trail. the constant headlines about different clinton issues and controversies has made it not so an and embrace from the democratic party. a meeting that took place this past week between donald trump and speaker paul ryan. what does that the speaker? movemente speaker is a conservative, not a salary to he defines himself politically. he remains that. he is trying to not only be the head of the republican party, but the head of the conservative movement. he's someone you trying to grapple with both of those two poles of the right. i think what this conversation leads them is in a top position. because he knows a lot of the members want to rally to trump. in some of their states he could be helpful in rousing working-class vote is. at the same time he does fear that the refuge of the republican party could be at

stake if you have a nominee totally discard conservative principles and how they usually thought of. way ryan thinks about this will cut through the way ryan thinks about trade. he is a hawk on foreign policy. i call it a containment challenging with john. trying to meet with trump and doesn't bring he the party too much a populous direction. of theront page washington post. the gop effort to derail donald trump your time is running out. mitt romney, bill kristol, behind an effort to get somebody to challenge donald trump on the right. name some of the names in your hearing. guest: my colleague and i said a few days reporting on this to find out who won the right is talking about this. and it is mostly a ragtag band of consultants. conservative activist, and mitt romney appeared mitt romney has really played an important role in this group your did is

reaching out to key players who he thinks could have crossover appeal in a three-way race. john kasich was the most surprising name we found. romney has made personal overtures to the ohio governor, asking him if he is any interest in being an independent bid. we also needed around the and others have reached out repeatedly to ben sasse nebraska senator who is a favorite of those on the right is to him as someone like ted cruz, with more of a sunny demeanor. some other surprising names, senator coburn, the former oklahoma senator. outrageeen having some and military figures. bill kristol. there is been some celebrities have had some personal overtures like mark cuban, the owner of the dallas mavericks. host: mark cuban is said that he is not going to run. guest: he did. let me go back to a speaker reince said last week after the meeting that took race

-- place saying that it was a cordial meeting, but he is not ready to endorse them. >> the process of unifying the republican party take some time. there are people who are for donald trump who referred ted cruz, with the john kasich, who are for marco rubio, and everybody is. it is very important that we fake unifying we don't pretend unification, that it truly and actually unify so that we are. in the fall. i don't want us to have a fake unification process here. i want to make sure that we really truly underand each other, that we are committed to the conservative principles that make the republican party that built this country. again, i'm very encouraged. i heard a lot of good things from our presumptive nominee. and we exchange differences of opinion on a number of things that everyone is rehab. there are policy disputes that we live.

of republicans disagree with one another on policy disputes. encore principles, those of the kind of things that we discussed. host: the news conference that took place last thursday with a speaker paul ryan. you can almost hear two people talking into paul ryan zero. mitt romney calling donald trump a phony. and ryan's previous saying we need to unite this party. he doesn't have a wide circle of advisers that have been actuated over the years until his political advisers, but he is a lots of mentors intellectually have guided him over the years. you have people like bill bennett who is in the year, the former education secretary for ronald reagan. he is more of a trumping kind conservative. he has been talking to ryan saying that you have to recognize the republican base.

is worse for who the billionaire paul singer, he worked with ryan in 2012. he is part of the story today, looking for an independent candidate. mitt romney of course looking for an independent candidate. ryan is not only try to juggle his conference in trump, he is trying to juggle his own inner circle. i think for someone what makes it so interesting is that the medical figure is that unlike speaker boehner, or unlike this is a republican who really came up to the conservative side of the party and was not climbing the political ladder, who jumped into the speaker's chair not because they really want to do, but because is necessary at the time to fill a spot. our phone lines of the you can cause in just a moment. you can also send us a tree. -- a tree. a question earlier this morning about whether or not they are relevant. let me ask you, is a donald trump's boys. he says no. guest: donald trump says it is

not his voice. the washington post believes it is his voice. people who knew trump at the time are sure it is his wife. he denies that. however i think as you look at some right now, he is the presumptive- republican nominee. everyone a shiny figure out who is this man. he's a global celebrity and a phenomenon. there are still many unknowns out there. who is this person it may be in the white house. that is what we are trying to find out, and the recording is fascinating. the recording tells us not just about his willingness to her perhaps act as a zen spokesman. what is interesting as a political porter, that this is someone navigating the tabloids as a public celebrity in the 80's and 90's. and it really shows trump trying on his own. persona

