, too. clearly the fbi will have subpoena power. john: we both think that if there is a proven instance where that server was hacked, that is a big problem. anderson to a national security problem.

ever also pointing to a national security problem. ever since it has been clear that donald trump and hillary clinton would be the respective nominees, the republican side has been a tale of two trumps. one is the new trump brand, defying conventional wisdom by uniting his party faster than expected. then the other tale, trump classic, whose campaign events still spark unrest, as seen in new mexico last night. that is where demonstrators clashed with police outside a rally in albuquerque, reportedly throwing bottles and rocks, setting things on fire, and smashing a glass door. protesters repeatedly interrupted trump before being removed. instead of trying to diffuse the tension, trump did what he often does -- inflame it. mr. trump: get them out. bring them home to mom. go home to mommy. get them out of here.

he can't get a date so he is doing this instead. go ahead, get them out of here. this is exciting, isn't it? still wearing diapers. look at this kid. the kid looks like he is 10 years old. i have never seen this. john: today trump tweeted about those events. "the protesters in new mexico were thugs who were flying the mexican flag. the rally inside was big and beautiful, but inside, criminals!" at a rally in anaheim, trump was interrupted by protesters more than once. it looks like this is back, the trump disarray at some of his rallies. it is a different world in a general election context. how much more problematic are the optics of this for trump in the new context? mark: i am a big fan of the first amendment, including the right of speakers to speak. if this continues day in day out, it will allow clinton to paint him as a chaos candidate.

his conduct in those clips is not a winning formula. i think it rallies his base. it is trump being trump. he can be trump in some other ways. on balance in the general election contest, it is a net negative. but there is an upside because it does rally his base. they will pay more attention to it than those who are voting on other issues. john: i think his base is already rallied and will be for a long time. i don't think that really helps him. i think that, who are the persuadable voters? for those that are movable? do they look at that donald trump, not mocking donald trump, that behavior -- regardless what you think about the protesters. they are not allowed to be too disruptive, but the bottom line is that is inflaming it rather than trying to tamp it down. for persuadable voters, that is not a look that is appealing to them.

mark: i agree in the first blush that that is correct. again, this is a guy that has said and done many things more outrageous. john: i agree. mark: and he is in the polls. is that behavior at rallies going to decide this election? on the margins, it is not helpful. i think the press will obsess about it more than it matters in the outcome. john: i am not obsessing about it and i don't think it will be decisive. but if you think about the way the clinton thing feeds this, images like this are not going to make-- mark: it's the images themselves. john: i think both. his reaction is not helpful for him. and the images are bad. mark: i don't love his reaction. donald j. trump, billionare, is working on another brand. ever since he beat his republican rivals, trump has been pretty successful so far at consolidating support inside the party. or at least doing it a lot faster than many expected.

the latest news is key and was reported first by our bloomberg colleagues. they reported late last night that house speaker paul ryan is telling confidants he is ready to end his standoff with donald trump and endorse him as the party nominee. ryan said he still has not made up his mind. a spokesman for ryan said the speaker and trump will speak by phone this evening. meanwhile, mitt romney is still being mentioned as someone that might consider jumping into the race as an independent candidate. john, if ryan does endorse trump, which we expect he will do, how will that impact any calculations romney has about getting in the race? and being the main person going after trump? john: i don't know how seriously mitt romney is thinking about this race. a lot of people are courting him to try. to get into this race. it will make it harder. it would be a lot easier for romney on two levels. having ryan would make it easier for him to get into the race if

he wanted to. two, in any scenario which he becomes president, it's certain that it would be a race decided in a house of representatives. not that he would get the 270 electoral votes on his own. that would make securing the presidency a lot easier than having ryan be unofficial trump backer. mark: the stop-trump movement depends solely if mitt romney decides to do this. his deliberations have been more detailed that have been reported so far but it's difficult for him to do. it clearly becomes much harder. it's already hard for people in the anti-trump movement to say, i'm this, but a lot of people are endorsing trump, etc. for romney to say this is a moral outrage, the notion of donald trump being our nominee, when the guy he picked as his running mate, whose judgment he

has celebrated, endorses him, that cuts the legs out from romney's moral position. that he wants to take into the race if he gets it. john: i think that is completely right. ryan is more than just his running mate. he is in many ways the highest elected republican officer in the land. he has been the architect of a lot of what conservatives view now in the modern era. difficult for romney in this instance. i can't help but wonder how lonely romney feels. he went on a limb and took a stance of real principle and some bravery in opposing trump. in the way that he did and of course the nomination. now he looks around and sees that all these people are backing trump. john: including a lot of his big donors. john: who he thought were with him. not only have they flocked to trump, but have abandoned romney. now it seems that ryan might do the same. very hard. hillary clinton might have a new surrogate in the corner, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, who has stayed on the sidelines of the clinton-sanders

