bernie sanders also represents vermont, and this is one of the handful of vermont cocktails that uses vermont syrup. it's a daiquiri variation that uses maple syrup instead of sugar and turns the lime in a daiquiri into lemon because that's more delicious in combination with maple. so you take an ounce of dark rum, dark rum from bermuda called goslings. you take an ounce of aged rum, aged rum from jamaica called appleton. you do an ounce of each. and then, you do a half ounce each of lemon juice from an actual lemon. mm-hmm. and a half ounce of democratic socialist-style vermont maple syrup. and that's it! it's very simple. two kinds of rum, lemon, and maple. shake its lights out.

and let this be your offering. let this be your cue to call your liberal friend, who you stopped being able to speak to during this primary, because you disagreed about clinton and sanders, whoever you fought with over this democratic primary and its politics this year, take a minute to remember why you were friends in the first place. cheers. have a great weekend. the democrats come out swinging for clinton, but where are trump's allies? let's play "hardball." and good evening. i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. hillary clinton called it a big week for her campaign today. she picked up the endorsement of president obama, a vice president joe biden, and senator elizabeth warren. this morning, clinton met with warren at her washington, d.c. home, a source familiar with

that meeting telling msnbc that the two discussed how they could work together to advance a progressive agenda. also, to attack donald trump. and this afternoon, there were dueling speeches from clinton and trump, full of red meat attacks for both of their bases. clinton telling planned parenthood that women should ask themselves whether they really want to put their health, their lives, and their futures in donald trump's hands. >> and he actually said, women should be punished for having abortions. anyone who would so casually agree to the idea of punishing women, like it was nothing to him, the most obvious thing in the world, that's someone who doesn't hold women in high regard. but don't worry, donald assures us as president, he'll be, and i quote again, the best for women. anybody who wants to defund planned parenthood and wipe out,

say, legal abortion, has no idea what's best for women. and after all, this is a man who has called women pigs, dogs, and disgusting animals. kind of hard to imagine counting on him to respect our fundamental rights. >> across town, trump spoke at the faith and freedom conference. >> hillary clinton has jeopardized, totally jeopardized, national security by putting her e-mails on a private server, all to hide her corrupt dealings. she's now under criminal investigation. that was announced yesterday by the white house. i mean, it's criminal investigation. first time ever, by the way, a president of the united states endorsed somebody under criminal investigation. interesting. bill and hillary made $153 million giving speeches to special interest groups since 2001. that's a lot of money. that's a lot of money.

these donors own hillary clinton. they own her. >> now, the difference between where the two parties are right now was on stark display this week. as we mentioned, clinton picking up a series of major endorsements. >> i know how hard this job can be. that's why i know hillary will be so good at it. in fact, i don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. >> anybody who thinks that whatever the next president is, and god willing, in my view, it won't be secretary clinton, but whoever the next president it is. >> i'm willing to work my heart out to make sure hillary clinton will be the next president of the united states and make sure donald trump never gets any place close to the white house. >> that's the democratic party. now here's where republicans stand when it comes to their candidate. >> like men americans, i'm struggling with the choices that we have this fall.

>> mr. trump needs to make some changes. and we're under no obligation to support him. >> i cannot support him because of what he said about the judge. that was too racist for me. >> that was the final straw for you? >> that was a big straw for me. >> i would like to support our nominee. i just can't. >> right now the republican party is facing "the plane is headed towards the mountain." i think the party ought to change the nominee, because we're going to get killed with this nominee. >> right now the divisiveness, the name calling, it doesn't go down well with me. >> i think he would have a much better chance of winning if he would quit making so many unfortunate public utterances and stick to the script. >> that was senator mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the senate, talking to bloomberg. he was also asked in that interview for vp suggestions and his answer speaks volumes about where the republican leadership is when it comes to their presidential candidate. >> you need somebody highly

experienced and very knowledgeable. it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues. >> a new national poll from fox news shows the past few weeks have done some damage to donald trump. he now trails clinton by three points. 42 to 39%. that is a change from last month, when trump was ahead of clinton in that same poll by three points. so a drop of six points for trump, while clinton's support has remained the same. robert costa is a national political reporter for "the washington post" and an msnbc political analyst. ann guerin is also a national political reporter for "the washington post," and jonathan capehart is an opinion writer for "the washington post," and an msnbc contributor. it's "the washington post" show tonight here on "hardball." i feel like i should get some kind of contributor title for the post. robert costa, let me start with you. mitch mcconnell, those comments from mitch mcconnell, what's most significant to me about them is the fact that he's making them. this is a guy who's loathe to speak out publicly, to get off of -- to be saying anything

