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New Day
Highlights from GOP Presidential Debate Reviewed; Interview with Donald Trump After Debate; Interview with Bernie Sanders. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired September 17, 2015 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:00:28] CARLY FIORINA, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is about changing the system.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage.
RAND PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is a sophomore quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump.
TRUMP: I promise if I wanted I would have got it.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stop this childish back and forth.
BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: OK, so I just want that on the record.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) FLORIDA: You better will able to lead the country the first day.
TRUMP: To assimilate you have to speak English.
CHRISTIE: We don't want to hear about your careers.
FIORINA: This is about the character of our nation.
TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to this post-debate edition of NEW DAY, or as Alisyn is calling it, same day because we've been up all night on this Thursday, September 17th, 8:00 in the east, but not here. Here it is 5:00 a.m. in Simi Valley, California. Michaela is in New York. And we are back in here after the Republican debate, and, as promised, it has changed the state of the election. Donald Trump is not the big name coming out of last night. The question for him is will he keep the size of his lead. Not that he's going to drop from first, but did the field shift last night. It looks like yes are and for good and bad reason. You got to see Donald Trump in a way you have not seen him before, on the defensive as candidates fired salvos of substance. The big name from last night, Carly Fiorina.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Jeb Bush was also looking for momentum after what some call a bounce back performance for him. So who shined brightly? Who fell flat? Our debate coverage begins with John Berman with all the highlights and maybe some lowlights from last night. Hi, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I just was actually walking by the debate stage area and they are already breaking it down. It's like they are removing the evidence from a crash site. And that was what it was. It was like a multivehicle collision with all these forces going right after each other. There were some who landed their blows. Others, well, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: From nearly the minute the debate started Donald Trump was the man in the middle, the middle of a pile on.
PAUL: His visceral response to attack people on their appearance, short, tall, fat, ugly -- my goodness, that happened in junior high.
TRUMP: I never attacked him on his look, and believe me there is plenty of subject matter right there, that I can tell you.
BERMAN: There was Trump v Paul, Trump v Fiorina about the "Rolling Stone" article where he talked about her face.
FIORINA: I think the women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.
BERMAN: No, she did not seem impressed. Nor was Jeb in Trump v Bush. The subject, remarks Trump once made accusing Bush on being soft on immigration because his wife was born in Mexico.
JEB BUSH, (R) FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I hope you apologize for that, Donald Trump.
TRUMP: Well, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman. I don't know here, and this is a total mischaracterization --
BUSH: She is. She's fantastic. She is absolutely the love of my life and she's right here. And why don't you apologize to her right now.
TRUMP: No, I won't do that because I said nothing wrong, but I do hear she's a lovely woman. BERMAN: The 11 candidates were begging our moderator for their chance
to get in the game.
PAUL: Jake.
TRUMP: Jake.
FIORINA: Jake.
BERMAN: All with a need to break through. Carly Fiorina, the newcomer to the main debate stage, touched the crowd with a reference to sting videos targeting Planned Parenthood.
FIORINA: Anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart-beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.
BERMAN: Marco Rubio flashed passion and knowledge on foreign policy.
RUBIO: The number one issue that a president will ever confront and the most important obligation that the federal government has is to keep this nation safe. And today we are not doing that. We are eviscerating our military, and we have a president that is more respectful to the ayatollah in Iran than he is to the prime minister of Israel.
BERMAN: While Trump and Fiorina flashed their business backgrounds in a tit for CEO tat.
FIORINA: I led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years.
TRUMP: She can't run any of my companies, that I can tell you.
FIORINA: You ran up mountains of debt as well as losses using other people's month, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy.
TRUMP: I made over $10 billion.
BERMAN: So what, who cares? Said governor Chris Christie.
[08:05:01] CHRISTIE: The fact is we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did poorly. You are both successful people. Congratulations.
BERMAN: The debate did have some lighter moments, or higher, as the case may be.
BUSH: And 40 years ago I smoked marijuana and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: The big laughs came with Bush and Trump's proposed presidential code names.
BUSH: Ever-ready, it's very high energy, Donald Trump.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Humble.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: And not to be out-partied, Lindsey Graham, who made waves in the first debate with some hard edge anti-terror policy.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running wild.
BERMAN: He also came out for hard liquor.
GRAHAM: That is the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Game, set, match.
CAMEROTA: Who can argue with that logic?
CUOMO: Lindsey Graham endorsed by Jack Daniels.
