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Sgt. Bergdahl Breaks His Silence; Trump Threatens to run an Independent; John Kasich Interview from Trump to Terrorists; Muslims Raise Money for San Bernardino Victims. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 10, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] SEN. JAMES INHOFE, (R), OKLAHOMA: And disruptive is a good word to use because he was disrupting something that was very significant -- Kay and I have 20 kids and grandkids. I'm concerned about their safety. I'm concerned about what's happened to the military under this president. I think he should be an example of what happens if you desert your job.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm not sure if you're familiar with the first season of "Serial" but it was about a murder in Baltimore, the person who was in jail for it. And yesterday, following his appearance in this broadcast, was given the chance to reintroduce some evidence. Do you worry, with Bowe Bergdahl being a part of this broadcast, that he'll be getting some sympathetic treatment because of it?

INHOFE: People seem to bend over backwards to give sympathetic treatment. If you've been in that situation before, you know that you have to depend on everyone else. You talk to anyone who's in combat, who's over there right now, these troops we've sent over -- thank goodness we got them over there, in Iraq -- they depend on each other. When I go over there, eat in the mess halls with them, they depend on the guy sitting next to them. They don't depend as much on the rank and -- it's the relationship with each other. He deserted his friends. He drew them off their duty. I think I would -- as I say, I'm glad I'm not the one making the decision because I've already decided.

KEILAR: Senator Inhofe, thank you so much for your time.

INHOFE: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, have a good one.

Coming up, I have a one-on-one interview with John Kasich. He's a Republican presidential candidate. He's going to join us live to talk about everything from terrorism to Trump. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:16] KEILAR: Just 53 days and counting until the Iowa caucuses. A new poll shows Trump in his strongest position yet to win the Republican president nomination. The CBS/"New York Times" poll found 35 percent of GOP voters backing Trump. That's more than double the support of his closest competitor. This is a poll taken largely before Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslims traveling to the U.S. It's a proposal that was condemned even by members of his own party.

Last night, Trump told CNN he's not worried about the criticism because he can always run as an Independent. Here's how he explained it to Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what Jeb Bush tweeted. He said, "Maybe Donald negotiated a deal with his buddy, Hillary Clinton, continuing this path will put her in the White House." And then he linked to this tweet of you saying that 68 percent of your supporters would support a third party bid. Here's the pledge you signed. You saw this pledge. You know where I'm going. Are you going to break this pledge?

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Highly unlikely. It's a two-way street.

LEMON: What does that mean?

TRUMP: They said they will be honorable. So far, I can't tell you if they are, but the establishment is not exactly being very good to me. But I'm leading in every poll by a lot. It looks like I'm going to win. My whole life has been about winning. I'm not like so many of the other people that you talk to that are essentially losers, OK, I know how to win. I intend to win. It's the best way of beating the Democrats, if I get the nomination. In the FOX poll that I'm sure you saw, I'm way ahead of Hillary. Head to head, I'm ahead of Hillary. I will beat Hillary. The one person Hillary doesn't want to run against. I get along with Democrats, with Republicans, with liberals, with everybody. The one person they don't want to run against is me. Only me.

LEMON: I just want this plain spoken for the viewer. What do you mean when you say if they break this pledge, then you'll break the pledge? What do you mean by that?

TRUMP: Well, if they don't treat me with a certain amount of decorum and respect. If they don't treat me as the front-runner, by far, the front-runner. If the playing field is not level, then certainly all options are open. But that's nothing I want to do.

LEMON: How will you know that? What determined that?

TRUMP: I think we'll know that over a number of months. We'll go through the primaries. We'll see what happens. I'll make a determination. I would imagine they would treat me properly because I'm leading by a lot.

LEMON: So the pledge is you keep your word, if they keep their word?

TRUMP: I want to run as a Republican.

LEMON: OK. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Donald Trump isn't the only Republican candidate toying with this idea breaking his signed pledge to support the party's eventual presidential nominee. Here's what Ohio Governor John Kasich said during an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I signed the pledge -- that's why you have to be careful with pledges you sign --

(LAUGHTER)

-- that I would support the Republican nominee. Now, look, is it possible that you change your mind? Yeah. It takes something extreme to do it. But I will tell you, sir, there's no way that Donald Trump's going to be president. I've been saying that for weeks. I don't even take it seriously because he isn't going to win. It's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Governor John Kasich is joining me now. We want to talk more with him about this.

You heard there Trump -- you -- you saying in your own words that Trump isn't going to win, but we look at these polls, he's leading every poll. We've been seeing this consistently from the summer into the fall, now heading into the winter. Will you break your pledge if he becomes the nominee?

