chris, on your broadcast last night -- and thank you for having joy reid and julia reid on last night in the same evening separated by a couple of hours. chris, ben raises this point about not so much committee chairmanships and the whip positions you were talking about earlier, but the most important thing to paul ryan and that is nose counting. who has more, republicans or democrats in the house. >> well, i spent six years of my life knowing the number of 218 which is a majority vote in the house of representatives, as you know, and everything else is nonsense. and 60 votes in the u.s. senate. i had a debate with senator sanders couple months back. what good are all these wonderful proposals if you can't get 60 votes coming out of the senate finance committee? inside the beltway, ultimately, is where the fights are going to occur. mitch mcconnell has four more

years in his term. he's got a book coming out next week. he's going to be out there deciding history after he pick a presidential candidate. what i do like, is you're bringing in some of these personalities. people like cory lewandowski basically setting the travel schedule. there's people like bob barnett who prepares people for debate. there's michael sheehan who have worked with people like the president, obama, and bill clinton. in the end, though, these people are very stubborn people, as someone said 20 minutes ago. i think it was you, brian. they end up being themselves. i am who i am, and that's just the way they are. and trump is going to be the guy who goes after the governor of new mexico no matter how much warning he gets ahead of time. we're going to see the strange phenomenon of people performing

on stage not necessarily the way they do in private. if you talk to donald trump off camera or have a chat with him on the phone, he's donald trump the business guy. comes across as reasonable and certainly charming. if you talk to hillary clinton in the back room, she's a charmer. a friendly, open-faced person who laughs and enjoys life and is not afraid of you. but trump on camera is don rickles. he is. that's part of his appeal. hillary on camera is very careful, to the point of pain. how do you change those -- we're going to go into a debate. i'm glad you're talking about it. al gore was terrible at debate. he should have won those debates on points. certainly he lacked that, came across as more likable. in the end, was close enough for the court to give it to him. michael due khakis was a disaster in debate.

you don't know what a smart person like hillary clinton will come off as a person you want to put up with for four or eight more years. or if trump comes up with the gift, magic, that overcomes all the negatives about him with enough of the people for him to win. these are fascinating questions that we don't know now. >> i always talk about the politics of exigency. that is an emergency, national or otherwise, could arise at any moment. i always say a week is a year in american politics. frankly, i remind people this cycle that no one in the punditocracy got this right. all the way to the bitter end, june 7th in california and that donald trump would defeat in order 16, 17 opponents to get where he is. you know, stand by and predictions are hard to come by.

>> you make a point there, though. a friend of mind that's senator now, refers to the galloping horse of history. either you get on the saddle or you don't. senator sanders saw a number of factors at play here. he say student loans through the roof, driving young adults crazy with six-figure debts at the age of 23, 24. driving them crazy. something like the vietnam draft back in the '60s. seeing capitalism as their rival, not their friend, because they're debtors. things like that. the rise of billionaires we didn't have people walking around who had made money off money lake the koch brothers. we didn't have that 10, 20 years -- they didn't seem to be so prominent. donald trump also saw this nationalistic need to stand up for the company where working people feel they're being shoved

around. they see these opportunities and they grab them. the galloping horse of history oftentimes goes by empty because nobody jumps on the saddle. these guys did. that's what's interesting about 2016. >> i just want to bring people up to date on this scene we keep watching. they've been fussing, really fussing over the flag of north dakota behind the podium. perhaps you've seen it's taken one to two men to get it right, to get the logo facing out the way they want. the american flag is back there. donald trump is on the ground in bismarck, north dakota. some of us have used katy tur's travels as our barometer for how close we are to starting. katy's on a cell phone. got up from her seat. she was last seen walk around. i'm told that she's on the phone with us. how fortuitous is that. i was just going to issue a national public katy tur phone home.

you tell us how much activity in the room is there, and will we get a two minute warning before we see donald trump? >> reporter: we are expecting a two-minute warning before he comes in. i'm glad you guys were able to see me walking back and forth on the camera. i'm behind the cameras right now. donald trump in north dakota today to address an oil conference. the news of the delegates being clinched comes as a welcome surprise to the campaign. they were privately hoping it would happen. but this is an impromptu conference he's called in light of the fact that he's now clinched the nomination. this doesn't necessarily mean anything different than it did yesterday. donald trump is still the presumptive nominee. he won't be the official nominee until the convention. the campaign is already touting the significance of this happening, particularly before hillary clinton does. the republicans are coming around a candidate that many have called divisive early on

before hillary clinton or bernie sanders was able to in the republican party. they're talking about how they're coming together quicker. they believe that they have the voters on their side, specifically addressing the susana martinez attacks the other night. i was speaking to somebody who says they are supporting donald trump. he was acting as a surrogate yesterday in phoenix. i asked him what is the point of attacking susana martinez at this point. he said the reality is, donald trump knows that he doesn't need susana masrtinez. he has the voters on his side and he has the voters to account to, not necessarily a republican governor from new mexico. not even necessarily paul ryan. certainly behind the scenes, it's a little bit different than what donald trump is saying publicly on stage, but that is the reality of the campaign.

