i want to ask you about comments made by the campaign chairman, paul manafort.gain, you are here as a representative from the trump campaign. he told "the huffington post" about the muslim ban, the proposed muslim ban donald trump made last december. he said he's going to bring it back towards the middle within his comfort zone. he'll soften it some more. my question to you is when it comes to the muslim ban, where is the middle? >> well, i think that, you know, now that clearly mr. trump has sealed in the nomination as it just broke in the press, we will be focusing on developing those policies more specifically moving forward into the process throughout the campaign. >> what does a more moderate muslim ban look like? >> i'm not sure honestly. i can't answer that at this point. i think that that's something we'll sit down and develop more specifically as well as the other issues that mr. trump looks forward to addressing and we'll be talking about those more specifically on the campaign trail moving forward, including defeating isis, revitalizing our economy, c

but some say whihe butted heads with campaign manager corey lewandowski and paul manafort. >> corey, . good job. >> reporter: sources attentions between corey lewandowski and manafort have increased. so much so the two are now working on different floors in the trump tower. >> it's not unheard of but it is unusual that two such top aides are really going at each other and that the rift has shown up in such a public fashion. >> manafort's duties have expanded. >> i work directly for the boss. >> as trump consistently downplays reports of any inner team turmoil. >> paul gets along with corey. they have different functions. but i'm telling you they get along very well. they have separate functions and they're doing great. >> in an interview with the huffington post, manafort said trump isn't likely to pick a minority or woman for a vice president, that would look like pandering. >> we're looking for absolute competence. >> manafort also said it's not his job to change trump. "you don't change donald trump, you don't manage him, he's going to win unless we, meaning people like me, screw i

paul manafort wants him to tone it back and moderate things like his muslim ban. i'll believe it when i see it. these things keep being said and then he keeps going to the crowds, to your point. >> he knows what fires up the cloud. >> donald trump's been winning the battle and hillary clinton is about winning the war. it's taken her longer to win the primary battle. when everything is chopped up in little bits, 140 characters and so on, it's worked for him so far. >> there's at least two donald trumps. for those who think donald trump can't win the election, they say, look at his problems with latinos, with women, with african-americans, i want to show you something. this is a bar graph. look at the top number there. changing business as usual. he has a 33-point advantage over hillary clinton. if voters decide come november this election is about changing a broken washington, donald trump will win the election. he scores ahead of her on trade deals, sanders voters might be available to him. on changing wall street, sanders voters might be available to him. if you

you were listening to my interview with paul manafort.ve me the expectations of the meeting tomorrow and he said some meting of the minds, and what do you think is going to happen? >> well, sooner or later, there is going to be some unity of some sort, because people are starting to fold, and trump is the presumptive nominee, and i don't know what is in it for paul ryan the fight him, because to fight him is to fight the base of his own party. isn't it? face it. trump's real fans really don't care what paul ryan or mitt romney or jeb bush have to say about any of it. so, if, you know, ryan leaves in the it? i don't think that it helps him sh, and it may help trump. criticisms from people like him, the establishment always backfire and help trump and make him stronger. >> i talked about the tax return, and i pushed him on that, because some people are saying that there is a degree of hypocrisy and he says no. and mitt romney says it is disqualifying to not release the return, and trump said he would. and mitt romney's statement today sayin

. >> on the issue of the tax returns and key because in the interview with the huffington post paul manafort said he's not sure if donald trump will release the tax returns and donald trump poured cold water on that saying that manafort misquoted, one, and said we're releasing after the audits and threw shade at the irs sort of raising this issue of i keep getting audited. i wonder what that's about. >> he did. just to kind of, you know, thread the needle here on a bunch of these issues that trump was asked about, i think one common thread if you will was him kind of distancing himself from some of the more controversial things that paul manafort said in this interview that he gave. the idea that he's not looking at women or minorities to be his vice presidential candidate. trump didn't -- kind of skirted it. >> said they would be considered. >> about top jobs and wanted to counter that narrative. right? and number two, the whole question of taxes. well no, we'll release it. not being defiant like one of his top aides. and this is coming after paul manafort was on capitol hill last week and

