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CNN Debate Trends on Social Media; Interview with Gov. Chris Christie. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 17, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:29:55] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Who even knows what it means anymore? You know, I got slapped around saying that (INAUDIBLE) in an interview that, yeah -- you know, when you return every barb that comes your way, it's not presidential. You got to rise above. And people came at me saying, who are you to say what is presidential? Presidential is what presidential is in the moment and he's at the top of the polls.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There are no rules. Fair enough. That's fair enough. But I want to talk about, quickly, the debate before the debate. The debate with the four lower tier candidates because that was an interesting -

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: That was a great debate, right?

CAMEROTA: -- entertaining, substantive debate. And Lindsey Graham, people - In fact, I saw Michael Reagan, former President Reagan's son, and he said Lindsey Graham is on fire because he had so many zingers. Let me play for you just one of what he says he would do if he were president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat in with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: So, I mean -

(CROSSTALK)

RESTON: Lindsey Graham in the first debate was not the usual Lindsey Graham. This was vintage Lindsey Graham last night. Tons of zingers. He's very witty, quick off the cuff. That was a really lively, substantive, interesting debate. I think that served the take-away from all of this is that Republicans had a lot there to like among the other candidates last night, including, you know, in the first debate --

CUOMO: Do any of them hop into a different echelon because of how they did in the first debate?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think Lindsey Graham potentially could. There were some people on the stage in the main debate who are on fumes. Their campaigns are too big for the amount of money they have -

CAMEROTA: Such as?

ZELENY: Scott walker is in that category. This fundraising period that's about to end at the end of this month is a key moment here. So he may be in the next debate if a couple people drop out. We don't know if they will or not. But Lindsey Graham is lean and mean. It's him and aide (ph) in a rental car across the country. He could be in the next debate, which is October 28th, I think, is the next debate.

RESTON: Right, right.

ZELENY: The whole field could be reordered by then.

CUOMO: The standings changed last night. That's my prediction. I'm not saying in dramatic ways. I'm not saying that Donald Trump is not on the top. But he may see his first drop in a poll number that he's experienced so far.

CAMEROTA: It will be very interesting when the first polls come out. Maeve, Jeff, thanks so much.

RESTON: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you guys.

CUOMO: Now Chris Christie played a very unique role last night that was, in a way, Christie-esque and in a role, not. So he's going to come on himself, the Governor of New Jersey, and tell you why he did what he did last night and how he feels getting out of it.

And in the next hour, Democratic candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders. You'll get a chance to feel the burn, ladies and gentlemen.

Right now, let's get to Mich in New York for what is going on in our world.

Mich.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I will do that for you. We'll get back to our post-debate coverage with you and Alisyn in a moment.

First, breaking overnight, at least five people are dead, several others are injured following that powerful 8.3 magnitude earthquake that hit central Chile Wednesday. The quake hit northwest of the capital of Santiago. It triggered massive waves along the coast. We understand a million people have been evacuated as massive flooding submerged communities there. Several strong aftershocks were also reported. Tsunami alerts have been issued for Hawaii, southern California, Peru and even New Zealand.

Military prosecutors will lay out their case against U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl today. Bergdahl faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He could get life - a life sentence, rather - if convicted. At today's military hearing, a judge advocate will be asked to decide whether the case should proceed to court- martial. Bergdahl was freed last year in a controversial prison swap for five Taliban inmates.

There's growing support for a 14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school that some of his teachers thought resembled a bomb. President Obama has invited Ahmed Mohamed to the White House for astronomy night next month. He also received all sorts of support and invitations from Facebook and Google to visit. Mohamed won't face charges over the incident, however he says he plans to transfer schools now. Supporters believe that he was targeted because he is Muslim.

Those are your headlines. 33 minutes past the hour.

Well, the debate wasn't just must-see TV, it was a must-tweet event. Did you follow along on Twitter? Oh, that was fun.

[07:34:16] We're going to give you a look at the buzz on social media from last night's big debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Last night's Republican debate, boy, took social media by storm. Did you watch and tweet at the same time? This was fun. We can break down the trends and see what everybody was and is talking about.

We want to take a look, though, at the first of the three top trending moments.

Moment No. 3, obviously a contentious moment in the debate. Trump versus Jeb on Jeb Bush's Mexican-American wife's heritage. Let's take a listen and you can hear the exchange yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope you apologize for that, Donald.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman.

BUSH: She is. She's fantastic.

