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Questions About Ben Carson's Violent Childhood; Carson: U.S. Should Not Bring in More Refugees; Carson: Media Needs To Stop Being A Know-It-All. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Meanwhile, Ben Carson today is facing new questions about shifting accounts of his violent past. This has really been a cornerstone of his presidential campaign. It's talking about these instances when he was younger when attempted to stab someone, when he attempted to attack his mother with a hammer. Maeve Reston and Scott Glover of CNN went back, they spoke to his neighbors, they spoke to his childhood friends, they were trying to corroborate these stories. They couldn't find anyone who had any knowledge of these events.

Now, when we wrote the story, Ben Carson came out yesterday, he was on FOX, he called it a smear campaign. He said that CNN was accusing him of being a pathological liar. Of course CNN has not called him a liar and even his friends at that point did not say he was lying, they just said that this violent history was unrecognizable compared to quiet, young Ben Carson that they knew. Going forward, I think we'll going to have a lot of additional questions. We've reached out to the campaign, Maeve Reston and Scott have reached out to the campaign. They tried to get more information about people who were victims or were witnesses. But so far, the campaign has not cooperated.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN CO-ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": OK. Sara, thanks so much for all of that background.

And we are joined now on the phone by Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson. Good morning, Dr. Carson.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (on the phone): Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for calling in. Let's talk about the poll numbers. There are some new poll numbers that I'm sure are making you smile this morning. First, there's this Gallup poll that was out yesterday and it shows that you are the most likable candidate in the race. Everyone likes you. You are not just popular with Republicans. You're popular with all sorts of Americans. You have the highest favorability rating of any candidate, higher than Donald Trump. You're higher than Hillary Clinton. You're higher than Bernie Sanders. We're just showing the top four there. You're higher than Carly Fiorina, Rubio, Sanders. You have a 21 percent -- points I should say net favorability rating there. That has to make you feel good. How do you explain why you are resonating so much with voters across the gamut? CARSON: I suspect it's because I'm not a politician. And people

don't like politicians. You know, they like people who are straight forward and people who are like them. And you know, that's the way I'm going to continue to be. I'm never going to be a politician. And, you know, we have such serious issues to deal with in this country right now. And I'm going to continue to focus on those serious issues and not get caught up in the political, you know, garbage that is distracting. Because, you know, right now, I think many people recognize that we're in the precipice of disaster. And we just can't continue with the same stuff. You know, be it Democrat or Republican.

CAMEROTA: And when you see we're on the precipice of disaster, what do you think is the biggest looming disaster?

CARSON: There are several. But one of the things that very seldom gets talked about is our financial foundation, which is very precarious right now. Do you hear anybody talking about the fiscal gap? You don't hear the traditional politicians talking about that, probably because they want to get re-elected. But you know, the people have to understand what's going on in our country in order to make wise decisions. This would be a great thing, for instance, for CNN to start talking about, if you really wanted to be of service to the people.

CAMEROTA: Well, look, CNN talks about the news every day.

CARSON: But not about fiscal gap.

CAMEROTA: We talk plenty about the fiscal gap and about the economy. But I know what you're referring to, Dr. Carson. And so, let's just get it out of the way. I mean, let's talk about this investigation into your childhood and your past. It's something that many, many people are interested in because you have a fascinating childhood story. You grew up poor in Detroit and you've written about it in your autobiography, called "Gifted Hands." And in particular you talk about how you overcame what you called your pathological anger, which you describe as a disease, and that's interesting to hear from your medical point of view.

And you have several examples of what you did in your past. You say you punched a classmate in the forehead while holding a metal lock in your hand. His name was Jerry. You almost hit your mom with a hammer over a pair of pants I believe that you didn't like. You threw a rock at a neighborhood kid, you say breaking his glasses, smashing his nose. Then the most violent episode, you say that when you were 14 you almost killed your friend Bob with a camping knife. You tried to stab him in the stomach for changing the radio station. Now, as you know, CNN has been trying to find people who were involved in these incidents or witnessed these. They've tried to find Jerry.

