ABC "This Week" - Transcript: On the Presidential Debate

Interview

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STEPHANOPOULOS: And Donald Trump joins us now.

Mr. Trump, thank you for joining us this morning.

That is the question: are you feeling the heat?

There's a new CNN poll out this morning that shows you're still in the lead at 24 percent but you've dropped about 8 points.

TRUMP: Well, some other polls just came out, George, where I actually went up. I went up very substantially and I think some new ones are coming out likewise, where I went up. And a lot of people say I won the debate based on Drudge and based on everyone else that did polls of the debate itself.

So generally speaking, I think I've gone up since the debate. But we'll see what happens. I think those polls are all coming out today and tomorrow.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's get into this controversy that's come up over the last two days. I saw your tweets yesterday, where you say you didn't have a moral responsibility when that questioner got up and said those things about President Obama.

But this is getting a lot of attention in part because you've raised questions like this in the past.

So for the record, was President Obama born in the United States?

TRUMP: Well, you know, I don't get into it, George. I talk about jobs. I'm talking about the military. I don't get into it. I mean, he asked that question and I just want to talk about the things because frankly it's of no longer interest to me. We're beyond that. And it's just something I don't talk about. I want to talk about the military. I want to talk about the vets and how badly they're treated. I want to talk about jobs. I don't get into that, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the way to get beyond it is to answer yes or no.

Do you believe -- ?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, that's possible. But I don't get into it. And I just don't talk about it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So -- and even though you've raised questions and you've investigated it in the past, you're still ---

TRUMP: Well, you know, people thought I should have defended. Some people thought I should have defended the president in terms of the question that was asked the other night. And my attitude is, would he have done that for me? If somebody said that about me. And you know, he's been -- he -- he's very capable of defending himself, believe me.

So we'll see what happens. But I think the tweets really covered it very well and very accurately. Somebody said they were excellent. They covered the subject.

And I actually -- it was very interesting because I got in hot water over not saying anything. The first time it's ever happened to me.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I didn't say anything and everybody was going crazy over the weekend. And this is something where I didn't even say anything.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But I take that point. But you've raised these questions so often in the past, why can't you just say definitively yes or no --

TRUMP: Well, I haven't raised the question.

STEPHANOPOULOS: -- Obama was born in the United States. You've raised it many times. And he's not a Muslim.

TRUMP: George, you have raised the question. I haven't raised the question. I don't talk about it and I don't like talking about somebody else's faith. He talks about his faith and he can do that. But I don't talk about other people's faith. It's not appropriate for me to talk about somebody else's faith.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The other big premise of that question was he said that Muslims are a problem in this country.

Do you agree?

TRUMP: Well, in some cases, George. We can say no and you can be politically correct and say everything's wonderful. But I haven't seen people from Sweden going back and leaving after the bombing of the World Trade Center. So certainly it's a problem and there is a problem --

STEPHANOPOULOS: What is the problem --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: -- and at the same time, excuse me, at the same time, we have fabulous people living here, Muslims. And they have done fantastically well. But certainly it is a problem. You look around the world, it is a problem. And you know, if I want to say, oh, no, not at all, people would laugh at me.

Now it may be the right thing to say and I really don't care what the right thing to say is. Certainly what's happening with some Muslims and, you know, the terrorism and everything else, it seems to be pretty much confined there. So it is a problem and we can say no. But it is.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So then what specifically is the problem with the Muslims in the United States that you would want to address as president?

TRUMP: Well, only that there seems to be, to a certain extent -- and this is not all -- most are fabulous and I say that number one point, most are fabulous. And I have friends that are Muslims.

And by the way, they say there is a problem with certain militants that obviously you report on every night on your newscasts. But there is a problem with militancy and it is something that is going to have to be solved.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk...

TRUMP: And I don't mean a problem here. I mean this is a worldwide problem.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's get to that worldwide problem, because we now also learned over this week that Russia has now moved combat aircraft and surface-to-air missiles into Syria.

TRUMP: Right.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What do you think Putin is up to? And what would you do about it?

TRUMP: Well, he's trying to take over parts of the world that he was not in -- and he was there long ago and now he's trying to go back. And the problem is that we have a president who he does not respect. He has absolutely no respect for the president. And maybe he has no fear of the United States any longer, because of the fact that we're letting things go.

Our military is not the same as it was, obviously. It's being depleted. I see it in the real estate business all the time. I'm getting listings for army bases and naval bases and everything. They're selling so much -- so many things in so many places. And I say to myself, what's going on?

But you see it. All the time.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But let's drill down on this, though. If -- if President Putin has decided it's in his national interests to move into Syria, to move into Ukraine, what could you say to him that would get him to turn around?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's all about leadership. It's about getting along with people. And, you know, I gave an answer that I thought was very good on the debate the other night. And a lot of people loved that answer and they agreed with that answer.

