Ben Carson Talks Clinton Hammering Trump During Remarks to Journalists; Trump to Endorse Paul Ryan
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We just heard from Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, during her appearance at a journalist conference in Washington. She took several shots at Donald Trump, saying it's her message each and every day to talk about Trump's controversial comments. Let's get a different perspective. Joining us from Florida, Dr. Ben Carson, a top adviser to Donald Trump. Thanks very much, Dr. Carson, for joining us.</s>DR. BEN CARSON, (R), SENIOR ADVISOR, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Absolutely.</s>BLITZER: She says America is better than Donald Trump. You heard what she told those Hispanic and African-American journalists. I want to get your response.</s>CARSON: Obviously, it's an attempt to make this whole thing about Donald Trump. If we can always be talking about him and his short comings, we don't have to talk about her and her short comings. We don't have to talk about the economy. This is something that is very important to the American people. We don't have to talk about terrorism. We don't have to talk about how ISIS was formed because of her policies and Barack Obama's policies of withdrawing and allowing that vacuum to form. There are a whole host of things I am sure they would prefer not to talk about. It's much easier to try to talk about Donald Trump. But this is about so much more than Donald Trump, so much more than Hillary Clinton. We're talking about the future of this country, this direct of this country for our children and on our grandchildren. They do not want to talk about that.</s>BLITZER: I want to talk about the economy in a moment. I want to get your reaction, your response to what the former acting CIA director, Michael Morell, did today. Wrote an article in "The "New York Times," endorsing Secretary Clinton, describing Donald Trump this way -- let me put it up on the screen. He said, "Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security. In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous commander-in-chief." He spent 20-plus years, served Democratic presidents, Republican presidents. He said he can no longer remain silent and wrote this arm. Your reaction?</s>CARSON: My reaction is that he has also involved with the secretary of state during the Benghazi thing. And he was not critical of her in a situation where we had those Navy SEALs on top of that compound firing away, helping their colleagues escape. And I know in the back of their mind, they were saying, help is on the way, because we've always supported our troops. We've always supported our staff. We left them. We said it's too dangerous. What precedent does that set? What does that tell our military people in the future? You get in a scrape, you're on your own? That's not a good message. That's somebody who I think would not be a fit commander-in-chief.</s>BLITZER: So you are saying Hillary Clinton would not be a fit commander-in-chief. But you are raising questions now about Mike Morell, a career professional, rose through the ranks in the intelligence community. You are suggesting what, that he's partisan, that he's not responsible?</s>CARSON: That he supports -- yeah, he supported her throughout that whole endeavor. If he was truly someone who was concerned about America, about our defense and about our image, I think he would not have participated in that.</s>BLITZER: He had two CIA contractors who were killed in that Benghazi operation, terrorist attack. I assume he's very, very intimately involved if all that of that. And all of the congressional reviews, basically, did not condemn if at all, as far as I know.</s>CARSON: Well, whether they condemned him or not, he was a part of it, Wolf. You can't get him out of it. He was in it. He knew what was going on. He knew -- I mean, this is really quite, quite clear. So why was he not concerned about that if he's so concerned about the defense of our nation?</s>BLITZER: I am sure he is very concerned. ISIS also right now in this article very concerned about Donald Trump and his relationship with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Listen to what he writes, among other things, about that, he says, "In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin has recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation." Now, those are very -- that's a very powerful accusation.</s>CARSON: Yeah, but, Wolf, there's going to be all kind of accusations flying from both sides, things that aren't accurate and things that again are trying to make this about Hillary Clinton, about Donald Trump. It's not about them. And I think a lot of the American people recognize that. That's why you are seeing some of these large enthusiastic crowds, even though there are a lot of people telling them things to the contrary. They see hope. They want a future for their children. They want economic freedom. They don't like the fact that we are going on $20 trillion deficit. They don't believe people who say the economy is humming along beautifully because they have eyes and ears. They can see for themselves that it's not.</s>BLITZER: Let's talk about the economy. 255,000 jobs created last month, 30 months in a row if now more. 15 million jobs created since the Great Recession that President Obama inherited when he took office. You remember, in 2009, the U.S. was losing maybe 800,000 jobs a month, 900,000 jobs a month. Unemployment is right around 9, 10 percent. It has clearly improved dramatically since then, wouldn't you agree?</s>CARSON: I don't know about the "dramatically" part. There has been some improvement. I'm happy for that. That's good. But I want you to understand that this is the first time in a seven or eight-year period of a president that we have consistently had less than 3 percent growth. I don't believe that has ever happened in the history of the United States. People say it's the new normal. There is nothing normal about it. It's these policies, these excessive regulations tamping down the ability of people to use their God-given abilities to create in this country. It's excessive taxation. It's things that allow the government to grow and control our lives, when the American people don't need somebody controlling their lives.</s>BLITZER: You remember, the economy, if you take a look at the economy, where it was when he took office, the Dow Jones was 7,000. Now it's about 18,000? That's a pretty dramatic improvement. If you ask people who remember what it was like at the end of 2008, the beginning of 2009, that Great Recession we were all having, what it's like now, there has been a dramatic improvement, even though it's by no means perfect.</s>CARSON: It's been a dramatic improvement for you, Wolf, for me, and all of Hillary Clinton's Wall Street buddies, but it's not a dramatic improvement for the average American family who's lost 2,000 in annual income over the last few years. So it's not even. And what we need to do is be looking for things that will spread the wealth to all of the people, not just the selected few.</s>BLITZER: Let me get your reaction, because the latest uproar involving Donald Trump and the House speaker Paul Ryan, as you know, so far, Donald Trump has failed to endorse Paul Ryan. He's got his own primary election coming up next Tuesday. Certainly, hasn't endorsed John McCain or New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte. You told me on Wednesday you thought Trump would be on board, especially with Paul Ryan. You still believe that?</s>CARSON: Yes, I believe he will come on board with them. You know, it's much to do about nothing. All those people that you just mentioned are working on the same team, working towards the same goals, and they will continue to work together. In terms of what one says one day versus one day versus another day, it's not important. What is important is that they're continuing to move in the right direction.</s>BLITZER: By the way, we're just getting word -- in fact, I'm just learning right now that tonight when he's in Green Bay, Donald Trump, Green Bay, Wisconsin, he will, we are told by two sources, he will go ahead and endorse Paul Ryan. You fully anticipated this. Did you think he was going to do it before the primary or after the primary?</s>CARSON: I don't -- I don't really know. What I do know is that Paul Ryan is a good man. He works extremely hard. And he's very concerned about the direction of our country and the future. And Donald Trump feels exactly the same way. There's no way that they cannot be working together.</s>BLITZER: And do you feel the same way about John McCain and Kelly Ayotte? Should Donald Trump endorse both of those Republicans if they face tough re-election bids?</s>CARSON: I think it would be a wise move, absolutely.</s>BLITZER: Dr. Ben Carson, as usual, thank you so much for joining us.</s>CARSON: Thank you. Have a good weekend.</s>BLITZER: You, too, please. Coming up, Colorado, a key battleground state that could help Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton win the White House. So why is Hillary Clinton suspending some political advertising in that state? We will ask the governor, John Hickenlooper. He's standing by, live.