ben sasse for president. even though it is only like mitt romney and three columnists who are involved in this movement, if you are senator ben sasse of nebraska, even this little bit of attention must be kind of thrilling, right? that said, this sort of movement is facing head winds. the head winds are strong on this one. and here's what i mean. ben sasse's home state is nebraska. nebraska is one of eight states that held republican party state conventions this weekend, one out of every six delegates to the republican national convention this summer was chosen this weekend at the state conventions. there were a few other beg petings but a loot of the delegates from the rnc were picked this weekend. and what happened at the state conventions this weekend should probably put to rest once and for all the -- not only did all of these state convention republican not on rolled over for donald trump, they also went out of their way to take extra time at their state convention to overwhelmingly rebuke their brand ne

i could spin out a scenario, thrown into the house, and the republicans perfer ben sass. someone that people can vote for who can't vote for donald trump or hillary clinton in good conscious, and feel proud to vote for someone like him. i invite everybody to follow ben on twitter and facebook. it is it extraordinary, what he is doing, he is saying that he would vote for someone and support someone who idelogically was different for him, someone who had good common sense, and could someone you could feel honorable about in the country. >> veteran of the bush presidential campaign, basically burned her republican card, said she is joining the libertarian party, good news for it libertarian party, they may get more than 1% of the vote this time. >> abraham lincoln told a joke, about the man in the lemonade, he said absolutely not. but if some liquor got in the lemonade unbeknownst to me, it wouldn't do any harm. if hillary clinton got elected unbeknownst to me -- >> democrats, in 1972, they didn't just lose the election, to richard nixon. they loeft control of the party. they

obviously ben sasse with some strong feelings on this issue. guys, it is an interesting c conundrum this this never trump movement faces. there is no candidate for them in the republican race. what kind of options do they have for a third party? it brings up a thicket of legal issues when you talk about ballot access, donor issues when you talk about funding a campaign to go up against likely billion dollar operations on the republican and democratic side, and also coalescing around a candidate. now, a number of people i have talked to have tossed out a lot of names. ben sasse something among them. something he has personally shot down. but who can everybody in this group of people coalesce behind? that is the big question that nobody seems to have a real answer to right now, and, guys, time is of the essence. if you want to get on the ballot and have an opportunity to run, you need a candidate. >> and to get on the ballot in some of these states, you need a candidate and you need it fast, like right now. >> you needed it like a month ago frank

you're talking about someone who is ben sasse, most notably the united states senator from nebraska, and he's inorganic rock of conservatism and he's looking for someone who will really uphold the principles. >> the only one anybody is talking about ben sasse is because he was one of the first people to come out against trump. >> right. >> no way anybody would be talking about ben sasse for president, at least right now in 2016, and then it seems like why wouldn't you go with ted cruz then because he's the ultra conservative, i don't know. seems like -- i know you're laughing because you're as mist five-day as i am. an interesting tweet from donald trump and not about fellow republicans but bernie sanders and here's what he said. bernie sanders is being treated very badly by the dems and the system is rigged against him. he should run as an independent. returns bernie, run. >> i bet. >> so why does donald trump want him to run? >> he wants hillary clinton to have the same problem he does. the goal for both of these candidates is to get above 90% of your own party's support. both will

especially now where you're getting new information from ben sasse. >> from sources close to sasse that he's not interested in one of these people who runs as a possible independent candidate. for the trump campaign, i can't imagine they're blinking an eyelash about this. this is not surprising. it's not particularly new, the stop trump movement. there has been rumblings within that movement for a while that maybe they would try to put up somebody against donald trump. the problem is, frances, it is too late. i mean, athe this point it would have to be viable a write-in campaign, you'd have to work ballot rules. there would be legal challenges. it would be a real uphill battle obviously for somebody to take on trump as a third-party candidate especially when you're starting to see the republican party warm up to him at least a little bit more. there are those stop trump, never trump folks who simply will not vote for him. there are others who are maybe in the maybe trump camp. >> in the maybe trump camp. >> yeah. >> and we're seeing that happening post-rnc meeting but also looking ahead