CARSON: And tell me what makes you think that you're going to find those specific people. Tell me how your methodology works. Because I don't understand it.

CAMEROTA: OK. CARSON: You go and talk to people primarily who knew me in high school who don't know anything about, for instance, the lock situation that occurred at Wilson Junior High School. I don't understand how talking to people who knew me, particularly after the time that I had become a much more calm person, how does that corroborate the story that I'm lying about this?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CARSON: I want to know what the methodology is there.

[07:05:25] CAMEROTA: OK. I'm happy to explain what Maeve Reston has explained to us. She and another reporter went back and did talk to your elementary school friends at well as --

CARSON: -- elementary school friends.

CAMEROTA: I believe it's all laid out actually on CNN.com.

CARSON: No, I saw your article. I didn't see any elementary school friends there.

CAMEROTA: They say this is --

CARSON: This is a bunch of lies. This is what it is, a bunch of lies, attempting, you know, to say that I'm lying about my history. I think it's pathetic and basically what the media does is they try to get you distracted with all of this stuff so that you don't talk about the things that are important. Because we have so many important things. And you know, I'm not proud of the fact that I had these rage episodes. But I am proud of the fact that I was able to get over them.

CAMEROTA: Look, of course.

CARSON: And my message has been that you can escape from that kind of anger.

CAMEROTA: Yes. People are resonating with that message.

CARSON: And, you know, some of the victims were members of my family. I understand that. I will not let them be victimized again by the media. And if you choose to believe that I'm incapable of these acts, I guess that's kind of a compliment to me.

CAMEROTA: Look, people believe that it's fascinating to hear about your story of transformation, how you went from an angry young man to the soft spoken doctor, renowned surgeon that we see today. But what's interesting is that our reporter did go to your campaign and ask, can we talk to these people? And your campaign was not willing to make them available. This is the Seminole of your youth, of how you can -- why not -- why can't we talk to them?

CARSON: So, why do I want to victimize these people by exposing them to you?

CAMEROTA: Why is it victimizing them by saying, tell us more about the story? We're interested.

CARSON: The story is well document. If you choose not to believe it, if it doesn't fit the narrative that you want, that's fine. OK? Let's let the American people decide.

CAMEROTA: But Dr. Carson, your story has changed, for instance. First you say that Bob was your close friend who you almost killed. And then yesterday you said, actually his name wasn't Bob. I changed the names. And that's fine. People do that all the time, Dr. Carson in their memoirs.

CARSON: You changed names throughout all the books, even of patients because -- unless I have specific permission from them to use their names, that's an inappropriate thing to do.

CAMEROTA: Of course. And people change the names in their memoirs all the time but they note that. They note that at the beginning if they say the fictitious names are going to be used. But nevertheless, then you changed it to say that he was not actually your close friend he was a family member. So --

CARSON: He was a family member.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CARSON: And, you know, I really don't want to expose him further. You know, I talked to him. You know, he would prefer to stay out of the media. And I think -- I want to respect that. What I really want to do is help people, American people, although they seem to understand it a lot already, that one of the tactics that is used by you guys in the media, particularly when someone is doing very well, is let's find a way to get them distracted and get all the people distracted so that we can get away from the real issues. And I'm simply not going to allow that to occur.

CAMEROTA: Look Dr. Carson, I know you call this tactics. It's called vetting in politics. You know it well just from the short time that you've been involved in this campaign.

CARSON: Is that what was done with the current president? Is that what you guys did with him?

CAMEROTA: Yes. As a matter of fact --

CARSON: No, you didn't. Gave me a break.

CAMEROTA: President Obama's autobiography "Dreams of my Father" was also vetted. You might recall Dr. Carson.

CARSON: Give me a break. Are you kidding me?

CAMEROTA: Don't you remember that there was a whole question about his girlfriend and that people went back to try to find the President's girlfriend and it turned out that she may have been a composite character. And that was revealed and the President had to talk about that. CARSON: What you all did with the President Obama doesn't even come

close -- doesn't even come close to what you guys are trying to do in my case. And you're just going to keep going back, trying to find, he said this 12 years ago. You know, it is just garbage. We have too many things that are important to deal with.

