thunderstorms in the south central u.s. today. back to you guys. >> thank you very much, karen. go make some great memories today. inside politics with john king starts right now. president forcefully answers critics who says he paid way too high a price for sergeant bowe bergdahl's freedom. >> we still get an american soldier back if he's held in captivity, period. full stop. we don't condition that. >> but word quickly leaks hillary clinton would have preferred a tougher deal, and republicans rush to say the president is putting americans at risk. >> you do not trade -- one person for five, the hardest of the hard core murdering war criminals who will clearly re-enter the fight.

there she goes again. top obama aide susan rice defended praising bergdahl's military service and her discredited first take on what happened in benghazi. >> i regret the information i provided was wrong and i delivered to the american people. that doesn't make me a liar. it makes me a public servant. hillary clinton explains her hard choices as secretary of state takes us inside her roller coaster relationship with rival-turned-boss, barack obama. >> i don't believe in second-guessing people who have to make these hard choices. "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. with us to share reporting and insights, maeve reston of the "los angeles times," laura meckler of the "wall street journal." the big question in washington is whether the president intent

on a clean ending in the war in afghanistan paid to high a price. in an interview with nbc news friday night president obama says his critics are dead wrong. >> this is something that i will do again and i will continue to do wherever i have an opportunity if i have a member of our military who is in captivity, we're going to try to get him out. >> a sub plot of the debate over trading five seasoned terrorists for bergdahl is this. can you make the argument that he's now suddenly being soft or somehow blind to the threat of terrorism? let's get to that conversation, maeve reston, is it what he did, trading five for one, or is it how he did it, not notifying congress and perhaps underestimating the backlash to the questions of how bowe bergdahl became a prisoner of war. >> they absolutely underestimated the backlash. i don't think you would have done a rose garden ceremony like

president obama did last week if you knew the huge backlash that would come from this? i think there's still a lot of details we don't know about this deal, but what it does do is it allows republicans to make the case that obama is not going deep enough on all kinds of issues, whether it's bergdahl's whereabouts and what led to all this or obama care or anything else. it's sort of this drip, drip, drip of that. >> this is, steve, why we elect presidents. one person gets to sit at the desk and make this lonely decision. his chief of staff was telling reporters on friday, look, what did you want the president to do? wait until after november? >> is this a situation where he's dammed if he does or damned if he does. what if he leaves him there and he gets killed? >> what you said before is wise as well. you said it's something about how it was done. bringing congress in in some fashion might have been wiser. the actual facts are a little bit harder to argue with. if you think about the fact that

they're going have to trade something if they're going to get him out, what is too high a price? the israelis once again away more than 1,000 people for a single israeli soldier. that is a difficult decision. but then the question is how do you shape the discussion, how do you bring other people along with you. clearly there are people in the institution in congress who feel they weren't brought along. >> they not only didn't tell republicans, they didn't tell their friends, democrats about this. that doesn't foster any good will. they still need these people for a couple more years. if they keep doing things to keep them out of the loop, i don't know what they're going to do. >> dianne feinstein saying she looked at this and says she seize sees no credible threat on bergdahl's life. part of the argument is if it leaked out, maybe he could get killed or they would take his life. >> we've seen through the entire bauchl presidency, he's a very confident person. he thinks he's doing the right

thing. many times it is the right thing. he doesn't bring people along, doesn't get buy-in especially from capitol hill because he looks on them with a lot of destain, sees the politics that consumes congress and doesn't want to be part of that and thinks, i'm doing the right thing. i have a justification, i'm going to go ahead and do it without fully thinking through the consequences. >> is part of not fully thinking through the consequences. susan rice went out on the sunday shows, fair or not to republicans she is the poster child of deception when it comes to benghazi. here is what she said the sunday after about bowe bergdahl's military record. >> the point is he's back. he's going to be safely reunited with his family. he served the united states with honor and distinction. >> some of bergdahl's fellow comrades in arms took issue with that because he walked off the post. was he going to come back? we don't know the answer to that. he will be questioned. there will be an investigation.

susan rice in speaking with jim acosta last week tried to clean that up a little. >> what i was referring to is this is a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. that is itself a very honorable thing. >> there are some who say they shouldn't put her out anyway because she's such a polarizing figure. when you've not sure about what happened here, then why say that? why use those words. >> if you don't have all the facts yet about the circumstances which we certainly don't, why do you go out there and really wound a lot of military families who had soldiers who did not come back? this obviously created a ripple effect across america where now the administration has to deal with and clean up. >> they turned this deal down essentially, pretty much the same deal. they turned it down before. a lot of people are saying that's when the president had what i'll call team caution. leon panetta at the cia. the republican hold over bob gates, you had hillary clinton at state. a lot of people look at this