TRUMP: I don't know her and this -

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: She is absolutely the love of my life. She's right here -

TRUMP: Good.

BUSH: -- and why don't you apologize to her right now?

TRUMP: No, I won't do that because I said nothing wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: He says he said nothing wrong. Interesting. A lot of conversation right there. Should Jeb Bush pushed it further with him?

Let's move onto our No. 2 moment from last night. Carly Fiorina taking forceful aim at Planned Parenthood, referring to comments made in a video released by anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. It has become a lightning rod for GOP contenders this campaign season. One of her quotes, while someone says, "We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain," that's getting a lot of play.

But I kind of need a drum roll from the guys in the studio. Nothing, guys? Come on. Here's the No. 1 trending moment from last night's event. Carly versus Trump. Our Jake Tapper asking Carly to respond to that whole conversation that Donald Trump had in "Rolling Stone" magazine, "look at that face," that comment. Many women have regarded it as an attack on her looks. She fired back.

[07:40:00] I'm going to let you hear it straight from her mouth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Here's the question: Was she buying it? I don't know. I don't know. Another thing we can look at is the top mentions on Twitter. You can see going into the debate, Donald Trump was already strong in the polls. He was strong on Twitter, getting 22.7 percent of the mentions. The next highest with 8.62 percent is Jeb Bush, followed by Carly Fiorina, who had a strong performance last night as well.

And air time, you can see how things measured up last time in the Fox News debate. This time around -- I believe if I touch it it will show you how we did last night at CNN debate. Donald Trump getting the most time, just under 20 minutes. Bush coming in at 18. And then we've put something together kind of fun with a little world cloud.

So there you go. You can see Trump was a big conversation. And surprisingly, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, so was Reagan.

All right. Tough talk last night from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. He targeted everyone from Hillary Clinton to Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump.

Chris Christie joins Alisyn and Chris ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:00] PEREIRA: Good to have you back on both coasts on NEW DAY or same day, depending on what you're calling it from which side of the country. Last night while the Republican candidates were duking it out on the CNN debate stage, far away, out here on the other coast, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton flexing her comedic chops during a visit to "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

Did you happen to catch the phone conversation? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST (as Donald Trump): Anyway, I just finished the GOP debate. As usual, I was fantastic. Everyone loved me. Now look, I know you're about to go out for your interview with Jimmy Fallon, but he's a total lightweight, so I'm going to do him a favor and interview you instead.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's great. You know how much I love being interviewed. As long as you don't start talking over me when I'm trying to make a point --

FALLON: Yeah, yeah - Question one. You recently said, quote, "Mr. Trump insults and dismisses women," but tell me, what would you do to help women in this country?

CLINTON: You know, Donald, I've spent my entire career fighting for women's rights. I'll push for equal pay in the workplace, for protecting women's health and reproductive rights, making quality affordable child care a reality for families. That's what I believe in. That's what I'm fighting for.

You know, I'm really curious, Donald. What is your stance on women's issues?

FALLON: Look, I know a lot of women and they all have issues.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: What I loved is that she's genuinely having a ball. Did you see how much she enjoyed that appearance?

CAMEROTA: Yes. That last one where she seemed to be actually be laughing -

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- I might even say.

CUOMO: I'll tell you what, if she can have a good time in an interview with Donald Trump, she should do more interviews and she should come on "Same Day" with Alisyn and Chris.

PEREIRA: Maybe if you change the name of the show to "Same Day" she'll come. What do you think?

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's try that - I also think it's funny that the parody of Donald Trump is just like the real Donald trump.

CUOMO: It's too good. It's not a parody. It's actually mimicking.

PEREIRA: It was spot on.

CUOMO: And I can't tell the two apart and now I'm a little confused and embarrassed.

PEREIRA: Well, I want to point out to you that Hillary Clinton is going to be here at CNN. We're guessing it's going to be a slightly less irreverent interview with our Wolf Blitzer. You can tune in for that at 5:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Take it away, team.

CUOMO: All right. We want to bring you the players from last night -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, certainly one of them -- played an unique role in last night's debate. He set his sights on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. He kept trying to turn the rest of the field back towards her and towards the problems, instead of the infighting. And now he joins us. Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, sleepless man.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.

CUOMO: Thank you for being here.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you here.

CHRISTIE: You, too. We all had no sleep.

CAMEROTA: Right. So how did you think it went last night?

