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Trump Speech on Education in Philadelphia. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 08, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: her policies unleashed ISIS, spread terrorism, and put Iran on a path to nuclear weapons, not payments.

Oh, those ransom payments. Remember, two weeks ago, it was $400 million in cash. Well, yesterday we found out that in cash, it was $1.7 billion. These are unheard of. This is cash. This is in wire transfer. This is in check. This is cash. $1.7 billion. And then you say, is that going to terror or is that going to people's bank accounts? I actually think it's going to both.

On top of it all, Hillary Clinton is trigger happy. Totally trigger happy. She's raced to invade, intervene and topple regimes. Americanism. Everybody understands that. Last night, she even falsely said no American died in Libya. Heard that? And I said, could she have forgotten so quickly? Then she also falsely said there's no ground troops in Iraq, military personnel there right now.

Iraq is one of the biggest differences in this race. I opposed going in and I did oppose it. Despite the media saying, no, yes, no. I opposed going in. And I opposed the reckless way Hillary Clinton took us out. Along with President Obama. Letting ISIS fill that big, terrible void.

But I was opposed to the war from the beginning, long after my interview with Howard Stern. But three months before the Iraq war started, I said in an interview with Neil Cavuto that perhaps we shouldn't be doing it yet and that the economy -- these are quotes -- that the economy -- this was on live television. The economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned. This was before the war started by a very short distance. Then on March 25th of 2003, just after the war had started, just days after, just a little while after, I was quoted as saying the war is a mess. And yet more evidence that I had opposed the war from the start. I said the war is a mess. On television. Somewhere.

In July of 2003, I said I would love to see New York some of our cities and some of the states of our nation get some of the money that's going toward Iraq and other places. Because you know, they really need it and they need it badly. Well, I said that. We have numerous other quotes, too, by the way, both before and shortly after. Then in August of 2004, very early in the conflict -- extremely early in the conflict. Right at the beginning. An interview to the "Esquire" magazine. So, right at the beginning. By the way, numerous honest reporters said Trump may have said it at the beginning, because they had other clips. Some said, doesn't matter, because right at the beginning he made very strong statements. This is many years ago. And here's what "Esquire" magazine said. This is a quote. An absolute quote. "Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in." This is right after the war started. "I would never have handled it that way. Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up and to lead the country?" So innocently. I go, "Come on. Two minutes after we leave there is going to be a revolution." Pretty good. "And the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over." Well, that's going to be combinations of ISIS and Iran. Iran's taken over. They're taking over among the richest and largest oil reserves in the world. We let them do it. We let them do it. Should have never been in the war. But we should have never, ever gotten out of the war the way Barack Obama got us out, along with Hillary Clinton. Because we opened it up for ISIS.

[14:35:11] So continued, "What was the purpose? This was me right at the beginning of the war in an article. "What was the purpose of this whole thing? What was the purpose?" Hundreds and hundreds of young people are being killed. And what about the people coming back with no arms and with no legs? Not to mention the other side. All of those Iraqi kids who have been blown to pieces. And it turns out that all of the reasons for the war are just blatantly wrong. All this for nothing. All this for nothing. This was right at the beginning of the war.

Then they see -- I see the lies last night. "Donald Trump was always in favor of the war in Iraq." That's why I had to do this. Because the media is so dishonest. So terribly dishonest. And you understand it. You understand it. And you understand it. The media is so terribly dishonest so I had to do this. I ended with, "I would have been tougher on terrorism. Bin Laden would have been caught a long time ago before he was ultimately caught, prior to the downing of the World Trade Center."

So this was right at the beginning, and those other statements were before the war even started. And the Howard Stern said it was long before and it was the first time anybody ever asked me about Iraq. I said, I don't know. I was very -- but, that was superseded because before the war, much closer to the war, I gave statements that we shouldn't go in and shortly thereafter, immediately thereafter -- honestly, a lot of reporters said, hey, right at the beginning he made this statement, and that statement was a very major story in "Esquire" magazine. So I just wanted to set the record straight. There is so much lying going on.

And Hillary Clinton lied last night about numerous things, including her e-mail. If I had been in Congress at the time of the invasion, I would have cast a vote in opposition. For years, I've been a critic of this kind of reckless foreign invasions -- and, look, let's face it, interventions, that's what they are -- that have been a hallmark of trigger-happy Hillary and her failed career. She's been a disaster.

