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Report: Russian Airstrikes Hit ISIS Targets in Palmyra; Trade Deal Will Create World's Largest Free Trade Zone; Trump Speaks Out on the Issues. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 6, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


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

[07:00:02] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. In moments, we will speak live with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. Stick around for that. But first, we have some breaking news to tell you about.

Russian airstrikes reportedly hitting ISIS targets in the Syrian city of Palmyra near the region's ancient ruins.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Now, this would seem to be the right thing to do if you want to fight against ISIS. There have been growing concerns of Moscow's involvement in Syria. Has been about beating back U.S.-supported rebels, really protecting the Assad regime, rather than fighting ISIS.

Meanwhile, Russia is digging in with not just air but combat troops, and heavy artillery are said to be on the move. Where are they going? What is their goal? Those are the questions. For some analysis, and answers and reporting, Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon. What do we know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

The ancient city of Palmyra, the world has watched in recent weeks as ISIS has destroyed the ruins there. But now, this morning, Syrian state TV reporting that Russian jets are hitting just next door to that in the modern city, destroying a number of ISIS targets, not confirmed yet by the Pentagon, if they are striking ISIS. That is a move by the Russians we have not seen yet in this area.

But at the same time, the NATO secretary-general calling Russia's incursion into Turkish air space unacceptable. Russian aircraft appear to be moving around a good deal.

At the same time, this is getting more and more complicated, as you just mentioned. The Pentagon saying that Russian ground forces and heavy weapons also on the move.

Let's look at the map and show you where this is happening. Russian artillery, Russian rocket launchers moving from Latakia, the airfield where the Russians moved in several weeks ago, on the road between Latakia, Homs, and Idlib. This is the stronghold for the anti-regime forces that the Russians have been mainly striking to be clear. This is the area where the Russians have been concentrating, now moving in with artillery and ground launched rockets.

The U.S. believes the Russians are moving into this area with their heavy weapons to back up Assad's forces in a coming ground assault, not that the Russians may be doing it all on their own but clearly moving on the ground to back up Assad -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Bye, Barbara. Update us as you can. Thank you.

After five years of intense negotiations, the U.S. and 11 other countries finally reach a historic deal, creating the world's largest free-trade zone. But the transpacific trade deal or TPP, has its share of detractors. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House with more on President Obama's legacy-defining trade pact, and now let the scrutiny begin.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michaela.

You know, just reaching this deal for President Obama is a big win, but he does have to get it through Congress in order to solidify this as part of his legacy. And he certainly does face a tough battle ahead in Congress, because initial reaction was cautious at best. There's opposition on both sides of the aisle to this deal.

And the votes are scheduled potentially for early next year. That's right around the time that we have the early nominating contest for the 2016 presidential race. So certainly, this will inevitably be tangled into the politics of the presidential race.

We're already starting to hear from some candidates. Donald Trump came out strongly against it, tweeting, quote, "The incompetence of our current administration is beyond comprehension. TPP is a terrible deal."

And Bernie Sanders, Senator Sanders, also agrees, out with a statement to supporters saying, quote, "Wall Street and big corporations just won a big victory to advance a disastrous trade deal. Now it's on us to stop it from becoming law."

Now, the sales job for President Obama will start immediately. Today he will visit the Department of Agriculture, Chris, to tout the economic benefits that he sees in this deal.

CUOMO: All right. Sunlen, there are a lot of issues on the table.

Let's bring in Republican candidate Donald J. Trump to get his take on the situation. Mr. Trump, can you hear me?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): I can, Chris. Good morning.

CUOMO: Good morning to you. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

In light of the latest information of Russia bombing and Russia putting troops on the ground and moving them, according to U.S. sources, in support of Assad, do you still feel that you are in a position to wait and see what Russia's intentions are on the ground?

TRUMP: Well, now they're supposedly hitting ISIS, which is a positive thing. And, you know, my attitude is we're backing rebels. We have no idea who they are. As you know, we did it in Iraq, and we did it in other places, in many other places.

And frankly, every time it -- we just get bogged down in the Middle East, and Russia will be bogged down in the Middle East. And the Middle East is a disaster, it seems, for anybody that touches it.

