Emerges from her interview today with the fbi. Todays meeting indicates that investigators are actually close to wrapping up the Clinton Probe and announcing the results of it. For clinton, timing is crucial. Were 23 days away now from the start of the Democratic Convention in philadelphia, where she is expected to accept her partys nomination for president. The next few weeks so important as clinton waits for the fbi to announce its findings. Her campaign says, secretary clinton gave a voluntary interview about her arrangements while secretary. She is pleased to have an opportunity to as the department of justice to bring this matter to a conclusion. Out of respect for the process she will not comment further. Chris, give us this new reaction that youre hearing. Thats a new reaction after this fbi interview. I want to start off with Hillary Clinton herself. She was just on msnbc. She called in. Here is what she told chuck todd, i have been eager to do it, talking about the interview, and i was pleased to assist the department to bring the matter to a conclusion. Shes kind of staying on message there. Of course donald trump not really staying on message, continuing to hit Hillary Clinton on twitter in the way that only donald trump does. If we can show our viewers that tweet. He said, it is impossible for the fbi not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. What she did was wrong. What bill did was stupid. Of course donald trump talking about bill clintons meeting earlier this week with Loretta Lynch. Their planes were together on a tarmac in phoenix, arizona. Bill clinton took the occasion to pop over and make a social call on Loretta Lynch, republicans saying that because lynch is overseeing the investigation into the private server of Hillary Clinton and her emails, thats a conflict of interest, that she couldnt be impartial, and Loretta Lynch saying in fact she wouldnt do that again and that shell accept whatever her career prosecutors in the fbi recommend on whether or not to bring charges. And bill clintons camp also weighed in today on that meeting with Loretta Lynch, an aide telling cnn, the president s conversation with the attorney general was unplanned, it was entirely social in nature. But recognizing how others could take another view of it, he agrees with the attorney general that he would not do it again. You have on the one side the democrats trying to minimize this and move on, republicans continue to pounce on this. Brianna, you and i both know that no matter what happens with the fbi investigation here, as you point out, sources say that unless theres a big game changer in the work, doj will probably announce that there will be no charges. But republicans are going to continue to hammer this, theyre going to continue to point out that Loretta Lynch, you know, is close with the clintons. Of course bill clinton made her a u. S. Attorney in new york. And also shes appointed by president barack obama. President obama is going to out there hard for Hillary Clinton. No matter what happens with this fbi investigation, republicans will continue to hit at it. Democrats want to be able to put it away before the convention, to come together without threats of an indictment hanging over their presumptive nominee when she takes that nomination in three weeks, brianna. Thanks so much. Joining me, paul callan, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. And on the phone, tom fuentes, a cnn analyst and former fbi assistant director. Tom, take us inside what it is like to be in an interview like this and what the length of it tells you. I was surprised that it was this short. Maybe it was preliminary and there will be additional interviews later. Its an intense situation, you dont know what questions are going to be asked. The fbi has a mountain of documents theyve gone through, hundreds of witness statements from other employees, colleagues, as well as the individuals that set up the server, the private companies. So theres a lot of information that the fbi brings to the table, brings to the meeting. And you as the subject of the interview do not really know whats going to be asked. What you do know is that whatever is asked, politically shes not in a position to say i dont want to be interviewed and exercise her rights not to be interviewed, because its just politically almost suicidal. But from a legal standpoint, once she talks it has to be the truth. If they can find documentation or evidence that she doesnt tell the truth, she can be prosecuted for that. So its a very intense situation. And theres a lot of risk in it, obviously, for her. Paul if i could add one more thing, brianna, so many people have commented that theres no expectation of charges here because there hasnt been much said about this. You know, the fbi has maintained an incredible silence, as you would hope they would, in not allowing information to leak out. That doesnt mean they havent obtained evidence one way or another. That just means theyre doing what theyre supposed to be in keeping their mouths shut during the course of the investigation. Maybe she wont be charged, but thats why everybody is speculating that shes not going to be charged. Paul, what do you think about that . As tom was saying moments ago and i said earlier in the day, i thought the three and a half hour length of it was very, very short. Most people were saying, wow, thats a long time to be grilled by the fbi, but its actually very short, because remember, they have thousands of documents, and they have all these subjects to question her about. Why were you keeping an email server in your personal residence . How did you handle security for it . Then they have statements by all of her aides to see if she was contradicting them in any way. And then the individual emails. What did you know about this email, when did you know about it, did you know it was classified. An awful lot of information for them to cover if theyre thinking about