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New Day

One-on-One Interview With Donald Trump. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 11, 2015 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to you, our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. We have Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for president joining us on NEW DAY for the very first time. Mr. Trump, can you hear me?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Hello, Chris, I certainly can.

CUOMO: Good morning to you. Welcome to the program. The viewers are excited to have you here. Thanks for doing it for us.

TRUMP: Good to be here.

CUOMO: Let me give you the opportunity to deal with so much of what is surrounding you, especially your ideas for the country. But to start off with the politics, this idea of you and a third party run, are you willing to announce this morning that you are going to stick with the GOP, try your luck there, hope for fairness and if it doesn't work out it doesn't and no third party run?

TRUMP: There's so much false reporting, you know it as well as anybody. You know what's been happening. People are putting out signals and everything else. I'm running as a Republican. I'm leading in every poll.

In the CNN poll, I'm leading very big. Iowa came out yesterday where I'm leading substantially in Iowa. We are leading all over the place. I want to run as a Republican. I want to be the Republican candidate. I think that's the best chance for winning, the way it's going right now, I'm being treated nicely.

I just want to be treated fairly. If I am, that's the way it is going to be. I want to leave the door open? If something happens, I may use that door. Anybody that says anything, I hear all these so- called advisers.

I think you know me well enough to know about the advisers everybody is talking about that don't even exist. I will tell you, I will keep the door open. It's not something I want to do. I want to run as a Republican and win as a Republican and take it back for the Republicans for the country and make America great again.

You know, my whole campaign is based on making America great again. It's so simple, but it's hard to do. It takes a certain person to do it. I'll be able to do it. I look at my competition, they will not be able to do it.

CUOMO: Well, I want to talk to you about how. You said something, though, that is interesting here. You said I want to be treated fierily, nicely. You know those are not the same thing. When you look at what happened with the comments about Megyn Kelly, you said you didn't mean them the way they were perceived. Why do you think so many people took them as an outright assault on women?

TRUMP: Well, I didn't say I didn't mean them. I said what I said. I didn't finish the sentence and people said he must be thinking about this. It was a ridiculous interpretation. Most people agree with what I said.

What I said was very simple and I want to get on to the next thought. Frankly, I don't know how it could have been misconstrued. Unless you're somebody who is a deviant, which in the case of the character that frankly saved me a lot of fuel money, Erick Erickson, who is a guy who's got a very checkered past and a lot of checkered stupid statements.

It wasn't a big deal, frankly. By the way, he had a revolution out there. He had a riot out there when he announced I wasn't going to be there. So you know, unless you have a sort of a semi-sick mind or a very sick mind, you wouldn't have thought that would have been, you know, that would not be the normal thought process.

But, it's sort of irrelevant. I mean, there are lots of other things that happen in politics that are certainly a lot worse than that.

CUOMO: In terms of getting the female votes, it's going to be very important to you. You said that you will be the best ever for women. The comments that Megyn was pointing to, you didn't say I have proof that she is lying about this, I never said them.

Do you think that you owe women, in general, if not an apology at least some assurance that these comments are not who I am and they are not who I would be as president?

TRUMP: No, I think Jeb Bush owes women an apology because he made a terrible statement about women's health issues. It was a foolish statement, perhaps a stupid statement. It's a statement that never should have come up, that should never have been made and I was shocked that he made it.

I think that will prove to be his 47 percent. When Romney did his famous 47 percent, a lot of people said his election was over. I think that when Jeb Bush made the statement on women's health issues, you wouldn't need the kind of money we are talking about $500 billion.

You wouldn't need that kind of money when that actually relatively speaking is peanuts compared to the kind of money spent on lots of other things. I think that was a terrible mistake that he made.

[07:35:08] I think he's the one that has to apologize to women. Now I will say this, he has gone back, he said I misspoke. He said he misspoke. Well, that's an awfully big issue to misspeak. I will be so good to women. I cherish women. I will be so good to women. I will work hard to protect women. I'll tell you what, work hard to protect everybody.

Because ultimately, if you look at what's going on with Iran, with this horrible deal that was made in Iran, this incompetent deal that was made with Iran, I mean, even if we don't approve it, they are going to get the money. Can you believe that?

If the deal doesn't get approved, they still get the money. Iran is going to be so rich, powerful and strong and what we've done is we've set them on the way to literally it could be destroying the world. That is one of the dumbest deals.

I think that may go down and may ultimately horribly go down as one of the dumbest deals in world history.