they think that they have the voters more than they have the leadership and that is what's important to them. i believe donald trump is actually right about to come into the room right now. so i'm going to throw it back to you, brian. >> katy tur who we will now see her taking her seat in the front of the room presumably. we saw elements of the secret service come into the room first. and from katy's vantage point on screen right, she was able to see them coming down the hallway. so here presumably at this press availability is donald trump. it looks like a bus load of mostly benefit has pull-- men hd up. they are entering the room and filling some of the seats in the room. katy tur, false alarm. bunch of people coming.

not one of them is donald trump. they're going to be arranged around the background of the stage. so katy's hung up the phone which really is the better part of valor and manners. she is sitting right there in front just to the left of the "t" in the trump logo i think in the front row. these folks will all stand in the background. and presumably the next person we will see will be donald trump. chris matthews, we have a couple seconds. keep an eye on your monitor as we do this. but what a general election style day. two great places that candidates get to if they can, bismarck and billings in the same day. >> i'm watching the plain states and the rockies and the republicans are probably going to win those states. i guess he wants to nail them down now. california is always very hard because of the abortion rights issue for them. i think you and i know the

fight's going to be pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, maybe indiana. and i think that hillary clinton knows that's coming. as you pointed out and showcased, she's working the labor crowd. we had on the head of the uaw, clean union, i might say, last night who endorsed hillary clinton last night on the program. she's going to try to hold the working guys, white guys, african-americans, whatever. she's going to try to hold them and that's going to be her firewall or front at least in holding pennsylvania, michigan, holding wisconsin. that i think is going to be the battle ground and it's going to be fascinating to watch. >> chris, i'm told these are north dakota delegates who have come in and been arrayed in the background waiting for donald trump to come in. they're now actually talking with members of the press corps assembled there. as we mentioned, hillary clinton's in las vegas. donald trump goes from this

event, bismarck, north dakota, onto billings, montana. always has been a favorite of people in the press corps. they go to the booterry and many of them get their first pair of genuine cowboy boots before moving on to the next city. this is kind of late in the campaign tempo and late in the campaign stops. as chris matthews points out, they have a chance to not just pick off, but make a big statement in a lot of the red rocky mountain states. and this political map is going to be fascinating when we're all done. the morning after the general election day in november is going to give us fodder to talk about for some time to come as we talk about '08, 2012, as we talk about the immediate past, mid-terms, the mid-term yet to

come. chris matthews, we could see reds where reds didn't exist, we could see blues where blues didn't exist. i think to continue the theme, purple is going to become pretty crucial. >> right. and i think as you're talking, i'm thinking about john thoon's name keeps coming up for running mates for south dakota. a very tall guy. 6'4" at least. and a handsome guy. a guy who's clean. he's almost like natural born senator having won that race out there. it's part of that world out there. there's some reason his name keeps being put up on that list for a trump running mate. going back to this. hillary clinton is under pressure to try to pick off an industrial state like ohio with sherry brown. if he gets on the ticket with her, they have to lose the seat. because john kasich will pick the replacement senator there. so they don't want to do that.

harry reid made clear they're not going to run anybody that's a republican governor. there will be nobody on the ticket with hillary that will sacrifice a senate seat. so i think -- i think there's all those things in play. i think -- now that i've gotten a chance to speak. i think hillary needs some spark on her ticket. someone who has a bit of showbiz, if you will. a bit of stature too. dick cheney did that for w. he did give him real strength underneath. certainly al gore despite his somewhat lack of popularity later was a very good choice for bill clinton. so this vp thing is going to be really powerful and it's going to have to do with geography and other kinds of stature. if trump holds to his plan of

holding that announcement until they get to cleveland, that will prevent hillary clinton from being able to counter-play until basically she gets to philadelphia. which is also fascinating. if they hold off that nomination until wednesday night, which they could do. trump does for sheer excitement and it would be great for the medium we're in right now. you actually get to the third night of the convention. then hillary has to do the counter play sometime between that night and when she makes that announcement. >> i totally agree, chris. i agree about thoone. he and i guess bloomenthal looked like they were totally manufactured for the senate. and i agree with something else -- >> don porter, remember him? >> i agree with something else you indicated. people don't vote for vice president. that adage hasn't changed.

