ben carson you want to be vice president? >> oh, that would be helllaexciting. >> think about how much they prep to get the cadence and everything just right. >> but i don't know if ben carson's ever said hell hellla exciting. >> that's true. we're so grateful you spent your morning with us. >> "inside politics" with john king starts right now. republican speed dating. donald trump courts congress and declares unity. now the question? is this a relationship that can last? >> the process of unifying the republican party takes some time. >> new tests for trump. controversial muslim ban. >> i'd like to back off as soon as possible.

>> audiotapes raising new questions about fake names and real girl friends. and will voters see the billionaire's tax returns before they cast their ballots? the bernie sanders team says nominating hillary clinton is courting disaster. but can the senator do anything to stop it? >> i say to those super delegates in the states where we won landslide victories, listen to the people of your state! >> "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm the other john, john berman, in for john king. thank you for sharing your sunday morning with us and with us to share their reporting and their insights, jeff zeleny of cnn, alex burns of the "new york times," jill col have an vin of the associated press and cnn's phil mattingly. mr. trump went to washington and

came back with a whole lot of unity and positive. the message everyone was eager to send. all eyes on speaker paul ryan, ten days ago here on cnn said he was not presumptive republican nominee. ryan and trump carefully released a joint statement acknowledging there are a few differences but they touted a united front and following the meeting, ryan had this to say about donald trump. >> we really don't know each other. first i though he was a very good personality. he's a very warm and genuine person. >> and then he had this to say about the republican path toward unity. >> our first meeting, i was encouraged with this meeting but this is a process and it's very important that we don't fake unifying, we don't pretent unification. >> so there's that. plus just a day after trump's descent on d.c. and questions about republican solidarity, the

presumptive nominee is answering a different line of questioning, this time about a 25-year-old audiotape, on it, you can hear an interviewer talking to a man who calls himself john miller, a man named john miller who allegedly works for a man named donald trump. some suggest the john miller sounds a lot like donald trump himself. >> a lot of the people that you write about really are, i mean they call, they get call, actresses, people that you write about just call to see if they can go out with them so i've sort of been put in here to handle because i've never seen anybody get so many calls from the press. >> we'll talk about the john miller situation in a moment. we want to start with the idea of unity. alex burns, who got more unity? donald trump or paul ryan? another way of asking, who is smiling wider this morning when it comes to the meetings? >> i think it was clearly a bigger success for trump than anybody else. he was dealing with this ongoing

spiraling narrative of the republican party, they were not accepting him as the nominee. he clearly has a ways to go with ryan in particular and a lot of party donors and conservative elites but that narrative of sort of a downward spiral for some did seem to turn pretty fast after that meeting. i think it's important to note trump is running around acting as though peace has been restored in the land, the problem has been solved. ryan left himself a lot of wiggle room to back away from trump if in the event he makes statements on policy or other outlandish john miller stories come out. ryan made it pretty clear to trump face to face and in public afterwards he would like to endorse the party's nominee but that's not where he is today. >> hold on to that thought of ryan providing cover for himself to back trump. i want to listen to donald trump

claiming victory in the meetings. >> i thought it was a very good meeting, i think paul felt the same way and everybody else did also. he's got not an easy job and i don't mind going through a little bit of a slow process we're getting there. >> that's sort of donald trump declaring victory. alex suggested paul ryan left himself an out. lot suggested paul ryan was providing cover who wanted to create distance from donald trump. i look at it the other way, what paul ryan was doing was providing cover for those who want to move to donald trump because it we saw a whole lot more of that toward the end of the week. >> no question. donald trump declaring victory here to alex's point it was a good experience for him. it was a good process for him, the start of the process. i think the end game and we've talked about this a couple of times, the end game for paul ryan is the open question for me right now. where does he go from here? looks like he's taking steps toward eventually endorsing the nominee. we all thought providing cover perspectives he wanted to keep the options open. he left himself wiggle room but