negative about his own team, about his own party. the simple fact that he's saying anything here seems to speak volumes. >> most times, in presidential campaigns, communications to the candidate from within the party, they're done via back channels. but in this campaign, especially with donald trump as the standard-bearer, these communications are being done in public, through the media. and you see this with senator mcconnell and so many other party leaders. they're trying to make their advice to trump pluck so he hears it and perhaps listens to it. this is a party that's grappling with someone who's not an insider. someone who is reluctant to have their advice, but they feel a burden, because they want to keep their majorities and keep their party in line to say it. >> so, ann, is there any indication trump is getting that message and is adjusting in any way? he gave that speech today. gave also a speech on tuesday night, where he used a teleprompter. he had some sort of prepared talking points. there does seem to be we haven't heard any kind of an apology here for these comments about the judge, but there does seem

to be publicly some degree of a shift here from trump. >> yeah, i mean, i think the mitch mcconnell view of this would probably be, you know, one step forward, two steps back, right? we did see donald trump use a teleprompter and not give an over the top speech on tuesday. and then, a little bit later in the week, he was back to calling elizabeth warren pocahontas, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes other senators, her colleagues, cringe, and makes it hard for the mitch mcconnells or even the bob doles of the world to feel good about the choice they've said -- they've publicly said they've made to support him. but they all sort of sound like they have a gun to their head. >> you know, jonathan, we put that poll up a minute, fox news, a three-point lead now for hillary clinton, a drop of six points in the last month for donald trump. obviously, the headline there

not good for donald trump. but i also kind of look at this the other way. look, for all of the grief that he's brought on himself in the last couple of weeks, he's still only three points behind hillary clinton. it looks like a few people have moved away from him. and nobody's moved towards hillary clinton. >> right, but this is a -- the first poll we've seen since the judge curiel mess has sort of blown up the republican party. i'll be curious to see the following polls that come out, to see whether that six-point drop that donald trump has in that poll, is consistent. in other polls, it could be bigger. i think this poll shows that we have moved away from the republican primary season and now we are in the general election, when people now start looking at both candidates, both presumptive nominees, through the lens of, well, do -- how would they be in the oval office? people start to get more serious. yes, i know it's june, the

conventions haven't happened, and people really start focusing in the fall, but what we've seen over the last week, i think, is so serious for a lot of people, that they're starting to think about things that they normally think in the fall, think about in the fall, they're thinking about it now. >> well, robert costa, take us inside trump world. how are they processing this? do they think there's sort of a crisis playing out around them? do they think we can weather the storm here? how do they think about what we're talking about right now? >> the most striking thing that i've heard from my reporting is that trump campaign and its senior advisers are now working more closely than ever with the republican national committee to try to come up with a coordinated message, a more disciplined trump, and i think an important moment may be this coming monday when trump gives a speech he's already proved publicly, talking about the clintons and that's in a plural sense, talking about the former president and the presumptive democratic nominee. and that's something that the

rnc has wanted trump to do for a long time. to coordinate with them, an anti-clinton message, rather than being more scatter shot in his messaging. >> that's interesting. some coordination there between donald trump and the republican national committee. at the same time, you have these leading republican voices who have been speaking out against him. and on the other side, meanwhile, in her fight against donald trump, hillary clinton now going to rely on the support of two key allies from within her own party, president obama and senator elizabeth warren. both of them now off the sidelines, and last night the president mocked trump on "the tonight show." >> now, mr. president, since you're here, i've gotta ask. have you been watching all the election coverage this week about donald trump? >> no, but i have been watching my new favorite show, "orange is not the new black." >> and warren, meanwhile, unloading a blistering attack on trump last night. >> donald trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud, who

has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself. we will not allow a small, insecure, thin-skinned, wannabe tyrant or his allies in the senate to destroy the rule of law in the united states of america. we will not! >> ann guerin, it seems like we might be at an interesting sort of test moment here in this campaign. jonathan capehart was just talking about this a minute ago, but you've got donald trump sort of taking on water right now. meanwhile, you've got the democratic party starting to unite. we've heard all this talk the last few weeks, when hillary clinton emerges, when the party unites, you know, will her poll numbers go up? at the same time, we have had, it's almost a cliche to say this, but for a year now, we've had predictions of donald trump ice imminent polling demise. does seem to be a test here. all the ingredients are in place for hillary clinton to open up a lead here in the polls.