contest. using some highly brooklyn-friendly talking points. more on what she said, and trump's response after these words from our sponsors. ♪

john: last speaking at the center for popular democracy annual gala, warren upped her anti-trump rhetoric. yesterday we talked about team clinton's coordinated strategy of fanning surrogates out to

criticize the presumptive republican nominee for saying in 2006 that he hoped the housing market crashed so that he could make more money. now warren is joining in that course. sen. warren: donald trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown. it meant he could buy up more property on the cheap. what kind of a man does that? what kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their house? what kind of man roots to get people thrown out of their jobs? to root for people to lose their pensions? i will tell you exactly what kind of a man does that, it is a man who cares about no one but himself.

[applause] a small, insecure money grubber who doesn't care who gets hurt so long as he makes a profit off of it. [cheering] what kind of a man does that? a man who will never be president of the united states. [applause] john: so mark, trump attacked warren less night, and warren attack trump. my question relates to the democratic party. hillary has to bring the party together and bring the sanders people in. if elizabeth warren is speaking that kind of rhetoric and in sync with brooklyn, will that make it easier appreciably for hillary to pull off party unity? mark: we don't know how big elizabeth warren's following is to bernie sanders' at this point. we know there is a lot of overlap. we know that bernie sanders is

more likely to be in her tent if he sees elizabeth warren doing that. if she keeps it up, it will bring sanders into the fold faster. if warren steps it up, it won't matter nearly as much. she is the only person on the left that could perform this role. if she keeps that up, the clinton people will be happy. john: there is no doubt elizabeth warren is a huge asset as a surrogate to the left of the democratic party. bernie sanders and his people are still somewhat frustrated that elizabeth warren, despite aligning with bernie sanders, decided not to endorse him. they are suspicious on her motives. i know that her presence will do anything to sanders' head. but it helps clinton to have that kind of surrogate. in the end, it's about what bernie sanders wants. he is more key to unity than she is. mark: does he want a movement after the election? he has eclipsed her to some extent. he will be fighting a much more uphill battle at the convention and beyond.

john: coming up, republican strategist and a legendary ad maker, fred davis out in l.a. joins us right after this. ♪

mark: joining this is fred davis, a republican campaign strategist and legendary ad maker. he recently worked for the super pac trying to get john kasich the republican nomination. mr. davis, thank you for coming back on the program. fred: gentlemen, great to be here. mark: i think we all intuitively say the hillary clinton e-mail report is a problem. what makes you certain that it is a political problem?

fred: it's a problem, but it's just one more drip in a constant faucet of drips that she's had for how much? 2 years now? the more drips that come, soon it will be a big puddle. one day it might just drown her. mark: let me run a theory by you as a look at the general election. for all of trump's flaws is a candidate, he is simply a better performer and has a better capacity to drive the new cycle where he wanted to go than she does. that matters as much or more than anything else on the two sides. fred: i think that is right. he is far better at that. not only that, but he is sort of the new thing, the new shiny object. hillary, you can't really say

that. she has been around forever. her family has been around forever. if you combine the two, it advantages trump to me. john: fred, we are going to ask you later to lead us through what you think an ad maker would do for donald trump if he were working for him. you worked for the john kasich super pac. he said a lot of things about donald trump not being the right guy to lead the party, forecasting doom if you were the nominee. he still has not endorsed him. a lot of republicans felt strongly that trump was problematic to be the nominee, not just someone that would have problems with the general election, but some of that is deeply wrong. you have made your peace with that. explain how you have acquiesced to the notion of supporting him. fred: a couple things. number one, it is a given that he's going to be the nominee. i heard a bit of your show prior to this, and i think you guys agree with me. number 2, he brought in this

excitement and a whole group of new people into the party. there are a lot of polls that say these aren't really new people. some gentlemen have been reporting that theory. he has brought excitement and interest and newness to this race. all he has to do is pick up the establishment. in other words, all these people that the republican party has been trying to get, he got. but in the process, he missed the solid regulars. he missed the john kasichs. that is where the work comes that he needs to get back. they are going to be easier to get than the add-ons, because no one has been able to touch them before. john: you call yourself conservative, right? fred: absolutely. john: and you think donald trump is a conservative, and by what metric? fred: i don't. i would have to say he is a republican. [laughter] that is all i can say. we have heard liberal things, we've heard modern things,

