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Trump Doesn't Correct Man Who Calls Obama a Muslim; Clinton: 'Don't Attack Women's Healthcare'; Clock-Making Teen Transferring to Another School; Former Montana Governor Weighs in on Clinton's Campaign. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 18, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in the country. It's called Muslims.

[05:58:19] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a Trumpism if there ever was one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump did not correct the question. What does Mr. Trump believe? Does he believe the president is a Muslim?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to give my foreign policy based on "watching the shows."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to see Jeb Bush get steadily better with each debate.

BUSH: You need a president with a steady hand.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name an accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The usual back and forth political attacks.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: She knows that she has to be more transparent.

CLINTON: This is just the silly season.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: When are you allowed to be funny. When are you not?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A specific date (ph).

CUOMO: Not right now. It's serious time.

Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, September 18, 6 a.m. in the east. The race has changed. The positive buzz in the GOP shifting to Carly Fiorina. And Donald Trump seems to have a target on his back, now under fire for failing to challenge a man who called the president a Muslim and called for the U.S. to get rid of Muslims.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton now weighing in on Trump and his Republican rivals. Also another government shutdown looming in Washington.

So let's begin our coverage with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Since he got in the campaign, he's often been accused of going too far with his rhetoric, but now Donald Trump is taking heat for what he did not say after failing to challenge a comment from a member of the audience in New Hampshire about President Obama's religion and nationality. And Democrats are going after him this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there.

JOHNS (voice-over): A new controversy for Donald Trump this morning, just a day after CNN's GOP debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in his country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know, he's not even an American.

JOHNS: The Republican frontrunner back in the headlines after his vague and evasive response to this anti-Muslim supporter at a town hall in New Hampshire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?

TRUMP: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. You know, a lot of people are saying that...

JOHNS: Trump taking heat for not correcting the man the way Senator John McCain did while running for president in 2008.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him, and he's not -- he's an Arab. He is not...

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No?

MCCAIN: No, ma'am. No, ma'am.

JOHNS: Trump's camp claiming the billionaire did not hear the question about Obama being a Muslim, saying, quote, "The media want to make this an issue about Obama, but it's about him waging a war on Christianity."

Still, Democrats quick to pounce. Hillary Clinton, at a substance abuse forum in New Hampshire earlier in the day, tweeted "Not denouncing false statements about the president and hateful rhetoric about Muslims is disturbing and wrong. Cut it out."

This as Jeb Bush ratchets up a strategy to keep his debate momentum going on the campaign trail, joking at a rally in Las Vegas.

BUSH: I hope I will be so brilliant and so eloquent and so high- energy.

JOHNS: And calling out Trump's gaps in foreign policy knowledge.

BUSH: I'm not going to get my foreign policy based on "watching the shows" or say, "Don't worry about it, I'll figure it out later."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

BUSH: You need a president with a steady hand because this is a dangerous world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: And the chair of the Democratic National Committee calling Trump's comments at the rally "horrendous but unsurprising."

What makes this latest Trump story more controversial is the history. In 2011, Donald Trump publicly challenged President Obama's citizenship and asked for him to release his birth certificate, which he later did -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes. We do remember that. We'll be talking all about it this morning. Joe, thanks so much.

Meanwhile, House Republicans plan to force several votes aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood. Some conservative lawmakers even threatening a government shutdown at the end of the month.

What does Hillary Clinton have to say? CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is on the campaign trail with Clinton in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Hi, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Well, she has a lot to say about this. Hillary and her team, they're both very eager to take on this issue.

They're in the midst of a three-day swing in New Hampshire. This is where her main opponent, Bernie Sanders, is ahead in four polls, one of them 23 points ahead of her with the independents and the new voters.

This is an issue that she feels will resonate with the female voters, with the new voters, the young voters, moderates and independents, all of those people she needs.

So yes, she is taking it on. She knows she is very distinct from the GOP candidates who are supporting defunding Planned Parenthood, as well as some of the Republicans in Congress who are call to shut down the government over it.

Now, she talked to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, and she was very clear, as she has been in the past, for her support of this organization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We ought to be very clear that Planned Parenthood has served to provide health care, necessary health care for millions of women. And I think that it deserves not only our support, but the continuing funding from the federal government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So she is going to be talking about this throughout the day. She's also traveling to Concord later today to talk about making college affordable again. Trying to hit those young voters, those new voters and those moderates, those independents. She goes on to travel to Maine to rally the troops -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Suzanne, thank you so much.