And that's that you get along with people...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But just because...

TRUMP: And I...

STEPHANOPOULOS: -- he gets along with you, that doesn't mean he's going to do (INAUDIBLE)...

TRUMP: No, no, but you...

STEPHANOPOULOS: -- against his national interests?

TRUMP: No, no. It's called -- do you know what it's called, George? It's called respect. I mean he has no respect for the president. He doesn't talk to the president. They have absolutely no relationship. And you see the body language when they're together. The body language is absolutely horrible.

Now, as far as Syria is concerned, it looks like he's trying to build up in Syria. And, you know, it's very interesting because with ISIS, we're fighting ISIS and yet ISIS is fighting Assad.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Right.

TRUMP: And Assad is probably saying, wow, isn't that nice that the Americans, that the United States comes in and they're taking care of our enemy?

You know, we have people that don't know what they're doing. But militarily, we're fighting ISIS and ISIS now is fighting us instead of fighting Assad.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm trying to figure out...

TRUMP: And Assad is -- hey, George, we're the best thing that ever happened to Assad.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm just trying to figure out what you would do. I mean, are you saying that President Putin would actually do something against his national interests, if he perceives it that way, pull out of Syria, just because he gets along with you?

TRUMP: I'm not saying get along. George, the word isn't get along. The word -- the word is respect. He has no respect for our country and our leadership at this -- at this moment. And, frankly, he's doing things that are very aggressive. And the reason he's doing them is because he doesn't have respect.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So what is the single most important thing you would do to get him to respect you and turn around?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, you get -- you have to get to know people. There's no communication. They have no communication whatsoever. I have it all the time in business. I get along with people that -- and, frankly, there are some people, George, that I don't get along with and -- and there's no chemistry or whatever it may be. And then you find the people that do get along with them.

But you have to -- it's a chess game. Life is a big fat very high level chess game. You have to know what you're doing.

Now, I can tell you, I don't think you'd want to start World War III over Syria. I'm pretty sure you're not going to say that, because, you know, a lot of people said, oh, we want to confront them and we want -- I'm not sure that you want to start World War III over Syria, that's for sure.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I still haven't heard exactly what you're going to do, but I want to move on to some more politics.

Carly Fiorina surging in this CNN poll, up to 15 percent. You had some exchanges with her the other night. Did you underestimate her?

TRUMP: No, look, she did a terrible job at Hewlett Packard. She did a terrible job at Lucent. I mean those companies are just a disaster and she destroyed Hewlett Packard. And still, the other day, on the front page of "The Wall Street Journal," 25,000 additional people were let go and that was because of the remnants of what she did.

The Compaq computer deal was one of the worst deals made in business history. And she destroyed the company that she was at before then.

I mean she's been terrible. And, you know, she's got a good pitter patter, but if you listen to her for more than five minutes straight, you get a headache.

So I -- I am not concerned with Carly. I hope she does well. I'd like to see her do well. I think she's a nice woman, although I don't know her. But frankly, you know, but I don't -- I didn't see the poll. I know -- I think I'm still way in first place.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You're still ahead. You're at 20...

TRUMP: Is that correct?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, you're at 24, she's at -- she's at 15 right now. You're still in first place (INAUDIBLE)...

TRUMP: And is she in second place, George?

STEPHANOPOULOS: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Because I really don't know.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Ben Carson -- Ben Carson is in second place.

Marco Rubio -- excuse me, Fiorina is in second place, then Ben Carson and Marco Rubio moved up a lot, as well.

Let me ask you something else, coming out of the debate. You had that exchange with Jeb Bush about casino gambling in Florida. You said it was totally false that you tried to get casino gambling...

TRUMP: No, I never spoke to him, I -- is what I said and what I mean. I never called him and said, would you do it? In fact, unle -- the governor that -- that was after him ultimately approved it. But I never spoke to Jeb.

I never called up Jeb. And I said, Jeb, would you do me a favor and approve?

If I wanted it, I would have done that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I understand.

TRUMP: He was the governor.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're saying you were -- you're -- you're accepting that you were trying to get casino gambling there, because the (INAUDIBLE)...

TRUMP: We -- we -- we're looking at deals all over the world. I'm doing deals all over the world. And, yes, we were looking at Florida. But the -- ultimately, Charlie Crist, the next governor, approved casino gambling, right after Jeb.

But I never called Jeb. The question was did I call him? I would have called him if I wanted it so badly at that time. It was very premature. It was very early. There were other steps that they had to take and it would have been premature. But I would have called Jeb and I think he might have done it for me, because I did help him.

But I never called him and therefore I think I was 100 percent accurate in my answer.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Donald Trump, thanks very much for joining us.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

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