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Pope to Deliver Historic Address to Congress; Trump Weighs in on Pope's Views on Climate Change, Immigration; Trump: 'FOX News Treated Me Unfairly'. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: But his words may also put Democrats on the spot.

Now listen to this: after his speech, he's going to forego lunch with members of Congress. What's the pope going to do? He's going to head over to Catholic Charities and serve people who want to eat, 200 homeless people.

Today's events follow such a busy and beautiful day in D.C., where Francis energized believers and non-believers alike, parading in the Popemobile, which is a Jeep Wrangler, kissing kids along the way, celebrating mass with some 20,000 people, presiding over a ceremony rich in symbolism. He became the first pope from Latin America who then canonized the first Hispanic-American saint, Father Junipero Serra. Also the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil. A big deal for Catholics.

The Holy Father ended the day with a surprise stop to see the nuns at the Little Sisters of the Poor, taking a stand in support of religious freedoms. The sisters, you'll remember, sued the federal government over the birth control mandate in Obamacare.

Later today, next stop on the Holy Father's whirlwind U.S. tour, New York City. So we have pope coverage coming up, but let's get back to Alisyn in New York.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, Chris. We'll be back with you momentarily.

Of course, the pope's historic visit raising lots of political questions about things like immigration and climate change, so let's try to get some answers. Joining us now on the phone is GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

Good morning, Mr. Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): Hi, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Hi, long time no talk. Nice to have you on.

TRUMP: It's been a long time. But that's great.

CAMEROTA: OK, great to have you. Let's talk about the pope's visit. Let's just start there. Because

the pope has been talking about one of your signature issues and that, of course, is immigration. The pope has a different take on immigrants. He, in fact, spoke out to people who might not feel comfortable with immigrants. And let me just read to you his sort of poignant words.

The pope said yesterday, "Perhaps it will not be easy for you to look into their souls. Perhaps you will be challenged by their diversity. But know that they also possess resources meant to be shared. So do not be afraid to welcome them." What do you think of the pope's words?

TRUMP: Well, I think his words are beautiful; and I respect the Pope and I like the Pope very much. I will say this: we have a country that is going through tremendous problems. We owe $19 trillion, so, No. 1, we can't afford this process. We have tremendous crime problems; as you know, the illegal immigrants are coming in. and you just have to look at San Francisco and Kate or so many other instances, California two weeks ago where a woman was absolutely decimated, killed, raped by an illegal immigrant. A veteran, at 66 years of age, by the way.

And many, many -- you know, thousands and thousands of cases. We're having tremendous crime waves. We have a lot of problems coming in. we have drugs pouring over the borders. We have to seal up our borders. We have to do something about illegal immigration. And people like my plan very much, and I think it's a plan that's going to happen.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's talk about your plan, because it's a two-parter. You talk about building a wall. And then you talk...

TRUMP: Build a wall, that's right.

CAMEROTA: Sure. And then you talk about deporting the 11 to 12 million undocumented workers who are here...

TRUMP: Illegal immigrants.

CAMEROTA: Illegal immigrants who are living here. So let's talk. That's the part that you have not been terribly specific about. How would you specifically go about doing 11 million mass deportations?

TRUMP: Through good management and through a process. And the process is the bad ones go, and they never come back. They're never coming back.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

TRUMP: The really good ones -- and there are many -- they will go, and they will come back legally. They will come back on an expedited system. And they'll come back legally, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, but when you say... TRUMP: You know, if you go into the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower, who was a respected president, was doing the same thing. He had to get rid of the illegal immigrants, and he did that. He got them out of the country.

CAMEROTA: But when you say...

TRUMP: There were a lot of problems. It was done in the 1950s by Dwight Eisenhower.

CAMEROTA: But let's talk about what it looks like nowadays. Would you use the National Guard? Would you use the police, the Army?

