Bill kristol is a loser. Mark hello from los angeles, from the california primary one week from today. But wait, everybody wants to know who is the independent candidate who the crystal has been touting . Bill kristol has been touting . A conservative lawyer, writing, an iraqi were veteran named david french. You may not have heard of him. We hadnt either. Krsitol tweeted this weekend that he had a candidate in mind that he said would be a strong candidate. John and i talked to both of them, who both declined to comment. French is a staff writer for the national review. He lives in tennessee with his wife and three kids. He was traveling. He declined to comment, but thew two republican sources says while french is not made a final decision, that is indeed who bill kristol was talking about. He wrote about french in the weekly standard, hiding him in plain sight. John you have this piece by kristol basically making the case against trump and clinton, laying out if you of the more out a few of the more bandied about names that could be independent candidate. It doesnt have to be somebody famous. This is a guy that is a great servant to his country, a estimable resume. Kristols argument is, as more americans come to know this guy, they would realize he would be a better president than donald trump or Hillary Clinton. That is a huge if. Mark a lot of people will look at this name and say, who cares . No one has heard of him. They are looking for people with one or more of the following traits someone famous, wealthy, and someone who had been in public service. John strike one, 2 and, 3. Mark the guy never ran for anything. He was very pleasant on the phone, but from the sound of his voice, is doesnt sound like he wants to go head to head with donald trump. On a daily basis his resume is outstanding. He is a guy who has served the country, has been a lawyer. He has a lot of attributes that, someoneere looking for to go up against these two new yorkers, he seems to fit. Can he raise money . Today, before the name david french was reported, donald an independent candidate runs of any sort, that Hillary Clinton will win. Indie,ump if they do an which assuming anybody with a reputation would do it, because they would look like fools but you lose the election for the republicans. Therefore you lose the Supreme Court. Therefore he will have a group of people put on the Supreme Court where this country will never ever recovered. It will never be the same. Mark so he said, assuming it is decent. We know the answer to the question who bill kristol was tweeting about. Is he somebody decent enough to be a player . Lets say he does the best that he can. Could he be a player . John this is a black swan year in a million ways. No one wants to say never about anyone. Could he be like kevin kline and suddenly come forward and capture the imagination of millions of americans . Its not impossible. But well underestimate the degree of skill and stamina and charisma that are required to be a serious National Political figure in america. You can say what you want about donald trump or Hillary Clinton. They both are highlevel professionals at this game. It will be hard for a guy with no skill running for anything before, going in front of cameras one you would have to be nough,million to do well e to get into the debate to be a factor into this race. John could this guy stand on the same stage . There are some talented baseball s,yers in the single and aa but its totally different at the major level. Mark people will start googling him now. If you are someone like mitt , you want someone youon are proud to vote for. This guy, you could be proud to vote for him. You could say, this is a true conservative, a guy served in the military with an outstanding resume. But he his someone that is he someone. Donald trump that trumpsomeone that donald could be worried about . John we do not want to be dismissive of this person. Who dontvertrumpers look at the idea of sitting out the election like the idea of sitting out the election and want to cast a vote for someone, you can imagine somebody like him. Money he cant raise the chances he could get on the ballot. He is going to have to raise money. Significantlyd up financial support. Was is yowho kristol talking about. John gary johnson and bl wells are more likely to be a factor on the election. Two guys who have run states. Those guys are much more likely to have an effect on the race than this guy. Mark i dont want to prejudge it. But he had not made a full commitment to run. The attention he is about to get meme can decide that its not worth doing. John his life is about to change a lot right about now. As megyn kelly would say, lets talk about us. [laughter] at trump tower today, donald trump repeatedly insulted the members of the Fourth Estate way more than usual. In this case, he objected reporters that asked serious questions about how he raised and dispersed money for veterans. Trumps tone was personal and occasionally caustic as he waged war on what he calls the Political Press. Mr. Trump the press should be ashamed of themselves. Frankly,he media is, made up of people that in many cases are not good