CAMEROTA: Look, Dr. Carson, it speaks to, obviously it's an interesting story and it's the Seminole story of your youth, which is why people are interested. But mostly it is about vetting and it is trying to find out if candidates are fact-based and if they can be trusted and if they're telling the truth.

CARSON: OK. So you've done your job. OK. Kudos. Let's move on.

CAMEROTA: OK, but last, does Bob exist? Is Bob a real person?

CARSON: That's not the real name but yes, he's a very real person. I talked to him yesterday.

CAMEROTA: And so wouldn't it be interesting to hear his version -- or his -- how he felt during this event?

[07:10:12] CARSON: It would be if he wanted to expose himself. And any of the other people, the person who was hit in the forehead with the lock, the person whose glasses were broken. You know, hopefully your story has gotten out there and they can, if they want to expose themselves, they perfectly are welcome to do it. But I will not be the source of victimizing them.

CAMEROTA: Okay. So, you don't believe that we will be able to find any of the people who witnessed or were involved in the events?

CARSON: They may come forward on their own. We'll see.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about the issues that you are likely to confront in the presidency. The ongoing wars in the Middle East, for instance, what would you do about what's going on in Syria?

CARSON: Well, first of all, recognize that Syria is an extraordinarily complex place. You know, we have the Russians in there. We have the Chinese in there. You have multiple different factions in there. And you know, you have ISIS in there and they're fighting against the free Syrian rebels. You know, they're fighting against the Arab Sunni moderates. The Iraqi Siri Forces. They're fighting against Israel. And we ought to take note of the fact that they're fighting so many different factions, decide how we can work in a way that is disadvantaged to them, knowing that they're fighting all of these different factions. That's the kind of strategy that we need. But we also need to recognize that it's not just Syria. We have to realize that we're dealing with global jihad movement. ISIS is an important part of that. And the whole idea of a caliphate is very, very important to them, particularly in terms of their recruiting efforts.

CAMEROTA: Yes. CARSON: Therefore, we need to make them look like losers and not like

winners. So, we need to be looking at strategies for disassembling the caliphate that they have already established.

CAMEROTA: Right.

CARSON: Which is half of Iraq, a third of Syria with footholds in Somalia, in Nigeria and Tunisia.

CAMEROTA: And how would you do that, Dr. Carson? I mean, how would you get around containing them?

CARSON: Well, we need to use every resource available to us, including our financial resource. We need to try to strangulate them in terms of oil resources, for instance, you look at all the oil outside of Anbar in Iraq. You know, those areas are controlled by ISIS right now. We don't have to allow them to continue to control those areas. And well, it may require that we use some of our own forces but one of the things that I think is unrealistic is for us to sit there and say we need to have a coalition of the people in that area.

CAMEROTA: Why is that unrealistic?

CARSON: And that will be able to control them. But that will never happen unless that coalition has a leader. You can't sit there and call for a coalition and then sit on your butt and smoke a cigar.

CAMEROTA: What about, Dr. Carson, the refugee crisis? What should the U.S. be doing about the people who have had to flee their homes from Syria?

CARSON: Well, recognize, a large number of them have congregated on the Turkey/Syrian border with there are lots of hostilities going on. I would start a no-fly zone there and I would enforce it. I would make sure that everybody knew that it was happening so as to avoid accidents. But that also helps to separate, you know, the forces, which is much less likely to create an international incident.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Should the U.S. open their doors to some of these -- to more of these refugees?

CARSON: No. We already have tens of millions of people here who are suffering economically. Why would we bring more, particularly bring in people who could easily be infiltrated with members of global Jihad? That would be a silly thing to do.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, one of the reasons --

CARSON: I think instead we should use some of our resources and some of our expertise to help them get resettled in that area. But the real goal would be to help to moderate what's going on in Syria so they can stay in their own country. Half of the population has been displaced.