CHRISTIE: I was really happy with it. Listen, you'd always like to have more time. But there is 11 people on the stage, I thought the moderators did a really good job last night of trying to move it around to a lot of different folks in response to the dynamic on the stage.

But the most important thing was that I learned on the campaign trail over the last few months. People were tired of hearing candidates talk about themselves and they want to hear them talk about what their problems are and that's what I felt like my role was last night as I heard Carly talk about how much money she's made and lost and how much Donald's made and lost. I mean, listen, let's stipulate - they both were successful business people in their own right with their own successes and failures. That does nothing for the person sitting on the other end of the camera.

CAMEROTA: And you made that point quite vociferously last night during the debate. Let's watch that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back and forth about the history of Donald's and Carly's career, for the 55- year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I got to tell you the truth, they could care less about your careers. They care about theirs.

You're both successful people, congratulations. You know who is not successful? The middle class in this country who is getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back and forth between the two of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: You know, when I first heard you doing it, I loved in the beginning when you did your interesting statement, you said turn the camera, in your initial statement, show them because that's who it's about. And then when you were doing that, I was like you know what, if I were moderating a debate, that's exactly how I'd be. You became a little bit moderator in that.

There's a balance on that is that really, you're supposed to be making the case the same way they are. How do you balance saying I don't like what's going on here, let me tell you what I think should be happening?

CHRISTIE: Well, I don't think, Chris, I need to be making the case the same way they do. I need to be making the case the way I want to because I've heard from the voters. I've done more town hall meetings, as you know, in New Hampshire than anybody. I've done 22 of them so far and counting. And we'll be back next week to do it.

[07:49:54] This is what I'm hearing from the people there on the ground in New Hampshire who are saying to me, enough already about Donald's success and Carly's success and Jeb's family. You know? Enough of that already. I want to hear about my family and what I'm concerned about.

So I don't know if it was so much a moderator as maybe a reorienter trying to get these folks back to thinking about what they should be thinking about if you want to be president of the united states. Because when you walk in the Oval Office in January 2017, I want the people to be confident that I've heard them and that my actions will reflect what I've heard from them and what I believe in my heart.

CAMEROTA: Was there anything surprising to you last night? Did you hear somebody say something that you've never heard them say before or that you didn't expect them to say? Anything that jumped out at you?

CHRISTIE: I did think at times that, you know, there was a little bit too much interrupting. You know, I did think if there was one thing that either could have been a little bit of better to it at times and that those who were the most vociferous and interrupting and trying to take advantage. And that's another reason why I intervened there as well, you know, because I started to speak and then Carly tried to interrupt me again. And listen, she's got one place on the stage, not two or three. And so my view on her is, you know be courteous. I'm happy to sit and listen to her and we did a lot of listening to her last night, but don't interrupt me and don't interrupt the other candidates.

CUOMO: It's tough, though, to avoid the phenomenon that is Trump. You've taken him on a little bit. You get wattage for it. You know, you went on a morning show this morning that pretty much gives him free reign on their air for big blocks of time. So can you avoid being part of that game? Can you actually stay consistent in saying I'm not going to play this game, I'm not going to go places where they play it, I'm going to play a different game?

CHRISTIE: Well, I think you can, Chris, and I think you saw me do it last night. There were a couple times where, you know, Jake, God love him, you know, was trying to get me into a fight with Donald Trump. I'm just not going to do it. The fact is Donald and I are friends. I like Donald, he's a good guy. I think I'd be a much better president. But the fact is that I'm not going to get into a back and forth like Carly got in with him and others. That gives Donald, 16, 18 minutes because people want us to see us fight with him. My fight is not with him. My fight is going to be with Hillary Clinton. That's where the real fight is. My fight is with what Barack Obama has done with the last seven years, not with Donald Trump. It's with those folks and what they've done and plan to do. And so I am going to stay very focused on that for as long as I can. I can't guarantee you every day I'm going to do it because I'm human, but that's what I'm going to be trying to do.

CAMEROTA: The format last night was not necessarily to start a fight. But it was to engage. And it was to have a real debate. You would say something and then another candidate could challenge you. That was by design. But it also speaks to, there were a lot of people on that stage.

CHRISTIE: There are.

CAMEROTA: And so do you think that last night moved the needle in terms of some people might be getting out at some point soon?

