Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

Donald Trump Speech at Liberty University; Kerry Discusses Released U.S. Prisoners from Iran. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 18, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: And I think one of the reasons that people are showing up for me and the poll numbers are all showing up for me, it's not that I can't be -- I went to a great school, ivy league school, all of that stuff, did well, smart guy. I even had an uncle, if you believe in genes -- some do, some don't. But I had an uncle that was a professor at MIT for decades, Dr. John Trump. We can all be politically correct. It takes too much time. It takes too much time. And a lot of it is just wrong. I'll give you an example. You go into a department store. When was the last time you saw "Merry Christmas?" You don't see it anymore. They want to be politically correct. If I'm president, you will see "Merry Christmas" in department stores, believe me, believe me.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You're going to see it. You're going to see a lot of things. You're going to see beyond. You're going to see a lot of things. That's one example. You go shopping today, you don't see it anymore. You hardly see anything. You have a wall that's painted red. Oh, great, oh, that's wonderful.

(LAUGHTER)

We're going to be saying "Merry Christmas" again and we're going to be saying happy holidays. And I have friends that aren't Christian, they like to say Merry Christmas. They love it. Everybody loves it but we've taken it out of the vocabulary. It's not going to happen.

(SHOUTING)

TRUMP: Thank you. I love you, too. Thank you. That was very nice.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: That was very nice. Very warm actually.

Sometimes you never know who is shouting. You never know.

(LAUGHTER)

It's sort of interesting when I go to the rallies, we had one the other day about 16,000, 17,000 people, the arena was packed and I'd go home and I'd say to my wife, darling, how did you like the speech. Oh, it was good. How many were there? I'd say what do you mean? You didn't see? No. I say it all the time, they focus on my face. They never, ever, ever show the crowds. She'll say how many -- now, it sounds like a roar. When you have a lot of people like this, it sounds like a roar. But she'd say how many people were there, darling? I'd say the place was packed. Had to have 15,000, 18,000 people. In one case, we had 15,000 and we sent away 7,000 because they couldn't get into the arena. You didn't see that? No, they focus on your face. They never show.

But the thing I love about the protesters -- and I thought the cameras were in like a fixed position, they don't move. What do I know about this stuff? I'm thinking they were fixed. They can't move. Except every time there was a protester screaming about something, those cameras could be like a pretzel. They turn around --

(LAUGHTER)

And I never saw anything like it. And I love the protesters. We don't have many, honestly, but I love the protesters because if there's a protester up in that corner, the cameras would go up there and people would say -- they wouldn't talk about the protester, boy, that place was packed. I say that's right because it's a movement, it was packed.

The press, I have to say this, is very, very dishonest. Now, not all of it, but most of it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Very, very dishonest. And I have never seen -- actually, I have never seen anything -- I have seen financial press and they play games but the numbers are numbers. But with this press, this political press is brutal. Now, 25 percent are good. 2 percent are great, OK? That's not acceptable. Do we agree? 2 percent is not acceptable, but the press is very dishonest. Like the camera trick. I call it the camera trick where they don't show.

So what's happening and what's happening in the country is you're not getting a real picture of the silent majority, which Jerry Sr had something to do. That's a phrase you should be really cognizant of because it is a silent majority, but I think I'm going to up it a little bit because it's no longer so silent. It's really a noisy majority. It's become a noisy majority. People want to see greatness for our country. They want to see things happen. They want to see things happen and they're not seeing it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: These politicians are all talk. They're no action. They don't get it done.

When I say we're going to build a wall, they all say, wall, what are you talking? You can't build a wall. Of course you can. It's simple, China, China. Think of it.

(LAUGHTER)

China.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: 2,000 years ago China built the Great Wall of China. This is a serious wall, and they didn't have Caterpillar tractors or, as we say, Komatzus (ph) because so many are coming out of Japan. We have to stop that, by the way. They didn't have the equipment and they built a wall. Think of this, 13,000 miles long, and this is a serious wall, OK? This wall is wide. This is like this and this is a serious wall. So then we hear, you can't build a wall. I say, not only can I build it -- and the guys I'm talking to on the stage are saying you can't build a wall, can you? Because they don't know anything. They don't know how to fix the infrastructure. Our bridges are crumbling. Our roads are crumbling. We spent $5 trillion in the Middle East and our country is going to hell. We got to bring it back. We got to knock the hell out of ISIS.

