sink hole swallowed several vehicles. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. that does it for us. see you at 11:00 for another edition of "360." "cnn tonight" with don lemon starts now. >> it's 9:00 p.m. in new york where putin and obama are keeping each other at arm's length. this is "cnn tonight" i'm don lemon. donald trump stealing the spotlight revealing his tax plan today and telling erin burnett this about his own taxes. >> i will probably end up paying more money, but at the same time, i think the economy will do better, so i'll make it up that way. >> as ben carson rises in the polls, what will his views on muslims mean for america's relations with the muslim world and his chances for the white house as you look at live pictures of the white house right now.

we're going to begin with this, a man that wants to be in that white house, donald trump unveiling his tax plan and sat down with erin burnett today and she joins me now. so hello to you, very busy day. >> yes, a very busy day. >> walk us through the key points of the tax plan. >> look, this tax plan is a mix of populism and traditional conservative republican tenants. populism in that he says look, back in world war ii, only the top 1% paid incomes tax. when you look at the nitty gritty of the plan, supply side. cut taxes, the economy will grow so much as a result, guess what? we're going to have growth. >> is that like trickle down? >> so yes, if you don't like it, you call it trickle down, if you like it, you call supply side. look, he's going to close loopholes, some of them, not many. it's about growth. but businesses now they are only going to pay 15%. if you're very rich, you're currently paying 40, you'll be

paying 25 and for the populism point again, if you're in the lower middle income, middle income, he's going to have $31 million more additional households in the country will not pay tax under donald trump. so that's going to give a huge break to a lot of people. >> all right. >> so that's the main thing. so here is exactly how he said he thinks despite cutting these taxes, don, he's actually going to get more money, sounds like magic, right? is how he told me he would do it. >> all right. >> well, think it probably will do even more than before if you look at what is going to happen to the economy. the economy is going to be absolutely like a rocket, it's going to go up. this is my prediction. this is what i'm good at. this is my wheelhouse and i think you're going to create tremendous numbers of jobs. part of this and as you and i were discussing, i'm going to bring a lot of jobs back into the country because so many countries have taken our jobs and base and manufacturing. we're going to couple that with this tax plan but we're going to have a country that really is

going to rocket again and we haven't had that for a long time, erin. you know, one of the things i mentioned during the news conference was that phony number of 5 .3 and 5.4 and unemployment. it could be 25 or 30%. when you look for a job they consider you employed -- >> they don't count you as unemployed. >> tens of millions of people that couldn't find a job and then they will consider it essentially employed. so we're going to do something that's really great and this is the thing i like the most. i'll put people to work. i'll make and be great for business. i'll be great for business. and we're going to have an economy that really is going to be hot. >> you, will you pay more money? will it be millions and millions, hundreds of millions? how much will you pay? >> i will probably end up paying more money but at the same time, i think the economy will do better. i'll probably end up paying more money. i believe in the end i might do better because i really believe

the economy will go boom, beautiful. >> you can close loopholes to make money up that way. >> correct, we are doing that. >> and the cuts in and of themself can generate growth. >> growth is important. >> let's talk about the loopholes because i called up some economists that like your plan and one said i'm really confused by it. it's a bit of a mess because they want to know what loopholes they close. the mortgage interest is off the table. how can you get there without closing that? >> you have to do that because i would be very concerned if you do that, you're going to stop housing production and housing has had a lot of problems and you've reported on it better than anybody over the years but you can't take a chance on that. people need the mortgage deduction, mortgage interest deduction. >> where do you get the money -- >> one of the ways you'll get it is in my opinion, one of the ways to get it is look, many of your friends, they are hedge fund guys and have interest, deduction and a lot of

deductions that frankly, it's a joke. it's tremendous amounts of money and it's money that they really don't need. they want it because they are used to paying no taxes or very little taxes but not money they need. but the other thing so importantly and this is something that everybody agrees on for ten years, for years, the money that's outside of this country, nobody knows how much, they think it's $2.5 trillion. i think it's probably more than that but nobody knows. that money, erin, will come back interest the country and going to stay here and invest it here and frankly, from now on, when people make, when these companies make money outside of the country, they can bring it back in at a reasonable tax. the reason it stays there is the tax is so ownerous, massive tax they would have to be crazy to bring it back. i have a lot of money outside of the country and the last thing i'm doing is for me because it's not that kind of money but i have money outside. you can't get it back into the country. you fill out forms and do this. i think my people have been working on it for like a year and half.