CUOMO: Let's unpack a little bit of what you just laid out there for us. I'll give you the deflection on whether or not you need an assurance to women. You said that you'd be best for them ever.

You don't like what Jeb Bush said. You said it was an epic mistake, is that your way of saying that you think Planned Parenthood should be funded because of all of the health care that it provides outside of abortions to women, especially women of low means?

TRUMP: Well, the biggest problem I have with Planned Parenthood is the abortion situation. It's like an abortion factory frankly. You can't have it and it shouldn't be funding and that should not be funded by the government. I feel strongly about that.

That's my biggest problem with Planned Parenthood because it really -- if you look at it and you look at the work they do, it really has become so heavily centered on abortion. You can't have that.

CUOMO: They say it's only 3 percent of what they do and the money that does go toward abortions is not the money that comes from the federal government. That they separate --

TRUMP: What I would do is look at the individual things that they do and maybe some of the things are good, I know a lot of things are bad. But certainly the abortion aspect of it should not be funded by government.

CUOMO: So you would take a look at it before you defund it. That's what is being asked for right now. Many in your party are doing the opposite. They are saying defund it and then look at it. You'd say look at it first.

TRUMP: I would look at the good aspects of it. I would also look as I'm sure they do some things properly and good and good for women. I would look at that. I would look at other aspects also, but we have to take care of women. We have to absolutely take care of women. The abortion aspect of Planned Parenthood should not be funded. CUOMO: Well, you do know that there is a big political debate on this. Many women believe that you do protect them by protecting their right to choose and that's something that Planned Parenthood allows. Marco Rubio, someone running against you says that he doesn't believe in any carve outs for rape or incest. That there is no abortion on any level no matter what, do you agree with that?

TRUMP: I disagree with that. I am for the exceptions. You have the three exceptions, the health of the mother and life of the mother. I absolutely am for the exceptions, so is Ronald Reagan for the exception, by the way. There's nothing wrong with that. You have to do it, in my opinion.

Now Marco took a very strong stand. I respect him for that. He believes that. It's just a different thing. I am for the exceptions, yes.

CUOMO: Do you agree with him about when you have a person in the form of the unborn that should have a right to attach to them. He says at conception Roe v. Wade as you know, says 20 weeks. There are different theories that other people have. When do you believe that the unborn is a person and deserves the rights?

TRUMP: Well, I certainly think as the process goes along more and more, and a lot of people are talking about the 20 weeks and certainly there. Absolutely, as the process goes along, but I am a person that feels very, very strongly about, you know, I am pro-life. I'm strongly about pro-life.

But I also feel that you go with the exceptions, which, Marco, when I was there when he made the statement. A lot of people liked his statement. A lot of people didn't frankly. I was in that room. It was a very strong statement he made. I respect him for it, frankly, but I don't happen to agree. I am for the exceptions.

CUOMO: You said I'm going to be great for women. I will do the most that can be done for women. Will you pass an equal pay? You know the statistics. You know, they don't get paid what men do?

TRUMP: I'm looking into that very strongly. I was asked that question yesterday. I'm looking into it very strongly. I will have a position on it in the not too distant future. One of the problems you have is you get to have an economy where it's no longer free enterprise economy.

You know, everybody gets the saying whether the -- the concept of it is good. It's a very complicated. The whole issue is a very complicated issue.

[07:40:02] We have to make our -- we have to get this generator going to create the jobs and the incentives and all the things that we have to create in this country to make it rich again because without being rich again, Chris, we are not going to make it great again.

We are going to be up to $19 trillion. We have to get the engine going. I'm looking at that very strongly. I feel strongly -- the concept of it, I love. I just don't want it to be a negative where everybody ends up making the same pay. That's not our system.

You know, the world, everybody comes in to get a job, they make -- people aren't the same. In my case, I have tremendous numbers of women. I have a major company, big company, I built a great company. It's got some of the great assets, some of the most iconic assets in the world.

I have many women executives. I always have. When I was back in the construction days, the big construction days, I had women in charge of big developments.

CUOMO: Do you pay them what you pay the men?

TRUMP: I was very, very pro-women many years ago. They are incredible executives. They are incredible executives. I get the picture better than anybody.

CUOMO: Do you pay them the same as men?

TRUMP: I will make a decision soon.

CUOMO: Do you pay the women at the top of your organization the same way you pay the men?

TRUMP: Yes, I do, absolutely.

CUOMO: Because that's what it comes down to. It's not that everybody is equal. You are equal when you deserve it.

