♪ hello i'm wolf blitzer, wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we are following breaking news right now, we are getting our first look at hillary clinton's tax returns from last year. the democratic presidential candidate and her running mate are trying to put pressure on the republican presidential nominee, donald trump to release his tax returns. trump said he will not release his tax returns while he is under irs audit. joining us now, cnn

investigations correspondents, and business correspondences. what is in the tax returns as far as hillary clinton is conditionered, what is the significance of the release? >> the significance is hillary clinton trying put pressure on donald trump and continue the trip, drip, drip, to force him to put out tax statements. he is yet on do that. let's take a look and break down the numbers in 2015. last year, had an income of $10.6 million. paid $3.2 million in taxes. and had a federal tax rate of about 31%. she paid a third of her income to the federal government. now it's important to point out here that the clinton campaign puts had that tax rate at 34%. we estimated it lower at 31% because we don't take in to effect the payroll taxes. about a third of the income.

that is consistent to what we have seen in years past. including last year. if you look at last year in what she paid in income. $28 million in 2014, so we have seen the fact that she has gone on the campaign trail, she does not have a book out and no paid speeches. most of the speeches are for free or to help her campaign. we have seen less than half of the income in 2015 that she brought in, in 2014. now, also important to point out last summer, hillary clinton put out eight years of tax returns, that filled in the gaps of when she was serving as secretary of state and now she is got tax returns from 1977, any citizen and voter can go back to 1977 to check and see how the clintons did. what kind of charitable contributions and what did they pay in taxes and how much money did they make? and she is trying to force donald trump in to releasing

taxes. in fact, there was a web video her campaign put out today, with republican, prominent republicans, mitch mcconnell, m.i. -- mitt romney making the case that donald trump should put out of the tax returns and questioning why he didn't. did he not make as much money or not give as much money in charity to veterans, the clinton campaign going to hit the point of transparency. >> allison, they filed jointly, bill and hillary clinton, so most of the income i take it from last year is income he generated, largely the result of his paid speeches. she did little of that, because she was running for president already, is that right? >> that is right, if you look deep in the pages as we have been doing of the return here. we see that bill clinton's speaking fees also dropped in the -- by the millions as well. $5 million, actually, that includes his consulting fees as

well. and there was a drop in book royalties for bill clinton, and interestingly enough hillary clinton saw an up-tick in her royalties last year, it is stunning though to see the huge difference in income from 2014 to 2015. the income in 2015, 10.6% and the income in 2014, the joint income at $27 million. but still, even with the drop in speaking fees that they got in 2015, speeches actually account for 60% of the income for the clintons. i do want to mention one other thing, charities. and it goes without saying that if you make less money, you certainly donate less to charity. so, we saw a donation of $1 million in charities versus $3 million to the clinton family foundation. so, that $1 million happening in 2015, $42,000 going to other

charities in 2015. so, if you look at last year, almost 10% of gross income was donated to charities. wolf? >> guys, thanks very much. let's bring in our panel, our chief political correspondent is with us and chief political analyst and washington post reporter david nakamura, and we are getting new poll numbers, in key battleground states that are very significant. >> significant and not good news for donald trump. let's start with north carolina. right now, this poll shows that hillary clinton is at 48% and donald trump at 39%. we have four states and i want to linger on this for a moment. just to talk about the significance. north carolina over the past half century has gone republican, except two times, and once was in 2008 for braoba

and then a flip back. let's go through the rest. hillary clinton 46% in colorado, donald trump, 42%. they have been trending democratic in the past couple of election cycles. and then to florida, we don't need to say how important florida is, we know. clinton, 44% and trump 39%. and the state of virginia, clinton, 46%, and trump, 33%. not good news for him. they will argue and we will argue, they have not started spending money on ads. look, he has been getting pummeled, not just having his own mis-steps but on tv and paid advertising in a lot of these places. >> we know, the numbers, trump looks closely at the poll numbers and they are not good for him. >> i think they are not,

