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Questions Arise Regarding Story in Ben Carson's Biography; British Tourists Still in Egypt after Plane Crash; Interview with Senator Angus King of Maine. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 06, 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] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- including whether or not he stabbed a friend or was it a relative. Alisyn asked about the names of people in the stories. This is something of the fascinating interview with Alisyn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, CNN has been trying to find people who were involved in these incidents or witnessed these. They tried to find Jerry.

BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And tell me what makes you think you are going to find those specific people. Tell he many how your methodology works, because I don't understand it. You go and talk to people who knew me in high school that don't know anything about, for instance, the situation that occurred at Wilson Junior High School. I don't understand how talking to people who knew me particularly after the time that I had become a much more calm person, how does that corroborate the story that I'm lying about this? I want to know whether the methodology is there.

CAMEROTA: I'm happy to explain what Maeve Reston has explained to us. She and another reporter went back and did talk to your elementary school friends.

CARSON: Which elementary school friends?

CAMEROTA: I believe it's all laid out --

CARSON: I saw your article. I didn't see any elementary school friends there. This is a bunch of lies. That is what it is. This is a bunch of lie, attempting, you know, to say that I'm lying about my history. I think it's pathetic. And basically what the media does is they try to get you distracted with all of this stuff so that you don't talk about the things that are important, because we have so many important things.

And, you know, I'm not proud of the fact that I had these rage episodes. But I am proud of the fact that I was able to get over them.

CAMEROTA: Of course.

CARSON: And my message has been that you can escape from that kind of angry.

CAMEROTA: Yes. People are resonating with that message.

CARSON: -- members of my family. I understand that. I will not let them be victimized again by the media. And if you choose to believe that I'm incapable of these acts, I guess that is a kind of a complement to me. That's good.

CAMEROTA: Look, people believe that it is fascinating to hear about your story of transformation, how you went from an angry young man to the soft spoken doctor, renowned surgeon that we see today. But what's interesting is that our reporter did go to your campaign to ask can we talk to these people, and your campaign wasn't willing to make them available. That is the seminal story of your youth. Why can't we talk to them?

CARSON: I don't want victimize these people by exposing them to you.

CAMEROTA: How is it victimizing them by saying tell us more about this story? We're interested?

CARSON: The story is well-documented. If you choose not to believe it, if it doesn't fit the narrative that you want, that's fine. Let's let the American people decide.

CAMEROTA: But Dr. Carson, your story has changed. For instance, first you say that Bob was your close friend, who you almost killed. And then yesterday you said well actually his name wasn't Bob. I changed the names, and that is fine. People do that all the time, Dr. Carson, in their memoirs.

CARSON: I changed names throughout all the books even of patients because -- and unless I have specific permission from them to use their names that is an inappropriate thing to do.

CAMEROTA: Of course, and people change the names in their memoirs all the time. But they note that. They note that at the beginning if they say that fictitious names are going to be use. But nevertheless, then you changed to say he was not actually a close friend, he was a family member.

CARSON: He was a family member.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CARSON: And I really don't want to expose him further. I've talked to him. He would prefer to stay out of the media. And I think I want to respect that.

What I really want to do is help people, American people. Although they seem to understand it a lot already, that one of the tactics that is used by you guys in the media, particularly when someone is doing very well, is let's find a way to get them distracted and get all the people distracted so that we can get away from the real issues. And I'm simply not going to allow that to occur. CAMEROTA: Look, Dr. Carson I know you call this tactic. It is

called vetting in politics. You know it well just from the short time that you've been involved --

CARSON: Is that with the current president? Is that what you guys did with the with him?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CARSON: No you did not.

CAMEROTA: President Obama's autobiography "Dreams of my Father" was also vetted. You will recall, Dr. Carson.

CARSON: Give me a break. You got to be kidding.

CAMEROTA: Don't you remember there was a whole question about his girlfriend and people went back to try to find the president's girlfriend, and it turned out that she may have been a composite character, and that was revealed --

CARSON: What you all did with President Obama doesn't even come close, doesn't even come close to what you are trying to do in my case. And you are just going to keep going back, trying to find he said this 12 years ago.

[08:05:00] It is just garbage. We have too many things that are important to deal with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: All right, here now to respond to our interview with presidential candidate Ben Carson is conservative commentator and senior contributor to "The Daily Caller" Matt Lewis. Matt, great to have you here this morning. Is it fair to go back to a candidate's autobiography and to try to find and verify and recreate and hear more about some of these seminal stores in there?