people. The press is so dishonest and so unfair. Ive watched you on television. The press is being very dishonest. I dont like dishonesty. Like this sleazy guy over here from abc. She is a sleaze. He is a sleaze. [indiscernible] mr. Trump no, not all of you, just most of you. Is this what its going to be like covering u. S. President . Mr. Trump yes, this is what its going to be like. I find the press to be extremely dishonest. I find the Political Press to be unbelievably dishonest. John here are two things that are true. The first is that trump has benefited by making the price the press a foil. He has mocked and belittled reporters, while at the same time soliciting to them behindthescenes more than any candidate that we have covered. Donald trump in private actually loves the press and courts than constantly. He is like a oneman Good Cop Bad Cop routine. Hes being cops at the same time. Do you think that will work in a general election . Mark i think he is now in a different phase. You saw it in the press conference. People are not treating him as a curiosity. There are a lot of people on the left and right who do not like the press. Bernie sanders attacks the present most as much as attacks the press almost as much as donald trump does. I think he will keep it up. It got him this far. I think that the clinton folks are hoping, and the press should agree with the clinton folks, that he is held to a normal standard. Some of the things he criticized today, he might be right. The coverage of him is not always fair. We need to cover both the candidates, tough, fair, relentless, skeptical, and turmp this,if he behaves like will hurt his credibility with some and help with others. John i think it is outlandish the things he does. But republicans have done this for a long time, especially the liberal outlets at the New York Times. Ridiculous and outrageous some of the things he does, especially since he likes the press in private. The more important fact is that many people in our business have come to the conclusion that they gave trump a free ride through much of the republican nomination. They did not challenge him enough. You can argue whether they are right or not. They felt that they broke away from news time to often to cover his rallies, given billions of dollars in coverage. I think many numbers of the that they have gone too far and need to bring it back in line. He will get tougher coverage now and get less of a free ride then he got in the nomination fight. But it has nothing to do what he says about individual reporters. Mark the next, Hillary Clinton and emails. More on bill kristols favorite choice to run as an independent after this. John today the biggest headline in the democratic race is still Hillary Clintons email server. Usa today joined the New York Times and Washington Post by repeatedly ignoring warnings about her private server being a threat to national security. The Clinton Campaign continues to say that her unusual email arrangements were interstate were a mistake. She did not know if she had known how much of a fuss it would cause, she would not have done it. She talked to msnbc about that topic. Mark, if the campaign that it can essentially continue to offer the explosion that it has only offered the explanation that it has only offered and talk it out. And tough it out, do you think their current posture will solve the problem this has caused for her . Mark they put out a statement over the weekend, that secretary clinton will talk more about it. They think that by not attacking accepting itst, conclusions her spokesperson said today, you basically look at the things in the report, and they are not disputing them they think that is going further. That they are showing more appreciation for the critics. That that should be enough. I think they are misunderstanding the degree to which there is unanimity amongst elites and voters that this was not handled well and that she has not owned up to what she did in as full a way as is required by most people. John i appreciate the job that herelan haher camping People Campaign people have done. Their initial responses that the i. G. Has exonerated us. Scathing criticism. I still think it is the case. I do not think that is the case that they have done anything to alter the perception that she has not gone as far as some would like her to go in acknowledging culpability, that she did something that was genuinely unique inmate have caused and may have put sensitive documents in peril. Mark we will talk about that with our guest in a little bit. When we come back, we will talk to the bureau chief of the New York Times in los angeles right after this. John it is often our pleasure to talk to adam nagourney, the Los Angeles Bruton chief of the New York Times. But normally we have to do it via satellite, because he is here and we are in new york. But we are in the tensile the same time zone. Adam, welcome to the show. David french, what do you know . Adam i cant tell you that i know a lot about him. He is, i guess, running for president. John maybe. So you are saying that in all of your years of National Politics coverage, and your knowledge is encyclopedic, this