welcome to this edition of the "the best of with all due respect" what does the libertarian ticket for president, trump campaign manager, and vladimir putin all have in common? interviews with all of them appeared on our program this week. and what do hillary clinton and donald trump have in common? unfavorably rating with voters, they appeared back-to-back wednesday night with matt lauer at a commander-in-chief forum. mark: in florida, hillary clinton and donald trump are tied with 47%. clinton up by four points in north carolina. clinton at 47%. trump at 43. donald trump i-43 and finally, donald trump up by one point in ohio with 46% and hillary clinton at 45%.

we will talk about that a little later. first, let's talk about an intrepid story. last night, clinton and trump went back to back at nbc's commander-in-chief forum and it was a daily double letdown. when it was over, trump was roundly hammered on substance, while clinton was hammered on style. we will start with clinton, criticized for seeming perturbed about her handling of classified information. 12 hours after the form ended, held her third media availability in four days on a tarmac in new york before she boarded her plane to set off for a campaign event in charlotte. here is secretary clinton's reaction. >> when he was asked how he would stop the spread of global terrorism, trump's answer was simply "take the oil." the united states does not invade america to plunder and pillage, we don't send our men and women around the world to steal oil and that's not even getting into the absurdity of what it would involve. massive infrastructure, large numbers of troops, many years on the ground. of course, trump hasn't thought through any of that. john: she want to north carolina

and made the same kind of points in the wake of that important candidate forum. is she on offense or defense after last night? mark: i think she did that -- trump advisors have said to me, every time trump raises his support for putin, they think it's a mistake. i think she wants to go on offense on that. i will say, it's a reality of presidential campaign coverage and politics. so much is driven by the polls. these quinnipiac polls are huge because trump's cap to 270 involves these four states. i spoke to two of his advisers about their view of the race and both of them basically said winning these states is the way he gets to 270. the fact he's competitive in these four is a huge. she's on offense i think after the forum and i think she's right. the vladimir putin thing alone is something that doesn't help trump. the frame of the day is going to be this is a tight race and choose doing everything she can to fight him off. john: i don't think is that tied a raise in the sense trump has a path to 270 but in arrow path.

-- a very narrow path. he's got not many other ways to go. he's got not a lot of other options. when you look at the other polling, she -- arizona, texas come all of these other places that she is on offense and he's on defense. last night, she did seem defensive, annoyed when she was questioned by matt lauer about her e-mail practices. one of the big problems with that event, i think she should have wanted it to be an hour so she could talk more about substance because once you talks about substance, i think she has the upper hand. mark: critics said trump had a lack of substance, lack of specifics, he was hit for saying america's generals have been reduce to rubble. yet again, he was criticized correctly for mischaracterizing his own past statements regarding whether he was for or against the iraq invasion. here's what trump said today in cleveland on his use of that

conflict. >> iraq is one of the biggest differences in this race. i opposed going in and i did oppose it despite the media saying no, yes, no. i opposed going in and i opposed the reckless way hillary clinton took us out along with president obama, letting isis fill that big, terrible void. but i was opposed to the war from the beginning long after my interview with howard stern. mark: from the beginning long after. trump was criticized by many for his praise again last night of vladimir putin. those remarks were criticized by the republican head of the homeland security committee and by the speaker of the house paul ryan. today, mike pence came to his defense.

>> i think it is an arguable that vladimir putin has been a stronger leader and his country than barack obama has been in this country. mark: trump was in cleveland largely making a speech about education. his campaign was dealing with news of a staff shakeup yesterday in florida and a report in the washington post that there were master partners -- massive departures from his policy shop in d.c. recently. again, lots going on in trouble -- trump world. if trump's performance in the first debate tracks with how he was last night but some areas of stylistic flourish, will that be good enough for him to win the first debate? john: the debate and the form will be different things. the fact he will be in a direct confrontation with hillary clinton and there will be more time will make it harder for him to do what he did last night, which was to bluster his way through and not go long into