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY CALLER": Absolutely. I would say it is an important function of the media. Republicans should want their potential nominee, the frontrunner by the way, to be vetted before he is the nominee. I am sympathetic to conservatives' concerns that there is media bias. I do think that the media should have done a better job looking into the Tony Rezko and Reverend Wright. But look, Ben Carson has made this story a central theme of his redemption biography, and if it turns out to not be true that raises all sorts of big, big questions about him.

BERMAN: It is the Ben Carson story. And I think when CNN went back to look, it would be interesting to hear from these people because it is such a great story.

CAMEROTA: They didn't know they wouldn't find them. They weren't expecting not to find them.

BERMAN: Michael Smerconish before called this a Republican Rorschach test, this interview that Carson just did with Alisyn right here where he says the questions Alisyn were asking and the media were asking are out of line and we're asking questions we would never ask to others. Smerconish suggested that people in Iowa, that Republican voters would actually look at this and say Carson is right that the media is wrong to be asking these questions.

LEWIS: Well, look, I think because of the background of at least the perception of liberal media bias, that's true. I think that picking a fight with the media in the short-term at least usually benefits Republican candidates.

I think in the long-term, though, it is usually a disaster. It usually -- that defensiveness implies whether you are trying to hide something or whether you are just not going to be able to have a good media operation.

I would say this, though. Ben Carson's success thus far is premised on a couple of things. Two of the biggest are likability. People like him. They think he's nice and soft spoken. And his truthfulness. He shoots straight, tells the truth. This story has the potential to undermine both of his strengths. That is why it's the big, big deal.

CAMEROTA: So Matt, what do you recommend the Carson campaign do? Should they make on background, Bob and Jerry, the victims allegedly of Dr. Carson's youthful childhood rage, should they make available just so that we can finally close this chapter, no pun intended?

LEWIS: Absolutely. Ben Carson keeps saying that the media is trying to distract from the real issues, whether that is Syria or the national debt or whatever. Well, guess what. The best way to start a media feeding frenzy is to look like you are stonewalling, to like you are defensive, to look like you're hiding something. If he wants the story to go away so we can talk about Putin or whatever, the best thing he could do is take Smerconish's advice.

If you don't want to disrupt people or create -- betray their trust or publicize them, put them on background. Let them go to another network even, if they prefer to. But talk to some legitimate reporters on background to corroborate his story. It is pretty easy.

BERMAN: Get out. Get it all out and get it out early.

Let me show you we have a tweet from Donald Trump here we can throw up on the screen because Donald Trump clearly watch CNN this morning. He said the "Carson story is either a total fabrication or if true, even worse trying to hit mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing friend." You get a sense that at least Donald Trump is watching this, to be sure.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Matt, let me ask you this. I want to talk about how Carson response to media questions and he talks about the issues in general. Alisyn was asking about his comment that without FOX News America would be Cuba. Also a comment where he said the American people are stupid. And Carson just responds by saying "You know what I'm talking about."

LEWIS: I was very confused by that. I'm on your show. I'm not trying to suck up here. I think Alisyn really held her composure. When you are interviewing somebody and they are essentially accuse you of all sorts of bad things, to hold your composure is very difficult. You were literally just reading back his words about Cuba, and he somehow --

CAMEROTA: We were just playing them even. I wasn't even reading them. We were playing his words.

BERMAN: My question, Matt, though is he says you know what I'm talking about. But no, we're asking him to explain. In some ways you can make the case that Ben Carson even hasn't been asked to explain anything. That he isn't pushed on issues. He hasn't been pushed at the debates so far.

LEWIS: I think that is right. He says things that are weird and unusual. You can talk about the pyramid story. And he just usually gets a pass. Like he says something that is kind of out there, and then we're like OK, Ted Cruz, next question.

[08:10:02] I mean, I think there are a lot of things that he has said that haven't been followed up on. And I don't know how else you could interpret his point was that without FOX News America would be Cuba. I don't how you could interpret that other than to say I guess he means we would be a communist dictatorship. And yet when you say that, he somehow thinks that that's absurd.

BERMAN: That is not what I mean. You know what I mean.

LEWIS: I don't know what he means.