TRUMP: I would use different forms and it will take place and it will be done effectively and warmly and humanely. And a lot of people will be very happy about it. You know that I had a good Hispanic poll the other day because the Hispanics, as an example, don't want to see -- you know, the ones that are here legally don't want to see this where everyone is pouring into the country illegally.

CAMEROTA: Sure -- look...

TRUMP: We're going to have to do something about it. You know, you use the word "illegal immigrant." That's what it is. You're illegally in the country. So we have to do something about it. We're going to build a wall. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally.

CAMEROTA: Look -- I mean, Mr. Trump, yes, they are here illegally, but often they've been invited in. I mean, you know what our history is with undocumented workers. They've been given jobs; they often pay taxes.

TRUMP: Right. And they've been coming back legally.

CAMEROTA: I mean...

TRUMP: Alisyn, they're going to be coming back in, but they're going to be coming back in legally.

CAMEROTA: But, Mr. Trump, I want you to specifically explain how you are going to get rid of them. Because you know what this hearkens to? What it reminds me at least of, is remember the case of Elian Gonzalez where the little Cuban boy, there was this dispute about he belonged in Cuba, he was Cuban.

[07:05:14] And the federal agents went into his apartment, and it was splashed all over the media. And it gripped the nation, because you watched federal agents pull this boy from his extended family. And you are talking about doing that with 11 million people. Are you going to separate families?

TRUMP: No, we're not separating families. We're taking the families, and we're taking them as a unit. And we did it with -- Dwight Eisenhower did it with over 1 million people in the 1950s, and it was something that was done -- You know, now we're a politically correct society. We can't do anything. We're more bound -- we're a society that can't do anything anymore. We can't function anymore. We have millions of people in the country illegally...

CAMEROTA: Yes, so you're prepared to use the police?

TRUMP: ... tremendous problems -- Listen, they're not paying taxes. They're taking jobs from other people. We have a country that desperately needs jobs. They're taking jobs from other people.

CAMEROTA: Well, look, millions of them are paying taxes.

TRUMP: Alisyn, what I'm saying is this. It starts with we build a wall; and the wall will be very easily built and a very effective wall. It's going to have a big open gate. And people are going to come into the country through that gate. They're going to come in legally. It's going to be a country that's run -- it's going to be a country with a border.

We're not going to have people pouring drugs across the border. Right now the cartels are bringing drugs across the border. They're bringing the drugs, and they're taking out the money. That's the way...

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Look, no one wants the criminal aspect. You're with everyone.

TRUMP: ... billions of dollars. And by the way, do you know that the gangs that you see, all of these terrible gangs that you see, many of those gangs are made up of illegal immigrants, and they're tough dudes. And by the way, they're going -- day one they're going to be out of here. We're going to get rid of them day one.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk...

TRUMP: The rest is, the good people, they're going and they're coming back in an expedited way. They're going to come back legally. And you watch with good management how nicely that could work.

CAMEROTA: OK. We will wait to see what your specific strategy is for that.

But let's talk about another topic that the Pope has talked about, and that's climate change.

TRUMP: Right.

CAMEROTA: The Pope has said that he is clear that this is a problem that cannot be left to a future generation. Do you agree that climate change is a pressing problem?

TRUMP: No. I think that clean air is a pressing problem. You want to have clean air, you want to have clean water, that's very important to me. And I've won many environmental awards. I am not a believer in climate change. Now it's gone global warming

and climate change, and now they call it, actually, extreme weather. That's the new one, because weather seems to be a little more extreme. But actually, if you look, a lot of the big floods and a lot of the big things -- in 1890, they had the greatest flood. In 1904, they had the greatest rainstorm.

You know, look. It's weather, and we have bad floods. I can't watch the evening news anymore. Every time you turn on the evening news, they show -- there's a big rainstorm, there's a tornado, there's this. I mean, you can't watch the news anymore; it's always weather.

And frankly, it's been that way for so long, and -- honestly, it's going to -- weather changes and you have storms, and you have rain, and you have beautiful days. But I do not believe that we should imperil the companies within our country.

