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New Day

Dr. Ben Carson One-on-One Interview; Trump Campaign Defends Against Stories Critical of His Business History and Treatment of Women; Bernie Sanders Campaign in Kentucky. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 16, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- under more scrutiny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are things that he is going to have to answer for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People have not expected purity on this part.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That was not me on the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell you this.

TRUMP: I can tell you this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His campaign is seriously claiming that that is not Mr. Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump says it's not him. I believe it's not him.

BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For us to win the number of pledged delegates we need your help big time right here in Kentucky.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you vote for me on Tuesday, I will stand up and fight for you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Department of Justice sent a letter about transgender bathroom use in public schools.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All we're trying to do is use the bathroom in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, May 16th, 8:00 in the east now. And up first, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump on defense. His treatment of women under scrutiny after a "New York Times" report over the weekend. Trump dismisses it. He says the main character in that story says "The New York Times" set her up. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus acknowledges Trump is going to have to answer for his past but he doesn't think it's a big deal overall, and he calls the possibility of a third-party candidate a suicide mission.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, President Obama uses a commencement speech to blast Trump without ever naming Trump. Obama telling new grads that, quote, "Ignorance is not a virtue in politics," and he hammers Trump's plans to build a wall and ban Muslims.

We have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Phil Mattingly. Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn. Well, this morning Donald Trump clearly on defense, trying to fire back at a series of problematic stories targeting his campaign. Not only does it have to do with taxes or perhaps how he treated women when he was their boss or employer, but also whether or not he was their own spokesman and publicist at one point in time. It is certainly a different tone than a primary election where Donald Trump every time he was attacked seemed to go up in the polls, now facing the reality that this is a different time and this is the general election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.

MATTINGLY: Donald Trump facing a not so subtle critique Sunday from the man he's campaigning to replace.

OBAMA: It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That's just not knowing what you're talking about.

MATTINGLY: The presumptive Republican nominee coming under fire amid new allegations of inappropriate behavior with women, dozens of women revealing to the "New York Times" accounts of, quote, "unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, and unsettling workplace conduct."

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody has more respect for women than I do.

MATTINGLY: A defensive Trump lashing out on Twitter, slamming the report as a lame hit piece, dishonest, and a witch hunt. Trump's allies offering a defense.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R) ALABAMA: People have not expected purity on his part. What they're concerned about, they're deeply concerned about, is this somebody strong enough to take on Washington?

MATTINGLY: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus acknowledging it's something he will have to confront, but won't change the voters' decision. REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: These are

things that he's going to have to answer for. All these stories that come out and they come out every couple of weeks, people just don't care.

MATTINGLY: Trump also denying reports that he used to pose as his own publicist in the '80s and '90s under the names John Miller or John Barron.

TRUMP: Het gets called by everybody.

MATTINGLY: Despite previously admitting using both pseudonyms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the campaign seriously claiming that isn't Mr. Trump?

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CONVENTION MANAGER: I could barely understand it. I couldn't tell who it is. If Donald Trump says it's not him, I believe it's not him.

MATTINGLY: Trump's latest controversies amid continued efforts within the GOP to mount a third-party candidate to derail him. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse and Mark Cuban both declining the job.

PRIEBUS: They could try to hijack another party and get on the ballot, but look, it's a suicide mission for our country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And the reality, guys, for any of those third party bids is time is running out if it's not already gone. There's no clear candidate, no clear money commitments, and the pathway itself not super existent at the moment.

For Donald Trump's purposes, he has been pushing back hard on that "New York Times" story, saying one of the main people spoken to in that story has already come out this morning and, quote, "blown it all up." It will be very interesting to watch how he acts on this going forward. As I mentioned before, many of the times Donald Trump is attacked in the primary, he ended up using that to pivot and actually increase his poll numbers. You can bet, guys, no doubt about it, Donald Trump will have to face this head on, because the Clinton campaign will take this and attack repeatedly.

CAMEROTA: OK, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days. Phil, thanks for all of that.

