Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Taking Questions in Iowa Now; Univision Anchor Tossed Out, Returns To Trump Presser. Aired 7-8:00p ET
Aired August 25, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:08] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I like Scott Walker, I've always liked him. And I supported him. I actually gave him quite a bit of money. I liked his fight. I liked his drive. And he actually came to my office six months ago and gave me a trophy, gave me a beautiful plaque and I thought that was very nice. And in the end, I think people see, though, that what is happening in Wisconsin, I love the people of Wisconsin. I know Wisconsin well. I have friends that live there and they are incredible people. But if you look at what is going on in Wisconsin, I think people saw that they have a $2.2 billion budget deficit, it was supposed to be a surplus of a billion. That's tremendous.
They are borrowing to a point that nobody thought possible. They are ranked number 38 in the states, which isn't exactly a good ranking, better than others that are running but frankly it's not a good ranking and they have a lot of problems and there is a lot of division in the state to put it mildly. And I think people, I do like Scott but I think people have seen what's happened in the state and he was. You know, the first, when I first announced, I was second and he was first. I think it was a 10 percent and he was at 22 percent. Now I think I'm at 22 or 24 percent and he's at six percent. I think what happened is people have really looked seriously at what is going on in Wisconsin and that has not been helpful to him, unfortunately. Yes, go ahead.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
Well, I do retweets and I mean, to a certain extent. I do. Yes. I think that's right. You want me to say no? I retweet. You know, I retweet for a reason, right? Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Christian vote during the primaries.
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Bible is your favorite book.
TRUMP: That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anyone in the bible that you really relate to that you -- that you look up to?
TRUMP: Nobody that I would compare to. It's actually a great question. I love the Bible. I love the Bible. I'm a Protestant. I'm a Presbyterian. I went to Sunday school. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, "The Power of Positive Thinking" was my pastor. He was until this day one of the great speakers I've ever seen. You hated to leave church. You hated when the sermon is over. That's how great he was. Marble Collegiate Church. And I also had a church in Jamaica, Queens, when I grew up in Queens. And it was wonderful. First Presbyterian church of Jamaica. And I was there for years. And that's where I went to Sunday school.
And, you know, one of the things that's so incredible about the New Hampshire numbers is I lead with everybody. I lead with old, with young, as you saw, you saw it, everybody. But one of the groups I lead with substantially, evangelicals. And I've led in Iowa, too, with the evangelicals. Because they get it. They're incredible people that are really smart. And they want to see our country thrive. And, but the beautiful thing -- because it was such a comprehensive poll in New Hampshire and they just went over everything. Tea Party like leading by a lot. Moderates leading by a lot. Everybody. Literally, I think, I mean, you'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I led with every single group and by substantial numbers. So, I was very honored to lead but with the evangelicals. I love the evangelicals. Okay. Yes, good, absolutely. Good. Absolutely. Good to have you back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
TRUMP: Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION) -- full of empty promises.
TRUMP: Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) You cannot deny citizenship to the children. You cannot --
TRUMP: Why do you say that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot do that.
TRUMP: Well, a lot of people think -- no, no, excuse me. A lot of people, no, no, but a lot of people think that's not right, that an act of Congress can do it. Now, it's possibly going to have to be tested in courts. But a lot of people think that if you come and you're on the other side of the border -- I'm not talking about Mexico. Somebody on the other side of the border. A woman is getting ready to have a baby, she crosses the border for one day, has the baby, all of a sudden for the next 80 years, hopefully longer but for the next 80 years we have to take care of the people. No, no, no, I don't think so. Excuse me, some of the greatest legal scholars -- and I know some of these television scholars agree with you. But some of the great legal scholars agree that that's not true. That if you come across -- excuse me, just one second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not answering the question.
TRUMP: No, no, I am answering. If you come across for one day, one day, and you have a baby, now the baby is going to be an American citizen. Excuse me. There are great legal scholars, the top, that say that's absolutely wrong. It's going to be tested. Okay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to build a 1900-mile wall?
[19:05:05] TRUMP: Very easy. I'm a builder. That's easy. I build buildings that are -- can I tell you what's more complicated? What's more complicated is building a building that's 95 stories tall. Okay?
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
You think so? Really? I don't think so. A lot of people don't think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 40 percent of the people say there is (INAUDIBLE) --
TRUMP: I don't believe that. Okay. You're right. I don't believe it. And the drugs come. I see them. They have pictures, they have everything, crawling over the fences which are, by the way, this high. I mean, you have fences that are not as tall as I am. They're coming by many different ways. But the primary way is being right through, right past our border patrols who, by the way, are tremendous people. And they can do the job, but they're told not to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to deport 11 million (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: Here's what we're going to do. Ready? Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to bring the army?
TRUMP: No, no. Let me tell you. We'll going to do it in a very humane fashion. Believe me. I have a bigger heart than you do. We'll going to do it in a very humane fashion. The one thing we're going to do --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One question, is there one question I want to ask --
TRUMP: Okay. The one thing we're going to start with immediately are the gangs, and the real bad ones, and you do agree there are some bad ones. Do you agree with that or do you think everyone is just perfect? No, no, no, I asked you a question. Do you agree with that? We have tremendous crime, we have tremendous problems -- I can't deal with this. Listen, we have tremendous crime, we have tremendously, we have some very bad ones. And I think you would agree with that, right? Okay. There's a lot of bad ones. Real bad ones. Because you know, they looked at some of the gangs -- excuse me.
They looked at some of the gangs in Baltimore, they looked at some of the gangs in Chicago, they looked even in Ferguson. They got some rough, illegal immigrants in those gangs. They're getting out. You mind if I send them out? Now, if they come from Mexico, do you mind if I send them back to Mexico? No, no, do you mind if I send them back to Mexico?