how much is the big question. you talk about the areas where they actually are agreeing on, okay, so according to officials involved in this meeting it was on supreme court nominees. it was on life or abortion rights. it was on a couple of kind of obvious issues but on areas where they disagree, the disagreements are so stark, are so extreme, compared to if you want to talk tax policy, if you want to talk entitlement reform, all the issues, how does paul ryan ever endorse when those issues remain far apart? i don't know the answer to that and that's kind of my open question as people start to move toward donald trump and it appeared paul ryan is one of those people, how does this actually end. >> seemed to be an official agreement to disagree. paul ryan didn't endorse but nine or ten chairmen in the committee on the house did. >> this demonstrates the fact that again and again you have people who leave one on one meetings with donald trump being genuinely impressed with him. it seems to be kind of this charisma game that he's playing

where they feel very much like he's listening to them, like he is a reasonable person that they can negotiate with down the line. the question is whether we see any concrete movement. we know people are concerned about his temperament and concerned about issues like immigration and the muslim ban. the question is, does he moderate on those issues at all? at this point he hasn't shown any tendency to do that. >> we saw a little movement in congress and lindsey graham had an odd phone conversation with donald trump, these guys have been bidding up on each other hard for months and months now. now they had a phone call. lindsey graham said i'm not on dersing but donald trump is really funny, he made me laugh there. >> it says more about lindsey graham more than donald trump. i think some of these people have to watch how much of their own credibility they may be losing here. no one has been farther out there on the limb being a skeptic as lindsey graham and for him to suddenly change his view, i think we are seeing things shift here. i would start by something paul

ryan said yesterday in janesville, wisconsin, we're beginning the process of discussing what unity in the party looks like, that's about three steps toward unification but for paul ryan it's about issues. i don't think he cares about these shiny object things. if donald trump holds the line on some issues he thinks it's fine but i'm not sure any of this matters. donald trump does not need lindsey graham. he's going to win south carolina. it's more important for house members and senate members than it is for the people with donald trump. >> he needs there not to be a third party candidate. >> no doubt. >> he needs there not to be ben sass or someone running from the right and jill "the washington post" had an article talking about these people from mitt romney to bill crystal, mike murphy trying toage tate to get that person out there but that person doesn't seem to exist. >> at this point they're looking for that candidate, and i think very much to the point that you were talking about. keep in mind this is a guy who

has not had the past two republican presidents, mitt romney is still not on board, eelements of the establishment not ready to go there and that's significant. >> mitt romney still going after trump hard, jeff. houng do you think he can keep this up? >> as long as he wants but it doesn't matter. mitt romney does not control any votes other than his own and perhaps his son's and whatnot. i do not think it matters what mitt romney is saying and ben sass for all the talk about a third party candidate he was sanctioned by the nebraska republican party, they voted he should stop talking about not supporting the nominee. i think this idea of a third party candidate is just that washington talk, and it does not matter. >> it would be great to get comment from the trump team on this and spokesman like say john miller the trump spokesman from the 1990s right now. i want to play you more sound from this spokesperson john miller of this tape that surfaced over the last couple of days. listen in.

>> so trump later on denied this was him, flat out denied it to the "today" show. lot of people listen to the tapes that sounds an awful lot like donald trump. is this weird or something that actually damages him? >> look, i think you have to, when stories like this come out and there are so many of them with trump, you have to imagine how would we all be reacting if a story like this had come out about john kerry immediately after he secured the democratic nomination 2004 and bob dole in 1996, bob dole seems to have impersonated himself as a spokesman several years ago. this is really outlandish, right? there is a risk for the press but for everybody that the bar for trump has been so progressively lowered over the course of this campaign, that he