obviously as we were saying and that is maybe why he is sounding gloomy yesterday, late in the day when he was talking about the possibility or even allowing for the possibility of potentially not winning this race. but just to echo what was being said about north carolina. romney won last time around and obama had won in 2008, if he were to lose a state like north carolina, if trump were to do that, then he makes up for that somewhere else. because he is taking away republican territory. right, which we are -- and the question is where would he do that? maybe he would try to do it in a state like virginia, maybe he would try to do it somewhere else, ohio -- michigan. >> michigan. >> yeah, wisconsin. >> he has to if he loses a place like north carolina. >> if he loses a state like north carolina, he has to go somewhere else. and the numbers in those states don't look great for him either at that point. they are scrambling right now and they know it. >> a five-point spread in

florida. if you look at virginia, 46-33, and colorado, 46-32, those are important states force these candidates. >> and there were report this is week that the clinton team is pulling their advertising from the two states they were so confident. the obama team cannot believe how much they had to fight in these states to turn virginia blue in '08 and colorado, a place with hispanic voters and they cannot believe it's the case. you see how much the democrats put in north carolina as well. even though they did not win it the last time around. they have put in a lot of attention in this state and they feel if they can win it, it's game, set, match. let's talk about the income tax returns. that was filed jointedly as a couple for the clintons. what does it mean they paid a million dollars in federal taxes. more than a million dollars.

>> what the clinton campaign is doing here is trying to say, look, we are public. we are releasing our taxes. we paid a high tax rate, and what is donald trump trying hide? we understand, we all understand what is going on here. the question is really, is how is the trump campaign going respond to this? you know, we don't really know yet because trump has said that i'm under audit and i'm not going to release my taxes and other people have said, you can do that and you should do that. his lawyers are saying it would be malpractice if he did it, and then the questions are out there about okay, what are his earnings what if he did not pay taxes, he is a reality developers. there's a lot of tax breaks for real estate. there's a potential for that. what did he give for charity? you know, he is going to continue, i believe, to defend his position. i don't see him giving up on it at any time.

and he may attack hillary and bill clinton on their sources of income. what did he say in the speeches what did she say in the speeches. but they are putting it all out there. i should say that so far it has not hurt him with his own supporters. so, let's caveat that. >> the adjusted gross income for the clintons, $10,500,000, and the year before 2014, adjusted gross income of $27.9 million, taxes almost $10 million. a million dollars in charity last year. how does this play out politically? >> well, i think gloria nailed it. the bottom line is, it's not surprising that hillary clinton and her husband have paid a pretty high tax rate because they don't necessarily have the obvious tax breaks that a real estate developer would have and

they are an open book, and if they tried to do what mitt romney did for example and found a way through his businesses to have a lower rate of 15% rate it would be terrible for their base and it would be a bad signal based on who they are. donald trump is a completely different case. he just is. and you know, the argument inside the clinton campaign is we just want to know what he did. it's a strong argument, what is he trying hide, there's no evidence that issue is hurting him now. there's other issues that -- >> it may not hurt him with his base, but with independents and maybe with democrats who don't like hillary clinton. >> if the clinton campaign can make this argument successfully that you know, we don't really know this guy, he is not an open book, he has never run for office before, we have released our tax returns for 40 years and we don't know anything about him, we don't know what he says

and we can't trust him. that could be a swaying argument with people still trying to work it out. >> people dealing with issues on trade and things like that, one thing that the democrats have been trying to say is that his actions don't match his words. it's been pointed out that his products are made in china, it's an area, not how much he may have paid in income taxes, his charitable donations, my colleague in the washington post has done a remarkable job of showing how little evidence that he contributed much of his own personal money to charity. this would be another way to force him to address that issue. >> it's all part of this theme that the clinton campaign is talking about, which is he is not, you don't know him. what is he trying hide. he is not who you think he is if you like him and you like the billionaire populace notion.

