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Donald Trump Criticized for Making Controversial Statements on Banning Muslim Immigrants from U.S.; Interview with Senator Tom Cotton; Trump Supporters Defend Comments on Banning Muslims. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired December 09, 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] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of a group of about eight or nine young people who went to Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, December 9th, 8:00 in the East. Donald Trump is being hit from all sides over his proposed ban on Muslims. The White House, Republican leaders, even officials in Europe calling for him to abandon his White House bid.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Trump insisting he's not a bigot and pressing on with his campaign. And his supporters feel more strongly than ever that he is the right choice for these tense times. We begin our coverage with CNN's political reporter Sara Murray. She is live in Washington with the very latest. A lot happens every 24 hours, Sara. Give us the latest.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That is certainly true when you're covering Donald Trump. And he is facing outrage from nearly everywhere. We have a new CNN-WMUR poll that shows he's still way out front in New Hampshire. He's leading with 32 percent support. His close competitor far behind him is Marco Rubio at 14 percent. Meanwhile, though we are seeing a much sharper reaction from Republican leaders, folks who had not yet weighed in on 2016 who have held back are now coming out hard against Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Even in the face of fierce condemnation from his party elder, GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump refusing to back down on his proposal banning Muslims from entering the U.S.

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: What was proposed is not what this party stands for. And more importantly, it is not what this country stands for.

MURRAY: The chairman of the Republican national committee joining the chorus, telling "The Washington Examiner," "I don't agree. We need to aggressively take on radical Islamic terrorism, but not at the expense of our American values." One GOP lawmaker issuing a call from the House floor for the billionaire to drop out.

REP. DAVID JOLLY, (R) FLORIDA: It is time for Donald Trump to withdraw from the race.

MURRAY: Trump, unfazed by comparisons to Hitler on the front page of "The Philadelphia Daily News."

TRUMP: I'm talking about a temporary situation until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

SAM CLOVIS, TRUMP NATIONAL CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRMAN AND POLICY ADVISER: The implication of what he said is that if we were enforcing our immigration laws appropriately at this point in time we might have a better handle on this.

MURRAY: On Tuesday, wide spread rejection from his GOP rivals.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. Do you know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. That is not a program. That's not a plan. This is serious business.

MURRAY: Trump's proposal so widely panned that even Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney are united in opposition.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is both a shameless and a dangerous idea.

DICK CHENEY, (R) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: This whole notion that somehow we need to say no more Muslims and just ban a whole religion goes against everything we stand for and believe in.

MURRAY: And the White House also issuing sharp criticism.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And the fact is what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president. The question now is about the rest of the Republican Party and whether or not they are going to be dragged into the dust bin of history with him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now even as so many Republicans criticize Donald Trump, the Republican Party is actually in a tough spot. Trump is still holding over their heads this idea of an independent run. Yesterday he took to social media to point out a poll that shows the majority of Trump supporters would stick with him even if he did decide to run as an independent. Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Sara, thank you very much. Let's bring in Senator Tom Cotton. He's no stranger to the rogue

move. He's gone out on edge before. He serves on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. He's also an Iraq War veteran. You understand the security issue very well, senator. You fought for our freedoms against the threat itself. Are you surprised, senator, that this morning so many men and women who want to be president of the United States are ducking the media, not wanting to take on what Donald Trump has said, not trying to take on what the fix is to America's fear?

SEN. TOM COTTON, (R) ARKANSAS: Good morning Chris. I disagree with Donald's proposal. I think it would be counterproductive to our security. I can't comment on what every single presidential candidate is saying or doing. What I can do as the member of the United States Senate is try to do everything I can to keep America safe. That is why I'm working to restore only some of the tools that we took away from the NSA and our intelligence community and why I'm advocating a much stronger military presence and much stronger American leadership in the fight against the Islamic State.

CUOMO: That is what people say is antidote. If you don't like what Donald Trump is suggesting, suggest something better. You are saying, great, let's look back at the NSA again. A lot of push to the political limitations you believe has changed. The visa waiver program, targeting who can come in and how, you want to address those. How?