team when they say, no, it's not worth doing, not tough enough of a deal. they look now and see the president has surrounded himself with people who nod when he has an idea, they nod. secretary hagel at the defense department, secretary kerry at the state department, susan rice at national security. before we continue the conversation, let's listen to what hillary clinton talks to abc where she doesn't endorse the decision to make the swap, but doesn't criticize. >> of course there are competing interests and values. one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. it doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation. >> it doesn't matter? >> it doesn't matter. we bring our people home. >> she says that very clearly there, although, maeve, her people leaked quickly she wanted a tougher deal. >> her allies came out earlier this week and said she would have gone for a tougher deal, would have pushed for a tefr deal. we'll never know that. clearly that's a way for the clinton team to have it both

says where hillary clinton defended the president and her allies come out and say she would have been tougher, stronger, using an i'm mass queue lating word. >> is it just that the calendar is changing and the president is winding down in afghanistan and if he waits too much longer he might not have any leverage. >> different personalities. hagel is different than gates. i think any team with obama at the head is team caution. he's been a very cautious decision maker. >> here is another point. if we say should the president have been more cautious, let me ask this question, should republicans, especially republicans who want to be president be more cautious. rand paul was speaking to a republican gathering on friday and said, mr. president, let's set up a new trade. instead of taliban, let's trade five democrats. maybe he was trying to be funny. if you want to criticize the current commander in chief over

this decision, is this something you joke about? >> i think the obvious answer is no. this is a very serious matter no matter what. everything in our whole political discourse tends to get reduced down to sort of the lowest common denominator. i think that's a good example of that. at the end of the day, you may agree with the decision in the end. you may disagree. i think if he had gone the other way, it's just as likely he would have gotten just as intense criticism. imagine if we had not taken the deal and we pull out of afghanistan and he's still there. what would we have heard? we don't know. the upshot, it's a serious thing. serious people acknowledge this is a difficult choice, you don't make fun of it. >> particularly when you're rand paul and trying to stake out a certain foreign policy as part of your brand. it's surprising he would make a comment like that. up next, a puzzling question. why does someone, not just any someone keep popping up on days when -- this week's installment

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or in this case do the darndest welcome back, our puzzle today is a calendar and a curious pattern. watch this. competition you might say for the spotlight on the days that are supposed to be big days for the president. may 28, for example, the president outlining his global agenda, foreign policy views at west point. but up on facebook pops her, secretary clinton. she's got a book to sell. >> i think americans will find

in this book, of course behind the scenes insight, particularly my relationship with president obama and the white house, but also my views about what we needed to do to restore american leadership. >> oh, just a coincidence i'm sure. two days later, a big friday in washington. eric shinseki leaves, forced out as the secretary of veterans affairs. the president has that stage to himself, right? not so fast. hillary clinton's chapter in her book about benghazi leaks to politico. again, some competition. let's move on to month and this past week. on june 3rd, what happens? the president overseas doing a press conference, defending his decision on bowe bergdahl. that same day, clinton leaks she wanted a tougher one. as we close the week, the

president sits down at norman day for a big interview with brian williams. spotlight all to himself? no. hillary clinton's first interview with diane sawyer. jackie queue kucinich? >> it's almost mean girls. it's your birthday party? i already scheduled a birthday party. it can't be an accident. there's too many examples. with the hillary people, it's her time to shine. she's been in a corner far too long. >> the day shinseki resigned, maybe he wasn't so upset about sharing the pot light. >> some days it's good, some days not so good. >> i don't think it's i intentional. it underlines a deeper reality, he is gradually going to have to give up more and more of the spotlight to the president campaign ahead. >> it's happening so early. now her book is out. her book comes out this coming week. excerpts have leaked out.

let's talk about some of them. hillary clinton is using this to defend her record as secretary of state and we all presume to prepare for a most likely 2016 presidential campaign. maeve reston here is one thing she says. she says it's time to arm the rebels. she went to the president. the president overruled her. she argues no one likes to lose the debate, including me. but this was the president's call and i respected his deliberations and decision. how do you make clear on however many issues you choose, i disagree with the president but do it in a way that doesn't anger his part of the democratic base and doesn't anger him? he's been largely, i'll use the term, in her tank. >> let's start with the fact that there are no major contenders out there looming that she'll have to deal with. she can pivot to the general election voter already. i think this is an interesting dynamic where we're seeing her time an again create a little distance from president obama, particularly on foreign policy

which she wants to own in this campaign, and that's going to be a really tricky line for her. at the same time, i think the american people have kind of moved on and are ready to listen to what she has to say as opposed to constantly -- look where the president's poll numbers are. >> politically smart because it creates distance on an issue that might be sticky. but it also has the potential virtue, it might actually be true. there have been a lot of advisors in the administration that have urged the administration to do more than it's doing. >> in general, the way she's portrayed herself, as her people have portrayed her, a hawk on foreign policy. that is positioning her for a general election. >> but it does strike me with the progressives, it's not endearing her to a base of the party that's already skeptical of her. so i thought that was also interesting, that they're continuing to stake out this hawkish foreign policy. >> confidence on her part to your point, that there's no serious credible challenger emerging. she does in the book say she was