that is something we've seen on this campaign. how to use the press, how it uses its constant access, how uses the ability to come up with a line that will create headlines of that version on toy. on a story. he is a figure who knows how to use those things and publicity in a way that most politicians cannot. your colleagues were on the phone with him on friday talking about a lengthy conversation about its finances. reportedly 44 minutes into the conversation, your colleagues asked him whether not he was john miller, the phone went dead. called back, his secretary said mr. trump is busy. what happened? guest: that is exactly what happened. i was nearby the call as it unfolded. this is typical donald trump a donald trump likes to talk to reporters. he believes he can be a zen and spokesman -- he believes he can be his own spokesman. donald trump likes to create the

narrative around him as much as possible and not to let other people do. some of more calls on these detailed questions like finance than most politicians would. he also has a flair for the dramatic. hung up at the washington post, it's because he wanted to jot about his finances in his business. he did not want to talk so much about john miller. host: you will be in new york tomorrow to sit down the donald trump? guest: i will be. we have cap timed with him on monday at john tyler. what i'm really curious about is the general election. this is someone has been the primary for months, how is he going to win over the country. guest is robert costa who has also made many appearances on on this network including a q&a interview. to the independent line from georgia. caller: earlier you said you were not running for president, but if he was, i wanted you to

know that i would vote for you. you have to be a lot better than what we've had to pick from this year. bob i decide to questions frequent. hillary uses that phrase about her e-mails, and i forget the ne. director, the other day says he'd never heard that term before. i was just wondering why somebody does not push her on ont and try to pin her down where did that phrase come from, .hy do you use it two, are you one of the 20 members that its washington post has put out to do a hit job on donald trump? host: on the second question, there is not a hit job about donald trump going on at the washington post however there is a book project. i'm not part of the book project.

that ise is a book delving into his biographical story and donald trump's career at an political ambitions, and political views. that is a project that is ongoing and marty baron, the washington post editor is kind of head of that project. on the first question hillary's, weretary clinton's e-mails, see this is something that is lingering over campaign ahead of the kentucky primary. it is that the four of how national democrats inc. about the general election. because of the unpredictability of the issue, the indecision at the moment it seems on the fbi's side of things has made some people on the left and the democratic party nervous. just about what could come. director --fbi the fbi director says the issue can result. host: couple of question --

comments from our viewers. starting to get their mind around the fact that trump has been using them in a different way than the political process. of our regular traders saying in a trump presidency he will be a zen spokesperson. no one else will be able to with a straight face. joining us from texas. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i enjoy your show and watch it all the time. i have two concerns. i understand that we have congressional and senate republicans thinking about running a third-party construct. this has been tried in 1992. with ross perot. and it got a democrat elected. that is what is concerning me. if we run a third-party, we may very well and of getting hillary and office. in office. the second thing that concerns me is this in choir that hillary is talking about.

it is an investigation. the fbi does investigations. not inquiries. i'm concerned, and i haven't heard any news media, what is in the works. -- is hillary has lied. is there a presidential party possibly in the works to exempt her before she gets in office? is that possible? let me just ask you about timelines. host: do you have any sense of when the justice department will indict her? guest: i do not. reporting on that is often difficult. it is a black rocks. it is a lot like the supreme court, there's only so far you can go. there has been some great reporting on both institutions of course in the past decades.

as a reporter when these investigations are going on, it is just not a normal reporting process. we've heard a lot of speculation . i can't sit here and tell you exactly what the fbi's going to do. i have been pretty cool a pretty quiet about it. to the colors point about billy clinton's lies. guest: he talked about a presidential pardon perhaps in the work for secretaries in. i have not heard that it is in the works for the obama administration is a warm relationship with secretary and. they are certainly ready to sport ever win the democratic nomination. pardon, myea of a reporting does not back it up. how was david a bank to lunch on thursday? does everyone know the this?tory to the juncke

the guy is just walking humor. this wholeatching week is using going through this process of trying to take the .ctual newsprint and he has been trying to break it at the washington-based kitchen. he has been on television to talk about it. he's than all the different dishes, and yet on friday night as it in the post newsroom, it is late, probably the 8:00. and i got such a great image when i walk i know things desk and there is one bottle of trump wine that was sitting there opened. i got this image in my head that represents the election for some reason. host: this is the sunday opinion session. i ate my worries about trump, but electing him would still be a recipe for brewing. -- for brewing.

