And included in the ownership list is a woman who the journal described as a close friend of bill clinton. And then following that is a negative story about donald j. Trump, the billionaire. Of paper claims it has audio donald trump pretending to be his own spokesman, john, and this morning, on the today show on nbc, donald trump denied that the voice was actually his. Have obtained a recording with the voice that they say is, in fact, you, someone pretending to be a pr person. This is 25 years ago. Let me play a portion of the tape for you. What is your name . John john miller. About his dating exploits, his reports, so my question is for you this morning, are you aware of the tape and if so, is this you . I dont recognize this at all, and there are many, many people who are trying to imitate me, and this is a scam, one of many scams, this doesnt sell like me. When was this . 25 years ago . Yes, in the early 90s. Youre quite ao cover something it happened in the early 90s, 25 years ago youre going to cover something that happened in the early 90s, 25 years ago . Donald trumpe is talking about it. People have been talking about this and right next to my golf club, it is just a few minutes away and people have been talking about that for years. I have no idea what is going on. It is a bombshell. There is no doubt about it. Clinton has not publicly responded to the bombshell but the Clinton Foundation responded that the peace misleads readers about how the foundation works. And here is bill clinton talking about it last night on a rope line in kentucky. Clinton i havent had a chance to read it carefully, but that is not what my Foundation Stands for. Sodonny so donny, neither of these stories have exploded like i thought they would, but would you say that either or both represent a threat to the targets . Ironically, they are both on brand and with trump, it is about this voice, and with Hillary Clinton, it is about emails. Potential he the trump thing has more fire. This election is going to be about fear, are we more afraid of the unknown about trump or the known about hillary . This shows with donald trump, and how wacky he is. Lets just visualize that you are donald trump, ok, and you are posing as a somebody else calling to give good press not about donald, but about women, that is nuts. mean that is craycray mark he admits that he has done this in the past, played his own pr guy. Donny if anything, what he should have done, when iran an agency, we would hire 50 actors to go in as a british receptionist. He could go, hey, look, i was kind of having some fun with it. Mark it was the 90s donny i dont need to pay some pr guy, but the fact that he would hide behind it and say he didnt do it, i think that is a damaging blow because they are kind of both on brand. Brand. Mark they are both as you say. I think they both have legs. Comeyou ever do this, on. On the other side, this komen goals with all kinds of things. This is going to come back. Differences that are so big and at this point. The trump stuff is easier to digest, you know, you glaze over this. The clinton stuff is kind of boring but the donald trump stuff, it is kind of fun. The donald trump stuff is still this great unknown. Mark what do you think trump is going to say when he is asked about it directly . Thing for trump whether it is a howard stern am aniew, hey, i entertainer and this was twice five years ago, kids, grow up. And there is a look at other things we have seen this week, and the press has more and static we looked at this and the Democratic Front runner has struggled to face the donald even when she is facing the donald. This will continue and it will. Mark you know, john and i talked to john podesta and we said, are you worried that donald trump could dominate the news . And they said that their job is not to let that happen. Far, on the today show, if he wants to dominate the story, he can. Is veryy the way, it simple. Donald comes on, you lean in, hillary comes on, you lean back. Look at the commercial ratings. America bought the trump pilot, and now they want to see the show. Say what you want, we are going to watch trump all the time, morning, noon, and night. Mark what can she do . She can come and say i want to be in the news every night. I dont want to always be a trump piece. What can she do . Donny she has to be a great counterpunch. The Counter Program has got to be smart, to youve got to wait, basically, basically your best tv efforts are to counter him. Mark but the best efforts are never going to be as good as his. Look, she could be the lead every day and blow himself up and the country basically says, this is the story, this is the guy. Donny she should basically by the way, if i were her, i would be on saturday night live next weekend and try to do some be fun, try to mock you. Look, she is a serious person. N atkind of have all the fu his expense. Obama is kind of like her attack dog. Trump will go on and do interviews even when there is controversy surrounding him. Pr thing, bute when she has got controversy torling, she doesnt want talk to the press. Her people are going to bunker about it with her, and i think it is going to be hard for her because there is going to be a lot of research that comes out about both of them. Trump will still be out front dominating. Him toit is up for either make them work for him or either he will implode, but either way, he has the answers and there is nothing that Hillary Clinton is doing to take the cameras away from donald trump. Mark she could go on a fifth avenue, to paraphrase about what donald trump said about shooting someone, and she could go on fifth avenue and light herself monk inlike a vietnam and she still wouldnt get as much attention. Donny if something happens in the news, she is going to comment and going forward, and she is going to donald trump represents people whether we like it or not, and he is going to be weighing in for the rest of his adult life. Mark saying of those immortal words, trump lives. All right, when we come back, we his mad menny about expertise. That is coming up. Mark when it comes to president ial campaigns, the guiding theory of this program