[08:00:00] Joining us now, our CNN political commentators, Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter. He is also former Reagan White House political director. And Ana Navarro is a Republican consultant who previously supported Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Good morning to both of you.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Ana, how are we to interpret this "New York Times" article. It shows Donald Trump elevating women to the highest positions in his company at a time when other real estate moguls were not doing so. It also shows Donald Trump objectifying women, giving them unwanted kisses on the lips, talking about their weight and their looks. How should we interpret this, or how should female voters interpret it?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Alisyn, you know how sometimes you go some of these modern art museums and you look at these paintings that you have no idea what they are and you are asked to interpret them? That's basically how I feel on national TV right now.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: Let me tell you, this has really degenerated into a Jerry Springer show of 2016 politics. I feel like that -- remember that ad from like the 1980s, that woman with the spiky blond hair who would say "stop the insanity?" That's where we are, folks. Look, we're talking

about Donald Trump and his history with women.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Is it relevant to know his history?

NAVARRO: Listen, here is the question, though. Alisyn, here's the question. Is there anybody in America who thinks Donald Trump is Mr. Rogers? And is there anybody in America who thinks the Clintons are June and Ward Cleaver? We have two very flawed candidates with sordid histories, folks. Now, can we move on from that? Those are our choices. Can we now get them to start telling me what they're going to do so Americans aren't taken hostage and beheaded in the Middle East? Can they tell me what they're going to do to increase the employment rate in America? Can they tell me what they're going to do about Miami getting swallowed up by rising tides? That's what I would like to hear about. I don't know about the rest of America.

CAMEROTA: And we are going to get to the issues in on second.

LORD: I agree.

CAMEROTA: OK, there we go. We've dispensed with that. You both agree we have two flawed candidates with possibly checkered pasts and you would like to move on.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: Possibly? Possibly checkered pasts?

CAMEROTA: I'm being kind.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Let's move on here because Donald Trump has given a new radio interview to the National Border Patrol's green line radio in which he predicts what would happen if refugees from basically Syria or the Middle East are allowed into the United States. Let me play a portion to you. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Bad thing also happen. A lot of bad things will happen. There will be attacks that you wouldn't believe. There will be attacks by people that are right now coming into our country, because I have no doubt in my mind -- look at it. They have cell phones. So they don't have money. They don't have anything. They don't have cell phones. Who pays their monthly charges, right? They have cell phones with the flags, the ISIS flags on them. And then we're supposed to say isn't this wonderful that we're taking them in?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Couple bits of context there. This is based on, we believe, a report from a Norwegian newspaper in which the experts say some of the refugees coming in have photographs on their phones with ISIS imagery. What the experts say, some, is that that's because the refugees were capturing what they were seeing in their towns or along their journey. If they saw an ISIS flag, if they saw ISIS people, they took a picture of it as a witness to what they were seeing. Why would they have cell phones? As you know, many of these displaced refugees were professional people. They had real lives back in Syria. So what do you think of this, Ana? Is this scare tactics or are these things that Americans should be aware of?

NAVARRO: I think it's a little bit of both. And I think when Donald Trump brings these things up, he touches a nerve with a lot of Americans who are afraid about what may be happening and who don't trust our government. I think what's beneath a lot of this is that many Americans don't trust the process that the U.S. government uses to vet any possible attacks to keep us safe. Does Donald Trump make an articulate case? Does he prey on fears? Yes, he does prey on fears. But that doesn't mean that those fears, in some ways, are not justified and that he's not really striking a nerve with the fears that American people feel.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, is he demonizing refugees?

LORD: No, no. Absolutely not. First of all, Alisyn, one thing on what we were talking about before. I just want to say "The New York Times," this was a class A hit job and hypocritical to the max. Two weeks ago, "New York Times" employees filed a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit against "The New York Times" itself and its CEO, charging the paper with sexism, racism, and ageism. So that wasn't featured on the front page of the "New York Times" and I wonder why.

[08:10:00] Now, as to the rest of this, this is just common sense. We have no idea who these folks are coming in here. For heaven's sakes, get a grip. Find out who these people are.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, there is a vetting process. It's a long vetting process. It takes 18 months to get into this country. There is a vetting process. They try to do the best they can with whatever documents these refugees and who they say they are.