conservative things out of his mouth. who knows what he really is? but that is what elections are about. i think people like you will push until we know what the real donald trump is like. mark: you've met a lot of republican clients for statewide office. which, if any, remind you of donald trump? fred: do you remember the name morry taylor? mark: sure, presidental candidate in 1992. fred: actually it was 1996. that was the first essential campaign that i did. he remind me exactly of trump. i love morry. he remind me exactly of donald trump, but without the name recognition. mark: he was a successful businessman. a wheel magnate, rubber tires. fred: steel, but then he got into tires. not only was he a businessman, he was outspoken. you could call it outrageous. he still is to the state. he drew attention, but he did

not start with 100% name i.d. if he had, he likely could have been a great contender. that is the one who reminds me most. mark: do you have those in your life that are holdouts against trump? do you think they will stay that way, or come around? fred: i think the shocks are the dyed in the wool republicans that are now backing trump. a gentleman i knew thought the republican party needed a major shakeup and that trump was the shakeup that was needed. you could have scraped me off the floor. i was amazed that someone that was this big ceo could make that decision. i think there are many more that will as well. mark: i talked to one republican who said trump's supreme court

list was enough for him. that was enough for that person to go never-trump to "he's better than hillary." fred: "better than hillary" right now is the only hurdle to get over. that might not be very difficult if you are republican, or moderate, or indie. mark: we will break down what fred thinks trump can do to improve his brand even more. we will talk about that after this. ♪ mark: we are back now with

republican strategist fred davis, who recently boarded the

trap -- the trump train. let's talk about trump's brand. if you were so on the trade and that you are making his ads, what would your posture be? how would you conceive that project? fred: if you remember, about a year ago, a representative of the trump campaign did call us, so i got to go through that exercise once upon a time and i was exactly right at the time, but i was a year ahead of trump. i said he had to not need donald trump. he couldn't be the apprentice guy. he couldn't use his helicopters and airplanes, and that was probably the worst advice i've ever given anyone. i think the helicopters and the air lanes became icons in the primary race and did great service for donald. right now, he needs to get to what i was recommending one year ago, which is he can go on and use the plane and helicopters and do the rallies that he does so well.

he can still be a little outrageous and that has attracted a certain type of voter to the donald trump group and that is a winning coalition. but he needs to get me. he needs to get establishment types on board. to do that, he needs to be presidential. you hear that a lot. i'm not the only one who says that. but not maybe in his rallies. those guys are doing good job getting him more presidential in that direction, but real quickly, he has to shifted to be more about me and you and more about the american voters and about donald trump. i'm tired of hearing how successful he is, but if he continues in his rally, how it makes him look presidential and talks about what his brain is going to do for me.

is it going to help me pay my mortgage or make my car payment? more about me and less about trump. and finally, because people vote for who they like and both hillary and donald have a real upside down problem in their likability, he's dehumanized a little bit. i have never met him but i have talked to people who have met him and his dinner conversations, he's pretty normal -- eating at mcdonald's and all that kind of stuff, but you wouldn't expect that unless you heard it from someone who actually went and dined with him. keep doing what you are doing because it's working in the rallies but then let the rest of us see you have a serious, presidential side that will help make my life better. john: i want to pretend you just drank an entire bottle of sour mash and now you are looking at me and you have morphed into donald trump and you walk into my office and i say those are some interesting general ideas,

i'm thinking about hiring you to be the ad guy. how would you execute that? give me your pitch about what you would specifically do? what kind of adds and you put on the air, what duration, etc.? fred: i would start with a race defining film. it is not that hard to define hillary clinton and donald trump is two different people. the closest i can come, and hollywood this is used a lot, is defining it taste on something else. mine would be mourning in america for ronald reagan. in america for ronald reagan. ronald reagan was not in those ads, but people were. people who got married, people who got their first home. people who are able to put their kids through college because ronald reagan had president. that was passed tents, but this could be future tense.