but they vote for combinations. they vote for chemistry and future promise. before you start answering that, i notice we are focused on the door and the lead agents bringing donald trump into the room, as a few pictures are taken outside. so again, this is bismarck, north dakota. on stage are formerly unbound delegates. there's been some joking back and forth to kill the time. they're standing there exposed to elements of the seated press corps. there's been some joking back and forth, which one of you was 1,237. which one of you was 1,238 as we get our first glimpse of donald trump who will come in and presumably make a statement and take questions from the press. [ applause ]

well, thank you very much, everybody. the folks behind me got us right over the top from north dakota. so north dakota made a big statement and i just really appreciate it. we will not forget it. thank you very much. i want to thank a very good friend of mine, harold hamm. i guess we can consider harold the king of energy. there's nobody like him. he knows more about it than anybody that i know.

harold, i want to thank you for your support. my friend for a long time. i've been on the cover of every magazine. i think he's had as many covers as i have. maybe more harold. congratulations and thank you very much for your support. yes, john? >> president obama today at the g7 summit in japan ignored the time honored tradition of politics ends at the water's edge -- [ inaudible ] -- becoming president -- >> that's good. i love that word. he used a bad word because he knows nothing about business. when you rattle someone, that's good. many of the countries in our world, our beautiful world, have been absolutely abusing us and taking advantage of us. if they're rattled in a friendly way, that's a good thing, john, not a bad thing. >> but he also went onto say --

ignorance of world affairs, cavalier attitude -- thinking about what's required to keep america safe. i'm wondering if you want to respond to that. >> look, he's a president who's done a horrible job. he's a president who's allowed many of these countries to totally take advantage of him and us unfortunately. he's got to say something. it's unusual. every time he has a press conference, he's talking about me. it's just one of those things. he is a man who shouldn't be really, you know, airing his difficulties and he shouldn't be airing what he's airing where he is right now. and i think that you're going to see it stop pretty soon. he has not done a good job. today we're giving a big speech on energy. we're going to see some amazing things happen with our country on energy, and i look forward to doing it. but president obama, you know, you see what's happened, you see where we're going, we're a divided country, we have tremendous difficulty, tremendous problems.

and we're going to solve those problems. we're going to solve them fast. yeah, go ahead. >> your campaign chairman today -- [ inaudible question ] -- probably unlikely that it would be a woman or minority -- >> no, i think it's likely that we would have somebody. but we don't do it for any specific reason. we're looking for absolute competence. i fully expect that we will have many women involved with not only -- i mean i've had it with the campaign. but we're going to have many women involved. and i think you're going to see that and you're going to see that very strongly. so i look forward to it. he's been misquoted actually a lot. we're going to have women involved at the absolute highest levels. >> mr. trump -- >> jeremy, go ahead. >> during the republican primary you repeatedly attacked your opponents for being funded by big money donors.

you've started that fundraising. how do you convince your supporters that you're not going to become the puppet -- >> well, i'm no puppet. and i'll tell you, i'm raising the money largely for the party. we intend to raise a lot of money for the party. i have no idea how much. but we're raising it for senators, congressmen, congress women. we want to go in and have majorities. it's very important. we have a tremendous staff of people. last night, actually, we raised in los angeles, we raised a lot of money for the party. this is money that's going into the rnc. and we are going to have, i think, a tremendous -- we're getting thanked all over by the republican senators, by congressmen. and hopefully we're going to raise a lot of money. this is money that's being raised for the party. and i think we're going to have a tremendous success. i'm also continuing to fund big portions of my campaign. go ahead. >> mr. manafort was also quoted

as saying if you did release your taxes -- [ inaudible ] -- you seem to sound as if you're not -- >> no, no, i'm releasing when we're finished with the audit. i have to say, the irs has been very professional. when they finish -- i've been audited however for 15 years. and i don't know of very many people that have been audited for 15 years. so i don't know what that's all about. but the irs has been very professional. as we move along, as soon as that's finished, hopefully it's going to be before the election. i'm fine with that. >> just to be very specific on this. you do pay some federal taxes. >> i do. yeah, i do. yes. david, go ahead. >> mr. trump, in the wake of yesterday's inspector general report -- hillary clinton's e-mails, you said you have doubts about whether or not she could stay in the race against

you. are you prepared to call on her to get out of the race so -- >> actually, i sort of like her in the race. i want to run against her. look, she has bad judgment. this was all bad judgment. probably illegal. we'll have to find out what the fbi says about it. but certainly it was bad judgment. i just read the report. it's devastating, the report. it's devastating. there's no reason for it. it's just skirting on the edge all the time. you look back at her history, and this is her history. it's a very, very harsh report. done really by democrats, if you think of it. appointed by obama and done by democrats. it's shocking to see it. it's shocking to see what she did. really, more than anything else, it's bad judgment. that's going to be up to her whether or not she wants to continue running. >> you talk a lot about -- >> right. [ inaudible question ] >> this number now, does this