Well, Hillary Clinton had a whole lot more to say about Republicans in her exclusive interview with Wolf Blitzer, taking on her GOP rivals and defending her career as secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: You certainly did take a lot of fire from the Republicans at the CNN debate last night -- I assume you watched it -- especially from the lone female candidate up on the stage, Carly Fiorina.

She said if you want to stump a Democrat, she said, ask them about Hillary Clinton's accomplishments as secretary of state.

If you were on that debate stage with her, what would you say was your No. 1 accomplishment as secretary of state?

CLINTON: You know, Wolf, I didn't get to see all of their debate, but I saw enough of it to know that this is just the usual back and forth political attacks, the kinds of things you say when you're on a debate stage and you really don't have much else to say.

[06:05:00] I didn't hear anything from any of them about how they're going to make college more affordable or get down student debt, or get equal pay for equal work for women, what they're going to do to make sure that we deal with the challenges of raising incomes for hardworking people.

So I don't really pay a lot of attention to this kind of rhetoric that heats up the debate stage. They're all trying to vie for more attention from, obviously, the Republican Party. I'm going to let them decide how best to do it.

But if anybody is interested, you know, there's a long list about what I have done, and I'm very proud of it. You can read my book, "Hard Choices," read about how I negotiated a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. You can read about how I put together the coalition that led to international sanctions against Iran. You can read about what I did when I was first lady to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, or as senator, working across the aisle on issues like getting better health care for our veterans.

You know, this is just the silly season. I am looking forward to eventually debating on that stage whoever they finally nominate once they get around to doing that.

BLITZER: You've dismissed Donald Trump's campaign as entertainment, suggested, in part, he's not really serious. But the top Republican candidate right now, Donald Trump, and, for that matter, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, they're all political outsiders; and your main Democratic opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, he's pulling ahead in some of these polls in New Hampshire and Iowa. He's running as an outsider, as well.

So how do you deal with that? Why is Bernie Sanders, for example, ahead of you in these polls in New Hampshire and Iowa right now?

CLINTON: Well, I -- I've said for a long time, polls are going to go up. They're going to go down. I'm very confident and very comfortable about our strategy. I feel that our campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, all the early states, and now we're moving on to the states that come after, are really coming together well.

I'm excited by the level and intensity of the support that I have. So I always thought this would be a competitive election. I'm looking forward to it. This is an important job. This is the most important job not only in our country, but in the world. And people have to fight hard. They have to make their case, and they have to earn the votes of the American voters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Hillary Clinton, seeming a little bit more confident. Let's dig into why she would feel that way and what's going on with Trump in the state of the GOP. We have political reporter for "TIME," Mr. Zeke Miller; and CNN political commentator and political anchor at New York One, Mr. we Errol Louis.

Let us begin with Trump. Many felt that that debate was a turning point for the GOP. There's definitely a re-assemblage of there, Carly popping the way she did.

But when you see this new situation with Donald Trump and this person -- let's play it again. Let's see how it lays out with the facts, and then let's talk the implications. Here it is. He's being asked a question by a man. What does he do and not do in response to the question? Judge for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American.

But anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?

TRUMP: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Forget about the answer. The "we need this" question, Errol Louis, does that attempt to go far enough to shut down what is a ridiculous assertion by the questioner?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, of course, it doesn't. And he didn't shut down the question.

I would like to think that Donald Trump is new enough to politics that he didn't know how to handle what is a very, very awkward situation, which is that something that's completely out of bounds and, frankly, crazy talk, suddenly, you know, is front and center. You're supposed to answer it.

Now, you can either do what John McCain did back in 2008 and try to really sort of effectively assert yourself.

CAMEROTA: We have that moment. Let's just play it for a contrast. Let's listen to how John McCain handled a very similar situation at a town hall. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him, and he's not -- he's an Arab. He is not...

MCCAIN: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No?

MCCAIN: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that's what this campaign is all about. He's not. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: There you go. He takes the microphone back. "No, ma'am. No, not. He's a decent family man."