[08:05:07] COTTON: Sure. So earlier this summer, Chris, the Congress took away a very important tool from the National Security Agency, allowing them to collect telephone metadata. That is not the content of calls. That is simply the call records, the numbers involved, the times and the date and the duration of the call. That is the proverbial haystack that we search a needle for, and that would be the telephone numbers that we discovered from Farook and Malik.

There were reports overnight that Farook may have planned attacks as far back as 2012. It is unclear under the new system if we even have the data we need to search to see if there were other plots back then or potential connections to sleeper cells or other potential terrorists here in the United States. That old program was safe. It was effective. It was constitutional. It was fully briefed to Congress. I think we should restore it or as close as we can to something like it, not using a new and untested system today when the threat is so great.

CUOMO: So American man and woman comes to you and says you are making the case for my fear. We don't have the right tools. We can't really vet people who come into this country. We don't know where they are coming from. I'm not safe. What is your reply?

COTTON: Well, unfortunately, Chris, we have a lot to be fearful about right now. As we saw last week in California, as we saw last month in Paris, the Islamic State and Al Qaeda are on the march. All around the Middle East and North Africa, they have shown both the capability and the intention to launch attacks against the west. That is why we have to make sure that we are giving the right tools to our intelligence agencies, but also that we're taking the gloves off our military in Syria and Iraq, because ultimately you can't win the war against radical Islamic terrorism on defense. You have to win it on offense by denying them safe haven and decapitating their leadership. That's exactly what we did in Afghanistan after 9/11.

CUOMO: If that is dire and you can't capture the machinations of the threat within the border, why shouldn't you ban all Muslims when you know that that is at least the basis of your threat.

COTTON: Chris, again, I think that kind of across the board ban would be counterproductive, because ultimately, while there is a military component and we have to defeat the Islamic State militarily, there is more an ideological component in the generational fight that we face against radical Islam. The forces that led to radical Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Islamic State, can ultimately only be defeated by moderate Muslims around the globe, countries like UAE that have led the fight within their own border to promote tolerance. Just a few weeks ago were building new Hindu temples for their many ex-patriot workers, who had a female pilot in their air force launching the first attacks at. The Islamic State last year.

The west has been calling for years for the forces of moderate Islam to stand up to the very small percentage but very large number of radical Muslims all around the world. When countries the UAE or Egypt or Jordan do that, we need to highlight it, we need to celebrate it, and we need to continue to encourage it. That is the way we'll defeat the ideological challenge that we face from radical Islam in the long run even if there is a military component in the short run.

CUOMO: Let's go from the ideological to the practical. If things stay the way they are right now. Donald Trump may well have the best case for your nomination. Would you back him and support his nomination. And what do you think happens if he goes to a third party?

COTTON: Well, Chris, it is still pretty early in the presidential campaign.

CUOMO: Not that early.

COTTON: A lot of folks in Iowa I don't think have made up their mind, but I expect to support the Republican nominee next year. I don't know who the Republican nominee will be. I know this, though. I know that Hillary Clinton was the architect of Barack Obama's foreign policy, and that foreign policy has brought us to the perilous state we see in the world today.

CUOMO: Would you back Donald Trump if he's the nominee? And do you think he can beat Hillary Clinton?

COTTON: Chris, I will support the Republican nominee next year for president. I believe the Republican nominee will beat Hillary Clinton because of her failed record on national security and foreign and the far left policies that she's promoting in this campaign.

CUOMO: Do you think that nominee will be Donald Trump? COTTON: Chris, I'm not a political pundit. I'm just a senator

trying to do the right thing for Arkansas and keep America safe. So I'm not going to hazard any guesses who is going to win next year.

CUOMO: Boy, oh, boy, I'm not even getting close. You're too good for this morning. Thank you very much for coming on NEW DAY to talk about actual things to do that will make us safer and for weighing in on the dialogue that surrounds us. Appreciate it, Senator.

COTTON: Thanks, Chris. Happy holidays.

CUOMO: To you, as well. Merry Christmas.