Here's the bottom line. I was a private citizen. I had no access to briefings or great intelligence surveys that she did. I had no access to anything as a private citizen. Frankly, nobody really cared too much about what I said. I'm doing business. I don't even know why I was asked the question. I guess because I was asked the question. That's -- who knows. But I didn't have access to all of the intelligence information that she did and everybody else did. But in Iraq, my judgment was right and hers, with all of this information, and all of this great intelligence information, was wrong. Along with a lot of other people, in all fairness. It was a big mistake. Totally destabilized the Middle East. It was a big mistake. Death. So many people.

Hillary Clinton is always complaining about what's wrong. I just watched her on the tarmac. She tried to make up for her horrible performance last night. It was a horrible performance. So she went on the tarmac and told more lies. But she's been there -- remember this. She's always talking about things that she's going to do. But she's been there for more than 30 years and she's never done anything about it. Never done anything.

And all you have to do is look at New York State when she ran for Senator. She said she will bring jobs back to New York State. It's a disaster. No jobs have come back. Jobs have left New York State. Upstate New York and the areas we're talking about. They are disasters. All you have to do is look at New York State. She said she was going to bring tremendous jobs back. It will be wonderful. Just like she is saying now. She wouldn't know how to bring a job back. She wouldn't have a clue. So it's all talk but nothing happens and that's what's going to happen with our country on jobs. And nobody is going to bring jobs back like Donald Trump. I will be the greatest jobs producing president that God ever created.

(APPLAUSE)

[14:40:08]TRUMP: And I say that with my pastors in the front row.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: My pastors. Believe me.

So we're on track now to spend -- listen to this -- $6 trillion. $6 trillion. Could have rebuilt our country twice all together on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Middle East. Meanwhile, massive portions of our country are in a state of total disrepair. It's time to rebuild America.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And when I say that, we will also, before we get totally started, we will take out ISIS. Remember that.

(APPLAUSE)

We have no choice. We have no choice.

Too many Americans living in our inner cities have not been included in the American dream. We are nation, and we're one nation, when any part of our country hurts, our whole country hurts. My goal, as president, will be to ensure that every child in this nation -- African-American, Hispanic-American, all Americans -- will be placed on the ladder to success. And I defined that as great education and a great job. The ladder rests on a fundamental foundation. We need safety. There's such danger in our inner cities. There's such danger in our communities. In order to help our children succeed, our first duty is to ensure that every kid in America can grow up in a safe community. You read what's happening. You see what's happening. You can't have prosperity without security. This is the new civil rights agenda of our time, the right to a safe community, a quality education, and a wonderful job.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Including for those great students that I met just a little while ago. They're going to do great. They are really beautiful.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You've done such a great job with the education here.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Our campaign represents the long-awaited chance to break with the bitter failures of the past and to embrace a new and strong American future. There's no failed policy more in need of urgent change than our government-run education monopoly. And you know in the back that's exactly what it is. They're protecting a lot of people that have a lot of really high-paying jobs, and they're not doing the jobs -- like Deborah -- that I can tell you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And, Deborah, they're making a lot more money than you. But we'll have to talk about that later.

(LAUGHTER)

The Democratic Party has strapped millions of African-American and Hispanic youth in failing government schools that deny them opportunity to join the ladder of American success. It's time to break up that monopoly. Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I want every single inner city child in America, who is today trapped in a failing school, to have the freedom, the civil right, to attend the school of their choice. Their parents will choose the finest school. They will attend that school. This includes private schools, traditional public schools, magnet schools and charter schools, which must be included in any definition of school choice. Our government spends more than enough money to easily pay for this initiative with billions and billions of dollars to be left over. It is simply a matter of putting students first, not the education bureaucracy. That's what's happened.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: Let's run through the numbers. At the state and federal level, the United States spends more than $620 billion on K-12 education each year. That's an average of about $12,296 for every student enrolled in our elementary and secondary public school, 10 percent of costs. The other $560 billion spent on K-12 education from the states. We spend more per student than almost any other major country in the world and we're doing very poorly in terms of a list. We spend more, by far, and we're doing very poorly. So obviously, Common Core does not work.

(APPLAUSE)

(AUDIO PROBLEM)

[14:45:41] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to come back just for a second. The satellite, obviously we are taking hits on the Trump speech. We wanted to make sure we keep listening.

