donny: i'm donny deutsch. john: with all due respect the donald trump, at least he didn't take the least credible doctor. ♪ >> almost done, almost done. ♪ john: great to see you. guests ess league

and a big-league hitter. nuclear tests. north korea would not dare do such a thing for president. the trump campaign blamed hillary clinton's tenure at the state department. " hillary clinton hopes to end the program button only strengthened."only on the counterpoint, hillary clinton statement was about the temperament to be commander-in-chief. " confronting the threats we face with steadiness and strength." it has been unusually tuned to

national security. they have rallied for the topic in recent days. the major event was when the candidates squared off on nbc. this friday,you on post-labor day friday, the last the national security hubbub. donny: it was captured by everything that happened this weekend. it was a simple hand to hand combat. any dad for thing that happens -- bad thing that happens, it happened because of weakness and because who is watching. i have a strong hand to fix with applicant to. . hillary clinton says that is a scary and unsteady hand. john: unusually small. donny: that is the calculus.

trump iscan public -- not offering anything other than i will huff and puff and blow your house them. john: both campaigns thought they won this week. most people thought donald trump did better. some people thought that was because the questions were easy , sayingas in washington i killed her in the debate. it is interesting both campaigns think they have the upper hand. one thing that happened as a result of the coverage is that the focus on substance is starting to move to the fore. now, people are looking at the substance of things. i think that plays into hillary clinton sabr.

's favor. it -- aou cannot help man of the people versus just i'm strong and this is what i will do. no, here are the problems and what are your solutions? i really do. the fact trunmp thought he won is scary. ,ohn: back in the ussr is putin talked about what obama said on him. trump seemed to dismiss claims by american intelligence that russia was beyond the recent cyber attacks against the democratic party. mr. trump: maybe the democrats are putting that up -- who knows? i think it is pretty unlikely. who knows?

i hope if they are doing something, i hope somebody will find out so they can end it. that would not be appropriate at all. john: trump mentioned russia again this afternoon on his speech while contrasting his foreign-policy views. administration, on the other hand, will work with any country that is willing to partner with us to d defeat icis and islam and terrorism. that includes russia. if they want to join us, that is just fine. john: a bunch of republicans are freaking out that donald trump cannot stop complementing putin. he said putin was a stronger leader than president obama. in response, the chairman told

the ap that trump does not agree styleutin's stali goof government. mike pence and ben carson have taken his side. we spoke about what benefits he gets. today, we wanted to revisit this topic because it is focused on whose face believes he has the answer. says i respectmp him as a leader -- that guy is in control. what he does not say he is not a strong leader because he killed his opponent. he is banking on the visceral component. public doesrican

not understand he is a villain, a butcher. yeah, we need a -- that guy is tough. he has that country where he wants it. is making a bet that this really people will react. agreeing but i think he is doing it because he is such an egomaniac and a narcissist that anybody that says anything nice about him, he is liking him. there is no shado strategy. not like him. if you dig, you find all the reasons not to like vladimir putin. even those that don't, then don't look at him and say that is the guy i want to run.

donny: donald trump, he admires this guy. that is frightening. to him, it is very scary as an maybe ourin his mind, executive branch does not operate like that executive branch -- it is scary stuff. hillary clinton and her army of donaldnites -- 2014, trump's foundation gave $100,000 to a group suing eric scheinman. he is the same guy that brought the case to trump university. the group trump gave money to was citizens united which was run by trump's campaign manager. report comes after questions resurfaced about a bondite donation to pam

around the same time her office was thinking about joining trump university. how big of a problem is this ? john: i think it is significant. the bondi story was problematic because he had the charity donate to her pack. . it was a charity donating to another charity. university claimed a .raud then he takes his charitable money and donates it to an outfit that is all about seeking to reach and about someone who is going after him. practices,o corrupt not just because of corruption itself but it is because he wants the claim that for hillary

clinton. donny: irony. obviously, hillary clinton -- that iq test -- donald trump, every way he has conducted business, whether you go back to the sweetheart deal of chris christie on casinos coming , using influence, everything he is running against. i have never seen a bigger hypocrite run for any office. it is one after the other after the other. the irony is this is what he is 22 what instance where we can drive 25 instances where donald trump as act -- where we can find and 25 instances where he is running against the. john: it is something people in brooklyn are noticing. there are early efforts to go after trump which has not gotten

a lot of action. suddenly, the press is going back into those things again and he is getting less of a free pass. we have some great guests coming up. harold ford and paul ryan. donny: no way. john: he is here. we will talk to the paul ryan communications director and former hillary clinton chief strategist and guru. first, our sponsors. ♪

donny: i like this show.