LOUIS: That's right. And frankly, he didn't even have to go as far as he did. I mean, Senator McCain was being a gentleman in that -- at that point. He really could have said, "No, next question." Just move on. Put it behind you. Just move on. Donald Trump chose not to do that.

Either because he's a political novice or because he's feeding off a kind of energy and isn't making the kind of distinction that we would expect a candidate to make.

CUOMO: We could a hint as part of the reason why. What's the response from the campaign?

CAMEROTA: All right. So Zeke, let us read to you because after this they blew up, and the campaign realized that that was not the right way to handle it. All they said -- "All he heard was a question about the training camps which he said we have to look into. The media want to make this an issue about Obama. But it's about him waging a war on Christianity."

[06:10:12] Zeke, what do you think of that response?

ZEKE MILLER, POLITICAL REPORTER, "TIME": I mean, we just watched the video. Trump seems to acknowledge the question even as he's getting it. But you know, even if he -- if he misheard something or not, this is the third or fourth or fifth time in the last few weeks in which the campaign is claiming that he didn't say something that he clearly said or misheard something that he clearly heard, I mean, whether it be his comments about Megyn Kelly, his comments about Carly Fiorina. "Oh, I wasn't talking about her appearance." What else were you talking about? These aren't common expressions. These questions like this aren't common.

And you know, for what's going through Donald Trump's mind when he's up there is, how do I get out of this situation? And for him often, it's always the entertainer's response of "yes and," the improv response. And that often isn't conducive, because you're then, you know, accepting the premise of the question.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Is this a turning point, Errol? I mean, this is, to my ears, the easiest thing for a politician to hit out of the park. "That was a repugnant, racist question. Let's move on." You know, whatever. I mean, it's almost a gift. It lets the politician sort of take the high ground. But...

CUOMO: A politician who, in 2011, questioned whether or not the president was a citizen and asked for his birth certificate and said that there might be something in his past. I mean, that's -- that's when Trump popped back into politics.

CAMEROTA: So he's a famous birther, as they're called.

LOUIS: This is the transition from being an entertainer and being a provocateur and being sort of a celebrity figure and being a politician. And Donald Trump, listen, I think even his campaign, even Donald

Trump, even his interview with you, I think he's gone further faster than even he expected. That, you know, 90 days in, he's leading in all the polls, all kinds of new things are happening now. He's got to work rope lines, although he's sort of a germophobe. Now he's got to sort of handle all kinds of questions, even though he stirred up the very sentiments that are now coming back to sort of -- sort of haunt his campaign.

So he's got to figure out what he's going to do and how he's going to do it. And I think we're going to have a lot more of these awkward moments as he tries to figure out how to become a politician.

CUOMO: And awkward moments may be a nice way to say it. Maybe the McCain response to the situation.

Because Zeke, you know, what people saw in that debate -- and again, 23 million of them saw this -- wasn't that Donald Trump was being hunted by the other candidates. But there was an elevation of the game in that debate. People were coming with heavy artillery of information, of rationales, of policy, of contrasting things, of history.

Do you think that was part of the reason he was so quiet in the debate? That he was a little bit shell-shocked by how high the game was being played, the level of the game?

MILLER: Certainly. I mean, for the first time in this -- really, in this entire campaign, somebody drew blood on Donald Trump. And it happened a series of times on Wednesday night, whether it be Carly Fiorina's response to his attacks; Jeb Bush about his attacks on his wife; Jeb Bush on the casino stuff; Chris Christie on his record, saying people don't want to hear about this anymore.

Donald Trump was on the defensive, really, for the first time in this race. And it showed. He sort of disappeared for that 37-minute stretch on foreign policy, which might have actually helped him a little bit, because that's not where he's strong on.

But you know, looking at him last night, that town hall was not his normal format, the way he runs most of these rallies. He seemed to be on the defensive and a little shaken up by it.

CAMEROTA: Errol, we have a little -- it's not a poll. It's sort of an interesting game where people give their instant response during the debate and how they were feeling about the candidates. It's by Pivot, a political -- it's called Pivot, a Political Predict Market, and CNN. And so here's how people were feeling.

CUOMO: Lot of "P's."

CAMEROTA: It is. Too early for all that.

This is at the start of the debate versus at the end.