there's a lot of tension and i don't take donald trump would be the nominee if people were happy with washington. they are not. way more so than at any of our lifetime as proven i donald's ascension. he needs to show how his successes help me and from everything i know about donald trump, that is a pitch he would probably appreciate. john: so you would go with a long film and get up with a bunch of 60's were a bunch of 30's -- what would it look like? fred: i would start with a long film and make a 60 out of that and run it heavily on broadcast and cable. for the remainder of the campaign, you have to contrast with hillary somewhat. i don't think in donald ross case he hasunusual

to do it as much as others. the most important thing he can do is say i'm going to make your life better. it doesn't have to be what's wrong with hillary. the press does a good job of that. he needs to come off as presidential and maybe he's not even in his ads. maybe it is just people talking about their hopes and dreams and how donald trump can help fulfill them. i think people thought that about barack obama in 2008 and four years later, they were disappointed, their mortgage wasn't paid, they didn't have a new car and some of those things. i think donald trump is possible -- he could make people's lives better and he could sure sell the story. mark: tell me a thing or two you think the clinton campaign is doing well now. fred: and we have a whole minute for me to fill? my point being, i don't think they are doing very much. mark: do you see anything they are doing well? fred: i really don't so far.

i anticipate them doing something -- what do you think they are doing well? mark: raising money. john: i will tell you this -- they are not leaking. you see stories about tensions in the trump campaign, the clinton campaign, you don't hear much about strategy, even as they are under a fair amount of pressure. john: she's also not going out of her way to offend a large sector of the american public. mark: up next, mr. barry bennett from the trump campaign and senator rubio's former spokesperson right after this. ♪ john: joining us now is barry

bennett, one of the many right hand men of donald trump campaign and marco rubio's former campaign manager. we won't talk about the size of either one of your hands. thank you for being here. we did a whole 90's special yesterday talking about your campaign. there was a report in the go about one of your campaign operatives reaching out and saying we want to make an issue out of whitewater. explain the political sense entailed in what seems to be a campaign that is almost entirely negative about hillary clinton

and negative about anxiety happened in the 1990's. guest: there's a lot of ammo there, but i don't think that's what the campaign is going to be about. it is certainly what is keeping them off-balance right now, but this campaign is going to be about people who are in pain, the heroine problem in ohio alone -- john: then why are we talking about accusations of bill clinton and vince foster -- apparently we are going to be talking about whitewater. right now, why are we talking about these things? guest: i think right now, we've got them totally knocked back. john: what is the evidence? what's the evidence they seem knocked off of their game? what makes you feel you are winning this argument? guest: i can't run last new cycle that they won. mark: tell us where you are in your evolution toward whether you are going to support your nominee or not.

guest: i'm still say -- still staying neutral. i'm not going to vote for hillary clinton but i am not endorsing donald trump. susanna martinez happen to endorse marco rubio and is a big governor and rising star in the republican party makes me more leery of donald trump. mark: here's your chance -- win him over. guest: i've been in his chair. i held my nose and wrote a check to mccain and to romney. but i don't expect to put pressure on alex. he's a good party soldier and come far caught -- come fall, i know who he is going to vote for. john: the best argument is to hold his nose and vote for donald trump? guest: he needs to take his time and he will come to it. mark: what is trump doing now? guest: i don't really matter

now, who matters are people like paul ryan and ted cruz. i think they are not supporting him and that's a cause for concern. they should be doing everything they can to unite the party. mark: what is donald trump doing that is getting you closer? guest: him putting out his supreme court list, i like his speech to the national rifle association. i want to be convinced he will govern as a limited government conservative and there's a lot they can do. it's two days that he has not held out a lot of his agenda yet. people right now look at donald trump as a businessman and celebrity. now voters are starting to look at him as a potential president and we don't really know what a trump presidency would look like it. to their credit, they have taken some affirmative steps, but they -- it doesn't help them when

they take steps back like yesterday and the clinton campaign is working overtime to define what a trump presidency would look like. john: i'm asking you to try to explain things that confuse me and i will use alex as a jumping off point. we all noted on this show that trump has done a shockingly good job come the speed with which the party has unified around him. in a love this unification project, why go to new mexico and insult, denigrate and beat up the republican governor of that state? guest: i don't think it was his intention to do that. i don't think she's ever going to be for trump. they have a very bad relationship and hopefully over time it will get better. john: why not say nothing? what is the benefit of donald trump being update prominent

-- beating up a prominent republican woman latino governor of a swing state? guest: nobody walked out of the arena last night. he -- he's not going to abide by the old rules. he has this new formula and he's done very well at it. mark: i'm going to ask you both three questions -- one word answers. mitt romney running for president. guest: not going to happen. guest: silly. mark: tom cotton as don -- is donald trump running mate. guest: tom cotton is great. i won a next-generation conservative who's serious about governing. guest: like. mark: that's good. that's one word. this ig report about hillary