it will say something, i guess, if she does or if she doesn't. >> well, she's got a lot of help at the moment, that she didn't have just a couple of weeks or a month ago, when the talk was on her side of the race. all about, can she unify the party? yes, bernie's eventually going to be toast, but he's such a drag on her, it's an embarrassment that she is where she is nationally, against trump. it's an embarrassment that bernie is still around. this week allowed her to change the conversation quite a bit and the addition of president obama and elizabeth warren and to also, certainly, don't discount joe biden as surrogates for her, i think really does give her, at least the potential, to start making a very, very strong red meat democratic argument going forward, and also to try to continue the part of that argument, that she may be best at making, which is the appeal

to independents, moderate republican women, other people turned off by trump, that she can kind of say, hey, you have a home here with me. what you just heard from elizabeth warren is the opposite of that, which is just sort of the donald trump cannot be president, and here's why argument. and i think we'll continue to hear her making that in similar forceful fashion. >> you know, jonathan, things feel a little different right now when the subject of democratic unity comes up. i know for the last few weeks of this clinton/sanders race, i was trying to draw comparisons between the final days of the 2008 campaign, when there was all this panic among democrats, that they'd never come back together after the obama/clinton campaign. here we are at the end of this week, it's only been a couple of days since california and new jersey, and it already feels like the democratic party is getting close to united and the bernie sanders question is no longer, is he going to fight to this the convention. it's just about the terms of surrender now. >> right. when you have the president of

the united states, the vice president of the united states, all basically saying to you, look, it's done. we've got to unite. we have to do this. and that sitting president of the united states is popular with the core of the democratic party base, but also is sitting at a -- sitting above 50% in terms of national popularity, that's a heavy thing for a candidate. and then on top of that, you have senator elizabeth warren out there, who is, like, folks wanted her to run, and she didn't. and so they all rallied around bernie sanders. now you have all of these people who are behind the presumptive nominee, and, yeah, that took a lot of wind out of senator sanders' sails. and i think democrats are used to having this sort of quadrennial panic attack when it comes to party unity. but i remember 2008 and thinking, wow, how is this going to work? this has mended itself so quickly, i think for the reasons they just articulated.

and especially since the other side, the republican party, is in such chaos, that they actually make democrats look good. >> all right. jonathan capehart, ann guerin, robert costa, this concludes "the washington post" segment of tonight's edition of "hardball." thank you all for joining us. coming up, the road to 270, now that it's clinton/trump, we can start to game out the electoral map. which states are trump looking to flip? where can clinton make inroads? that's coming up. and a bad day for trump as a "usa today" investigation finds he has a pattern of not always paying his bills. we have the reporter who broke that story with all the details joining us tonight. and after last night's spirited attack on trump, could elizabeth warren find herself on clinton's ticket? we're going to look at the best running mate picks for both clinton and trump. a little veep talk coming up. and something about this general election i don't know. this is "hardball," the place

for politics. into promotions? ♪ nah. what else? what if we hire more sales reps? ♪ nah. what else? what if we digitize the whole supply chain? so people can customize their bike bore they buy it. that worked better than expected. i'll dial it back. yeah, dial it back. just a little. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple. (vo) you can check on them. you can worry about them. you can even choose a car for them. (mom) honey, are you ok? (child) i'm ok. (announcer vo) love. (mom) we're ok. (announcer vo) it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

muhammad ali was laid to rest today in louisville, kentucky. among those delivering eulogies, former president bill clinton. >> we all have an ali story it's the gifts we all have that should be most honored today. because he released them to the world. never wasting a day that the rest of us could see, anyway feeling sorry for himself that he had parkinson's. knowing that more than three decades of his life would be circumscribed in ways that would be chilling to the naked eye, but with a free spirit, it made his life bigger, not smaller, because other people, all of us

unlettered, unschooled in the unleashing said, well, would you look at that. look at that. may not be ain't to run across a ring anymore. may not be able to dodge everybody and exhaust everybody anymore, and he's bigger than ever, because he is a free man of faith, sharing the gifts we all have. we should honor him by letting our gifts go among the world, as he did. god bless you, my friend. go in peace. >> that was bill clinton just a short while ago. and tonight, midnight eastern here on msnbc, you can catch a special presentation of the documentary, "when we were kings," as former rivals pay tribute to muhammad ali. we'll be right back.

tired of re-dosing antacids? try duo fusion! new, two in one heartburn relief. the antacid goes to work in seconds... and the acid reducer lasts up to 12 hours in one chewable tablet. try new duo fusion. from the makers of zantac. every ingredient is the main ingredient. the new green goddess cobb with avocado, bacon, freshly made dressing, tomato... and chicken. at panera. food as it should be.

man 1: i came as fast as i man 2: this isn't public yet. man 1: what isn't? man 2: we've been attacked. man 1: the network? man 2: shhhh. man 1: when did this happen? man 2: over the last six months. man 1: how did we miss it? man 2: we caught it, just not in time. man 1: who? how? man 2: not sure, probably off-shore, foreign, pros. man 1: what did they get? man 2: what didn't they get. man 1: i need to call mike... man 2: don't use your phone. it's not just security, it's defense. bae systems.