CAMEROTA: I mean, one of the reasons is because, you know, obviously there are the debate in Europe about how many to take in and they desperately need shelter at the moment. And you know, I don't have to tell you, of course, that the Bible says welcome the stranger. It's Matthew 24:41. It says, we cannot say to those in need you are not our problem.

[07:15:06] CARSON: Yes. The Bible also talks about being wise. You don't just do stupid things. That would be a stupid thing to bring in a bunch of people from an area where they would be stupid, the jihadists would be stupid if they didn't infiltrate those people with the kind of people they want to get in here to accomplish their goal.

CAMEROTA: I want to move on and ask you about a videotape of you from last year that has just surfaced. It's been uncovered by the magazine Mother Jones. It's you giving a speech at the Nixon Presidential Library in which you talk about Liberals trying to take over the country. And you talk about your impression of some Americans. So let me play a little clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: They underestimated the intelligence of the American people. The people are not as stupid as they think they are. Many of them are stupid but --

(LAUGHTER)

I'm talking about overall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So that was obviously a punchline. That got a big joke. But who were you referring to? Which Americans do you think are stupid?

CARSON: The people -- particularly a lot of the people who don't realize what they're doing. For instance, those people who take the disadvantaged people in our country and they say, you poor little thing. I'm going to give you everything that you possibly need. Not recognizing what that is really doing is keeping those people in a dependent position. That's not helping those people. And all you have to do is look at what's happened since, you know, the great society programs of Lyndon Johnson. We spent $19 trillion and we have ten times more people on food stamps, more people in poverty, more broken homes, out of wedlock births, crime, incarceration. Everything is not only worse, it's much worse. You have to be kind of stupid to look at that and not realize that that's a failure and to say we just didn't do enough of it. That's what I call stupid.

CAMEROTA: So, just to be clear, people who support food stamps or Medicaid --

CARSON: I didn't say that. Now you're trying to put words into my mouth. Why do you do that?

CAMEROTA: I'm trying to clarify.

CARSON: Listen to what I just told you.

CAMEROTA: Because I think what you're saying are Liberals. And it sounds what you're saying is --

CARSON: I can't believe that you used to work on FOX as you've turned into that. I can't believe it.

CAMEROTA: I'm glad you brought that up, Dr. Carson. Because you also said something about FOX News that I'd like to play from that very same speech. Let's play that clip about your thoughts on FOX News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: Even if all the media has tried to shut you down which they have tried very much to do with me, but they can't because the good lord has provided me with mechanisms like my syndicated column and like FOX News. We would be Cuba if there were no FOX News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Now, as you points out, I did worked at FOX for many years and I do have many friends there still who are excellent journalists. But I'm not sure that even they think that without their reporting that we would be Cuba. You mean that if FOX News didn't exist, we would be a communist country?

CARSON: No. Again, there you go with sensationalism. That's what you try to do. And you hope somehow that somehow that will resonate with people who don't think for themselves.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, you said it. I'm actually quoting you.

CARSON: People are a lot smarter than you think they are, a lot smarter and they know exactly what I'm talking about.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, I'm actually quoting -- I'm not even quoting you, I'm playing your words. You are the person who said that there are a lot of people who are stupid and the without FOX News, we would be Cuba.

CARSON: Are you honestly telling me that you didn't know what I was talking about when I said that? Are you honestly telling me that -- because if you are, you might fit in that category?

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, I really don't know what you're talking about. FOX News came to dominance in 2001. You think before 2001 the U.S. was a communist country?

CARSON: That's not what I said. But that's what you guys love to do. Why do you do that?

CAMEROTA: So, Dr. Carson --

CARSON: What I'm saying, listen, let me explain it to you.

CAMEROTA: Please. CARSON: What I am saying, is that the general mainstream media all

seems to move in the secular progressive direction. And you know they would like to create a narrative that certain things are good and certain things are bad. According to the way that they see them. And by being able to be the bully pulpit, so to speak, and be the only voice that's out there, you can get a lot of people to start thinking the way that you do. Now, along comes FOX News and presents an alternative, a different way of thinking. And if we didn't have that counterbalance, I wish we didn't need that counterbalance.