when you make money outside of the country, you can't bring it back into this country. >> on the carried interest loophole. you'll close it. i have to use appropriate word campaigned about that on my own show. it's a smart thing to do, the right thing to do, a fair thing to do but doesn't bring in a lot of money. it doesn't pay for very much. >> it brings in psychologically when you have a hedge fund guy making $200 million a year and a huge loss, not a real loss, huge loss against his income and paying a low rate of tax, it's not fair and i think it says a lot. i think it tells people a lot and it's got to end and by the way -- >> you're right about that but how do you get the money then to make up for the trillions of dollars in tax cuts? because carried interest isn't going to do it. >> i agree. we're bringing in tremendous amounts of money and will create jobs. we're going to have an economy that's robust. there is no incentive. you'll have the opposite. in my opinion, if it stays the way it is, you'll have people,

companies, big companies, you know the ones talking about leaving, they are leaving the country going to others to get their money, number one and probably maybe that isn't even number one, it's because they have a better tax rate outside of the united states and you have major companies that want to leave our country and it used to be they leave for florida or texas. they are leaving now and getting out of the united states. >> ireland, going somewhere. >> ireland is a prime suspect. ireland is really doing a lot of business. >> apple will pay more taxes after donald trump's plan. >> apple will pay some taxes. >> the biggest company with money overseas. >> apple has tremendous money over seas and will bring it back and you know there is going to be a 10% tax on that money but at least that's reasonable. they will bring it back and invest the money mostly here in my opinion. mostly here. they can invest it elsewhere but mostly here. >> how will it be different than what george w. bush did it. estimates are 9 2% of the money.

why would it be different? >> first of all, we'll create a great incentive but if it does go to shareholders, you'll have people stock owners of the company will get x dollars and go out and buy things and that's going to be good. >> really, really great interview and it was interesting to see him in that -- he was very knowledgeable about the tax code. is it doable, though? >> that's the big question. i know you'll talk to grover, some people say yes, it's doable but a lot of people i talk to and people that like plans like this are extremely skeptical because you're talking about trillions of dollars of tax cuts. closing a loophole here and there isn't going to make up for that and they might be looking at needing growth numbers we haven't seen in a generation in this country to get there. so, you know, it's going to be incredibly difficult. >> this is about the economy doing really well. >> he's bringing jobs home and if those things happen, yes, but

a lot of ifs. >> we're not done. stick around. bill clinton has surprising things to say about donald trump when we come right back, we'll talk about what trump thinks of the clintons, okay? plus ben carson doubling down on his comments about muslims. will it hurt or help his race for white house? that's next. so you're a small business expert from at&t? yeah, give me a problem and i've got the solution. well, we have 30 years of customer records. our cloud can keep them safe and accessible anywhere. my drivers don't have time to fill out forms. tablets. keep it all digital. we're looking to double our deliveries. our fleet apps will find the fastest route. oh, and your boysenberry apple scones smell about done. ahh, you're good. i like to bake. add new business services with at&t and get up to $500 in total savings.

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donald trump is getting a compliment about his campaign

style from a somewhat unlikely source. here it is. >> he's got a lot of pizazz and zip. he's branded himself in a clearer way. and he's generated some excitement and it remains to be seen what's going to happen. >> so former president bill clinton says he thinks that trump could be the gop nominee, back with me now, erin burnett sat down with donald trump today. you talked to him about that. what did he say? [ laughter ] >> what? what? >> well, you know, it was interesting. he said he likes bill clinton, right? but he wanted to distance himself a bit. saying he hadn't talked to him in a long time. >> backhanded compliment? >> i get the feeling they could be locker room buddies. i get the feeling they liked each other but -- [ laughter ] >> he also said some things i think is pretty clear about bill clinton is not going to like to hear. want to hear them? >> yes. >> okay, here we go. >> i haven't spoke ton him for a long time and actually, he

