gosh, those writers at "snl," they have so much fun. >> bottom line, it is mother's day, so happy mother's day to you. thank you for joining us. inside politics" with john king starts now. house republicans launch another benghazi investigation and in the same breath launch a fund-raising pitch promising to hold hillary clinton accountable. she thinks it's a waste of time. >> they get to call the shots in the congress. >> house speaker john boehner defended the new investigation but won't answer when asked if the fund-raising dishonors the victims and proves it's all crass politics. >> our focus, our focus is getting the truth for these four families and the american people. tough words after the kidnapping of young girls in nigeria. >> it's criminal.

it's an act of terrorism. >> if citizen clinton feels that way, why did secretary of state clinton refuse to label them terrorists. score another big win for the republican establishment. >> it's been the mission all along, that is to beat kay hag gan and make harry reid irrelevant. >> the tea party rocked the system in 2010 and 2012. why is it getting crushed in 2014? "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. sthan, for sharing your sunday with us, happy mother's day. malika henderson, maggie haberman, robert costa, juliana goldberg. it was a rather bizarre week in politics. there are 31 count them n the barack obama presidency. yet his first chief of staff, now chicago mayor ram emanuel

decided to endorse hillary clinton for president. that was friday. one day after house republicans officially launched a new benghazi investigation. just the facts is what the republicans insist they're after. a fund-raising pitch sent out twice in six paragraphs say before any new facts have been gathered, the goal of this investigation is to hold hillary clinton accountable. no wonder then that the current president might feel a little overlooked and maybe a little frustrated. >> i have this remarkable title right now. president of the united states. and yet every day when i wake up, and i think about young girls in nigeria or children caught up in the conflict in syr syria, when there are times in

which i want to reach out and save those kids -- >> juliana goldman, you cover the white house every day. do they have the same frustration in the conversations back home? even democrats a lot seem to forget he's still there. he has 31 months left. they're eerth talking about ignoring him in this year's campaign or talking about nin 2016. >> i think the house feels if they're going to get hammered, they want a little heads up first. even in the clip from the president, what you saw is someone very dlipive. he takes the long view. he's someone who we've seen put on his professorial hat and anticipate his doctrine as he's thinking out loud there. what he's showing is the horrible story that emerged over the last three weeks of nearly

300 school girls kidnapped by boka haram in nigeria and the sense of what he can and cannot do and the right role for america to be playing. americans will see their leader project a more powerful press serns and that's not what he did there. >> i want to come back to the benghazi investigation. it's a big moment to pursue more facts. i think this is a mistake, at the same time you announce a new select committee, i've taken a lot of heat from democrats, the white house has led to these questions by not being transparent in releasing documents. the second, robert costa, they announce this committee -- this is them, not some outside group, friend, house republicans are moving fast to hold hillary clinton and barack obama accountable. we need your name on a list of activists who want to get to the bottom of what happened and what hillary clinton's involvement was. if you're pursuing new facts. how do you know already that you're holding them accountable?

>> there's tension in the house republican room. boehner, the house republicans want to seem somber and serious about this entire process. they're getting so much pressure from the right flank who have been frustrated about the white house's response to these attacks, it's hard to not be political. >> you can't wait a week, a month. if we want to make this a credible investigation, we can't be cloaking it in politics in day one? >> you could tell your people, but that obviously didn't happen. no clear whether there was an opportunity to do this or not do this. from boehner's reaction, he might not have been thrilled with it. to your point, this looks not great in terms of timing. this is also not the first time we've seen this either from republicans or democrats where there's a tragedy and you see people fundraise off of it. why? the republican base is extremely into this issue. it helps low-dollar donations.

>> when i criticize this, republicans are quick to point out democrats do it after school shootings, gun control debates. we heard the president talking about boka haram. hillary clinton also at an event this week, she was asked about these kidnap pings in nigeria. let's listen? the seizure of these young women by this radical, extremist group, boka haram, is abominable, criminal, it's an act of terrorism, and it really merits the fullest response possible. >> she has faced some criticism from republicans who say, well, then, when you were secretary of state, why did you refuse, the justice department, pentagon, cia wanted them labeled a terrorist group. the state department said no. fair criticism? >> they got a lot of criticism and really prodding from folks on the hill wanted to designate

them a terrorist organization. their response is, if we do that, it would elevate this group and gave them a profile and prochl nens that it hadn't had before and might give the nigerian government leeway to interact and go after this group in a way that would sort of over reach. you have seen that from the nigerian government already in some instances. i think this gets to the fact in many ways the title of her upcoming book "hard choices." you say one thing as the civilian. being in the arena and at the state department, it's a very different thing. >> she thinks at the time she might have had good policy, don't elevate them, don't give them a gold star, if you will, the united states doesn't like you. that's a policy decision she made that next time will be a political debate if she runs for president. >> that's right. even just listening to her there, she called it a radical extremist group. the administration is quick to point out in november of 2013,