change your approach a little? >> i think it will. i haven't yet, i think it will. i haven't had the support of the governor of new mexico. which is fine. that's everybody's right. i imagine she's come over to my side. if you look at what's happened, tremendous support from all over the country. senators, congressmen, we have governors all over the place. and vast majorities. i think the approval now is up to over 90%. that's tremendous from where i started. you know, a little while ago it was like 62%. but i won the elections in landslides. very important to say. you look at these elections. we go to new york. we win almost 62% of the vote with three people running. we then go to pennsylvania which is going to be a state we're going to do amazingly well. hillary clinton wants to put the coal miners out of business, put the steel mills out of business. i think i'm going to win pennsylvania easily. we have tremendous support

there. we win delaware, rhode island. then we win, as you know, a tremendous success when we went to indiana. that was incredible. bobby knight helped in all fairness. so we're going to have tremendous successes. but, you know, the thing i think i'm most proud of, not the fact that i'm watching hillary -- you know, we were supposed to be going into july and a lot of people said it wouldn't even be solved during that convention. there's going to be a new convention in august and here i am watching hillary fight and she can't close the deal. that should be such an easy deal to close. but she's unable to close the deal. so i'm watching her and we'll see what happens. >>. [ inaudible question ] >> oh, yeah, sure, absolutely. >> are you planning on recognizing china's sovereignty on a nation-to-nation basis based on the u.n. declaration --

[ inaudible ] -- >> i'm going to have to look at it individually and i will be doing that. i will be doing that. thank you. katy? >> what was your message to republicans who haven't yet supported you? like susana martinez. >> my message is that we have tremendous support from almost everybody. even if you look at congress, the support has been incredible. i spoke with paul ryan last night. we had a very good conversation. that's moving along. he's a good man. >> can you elaborate on that? >> no. we had a very good talk. >> in the -- [ inaudible question ] >> was there an article in the huffington post? i'm sure he was misquoted. i didn't think they covered application. do they cover application? >> apparently they do. you were softening your position on the muslim -- >> well, we're going to look at

a lot of different things. we have a big problem. we have a radical islamic terrorism problem. it's a worldwide problem. not just this country. and we have to find a solution. and we have to be vigilant and tough and smart. we'll see what happens. yes, go ahead. >> when you said you wanted to debate bernie sanders. >> i'd love to debate bernie. i said and i said last night on jimmy's show, it was a question that was posed. i said i'd love to debate him, but i want a lot of money to be put up for charity. if we can raise for women's health issues or something, if we can raise 10 or $15 million for charity. i understand the television business very well. i think it would get very high ratings. it should be in a big arena somewhere. i'd love to debate bernie. the problem with debating bernie, he's going to lose. honestly, his system is rigged. just like our system's rig. if i didn't win by massive

majorities, i wouldn't be standing here talking to you today. you have to knockout. and bernie unfortunately hasn't been able to knock out. the super delegates for the democrats -- i mean, it's so unfair. so the biggest problem i have is that bernie's not going to win. but i'd debate him anyway if they wanted to put up money for charity. so we'll see. we've had a couple calls from the networks already. and we'll see. [ inaudible question ] >> well, he's the one that suggested, let's debate. >> jeff weaver said his team has been having conversations with your team. >> it's true. i'd love to debate bernie. but they have to pay a lot of money for it. look, i'm in first place. i've won -- i'd say something over $10 million. >> if he raised $10 million, you'd get -- >> i'd love to, yeah. i know you people never write this. but every single poll on every single debate, the online polls,

drudge and "time" magazine and all of them, i've won every single debate. i didn't know i was going to do that. i created jobs and businesses and did great, but i've never debated professionally. i ran against all these people. they debated professionally. according to every single online poll, i've won every single debate by every single poll. i don't mind debating. the one thing was, i wonder how well i'll debate. you know, because guys like this great gentleman over here is one of the great oilmen of the world. we're not debaters. we're people that put people to work. how many people do you have working for you? >> including contractors, tens of thousands. >> tens of thousands. that's what he does. i'd rather debate harold. i will tell you, he may do very well. but we don't do that. but smoi omehow it worked out w

for me. i actually loved the debating process. i was on center stage for every single debate. the only i was upset with some of the networks is when we had even numbers. like eight. that means you had two in the middle. >> -- regulating energy that -- [ inaudible ] >> i think the federal government should get out of the way. the federal government is in the way. we have so much potential energy that people wouldn't even believe it. in fact, my speech today is on energy. that's exactly what it is and is. the federal government, the regulations that they have. they put the coal miners out of business. the coal mines are shut. what they've -- what hillary clinton -- she's worse than obama. she openly said, i want to put the coal miners out of business, i want to put the coal mines out of business. essentially she's saying i want to put the steel mills out of business. we're not going to have any