CAMEROTA: John, stick with us if you would. We want to bring in Maeve Reston, she are CNN national political reporter, and Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal." Ron, what jumped out at you most through all the fireworks.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I think the order of candidates who do well, I'm pretty much in the mainstream on this. I think the Carly Fiorina did very well. I think Marco Rubio did very well. They were the top tier. I think Chris Christie and Rand Paul had bounce back performances. I thought Jeb Bush was pretty good.
To me what really jumped out above all was the divergence in the viewpoint on the core question the party faces, which is how do you get back to the White House after you have lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections. We saw very different versions what it takes to do that from John Kasich and Jeb Bush arguing essentially we have to expand the coalition and many other candidate, Donald Trump I think, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal in the first debate arguing we have to mobilize our existing coalition. You saw that argument play out on a lot of different issues, most pointedly immigration, but also national security and criminal justice.
CUOMO: Ron not mentioning Donald Trump the entire time. BROWNSTEIN: I mentioned Donald Trump in a kind of divergence
on where to go. But yes, Donald Trump, when he was not insulting other candidates or questioning their qualifications he receded quite a bit in this debate.
CUOMO: Meaning he stays in first place, but do you think Donald Trump may see his first slip in poll numbers after this debate.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I think there were a lot of people out there who seized the opportunity to take away some of his voters. Carly Fiorina obviously is the best example of that from last night, having a very strong performance. I do think we could see Trump plateau here. At the same time we've all been saying things like that for a while and we've been proven wrong. So it's very difficult to predict the dynamics in this race.
But as to Ron's point, you did have Republicans have a lot to see there last night and a lot to choose from, differing strategies for taking the White House back, also just a lot of tonal differences that were really interesting to watch in real-time.
CAMEROTA: A lot of people were watching Bush last night. They wanted to see if he really would fight back against Trump, what his tone would be. And he did talk about his brother last night in a different way than we've heard before. Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Your brother and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama because it was such a disaster those last three months that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected.
BUSH: You know what? As it relates to my brother there is one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember --
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: You remember the rubble? You remember the firefighter with his arms around him? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe.
TRUMP: I don't know, do you feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Was that an interesting situation given that his brother was president during 9/11?
BROWNSTEIN: There are two reasons for the applause. Number one, that audience in the room, those 500 people were the types of establishment people that are still connected to the Bushes right there. So I think those are people who were set for that.
The second thing is that George W. Bush isn't at unpopular as he was inside the Republican Party. So particularly in some of these primary states, you look at the numbers there and he's not the weight around the neck that a lot of people thought he would be, particularly not as he was in 2008.
And I think the third thing is the well-crafted answer from Jeb Bush right interest. It wasn't exactly what Trump was going after. Trump was calling W. a disaster on the economy, on getting us into Iraq and other things. He wasn't saying anything about 9/11 but Jeb turned it to 9/11, and he also spoke passionately about a family member. People just want to see him be genuine in a way that is energetic.
[08:10:00] RESTON: Think about how much he struggled with that answer over the last couple of months. It was finally like, all right, Jeb nailed it with an answer with an issue he's had so much trouble talking about his family and figuring out what to say about Iraq. And so made it sort of a poignant moment. That was one of his stronger moments of the debate.
BERMAN: I don't think he wants to run as the brother of the George W. Bush and if that is the strongest moment from the de ate last night, that is problematic.
RESTON: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: One of the things to keep in mind is as enormous and sprawling and fluid as this field is, and I think most of the strategists in the campaign really believe they are running -- there are two different races occurring, or two different brackets being fought out. You have a bracket that is Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham maybe from the first debate, maybe Carly Fiorina, probably Marco Rubio who is trying to consolidate mostly establish more upscale Republican support focused primarily on New Hampshire.
Then the more conservative bracket where you have people like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, who are looking to consolidate more populists elements of the party, blue collar voters, more evangelical voters. And they are aimed at Iowa. So as we kind of look at this, it is not all against all. I think most campaigns still think you are going to end with one finalist from each of those brackets, and to a large extent they are competing against each other. Jeb Bush's biggest problem today is not necessarily Trump electorally. It is John Kasich.
BERMAN: The problem he has been having is Trump has been beating the heck out of him on one side while he wants to be concentrating on Kasich and Rubio.
BROWNSTEIN: That's absolutely right.
CAMEROTA: And let's look at another moment that people were waiting for, and this is the moment that Carly Fiorina would respond to Donald Trump's unkind expressions about her face. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FIORINA: You know, it is interesting to me. Mr. Trump said
that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RESTON: I mean, that moment was just obviously the highlight of the debate for a lot of people. It showed you everything that makes Carly Fiorina just a really good candidate in one respect. Incredibly disciplined, I mean the face control coming out of that. And then, you know, Donald Trump come back with almost doubling down on kind of a cringe moment for women.