paul manafort's comments. what do you think meant by that.he mainstream media is running with it. >> this happens quite often about the media and the trump campaign. i am not sure what they those said, but he likely said what i'm saying, a lot of people are pointing to minorities and women for those position, and in trump does not look at race or gender when he puts people in those positions. he looks at competency and someone who believes in his agenda to make america great again. charles: today when donald trump came out in north dakota. there was something different about his swagger. this speech was a little bit different. and even comments that vince foster who was mentioned earlier in the week has no place in the campaign. is this the -- the so-called pivot? >> this is the presidential donald trump. this was not a rally. there is a difference between policy discussions with media and conferences like this as opposed to the rally. this is a donald trump you would see as commander-in-chief. the rallies are an opportunity for mr. trump to

i found it interesting today that paul manafort was making it clear who's the head of the party and it isn't paul ryan, in his mind. what do you expect from their big meeting on thursday? >> well, i think that this is an excellent example of how divided this party is and is likely to remain. after all, remember what trump said. he said i don't support paul ryan's agenda. paul ryan's agenda is essentially the current conservative agenda. reform conservatism. he's a true blue conservative. donald trump ran as something else and he ran to gather the support of people who were alienated and deeply disappointed in the republican leadership in washington. now comes the moment. does he need to pull these people who were part of the party establishment behind him? i think he believes he doesn't have to. that if they want to get onboard with him, great. but he's not going to -- he doesn't seem to be willing to adjust his way of looking at things, his agenda, his issue positions, his sense of what the constitution requires to accommodate them. >> do you think he can run as a free agent, basicall

in moments, we will speak about election strategy with paul manafort, one of donald trump's top political jat t strategists. but we begin tonight with our chief political correspondent carl cameron reporting tonight from washington. carl? >> thanks, megyn. trump is not only the presumptive nominee he's now uncontested. instead of focusing on the last nine contests he can get to work on winning the general election in november. the latest national poll by cnn/nrc taken before last night shows trump trailing clinton by double digits. trump knows the clinton campaign is already organizing to attack him in key swing states so trump aides have let it be known they're getting calls from veteran gop operatives around the country who say they are ready to get on the so-called trump train. trump's tapped ben carson to vet potentialitentiality projects a expected to announce his choice shortly before the july convention in cleveland. he's been arguing for more than a year that unlike his rivals who he called bought and paid for that trump has not been influenced by special interests but now he's pl

after that devastating loss for him in wisconsin, really he turned things around and he made that paul manafort higher are, a speech on foreign policy and new people joining the campaign and now here we are in front of the trump headquarters and inside they're preparing to have of course the tradition dunken do nuts and coffee and they're gearing up for a win. >> all right. on the trump beat out there in indiana. thank you for that. >>> if donald trump does get that big win tonight, if he does clench the republican nomination eventually will the fight for the general election looks like it will be a war over women. trump at his rally in indiana last night going hard after hillary clinton. >> even for victory speeches i saw the other night hillary clinton has a teleprompter and i would say that she started screaming at the teleprompter, but i'm not allowed to say that. you know why? now, if she was a man i could say it, but as a woman, ladies i'm sorry i'm not allowed to say it. she was screaming at the teleprompter, but i will not say it. >> our latest poll shows donald trump's unfavorable rati

this is paul manafort.s statement says "the only people who want the tax returns are the people who want to defeat him." is thering? there that would allow him to be defeated if it was released? >> no. i think don with all respect -- and you're a great guy -- that's a misquote. i think paul was saying the only people who care about this issue are people who don't like donald trump anyway so -- >> a misquote? i read his exact words. >> well, was there a dot, dots, dot? i can't see. >> "the only people who want these tax returns are the people who want to defeat him. ". >> yeah, exactly. the only people who care about this stuff, this nonsense, are the people who want to defeat him. the american people care about jobs and they want a business -- one thing, don. this is the demonization of success. any time you have a gigantic businessman -- >> how is releasing tax returns a demonizing of success. >> don, if i could jump in here -- >> you never had a billionaire running for office like this. >> you're double s