now it is time for junior and senior. joining us now is a man that john heilemann described as pretty. and the advisor of mitt romney. i want to quickly join with you howie. simple three senses. ee sentences. >> i agree. i thought she continued to demonstrate her prowess and command. politically, he had a pretty good week. john: he has a lot to say. donny: only three sentences. i will keep it short. i think she should be doing better. i think she will be doing better over time, but the more time she has national security discussions, it gets bogged down

into discussions of e-mail which is where she does not want to be. >> she has the potential to be much stronger. it is very simple. trump, i don't want to be talking about national security because anytime i talked about it, the media talks about does this person have the temperament to sit in the situation room and have a tough decision. when he goes on and on about talking about these generals rolling over in characterizing the intelligence briefings he is receiving. lastly, the stuff he said about putin is jarring. i don't get it. who is he speaking to a less he really believes it? does helative effect, have the temperament, does he have a judgment to do it the big

decisions? we have come to a place where everyone -- the race has tightened over the last couple of weeks. just explain -- first of all, how nervous does it make you watching these bowls? polls? the race has tightened this much. how nervous are you? as alook at this versfirst practice round. mr. trump will not change his file. we are making a case he is unpredictable, unsteady, unproven in many fronts. the problem we have at the moment that secretary clinton is offering is not something the country is not rewarding her with yet -- the next debate, the

first debate will be the most watched. i agree with a lot of things dan said. clinton has to be mindful of what he was saying. i think there is some village validity. we need to see stronger in the white house. if i was secretary clinton, i would try to smother the answer. succint answer. you cannot beat him at his game. she needs to beat him at her to rate and forced him to talk about substance which he is entirely incapable and in neept at doing. donny: this is a judgment on his temperament but don't the debates have to come down to a level of knowledge and granularity?

that is what has to happen from here on in. ao, it is not a question of pe soup, it is a question of could he hasn't my question? ppo,.he know ale . wound up,unhinged highly emotional trump shows up, some of which we saw at the primary scum i think she is in rimary, i think she is in great shape. that is a massive advantage for her. if he shows up the way he showed up at the press conference, calm, sober, i think they sedated him, i think that is a problem. it is a normalizing effect of being on stage. to your question, what she has to do is constantly yield time

and save tell us your plan and explain. rubio saidly -- that. tell me your health care plan. tell me specifically. a combination of that and hanging on his own words. overreach, and was just his own words. very specific details. a combination of that, if he is calm. talk there was a lot of for months about trump collapsing and paul ryan continues to blubber around the tight rope. it does not seem like the party is not banding together. ist explain what you think now the relationship between the republican party and down ballot republicans. >> i think most down ballot

republicans believe trump will probably lose. they think it is a probably good thing if he loses but they don't want him to lose so badly that he crushes some of these house and senate seats that hang in the balance. they get he will probably lose, they think it is probably a good thing -- they think they can rebuild. it can be great for conservatism, but they don't want him to get so crushed that they lose the senate and the house. donny: next week, game plan for hillary clinton. give us the playbook. harold: i think part of it was talk. theink the form itself, questions may have benefited on mr. trump more. i think she has to do -- she has to smother him with her

answers and vision. she meets the multiply the events she is doing each day. president obama is committed to spending october to this campaign. he may have to start a week or two sooner for african-americans and young voters. secretary clinton has to deploy bill clinton to talk about the economic message and how it will play out. john: we appreciate it. >> willing to pound it more. otherwise known as senior or junior. sean spicer joins shontz weiser joins usin a little bit. we will talk about baseball.

