Announcer from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Charlie we begin this evening with Hillary Clintons press conference as she addressed the controversy over her use of a personal email account while in office instead of the government email system. Secretary clinton i opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the state department, because i thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two. Looking back, it wouldve been better if id simply used a second email account and carried a second phone. At the time, this did not seem like an issue. We went through a thorough process to identify all of my workrelated emails and deliver them to the state department. At the end, i chose not to keep my private personal emails, emails about planning chelseas wedding or my mothers funeral arrangements, condolence notes to friends as well as yoga routines, family vacations, the other things you typically find in inboxes. No one wants their personal emails made public and i think most people understand that and respect that privacy. Charlie the controversy is expected to continue. Secretary clinton is seen as a likely president ial nominee of the Democratic Party in 2016. Joining me now, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann of bloomberg politics. Welcome back. I am happy to have you here. John, tell me your assessment of this press conference. John on the positive side, she was better than she was in her book tour. She faced reporters, many of them foreign journalists, she took a fair number of questions, she talked for a fair amount of time. She answered about 10 questions. She was quite poised. I do think she did not answer many of the central questions to a lot of peoples satisfaction. There were questions she chose not to answer. She evaded various things. Mark there are two things that are central. I think if you are inclined to believe her, it is reasonable, the reason she said she set up a personal account. It seems at a minimum, she mightve been cavalier about public records request or subpoenas. After she spoke, they suggested she was meticulous about making sure all of for documents charlie perhaps she was. Mark it is not clear that she did that 100 of the time. The other thing there are two things that are still questions. She did not answer the question, did she consult the state department about the security of her server . I think she drew the line. My private emails should be private. No one is advocating that her private emails about yoga be made public. Some people are advocating that an independent person should look at the server. What she said today was strange, she deleted many personal emails from this account. John that is the biggest problem. She sent 30,000 or so emails she regards as workrelated and she gave them to the state department. 31,000 emails she deemed to be personal emails. No one has seen those emails. She is saying no one will see those emails. She also suggests she deleted many, if not all of them. One of the headlines that will come out of this, for people certainly on the right, Hillary Clinton destroyed tens of thousands of emails and all she is saying to us is trust me, they are innocuous. Charlie suppose somebody would go to anybody who might be a president ial candidate and say we think we ought to see all of your emails. She is saying that what you cant see is not the government stuff, but the personal stuff. If shed had a separate account and had divided it up, you would still see the government stuff. She could still say, you do not have any right to say that . John she made an argument about convenience. That strikes some people as not a plausible argument. Why couldnt she get multiple emails on one device . To go and set up a separate server at her home and have a bunch of emails that she will not show anybody, she claims there are no security breaches. None of that can be proven because she will not let anybody look at the server. For people who want to be doubters, there is a reason to have doubts. She did not resolve questions about people who are skeptical. Charlie will this go away . Mark republicans will continue to hammer on this. They will have her testify about her email practices. Her Performance Today is enough to have democrats come back into her corner. If there are no new revelations, this is not some big thing. Before today, i did think it was a big thing. John she will be the democratic nominee, almost certainly. There are other stories. This has been a big controversy for the week. She ducked the one question Andrea Mitchell asked her about today. She asked a question about how she can square her record at the state department as a champion of women and girls with the fact that her foundation took money from some of the least friendly regimes in the world. A lot of stories out there. She will almost certainly be the democratic nominee unless Something Else happens, but there is a poll out today which suggests right now, people are more attracted to the notion of a candidate of change than they were in 2008. It is more intense right now than it was in 2008. I agree that none of this to the point you made about how it reminds people of the things they do not like about the clintons. Many people in the middle of the country have mixed feelings about the clintons. They are not 100 sold. The swing voters, this kind of thing reminds people of the old clintons and that is not what change looks like. Charlie someone said today, i have had all the drama i need. Mark we will go back to parts of whitewater. The billing records, the cattle futures, it will all come back. The upside of her not having an opponent, she can spend the money worrying about a general election and she does not have to worry about being beaten. Republicans are not doing a lot of Opposition Research on Martin Omalley and bernie sanders. They will be able to drop this stuff out. They have investigative reporting budgets. There will be a lot more investigating. John think about all of the clinton scandals. One argument would be that the clintons survived it in the 1990s. Bill clinton is a