senior adviser paul manafort. >> paul, let's start with paul ryan's comments this week that he's noteady, as he put it, to endorse trump and that it's basically on your candidate to unify the party. here is paul ryan. >> i think there's work that needs to be done in order to unify the party. i think our presumptive nominee needs to do that. i want to be a part of helping him do that, but right now, no, i think that, you know, there's some work to do here. >> how seriously does trump take this split within the party and how far is he willing to go when he meets with paul ryan later this week to try to repair the split? >> i think you need to put things into context here. a week ago you had republican leaders in washington so many saying that there was going to be a contested convention and last tuesday night in indiana, a state trump was supposed to lose he had an overwhelming vingt ri and the race ended, ended much sooner th except maybe the people supporting donald trump who knew he was on to something. so washington was in a little bit of an uncertain phase and still s but it's a h

at the end of the day, donald trump makes his own decisions and paul manafort said exactly that. managed. you have to look at who it's for. >> manafort said people can distance themselves from trump. it's going to be a-okay. the governor of new mexico did and he had something to say about it. >> thank you all. >>> a huge break in the search for missing flight egyptair 804. for missing flight egyptair 804. investigators int pain and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number #1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. 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

that's what paul manafort has done. that's what he did in ukraine, that's what he did in africa, that's what he did in portugal. that's what he's done all over the world. you couldn't find a more internationalist guy than paul manafort to be running this america first campaign. so if their controversy is about that, donald trump better expect this to be the first, not the last. and i think that's something hillary will look at. if donald trump wants to go after the clinton foundation, hillary will go after paul manafort. >> and let me go back to this search for the vp, robert. you have kelly ayotte, who is up for re-election. she seems skeptical of wanting any association with donald trump. who would, realistically, at this point, who would be your pick for the vp slot for donald trump? and who do you think is actually interested? >> well, let me answer your second question, first. i think chris christie probably is interested. he was one of the first people, first presidential candidates to endorse donald trump when he

expect a lot more of that from paul manafort and the trump campaign in the coming days, guys.also in paul ryan, the house speaker's, press conference today and he was asked obviously probably every time about all of donald trump's issues, all his stances on issues. what did you hear from paul ryan today? >> well, he actually has not gone and actually endorsed donald trump of course yet, and one reason why, kate, is because they're actually trying to have discussions over policy issues and almost shape donald trump's views and make sure he does not step on this house republican agenda they're drafting right now. he was asked specifically about this issue of executive power. that's something that a lot of republicans are concerned about, that donald trump has an expansive view of executive power, and paul ryan made clear this is a key issue the two sides are discussing right now. >> we believe that this president has grossly exceeded his authority. he's not the only president to do that. he's just the most recent president to do it, and he's taken it very, very far. so, yes, thi

joining me now is paul manafort, thank you for being with us. your reaction to paul ryan's comments, what is he waiting for? >> he said and frankly donald trump has said that he's prepared to meet with the party to begin talking about how we unify with the party and taking on clinton in the fall. this is part of the estimate of a very difficult election here with donald trump. he learns from a feel ield of 1 candidates and he has now the highest vote in the history of politics. that strong mandate is build the raw vision and program that he laid out on the campaign trail that's adopted in the primary process which is still not over and only going to pilot more trump wins. now, the goal is donald trump indicated this yesterday was to reach out leaders of the party in washington and begin to put together the team to run in the fall. paul ryan's comment was surprising to us. we already indicated that we are coming to washington next week and talking to public leaders and working closer with chairman priebus that's been working with us, the party wit

paul manafort on with whether donald trump can unite the republican party.ris wallace. with exactly six months to election day, donald trump will be the republican nominee. but can he unite the party? >> we want to bring unity to the republican party. we have to bring unity. >> saying we're unified doesn't in and of itself unify us. >> i didn't get paul ryan. i don't know what happened. the only important thing is the unification of the people. >> we'll talk with senior adviser paul manafort about trump's fight to rally the party and defeat the democrats in november. >> then, a showdown between the feds in north carolina over the legality of its transgender bathroom law. >> this