But I would certainly like to see what's going on. I'd like to find out who these people are that we want to give billions of dollars to. We have no idea. And sure, Assad is a bad guy, but you can have worse. And maybe these people are worse. We have no idea.

I spoke to a general the other day who is very well-versed in the area; he said we have no idea who these people are we're backing. So we just, look, we have no leadership; we have bad leadership in Washington. We have no idea what we're doing, frankly.

[07:05:20] CUOMO: But is "wait and see" good leadership here? Because you would effectively be subcontracting -- subcontracting out the war against ISIS to Russia? Is that a situation...

TRUMP: And saving -- and saving tens of billions of dollars and letting them go after ISIS, because, you know, they want ISIS also. They want to knock out ISIS because they don't want them coming into Russia. They have a bigger stake, in a sense, than we do, other than if we take 200,000 people that we have no idea who they are, which is the next move I hear we're going to make with our brilliant leaders, our brilliant politicians.

CUOMO: But does that sound right, do you think, to American people, that let's trust Russia to take care of ISIS for us?

TRUMP: We're not trusting Russia. This has nothing to do with trusting Russia. Russia has to knock out ISIS because Putin and everybody in Russia, they don't want them -- the leaders in Russia, which is basically one, but does not want ISIS coming into Russia. They don't want them crossing borders. They don't want them coming into Russia.

CUOMO: The concern...

TRUMP: They're going to knock out ISIS whether we want them to or not. And we're not leading from behind...

CUOMO: The concern is that they're backing up Assad.

TRUMP: We're not leading anyway. We don't lead in any event; we don't lead. We spent $2 trillion in Iraq and lost thousands of lives and wounded warriors and everything else. We spent 2 trillion there. We've spent a trillion dollars, and now it's gone up rapidly in Afghanistan. We have -- we just knocked out a hospital with a gang that

couldn't shoot straight. We don't know what we're doing. And, frankly, watching -- you're not hurting yourself by watching and waiting and not necessarily backing people, Chris, that we have no idea. You don't know who they are. If I asked you who are the people that we're fighting for and that we're backing in Syria, we don't know. You don't know. You can't tell me. You probably don't even know a name.

CUOMO: That's actually not 100 percent true. You are right. It is complex -- which groups of rebels. John McCain had been wrestling with that very early on, who he took pictures with, who he didn't take pictures with.

But here's the thing. They have spent time trying to refine the program. They are trying to get rebel groups to do what you're saying, which is fight their own battle for them so the United States doesn't have to do everything. Certainly in a place like Syria.

But the concern for your position would be, you're giving Russia time to organize on the ground, potentially in support of an Assad regime that the U.S. wants to get rid of. That doesn't sound like time well spent, does it?

TRUMP: Well, if you didn't have -- if the Assad, you know, regime was in place right now, you wouldn't have the migration of millions of people and all of the problems that that's causing -- and death, death all over the place.

And look, there's nobody that's more into the military and nobody more militaristic than me. But you have to know when to use it.

You know, I was the one, and I said it very strongly, and you know this, and it was reported by everybody, because unfortunately I get a disproportionate amount of publicity. But in 2004, I said don't go into Iraq, and earlier, 2003, don't go into Iraq. You're going to totally destabilize the Middle East.

And by the way, when the terrorists had knocked down the World Trade Center, put their families on airplanes, none of them went back to Iraq. They went to a particular other location which I won't even mention, OK? But they did not go back to Iraq. So you know, you had some signals right there.

But I said don't go, don't knock out Iraq, because you're going to destabilize -- Iraq held Iran in check. Now Iraq is a mess; and it's going to be, by the way, taken over by Iran very shortly. And I said that was going to happen. And you know who else has Iraq? ISIS has Iraq. ISIS came out of Iraq, came out of the rubble of Iraq and disenfranchised. And they're tough.

So we've got nothing but problems. Every move we make is the wrong move. And I was the one that said stay out of Iraq, and if we stayed out of Iraq, I mean, if you just look at some of the things -- if we wouldn't have done certain things, you'd have not a -- you know, not a great place. I don't want to live there. You wouldn't want to live there. But you'd have a Middle East that would be a lot better off than it is today.

CUOMO: Well, maybe, maybe not. But you've got to move forward, not backwards.