[07:20:14] Because the way it's supposed to work is that the media is supposed to be neutral and they're supposed to be on the side of the people. And that is the reason that they are the only business that's protected by the United States constitution. But because they have become very partisan and very ideological, you need to have a counterbalance. And that's what I mean having FOX come in to counterbalance what you've done. Others have come in and joined since that time. And it's good that they have but it's unfortunate that that has to happen.

CAMEROTA: Well, Dr. Carson, therein lies the very question. And that is that when you say there are some people in America who are stupid, because of their ideology, when you are president, if you win the presidency, you will have to be the president of everyone. You will have to be the president of Liberals, of conservatives, of FOX News watchers, of CNN watchers and so putting people into categories because of what they believe in, in terms of social programs and saying that they're stupid, how will you not be partisan? How will you bring those sides together?

CARSON: I just explained to you who I believe the stupid people are. And they're not the people that you think are the stupid people.

CAMEROTA: You said the people that you thought are stupid --

CARSON: They're much better and much smarter than you think they are.

CAMEROTA: Yes. But the people -- correct me if I'm wrong.

CARSON: That's why they're not falling for all the garbage.

CAMEROTA: But Dr. Carson, correct me if I'm wrong. You said that the people who you think are stupid are the people who were calling for more social programs that you don't agree with and I assume that you're talking about --

CARSON: No, no, no, no.

CAMEROTA: Clarify.

CARSON: That's not what I said. What I said. Listen carefully to what I said. Write it down. Put it in quotation marks.

CAMEROTA: We're all ears.

CARSON: What I said is that those individuals who see many of the downtrodden in our society and they -- them on the head saying you poor little thing, I'm going to give you all the things that you need and not recognize that what that has done is led them, actually, into a dependent position in our society. We can't afford to be making people dependent. But those people are not capable of opening their eyes and recognizing what they are doing to these people and it is not beneficial to them. You know, we only have 330 million people in America. We have to compete against China and India who have over a billion people each.

Now, we need to develop all of our people. We can't afford, for instance, to have 20 percent of people dropping out of high school. We can't afford to have five percent of the population and 25 percent incarcerated inmates. We can't have our educational systems that failing our people. You know, we need to be looking at these things not in a partisan way but recognizing that America needs to be strong and it can only be strong when it's united. And I would hope that at some point the people in your profession would recognize that they would do a much greater service for our nation if they would be trying to find ways to solve some of these problems I'm talking about.

CAMEROTA: Well, Dr. Carson, I mean, one of the things that journalism is about is asking questions in order to get answers and try to solve problems, for instance, everyone is concerned about education in this country. All of the candidates say that. What makes your platform about what you would do with our schools different?

CARSON: So -- you didn't hear a word I said. You're just waiting for me to stop so you could make your point.

CAMEROTA: Did you clarify your education platform?

CARSON: You guys in the media, just stop for a minute and ask yourself, am I actually doing a good thing? Am I actually doing something to help to strengthen the fabric of America? Ask yourselves that. Or am I being used and am I being manipulated for somebody's ideological view point?

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson --

CARSON: If you stop and ask yourselves that and stop thinking that you are the know it alls, I think you'll be a real service to the people.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, we ask the questions in the media. If you think that there is --

CARSON: No, you don't ask questions. Don't tell me you just asked questions.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, you just challenged my industry and journalism as a whole --

CARSON: And I will continue to challenge it.

CAMEROTA: Fine. That's your prerogative. But to your question, of course we have meetings every day all the time about how to best get the answers, how to best test the candidates. How to best ask the questions. We do that sort of soul searching all the time.

CARSON: Why is it then that I can easily figure out which side you're always going to come down on?

CAMEROTA: Because it sounds as --

CARSON: Why would that be the case if you were objective?

[07:25:06] CAMEROTA: It sounds as though you don't like some questions. There are some questions that you think are out of bounds, questions about your past.