TRUMP: In many cases I pay the women more. I mean, I have women that get paid a lot of money. I pay them more.

CUOMO: One campaign suggestion for you, you should show those numbers to people and let them see that women don't only make the same, they make more.

TRUMP: One of the things I've alluded to. I'm proud of is I was one of the first. I think I was literally the first. I had a woman in charge of the construction of Trump Tower. That was unheard of in the construction industry that many years ago.

So, I was very proud of that fact. I have gotten a lot of credit over the years especially within the construction industry. You didn't have women at the construction industry at high levels. I think I was the first to do it in charge of major developments.

CUOMO: Don't tell my boss, I was hearing what you were saying on Fox News before you were on with us this morning. When it came to tax policy, you were saying lots of plans, figure out the plans, and make it simpler. You know you're going to have to do better than that as you go forward in terms of putting out ideas that people can cling to. What do you think should be the top tax rate for someone like you who is a billionaire?

TRUMP: We are in a very formative part of the campaign. I am also forming. You don't understand, to be a successful person and a business person, you have to be flexible. You know, they say you have to go with punches. You have to be flexible.

You can't be boom, boom, hard and fast. A friend of mine who has been very successful, you know, one of the people I have spoken to recently, Carl Icahn is a friend of mine.

I said, Carl, if I pulled this thing off, I'm putting you in charge of China and Japan, and he laughed. He said, I'll do it, I'll do it. You should call him and have him on your show sometime. He's a great negotiator.

One of the things that a friend of mine tell me, also a very successful guy, you know, they want me to come up with a ten-point plan, a 14-point plan, a 20-point plan.

It doesn't necessarily work that way. When I bought Durrell, everybody wanted it, everybody. I didn't sit down and say let's do a 14-point plan, I went in and I got it. I took it away from so many people.

The old post office on Pennsylvania Avenue, which is under construction right now, everybody wanted it, believe it or not, from the government, the government -- you know, whole thing, it's a government deal.

I've got it from the government and the General Services Administration. I tell you what, totally professional people, those people. Here is the point, Chris, I wouldn't sit down and draw a plan that tomorrow, I will go and have a meeting. The next day, make an offer.

I went in and got it. Everybody wanted it. I didn't wait to do a 14-point plan. I went in and got it. A lot of this stuff, you don't want to hear about the plans, you got to get in and get it done.

CUOMO: Yes, but you know that's not the way it works. You can't get in there not telling people what you are going to do.

TRUMP: -- from the VAT to the fair tax to every single form of tax our tax code is too complicated. We can simplify it so easily.

CUOMO: How?

TRUMP: Using intelligence by having common sense.

CUOMO: But I mean what do you simplify? You make the top rate go from 30 something to 20 something?

TRUMP: A person with a simple tax return can't figure it out. They have to pay a lot of money to these companies that go out and do your tax return for you. I want to H&R Block out of business.

You can have a fair tax. You can have a flat tax or you can leave the system alone, which is probably the simplest at this point. Leave the system alone and take out deductions and lower taxes, and do lots of really good things, leaving the system the way it is.

[07:45:07] I know exactly what I want to do. I just don't want to announce it yet, but one of the things --

CUOMO: I don't know what that means, Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, help me with that. If I was sitting across from you, making you a pitch to do anything for you and said I have a plan, but I'm not going to tell you yet. I would get an eye roll --

TRUMP: I'm going to say it. I'm just not prepared to tell you right now and your fantastic show that is getting better ratings all the time because you have Trump on so much, OK.

CUOMO: This is the first time I've had Trump on.

TRUMP: I'm saying Trump or Trump related. We offer an open forum to everybody. I want you to get the ideas out there. You've talked about the military. You say you'd hand it to ISIS. The Iran deal stinks. People are going to want to know --

TRUMP: What did you say I'd hand what to ISIS?

CUOMO: You would hand it to ISIS. You would give it to them. You would really take them on.

TRUMP: So, your definition of hand it is a lot different than mine.

CUOMO: I'm not saying you would give something to them. How would you knock the hell out of them?

TRUMP: I would take the oil away. I'll take their money away. I'll take their source of money away.

CUOMO: How do you take their oil?

TRUMP: By the way Iran, which gives plenty of money to ISIS, believe it or not, Iran is funneling money into ISIS, too. Iraq is going to Iran just like I predicted in 2004.

CUOMO: Do you put troops on the ground?

TRUMP: I would go in and take the oil and I put troops to protect the oil. Go and take the money source away. Believe me they would start to wither and they would collapse.