You know, I think that the other interesting part of that is that we saw a bunch of the candidates start to go after her on her HP record and that is going to be her biggest vulnerability going forward. Even Chris Christie just now in an interview, he came out, once you are rising to the top you are going to get the target on your back.
BROWNSTEIN: Did you notice a little half smile on Donald Trump's face before he responded in that tape? It was almost like a professional acknowledgment, like that was well done.
BERMAN: He respects the fighting.
RESTON: Apparently.
BERMAN: Also when Jeb came up with the energizer bunny, he got a high-five. An awkward creepy old guy high five, but a high five.
CAMEROTA: There you go. John, thank you. Thank you for that, leaving it on that note. Coming up we will talk more about the debate. We have so many good guests to talk about. We also have someone from the other side. Democrat Bernie Sanders is going to join us live later this hour. What did he think as he watched the television of what was going on last night?
CUOMO: Creepy old guy high five.
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[08:17:17] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We told you that the debate would change the race, and it did. The rivals squared off, trying to get your attention. And it seemed to work. Donald Trump was the focus, but probably didn't come away dominant. The name we're all hearing is Carly Fiorina.
So, what does this mean? When the new numbers come out, could it be that Donald Trump, while probably still number one, doesn't have the same lead, might see his first slip in the polls. He betrayed no lack of confidence when we spoke to him right after he stepped off the debate stage. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: After speaking to your family, what did your family say about how you were tonight?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, they were very proud and very happy and it was a beautiful time. I had an amazing time. Three hours is probably a record-setting long debate. But I guess you are selling a lot of commercials doing that. They increased. I guess it was supposed to be two, but they were very professional the way they handled it. CNN did a very good job.
CUOMO: We agree about that. It seemed like it was well run. There was a lot of talk about. Who do you think came out on top with the best ideas for the American people?
TRUMP: Well, I think everybody did well. Nobody did poorly. And really everyone did very well. I was very impressed.
CUOMO: Anybody more than anybody else.
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that. I think certain people did really well. I would never say that, of course.
CUOMO: Carly Fiorina is getting a lot of buzz, that she stepped up tonight.
TRUMP: Really well, I thought. I think she's a very nice person. I think really I think everybody did very well.
CUOMO: Do you feel that you did something differently tonight than you did in the first debate?
TRUMP: No, I think probably the first debate went very well for me also. They are saying very nice things. I just heard a couple of people come over and say, wow, that was great. So I think, you know, I'm very happy with both performances actually.
CUOMO: There seemed to have been more discussion amongst the candidates during the breaks and afterwards here in this debate than it was the first one. What types --
TRUMP: I think that's true. Well, we're getting to know each other a little bit. Even though it is quite tough and sometimes a little nasty, we're getting to know each other. And you know you develop relationships. I have a lot of respect for a lot of the people on the stage.
CUOMO: What have you learned after tonight.
TRUMP: Well, I've learned that I have no trouble standing for three hours. And, you know, I mean, literally it must be a record. I hope that the audience is OK, because I actually think it is a little bit too long. But I learned that we have a lot of talent in the Republican Party. And I think we're going to do very well come Election Day.
CUOMO: When you look to the left and right tonight, did you still feel you stand above those who else want the job?
TRUMP: Well, I never say that. I would never say that I do. I think I'll do a great job. I think I'll be the greatest jobs producer that there ever has been in this country. I know exactly what to do. That's what I do do.
CNN did a poll. I was number one in terms of leadership, number one in terms of economy and jobs.
[08:20:02] And I don't mean number one by a little bit. You know the poll very well, by many times.
And I think I would certainly do an unbelievable job putting the country back to work and, literally, I think people would be extremely happy and extremely proud of our country.
CUOMO: Can you point to anything that you heard tonight where you listened and thought, you know what, I like that idea, I think I'm going to use that?
TRUMP: Well, I heard a lot of things. And we'll discuss it on your show at length, because I have a whole family over here.
CUOMO: You have to process, what do you do next, what do you do now?
TRUMP: Well, I'm getting on the plane and back to New York. Then I'm going up to New Hampshire tomorrow afternoon and I'm going to Iowa. I'm going all over the place. The polls have been amazing, just amazing. The receptivity has been incredible.
You know, in Dallas, we sold out the Mavericks arena. We were in Alabama -- Mobile, Alabama, we had 31,000 people. The response has been incredible. They like what I'm saying. They agree with what I'm saying.