Guys, I'm talking to the control jump, jump in my ear. Do we have it back? No audio. OK. So I'm not quite sure who I have with me. Just let me know.

Gloria Borger, we're going to tap dance for a hot second until we can hear more from Donald Trump. What's interesting, just to remind the viewer, is that he's in Philadelphia. One, if not two rows of school kids in the room because this was billed as a sort of an address on education but he really took the first 20 minutes to slam Hillary Clinton on e-mails, on the Clinton Foundation before then going in on why he says he's been against the Iraq war.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. You know, this has been -- he has long said I was against the Iraq war from the beginning and that is clearly up for discussion and debate here because he wasn't against the Iraq war. September 2002.

BALDWIN: Howard Stern radio.

BORGER: Howard Stern in an interview he asked him if he was for it, and he said, yeah, I guess so. What happened with him and he was referring to an "Esquire" interview that he gave. After the war, he really opposed it. And he said, look at the war in Iraq and the mess we're in. I never would have handled it that way. "Esquire." So his views on the war in Iraq seem to have evolved from before we got in when he said "I guess so" and "I support the idea" to after we got in when he said "I never would have done that and that was a mess." Now he said today that he would have voted differently from Hillary Clinton had he been in the Congress. That's fine to say that, but his $ words are his words.

BALDWIN: When he talks about -- I had Trump surrogates on yesterday when we were that you canning about what he said some years ago before the Libya invasion, he was for it, then he's since said he is against it. You are hearing this line from Trump and surrogates saying he was just a private citizen. He was a private citizen, he wasn't aware of the Intel briefings and especially on Iraq, it was wrong. Is that a fair point? BORGER: He made it again today that he didn't have access to all

intelligence. As it turns out, as you know, Brooke, the intelligence was wrong about the question of weapons of mass destruction. So you could have access to all the intelligence, and I would argue that George W. Bush had a lot of access to intelligence as president of the United States. And you know, it's not foolproof, as we learned the hard way with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And so people who voted -- and Hillary Clinton has said she de a mistake, as have others, Jeb Bush said going in to Iraq was a mistake. It took him a while to get there, but he did say that, remember, during the campaign. So a lot of people could make that argument but I would remind everyone that the intelligence was absolutely false.

BALDWIN: Wrong.

BORGER: Wrong.

BALDWIN: Gloria, stay with me, please.

Dana Bash is there in beautiful thousand oaks, Simi Valley area, the Reagan Library. We'll say why are you there in just is a moment.

I know you couldn't hear Donald Trump the last 20 minutes or so. But the crib notes are as follows -- that instead of really beginning with education, he again took Hillary Clinton to task on the private e-mail server and also on the Clinton Foundation. I'm curious, is this just what it is going to be like the next 60 days, the tit for tat, the back and forth?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: In a word.

BASH: It is going to be, it has been, and it is going to continue, especially because -- you've heard it all, meaning and you obviously heard it from the man himself, from Donald Trump himself, feel that they have been in after hearing Hillary Clinton last night trying to explain herself once again on the e mail server, which, if you kind of take the time and listen to it, she's certainly explaining the logic behind why she didn't think that she was e-mailing classified information. You're her political opponent and you are trying to boil it down to the fact that she is just business as usual, that she thinks she's above the law, all of the things we've heard from Republicans throughout this entire campaign season, they have new fodder from last night and Donald Trump would be committing political malpractice by not trying to use that.

[14:50:33] BALDWIN: We will talk to you again in a second and explain why you are at the Reagan Library.

Let's head back to Donald Trump. Hopefully, the signal is fixed.

TRUMP: -- public, private, or even religious school of their choice. Competition. Competition. (APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Competition, always does it. The weak fall out and the strong get better. It is an amazing thing. Right?

Pastor says it's right. You're right.

Right now, about $1.9 billion is spent on 50 private school choice programs nationwide. These are opportunity scholarships, tax credits and education savings accounts. This covers about 400,000 students in our country, which is still a small number. All together, school choice is serving more than 3.4 million students nationwide. Getting there. Charter schools in particular have demonstrated amazing gains in the results in providing education to disadvantaged children. And the success of these schools will be a top priority in a Trump administration. We have to fix education -- we have to -- military, education, health care. But these things all go hand in hand. We have to fix them.