anything. this thing on the iraq war, i just had to say, he is lying. he's just lying. there are three separate instances before the war when he did not at all oppose it. the first time he opposed it, after it had been going on for almost a year. he keeps saying this, it's not true and people are finally starting to hold them accountable. i think if you lie in a presidential debate like that, it is a high risk. mark: if she shows up at the first debate with the demeanor she had last night and tries to hold them accountable with that demeanor, i think he could get through the first debate winning with that level of performance on all aspects. in the states he has to win, i think there are a lot of voters, maybe not a majority but maybe a plurality who don't mind the totality of what you get with trump. john: just to come back, the

fact is -- and i was critical of her on style. if she performs that way in the debate, it could allow him to skate through. i think she will be better but let's come back to the vladimir putin thing. there is no one around trump that i know for thinks it's -- who thinks it's smart for him to keep praising vladimir putin. mark: mike pence backed him up. john: he is the only one. it is nuts for him to do this and if you apply the 2008 standard that barack obama said anything like that in 2000 eight, what would republicans have said? that he is disqualified. when we come back, the bloomberg editor-in-chief discusses his exclusive interview with vladimir after these words from our sponsors. ♪

♪ >> we did talk about cyber security generally. i will not comment on specific

investigations that are still active. but i will tell you that we have had problems with cyber intrusions from russia in the past. frankly, we got more capacity than anyone offensively and defensively and our goal is not suddenly in the cyber arena, to duplicate a cycle of escalation that we saw when it comes to other arms races in the past. mark: president obama speaking yesterday, describing his talk with vladimir putin on the side of the g-20 summit in china. our next guest just got back from russia where he interviewed the country's president. with us is the editor in chief of bloomberg john, we will play a clip from our interview in a second but i want to ask, what

is it like to be in his presence? is he like a normal person or is there something different about him? john: i met him a couple times before. he is more kind of macho and -- in private things that he was there. he was very courteous. it is more the impact he has on people around him, people scurry around. buildings are cleared at a level that not even obama can manage. there is more of the implicit power, almost medieval in that way. mark: when you asked president putin if he would be happy to see donald trump as the next president of the united states. president putin: with all the shock tactics of not one but the other, they all have tactics in their own way. they are smart people and

understand which buttons you need to press. john: it seems for a lot of people that he clearly prefers trump to clinton. did that come through? john: that was my point. he was saying i don't care, it is who the american people choose and you look at the record. he has said he thinks clinton was trying to get rid of him in 2011, organizing protest against him. for him it's beyond and existential crisis. he is a fantastic man, he to do business. the idea that he would sit there and say i don't care between this woman who wants to overthrow me and this man who seems to be in love with me, that seems incredible but i

think there is an element. vladimir putin, for all his bluster, he loves stirring things up. from his point of view, maybe having a hillary he has sullied of it is a good way to go ahead. -- a bit is a good way to go ahead. john: this comes on the question of the leaks. you asked him about the allegations that russia was involved in hacking the democratic party e-mail. president putin: is that really important? the important thing is to content that was given to the public. i want to tell you again, i don't know anything. the state of russia has never done this.

john: hillary clinton clearly paying attention to your interview because she yesterday responded to what he said. >> when vladimir putin was asked about it, he could barely muster the energy to deny it. many of you saw that. in fact, he went on to say with a good face that the intelligent consensus is it was hacked by russian intelligence. we are facing a very serious concern. we have never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process. john: i thought it was extraordinary how he responded to your question, very cavalier

and basically went on to say the fact the democratic party's e-mail got hacked was a great thing and that is damaging to her. john: there is an element of look, no hands. almost as if he is playing with it. i think he has got a point. it adds to his reputation of someone who can do these kind of things. hillary is managing or trying very hard to turn the conversation from what is in these e-mails and what they say about her personality to the question of who hacked them. like many things he says, there is a kernel of truth. the interesting thing about putin, he is a very good analyzer of strengths and weaknesses of people. he senses this is a weakness to hillary and he's just pushing in a way he does. opportunistically. mark: it's hard to say through the translation but does he seem to have a complete handle on what is going on with the american election?