CARSON: I think the questions would be fine if they're asked to everybody. I want you to ask Hillary Clinton the same questions you ask me. Will you do that? Will you promise that you're going to do that?

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course. Of course we ask Hillary Clinton questions about -- yes.

CARSON: Everybody heard it. Everybody heard it. We're waiting.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, of course we ask Hillary Clinton questions about what she wants to do with foreign policy, what she wants to do with education. About her books. Of course we ask those questions and --

CARSON: Do you ask her the questions about veracity of what she's done? I want you to go back and ask her some real questions about what happen at Benghazi. I want you to ask her, did her philosophy include not knowing anything about what was going on in all the foreign territories over which she was responsible?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Dr. Carson --

CARSON: Will you ask her that? Will you ask her when did a time arrive in our nation when we said it's too dangerous to go and rescue our people? When in fact you had those two Navy SEALs on top of that compound shooting those machine guns, allowing their colleagues to escape. But I'm sure they were saying if we can just hold out, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. Ask her why help was not on the way. When did our philosophy change? What is the implication of that? Please ask her those questions. I would appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Well, Dr. Carson, look, Hillary Clinton has been asked a lot of questions about Benghazi. Are you saying that you don't believe what has come out in terms of the investigation that they did their best to try to save the Americans that night?

CARSON: I don't believe that she has answered the questions that I just posed.

CAMEROTA: And you feel that the Americans were left when something more could be done?

CARSON: Of course there was more that could be done. Are you kidding me? Do you actually believe that there was not more that could be done?

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, sorry, somebody was speaking to me. The United States military as you know from the investigation says that they did all they could. This isn't Hillary Clinton saying that. That the United States military saying that. But, again, Dr. Carson, I'm asking you the questions. It sounds like you're objecting to the very questions being asked about how you feel. These are questions.

CARSON: I've already told you the answers.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson --

CARSON: You just haven't heard the answer that you want to hear. That's all.

CAMEROTA: Well, here's a question. What makes you think that you are the best person who will bring all of these different disparate ideologies and people together?

CARSON: It's not about me and it's not about what I think. It's about the American people. And what they think.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but you're running for president because you believe you can do it better than other people. So, what is it about you that you think that even though there are ideologies that are different than yours, that you will be the best person?

CARSON: Interestingly enough, you say that's why I'm running for president. I'll tell you the reason I'm running for president. Because I have hundreds of thousands of petitions from my fellow Americans asking me to run for president. It wasn't something that I particularly wanted to do to be honest with you. But once I make the commitment to do it, I will go full force ahead to try to do it. And I believe that America is an incredible nation with incredible people in it. And if we're able to work together, you know, the things that we'll be able to accomplish are amazing. But we have to be able to identify what those things are.

We have to look at, for instance, you know, a lot of people in your business will sit there and say, Republicans just want to get rid of regulations so they can help out their buddies in business. No. The reason that regulations are so onerous is because every single federal regulation costs in terms of goods and services. And who gets hit by that? The cost is the same for everybody. But when you go into the store to buy a bar of soap, and the price has gone up 10 cents, because of some new regulation that's been put in place, it hurts the poor. It hurts the middle class. It doesn't hurt the rich.

And you know, when that middle class person comes up to the counter and they have a whole cart full of things all of which cost five cents, 10 or 15 cents more, it affects their ability to live comfortably. These are things that you guys ought to be talking about. You ought to make it clear to people what is really causing the problem. It's not the rich as some of the people in your media would like to have people believe. If you look at the fiscal gap of over $200 trillion and you take all the assets of the top one percent and you apply it against that, it barely makes a dent in it. We need to be dealing with the real issues here in terms of the quality of life for Americans.

[07:30:14] CAMEROTA: Dr. Carson, it is always interesting to get your perspective. We appreciate you sharing it on "New Day." You just said America is an amazing place with incredible people. I think that everyone across the aisle can all agree with that statement. Thank you so much for your time.

CARSON: Thank you.