CUOMO: But you have to get the oil. Iran would say we are one of the ones fighting ISIS for you in a lot of places. That's why they have leverage.

TRUMP: You know, even if the deal isn't approved, if the deal isn't approved, they still get the money, which is something I heard the other day. They are going to be so rich, so powerful, so mean, they are going to be so angry.

CUOMO: That's not exactly how it works. If they don't do what they need to do, there is a snap back.

TRUMP: It's going to down as one of the dumb deals of all time. One of the most dangerous deals ever signed. CUOMO: There is a snap back provision, though, that if they don't do what they are supposed to, then these sanctions get back in.

TRUMP: No, but I'm talking about $150 billion and all the other money they're going to be getting. They are getting a fortune. They are getting tremendous amounts of money even if the deal --

CUOMO: There's no question they are going to get money.

TRUMP: They are still getting much --

CUOMO: The question becomes what was the better deal? What would you do? You know you can't sit down --

TRUMP: What would I have done?

CUOMO: Yes.

TRUMP: First of all, I would have doubled the sanctions. Then I would have said, before we start, I want our prisoners back, then after that, I would have made a good deal. There wouldn't have been 24 days --

CUOMO: But your allies aren't with you on the sanctions, they want to do business.

TRUMP: That's part of leadership. You got to get the allies with you. The different people that are involved aren't going to be with you. You know why? They have no respect for our president.

CUOMO: But what do you think happens? If you are sitting across from Rouhani or Putin, you say get out of Ukraine, he says make me. Now what?

TRUMP: Well, Ukraine is a whole different subject. Ukraine, why isn't Germany and Europe fighting for Ukraine? Why are we involved so much with Ukraine instead of Germany?

Germany is a very powerful, very rich country. They don't owe money like we do. They don't have a $19 trillion number on their balance sheet that's going to destroy them --

Germany should be involved. Why isn't Germany and the other European countries -- they are still buying oil and taking everything from Russia and we are standing there fighting.

Excuse me, Chris, why isn't Germany, which is tremendously powerful and very strong and has probably the greatest leader in the world right now in Merkel, why isn't Germany fighting Russia? Why is it always the United States? We are like the policemen of the world.

CUOMO: Germany, as you know, very well doesn't have that kind of military capacity that the U.S. has and there are reasons for that as well.

CUOMO: But they have tremendous economic power. They can crush Russia. They has tremendous economic strength.

TRUMP: They have their own interest. I know you know this stuff, Mr. Trump, and forgive me if it sounds like I'm teaching you about the world. You know it and I know you it. But I'm saying that there's a tendency to oversimplify situations. People buy into it. There's a reason Germany doesn't do it.

TRUMP: Sometimes we make it too complicated.

CUOMO: Yes, but when you are sitting at the table with Iran, and you say, I'm going to double the sanctions, and all of your partners get up and leave. They want to do commerce. You say you are not getting a new one. The Iranians say we have it.

TRUMP: Excuse me, they won't leave if I'm president because they are going to respect our country and respect me. They are going to do what I tell them to do. We have a lot of power over those countries. They will do the sanctions.

CUOMO: Why would you do this deal if you didn't have to?

[07:50:04] TRUMP: You would bring Iran to the table. Why didn't we get our prisoners back? You know what they said? We are not going to ask for the prisoners, Chris, we're not going to ask because it will complicate the negotiation.

And yet we gave back a nuclear scientist to Iran. We gave them back the nuclear scientists that they wanted. We can't ask for four prisoners that are sitting there. One of them is there because he's a Christian, in a horrible prison.

I met his wife. She's an amazing woman. She doesn't know what to do. We don't even bring it up. I tell you what. I guarantee you that if I were president, this deal wouldn't be made. A deal would be made that's 100 times better.

CUOMO: A hundred times better. What is the deal that's 100 times better?

TRUMP: Chris, what about 24 days to go and inspect. You have 24 days and what people don't say is before you get to the 24 days, it takes a long time because you have to start a process.

CUOMO: Right, but look, you're not giving any benefit of the doubts to the fact that they had to negotiate something. Of course, you'd rather inspect right away than with any kind of notice. How do you know there was an alternative?

TRUMP: They didn't read "the art of the deal" obviously. They're incompetent people. I watched on Charlie Rose their chief negotiator, I watched. After watching him for 5 minutes, I tweeted, I said, do not let Kerry deal with this guy. This guy is too smart for Kerry.

You know, the Persians are great negotiators, always have been, the Iranians are great negotiators, the Persians. I will tell you. We gave up on every point. We got nothing on this deal. They still get the money even if there's no deal.