welcome back to "hardball." the general election is shaping up fast, as both nominees launch their battleground state travel. next week, hillary clinton is going to head to the crucial states of ohio and pennsylvania. she'll also end up in wisconsin. that's where she's going to appear at a rally with president obama by her side. the first time the two of them will campaign together. donald trump, meanwhile, is going to start tonight in virginia. he's going to continue his battleground state tour heading to florida, pennsylvania, and new hampshire. and so with the candidates getting into general election mode, we thought we would dust off the big board and give you a look at some of the demographics and some of the things on the map to be keeping an eye on. first, let's look at that route that donald trump is trying to take to the white house, because it's an unconventional one, and it's one that after the last election, nobody thought that any republican would ever try to take again. let me explain. this is what the exit polling looked like at the end of the 2012 election. and you see here, mitt romney had a giant advantage with barack obama when it came to white voters.

a 20-point lead, nearly 60% of the vote. and republicans looked at this and said, my god, he got nearly 60%. he clobbered obama with the white vote. we can't do any better than that with the white vote. so if we're ever going to win one of these again, the key for us is to expand to non-white voters. specifically, to latino voters. remember, latino voters are a group that just in 2004 were pretty competitive. george w. bush got 44% of the latino vote. so the thinking among a lot of republicans in washington was, let's do immigration reform, let's show some -- let's make some overtures to the latino community. let's get that 27% up into the 30s, into the 40s, and then we can compete again. well, obviously, not the strategy donald trump is going after. donald trump's strategy is this. he's looking at that 59% that romney got with white voters and he says, i can move that up. i can move that up into the 60s. so that's his challenge. can he get it to 63? 64%? well, we have some interesting numbers to tell you about on

that front. check this out. our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, we looked at college -- these are non-college whites. these are whites who do not have a college degree. this is interesting. because, look, donald trump in our latest poll is leading with them by 27 points. and look, in 2012, mitt romney only won this same group by 25 points. so already, just starting out, trump is actually improving on where mitt romney did with non-college whites. but here is the flip side of that. check out whites with college degrees, and you see a tie right now. clinton, 44. trump, 44. look, in 2012, mitt romney won this same group by 14 points. so what you see going on are two different groups of white voters going in two different directions when presented with donald trump. white college graduates, they are running away from him. this is a great number of for hillary clinton, for a democrat among this group. white non-college voters, they are going toward donald trump. you add that together, he's not yet improving on the romney total among white voters that he

needed to. quickly, we can just show you the battleground map again. keep this in mind. if donald trump is going to get the presidency, he'll have to win some of these obama states. you look where hillary clinton is playing defense this week. two of her first stops are going to be ohio and pennsylvania, rust belt states. a lot of these non-college white voters we're talking about in these states. look, if donald trump picked up both of them, if he could pick up ohio, if he could pick up pennsylvania, it's not going to get him to 270, but it's going to get him closer. and keep this in mind, what was the closest state on the board in 2012? it was florida, that was one of the first states donald trump will be in if he can move it a few points in florida. that's a big challenge, but if he could. florida, pennsylvania, ohio, look at that. trump would be there. a couple things to keep in mind as we start to take a look at this map. for more now, i'm joined by nbc news senior political reporter, perry bacon, and former adviser troo to rand paul's presidential

campaign, elise jordan. so when you look at the idea here of pennsylvania, of ohio, of getting that white working class vote, do you see a path there? >> i do. i think, we were talking about this earlier, steve, there's an argument when you look at -- we think the people of color are rising and the numbers are rising as the most diverse electorate of all time probably in 2016. uh be pennsylvania and ohio are not as diverse as the rest of the country are. and there's an argument to be made that donald trump could win those two states while doing -- while not doing too well with minority voters. he can win more white voters. and then in florida, florida has a big latino population, but also a fair amount of cubans who are more conservative. also, if the white voters in florida, obama did pretty poorly with the 2012s. you could see a path for trump to win all three of those states. the challenge being to make sure he doesn't do worse among the white college vote and the white

women vote. he can't do worse than romney is. and the evidence so far is he's doing worse than romney with both those groups right now. >> and elise, if you're taking a look at the map, i'll reset it back here to what it looked like in 2012. indiana, that was not what it was. i pressed wrong state. let's try this again. ohio, pennsylvania, florida, going to reset into the democratic column. this is what it looked like in 2012. if you're looking at a scenario for donald trump, you're looking at this map, when would you put the path? >> first of all, i want to say, what would be the absolute game changer, and i think what is a distinct possibility, i think donald trump could lose texas. and then it's really game over. and romney carried it by 16%. it's a very red state, but it has a large hispanic population. and if trump has more weeks like this week, i think we'll really see his numbers crater even more among hispanic voters. and it had been a steady upward trajectory with george w. bush in the state, hugely popular among hispanic voters, and governor perry and governor