is not a household name. Adam no. I dont think they were referring to him when i heard the name back in 2004. Mark do you think somebody who has never run for office, who is not famous, who is not a big do you think you could be some sort of perfect storm player in this race . Adam nobody seems to like either the republican or Presumptive Democratic candidate. But no, he has enough problems as it is getting on these ballots. You could argue its better to have no net name recognition thsn an any. Window kristol was coming up with a name, i thought it would be someone that we all knew about. I cant say that i know him. I am disappointed. John there was a lot of tension over gary johnson and bill wells last week and. Johnson is someone who has run for president before. Running with another former governor of the state. Why is that not the vehicle to disrupt, if you want to disrupt the twoparty system . Agree. There. E already and at least they have reputations, credibility this is more like a sideshow. Candidate thirdparty that will probably get some support. Mark how long have you known donald trump . Adam my earliest memory was covering him when he first ran for president , i think in 2006. I flew out to california with him and flew back on his plane. Mark how do you think he will react to the potential presence of david french in this race . [laughter] i dont know if there is a wide enough shot for this. You dont think that will frighten donald trump . Adam he should be worried about the libertarian candidate. Because that will take votes away from him and put states into play that were not before. Whether or not it will be like that, i dont know. I dont think this will bother him very much. John tell me where we are in the California Democratic race. Adam it is a difficult race the poll. Its hard to tell not only how many independents can vote. But its hard to vote if you are an independent. The independents are supporting Bernie Sanders by 3 to 1. We have some polls showing it close, some not so close. The best things to watch what the candidates do. Bernie sanders will be campaigning here until tuesday. He had a heavy campaign day today, 34 rallies. Clinton will be spending most of her time here. They are putting some money into the state. My sense is that it is close. The biggest thing is that this has been Hillary Clintons problem all along. Everybody assumes that she has one and are not has won or not particularly enthusiastic. That is what her challenge is her. Mark you have been a longtime student of the governor. Today he endorsed Hillary Clinton in a scheme of endorsements. Does that matter much in the primary . Adam i normally dont think endorsement matter. I think it does matter. I think with undecided voters, it will get the effort to go out. He doesnt endorse very often. When hehe endorses thinks they have a good chance of winning. Mark it would seem, as your piece suggested, he is part Bernie Sanders, part Hillary Clinton. Why do you think he decided to get into the contest the way that he did . He isi think for him, on Climate Change. My gut says that is an issue that he cares about. Donald trump is saying that the drought does not exist. Saying that Climate Change does not exist. That, more than anything else, is what gets him. I dont think there is any kind of tradeoff. It is that simple for him. John sanders was asked about being as a Vice President joe ticket with Hillary Clinton. In putting the party back together. Issues inve some terms of print the party back together. Makeoesnt sanders sense to put on the ticket if you are Hillary Clinton . Adam you got all these jokes about the two older people on a ticket. You want somebody fresh and unexpected. If i was inside brooklyn with the rest of the crowd, i would certainly be considering him. I dont think it is a crazy idea, but it wouldnt be my first choice. He does not seem to represent the new generation. Mark a poll in new jersey shows jump was an trump was within four points of Hillary Clinton. Some will say that it is an unpredictable year, never assume anything. But others will say, the blue states are going to be blue. There is no chance that california or new jersey will be in place. Be in play. To think that trump could make Hillary Clinton work for new jersey and california . Adam i think that he can. I think that at some point sanders will drop out of the race. He will start sending his supporters over to her. It is no longer a theoretical thing. Even though a lot of people, sanders supporters, have real problems with Hillary Clinton on immigration and Climate Change, they will start seeing democrats coalesced between them are between Hillary Clinton as the republicans do with trump. California in particular, i do not think so. Latinos, women i cannot imagine her having trouble here in a general election. That chris even with christie endorsement, i would not doubt that she would be strong there. John who do you think has more at stake in terms of picking a running mate politically . Adam probably Hillary Clinton. She needs to get the party united behind her. Not only in terms of personality, but issues. She needs to reassure the Progressive