bernie even worse, because of a guy like ben sass, that would mean republicans can't win. if you do what he's suggesting. >> the worst thing that can happen, i'm going to win. i'm going to put wonderful, conservative good, solid brilliant judges. >> you're going to lay those out. >> i'm going to lay them out. i'm going to discuss people. >> a couple of groups. i think before the convention i want to put up 10, 12, 15 names of the type of people that we like. i would like to do that. >> from that list that you will choose? >> i've suggested that. i don't know if it's been accepted. from that list, i would choose, he's a conservative judges, would be great judges. >> you have two, the last two republican presidents saying they're not going to endorse you. >> i understand that, i understand why they're not. the war in iraq was perhaps the worst decision ever made in this country's history. it totally destabilized the middle east. it was a total disaster, made by bush. i took jeb bush on very hard. he was very nasty to me, spent $15 million, $20 million negative ads on me, nob

ben sass conservatives like, to step forward and do that is a huge, huge headache. have to raise a quarter of a billion dollars perhaps to get on the ballot in the other states. >> i'm skeptical. i don't think sass will do it. >> sass threw his name out there but buried in that was a comment he has little kids and doesn have the time. >> there is already a third party candidate, gary johnson, former two-term governor of new mexico. >> the libertarian. >> you think the republican party is in civil war, the libertarians. >> the libertarians have their nominating convention at the end of the month. you could be a delegate to the convention buying a ticket. if you had a well organized effort you could buy the convention. the problem for the third party wishful thinking people they're very disorganized and too busy debating whether this is something they should do to push the effort forward, but you know, you got to think libertarians believing in free markets would be okay with someone buying their nom nice. >> you're saying the never trump movement has the efficiency o

. >> he needs there not to be ben sass or someone running from the right and jill "the washington post" had an article talking about these people from mitt romney to bill crystal, mike murphy trying toage tate to get that person out there but that person doesn't seem to exist. >> at this point they're looking for that candidate, and i think very much to the point that you were talking about. keep in mind this is a guy who has not had the past two republican presidents, mitt romney is still not on board, eelements of the establishment not ready to go there and that's significant. >> mitt romney still going after trump hard, jeff. houng do you think he can keep this up? >> as long as he wants but it doesn't matter. mitt romney does not control any votes other than his own and perhaps his son's and whatnot. i do not think it matters what mitt romney is saying and ben sass for all the talk about a third party candidate he was sanctioned by the nebraska republican party, they voted he should stop talking about not supporting the nominee. i think this idea of a third party candidate is just

despite talk and effort from bill kristal and ben sass and others. >> i would be open to a third partydidate. >> we're living in a time that's very personality driven in politics. a large majority of americans wish they had another option. >> that poll said would you be open to an independent run of donald trump or hillary clinton. so yes, sure. >> who is this -- >> there's no viable path. a lot of the filing deadline, texas has already passed. >> you could make the case. >> by the time the convention rolls around, a dozen will have passed. you have to talk about funding. it's going to be very difficult. ross perot managed to get in all 50 states. he wasn't able to get any electoral college votes, it's very difficult to get on the ballot, to get access, to raise money. to have money. >> why not put the attention there and money and resources to defending those seats. >> i think a lot of people find trump fundamentally unacceptable as the leader of their party soixt think the problem is that it's like waiting for gadot. there's no compelling charismatic personality and that's what you w

ben sass' name was in there. you behind donald trump right now as the presumptive nominee, or would you go for a third party candidate? are you crossing your fingers here on any of these names? >> no, i'm not crossing my fingers. i'm supporting donald trump. last week they named me the honorary state chair for nebraska. senate ben sass is a good friend of mine, but it's a fantasy world to think there's going to be a third party candidate. first of all, it's difficult to get on the ballot. secondly, where are you going to get the money? and third, who's going to do it? they're live anything a dream world, it's not going to happen. liz: all right. so you are an avowed donald trump supporter, you're going to be helping the campaign. good for you. let's talk a little bit about taxes because governor rickets, the current governor of nebraska, just recently put in a tax relief bill for land owners, specifically agricultural landowners. and again, it seems to be helping the state of nebraska. yesterday, governor -- i do