CUOMO: These are at the end. CAMEROTA: These are at the end. So he was down 8 percent by the

end of the debate. Ben Carson was down 4 percent. Bush had risen a little bit by the end of the debate. Again, not necessarily scientific.

CUOMO: Fiorina had gone up also. Though not as much as what you would have thought.

CAMEROTA: But sort of an instant finger on the pulse feeling.

LOUIS: Relative to where they started out coming into the debate.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LOUIS: No, absolutely. I mean, and this gets back to, I think, what you mentioned about the game being raised.

I mean, I thought the most telling exchange in the entire evening was the medical marijuana debate, where you've got Rand Paul, the libertarian, going at it with Jeb Bush, the conservative governor. The law and order guy, Chris Christie, jumps in. Carly Fiorina gets in with a personal experience. It was an actual debate. It was substantive. It was many different corners of conservatism all coming together and kind of mixing it up.

Donald Trump off to the side, nothing to say. And that, I think, is kind of where this debate is starting to take us.

CUOMO: What's the other number, Zeke, though, that maybe that -- not that he gets away with it but that he's not doing something that's as offensive as you might think by allowing this man this oxygen and this question.

Is this other number about where in the Republican Party people think the -- Obama's religion lies? Republicans only. Christian, 29 percent; Muslim, take a guess. Forty-three percent of those polled Republican think that President Obama is a Muslim. What do you read into in that number as a rationale for how to approach the situation by Donald Trump?

[06:15:12] MILLER: Well, you know, you look at what Donald Trump did. He's probably catering. There's probably a very large overlap between that 40 percent and Donald Trump's 23 percent to 33 percent in the polls right now. It's probably the same people. It's a small minority of the broader electorate. It's 23, 33 percent of 30 percent of America.

It's a fairly small number, but it's significant to a lot of people in this country who believe this way. You know, some -- for one reason or another, it's really hard to put your pulse -- you know, your finger on it after 6 1/2 years of the president in the White House, two years of campaigning before that. They still believe this. There's probably nothing Donald Trump or anyone else can do to change their mind, you know, even if you were to stand up to them. This is Donald Trump trying to keep his support. If they believe

it, he's going to say it. Because that's his way of keeping his base. You know, and certainly, as the game has been elevated, he needs to work harder than ever for that.

CAMEROTA: It will be a very interesting weekend to see what happens on the campaign trail. Zeke, Errol...

CUOMO: And the next set of poll numbers.

CAMEROTA: Yes, absolutely. That will be fascinating. Thanks so much.

In case you missed the Republican debate, CNN will re-air that tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Also, mark your calendars. In just three weeks, CNN and Facebook will host the first Democratic candidates' debate. That will be on Tuesday, October 13, in Vegas, baby, Vegas.

PEREIRA: Did you say Vegas?

CAMEROTA: I did say Vegas.

PEREIRA: Thanks, Alisyn.

Take a look at some other news right now.

Breaking overnight, at least 16 people have been killed after an attack on an air base in northwest Pakistan. The victims were praying at a mosque at the time of that ambush. More than a dozen militants were killed by responding forces. Ten members of the military, we're told, were injured. The Pakistani Taliban is claiming responsibility.

CUOMO: The death toll rises after a powerful 8.3 magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile. At least 11 people now confirmed dead. Still very early in the assessment. The quake triggered a 16-foot tsunami wave that slammed the coastline in one of the hardest-hit regions. Close to one million people had to be evacuated, hundreds of homes destroyed. You're looking at the pictures right now. Your screen tells the story of the storm and also the aftershocks of the earthquake that could be felt across the country. And again, still very early in the assessment.

CAMEROTA: Back here at home, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis loses another appeal in her bid to delay issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A federal appeals court blasting her lawyers for not following the rules and rejecting their request to put the federal court's order to serve all couples, gay and straight, on hold. The appeals court slamming Davis's attorneys for trying to sidestep the judge who issued the order and going straight to the circuit court.

PEREIRA: New details are emerging this morning about that Muslim teenage adventure -- inventor, rather, who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to his Texas school. His family's now saying he's not going to return to that school. CNN's Nick Valencia live from CNN Center with more for us.

A whole lot going on in this story.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

A roller coaster of a week for 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, that Texas teen accused of making a fake bomb. By Wednesday he had been receiving offers of internships from Reddit and Twitter and even an invitation from the White House, from the president.