he is not that. how much does he give to charity? you have to pay tacks and he does not have to pay taxes. they are building a narrative to donald trump that you don't know him and therefore you should not trust him, which also counters the fact that they have bad trust numbers themselves. it's another way of going at him. >> they have bad trust numbers, honestly, trustworthiness. gloria, dana, guys, thank you much much, donald trump was saying he was only being sarcastic when he called president obama and hillary clinton the could you founders of isis multiple times. just how long has the u.s. intelligence committee known about russia's hacking democratic parties officials e-mail here in the united states. we are getting new information. picking up for kyle.

here you go. you wouldn't put up with part of a pizza. um. something wrong? so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? you want the whole thing? yes, yes! live whole. not part. aleve.

then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates.

maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. just one of the many features that comes standard with our base policy. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

that can camp out in between our teeth, if we'll let it. use gum® brand. soft-picks®. proxabrush® cleaners. flossers and dental floss. gum® brand. after days of donald trump insisting that president obama was the founder of isis, now he says that he was simply being sarcastic, listen to what he told conservative radio talk

show host hugh hewitt yesterday. >> i know what you meant, he created a vacuum and lost the peace. >> no, he is the founder of isis, i do, he is is most valuable player award. her too. he is the founder. >> and this morning he tweeted early that he was simply being sarcastic. former georgia congressman jack kingston is with us today, thank you very much for joining us. it's a little awkward, for 48 hours, he was insisting he was being serious, he was given opportunity, had opportunities to say he was just being sarcastic, and all of a sudden this morning, he says he was being sarcastic. >> this was a man never elected before. he is a private citizen running for the highest office in america. it's a transition you don't make overnight. that is number one.

>> so he was just joking but he was pretending he was being serious when he was talking? he has been on television speak forgive years and years and years, he had successful tv programs, he has done numerous interviews over the past, ten, 15, 20 years. it's not the first time he is speaking publically. >> a lot of times in television, rarely does something in the past that you say come back to haunt you the way it does in real time in politics. the reason he won the primary, one of the reasons he won is he drove the discussion. and by bringing the point up and forcing the clinton people to say, oh, no, wait a minute, wait, i was secretary of state then, i guess i had a hand in it too. he brought the discussion to focus on isis and as we know, isis did not exist when hillary clinton was sworn in as secretary of state. isis is now in 18 states. s that group that president obama called jv, now we are talking about eisis and it's a helpful thing to clarify.

>> let me clarify, isis did exist, it was called al qaeda and morphed in to eye kiss. the islamic state, there were claiming isis was in existence for a while. >> obama said it that we have al qaeda on the run, instead, al qaeda regroups and changes their stripes and name and rebrands. >> that doesn't make him the founder of isis. >> it happened under obama and hillary clinton. they should have said we pulled out and we did not have vuktry. >> here is an interview i did with donald trump in 2007 when president of the united states was george w. bush. >> they are in the midst of a major civil war and there's nothing -- and by the way, we are keeping the lid on a bit,

the day we leave, it will blow up. and saddam hussein will be a nice person compared to the man and it will be a man, it will not be a woman that we understand, people say, oh, gee, you did not give the women a chance, it will be a man. compared to the person that takes over for saddam hussein, he will be considered a nice person. he will be the meanest and worst guy and he will have one thing, he will hate america and he will use it to flame. so, i mean, this is a total disaster. and you might as well get out now, you just are wasting time. >> that's what he wanted to do during the bush administration. get out. remember another clip yesterday, declare victory and get out, it's a disaster and civil war, we have no reason to be there. we are losing lives and treasure. >> we cannot stress enough that he was a private citizen and that was in 2007. in 2009 president obama was the president of the united states and had all the best intel

available to him and should have known, what a private citizen said in '07 is different than what the president of the united states does in '09 and '10, and we know in the defense community not having a statement of force agreement caused the vacuum which allowed isis or al qaeda or whoever to regroup, reorganization. >> do you remember that so-called status of force agreement. the iraqi parliament voted against it and did not want u.s. troops there and the prime minister did not want to give maybe 5,000 or 10,000 troops legal immunity from iraqi prosecution. >> that was a matter of leadership. obama should have been able to negotiate. they are patriotic, but that is a given. president obama and hillary clinton should have shown the leadership to work out a statement of force agreement to avoid the chaos that we have had. >> let's talk about the taxes. he is now under renewed