abbott, but i think trump stands to lose a lot of ground there. i think that definitely trump has to lock up the rust belt states. i think he really needs to win florida and i think that's going to be very tough for him. >> it's interesting. you mentioned texas, and that's one of the states where donald trump will be having one of his early campaign appearances. if he's playing defense in three states, there's going to be three early campaign appearances, one in texas. he's also going to be in georgia. he's also going to be out here in arizona. and you can see, if donald trump were to lose those three states, what was a pretty solid victory for barack obama in 2012 would turn into an absolute left sian. so when we talk about donald trump playing defense, it's probably those three states. but for now, let's move those back into the republican column. and perry, something else -- you know, i'm trying to talk and do this at the same time. look at what i do to myself. now we're back to 2012 levels. perry, the other thing here, the interesting challenge for donald trump as well, and you were alluding to this, that some of these states we thought of as big battlegrounds in 2012,

thought of as future battlegrounds, a state like virginia where donald trump is going to be. a state like colorado, colorado, which has a fast-growing latino population, maybe donald trump is the worst match republicans could put to put those states into play again. >> right. i think donald trump, you can imagine him putting states like new hampshire and pennsylvania in play. obama won new hampshire. i think trump is strong there. pennsylvania, i can see you white working class voters, him doing well. those days he can flip. i would say on the other hand, if you look at a state like north carolina, it's one where i would particularly say, you have a big minority population. you have a big college-educated population. that's a state where you could see him losing, and mitt romney won. also, something i wanted to note was, there's a part of the midwest where i think it's really significant to watch is, obama is going to wisconsin with hillary for his first up. that's not an accident. you have these three states in the midwest, wisconsin, iowa, michigan. those are three states where the white vote is pretty large, but

obama and democrats tend to do well. obama's numbers in wisconsin and iowa were really strong and if trump can't win those states, that narrows his path. george bush won wisconsin, for example, in 2004. so trump needs to broaden out his base a little bit beyond those three states. and i'm not sure where he goes outside of ohio, florida, new hampshire, pennsylvania right now. >> it's interesting, i just put these states red as you talked about them. iowa, wisconsin, michigan. if donald trump -- i mean, this is a big if. again, this is the biggest if we've put out there yet. but if donald trump were to flip those, you talk about having a rust belt strategy. add in ohio and pennsylvania, and there donald trump then would be north of 270, without having to win virginia, without having to win florida, just in the rust belt. but, again, that would require flipping five of these states up her here. elise, does that seem at all plausible? >> i don't think it's possible at all that donald trump is going to win in iowa. he didn't win the caucus and i think there's no way he will carry that state.

i think the problem is that he's looking for these so-called missing white working class voters, and i don't think that they're actually missing from the polls. you know, in '92, ross perot managed to turn out more working class white voters by about 2%. and that's because he energized that sector of the electorate. and i just don't think you're going to necessarily see that this year. you look at trump's strategy of, you know, the things he says might win over working class voters, but then they make him utterly repellant to another sector. be it white educated women. you know, i really think that trump absolutely can't count on white educated women. >> all right, elise jordan, perry bacon, thanks for joining us for our first fun segment of many with this board as the fall campaign kicks off in june. all right. thanks for that. still ahead, donald trump not fully paying his bills. we've got the reporter who broke the story for the "usa today." he is coming here next with all of the details. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

it'sand your doctor at yoto maintain your health.a because in 5 days, 10 hours and 2 minutes you are going to be 67. and on that day you will walk into a room where 15 people will be waiting... 12 behind the sofa, 2 behind the table and 1 and a half behind a curtain. family: surprise! but only one of them will make a life long dream come true. great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them. at humana, we can help you with a personalized plan for your health for years to come. when age-related macular have degeneration, amd we came up with a plan to help reduce my risk of progression.

and everywhere i look... i'm reminded to stick to my plan. including preservision areds 2. my doctor said preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula that the national eye institute recommends to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd... after 15 years of clinical studies. preservision areds 2. because my eyes are everything. who don't have access thto basic banking,on people but that is changing. at temenos, with the microsoft cloud, we can enable a banker to travel to the most remote locations with nothing but a phone and a tablet. everywhere where there's a phone, you have a bank. now a person is able to start a business, and employ somebody for the first time. the microsoft cloud helped us to bring banking to ten million people in just two years. it's transforming our world.