Supporters of his rallied in his hometown last night in Irving, Texas, holding signs with the now-famous slogan, "I stand with Ahmed." His supporters say that his arrest is an example of the deep racial divisions in this country. He himself has said that his arrest reminded him of all the times he was teased and bullied in middle school, simply because of his ethnicity. He spoke about all of that in an interview this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED MOHAMED, ARRESTED FOR HOMEMADE CLOCK: They told me, "No, you can't call your parents. You're in the middle of an interrogation at the moment." They asked me a couple of times, "Is it a bomb?"

And I answered a couple of times, "It's a clock." I felt like I was a criminal. I felt like I was a terrorist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Overnight, Ahmed's father said his son would not be returning to that high school where he was arrested. There are simply too many painful memories there.

Meanwhile, the Irving police chief, that department that arrested Ahmed, they're defending their actions, saying based on the limited information they had, the detention was justified.

Overnight they told our local affiliate, KTVT, that that clock is ready for Ahmed to pick it up whenever he's ready.

You guys, back to you.

PEREIRA: All right. Thanks so much for that, Nick.

We should point out that the chief of police is actually going to join us in our next hour. We have some questions for him about how this was handled; did it follow procedure? Why weren't his parents involved in that interrogation?

CUOMO: What is the information that they had? And was that information, as part of that information, a bias? You know what I mean?

Because again, as the facts lay out on this, I just don't see it.

PEREIRA: A 14-year-old kid that liked to tinker.

CAMEROTA: A lot of questions for him. So stick around for that.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton firing back against her Republican rivals after they targeted her during CNN's GOP debate. But it's not just Republicans who had issues with Clinton. Up next, a prominent Democrat on why he can't support the former secretary of state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:23:57] CLINTON: You know, Wolf, I didn't get to see all of their debate, but I saw enough of it to know that this is just the usual back and forth political attacks, the kinds of things you say when you're on a debate stage and you really don't have much else to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Hillary Clinton, shrugging off Republican attacks during the CNN debate in that exclusive with our Wolf Blitzer. But what do people in her own party think about the Democratic frontrunner's prospects? 2016?

Let's bring in Montana's former governor, Brian Schweitzer. He has a new e-book called "Power Up Energy."

Governor, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BRIAN SCHWEITZER, FORMER MONTANA GOVERNOR: Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: So you have called Hillary Clinton mediocre. What's your beef with the former secretary?

SCHWEITZER: It's not about mediocre. Elections are always about the future. And that's the problem that a Clinton or a Bush has, which is to say "How do I present myself as the new face? How do I talk about the future when everybody else is talking about my past?"

And so that's why the Republicans, they're shooting for that new face. But they've kind of overshot it, and they've decided that you're disqualified to be president if you've ever been in politics. Well, that's probably overshooting it.

[06:25:07] Hillary Clinton has been in our living room on our television now for the last 20 years.

CAMEROTA: But isn't that a good thing? Isn't that a sign of experience?

SCHWEITZER: I think so.

CAMEROTA: So why is she not your candidate?

SCHWEITZER: I didn't say she wasn't my candidate. I haven't selected anybody yet.

CUOMO: You kind of hinted a little bit that you weren't defaulting to her, as many in your party are.

SCHWEITZER: I'm going to wait. In fact, my good friend, Martin O'Malley, I don't think has gotten a good shot here. I think Martin O'Malley could be a very good president. And, of course, we haven't heard from Joe Biden yet. Is he in or he isn't? So I'm just going to wait.

CAMEROTA: But why hasn't she won you over? I mean, what is it about her that is keeping you from endorsing her?

SCHWEITZER: I haven't heard a plan for the future on how we're going to break our addiction to foreign oil. I haven't heard how we're going to stand up to the Saudi royal family, who is the most corrupt and immoral regime on the planet. And we've gone to war now for them at least three times, to try and prop them up.

If we -- if we create an energy system in our country where we never have to buy oil from them again, we'll never send a son or a daughter to the Middle East; and we'll let the Sunnis and Shias decide who's going to control the Middle East. Because we don't care. I want to hear that from a presidential candidate.

CUOMO: You think that you're going to hear from somebody who is a serious player for president that they're going to be against the Saudis?