mitt romney and ben sasse have been put out there, but they say no way are they running. >>> and a brief partial lockdown on monday at the white house. secret service ordered the lockdown after someone threw something over the white house fence. this object was tested and determined not to be dangerous. an unidentified suspect is in custody. >>> former attorney general eric holder is praising edward snowden. he said the ex-nsa contractor performed a public service over government surveillance operations. the former attorney general has issued with the way he leaked classified documents and insists he must be held accountable. >> there needs to be a consequence for what he has done. i think in deciding what an appropriate sentence should be. i think the judge should take into account the usefulness of the national debate. >> you think he will still serve time? >> i think he should. i think he harmed american interests. i can't go into it. >> he would say he didn't. >> that is simply not true. i know there are ways in which certain of our agents were put at risk. relationships with other c

we know romney tried to woo nebraska senator ben sass. ben, you're a conservative. you don't support trump. who's on your list of ideal third-party candidates? >> well, i would love to see ben sass realize he has sort of a duty right now to step up to the plate. i think a lot of these politicians looking at the situation believing that they don't want to be on the titanic. reince even said that this would be a suicide mission. for people like me who have been very never trump from the beginning and believe he could damage the party as he defines conservatism very inadequately. i am of the opinion that whatever can stop trump is what we should do. >> is it too late for anyone as a third-party candidate to get into the race and be able to be in a position to succeed? >> i have a little bit of a different view on that that's not very popular which is as long as he hurts trump i'm happy. >> to be okay with a hillary clinton or bernie sanders becoming president instead. >> i think okay is a strong word. i've accepted the situation. it's the same with the sproiupr court.

bill ben sasse or mitt romney. i think mitt romney could be been sasse's campaign.nk he is thinking about it or he could he the code that -- cochairman. mark: those are good names. we will have to talk about the romney option. we will talk to peter king about paul ryan and donald trump in just a moment. stay tuned. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ john: this next interview is on the house, or of the house. joining us now from long island, is congressman from new york's second district, congressman king. how are you doing? man king: good.ng john: you have a situation on your hands, in the republican party with donald trump. trying to figure out whether they are going to be supportive of him or not. give us your sense. you have been critical of him in the past. now you have said you will support him. congressman king: i have said i would support the nominee of the party. i will endorse him and vote for him. i'm not trying to make a cute distinction. i will not be campaigning for him. he has to make a more coherent foreign policy, national security policy, and tried to tie t

ben sass doesn't seem to be coming forward. he seems to be raising the idea. bill crystal for a while talked about jim maddis, this general who also seems to be reluctant. but there seems to be moftd around his candidacy. he seems not to be interested. if there is a third party candidate, i think we know what would half. it would be very likely that it could give the general election to hillary clinton. and if they do that, i mean it's sort of their ultimate way of stopping donald trump. so we'll see if they are able to get this together. >> quickly gloria, if there is a third party candidate -- i don't know if they could put that together, but let's say somebody impressive does energe and prevents the republican or democratic nominee to reach the candidates from getting 1237 delegates. then it goes to the house of representatives. presumely the republican nominee would be elected in the house of representatives. >> i think there is such an intense debate going on inside the republican party right now about whether you do this or as the wall street journal wro

republican senator ben sasse says he is not for trump and not for hillary.y were given a candidate to focus on a small number of urgent things to drive us together instead of drive us apart. i think there is room and appetite for a candidate. we can do better. give us more choices. in the same letter, he indicates he is not going to be the candidate. it is interesting to see a republican senator actively aggressively pushing for a third party candidate. >> that's right. it is highly unusual. he has been on the leading edge of this if you look back to february. he came back then and said if the choice boils down to trump or clinton, i'll be for a third candidate. he is now following through with it. as you know, he laid out specific criteria for the third party he is looking for saying he wants someone not a career politician. he thinks it should be someone willing to serve one term. the unanswered question is who is that candidate and willing to do it? how do you launch a campaign at this late date from a standing start? >> colleen, a moment yesterday when w

ben sass, his name came up. his team telling us over the weekend nothing as changed as far as he stands. you heard john kasich's name being banned about a couple of weeks ago, him receiving a call from mit romney, john kasich and his team saying hey, listen, where were you weeks ago when i am in this race. no, i am not going to run as an inspect candidate and there is romney of this subject of speculation over testimony last few months of maybe being a person who can come in and be an independent candidate. i will tell you this, in conversations with sources about this, there seems to be a question of who is willing to do this and put themselves up to be an independent candidate and what is the liability of independent candidate and the ballot is closing and becoming more and more difficult to see how it is viable to have somebody and yet another candidate. a question of what kind of a team you have in place. it is tough to recruit a candidate when you cannot point to any solid plan or step. here is how you can