secretary of state john kerry did label it a foreign terrorist organization. so it just shows, as she sets up her bid for the presidency, every foreign policy eruption is going to be come backing to her record as secretary of state. >> i'm all for candidates speaking out and making clear what they think. it's your job as voters to decide whether you like it. listen to her here talking about guns this week and being very clear. >> we've got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun anywhere any time. >> robert, she was talking about concealed carry laws and the like. she says people shouldn't be able to walk into a movie theater, sporting event, bar carrying a weapon. i applaud any candidate that speaks their mind. she's put that on the record now. a lot of people think al gore lost the presidency because of gun control issues. if she runs, we'll see that in

battleground florida, ohio, colorado. >> i think secretary clinton's politics are smart comments. she's looking ahead perhaps to a general election and sees some movement in congress. she's speaking the the suburban voters in places like philadelphia where they have a lot of concerns, speaking to them. to the democratic base as well, but to those voters. >> she's speaking the the democratic base, mindful of both flanks. she is in more of a position to say things like this now. al gore's candidacy probably never could have survived what democrats say now. she got criticism, not so much overt because bill clinton was vocal about this. she hasn't talked about this since she's been out of the state department. >> i think she's looking at a map more favorable to democrats than when al gore was running. let's close this conversation with this, monica lewinsky, got a lot of these gray hairs 16 years ago, monica lewin ki gave

an interview to "vanity fair." the debate is does this help or hurt hillary clinton? does it remind you of the circus and baggage of bill clinton? does it remind a younger generation that knows little about this? >> i have called monica lewinsky's hillary clinton's unintended wing woman. hillary clinton had her highest approval ratings back in march of '98. i don't think it hurts her. i think in some ways what you'll see going forward is when she is out ton book tour, since monica lewinsky has come out to talk about this, now she's opened herself up to these questions, it does remind you sort of the drama of the children tons and the baggage -- >> she won't like those questions, but she'll prefer to answer them now than in 2015, 2016. >> in as minimal a fashion as possible. >> i like that phrase.

up next, a look at why the tea party that had so many wins in 2010 and 2012 is so puzzled in 2014. first, in this week's installment of "politicians stay the darndest things,". >> mr. vice president. >> let me simply say, i don't have a plan yet, but i won't be to be number two. we've never sold a house before.

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welcome back. our puzzle this week explore it is tea party slump in the ballot

box in 2014. remember when they crashed tont scene in 2010, they all beat establishment candidates in the primaries. the establishment didn't like that much, but didn't like when ken buck in colorado, joe miller, christine o'donnell lost in november, leaving four seats on the table republicans think they could have and in some cases should have won. that was 2010. then in 2012, more of the same. these four candidates all bate establishment candidates. richard mur duck in indiana,ed to aiken in missouri lost in november, leaving on the table seats republicans, especially these two, think they should have won. let's fast wore ward. five primaries so far in 2014, zero, no tea party upsets so far. 31 primaries will be done by the end of june, will the tea party get anybody? it's a big open question at the moment. the next contest to watch, mitch mcconnell in con techy. cochran in the state of

mississippi. two incumbents that might be in trouble. at the moment republicans are pretty confident. cochran not quite out of the woods yesterday. the question, maggie haberman, we have a ways to go. so far the tea party is getting crushed. why is it different this time than 2010, 2012. >> energy is very different than 2010. also important to remember the element of surprise. the tea party wave was a wave. this has been a slow roll for the last several years. you an establishment that's getting prepared. you have groups like the chamber of commerce that are spending very heavy and aggressively. you also have places like the cochran race, it's important to remember that is not a seat the democrats are going to pick up. regardless -- that's a bit of a different situation. to your point about 2010, those are seats that became blue in some cases. it's not quite the same impetus

now. republicans have have put the tea party away. >> is the tea party in some ways winning by losing in the sense of tom tillis who won in north carolina last week? the tea party didn't want him. it's not like he was campaigning on a path to citizenship or let's raise taxes or a blank check on the debt ceiling. >> i think north carolina is a great case study for what's happened in the republican party. the party has shifted so far to the right that tillis when it comes to his platform, his ideology, he's in lockstep with the other candidates in the more tea party realm of the party in that primary. i think that's a victory for the tea party, they still may be nominating or pushing scanned dats that are a little flawed. you see chris mcdonnell in mississippi. these weren't top tier candidates, when it comes to who is nominated this cycle, they have tea party platforms. >> maggie made an interesting point about the chim ber spending money.