LORD: Who they say they are. Alisyn, we've already seen incidents in Paris, San Bernardino in our own country where this woman was supposedly, quote-unquote, "vetted," and they didn't even check her social media. And she killed 14 people. I mean, this is just common sense. This is well beyond, you know, a presidential candidate. This is just plain, old-fashioned common sense.

CAMEROTA: OK, so Ana, to your point it does strike a chord, certainly, with Trump supporters. They've said that. So is this something that Hillary Clinton should use against him, or can she not do that?

NAVARRO: I think what Hillary Clinton can use against him is, frankly, her superior knowledge of facts and experience in foreign policy. He's obviously basing comment, he, himself, has said a lot of advice he gets are out of Sunday shows, printed media. She was secretary of state. She knows this stuff better.

Now, at some point, though, I think the mistake that everybody made in the Republican Party was not to acknowledge quickly enough the angst, the fear, the distress that's out there within the American public. And I think to just blast this as, you know, fanning of the flames without recognizing that the American people may have a legitimate fear out there would be a mistake on her part.

CAMEROTA: Ana, Jeffrey, great to talk to you. Thank you.

LORD: Thanks, Alisyn. Thanks, Ana.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up in just minutes, we will speak with former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson who is helping lead the search for Donald Trump's running mate. What does he have to say about all of this? We'll find out.

Also tonight, Anderson Cooper sits down exclusively with John Kasich for his first interview since leaving the GOP race. Would he ever consider being Trump's VP? Find out tonight at 8:00 pm. only here on CNN.

CUOMO: All right, so let's look at the Democratic side of the ball. Clinton and Sanders and 100 delegates up for grabs between them tomorrow in Kentucky and Oregon. Hillary Clinton also making some news, revealing that her husband would be taking on a key role if she becomes the next president. For more on all of this, CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux live Washington with more. He couldn't be VP. So what is it?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The mystery unfolds. You never know. A two for one deal it might look like, a lot of people wondering that. Hillary Clinton is making this big final push in Kentucky. She made four stop there is on Sunday. She's making four more today. What is she doing? She's counting on African- American voters to put her in a better place in West Virginia, Kentucky, a state she has easily won over Obama in 2008. But this time she's come under criticism for saying that some of these economic and environmental policies would put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. She has since disavowed that. And now she is talking up this new role for her husband, Bill Clinton. And she doesn't giving a lot of details but she says that he would be in charge of a lot of the economic stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: My husband, who I'm going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy because, you know, he knows how to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And especially in places like coal country and inner cities and other parts of our country that have really been left out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So she's really waxing nostalgic and trying to get voters to harken back to the days when Bill Clinton was in office, unemployment was low, the economy was strong. But having covered the end of that administration, I can tell you that not everybody was actually doing well. But Clinton is leading Sanders by nearly 300 pledged delegates going into tomorrow's primaries, Kentucky and Oregon. Oregon looking pretty good for Sanders as politically progressive. They think they can win there, pick that up. The Clinton team believes the race is competitive in Kentucky. So that's where she remains today, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Suzanne, thanks so much for that reporting.

ISIS says it's behind yet another bloody attack in Iraq. At least 10 people were killed when suicide car bombers stormed a Baghdad gas plant sending huge ball of flames into the sky as you can see. And 24 people were injured there. This is just the latest of a string of ISIS attacks that have left dozens dead in the last few weeks.

CUOMO: The suspicious item that forced the cancellation of a Manchester United soccer match Sunday was a training device that looked like a real bomb. Manchester police say it was left behind in a bathroom by a private security firm working with bomb-sniffing dogs. The incident forced an evacuation of the stadium which holds 75,000 people. The match is rescheduled tomorrow night.

[08:15:03] CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, you'll love this. Check out your screen.

An Army softball player refusing to let a good throw to home plate keep her from scoring. Check out Casey McCravy (ph) with this incredible leap over the catcher.

CUOMO: Wait for it.

CAMEROTA: I'm waiting. That is awesome. She smacked her hand down to score. The incredible hurdle helping Army steal a 3-1 victory over Lehigh on Saturday. Believe it or not, McCravy pulled off the same maneuver back in high school.