At least, we're less than a week from the next CNN debate. It's going to be the final showdown of 2015, and just look at questions on the table. This is about the moral center of America and really what is going to motivate the strategy to keep us safe, couldn't have bigger questions. Tuesday is when we start our coverage, 6:00 eastern. The undercard debate, and then the main event 8:30 eastern only on CNN. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: To San Bernardino. Federal investigators telling CNN one of the San Bernardino shooters may have plotted an attack three years ago in California. Officials also are saying now that a Facebook post suggests that both attackers pledged their allegiance to ISIS, not just the wife as first reported.

[08:10:05] Pamela Brown live in Washington with the details, and it shows you how investigations need to take time because more details come to light.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this is still very early on in the investigation, and we hope to learn more. But at this stage, new evidence coming to light here, Michaela, suggesting that Syed Farook and someone else may have been plotting a few years ago to launch an attack in the California area. This evidence suggests that they had picked out a target but then got spooked and backed down and decided not to follow through with this plan.

Investigators are still trying to corroborate this new evidence that has come to light. But it is interesting in light of the fact that this was before Farook had met his wife Tashfeen Malik, who we just saw in that picture. So this was before then. And this was before ISIS had established or proclaimed that it had its caliphate. So clearly there were other terror groups who presumably played a role in influencing Syed Farook.

We're also learning more about the couple's finances. We know investigators have been looking at that, scrutinizing that. Syed Farook had apparently in the weeks prior to the attack had taken out this bank loan, around $28,000. But at this point officials don't believe there is anything anyone helping the couple with providing the finances or a terrorist group providing those finances. We know some of the money from the loan was given to Syed Farook's mother and for other household items. But of course still under investigation, no conclusions have been reached yet. Back to you.

CAMEROTA: The money stuff is the really troubling -- I mean one of the many troubling things they are following with the investigation. Pamela, thank you for that.

Breaking news on the Paris terror investigations now. France now identifying the third suicide bomber from the Bataclan concert hall. CNN senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann is live in Paris with the very latest. What have you learned, Jim?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, his name is Fouad Mohamed-Aggad. He's 23 years old from Strasburg area of France. Born French, educated in France, and now the third of the gunmen that attacked the Bataclan identified as Frenchmen. They killed 90 of their fellow citizens.

In any case his story is depressingly familiar, I think, with some of the other terrorist attacks that have happened in Europe and in France. Basically, at 23 he was recruited by the -- rather 21, he was recruited by a person who was recruiting people to go off to Syria to fight. He and his older brother went along with a group of about six others from the Strasburg area. They got there and almost immediately two of the group were killed. Others came back to France and the police picked him up when they got back to France. But Mohamed-Aggad did not. He stayed in Syria and apparently planned this attack. Now confirmed that he planned the attack along with the other attackers on November 13th. Alisyn, Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Jim, appreciate the reporting.

Now, in less than an hour the defense begins its case in William Porter's trial. He is the first officer being tried in the death of Freddie Gray. The prosecution rested Tuesday after making the case Porter is guilty of manslaughter and other charges for not getting Gray medical help when asked. Remember Gray died of a spinal injury while in police custody.

PEREIRA: The FBI's plan to more aggressive track police shootings and other violent police encounters is on track to be in place by 2017. The Justice Department has said its current system of data collection is grossly inadequate. For the first time the new system will track any incident where an officer causes serious injury, including for the use of stun guns.

CAMEROTA: Frightening video to show out of a mall in Washington state. It involves one of this season's most popular gifts. We're talking about a hover board, and it burst into flames there, smoke quickly filling the area, as you can see. A quick-thinking man grabs an extinguisher to douse all the flames. The mall was forced to evacuate. Fortunately no one was hurt, but there is no word on what prompted that hover board to ignite.

PEREIRA: I feel like the danger is me being an absolute klutz and not being able to ride it properly and fall on my face. I never even considered the flammability aspect. Rethinking my Christmas wish list. CUOMO: Now, I will say this, and I am biased on this issue.

PEREIRA: Are you?

CUOMO: Yes. There are calls for hover boards in many my house. I am anti hover board. I believe they are just too tricky to ride. I have a son who is like half chimpanzee. It's amazing what balance he has. But this happens with these things I've seen it online talked about, that these hover board, and it's not the first one to have this problem. I don't want some company chasing after me. I'm not vying trying to scare you off hover boards, but I do think there is a little something there.

[08:15:00] PEREIRA: He's anti-hover board.