businesses left. so hillary, i can't imagine how she could possibly do well in a place like pennsylvania. i think she made a big mistake. she's catering to certain people. i think ultimately jobs and these incredible people, the miners. they're incredible people. i asked a couple of them, why don't you go into some different profession. they said because we love going after coal. i'll never forget the answer. you think it's dangerous, going deep down into these incredible crevic crevices. i said wow. but they love doing what they do. that's what they do. it's like me. my father was in real estate, i was in real estate. he's looking down saying, what happened. the coal miners, they love doing what they're doing. and it's such an important product. hillary clinton should not be putting them out of business. >> paul ryan is still -- >> building on that, would you

be for bringing more refineries to the u.s. to become more energy independent? >> i want to be energy inspe independent, yes, absolutely. i haven't spoken to harold about that, but i would say energy independence is what we all want. and we want to sell to other places. don't forget, through modern day technology, we found out -- i'm going to be talking about it in a minute. we're sitting on energy like nobody would believe. i want to be energy independent and the answer is yes to your question. >> paul ryan has still not endorsed you. what policy concessions are you willing to make in order to get his endorsement? >> we'll see what happens. >> you still believe that -- you still want to ban all foreign muslims from the united states on a temporary basis? >> as of this moment, i am very unhappy when i look at the world of radical islam.

we're going to find the problem and we're going to come up with a solution. obama could never come up with a solution. number one, he's incompetent and number two, the solution just is never going to be out there for him. he won't even mention the words radical islamic terrorism. i have many muslim friends. they said to me, thank you, thank you, this is a problem, it's a problem that has to get solved. and we have to have turn-ins. when you see people that are looking to do tremendous destruction like in california with the 14 people killed. they lived in-house where they had bombs all over the floor. everybody knew that they were up to bad stuff. nobody reported that. people have to report when they see. okay. go ahead. go ahead. >> said multiple times you would bring coal mining jobs back. [ inaudible question ] >> right. good. i know, i see it, by far. i was impressed.

>> -- natural gas -- or decision-making by coal companies -- >> and by government. >> do you believe you'll -- >> i do. i think ultimately coal will be very inexpensive. you got to get rid of some of the regulations. i spoke to some of the mine owners. they were surrounded by some of the miners. they were showing me some of the regulations where it's on a daily basis going in checking, checking, checking. it's gotten out of control. [ inaudible question ] well, the market forces are going to be whatever they are. all i can do is free up the coal, which i'm going to totally do. get the companies back to work. market forces, that's something i don't want to get -- to me, a market force is a beautiful force. yeah, go ahead. >> do you approve --

[ inaudible question ] >> yes, i would. totally. it should be approved. now, i'm not saying that it shouldn't be a better deal. see, obama would approve it or not approve it. hillary is probably not going to approve it from what i understand. but i look at it differently. i will absolutely approve it 100%, but i want a better deal. listen, here's the difference between harold hamm and myself and you or let's say obama who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. here's the difference. i'm going to say, folks, we're going to let you build the pipeline, but give us a piece. we're going to have to use eminent domain. remember when all the conservatives said eminent domain. well, their favorite project is the keystone pipeline. a whole big section is devoted to eminent domain. without that, that pipeline wouldn't go 10 feet. you understand that. i want the keystone pipeline, but the people of the united states should be given a piece,

a significant piece of the profits. right now, obama would have said yes or no, and most politicians would say yes we'll approve it or no we won't. i'm saying yes, i want it built, but i want a piece of the profits because we're making it possible for it to happen through eminent domain and other things. i want a piece of the profits for the united states. that's how we're going to make our country rich again. just one way out of thousands. but that's one way we're going to make our country rich again and make america great again. do you understand what i'm saying? [ inaudible question ] >> this is a different pipeline? >> 300,000 barrels -- >> do you like the idea? no, no. do you like the idea as a reporter? you're not supposed to say this, but that's okay. huh? we would look at it. look, i'm dwoipg going to look anything. lot of times, pipelines are so

much better. instead of going on training and having all of the problems caused by that, it's underground. we're going to take a look at it. >> this pipeline -- export oil through canada. [ inaudible ] >> okay. well, i'm not aware of that one. but we would certainly take a look at it. my basic bias would be to approve. i want to approve for jobs. and the concept of pipelines is okay if they're going from the right place to the right place okay? so we'll take a look at it. >> so for main street small businesses across america, what are the keys -- >> i'll tell you two of them that are very, very important, lower taxes. we're the highest taxed nation in the world by far. and the other one is we're overregulated. i made a speech last night and i said regulation -- and this surprised me, really surprised

me. i've seen it since i've been doing this ten months or so. and regulation is even more of a problem for people than the taxes, which surprised me. but they're both problems. under my plan, we're lowering taxes very substantially as you know, for businesses, for middle income, for everybody. we're going to allow trillions of dollars to pour into the country. and we're going to get rid of the tremendous numbers of rules, regulations, probably 75% of which are absolutely terrible for our country. okay. >> elizabeth warren -- >> who pocahontas. is it offensive? oh, i'm sorry about that. pocahontas is what what you said? elizabeth warren? she tweets a lot about me.