he also tells cnn, there is absolutely no tension between me and paul manafort. ve been exceptionally inclusi inclusive. manafort did not respond to a request about that. >>> outside, tanna gert, senior adviser to the trump campaign. there have been multiple reports of in fighting within the trump campaign, saying wylie was fired after clashing with lewandowski. is the trump campaign truly unified? >> absolutely. that's news to me. we have never -- i've never heard of any inside turmoil. i've worked with corey very closely. and i'm part of paul manafort's delegate team. so absolutely not. we are all unified and we have one goal in miami-dade and that is to get donald trump elected and in the white house. >> to be fair, it is our reporting that the trump campaign never said that wylie was a short-term hire. so why is he gone now? >> it was always my understanding that he was a short-term hire. and i work for donald trump. so we -- that was always my understanding, is that he was just short-it term. >> well, let me ask you on another topic, where there has been some

joining us is donald trump's convention manager paul manafort.lf the presumptive nominee. what plans are you make for the general election? >> right now we're starting to focus on unifying the party, beginning to talk to party leaders about the things that are necessary going into cleveland. first thing we have to do have successful convention. we've got to plan starting after tuesday, the indiana primary, when we believe everybody in the country will recognize that donald trump will be the nominee of the party and that that nomination will be clear by certainly california and as a result, the whole strategy of ted cruz, of a second ballot will be rendered not true. >> dickerson: in terms of funding a general election, mr. trump has talked how he's self funded will he be able to main in that that? >> he's been a candidate running for the nomination. once he is the nominee of the republican party he has further responsibilities besides his own candidacy where he is the head of the ticket, where he is committed to making sure that nancy pelosi is n

. >> we're going to hear joe biden, paul manafort, a lot of things that happened in the last 24 hours. hillary clinton increasingly fighting two front at once, continued primary challenge bernie sanders and donald trump who is increasingly using personal trumps. here is senior strategist paul manafort hinting at more to come. >> he said hillary clinton did nasty terrible things to these women that were alleged to have relationships with her husband. did she or did she not do that. >> he'll be talking about those in the campaign. >> how does he know? >> i believe in him. >> you believe everything he said is true. >> he told you stuff he knows about clintons and back unreported behavior he will bring out. >> we have talked about the hypocrisy of hillary clinton playing the female card and his willingness to expose that card for what it is. >> what is this thing about hillary clinton married to somebody who is an abuser of women. how do you make that case? >> stay tuned. >> you got a case? >> stay tuned. >> have you heard his case? >> we have things we'll be talking about in this campaig

>> he contradicts on a lot of things. >> he contradicted what paul manafort said. >> his campaign managerhink this is a tenuous time for trump because like david is saying, he can't resist getting in some of these fights. i think manafort served him well, but they're in a lull period where there will be more scrutiny on little side issues rather than the main issue because he doesn't have any competition right now. even though it helps him to have won the nomination and have sewn it up, i think there's a danger for him in the sense his supporters have been animated by the aggrieved status, that the republican party pushed them out. now you're in this mode where looks more like a coronation. this poses a problem for them. >> exactly. i think one of the answers to the question about whether he is's going to change now was today. no, elizabeth warren is not in his party, and it benefits him politically to spar with her, but to call her pocahontas again, continue to do that, in a place like north dakota which has a huge native american population, you have kind of an unusual moment, you had a