TRUMP: Not maybe, I don't think it's maybe not. There's no doubt. If Saddam Hussein were around, if we didn't destroy that -- you know, knock the hell out of them so that they're no longer -- you know, they're nothing. They used to hold Iran in check. They'd have wars forever.

CUOMO: Right, but...

TRUMP: They go back and forth, ten feet left, ten feet right.

CUOMO: There is a history.

TRUMP: They'd go back and forth, nothing would happen.

CUOMO: But you don't know what would have happened is what I'm saying.

TRUMP: So, Chris, I'm just saying sit back, just take it easy, just relax, save your billions of dollars. Let's build some bridges. Let's fix some roadways in our country. Let's rebuild America, make America great again. Let's rebuild our military, where, by the way, every time we give weapons and Humvees and everything to our so-called allies over there, one bullet gets shot up in the air. We give all of this equipment, and ISIS ends up picking it up. And others that are fighting.

[07:10:10] CUOMO: And obviously, what you have to do in leadership is balance your priorities. I understand your position on Syria, that you're taking a wait-and-see approach there with the Russians.

What about in Afghanistan? President Obama just said not because of what just happened in Kunduz with the hospital you referred to but that the instability of the situation, vis-a-vis the Taliban and other terrorist entities there, he believes that a force should stay there and fight. Do you believe that American boots should stay on the ground in Afghanistan to stabilize the situation?

TRUMP: I wouldn't totally disagree with it except, you know, at some point, are they going to be there for the next 200 years? You know, at some point what's going on? It's going to be a long time.

We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And it's a mess. It's a mess. And at this point, you probably have to, because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we leave.

CUOMO: So you're saying you have to leave troops?

TRUMP: We shouldn't have been -- Chris, we shouldn't have gone into Iraq. And then we shouldn't have taken our remaining soldiers out, OK? But, look, eventually it was going to collapse. We're in the middle of civil wars. We're in the middle of tribal strife. There's so many different things going on there, we have no idea.

So we're backing these people in Syria. We don't know who they are. We have no idea. We're going to give them billions of dollars to fight Assad. And they might very well, Chris, be worse than Assad. We don't know that. They might very well be worse than Assad.

CUOMO: So I hear you on that point. And on Afghanistan you're saying that you're with the president, for now you leave the troops there and see what the time horizon is.

TRUMP: I would leave the troops there, begrudgingly. I'm not happy about it, I will tell you, but I would leave the troops there begrudgingly, yes.

CUOMO: And moving into the domestic situation, the Oregon shooting, you know the cries that come out every time there's a school shooting. People say we want to make it stop. Your answer has been, thus far, you can't make it stop. There are always going to be some of these, no matter what you do. Do you think that's the best answer you can give?

TRUMP: Well, look, the fact is that this is a mental health problem. You know, in this country we've closed for economic reasons, as you know -- I mean, you see it in New York and you see it in many other places --where they closed institutions, mental institutions for economic reasons. And it's happening all over the United States, that, you know, economies -- the economy's doing badly and cities are trying to save money. And the first thing they close are mental institutions, if you can believe it.

And we have a problem of mental health. And you know, this is not the -- the gun didn't shoot. A person shot the gun. And, frankly, you're going to have people, even if you had great mental health facilities, nobody knew he had the idea -- when his mother heard about it and when other people in the area heard about it, some of them said, "Oh, I could see that with him." But others were very surprised. So it's going to be -- it's a very tough situation.

And when you go down to a real life -- it may not be politically correct, but people will slip through the cracks. And it's happened for thousands of years, and if you go into the future thousands of years, you're going to have crazy things happen and people slip through the cracks. And it's one of those things. It's a horrible and it's a horrible thing to see.

One of the things that, you know, you really should focus on is keeping the names down, because I really believe the reason we have more of it than other countries, and we do, is the copycat...

CUOMO: Well, that's the easiest part to control is how much attention you give the shooters. That's certainly something...

TRUMP: Well, try to give as little attention as possible. And the sheriff was right not mentioning his name. And you try and give as little attention as possible.

But it is a real problem, and it's a major mental health problem that we have and other places have. You know, it's interesting. In Chicago, in various other places where they have the toughest gun laws anywhere in the world, they have shootings at a level that nobody has even been able to fathom. So high.