(INAUDIBLE)
Okay. Those people are out. They'll going to be out so fast. Your head will spin. All right? The rest we're going to do in a -- remember, you use the word, illegal immigrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I didn't use the word.
TRUMP: Okay. Well, you should use it. Because that's what the definition is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No human being is illegal.
TRUMP: Okay. Well, when they cross the border from a legal standpoint, they're illegal immigrant when they don't have their papers. And I want to make it possible and I think you'll like this. This is the part you're going to like. I want these people, the good people, I want them to come back and I want them to get documentation and get so they become legal. It's going to be -- you know what it's called, management. So, you're not used to good management because you're always talking about government. Let me just tell you, wait, wait, wait, wait. Government is incompetent. Guys like Bush and some others that I won't name, they're incompetent people. They don't have it. They don't have it. I agree, they can't do it. But I'm a great manager. I know how to manage things. I hire unbelievable people. When I look at the vets, when I look at the VA, excuse me, when I look at the VA, we spend billions of dollars and people are treated horribly. Okay? Horribly. That will work great. What we're doing here will work great. And we want to get good people back in. And also -- let me just tell you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're not giving specifics about --
TRUMP: I've given you specifics. Great management. And they'll going to hopefully come back in very soon. Okay. Another question. Wait. Yes, go ahead. Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any specific change in the law you made to limit money in politics?
TRUMP: Money in politics. Well, I think there should be frankly more transparency. Because I see a guy like Jeb Bush with $114 million which is now higher and nobody even knows who put the money in. And they all control him like a little puppet. Okay? I know half the people. I mean, I don't know who they are because I can't find it out but as soon as they do, I will know most of them. They're friends of mine. I used to be there. I used to be the king of that. Okay? I know the system better than anybody. The fact is that whether it's Jeb or Hillary or any of them, they're all controlled by these people. And the people that control them are the special interests, the lobbyists and the donors and they're controlled.
You know what the nice part about me? I don't need anybody's money. I mean, if a woman sends me the $7, I take it because that's great, because she's investing in this country in a proper way, not an improper way. But I don't need the money. It's a beautiful thing. So, if I say that I don't want Ford building in this case in Mexico or somewhere else, in all fairness, China, I want them to build here, I am not going to be hit by the Ford lobby and by all the other lobbies that you know who they are better than I do. They're not going to hit me. Because they didn't give ten cents to my campaign because I don't want their money. So, it's very important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But should it be limited legally --
TRUMP: I don't know about the limits. I think the most important thing is transparency. You have to know who you're dealing with. And right now you don't. You don't. And I'm talking about PACs in all fairness. I have good friends who like to put money into PACs. Many friends, I have some enemies too, by the way. But I have many friends. They put money in PACs. And you need transparency. You need to know who is putting up what. So when they start making deals in a year or two years or three years, you know what is happening. Okay. How about one more question. Go ahead.
[19:10:20] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the illegal immigrants in this country are either criminals --
TRUMP: No, not at all. I never said that. No, I think most of them are good people. I love that question, because hopefully, maybe somebody -- no, I think most of them are very good people but they are here illegally and we're a country of laws and we're a country of borders. We have to have a border and we'll have a border and we'll have a wall and the wall is going to have a big beautiful door where people can some in legally and also where we can bring talented people. We need that in the Silicon Valley when somebody goes to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the Wharton school of finance, we send them out as soon as they graduate. They can't stay here. It's ridiculous. They want to be here. So, then they go to their country wherever it may be, whether it's Asia, Mexico, wherever it may be and they compete against us. I don't want that. I'll have one more then, yes, ma'am? Go ahead.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) in the latest poll numbers, Governor Walker is leading 25 percent -- what do you make of those numbers?
TRUMP: In Wisconsin? I really don't know. I mean, I haven't got there. I would think would win -- I would think would win Wisconsin. I mean, I have a great relationship with the people in Wisconsin but, you know, I haven't started. I haven't been thinking about Wisconsin right now and Governor Walker certainly has been. I don't know what the poll is. I know this, in Florida, they just came out with a poll and I'm at 28 and Bush is much lower and Senator Rubio who is a sitting senator is much, much lower. So I don't know. I think I'll do very well in Wisconsin. I think so. Yes? Yes? Yes, sir, go ahead. Ye, go ahead. Go ahead.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
Well, he came up. He wants to support my campaign but then I said oh, gee, he said some negative things about me and then he comes up to my office two or three hours later, he wants to be part of my campaign. But, you know, he's the hedge fund guy and honestly, maybe the hedge fund guys won't like me too much. I know a lot about hedge fund. I also know how they are taxed better than he does. So maybe they won't because maybe they won't like me. You understand. But he came up. He came up and he wants to support me, he wanted to leave Walker to support me. But I didn't make it so easy for him. Okay. Go ahead.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION) I don't know. Look, I have a lot of respect for Roger. We'll
see. I mean, you know, maybe, maybe not. I really don't know. Look, I think they cover me terribly. FOX News, I think they cover me terribly and I'm winning by double digits in every poll. So I don't know. Maybe it matters, maybe it doesn't. I don't think I get good treatment from FOX. They certainly cover me a lot. Well, I'm being covered by everybody. I don't know. I don't know, I don't think so. Because I think they give me very bad treatment. I think FOX treats me terribly and a lot of the people that like me think they treat me terribly but I don't think, I mean, what?