john: i think it's a strange relationship. his version of russia is a russia that is equal to america. he is harkening back to one that had the biggest meeting every year where russia beats america every year to discuss missiles. that's the world he wants to be seen as. when he looks at america, there are some elements of a jilted spouse. he's angry about various things america has done and goes on about shock tactics. things he would merrily use himself. there is an element he wants to be a player. mark: did he welcome questions about the american election? was he annoyed by them? john: i think he expected them. the only condition of the interview was we had to ask him about the economic forum. after that, he said you can ask me anything. he has gotten more confident in that way. john: there's usually a good reason foreign heads of state stay out of politics.

if one person wins, then they have problems down the line. is he not at all concerned about the likelihood hillary will be president and he will have been seen as on trumps side? john: i think he's already factored that in. he more wants to be seen as someone who can cause problems. you look at the way he's handled obama. in terms of the way he has done it, he has been opportunistic. whenever he thinks obama has left a vacuum, he has jumped in. mark: coming up, a conway confluence. we ran into donald trump's campaign manager wednesday morning here in new york. stay tuned. ♪

♪ john: this morning, mark and i, as we often do, were sitting in

a nearby hotel bar and who should walk in but the trump campaign manager, so we asked her to take a seat and pulled out our iphones and conducted an interview. we started asking what voters really care about asking if voters care about national security. >> national security has really catapulted to the top of the voter concern list. obviously jobs and the economy very much important. but, we do see with the increasing advance of isis, which are president referred to as the jv team. you see them many americans really worried about terrorism, these random acts of violence here and abroad. san bernardino, orlando certainly and of course paris. people are very worried about our place in the world and they are worried about security. i did notice in the new nbc poll donald trump has a 20 point advantage among veterans and

military households. mark: why would a businessman who's never held elective office be seen as stronger than someone who has been secretary of state and senator of armed services? >> the answer seems to be centered in a few things. she had the title of secretary of state, but people are increasingly understanding what that meant. she had a pretty inappropriate use of state department time. the people at the state department last time i looked, work for us, the taxpayers and there were a lot of trouble spots around the world that

could use the state department's help. how about giving rights to women and girls in countries where the clinton foundation took money at the state department that don't give rights to women and girls. people are starting to look at the record and saying the pressure reset was your idea and that is an embarrassing moment, bad judgment. benghazi, bad judgment. if two thirds of the country want to go in one direction, and hillary clinton represents the old direction. maybe we should look at mr. trump. he has a template plan to reform the veterans administration, that these men and women should not come home and not be cared for. that is part of his platform. he's talking about strength of peace. about making sure we don't go into war willy-nilly. hillary clinton voted for the iraq war. it is a large part of l president obama beat her in 2008 -- part of how president beat her in 2008. mark: is that something you are concerned about, have you get over the public's rational concern that he's not coming from a typical background to be commander-in-chief?

>> president obama had limited elective office experience and no hands on military experience when he was elected, so this country is willing to do that, to put somebody in charge when they think those who have been in charge have failed. and senator obama's ability to say he was always against the iraq war helped him beat hillary clinton in the primary and helped him become president of the united states against john mccain. i do think the electorate is willing to do it. when senator obama was running a 2008, he said when you talk about experience, experience has gotten us to this place in iraq and afghanistan and we should think about the value of experience. i think that is the trump message in part this time. mark: there is some indication he wasn't uniformly opposed to

the iraq war. >> he disagrees. mark: i know. howard stern would disagree. >> he disagrees. mark: do you know that is around his decision to make a contribution? >> mr. trump and the general never discussed the trump university matter at all. if very customary for him to contribute to republican candidates across the country. he's been very generous with his contributions. he is a floridian. mark: we have seen the documents involved with the trump organization in terms of their decision. you are asking people to accept the timing as a coincidence? >> i think there is no a club -- it lets between that and hillary

clinton leaving the state department. mark: but people should say the fact is was given around the time the office was making a decision, that just ache once it is? >> pam bondi and donald trump never discussed that. i really hope everybody covers with the same kind of vigor these hundreds of millions of dollars going to foreign donors. john: there has been a fairmont of coverage from the foundation, that's a fair amount questions around that. i guess my question is, there is a history of trump violating rules. he has proudly said in various debates he made contributions to