john: less than a month before the baseball playoffs, the chicago cubs of the best team in plac baseball and the record has been nothing short of big-league. leach and theill franchise has fascinated ties with donald trump and hillary clinton. we said prove it and he filed this. will: the story in major league baseball and perhaps in all of sports, jakarta cubs. the the chicago cubs. the best record in baseball. for all the excitement the cleveland cavaliers conjured, that's nothing compared to what would happen if the cubs won the

world series. they have not won a championship since 1908. the cubs are no strangers to presidential politics. ronald reagan loved the team. he would do radio broadcasts of cubs games. he would alternately bring that full circle, taking the amount of the first pitch. bill clinton saw his final baseball game inwardly and barack obama, even said he was shearing last year for the cubs to win the world series. flashforward to the 2016 season. cubs win the world series, it would be a party we had not seen in decades. if it happens, it will be one month before the presidential election in which you can count on it being a factor in the race. in some ways, a cubs pennant race may have concerns. : back in the 1990's, all

was good for donald trump and the cubs. you throughout the first pitch, sing the seventh-inning stretch and became close friends with sammy sosa during his home run chase. that has changed. after the ricketts family which owned the cubs began financing anti-trump super pacs, he exploded. he said they arrested really spending money against me. you better be careful, they have a lot to hide. still angry, he threatened to run attack ads against the cubs. and then there is hillary clinton and her struggle to convince voters, she is authentic. while she is a cubs fan, we think -- she claimed cubs fandom. jeevan sang wit she even saying with harry caray, but that changed.

when she ran for senate in new york, she claimed to be a yankee fan as well, much to the chagrin of rudy giuliani. >> the fact is i have always been a yankee fan. >> i thought you were a cubs then. >> i am. will: she is willing to sign an executive order vanishing the trumps. the cubs and their dance with destiny. i cannot wait for october. in this case, it is easier to dance with a third-party candidate. john: we will be right back. ♪

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people. saying to trump? what is he saying to trump's people about his fixation with putin? a lot of things have made republicans uncomfortable. this example is at the top. you saw it in paul ryan's face. factotion -- it is just a if a democratic candidate had it they would have >> in thatucify him instance you can say trump was trying to say they had been warned. the potent thing is in a different category.

when clinton said would ronald reagan have said anything like this, that resonates. they think i do not want to be asked this question. i don't want to be confronted this from the top of the ticket. isn't going to matter? probably not. it does not make him more popular among folks at the rnc and republicans. donny: joining us, john spicer. thank you for joining us. i'm sure you have been eavesdropping. we are talking but your candidates infatuation with vladimir putin. if you were alone in a room with mr. trump and counseling him on his stance what would you say? >> donald trump has done very well without my advice.

he will continue to do well. i'm not going to give him advice. he speaks for himself. he articulates something why americans are tired of doublespeak. he speaks his mind. that is something that most americans find attractive. think it is ok that he gives kudos to a man who is basically a dictator, who jails journalist? a man who invades countries? do you think it is ok? >> i think a lot of folks in the media are overplaying this. he was clear about the context to which he was doing it. saidve him a koppelman and i appreciate his complement. i don't agree with their system of government. john: do you think vladimir putin is a better leader than barack obama? differento totally

systems of government. john: that is what donald trump is saying. i think we should be respectful of the office of the president of the united states. john: that is what donald trump did. do you agree with him or not? >> i gave you my answer. >> you did? >> donald trump speaks for donald trump. our job is to help get out the word and make that contrast with hillary clinton. he's been very clear, taking part of that quote in context or out of context is misleading. he did not approve of the system of government or some of the actions. he was talking about the following that he had in the decisive this with respect to how russia is dealing with isis. john: i don't think it is an unfair question to ask you. it is a straightforward question.