>> ben sass or mitt romney. i think he's thinking about it seriously or he could be ben sass' chairman. >>> up next, the king and us will talk to peter king. stay tuned. we'll be right back. with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® works differently than pills. and comes in a pen. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza® works with your body to lower blood sugar in 3 ways: in the stomach, the ver, and the pancreas. vo: victoza® is an injectable prescription medice that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza® has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza® is not insul

ben sass is interesting. >> he said his kids need baths. >> the country hangs in the balance.uld use someone like him for next six months opinion. >> to win or to just make a point? >> to save the down ballot. to potentially throw this into the house of representatives and win and to actually make a statement about the future of the conservative movement. it should not be in the hands of this guy who is hijacking it. doesn't believe in conservative principles and has the asbestos luts wrong temperame -- absolute wrong temperament for the job. i think some donors will go to trump. the big question they're asking is i'm not going to donate to him because he's worth $10 billion. >> mary, you work for a president named bush who won 40% of the hispanic vote in 2004. you have donald trump today sending a tweet out featuring him eating a taco bowl and saying i love spanics. this is not in the category of high school hijinks. what do you make of that as an attempt to do what? reach latino out reach. >> let me challenge and disagree with all of y'all. the reason donald trump was able t

we've also got ben sass. he's made it clear he would not run for the presidency this cycle. >> he's a young guy. i think he's the model of the future type of republican we want. he says i'm a very conservative guy but i'm tolerant of other views. that's what's appealing to many of my liberal friends. who say, my goodness, this guy is a rational guy. >> where are you? >> i'm voting for clinton. >> where would you vote if you had to choose? steak or fish? where would you vote? >> i would write in john kasich. if enough people do it, who knows what could happen. how do we get here? >> trump has got to reach out. people aren't going to come to him when he's down in the polls. he's got an opportunity to reach out and consolidate some level of support within the party and move on and bring in other people. he doesn't appear to have those qualities at this point as long as he keeps bullying thinking people needs him. he looks like a loser now and candidates are running away from him. >> he's got to consolidate the b

who really are fighting the battles. >> i'm in my early 60s been they get social security, ben sass iseneration gap. i think someone like sass running would start off behind, there are a lot of hurdles to get over, it's doable though, if he could get into the bases, i think he could win. >> senator sass in the letter makes clear, he's not going to be the guy. >> i wouldn't say he makes it that clear. there are others, many others who are older and senior yeah. if it didn't work for john kasich, why would it work for somebody else now? >> john kasich was a flawed candidate. the republican candidates is different from a general election. and look, some candidate accept a choice between hillary clinton and donald trump. we think the country can do better. i think some republicans with, even though a little bit tempted by trump may come to their senses. they haven't so far and aye been wrong in thinking they will. trump happened so far, 42% with the republican primary vote. he's getting less than half of a party that represents half the country. that is not so formidable and hillary clinto

. >> no, but it is ben sass or someone like that. there's a chunk that wants anti-washington and doesn't want hillary clinton but is not committed to donald trump. >> here's the thing, george. she's still fighting a two-front battle. a consolidated republican party that has vilified her from the time she got out of college. she's dealing with a democratic party that is still in my judgment, coming to grips that we have a liberal, loud, progressive base. we have to say this about bernie sanders. a year ago, he was an error in the poll. just an asterisk. over the last year, he's built a tremendous movement of supporters across the board. black lives matter, occupy wall street, fight for 15. here's a guy who has branded himself as a force for change. a cult hero. the party will have to come to grips with that. >> can and will he bring all of his supporters turned tent. i know that phrase lesser of two evils caught your eye. >> bernie and hillary. >> if the shoe fits, donna. >> you know what, bill? >> how cowl i resist that. >> well, if