when i tweet, not that many people are watching her tweets. when i tweet, they watch. i will say this, she is a senator that's highly overrated. she's passed very little legislation. she has been a real disaster for a lot of people including the democrats who frankly can't stand her, many of the democrats. just ask hillary clinton how she likes her. i would say this, i'll debate anybody. i don't care. i'll debate her. but she's done very little for massachusetts. when i won massachusetts with many people running against me, i got up to almost 50% and she was fighting me. so i really think if her record was exposed and the fact that she was a native american -- she said she was native american but she wasn't able to document it. she said, i have high cheekbones, so i'm a native american. she then -- i don't know if you'd call it a fraud or not. she was able to get into various schools because of the fact she applied as a native americans and probably able to get other

things. i think she's as native american as i am. she's a woman that's been very ineffective other than she's got a big mouth. go ahead in the back. sure. >> you said that you would debate senator sanders and raised the issue of raising money for women's health issues -- >> i would like to go women's health issues. in fact, on tuesday, we're going to be releasing a tremendous list of all of the money we've given with the debate when i decided that i wanted to do this instead of go to a particular debate with a cable network that actually has been unbelievably fair over the last few months, i have to say. i did a speech. during the speech, i said let's see if we can raise some money for the vets. on tuesday, i think we're going to have a press conference in trump tower, tuesday at probably 10:00, 11:00. we're going to release a full

list of all the people -- almost $6 million worth of money was raised. when i started, we weren't going to raise anything. it was just an idea that came to me. i said, let's raise some money for the vets. one of my friends that was there, offered $1 million. carl icon gave half a million dollars. all of a sudden, we started getting a lot of money. and i love seeing it. on tuesday, we're going to release a list of all the different veterans groups that got the money. pretty close to $6 million worth of money. what i'd do if we did this debate, i'd like to do something similar. in this case, it will be just a payment by the networks. why should the networks have a debate like this, put the money in their could have fers coughe.

>> now that you hit the magic number -- >> i'm so honored. >> that is really -- >> i'm so honored to be in north dakota and having -- so honored by these people. >> now that you have sights on being president, what's the first thing -- >> number one, i'll be unwipediunwiped i -- unwinding various executive orders. and dealing with the border. we'll have a lot of things to do. we're going to start rebuilding our military. we have no choice. we're going to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before. i saw the other day actually on cnn where the jet fighters were using parts from museums and plane graveyards where they're taking old parts for our fighters, for f-16s. they were interviewing some of

the pilots. these are great people. they were saying they're so embarrassed and ashamed of what's going on. this shouldn't be the united states. we're going to rebuild our military. we're going to have the finest equipment in the world again. nobody's going to mess with us. very simple. i'm the last person in terms of the draw. i don't have to worry about the draw. i didn't want to go into iraq like hillary and other people. iraq was a mistake. then the way obama got us out was a tremendous mistake. so we're going to have a lot of fun that first 100 days. we're going to start the process of making america great again. how about a couple of more? >>. [ inaudible question ] >> well, we're building our campaign staff. one of the reasons i made deal with the rnc, which to me -- i think reince has done a really good job. they build over years and years staffs in every state. you can't do that, or you can't do it very well if you're doing

it all over the next few months. now i just learned i got the nomination. this was something that was going to happen according to some people in august and some people were saying, baf the second convention, which would have beenry dick lo-- ridiculou. and then we had that massive victory in indiana. here i'm sitting. so i'm watching -- i love watching hillary and bernie go at it. in fact, bernie's given me some great lines, which i'm using, believe me. as far as building the infrastructure of a campaign, the rnc's been doing it for many years. reince has really upped it. all over the country, they have very good people. part of the benefit is we get to use those people. while i'm raising a lot of money for them and they're going to use that not only for me, they're going to use it for other people running for office, it's really been an honor.

i met a big group of people last night from different states that work essentially for the rnc. you can't do that over a period of just a short while. november's coming up very rapidly. it's going to be very soon. and they are set up with some really great infrastructure. how about one or two more -- >> -- called your comments in the "washington post" cruel irresponsible and wrong. >> the question was asked about vince foster. it was asked of me, what do you think of vince foster. i really know nothing about the vince foster situation. haven't known anything about it. and somebody asked me the question the other day and i said that. a lot of people are spect call as to what happened and how he died. i know nothing about it. i don't think it's something -- unless some evidence to the contrary of what i've seen comes up, i don't think it's something that should really be part of the campaign. but again, if you people reveal something to me, i'll answer it the appropriate way.