Do you think I was asked nice, easy questions? The other guys are saying, what are you going to do about jobs? Another one saying, do you love God? I get these questions like, what is going on here. And yet, I won in every single poll of the debate. I won. I won from drudge. I won in "Time Magazine." I won all the -- everybody thought I won the debate but I certainly had the worst questions, the most unfair questions and you know, I like FOX. I like it. But no, I think they treat me very poorly. Yes, go ahead? Yes. I'll do that. I'll do that. Sure.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: The which?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Late night tweeting about Megyn Kelly --
TRUMP: Takes two seconds. You do a couple of tweets because when people treat me unfairly, I don't let them forget and maybe we should have more of that in this country and maybe the country wouldn't be pushed around so much. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say you're going to win the Latino votes --
TRUMP: I think so because I'm going to bring jobs back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the truth is, I've seen the polls, Univision polls says, 75 percent of the Latino --
TRUMP: How much am I suing Univision for right now? No, no, no, do you know the number? No, no, no, tell me. Tell me. Do you know the number? And you know you're part of the lawsuit. How much am I suing Univision for right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is Mr. Trump --
TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait. It's 500 million.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a reporter.
TRUMP: Okay. Good. And they are very concerned about it. I have to tell you. I'm very good at this stuff. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're losing the Latino -- 75 percent of --
TRUMP: I don't think I will.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nationwide, nation --
TRUMP: I haven't started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Latinos have a negative opinion of you.
TRUMP: Do you know how many Latinos --
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
[19:15:06] Okay. Do you know how many Latinos work for me? Do you know how many Hispanics are working for me? Okay. They love me. They love me. Do you know how many Hispanics work for me? Thousands. Do you know how many have worked for me over the years? Tens of thousands. Here is what happens, once I win, you're going to see things happen. You know what they want? They want jobs. That's what they want. In Nevada, did you see the poll of the Hispanics in the state of Nevada? Did you see -- excuse me. Big Hispanic population. I wiped everybody out, Hispanic. I won the poll. Excuse me, I'm not talking Univision. I'm talking the only poll I saw, the one that came out which was in the state of Nevada, I wiped everybody out. I wiped them out with Hispanics. You saw that, right? Did you see it? Wait. Did you see it? Okay. He's an honest guy. Now I like him. Okay. You and I will talk. We'll going to be talking a lot over the years. We will. We will. Okay. Thank you everybody.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
I think about it myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you write --
TRUMP: Very interesting because a lot of people have been asking me because in Alabama I got very high marks for a speech and I honestly feel and it's one of the things I'll talk about, I'm always on live television and if you're on live television every three or four days you got to say things different. You can't be on the same and give the same stories, right? I think about my speeches and I don't believe in teleprompters, although it's easy, huh, I'd like to go up and stand up and read a speech for half an hour and just leave. But you know what happens? You wouldn't have sold out crowds like we have outside. You wouldn't have 30,000 people like we had in Alabama. You
wouldn't have the crowd that we had the other night in New Hampshire. You just wouldn't have it. It's not the same. In fact, I jokingly say if you're running for president, you shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters. So, I think about my speeches a lot. I think about what I'm going to say, but I essentially don't use notes, and I definitely don't read the speeches because I think it's much easier, but you know what happens, you don't have the same vibrant.
(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: I do a lot of things by myself. People would be surprised. People are shocked at how smart I am, right? Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Jim Sciutto. You've been listening to the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump taking questions from reporters in Dubuque, Iowa. He was at his signature combative style, dismissive at times, a signature moment of the press conference, very early on when he dismissed, in fact, silenced Univision anchor Jorge Ramos when he tried to engage him in a conversation about immigration. Here is that moment now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Sit down. Sit down. Go ahead.
(INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: No, you don't. You haven't been called. Go back to Univision. Go ahead.
JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION ANCHOR: You cannot deport 11 million people -- (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Go ahead. Go ahead.
RAMOS: You cannot deport 11 million people --
TRUMP: Go ahead. Sit down, please. You weren't called.
(INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: Go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: That was security removing the Univision anchor from the room. He came back later, did engage on the immigration interview. In fact, it turned into a long, almost impromptu interview on the question of the immigration plan, the wall, birthright citizenship, as well. Also, today, we have the news that Trump has hired Rick Perry's former top aide, Sam Clovis is now Trump's national coach here, he spoke to introduce Donald Trump here, signed an establishment Republicans, at least some of them signing onto the campaign. Another signature moment here when Donald Trump was asked about
his criticism on Twitter and elsewhere of the FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly. At that time he said that he would not apologize to her for those sometimes. He said she should be apologizing to him. Here is that moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't care about Megyn Kelly, but no, I would not apologize. She should probably apologize to me, but I just don't care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: I want to bring in now CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson. Jeffrey Lord, he is the former political director for President Ronald Reagan as well as republican strategist Mercedes Schlapp. Ben, if I could begin with you there, watching this moment that interaction, really that battle there with Jorge Ramos who is extremely popular, very well-known among the Latino community here in the U.S., Univision Spanish speaking channel. Most popular here dismissing him, having him kicked out by his security. He did come back in and engage but it wasn't the most polite engagement. What was that moment to you?
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is exactly why people absolutely that like Donald Trump love him. Ramos came in, he was rude, he stood up in front of everyone else. He wasn't called on and Donald Trump is not going to play games with people like that. I think Ramos was obviously wanting to push an issue here and to make this be a theatrical moment for him at Univision. And Donald Trump smelled it out and kicked him out and the fact he let him come back in I think was also smart politics from Donald Trump. He's not afraid to answer questions or talk to people, but you're not going to bully him, and it plays into this bigger narrative of Trump, which is --
SCIUTTO: But wait a second, Ben. Wait a second, Ben. Bully --
FERGUSON: No one is going to bully me.
