let me go back to you, robert costa. in terms of a decision, was this any decision at all on his part or was trump going to do this? i guess he got the national endorsement of the nra, the national rifle association, he certainly got paid value today to go give that speech in louisville? >> it's a political move, a chess move. look at a state like pennsylvania. we're talking about pat toomey for senate re-election in that state. he's one of the big republicans on background checks, trying to appeal to those philly suburban voters. but trump by cozying up to the nra, he's really looking for the center of pennsylvania, that more rural part of the state. trying to get those working class independents and conservatives to come out for him in major numbers. >> my brother lives in pennsylvania, to the west of allentown. he is with those guys all the way. anyway, hillary clinton pushed back hard against trump yesterday, calling his positions -- now, here's her reaction, in addition to what you said, joy, here's the tough langua

let me get back to you robert costa. in terms of the decision was this a decision at all on his part? was trump going to do this? he got the national endorsement of the nra. he got paid value to go give the speech. >> it's a political move. it's a chess move. look at pennsylvania, we're talking about pat toomy up for senate reelection. he's a big republican on background checks. but trump by cozying up to the nra he's looking for the center of pennsylvania, the more rural part of the state trying to get working class independents and conservatives to come after him in major numbers. >> my brother you live to the west of allen town. he's with those guys all the way. hillary clinton pushed back hard against trump yesterday calming his positions -- here's her reaction. in addition to what you said, here is the tough language, she's potentially dangerous. let's watch. >> the kinds of positions he is stating and the consequences of those positions, and even the consequences of his statements are not just offensive to people,

we have robert costa with new reporting on that and steve schimdt coming here. at the bottom of the hour, clpos will be closed. this is hardball, the place for politics. >>> we're now just 15 minutes away from the polls closing. new reporting on the trump campaign from robert costa. we'll be right back. >>> welcome back. as we await the first results from west virginia coming in at the half hour. donald trump is said to meet with speaker of the house paul manafort -- paul ryan this thursday. a week after ryan said he wasn't ready the endorse the republican nominee for president. the washington post reported that trump allied ben carson is playing a key role in mending fences with ryan and carson requested his own meeting with the speaker in advance. an advancement on this meeting. it will come after a spokesperson for the trump campaign said ryan was unfit to be speaker and after sarah palin called for ryan's defeat in the wisconsin primary this summer. i'm joined by robert costa, steve schmidt and ann coulter, she has a new book out "in trump we trust." what's

also, washington post national reporter robert costa will join us to discuss donald

trump world, i'm joined by washington post national political reporter and msnbc political analyst robert costabuddy, there's a lot of republicans today that came out against trump. the biggest thing, though, with paul ryan, robert, is, i guess this. what kind of signal to donors did that send yesterday and did that send shock waves down the spine of reince priebus at the rnc? >> the party is looking for unity. a lot of people are saying they want the rift to end. they know trump's coming to d.c. next thursday. going to meet with conservatives, going to meet with ryan. there's worry that if trump continues to fight with the leadership, the money won't be there for a lot of down-ballot races. >> has there been talk about ryan staying convention of the chairman if right now, the convention, it is donald trump's convention. they're running this show now. >> the trump campaign is making it clear that trump is not only the standard bearer of the republican party, hooe is the party. he is the face of the republican party. when it comes to policy, the campaigns making overtures i've heard, willing to

i think you heard what robert costa was saying. how would you describe donald trump's management style? >> i'd have to call it very successful. he spent $37 million n won the nomination. others spent over $150 million. just in the last week, according to the nbc polls, he's cut the lead in half from 4 to 2 points. it's already a very competitive race, and he's not doing it the traditional way. i understand which people have a hard time understanding anything, how we've done it in the past, but so far pretty successful. >> you saw especially this weekend a lot of commentary about donald trump doesn't have the kind of staffing you normally would see in a general election presidential campaign, whether that means on the ground, sort of turning out the vote type people. people at a national headquarters. is there just a belief around donald trump and around your campaign that you don't need to do that and it doesn't get you anything? >> the staff has greatly increased in the last few weeks. the state organizations are being put togethe