mitt romney and ben sasse and adam kinzinger. joining us this morning to break down the state of the race and start of the summer is dylan byer. let's talk about the state of california. you have bernie sanders all in in california. how realistic is it for him to become viable by him investing so much in california? >> california is all he has at this point. he doesn't become viable as his party's nominee. there will not be a contested convention. look, california means a lot. symbolically. i overheard hillary clinton's remarks at a fund-raiser recently. she said no state in the union does more to determine the future with the nation and democratic party than the state of california. it looks really bad for hillary clinton if she can't win that state. it looks really good for bernie sanders heading into the convention in late july if he can win that state. it gives him more leverage in advancing his democratic socialist platform during the four days at the convention. look, bernie sanders, everything he stands for is something th

they reached out to nebraska senator ben sasse and john kasich and billionaire mark cuban who owns the dallas mavericks and stars on the show, "shark tank." here is reince priebus. >> it is suicide bid. you're throwing out eight years of the white house but potentially throwing outs generations on the supreme court. we could have three justices change over next eight years. this is a suicide mission. it is, it is not right. and, i think what people should do is take the pal ryan approach which is to work with donald trump. >> there are now going to reality television, doug. mark cuban they have thrown out there. >> now going to reality television. >> that's the point. they apparently want this trump, you know, who can outtrump trump. mark cuban responded to this saying i don't see this happening. >> i don't see it happening either. there will be a small amount of population will be in support of something like this but, most people would be against it. because it is not really mounting an effort to win. it is mounting an effort to cobble together one can diet. it will feel like high-pr

bernie even worse, because of a guy like ben sass, that would mean republicans can't win. if you do what he's suggesting. >> the worst thing that can happen, i'm going to win. i'm going to put wonderful, conservative good, solid brilliant judges. >> you're going to lay those out. >> i'm going to lay them out. i'm going to discuss people. >> a couple of groups. i think before the convention i want to put up 10, 12, 15 names of the type of people that we like. i would like to do that. >> from that list that you will choose? >> i've suggested that. i don't know if it's been accepted. from that list, i would choose, he's a conservative judges, would be great judges. >> you have two, the last two republican presidents saying they're not going to endorse you. >> i understand that, i understand why they're not. the war in iraq was perhaps the worst decision ever made in this country's history. it totally destabilized the middle east. it was a total disaster, made by bush. i took jeb bush on very hard. he was very nasty to me, spent $15 million, $20 million negative ads on me, nob

donald trump and he doesn't want to support hillary clinton, let ben sasse run, he can take nikki haleymaybe she would like to run with sasse, they can argue which order to have the ticket in. i'm saying on cnn, sasse, haley, haley, sasse, they are both fine with me. i would like there to be an independent republican candidate because i can't support trump and clinton. >> if it comes down to it and it's clinton versus trump and maybe you have gary johnson running on the libertarian ticket would you vote for gary johnson? >> i will write in someone appropriate. >> but you're never trump? >> no, i don't think he has the character to be president of the united states. it's beyond any particular issue i disagree with him on or who he picks as vp. the man in the last five days embraced mike tyson, the endorsement of a convicted rape in indiana. he likes toughness, donald trump, that's great, he likes rapists. the thing with ted cruz's father he recycles a national enquirer story accusing his rival's father being involved in the assassination of kennedy. >> van, you are a democrat and are afr

romney personally asked nebraska senator ben sass to consider this, he keeps saying no. >> any new clueso trump may pick as a vice presidential running mate? >> we thought we had clues over the weekend. ben carson was quoted saying sarah palin, ted cruz, marco rubio, john kasich, and trump knocked that story down, taking to twitter, "the washington post" report on potential vp candidates is wrong. marco rubio and most others are not under consideration in terms of those mentioned in the article. i talked to trump campaign sources that said carson was, quote, guessing, just guessing, and that he does not speak for the campaign. carson said on cnn he was just tossing out names. i talked to the campaign manager cory lewandowski, he is running the vp search with donald trump. he said donald trump speaks for donald trump. for the campaign for unnamed advisers to say ben carson is guessing, that speaks volumes. >> people will be guessing for awhile. he says he is not announcing his running mate until the convention in july. thanks very much, jim acosta. let's get more with one of his key suppo

