Trump's Take: 'Ugly' Cain 'Witch Hunt' & Bleaker Economy
'The Donald' sizes up the sex harassment cloud over Herman Cain, the Federal Reserve's bleaker forecast for the economy and more
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," November 2, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert," new accusations, all anonymous, against Mr. Herman Cain. But the Cain campaign isn't taking it lying down. They are, in fact, punching back. They are demanding an apology from the Perry campaign. Now, the Cain campaign denies the harassment accusation and says that rival Rick Perry's campaign is to blame.
Now, here's the latest. Right now, the AP is reporting that a third former co-worker of Mr. Cain, also unnamed, considered filing a workplace complaint against the candidate and never did. Also today, another former restaurant association employee, Chris Wilson, told an Oklahoma radio station that in the late 1990s, he saw Mr. Cain harassing a woman in a restaurant in Crystal City, Virginia.
But keep in mind Wilson is a pollster for a super-PAC that supports Governor Rick Perry. But Wilson has issued a statement denying he is the one who originally leaked to the media. And earlier tonight, Cain campaign manager Mark Block was on "Special Report With Bret Baier" pointing fingers at the Perry campaign. He told Bret Baier that former Cain staffer Curt Anderson is behind the original leak. Now, Anderson works for Governor Perry's campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK BLOCK, HERMAN CAIN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The actions of the Perry campaign are despicable. Rick Perry and his campaign owe Herman Cain and his family an apology. Both the Rick Perry campaign and Politico did the wrong thing by reporting something that wasn't true, through anonymous sources. And like I said, they owe Herman Cain and his family an apology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN SUSTEREN: Now, Governor Rick Perry's campaign insists it had nothing to do with it. The Perry campaign just released this statement. "This charge is both reckless and false. For a candidate and a campaign that claims to be the victims of unfounded and unproven accusations, they are awfully quick to hurl unfounded accusations themselves. Now, contrary to the Cain campaign's false accusations, there is not one shred of evidence that any member of he Perry team had anything to do with the recent stories regarding Herman Cain because it isn't true."
Now, we're going to more information on this breaking news in just a minute. But first, we got Donald Trump's reaction to this developing scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, nice to talk to you.
DONALD TRUMP, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (Via Telephone): Thank you, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, Mr. Herman Cain certainly has got a controversy swirling around him right now. What advice or what are your thoughts on this?
TRUMP: Well, other than being a little bit late to the gun, I think he's really done a pretty good job. He was running a company. Somebody made a complaint, it would seem. And I think if nothing else comes of it, it's going to be fine.
But things like this happen. And you know, then the lawyers get involved and the lawyers want hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you can settle something for peanuts. And maybe that's what his company did, or maybe that's what the association did.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, apparently, there are two other women, unnamed -- everything's anonymous, which is always a bit troubling to me because I come from a law background, where have you to at least identify yourself if you're going to make an accusation -- is that there are two other women now who claim that there'd been some sort of -- not touching, but sexual harassment, that was -- something was said to them.
Does that make it a more difficult problem for him?
TRUMP: I think it's a very ugly witch hunt and I think it's very unfair. You say, Oh, hello, darling, how are you? And you get sued because you've destroyed somebody's life. It's ridiculous. And I think it's very unfair to him. And unless there's something that we're not seeing -- meaning you, I, and everybody else -- I think it's a very unfair situation.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I think that's the whole problem with sort of the anonymous allegations. And I understand why some women might not want to come forward, not a pleasant situation. One is bound by a confidentiality agreement. But the other two, as far as I can see, there's no impediment, other than they don't want to see their names splashed across.
But you know, it's, like, we can't even test what they're saying, whether they -- whether it's true, horrible, or whether something was misinterpreted, exaggerated. We have no -- we have no way to make any sort of analysis of it.
TRUMP: Well, I disagree with one thing. They probably do love their names splashed across the front pages. And frankly, I think that's not a good situation and I don't think it's a fair situation. And I think Herman should take very, very strong action, even if he has to bring a major lawsuit against the women.
VAN SUSTEREN: But what should he do right now?
TRUMP: All he can do is do what he's doing. I mean, he's trying to explain it away as nicely as possible. But all he can do -- because nobody's really seen what they said. So all he can do is what he's doing right now. Now, he could have acted a little bit quicker. He waited the 10 days and got them by surprise a little bit. But I think he's done as good a job as you're going to do.