[19:20:38] SCIUTTO: I mean, this is, Donald Trump's signature issue here is the immigration plan. You have Jorge Ramos there who says in his question, he's an immigrant himself. Why is it bullying? Why is it an unreasonable question for him to challenge the republican frontrunner on his plan to deport 11 million people?
FERGUSON: It's not unreasonable to ask a question but there's a decorum of press conference and Ramos has been to a lot of press conferences. You don't just get to stand up and ask a question when you want to and direct things when there is someone on stage. Ramos knows this and Donald Trump sees on that moment and make it very clear, I'm not playing your games.
SCIUTTO: I don't know. I'm a reporter and I've been to a lot of press conferences where reporters shout questions to candidates and political figures. Mercedes Schlapp, I wonder what your reaction there? Was that interaction damaging or was it a positive for Donald Trump?
MERCEDES SCHLAPP, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think it was a positive for Donald Trump. I mean, Jorge Ramos knew better. I mean, he knew that if he were to step out --
FERGUSON: Agree.
SCHLAPP: I mean, he planned this, he went out -- it wasn't even questions that he was asking. He was just throwing out figures, if you can't deport these millions of people. I mean, he's incredibly passionate about this issue but at the end of the day, what happened here was that Donald Trump was not frazzled and he didn't back down and actually, I thought Jorge Ramos looked like a fool. So, it's going to be very interesting to see how the Spanish language media spins this around tomorrow. I'll be reading and update you on that.
SCIUTTO: Jeffrey Lord, I want to ask you, because of course the other conflict here is between Donald Trump not in the Latino population on the immigration question but with FOX News surprisingly. And you heard the candidate there certainly not backing down and in fact, doubling down you might say, saying that he wants a reply, he wants an apology from Megyn Kelly. Is this good for Donald Trump to be battling with FOX News, with a conservative news channel?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure, the problem FOX News has in this is that the conservative audience, right after that debate thought that Megyn Kelly had been unfair to Donald Trump. I was on radio talk show the next day in Alabama and I asked the host what's the audience's reaction there and they were furious. And when you contrast this with things, you know, I think it was about a year ago that FOX had Hillary Clinton on for an interview and there were no and interviews, I mean, I read a lot of the conservative comments at the time, they felt she was treated, you know, fed softballs in this sort of things. So, the contrast here, believe me, conservatives are watching, that's the FOX situation for whatever it is here that the conservative audience is watching and taking notes, if you will, and they were pretty upset.
SCIUTTO: Jeffrey, Ben, and Mercedes. I want you to stay there, we're going to come back to you. And I also want to remind our viewers that we're waiting now, and you can see in the lower corner of your screen there, a live picture from the location of this speech that Donald Trump is scheduled to give. He was scheduled at the bottom of the hour. We'll going to go there any moment now. He's just spoken to reporters.
And our Sara Murray is in that Dubuque event, she was inside that room with the reporters. What was it like in the room there particularly during those conversations with the Univision anchor Jorge Ramos?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was standing right behind him when he was escorted out and, you know Jim, he did something that is not totally uncommon for reporters to do which is to stand up and keep asking your question even if the person who you're asking it doesn't really want to answer. And now, in this case, Donald Trump is running the show. It's his press conference and all of a sudden, a handful of guards surrounded him and carried him out and Jorge Ramos just kind of waited outside and more people were asking Trump about what was going on.
They eventually let him back in to have what was a pretty testy exchange over immigration. It's very clear Jorge Ramos wanted to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire in terms of getting answers about how he would deport 11 million and calling him out about that plan not being feasible. And it was interesting to see the two of them go back and forth because as we know, when Donald Trump is challenged, he does not take it lightly and he was very aggressive about pushing back against Jorge Ramos and interrupting him. The two are going back and forth. So, it was, you know, the kind of exchange that you would expect from Donald Trump, does not take difficult questions from journalists very well -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yes. We saw that. Certainly Sara, just since you're in the event now where Donald Trump is about to speak, you have a lot of supporters there, I believe the campaign was saying, some 2,000 expected. What is the mood in there? What is the energy in there? What does people saying they want to hear tonight from Donald Trump?
[19:25:02] MURRAY: Well, people are kind of waiting for Trump to show up. He has a tendency to be late as he is now. But Ann Coulter was in here a minute ago. She was kind of firing up with crowd. Look, I think a lot of the folks who were here, they want to see Trump up close and see what he's like in person at one of these events. I was talking to a voter earlier undecided between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump if you can believe it and he said, he just wants to see what he has to say in the same room as him where he actually makes the decision. So, Trump appears to be potentially pulling support from supporters we might not expect.
SCIUTTO: All right. Sara Murray, she's right in there, remind our viewers. We will go back there when Donald Trump speaks. She was expected to come to the podium there any moment now.
I wanted to bring back our panel Ben Ferguson, Mercedes Schlapp and Jeffery Lord. Just to speak again as we wait for that speech where Ann Coulter just introduced him. And Mercedes, I wonder if I could ask you because you've begun to see the other GOP candidates try to play back against Donald Trump in his own game to some degree. We've noticed a certainly feistier Jeb Bush for instance pushing back on some of the criticism on anchor babies, et cetera. But when you look at the polls, it's not helping those candidates yet. Trump is still leading the way in states like South Carolina. Why is that response from the other Republicans not working?
SCHLAPP: Well, it's a long road we still have ahead of us but I think for these candidates, it's crucial, it is a matter of survival. They need to get out there and breakthrough the Trump media domination. I think the one thing we all know is that Trump is very effective as a communicator and he talks in this simplistic fashion like what he said in the news conference about, it's going to be a beautiful door we're going to build on this wall. But his messages are resonating with a lot of these grassroots conservative activists who are very concerned about the direction of the country, who are tired with the same old Washington politics and who really believe that Donald Trump can shake things up.