(APPLAUSE)

[11:35:13] TRUMP: By the way, by the way --

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: By the way, so I didn't want to go into Iraq, but I didn't want to get out the way we got out because what happened, and I was always saying -- I have said this for years, I might have said this the last time I was here years ago, take the oil. Take the oil. Keep the oil. In the old days, to the victor belong the spoils. Us, we go in and fight, lose trillions of dollars, lose thousands around thousands of unbelievable people, we have wounded warriors, who I love, all over the place, we get nothing. Look at Iraq. What do we get? Nothing. And Iran now takes over Iraq. I always say Iran made the greatest deal with $150 billion. What a great deal, what a great deal. Two weeks ago, it came to me, that deal is nothing. They made the really greatest deal, they took over Iraq. They've been fighting for Iraq forever under different names, but they've been fighting, and they were the same militarily. They'd fight and fight and fight. They'd go 10 feet left, 10 feet right, left, right, then they'd rest. Then Saddam Hussein would drop gas and people would say it's unfair, they'd stop. The whole thing. This went on forever. And it would have gone on forever, but we decapitated one.

Now -- so what did we give Iran? We gave them 1 $50 billion the great deal and all that and near going to have a nuclear weapon. They don't have to develop them anymore, they can buy them they'll have so much money. How about this? We see something wrong or we think there's something wrong, so we have to wait 24 days before we go in, but before the 24 days start, there's a whole procedure so who knows how long it could be. Could be six months. Something is going on.

But the other one is even better because in certain locations it's called self-inspection. They have the right to self-inspect. So we call up and we say, listen, weigh hear you're building nuclear weapons over here. We want to go in. No, no, you don't have the right. But we'll self-inspect. Call up the next day -- nothing is happening over there. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Now we feel much better. These are the deals we make.

Sergeant Bergdahl, anybody ever hear of Sergeant Bergdahl? We get Sergeant Bergdahl, a dirty, rotten traitor. Six people died going after him. Six people died going after Sergeant Bergdahl. We get Bergdahl. They get five of the great killers that they've wanted for the last nine years. So we get Bergdahl, a traitor -- and we knew he was a traitor before the deal because they had a general and a colonel talking to the people that he was with. So we knew he was a traitor. Who would make deals like this? Who does it? Obama.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Stand up. I like that. That was very good. That was good timing. Thank you. I love it.

He's right. And I didn't want to say it because it's a little bit rough, but if he says it, that's OK.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Obama is a disaster. And you look -- take a look at our trade deals. These are deals that are the worst. We're going to lose $500 billion trade deficits with China, with Japan $100 billion. We're talking about a year. How do you have a country, and then they say Trump doesn't believe in free trade. No, I want free trade but I want it to be like at least we break even, right? We do something. But how do you lose the kind of numbers -- and remember they don't play by the rules, and I love China, by the way. I deal tremendously with China. I own a big chunk of the Bank of America building in San Francisco through China. I have apartments all over, condos, through China. So much through China. I do great business with China. They're fantastic. They're unbelievable.

In fact, my daughter is here.

Where is Ivanka? Where is Ivanka? Stand up, Ivanka.

Anybody ever hear of Ivanka?

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Ivanka deals with China all the time, and we deal with Mexico. And Mexico is great. I have great relationships with Mexico, with the Mexican people. I have thousands of people from Mexico and Hispanic people. These are great people. They're unbelievable. But their leaders are too smart for our leaders. They're too cunning for our leaders, and you look at what they're doing.

Not only on the border but with trade. Nabisco, from Chicago, no more Oreos, folks. Nabisco is moving their big plant from Chicago. They're moving it to Mexico. Ford is building a $2.5 billion plant in Mexico. It's not going to happen. I'm going to say, folks, we got to stop this. We're losing our jobs. We're losing our manufacturing jobs.

[11:40:11] I go to schools -- and less so here because it's so good. I go to very good colleges and I see students, and they're borrowed up to their neck. The biggest problem is they graduate, they study, they work, they do well, they get good marks, they're really wonderful, they're proud of themselves. Then they come out and they can't get a job. We got to create jobs. We've got to bring back the jobs from China. We've got to bring back the jobs from Japan and all these countries that are ripping us off.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And we're going to do that. And we're going to do that.

Just like I say, OK, I say who is going to build the wall, folks? You tell me. Who is going to build the wall?