Left that she will be there for them. It is hard to figure out who the Perfect Choice would be for her. Hes such an unusual candidate that has a lot of advantages. Maybe a former president . John if i were a former president ial nominee, i would put you on my ticket. Can Bernie Sanders pull out a win in california . In righttegists weigh after a word from our sponsors. John joining us now are too legendary, ethic, stratospheric lead really in democratic strategists. Good to see you here in the flesh, gentlemen, how are you . We know you are democratic strategist and we have to ask you about this the independent challenger to donald trump and Hillary Clinton . Guest i thought republicans were allergic to all things french. He could change his name to david freedom. I dont think this goes anywhere. It may take a few votes from trump in a few places but i dont think its a big deal. Dost it is so hard to structurally and so impossible a task. If you are unknown, its unbelievable and if you are not a self under the secret to ross perot as he was able to put his own money in the game. Mark they were looking for some andination of rich, famous electable. I know you are skeptical, but what would have to happen within the realm of the possible say he is sin. We are told hes not only decided. Then, whate gets would have to happen to make you say maybe there is something to this . Guest i dont know. The threshold is its 15 to get in the national debate. Mark lets say he went to the National Press club or Washington Monument or gave a fantastic speech guest a speech is not going to do it. [crosstalk] 100 million could get on almost every ballot in the country and then he could become a serious force and that would the an amicable to donald trump. Mark so a guy who spent a lot of money on paid media, that we take seriously . Arent the Koch Brothers going to do this for the libertarians . Mark there is some talk about that. John here in california, we have Hillary Clinton, who i think both of you believe is going to be the democratic nominee. Why does it matter for Hillary Clinton to win california . Why should she spend money or time here . Would you advise her to come in right out here like it matters . Ofst shes doing it for one two reasons. Either the polls are right and they show it close and she does not want to lose and take the risk of limping to the nomination because she needs the momentum. She needs the sense that she is taking over and, kratz should come home and she would like Bernie Sanders to get out and endorser. Democrats should come home. Second, they think they could win by a substantial margin. I, myself, think it is very close. If you look at the body language of these campaigns, they think it is close and either of them could win. That bernieruth is has dug in here deep. Candidatesgined going to santa maria and cities that are not actually media markets. Hes going and drawing huge crowds. 7000 people for a political rally in stockton is unheard of. He has advertising on the air and it is very california specific still california specific, and she is reacting to it. Some polls suggest it is close and some dont. What we dont know is who is going to vote. Its not just the structural problem of independence. Electionwho vote on day dont have a structural problem, its the one to actually show up. And then all of the millennials and latino voters, are they going to wait until november or are they going to vote on june 7 . Guest i think a lot will vote on june 7 and a lot of latinos will probably vote for Hillary Clinton. Bill is right, sanders has a andt california centric ad has already seen like 130 8000 or 140,000 people. About 250,000, is at about a 10th of the vote he needs . No one has done that. Was asianne feinstein anyone hasas almost been trying to nudge Bernie Sanders out of the race. Would you expect more people to be aggressive and saying you cant spend the rest of june and into july campaigning . You need to start coalescing . If senatorthing is feinstein is on your side, youve got him fight going toward you. She thinks this race ought to be over. She is a numbers person and thinks enough already. And she is willing to say that. She doesnt care about the consequences. More or you think it less likely Bernie Sanders gets out . Guest i think it makes it less likely. You have to give room and respect to sanders supporters. If he loses california, the pressure internally, even from himself may be to move toward ending the race. There are lots of ways to do this accommodations in the platform and reform the nominating process. I think trying to push him out and i know diane has strong feelings, the pressure to push him out is counterproductive. Guest i dont think hes going to be pushed out. In the old days, if you ran out of the money, you are out of the race. Hes not going to run out of money. Senator kennedy stayed in, gary hart did in 1984 and we sought with Jesse Jackson two times. People have stayed in to the convention. Jerry brown stayed in to the convention. Through these things before and they and that not being all that consequential in most instances. Mark although in some historic instances, you