has survived so many of these stories, that we end up ruling out the prospect that there really are voters out there who see something like this and think that's unusual. i was talking over this last week to a number of republicans who are rank and file republicans, registered voters, not people who are elected officials or professional political consultants, about how they feel about trump now that he's the nominee and the interesting thing was not just the level of discomfort, but that each one of them cited a different reason for why they felt so uncomfortable with him. each were called a different moment in his primary campaign, comments about torture or comments about prisoners of war, comments about women that there are so many different avenues to choose from in order to describe and rationalize their discomfort with this guy. >> 30 seconds lefts. the pig "new york times" take about trump's complicated relationship with women over the years. two pieces sort of investigative taking on trump pieces in the last five days, are we going to

see more of this? >> yes no question about it. get ready for it. this is the work you're going to see come out with regularity from all major publications. this is the process you get vetted by complications. tough stories with donald trump, will they stick. he will hammer home every one of the stories trying to make sure they stick. will it work? that's the question. >> there will be millions of dollars behind this. up next, the elusive trump's tax return, will the public get to see them before they head to the ballots? >> but first, politicians say and do the darnedest things. senator bernie sanders not all suited up but still working the prom circuit. here he is and elizabeth town,

kentucky, where are the tuck and ruffles. and when he isn't attending prom he's working on his new fund-raising strategy. >> well i don't take money from -- but i check the change slot. come on, $27, nothing. you can't give up on that contested election. you got to rock the system. got it.

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trump releasing his tax returns. listen to this. >> what is your tax rate? >> it's none of your business. you'll see it when i release it but i fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible. >> if trump does not release him, he will be breaking with a 40-year tradition of presidential nominees making the returns public. rnc spokesman sean spicer said trump should make a decision sooner rather than later with regard to returns but trump is vague to say the least about a timetable. >> i will really gladly give them, not going to learn anything but it's under routine audit. when the audit ends i'm going to present them, that should be before the election. >> jill, it was your interview with donald trump that raised the issue. the tax returns became an issue. his body language in that interview certainly with george stephanopolous when he said it was none of your business the body language seemed to be you're not going to see them before november. >> he's under audit and any lawyer would not release them

until the audit is complete. he's given no indication that he has received word that audit is coming to a close and i think at this point donald trump is very much what he told me was that voters don't care about this. he doesn't believe that voters have any right to see this information before they decide who to vote for and that people really don't care and i think obviously the clinton campaign is going to try very hard to make sure that people care. you have a candidate who is running on his business record, not an elected official, note from a congressman who has a record of votes or governor with a legislative record. he's running on his business record and people are looking for as many details as possible. he said there's nothing to learn, has he exaggerated his wealth, do we know anything about his charitable giving and there's a wealth of information and by not providing it he's leaving himself open to suggestions he's trying to hide something. >> how much did he make and how much did he pay in taxes? those are giant questions when

it comes to donald trump. will voters care that's a separate issue but can hillary clinton make them care, jeff zeleny and will they try? how hard about the clinton campaign go after this? you get toish eyes of transparency for hillary clinton, is that challenging? >> it is challenging but she was campaigning in new jersey on wednesday and a man shouted up out of the audience what about his tax returns and she went after it and kind of suddenly had a new line. she was not planning on speaking about it. i think the issue of hammering the clnts for not being transparent this gives her a lot of ammunition to talk back about it. the clnts released their tax returns for some 30 years. i think this is a big difference between the two. donald trump is calling on mitt romney four years ago to release his tax returns. he's on the other side of this issue. we have to put this in the column of his voters certainly don't care about it.