all as robert costa just said, all the things that paul ryan and his supporters oppose.h him, that hurts ryan in 2020. >> i'm not convinced that trump needs it. if you're trump, you go in and get ryan to say, i'm now ready to endorse him. i don't think they need a long-term relationship here. they're looking for a good first date, maybe a second date. and move on. >> but you have donald saying he could strip ryan of his chairmansh chairmanship. >> i'm not here to give donald trump advice. if i were advising him -- >> he's watching, so go ahead. >> make sure the speaker is ahead of the convention and let's move on and get back to the message that -- and get back to talking about the things that got us going here in the campaign. again, he's not asking me what i think. >> robert costa, what's the potential for a massive platform fight in cleveland? >> there's definitely potential, but the republican national committee members that set the platform, a lot of them are veteran activists, and trump himself has said publicly that he doesn't want to tinker too much with the actu

. >>> and joining me for insight and analysis are robert costa, kellyanne conway. gerald seib and neera tanden, president of the liberal think tank, center for american progress. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. in a moment we'll bring you my interview with bernie sanders. this holiday weekend, we pause to take a look at this head-scratching presidential race. let's admit up front, every year some people are upset with the major party choices they have for president. and it's always this hold your nose business, lesser two of evils. and we push through it. but how did we get here? how did we get to the point, where on one side, hillary clinton would be the most unpopular nominee in history, if not for the fact that donald trump is even more unpopular? there are many possible answers to that question. but it's undeniable that this week both candidates seem to be doing whatever they could to make matters even worse. and while we're

robert costa, david connor, joy reid. coming up, the obama administration orders public schools across the country to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. the latest flash point in the culture wars of this country and it's trigger backlash from the right. and would hillary clinton be more willing to use military force around the world than president obama? we've got the author of a new book who argues that clinton would be much more of a hawk than president obama. he's coming here to make his case and the "hardball" roundtable is coming with us tonight to cap off what has been a wild week in politics, as the republican party starts to line up behind their nominee, and why does scandal seem to trail the clintons but bounce off trump? seems like it. finally, let me finish with a man who clearly didn't spend his life preparing to run for president. you know what i'm talking about. this is "hardball," the place for politics. shoots and bns shoots and bns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyon

guest is robert costa who has also made many appearances on on this network including a q&a interview. to the independent line from georgia. caller: earlier you said you were not running for president, but if he was, i wanted you to know that i would vote for you. you have to be a lot better than what we've had to pick from this year. bob i decide to questions frequent. hillary uses that phrase about her e-mails, and i forget the ne. director, the other day says he'd never heard that term before. i was just wondering why somebody does not push her on ont and try to pin her down where did that phrase come from, .hy do you use it two, are you one of the 20 members that its washington post has put out to do a hit job on donald trump? host: on the second question, there is not a hit job about donald trump going on at the washington post however there is a book project. i'm not part of the book project. that ise is a book delving into his biographical story and donald trump's career at an political ambitions, and political views. that is a project that is ongoing and marty baron, the washi

joining me now, robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post." robert, here you have the guy within the span of 24 hours, he's clinched it >> chris, as we all know at the center of this campaign is one strategist, donald trump. 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

host: our guest is robert costa.will go to munro georgia, mike, independent line. >> how are you doing this morning? earlier, you said you weren't running for president, but if you were, i'd vote for you. [laughter] >> you'd be a lot better than what we had to pick from this year. -- questions for you this hillary uses the phrase about her e-mails, and i forget the term, my 60 years are catching up with me, but director komi said he had never heard that term before. i was wondering why somebody doesn't push her on that and try to pin her down on where to that phrase come from? number two, are you one of the 20 members of the washington post that put out the hit job on donald trump? not a hit jobs about donald trump going on at the washington post however there is a book project. i am not part of the book project but there is a book delving into his biographical story and donald trump's career in political views. that is a product that is ongoing and the washington post editor is head of that project. on hillary's e-m

. >> i've got joy reid with me and robert costa of the washington post.y of the hot primary fight. watching the republican side, i get the feeling the heat has been rising. it's going to be higher. this isn't the last of the bad. this looks like the beginning of the really bad. >> think about ted cruz last 24 hour, his wife denied when he was an infant he was a serial killer and talking about his father had something to do with the jfk assassination. i think we're in a true tabloid race. donald trump is a reality show guy. this is where he wants to play. >> does hillary want this kind of race on a muddy field like this? this kind of mud throwing. >> democrats don't want this kind of race but they have to prepare for political war. >> dan made a point that trump will be in offense. hillary should be on defense. that's almost like a statement it will be harder to play defense. >> she may be on offense when it comes to down ballot races. it may be hard to go head to head but if you can connect him to other republicans, they may not be aggressive. >> she atta