My first budget will immediately add an additional federal investment of $20 billion towards school choice. This will be done by reprioritizing existing federal dollars. We have to reprioritize. Specifically, my plan will use $20 billion of existing federal dollars to establish a block grant for the million school-age kids living in absolute poverty. We will give states the option to allow these funds to follow the student to the public or private school they attend. The parents will be so happy. Number one, we'll have safe streets. And number two, they'll walk their child to a school that they want to be at. How about that? How is that?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: What a difference. What a difference. Compare that to today where people say, how do you do it? How do you do did?

The distribution of this grant will favor states that have private school choice and charter laws encouraging them to participate. They're going to be encouraged to participate. This $20 billion will instantly extend choice to millions and millions more students.

A state like Ohio will benefit greatly from these new funds. Ohio is a leader in school choice. Ohio has five private school choice programs that serve over 30,000 students and 384 charter schools serving 123,844 students. Great job.

But the $20 billion is only the beginning. As president, I will establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty. That means that we want every disadvantaged child to be able to choose the local public, private or charter school, a magnet school, any of these schools, that is best for them and for their family, for mom and dad. Each state will develop its own formula, but we want the dollars to follow the student. So important. The dollars will follow the student. And the student will follow the right school. They're going to follow the right school. $9 and $10 spent on K-12 education is spent at the state and local level. To achieve this long-term goal, we will have to make this a shared

national mission to bring hope to every child in every city in this land, in our country, in our great country. I will use the pulpit of the presidency to campaign for this in all 50 states. And I will call upon the American people to elect officials at the city, state and federal level who support school choice. So important. My administration will partner with the leadership of inner cities -- I mean any one of them. Any one of them. Any inner city in America, Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland.

We love Cleveland. We love Cleveland.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Had a great experience in Cleveland. That's all I know.

(LAUGHTER)

And by the way, your police department did a phenomenal job. Believe me.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And that's any city that is willing to run a pilot program to provide school choice to every child in that community. In Baltimore, for instance, that would mean more than $15,000 in funds available per student. Can't beat that.

I'm confident that the politicians will not be able to suppress the will of the people anymore. It is too much. Too strong. Eventually, they break. They're politicians. They always break.

(LAUGHTER)

They certainly break on trade for our country. We don't make any good deals. Right? They break on an hourly basis. If we can put a man on the moon, dig out the Panama Canal, and win two world wars, then I have no doubt that we as a nation can provide school choice to every disadvantaged child in America.

If the states collectively contribute another $110 billion of their own education budgets towards school choice, on top of the $20 billion in federal dollars, that could provide $12,000 in school choice funds to every single K-12 student who today is living in poverty. The money will follow the student. That means the student will be able to attend the public, private, charter or magnet school of their choice and each state will develop its own system that works best for them. They're going to develop systems, the likes of which you've never seen. And some states will do better than others. And then you got to get those people to come to your state. And then other things will be happening. It will be so exciting. It's not really a question of the money, because we'll be saving money and having a far better education.

As your president, I will be the nation's biggest cheerleader for school choice. I understand many stale, old politicians resist. They've got a lot of

pressure. They've got a lot of pressure on them. But it is time for our country to start thinking big and correct, once again. We spend too much time quibbling over the smallest words when we should spend our time dreaming about the great adventures that lie ahead.

I will also support merit pay for teachers. They're great teachers.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So that we reward our best teachers instead of the failed tenure system that rewards bad teachers and punishes the good ones, and the bad ones are making the same money and sometimes more than the good ones. Can't have that.

At the same time, we have to ensure that jobs are waiting for our young kids when they graduate high school and college. My policy will add millions of new jobs to our country, especially for African- American and Hispanic communities. Going to do such a great job.

My plan to lift restrictions on the production of American energy will not only make home energy bills a lot cheaper -- your electric bills will be a lot less -- but it will add an estimated half a million jobs per year. By reducing radical regulations and over taxation -- we're bringing your taxes way down -- we can bring thousands of new companies into our poorest communities.

Crucially, my trade reforms will create a manufacturing revival in America. As you know, all of your companies -- Cleveland is a great example. But your companies are being ripped out of your community and your people are being left jobless and your government's being left with no taxes. We have a nearly $800 billion -- think of that -- $800 billion annual trade deficit with the world. We trade with the world. We have a trade deficit of $800 billion.