wanted to know what i was going to do and it was a long time ago he called. i haven't spoken to him for a long time. i always respected him. i've actually liked him over the years but when we look at what is going on in the world, when we look at the job that hilary did as secretary of state, she goes down as perhaps the worst secretary of state in history, and when i run against her evenly in the polls, i'm doing very well against hilary and beating her probably, though, i will tell you you're talking about the iran agreement. i think kerry is maybe going to take her place as the worst because of this agreement. i think it's going to go down as the worst agreement in history. as far as hilary is concerned, number one if she gets to the starting gate which is questionable, it is to me a big question but i don't think she'll be very difficult to beat. >> why? why don't you think -- >> because she's done such a poor job as secretary of state and the worst job. erin, if you look throughout the world, during her reign and the reign of obama, the whole world

is blowing up. we've lost our friendships. we've lost everything. the whole world, syria, these were things that we wouldn't even be questioning. so many bad, libya and so many bad decisions were made going here, going to libya, now it's a disaster. every place that we've touched, every single place, we gave up on egypt. we didn't back people on egypt. the people that were relying on backing. so many things that we've touched, the way i look at it, everything, i mean, nobody can tell me one thing that's been done in the last six years foreign policy-wise that worked out. >> so in the polls you're the front runner, right, and when they put you head-to-head with hilary, you still lost by a bit. some gop candidates didn't. what would you do to turn that around? >> in other polls, other than the cnn poll i beat her. i'm not interested in thats is spect. >> keep your stride the same -- >> the same amount of people and

get there first. i think hilary in a certain way will be easier than anybody else but most of the polls i beat hilary and i just view -- look, i have a certain number of people i'm running against now. one by one they drop out. >> who is next to drop out? >> well, you got so many of them doing so poorly that didn't expect to do. rand paul is doing horribly. he was supposed to be a leader and he's down to 2%. you have so many, guy like marco rubio is a lightweight. i can't imagine he goes anymore. who, by the way, has the worst voting record in the united states senate. he's got the worst -- >> not voting. >> worst attendance record. you got to vote. people elect you to a position you got to vote. bu bush sadly is a nice guy but doing poorly. the interesting thing is everybody that attacked me, bobby jindal, perry, every single person that's got -- senator lindsey graham. in south carolina i'm at 34.

he's at 3 and he's the sitting senator from south carolina but all of these guys are out. even walker and i think he's a nice person but he attacked me, i attacked him. he left the race. so far attacking me has not been a good idea. seriously, five people. every single person that's attacked me is either gone or i mean, either collapsed like in the case of bush at 22, 24 and at six or five. i don't know what is going on. i don't know. look, i'm doing this simply i want to make america great again. i'm great at things and get along with politicians and believe it or not, i have a great temperament for this stuff. they do respect me. in this building i have some of the largest chinese banks in the world and they are happy to pay me rent every month and i'm critical of china. people say how can that be -- >> when people say the temperament question before we go, they say look, this is a guy

that will call someone a loser and say something -- >> this is a campaign. >> they say that's childish and say that's not the temperament of a president. >> probably is but this is a campaign and usually and i think you know this better than anybody, i'm responding to them. i'm a counter puncher. >> he's a counter puncher and you talked to him because he mentions pretty much all of his rivals, right? >> pretty much. >> when you talk to him about temperament because that's a big question from every single interviewer, what did he say? >> he said look, he thinks he has the temperament to be in the white house. one thing he said, two things about the interview, one, he did make an effort and i think succeeded as coming across as more substantive and more moderate. >> i agree. >> so i think he succeeded in that, which is significant because he needs to turn the conversation about his temperament around. you don't want to come off as an erratic bully but thoughtful, the counter puncher, not the puncher. he's certainly trying to make that transition, at least it seem that way to me. he was in his wheelhouse when he was talking about the economy.

and he clearly has put a lot of thought into foreign policy, as well, right? willing to say he takes vladimir putin eastside on bashar al-assad as an example. he's there it seems now to try to maybe in reaction to poll numbers that have come down. >> but still the front runner. >> still the front runner. >> time to own it. you have the job, basically. >> now you have it, you don't want to punch at people below you. you want to consolidate and grow and that's clearly what he's trying to do. >> nice work. nice work. >> thank you, great to see you. >> great to see you and have you back. it's always an interesting day when you get to interview donald trump. i liked doing it. >> he's a fascinating person and seeing him in person and how he operates and how his mind works, it is a very interesting thing. >> yeah, thank you. >> all right, thanks, good to see you. >> welcome back. everything is good? >> everything is good, two little ones. >> now that donald trump revealed his big tax plan, the big question can it work?