CHRISTIE: You know, you would hope so. But again, that's such a personal decision. But I wouldn't push anybody on that. They've got to make up their own mind. But let me say, as I said off the top, I like the format. In general, I like the format. I like the fact that we were engaging with each other and talking to each other. I thought that Jake did a really good job for the most part. I just think every once in awhile there was a candidate or two who just decided they were going to run everybody over.

CUOMO: Right. But you know it's no win for him.

CHRISTIE: Of course.

CUOMO: If the moderator butts in, now it's about the moderator and that's what happened the last debate.

CHRISTIE: Sure.

CUOMO: So it's a like tricky.

CHRISTIE: It is.

CUOMO: Do you think that you're in a better position after last night?

CHRISTIE: Oh, absolutely. Listen, Chris, this is what I think. I have yes. I've had a lot of smart politicians who know me well tell me this. The more people get to know me, the better I'm going to do. And so I went from six minutes in the first debate to seven minutes last night. So I'm making incremental progress.

CAMEROTA: Wait a minute, you only spoke for seven minutes?

CHRISTIE: Seven minutes last night. But here's the thing --

CUOMO: Were you timing it?

CHRISTIE: Someone told me that last night when I got off. But here's the thing, I've always been a guy who is about quality over quantity. Always. So when I get my moments, I'm going to make them count and make people hear me. I've never been misunderstood in my political career. So, you know, I think I did move the needle last night in terms of people getting to know me better and when they do I think I'll do well.

CAMEROTA: What do you wish was asked that wasn't asked? I'm thinking of how Donald Trump, people going in thought that he should offer more specifics. I'm not sure that he did that last night. Did you think that somebody should have been pressed more?

CHRISTIE: No, I think they did a pretty good job of pressing folks. I really do. I think that as people get more and more of a spotlight, they're going to be pressed more. I'd like to hear more about Carly's time at Hewlett-Packard because, obviously, there's some real controversy about that and whether or not it was truly successful or not and that will be an interesting thing for them to talk about but not, you know, ad nauseam during the debate about people's backgrounds and what they've done. People what to know what you're going to do. But I generally think that they covered a lot more than we got covered before. I liked some of the emphasis on foreign policy last night, which I thought was good.

CUOMO: Fact-checkers were on you about when you were appointed U.S. Attorney -

CHRISTIE: Named. Named. I got the call from the White House on September 10th, 2001 from Judge Gonzales, the White House Counsel, saying the president has selected you to be U.S. Attorney. It was reported the next day in the newspapers, along with other big - some other news and then everything happened on September 11. And then my appointment was put off because every FBI in America was working in America was working on the attacks, as they should have been, and not doing background checks on presidential appointees.

[07:55:00] So I wind up not - taking the office until January, but I was named on September 10th, 2001. Go back and check the newspapers. That's when the president named me. I didn't take office until January.

CUOMO: Jeb Bush last night got a big applause line when he said, "My brother kept us safe." Did you think that was odd given that his brother was president during 9/11?

CHRISTIE: No, I didn't. and in fact, you know, I supported what he said because I worked for George W. Bush and I can tell you, Chris, he and John Ashcroft, the Attorney General at the time, came to all of us in 2002 and said waiting for the next attack to happen and then prosecuting the people that did it is no longer the way we can do business. We have to stop them before they act. I felt very empowered as a U.S. attorney, especially in our region of the world, to intervene and do what I needed to do and I feel like George W. Bush is the person who gave us the tools and the ability to do that. I defend what the president did as well and I think what Jeb said last night is right. And I think people have forgotten about that, but in a more dangerous world, they're starting to remember.

CAMEROTA: Governor Chris Christie, we know it was a long night last night, thanks so much for getting up early for us.

CHRISTIE: For both of you, too. Thanks for having me this morning.

CAMEROTA: We really appreciate.

CHRISTIE: Chris, great to see you.

CUOMO: Yeah. You know, you always have a place on NEW DAY when you want to talk about the issues.

CHRISTIE: Thank you. Happy to be here and Hillary should come, too. I agree with you.

CUOMO: Right?

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTIE: Maybe I can talk to her directly, say Secretary Clinton, these are good people. Come talk to them. I always have fun here.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. That's a strong endorsement. Thank you very much.

CHRISTIE: You're very welcome.

CUOMO: Strong words from a strong man. Appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: All right. Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina talking tough at the Republican debate last night. She turned the tables on Donald Trump. Did any of her hits actually land and make some impact? We talk about the highlights, the lowlights. We're live from the Reagan Library. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)