spending the day with my niece. that make me smile. i don't use super poligrip for hold, because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well fitting dentures let in food particles. just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. try super poligrip free.

i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. donald trump held a rally in richmond, virginia, earlier. in his remarks, he said he's the least racist person you'll see. then repeatedly called elizabeth warren, who claims native american ancestry, pocahontas. about 100 protesters marched on the venue before the candidate took the stage. protesters clashed with supporters before police moved in to separate them. five people were detained, but only one has been charged with disorderly conduct. back to "hardball". >> and welcome back to "hardball." earlier today, we heard more from a scripted donald trump, who spoke to a gathering of people at the annual faith and freedom coalition, a gathering in washington, d.c.. >> freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their color and the

color of their skin. should not be judged that way. >> but the true test of whether donald trump can stay on message will probably come tonight. that's when the presumptive republican nominee will speak to throngs of supporters in richmond, virginia. and for more, i'm joined by nbc correspondent, kelly o'donnell. she's inside that trump rally in richmond. kelly, that speech donald trump gave today, the one he gave the other night on tuesday night, really seems like something he's not necessarily comfortable with. he likes being off the cuff. he likes being spontaneous. now he's trying to be more of a scripted traditional candidate. do you think he's going to be able to continue that when he steps into that room tonight with thousands of people egging him on? >> reporter: well, steve, i think -- first of all, the national anthem is being sung right now, so i'll try to speak softly to not be disrespectful about that. but from sources i've been talking to, when trump is doing a planned event speech, a

planned speech, before a specific audience, you'll see more of the scripted donald trump, than the teleprompter donald trump, but at a rally like this at the coliseum, this is the area where he drives so much of his energy from a crowd and loves to riff with some of his more colorful jabs at opponents like hillary clinton. so for donald trump, this is the kind of thing where he is trying to stir the crowd to be excited about his candidacy. here in richmond, virginia, we're turning toward that battleground state of the campaign. and what i've been told is that donald trump understands that he's had a very difficult week based on the reaction to the comments he said about judge curiel. he knows that it's been a rough patch. and so you will see him trying to turn the page, to not talk about the judge any longer. that doesn't mean he won't be the donald trump we've come to know, where he is very tart with his assessments of opponents like hillary clinton and he will try to push forward. now, we know that he has told us that early in the week, he will

deliver a speech that will be aimed at hillary clinton and some of his sort of opposition research, if you will, all in one shiny bow. but here tonight in richmond, i'm struck by a couple of things. outside, limited number of protesters. not a big crowd. and inside, we're close to the time trump is supposed to be, is supposed to be on stage. and he -- i'm sorry, somebody is jeering me right now, so bear with me. near the time he's supposed to take the stage and yet, it's not a full room. so, we'll have to see how this goes tonight and what happens with him. there is definitely a crowd here, probably thousands. but not a big a crowd as we have come to see on the trail with trump. so when he gets to the stage, we'll have to measure, is he the donald trump of the more polished environment or will he be the rally donald trump that lifted him to the nomination. steve? >> all right, we will be watching. kelly o'donnell at that trump rally, starting to get underway

in richmond, thanks for that. and on the subject of trump, yesterday, "usa today" published an exclusive investigation that they say shows that various trump organizations have a history of not paying small businesses and individuals in full for their services. the story, parts of which nbc news' hallie jackson was able to confirm, was uncovered after viewing nearly 4,000 lawsuits from the past three decades. when asked about the allegation, hope hicks directed nbc to comments donald trump made earlier to the paper. he defended the tactics saying, quote, let's say that they do a job that's not good or a job that they didn't finish or a job that was way late. i'll deduct from their contract, absolutely. and that's what the country should be doing. i'm joined now by "usa today" investigative journalist, steve reilly, who reported this story. steve, thanks for joining us. take us through the basics here. small businesses, individuals. give us an example of somebody you're reporting on here. what did they do for trump and

his organization? what did they get in return? >> thanks for having me. one example that we looked at is a cabinetry business that was based out of the philadelphia area. i went to work for the trump company in the 1980s, at the casino they were building in atlantic city, new jersey, and the story of the person we talked to was that the trump company failed to pay the last payment. it was about $83,000 on that contract. and that was damaging to, obviously, that small business of about 20 employees at the time, and eventually they went bankrupt. >> was there an explanation from trump? i'm assuming the company spent a lot of time right to collect it. what were they hearing back? >> it's interesting, this small business person said mr. trump told them that he's not going to make the final payment. however, they're welcome to come and do work in the future for future trump projects. and so that's been consistent with mr. trump's statement, when

