Good afternoon, im chris hayes in new york. Donald Trumps Press Conference today was meant to clear up the mounting questions about his donations to veterans and veterans groups. Youll remember in january during his fight with fox news, he canceled on a debate that network was hosting just days before the iowa caucus and instead held a much publicized fundraiser where he said he raked in 6 million for veterans groups. Now four months later hes frustrated with the media for checking up on those claims. I raised close to 6 million. It will probably be over that amount when its all said and done. But as of this moment, its 5. 6 million. I sent people checks of a lot of money and im going to give you the names right now, which is what you want. And instead of being, like thank you very much, mr. Trump, or, trump did a good job. Everyones saying, who got it, who got it, who got it and you make me look very bad. When i raise money for the veterans and its a massive amount of money, find out how much Hillary Clintons given to the veterans, nothing. Speaking of Hillary Clinton, she leads trump by just two points in our weekly poll. Shell join me in this hour live. Well talk about that and some other stuff. As well as donald Trumps Press Conference and the latest news in the ongoing email scandal. Lets start with the donald trump campaign. Katy tur has been covering it longer than just about anyone in the business and joins me now. Katy, that was really quite a it was quite an airing of grievances at the press conference today. Yeah, i dont think weve had a press conference thats been that contentious in quite some time with the donald trump campaign. He was angry from the getgo. Felt like it seemed like he felt like he was being forced to reveal who he was giving this money to, who he actually raised all this money for, saying that he wanted to keep it secret because he believes that donations are none of anybodys business. The reality is, though, as you mentioned earlier on, this was a fundraiser back in iowa that was heavily publicized and heavily touted by the campaign, and the reason why he didnt show up to the fox news debate that was moderated by megyn kelly back then. Theyve talked about it a lot on the campaign trail. Donald trump has raised 6 million for veterans, they get large cheers for this and the campaign pushed back and was quite angry with reporters when they tried to follow up on that, tried to get an accounting of where exactly that money goes to. Its a very simple question to the campaign, one that was positive. You said youve raised this money for the veterans foundations, who exactly is it going for . Seems like one of the easier questions for the campaign to answer, but it was not one that they enjoyed. Nbc news has learned that 27 of the 41 charities that he listed today have, at least those have gotten the money. At least 11 of those 27 have gotten money in just the past week alone. And donald trump himself confirmed that he gave just over a Million Dollars to the marine corps Law Enforcement foundation. That was done recently as well, after a number of reporters pressed him to reveal exactly where he was going to give that money that he pledged. He didnt like it one bit. Take a listen to how he answered reporters earlier today. I have to tell you, the press is so dishonest and so unfair. Ive given a lot of money and raised a lot of money for the vets, and i think when the press portrays it differently, the press is being very dishonest. So i dont like that. I dont like dishonesty. Is this what its going to be like covering you if youre president . Yeah, it is. Let me tell you something, yeah, okay, it is going to be like this, david. Heres the reality. Its about transparency. Donald trump has a business background, he doesnt have a record in politics, he doesnt have necessarily a record of following up his words and promises with actions and thats what is needed if hes going to be going to the white house. When weve asked him to release his tax returns to find out exactly where hes giving his money and how much money he happens to be paying to the government in taxes, hes refused to do so. So there isnt much transparency when it comes to the donald trump campaign. And it has seen that behind the scenes, he has a lot of yes men, and what he wants from the reporters on the campaign trail are yes men as well, people who accept what he has to say and go after his opponents instead of going after him, for the same sort of accountability that anybody whos running for major office should expect. Chris . All right, nbcs katy tur, thank you for that. Let me introduce todays panel. Susan del percio, Kathryn Rempel and joining us for the first time, glen thrush, from politico, who has a fantastic podcast that i recommend you check out. Great to have you. Two quick factual stipulations that are important. He said that he didnt want these to be public. He literally went around iowa and New Hampshire with Publishers Clearing House style novelty checks schumer style. Yes, exactly. So just keep that in mind, a, and b, just to be clear about the timeline here, back when he did the event, he said at the podium, he listed all the people who gave money. He said donald trump, another builder from new york, a Million Dollars. Which was, i gave a Million Dollars to the veterans organizations. It was wasnt until reporters started snooping around and said, we just want to know where you gave it. Tell us where you gave it, we just want to confirm, that he then, like a week ago called and gave the money. Its pretty clear, or let me just say, one could not unchairitably come to the conclusion he was not going to do that in the absence of reporters calling. His own spokesperson claimed the money had been given. Thats whats so crazy about this. On the record, in a televised interview. Multiple times, i believe. They claimed the money had been given, disbursed already. And he said youre not going