>> i talked to paul manafort tuesday. remember, he was brought in to do exactly what he's doing, that is to build bridges that he and the trump campaign, others realize should have been built long ago to republicans on capitol hill, to the republican conservative think tanks in washington. that process is now just beginning. the question is whether or not it's too little too late and if there is an opening with people like paul ryan and i don't know there is. >> jeremy, good to see you again. thanks so much as always for being with us. a quick programming note at the top of the hour. be sure to catch the msnbc road warriors, our political team including katy tur, kasie hunt, hallie jackson. they have been on the 2016 trail and they have great stories, 4:00 p.m. eastern time on msnbc. >>> up next, a famous face we h weighing in on the 2016 race. actor rob reiner joins me to support hillary clinton and donald trump's stance -- and president obama's stance on donald trump and personal addiction and a message he hopes to send

so whenever he sits down with paul ryan and paul manafort getting advice from chris christie, he is not going to change in the way he's reacting and treating women of the and then to say that hillary clinton is hated by women? well, that's called projection, sort of a negative way. >> just quickly going back from the personal attacks to, again, some of the substantive arguments that are out there, john, donald trump now saying that his debt buy-back plan or describing basically the united states walking away from its debts, a la bankruptcy, which again opens up a wound for him. let me play what he said. >> won't that undermine the full faith and credibility of the united states? >> no. we have $19 trillion in debt and it's going to be 21 because frankly the budget was horrible. i'm a low interest rate person. if you have inflation, we'll have to change that theory because you have to stop things and slow things down but right now we have low interest rates. we have to rebuild the whole infrastructure of our country. >> so, john, he went on to give more detail that people have read into

. >> we'll have paul manafort on in a few minutes. i'll asking you about this thinking though, what is the purpose. i hate meetings. i'll admit that. tell me what a meeting will accomplish. both sides go in with some posture and come out with the same posture. they go in with the idea we'll come out united or they don't. what's it purpose. >> i think there's some benefit here. i don't think that either of these folks ryan or trump run i ing, i think there's some benefit of sitting down in the room and having a face-to-face conversation just man-to-man. will this change things? will this mean that donald trump will be accepted by the republican party. no, i don't think so. there's still a lot of work to be done. it's not going to be done in an office. it's going to be done on the campaign trail. do they feel comfortable with donald trump in his stump speeches. do they feel like his tone has progressed enough to where they feel comfortable having him as or supporting him as the nominee. do they believe his values are their values. is he

number one, one of those relationships with paul manafort, right, somebody who has risen to the top as far as the springboard and structure of the trump campaign, somebody who has been viewed by some as potentially manafort's mentor through the political process. also, when trump has talked about who he wants to bring on to his team or as he's looking for, for example, a running mate, not that, again, not at all speculating that baker would be in that position, but somebody who could -- no, somebody who could help potentially navigate those relationships in washington, somebody with experience and somebody who understands how this city works and how to sort of massage and network relationships here. >> all right. hallie jackson and luke russert, great. learned a lot. today's panel, amy holmes, speech writer for former senate majority leader bill frist, author of "black ethnic" and finally senior political wrirlt at "538." what's the purpose, having worked on capitol hill, i keep going back and forth on what this meeting was, essentially a made-for-tv moment where essentially it's all b

>> paul manafort was brought in, and each has a camp.ink wiley was part of the manafort campaign, he roughshod people on and trump made a decision. key is -- he ran walker's campaign, and political director of the rnc. as we're now moving to the rncr which isn't a good idea, he was a guy who knew all the players. >> i thought paul manafort was the guy in charge. >> i'm not sure of that. he has the title but he run the washington operation and the convention and corey runs everything else. corey is the guy that's basically closest to trump. trump is very loyal to his people and trump has people very loyal to him. >> corey lewandowski. how do you see it? >> it's both a good sign and a bad sign. it's always good when you have that kind of friction between two different factions in a campaign to kind of, like, shove one of them -- for the candidate to make a decision, be decisive and move things away. on the other hand, this was somebody who actually understood how a national campaign needs to run and a lot of the mechanics and operatives in