ruin. if i go to bill, i will be voting for bernie. not because i think is wonderful, it will be a vote against hillary. who did you vote for in 2008 if you did vote? caller: i did not vote in that. i don't understand why romney and the other republican are stirring the pot. they shouldme like get behind the people's choice in the republican party because of this trump apparently. and they are just doing everything they can do. they are exasperated.

that is just the thing i kept coming across the my reporting. this group of republicans and conservatives, they cannot stand that this political antelope, whoalien or outsider doesn't share their views, who is very easily moved on issues in their view. understandst cannot that he is going to be the republican nominee. i'll say that because of some of the incendiary statements he has made. exhibit related to women, things that it related to race, they called the moral line they're not willing to cross to go for trump. they also don't want to vote for secretary clinton. so at this late hour, they are looking for an independent candidate. it is a difficult time for them, because they keep making all these calls, nobody wants to make the political race to get risks to getical into a race we could be blamed by conservatives for giving the white house to secretary clinton.

it is also hard to get on the about it -- to get on the ballot. the time is difficult and the clock is ticking. host: and it's expensive. guest: it's expensive. that's why mike murphy told us because it is very expensive, and because time is short, what they're looking at now, and it sound like a fantasy, there's probably not a real sick scenario. but one strategy is to play in a few straight strategically. hampshire, and go to a place that swing state senate races so you can get the moderate republicans who may , you can get those moderate republicans out the vote and stop trump. the thought if you just had a

few states out there with an independent candidate, you would surly stop trump . megyn kelly is about to release an interview that she conducted with donald trump. the story from new york times, megyn kelly can't tractor -- set to expire next year is prime for the big show. [video clip] >> you seemed to stagger for months. was that real? or was that strategy? >> i'm a real person. youve great respect for that you are able to call me and say let's get together in the stock. for me, i would not have done that. i don't see it as a positive, i think that is a negative for me.

>> i think the doorman are still recovering. >> i think the whole building is recovering. guest: that trump is the jump i've often encountered covering him. off, he is thes same trump, is the same manner of speaking, but he does not have the brawler persona. he doesn't have the pug nation's attitude that we often see at these rockets rallies that have really defined the 2016 campaign. i always think back to december 2014 when i started covering trump close. nobody thought he would run for president. but i just recognize what is that trump tower talking to his associates, that donald trump, the donald trump is very aware of the dynamic socially and politically, who was not just someone was looking for a punch. that this character, this

political figure, was probably likely to run for president and was doing things behind the scenes in a very even way, and that struck me as a reporter as something to watch and meant to me that he may be more serious than people think. this is from another viewer sang republican establishment is way out of touch with the people and their anger. brian on the independent line. caller: good morning guys. i think the cultural phenomenon really exposes three think. political process is rather embarrassing. number two, the poor, absolute poor quality of television journalism. donald trump acts like an adolescent only. -- bully.

every time he breaks, tv media talks about them for hours. then we will get 10 minutes about hillary clinton's fbi investigation. it is completely out of control. there is no proportionality to it. it also demonstrates the absolute corrupt and poor quality of both of our major political parties. the republicans are just about to crumble because of donald trump, the adolescent bully. and then we have the absolute corrupt democrats putting 40 candidate who is a proven liar, ,isbon investigated by the fbi her husband is a proven liar. nobody wants to talk about the whole clinton global initiative and its big mess. instead, we get the latest utterance of donald trump. on and on and on. guest: quite a number of points you brought up there. just to take a knock at a few of them.

on the point about corruption in the parties, if you can frame it like that. but i really think of a republican side, i don't see it as corruption is that there were no use, i think there has been a collapse of the institutional power of the republican party. it has created a vacuum whether it has been the fracturing of the right with the rise of different conservative groups. but the party itself has been it has created ability for someone from the outside with no real ties to the party by donald trump to emerge and take the nomination and a year of unrest, not just in the economy and politically, within the republican party. i'm not a media credit, i think your use of the word utterance. -- is a good one. trump has found a way to change the new cycle. now in social media, the media

has often become especially the television coverage in social media coverage, moment by moment. having someone like trumpet comes out of the tabloids culture of new york being on the new york post front page for years and then becoming a .eality tv show this is somebody has an ability and a recognition of the power and veterans. g news, trump plane has landed in wherever. at me go back to reporting of potential third-party bid. you say the gop commissioners are positioning private polling, aligning up funding and according potential contenders, realizing that it is getting late and this has ramped up has theump effectively republican nomination. what are the chances of a third-party candidate? guest: i think the chances are