SCIUTTO: But Ben, there has really been only one candidate who's been able to articulate that message in a way that voters respond to. And you've seen Jeb Bush makes some rhetorical stumbles, you've seen Scott Walker, you know, in the span of an hour.
FERGUSON: Sure.
SCIUTTO: He was back and forth on the question of birthright citizenship. We're talking about some pretty experienced republican candidates, governors, et cetera, why can't they get the message right to respond to Trump and make some headway?
FERGUSON: Because it's honestly the weirdest dynamic that you've ever seen in politics. You have a reality TV star that's literally gotten conservatives to hate FOX News Channel who have said that all these others are frauds. I mean, if you look at this for what it is, I wouldn't believe it unless I was witnessing it and watching it and so when you're used to having this certain, you know, I got a policy plan, I'm going to lay it out and here is my three points. And then there's someone else that's just beating you up, do you get in there with them? Do you fight back early on? We saw the candidates saying, I'm not going to engage Donald Trump.
Now Donald Trump on such a roll, it's for survival and they better start fighting back and they better start doing a better job at because, look, I'll give credit where credit is due. Donald Trump is one of the best trash talkers of politics and debate that I've ever seen out there. He has that genuine X factor and a lot of these other candidates, they've never even practiced much less, haven't even thought about using it in a campaign. They thought this was going to be a traditional presidential campaign. It is far from that and again, if you're Donald Trump and you can get conservatives to hate FOX News, you got to be a little worried about the guy at this point.
SCIUTTO: To Jeff Lord, to that point, I mean, is this strategy Trump against the world? I mean, in effect? No one is off-limits?
LORD: Yes, you know, that whole episode with Jorge Ramos is whatever else, that communicates the essence of Donald Trump. It communicates on his immigration policy. He felt the guy was out of control. He had him removed and then said well bring him back and then he came back and they had an exchange, which was a fairly blunt exchange. That's fine. I think at the end, he said, we'll have lunch at some point. You'll see a lot of me. In essence, he brings everybody to his stage and they play on his court, if you will and these other candidates are finding themselves going in that direction.
SCIUTTO: Yes. A little bit of -- there from Donald Trump saying, we'll going to be speaking a lot over the coming years to Jorge Ramos. Almost saying --
LORD: Right. SCIUTTO: You know, he can guarantee he's going to be in the
White House. So, Jeffrey Lord, Ben Ferguson, Mercedes Schlapp. Please stay there. We'll going to take a short break. I want to remind our viewers we're waiting for Donald Trump to come on stage any moment now here on that live picture you're watching there in Dubuque, Iowa. Please stay with us. We'll going to be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:01] SCIUTTO: Breaking news and welcome back.
You're looking at live pictures, Donald Trump in front of a full house in Dubuque. Trump just concluded a lively feisty session with reporters, including what turned into an impromptu immigration debate with the Univision anchor Jorge Ramos. That room you're looking at there, some 3,000 people there to hear his latest speech.
I want to bring in now, Josh Holmes. He's the former chief of staff to the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Josh, good to have you on and I'm sure you were watching that exchange with Jorge Ramos trying to engage Donald Trump on the question of immigration and exporting 11 million undocumented immigrants here. First reaction from Trump was to kick him out of the room, escorted by security. He came back into the room, and he had this exchange that I want to play for the viewers again in case they missed it, but also get your reaction.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL: Good to have you back.
JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION: You cannot deny citizenship to the children.
TRUMP: Lot of people think -- no, no, excuse me. No, no, no, I don't think so. Excuse me. That if you come across -- excuse me. Just one second.
(INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: No, no, I am answering.
You think so? Really? I don't think so. A lot of people don't think so. You have fences not as tall as I am.
Let me tell you, we're going to do it in a human fashion, believe me. I have a bigger heart than you do. The one thing we're going to start with immediately are the gangs and the real bad ones. And you do agree there are some bad ones.
Do you agree or do you think everyone is perfect? I can't deal with this. OK, another question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Donald Trump at his brashest there, his most combative.
We have Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Mitch McConnell.
Josh, as you watch that and just a reminder we're looking at live pictures where we're waiting for Donald Trump to come on stage any moment now, but, Josh, when you see that reaction is that one, good for Donald Trump, and is it good for the Republican Party?
[19:35:04] JOSH HOLMES, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO MITCH MCCONNELL: Look, I think Jorge Ramos actually did Donald Trump a huge favor there. If he would have left when he was kicked out, the headline and everything would have been terrible for Donald Trump but the fact that he came back and attempted to monopolize the time of every reporter in the place, and was sort of combative and allowed Trump to do what he does best, be funny, engaging, and everything that everybody has gotten a kick out of watching of Donald Trump, he allowed him to get away with it.
And I know that probably wasn't his intention. But I think it's a net plus for Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: A net plus when one of the statistics that Jorge Ramos quoted was that, in a recent poll, 75 percent of Latinos have a negative impression of Donald Trump. We know the troubles the GOP had with Latino population in the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012, and they came out of the campaign and released a whole new strategy for trying to win back the Latino vote.
How deep a hole are they digging for themselves if not the primary in the general election to have this kind of -- well, you know, combative relationship in effect with a very powerful voting bloc?
HOLMES: Yes, I mean, the combative relationship is something we've seen that crossed every single person, every single demographic, everything. I mean, he's taken everything on head on and, you know, his claims about winning the Hispanic vote aside. You know, I don't think anybody thinks that's very likely considering the rhetoric that he's engaged in.