CAMEROTA: Yes. In case people missed it, let's play a little portion of that moment, because, Matt, I really don't do want to hear whether or not you think we're at this point where journalists are not allowed to ask certain questions without being painted as some sort of partisan. So let's play a real quick clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: All you have to do is look at what's happened since, you know, the Great Society programs of Lyndon Johnson. We spend $19 trillion and we have 10 times more people on food stamps, more people on poverty, more broken homes, out of wedlock births, crime, incarceration. Everything is not only worse but it is much worse. You have to be kind of stupid to look at that and not realize that that's a failure and to say we just didn't do enough of it. That is what I call stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, that was his response to when I said, who are you calling stupid? At first he didn't really want to answer because he said my question was out of bounds. But he gave a completely legitimate answer. This is what conservatives feel and this is why he's resonating with people. But Matt, as a journalist, you get into dicey territory where candidates say you're not allowed to ask that. That question is out of bounds. Are some questions out of bounds?

LEWIS: Yes, I think some questions are out of bounds, but not the ones that were asked today. They were entirely legitimate, entirely appropriate for a frontrunner who is running to be the president of the United States and all the responsibility that entails. It is the responsibility of the media actually to vet candidates, and because the media didn't do a great job with President Obama doesn't mean we should do a better job going forward.

I am in somewhat of a unique position here because I am a conservative. I share Ben Carson's world view to a large degree. On the other hand I am a journalist and I believe in asking tough questions and not carrying water for the people on my side. So sort of looking at it, I think there is a real danger here that because there is a liberal media and be. I do believe there is liberal media bias it creates a sort of get out of jail free card so that if you are, say Herman Cain in the last election cycle and people are making accusations about your background, you can simply write it off as, oh, there goes to liberal media bias again, and a lot of people will buy that. And I think that's really dangerous. It is a copout. Just because liberal media bias does exist does not mean you are not also responsible for having a good rapport with the media. And Ronald Reagan was the great communicator for a reason despite the fact that there were three networks that were mostly liberal leaning networks.

CAMEROTA: Matt Lewis, you do a great job of threading that needle. It's great to get your perspective, particularly as a conservative journalist. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

LEWIS: Thank you.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's talk about the numbers. Brand new CNN-ORC polls this morning showing Donald Trump and Ben Carson neck and neck in Iowa. Trump 25 percent, Carson 23 percent. Marco Rubio in third with 13 percent, two points ahead of Ted Cruz. On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton with a health lead in Iowa. She is at 55 percent, 18 points ahead of Bernie Sanders.

BERMAN: This morning British tourists are angry after word broke that some flights meant to rescue them or get them out of Egypt from the Sharm el-Sheikh airport would not be taking off as planned. They have been stranded since Metrojet 9268 crashed. But so far just two flights have departed. CNN Nima Elbagir is live at that airport in Sharm el-Sheikh to explain it all. Good morning, Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, they were incredibly irate when the British ambassador came down here a little earlier today. They say they want answers. They believe people aren't being clear enough with them. And they are worried that perhaps given how almost definitive Britain has been about its security concerns about this airport, the British government left itself a little bit wiggle room, but it is making some pretty strong statements about where it thinks the security problems were. There were supposed to be around 29 flights leaving from here

today. Only two have departed so far. And of course undercutting all that frustration about the delay, about how they are going to get themselves and their families out of here, is some very real fear because there are of course so many unanswered questions still about the whats, the hows, and the whys that people that we were speaking to say they fundamentally just don't feel safe.

[08:15:02] And the longer it takes to get them out of here the more nervous they say that they are getting. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right. Nima, thanks so much for all of that.

Meanwhile, there's a dam break to tell you about, this at the mine in southeastern Brazil. It has killed at least 15 people and the city of Mariana has flooded, and covered with mining sludge, as you can see. Civil defense authorities evacuating hundreds of people to higher ground. At least 45 people remain missing this morning, many of them workers. The full extent to this disaster and what caused still not known at this hour.

PEREIRA: So, if an ISIS bomb took down that Russian airline plane over the Sinai Peninsula, how is that going to impact airport security here at home? Longer lines? More pat downs? We're going to try to get some answers, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: President Obama is weighing in for the first time on the Russian passenger jet that went down in Egypt, saying a bomb possibly took down the plane. This as a U.S. official confirms to CNN that very specific chatter among ISIS affiliated terrorists led intelligence analysts to believe that it was terrorists who did bomb the jetliner.

Joining us is Senator Angus King of Maine. He's a member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.

Senator, thank you so much for being was.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Absolutely, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Senator, we heard President Obama talk about what happened in Egypt and talk about the possibility that a bomb took down this flight.