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just into cnn, a fugitive on

the run since 1 900 -- 1990 was featured "the hunt," the task force played an important. we want to get back to donald trump's tax plan. he says it will not only give relief to most americans, it will simple fie ty the tax code the board. let's talk about it with the spokeswoman of the tea party leader form and joe is a columnist for "the new york times" and sarah murray a political reporter. sarah, what are tax experts saying about donald trump's tax plan? >> they are saying in many ways it's a traditional republican plan. it does simple fy the tax code

shrinks from seven rates to four but are saying this is a big cut for the wealthiest americans, and donald trump does that by reducing the top tax rate from 40% to 25% but also does that in a potentially more interesting and a little bit trickier way, which is that business tax cutter racu ccu cut erin was talking about. if you're a wealthy individual and say look, i'm going to go into business for myself and start l.l.c. you could pay a 15% tax rate rather than 25% tax rate. in that sense, it could be a bigger cut for wealthy individuals than we were talking about earlier today, don. >> joe, here is what donald trump says. he says under his tax plan, the economy will take off like a rocket. what are your thoughts? >> first of all, it won't. second of all, we're going to triple the deficit because he actually has absolutely no way of raising the kind of revenue that you would need to raise with the tax cuts that he

proposed and i might add even the quote unquote hedge fund guys that he's always going after, you know, they are actually going to see their income taxes probably go down rather than up because of the huge cut on the top marginal tax rate. so the idea, it's a classic idea, you lower taxes, you got economy growth and tried it and tried it and tried it. it doesn't work. >> joe is saying it isn't going to work. your response? >> i'm going to have to side with the tax experts that like it across the board. it's getting a lot of rave reviews for people doing this for a long time. this is donald trump's wheelhouse as everyone is calling it, but here we go, don, he did it again. people have been asking for points and policies and specifics and now we have it. everyone is loving it across the bored and it's not a populous idea he took. important to point that out. >> a lot of people are saying it's populous.

>> i don't agree. >> sarah, never ask a question you don't know the answer to but i think the know the answer. trump hasn't disclosed more details as katrina said about his actual policies. what is he doing, why is he doing this now? why is he starting with taxes? >> well, i think the reality is we've seen him sort of roll out a couple plans like immigration for instance that launched his campaign but taxes really are in his wheelhouse. you can tell i've been traveling with him a lot. this is something he cares about and thinks about on a daily basis. all of a sudden, he'll be giving a stump speech and talk about tax inversions. donald trump is familiar with the tax code and dealt with this individually and with his various business enterprises. when you are a serious candidate for president and start rolling out policy, and you are the republican front runner, that invites more scrutiny and i think that's what he's getting now and it's not every expert that's coming out, it's not even every republican and economist

coming out saying this is a great plan. i talked to republicans that aren't sure what donald trump was trying to accomplish even though following through with many things republicans like like sweeping across the board tax cuts. >> you said the hedge fund guys would not like this plan. his plan would lower taxes for a lot of middle class and this is why i think he did it in part. a lot of middle class and working americans and that is very appealing to them. >> well, sure, everybody wants lower taxes and if you're a politician that offers lower taxes, you try to make everybody happy. i did not say the hedge fund guys wouldn't like it. i think they will. for all his rhetoric about hedge funds, he's actually going to lower their income taxes with his plan. you know, everybody keeps saying this is in his wheelhouse. he hasn't listed a single serious deduction that would make up for the revenue that he's going to give up through this tax plan. so i mean, i find it hard to take it seriously and i'm kind

of surprised more people are taking it seriously -- >> i didn't mean to misquote you -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> sarah and katrina, go ahead. >> it's not surprising to see a presidential candidate not list detections. we saw the same thing with mitt romney that said he would pay for his tax plan by cutting deductions on the wealthy and he didn't explain who those deductions were because it's not politically popular, not because candidates don't know which ones they are aiming for. >> go ahead, katrina. >> he talked about business incentives, which tax experts said could bring $2 trillion back to the states. i think that's a big deal and we should be looking at that. when we talk about the tax cuts for the hedge funds, he's talking about capping out at 25% in income. it's the other revenue that comes in that's maybe taxed at 15% that will be taxed at 25%. >> he's going to help from democrats if elected. will he get enough democrats to pass this plan you think? >> i think so.