All that being said, his engagement tonight with Jorge Ramos, I think most people are going to take a look at that and say gosh, this journalist is what we hate about politics jumping in and cutting people off and I think Trump handled it well.
SCIUTTO: Josh, you can listen there, I'm sure as well as our viewers are. It looks like Donald Trump is entering the room to music. He was just introduced by Sam Clovis who was Rick Perry's presidential campaign just announced today he is joining Donald Trump's campaign. That, of course, a key development because it shows what we refer to as the accomplishment of the Republican Party, at least one prominent member coming around to the insurgent, you might call them, part of the Republican Party led now by the GOP front runner Donald Trump.
There is Donald Trump walking up onto the stage now in Dubuque, Iowa, shaking the hand of Sam Clovis who again coming from former Texas Governor Rick Perry's campaign joining the trump campaign.
Let's have a listen to Donald Trump as he addresses the crowd. The campaign says there is some 3,000 people there watching him in Dubuque, Iowa.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So beautiful.
(AUDIENCE CHANTING)
(CHEERS)
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And thank you. They said a record, now I understand why they have a record in this room. What a room. What a place. What a place.
Iowa, do we love it. Great.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Great.
You know, we had a big day today because a lot of polls came out and the polls were really nothing short of tremendous. We had and it just came in New Hampshire, which is an amazing place with, like you incredible people, they love the country and they want to see our country be great again. That's what they want. They work hard. They love it.
We had 35 percent and the second place was so far back we won't even talk about it because I want to be nice tonight. I want to be nice.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
In South Carolina we had 30 percent and that was a tremendous poll, tremendous energy, tremendous money spent, 30 percent, second place, again, we're going to be so nice. Should we be nice or not? Should we be?
Yes. A little bit. A little bit.
So, we had 30 percent. That's the Monmouth poll, big one. The Gravis national poll just came out, 40.1 percent, that's national, 40.1 percent.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I want the election tomorrow.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) Ann Coulter is here. Ann, can we call for an immediate election,
please, OK? Like in so many other countries, I want an immediate election, Ann, all right?
Go and buy her book, it's actually a very good book and oh, is it true?
Now, very importantly for Iowa, anybody ever heard of the corn kernel? Everybody heard. The corn kernel poll. We were at 36 percent, won very easily.
[19:40:00] And so, we had four of them and that came from the state fair.
And I'll tell you what? Last week I came to the state fair. I came well equipped in a helicopter.
And we took the kids for rides. And those kids love me. Those kids -- and I love those kids, but we had an amazing time.
My pilot said, is that enough, Mr. Trump, after going up and down like a yo-yo. I said, nope, you got to keep doing it.
We had an amazing time. I know it means a lot to the people here and having gotten that vote is incredible.
So, here's what's happening. It's a little bit of a different situation. I think maybe than has happened before. A great journalist called me, somebody that I don't know but somebody that I have great respect for, one of the major newspapers.
And he said, "Could I ask you one question, Mr. Trump." "What?" "How does it feel?" "How does what feel?" He said, "This was the summer of Trump." Do you believe this? How good is that for my ego? Is that good?
(APPLAUSE)
But they said -- he said -- I mean and he's really one of the -- now the press is going to say, who is it, who is it, who is it. But one of the really top people, not even necessarily a fan of mine but I think he's becoming a fan rapidly. He said, how does it feel?
So, I said, why do you ask that question, because it doesn't feel -- I man, I've got to win. It's one thing to have the summer of Trump. Doesn't mean anything unless we win both the nomination and we got to beat Hillary or whoever is running, whoever is running.
(APPLAUSE)
No, otherwise it doesn't mean anything. I don't know. If you lose, like, what does it all matter?
And he said, it doesn't matter if you win or not. What you've done has never been done -- nobody's ever really seen what's happened here. Nobody has really seen this, with the polls and the enthusiasm and the press, and the ratings.
And you know why those cameras are all red lighted? Because of ratings. If I didn't get ratings, they wouldn't be here. They wouldn't be here.
(APPLAUSE)
They're not nice people. They don't care about me. They don't care about you. They don't care about anything. The other thing they care about is ratings.
You know, when I did "The Apprentice" which was a tremendous success, I was hosting "Saturday Night Live" and Lorne Michaels came up to me. And it was bedlam. It was bedlam.
The show was number one. It was doing like crazy, and here I am hosting "Saturday Night Live." My mother and father never would have believed this. And Lorne Michaels came up to me and said, this is great.
I said, you know, Lorne, it won't always be like this, some day the ratings won't be good and NBC will call me and they'll say, I'm sorry, Mr. Trump, but the ratings are no good, we're going to cancel the show. And he looked at me and he said -- I never forget it -- he said, no, there's one thing wrong. They won't even bother to call.
It's true. They won't even bother to call. And, you know, "The Apprentice" was a tremendous hit. NBC renewed it. I may be like the only one or one of certainly like you can count them on your hand that turned down a major renewal.
In fact, Mark Burnett said, you got to be kidding. You got to be kidding. You're turning down a major renewal. He called it is a renewal. He said, you're turning down a renewal.
Nobody turns it down. I turned it down for many, many shows. And you see the kind of money they paid me. You remember you had that certain anchor who said he didn't believe it, bah, bah, bah, and then he had to apologize. A lot of money, a lot of money, it turned out a lot of money, because I heads of NBC, the head of Comcast, who's an amazing guys, great guy.
We'll just call him Steve, but I want to tell you, he's a great guy. The head of NBC, the head of reality television. They came to my office like five months ago. They sat in my chairs.