They're getting billions and billions of dollars. We are represented, Chris, by incompetent people. Let me tell you, the sanctions would be doubled because I will convince Germany and I will convince all of the countries that we're talking about.

CUOMO: India, China, you know, people want to do business.

TRUMP: I'll convince them. China, we have so much power over China. China has gotten rich over us. China has rebuilt itself with the money it's sucked out of the United States and the jobs that it's sucked out of the United States. We have tremendous power over China.

CUOMO: Did you ever use Chinese money on any of your projects?

TRUMP: Excuse me?

CUOMO: Did you ever use Chinese money on any of your projects?

TRUMP: I never used Chinese money, but I buy Chinese products, because they keep lowering their currency. If you look at the "Wall Street Journal," the number one story is that they're lowering their currency again, big league. They're just destroying us.

Our currency is going up, which sounds good, but actually if you look at what it's doing to our country -- and they're devaluing their currency. They're doing a big cut. That's going to be devastating for us. Chris, our companies cannot compete with China.

CUOMO: I understand that there are challenges there and that's why we need the ideas to try to figure out how to turn it around. Identifying problems is important and identifying solutions, more so, especially if you're going to be president.

Let me ask you something about what's going on at Fox. This situation seems curious from the outside. You talked to Roger Ailes. He says he cleared the air and Megyn Kelly goes on her show, doesn't come at you, and says that you're successful. Did you make a deal with Fox?

TRUMP: Roger Ailes has been a friend of mine for a long time. He called me yesterday. He's somebody I have great respect for. I was very angry with the way I was treated and perhaps justifiably. But Roger Ailes who is an amazing guy and amazing executive frankly, he called me yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, I'm fine with it.

CUOMO: So you're over it. Was it part of the deal that Megyn Kelly wouldn't go on her show and attack you and keep it going?

TRUMP: No, I don't care. We didn't even discuss that. It's not about Megyn Kelly.

CUOMO: She didn't come up at all when you were talking to Roger Ailes?

TRUMP: It's not about that. Look, there was a misinterpretation of what I said. Unless you're a deviant, you don't put those words in. A couple of people tried to make a big deal about it. That's not it. Roger's done an amazing job at Fox. He called me and I have no problem.

CUOMO: You know, what it was. The reason people were inclined to see it that way was because of the other things you've said in the past about women, which is why I started this early on about whether or not you want to apologize for them.

TRUMP: I don't know what it is exactly, but I don't know how you could -- look, I went to the hardest school to get into, the best school in the world I guess you could say. The Wharton School of Finance, it's super genius stuff. I built a tremendous company. I had tremendous success, "The Art of The Deal," "The Apprentice" everything, who would make a statement like that?

CUOMO: Smart men aren't always good to women, though, right --

TRUMP: I've always been good to women. Nobody will be better for women as a president. When I talk about health care issues, I will take care of women like nobody else can.

[07:55:06] Certainly Jeb Bush doesn't even know what he's talking about. He admitted that the other day. Believe me, that will be his 47 percent. That will be the statement just like it took down Romney, the 47 percent. His statement on women's health issues will take him down.

CUOMO: Well, it will if somebody else is offering ideas that are so much better than his and they highlight a deficiency. That's a task for you and the other candidates.

TRUMP: Perhaps. But I think you're going to see that come along very, very soon. You know what? You do have to have flexibility. Remember what I say, when these guys come and issue these plans and they're hard and fast, you've got to go with the punches like the boxer said.

CUOMO: Right. But you have to have a core set of ideas.

TRUMP: You have to have flexibility. You have to get it through this vast web. Nobody knows politics better than I do. I've dealt with politicians all my life. You have to get this through and passed through a vast web.

We can't just keep signing executive orders all over the place. So I want to have flexibility. I have to -- by the way, Hillary Clinton won't. She won't take care of it like I will, believe me.

CUOMO: How can you say that? How can you say Hillary Clinton won't take care of women's health the way you will?

TRUMP: Because I know my capability and I think I know her capability and I'm much more capable than she is.

CUOMO: But some would say that for women, just on the issue of being pro-choice alone would give her an advantage.

TRUMP: But there are plenty of women that agree with me on that issue, with the exceptions you know that. But there are plenty of women that agree with me on that. We're not just talking about me. Many women agree. That's not just a man issue. That's a woman issue too.

CUOMO: Absolutely. I understand that. But let me ask you last thing here. I don't want to keep you too long. How you're conducting yourself is an issue that's been a plus/minus for you.