CUOMO: I believe it.

CAMEROTA: I believe it.

CUOMO: I believe. You know, because the instinct is the tag is going to be low. They're trying to block the plate. So, there is actually that opportunity if you're athletic and quick thinking enough, army strong.

CAMEROTA: I want that to be my signature maneuver. You just jump over any obstacle in your way.

CUOMO: Yes, that would work well these days for us.

If it did not matter so much, this election could be dismissed as just for laughs. But the latest chapter of late night laughs is Trump's surge for a vice president. It got the comedic treatment on SNL. They even worked in a little bit of working as his own publicist deal with Trump. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump is the real life inspiration for Iron Man. Who am I? I'm his publicist, Joey Pepperoni. No, I'm not Donald Trump in disguise. This is just what classy people sound like. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, Chris Christie is here. He sort of wants to discuss potential vice presidents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, is that Joey Pepperoni I see? Seriously, though, Donald, I'm honored that you asked me to help you find your next VP.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about John Kasich? He's smart, experienced. He could help us in Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he's not interested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a loser.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nikki Haley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also not interested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Cruz.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hard no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Ryan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said not right now, but he will see you in hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't make any sense. Why doesn't anyone want to be my VP? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are such a special candidate. Maybe, just maybe the person you've been looking for this whole time is standing in this room right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are so right. Ben Carson, you want to be vice president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would be exciting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: What was that? What is this?

CAMEROTA: I don't know whether to laugh, cry. It was poignant. It was funny. It was everything.

CUOMO: What makes it so funny is that it's seemingly like -- these things may happen at some point. That's what's making this funny and real start to get oddly similar.

CAMEROTA: Also the Joey Pepperoni.

CUOMO: Was it joy or Joey?

CAMEROTA: I don't know if he was pretending to be a woman or man. Both good.

CUOMO: I keep thinking to myself, you know what, if this was John Miller, if this was this guy named Baron, where are they? That would end that story right there.

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

CUOMO: Let's get Mr. Miller on the show.

CAMEROTA: From the fake Ben Carson to the real one. Next on NEW DAY, former presidential candidate turned Trump surrogate, Dr. Ben Carson joins us to address the latest controversies surrounding Donald Trump and the search for his vice presidential candidate. Dr. Carson doesn't think this was funny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:04]

CUOMO: Donald Trump says the media is on a witch hunt. The presumptive GOP nominee is facing a flurry of negative headlines, that's for sure. The big one was the "New York Times" this weekend, delving into decades of alleged inappropriate conduct with multiple women. And the "Washington Post" reported Trump posed as his own PR agent.

Let's discuss what matters and why with former Republican candidate, Dr. Ben Carson, who certainly supports Donald Trump for president. Doctor, good to see you again.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You, too, Chris.

CUOMO: So Doctor, this weekend, we had the "Washington Post" saying that you have confirmed five names to them who were in the chase and being considered as potential vice presidents for Trump. Trump then came out and said, no, no, no, those names are wrong. Was that report accurate?

CARSON: Well, it was not portrayed accurately. I think they clarified that today, "The Washington Post." Basically what I was saying is I'm not going to tell you. So any name you threw out, yes, I'm going to say, sure. That doesn't mean they're on the short list or under serious consideration.

CUOMO: So you were -- when they offered names --

CARSON: The trick would be to get you to say --well, no, this one's -- not yes, this one is. I'm not going to get into that.

CUOMO: OK. So, the idea of who might be vice president, do you believe there is a real short list that is being considered? And, if so, what is your involvement?

CARSON: I've already made my suggestions and had conversations. You know, my involvement is to continue to work on making sure that Donald Trump's candidacy is successful. More importantly, that America becomes successful.

CUOMO: Would you accept the invitation from Trump to be his running mate?

CARSON: This is something that is extremely undesirable to me as is any government post, quite frankly. I believe that citizen statesman can work from outside the government in a capacity where they can contribute to the well-being of the country.

CUOMO: So, are you done running for office?

CARSON: I have no intention of running for office.