but we also have paul manafort saying it is unlikely he releases taxes. to some americans it is offensive. maybe to supporters might not be. to the paul ryan it is. >> i think you have to separate out these issues a little bit. donald trump has been enormously effective and his supporters are not going to be upset about anything he does or says. that is very well determined. we have moved from the republican primary electorate and playing to the base to winning a general election. it is a totally different cohort. there are folks in the sensible center who are insulted. the celebrity demagogue act which says american people are too dumb to care about consistency will offend some folks. for paul ryan who really has tried to embrace it, donald trump is the opposite of that vision. they are on opposite ends of the party. if he is talking about real unity that is a big deal. >> since we are talking about unity i want to show you the democratic story of unity getting headlines, the president. the president is on an overseas trip in japan being asked questions a

paul manafort has a bump up in his authority and title. he is in charge of this campaign.he will be leading this. you can that he doesn't miss the talking point coming out of this polling we are seeing now and if donald trump has been able to hit her on the personal stuff he could stay in that lane as paul manafort can handle what he knows. he can hit her from different perspectives. if hacking comes into play with her unsecured server, he has ground to run with. we will see what happens. if they are the nominees don't count out bernie. he could win california. she could be indicted. so many variables. >> moving on to polls, voters prefer trump on the economy and terrorism but hillary clinton declaring he is simply not qualified to be president. trump's response quick and cutting. the latest on that battle and when it comes to the economy we hear a lot about the recovery from the great recession of 2008. sobering new data show a huge number of americans don't have the cash to cover a rainy day. we debate why and what to do about it. olay luminous illuminates skin with pear

and he has a warring campaign in some ways with paul manafort, corey lewandowski. we continue to see the campaign barreling forward, trump at the center being the key player and the decisionmaker. >> what's the deal? it seems like "game of thrones" over that campaign. let me say covering a lot of campaigns, they're all "game of thrones." the office poll sicks of campaigns are legendarily brutal. this one seems more brutal than usual. >> it's a different kind of campaign because it's very small in size. if you compare trump to the operation, it's small. in manafort you have someone who's building relationships in washington, doesn't have as close a rapport with lewandowski. but they're both useful to trump in different ways. they don't get along for the most part, however, but they seem to be operating for a moment in a way that's somewhat peaceful. >> all right. paul ryan is continuing as a sort of consolidation map, you saw those delegates smiling in north dakota today, some of them interviewed later weren't particularly big donald trump fans but this is the way t

this is paul manafort.only people who want the tax returns are the people who want to defeat him. is there something in there that would allow him to be defeated if it was release. >> no i think it's a misquote. i think he's saying the only people who care about this issue is people who don't like donald trump anyway. >> i read his exact words. >> was there a dot dot dot. i can't see. >> the only people who want the tax returns are the people who want to defeat him. >> exactly. the only people who care about this stuff, the american people care about jobs and they want a business -- one thing, this is the success. any time you have a gigantic businessman -- >> how is releasing tax returns -- >> you've never had a billionaire running for office. >> i want to move on because i want to talk about something that you think is probably more important and that is we're going to talk about the e-mails. i'm sure you would like to hear about that more. i want to play more on wolf blitzer's interview with hillary clin

paul manafort saying trump's behavior was all an act aimed as pleasing primary voters. >> he's sitting in a room and he's talking business and politics, it's a different persona. when he's on the stage and he's talking about the kinds of things he's talking about, he's projecting an image. that's what's important from our standpoint for to you understand that he gets it and that the part he's been playing is evolving that you've been expecting but he wasn't ready for it. the image is going to change. >> for republican elites concerned about trump's rhetoric, his tendency to slander entire groups of people from immigrants to muslims, the idea he eventually change his ways give them rational to jump on board. but in the week he has made it official that he will be trump. slinging insults on twitter and ugly attacks on hillary clinton. trump explained his behavior in an interview with "the new york times" telling the paper he has a mandate to be provocative. you win the pend yant and now you're in the world series. people like what i'm doing. trump was heartened showing him neck in neck w