. >>> let's bring in robert costa of the washington post. he's gotten used to the pattern of things. how do we assess to which trump has ignited these things. >> since the beginning of his campaign donald trump has targeted the american southwest as a hotbed for the kind of supporters he wants to have as his political base. these are people not tied to the republican party and frustrated with immigration and globalization as well. >> so to what extent does that involve what's the right word taunting, encouraging. this happened in chicago when they went to an urban school with a large minority population. trump chose to have a rally there. he had to shut it down. is that intentional. >> this is trump. it's intentional and it's from the candidate himself. this is his personality. this isn't a corey lewandowski project, this isn't paul manafort, this is donald trump. this is trump who wanted to go to arizona and showcase himself in arizona. he's gone to the boarder. he's going here to kickoff the general election in new mexico. this is who trum

let's bring in a colleague watching all of this closely, robert costa. bert, it does seem there is still a movement led by bill kristol, a lot of folks in the conservative intelligencea want another candidate. today felt like his attempt stop the third party mess, i will be a conservative, i swear. >> i heard from my sources today that mitt romney, who had been floating e-mails and phone calls to some people about a possible independent bid, he starting to walk that back. a lot of the third party movement, still a feeling out there on the right that someone should step up, but no one seems willing to do it. trump is moving to the right. to talk about nixon, it reminds me about nixon in 68, knowing he is not idealog. >> you run to the right, and then you run to the middle. this is trump. he ran to the middle in the primaries and now trying to run right as he gets to -- >> do you think he is running to the right. i this he is throwing the right some bait. i don't think he is shifting to the right. this is a centrist politician that is not driven by ideology

joining us now is robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post."o see you. thanks for being here, my friend. >> great to be with you. >> you've done some very detailed reporting tonight, today and tonight for "the post" and things happening to bring the trump campaign and the republican party closer together, at least to get them talking to each other over the next couple of days. >> what we've learned at "the washington post" in the last couple of hours is that ben carson, the trump ally, former rival of the gop nominee, will be trying to meet with paul ryan, e house speaker in a premeeting before the big thursday meeting to lay the ground work for a conversation to warm the room a bit. >> in terms of what is expected between speaker ryan and mr. trump, i said a moment ago that it felt like that was the first real potential resistance that any overt level of the republican party that might be consequential in terms of a vivid split in the party, it feels like speaker ryan is backing down from any confrontation. mr. trump has softened his sewn. do

. >> robert costas is a national reporter for the washington post. david corning is with mother jones and joy reid is here. joy, you're laughing already. let's talk about this. i guess we can assume, they haven't broken the case here at msnbc but most people say that sounds like donald trump. is this the kind of thing you do when preparing to run for president? no. i wonder if any of this stuff would have really stopped him tr being where he is now. the american people that like trump, that minority that do, care about this one way or another? >> i don't think they do. it is bizarre to watch this whole presidential race boil down to the mtv show "catfish," where you have this george wallace character who did not intend to be president of the united states. otherwise, he would have done a lot of things differently. you have somebody so narcissistic that in order to deflect bad media coverage, he pretends to be his own publicist. it's weird. >> the there's any difference of trump that call up tabloids and talking occupy this guy donald trump. this guy

why did he just say i pass to robert costa? i don't talk about that. >> if we have a contest, which looks like we'll have between two candidates that are both very unpopular, we're going to have a campaign where each tries to make the other unacceptable than they are. i don't think this is the last time. >> they are murders. it's the worst charge. >> also, when you raise the issues of mistreatment of women, i think it's an attempt to moderate or minimize hillary clinton's big advantage among women voters. make it doesn't make women voters want to vote for donald trump but make some women voters think twice about voting for hillary clinton. i think there's a voter strategy involved with some of this. >> when i interviewed trump in '98, he had far more praise for clinton then. here is what he said about the economy back then. let's watch. >> i think it's the best thing he has going is the economy is doing great. they talked about the '80s are good and the '90s are much better. the economy, i don't think, has ever been better. it'