is clear, find the public image and who finds the public image wins. Karl rove was the latest to weigh in on this story. He wrote in to the wall street journal this week that it is about undermining each other. I think we have our bona fide brand mand onset here. Through us brand man on set here. Us through this. Donny you need a straight talking man. Mark it is pretty clear what the clinton people want you to think about trump, the use rases like loose cannon, not friendly to women and and narcissist. Donny if you are trump, you want to alleviate the fears. Coming intoeriff town and you want to protect the little guy and the ends justify the means. You know, every major drama on tv, the protagonist, whether it bad,d men, breaking it is emasculated males, and everything he has to do is show he is a strong, i am in charge, dont be deflated. Is stillhink clinton the favorite in this race but the danger for her is you look at the negative list. For a lot of voters, those negatives have some positives to them. Loose cannon, i want a guy who is a loose cannon in washington. Even. Rtist, donny you have to do one of two things, i am either going to clean things up or take it like that Barry Goldwater ad with the daisies. Are risk averse. If i were running clintons campaign, everything would be about, mommy, you cant put your kids in harms way. Martin sheen is the dead zone. You do not want him saying who cares . Not just the clintons say it, but the obamas and the bidens say, youre going to hear military diplomats military leaders, foreign diplomats, but i will tell you, a lot of people i talked to say that if the price of Johnny Washington will take on the loose cannon, were going to do it. But you are right. Donny it is too high of a price and it could and the world. I am not being a pop elliptic being a apocalyptic here, it could in the world. Lets talk about the clinton brand here and what she is trying to reinforce. Donny oh, i am sorry. That includes her experience as first lady and as a former secretary of state and she would have the distinction of being the first female president here in the united states. Finally, she would be strongwilled and have the strength to fight back if she would get knocked down. The again, those of positives and here is what the trump team is going to try to and, corrupt hillary, then people perceive her as insincere and untrustworthy and that she is out of touch. She is considered an establishment politician and she obamaspresent barack third term and finally, she is in the back po of wall street interestscket back pocket of wall street interests. Are pretty good, i am safe, he is not. I am safe. He is not. Honey, your kids are going to come home. He is not safe. I am safe. Mark so people vote on emotion. Tot else can she talk about have people see the brand . Ofis not just safe and kind boring, but it is also emotional. Positive of that is safety. In reality, i guess she is boring. At worst, she is untrustworthy. So that they may have got with her is that you make the status quo sexier than the fear of the unknown. Unknown has won in six of the seven last elections. Ofobama was a blank piece paper, bill clinton was a blank piece of paper. We have a very long dossier on trump and if you make that dossier a rap sheet, he becomes too scary. Mark what is potentially damaging to her brand . Donny i have mentioned this before, bill clinton. Hillary is being called a neighbor, but the smoking gun that i am worried about is getting massages from 14yearold kids and if anything, bill clinton, if he were somewhere near that or in the same spaces as that, hillary will go down with that. Mark is that part of corrupt and untrustworthy . Donny that is part of the yuck, that is part of the yuck. It is not just about steady by your full entering husband and you turn your head, if anything, you were married to a man who is somewhere near that, that is an ugly dispute not seen anywhere and to be, that is what i would be concerned about. Mark so they both have advertising, they both have surrogates, but in terms of a better skill, who is political athlete at finding their brandon going on the offense . Are they close . Donny i mean, donald trump is one of the best branding human beings, communicators, sales persons of all time. The guy blows me away. And i know donald, i am friends with donald, i could tell you tell yougths, i could his weaknesses, but in my career of following brands that includes a nike and following celebrities like madonna and politicians like obama, i have never seen a more managed brand than this person. Mark one of the main reasons you think he has got a good chance here. And ie come back, donny are going to examine the deep stake options of both candidates. Mark so here we are with Donny Deutsch talking about the candidate brands and they are both going to have three major opportunities to define themselves in the general elections. One will be when they pick their running mates and the others will be moving forward with that. With trump. Rt before we get to actual physical human beings, what kind of picks could . He use to enhance his personal brand could he used to enhance his personal brand . Donny he could use the things that are strong, masculine, protective, all of those things, or an extension, a woman on the ticket, someone who is a moderator, and something who could help to extend his brand. I think there is someone on the top of his list, and that is tom rich. He is a Security Guard and he is a big man in washington and he didnt need another southerner, two, realare goodlooking southern guys. Mark the other thing about tom ridge is he has a bluecollar background. Donny i have seen what they look like on stage together and it also seems that ridge has the kind of gravitas. He has the ability to say, man . D, how you doin, mark i think he could get away has it and i think that he the National Security credentials and i think there is almost no chance of that he could pick someone without National Security credentials and trump has said as much also as much. Also, ridge knows washington and could help him. Also, clinton, who could she picked to help her brand . Donny