to find out who it is, he said its not going to be public. Now its time for donald trump to wake up and find out what its like to run for president or elected office. The press holds you accountable for things. Other people will hold you accountable. You dont get to do everything you want on your timetable. People will ask you questions and they will stay on you until you answer them. He also reminds me of my uncle who sent me my bar mitzvah check last week. 15 months late, i sent a wedding gift. And i finally called about it after all these years. He gets nondisclosure agreements from practically everybody he touches. People hes been married to, people who have worked for him. Ive always wondered why somebody in the Democratic Party doesnt establish a big money super pac to fight legal battles for people who want to break through nondisclosure agreements have to say. But theyre all bound up in contracts. Right. And i think this is an underreported aspect of the campaign. Forget about the tax returns, which are a huge deal. We dont know what percentage of his income is being spent on charitable contributions. Thats really the litmus. I want to be fair here, because there are things that are terrible about the campaign press. Okay . I could spend an hour telling you press critiques, sometimes they come from bill clinton, sometimes they come from trump. There are certain things we chase that in the grand scheme of things arent that important. Heres the biggest problem, today he had a great story. Its never too late to do the right thing. He was giving away millions of dollars, and he stepped on his own story by attacking the press. By saying, you didnt say thank you. Right . To your point . Its intriguing to me, is this what its going to be like if youre president of the United States and he was like, yeah, this is what im going to be like. He hasnt changed. I thought maybe he would mellow with the no pivot. Thought he would mellow as the establishment came on board, but as to the nondisclosure agreement, were going to see the same donald trump. It wasnt just the i mean, he went after the press a lot and in the kinds of terms that make you wonder about what it would be like as president when he has to deal with the press. But also, he went after the judge in the civil suit at Trump University for the third time in three days. He went after the governor of new mexico, who he took this swipe at while he was a rising star in the Republican Party, latino woman with high favorables. Because she doesnt support him. He went after bill crystal. The whole thing was just an opportunity this was about veterans. The whole thing of him pursuing i think he cant help himself. Its like a reflex for him. He calls it punching back. And its a reflexive punch. If he feels attacked, he gets defensive and he cannot turn down an opportunity to insult someone who he believes is attacking him. And wasnt it he was talking about john mccain where he said, i dont like people who get captured. This is a man who [ all speak at once ] going back to the other party, i think it really does matter when you look at what hes doing as far as trying to diffuse other potential situations. Attacking the press, trying to discredit the press, trying to discredit this judge, because he knows stories are going to come out. And thats his m. O. I dont think its going to work, but thats what he tries to do. What ive heard from katy and from the trump press, for the First Six Months or so, the phenomenon of trump overwhelmed the journalists. Were starting to see a level of defiance and scrutiny in the trump traveling press and among others that we havent seen up to this point in time. So he keeps taking the rubber chicken and going after the reporters, abobut the reporterse less prone to cut him some slack. What i would like to see is realtime factchecking of trump. I think this is the first candidate in our lifetime that we need a kyron at the bottom of the screen with life factchecking we pioneered this form. Had something called trumpcheck live. During the time where he was doing speeches in our hour every night. We did this and prepped ahead of time. We have like the popup video. And other networks have done similar stuff like that. A, the realtime part of it can be hard, but i agree, that sort of knocking this stuff down becomes its own kind of undertaking. What to me is so key about this story, theres just one singular fact at the heart of this. He said he gave a Million Dollars to veterans groups. And he did not. And thats it. You can draw, you dear viewer, dear citizen, draw whatever conclusion you want about it. Thats just the way it shakes out. Donald trump doesnt get judged like any other politician. He gets judged by the public, thats why his be ins are stistil why his numbers are that is not a law of political physics. One of the things that needs to happen, this is the thing that drives me crazy, when i hear reporters talking about everyone getting desensitized that this guy is a factfree candidate. Thats baloney. He gets tagged with this, he has a core of people, we know where the electorate is. 40 of the voters are going to vote for him anyway. But if you keep hammering him away about the truth that hes saying and the falsehoods that he routinely peddels he barrels through. He lies again and again and he gets factchecked on them and he just repeats them. [ all speak at once ] so the question is, is the damage already done . Because hes the nominee . So theres not much you can put back into the bottle, because hes the republican nominee. Hes going to compete in the general election. Exactly right. In april, in the nbc news wall street journal poll in april 12 of voters believed donald trump had the right demeanor to be president. Take one part of this, this is someone who has a civil case before a federal judge. Okay . Now he doesnt like this case, and i understand, people dont like judges they get. Hes going after the