we're back with robert costa, and joy and eli, eli, start with this. trump's -- maybe i'm alone. i'll take it. i'll take the stand. i think when you mess with something like the assassination of john f. kennedy and those of us who lived through, republican, democrat, or whatever, that was the moment of their life. 9/11 was horrible, but that was something that cut to the heart of this country to have a young president killed right in front of us, and to use it as a political football to me is outrageous. he accused the other guy's father of being an assassin. there's no other way to read it. it's totally illogical because lee harvey oswald liked castro >> so does he say that because -- >> this guy's father hated castro. it doesn't make any sense. i'm talking about ted cruz. >> yeah, but does trump say that because he's up 15 points and he knows he's going to win or is he up 15 points because he's said thing after thing after thing. >> nothing like this. assassin? >> okay, well, but i mean he has sort of taken things that we think are sacrosanct and and blown them up. >> i put thi

robert costa and gabe sherman. 92% in kentucky. a lead of 1,000 votes.is not a lot but it is different than what it looked an hour or so ago. later on tonight, the oregon primary continues after this. man 1: you're new. man 2: i am. woman: ex-military? man 2: four tours. woman: you worked with computers? man 2: that's classified, ma'am. man 1: but you're job was network security? man 2: that's classified, sir. woman: let's cut to the chase, here... man 1: what's you're assessment of our security? man 2: [ gasps ] porous. woman: porous? man 2: the old solutions aren't working. man 2: the world has changed. man 1: meaning? man 2: it's not just security. it's defense. it's not just security. it's defense. bae systems. >>> well, we're watching this very tight race in kentucky. bernie sanders now back in the lead. by the thinnest of margins. 126 actual votes ahead of hillary clinton. let's bring in our washington red table. david corn, and democr. you have no idea who will win in kentucky. maria, you first, people keep telling me tonight. sometimes i'm slower

. >>> and joining me for insight and analysis are robert costa, kellyanne conway. gerald seib and near candidate, president of the liberal think tank, center for american progress. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. this holiday weekend, we pause to take a look at this head-scratching presidential race. let's admit up front, every year some people are upset with the major party choices they have for president. and it's always this hold your nose business, lesser two of evils. and we push through it. but how did we get here? how did we get to the point, where on one side, hillary clinton would be the most unpopular nominee in history, if not for the fact that donald trump is even more unpopular? there are many possible answers to that question. but it's undeniable this week both candidates seem to be doing whatever they could to make matters even worse. and while we're all asking what does this mean for november, maybe we should sta

it's being reported by "the washington post" robert costa, frequent guest on msnbc, he is reporting that trump's controversial campaign manager, corey lewandowski, will now oversee the search for a vice presidential candidate to pair up with the gop front-runner and the presumptive nominee. donald trump taking to twitter less than an hour ago with this message. quote, it is only the people that were never asked to be vp that tell the press that they will not take the position. the question is, is that a response to senator marco rubio, insisting now that he does not want to be considered for trump's vice president? amid those developments, we have some new polls out this morning that show the likely general election matchup between trump and hillary clinton. again, these are early polls. but our latest nbc news survey monkey weekly tracking poll that will likely go up and down shows clinton leading trump nationally by five points versus six points last week. meantime a new quinnipiac university poll out in key swing states show clinton with a slim one-point lead in florida and pennsylvan

covering every step, molly ball, national political correspondent "atlantic", robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post," michael scherer, washington bureau chief for magazine, and margaret politics.loomberg >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capitol, week" withshington gwen ifill. funding for "washington week" is provided by -- people came out today to run the race for retirement, so we asked them, are you completely prepared for retirement? prepared? your you save 1% more of income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now difference over time. >> i'm going to be even better about saving. >> can you do it. helps in the long run. >> prudential. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by boeing. genentech. providedl funding is by newman's own foundation, froming all profits newman's own food products to charity, and nourishing the common good. ford foundation. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting, and

joining us on the phone, robert costa. with when and where these meetings are going to take place and what is expected. guest: these meetings are political and will take place at the republican national committee headquarters, located on 1st street southeast, across from the capital south metro stop. there.ll be he will be joined by the house republican leadership. donald trump will meet with ryan previous. this will take place mostly this morning. donald trump will have other meetings with his allies today. host: he will meet at 9:00 a.m. will move on from there to the other meetings. what is each side hoping to get out of this meeting? each side wants peace, republican peace. the generalus about election strategy. not going to be serious policy discussion today. donald trump remains the party had on capitol hill. there is not going to be a coming together. they can at least set the terms to have an amicable general election. why do you have the speaker of the house not ready to get behind donald trump, but you have mitch