And by the way, China is doing nothing. You know, if you look at these other countries, they're doing nothing. All they do is talk. But we're going to imperil jobs. We're going to imperil -- actually, the middle class and lower classes are going to be -- the people with no money, are going to be imperiled by doing this. Because it costs so much and nobody knows exactly if it's going to work.

You have scientists -- I don't know if you remember a number of years ago in Europe, the scientists were passing around e-mails and notes to each other talking about what a hoax it is.

CAMEROTA: Well, look. I know what you're referring to, the East Anglia situation where they -- a couple of scientists...

TRUMP: It was terrible. It was absolutely terrible.

CAMEROTA: ... were using the wrong data. But look...

TRUMP: I'm not even saying that. I'm saying this -- I believe in clean air, immaculate air.

CAMEROTA: Sure.

TRUMP: I believe in clean water. All of those things. But I don't think we can destroy our country. We have -- if we have climate change or if we have global warming, it's going to be of the nuclear form, because we have incompetent politicians watching over us...

CAMEROTA: I hear you.

TRUMP: ... when it comes to nuclear weapons. That's our big problem.

CAMEROTA: So you're saying that you don't think that climate change or global warming is man-made and you actually don't believe that it is a pressing problem. It's good to get you on the record with that.

Let's talk about the new polls that are out this morning and that is -- There's a Quinnipiac poll. We can perhaps put it up here on the screen for you. It is just out at 6 a.m. this morning, and basically what it shows is that your lead has slipped a bit. So before the CNN debate in August, you were at 28 percent. Now, you're at 25 percent. You, of course, are still the Republican frontrunner.

However, there are people who are catching up to you. Ben Carson was at 12 percent. Now he's at 17 percent. Carly Fiorina was at 5 percent. Now she's at 12 percent. Jeb Bush has gone up in the past month to 10 percent. Marco Rubio from 7 percent to 9 percent. Do you think your lead is slipping?

[07:10:06] TRUMP: No, I don't. I actually think it's doing very well. If you look at the FOX poll that just came out, it's an even bigger margin than this. And if you look at the NBC poll, it's a much bigger margin.

Then if you look at Zogby and if you look at Reuters, and if you look at some of these other polls, it's through the roof. No, I don't think I heard your statement, is it slipping? I know you want to get people to watch.

You know, it's sort of interesting. Yesterday your reporter in South Carolina, who is absolutely terrible, she covered the -- my speech. I made a speech to the African-American Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina. Wonderful people. And the room was full. Every seat was full.

When I went to the stage, everybody rushed forward. They all rushed to the front of the room. It was a ballroom. They all rushed to the front of the room. And when they did that, you had half of the seats in the back were empty, because everybody was standing in the front. And we had a great time. It was like a great thing.

She starts off, the CNN reporter, absolutely horrible reporter, she starts off saying, "Oh, look, the room is half empty." The room wasn't half empty. Everybody was standing right next to me in the front of the room.

CAMEROTA: Yes. That's not what...

TRUMP: I want to tell you, you can tell Jeff Zucker, I think it was terrible, disgusting reporting.

CAMEROTA: Listen. That's not what I heard her say. What I heard her say about the Charleston, South Carolina, event what that -- what was surprising about it, was there was mostly white people. So this was the African-American Chamber of Commerce, but it was populated mostly by a white audience.

TRUMP: Well, they had many African-Americans. They had many white people, too. But the room was full. And they all rushed to the front, I mean, which was a great honor. I let them stand there. They stood there the whole speech.

But, you know, she showed empty seats. Well, of course, there were empty seats, because the people are standing in the front of the room. So it was just another hit job, but it's one of those things -- I guess you get used to it after a while. Honestly, Alisyn, a terrible reporter.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Trump, I think she's a wonderful reporter.

TRUMP: All right. Then you and I disagree on something.

CAMEROTA: We do disagree on that.