growing, but they remain pretty distant chances. ohio you mentioned governor kasich. he signed a pledge saying he would support the nominee, thinking donald trump would be the third-party candidate. guest: a lot of people walked away from that pledge. it is a pledge, not the legal documents. the party itself cannot require anything of these candidates. i think kasich talked to his people and they went on the record and said, he is not interested, but he will be on and the is not given an interview since he got out of the race, so we will see what he says. host: john joins us from south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i had a statement and question. my statement is that i believe the staff of bernie sanders has a lot of money to make continuing on with his bid for the nomination.

bernie has changed since the beginning of all of this. my question to you is i have not heard you guys or any of the if bernie talk about took all of his resources and all of the following that he has and started to help democratic contenders from the senate. he could greatly and possibly retake the senate with his help and the enthusiasm of his people, and that would give them the ability to challenge chuck schumer for the senate majority leader spot, and with him and hillary clinton in as president, they could get huge amounts of his agenda done. none of you guys have even brought up that possibility. i am wondering if you would address that for me, sir, and i

do enjoy you and i think you're great reporter. host: thank you. guest: it sounds that you are top strategist a run for their money. i have never heard that senator sanders is anyone who has shown ambition to be in leadership for guest: i think the question about how sanders utilizes as network is an intriguing one. because he is currently engaged but no one is expecting them to put his money elsewhere. the system and it came to the democratic party late. the identified as a democratic socialist, he was an independent in the party for year. does he sit on the sidelines? does he utilizes network to get on the democratic senate candidate.

host: hillary clinton, bill , howon, chelsea clinton critical is that her campaign? guest: when you look at the superdelegates, so that secular printing is going to be the it still looks like henry clinton is going to be the democratic nominee. i think he could do very well in california, and i think as a reporter what you have to ask yourself is -- should sanders when california, what does that do to the democratic race? there has been no talk about sen. sanders: on the ticket. we really hear his name as a vice presidential candidate. we seen this before with reagan and 80. -- and 80. i'm not saying i've any my point is

politically, a victory in california would be a crucial step for sanders to really assert himself as a major figure in the democratic party. where if you talk over the nomination, has proven that he deserves a seat at the table edge on the ticket, and other significant way the convention. he still has the money to compete in california. guest: he also has a grassroots activism or working in california right now. host: robert costa is a graduate of notre dame and hurt -- earned his master's from university of cambridge in england. time magazine reporting on hillary clinton. her new plan to trump trump by being boring. guest: she looks at the general election and you can just tell that there are voters in places like the philadelphia suburbs, and other moderate enclaves in

the country that even if they are inclined to a republican on fiscal issues and foreign-policy issues. there is a concern about trumps temperament. by being quote boring as you put it in summoner is a more even and not doing the day-to-day fight with him, -- drunk, she may be appealing to those republicans. at the same time, could be smart politics for clinton. as a political figure running for office, she is really dealt with it today combat with a figure like donald trump is relentless. say what you want about his politics are his views, he was a relentless person. boring may be a save strategy than getting bloodied up. i'm going to erupt near

tomorrow, and i have two stop by to see some hillary clinton advisers and see some donald trump people. new york is the center of the world. as a philly guy and a guy lives in washington, you don't want to give them that title ii much, but they did is ever politically this year. and makes it easy for reporters authority does take the train up. caller: good morning. i'm surprised that psychologists and psychiatrists haven't done a serious profile trump. chavez theed joshua republican from you to. -- from utah. guest: the psychiatry donald trump, that is something i try to be below. just it to the facts.