judge day after day after day. Said the guy is mexican. He was born in indiana. Just think for a second, thats one thing when youre a private citizen. Its another when youre the nominee for president. Its another thing when you think about the president of the United States, if there were judicial decisions he didnt like from a specific judge, going around and essentially rhetorically slamming the judge, these are outside the norms of sort of some basic [ all speak at once ] he will continue to talk through all of this until the first debate when people start paying attention. Regular voters. We love to talk about it, weve been doing it for a year. But the fact is, people will focus on the details. The debates will happen. Those factchecks will matter much more then. But he is going to continue to have his way and barrel through because everyone else is buying into it. In terms of the data, hes not teflon. In the sense that hes the least liked candidate in modern history. Hes 8 to 10 points more disliked than Hillary Clinton, who is coming in right now number two, who has had 30 years of coverage of her. Its not like this just all bounces off into the ether. Going back to your point about calling out judges, theres a historical precedent for a candidate calling out judges. His name was george wallace. Thats right. Not just warren, frank johnson, who did the desegregati desegregation said he wanted to give him a barbed wire enema. And pil has behaved in a way that is in the context of the president of the United States, if it was in another country, we would call it essentially strong man. But he got support and trump is playing off the same playbook. But his maricopa countys electorate is no americas electorate. Agreed. But the man is the nominee of the Republican Party using similar language, similar style, similar bullying techniques. I think theres a part of the electorate that likes that. Absolutely. But going back to susans point, once you get to the debates, we reset a little bit and i think American Voters will i just think as a sort of broad abstract point, not particular to this candidate, the combination of someone who is really, really has a lot of petty grievances all the time and is inclined to pursue grudges with the most powerful office in the entire world, thats an intense combination. I think in his case a lot of voters see that as a selling point. He is the grievance candidate. He has a grievance oriented populace. That goes to the wallace line. Im speaking for myself, i find that as something to give me pause. Hillary clinton also had a list of people that she wanted to really hurt after the 2008 campaign and that resurfaced. By the way, that story is not really true. Thank you. That was a list the main person on that list was adrian el y elrod, probably the most liked staffer on the clinton campaign. But they have a history are being known for wanting to settle the score. But shes not a bully the way trump is. Of course not. If shes going after a federal judge theres a difference in terms of rewarding friends and punishing enemies, which every politician in the world does to a certain extent and grade on a scale. Then theres how you marshall Public Opinion to do the same. Still to come, speaking of Hillary Clinton, my oneonone interview with Hillary Clinton. But first is california a mustwin . Shes spending more time this week there ahead of next weeks primary. More on that after this. But with added touches you cant get everywhere else, like claim free rewards. Or safe driving bonus checks. Even a claim satisfaction guaranteeeeeeeeeee in means Protection Plus unique extras only from an expert allstate agent. Its good to be in, good hands. Jen stops working, but her aleve doesnt. Hey mom because aleve can last 4 hours longer than tylenol 8 hour. What will you do with your aleve hours . I am a First Responder tor and iemergencies 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. My children and my family are on my mind when im working all the time. My neighbors are here, my friends and family live here, so its important for me to respond as quickly as possible and get the power back on. Its an amazing feeling turning those lights back on. Be informed about outages in your area. Sign up for outage alerts at pge. Com outagealerts. Together, were building a better california. Bernie sanders about to take the stage for a rally in santa cruz, california, one of three events hes holding in california today. Both Democratic Candidates are pushing to win that state ahead of the primary on june 7th. Hillary clinton picked up a key endorsement when california governor jerry brown decided to back clinton. Ill talk to Hillary Clinton in just a few minutes. Steve patterson is with the Sanders Campaign and Kristen Welker is covering from brooklyn. Feels like sanders is getting quite a good reception by and large across the state of california thus far. Reporter you know, we heard that endorsement from jerry brown this morning for Hillary Clinton. And sanders responded the way we expected to, kind of lumping him in with the establishment. Putting him in the same category as Hillary Clinton, as the dnc, as the Democratic Party. His supporters, i gotta tell you, they eat this stuff up. They love when he is defiant. And he has been really since hes been here in the state of california. Another part of that is the strategy here, which seems to be really just to blanket the state with Bernie Sanders rallies. He plans to go to 200,000 with the amount of people that he wants to get eyes on at a sanders rally. So far theyre over the 100,000 threshold. They want to push that into the primary here in california. Weve been talking to some of those people. A lot of them boisterous, loud, and very young. A lot of them so young that this is the first time voting. So they dont really have a party affiliation, anything to latch onto. Theyre not here to see the party beat donald trump. Theyre h