one republican lawmaker who says he will not support donald trump is ben sasse. a senator from anebraska. he posted a diatribe. sasse said his position in february stands today as well. >> blake burman in washington. let's turn to glen hall now, editor of the "wall street journal." always been said democrats fall in love and republicans fall in line. can they all fall in line now? >> i think it's going to be a slower process. in fact, we heard from former rnc chairman haley barbour, that's exactly what he expects. slow movement behind trump. we're seeing some of that division starting. we had ben sasse as just mentioned but also had today the mississippi governor. we heard from bobby jindal he's in. there's a bounce but a slow one and we don't have heavy hitters in the game yet. >> lindsey graham and others who won't. yesterday morning, ted cruz, what we described here as lawyer ted cruz, giving his summation or closing arguments. closing statements. called him a narcissist. pathological liar. someone who would destroy the nation. if you are one on the conservati

he's already lost ben sass, the senator from nebraska out there calling to draft a third party candidate. the question, are there enough voters behind politicians like that for their to be a viable other option, anti-trump option that continues to exist in the republican party. >> kasie hunt, thanks for that. >>> let's turn to katie packer, the founder of our principles pac, someone in that never trump camp from the beginning. fast forward to november. you're in that voting booth. hillary clinton, donald trump, any chance you'll end up checking off donald trump's name on that ballot? >> zero chance. zero chance i'll support hillary clinton either. she's a highly unpalatable optsion. >> a third party? >> a third party or write-in. i can't support someone that i think is a child and is really dangerous for the party and the country. >> mitch mcconnell, he says he's going to support donald trump. you have kelly ayotte. she'll support him, not endorse him. she's going to vote for human. susan collins moving in that direction. maybe the republican party is trying to make piece with this. >> i

some have approached ben sasse. he reportedly has rejected the offer and so has john kasich according to his spokesman. even the proponent of such a plan pretty much admit it's not workable. its ostensible effect would be to hand the elect to hillary clinton. but so distasteful is the suggest that -- the suggestion. >> they should get assurances from donald trump that they are satisfied with that would show he's committed to conservative justices. and making sure the people justices he's considering are approved by the heritage committee. reporter: it's too late to get on the ballot in some large state including texas. fundraising and grassroots organizations would lag far behind. martha: meanwhile donald trump is working on people who aren't on board and he's winning some of them over. >> representative tom cole says he's a work in progress. those cozying up to trump are doing so with eyes wide open. cole said usually you know a lot more about a candidate. he does have a shoot from the hip style. those who attended

maybe a ben sasse or mitt romney coming back. maybe that is simply a faction in the republican party that refuses to vote for him or holds out at the convention. i think it is improbable that he will make it to the white house with a divided republican party. with women, minorities, young people, just about any cross-section of the population you can think of diametrically opposed to him. i think it's going to be very hard, and the electoral college will be balanced in clinton's favor. fernando: jennifer, thank you for joining me today. analysts have calculated that campaign spending in this year's election could reach billions of dollars. and the presumed republican party nominee, donald trump, will need the full backing of the g.o.p. money machine if he hopes to prevail in november. according to the "new york times," the real estate mogul spent approximately $40 million of his own fortune to fund his campaign through the end of march. he may need as much as $1.5 billion in the fall. and he's asking for help from the republican

put aside ben sasse for a second.rsation about the possibility of running independent third party candidate. give us the tick to be on the conversation. >> i'll let him describe tomorrow. he said publicly he doesn't want to vote or won't support hill or donald trump. i'm in the same place. we talked about it and talked about the american politics in general. and i think, well, i certainly made the case it's not out of the question, and again, if he could succeed it's very important in my view for conservativism and for the longer term future of the country that someone hold off a decent banner for conservatives and independents to rally behind. i think that's the case for anyone running. even if you can thread the needle. even if the odds are against your threading the needle and running. it's important we not go into the election with hillary clinton, with donald trump being the face of the republican party and conservativism. for someone like ben sasse it's a huge risk. a huge risk. young senator. easiest thing to d