Let's talk about Governor Huckabee, because Governor Huckabee has also talked about the Pope's visit and what he found, most disturbing to him, was that there were people who may not be aligned with the Catholic Church's values who were invited to see the Pope in Washington, D.C. An openly gay Episcopal bishop, transgendered activist, a nun who's an activist. Let me play for you what Governor Mike Huckabee said about questioning President Obama's faith. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm also concerned about a guy that believes he's a Christian and pretends to be and then says he is, but then does things that makes it very difficult for people to practice their Christian faith. I'm disappointed if a person says, "I'm a Christian," but you invite the Pope into your home, and then you invite a whole bunch of people who are at odds with the Catholic Church -- church policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What do you think about those statements?

TRUMP: Well, you know, I'm very -- I'm doing very well with evangelicals. And I spend a lot of time with evangelicals. And I must tell you, many evangelicals feel the way that Mike does. Many, many of them do. They feel that the president has not been good in terms of Christianity. He's stopping religious freedom to a certain extent. I mean, they feel very, very hurt by the president. Maybe that's the best word -- and disappointed by the president, having to do with Christianity.

And, you know, Mike is expressing himself. And I see that when I'm out on the trail and I meet with evangelicals. I'm leading every poll, every single poll in Iowa, everywhere, with the evangelicals. So I understand what's going on, and they feel very disappointed by the president. So what Mike is saying is not that surprising for me to hear. It's a very severe statement, too. It's a very strong statement.

CAMEROTA: It is.

TRUMP: But in dealing and in making speeches to thousands of evangelicals and taking questions -- they're very hurt by the president, there's no question about it.

CAMEROTA: But do you agree that President Obama is pretending to be a Christian?

TRUMP: I don't get involved in people's faith, Alisyn. It's not for me to discuss his faith. That's for him to discuss. I don't get involved in his faith.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what's going on with you and FOX News. Why are you in this spat with them?

TRUMP: Well, only because FOX News has not treated me fairly.

CAMEROTA: What does that mean? How so?

TRUMP: Excuse me, speaking of polls, I think they just announced a poll this morning or something and to the best of my knowledge, I'm No. 1 in that poll, which is an interesting little -- and by a lot -- which is an interesting dichotomy.

But FOX News has not treated me fairly. And certain people have not. They have pundits on the show. I mean, one of them made a total fool of himself last night. He totally lost it. I watched it -- it looked like he was having a nervous breakdown on television. And he used words that were so unbelievable that he -- maybe he'll be fined or censured or thrown off. He's a total fool, a guy named Rich Lowry, who I never even heard of. But he said something that I've never heard on television before. I was shocked.

[07:15:10] But he lost it. It was wonderful watching this guy lose it because, you know, he's a bad guy.

But they are not fair to me. And I've expressed it to them. They understand. For instance, they won't put up certain poll numbers. And the poll numbers are phenomenal for Trump. I say, "Why aren't you putting those numbers?"

"Well, we're not going to put up the numbers."

And the poll numbers are fantastic for me, and I said that's not fair...

CAMEROTA: I think it's a reasonable -- I think the poll number that you were talking about and the reason they don't want to use it, it was an online survey; and that's not, you know, sort of considered one of the legitimate polls, the go-to polls that we use.

But back to FOX for a second. You say that they're treating you unfairly. Do you not want to hear other voices that criticize you? Is that - I mean, if they have a pundit on who doesn't criticize you...

TRUMP: I do. I do. No, I do. And I don't mind being criticized. And I don't mind it at all. And I won't use names, but there's certain people that criticize unfairly.

If I do something wrong, Alisyn -- I have very thick skin. I don't mind being criticized. I'll never, ever complain, because I know when I do something wrong. I'm a smart person. I mean, I do something wrong -- I do thinks wrong -- and when I do, I don't mind, they can come at me 15 different ways. But when I'm right or when I don't deserve something, I think it's very, very unfair to speak incorrectly. CAMEROTA: Yes.