he has people like paul manafort saying he's going to unify the party. slamming the chairman of the rnc personally, slamming the rnc and other republicans and republican presidents is not unifying the party. as i've said before wears the republican party like a rented tuxedo. stop pretending to be interested in unifying the party. you're not. you don't think you need moderates to win. maybe that's true. >> katrina? >> with the exception. he did not say he was going to change. he said i can change if i want to. that's a really big difference. we have our supporters saying, no, mr. trump, don't change. this is exactly why he beat 16 moderate establishment republicans. is because he's not that -- that cookie cutter politician. he's a real person. he's engaging. and the people love him for that. >> angela, what do you think hillary clinton's strategy should be? because donald trump's strategy going after 16 or 17 other republicans worked and if he continues against hillary clinton how should she respond? >> well, wolf, we know it's tough to respond to someon

i think paul manafort behind the scenes are trying to reach out. to reach out to the folks in washington but donald trump is waiting for them to call him. when ever i've asked who have you spoken with, who does donald trump talk to. he said he's open to talking to anybody. my sense is the campaign is waiting for these republican leaders, these politicians to come out and reach out to him and without doing that, there isn't much interaction between the campaign. i could be wrong, but that's my sense of things. i know they're trying to smooth things over. they're going through the rnc a lot. they are trying to smooth things over with those on capitol hill. i think it's very telling that the only real emphatic endorsement from a senator has been jeff sessions and the rest of them have said they would endorse the republican nominee or they haven't endorsed at all like lindsey graham, but nobody was expecting lindsey graham to endorse trump after this entire campaign so far. >> thank you. >>> coming up, the down ballot down low when trump has the nomine

don't miss out paul manafort, he's sitting down with chris mathews tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. i want to go now to halie jackson tracking the movement of other republican leaders as they return from capitol hill. what will are you hearing from other leaders that's planning to meet with trump this week. how are they interested in learning more of the presumptive gop nominee. >> reporter: everybody is coming back to congress, thomas to start the first week since donald trump has became that nominee. speaker ryan sent out a note to the press saying, hey, the meeting is not the most important thing happening at the hill this week and listing a number of policy initiatives that speaker ryan is trying to push through congress and trying to get people talk about. a lot of attention is focus ed on donald trump and a lot of questions around trump campaign. sweepstakes, we caught up a couple of minutes ago with senator bob corker, he was asked not just about the vice presidential talk but he could not begin to talk about it since he has no idea if he's considered and not notified to be a

>> lots to talk about with trump's campaign manager paul manafort. thanks for being here. >> great to see you. >> i want to start with this meeting donald trump had with house speaker paul ryan on thursday. people in the ryan world describe it as a meeting where donald trump said what they wanted to hear, what speaker ryan wanted to hear about how he would comport himself going forward and ryan's concerns about things that trump has said that potentially alienated women, latinos, et cetera, but in the "new york times" this morning, mr. trump told maureen to you "we talked about the success i've had" trump replied. so ryan didn't ask trump to stop making remarks that alienate women? no, trump said, he wants me to me. so much, dowd writes, for the showdown. did he affirm to paul ryan, speaker radio ian he was going to behave in "more presidential" manner or was the conclusion he's got to be him? >> look, both statements have elements or both true, actually. donald trump was not asked by the leadership to change, and there's no reason for him to change.

country better and understands that trump is a great obstacle to that. >>> there's news where paul manafortp releases his tax returns. i think we can take that as a no way is donald trump going to release his tax returns. manafort says they're very complicated returns, no one would understand them, and the voters they're appealing to adopt care about it. >> one, what condesense of his voters. the fact that trump won't release tax returns is -- confirmation that he has a great deal to hide. i have to volunteer, one of the things that's troubling to me. the most despicable thing i have ever seen a major political figure do in a very long time -- i was too young to remember joe mccarthy, was donald trump raising the issue again of vince foster. kenneth starr made it clear there was a suicide, there was no involvement by the clintons. i worked closely at the time and goat a a poignant answer from the foster family. that goes beyond that. i say on the show they're talking about whitewater. ken e9 starr studied whitewears. the republicans study it for eight years in office and for six years in a