there was people who are not spending money, americans for prosperity, the koch brothers who supported a lot of primary challenges. this time they seem to be holding their fire for the democrats. >> that's why i think you can't necessarily say the tea party has lost just yet and the establishment has won. we have to see how the next few primaries pan out. it depends on what you will see in some of these primary fight, tea party groups spending heavily in the primaries. >> i think that's right. we have to see what happens in georgia. we have to see if chris mcmillen is able to gain any traction in mississippi. he's talking about residency of his challenger there. so i think it's a matter of what's going to happen in these next couple weeks. i also think we have seen this party shift to the right and that is a cred to it the tea party. >> establishment feels very

confident about lindsey graham in south carolina, very confident about mitch mcconnell, they think cochran. although we'll watch that play out. will 2015 be -- everybody in the republican party has tacked to the right. mitch mcconnell, john boehner not talking about it. if they get through 2014, will 2015 be what i call the year of the revenge? will john boehner and mitch mcconnell, especially if mcconnell wins the senate leader, will they bring up the immigration reform, the debt ceiling, will repealing obamacare become amending obamacare and will that be the revenge against the tea party? >> we have to seechlt you mentioned mitch mcconnell could possibly be the majority leader. we don't know about the house. is there going to be a revenge against the establishment in the house where the tea party says it's our turn now to have a leader that looks a little like what we want to do.

i do think it's instructive to look at clinton's presidency. he was able to get more things done in those last six years because he had those two houses of congress that were in the other side of -- >> if mitch mcconnell is the leader with 52, 51 and still has ted cruz, the tea party won't win many races but still have allies in the senate. how does that play out? >> it increases the voices that have become more marginalized in that respect. the big question mark for me and you can speak to this more than i can, the big question mark for me is can boehner execute more. i don't know what further leverage he'll have to try to get people to do the revenge scenario. we have republicans who believe they need to make some fixes on what has happened this cycle to help themselves for 2016. >> capitol hill on friday i was meeting with house r. they had an interesting point, they said with the boehner

benghazi select committee, they think he's building his political capital this year in the chance that should republicans win the senate majority he will have some kind of conservative support to maybe do something incrementbly and bipartisan in 2015. >> we'll watch. everybody stay put. our great reporters share tomorrow's news today including a bush family incursion on chris christie's new jersey turf.

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iths our mission each week to get you ahead of the big political stories to come by asking our reporters to share some nuggets in their notebooks. juliana. >> every election cycle the democrats use -- republicans on the side of special interests. the problem for the white house this year is they really don't have a good corporate villain, they can't go after oil because that hurts louisiana. it hurts alaska senate candidates. they can't go after health insurers because the president needs them on his side for obama care. can't go after the koch brothers even though harry reid is because democrats are saying our hands are dirty, too, in the super pac game. it makes that targeted message all the more difficult for democrats and the white house this year. they settled on republicans, to vilify republicans. it's not as strong a message as

we've had in the past. >> robert? >> on monday morning governor mark penz whether be at the granted hyatt participating in a gathering of editorialists, wall street republican donors for talk about a 2016 presidential campaign and has later meetings scheduled with donors throughout the city. i think pence is moving towards a run. you don't go to that meeting unless you have some interest. >> planning on attending that meeting actually. in more new jersey news, chris christie and jeb bush news, first reported on politico you had tom cane junior host a fund-raising for george p. push. tom cain said he found george p. bush wonderful, delightful, couldn't have lauded him more strongly. it was taken very privately by a lot of republicans in new jersey as an attempt to needle chris

christie in their on going feud, an attempt to make nice with jeb bush. >> love politics. >> ciersten gillibrand and claire mccaskill who are somewhat at odds over what to do about sexual assault in the military and shed light on sexual assaults on campuses. they'll have a meeting with university administration officials, law enforcement, students who have been victims of sexual assault. i think we're beginning to see what it means to have 20 women in the senate. that will start monday and i think kickoff at some point hearings that look into this issue. >> we all wish them well. let me close with this, marco rubio and rand paul in the republican speaking agenda met in memphis and took some time, surprise, surprise, to have private meetings as they prepare to run for president. i'm told the buzz about 2016 was very new to this year's meeting. yes, paul and rubio made a favorable impression.

a lot less bus about chris christie. one source put it this way, not much buzz at all because some of us are, quote, still waiting on jeb bush. that's it on "inside politics." thanks for sharing your sunday with us. happen many mother's day. "state of the union" starts "state of the union" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com benghazi, monica lewinsky. today, get together the facts on benghazi or exploiting it for politics. >> we will not take any shortcuts to the truth. accountability or justice. >> this is a stunt. this is a political stunt. >> house democrats ponder a boycott of the new benghazi committee and flesh cnn poll numbers show a healthy majority of americans do not want to repeal obama care. looking at it all through the prism of an election year with congresswomen debby wasserman schultz and