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Scott Walker Drops Out of GOP Presidential Race; Ben Carson Criticized for Comments about a Muslim Becoming President; Pope Prepares to Visit U.S.; Unprecedented Security for Pope's Visit. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 22, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I love the change in the music. Very majestic.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Very papal.

CAMEROTA: Yes, indeed.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, September 22nd, 8:00 in the east. Dr. Ben Carson saying he, quote, "absolutely stands by" his stance that a Muslim should not be president. He says he could support a Muslim in the Oval Office at some point if they denounced Sharia law and swear to put the constitution before their religion.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile Scott Walker becoming the second Republican government to drop out of race. How did he go from frontrunner to flameout? And where does this leave the remaining 15 GOP candidates? CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has all those answers. He's live in Washington. Hi, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Ben Carson is not backing down from his comments that have really drawn sharp criticism from many of his Republican rivals who say he's simply misguided and wrongly impugned the Islam faith. Overnight he tried to soften his hardline but only a bit. In an interview with Sean Hannity on FOX News, Carson issued a caveat and said he was referring only to radical Muslims or anyone who was unwilling to put the constitution above their religion. But in doing so he drew no distinction between radicals and the three million American Muslims who are living here in this part of the country. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If someone has a Muslim background and they are willing to reject those tenants and to accept the way of life that we have and clearly will swear to place our constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics. But at least then I would be quite willing to support them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: But that comment, those words, particularly "the way of life we have" is unlikely to clear up the criticism, suggesting that all Muslims wall Sharia law. Now, he also talked about the constitution, but he did not mention Article Six with says no religious test can be used for someone seeking public office.

Now, several of his Republican rivals have suggested Carson is wrong to suggest a Muslim should not be president. And look at this tweet from Mitt Romney, the 2016 Republican nominee and a Mormon. He said "Of course there is no religious test for the presidency. Every faith adds to our national character." But Donald Trump of course walked a finer line here, effectively siding with Ben Carson, saying there is no time for political correctness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ben was saying there are difficulties, and I think everybody knows what these difficulties are. And people want to be politically correct. But there have been difficulties. And a lot of people agree with Ben.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: The question, though, politically correct or factually wrong. Ben Carson will be campaigning later this morning in Ohio. And you can be sure the controversy will follow him there. Muslim groups have called on him to step aside. He's rejected those calls. But this episode is a defining vote of his candidacy. It's one more reason, Michaela, Republican leaders sometimes are shaking their heads and wondering if this unusual primary campaign is actually damaging their party.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jeff, thanks so much for that.

Meanwhile somebody who is dropping his bid, governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker. He wants other trailing candidates to do the same thing. This as two Republican rivals hit late night scenes. CNN's Athena Jones live in Washington with a roundup of all of the latest for us. Hey, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michaela.

Walker is the second candidate to drop out in less than two weeks. And just like Rick Perry he took a swipe at the frontrunner, Donald Trump, in making his farewell speech. Walker had been seen as a real contender just a few months ago. Now he says he's getting out for the good of the party.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: I will suspend my campaign immediately. JONES: With two down, the jam packed GOP presidential race just got a little less crowded, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker now the second prominent governor to drop out. The reason, money, according to a source close to the campaign. The candidate's super PAC raised a whopping $20 million in the first half of 2015. But the source says the money dried up after his poor debate services.

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Scott's still going to serve and continue to do great work in Wisconsin.

JONES: Walker's message to the remaining 15, clear the field so the top contenders can beat polling juggernaut Donald Trump.

WALKER: I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner.

JONES: GOP candidates still in the running say not just yet.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't have any intentions, just in case you wanted to know that I'm going to announce I'm getting out.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Yes, that's not going to happen.

JONES: This as Trump's closest competitor Carly Fiorina gets a warm welcome from Monday's late night audience on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

[08:05:03] CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's only in this country you can go from being a secretary to the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world and run for president of the United States. It's only possible here. And I want to make sure that --

(APPLAUSE)

JONES: Fiorina taking a jab at Trump's willingness to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

FIORINA: The two of them have a lot in common, actually. I'll just leave it at that.