CUOMO: OK. So, when we look at Donald Trump, the man you support, what do you make of this flurry of stories as I alluded to in the introduction, about him and his past and antics posing as his own PR person, relationships with women, the appropriateness of that? What do you make of these stories?

CARSON: Well, you know, "The New York Times" article, obviously, was a hit piece. You know, one of the main women that they interviewed came out and said that that's not what she said. And that she actually has a very positive relationship with Donald Trump.

[08:25:04]And it should give the media pause when they see members of their own group doing things in a dishonest way like that. As I've said before, the reason that the press is the only business protected by our constitution is because they're supposed to be honest and even handed. They're supposed to be the mechanism whereby the people gain the information in order to make appropriate choices and when they distort that and begin to take sides, it hurts.

And they need to recognize that if our country goes off the cliff, they're going off with it. They need to stop and think about that as well.

CUOMO: So, it is true that this morning one of the women in that piece -- there are a lot of women cited. One of the main ones did come on and say her comments had been taken out of context and, to make the point, here she is, in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWANNE BREWER LANE, FORMER TRUMP COMPANION: They did take quotes from what I said and spun it so it appeared negative. I did not have a negative appearance with Donald Trump and I don't appreciate them making it look like I was saying that it was a negative experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And so there she is, making point that you --

CARSON: I can certainly -- I can identify with that so strongly because, you know, how many times have I said something where they take a portion of it and make it into a headline when it's completely the opposite of what you're intending?

I mean, they do this purposefully. That's what's so bad. I appeal to people in the press, particularly the younger journalists, to reject that. It may be tempting because maybe you'll get a promotion or maybe you'll be the big man on campus. But we've got to start thinking about our nation.

CUOMO: There are some other things I want to talk to you about, but let's take one beat on this, I am "they," right? Obviously, I'm a journalist and I'm talking to you right now.

As you know, the media is not a monolith, everybody does the job their own way and you should be judged for what you do because we're not part of a big gang.

I promise you there's no communication intermurally between different journalists to collude on stories. But often the reason you get taken, a way you don't like when you're a politician is because what you said didn't come out the way you wanted it, Dr. Carson.

You've had that experience as well. It's not always the reporter's fault when you get caught out there saying something you shouldn't have or didn't want to say, right?

CARSON: I wouldn't say always. There are clearly people who have an agenda and they will clearly take things that you have said and distort them or overblow them. I mean, I can give you multiple examples. It's absurd. People know that. And that's one of the reasons that American people don't trust the press as much as they used to. I remember when I was growing up, I would turn the TV on. You would see Walter Cronkite or someone like that.

And you know, you could really trust him. Even though Walter Cronkite was a left-wing radical, you would never know that.

CUOMO: Well, that's one description of Walter Cronkite I can't say that I share, but I take your point. Let's move on to things that are bigger than what we're talking about, though. I mean, you understand why I'm saying I don't accept that about Walter Cronkite. I happen to know him.

He was a mentor me and I think that he was trusted because he was even and he covered things from both perspectives, shading, as he thought, appropriate. That's the job, right?

CARSON: What I said about him is actually complimentary. This is the way it should be.

CUOMO: But he wasn't a radical left-wing person.

CARSON: Should not enter into the way that you disseminate the information.

CUOMO: Of course. I mean, that's the way to do the job. I'm just saying Walter Cronkite, in my experience, was not a radical left-wing guy who was just hiding it on TV. The compliment should be offered plainly, which was he did the job the right way.

CARSON: He did a very good job. We can agree on that.

CUOMO: Another story that's out there about Donald Trump right now seems to play more to your understanding of moral fabric. You do something that's not a big deal, but then when confronted about it, if you lie about it, you elevate the significance of it.

Would you agree that that's what's going on with this fake alleged PR deal with Donald Trump? It's not that he was doing it. It's that people believe that he is now lying about having done it. Isn't that the problem?

CARSON: Well, I think the real problem is that -- how many years ago was that?

CUOMO: A long time ago.

CARSON: What, 30, 30 years ago?

CUOMO: Long time ago.

CARSON: All of us have probably done things 25, 30 years ago that we've forgotten about or that we wish we hadn't done or we have changed from that in a very significant way. Is that something that is truly --