CUOMO: Well, the statistics -- I want to make two points; I want to ask you about two things. One, on what you just said, it really doesn't work that way. It's not as simple as if you have tough gun laws, you have more gun crime. The opposite is more likely to occur than that.

Chicago, as you know, is a very complicated area: you're talking about poverty; you're talking about areas that are neglected; you're talking about areas that are under-policed. So that's one thing.

When you're talking about these mass shootings and you point to mental health, and you say they fall through the cracks, the goal, therefore, is to fill in the cracks. You don't want to just institutionalize everyone who's mentally ill.

TRUMP: Oh, absolutely. I agree 100 percent with...

CUOMO: They're less likely to be violent than be violent.

TRUMP: But as good as you fill it in...

CUOMO: How do you fill in the cracks?

TRUMP: No matter how well you fill them in, at some point, some wacky, crazy guy with a high IQ but who's totally nuts is going to, you know, get through that crack. I mean, it's going to happen. And it's happened in different forms. I mean, not just this kind of thing but, you know, crazy things have happened from the beginning, from the beginning. And you go -- you go thousands of years into the future, no matter how good people -- things will happen.

CUOMO: Right, but don't you think we can get better?

TRUMP: And it's really -- can I tell you what? It's -- you can absolutely make it better, and you can fill in the cracks.

[07:15:03] CUOMO: How?

TRUMP: But every once in a while, somebody will get through.

CUOMO: But what do you do? Do you start interviewing people before they get a gun? You know, the way other places do? Do you talk to them; do you call their family; do you see if they're stable? Would you put that type of onus on the process of getting a weapon?

TRUMP: Well, you know, we have right now, in 1998, a lot of legislation was passed. And we have good legislation, but unfortunately, it's not really working because a lot of people are not utilizing it, including the federal government. I mean, the federal government has done a hell of a bad job of policing it. But we do have existing legislation, which should be very effective, and it's not. You know that. I mean...

CUOMO: Why is it not?

TRUMP: ... they report all the time. It hasn't been effective, because the government is not doing a good job in policing it.

CUOMO: Well, you also have some of those loophole problems, right? You have background checks, but you don't have them on person- to-person sales in every place. States have to do it for themselves, like they did in New York. You have the gun show loophole that Hillary Clinton is coming out against that tries to blunt that in some online sales. These are things that are being fought back against. Are you in favor of closing these loopholes?

TRUMP: That's right. You know, Chris, the one thing I say that I think is very important, though, is I'm a very big Second Amendment person. And if you had somebody in that room or a couple of people in that room who were on the side of good, not evil, and they had guns, you would have stopped the kind of damage that took place.

And the cops did a great job. The police did a fantastic job, because they got there so quickly. Amazing. But you still had lives lost and people badly, badly, really badly hurt. But the police did a fantastic job.

But if people would have been in that room, and if they would have had a gun, you would have had a tremendous different -- a tremendous -- if they knew how to use it, you would have had a whole different outcome.

CUOMO: It's a big if. It's a big if. When you look at the statistics.

TRUMP: Well, it's not a big if; it's simple.

CUOMO: Well, it is a big if because you don't know what happens.

TRUMP: If somebody was in that room that knew how to use a gun, you know, was trained, and by the way, most of the gun holders that do it legally, most of the gun holders really know how to use them. But if somebody were in that room that had, you know, experience with a gun, they would have been able to fight back. They would have shot him maybe before he...

CUOMO: Maybe.

TRUMP: ... before he hurt and killed so many people.

CUOMO: Maybe. Maybe they would have shot somebody else. You know, when you look at the research on this, having a weapon when confronted by someone with a weapon can go either way. But the point that comes...

TRUMP: But, Chris, he's in the room. CUOMO: I understand the hypothetical.

TRUMP: There are people that had absolutely no weapon.

CUOMO: I understand.

TRUMP: I mean, they're just sitting there with their hands up. He had them lined up, stand up, and then he shoots them.

CUOMO: I understand; it's a terrible situation.

TRUMP: Especially if they said they were Christians. I mean, he would shoot them in the head. And these people are just standing there just waiting to be slaughtered.