(LAUGHTER)

JONES: Texas Senator Ted Cruz receiving a less than friendly reception CBS's "The Late Show" after dodging a question about whether he personally supports gay marriage.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe in democracy. I believe in democracy and I don't think we should trust --

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": Guys, guys. However you feel, he's my guest. So please don't boo him.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES: And one more thing about Walker. A former campaign aide took to Twitter to blast his campaign for a series of mistakes. She said the governor was a flip-flopper and a panderer who didn't understand the priorities of the GOP base. Chris, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Athena, thanks so much.

Here to discuss all of these headlines is our senior politics editor for "The Daily Beast" Jackie Kucinich, and CNN senior political analyst and editorial director for the "National Journal" Ron Brownstein. Great to have you guys. Ron, I want to start with you. Let's start with Scott Walker. He lost his way somewhere recently. And he lost it in dramatic fashion. What went wrong?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think Scott Walker lost his balance. When this race started Scott Walker's potential strength was that he seemed uniquely positioned to bridge the economic and social conservative wings of the GOP, the more establishment wing and the more populist wing.

But I think what happened to him was he basically realigned himself to try to increase odds of winning Iowa. He became very focused on winning Iowa and he moved to the right on a series of social issues, including immigration, both legal and undocumented, talking about a constitutional amendment to overturn the gay marriage decision. And in the process he lost -- I think he became less attractive to business supporters. He put all of his eggs in the populist kind of blue collar social conservative basket. And then Donald Trump fell like a house on that basket and basically took up all the room among the voters that he was courting. He kind of lost some of his support among those who might originally have been attracted to him. And in the end he was left in effect as a candidate without a country or a constituency.

CUOMO: If Trump is a house, does that make those who he falls upon witches who have stockings that then roll back up under the house?

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNSTEIN: That occurred to me. The little feet shriveling, yes.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something. How much of this is a window into the role of money, procurement of it, potential to get it, and management of it?

JACKIE KUCINICH, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": This shows that the super PAC isn't the end all, be all because Scott Walker clearly didn't think that his super PAC could keep him alive. And that's a change. Remember in the last election Newt Gingrich held on probably much longer, and Rick Santorum held on much longer than they were probably really viable to be the Republican nominee. So this shows that money isn't everything. And these days it is a real lesson for all of those candidates who might have -- same with Rick Perry, might have big war chests but smaller prospects.

CAMEROTA: So guys, looking into your crystal ball. Who do you predict will be next to jump out of field?

BROWNSTEIN: I wouldn't be surprised to see Bobby Jindal out of the race. Not clear what he's gaining by staying in. If George Pataki or Jim Gilmore got out it would hard to tell. I'm not sure if I would really be counting them. But in terms of major candidates, I think Jindal is certainly one that it's not really clear --

CUOMO: Why does anybody have to drop out, though? Unless there are exigencies that force you out, like you're broke.

CAMEROTA: Isn't that always the case?

CUOMO: There's like a year plus left. So much can change, especially now that we see Trump and Carson with this latest blow up. And I think that is what it is. I don't care whether the base expands for Carson or not. In terms of new people coming to them, their poll slide is relevant. Why get out now?

KUCINICH: You know, I think at this point it does get down to money in this case. If you can't pay your staff, if you can't pay for a plane ticket, you can't run for president anymore. I mean, if people can't see you, if you're not out there, if you can't get to Iowa to give a speech, if you're not in a debate. When they wash away the undercard debate, which is what we think is going to happen for the next debate, that takes away a very large platform for those less funded. And you can't underestimate the impact that that is going to happen.

