FOX "Hannity"- Transcript: Debate Recap

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction to tonight's presidential debate is candidate, the number one front-runner in the polls, Donald Trump is here with us. Mr. Trump, how are you, sir?

DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: I've got to be honest. We spent a lot of time talking about this. Right out of the gate I felt John Harwood was extraordinarily unfair to you and attacking you in the line about the clown and unnamed sources that tell him that you would fly before that ever passed. I've got imagine that that's pretty aggravating for you. What's your reaction to it?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I think we did very well tonight. The debate itself went very well. And the audience started booing him. And I guess I expect it. I'm number one in the polls, and I would maybe expect it. But I thought it was unnecessary. And it was very interesting. I think the result was very interesting. But the evening was a great success.

HANNITY: You know, one of the big moments of this debate, and I actually think you got the better of this moment, is the exchange you had with John Kasich. Let me play it for you, remind our audience, and let them see how this went down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: First of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking. OK, he hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that's why Ohio is doing well. And that's important for you to know.

Number two, this is the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board and he was a managing general partner.

And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He's got -- that's why he's on the end. (LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him.

KASICH: Let me just -- let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest grows states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what, it works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker, and I was proud of it and I traveled the country and learned how people make jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What is your reaction, because in last 24 hours, 36 hours, John Kasich, the governor, seems to be getting more aggressive and hostile? Where do you think it's coming from?

TRUMP: Well, he has very bad poll numbers. It's very simple. So he attacked us. And I think it was inappropriate. But that just came from poll numbers. He seems like a nice guy. But he has very, very low poll numbers, and therefore he attacked us. So I think it worked out well for me.

HANNITY: Let me go to the issue of the substance of your economic plan, because there's a lot to it. And I don't know who these unnamed sources that John Harwood was talking about, but you talk about trillions of dollars that would be --

TRUMP: I don't think they exist. Sean, I don't think those sources exist. I don't believe they exist.

HANNITY: I actually got the impression it was his personal opinion. It was a great line when you mentioned Larry Kudlow who works on CNBC, and you said, well --

TRUMP: He's a good guy.

HANNITY: Yes. I like Larry. He's a friend of mine. He is a good guy, and I think he's going to run for senator. Explain your economic plan, though, because what he didn't seem was factor in was the economic growth aspect of repatriated money and a lower corporate tax rate, et cetera. So I want you to --

TRUMP: We're lowering taxes, Sean, we're lowering taxes big league. We're bringing rates down. We're the highest taxed in the world, we're the highest taxed country right now and it's not even close. We're bringing the rates down to 15 percent for corporations. We're simplifying the code. We're bringing it down to 10. You're able to get your money back in.

We have right now $2.5 trillion outside of this country that can't get in. We're bringing that rate way down. Everybody is going to bring the money back in. It's going to be used in our country and so many other things. And then, of course, we're starting to cut, and we're going to cut expenses and cut waste and fraud and abuse, and we're going to have a really dynamic country, again.

HANNITY: Mr. Trump, it's estimated that there is some $4 trillion overseas that multinational corporations won't bring back to this country because of the high taxation rate.

TRUMP: Right.

HANNITY: Corporate inversion, repatriation.

TRUMP: It is all about the corporate inversion, right.

HANNITY: But wouldn't those corporations spend the money here, build manufacturing here if they have ability to bring it back?

TRUMP: They would. They would spend it here. They want to bring it back. They can't bring it back. The tax is too high. And the bureaucracy is too high. The paperwork is unbelievable. They can't get it back in. So you know what they're doing. They're leaving it in our country and going to another country to get their money and get lower taxes, and they're taking thousands and thousands of jobs, Sean.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, when you talk about John Kasich being lucky and the whole issue of fracking, in a way I was thinking couldn't the whole country be lucky? Because we have more natural gas, more energy resources than the entire Middle East combined and we don't tap into it. How big of an impact, through your economic estimate and your economic plan, would it have on the economy?

TRUMP: Massive. Bigger than Saudi Arabia, bigger than anything, massive. If a state or area of the country is lucky enough to be sitting on the right soil and the right land, they should be doing it and they should make a fortune for themselves, cut taxes, do a lot of things. But absolutely they should do it. And some people don't do it. Some people don't do it. I mean, I can name one in particular that's not doing it and sitting on top of a bonanza.

HANNITY: You're talking about New York state, where I live. And upstate New York is suffering financially because of it.

TRUMP: It is sitting on a bonanza. And by the way, it's being lost, because Pennsylvania and others, believe me, are sucking it right now. So New York is losing a lot by not taking the oil and gas. They have tremendous power there. And you know how high taxes are in New York? We're losing a lot by not taking it. And other areas, like Pennsylvania, they're taking it. And that doesn't, you know go by lines. That stuff flows and they're taking it. New York is losing a tremendous amount.

HANNITY: It was interesting to me tonight to watch how bad the media was and to watch all the other candidates tonight in a very different way come to your defense. And that included Mike Huckabee. That included Ted Cruz. What was your reaction to that?

TRUMP: I thought it was great. We have a great relationship and I really thought it was great. There was a certain camaraderie up there tonight not only with respect to me but with respect to everybody. I thought it was very beautiful to watch.

HANNITY: Last question. The media seems to have a real hard time grasping the idea that you're going to build a wall and that you're going to make Mexico pay for it. And as you were trying to give your answer tonight I wanted to hear the rest of it. And I want you to explain to our audience exactly how that would happen because the media seems to lack a comprehension about how Mexico's economy is so tightly tied to our economy and that it would be in their best interest to do so.

TRUMP: Sean, we're going to build a wall. It's going to be paid for by Mexico. We're going to create a border, a real border. We don't have a border now. And if you don't have a border, you don't have a country. We're going to have a door for people to come in legally. But I will tell you, it's going to be a beautiful door, people are going to come in legally. But we're putting up a wall. Mexico is going to pay for it, and we're going to have a border.

HANNITY: And they pay for it why?

TRUMP: Because they make -- our trade imbalance with Mexico is $50 billion a year. We give Mexico a tremendous amount of money. I love the Mexican people. I employ tens of thousands over the years of Hispanics and people, generally. These are great people. But the leaders are too smart for our leaders. What's happening to us is a disgrace and it cannot happen any longer. So we're going to build a wall, we're going to create a border, and you're going to be very happy.

HANNITY: Last question, we're going to let you go. You've been probably the strongest critic of Governor Jeb Bush. Probably he's underperformed by every poll number out there. And for some reason he was out there attacking Marco Rubio. What do you think the strategy was behind it? You're number one in the polls. Ben Carson has been surging a little bit this week. What is your reaction to that, too?

TRUMP: Well, I think Ben is a terrific guy. And I think that frankly Marco and Jeb were going at it a little bit. And I sort of said that. And they were going at it. But Ben is standing right next to me and he is a terrific guy. He's right over here. Hey, Ben, you're a terrific guy. So that is the story.

HANNITY: Why don't you bring him over? We got a group hug on HANNITY. We'll have all the candidates together. I said this earlier, I actually said that it was the candidates that beat the moderators tonight. And in spite of what they wanted --

TRUMP: I think so.

HANNITY: This is was a substantive debate tonight.

TRUMP: I think so. And there were some little jabs. I'll tell you, there were little jabs, but there was a great camaraderie among candidates.

HANNITY: Mr. Trump, it's always a pleasure to have you. Thank you for taking time. Great debate for you tonight. Appreciate your time.

TRUMP: Thank you, Sean. Thank you very much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source