the question is, is this going to limit his expansion potential? it might. i'm not sure but i think sean spicer is voicing the worry of a lot of republicans, either do it or don't do it but every day this cannot be a drip, drip, drip, are you going to, are you not. makes him look like he's hiding something and in fact he probably is. >> i think the place where maybe the clinton campaign, democrats in general go with this now in order to ratchet up the pressure. we saw harry reid do it to mitt romney in 2012. >> harry reid was making stuff up. >> sure but if you can't get access to the information they'll do the next thing, speculate about the information in the tax return and you'll hear democrats, you heard mitt romney last week -- >> democrats like mitt romney? >> no, democrats and mitt romney. you heard mitt romney last week sort of having fun with the turnabout game here saying perhaps mr. trump should prove he has no connections to organized crime. you're going to see more and more people being creative with

speculating about what might be in those documents. >> all right, on the subject of creative, and perhaps shifting language, donald trump one of the few policy proposals he put out during the primary season, paper policy proposal was his suggested ban on muslims entering the united states. the campaign quickly after that proposal calling it a temporary ban. trump is changing the language even more. listen to what donald trump is saying about that. >> that's why it was temporary. sure i'd back off on it, i'd like to back off as soon as possible. we have exceptions and again it's temporarily and ultimately my aim to have it lifted. >> beyond that, phil, he also said it's a suggestion. it's just a suggestion. now i'm old enough to remember that when politicians run for office make campaign promises but with donald trump it may all be suggestions and that's the way he's done business.

>> any other politician would be crucified for saying something like that. donald trump managed to get through an entire primary saying those things. his language only the muslim ban is as big of a shift as it was played out to be. he's clearly leaving an opening but his campaign reiterated if still stands where he stands and the clinton campaign made sure to say after the interview he still backs the muslim ban. i think the difficulty he presents and did it throughout the primary for his opponents and stays so ambiguous with his language on what he needs. how do you pin him down on a policy tax if you don't know where he stands here. somehow it's worked out to his benefit. what you've seen the clinton campaign do try to hold him to account on a single position and not let him shift, done it with the muslim ban and on taxes up to this point, if that works i think is an open question. >> i'm not sure his voters thought it was a suggestion.

i was in the room on the aircraft carrier mt. pleasant south carolina when donald trump made the muslim ban suggestion. the voters were cheering embraced it and all along the line here the south carolina voters, a lot of republican primary voters embraced that. they didn't think it was a suggestion. i think he may have a problem with his own base if he keeps going in that respect. >> jill? >> i also found talking to voters immediately after he proposed the ban a lot of them interpreted it differently, they interpreted it as perhaps a ban on syrian refugees or other refugees coming into the country and it was interesting the amount of wiggle room they were introducing and i completely agree with you, if you look at his words aside from the packaging of it being a suggestion he's still proposing a temporary ban on foreign muslims, the largest growing religious groups in this country, in the world from entering the country. >> plenty of people on the other side saying it's dangerous. we know the democrat also hit

trump on going forward no matter what shift or language change he makes. bernie sanders is still running and still winning in some of the states he's running in. what that means for hillary clinton and her new trump-focused strategy. first our "inside politics" quiz question, donald trump and senator elizabeth warren have been in a twitter spat now for weeks. so here is our question. who do you think does twitter better? elizabeth warren or donald trump? vote now at cnn.com/vote. ♪ (woman) one year ago today mom started searching for her words. and my brother ray and i started searching for answers. (vo) when it's time to navigate in-home care, follow that bright star. because brightstar care earns the same accreditation

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there are only 11 democratic primaries or caucuses left. senator bernie sanders claims can he still catch hillary clinton. the senator from vermont would need to win 67% of the remaining pledged delegates in order to take the lead over hillary clinton by just one single pledge delegate. it's theoretically possible but

given his past performances in diverse states with huge delegate prizes like new jersey and california still to come, not likely. not probable. sanders says he and his campaign are not going anywhere until the last ballot is cast but with hillary clinton's pledged delegate lead and not so secret super delegate weapon, hillary clinton is really already shifted to the general election. >> what about his taxes? so we'll get around to that, too. because when you run for president, especially when you become the nominee that is kind of expected. my husband and i have released 33 years of tax returns. we got eight years on our website right now. so you got to ask yourself why doesn't he want to release them? >> jeff zeleny you cover the democratic side closely, scale of one to ten, how much is hillary in the general election and how focussed is she on