pressure. hillary clinton released her tax returns last year. earlier released her tax returns, joint tax returns going back to the '70s, if you will. he is still refusing to do so. he is coming under a lot of increasing pressure, including from republicans. >> he is still waiting on the audit, he has been consistent about it and during the republican primary, scene candidates tried to trip him up on the tax return issue. maybe it survives another week or maybe it doesn't. where are hillary clinton's e-mails. nobody is demanding to see her tax returns, now we are talking about the clinton foundation tax returns which would be interesting to see if she wants to release those. we are more interested in her e-mails and what she did as secretary of state. >> you don't thi he will release the tax returns that were completed with the audit? >> i'm not sure of the timetable

and the campaign is considering these things. the reality is, in terms of the voter going in to the polls, knowing the household income has shrunk, people are unemployed or under employed. >> i think the voters, maybe not the core republican base want to know the tax rate he played and what kind of tacks he paid and what kind of charitable contributions did he pay? and i think they want to know those details. >> there's a group that is interested and there's a bigger group that is interested in her e-mails. it's an issue that is not going to go away. it's an issue she has not come clean about. if she wants to hold herself out as being a transparent candidate, we welcome it. show all of your transparency. >> you have seen the poll numbers in the key battleground states. he is not doing well in north carolina, and rginia, florida, right now, you know, maybe we are reading too much in it, but

yesterday, when he spoke about, i have not heard him speak often about what happens if he loses, he is sounded in a sort of different way, let me play the clip for you. >> just keep doing the same thing i'm doing right now and at the end, it's either going to work or i'm going to, you know, i'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation. >> i have not heard him talk about the possibility of losing, that was really one of the first times he has actually done that. >> the number one poll remains, wrong track, right track. depending on who you ask, anywhere from 67%, to 68% of the people still believe that america is on the wrong track. the clinton, obama economic policies have failed the working middle class. and what we saw with hillary's economic plan is a doubling down of obama's policies. she is rating them as an a-plus and all she'd be is a third term of obama and i believe as people focus and say, you know what, we

need change in washington. here is a guy who will bring the change, then the policy will swing. >> i want to clarify, the right track and wrong track. pollsters like to look at, you are right, 60% of the country thinks the country is moving in the wrong direction, as opposed to the right direction. but a lot of them are the liberal democrats that feel the president has not done enough over the last few years. it's not just conservative republicans. that number can be a bit misleading. the president's job approval number is where ronald reagan's numbers were at the end of his second term. >> a lot of those liberal democrats don't like the foreign policy and they don't like the support of hillary clinton's war in iraq. and so the end of the trade agreements. at one time, she said that the transpacific partnership agreement was the gold standard,

and now because of bernie sanders she is against free trade but donald trump has been consistent on these issues. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> thank you. >> cnn is revealing now, ties between the clinton staffer at the state department and the clinton foundation, we have new information coming in. we will be right back. african, european and asian. rg it was great because it confirmed what i knew in my gut with a little surprise. ancestry helped give me a sense of identity. ♪ wireless service is essential to our business. t-mobile network has been amazing.

i save a lot of time using t-mobile cause i don't have to worry about the overages. t-mobile has actually come to us and said "we see what is going on in your business, here's how we can help." switch today and get a free samsung galaxy for everyone in your business. we went to t-mobile, and we haven't looked back since.

california's clean air laws we've cut toxic pollution. we're seeing fewing cases of asthma in kids. and the new clean energy economy has created more than half a million jobs. i'm tom steyer. just when we're making progress, the oil companies are trying to weaken our clean air laws. but we can stop them. send them a message. we're going to protect our kids