he told robert costa of "the washington post" that he is eager to start receiving regular classifiedn the first 100 days of his administration he will have designed the wall onny in mexican border. put the muslim immigration ban in place. and begun the audit of the federal reserve and the repeal of the affordable care act. i guess he's sticking to that ban. >> look at all four of those. kasie hunt, doesn't look like he's moving to the middle at all. seems like he's doubling down with what he told "the times" yesterday. >> it seems so. i will say that i was talking to haley barbour yesterday and his points on this was he has to start making policy speeches that do line up with that conservative base as he heads into this convention. a lot of people on the floor of the conviciniention, there's st going to be ted cruz delegates. it concerns whether he'll promulgate conservative policies or not. we show that clip of hillary clinton talking about how all the republicans on stage agreed with donald trump. i think you have a lot of conservatives concerned about some of the things he said ov

host: robert costa, his byline appears today above the full, looking at a potential third-party candidacy. we are looking to your reporting tomorrow. we are waiting for present obama to give the commencement speech of the graduating class of records university. when he begins, we will have that live for you on c-span. while we wait, a discussion of historical sites across the united states. this is from today's "washington journal." host: in his introduction to the book, your friend and colleague david mccullough says it's an incentive to get in the car and hit the road. why did you write the book? guest: i wrote the book for several reasons. politicalencourage historical literacy and to understand why those are important and why places are important, to encourage people to go out and see these places and experience history firsthand , and also to appreciate why we need to preserve these places. this is the centennial year of the national park service is, so it's a good year to see the national parks and america's political, economic, and social history and to recognize these places are w

>> robert costa, thank you! >> wait.itation? >> it appears there is a mincing. >> but -- >> a special misunderstanding. >> but he said he got an invitation. >> maybe he did, i don't know. they're conflicting on this. >> you mean i'm going to have to look through the gate again? hello, lad! i want to go! >> you were not invited at all. >> we are separated by a common language. >> don't worry. you received no invitation. msnbc's steve kornacki joins the table. >> oh, he's good. i bet he got invited. >> he'll come in here and just start screaming. that's what he does every time. >> i'm going to talk about -- by the way, i got an invitation to the taj mahal. >> no, you didn't. >>> the man who led president obama's reelection victory, his 2012 campaign manager, jim messina, and his thoughts on the presidential race. >> nobody wants you there. >> shay's rebellion. the invitation, right there. it's more than a network and the cloud. it's reliable uptime. and multi-layered security. it's how you stay connected to each other and

when robert costa will be on washington journal at 8:30 a.m. ♪ >> washington journal, live every dayith news and public policy. sunday morning, a health care reporter will be on to discuss legislation moving through congress, addressing the opioid congress. congressional leaders hope to merge the bill into a final package that would be combined with the addiction and recovery act. and then james courson, deputy director of public policy for the wilson center will be on. he will talk about the seven party congress. also, washington post national reporter robert costa will join ando discuss donald trump his visit to capitol hill and how it is being interpreted. of then the director national museum of american history will discuss his book. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal on sunday. join the discussion. now a form -- forum on the cost of keeping health care safe. this is hosted by politico. it is one hour and 15 minutes. ♪ ladies and gentlemen, please welcome executive editor for kenan.care, joann ms. kenan: good afternoon, everyone. i am one of the executive editor for hea

thursday morning, washington post political reporter robert costa will join us. republicanornia derek isil will -- darrell issa will discuss civil forfeiture asset laws. and, connecticut democrat congressman will be on to talk about legislation moving through the house to address the opioid crisis, including a bill he sponsored which would provide $600 million in emergency funding. from "thedefrank national journal" will talk about his coverage of both george w. bush and george h.w. bush. he will also talk about the bush family strong dislike of donald trump. "book tv" has 48 hours of nonfiction books at authors every weekend. saturday at 10:00 be -- 10:00 p.m. eastern, don watkins. >> the reason i say inequality isn't a problem, is because we are concerned with how much money you had, but how did you get? did you get it through a way that was fair or unfair? when you try to equalize people who earned their money honestly, we are trying to say that is not a fair way to treat people. t-rex in the book, mr. watkins not the american dream is limited by income inequa