And he said that he didn't know about the settlement, and maybe he knew about the settlement. But once he got it straight, I think he's done as good as he's going to do. He's got to see what happens. But if I were Herman and if these things turned out to be false or inaccurate, I would bring a major lawsuit against the women that are saying it.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is this fatal to his campaign?
TRUMP: I don't think so. If nothing else comes out or if it's nonsense, like the thing we've been reading about, I think it can almost help. And he said -- I was watching him yesterday on your show, by the way, and he was saying that he's doing better now fund-raising than he's ever done, that people actually took offense to what's taking place. So that can happen also. I mean, it could be a strange reversal, in a sense.
No, I don't think so, as long as it doesn't come out and bad things don't come out. And again, I would tell him to react swiftly and strongly with a major lawsuit against these people, if they say anything that's even slightly wrong.
VAN SUSTEREN: What if it originates or is in some way fueled by another campaign? How does that play into this?
TRUMP: I don't think it's nice and I don't think it would play well, especially if it's from a Republican. And I haven't heard that. I haven't heard that that did take place, in fact. But if it's from a Republican, I think probably it's maybe even plays a little bit worse.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, grim news today, Federal Reserve sliced its growth outlook sharply for 2011, 2012 and 2013, and significantly increased its unemployment rate forecast. Both grim news.
TRUMP: Wow.
VAN SUSTEREN: "Wow" is right.
TRUMP: You know, I'm not surprised because I've been on your show for years now and I've been saying you cannot create a strong economy if China and other countries continuously take your jobs, make your products, manipulate their currencies, and do all of the things they're doing, and then we hold dinners at the White House, state dinners at the White House for the president of China. So I'm not surprised at all.
I've been telling you this is going to happen. The news came out today, and I think it's an absolute disaster for this country. And we need a leader that knows how to deal with China, that knows how to deal with OPEC and India and every other country -- I mean, India, the outsourcing is unbelievable! What's going on with this country, Greta, is beyond belief. So I don't think you think that I am surprised to hear this.
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't think you're surprised. You know, each candidate -- I know, obviously, you're unhappy with the president, but each candidate brings to the campaign a different strength. In terms of -- in terms of, like, dealing with OPEC, which candidate do you think would be the strongest or which one do you think would be the best? I realize there are many issues...
TRUMP: Right.
VAN SUSTEREN: ... and many parts of running for president. But what about just OPEC?
TRUMP: Well, I think the one that's spoken up the most about it has been Mitt Romney. And I've been watching the debates. I will say this, though. The saddest part of the debates is that they talk about jobs and everyone says, Oh, we need better education, we need better this, we need better that. What they don't talk about is how other countries are just stealing our lunch. And it's never brought up in the Republican debates. It's never brought up.
Now, at what point do they say, We can't continuously have our products and everything manufactured by other countries? With the biggest culprit, of course, being China. And the other element is that just -- to give you a double -- this is a double shot to the face. The other element is OPEC. Every time a little bit of good news is mentioned, they raise the price of oil, and that -- you know, oil is actually more important, in my opinion, than interest rates. They raise the price of oil, and it's just like sucking the blood out of this country! And nobody does anything about it except hold state dinners for these people and drop down and kiss their ring!
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, let me give two names. Tell me how you think that they would deal with the whole situation, if elected or if nominated for the Republican nomination. How would Speaker Gingrich be in terms of handling those issues, then Senator Rick Santorum?
TRUMP: Well, you know, the problem I have with Rick -- and I spoken to him a couple of times, and he's really a nice guy, but he was a sitting senator and he lost by 19 percent. And that bothers me. And you know, I think he'd be tough. I think he'd be strong. I think he'd be much better than what we have now. But you know, you have a sitting senator who the people of Pennsylvania rejected, and that does bother me.
Newt I love because he's a member of my great golf course and club in Washington, right outside of Washington. So anybody that's a member of my club, I know has good taste in real estate. I think he's done really well in the debates. I think Mitt Romney has done really well in the debates. But those two, in terms of the debating, certainly have done the best.
VAN SUSTEREN: How about Michele Bachmann, representative from Minnesota, in dealing with China? How do you -- how do you see her dealing with China?
TRUMP: Well, she's tough. She's smart and she's tough. And I think, again, anybody would be better than President Obama. President Obama has done nothing. They're eating our lunch. They're taking our food right off the table. They're taking our jobs.
And now, finally -- I've been waiting for this. I can't believe it took so long. I've been waiting for a report like the report we just got. How can we possibly create jobs when our people are leaving, when other people are just taking those jobs and manufacturing our product? It's just impossible.