>> i don't think it matters what i think. donald has stated his position. you are doing mental gymnastics is not getting us any further. donny: rudy giuliani went on record and said mr. trump has acknowledged the birther movement was false and barack obama is a u.s. citizen. as donald trump said that? >> not that i'm aware of. mayor giuliani spends a lot of time with him. follow-up, i heard mr. trump say now he believes barack obama is a legitimate president. mayor giuliani said that. does he speak for the trump campaign on this matter? >> he spent a lot of time with him. he has his counsel. i am sure if the mayor said it

that is what he believes. i have no reason to doubt. john: do you know as a matter of fact whether he believes barack obama was born in america? heard him say that. it has not been a subject of conversation. john: there has been a lot of reporting right now about the state of relations between the rnc. you are at the point of this. one of the chairman didn't put out a statement after immigration statement -- speech there was a suggestion of discord. >> there was never a statement drafted, never asked for. there was never a statement. there was never a draft. there was never a thought on e-mail. it was completely false.

, i havee of relations been up there, the chairman has been up there, we held a call about our ground game with dave done touting what we have to put the most comprehensive ground game in terms of voter contact and people on the ground . we have a tremendous relationship with the trump campaign. it is one of the best operations i've seen in politics. donny: there has been talk about the camp -- campaign. we will have the greatest get out ground game. when we see field offices we see hillary clinton with 50 offices. how is that -- >> i'm glad you brought that up. hashillary clinton campaign touted offices. we do have a ton of offices. we have 30 in florida.

is, it is what they are not talking about. they are not talking about voter contact and they're not talking about staff. we started deploying staff on a year-round basis. we have made 4.4 million voter contacts. we have 6000 staff in the field right now. we have 596 and the 2012 election. that is an exponential factor of 12. we can count those numbers. the clinton campaign just got staff in the field a few months ago. the only thing they can talk about is staff offices. that is like me talking about the number of cars i own like i'm a good driver. you need drivers and those cars. we have been out in the field making butter context. we have the most comprehensive ground game bar none of any political operation in history. john: the vice president a

nominee mike pence said he will release his tax returns. he says donald trump and i are both going to release them. you know of any plan? >> i am not aware of one. when it comes to disclosure, one of the big things now in terms of the clinton foundation, we have a huge transparency issue there. if we want to give out someone who was in government and an opportunity to show e-mails, let's find out. john: appreciate it. what's the clinton campaign -- >> that is where the transparency issue is. john: i think the issue is this tax return issue. since governor pence said it was going to happen. i was hoping we were going to get those. thank you very much. we have a special guest's. mark penn will join us after the break. ♪

john: welcome back. we're joined by mark, a longtime pollster. he once worked for hillary clinton. good to see you. in 2008t a lot of time trying to get her to get over the commander-in-chief threshold. she is over that now. there is some polling that suggests more americans think donald trump is credible. how do you explain that? >> i think some voters are attracted by this tough act that donald trump has. it is one of the jobs she has in the debate to establish that

she is the right commander in chief. i've worked with her sense 2000 and the senate races. substantive, a real doer. foge are hard to see in the of this personal campaign. donny: you know her very well. she is incredibly likable and real in person. that doesn't translate on camera. account, to a smart show the human side. if you were advising her would you say keep that going? let people see hillary? >> i have always thought that was helpful. i never thought that was definitive in terms of what is going on. the question she has to overcome our negative favorability and honesty numbers.

she has to make a good case that the american people are best off trusting her. i think that is about what she is going to do, how she is going to do it. if she can add to that personal flavor that has additional connection i think that is great. it is not what i have seen. go back to the first debate against bernie sanders. the campaign was having a lot of problems. she decisively defeated sanders. he came back in the later debate but in that debate she was strong, she understood the issues. she was not just a presidential candidate but a president. she has always done best when she does that. john: you pointed to an obvious problem that she has, people don't trust her and think she is a liar. this is the core of what donald trumps argument is against her.