(SHOUTING)

TRUMP: Mexico. Everybody knows. I say that. They say you can't build a wall. So easy, you have no idea. And the reason it's easy -- it is. For me -- I just built a 92-story building. When you build buildings, building a wall, it's called like give me some pre-fab plank. Bing. And I have to make it, but I really --

(LAUGHTER)

But I really -- I have to make it look beautiful. Why? Because some day they'll name the wall, Trump Wall, and I got to have it beautiful.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And by the way, we want people to come in, but we want people to come into our country legally. They'll go through a process. They'll go through a process.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But one of the people I'm running against -- I won't use names because we don't want to insult anybody. And this is really such nice religious people. I love it, such great Christians. I can't say bad. Am I allowed to say bad in this room? No. OK. I wouldn't say that.

But the other day for the first time I heard it, one of the folks said we're going to build a wall. I said what's going on? I just heard him say -- nobody said that before. So they're all coming my way, you know. They're all coming my way. The only problem is they don't know where to begin. They wouldn't know where to begin. And it would be one of these walls, not one of those walls. If you got up there, you're on the other side, you're going to be really scared coming down. This is a serious wall. And we can do if for the right price. And it doesn't matter because again, I don't know if you saw "Saturday Night Live" where they said the wall, but the wall, did everybody see -- a lot of people saw that. But, but, just so you understand, the reason they're going to pay and the reason it's easy for a businessman to understand this, very easy, Mexico is making a fortune on the United States.

Now, China, I love them. They're great. I'm not holding it against China. The largest bank in the world, a Chinese bank, is a tenant of mine. I don't hold that against them. Mexico, I don't hold it against Mexico. You see what's going on with the crime. I don't hold that against Mexico. If they can get away with it, if their politicians can do it, I hold it against our very stupid leadership in this country. That's what I hold it against. I don't hold it against these other countries.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I mean, if they can get away with it, let them do it. I want to get away with things. I could go into story after story after story. And I used to use the word "incompetence," but it's not strong enough. You know, and then I use the other word, you know the word I'm talking about, right? I use that word and then they say he's plainspoken. My education is too good to be called plain spoken. I'm not that plain spoken. I wrote "The Art of the Deal." I wrote many best sellers. Who has read "The Art of the Deal" in this room?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Everybody.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I always say a deep, deep second to the Bible. The Bible is the best. The Bible. The Bible blow it is away. There's nothing like the Bible. But "The Art of the Deal" was about -- in fact, there's a few of them right over there. But "The Art of the Deal" was the best-selling business book, but Obama didn't read it and Kerry didn't read it. But we can do things with our country that will be so good.

But I have always use the word "incompetent." Now I don't care. Again, I'm not being funded by these guys from Wall Street that own -- I'm self-financing my own campaign. I'm not taking funds. Is that nice?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So we can do what's good for the country. In other words, we are going to do what's good for the country.

And I tell people all the time, and use Ford as an example, Nabisco. I could use a hundred companies, and you have a lot of corporate inversion going on which is going to be beyond Mexico, you have companies leaving the United States because taxes are too high and lots of other things. It's called corporate inversion. It's a disaster. They're leaving for lower taxes or because they can't bring their $2.5 trillion back into the country. They just can't do it. Take Ford, I use this as an example. It could be any company that goes into other countries. But take Ford, $2.5 billion. They're taking a lot of stuff out of Michigan. They're taking a lot -- they're closing other things and they're going to build this massive -- whoever heard of $2.5 billion for a one-story building? Do you know how big that is? They're going to make cars, trucks, and parts. So I don't care about Ford. The president of Ford wrote me a very nice letter trying to explain it's a good thing. It's not a good thing. But that's OK. When I'm president, I can say it even stronger. Right now, I don't care. He wrote me a nice letter, good company, run very well, good product. I love Ford. I love Chevrolet. I love all our products. We want to buy USA, right?

[11:45:50:] But they wrote me. And I said here's the story. Let's say a stiff like Jeb Bush is president.