politicians because he wanted to get stuff from them. she was considering whether to take some action based on the trump university contribution patent -- >> $25,000. john: we're talking about what seems to look like straightforward pay for play. >> it is ridiculous. john: why was it ridiculous? the contribution was made. she decided not to take action and hosted a fundraiser. >> he hosts many fundraisers. i think the reason it's in the news is donald trump is actually winning at some of the polls now and people are worried he can actually win. john: thanks to kelly for taking

part in that on-the-fly interview. we will be right back with gary johnson and his running mate right after this. ♪

♪ mark: one is a mountain climber and one dabbled in fiction writing, but they are running to take over the white house. our next guest, gary johnson and bill weld, the former governors. mark: we will start with some policy questions about the u.s. china relationship. what is working and what would you try to change as president? gary: i think we need to join arms with china to defeat north korea.

diplomatically, that is something we have to push for. free trade, absolutely believe in free trade. i realize the ttp does not include china. i do not view in china as the adversary. mark: do you view them as a military threat at all? gary: i think it is an interesting time about where xi jinping is. he won out of bo xilai who was a maoist and a koch guy. i thought xi jinping would want to steer the government in a better economic place. he has decided the communist party's number one and it needs to be protected at all costs. we have a huge anticorruption probe. the response to the smog in beijing is something he is pushing very hard.

there is a lot to work with in terms of helping him look good. i think we can engage productively on that basis. bill: i think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg in government controlled economy. it will get a whole lot worse, not better. john: russia is a big issue in this election, partially because there is an idea that black putin is trying to devil in our affairs. what would your posture be towards russia? gary: i would like to engage putin in a game of chess. i know bill would like that same opportunity. that said, we need to join hands with russia democratic likely to deal with syria. do we really want to go to war over the baltic states? it broke up -- the ussr.

if you want to call it a civil war, i wouldn't call it a civil war, but certainly an addition in alliances. do we really want to inject ourselves in that? i would like to not have a policy of division or antagonism with russia. bill: it trends that way little bit. russia is the second most important relationship after china. i would approach it with less pleasure than the relationship with china. what putin wants to do is not in our interests. the annexation of crimea labonte the whole world act we asked, that was an aggressive mood -- move.

russia has been a great country for a long time and nothing would give me greater pleasure than being able to find common ground there. i agree with governor johnson, i think syria is exhibit a. it is not hopeless. mark: a name, current supreme court justice who would be your model? gary: i never name names for anything. i only talk about qualifications. it is a mistake to name names. as governor of new mexico, i was surprised at how many people came to apply for every single job in state government. mark: what you look for in a supreme court nominee? gary: the notion the supreme court nominee would view the

constitution from the standpoint of original intent. we are going to get a briefing on what those words really mean and how we might better describe that. bill: it means a lot though. original intent, keep in mind this is a government of enumerated powers. under the 10th amendment, powers not expressly conferred under the federal government is expressly given to the people. john: what is a current supreme court decision on the books that you disagree with? bill: i would delve back citizens united a little bit. i'm not sure gary would agree with that. kelo, that is the one that is taking for public purposes and

given to another party. mark: you were asked yesterday about other black-markets, prostitution, you didn't answer the question. are you in favor of we loving those kinds ofg markets? gary: i believe those markets are state issues. i do recognize and believe that the federal government did step in and prevent online poker. whatever decision i might do to reverse that, i would reverse that. mark: should prostitution be legal? is that something you favor as a libertarian? gary: leave it to the states. i have never engaged with a prostitute. if you are to do so, where would you do that? you would do it in nevada where you would not contract a sexual

trend. but i leave that to the states. mark: fabulous way to end this segment. the governors will stick around. ♪