So the economy's only going to get worse until we have no economy at all. We have to stop it. Greta, you have these fools -- I have to say this -- they are stupid fools that talk about, Oh, Donald, you're against free trade. This isn't free trade, this is unfair trade. China's going to make $350 billion this year, and now they're saying that estimate is low.
We can't continue to do this. And frankly, if you have to end so- called free trade, end it because we'll do a lot better without it than we're doing with it. It's a disaster for this country. We don't have people that know how to negotiate with other countries. Every country is out-negotiating our leaders! It's very sad and very serious.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is any candidate right now -- is any candidate as tough on China as you are?
TRUMP: No. Nobody's tough like I am.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why?
TRUMP: I don't know. I don't understand t. I will say Mitt Romney is the toughest of the group in terms of his attitude toward China. Most other people don't even mention it. I mean, I hear they're mentioning education. I hear they're mentioning all sorts of things that have absolutely almost nothing to do with what's going on with this country. I mean, I'm a big fan of education. I believe in education. I'm well educated at a great college and all of that stuff.
But you know, when you're losing tens of thousands of jobs a month because China's taking them away from us, what does that have to do with education?
VAN SUSTEREN: Here's a question...
TRUMP: We should educate our president. He's the one that needs the education.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, here's a question completely out of left field, and maybe even literally so. How about -- any interest in buying the LA Dodgers? They're up for sale.
TRUMP: Well, it's a great franchise. It's a great sport. And people have called me about it. I am so busy right now between all the candidates coming in to Trump Tower, and frankly, all of the things I'm doing -- I'm having a great time -- including buying a lot of things.
I mean, I consider this to be a great time to buy. You know, when the markets are crashing like they are right now, that's a time to buy if you're in that position. I'm lucky. So I'm buying things. So probably not.
VAN SUSTEREN: Any interest at all?
TRUMP: Always interest.
VAN SUSTEREN: Really?
TRUMP: It's a great -- honestly, it's a great asset. It really is. It's a great asset. I love baseball. They have a great commissioner. They have a great -- you know, a lot of great teams. I thought that Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols and the whole group did an unbelievable job. Game 6 was the -- I think maybe the best baseball game I've ever seen of the World Series.
But Tony LaRussa's an amazing guy who actually quit at the absolute height, at the absolute top. I'm not sure -- he's a friend of mine. I'm not sure I agree with him. I told him, I said, Tony, you could sign this huge contract. But he just wanted to go out on top, and he did. And you have to take your hat off to a guy like that.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, here's an alternate to Donald Trump buying the LA Dodgers. What about, like, the Green Bay Packers that are owned by the community? Why not first offer it to the community, see if the community buys it, like -- so that -- so that when you go to the games, you're cheering for your own team and not Donald Trump's team or somebody else's team.
TRUMP: Well, Green Bay's unique because it started from many, many years ago when they were worth $500 and all. You know, these -- you're talking about very big dollars now. And I would say that Los Angeles -- I have property in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has bigger problems than buying the Dodgers. All you have to do is tell the people of Los Angeles or California, We're going to raise your taxes to buy the Dodgers. I...
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't mean -- I mean, like, do it, like a -- like a - - I mean, the Packers offer -- when they want to build a stadium or something, or add on, they sell more shares and we all go running out and buy them. We get absolutely nothing but bragging rights. But why not try to just do, like, a public offering like that? I'm not saying tax the people, but offer it for sale? Let people buy shares.
TRUMP: Well, I think it's a great concept. But in actuality, you know, if you're talking about the kind of numbers that I'm hearing being bandied about, it's probably -- it's probably pretty tough. Honestly, they have to focus on other things because they have some serious problems out there at this point.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, would you be interested in buying a portion of the Dodgers? Or are you just totally out of this one?
TRUMP: Well, I might. I mean, I've had a lot of groups call me, and you know, they want to bid on it or they want me to go into -- into it because I do understand baseball, and you know, I'm in a position where I can afford to do that kind of thing.
It's traditionally never been a good asset or a good thing to own because they lose money. But then when you sell them, you make a profit. You know, it's one of those things. But I would certainly be interested in listening. There are some groups that I really like, and I would certainly be interested in listening.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well, I bet I could get you to buy them. What if the Chinese wanted to buy them? Would you buy them then?
TRUMP: Then I might buy them.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Then I might buy them.
VAN SUSTEREN: I figured.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: It's like when the New York Stock Exchange gets sold to the Germans, OK? This is a pretty sad day for this country, and that already took place.
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, nice to talk to you.
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Greta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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