CUOMO: You would rather have a chance to fight back. Absolutely.

TRUMP: If they had a gun in the room, if somebody had a gun in the room, at least they would have had a fighting chance.

CUOMO: You would -- you would rather have a chance to fight back; there's no question. So that leads to the next question. Are you in favor of more guns? Get rid of gun-free schools, have gun-full schools? Have armed security in schools? Is that what you think the answer is?

TRUMP: Well, this was a gun-free school. I mean, this was a gun-free area, they call it. And, frankly, that wasn't working so well. And that hasn't worked.

How about military bases? How about the five -- the five soldiers that were killed? And they were actually heroes. They were actually experts at -- you know, expert -- a couple of them were expert marksmen, highly decorated soldiers.

CUOMO: So do you change those rules?

TRUMP: They were a gun-free area; they had a gun-free zone in a base. I mean they were in a base, a military base.

CUOMO: So do you change those rules?

TRUMP: And this guy walks in and shot these five incredible -- actually it turns out to be six probably -- but these five or six really great, highly decorated soldiers. They were sitting there, and they couldn't do a damn thing about it.

CUOMO: So do you change those rules?

TRUMP: Now, for a military base to have a gun-free zone, and we've had a couple of instances where that took place, Chris, it's ridiculous. If they would have had a gun, this guy wouldn't have had a chance. Especially with these guys. He wouldn't have had a chance. Instead, they're all dead. CUOMO: So I'm going to take that to mean that you would allow

military installations to -- people have carry as opposed to having to...

TRUMP: Yes, absolutely. Military installations...

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: And that you're open to the idea --

TRUMP: Look, I mean, these people would be alive. They probably wouldn't have gotten any of them.

CUOMO: I understand -- I understand your point.

TRUMP: They would have been alive. They're sitting there. They have -- they had no chance. And these are highly-decorated military people. These were not just regular people. These were highly decorated, very talented and skilled with weapons.

CUOMO: I understand your point on that. The schools are a little bit more of a complicated situation. But there, too, you're saying that guns may have made a difference. That's something that you would think about in terms of allowing access. That's going to be a big part of the debate.

TRUMP: Well, you know, when the two prisoners escaped in New York that your brother knew very well about, and was -- I mean, that was not an easy task for him when they got out, a number of people up in upstate New York are seeing one instance where a husband and wife, he was a very big Second Amendment person, wanted a gun. She was totally against it.

[07:20:10] When those prisoners got out, and it took them -- and I think law enforcement did a great job in getting them, frankly -- but when they -- you know, they were free for a while. And all of a sudden she became now the biggest advocate, because they were sitting in their house in that same very close little area. They were sitting there, and they had the protection of having the gun...

CUOMO: Of course the fear...

TRUMP: And all of a sudden she became a big proponent of the Second Amendment, because they needed protection.

CUOMO: Of course the fear -- of course the fear drives that desire to have it. A lot of gun owners respond the same way. I've been in a situation like that. I know what it's like to be afraid that you don't think you have something to defend yourself when somebody else may. The question is what policies do you put in place? Do they feed that fear or do they feed a different interest?

Let me ask you something. Do you believe that Second Amendment, as you call Second Amendment interest, feeds into allowing to have assault weapons? TRUMP: Well, the problem is once you stop, once you -- and

another problem is, the bad guys are going to have them, Chris. You can say, OK, we're not going to have them. You know who's not going to have the assault weapons? The people, the law-abiding people won't have them.

CUOMO: But do you think...

TRUMP: But the bad guys won't even look at it.

It's like the whole thing with the magazines. You can't put more than seven bullets in a magazine. Now they'll have you can't put more than two bullets in a magazine. You know, the law-abiding people will listen and they'll do what they have to do...

CUOMO: So you're open to the assault weapons, too?

TRUMP: But the bad guys, the bad guys, you think they're going to say, "Oh gee, the law says I'm going to only put seven bullets in a magazine"?

CUOMO: Well, just because people are going to break a law doesn't mean that you don't have a law. But you're saying that you're OK with assault weapons, as well?

TRUMP: Well, you have to be, because the bad guys are going to have them anyway. And the answer is yes.