proceeding with an indictment. They finished it, however, in three and a half hours, which means it was relatively perfunctory. As tom says, they can bring her back for other questioning. But were not hearing those things from the hillary camp, that she expects to go back and finish cooperating with the fbi. So in the end, brianna, it looks to me like its going to be a no charge situation and recommendation. But of course you never know until we get a definitive statement from the fbi. Thats right. Paul callan, tom fuentes, thanks to both of you. Lets talk to someone who knows a thing or two about white house scandal. Back with me on the phone is carl bernstein, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of watergate. Hes also the author of a woman in charge the life of Hillary Rodham clinton. Carl, i want to ask you about something. Even if we dont see any charges, there have been some semantic things that weve seen coming from the Hillary Clinton camp. Today in the statement where they say this was a voluntary thing, maybe it was, but she really didnt have a choice. And even throughout this whole investigation, her campaign had been referring to it as a security inquiry. And when the fib director was asked about that, he said thats not a term hes familiar with. They were clearly trying to minimize it with language. What do you make of this . Is this something that even matters, that people pick up on, that works for the clinton campaign, or is this something that hurts her . Oh, i think were getting too far down in the weeds. This is a criminal investigation, period. And the real question, as you know, ive never thought it very likely that she would be indicted. That doesnt mean, however, that something hasnt occurred here which is a terrible setback for her in the campaign. And the most awful thing that could happen as a result of this is that because of her recklessness with setting up this server and then lying about it, the fact that shes lied about it in terms of the public and on the air and in debates in terms of the purpose of why she set it up, the fact that she hasnt been truthful about that does not mean she should be charged with a crime. You have to show real intent of breaking the law to have an indictment that is effective here. But its going to go on. And if donald trump were to be elected president of the united states, a neofascist running a neofascist campaign, a break with our history, if he were to be elected president because of Hillary Clintons conduct with this server and how she has handled this situation, it would be a great tragedy, including bill clintons incredible self destructive visit to the attorney general of the united states. And now all of this is playing into the narrative of donald trump and his campaign, with the exception of, of course, if she is not indicted, that is helpful to her. You say that this is incredibly destructive, what bill clinton did. He has hurt her in the past as well. Eight years ago, he certainly did some things in the primary battle that were to her detriment. What do you make of this . What do you make of this odd decision to go on Loretta Lynchs plane on monday . And i do have to warn you, carl, you have about one minute left then ill have to head out to continue the next show. Sure. Im not a psychiatrist. I dont know what motivated him. Hes bill clinton. The big dog and all of that. It might have been innocent as can be. It might have been unconsciously trying to bring some kind of pressure. I just dont know. But the real thing is, what we are seeing here are reminders of why the clintons are so toxic to so many voters who they need and who are democrats and support them, and that is this idea of a kind of perpetual circus that attends their governance, their entitlement, sense of entitlement. And if Hillary Clinton is lucky enough to get by this without an indictment, which i expect she will, if she can find a way to talk to the American People about what this episode has been about, and how important it is to move on and in a way that acknowledges what she has done here thats been wrong, and go to the importance of making sure donald trump is not the president of the united states, and thats the great issue here, she will have served herself, at least saved herself in some way here. Carl bernstein, really appreciate you talking with us. Thank you so much. Some breaking news here on cnn, a different story. Renowned holocaust survivor and nobel peace laureate elie wiesel has died. His family was ripped out of romania, sent to auschwitz in poland. His experience is chronicled in his memoir night that so many people have read. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. In a statement israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said the jewish people deeply mourn the death of elie wiesel. He gave suppression through his fascinating books about the victory of the human spirit over cruelty and evil. Elie wiesel was 87. Still to come, with the conventions around the corner, the vp picks are down to the wire. The latest rumors have donald trump thinking about Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie. Would either ticket make political sense . Michael smerconish talks to pat buchanan. And the political big shots are saying theyre not going to the republican convention. Is anyone going to stick up for the nominee . And some among us are embarrassed to tell a pollster who we intend to vote for. Smerconish is next. What if we made a paint that was so special that was such a jewel among paints that you had to seek it out. Nope, even easier than that. More like taking a left on that street where you usually take a right that wasnt so hard. And if finding that paint made you and your walls beam with pride, is it still paint . Benjamin moore. Paint like no other. Find one of our 5,000 authorized retailers near you. Just two weeks from today im going to in cleveland for the gop convention. Heres who wont be. The