♪ john: we're back with the libertarian candidates for president. gary johnson and bill weld. gary: i don't think the threshold is too high, but the issue is we are not included in any topline polls. johnson, trump, clinton, that doesn't occur, period. if we were on the top one smart, with the at 20% minimum. i said it humorously before and i mean it, if mickey mouse for

the third name included with trump and clinton, mickey would be at 30%. mickey is not on the ballot in all 50 states and we are. john: if you accept the notion that 15% is the standard you are trying to reach, your advertising and a lot of western, mountain states, right? why spend money in sparsely populated states instead of going national? bill: we are at 15 percent, 19%, 25% in those states. the republican cochair on the commission of debate say it may be running well above 50% in swing states. gary is running in double digits in 40 states. he was at 13% yesterday in the washington post he leads among millennials, he is second among independents.

it is not like we are way down there. the 15% number is arbitrary. to me, the overwhelming fact here is 75% to 80% of the electorate wants us, johnson-well in the debate. the sole purpose is to help educate the citizenry on the presidential election. how can they say, johnson-weld should not be in the debate? who should we like to be president of the united states, the r party at the d party to pay our bills, or are they answering the question about who should be president?

mark: if your whole numbers are high and they reach the decisions they are not high enough, are you prepared to try to take some action to reverse their decision? gary: there will be consequences for that where we are not in the iraq-afghanistan veterans association for him this evening. mark: did you try to change that? gary: they got a lot of heat for it. mark: governor weld, your lawyer, any recourse? bill: they the commission on debates could lose their tax-exempt status. mark: but that would not be to the debate? bill: not a time for september. john: will you move to a lawsuit? gary: i think public opinion is

going to be a lot more powerful than a lawsuit. i'm going to ask questions like, are you being faithful to your mission for educating the voters of the united states or are you part of the washington brainwashing scheme? john: maybe not in september, you will make it, but will you keep pressing, trying to get into that second and third? gary: you can have a situation where if they announce the debates in seven or eight days, that could actually reversed itself erie nothing can be an concrete because this is a moving target. we have a lot of momentum going here, and if you were to choose anything happening in your

candidacy, it will be momentum. and momentum doesn't reverse itself. mark: when you met announce the debates, you met who would be in the debates? gary: i think bill is going to play donald trump. john: who is going to play hillary clinton them? mark: obviously access to debates is an issue. we would love to have you on all the time when you're here. do you feel like the media is giving you enough access to make your case on issues? gary: there is an insatiable appetite among the media right now. have you seen the abraham lincoln political video which is now the most-watched political video of all time. it came out ten days ago and there has been 80 million --

mark: do you don't think you're being denied access to the airwaves? bill: moore would never hurt. mark: governor gary johnson and bill weld, thank you both. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ john: it is been a pretty rough day for the libertarian candidate for president, gary johnson. onause of an anser he gave aleppo. here's a quick guide to what the past 24 hours have been like for governor johnson. >> in the george washington university battleground survey, gary johnson has recent support. >> 15 states at 15% plus. >> mitt romney tweeted, i hope to see former gop governors on the debate stage this fall. >> we need to join arms with

china to deal with north korea. >> what would you do if you were elected about aleppo? >> and what is aleppo? >> an incredibly frustrated with myself. >> what you think would happen? >> i have to get smarter. >> gary johnson had no idea what aleppo was. he was appeared surprised by the question, what is aleppo? >> did you have a brain freeze moment? >> i was thinking in terms of acronym. aleppo. john: when governor johnson left yesterday, we were pretty bullish.

the biggest moment of his campaign. this is the worst moment and the most attention in the base path. >> what we saw from him yesterday, between the two, bill weld had a lot more of a grass than gary johnson does. he came across a little tentative and al -- a little vague. i think it is a big problem. as is a key moment for him. it is going to get a lot of attention and it is the wrong kind of attention. i don't know if it is in strictly speaking disqualifying because donald has done worse. it is not great. john: elites will pay a lot of attention to it. police are paying a lot of attention to it. i think he is handling it ok. we need to hear a little bit more from governor weld, but i don't think he is dead. we have two tests candidates in this race who have done a lot

worse in their own ways. intoeded momentum to get the debates. and he said to us yesterday, he needs to get better now. -- get better known. he is going to be on the broadcast network news. he is going to be caught without in social media more than ever before. yes to figure out a way to parlay it into positive attention. mark: if they see this and it makes them explore gary johnson more, then i am willing to forget that for the fact that he is not educated. now with everyone's favorite republican turned libertarian. we have a history with you and your libertarianism that seems to be appropriate that we asked the question, your party's nominee, gary johnson had a moment. dead or can he survive?