CAMEROTA: There must be.

PEREIRA: Let it be known.

CUOMO: I'm anti them in the Cuomo household. I don't want another thing that can make me go to the ER.

PEREIRA: If you're living in an apartment, probably wise.

CUOMO: I'm living in ER.

PEREIRA: All right. Yes.

Do Donald Trump supporters buy all of his anti-Muslim talk? Or is he painting with too broad a brush? We are going to hear what a group of die-hard Trump supporters have to say, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: What do Donald Trump's supporters think of his controversial comments about keeping Muslims out of U.S.?

I sat down with some of them at the historic Palace Theater in Stanford, Connecticut, and as you'll see, they were eager to share their feelings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: What do you think about Donald Trump's latest comments that Muslims should be banned from coming to the U.S.?

Michael, let me start with you.

MICHAEL TEED, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, I think that he is pretty much trying to protect the American people. Muslims should not be considered the only -- the only people to be concentrated on. It should be anyone that is -- needs a background check. I think he's correct by saying we need to screen people. We need to make sure our borders are secure.

CAMEROTA: The reason it's controversial is he singled out Muslims. He didn't say terror suspects. He said Muslims. What do you think of that?

JOHN HIKEL, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't think that's unreasonable to do. Because we need to make sure that the people here are safe. And until we can figure out who is allowed into the country and coming in.

[08:20:03] And if we don't know who they are, then we need some sort of protection.

CAMEROTA: Billy, what his critics say is that one of the founding principles of this country is religious freedom. We don't have a religious test at the borders. So, what do you think?

WILLIAM BAER, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: If we want as a nation, we could keep everybody out of the country, theoretically, legally, morally. And there's no reason that we couldn't do that. It's not like due process or constitutional rights apply to people outside of the country coming into the country.

JOSH YOUSSEF, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Immigration is not a right. It is a privilege. And you have to meet certain criteria in order to be able to immigrate to the United States.

And it just seems that the majority of the terror activities that have taken place over the past couple of decades and more specifically since 9/11 have been perpetrated by people of the Islamic faith. So I would say that when you see the propensity of terrorist attacks being committed by Christians or Buddhists, then we start blocking them as well.

CAMEROTA: Are you -- the rest of you comfortable that there would be a religion test, that he's painting with a broad brush against Muslims?

GERRY DELEMUS, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: When Jews or Christians come to America, they are not trying to reinvent America because they meld in. We are a Judeo-Christian nation. Islam, if you read the Koran or the Hadith, they are in conflict with our Constitution.

What he's trying to put the burden on Congress to step up to the plate or our president who doesn't seem willing to stand up and say, look, we need a process in place that is going to protect American citizens. That's the first job of our government is to protect American people, not to protect someone from the Middle East or from Germany or wherever it is. It's America.

And our politicians have been placating Islam, not calling it what it is when there are acts of terrorism.

PAULA JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: And it is about time that we stop being politically correct in this country, and we start talking about the real issues. The real issues is they are coming to get us. It is terrorists that are coming to get us in America. They are not going to be happy until they take over this country, and we have to be under Sharia law. And I'm not going to bow down to them.

HIKEL: I was brought up Lebanese, American Christian. My grandparents were born here. Emigrated from Syria now Lebanon.

And I got to tell you that my personal opinion this, broad brush that's been painted of all Muslims, if I was going to say there was a flaw I would just say that that could be the problem. I think there is a definite group of the terrorist groups, and there is definite groups that we know who they are.

But to paint the broad brush and to just -- and to include all Muslims, I got to say that most Muslims I know are loving, fine, outstanding, some of our best doctors, some of our smartest engineers, some of our most highly educated educators and people in this country.

CAMEROTA: So the broad brush stroke makes you uncomfortable.

HIKEL: It always does, of course, like I would with any over race or religion or any other group. I never would want to paint broad brush.

CAMEROTA: Does anyone have Muslim friends?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.

TEED: I do. I go to a diverse campus university. And I have Muslim friends who have come to me, like I really, really -- like I really enjoy being in the United States. And I see that there are good Muslims. There is always going to be good and bad. And it is what we are trying to figure out.