And, you know, a lot of that stuff is used for recreational purposes. They use it for recreational purposes. But you're not going to have problems with people that are law-abiding people. But what happens when the bad guys have the assault weapons and you don't? And there's a confrontation?

CUOMO: That's certainly what feeds the desire to have more guns in society. You've got your finger right on that.

TRUMP: Well, it's one of those things.

CUOMO: Let me ask you about...

TRUMP: But you have to -- you have to believe in the Second Amendment. I mean, there's no choice.

CUOMO: Well, you can believe in it...

TRUMP: And remember the school. If somebody in that room had a gun, you would not have had -- if they, you know, knew how to use it, which I assume the answer to that would be yes.

CUOMO: That is not as easy an answer as you make it sound like, by the way.

TRUMP: The people we're talking about do know how to use them. But if somebody were in that room, or somebody was on that military base, in that room in the military base, that had a gun, you would not have had the catastrophic results that you had.

CUOMO: That could be true. It could not be true. But certainly, you could be in favor of the Second Amendment and also be in favor of reasonable regulations. And most gun owners are.

But let's move onto domestic politics here. You were at the top of all the polls. There is a contraction.

Carly Fiorina, Carson, depending on the poll, people are catching you. It's actually making people start to speculate about when you'll get out of the race, which I find very unusual. Usually a frontrunner isn't discussed in terms of when they'll get out. But have you given consideration -- I read somewhere that you said, "If I fell behind badly, I'd get out." Are you thinking about when you would get out of this race?

TRUMP: Not even a thought. Not even 1 percent of a thought. Look, it's a phony deal that was perpetrated on the public. I was asked a simple question by Chuck Todd at "Meet The Press." And people, I gave a very honorable and honest answer. I said, "Sure, if I was doing terribly like some of these people, I wouldn't stay in." I mean, who would stay in?

But I'm not. I'm leading every single poll. One poll came out yesterday, 30, or the other day. I'm at 35 percent nationally, 35 percent. I was -- I'm 20 points ahead of everybody else. Why would I get out? So they asked me a question, and instead of saying like these politicians, I watch these guys that are down at 0 and 1 percent, and they ask the same question, would you think about getting out? "Oh, I'll never get out. I'll never get out."

And you know they're going to be out in the next two weeks, OK? But they say that because that's a politician.

CUOMO: Right, I understand where your take is on them. But, you know, because there's contraction...

TRUMP: No, no, I'm not getting out. I'm not going anywhere, Chris. I'm leading every poll. I'm leading every state. I'm not going anywhere, OK?

CUOMO: Good to hear.

TRUMP: Let me answer it a little bit differently. I gave a very honest answer. I said, look, if for some reason I had no chance and I collapse. And they take that as an, "Oh, maybe there's a little weakness in Trump in terms of the answer." There's no weakness. I'm not going anywhere. I'm leading every poll. And I'm going to -- I'm going to win, and I'm going to make our country great again. That's what I'm all -- I'm not in this to have self-glorification. I've had plenty of that. I don't need that.

CUOMO: Here's the...

TRUMP: I'm in it to make our country great again. And right now I'm leading, I'm winning, I'm winning by big numbers. CUOMO: Right, but there is contraction.

TRUMP: In some cases by really big numbers.

CUOMO: There is -- there is contraction.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'm not getting out.

CUOMO: There is contraction, though. I'm not talking about you getting out; that was one question. The next question is...

TRUMP: Well, depends on what poll you look at it. If you look at some of the polls that came out two, three days ago, I mean, the NBC poll...

CUOMO: Put up some of the polls.

TRUMP: ... was 29. The OAN poll I was at 35. That came out two days ago. I was at 35.

CUOMO: Right, but there is -- right, but there is contraction. Your numbers are coming down a little bit. Others are moving up.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... 14 or 15, there was a 20-point lead.

CUOMO: Right.

[07:25:07] TRUMP: Yes, I mean, there's contraction in your mind, Chris. Because everybody says -- in the meantime, I'm still leading by 5, 6 points...

CUOMO: There's contraction -- there's contraction in math. It's math. It's not my mind, 29 to 24. That's math; that's not my mind.

TRUMP: Well, no, but why aren't you quoting the polls where there's a 20-point lead?