okay. one more. yeah? >> here in north dakota, on the forefront of everyone's mind -- [ inaudible ] -- >> right. >> well, bernie is going to ban fracking. hillary is going to ban fracking. hillary is going to abolish the second amendment. she's going to abolish your right to own guns and i'm exactly of the opposite. i got the endorsement the other day from the nra which was a great honor for me. they're great amazing people. i'm a better of the nra. my sons are members of the nra. they want to absolutely knock out fracking. you do that, you're going to be back into the middle east begging for oil again. it's not going to happen. not with me. we're going to open it up. we're going to be energy independent. we're going to have all sorts of energy. we're going to have everything you can think of, including

solar. the problem with solar, it's very expensive. when you have a 30-year payback, that's not exactly the greatest thing in the world. i've gone solar on occasion, but it's a very, very expensive thing. wind is -- without subsidy, wind doesn't work. you need massive subsidies for wind. if you go to various places in california, wind is killing all of the eagles. if you shoot an eagle, they want to put you in jail for five years. yet, the windmills are killing hundreds and hundreds of eagles. one of the most treasured birds and they're killing them by the hundreds and nothing happens. so wind is, you know, it's a problem. plus, it's very, very expensive and it doesn't work without subsidy. despite that, i am into all types of energy. by the way, while we're in north dakota, i have to say this. i love the farmers and the farmers are incredible. we have to remember, this was largely a farm state. and they produced tremendous

crops of tremendous different goods of which i eat a lot of them. and i just want to pay my respects to the farmers of north dakota because they have done a great job. all right one more. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] >> we're going to look at that. we're going to meet with the governor of iowa which is tremendous guy and a friend of mine. we're going to talk about it. we will be making a decision fairly soon. okay? >> given the low volume of crude oil exported since the ban in regulations were lifted by the federal government recently, what would you do to increase and stimulate growth -- >> well, that's -- i'm going to open it up so they can sell. but that will be up to people like harold. if he wants to sell to other places, i'm not going to help him. nobody can sell like him. i would open it up, keep it open, get rid of the regulations. people like harold hamm and people that i know that are really competent, believe me,

and we'll start -- we will make so much money from that, from energy, because we're blessed with something. you'll hear some numbers in a little while. we'll make so much money that we'll start to pay down our $19 trillion in debt and we'll start to lower taxes and take care of our social security and medicare. but we're going to open it up. go ahead, david. he wrote a couple good stories about me, so i have to let him -- he wrote a couple bad ones though too. >> women have taken issue with the way they were portrayed -- >> i was so honored by that. >> do you think you're done answering questions now about whether you're a sexist? >> well, i think so. the "new york times" did this massive story on the front page. they quoted three women and another woman. many of the women have come forward saying we have great respect for donald trump, that's not what we said, that's not how

it was portrayed and they said it was going to be a wonderful piece. the "new york times" has been totally discredited. and the construction person, i just presented many, many e-mails. i think i sent them to you, david. many, many e-mails where she's asking for her job back. after she was gone, i never took her back. she wanted her job back. she wrote a book in which he says the nicest thing about me. i don't know why she mentioned that. anybody who mentioned that in a letter, it's strange because nobody accused me of it. she wrote many e-mails asking for her job back. so, the "new york times" story has been totally discredited. the "new york times" i can tell you from personal knowledge is very, very embarrassed. it was a total hit job on donald trump. to put a story like that above the fold with a massive picture of myself standing with ms. universe contestants or maybe

ms. usa contestants, which i told recently to ing. good deal, by the way. but for them to put a story like that above the fold on "new york times," i can tell you they are very ashamed of that story. and for the women to come out, roanne as an example to come out -- it was so nice. i did not speak to her when she did this. i spoke to her more recently and i thanked her. because it took kurge courage t. to come out and say, you really, really mistreated us by writing the story the way you wrote it and we have great respect for donald trump and like donald trump very much. the "new york times" was totally discredited. and honestly, they should be ashamed of themselves. so it's been a great event for

me. i hated reading the story even though it was not major allegations of very much stuff. one of them accused me of saying don't eat that candy. they made it like it was such a big violation. don't eat that candy. so i appreciate -- i sent it to you and i appreciated the story that you wrote about it. because the "new york times" has been totally discredited. they are very embarrassed by that story. so ladies and gentlemen,ty very much. >> what role would congressman -- >> just a talented person. and he's been there for a long time right? -- pretty much right from the beginning. come on, get over l here. been there right from the beginning. right? [ applause ] >> you've changed my life. i guess if you're one of the first seven or eight members of congress to endorse somebody, your life gets changed. mine's been changed.