SCHWEITZER: Well, it isn't about being against the Saudis. We don't need their oil anymore, because we're energy independent.

CUOMO: But...

SCHWEITZER: Why should we send our young people to the Middle East, prop up the most immoral and corrupt, anti-woman, anti- Christian, anti-Jewish regime on the planet?

CUOMO: Strong point about sending American men and women, blood and treasure, in an area that we don't have a great strategy. Nobody's going to disagree with you about that.

But this idea of the Saudis, I think it's tied into your own ideas about energy, which may be very good to express. But to put that expectation on a politician who's got a legitimate shot to be president is putting the bar a little too high. Right?

SCHWEITZER: We need to be...

CUOMO: The Saudis are big allies for the U.S. in the area, as you know.

SCHWEITZER: Why? They're only allies because they have oil, and so do we. Actually, we produce more oil than the Saudis do today. We actually have better energy supplies in the United States than the Saudis do. CAMEROTA: So why aren't we tapping that more?

SCHWEITZER: Well, because we now have 60 years of a history of propping up this immoral, corrupt regime.

CAMEROTA: What's in it for us? I mean, in other words, we are a natural resource rich country.

SCHWEITZER: No question.

CAMEROTA: Why aren't we relying on that more?

SCHWEITZER: We're starting to, finally. We got ourselves in a position during the Bush administration that we were importing almost 70 percent of our oil.

We now are the largest oil producer in America -- in the world. We have our natural gas supplies. And we're going to solar and wind. And with battery power, we're going to break our addiction to these hydrocarbons.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that Hillary Clinton should take more of a stand on the Keystone Oil Pipeline?

SCHWEITZER: Well, I think she's probably pretty right about that. I think the environmentalists got way off. There's 20 pipelines that cross the border from Canada right now. There are 160,000 miles of pipelines that crisscross America. And what we did by stopping the Keystone Pipeline is put the oil on trains instead, and they go right through our biggest cities in America.

CAMEROTA: So why hasn't she taken a more of a forceful stand on that? I mean, she keeps saying, "I need to wait and see."

SCHWEITZER: Let me tell you why. Because values unite and issues divide. And that's why Marco Rubio the other night, when he started talking about lessons he learned -- he learned from his grandfather. I said, "Oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good."

When you take stands on issues, you're going to divide people. Some are going to support you; some aren't. Values unite people, and issues divide. So she's going to kind of avoid some of these issues that are tending to divide people.

CUOMO: Everybody does. That's part of the game. The question is, your ambivalence on Clinton. I have no problem with that. You should wait and see. You know, your party has been very slow, really, in mixing it up. You haven't even mentioned Bernie Sanders. And he's certainly captured the heart of your party so far.

SCHWEITZER: Yes.

CUOMO: What do you think's going to happen in this upcoming debate with him? What might surprise people, when everybody gets up there and a chance to talk? SCHWEITZER: I don't think there will be that much surprise,

because I think Hillary is a great debater. I think Hillary won the debates in 2008.

CUOMO: What about Webb? What about O'Malley?

SCHWEITZER: I think Martin O'Malley is pretty sharp. He'll do well. Bernie Sanders, pretty good, pretty smart.

But Hillary, she's going to win debates. And that's why Hillary has said, "If the DNC wants to have more debates, I'm in." Because I think that's her greatest strength.

CAMEROTA: Tell us about your book. Why did you write it?

SCHWEITZER: I wrote it because I'm so disgusted that I hear from Washington, D.C., no change. We're going to continue to prop up these immoral, corrupt regimes in the Middle East. We're going to continue to support our big oil companies, our multinational oil companies that don't drill for oil in the United States. The get the oil on the cheap from these corrupt and immoral regimes. And then we send our men and women to fight a war in the Middle East.

We have no business there anymore.

There was a time that our strategic interests were in the Middle East because we needed that oil. We don't need that oil today. We can produce our own cleaner and greener energy. When we break that addiction to foreign oil, America will be stronger.

CAMEROTA: Governor, great to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming on NEW DAY.

SCHWEITZER: It was great to be here. Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. We're going to talk money here. With China's economy staggering, the Fed has decided not to raise interest rates for now. What exactly does that mean for your family's economy? Christine Romans breaks it all down with us when NEW DAY continues.

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