if you look what everybody is talking about today, we seen across the board there are people saying this is a good idea and the populous idea would be to eradicate the irs and implement a fair tax. he actually keeps brackets in place and people are liking what they are hearing. >> let me ask all of you, sarah, realistic is it possible to raise enough revenue to offset the drastic tax cuts? >> i did not talk to a single tax expert today that said they thought that he would be able to do that. i mean, they did say the same point joe made, he's not specific about the deductions he would get rid of on highest earners but found it difficult to envision any deduction he left on the table that you could cut that would make up for it. >> joe, you believe similar to that? >> there just aren't enough deductions in the tax code to make up for what he -- for the revenue he's going to give up. let's acre knowlednom le, ma'am

knowledge that. >> there are deductions and loopholes. let's not forget about leaving out the special interest. >> never say never. joe, you have been quite critical of donald trump's business skills but he's not the only one you criticized. carly fiorina has drawn fire from you, too. >> absolutely. she was a disaster in the five years she ran hewlett packard. her criticism of trump is correct that his companies went bankrupt four times and his criticism of her is correct that she drove hewlett packard into the ground. it's, you know, quite a pair. >> katrina, you know, the latest poll from nbc, nbc and wall street journal was released yesterday. trump is virtually tied with ben carson, carson at 20%, trump 21%. is he losing his edge in the polls or do you think this is a natural leveling out of this race? >> well, i think this is a natural leveling out, but i would also say anyone that's not

a billionaire criticizing a billionaire for being a bad business person is probably not up to good taste, but the polls are doing well, i think. i think with ben carson coming out there, he, too, is coming under criticism. i like the fact carly fiorina is rising in the polls because we have to vet all of the candidates and i like mr. trump getting to take a break every now and again but seems to make headlines every day. >> sarah, i'll ask you the same question about the polls as a political reporter, natural leveling out or something that donald trump should be worried about? >> you know, i think the reality is we're starting to see people tune in and look at more candidates who do not fit the establishment mold, they are anti establishment but i do think if you're donald trump you're facing your first serious challenge. it's the first time that since he's risen in the polls he seen other people catch up with him and hard to say that's not something he should be worried about. rick santorum was not leading in the polls until just before, i mean, ten days, two weeks before people went to the polls in

iowa. so i can not stress how early it is. >> great panel. thank you, appreciate your input. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, dr. ben carson goes one on one with cnn, does he stand by his comments about not supporting a muslim for president? stick around and find out. whatever you're doing, plan well and enjoy life... ♪ or, as we say at unitedhealthcare insurance company, go long. of course, how you plan is up to you. take healthcare. make sure you're covered for more than what just medicare pays... consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company... the only medicare supplement plans that carry the aarp name, and the ones that millions of people trust year after year. it's about having the coverage you need... plan well. enjoy life. go long. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets.

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dr. ben carson has been in the middle of a storm of controversy ever since his comments about not being able to support a muslim candidate for the president. our very own jake tapper sat down with the candidate. listen. >> you said last week quote, i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation, i absolutely would not agree with that. >> i would advocate people go back and look at the transcript. >> should a president's faith matter? should you faith matter to voters? >> i guess it depends on what that faith is. if it's inconsistent with the values and principles of america, it should matter but if it fits within the realm of

america and constitution, no problem. >> do you believe islam is consistent with the constitution? >> no, i don't. i do not. i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would not agree with that. >> i want to ask about islam, if you thought islam is conductive to the constitution and you said must almolims muslims, you would have a muslim being president. >> i would have problems with somebody that embraced the doctrines associated with islam. if they are not willing to reject, you know, sharia and all the portions of it that are talked about in the koran, if they are not willing to reject that and subject the that to american values and the constitution, then of course i wouldn't and i will ask you, would you be willing to do that? would you be willing to advocate for somebody that would do that? probably not. >> i don't assume because somebody is muslim, they would

put their religion ahead of the u.s. constitution and the u.s. constitution says no religious tests. >> except i already said before that that anybody from any religion from any background, if they are -- i told you what the criteria were. i told chuck todd what the criteria were. he's asking this out of that context. >> you don't think in any way you said anything that could have been said more clearly about muslims? >> i made it very clear -- >> because you seem to be singling out muslims as individuals who automatically as a knee jerk would put the religion ahead of the country and i think that offended a lot of people, including a lot of patriotic muslims. >> i think the statement stands. is it possible that maybe the the media thinks that it's a bigger deal than the american people do? >> i think -- >> because american people, the majority of them agree and understand exactly what i'm saying.