a lot of names are being circulated, ben sass and tom coburn are at the top.deadline for a write-in candidate or an independent candidate in texas came today though that arguably could be challenged but it's tough. there are multiple fronts moving at the same time, and it's not just the establishment republicans who are opposed to trump, a lot of activist conservatives who really oppose trump on social and fiscal issues. >> right. okay. ben sass, according to my reporting has said that he does not want to be considered. so -- >> right. >> if we took him out, mitt romney, would he want to be considered? >> i don't think mitt romney wants to be considered. i think mitt romney probably would play a role, but he doesn't want to be considered. he's already run twice, so finding -- finding a third party to run actually is the difficult challenge right now and a lot -- >> why do it because governor rick perry, he got into dustups with trump but he is now going to support him. bobby jindal, another presidential candidate says he's going to support trump, and then you

trump are lindsey graham, dean heller, and ben sasse. that's it. in the house, we reported last night that the two republican members of the house who are known to be explicitly opposed to mr. trump were carlos curbelo of florida, scott rigel of virginia. a grand total of five members of grus, three in the senate, two in the house. that would imply not exactly a great rift in the party. since then, though, four more members of congress have been in touch with us today to let us know that they would like to also be recognized as being crammed into that car. oh, really? yes, so behold, we happily correct the record. four additional confirmed members of congress from the republican party who say explicitly on the record today they are opposed to donald trump. so we've still got those three senators on the top row there. lindsey graham, ben sasse, dean heller. in the house, carlos curbele, scott mitchell. add eliana of florida, bob dole of illinois, richard han 1/2 new york, congressman reid ribble of wisconsin. we have spoken with all of their offices

>> ben sass or mitt romney. i was with mitt romney. think he's thinking about it or be ben sass's campaign chairman. >> matthew is a critic of donald trump. kelly is a trump supporter. she wasn't with trump in the primary. i wanted to have you two on. this is an interesting segment to do about how republicans are sort of grappling with the reality of trump. mathsue, sort of a two-part question here. one is there a scenario where you could end up supporting donald trump this fall and why aren't you there right now? what's keeping you from supporting him? >> what's keeping me from supporting him is donald trump. he shouldn't be president. he doesn't have the character to be. for that's reason i don't see any reason or foreseeable scenario where i'd be voting for him in the fall. >> you don't think he has the temperament? are there specific issues? we're looking ahead to this meeting with paul ryan. is there anything in particular? >> just spend the last ten minutes on your show talking about his affect and demeanor. it's a piece of reali

we heard again today from the senator from nebraska, ben sasse.tick with my view that i've expressed before that donald trump is a destructive force bent on dividing the country." does donald trump try to change the minds of people like senator sasse, or does he just move on? >> well, you know, early on, you'll hear a lot of that. as you've always heard when there's controversy in a selection, over the course of time, that tends to melt away. as people begin to consider the alternative. now, there may be some republicans who, you know, prefer a more progressive ideology, prefer, you know, more debt, prefer withdrawal from the world and allowing our enemies to multiply and destruction of our military. and those people probably should-- should move on. >> woodruff: do you think it's significant, dr. carson, that both former presidents george h.w. bush and george w. bush are saying today that they don't plan to get involved in this election. they don't plab to express their view one way or another. in other words, they're not going to get behind this

. >> ben sasse -- >> he says no thanks. >> he says so far no thanks but let's see. >> 50% chance is pretty high. all right bill cross tolkristol hold you to it. >> the eternal optimist some say. >> thank you very much. >> what is the best way for team clinton and the clintons themselves to respond to trump? >>> and donald trump may want to check in with donald trump on his tax plan saying he's willing to pay more in taxes but then today on cnn saying something a little different. is he clarifying, expanding, or changing his position? we're going to talk to one of the country's staunchest opponents of tax increases. what does he think donald trump is saying? >>> and breaking news out of north carolina just hours before a big deadline. the state makes a big move over the so-called bathroom bill. we have new details ahead. ought my lineage was the vecchios and zuccolis. through ancestry, through dna i found out that i was only 16% italian. he was 34% eastern european. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors we thought was italian was eastern european. this is my ancest

