dan balz has more. he joins me from the offices of "the washington post" where he is the paper's chief correspondent. dan, good to have you. >> thank you, miles. good to be with you. >> o'brien: director comey testifying on the hill. how did it play? >> well, it didn't play very well for secretary clinton, that's for sure. director comey got a series of very tough questions from reps about how he could square the description of what happened with his ultimate decision not to recommend prosecution, and i think there were some telling moments in that, but i think, overall, it was simply a reminder, as you suggested, that this is an issue that is going to be with us and certainly with secretary clinton through duration of this campaign. in no way did the lack of prosecution close the books on this episode. >> o'brien: director comey was speaking in the language of the law, and, of course, politicians being politicians were speaking politics. one of the members of congress said if the average joe had done wh

dan balz has more, joins me from the officesq post" where he is the paper's chief correspondent.for being with us. >> good to be with you. comey on the hill testifying, how did it play? >> well, it didn't play very well for secretary clinton, that's for sure. director comey got a series of very tough questions from reps about how he could square the description of what happened with his ultimate decision not to recommend prosecution, and i think there were some telling moments in that, but i think, overall, it was simply a reminder, as you suggested, that this is an issue that is going to be with us and certainly with secretary clinton through the duration of this campaign. in no way did the lack of prosecution close the books on this episode. >> director comey was speaking in the word -- in the language, i should say, of the law, and of course politicians being politicians are speaking politics. one to have the members of congress said, you know, if the average joe had done what hillary clinton did, he or she would be let off in hand -- led off in handcuffs. mr. comey said, no,

i'm dan balz. the chief correspondent at the post. with me on stage is robby mook, the campaign manager for secretary clinton. robby, thank you for joining us. it's a busy day and week for you. we appreciate your coming over. before we get started i want to remind everyone to tweet or post questions for us using the hash tag wapo dnc. we will take a few throughout the conversation, assuming we get people tuned up but i'll take the moderator's privilege of starting out. is the speech done? >> guest: it's never over until it's over. they can ad-lib from the podium. so, it is getting finished up. i think it's going to be a phenomenal speech, and it's going to wrap up and crystallize all of the different things we have been talking about at this convention. i think the first thing you'll hear in there is her narrating the life-long mission to fight for kids and families. going to talk about her methodist roots, her family roots. where the motivations come from. and then she's going to offer a vision for the future, where she wants to take

i want to bring in political correspondent dan balz. the matter is now closed. there are some issues here, new issues raised by the fbi director she hasn't responded to specifically. >> no, and there's no evidence that she's about to respond to them. and that's in keeping with the way she's handled this from the beginning, steve. it's one of the reasons this issue has continued to dog her month after month after month. and probably will stay with us and her through the duration of this campaign, if not beyond that. she does have questions that she now has to answer. she will do it presumably on her own time and in a setting of her own choosing. but there's no question that the questions are going to come at her and that the republicans will continue to do what they're doing which is to prosecute a case that director comey said no real prosecutor in a court of law would try to prosecute. >> that's the other question here. we look at the political fallout. the reaction from republicans. obviously, they don't like this recommendation from comey. you have some repub

covering the week, dan balz of "the washington post". jeanne cummings of "the wall street journal", karen tumulty thank you. , and reed wilson of "the hill" newspaper. >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with "national journal". corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- [bell] >> thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. so we asked them, are you completely prepared for retirement? ok, mostly prepared? would you say -- could you save 1% more of your welcome? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now could make a big difference over time. >> i'm going to be even better about saving. >> prudential. >> xq institute. >> additional fund sg provided by boeing, newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good, the ford foundation, the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation, t

. >>> for more insight, let's turn now to "the washington post" chief correspondent dan balz. dan, you have a piece about this investigation in "the post" today about that impromptu meeting between bill clinton and loretta lynch. calling it a striking error in judgment. saying bill clinton made a mess, it was either out of foolish indifference or plain foolishness. but it has created a terrible moment for his wife and the democrats. for president obama and the perceptions of the integrity of his administration. bill clinton is a veteran of campaigns. how did this happen? >> it's astonishing to try to figure out what was going through his mind when he did that, and on the part of the attorney general, as well. particularly, if both knew, which they obviously must have, that she would be interviewed yesterday for this final interview in the investigation. the timing of it was bad. the optics of it were terrible. on both their parts. what they were thinking is inexplicable. i think it's created a huge problem for her. because as this goes forward, this just reinforces the inside n