. >> i'll remind my colleague that robert costa of "the washington post" briefly invoked the fight for 2020. >> exactly. >> which is more like a zagr in ever song than a reality. chuck todd, one hit wonders for 40, that's a stunning look at the map. and of course he's right. you know the map as well as anyone, but here we slide into general election territory. >> no, we do. it strikes me, there's another way to look what the general election will be about which is gut politics versus identity politics. right, the clinton campaign and the democratic party based on what obama did in 2012 is mechanically ready to run, probably circles around the republican party in trump's campaign in the identity politics idea of being able to talk to hispanic voters in colorado, single women in virginia. you know, hitting different sub constituency groups within a swing state. donald trump is not going to run that kind of campaign at all. he's going to run a campaign on sort of your gut feeling. that's what his campaign has been about until now and what the general is going to be about. i think this is

i'm sleeping. >> i know, it's like, i'm not going out campaigning -- >> all right. >> so robert costaow for ted cruz. you look at the polls and cruz is up close to 50% everywhere. is there any indication that the stop-trump movement will now march to california in a last desperate effort to stop donald trump? >> i'm not sure if march is the word i would use, but what you see from the cruz orbit of people who are supporting him, it says that california could be the last stand and they are better organized in many respects, compared to the trump campaign, but trump and his people have the momentum, when you talk to state officials in california and activists, they say that the trump organization doesn't have much of one, but they have the buzz on the ground. and i was in south bend, indiana, over the weekend, and you get a sense in these blue-collar neighborhoods and these old factory towns like south bend, there's an electricity in the air for trump, not just among the republicans, a lot of those har hard-core conservatives are with cruz, but among the independents and the democrats wh

clear that robert costa asked about this. this is the standard pose of donald trump when asked, i don't know, maybe there's something there. that's the default posture. >> i think he is masterful at this. one of the things going back to accountability, he says something, as soon as he is checked on it, he will tweet something else. it will take you someplace else. >> i don't know is a very powerful phrase he uses a lot. he used this about -- i don't know about the seventh day add ven 'tises. >> i remember in the '90s feeling like a lot of the psychodrama around clinton and gingrich, fighting baby boomer old wars. now it is like we're -- now it is 20 years later and those themselves were weird, now when you're here and fighting the '90s war again. it is bizarre to me to imagine that's promising political terrain for the republican candidate to fight on. maybe i'm wrong. >> i think you're right, but i think he thinks you're wrong. it does go back to -- he would have been a better president if they hadn't been make things stick,

hallie jackson, kasie hunt with the clinton campaign in san jose, and political reporter robert costa out of washington. kasie, let me go to you, first, with the clinton campaign. it's interesting, this is -- for people that have followed clinton's political career, watch her be as aggressive trying to respond to trump's every move is a change. >> it's very much a change, chuck. and i think it reflects a belief inside the clinton campaign. people i've talked to over the 24 hours are essentially saying that they know that she somehow has to be much more tactical than she's been in the past and be defending him at every news cycle turn, chuck. >> i'm going to pause here. joining me on the phone right now is the democratic presidential front-runner and lookly nominee, hillary clinton. secretary clinton, welcome back to the show. >> thanks a lot, chuck. good to talk to you. >> all right. let me start with, first, response to donald trump. officially the nominee. we heard you earlier. you called him an urgent threat. that is -- that's language you might use for some enemy of the united sta

republican pollster and strategist, kt and robert costa of the washington post. sanders, is that still an opponent? an aggressive opponent of hillary clinton, bernie sanders that you just heard? >> i thought he made a lot of great points. i welcome that. he does seem to really focus on the general election, and which will be against donald trump. and i think he made -- he made clear that that is the paramount concern for democrats. we face a person who is sort of an unprecedented person in history in the general election. and i think he'll be clear about that when this primary is over into june. >> that sounds great, but it's not true. he is running -- to me, senator sanders is the most aggressive against secretary clinton. he's won 20 states, 10 million voters and counting. >> sure. >> and he now wants to kick off your platform committee, members like barney frank and former congressman and governor malloy. he's an open war far with the democratic national committee. >> why doesn't he drop out? look, as long as -- so long as bernie sanders is playing, robin, to