(LAUGHTER)

Let's say Jeb Bush is president, OK? Low energy person but that's OK. Let's say Jeb becomes president -- look, Jeb is president. Now they will go to him. He has $128 million that he got from donors, special interests, everybody, lobbyists. So Ford will hire one of the lobbyists. Look, I know this game better than anybody. I have been playing this game for a long time, folks, on the other side. I changed sides. I was total establishment. Now I'm like the worst thing that ever happened to the establishment because I understand the game.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So now they go to, let's say Jeb, they say, Mr. President, this is a very bad thing. Well, I agree it's bad. I agree it's bad. We can't allow this to happen. And then he's going to get a call from his lobbyist or his special interests. Mr. President, they gave you $5 million! You can't not make this deal. Well, did they? Another one is going to call. Mr. President, they gave you $2 million, you got to take care of Ford. All right, I'll do it. OK. That's the end. We lose the jobs. We lose all the different things. With me, they're going to call.

And by the way, Hillary, just as bad, even worse. Hillary they'll call. They're going to call Hillary and they're going to say, Madam President -- by the way, I want to see a woman president soon, but not her. She's a disaster. She's a disaster.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: She's a disaster. (APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Just think of the corruption and the scandal. We don't want to go through it. You just don't want to go through it.

We want to see winning. We want to see win, win, win.

I always joke, I say we want to see win, win, win, constant winning, and you'll say, if I'm president, and you'll say, please, Mr. President, we're winning too much, we can't stand it anymore, can't we have a loss? And I'm going to say no, we're going to keep winning, winning, winning because we're going to make America great again, and you'll say OK, Mr. President, OK.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But they'll call Hillary with Ford, right? They'll call Hillary, and they'll say, Madam -- and she'll do the same thing because her donors gave her a lot of money and they need the money for the next election.

By the way, the only time the politicians really sort of work, right, is when they're sort of like retiring like the gentleman over there, the Congressman. Now, he's a young guy. He retired of his own volition because he knows what's going on in Washington, which I have great respect for. But some of them retire, then they get a little bit tougher. But with Ford, you take a look. Now, they call them Trump. Now it's President Trump, OK? President Trump.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So they call President Trump, and they say, Mr. President, I mean you have to do this. Ford has been great and wonderful. What are they building in Mexico for? Why do we want them building in Mexico? Remember this, cars, trucks, and parts. They're going to sell them across the border. No tax. So you say, we're all smart people. How does that help us? We close plants and we open new plants in Mexico, and there's no tax. So they're going to say, no, no, no, we're going for it. I'll say here's the story, if you go forward, that's fine. But for every car, truck, and whatever else you're building, you are going to pay a 35 percent tax every time it crosses the border. We have to or we're not going to have a country left.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Everyone is ripping us. Everyone is ripping us.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Now, I don't want to do that because I'm a free trader. I want free trade. But we have to be sort of like smart here, folks, because we've lost seven million, eight million, some say 10 million jobs. We've lost 50,000 manufacturing plants. We're getting killed and the quality of our jobs is terrible. You saw that in the last report. They have this phony number, 5.2 percent. Everybody that quits looking for a job is considered statistically a person that has a job. It's a phony number. Your probably real number is like 22, 23 percent.

[11:50:09] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There you have it, Donald Trump speaking at Liberty University, and sounds like a stump speech.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Working up a sweat right there. In some ways, it was a standard stump speech. In other ways, he seemed to cater a little bit to the crowd.

Our Jim Acosta is in the house right now.

Jim, I'm curious, there were times it seemed like he had the crowd eating out of his hand. Other times, it was quiet for an extended period. What has it been like to have been there?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of the biggest applause lines here at Liberty University are when he attacked other candidates, and he said, I want to see a woman president, but not Hillary Clinton, and he got the biggest applause line, but he has catered the remarks to the Christian conservative audience. And he talked about his book "The Art of the Deal" being second to the greatest book, the Bible. He even said if he's president of the United States, we'll go back to saying "Merry Christmas." And even quoted scripture here at the beginning of the speech. Donald Trump tailoring to the audience here.

But one thing that is not in the speech so far, at least, he has not gone after Ted Cruz, the archrival in Iowa, who he is vying to win the caucus there. And we know that Ted Cruz's base is with evangelical voters, and so far, Donald Trump may be deciding here it is wise to go around Ted Cruz at this event, and not go after him as strongly as he has on the stump lately and get out of here just speaking to the audience here. But it is the typical speech that we hear from him. He went after the media and accusing us of not showing the crowd size, and, yes, we have taken some bump shots during the event and shown the crowd size. It is filled to capacity at the basketball arena, and Donald Trump he does not hold back. At one point, called Bowe Bergdahl a dirty rotten traitor. And even though we are at a Christian crowd, that red meat is firing them up. And he said this he will knock the hell out of ISIS. So even though he is tailoring it somewhat, we are hearing a number of the same stump speech lines that we have heard out on the campaign -- guys?