>> i think i've seen from, heard from a lot of people who don't think that muslims can be patriotic and i don't know if i were running for president -- >> of course muslims -- i have -- i've worked with muslims. i've trained muslims. i've operated on muslims. i have a lot of muslims that are very patriotic, good americans and they gladly admit at least privately that they don't accept sharia or the doctrines and they understand that islam is a system of living, and it includes the way that you relate to the government, and you cannot, unless you specifically deny that portion of islam be a muslim in good standing. now, if that is the case, if you're not willing to reject

that, then how in the world can you possibly be the president of the united states? >> so you are saying that there is something specific about being a muslim that you have to reject islam in order to be a president? >> well, you have to -- you have to reject the tenants of islam. yes, you have to. >> and that's different from an orthodox jew or devote christian. >> many there is a devote christian whose running and they refuse to reject the ideas of our constitution or if they want to establish a i cannot advocate for them. >> i guess the point is you're suggesting muslim americans automatically want a thecocrocy. >> tenants of islam, are you

familiar, the corpus jurus from the group of people that make the rules from the tenth century. >> i'm familiar with extremist interpretations. >> i'm not talking about extremists interpretations but what is required. you have to make a specific decoloration, and decision to reject the portions of it. >> what portions of it? >> the portions of it that tell you how you treat women. the portions of it that indicate that the people who are not believers are subject to different rules, that they can be dominated. >> i think one of the things is you are a member of a church that there is a lot of misinformation about the seventh day church, you're african american. you know what it's like for people to make false assumptions about you. and you seem to be doing the same thing with muslims.

>> in which way am i making a false assumption? >> you're assuming muslim americans put their religion ahead of the country. >> i'm assuming if you accept the tenants of islam that you have very difficult time abiding under the constitution of the united states. >> okay. >> this interview is over. >> okay. >> thank you. >> thank you, dr. carson, appreciate it. >> coming up, reaction to that interview to carson's comments, will his remarks hurt him in the polls? we'll discuss. ♪ it's the final countdown! ♪ ♪ the final countdown! if you're the band europe, you love a final countdown. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do.

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c ben cdr. ben corarson's c may have offended people but haven't hurt him in the polls. ryan is here, cnn political commentator and correspondent for the new yorker. we didn't recognize because he's not wearing glasses and republican strategists mercedes is with us. i almost didn't recognize you without glasses. ben carson is the not backing down. what do you think? by the way, this interview is over. that was interesting.

>> it's over. i thought that was interesting, armstrong williams decided the questioning was too tough and ended the interview. >> i think they said quite honestly, it was because of time. >> that's always a stupid move. you think you help your boss by doing that but you're embarrassing him, right? nobody never looks good to pull the plug on a live tv interview. it only looks bad. that's obviously the biggest mistake in the interview. the biggest mistake is ben carson assuming that any muslim that runs for president in the united states is going to be some kind of jihad muslim extremist and that is the only brand of islam that exists and i think that's the sort of shocking thing is that someone as smart as ben carson is doesn't understand the different spectrum of opinion in islam. >> i want to hear from you rula, how did you interpret these remarks? do you think he said muslims

cannot put their religion ahead of the u.s.? >> ben carson wrote a book in 2011 "america the beautiful" and talks about muslims and he says you can't paint 1.4 billion muslim in a philosophical brush together because they are different. he sounded more tolerant towards minorities and he's extreming toward the far right. he know this will get him vote. 39% of americans believe a muslim should never become president. this is the republican party. this is the base of the republican party and he's catering to them and actually rising in the poll because of that. >> rula, let's talk about -- >> make a lot of money when he drops out of the race because it's an industry. >> i want to continue on with you, rula, he says he's operated on and he knows, he's worked with them, he's known lots of muslims. he said privately they say they rejects the tenants of islam and

sharia and says that is what one would have to do in order to be president. is he correct? do people say i reject the tenants of islam and do you think people have to do that to be president? >> i i don't think -- i think he doesn't understand the constitution of this country. and he's -- what he's saying is really more dangerous with what we think. what he's saying basically, these are fifth columnists that are basically jihadists hiding behind and what they are saying is not what they are thinking. not only that, these are the same bigotist arms used against jfk, john kennedy when they used to say, oh with b he will obey and beholden to a foreign leader, which is the pope, and beholden to a foreign country. luckily, history proved them wrong and it is wrong again. >> there is no religion as a qualification for the president. do you think that ben carson is asking muslims to take a litmus test? is that fair? >> it's absolutely not fair.