- not their profits. ♪ a cnn investigation found new information involving ties between the clinton foundation and one of hillary clinton's top staff at the state department, during hillary clinton's time at secretary of staff, sherry mills

traveled to interview two candidates for a top job at the clinton foundation. this statement was released. she volunteered her personal time to a charitable organization as she has to other charities. cheryl paid for her travel and it was clear to all involved that it had nothing to do with her official duties. the idea that this poses a conflict of interest is absurd. joining us to discuss this is van jones. thank you for joining us. >> yeah. >> you see the comotion it generated, the appearance that it was not the right thing for a sitting secretary of state's chief of staff to go to new york and interview two candidates for top jobs at the clinton foundation. >> i have been tougher on hillary clinton than most democrats and i got flack for that. and i will continue to be tough on her when i think it's wrong. this, i don't get. i really don't get this one.

it's impossible to imagine what could, what bad thing can happen if a government official helps a charity hire a good person. it's what we often want a big official to do. you love it when the mayor or deputy mayor sits on the advisory committee and helps out. suddenly anything that involves the clinton foundation is a scandal, even a nothing like this. >> when she became the secretary of state, she said that she'd sever her ties with the clinton foundation and focus on being the secretary of state. in this case, the chief of staff was focusing part of her time on seeing who should get a job at the clinton foundation. >> okay, so, i still don't get the foul there. so she said i'm going to sever ties and work on these things, whatever. people often, when you are in public life, if you are a government official, you often volunteer, you do charitable stuff. the fact that her chief of staff, not her, it's not like

she is going over and making the hires. i don't think that people are being honest about how these networks work. you know a bunch of people, you work together, you are on this committee together and that committee together you go golfing. whatever. so you, somebody picks up the phone and says, hey, listen, we have to make a hire, you are smart. how does this destroy america because somebody helps somebody hire. >> the argument from the critics and there's a lot out there. they say, some individuals wanted to give a lot of money to the clinton foundation or the clinton global initiative because they had business interests that a secretary of state could help them with investments in the united states or elsewhere around the world, just to be on the safe side, keep a line of separation, a wall, if you will, between the two -- the secretary of state, you can direct aid money. >> yeah. >> you can make decisions -- >> that is -- >> you can be a benefit to a wealthy billionaire in europe, asia or africa or somewhere else. >> on that stuff, even the

appearance of in appropriateness is bad. we beat donald trump up every day because he is not careful with his words and words matter. even if you are not wrong, it's fine to put pressure on that. but this one, it's just a staffer that helps to hire somebody, it's much to do about nothing and it's trying drive a narrative that the clinton foundation is a scandal prone thing. there's a lot of people alive in the world today because the clinton foundation helped on aids and water and sometimes it's much to do about nothing. >> no doubt a lot of the work that the clinton global initiative has done, has saved lives. in africa and elsewhere around the world, he has been involved in haiti as well. god knows the people over there need help. it's the appearance, the separation, big time billionaires around the world give money to the clinton foundation and they look for a favor to the state department to help them in investments that

they have. >> that has not been proved. here's the deal, there's concerns about that, the fbi looked in to and some said i think we need to investigate more and the department of justice said no. all of that stuff, even though it's out there, it's not been proved, even though it's serious, has not been proved. this is literally a person in the government going to help hire a good person. what cheryl did was good. helping a charity hire a good person is good. i wish more government officials would go out and help the nonfor profits. >> there were fbi field offices that wanted more investigation and the department of justice said not necessary. >> i will say something about that too. people say, oh, the fbi want to investigate, and the department of justice crushes. it that is normal. the doj reviews it. you have a lot of good fbi people out there. they want to go after people,

someti sometimes, you can make a name for yourself. the department of justice has to make sure there's not over zealous prosecution. a lot of stuff, you whip it up and whip it up and you look at it and it's a big nothing burger. cheryl did the right thing. i'm glad she did it. >> the hacking of dnc e-mails raises concerns of security. the ranking member of house intelligence is standing by live, we will discuss when we come back. while the other guys use frozen beef from far away. wendy's only serves fresh beef from ranches close by. so we don't have to freeze it. add six strips of thick, applewood smoked bacon. and wendy's baconator isn't just different, it's deliciously different.