[13:39:53] KASICH: Listen, as I said, it's a long -- first, I'm not going to get out there and say what's going to happen in terms of something that happens months down the road. I've been critical not of the person Donald Trump but of the division, you know, whether it's attacks on Hispanics or Muslims or women or a disabled reporter, I just think this not what we need at a time when America really needs to come together. But, you know, pledges I make are very serious. And I'll make a decision on this. And -- but let me also tell you, you have polls. I mean, you poll about 400 people out of 325 million, and he's on the air constantly. So you put me on the air as much as Donald's on the air and I would be leading.

So, look, we're all going to know this --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: You think it's the coverage that is solely responsible for Donald Trump's rise --

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: No, I don't think it's fully. I said in the first debate I think he touches something, people's anger, whether they've lost their jobs at the age of 50 and they don't know where they're going to go, or their kids can't get a job. But you can't deny when somebody's on television all the time in a celebrity culture, that they're not going to rise in the polls. Come on, we all know what the truth is on that.

But we're going to have an election here. We're going to have a caucus in Iowa. We'll come to New Hampshire where we have voting. I think we're going to see something different than what these polls indicate right now. I can remember learning in the history book when they said when Harry Truman held up a newspaper that said Dewy won. OK, we have upsets all the time. Right now, the polls look like if he doesn't win it's an upset but we got a long way to go. You know that. This is the way this business works. So we'll see.

But I have no doubt that if I got the attention of Donald Trump, I wouldn't be low in the polls. But I don't get that attention. I'm not complaining, because sometimes I'm not that great of a sound bite. I'm not out to stirrer up and get a lot of eyeballs. It's also that he touches a nerve. I recognize that. I agree with some of the things that he says about people who feel anxious, who are concerned, who feel as though they've lost so much. I get that. That's where I come from in my home in McKees Rocks (ph). I grew up in that environment, so I get it.

KEILAR: I want to ask you about something that we heard Donald Trump say, governor. He said the one person Democrats don't want to run against is him, is Donald Trump. Do you think that's true?

KASICH: I kind of Chuckled at that because, you know, we have a lot the pollsters and Democratic political people who say they don't want to run against me because I'm hard to label, I'm hard to define because of my ability to create jobs and also help people who live in the shadows and expertise on national security. But, you know, all the candidates are beginning to say that. But, you know what, look, at the end, we're going to have elections. And then we're going to know. And then we'll all know who our nominee is going to be. It's probably going to take a long time and a long process. You know, I don't wish anybody harm. I just wish the candidates, when they're talking about our country, would be more unifying and maybe Mr. Trump will become more unifying. We'll have to see.

KEILAR: I wonder what you think about -- when it comes to your pledge and you say it would take something extreme for you to violate it. I guess I would wonder, if you were looking at a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it seems, judging by what you've said about Trump and obviously how we know you feel about Hillary Clinton, that it would be the choice between the lesser of two evils, which one is it?

KASICH: You can't put words in my mouth. The fact is I have not said that I wouldn't be for the nominee. I just said that, you know, you make a pledge. My sense is you keep it. We all make pledges. We want to be able to keep it. I think probably at the end I will be able to keep it. I'm just saying we have to see what happens here. One of the things I'm most concerned about is Hillary Clinton being elected president. I think if we have a candidate that's out there dividing people I think it's very hard for them to win Ohio. Remember, I am the governor of Ohio, elected twice, and no Republican has gotten to the White House without winning Ohio. I am not convinced that a platform of division and attacks will allow us to win. So that's why I have, for weeks now, been concerned and warning about the politics of division as opposed to the politics of hope, of lifting people, of job creation, of good security. I think that's what will win in Ohio and across our country.

KEILAR: Governor, back to what you said, I may be putting words in your mouth so I want to make sure I'm not doing that and to quote you from what you said. You said, "Is it possible that you changed your mind," when asked about this pledge --

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: Anything's possible.

KEILAR: You said, yeah. Well, some thing's not possible. You raised the possibility of changing your mind or --

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: Listen --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: -- or are we misreading that?

[13:45:04]KASICH: You know what, yesterday, I made a speech at the Council of Foreign Relations, which I would commend our listeners to watch. There are issues here of national security, job growth, being able to get ourselves in a position where people can get work where their kids can get work. And I've enjoyed the interview, but, you know, I've said all I have to say about that. So we can talk about national security and job creation, we'd be in a little better place. I have all I have to say about that other issue, but I appreciate your persistent, Brianna. I was in television myself and I kind of know how it works.