[video clip] >> donald is a bully. >> the most vulgar person ever to aspire to the presidency. >> the man is utterly a more on. -- a more on. on. >> he is a race baiting, xena phobic. a narcissist at a level i don't think this country is ever seen. >> the sky is so unfit to be

commander-in-chief. >> i bring people together. everybody loves me. he needs therapy. host: the latest in a series of bad in the clinton campaign. despite donald trump's player in style, you type of executive leadership we need now more than ever. the democratic ad is telling, because this is what we are going to see in the advertisement assault from secretary clinton and her highlight super pacs the next two months. donald trump is absurd, he doesn't have the party behind him. then we have headlines that we .aw in the new york times you see these polls a republican

voters showing voters quite giggly moving to back donald trump. you see this on capitol hill as well. a lot of house members have meted which often they are ready to back him and move on from this primary. trump is going to have to deal with both of these things. he is winning over the party, perhaps quicker than he might have imagined. it is not exactly an enthusiastic warm embrace. he is going to have to keep them on his side. and he is going drop to fend off the democratic ads. there's enough money on the democratic side to do this anonymous every state. to put these kind of message is out there. first ellis in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing. ? president obama said it real clearly. this is not a reality show. this job being the president of the united states is very

serious. that's why i cannot understand why these people are bragging donald trump. is one question of going to ask the young man. lying, what about bush, cheney, condoleezza rice, and all of those people that lied about the war. even donald trump himself said that they lied about weapons of mass destruction. they do not bring bush, cheney, rice, and all the other .eople guest: donald trump is a noninterventionist on foreign-policy. he talks about being militaristic. but when it comes to advocating for troops abroad, trump is not

a traditional republican hot. i think his candidacy and his popularity with many grassroots rank-and-file republican voters is partly a response to the lingering frustration with president george w. bush and vice president dick cheney and the way that they handled intervention in iraq and the middle east during the presidency. there is a sense of that hawkish sense of the republican party does not say was it used to with many gop voters. trump has seized on that. not just on trade and immigration, but also on foreign-policy. it is probably the most under told part of his candidacy. host: a treat from us from michael who says yesterday on cnn a psychiatrist was talking about trump. would not surprise me there planning a special honor. , i'mer viewer saying loving this guess. mr. costa is knowledgeable and has a sense of humor. guest: you have to have a sense

of humor this year. host: talk about your senior colleague who covers everything politics. looking at the states that democrats and republicans typically win. he points out that the map might be different in november 2016. he says it is an uphill climb for donald trump. it is going to be very challenging for donald trump, but there are signs that the democrats are at least preparing in a different way for trunk general election. my colleague avi phillips came out with a big story this week that the democrats, clinton allies, are now moving resources to the upper midwest. two states that have been traditionally democratic blue states. trump ina sense that

this age of unrest and knowing that the economy and some of these postindustrial states in the country could be looking for something new, the democrats want to be prepared for trumps unpredictability and his political appeal. a map remains difficult for trump and for republicans generally a nationally. this is a fast-changing country that is becoming more diverse by the month and republicans are still having a hard time figuring out where they can fit especially with the rise of the hispanic electorate in this country. theiricans with rhetorical immigration are wary whether they can do well in a state like arizona. but trump with a lack of right-wing zeal on some of these key issues can be much more to the center is a populace, democrats are paying attention. good morning gentlemen.

i hear so much on a continual basis about the huge sums of money that are being plowed into this campaign as in the case. my question is this, is very huge pool of federal money that usually going to be the elections consisted of what the individual candidates raise for the purpose? and i have not heard anything about this. what is the status of all these federal funds that i've learned to understand go into the campaign's consistent with what the candidates raise. can you shed some light on that. are they withholding these funds because huge interest from outside parties -- or as a function? thank you sir. guest: there are some federal

funds that are flying to the campaigns, but they mostly do with convention planning and the transition projects for each campaign. i think the core of your question is about public financing a problem -- presidential campaign. if you want to public fans of the presidential campaign in the general election, you have that ability. there is a part of a budget that is allocated for presidential campaigns. but you have to choose that it that money, it is a choice. if you choose to accept that money, you have to agree to certain terms about how much money you will raise. in this age of citizens united, and super pacs, that we have seen from democrats and unwillingness to take public money, especially in terms of secretary clinton. donald trump recently has said he is not looking to take public funds. that is because they don't want to have a tap on what kind of money they can raise wholesale. there are public finances available.

it seems like most campaigns like president obama's 2008 run, they gone the way of the super pac. host: one viewer saying the washington post needs to the funds of donald trump. trumps a false claims that there is nothing to and from his tax returns, he repeats that statement thing he's going to release them. guest: the question about the trump foundation, i would recommend anyone out there to go and the writing of david the reporting of a roz halderman. they looked into the trump foundation at the washington post and other articles are easily acceptable by the internet. on the question of the tax returns, this is one of the most murky parts of the truck campaign. he said to george steffen knowledge --