i spoke with him for this article, that he would only make payments, only skip on payments if the work was late or deficient in some way. >> so i'm kind of curious here, are you finding that this is a series of sort of events where trump, where his company turn to their vendors and say, you didn't get the job done. we're not happy, therefore, we're not going to pay? or is this just blanket, not payment, no explanation, sort of just a strategy? >> the allegations that we looked at, and you mentioned we looked at about 3,500 lawsuits in total involving mr. trump as a plaintiff or a defendant or one of his companies, so the subset of lawsuits and other documents, in which it's alleged the trump company failed to make proper payment allege that the contractors and employees did the work they were contracted to do, and did it according to

the -- whatever agreement was in place and were not paid fairly for the work. >> steve reilly from the "usa today," interesting story. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, she's currently the number one attack dog in the fight against donald trump. but could elizabeth warren also be a vice presidential contender? we'll break down the possibilities for the number two slot on both the clinton and trump tickets. that's coming up next. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. the lexus gs f sport. because the ultimate expression of power, is control. this is the pursuit of perfection. you owned your car for four years, you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls, and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement™,

we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. but i've managed.e crohn's disease is tough, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. [phone buzzing] some things are simply impossible to ignore. the strikingly designed lexus nx turbo and hybrid. the suv that dares to go beyond utility. this is the pursuit of perfection.

do you believe you would be capable of stepping into that job and doing that job if you were ever called to do it? >> yes, i did. >> and welcome back to "hardball." that was massachusetts senator, elizabeth warren last night, talking to rachel maddow about the prospects of becoming hillary clinton's running mate if hillary clinton invites her on to the ticket. clinton met with warren this morning at clinton's home in washington, d.c. that fueled plenty of vp speculation. warren hasn't been shy in voicing her opinions about

presumptive republican nominee, donald trump. she's had some pretty potent attacks against him, including this one just last night. >> trump also whined that he's being treated unfairly. donald trump shows racism as his weapon. you, donald trump, are a total disgrace. >> warren has been called clinton's secret weapon, but is it enough to earn her a spot on the democratic ticket? joining me now is tonight's "hardball" roundtable, joan walsh, msnbc political analyst and national affairs correspondent for the nation, ozzie pabra is a senior reporter for politico, and jeanie is at nyu. joan, this meeting today, hillary clinton, elizabeth warren, they sit down. i'm remembering at the start of this campaign when joe biden was thinking about getting in, he called elizabeth warren to a meeting and he did talk to her about potentially running with her if he became the democratic nominee. do you think that subject came

up in this meeting today? >> i think it had to come up, even as a joke, because it's present and top of mind for everyone. i don't know if that's -- i don't think that's what they were doing, i really don't. i think they were having a getting to know you, thank you for your endorsement, came late in the process, but it really matters. but perhaps feeling out how compatible are they? how close together are they on the issue of banking regulation, which is huge. >> and warren has been critical in the past of hillary clinton. >> she has. she's been critical once or twice. she's also been supportive. but i think that there's got to be some -- both personal and political exploration of whether this makes sense. i think she's got to be considering it. i know i'm on record as saying i don't think it's a great idea, as a feminist, i'm worried about the men, which i feel really bad about. i worry that it is too much change, too fast. but on the other hand, i've been kind of warming to it in the last week, was so many men think it's a great idea. and there's something so -- there's nothing else like it on -- as far as i can see, on the horizon, as a possible pick.

>> genie, what do you think? does it make sense from a political perspective, if you're hillary clinton, you're her brain trust, you're looking at this, what are the pros you see, what are the cons? >> i think it depends a lot on what they think her biggest weakness is. if they think they need independents and moderates, i agree with joan, it's going to be too far to go to elizabeth warren, because she's going to be seen as too lefty. if they feel that this election is going to be won if and only if they get out the progressive left, the really energetic part of the democratic party, then it makes sense to consider an elizabeth warren or a bernie sanders, although i don't think they're going there. so i think it's going to depend in part on where they see their biggest weaknesses. she comes with a lot of pluses. she has been great in terms of attacking donald trump, that's what you want. she is beloved by the democratic left, but she also comes with some negative. she is still a freshman senator from massachusetts. she is inexperienced, by many people's estimation, in

particular when it comes to foreign policy. and there's the female issue. do you want two women on the ticket? we're just celebrating this historic moment with hillary clinton, is it too far to say we're going to add elizabeth warren now. >> one thing warren does seem to do well is get under donald trump's speech. when warren gave that speech last night, trump tweeted this, "pocahontas is at it again. goofy liz bit warren, one of the least productive senators, has a nasty mouth." we've seen this back and forth before. if we put ideology side. this question, is she too liberal or progressive for the ticket. o the idea of just having somebody who relishes attacking the opponent that much and is that good at it, is that a strong argument to put her on the ticket? >> you saw how effective joe biden was in that role. obama had trouble debating with hillary clinton. you get to the general election, and obama stumbled in the first debate. joe biden comes out and has an