does she go deep into her bread or does she extended . I think she will do a brand extension. What do we say about hillary . Yeah, she is boring. I say go with castro, get a sexy, young hispanic. Basically, you now have a young, appealing, hispanic male on the ticket and i think that is her first choice by far. Goingk a boring choice, just in terms of brown from ohio, i think you need him. Is the difference between ridge and with all due respect, castro. Ridge is qualified to be president. Castro has got a great future, but idle think you could pass him off today as being a great president. I dont think you want to take too great a risk. We are ready. Arewith all due respect, we ready, but it is risky with him for president of the united states. Donny but you put a more riskaverse candidate there whereas hillary is there. You are not thinking i dont think people are thinking about one gunshot away, god for bid, you have to think of the overall candidate. Made hismp may have pick, or he may make it at the convention, so that gives clinton a very small window and it goes back to something that we talked about earlier in the show. She needs a real wow thick. Pick. Donny this is what i am saying, that is my point. The more logical picks, the better it is. And castro. Ary she needs sex appeal, she needs newness. Pitbull, like a andrew cuomo. She is obviously not picking andrew cuomo, obviously, but some kind of hug nations street fighter kind of pugnacious streetfighter. Mark i think she may find a prominent republican to join her or may be a republican woman. That would be a wow pick. Donny who would that be . Give me a name. Mark i dont know yet. I think maybe if she could find a female business person. Any female would just straight up the race. Donny i dont think that so, but t think donny i dont think elizabeth warren. Mark i dont think she is going to pick elizabeth warren. This is crossover appeal. Donny if she could find someone like that. But if she could pull it off, wow. Mark i mean, there may be a retired senator who could do it. Donny name three. I am working on it. [laughter] mark if Nancy Kassebaum were around, that would be a fine pick. Up, it was aming very big week for the Republican Partys unifying project. We will talk with Michael Steele. Donny why does he get to be superman . I get super glasses, but he gets to be superman. Show me top new artist. Ah, ha ha. Show me top male artist. My whole belieber fan group. Its not a competition, but if it was i won. Xfinity x1 lets you access the greatest library of Billboard Music awards moments, simply by using your voice. The Billboard Music awards, live sunday may 22nd, 8 5 pacific, only on abc. Isk our first guest tonight two guests tonight. Joining us, the former chairman of the rnc, Michael Steele and casey hunt joins us. Chairman steele, what happened this week that increased your view of the probability of donald trump getting elect did . Getting elected . Michael the fact that he was able to walk into washington and command the stage. Across a strong message the country on a number of fronts. Number one, that the establishment is willing to talk and meet with him. Two, he sat in that meeting and did the important thing, which was listen. He did not come in braggadocio wave the flag. I think he is ready to go up against hillary and become president. Mark what would you add to that answer . I am hiding all of the cards. Had theld trump republicans in washington have a chance to learn what it is about donald that appeal to so many people. John cornyn tweeting a photo of donald trump with his thumbs up. Whatever they wanted to show, they were exposed to his personality for the first time and at the end of the day, it is pretty clear to me, it helped. Michael, Everybody Loves a winner. They do those polls. Lets say there is a 10point spread. Do you have that same rosy, carnation like question. Hats a good i think the polling helped him. The narrative going into that wasing was donald trump getting trumped by Hillary Clinton, he was getting beaten in polls before that meeting. When that hit, it sent a thisrent message ,wow, thing could be competitive. Some of us have said, i see this as a 50 50 race right now. Its an opportunity for candidates who are both are flawed, who have popularity problems, as we all know yeah, i think it would be a slower response, but i think it helps. Mark it helped a time. I think that is the biggest lucky has had since becoming the presumptive nominee. It changed the hold psychology. Donny anytime the numbers starts to numbers start to shift trumps direction, people put their heads in the sand. When the polls move with this candidate, it will start to become fait accomplis. Campaiasie, the trump gn, do you think that they had a good week . Or they still looking for divisions in the Republican Party . Kasie they are trying to push this narrative that the divided andarty is will continue to be divided. Clintonlenge for the campaign will be pushing back against whatever it is donald trump tries to sell as the new version of himself to read youre already seeing these rest releases over and over again with his comments on muslim for example. In are seeing releases that some ways feel like, ok, maybe you could have sent this on wednesday, but things have changed a little bit. Reminding people and keeping it fresh is going to be tough. There is a challenge. A used to be she could go to aa and people would follow her ever andhe could go to chipotle people would follow her every step. Its not going to be that way between now and november. Let me ask you about the tax thing. I got a little cuckoo on morning joe. Kasie argue always cuckoo on morning joe . Donny donald is a friend and i like donald. The one job of a citizen is to pay our taxes. If he cannot display his simple job as an american, he does not deserve trump with listen to George Stephanopoulos on good morning america. I wonder if you think he is a little rattled about what is going on. George it does not show your tax rate, whether you pay a low tax rate mr. Trump i fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible. I have said that for two years. This Country Waste