Trump to Obama: Scrap ObamaCare, start over
Donald Trump: Affordable Care Act was a 'big lie' that is catastrophic to Democrats and the nation, HealthCare.gov problems are indicative of Obama administration's incompetence
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," November 14, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Donald Trump says President Obama's new plan won't work. Why does he say that? We went straight to Trump Tower to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, nice to see you. The president spoke today, answered some questions about the website and also the fact that so many Americans have lost their individual insurance policies. What do you think?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I think it's a mess. It's never been anything that I've ever seen like this. It is a total catastrophe. And now what he's doing, look, it was the big lie and now he said we'll delay the lie for one year. That doesn't do anybody any good. So they will get their insurance back. Number one, the insurance companies won't do it. So it was the big lie that is becoming a total catastrophe for the country and really hurting people terribly.
VAN SUSTEREN: Imagine, though, insurance companies if they can make money by reissuing these canceled policies, that they would be interested in it?
TRUMP: They don't want to do it short-term. They don't want to be treated like that. They have to be treated like everybody else. This is a plan that doesn't work. It's catastrophic. Now, the website is incredible because it shows the gross -- it's not the biggest problem. It's just the beginning, but it shows the gross incompetence. And I know the president was 35 minutes late for his news conference, which bothered a lot of people because it shows something.
VAN SUSTEREN: Like showed what?
TRUMP: Shows -- you're supposed to be on time for a news conference. To me, it shows he probably had no idea what they were doing at the time that he was supposed to be there because it's all being done on the run. This is all being made up and done on the run and that's the problem.
VAN SUSTEREN: What do you tell the American people? As they look at this and they think now at least we have a year maybe, those with the individual policies, what would you have advised them to do?
TRUMP: Well, I said it first on your show, this will die of its own weight. It's happening faster than I thought and when the president said I understand he said that he knew nothing about the website. How can your whole administration be based on ObamaCare, the whole thing, your whole legacy is ObamaCare and you're not even enough involved to pick the people that are doing the website?
Why didn't he pick Google? Why didn't he pick Microsoft? Why didn't he pick somebody? A couple of these companies would have done it for nothing. We're into the website for over a billion dollars. I have 60 websites. I don't think I spend anything. They just make them up, smart people in the office.
So we spent over a billion dollars. We were at $635 million, it was all screwed up. So instead of going out and getting somebody that knew what they were doing, they hired the same company to keep going. It's a real disaster. It's so embarrassing for the country.
VAN SUSTEREN: But the website is sort of the most visual problem is that the whole problem about where he would have had cancellation of policies even without a website that went kerplunk.
TRUMP: The website shows the incompetence and it's out there for everyone to see. That's what the problem with the web site is. It's a disaster, but also the website costing -- it will be over a billion dollars now. And you have a company that blows it. And I know a lot about websites. You don't fix websites. You start all over again. They're trying to fix it, too complicated to fix. You got to start it all over.
But why aren't they going out and getting some of our great -- they're using a Canadian come. Now I understand why the young woman who was the face of the Obama website, I mean, she's being harassed and that's totally understandable even using the woman. Everything they have done is so bad. It's just -- it's cartoonish except that it's affecting so many people so badly.
VAN SUSTEREN: The most important part is the fact that as you know it's affected so many Americans. A lot of people are terrified especially those who are sick and have had these individual policies canceled, but what about the political ramifications? The grandfather clause is for one year. We all know 2014 midterm elections are around the corner. Will this help the Democratic candidates? Will it give them enough cover?
TRUMP: First of all, there is a question as to whether or not he's even allowed to do that. He's changing the plan. So I don't know that he's allowed to do that. But on the assumption it doesn't make any difference, I think this is catastrophic for the Democrats. I think it will be catastrophic for Democrats. For a little while, a month ago go, we were all talking about the Republicans were in trouble.
They were never in trouble like the Democrats are in trouble right now. I think ObamaCare and this whole situation, the gross incompetence of what everybody has been watching, everybody has been reading about and seeing, nothing else people are talking about. I think it's a disaster if you're a Democrat and you want to get elected or reelected.
VAN SUSTEREN: The president apologized again today. Two questions, one is has he apologized enough and two, is there anything that he can say for this in your mind?
TRUMP: It's not a question of apologize. It was a lie. There is no question about it. It was over and over and over again it was a lie.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why?
TRUMP: He said things that weren't true.
VAN SUSTEREN: But why would he lie? Why would he have lied?
TRUMP: I think he lied to get it passed because had the Democrats, I mean, the people have voted in favor, had known this was going to happen, he wouldn't have gotten it passed. If you think about it, had the Democrats known that this would have happened, he wouldn't have gotten nearly enough -- you have Democrats now that are against him more than the Republicans. So it was a lie that was made in order to get the legislation passed. It worked. The problem is the legislation doesn't work.
VAN SUSTEREN: Advice for the president today?
TRUMP: Drop back and punt. You'll have to get rid of ObamaCare as you know it today. I think you'll probably have to scrap the whole thing and start all over. People in this country were very happy with their plans. Many, many people were very, very happy. We could have better than even that. We could have great health care in this country if we knew -- if we had people that knew what they were doing. ObamaCare is a disaster. It's going to have to be scrapped.
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, nice to see you. Thank you.
TRUMP: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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