i'm glad you're here. appreciate harold's invitation. appreciate your comments on energy and i'm looking forward to hearing the rest of it. [ inaudible question ] >> i missed voting for the energy and water appropriations bill that failed miserably. so i didn't miss a thing. >> thank you, everybody. >> speaker ryan suggested that he's withholding his en -- >> let's see what happens. thank you, everybody. thank you. >> donald trump in bismarck, north dakota, a lot there to review. a sweeping list of topics from the president's trip overseas to domestic energy, using imagery from dead eagles to pocahontas. there was even some vince foster in there. chris matthews, the most

elaborate bank shot in all of this was on the subject of debating. not only did he keep the door open to debating bernie sanders, he opened the door to debating elizabeth warren in between attacking her. and then said that the proceeds, monies paid by the network would go to benefit women's health, a topic apparently very important to donald trump. at some point after your years in and around application do you look at a bank shot like that and admire it at any level? >> there was a lot of things he was doing there. it's not rad ik or chaotic in the mind of donald trump what he's been doing in this press conference today. what he wants to do right now is consolidate the republican party. so what he did, go after its enemi enemies. go after elizabeth warren, go after the "new york times."

all that was about fundraising he has to do which is all the -- you'll notice he talked about keystone, he talked about fracking. let's on the side of the deregulators, against the regulators, against the liberals, against the reformers, whatever. this may so that can go injuly with a lot of people behind him. it was so frontal, it was us against them and of course they're enemies. that would be the person who wants to regulate them. the old pocahontas stunt he does, which i think he's wearing out. for whatever reason, north dakota makes a lot of money off wind. i don't know why he took a shot at the eagles and all that stuff. but on the women front, it's very important that he wins back the winnable women, the women who are moderate republicans and

i think he's doing something there. i think it's working. he can't be seen as misogynist, obviously. the "new york times" piece wasn't vetted that well, it turns out. i think you're right. it was a smart press conference, in the fact that he talked about women's health being the beneficiary of debates with people on the left. >> so that works? >> well, we'll see. i don't think he's going to debate bernie sanders. you don't debate down. nixon taught us that. don't go down. it's a great opportunity for bernie sanders. i can predict right now the media willy bernie beat him in the debate. elizabeth warren will have her fans too in the press. it's smart to play don king on this thing. keep it hyped. >> mark halperin was watching along with us. >> this functioned on two

levels. you heard the normal insults, the carnival thing about debating bernie sanders, going after elizabeth warren, engaging to some extent on the vince foster thing. but you also heard a real agenda. this is what some of trump's more senior strategists are thinking about now. these are bedrock republican issues that have appealed not just to independents more broadly, but independents in the states trump's targeting. things like energy, regulation, taxes and guns. that makes trump more of a standard, center right candidate. not only can he unite the republican party, he can start to make headway with the working class voters. he needs an agenda that's based on issues. and again, i think most of the coverage of this will go to debating bernie sanders, criticizing elizabeth warren, vince foster. the reality is, it's those

issues, if trump has a chance to win this race and build a center right coalition, a popular vote victory that republicans have done only once in the last six elections, it's going to be on this issues. where the democrats have their work cut out for them, although they think those can be winning issues for them as well. >> chris matthews, let's not forget this started with the president's trip to japan. if the world a rattled, trump said in effect, that's a good thing. anyone who would say rattled would be a bad thing just doesn't understand business. >> america cares about america. we don't give a darn of what foreign leaders think of our country. they thought reagan was going to be a disaster. reagan turned out to be one of our most successful presidents. who cares. i think he is so smart to play

that. president obama plays a big mistake playing american politics overseas. don't engage in partisanship once you leave the country. there's a tricky business here. president obama has a very light touch. he's very good at the wry shot at the opponent. at some point, he's going to get entangled with trump and that's going to be a bad thing for the president. he's got to be so wary of being pulled down into the ditch. that's very dangerous material for him. >> ben, i want to get you on the record. this was a high plains drifter event, drifting from topic to topic to topic. did you hear anything that gave you pause vis-a-vis our discussion, your personal journey, denial, anger, acceptance. >> speaking of can traontrast, was the last time you saw

hillary clinton do a performance like that in front of the press. that is an exercise in the spontaneity of donald trump versus the very controlled hillary clinton. in terms of what he said, i'd agree with the analysis that he was appealing very much to sort of the center right base of the republican party. and this was the presidential version of donald trump. it's interesting the way his press conferences are more controlled and less vitriolic than many of the large rallies. >> counselor, a lot of people here concurred with you that this was a -- obviously given the environment, he was toned down, he was more measured sounding. two bits of interest, our own katy tur from the front row tweeted that it was a local reporter who objected to the use

of the word pocahontas. trump went onto use that name for elizabeth warren warren again. and the point ben just made about press availability on the clinton campaign is something our own kristen welker raised yesterday. the next hour, kate snow, here to take it over. kate? >> thanks so much, brian. let's get you caught up now. donald trump versus president obama. the presumptive republican nominee responding just moments ago to the president's claim today that the real estate billionaire is causing world leaders to be rattled. >> that's good. is that right? that's good. i love that word. he's a president who's allowed many of these countries to totally take advantage of him and us unfortunately. he's got to say something. and it's unusual that every time he has a press conference he's talk about me. it's just one of those things. but i will