. ♪ charlie: we continue our coverage with dan balz, chief correspondent at the washington post. mike allen, chief white house correspondent for politico. i am pleased to have both of them. there are people lined up, making all kinds of speeches. it has the feel of a convention. what?o far, dan: why? a tough opening day for donald trump and the trump campaign. it started out with paul manafort -- charlie: getting into a fight -- dan: getting into a fight with the host governor, who happens to not be for trump and will not go inside the hall. a revolt on the floor in the afternoon. the evening should have been good, and in many ways it was. she gave a very good speech. but there were some unanswered questions. why wasn't that the last speech of the evening? flints speecheral -- flynn's speech, because it was 26 minutes longer or thereabouts, and it did not seem to work very well and he did not seem well prepared. joni ernst is one of the rising stars of the republican party, she ends up speaking at 11:15 or thereabouts. >> and to a largely empty hall. she was seeing empty seats an

. >> rose: da dan balz wrote in "the washington post," a presidential campaign that convulsed the country in more than a year suddenly seems small in the face in the shocks from dallas, louisiana, minnesota and the racial divisions they exposed again. he has a point, doesn't he? >> he does. even for the reporters covering, this how are the kids doing, is everyone okay, it really puts things in perspective. there was a false alarm the other day at the dallas police headquarters. there was word of a suspicious person in a parking garage at the back of dallas p.d. headquarters, and that caused a scare downtown. the police shut the streets down. there were s.w.a.t. officers with their weapons, and there were some members of the public who happened to be caught up in this because they were at the memorial outside of the headquarters, and to be there and to talk to regular people and see how scared they are, it brought some of that home. there was this idea of everyone was sort of, like, what's happening now? what is is this? you know, it struck home. >> rose: manny, thank you for coming. pleas

we continue our coverage of the republican national convention with dan balz, chief correspondent at the washington post an also mike allen, chief white house correspondent for politico. i'm pleased to have both of them welcome. >> is maples street theater going on? >> lined up all kinds of people, making all kinds of speeches, it has the feeling of a convention. >> going on inside the hall. >> dan so far what? >> why? >> rose: why too, yes. >> tough opening day for donald trump in the trump campaign and started out with paul mataforth, getting in a fight with the host governor who happens to be against for trump or going inside the hall, both inside the hall in the afternoon. the evening should be good. in many ways it was. >> rose: she gave a good speech. >> she did give a good speech but why wasn't it the last speech of the evening? >> who vetted general flynn's speech because it was 26 minutes long or thereabouts, and it jusk very well and he didn't seem well prepared to deliver it. joanie ernst, one of the rising stars of the republican party ends up speaking at 11:15 or thereab

dan balz from the "washington post" newsroom, thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up, blue crush. hillary clinton hoping to ride the wave of the president's popularity with democrats in north carolina. been trying to prepare for this day... and i'm still not ready. the reason i'm telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that... you'll never be ready for. your little girl getting married being one of them. ♪ ♪ [martha and mildred are good to. go. here's your invoice, ladies. a few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. it might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office... or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer, but...i wouldn't have it any other way. look at that, i had my best month ever. and earned a shiny new office upgrade. i run on quickbooks. that's how i own it. i want my blood sugar i to stay in control.ck. so i asked about tresiba®. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ tresiba® is a once-daily, long-acting insulin that lasts even longer than 24 hours. i want to trim my a1c. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ tresiba® provides

dan balz from washington post. thank you as always.republican convention. next week is democrats. they get going in philadelphia on monday. that means we are in full veepstakes mode. who is hillary clinton going to have join her ticket? and 48 years after he covered his first presidential convention, nbc's tom brokaw will join us to talk about the one he is watching now. >> we will have a roll call tonight. roll call the vote on george bush and ronald reagan separately but they have been nominated as a ticket rather than a procedure that will happen here tonight, and that's a new wrinkle on things as i've been saying. and the most crab dishes of the year. so dive into whatever floats your crab-loving boat. like crab lover's dream. crack open tender snow and king crab legs, and twirl creamy crab alfredo. or try the new alaska bairdi crab dinner. sweet and straight from the icy waters of alaska, you've gotta get it... to really get it. but it won't last forever, so hurry in. try cool mint zantac. hey, need fast heartburn relief? it relea

balz, analysis from dan amy walter,on, and national editor for the cook political report. cleveland, ohio, this is editionl 2016 election of "washington week" with gwen ifill. provided by -- came outnds of people today to run the race for retirement. youe asked them, are completely prepared for retirement? prepared? of youru save 1% more income? it doesn't sound like much but an additional 1% now could make a big difference over time. >> i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it. >> prudential. x.q. institute. >> additional funding is boeing. by newman's own foundation, donating all profits from products to food charity and nourishing the common good. foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the ethics and excellence in foundation, investing in the future of journalism with grants for investigative reporting, professional development and journalism education. the uwan foundation, committed bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs statio