This morning everything's supposed to be OK with Fox. In the "New York Post" which is of course, one of their properties, one of their columnists, Rich Lowry, says that you are the most fabulous whiner in the world.

And that you've shown that if you were to sit across from Putin, or Mexico or the Middle East leaders, that as soon as they said something you don't like, you would become a whiner and snippy and not get anything done. What do you say to that?

TRUMP: Well, I think he's probably right. I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine because I want to win and I'm not happy --

CUOMO: Are whiners winners?

TRUMP: I keep whining and whining until I win. I'm going to win for the country and make our country great again. Right now, we are a debtor nation. We have airports that are third world airports. We have road ways that are falling apart. We have bridges that are coming down and unsafe, 60 percent of the bridges in this country need work and they're unsafe.

CUOMO: But how do you pass that infrastructure bill? How do you work with government? You can't just come back at everybody when they insult you.

TRUMP: Chris, I'm worth more than $10 billion. I've been working with government all my life.

CUOMO: But you've been very rough on people over the years. In politics it's a little different.

TRUMP: Sometimes you have to be rough, though, Chris.

CUOMO: I know you, but you can't always be rough.

TRUMP: I know you and I know your brother. And your brother is a rough cookie. He's a good guy, but he's a rough cookie. You get things done. You're a rough guy.

CUOMO: You've been rough. You threatened to sue me and my parents for giving birth to me.

TRUMP: No, I would never do that.

CUOMO: That's exactly what you did. You played very rough sometimes.

TRUMP: I'm a huge fan of your mother.

CUOMO: She's watching right now, so don't say anything about me. She'll be very upset. You know how she felt about your parents.

TRUMP: They knew each other from Queens. They went to the same beauty parlor together, right?

CUOMO: We grew up in the same place. That's right. They did. We won't talk about the styles that they had done to them, but they did go to the same --

TRUMP: But it was OK.

CUOMO: Listen, I appreciate you coming on NEW DAY. You know I'm pushing on these solutions because that at the end of the day is what makes the difference. A lot of people judge you for what you say because they don't have the policy idea to to test on. That's something that's going to have to transition for you to be successful in the race.

TRUMP: You can't just go in and say -- it has to be flexible. I know policy better than anybody. I know politics as well as anybody. I've been doing it all my life. I've been doing it from the other side, which in a certain way gives you a better perspective. A lot of positive things are going to happen.

CUOMO: But you know that people to vote for you, they're going to have to have more than a promise. They're going to have a central set of ideals about ideas which way you'll take it, what a top tax rate is, how many people you'd put it to these bad places, American fighting men and women --

TRUMP: Once you get into office it's going to change, because you have a big negotiation to go through with Congress. And you will lead Congress to the right place. That's what leadership is all about.

CUOMO: And if you do that, you've got to work with them differently than you do --

TRUMP: All I know is I just looked at three polls that came out. I'm leading Iowa big. Another one just came out nationally I'm 32 percent. I must be doing something right. I don't know.

CUOMO: It is inarguable, inarguable that you have tapped into something that matters with members of the GOP and maybe beyond. But that puts an onus on you, Mr. Trump, to deliver.

TRUMP: Well, I think what is arguable, frankly, and I think the thing that I have tapped into is that people are finding our leadership is incompetent, and they know that I am far from that. They know I get things done. They know that I'm a smart guy who gets things done. And I want things done properly. And I don't want them done for myself. I made a lot of money. I don't want money. I don't want people giving me money. I want to do something great. And great is to make our country great again.

There can be no greater service that I do, and that's what I want to do. I want to make our country great. Our infrastructure is falling apart. We need military. We have to take care of our vets. Our vets are -- it's never been, you know, two weeks ago on Wednesday they had the longest wait in the history of the Veteran's Administration waiting for a doctor.

CUOMO: How do you fix it?

TRUMP: They're waiting four or five days to see a doctor, and at the end of the sixth day the doctor comes out and says, I'm sorry, I can't see you, I'm going on vacation.

CUOMO: The problems are open and notorious. The fix has been elusive. Do you have one?

TRUMP: I will fix it, believe me. That's what I do in life. I fix it. I'm not a politician. Politicians are all talk and no action, Chris. And I'm the opposite.

CUOMO: Mr. Trump, thank you for coming back on NEW DAY. As the campaign continues we invite you back to discuss the issues and your solution to them.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Chris.

CUOMO: Have a good day, sir.

TRUMP: So long.