BOLDUAN: And one of the big applause lines that we heard recently there is when he took on Hillary Clinton and blasting her. And we will see what more he has to say. We will keep an eye on, that and see if Ted Cruz is the only candidate that he does not take on in front of the crowd. We will see.

Jim Acosta is there watching it for us, and we are keeping an eye on it there.

We will be right back after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]BOLDUAN: "I'm a helluvalot better than I was 48 hours ago," and that the message from Jason Rezaian to his colleagues back home. And now, three of the prisoners are in a U.S. military hospital in Germany. They are being checked out by doctors right now. The fourth American freed opted to stay in Iran.

BERMAN: And I spoke to Secretary of State John Kerry a while ago about his negotiations with the Iranian, and he claimed that the prisoner swap was not tied to lifting the nuclear sanctions from Iran, although the timing was conspicuous. And this is what he said about the 10 American sailors who were videotaped on their knees after being detained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATES: I was very angry. I was very frustrated and angry that that was released. I raised it immediately with the Iranians.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Did you send a message essentially that said, if you don't release these sailors, all bets are off with the implementation of the nuclear deal?

KERRY: I won't discuss what I said or didn't say, but suffice it to say that I made it crystal clear how serious it was, and imperative to get it resolved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I want to bring our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, in Washington.

And, Jim, you had a chance to talk to Jason Rezaian's brother this morning, and what is the latest on the condition and where are we in the re-entry into everyday life?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is interesting, because Jason is at a U.S. air base in Germany now, and kind of the out-processing when you come out of the long detention. Ali Rezaian said that he had spoken to him on the phone, but he has not met with him yet. But he did say, despite the months in prison and the doubts of when he would get out and the difficult, difficult treatment there, he is in good spirit spirits. And in fact, the first thing that he wanted when he got out was not a hamburger or a beer or a hamburger, but access to news. This guy is a journalist. He felt starved for information.

But it is difficult for the family, because they are conflicted. They don't see him innocent who was traded in effect for convicted criminals here in the U.S. Here is how Ali answered that question, and how they are dealing with that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI REZAIAN, BROTHER OF JASON REZAIAN: Clearly, it is not morally justified to take innocent people and trade them for people who have done crimes, but the fact of the matter for these folks to have been locked up in prison in Iran for a long time is not rally justified either. So I appreciate everything that the government has done and I'm just really happy that he is home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: They are happy, as we would be ourselves to have him out, John and Kate. And one last point, it has been a tortured process for -- certainly for the prisoners through this time, but for the families as well, a long ordeal. And Ali said that ordeal went right up to the point where the plane took off with Jason's mother and wife on board. And they said that Jason and the U.S. side dug in the heel, and they were not on board, but they were able to get out of Iran together.

BOLDUAN: And, Jim, what more are you learning about what has now been a 14-month ordeal of deal-making and negotiating for all of this to come to fruition. They say that Secretary Kerry said, and those involved said it is on parallel tracts of the Iranian deal, and many say, look at the timing.

SCIUTTO: It is hard to discount that the Iranian deal comes to fruition, and the punishing sanctions on Iran are lifted on the very same day that they released. Two separate negotiating tracts, but clearly the issues were tied in the minds of the Americans. But it appears that the Iranians, the way that the administration answers that question, they were separate tracks and we announced it on the same day, because as it happens both came to fruition at the end, but it is not hard to draw the direct line between the two.

BERMAN: And Secretary Kerry said to me, outright, I asked him if the prisoners had not been lifted, would the sanctions have been released, and he said yes. It is hard to believe, Jim, that the United States would have said, no, no, we will not extend the sanctions, and you don't are have to release the prisoners.

SCIUTTO: It doesn't pass your or my gut test. So it is tough to digest, but that is the United States' position.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Jim Sciutto.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: And great to hear from Jason's brother.

BERMAN: And it is great news for that family. And the politic, and whatever you want to make of the politic, and they will be debated and they should be debated, for that family, for five families now, the loved ones are out of prison in Iran, and that is undeniably good.

BOLDUAN: A good news thing for sure.

Thank you all for joining us AT THIS HOUR. "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

[12:00:13]