what would you advise her to do? her told you advise eradicate some of those feelings that some voters have? >> i think it is really the debate is going to be the central issue. it will come through. i think we have gone through a bad patch postconvention where the bounce came down. she can restore to where she was in the bounce. both donald trump and hillary clinton have high negatives. both donald trump and hillary clinton are seen as dishonest. only one candidate is seen as qualified. that is hillary clinton. 2-1 people say donald trump is not. she has to bring that alive. whether it is economic policy, crime in the cities. she has to show a diversity of issues that she is going to work in tangible ways of

people have a reason other than personality to cast their ballots. the people who are most decisive in this election are going to be people who don't like either candidate. those are smart points but none of them go to the question of trust or to honesty which you raise. if so, what is it? >> i don't really think there is a silver bullet. if and when more stuff should moreout, she can be forthright. she can be more forthright in answering those questions that come up, that people want to see . you have seen the instances in politics where charges mount up against someone and really underscore that she was a public servant from day one, she cares

about people, she devoted her life to that and be as responsive as possible. donny: i don't think there is anything she can do. the pure play for her is to make donald trump to frightening. are untrustworthy that choice and unbalanced. >> that is the current strategy. showing limits. there are four kinds of voters. people who like both of them, 0%. people who don't like both, 20%. how do you deal with that? you say lesser of two evils. he is unacceptable. way.is not the only you either make her more acceptable are you say this is what the election is about. it is about the way we go forward in this country on immigration, on the economy. we've got to go.

you are going to be in new york fairly soon. great to see you back on tv. donny: this guy fired me once. john: enough, enough. us on thesten to radio, bloomberg 91.1 fm. ♪

>> can i say i was surprised? anymore.urprised i was really disappointed someone running for president unseemlytinue this

identification with and praise of the russian president, including on russian television. clintonillary responding to a question about donald trumps going on russian tv. joining us now, let me start with you -- i have heard murmurings one of donald trump's reasons behind his love of a lot of business with russian banks. any reporting turn that up? post hasshington an article about how russian money has flowed into different truck projects. the trump organization is private. we have seen donald junior talk

about it. john: we just watch hillary clinton. she is starting to make sit in with more personal human stuff. talk about that strategy that is emerging. quite she has one big strength. foreign policy. it is a liability to some extent . donald trump doesn't have experienced. she has weaknesses. character questions, personality and likability. they feel she is too much of a professional politician. she has been encouraged to talk more. she is not talking about e-mail. john: two questions have been troubling me for days. you know donald trump. here are the questions.

why does he keep talking about how much he loves putin? insistinges he keep he was against the iraq war when he wasn't? there is plenty of fact on the ground about that. thoses his motivation for postures? , on the on my reporting russia question, he sees russia's a way of getting the u.s. out of the middle east. if russia and russian allies can be fighting in different areas that would make the u.s. non-interventionist. a lot of advisors are perplexed why he doesn't say this. they believe this is at the core of his beliefs. really more in the ron paul wing of the party when it comes to foreign policy. that is why people close to him say he is open having russia take a larger role on the global

stage. and when you look at his iraq, this isin someone who was murky and thought he was murky at the time . that doesn't mean he was against it. we have public statements that show he wasn't against the war. he thinks it equals being against it. john: i find it baffling. donny: in brooklyn behind the scenes to the a think they won wednesday night? >> they thought they won the aftermath because it is the gift that keeps giving. obviously they didn't. she still has this inability to just dispense with the e-mail issue and move on. it hasn't made any better yet. myi have one explanation

partner shot down about why donald trump keeps going with putin. he is betting the american public is not going to think through this is a dictator but he is strong and tough and we need a guy like that running this country. is there any calculus in that? >> there is an instinct. i'm not sure about the calculus. when you talk to trump, he says he has this inclination towards strongmen. russia, there's a deep skepticism about the agenda. he likes the praise. donny: ok. thank you. we will be right back. ♪

john: it's always great to have you here. is there anything you want to apologize for in this episode? donny: absolutely not. i think is despicable for him to say what he is saying about putin. john: that's fine. politics --erg.com until monday, sayonara. ♪

>> i'm mark crumpton. let's begin with the check of first word news. ban ki-moon condemned the latest nuclear test.

he called on the security council to unite and take urgent action. they conducted a higher level nuclear test explosion friday. it was the second and eight months. john kerry met again in geneva with his russian counterpart. officials are downplaying the chances of a cease-fire. the associated press reports he it thinking of calling quits. the energy transfer is the green light to continue construction on its north the coda pipeline. a judge ruled in favor of the company rejecting a request from native americans and environmentalists opposed to the project. critics argue it would damage cultural heritage sites. construction on the pipeline stalled after one