that was not a strategic choice on his part, it was in response to a question by robert costa of "ther plan that he rolled out. nevertheless, when you get asked about vince foster i think the appropriate answer is that was investigated thoroughly, it was the tragic death of a man who suffered from depression. now, if you want to talk about bill clinton and his record with women, that's fine. i think that actually does do something to cement your base vote and to hillary clinton's readiness to cover for her husband, that's a legitimate issue. but vince foster, no. and then last night, steve, to attack governor martinez in new mexico is another unforced error where i say to myself when corey lewandowski was running the trump campaign, they were controversial, but they were not erratic. paul manafort is now apparently running the trump campaign and i think it is more erratic than it is strategic. and so i don't know what's going on in team trump, but it's nothing that we've seen before and it results in articles like the one by charles murray, one of the most respected conservative intel

i want to bring in robert costa msnbc political analyst and national political reporter for "the washingtonost". nice to say. happy friday. >> happy friday. >> trump versus sanders debate. it's hard to tell how much of it is a joke and how much of it is real but certainly bernie sanders seems to think it's very real. it would give him a chance to sell himself one last time. it would give trump maybe a chance to draw some sanders supporters over to his side. the only one who doesn't benefit is hillary clinton. >> that could be. we'll have to see how it unfolds. talking to people close to trump today. my sense it remains a live possibility something that the campaign or donald trump certainly not pushing for. they see it as a leverage opportunity to generate some momentum for sanners as he continues to fight against secretary clinton and some publicity for trump himself. >> the trump people seeing bernie sanders wanting the spotlight but not great for them. >> trump has liked to toy with these kind of theaterical events. in sanders he sees something he's fighting against. a republican who is

. >> one of the things we're going to have to watch for, and robert costa was discussing this earlier tonight, the unhealable divisions in the republican party over this now near nomination, and he said that the really unhealable division that trump and the party might have to worry about in electoral terms is on the hard right and the prospect of an independent or third-party candidate emerging yet at this late date. >> you go back to the beginning, the first republican he attacked was john mccain, basically said he was not his favorite prisoner of war. he has insulted republicans from the middle, the center, the right. new republicans, old republicans, men, women. his insults for his own party, i think, are the reason that ronald reagan's son, who has a new book out, came out and said he really -- i don't want to put words in his mouth, but disagreed with any sort of comparison between drump and reagan. >> yeah, one would expect. but jujulogistically, is it pose for a third person to be added? >> it's about to be too late to get on enough state ballots to win 250 electoral votes. >>

francesca chambers, the white house correspondent for the dale mail.com, robert costa, both joining usnow. at the end of the day trump made it clear that he was lending his campaign this $36 million. do you expect that he'll repay himself with donations from supporters? and i guess more importantly, does that matter? how significant will that be? >> what we're seeing from the trump campaign is a willingness to raise funds. they're going to have their first major fund-raiser on may 25th in los angeles at the home of tom barrick, a long time investor and friend of donald trump. >> the guy behind neverland ranch, isn't he? >> that's right. he owns the neverland ranch. he's famous for buying some of these celebrity properties that fall into hard times. so trump will be raising money for his own campaign but also trying to raise money for party officials. will some of that go back to repaying his loans? that's expected, based on my reporting. >> francesca, the problem for trump is that he's in a huge financial hole right now. the numbers from the end of march found that clinton had about $2

robert costa is a political reporter with "the post" and msnbc political analyst.ting turn of events in the last 24 hours or so. what do you make of it? >> paul ryan, speaker and donald trump the now standard bearer will huddle next week in washington. trump wants to try to repair the relationship of some of the party leaders wary of him for weeks. this comes after ryan made his statement and trump wants to make inroads in the capital. jeff sessions, is trying to arrange meetings on capitol hill to get trump not only working with the republican leadership but conservative leadership in washington. >> what do you expect in terms of this shift? one of the things fascinating to watch as all this unfolded is paul ryan coming out and saying the bulk of the burden lies with the nominee. then, donald trump saying, look, it's up to the speaker to bring things together. they come from very different sides of this. what do we expect in terms of unity, where can the two of them find some of that? >> it will be harder for ryan and trump to bridge their philosophical difference

it's being reported by "the washington post" robert costa, frequent guest on msnbc, he is reporting thatmpaign manager,