past two gop president s, both named bush. And the past two gop nominees, john mccain, mitt romney. Plus the home state republican Governor John Kasich remains uncommitted. Who will be showing up . Reportedly, some sports figures and other celebrities. People will tune in, of course. But what does it mean for the party and the general election . Former president ial contender pat buchanan joins me now. Patrick, i want to know, have you been invited to speak at the rnc . No, i have not. And im not sure im going out there, frankly, michael. But what you described is the reason all those elites and the leadership of the party. And the old leadership of the party is not showing up is because donald trump, the nominee, is conducting an insurrection against those individuals and the policies they produced in trade and foreign policy. Your argument is its an actually a good thing that the past two republican president s and past two republican standard bearers wont be there . Im not saying its good or bad, im saying i understand it. Donald trump is running an insurrection against the political, corporate, and media elites in washington, d. C. And hes running an insurrection against the republican elites. And hes succeeded. It is populist, patriotic,e patriotic,ethnonational. That is not the philosophy of paul ryan and mitt romney. After one of your appearances with me here on cnn, trump himself tweeted, congratulations. So one more question on this. If he asks, pat buchanan, will you speak in cleveland . I dont expect any requests to come to cleveland and speak. But . But i think donald trump should speak what he believes. And he knows what i believe. I ask that question because, you know, your culture wars speech from 92 remains famous, or infamous to some. I went and reread the transcript this week. Let me remind you of one paragraph from that speech that maybe stands the test of time. The agenda that clinton and clinton would impose on america, abortion on demand, a litmus test for the supreme court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat units, thats change, all right. Thats not the kind of change america needs. Its not the kind of change america wants. Does that paragraph stand the test of time . It does indeed. I said theres a cultural war going on in this country. At root its a religious war about what we most deeply believe. Theres no question about it, michael, that the left and the radicals have made extraordinary gains toward a victory in that war with a majority of americas young and a significant slice of the american population. That culture war, and the phrase, i was denounced for the phrase but its been used in a00 book titles, Everybody Knows we have a culture war going on in this country. The speculation is that newt and Chris Christie are on the short list. Which of the two, or someone else, should he select . I think hes looking in the right direction for this reason. As i said, i think hes conducting an insurrection. I think when youre doing Something Like that you dont go for a balanced ticket or pick up a moderate in order to make us look good on capitol hill. I think you go all in. So i think that if trump picked a Chris Christie or a Newt Gingrich, hes saying to Hillary Rodham clinton and to Elizabeth Warren, lets get it on, you are over here, we are over there, lets get it on and let the American People decide which way they want to go. You would have political clarity. It doesnt sound like people who have eyes on both sides of the political spectrum. Both parties have about 40 to 42 . Theyre going to get that, each party. Youre doing a battle for the 16 or 18 . I think one of the major things thats in the hearts and minds. They want people who represent real change. Ive got doubts about this foal low trump, but hell do that. I want to show you the most provocative headline of the week in the Washington Post. It reads, i hate donald trump but he might get my vote. It got a huge reaction, pat. I had a lot of callers on my sirius xm radio show who said, that guy speaks for me. Why would rational, affluent, informed citizens consider voting for the donald, short of not voting at all . Hes the only one who appears to want to preserve the american way of life as we know it. Pat, those are fighting words to some because they hear those words and think, thats a preservation of white america, that this guy is talking about. There is nothing wrong with the country i grew up in, michael. It had some things wrong on civil rights and things like that. But it was a good country. And what these fellas see, and the same thing im seeing, were losing the best about the country we grew up in. The government here in washington, a, is incompetent, b, the system is rigged, c, were being pulled away from the center. I can understand entirely what that fellow is saying, because theres a lot of people i run into, i grew up with, who feel exactly the same way, i dont know about this foellow trump, but im going to vote for him. I had this conversation with my father, i said, dad, youre not recognizing all the advancement and good things that are taking place around us, were so fortunate to be in this country in 2016, its still the greatest country on the face of the earth. Look, the growth rate, we had 1 in the First Quarter of this year. Youve got the nation divided as its never been divided. You have words like racist, sexist, homophone, every day, every way, on every tv set, people are calling themselves names. In that sense we are not people and one nation. The way we were in 1960 under eisenhower, when we were making progress on some of these things that concern you. I see it, and you see the country abroad, weve gotten into all these wars all over the middle east. You see the trade deficit. Look, you know the place in pennsylvania. Where your family is from. Thats where my uncles and mom, i went up there after world war ii as a kid, that place was booming, it was a steel town. My wife she w