CAMEROTA: All right, let's talk about Ben Carson and the proposition Chris just suggested, which is him saying all of these inflammatory things about Muslims. He says, his campaign says that his fundraising has gone up, his Twitter followers, his Facebook followers have gone up. Help or hurt, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Hurt, clearly hurt, and in exactly the way Chris said in terms of limiting your potential support. This Republican race is extraordinary. It is being driven overwhelmingly by questions of American identity, who is a legitimate American and who is not.

[08:10:02] The kind of issues that have motivated Republican races in the past, taxes, regulation, role of government, all of them are secondary to these questions that seem to be coming one after the other about undocumented immigrants, about now Muslims, the question about whether there is a war on Christians in the U.S.

And we have moved so far from where the GOP was in the immediate aftermath of Mitt Romney's defeat in 2012 when Reince Priebus had that kind of after action report and it said the Republicans had to reach out to a changing America. Now you have this real fissure in the field where you have a number of candidates, Trump and Carson among them, who essentially are running on resisting the changes in America. And you have the other candidates, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, who are really talk about adapting the party to the kind of new demographic and cultural realities. And this is a big crossroads for the party that goes way beyond Ben Carson and implications on whether they can compete for years to come. CUOMO: I think it was at the debate where I decided to steal Ron

Brownstein's notion that this is a big moment for the GOP to figure out who it is, and this is certainly not who they wanted to be about the 2012 race.

Let me ask you something, though. Is this actually working in favor of a GOP candidate, all this Muslim intolerance that's coming out of some? Carly Fiorina has been able to go on a charm offensive and duck some of the Barbara Boxer like scrutiny and ads that are probably going to come her way about her time as a CEO, about this image that she points to of Planned Parenthood as if it must be authentic, some things not coming her way because of this.

KUCINICH: This is allowing Carly Fiorina really to ride the bump that she got from the CNN debate. She has been able to bat back what Ben Carson said.

That said, I think it is temporary. I do think the scrutiny is coming for Carly Fiorina. And they are going to have to be prepared for that, because as she rises in the polls, as we've seen with Ben Carson, your poll numbers go up, people start listening to what you say, and people start looking into your background. So if the Fiorina campaign is not prepared for that that is going to be a rude awakening.

CUOMO: As I always say, visibility creates vulnerability.

BROWNSTEIN: Who said that?

CUOMO: Ron Brownstein said that.

CAMEROTA: You are now shamelessly --

CUOMO: Yes. He's too smart. He says smart things, I want to take them.

CAMEROTA: Ron, I want to tell you that Donald Trump is not letting off his Carly Fiorina criticism. He was on Greta Van Susteren's show last night on FOX and he went back at it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've heard her speak numerous times and she uses many of the same lines and many of them I can quote exactly word for word. And it comes out like a robot. And frankly, if you hear her for periods of time, you get a big fat beautiful headache.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: He worked the "beautiful" in there again.

KUCINICH: Oh, man.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I mean this is -- I mean, you know, for a portion of the constituency, they love hearing Donald Trump go after everyone. But I do think in the same way we were talking about Ben Carson, this is ultimately limiting. I mean, it is exhausting to hear Donald Trump personally condemn anyone who kind of rises up to threaten him. And I think that it does reinforce the doubts particularly among those white collar Republicans about whether he has the temperament and personality to succeed as president.

As we pointed out last week, even before that debate, only 40 percent of Republicans with a college degree said Trump has the temperament and personality to succeed as president. This serial kind of spraying the field with invective I think adds to those doubts and kind of hardens the lines about who is willing to support him and who is not, puts a ceiling potentially on the support.

CUOMO: And 43 percent of polled Republicans recently also think that President Obama is a Muslim.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, yes.

CUOMO: So that's your division that Ron Brownstein has been talking about and I have stolen as I steal your ideas.

CAMEROTA: I'm glad you're spreading it out. Jackie, Ron, thanks so much.

CUOMO: Smart people around me. Why wouldn't I take benefit?

PEREIRA: You're an equal opportunist.

CUOMO: You say good things. I'm going to take them.

CAMEROTA: At least when he attributes it.