And I believe Donald Trump will figure out is how we can defeat this evil and make sure it doesn't get into our country.

CAMEROTA: Tori Ann, what's your experience with Muslims?

TORI ANN DIBARTOLO, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, they were my co-workers. I used to work at CVS. And I worked there for six years. There was a pharmacist Mohamed that started working and I usually always have a cross around my neck. And he always used to look at and it and he would ask questions about hi myself and in the beginning he was very cold to me.

And through conversation and working together, we actually became friends and he showed me all of his pictures when he got engaged. And it was a real change.

CAMEROTA: And there you go. Your story and your story and your story, doesn't that say, that we can integrate? That we are a melting pot? That Muslims should be able to have the American dream?

I mean, why doesn't that tell you that Donald Trump has gone too far?

DELEMUS: He's not making the statement that they are never going to be allowed in America. What he's trying to get Congress or the president to come up with a plan to be able to vet them, so that we can a process where we can make sure that we're not bringing in Islamist terrorists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about all of this with David Chalian. He is our CNN political director.

Hi, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hi, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. They don't see Trump's -- you just heard all of his supporters. They don't see Trump's comments as controversial. They see them as common sense.

CHALIAN: That's right, which is why it is such a mistake when people in the media or people in the Republican Party or Democrats across the aisle sort of laugh off or just say Trump is being ridiculous. It doesn't appreciate where sort of the force of his support, where it's coming from.

[08:25:01] Clearly, he is so in tune with where a swath of the Republican electorate is right now, tapping into their anger, into their fear, to their sense of a lack of security right now. And so while they are clearly controversial comments and clearly comments that have been rebuked across the board, they are -- they are not sort of Donald Trump standing alone. It is coming from a place where he understands his voters to be.

CAMEROTA: David, wasn't there also something revelatory about human nature in that moment? And that is that on an individual level, they have great affection for their Muslim neighbors, and their fellow students, and their coworkers. But en masse, there is the fear of the unknown.

CHALIAN: It's like the old adage in politics, right? I hate Congress, but I love my congressman, right? And that is the -- what I sort of got from listening is that when they have an individual experience, that is something completely separate in their mind from the overall policy precipitation that Donald Trump has put forward.

CAMEROTA: Now that is not just anecdotal, or apocryphal. They really do hate Congress.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: These Trump supporters really do hate Congress, and they think that the Republican Party has abandoned them and failed them. And that's why they have such passion for Donald Trump.

I mean, there were -- two points during my sit down with them, they teared up. I mean, they welled up because they feel so strongly about their love for this country and their passion for Donald Trump, and these supporters are not going anywhere. There's no one else in the Republican field that they would then pivot towards if Donald Trump dropped out.

CHALIAN: No. He's got his own sort of demographic now inside the party. These are the Trump voters.

And you're right. I don't think they can easily shift. Obviously when the race gets down to two people or three people, it may not be enough for Donald Trump. But they are a big swath right now in this crowded field.

But, Alisyn, you make a really important point about the Republican party. This is now sort of a ten-year showdown in the making. Ever since George W. Bush pushed immigration reform and failed and the bank bailout, followed by the rise of the Tea Party and Obama era, wins at the congressional level, winning the Senate but still not feeling like anybody is responding to their concerns.

Mitt Romney was able to sort of keep a lid on it a little bit during his nomination race. But now, that battle inside the Republican Party has really come to a head here. It's like a wild fire spreading.

The establishment has been doing its best over the last ten years to try to harness that energy, contain it and help propel them to victory. And now, it may be spreading out of control. And that's why you see the party in such a moment of crisis over Donald Trump's candidacy.

CAMEROTA: We're right in the middle as we speak. David Chalian, thanks so much. Always great to talk to you.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Tomorrow, we'll have more with the Trump supporter panel, including what they believe Donald Trump's relationship is to the truth. So, tune in for that.

Also, the final Republican debate of the year is just six days away. It will be right here on CNN. Coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern for the under card debate, and then the main event is at 8:30 Eastern.

Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right. An Indiana lawmaker says Donald Trump's Islamophobic talk is fanning the anti-Islamic flames. Congressman Andre Carson, who is Muslim, says he received death threats. We're going to speak with him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)