TRUMP: So I will correct people. I believe in that.

CAMEROTA: When you say you do a lot of things wrong, what's the last thing you've done wrong in this campaign?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I'd rather not get into that. But I'm sure I've made mistakes, although look, I'm leading in every single poll. I don't know if you saw the Florida poll that just came out where I'm absolutely killing Bush and Rubio; and it's their state.

And you know -- so I don't know. I mean, what have I done wrong? I can think of, I guess, some things that I might have done a little bit differently.

CAMEROTA: Yes?

TRUMP: But overall we're very happy with the campaign.

Look, I have a very simple theme. I want to make America great again. We're run by incompetent people. We have incompetent politicians running this country led by the man at the top. And we can do such a job to bring this country back and to make our country great again and that's what I want to do. It's very simple.

CAMEROTA: I know that that's your slogan, Mr. Trump, "Make America great again," and I'm curious. Wen was America great? In your mind, when was the heyday? What was the year that America was great?

TRUMP: Well, it's been -- it's been hurt badly. I mean, honestly -- and it's before this president, too. Going into Iraq was a tremendous mistake. And by the way, I was the only one with a vision of all of these candidates -- I was the one with the vision, don't do it. But going into Iraq was a tremendous mistake for our country. It destabilized the Middle East. And that was Bush's fault. It destabilized the Middle East.

CAMEROTA: OK.

TRUMP: Iran is taking over Iraq, they're going to take over those massive oil reserves, everything else. And by the way, ISIS has a good chunk of them, too.

CAMEROTA: OK.

TRUMP: That was all created -- that was a bad mistake, and I think that has been...

CAMEROTA: Yes. And you are on the record about that. So...

TRUMP: I think Iraq has been -- You know, we spent $2 trillion -- Instead of rebuilding our country, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over -- who I love.

CAMEROTA: Of course. You're on the record that the Iraq war was a mistake. So prior to the Iraq War, are you saying the Clinton years were when America was great?

TRUMP: I would say that Reagan and Clinton, it was -- We didn't -- the country wasn't decimated like it is now. The country didn't owe $19 trillion, Alisyn. The country -- I mean, right now, we owe $1.5 trillion to China. We owe $1.5 trillion to Japan. Think of it: They suck our money out; they suck our jobs out; and we owe them money. That's like a magic trick. Right? We owe them. So we owe them $1.5 trillion each, and yet they do nothing but take our money.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Trump, very quickly, back to FOX News for a second. Don't you need FOX News viewers and FOX News to win the primary? How can you...

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, honestly, I really don't know. I'm on "60 Minutes" on Sunday and "60 Minutes," I mean, I don't know if it's going to be a good show or a bad show. But I'm on "60 Minutes," and it's a very powerful show.

I went on, as you know, "Stephen Colbert" the other night, and he killed the ratings. The ratings were the highest they've had in -- just massive ratings. And it killed "The Tonight Show," I mean, by a lot --

CAMEROTA: Yes. I watched that. I watched that. And he serves you up what he called "a big old meatball of a softball" to ask you whether or not, once and for all, you believe that President Obama was born in the United States now that you have seen his birth certificate, and you didn't want to answer it. Why not?

TRUMP: No, I don't answer that question.

CAMEROTA: You're the straight talker.

TRUMP: I don't talk about that question because it diverts everything. I talk about jobs; I talk about our military; I talk about helping our vets. I don't talk about that question. It's just something I won't talk about anymore, because every time people get onto that question, that's all they want to talk about is the birth certificate and was it real, was it not real? Everything -- All they want to talk about is that. So I don't talk about it.