PEREIRA: Of course we're all watching and waiting. Intense anticipation is building. Support for Pope Francis in the U.S. just hours before his visit. We're looking right now at live pictures of the Pope celebrating mass at Cuba's most revered shrine. The Pope will later begin today a six day trip to America. CNN's Patrick Oppmann live from Havana with the latest for us as they get ready to bid farewell to the pope there.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and what a trip it has been. The Pope is celebrating his final mass. We expect Cuban president Raul Castro is in attendance at the Church of Our Lady of Charity, as you said, Cuba's holy shrine. The shrine is older than the United States. It's over 500 years old. And even though it will be the smallest mass in attendance the Pope celebrates, it really has a lot of resonance with Cubans who has been following this trip very, very closely. Tens of thousands are packing the street. It has been a tough trip for the poem. We've seen him a number of time he needed help to walk. He sounded like he had a little bit of a cold when he arrived.

[08:15:00] But the enthusiasm of the crowds has carried him through. And I'm sure there will be even more enthusiasm and even larger crowds when he gets to the United States. And think about this for symbolic images, he'll leave in just a few

hours, about midday Cuba time from Santiago, Cuba. He'll be sent off by Cuban President Raul Castro then greeted when he arrives at Joint Air Force Base Andrews in Washington, D.C. by President Obama, Michelle Obama, the Bidens and he's going to have a jam-packed week in the U.S. He'll be addressing Congress, he'll be visiting the White House.

In addition to going to Washington D.C., he'll be visiting New York City and Philadelphia. And we are expecting a big turn out. Lots of enthusiasm just like he received here in Cuba.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Patrick. Thank you very much. We'll be following it every step of the way.

In other news. China's president kicks off a controversial week-long trip to the U.S. in Seattle. Today he is meeting with officials at Microsoft and Boeing. He is set to meet with President Obama Thursday to talk about issues like the economy and climate change. There also, of course, expected to address these hack attacks on U.S. companies that American officials say they traced back to cybercriminals in Beijing.

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton getting ready to prep a plan to bring down precipitation drug costs. Clinton wants to cap out -- out of pocket expenses and make pharmaceutical companies reinvest profit into the research. This after Hillary Clinton retweeted a "New York Times" article about a drug that spiked from $13 a pill to $750 a pill. But the CEO of that drug company said the pill is rarely used and the impact of the increase will be small.

PEREIRA: The parents of a Muslim teen who was suspended and arrested for bringing that homemade clock to school have officially withdrawn him from his Dallas area high school. Ahmed Mohamed got into trouble, as you recall, after teachers mistook the clock he had made for a bomb. Ahmed's dad said he pulled all of his kids, actually, from the Irving Independent School District. He said he is still deciding where to send his children to school for now.

I wanted to change the narrative a little bit and show the way we should be showing Ahmed. He was invited to the Google Science Fair. It's their fifth annual. He was there at the Mountain View campus of Google Headquarters. And there he is, where he was treated like a rock star. One of the invitations that he's been receiving since all of this went down.

CAMEROTA: That is great. That is great. You never know what opportunity will come out of a challenge like that. And that seems like it's happening.

CUOMO: And the swing of the pendulum from intolerance to tolerance. We see that and just as we see all the nasty stuff going on in the presidential race, here comes the Pope. The pendulum swings back. He's going to get a lot of ceremony, pomp and circumstance and lots of security as well. So we're going to talk about how to protect the pontiff. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:23] PEREIRA: Francis arrives in Washington D.C. this afternoon before visiting New York and Philadelphia. The Pope's visit has law enforcement on high alert as they try to protect the pontiff while still allowing him to get close to his flock.

Juliette Kayyem is a CNN national security analyst and a former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. So you are the type of person that would have had this as to your No. 1 headache. Juliette, let's talk about the concerns, the threats, the logistics even.

Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson said that each of the stops on this three-city tour -- and we know there are dozens of them when you think of all the things that are on the Pope's itinerary -- each one of those has been deemed a National Special Security Event. You put that all together and that means a headache.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. This is unprecedented, historical, no joking around security right now. Part of it is the number of events over a geographic area. So a National Special Security Event is basically a way that the government organizes all the different pieces in security.

You also have about the highest profile VIP coming to the country. A man who has insisted that he have access to people that you have to respect. So you have this very difficult balancing between needing the sort of highest level of security and respecting someone who is essentially a visitor to our country with millions of people wanting to see him.

PEREIRA: Well, let's play some sound from Mayor de Blasio who has really addressed that very thing you talked about, the original purpose of the Pope's visit. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: In New York City we take very seriously, very soberly the fact that we have experienced terrorism. And we're the number one terror target in the world. So I think we're going to have extensive, careful security but we have to recognize that if his holiness wants to stop and greet people, that's our job to protect him no matter what he does and he will make that choice. So it is a balance that we're striking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So how do you effectively strike that balance, Juliette? It's the primary focus of the Pope to touch and reach out and interact with his faithful. But it's the primary focus of his security officials to keep him and the rest of the public safe. Can those two things co-exist?

KAYYEM: Yes, they can because I think there is going to be a focus or there is a focus on what we call perimeter security. In other words, there will be so much security to get into an area in which then you could have closer access to the Pope. That is why traffic and everything else in cities like D.C. and New York is going to be so difficult. Because there just is simple going push the security out and make sure anyone who gets close to the Pope is OK, right, is not a security threat. Doesn't mean it will be perfect but that is going to be the philosophy. But you can just imagine at every single event how many difficult questions are arising.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

KAYYEM: Because some are quite intimate, some of them are larger and you have millions of people coming.

PEREIRA: We saw this situation play out in Cuba. As a security official, that's got to concern you. And granted this man seemed to be overwrought and pleading for help. He wasn't a threat per se, but that's got to be a concern.

KAYYEM: Yes, it is. Every single person that sees the Pope as someone who can help them, they're not necessarily a security threat, is going to want access to the Pope. And then of course we have security threats. And I will say one thing, Michaela, not being political here. But when you have Congressmen saying they are not going to see the Pope - or you have all this discussion about Islam.

[08:25:02] I mean, our political leaders have an opportunity to create an atmosphere of tolerance which sort of lowers, you know, the sort of temperature of an event like this and I think it's sort of incumbent on all of us to say whether we agree or disagree. Tolerance is actually the most secure environment we can have in this country. We could have as many duns --

PEREIRA: You make a very important statement there. That is so true. Well we know that the Vatican has warned that Pope Francis has been the subject of some threats in the past. We know that Commissioner Bratton just this morning saying there are no known credible specific threats to the Pope. But obviously, it is still a concern. When you add to the fact that 170 world leaders also happen to be coming to New York at the same time for the UNGA, the General Assembly here in New York City, that is sort of a convergence of so many things at once. And that, again, points to the unprecedented nature of this visit.

KAYYEM: Right. And then add in the Chinese leader coming later in the week. I mean, literally, I hope everyone in the Secret Service is planning a vacation in ten days because this ten day period is going to be like I think something that the Department of Homeland Security has never sort of managed before in terms of its length and in terms of its intensity. One single thing goes wrong, we're going to all focus on it. And that is why -- that is why people may say that it is security theater. I sort of argue back. We have -- there is no room for fault in this instance with the Pope.

PEREIRA: No. You're absolutely right, Juliette.

KAYYEM: That whether there are risks or not, right, whether we have credible threats or not. Zero tolerance for anything happening to him.

PEREIRA: Thanks so much for joining us on NEW DAY, as always. We appreciate it, Juliette. CNN will have comprehensive coverage of the Pope's visit all this week.

Tomorrow NEW DAY will be on the road live at the White House.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. Dr. Ben Carson trying to clarify his comments about a potential Muslim president. But did he dig a deeper hole or did he satisfy his critics? We have Republican strategists weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)