popular president. Back in 2008, the large part of the Democratic Party that sighed wearily of going back to the notion of going back to all that stuff from the 1990s. Will this not be a psychic overhang for her . Impeachment and all of that. If this stretches out and the republicans with benghazi and there are more subpoenas, what is the psychic toll that takes on the electorate . I cannot tell you, but it is not good. Mark her First Political press Conference Since 2008. Strong performance under those circumstances. If we normally elect the most likable person, today, she was practiced and careful, lawyerly. She was good enough today to get elected if the republicans nominate someone who is not particularly likable. But she was not her likable self. Charlie who is mr. Likability . [laughter] mark it is a matter of taste. There is no one like bush 43 or bill clinton or barack obama. They were all very likable figures. Lots of likable republicans, but no clear leaders. Charlie i did an interview today with dan pfeiffer. He said it will be interesting to see whether she can put together the coalition that won for obama in 2008, which he did not have in 2014. John she has the chance to do better than president obama did with workingclass white voters. Mark if you think she can do gay and lesbians, union households, africanamericans, and better with hispanics, married couples. Potentially, she can. Depending on how much buoyancy she has, she might not have the turnout problem. Charlie the coalition john a democratic nominee, she comes in with an extraordinarily enthusiastic base of women in the Democratic Party who will see her as an historic candidate and will rally behind her. Combine that with the inherent demographic advantages and Electoral College advantages, it is hard not to argue that she has a 5050 shot, if not, a slight favorite in the race. The thing that is the drag on her, the sense that people are weary and do not want to go back to the things they remember were bad about the clinton years. It will be a persistent problem. Jeb bush is doing really well with elites and donors. Mark will tell you, at this point, doing well with elites, elected officials, donors. He has some problems with elements of the republican base, but he is doing well. Mark people just underrate his retail skills. Charlie back in a moment, kevin spacey is here. Think francis underwood. Charlie kevin spacey is here. He is an oscarwinning actor and he is the leading face of house of cards. He stars as francis underwood. The New York Times calls him one of the most morally bankrupt president s to ever come out of hollywood. All 13 episodes of the third season were released on netflix last month. Here is a look. You want to know what takes real courage . Holding it all together when the stakes are this high. Charlie i am pleased to have kevin spacey back at this table. Kevin thank you for having me. I am on stage as we speak doing my last production as an actor. I am still artistic director. I am giving that up august is when matthew is taking over my role. Charlie Frank Underwood. He is in power. This is about governance. Kevin some people have said now that he is president , he has accomplished what he set out to do. First of all, it is true that getting to the presidency, even though he may have done it in elusive ways by not running for office, for example. That is one particular challenge. I think that is one thing. Governing, what you want to accomplish as president , it is only just getting started. One of the things we have had an interesting time exploring this third season is if you take two characters like francis and claire, who have successfully managed to do very well in the shadows and the dark alleys. What happens to them when they are in the hot white spotlight of the presidency . There are no more shadows. It will be interesting to see what happens and what they try to achieve. Charlie tell me how you see him. Kevin i think he believes that his job in politics is to get things done. And if you set aside the murdering, just for a second. Look, one of the things i loved about the lincoln film, they were willing to show him as a politician. He was willing to do what he had to do to end slavery in this country. He felt that was more important. Charlie even if it meant locking up politicians. If you ask others, they say, Frank Underwood is twothirds Lyndon Johnson. He was a guy who got things done. Kevin it is an interesting thing we are examining. Johnson, for his entire congressional career, was on the opposite side of the civil rights movement. When he became president , i think, the cousin of the way he became president , feeling it was his obligation to try to continue president kennedys mandate. He saw the presidency as a place where you can get Something Like that done. Charlie and civil rights, he did more than kennedy. He said, Lyndon Johnson did, if you cannot do this, what is the presidency for . Kevin the march in selma had a lot to do with pushing that agenda further. Charlie mafia chieftains, they know who they are and what they are about. Making money, keeping the family together. Do this for me. I beg you. What would bill clinton say about it . Kevin i love that house of cards. No, it is so good. Charlie and johnny carson. Kevin i am too busy writing a monologue. I cant binge. Charlie you are so good at that. This season, it opens, urinating on his fathers grave. When you become president , you have to be a little human. Kevin for the press, they think he is there honoring his father. It is an interesting there are certain things. You have covered politics for a long time. We watch when politicians who are not particularly good at putting across their own humanity, they have to do things. They have to go to rallies and bakeoffs and wear silly hats. Charlie what you need to do is be sincere. Once you get that down, you can do anything. There is some criticism, saying, this governance is not as interesting, as compelling, as exciting as all the things that frank did to get here. How he used people, manipulated people. Machiavelli was an amateur compared to