ssoon, she'll be binge-studying. get back to great. this week sharpie singles now twenty-five cents. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

what i love about the tempur-breeze bed is it's cool. so you're not too hot, too cold, you're just perfect. sleep cooler, wake more refreshed, discover the new tempur breeze. learn how you can change your sleep by requesting a free sample of tempur material. call or click today. the hacking of democratic national committee e-mails created a firestorm of controversy and created havoc at

the national convention. it cost three staffers their jobs. it appears the damage does not necessarily stop this. the e-mail breech may be a lot bigger than thought. as a result, the cybersecurity advisory borard created, the dn will be providing appropriate notice to affected individuals next week, those individuals receiving the data breach notice will receive offers of assistance to help mitigate threats to their financial security. let's discuss what the u.s. intelligence committee knows about this hack and where it's going, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> this is bigger than dnc, the d triple c, may be individual democrats out there, they were hacked as well? >> can't go in to the specifics, if you can imagine, if the dnc

was hacked that it could expose all kinds of e-mails, financial information, what was in the possession of the dnc, or whatever information you can migrate to from dnc computers. i would not be surprised to see a fairly broad notice of people affected. >> nancy pelosi said that russia did the cyber attack. and said it flatley and publically, can you confirm that? >> i can say on the basis of public information, it certainly seems that a lot of the indicators point at the kremlin, russia has been known to participate in the activity and they have the means and motive to do it. it will be up to the president and administration to make that finding. we have urged the administration to do that finding publically when they have the confidence in the intel because i think it's one of the important ways of deterring this kind of medaling in our affairs. >> you wrote a letter, if true,

and if russia made the material available to wikileaks for release, then the episode will represent an unprecedented attempt to meddle in american domestic politics, one that demands a response. if you confirm 100% it was russia. they gave the information to wikileaks, what is the appropriate u.s. response? >> it starts with attribution, you have to name and shame the responsible actors and then there's a range of things you can consider. anything from indicting responsible parties. using the laws to bring about sanctions on individuals, more broad economic be sanctions. so, i think it will all start with a public attribution of who is behind it and that's the most powerful and certainly the necessary first step to any other consequence. >> and you think a lot more of these very sensitive e-mails potentially could be released

between now and the election in november? >> it is possible and we, you know, have seen, if there's a state actor involved, we have seen them deliberately try to sew chaos. it is consistent with the russian playbook, it's unique in such a potentially high profile attack in the united states and the interfering with the presidential campaign that, is unique and unprecedented effort to interfere in the political process. >> we have heard of the clinton campaign saying that the russian's motivation is to hurt the clinton campaign and help donald trump. >> i think, they have a strong interest in seeing donald trump be the next president given all the admiring statements he made of putin. so, you could see all the reasons why, but there's another reason too, and that is that he

may want to damage secretary clinton, she is a formidable adversary, and the russians believe we are interfering with them. >> there's a report that the u.s. intelligence community knew of the hack of the dnc e-mails a year ago and deliberately did not tell anyone at the dnc because it could have compromised sources and methods and under mined u.s. intelligence gathering capabilities. what can you tell us about that? >> i cannot speak to that. i'm not allowed to comment on what we were briefed on. i can say this, when the intelligence community is made aware of foreign hacking of u.s. institutions. whether it's government agencies, private parties and nonprofits. they do make an effort to notify and put these organizations potentially on notice to defend themselves, sometimes they are able to share cyber threat information and in fact, we passed legislation to facilitate that kind of sharing.

but they have to protect sources, methods. although there's usually a way it can be done. >> unrelated issue. donald trump is causing stir in an interview with the miami herald he is suggesting that u.s. citizens that are charged with terrorism should be not sentd to a court here, should be sent to guantanamo bay to a military tribunal. >> would you autry to get them try u.s. citizens there? >> i know they want to try them in u.s. courts and i don't like that at all. >> would that be fine to try american citizens in guantanamo bay? >> it's at odds with the guarantee of due process. it reminds me of when donald trump said well the constitution protects the free exercise on

the religion and i don't believe in that. he feels free to exhe press views at odds with the constitution and equally disturbing were the recent comments laying the responsibility for founding isis at the hands of the president and secretary clinton. this feeds right in to a narrative that a lot of people in the region have, that isis was of our creation that wanted to turn muslim against muslim and here is another example of donald trump doing damage to the national skurtd interests to help the campaign. >> he now said he has been sarcastic. >> that is what he says at the end of the day. >> coming up, donald trump is set to take the stage any minute now in erie, pennsylvania. a large crowd has gathered. will he clarify his comments on isis and guantanamo bay? we will check it out. >> i love i. landing on the roof of a dutch colonial.