CUOMO: I'm just -- I'm just showing the New Hampshire and the Iowa one. My question is that you hear people saying that you should get out, or you have to change...

TRUMP: I don't hear that, Chris. I don't hear that. He asked a question and he said would you ever...

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Well, you do hear it. Romney's -- Romney's guy went on and said, "I think he's going to get out before Iowa."

TRUMP: He asked me an innocent question, "Would you ever get out?" I said, "Yes, if I ever thought -- if I thought I wasn't going to

win, I'm not a masochist." I told him that. I'm not a masochist. If I thought I was going to win. And they end up saying, "Oh, Trump, look, he might" -- it's so disgusting. I'll tell you what, the media is so dishonest, it's so disgusting.

CUOMO: Well, I'm trying to ask you honest questions. Let me ask you about this...

TRUMP: Well, I'm giving you an answer. OK, let me make it a little bit different. I'm not getting out. I'm going to win. OK? I gave a very honest answer, but the press takes an answer like that, and they make it like oh, there's a big story. They make headlines out of it. It's ridiculous.

CUOMO: All right, I asked you about it. Let's move on.

TRUMP: The question is would you get out? The answer is I'm not getting -- I'm going all the way, and we're going to win. OK? It's a simpler answer, and people can't play around with that.

I mean, I watch these politicians. You know they're getting out in the next two weeks. And they say, "Oh, I'm never getting out." They're not telling the truth.

CUOMO: All right, I take your answer on that. You're not getting out. Good to know.

TRUMP: I am not getting out. OK. Very simple.

CUOMO: You sent Marco Rubio this gag gift with the water and all that. You make your jokes. Interestingly, guys out of his camp are saying this in response. I want your reaction to it.

They're saying, yes, he can send us all the water he wants. Who was tired in that debate, 37 minutes. Donald Trump wasn't just outplayed in terms of substance; he was tired. He's 69, he's old. He's not in shape for this.

That's the response coming out of the camp. What do you make of it?

TRUMP: Chris, they didn't ask me any questions. Every poll -- by the way, speaking of polls, Drudge, "Time" magazine, Slate -- every single poll had me winning that debate. Every single poll that was done, other than some pundits where nobody said I lost it. But every poll.

Now when you talk about the 39 minutes, I didn't say anything. You know why I didn't say anything? Because they didn't ask me any questions. Because the first two hours, all they did was ask me questions. And they felt stupid. CNN felt stupid and probably guilty; and I agreed with them, because every question was about me or...

CUOMO: Well, people were weighing in. TRUMP: Wait a minute.

CUOMO: People were weighing in. It seems like you could have weighed in. You just didn't.

TRUMP: They didn't ask me. Now, how can I speak -- how can I speak, OK? And how can I ask -- how can I answer questions when they don't ask me any questions?

CUOMO: You have no problem speaking when not asked a question.

TRUMP: That's not right. I was asked many questions and then, in the last 38 minutes, they didn't ask me any questions. So a lightweight like this Rubio, who's a total lightweight, by the way, believe me -- he's weak on immigration. He's got such problems.

CUOMO: He's coming up in the polls. A lot of people think he has promise. He looks at you. He says you're old, you're the old generation.

TRUMP: He's a lightweight; he's weak on immigration. Take a look at his past. He's got $12 in the bank. He borrows. He works with his car dealer in Florida. Give me a break. Rubio is not the guy that's going to be negotiating with the kind of people you have to negotiate with to turn this country around.

But just so you understand, very simple -- and he was the one that attacked me first, I didn't attack him. He attacked me. Just let me just tell you, he always says, "Oh, but in the last 28 minutes" -- I usually use 28. Now I say he says 38. They didn't ask me any questions. I would have been glad to answer those questions.

CUOMO: All right, Mr. Trump, it's good to have you here answering questions. I'm actually in the unique position of telling you you have to go. You have other things to do this morning, so this interview must end.

Donald J. Trump, thank you very much for joining us on NEW DAY.

TRUMP: OK, thank you very much, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. We just heard from Donald Trump. So reaction to what the Republican frontrunner told Chris in that interview. We'll be here on new day. We'll hear from the pundits and John King. That's next.

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