Frank Underwood. Kevin you can either continue to repeat yourself i have heard criticism, there is not enough talking into the camera this season. We are interested in exploring a lot of different things. When you take this season as a whole, i think we have gone to a lot of new places. I was thrilled to do it and i am delighted it is out there. We have to expect the more the show goes on, the more attention it gets, the more criticism it will get. Charlie the first two seasons were much more about Frank Underwood. This season, more of a focus on the relationship between the two of them. Kevin i would say that is fair. From the beginning, it was a story about this particular relationship. The first two seasons set up this season. If the first two seasons would have been as focused on the two of them, you would not have gotten as much of the world of politics. Charlie what is the attraction between the two of them . Kevin it is a deep monumental there are a lot of things going on. People seem to be very intrigued by them and often say things to me, they are so unconventional. How many conventional marriages do you know . How many marriages do you know that arent exactly that . A partnership, a bond. I do not think they are that unusual as a couple. There may be people who say, they are obsessed with power. I would say it is maybe one of the reasons why people like looking at them so much. They do recognize things in both of them. Charlie this is a clip you selected. Kevin if this is going to be johnny carson, i will be really surprised. Do you really want to discuss courage . Anyone can commit suicide or spout their mouth in front of a camera. You want to know what takes real courage . Keeping your mouth shut no matter what you might be feeling, holding it all together when the stakes are this high. We are murderers, frank. No, we are not. We are survivors. If we cannot show some respect for one brave man and still accomplish what we set out to do, i am disappointed in us. I should have never made you ambassador. I should have never made you president. Charlie is the central theme, what price power . Kevin as it has been through greek drama and shakespeare. People have always been drawn toward these examinations. Charlie what people will do for power. They will commit crimes, they will lie, cheat, steal. Kevin we have had so many interesting examples of characters that are machiavellian and antiheroes characters that are quite complex. These are the very characters audiences just adore. Walter white or dexter, tony soprano. The road has been paved very well for us. Charlie i like the idea that frank is one part dexter and one part walter white. What is the relationship between the two of them . We see her now wanting to be ambassador to the united nations. Kevin as was eleanor roosevelt. She became an ambassador after his presidency, not during. I think women have been doing incredibly well in politics. We certainly do not have enough women senators. There is no doubt that our country is moving, advancing growing. Women are finding their voice. Men are sometimes beginning to listen to them. Frank definitely listens to claire. He is no idiot. Charlie because it helps them get what he wants most in life power. Is power more important to him than sex . Kevin well, not on a saturday night. Charlie so his bisexuality comes into this, right . How does that play a role here . Kevin its one of the areas that in the show we have not been afraid to explore, to demonstrate. Charlie was there much discussion of that . Kevin not really. Charlie, come on. [laughter] charlie no, but tell me more about this. Kevin it adds to the soup. Even if frank did not declare himself something one way or another, i had a journalist recently say, what is it like playing a closet gay man . I dont think he is. He might call himself bisexual. Apparently when he was young and we explored this during the first season, he had a deep affection, perhaps even love for a fellow cadet. Charlie does it say anything about powersharing . We will share power and men. [laughter] kevin its just an area we were never afraid to tackle and it has been very interesting seeing the reaction to it. Some people literally would write on twitter, i was disgusted, and i will never watch the show again. Ok, so the murder you were not bothered by, but if he makes out with another guy, that is where you cross the line. Come on, grow up. Charlie so what do you expect to see in terms of development of these characters . Kevin the remarkable pressures they come under and the different kinds of storylines. Suddenly its no longer about a congressman dealing with issues and his particular state or even world issues. Its now a big stage in which every decision you make is going to have repercussions and vibrations and difficulties. Some people will agree with that in some people wont. The world has gotten much bigger. Charlie what is interesting about this is that you have a russian president who is involved here his name is petrov. The same first letter as putin. Why would you do that . Does he share the qualities that they see in Vladimir Putin . Kevin it is interesting the world we exist in. Journalists to appear in house of cards, so it is sort of set in reality. Then of course we have the real world, which is very different. But obviously theres lots of people who like to comment on, are you trying to say this about the world . Theres a kind of parallel universe happening. What has been most interesting thing about it, and i kid you not, in both season one and season two and now season three, we will have discussions about what we want to tackle. The areas we want to go down the roads we want to travel. And then bow in his team will write them, and then we will shoot them. About three months later Something Like what we just did will happen in the world. And we will go, people will think we ripped this from the headlines. By the time and airs, people think we ripped it off, but actually we are not. What is interesting, and this is maybe because bow and his team happen to have their polls and finger on a particular they are