They said, Donald, we want -- we've already renewed. We want you. We love you. They don't love me so much any more. I have to be honest.
And I said to them, fellas, I really want to run for president. I want to make America great again. It's very simple. I want to do it.
(APPLAUSE) And they didn't believe me. They didn't believe me. And I said,
honestly. I'm going to do it. They had the up-fronts. That's when they announce all the shows. We're announcing we're renewing "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump. I can't believe it.
Nobody believed me. My wife said to me, she said, you know nobody believes your running, because I looked at it serious mostly last time. I looked at it un-seriously over the years but last year pretty seriously.
I said, what do you mean? She goes, if you ever actually announce, you're going to go through -- she knows people like me.
[19:45:02] Actually I'm a nice person. Nobody knows that.
It's true. People don't -- I tell people, I'm a nice person. In some ways it's not good. We'll talk about China and negotiations. I don't want to be a nice person for them. But I am. I love people. I love helping people.
And my wife to me, Melania, she said to me, she said, if you run, you're going to win. But you have to announce because if they take polls nobody's going to say you're running, right? And Ann knows that.
And I said, well, I don't know. And I'll tell you why, it takes courage to run. It really does. You're really exposing yourself like crazy.
(APPLAUSE)
The press is honestly a lot of the press is, especially the political press -- you know the financial press has been pretty good to me over the years.
In "Businessweek" magazine, they named me a while ago the best in a people's poll the best negotiator. Wouldn't that be nice to have a good negotiator? I don't want to brag about it. It's just -- wouldn't it be nice?
I mean, look at what's happening with China. I've been predicting China -- I've been saying China's taking our jobs, our money, our base, our manufacturing. I just told the press -- and we owe them. Think of it. They've taken our money and our jobs, our manufacturing. But they've taken everything.
It's one of the greatest thefts in the history of the world what they've taken out of our country. They've rebuilt China, and we owe them -- think of it. We owe them. They take everything, $1.4 trillion. How do you do that? That's like a magic act.
How good are they as negotiators? They take everything and we owe them money. We owe Japan $1.4 trillion. Same number. We owe them both $1.4 trillion, for whatever reason. Same number.
The balance, the deficits, the numbers are crazy. If you look at the deficit we have with Japan, the deficit we have with China, the deficit we have with almost everybody, honestly, they're big abusers.
And by the way, I love them. They buy my apartments. It's true. I own a big chunk -- the biggest chunk as you maybe know, the Bank of America. But a lot of people didn't know.
Actually most people didn't know I own the Bank of America building in San Francisco. Big, big, big chunk. It's a great building. I got it from the Chinese. I did great.
(APPLAUSE)
They still don't know what happened. But that's what we need, right?
I own 1290, big, big chunk, 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Many building in New York. But I do great with the Chinese, and they're great people. The problem is their leaders are too smart for our leaders. Such very simple.
I'm a free trader. I believe in free trade. I like free trade. I like free trade.
But free trade's only good if you have smart representatives. It's not good if we have dummies. It's not good if our leaders are incompetent. It's not good if they've never read "The Art of the Deal," one of the greatest books of all time, second to the bible. Way, way, way, deep second.
You know how far below it is? I said that's my favorite book of all time. My second favorite book. What's your favorite? I said the bible.
It's not even close. People were shocked. They were shocked that I actually said that. But it is the greatest book of all time, the bible. Nothing even close.
So, we have a situation where people that run for political office -- and I've heard this for years -- they do really take chances and it is something that's not very pleasant.
And you read things about yourself that don't exist, very little good, but a lot of bad things that aren't true. And I have to tell you with that I've met some unbelievable really talented political reporters, but I've also met very bad ones and very dishonest ones. And we have to do something about our country. We have to take it back.
You know, I've been using a term that hasn't been used in a long time. It's called the silent majority. You're the silent majority. I'm the silent majority.
(APPLAUSE)
And they're tired of politicians other than -- are there any politicians in the room? Because we're excluding you. You're fabulous. [19:50:01] But politicians are all talk and no action. That's
true. They're tired.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, I've been watching Bush on the border. He's in a seersucker suit talking about, yes, oh, yes, the anchor baby, oh, I shouldn't say anchor baby.
You know, he puts out a report saying "do not use the term anchor baby." Then I used it, my polls go through the roof and now he's using anchor baby and he's taking criticism.
And you know the funniest thing is that he's taken tremendous criticism for use the term "anchor baby" and I use it all the time and nobody cares when I say it because they sort of expect it from me, I think. Right? Right?
(APPLAUSE)
Crazy. Crazy.
But politicians are all talk no action. You know, I saw that at the debate and I love doing the debate, I was treated very unfairly.
(APPLAUSE)
But it was fine because I won every poll. "Time" magazine. We won the polls. I was so happy. But then I was treated -- I watched the politicians and the politicians talk. Now I have heard that Jeb Bush was the mentor to Marco Rubio. Nice -- two nice people.
I think Jeb is a nice person. He's very low energy. I'm not used to that kind of a person.
(LAUGHTER)
I'm just not used to it. I'm used to dealing with killers. People that go argh.
I mean, you know, negotiating with Japan, negotiating with China. When these people walk in the room, they don't say, "Oh, hello. How's the weather? So beautiful outside. Isn't it lovely? How are the Yankees doing? Oh, they're doing wonderful. Great" They say, "We want deal." They jump out of the seat.
But I watched -- by the way, before I say this, who would you rather have negotiating against China? Against Iran? What a deal that is, OK? You talk about incompetent people. Against anybody, Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton or Trump?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I think so. I think so. You believe me. Believe me.