could say it hurt the party. About 1980 talk jimmy carter was going to lose in 1980. There were hostages in iran and the economy was in terrible shape. Would you consider putting Bernie Sanders on the ticket . Guest i think if she is moving that direction, she should go with elizabeth orin. Guest i think other people would be better. Tim kaine or somebody like that who has some appeal in specific younger fee. Andt thats a safer choice i think shes more likely to go there. John both great men. Up next, we will talk about trump. Are watching us in washington dc, you can listen to us on the radio radio. We will be right back. Mark joining us now, nbc correspondent katie turner who covers donald trump. About davidng french, who will crystal was touting over the weekend. You like us trying to figure it out. Does david french match your expectations . Katie no. And i was speaking to sources over the weekend and they that bill kristol knows how to play the game a did not expect him to play anything big. And the social media manager or donald trump tweeted pretty much the encapsulation of the Trump Campaign response which was who . John your basic assumption is increase his estimation of ill crystal as a serious faux . Katie i think if hes able to take any support a way, its probably not that diehard trump to begin with and is not going to necessarily effective much. Reacted to crystal over the weekend on twitter and said other things that suggest decent thirdparty candidate on the right that he would lose on the basis of that. Why doesnt he look at the libertarian ticket as being that . Why is the libertarian ticket not a huge problem . im not sure. Maybe he hasnt had that much exposure to the libertarian ticket. But if you look at the convention over the weekend, its hard to take the libertarian candidate serious because their convention becomes such a sideshow. And the reality is the libertarian candidate hasnt in that important since ross perot. I dont think they see it as an imminent threat. Verynk they see the race much as a republican and democratic race and the real threat would another conservative rising out of nowhere. Somebody with more recognizability recognition im losing my words. Mark you have watched as long and as closely as any reporter how donald trump treats the media. He today differ in the way behaved or just more of how it goes . Katie we havent seen a press conference that contentious for six months back in the days when i was being called little katie. Hes being backed off a little bit, but the press conference today, he was angry you is angry he washe was being questioned and what is those of rising here is that it is such a surprising dory. Its not a negative story. I raise this money and there were a few hiccups along the way. Its good for the campaign and good for my appearance of supporting veterans. Instead, it was very hostile and thatit up and delete clear a Donald Trump White House would be something where he would not feel like he would need to be held accountable. But this is also very much part of his strategy. Make sure the press is not trustworthy, take away their credibility and once theyre not criminal to my supporters, any pushback i get, any Fact Checking i get is not threatening. Is it fair to say that republicans have done well have been able to get better press coverage . Like george w. Bush or john kerry . Favorablegotten more coverage over the span of the last year. Do you think this kind of the rating the press, does he risk maybe finally at some point alienating the press at some hent in mark katie i think has alienated the press already. There was a turning point where the press corps is going to start pushing back harder. Ever since he became the presumptive nominee, hes been getting much more Critical Press coverage than he had been during the primary. Of what is beginning going to be a very contentious battle. I think at some point, this could be the thing that backfires on him because it makes him look even to those who like him a lot as some one who cannot take what he gives out. Away previously, he got with trying to take out revenge on reporters who story he did not like and doing that as the presumptive nominee is a lot harder to do. Theres just a lot more scrutiny. Katie absolutely. Ask we will be right back we turn the program into our variety hour. Mark here now, the host of pop politics, our pal ted johnson. Thank you for coming by. Doditionally, democrats better in hollywood than republicans. Donald trump has a history of your. In terms of endorsements and fundraising, will he do better than your typical republican . Ted he could do a little better. It could depend on who he has chairman. Is finance hes a private equity guy but he has financed quite a few films in hollywood. Batman financier versus superman, the lego movie, mad max, really in connection with warner bros. Right now. He may be able to tap some money out here that another republican was not able to but i dont think you are going to change the dynamics or change the split. Its about 75 democrats and 25 republicans. I just dont see it. I think even traditional republican donors are kind of waiting and seeing