[07:20:02] What I talk about is jobs. I talk about our vets who, by the way, are living like third-class citizens, and I'll straighten it out. I talk about many other things. I talk about trade, but I don't talk about that subject.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's talk about Scott Walker. He dropped out of the race, as you know. And he suggested when he did so that people in the bottom tier follow his lead and also drop out so that someone else can sort of coalesce as a frontrunner to beat you. Let me play for you what Scott Walker said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What do you think of that plan?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I think he's a nice person. And, you know, honestly, I can understand how he feels. I came into Iowa -- everyone said that Scott Walker was going to win Iowa -- I came into Iowa. And almost immediately, I was just killing him at the polls and beating him in Iowa. With the crowds, with the polls, with everything. And they say that it was my entering the race that destroyed his campaign.

I didn't go after Scott Walker very much. But for whatever reason, when I came in, he went down. And then he went down to almost nothing. He went down to zero. And he was leading. He was like I am now. I don't want to have the same result happen. But be very careful that it doesn't happen. But Scott Walker was actually leading and he went down to zero.

So obviously, he made a lot of mistakes. But the thing that hurt him, I guess, according to what they're all saying, was me. So I can understand fully what he's saying. I mean, I do understand it.

CAMEROTA: Yes. It seems like now you have your sights set on Marco Rubio. You have been critical of him. And he's been critical of you. He says that in terms of foreign policy, you are not offering any specifics about what you would do in, say, Syria, about how you would fight ISIS. Let me play for you what Marco Rubio has said about your foreign policy credentials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the most important thing a president will ever do is provide for the national security of our country. And I think up to now he hasn't really answered serious questions about national security. And until he does, there should be concerns.

Some have done better than others. Look, Carly Fiorina is not in government. She knows more about it than he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Mr. Trump, what are your specifics? What would you do?

TRUMP: Let me just say about Marco Rubio. He's got the worst voting record in the United States Senate. He's never there, meaning he doesn't work or he's too lazy to go back and vote. Marco Rubio wants to tell every single thing that he knows to everybody so that the people on the other side, so that the enemy can learn all about it. I want to be unpredictable.

An article was written about me a couple of weeks ago, a very good article about my business acumen. And they said he's so unpredictable, he's impossible to fight because he's unpredictable. I don't want to be telling -- I know more about Syria than Marco Rubio knows about Syria. I know about us beating ISIS and us knocking out ISIS or trying to knock out ISIS; and yet ISIS wants to go against Assad. And Assad, frankly, is looking at us and saying, "I can't believe it. The Americans are killing my enemy. This is the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

We are run by incompetent people. I don't want to really -- I have a good chance of winning. I don't want the other side to know exactly what I'm going to do so that they can start thinking about it, planning for it. I want to be unpredictable.

CAMEROTA: Of course.

TRUMP: Being unpredictable is a good thing, not a bad thing.

CAMEROTA: Look, I understand wanting to be unpredictable with the enemy and not telegraph to them exactly what we're doing, but for voters...

TRUMP: I know, but when I start talking, they want to know answers. And I'll give answers generally because you have to do that, unfortunately, to get elected.

CAMEROTA: Yes, for voters. I mean, voters want to know what your strategy is.

TRUMP: But I know more about -- Don't forget, Alisyn -- and you remember this -- I was the one that said don't go into Iraq. And that is was 2003 and 2004.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but how do you now know more about Syria than Marco Rubio?

TRUMP: Look, Marco Rubio sits behind a desk sometimes and he reads stuff. He's in, you know, committees so -- that's all he does. I create jobs all day long. I'll know more about all of this than all of them put together, and believe me, we'll have a winning strategy. If Marco Rubio is good, how come we're doing so badly? He's a sitting U.S. Senator, so...

CAMEROTA: He's on the Foreign Relations Committee.

TRUMP: ... why doesn't he do something about it? I'm not in government. He is in government.

CAMEROTA: But will you clue in the voters as to what you will do? Or do you just want people to trust you?

TRUMP: I'm going to clue them in, because I have to, to a certain extent. But I don't want -- If I win this thing, I don't want the other side to know what my views are, where I'm coming from, what I do.

I watch Obama saying, "We're going to do this, we're going to do that." Every time they kill a mid-level accounting person from ISIS, they have a news conference to announce it instead of being quiet about it for a few months and knocking off everyone. Then everybody else scrambles. And you can't get anybody else.