i mean, what does ben carson want? does he want the muslim to sign a pledge like we did with donald trump, you know what i mean? to go out there and say, look, you have to pick the constitution over your religion? we know that in our constitution that there is no religious test for running. and at the end of the day, you know there's plenty of muslims out there who love this country. he did use in his fund-raising letter, interestingly enough, saying that he's done with political correctness and he states very clearly that with the muslims, for example, that they would have to pick the constitution over sharia law. but the question is why is this -- this has become such a large issue for the ben carson campaign. and unfortunately it's distracting from all the other issues we should be talking about right now. >> it is tough. it has been tough for them to put this behind them and they will say it's because the media has glommed on to it and is

carrying like a dog with a bone. >> sure. you brought it up. >> he also says he's being taken out of context, ryan. >> no. >> is he -- listening to the comments and his qualification later? >> first of all, it was a great interview by jake tapper. he showed the comments by ben carson to chuck todd on "meet the press." it was not taken out of context. as the controversy has worn on, he tried to explain things a little bit more clearly. but what he originally said was that basically if you are a muslim, there is no way that you could abide by your religion and the constitution at the same time. now, look, not to defense ben carson in any way, or on this issue. obviously, if you are a religious extremist, if you are a christian reconstructionist that say we should institute the old testament law, i think a lot of americans would say, no, that's not good to be command

ner chief. the same thing if you are a religious extremist who observes a version of islam. we all would agree with that. what carson is saying is that that is pretty much the only strain of islam that exists. >> i want you to listen to this. right after carson made his muslim comments, his business manager, armstrong williams came on this show and dvenlded him. here he is. >> i don't think fear should be a place to motivate us, but because we are human and we see what we see and we hear what we hear and we witness -- i mean, daniel pearl being beheaded. "the washington post" journalist still in an iranian jail in iran. when you see jews and christians being kidnapped and beheaded like they have no value for human life, if more people were to be outraged and condemnation, maybe americans would continue to believe that you're outraged by the loss of human life and --

>> there is a distinction between islam and radical islam. >> listen, there are those of us, they embrace -- the issue is yes, there is a distinction. but the muslim community should do more of condemnation as well as the media. >> i don't know where this person is living, but that's -- >> modern muss -- excuse me, mod moderate muslims are not condemning moderate extremist. >> i don't know where he's living or what television he's watching, but he is into total denial. not only that, he's talking about crimes committed in iran and saudi arabia. what do muslims in america have to do with that? would we ever accept a presidential candidate that would apply the same rules, would say the same thing about jews and black? we would never tolerate them, would never respect them, would never even accept them. but we will shun them aside. we accepted against muslims because sadly, in the republican

base, this is what is appealing to them today. and not only that -- >> mercedes. >> i think that -- >> let me finish this, please, because it's very important. >> go ahead. >> what happened with trump, we are discussing the first part of what was said and trump endorsed, which is we have a problem called muslims. but there's a second part, how to get rid of them. in the realm of possibilities in a country that is very armed that somebody carrying a weapon would go to a mosque tomorrow or after tomorrow and would start soort shooting people and then these people would have blood on their hands, all of them. >> we certainly -- i've got to go, guys. we certainly don't want that to happen. but -- >> it's my -- >> and then -- >> i have to say that his campaign has raised $600,000 to $700,000. they raised $20 million in the last quarter. $600,000 to see 700,000 after his muslim comment. >> that's the republican base.

>> you can raise money from an intense minority, but that's not going to win it even in a republican primary. >> thank you very much. we'll be right back. the cold truth is, there's no easy way to do your job when you're sick. tough symptoms need alka-seltzer plus cold & cough it's four cold symptom fighters put you back in control. stay unstoppable. alka-seltzer plus. when a moment spontaneously turns romantic, why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use, is the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away

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president versus president, barack obama, vladimir putin go head to head at the u.n. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. the two leaders meeting face-to-face tonight for the first time in two years after clashing in their speeches in the general assembly over how to fight isis. >> i think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and his armed forces while -- terrorism face-to-face. meanwhile, donald trump -- tens of thousands of his own