whether they are going to write a check to donald trump. The question is you are a ilion air, why do you need my money . But number two is the question with i want to go public my support for donald trump or do i want to wait until the fall when it is less risky . Mark do some of them feel closer to him . He was the star of a prime Time Television show. Just based on that image, does that help him with local support . Ted he has relationships all over the entertainment industry. But i dont think thats going to be quite enough to convince long time democratic donors. Mark you see republicans look at the democrats and envy their star power to bring people to the tens. President obama had every night big stars out there. Will donald trump be able to do ted he has promised he would like a more show business convention. But is what you think of, its going to be a challenge to get a list to liberties to show up at the convention. Its one thing to get traditional republicans like john voight, but to get someone who is totally unexpected, i think there will be a lot of skittishness in the entertainment industry, even if you are privately supporting donald trump. You are looking at his rallies out here in tell of you and every angle one of them is met by these big protests else side. A lot of celebrities like to play it safe. Shy away from someone where you could eliminate half your potential ticket buyers. Ted you mentioned Clint Eastwood the last major to last major celebrity to show up at a convention and look what happened. That was at much mitch that romney did not generate much protest. Any reason to believe shorts never wont be for trump . Ted i suspect hes waiting and seeing how this all transpired. Winner and like a there is no reason for him to endorse right now. Maybe hes waiting for the convention to make a surprise appearance at the Republican Convention but i would be surprised if schwarzenegger crossed party lines and supported Hillary Clinton. I think hes probably just timing it. That was certainly his indication to maximize the exposure and maybe get in a little plug for him hosting the apprentice. On the democratic side, Bernie Sanders has done surprisingly well getting hollywood endorsements. He doesnt do fundraisers, so we dont know how to compete in those great living rooms in beverly hills, but is there a difference between the kind of celebrities for sanders and the kind of celebrity for clinton . Ed yes i think a lot of the names for sanders have been associated with the hard left, people like mark ruffalo or susan sarandon. And was a big supporter of ralph nader, so i dont think you are going to look at the names of evil who endorse Bernie Sanders and think i cant believe they are supporting him over Hillary Clinton. I also think its funny you have people like Dick Van Dyke who have come out and appearing at rallies, older than the candidate. I think it shows the kind of breath of support older celebrities, younger celebrities, sanders loves to tell the fact that he has Vampire Weekend backing him. Its probably hitting all these demographic groups a group of them are going out by bus, traveling the state as celebrity surrogates. They have had a mark if you were here at the california primary, all anyone would talk about is obama and clinton in that race. Is that going on in that Hollywood Community . Are people more focused on other things or what . Acrimonyes a lot of right now. The clinton people are very worried about the damage sanders can do and the sanders people are defensive. He has every right to stay in this race but its not at the level that it was with clinton and obama. Probably because back then, clinton and obama were splitting establishment support. Sanders doesnt have any big studio executives backing him. Clinton and obama kind of split that in half. Mark ted johnson, thank you so much. Rate to see you. We will be right back. Mark you can read more about david wrench to bill kristol is touting as an independent candidate. While you are there, check out our brandnew, jenny white, bona fide trump unity tracker. It tells you who is for him and who is against them. Coming up, emily chang beats to a former google executive about gender diversity in the boardrooms in silicon valley. Will back tomorrow. See you then. Sayonara. , lets start with a check of your bloomberg first word news. In Italian Appeals Court has upheld the conviction and prison sentence of the italian captain of the Costa Concordia crews ship that capsized in 2012 killing 32 people. Has one final appeal to italys highest court. Ofert or says the return 80,000 residents to Fort Mcmurray will continue tomorrow as planned. About 2200 structures were planned. Schools will not reopen until september. Democrats investigating the benghazi terror attack want to review the report before its release. To theter was sent chairman requesting a joint report. Republicans and democrats have in at odds since the inception of the twoyearold probe. Four americans were killed in the attack. California governor jerry brown is backing Hillary Clinton for president. The endorsement comes at a critical time. California holds its primary next tuesday