clinton's e-mails? guest: confused. guest: devastating. mark: is this today's new cycle or does it linger? guest: the most important part is that these rules are propagated to cover the law. it doesn't mean it's a felony and she's going to prison, but it is clear the law is broken. john: you are not there yet with mr. trump. does it surprise you how many people who called him a cancer on the party have come to embrace them? guest: after this last cycle, nothing surprises me in republican politics any longer. he's in the nominee for almost two months and there are still major republican leaders, and if you look at the polls, 85% say they are supporting him but i bet there are a lot of other

people who no longer self identify as republicans. he needs to get that 290 plus. mark: who do you like besides paul ryan? guest: i think paul ryan will be there. i think fred davis is right about a lot of things all the time but we start with we already have the people we spend millions of dollars to try to attract. now is got to get those voters and they will come. john: always a pleasure to have you here even though you have not resolved some of my confusion. thank you both and we will be back in a moment to talk about donald trump's golden state rally after this quick rake. remember if you are watching us in washington dc, he can listen to us on 99.1 fm. we will be right back. ♪ mark: our next guest is a

senior policy expert from the brookings institute. and a former domestic policy advisor to bill clinton. op-ed ran arguing that hillary clinton is still the strong favorite to do feed -- two defeat donald trump in the general election. give us your thesis why democrats who are all freaking out over these polls should not be freaking out quite so badly. bill: i made three points with evidence. number one, we are looking at an apples to oranges comparison right now. the republican primary contest is over and the democratic nominating contest is still going on. once it is over, i suspect democrats will unify almost as

fast as republicans have. number two, i argued secretary clinton has some important structural advantages having to do with things like party edification, the way the public regards the two parties which is more favorable to democrats, the electoral college edge, and the fact that president obama has moved into positive territory in job approval. the third point i made is if you look anything the headlines in the surveys, you see a lot of good news for secretary clinton, both in the area of dealing with issues and personal attributes. mark: i agree with your first two attributes, but it is your third point where i think there is some debate. donald trump could be behind in certain traits but it suggests it may be a dangerous foe to her even with the ad numbers which he might be able to improve.

bill: i do mean to suggest this isn't going to be a spirited, tough race. it's not for democrats in general or the clinton campaign in particular to sit back and relax. i was making an argument that against a freak out -- i don't think the evidence will support that. mark: isn't it the case at the fact he's tied in the horse rate behind in all these traits suggest a point of strength, not a point of weakness? bill: perhaps so but my argument

is all the raw materials for a strong, victorious clinton campaign are present in these data. an effective clinton campaign will make use of her strengths against donald trump's weaknesses. the beginning be one example from the abc/"washington post" poll. 66% of americans say hillary clinton is prepared to be president -- to be president. donald trump is going to have to persuade 15 million people to vote for him as president who do not think he's qualified. i don't say it is impossible, but it won't be easy. john: you look at all of those attributes and all attributes are not created equal. in some election cycles, one attribute matters more than others. sometimes it is empathy. one place where trump leads is the ability to shake up washington, as a change agent. is it not possible that although she could lead by most

traditional metrics that it turns out in this cycle, at this moment in american history that people value change and that catalytic effect he holds out? and that it renders them more obsolete? bill: i can't say that it is impossible but i can say to his improbable. the american people know that the choice of president is a unique political choice unlike any other. they know that because among other things, under article two of the constitution, the president has extraordinary powers when it comes to issues of four and peace, being able to send young americans into combat, and those powers have been stretched by custom in recent decades. it is a two-step process. step number one is change versus

the status quo. there's no question about the fact that the american people want change. they signaled that loud and clear. but there is a second question -- is this change safe enough to take a chance on or, despite the fact that someone offers change, it is too risky to trust him with the powers of the office. i really think it's going to come down to an assessment of risk. mark: in the wake of the ig report about hillary clinton's e-mail practices, what do you think about what she did? bill: i think about what she did what she thinks about what she did. namely, she was his she hadn't done it and i agree. do i think it is a dagger plunged into the heart of the candidacy, no, i don't. john: channeling hillary clinton i think accurately. we will be right back. ♪ mark: based on the totality of

our discussions, where do you think the hillary clinton e-mail stand? john: i don't think it is a tagger, but i do think it is a dark cloud and will not be helpful. it's almost bad for the sanders voters. mark: check out our deep dive into the inspector general reports over hillary clinton and her use of e-mails. coming up, alphabet chairman, eric schmidt. until tomorrow, thanks for watching. sayonara. ♪

♪ theaad: it is thursday, may 26th. i am rishaad salamat. this is "trending business". sydni and melbourne this hour. the benchmark heading towards his biggest two-day gain. the economy can withstand the anticipated fed rate rise. china would like to know when policymakers are likely to act.