CUOMO: What does it mean, you have you family in the crowd, your daughter, your son --
TRUMP: Well, that's right. Here they are. I mean, it's great. To have them and they seemed to be so receptive today. They like -- I could see they were giving me the high five and high sign.
CUOMO: Ivanka must have liked it when you said you should be on the ten dollar bill. That was high praise.
TRUMP: That's like. I like it. I mean, she sat for a long time tonight. But we had a great time. Everybody had a good time. And I was very impressed with everybody.
CUOMO: So, if tomorrow, after the pundits discussed and the polls come out and they say Trump was on top, would you be surprised?
TRUMP: No, I wouldn't be. I think I did very well. I think -- everybody did well, but I think I did very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, what was your impression when we first came off the stage?
CUOMO: Tired. I think tired because of the duration. It was a long night. And also because of the intensity. I think this was a different night for Donald Trump. Everybody raised their game. It wasn't just about quick one-liners. Carly Fiorina was firing a bazooka at him with substance. She took him on about what he said about her and then much, much more. I don't think he was used to that. We'll see how he adjusts.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely. I mean, by the end of you interview with him, he got his mojo back, where he said it was all terrific. I did very well. I'm hearing great things -- even though that was mostly from miss family at that point. But he was back to vintage Trump.
CUOMO: You know, yes, you make a good point. It's the first time I've actually heard Donald Trump want to end the interview. He was ready to go. He was tired.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I heard that.
All right. Meanwhile, what did the Democrats think last night when they were watching last night's debate? We'll talk to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders straight ahead when same day -- I mean NEW DAY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:26:23] CUOMO: We have heard a lot this morning from the people on the right. Those who were in the debate last night, those who watched as the race changed.
But what about the other side? Are they shaking in their boots? Are they satisfied with what they heard? Do they feel better now?
How about Senator Bernie Sanders? He was actually live tweeting during the debate.
CAMEROTA: A lot.
CUOMO: Senator Sanders, who represents Vermont. Of course, known as an independent, joins us now. And there he is. The man with his own hashtag, feel the Bern.
Senator Sanders, you are tweeting. You say you got bored. You fell asleep. What were your doing online last night, sir?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was really painful. I have to say of this to you, Chris. I couldn't go on the full three hours. I gave up after two and a half.
Look, their view -- it goes without saying that my views are a lot different than theirs. But what was really remarkable is the degree to which they avoided the major issues facing the American people. And believe that every single problem facing humanity is all attributed to Barack Obama. He has caused all of the problems.
We seem to have forgotten that when Bush left office, 800,000 people were losing their jobs every single month, the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse and our deficit was a record breaking $1.4 trillion.
CAMEROTA: Senator, let me give people a taste of some of the Twitter storm you are stirring up last night. Here is one on immigration. You wrote, "Anyone on stage maybe just maybe think we might want to pass comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship? Anyone?"
I'm sensing sarcasm, Senator.
SANDERS: Yes, it was sarcastic. But here's the point -- if you listen to the debate, you would not know that most of the people in our country, not all, but most of the people, in fact do believe that we need comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship. That's the majority opinion and yet there was virtually no Republican on that stage who agreed with that.
I also found it remarkable that some of the really important issues facing our country -- income and wealth inequality, not discussed at all. The fact that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth, not discussed at all. The fact that the scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us climate change is real.
It is a real threat to this planet. These guys had nothing to say on that issue.
CUOMO: Here is the other side, senator. They were saying things, you just didn't like what they were saying. Reverse order. On climate change, they said, yes, OK, it is there but it is not for the federal government. Let the states deal with it more. Federal government doesn't have an answer.
In terms of poverty and income, they blame you. They say you've taxed people into a position they are in and you've locked up business. And notably on immigration they say that's on you too. Your party president, I know you're an independent but caucusing with the Democrats, and they say that Barack Obama promised it, it's part of why he got elected and he's done nothing, you didn't get it done. These are all your problems.
SANDERS: Ooh, let's deal with that. Let's just deal with that. First of all, they do not believe -- I mean, let's be frank. They do not believe in comprehensive immigration reform and that's why the House of Representatives have not taken up the comprehensive immigration reform passed by the Democrats with -- in a bipartisan way, I should say -- in the Senate. We did it.
In terms of climate change -- no, Chris, I did not hear anybody say, oh, this is a planetary crisis. We have got to do something. Really? The federal government should not do something? No scientist that I know believes that.