i mean, ben sass, all over the country trying to get folks not to vote for trump but they're saying no i don't know how accurate the media reports are on the activity but reince priebus said -- >> we have the sound. roll it. >> it's a suicide mission not only changing and throwing out eight years of the white house but generations on the supreme court. look. we could have up to three justices change over in the next eight years and this is a suicide mission. it is not right. >> so you agree with him, reince? >> i do agree with him. i think at this point the choice is donald trump and hillary clinton. it's up for everybody to evaluate the field and vote the way they want to vote. people had the say of donald trump. but the fact is he is now the republican nominee for president and has a chance to reach out across the party, try to build the support he needs to to perhaps capture the white house and i think a third party candidacy simply help hillary clinton at trump's expense. >> uh-huh. let me move just a bit because, listen, in the bloodstream today is "the new york times" piece quoti

senator ben sasse of nebraska tweeted his disapproval, asking quote is there any issue the obama administration believes can be left to state and local government? but the debate is already well under way in communities across america. there's the core battle between the federal government in north carolina and then scenes a at school board meeting in georgia just last night. >> the federal government has bullied implementation of godless ideology on public education. no amount of money can make this okay. [ applause ] >> that was one of several hundred parents in georgia yesterday, protesting the superintendent's decision to comply with the 1964 civil rights act which includes gender as a protected class. the superintendent says if they have a transgender student they have to let them use the bathroom of their choice. meanwhile a federal judge has handed house republicans a victory in the latest challenge to obamacare. one that could affect hundreds of millions of health care consumers it provides money to help consumers reduce their out of pocket costs on things like deductibles and co-paymen

the same goes for ben sasse. other names are condoleezza rice and susana martinez who skipped trump's rally, prompting a war of words with the presumptive nominee. even some of his former rivals are the subject, but none seem interested in what would be the long shot candidacy. >> there are people who won't be voting for either of them. >> reporter: another potential spoiler, new libertarian pick gary johnson. he received just 1% in 2012. trying to be taken more seriously this cycle. >> according to a new associated press/orc poll it's fueled an overall sense of pessimism across the country. 12% of republicans believe the gop is responsive to ordinary voters and 25% of democrats believe the same. among all americans just 8% say they have confidence in the gop. compared to 15% who say they have confidence in the democratic party. and that number drops even more if you can believe it, only 4% of americans say they have confidence when it comes to congress. >>> now, to what some are calling one of the best nba play

for example, nbc news confirming that mitt romney has reached out to people like ben sasse, people like john kasich to see if they would be interested in mounting this independent effort. sources close to sasse telling me, no, he's not interested. sources close to kasich telling us, no, he's not interested in. the response from them is where was all of this back when kasich was actually in the race when he could have taken on donald trump and in less of a long-shot way. so the viability question is a big one, but again it depogoes show that there are those within the republican party who seize donald trump's vulnerabilities with women, like that "new york times" piece as a potential opening to launch this effort. but who's going to be the face of it? mark cuban was floated out there. he says no too. so the question is who is going to lead this movement, if in fact it is a real movement and not just speculation from people who are upset that donald trump is the presumptive nominee. >> i want to talk about the fact that this underscores the challenges, as you said, hallie, in unifying the

john kasich has rejected the idea and he's not even sure if he'll endorse trump and ben sasse has called for the independent bid from someone, but that someone won't be him. >> i have been interested in that myself, but i obviously think the country should be having a more meaningful conversation than it is having right now. >> you're still -- >> no, i said i'm never open to it. i think it's pretty obvious both from the polling and my experience that every grocery store and gas station fillup which is that people wish they had better choices. they wish we'd have a big, optimistic conversation about the future of the country and we have the two most unpopular party front-runners in the history of presidential polling. >> i don't want to get in -- i have had a phone call with somebody that wanted me to run -- consider running as a third party candidate. >> are you considering running? >> no, i'm not going to do that. >> why? >> i just think running third party doesn't feel right. i think it's -- it's not constructive. you can have depth to something and people think, that's just politics.