. >> i think we have a little bit of sound from paul manafort working with the trump campaign. we do not have that, but he's talked about the fact that -- >> i can do it with a sock pup. >> i will play the role of paul manafort and this is what he says, that they have to focus on unifying the party as we head into the home stretch going into the convention, but you just heard donald trump, his candidate, saying, well even if they don't win behind me i can still win without them. >> i have a theory that the best path for donald trump forward is to not unify the republican party but instead to unify disaffected voters, sort of the ross perot coalition and to reach out to disaffected white democrats and blue collar voters, independent and democratic, pick a democrat or non-republican for his running mate and do something to shake it up. there's a poll out of florida today that has him and cruz both just getting crushed in a head-to-head with hillary clinton so it may be necessary for donald trump to get what fueled hits campaign going. i don't know if that will work for him to uni

that was a great weekend. >> too much for them to do. >> his kids and paul manafort.from where he was. >> this guy was on his own this weekend. >> they could be losing the election right now. >> if he doesn't get his you know what together over the next three weeks, he's going to lose the election and he won't be able to turn it around. this is something gene robinson we said last week. he's got a very short window to turn the ship around or all will be lost. you ever see the robert redford movie "all is lost"? he's going to be writing that note and throwing it out into the water pretty soon. >> that's entirely possible, joe. look. he managed also this week, and andrea mentioned it, to say what -- it's hard to use a superlative. could be the most irresponsible thing said so far in this whole campaign which is what he said about the debt. >> that the u.s. is not going to repay its debt obligation. >> a certain amount on the dollar which is exactly, we want to be greece. the united states as the most reliable place to put your money. that's an essential truth about toda

>> trump was also pressed in an interview that his chief paul manafort spoke. he's already started lottering on that. he operated by starting the conversation at the outer edges and brings it back toward the middle. within his comfort zone he'll offer more. trump said, quote, we're going to look at a lot of different things so who knows. manafort was also quoted saying for his running mate trump probably wouldn't pick a woman or person of color, quote, in fact, that would be viewed as pandering. when asked if that was his view, trump offered this up. >> no, i would say it wows be somebody but we don't do it for any specific reason. we're looking for absolute competence. i fully expect we'll have many women involved with not only -- i've had it with the campaign, but we're going to have many women involved and i think you're going to see that and you're going to see that very strongly. >> manafort's comments. last night the trump campaign announced that national political director nick wiley was no longer with the campaign. he worked with trump for six weeks. no

maybe i'm missing something, but i've not run into it. >> you work directly with paul manafort. >> i've known cory for years and worked with corey before paul came on. >> do they have a good relationship? >> yes, offices right next to each other. you'd think something was going on, that would be a little awkward. >> thank you very much. >> good seeing you again, wolf. >>> coming up, hillary clinton's e-mail scandal. right back in the headlines. new report saying she violated policies while she was secretary of state. plus, too toxic? that's what some democrats are wondering about the chair of the democratic national committee. debbie wasserman-schultz. will they try to push her out? our political panel is standing by with analysis. should be leaving. expedia. technology connecting you to what matters. when you cook with incredible tokyo-stingredients...les. you make incredible meals. fresh ingredients, step-by-step recipies, delivered to your door for less than nine dollars a meal. get your first two meals free at blueapron.com/cook . parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? yo

paul manafort there couldn't specify anything because there is nothing there.onald trump wants to have the general election but a contest about who is going to do more to stand up on behalf of women, we're happy to have that con tres. he was talking about how he wants to appoint pro-life justices to the supreme court, suggesting that would be a litmus test for him and he didn't want to finish the sentence but it would be overturning roe v. wade. if he wants a conversation about who will do more to stand up for women and women's issues in this campaign, no contest we'll be happy to have that conversation. >> and just for the record has there been now any contact from the fbi to representatives for hillary clinton for an interview? is anything -- any contact or scheduling on that issue? >> look, this is an ongoing process, a fluid process, one where hillary clinton indicated almost a year ago now she would be willing to come in and participate, sit down for an interview and answer any questions they have. they're focusing on other aides at the state department. s