>> no. his problem is he is not really a libertarian. if you're a real libertarian, you know why you are a libertarian. i think the aleppo issue will get attention and people are going to be looking at him now. in this election, as you know, the support of one candidate is not liking the other guys. hillary clinton supporters do not like trump and that is what they are going for. in this case, his supporters do not like either of the others. that is why they are looking at him. mark: in what way is he not libertarian? >> he is the political equivalent of a cafeteria catholic. religious liberty is the essence of liberty. he is not on point. he is a lovely fellow and i hope he does get to the debate.

john: he is for lower government and less taxes on the physical fiscal side and he is for less government in terms of social issues. he doesn't have it in his guts or he doesn't have specific policies? >> relative to one party representing other interests, he is more libertarian than that, but he is not a clarion call for classical liberalism and classical libertarianism. mark: he's not an intellectual? >> you're making me say something mean about him. mark: i agree he has positions that are a little bit off, but i don't get what you are saying about him. >> no contemporary adaptation of libertarian principles to trade, foreign policy, name anything.

mark: we talked about the quinnipiac polls that show struck within striking distance. does trump have a 25% chance of winning? >> i think yes 100% chance of winning. mark: your positive he wants to -- you are positive he is going to win. >> i just think he is going to win. whether or not he has a turnout operation, this senate races are turning out every cell under every rock. he is coming back in the right places in the market there. between the rnc and the senate races and people are nervous about the house. there will be a turnout operation.

john: a 90% chance of winning. >> as you know, i have a mini-puppy in this race. he's not really my guy. he is not a conservative or republican or a progressive. what he is is he has a connection for bias. they have been faced with no action. he is the man of action. john: let me ask you a truly political question again, can you explain what possible political rationale donald trump has about speaking kindly about vladimir putin over and over again? >> yes, i can.

although i don't confer with the campaign. brilliant, really, really brilliant. she has escalated his maturation rate. he thinks he is not complementing vladimir putin, he thinks he is attacking president obama. he sees everything a little different. john: that is a psychological rationale, not a political one. there is no one around him who thinks it is in his local interest to speak positively about vladimir putin. >> i don't disagree with that, but again, we think like we think. we are not thinking like the people who will end up voting for him. they think we are all nuts. and they do think the essence of what he's saying is true.

there are two completely different systems, the system that he disavowed. i wouldn't say it, i think it is a distraction. but a distraction for trump can have been negative. mark: you think he has a better chance than the trump campaign manager, think he will win michigan? >> not necessarily. i think he will be competitive in the state needs to be competitive in. with the senate races pushing him up, florida, ohio -- mark: there's no chance for pennsylvania. you said he has a 90% chance and that you say maybe you will win pennsylvania. >> it is a race that -- mark: no more fundamental than

the electoral college. >> voters, in the same way do we make fun of who turned out at the rallies -- mark: we never make fun of that, but ok. >> you never did, well, good for you. she does not have something he has that is more critical than an operation. that is enthusiasm. i will say pennsylvania, nevada, iowa. john: you think you will win new mexico? >> he will win states like that where he is in the margin of error. mark: thanks for watching this edition of "the best of with all due respect," if you're watching this program in washington dc, you can listen to us on the radio.

check out our website for all the latest. see you monday, until then, sayonara.

carol: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i'm carol massar. david: and i'm david gura. carol in this week's issue, : could exxon be liable for allegedly misleading the public about climate change? how canada's prime minister is a little bit like donald trump. carol: really? david: sort of. carol: and does vladimir putin prefer hillary clinton or donald trump for the white house? david: all that on bloomberg businessweek. ♪ carol: we're here with the editor-in-chief of bloomberg businessweek, ellen pollack, and we have a story in the market finance section. if you look at tech coie