(CROWD CHANTING) Thank you. You know, it's funny, I was degraded on a speech I
made recently. They gave me all A's, they said the one mistake he makes is that he speaks through the applause.
That's true. You know what? Because I don't have time. It's true. They gave me this great mark. They said his speak -- they love the way I move my hands. I never even thought of it.
They said they love this, that, but they said he speaks so well, but hi speaks through his applause and it's bad for him because he kills a lot of applause. And I thought about it and I said, you know, "That's right." and I tried not doing that. But I want to get going. I want to get things done. Does everybody here know that, right, you know?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So Jeb Bush was Marco Rubio and Marco Rubio is a nice guy. And so is Jeb Bush, I think he's a nice person. But I don't care. I don't care if he's nice. I want somebody that's going to make us great deals and make us rich again and he can't do it.
(APPLAUSE)
So, Marco Rubio was not supposed to run, right? Because he wouldn't run because his mentor in Florida, the state of Florida -- which, by the way, I beat both of them in the polls. Can you believe it? A sitting senator, a governor and Trump is way the hell up here. It's crazy.
(APPLAUSE)
But -- but Marco Rubio wasn't supposed to run. All of a sudden he announced he's running and people thought it was very disrespect to a person that brought him along. Slowly brought him along, right?
So beautiful.
So, what happened -- and it was interesting -- I said, oh, now if it was me, if I were Bush and I brought somebody along and I -- I'm older than Marco and, all of a sudden, the guy, the young guy that I brought along says, "I'm running against you and it's not my turn but I don't care because I'm really anxious, I'm really driven. For myself, I'm driven." And he said "I'm running against him and I don't care."
I would really go after that guy. I'd say he's the most disloyal guy. He's a terrible person. He's horrible and I hate him. OK?
(LAUGHTER)
[19:55:00] I'd say that. Or at least I'd say it to myself, OK? Probably not to the world but believe me I wouldn't be -- so I saw them on the stage where recently and Jeb saying, "Oh, Marco's a dear friend of mine. He's a dear, dear friend. He's such a wonderful person." And Marco saying "Oh, I love Jeb." You notice Jeb never uses his last name? Why? Because he's
ashamed of it! Why? But if I were Marco -- but in particular if I was Jeb I wouldn't say, "Marco's a good friend of mine."
Marco did something that he wasn't supposed to do. He ran. I've never said this before and I watch these two guys and they're hugging and they're kissing and they're holding each other.
Very much like actually Chris Christie did with the president.
(APPLAUSE)
I'm only kidding.
No, but they're hugging and they're kissing. They're hugging and they're kissing and they're proclaiming their great deep love for each other and I'm saying politicians -- all talk, no action, it's all bull, we've got to stop.
We need people in are going to take us to the promised land. We need people that are going to be great.
So, again, we look at Mexico -- thank you.
You look at Mexico, which is the new China, by the way. They're doing great. And what's come out, you know? A lot of incoming, as Rush Limbaugh said. He said Trump has taken more incoming when I first announced.
All I did was tell the truth. But you look at Mexico, the new China. You look at Ford building a massive plant there. You look at other companies from Europe, from all over.
A plant was going to be built in Tennessee, big, big, billion- dollar automobile plant. It's not being built in Tennessee anymore. It's going to go to Mexico.
Nabisco -- I have holdings in Chicago, I have a great building in Chicago. Nabisco, they have a factory, big factory, they make Oreos. I'm never eating Oreos again, ever, ever.
Yes, maybe. Maybe if I can find some made in the United States, I will.
But they're closing their big plant in Chicago and they're moving it to Mexico. What's going on? I mean, how stupid are we?
You're right.
So where and why are we doing this? Why are we allowing it to happen?
So, what I would do if I were president, I talk to these people. Somebody has to talk to them. If you don't talk to them, it's never going to change. It's never going to happen. And you can get them to stay in Chicago. You can get them to
build someplace else in the country. You can get Ford, believe me, to stay in this country.
Now, sometimes, it's so unfair, the trade agreements, if you look at the amount of business that's been moves out of our -- whether it's Mexico or many other countries -- been moved out. It's absolutely uncontrollable by the people that we have currently and we can do something to change it.
Now, let me just tell you -- and I tell people this all the time. I go to Nabisco or I go to Ford and I said, fellas, I don't want you. I don't want you. I have Carl Icahn ready. Killer, killer.
I have other people already. I have so people that are so nasty, so mean, so horrible nobody in Iowa will want to have dinner with them.
(LAUGHTER)
It's true. They're horrible human beings. I admit it. They're Wall Street killers. Most of them, a couple of them are nice, like 2 percent. But they're the greatest negotiators in the world.
I know the best, I know guys that are overrated. I know guys that are really good. I know people you've never heard of that are better than all of them.
We're going to use our best. But I would say to, let's say, the head of Ford, and you've heard me say this because that's a big abuse, $2.5 billion for a plant? How many plants do we close to build a new plant in Mexico? $2.5 billion.
You're right.
So how many do we do. So I would say very simply, fellas, sorry, you have to move back. Now, when they build those cars, trucks, and parts, they send them over. No tax, no nothing.
And they've come up with a new scheme. Illegals are going to drive the cars over -- no, it's true! It's true! It's true!
(APPLAUSE)
Because it's -- it works so nicely. Nobody's going to check them. Why just drive beautiful cars, that I'll probably keep them and just live happily for the rest of their lives in the United States, you know?
But we have to do something about it. Now let's say Jeb Bush is president. He knows it's wrong. He's not a stupid person. I don't think. I don't know, what do I know?
But let's say he's president and he knows it's wrong. He's going say, "No, no, no, we don't want that."