KEILAR: Well, I'm actually trying to get to the bottom and understand what you meant. But I do want to ask you about the recent debate about how to deal with refugees or, in the case of Donald Trump's plan, even tourists and students who are Muslim coming into the U.S. He has gotten a lot of attention for this proposal to temporary ban Muslims entering the U.S. What would your approach be?

KASICH: Well, look, I made a couple things. As I outlined yesterday, I think we ought to have a coalition just like we had in the first gulf war to go into the Middle East with both Arabs and our Western friends and we need to destroy is where they are. Secondly, we need to make sure that our process of visas, the Visa Waiver Program, needs to be reviewed. I'm glad Congress is going to do it. Thirdly, our Joint Terrorism Task Force needs the resources and tools to be able to determine when there's a plot against us. And the people in San Bernardino, who are communicating with people who have been under watch, but yet we didn't know they were contacting them. The issue of encryption is a big one. It's a complicated one. But it must be solved so our law enforcement people can disrupt these plots before we have to deal with the aftermath. So tighten things up in terms of who comes in here. Destroy ISIS. Make sure our people here in America have the tools they need. Begin to tell the world about the values of Western civilization, equality of women, free speech, the right to practice religion, a belief in education, and science. These are the things that will win the day. We got to be aggressive about that I think, Brianna.

KEILAR: Governor John Kasich, joining us from the campaign trail in Manchester, New Hampshire.

KASICH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Thank you, sir.

KASICH: I enjoyed being with you. Thank you. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Well, I enjoyed being with you as well. Thank you so much for joining us.

You know, we have talked a lot this hour about national security and terrorism. You just heard there from John Kasich and you're going to be hearing from all of the Republican presidential candidates during the last Republican presidential debate of 2015, next Tuesday, coming up quickly here, December 15th, moderated by our own Wolf Blitzer.

Just ahead, Muslim-Americans raise money for victims of the California terrorist attack. We will talk with the man who is leading the effort. We'll also get reaction to Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:22] KEILAR: Donald Trump is calling for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., Muslim-Americans in San Bernardino, California, have been very busy raising money for victims of the terrorist attack and they have shattered their fundraising goal.

Dr. Faisal Qazi is a Muslim neurologist who spearheaded this campaign, and he's joining me now from San Bernardino.

First of all, Doctor, we understand that you raised $177,000 so far. How did you come up with this idea and how did you get the support to do this?

DR. FAISAL QAZI, NEUROLOGIST & FOUNDER, MUSLIMS UNITED FOR SAN BERNARDINO FAMILIES: Well, thank you for having me, Brianna.

We're a local nonprofit. We began as a group of physicians caring for our families in our neighborhoods. We've been doing this for years. When this tragedy first occurred last week, we realized a lot of our families would necessarily be affected by this tragedy and we wanted to be there to support and care for them. Therefore, we launched the fund, even prior to the name the perpetrators were actually known.

KEILAR: So you wanted to do this because you felt it would affect the community. Tell us how this money is going to be used and I imagine you're expecting to exceed that $177,000 number. I know this has been climbing. Where is this money going to go?

QAZI: Well, what began as a small project at the request of various Muslim leaders and scholars in southern California it became a national campaign, a Muslim campaign, and we have broken our fourth extension of our goal. We are working with all the county designated processes and procedures. United Way is the leading way, organization that will be distributing the funds.

KEILAR: I want to get your perspective, Doctor, what Donald Trump has said lately. He set off this firestorm of criticism by calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. He says he has the support of Muslim leaders. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm doing good for the Muslims. I've been called by one of the most important people of the Middle East and he said, "Donald, you've done a tremendous service to the Muslims."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: React to that comment. What is your take on what he's saying?

QAZI: Well, first thing, Mr. Trump's comments don't phase me personally as much, because the work I'm doing is empowering for me an my family and friends because we're engaged in caring for people. We'll continue to do our job despite the political rhetoric. I can't speak for all American-Muslims but this campaign to raise funds has basically given a very clear message for what our faith is all about and what we stand for.

KEILAR: When you talk, though, to Muslim-Americans that you know are they concerned about facing backlash?

[13:55:13] QAZI: Absolutely. Backlash is clearly evident. There's fear. Muslim community is very concerned, and rightly so. A number of hate incidents have been noted already. I think some of the political rhetoric doesn't help. To me, personally, I just wish there was more time to heal for somebody like me who is doing work on the ground. We just need more time to work with our families that's afflicted, as opposed to having to pay attention to political rhetoric which is not hopeful.

KEILAR: Doctor Faisal Qazi, you have raised $177,000 for the families there affected by the shootings in San Bernardino. We certainly hope you shatter yet another record.

And thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate it.

QAZI: Thanks for having me. KEILAR: That's it for me.

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)