amazing performance. before he became, you know, america's uncle joe and a parody on "saturday night live," he was a slugger. and he actually helped turn the tide and reenergize obama so he was able to go in for the second and third debate. and having that ability for someone to sort of mix it up with trump. if trump is debating elizabeth warren, the undercard, really, you free up hillary clinton to make a more direct appeal to voters. and we've talked about it before. that clinton seems to want to make this election about donald trump. and at some point, she has to articulate an argument for why people want to elect her, and not just not be trump. >> what do we think? the flip side of this, trump, who's he going to go with? any thoughts here? this is the ultimate question in politics these days. who would go with him? >> exactly. i love the way mitch mcconnell talked about it. he has so many deficits, he doesn't really know anything. like, maybe they'll change the rules and he'll get to have three vice presidents with,

because he'll need military, domestic, whatever -- a vice president of insults. >> he invites three people -- >> i can't think of an example where -- we always ask, you know, who would be lucky enough to be chosen. but who would actually want it? >> chris christie would want it. i think he's a terrible choice, but he would want it. i could still see that happening. >> i think the best choice is a bob corker. i think that would be a really smart choice. >> but he falls into that category, would he take it? >> i think you would really have to work on of it. but to the establishment folks, that would say a lot. and that would balance the temperament and experience issue. >> i'll give you who i think it's going to be. i'm not even kidding. scott brown. i think scott brown falls into the category of would take it, would be compatible with donald trump, would like it. and by the way, a scott brown/elizabeth warren debate. they're looking at me again. >> we are -- >> roundtable is staying with us. >> i was kidding. i know why they laugh. but i say it anyway.

up next, these three are going to tell me something i don't know, which is not hard to do. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ ♪ i am a lot of things. i am his guardian. i am his voice. so i asked about adding once-daily namenda xr to his current treatment for moderate to severe alzheimer's. it works differently. when added to another alzheimer's treatment, it may improve overall function and cognition. and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. vo: namenda xr doesn't change how the disease progresses. it shouldn't be taken by anyone allergic to memantine,

or who's had a bad reaction to namenda xr or its ingredients. before starting treatment, tell their doctor if they have, or ever had, a seizure disorder, difficulty passing urine, liver, kidney or bladder problems, and about medications they're taking. certain medications, changes in diet, or medical conditions may affect the amount of namenda xr in the body and may increase side effects. the most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, and dizziness. all my life, he's protected me. now i am giving back. ask their doctor about once-daily namenda xr and learn about a free trial offer at namendaxr.com. play "hardball" with us all week long online. you can follow "hardball" on twitter and instagram and like "hardball" on facebook. you'll get an all-access pass to show videos, behind the scenes photos, and the best political analysis of the 2016 campaign. we'll be right back. wait. data just changed... now she's into disc sports. ah, no she's not. since when? since now. she's into tai chi.

she found disc sports too stressful. hold on. let me ask you this... what's she gonna like six months from now? who do we have on aerial karate? steve. steve. steve. and alexis. uh, no. just steve. just steve. just steve. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple. trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief

we're back with the

"hardball" roundtable. tell me something i don't know. >> bernie sanders had an election day ral in green bay for the wisconsin primary. so i think that's really an interesting choice for president obama and hillary clinton. they're going after the sanders voters. they're going after the green bay packer fans, but i also wonder, and this is something i don't know. could it be possible that bernie shows up in wisconsin on wednesday? just throwing that out there. >> just don't tell john kerry, because he'll call it lambert field again. ozzie? >> okay, you were talking about north carolina, and there's 1.5 million more white voters than non-white voters. but give hillary a reason for hope. there's 600,000 more democrats and republicans and as the person who's trying to be the first woman elected, 500,000 more women registered voters than men. >> jeannie, ten seconds to go. >> 87 days, merrick garland will be in the top ten nominees waiting the longest as of tomorrow and he will match louis

brandeis when the republicans meet for the convention in july as the longest nominee to sit without a vote for the supreme court. >> i did not know that. >> see, i told you, steve! >> but i knew joan's. i didn't know that. i don't know anything. "hardball's" back after this. en our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. so you can seize those moments, wherever you find them. flonase. six is greater than one changes everything.

every ingredient is the main ingredient. the strawberry poppyseed...

romaine, mandarin, pineapple, blueberry, strawberry, strawberry... strawberry... salad with chicken. at panera. food as it should be. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you.

that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. chris matthews returns monday. the greatest boxer of ti