[08:20:04] I want to listen to what he said quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board. And we're taking that very seriously. We know that the procedures we have here in the United States are different than some of the procedures that existed for outbound and inbound flights there. But it is certainly possible that there was a bomb on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, Senator, I know he said that it was only possible that there was a bomb on board. But to have a president even suggest the presence of a bomb there to me indicates that he must have seen some pretty solid intelligence indicating that it was there or very likely there. Were you surprised to hear him say this?

KING: No. I think -- I think you are reading a little too much it into. I think he's saying it is possible. I think Ash Carter said the same thing. I think the prime minister of Britain said the same thing.

It is a possibility. When an airplane falls out of the sky at altitude, not landing and taking off, that certainly is one of the options.

I was briefed on this yesterday afternoon. And all I can tell you is that there's no definitive evidence that it was a bomb or that it was an attack of some kind. And I think that is going to await the forensic analysis.

BERMAN: I know much of what you were briefed on is classified and should remain so. But what can you tell us about what we've heard about the specificity of the chatter just after this plane went down?

KING: Well, I'm not going talk about what I was told. And I think it is important, John, to tell you why. I'm not being coy or trying to be cute about avoiding discussing this.

The important issue in a question like this is not what we know but how we know it. And to the extent if we talk in detail about what we know, that could tip off our adversaries as to how we know it. And that's where you get into really endangering national security.

So, I'm not going to confirm what people are talking about. I don't think it's appropriate. Your job is to chase the story. You are doing a great job. And my job is giving you all the information I possibly can short of compromising national security.

BERMAN: We respect your position on that, sir. Thank you so much.

One of the things we are hearing is the TSA probably considering implementing new security measures here in the United States. Also in host countries that would permit the United States to help with these measures. Anything you can tell us about that?

KING: Yes, I know that is going on. They are on the ground working on this right now.

And here is the problem, John, here is what we're worried about. You know when you go through an airline check in there is a magnetometer and other ways of checking what you are doing.

But there is a guy in Yemen named al-Asiri. And he in my opinion is a very dangerous man in the world. He is a very bright bomb maker. And what he's working on are bombs that can't be detected at airports.

And he was the one that was behind the underwear bomb back a few years ago, the shoe bomb. And that's what worries us and any official. So, yes, there are discussions of upgrades and we are going to have to -- this is a case of sort of technology getting ahead of technology. And we're going to have to continuously be thinking about this, because unfortunately, these guys want to kill us and other people. They just killed 200 -- we think. It is alleged they may have killed 224 Russians.

BERMAN: Appreciate you going back to hedge that, because right now, it's just a likelihood or a possibility.

Technology only goes so far, if there is someone working on the inside. There are some suggestions that someone inside the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh may have been involved.

KING: Well, that's -- and we all think about airport security as us going through the line and taking our shoes off. But you are absolutely right. You have to worry about people that are working at the airport, food service, anybody that gets near an airplane is -- you know, that's got to be part of the security as well.

And, you know, this is a hugely complicated and difficult problem because millions of people go through airports every day all over the world. And we're all subject to those kind of inspections. And I'm afraid that's just the price of living in the modern world. It's very unfortunate but that's the reality we live with.

BERMAN: Senator, what do you think -- what do you think Vladimir Putin does do if it is proven that this is an act of terrorism?

KING: If it is proven and if it is established, my inclination -- and, you know, everybody in Washington tries to read Putin's mind. But my inclination is he will -- he will react strongly. I don't know how or where.

[08:25:02] But he's very sensitive about attacks on Russia. And I think he would view this as one. And my suspicion is that there would be some kind of response.

BERMAN: Senator Angus King from the state of Maine, coming to us from Bowdoin College, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

Alisyn?

KING: Yes, sir. Thanks you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much, John.

Ben Carson responding to journalists asking questions about his violent childhood. He has slammed the media, accusing CNN and other outlets of a smear campaign against him. We'll discuss that and so much more with George H.W. Bush's former chief of staff, John Sununu. He'll be next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): One of the tactics that is used by you guys in the media, particularly when someone is doing very well is, let's find a way to get them distracted and get all of the people distracted, so that we can get away from the real issues. And I'm simply not going to allow that to occur.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Dr. Ben Carson earlier on NEW DAY expressing his feelings about journalists trying to delve into his violent childhood.

Joining us this morning to talk about all of this, former chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush and former New Hampshire governor, John Sununu.