You've got to be cool and you've got to be unpredictable. And you just -- you just can't go in and say exactly, "Here's my plan." And I do have plans.

And by the way, plans are always subject to massive change. And they change. You've got to win. And I know how to win. These guys don't know how to win. Marco Rubio, he's like a kid. He shouldn't even be running in this race, as far as I'm concerned. He's a kid.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about something funny, and that is that "Saturday Night Live" has just announced who will be playing you this season. It's their comedian Taran Killam. He's really funny and clever. He does all sorts of different impersonations. I believe he's played John Boehner. He's played Tom Brady. He's played a whole variety. Are you familiar with his work?

TRUMP: I am, yes.

CAMEROTA: And what do you think about, that he's going to be parodying you?

TRUMP: Well, I look forward to that. "Saturday Night Live" is terrific. And I look forward to it, and I hope he does a good job. And Darrell Hammond was great. And I thought Darrell was fantastic. So I hope -- I hope he does a good job.

CAMEROTA: Darrell Hammond did do -- did do a really impeccable Donald Trump. Don't you think?

TRUMP: He was very good. He was. A nice guy, too. I see him around. And a very, very nice guy. But we was very good. People really related to that somehow. I'm not sure that I always benefited, to be honest with you, but...

CAMEROTA: But you saw the -- you saw the similarity.

TRUMP: I saw the similarity with Darrell -- I saw the similarity. He was -- I thought he was terrific, but we're going to see what happens. I mean, I'll let you know. I'm not sure I'll like it. I might not. But you know what? If I don't like it, I'll let you know.

CAMEROTA: OK. I would like to know that.

TRUMP: OK.

CAMEROTA: Has SNL asked you to go on this season? Would you consider it?

TRUMP: I'm not allowed to say that.

CAMEROTA: Oh, really, why is that?

TRUMP: Because I'm not allowed to say that.

CAMEROTA: Because you're in negotiations with them? TRUMP: Well, I'm just not allowed to say it. I mean, I have --

silencio. I can't -- I can't speak about it.

CAMEROTA: Silencio.

TRUMP: Which, perhaps, you understand what that means.

CAMEROTA: I believe I am reading you loud and clear. It's always interesting, Mr. Trump, when you won't answer something because...

TRUMP: I know. People don't understand it. They get totally confused when I don't answer something.

CAMEROTA: I understand, because you pride yourself on being the straight-talker.

TRUMP: Well, we want to be a little unpredictable, and that's what we need in our policy. Think of it: General Douglas MacArthur, I consider him a great general. General Patton, George Patton, they listened to all these clowns, they guys like Rubio, wanting to know every little detail about how we're going to fight the enemy, how -- they're spinning in their grave. We're going to go into Syria, and then we're going to do this. And we're going to do that.

And then he'll say, and we're going to fight Russia. And by the way, Russia wants to kill ISIS, because they have a bigger problem than we do with ISIS. So then we're going to go in and we're going to start World War III by fighting Russia over Syria.

This is the kind of people we have running the country. He's a kid. He has no right -- I mean, frankly, he was very disloyal to Bush. Bush was his mentor. And everyone said he'd never run, because Bush was his mentor. Well, the fact that Bush was his mentor didn't stop this young guy, who's overly ambitious, from wanting to run. Now Bush looks foolish, and he looks like he's a very disloyal guy, frankly.

CAMEROTA: Well, Donald Trump, great to get your comments on all of this. We appreciate talking to you. We appreciate having you on NEW DAY. And please do keep us posted when you can talk about some of the things that you didn't want to reveal today.

TRUMP: I will, Alisyn. And thank you very much. A great honor.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

TRUMP: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We should also mention that we have extended invitations to Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, also to come on to NEW DAY.

So straight ahead, we'll get reaction to what Donald Trump just told us right here. We'll break down his interview. That's next.

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