dead wrong to vote for the iraq war. she realizes that now. this one i find fascinating. one of the things you want to learn is take me behind the curtain of this fascinating relationship. she was not a fan of barack obama. she talks about a meeting before the convention. we stared at each other like two teenagers on an awkward first date sipping chardonnay. i have a 17-year-old daughter. i know that's a mistake, teenagers on an awkward date, i hope they're not shipping chardonnay. it is interesting these rivals sitting down, this was make peace before the convention, get ready pour the general election. two teenagers on an awkward first daye date. >> on other instances obama was smart enough to make sure it was publicized at beer. in any case it seems clear that this white house is letting hillary take the stage. there's signs that joe biden has been pushed to the side or any

other potential rival is pushed to the side. >> i'm the only parent at the table that takes offense to the shourd n chardonnay. as we read the book, another issue she'll be asked about on the book tour, karl rove, i criticized him for the way he raised the questions about hillary clinton's health. she had a concussion late in her term as secretary of state. i thought the way he did it was reprehensible. but he did raise a legitimate issue. she said she'll do with what other candidates do, if she runs, she'll make her records available. she also discussed the severity of the concussion. >> it was i think a serious concussion. >> but the clot in addition. if the clot had dislodged -- >> well, can i tell you? that was scary. >> you have trouble with vision. >> because of the force of the fall i had double vision for a short period of time and i had

some dizziness. >> she looks great there, very engaged in the interview. i think that's the test. can she answer the questions directly. if she runs, do they make the records available? as we watch her over the next several months, that's the ultimate test. >> this book tour and everything we've seen so far in terms of all the stops that are lined up, once again, it's hillary clinton showing her stamina, being able to campaign all night basically. i think her team has handled this issue in particular very well because it really does make the republicans look opportunistic, and bill clinton used humor to deflect it. now hillary is talking about it in a more serious way. >> it's one thing you can't hide. if she starts getting run down on the campaign trail, we'll see it. that's something they can't explain away if, in fact, she's ill. >> sit tight one more time. tomorrow's news today our reporters share some nuggets from their notebooks. information i could trust on how to take care of me and my baby. luckily, unitedhealthcare has a simple program

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as always, we close by helping you get ahead of the big political news by asking our reporters to share something from their notebooks. norm beckley, you're up first. >> coming into this election cycle, one of the incumbent senators viewed most vulnerable is lindsey graham of south carolina, he took on his party on a variety of things, voted for president obama's supreme court nominees, worked with the white house. most importantly he worked very hard on reform.

there were conservatives that thad him in their sights. his primary is tuesday. it looks like he'll be fine. a recent poll from clemson had him at 49% with 30% undecided. he needs 50% to avoid a runoff. it looks like he's going to probably get that. just another sign that the efforts to take people off from the right really aren't working. >> that would be a blow to the tea party there. jackie? >> don't expect any hearings from the benghazi select committee until july or beyond. house republicans appointed their select committee last month, and they're taking their time putting this together. they're making sure all the members are well versed, not only on the parts of the benghazi incident that the committees handle but all of it, making sure everybody knows every detail. this looks like a serious investigation. whether people take it seriously, they're making sure they're crossing their ts, dotting their is, making sure everything is together. >> rather than hillary book,

i've been reading documents released from the clinton white house, a reminder of how much has changed in a relatively short period of time. there's documents saying there's genocide in rwanda but we don't have to do anything, opposition to gay rights. there's a memo where bill clinton is warned about the image of his, quote, ultra liberal wife. she has spent 20 years getting over that and repositioning herself in a different way. her past in the white house will sure li be part of the campaign ahead if there is a campaign. >> i love reading those documents. maeve? >> out on the west coast this past week, jerry brown had a blow-out in the top two primaries. but you do have this new figure emerging, neel kashkari who is the gop nominee. he's going to try to position himself as the new face of california's gop which has been disseminat disseminated. nobody thinks he'll do well this year. but there's also this

behind-the-scenes battle going on between gavin newsom, camila harris and antonio vig rosa and can he position himself to be anywhere close to beating them later on or any other republican. >> rebuilding the california republican party with this reboot 27.0, sflit. >> i'll end with this one. the republican establishment up to and including the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell is seething that the karl rove-led super pact. mitch mcconnell will help cochran raise some money, he has an uphill battle against chris mcdonnell. other figures promise to stay in the fight but you notice haven't spent any money yet. i'm told the chamber of commerce, national republican senatorial committee are in the middle of an aggressive and focus group efforts, trying to come up with some sort of strategy to help senator cochran.

once they get the polls results, we'll see you soon, "state of the union" with candy crowley starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com saving sergeant bergdahl, the fallout. today, two exclusives. u.s. secretary of state john kerry talks for the first time about the five taliban prisoners released from gitmo to qatar. >> not telling you they don't have the ability at some point to go back and get involved. but they also have an ability to get killed doing that. >> and the response from senator john mccain. >> the exchange for five hardest of the hard core al qaeda/taliban will pose a threat to the united states of america. plus we are calling in the brass. three former generals from the