luckily geico recently helped the residents with homeowners insurance. they were able to get the roof repaired like new. they later sold the cow because they had all become lactose intolerant. call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. callinall providers.rs. all self-motivated self-starters. drive with uber and put a dollar sign in front of your odometer. like this guy. technically i'm a cook. sign up here. drive a few hours a day. make $300 a week. actually it's a little bit more than that. that's extra buy-you-stuff money. or buy-them-stuff money. calling all early risers, nine-to-fivers and night owls. with uber-a little drive goes a long way. start earning this week. go to uber.com/drivenow i just want to find a used car start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem...

show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com.

donald trump has been widely criticized for his repeated claims that president obama and hillary clinton were co-founders of isis. trump said today that he was simply being sarcastic. let's bring in our national security analyst and author of

"united states of jihad," peter bergen. peter, thanks very much for joining us. you wrote a very important article on cnn.com, the headline, "no, obama was not the founder of isis." did you ever think you would have to write an article like that? >> no. but every day brings some new claim by donald trump in this area. he's going to give a speech on monday laying out his plan for fight what he calls radical islamic terrorism. i'm obviously very curious to hear what he says. >> supposedly he'll give specifics and steps that need to be done. >> in particular it would be good to know, first it was a ban on muslims, a ban on countries with terrorism. france has a big terrorism problem. is he suggesting that french citizens not be allowed to come to this country? or belgium? pick your country. >> the notion though of

president obama being a founder of isis, hillary clinton being a co-founder of isis, we've heard those accusations from others around the world in recent years. >> yeah. i mean by putting this absurd claim out there he's kind of disguising what is, after all, an important policy debate about did we leave iraq at the end of december 2011 not leaving troops, could we have done more, might that have made a difference. that's all a very legitimate discussion to have. what is not legitimate is to say that hillary clinton and president obama were co-founders of isis. makes no sense. >> you've heard elements in russia, elements in iran, for example, they've made similar accusations against the president of the united states. >> right. conspiracy theories are rife in that part of the world. we operate in a fact-based, evidence-based culture. he's right ly been taken to tas to an absurd claim. >> this morning he tweeted he's simply being sarcastic. >> it's not funny.

accusing the president of the united states of founding isis, how can that possibly be a subject for amusement or sarcasm? >> he's being cute or whatever, he wants to put the issue on the table and get people -- we heard from one of his advisors say, this is a way that he can get a serious conversation going. >> that's fine if you're an obscure republican candidate with no chance of becoming president. when you are the -- when you have a possibility of becoming the president of the united states, you have to be much more careful about what you say. >> what's the impact of his words out in the middle east, for example? >> you know, interesting, i asked this question to a pollster who does a lot of work in the middle east. he said to some people in the middle east, like trump because of his opposition now to the iraq war, his non-interventionist, that kind of thing. butter in's also sort of puzzled by him. >> are the russians presumably favor him as opposed to hillary clinton? >> i have no doubt. >> you have no doubt about that. >> yeah. >> all right. lot of people have no doubt about that. thanks very much, peter bergen.

once again, we recommend the article on cnn.com, "no, obama was not the founder of isis." i recommend people go ahead and read that article. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." the news continues right after a short break. fresh ingredients, step-by-step recipies, delivered to your door for less than $9 a meal. get $30 off your first delivery blueapron.com/cook.

hi, everyone. top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow in today for my friend, brooke baldwin. we begin with this, donald trump bruised by sagging poll numbers. any moment trump will make his first appearance on a campaign stage since blaming the media for a backlash that he got after tripling down on his false declaration that president obama founded isis. he tweeted this morning, ratings challenge reports so seriously that i called president obama andnt