will exist, but they do not exist now. to have a president forcing the israelis to the table is harmful to the israeli and to its enemies. >> if i become president of the united states, one of the things that will be an absolute priority is number one, protection of israel but also seeing if a deal can be made, the tough et ceteest deal, at t negotiation, but i would like to give it a shot. i have friend, israelis, non-israelis, happen to be jewish and love israel, every single one of them wants to ever see if we could ever have peace in israel.

some believe it possible. it may not be, in which case we'll find out but it would be a priority if i become president to see. >> do you agree that the palestinian authority is inciting this violence? >> no question. they were saying they i tend to go to the dome of iraq. thank goodness we worked with israeli to give them the iron dome where they can protect themselves against all the missiles that were flying in. can you imagine living in miami here and having people shooting missiles in? secondly, there was just an article where israeli were learning to rain underground in combat because hamas is digging tunnels trying to come in under israel. they're coming at this many from above, trying to come at them under the ground. i don't believe there is any long-term permanent peace solution. think pursuing that is a wrong

thing to do. i think everybody day supporting them with our 100% backing is the way to proceed in the middle east with regard to israel. >> senator cruz, i want to stay in the region. just this week there was a central command general lloyd austin essentially said it's going to take a lot more troops on the ground to fix -- to end the isis threat in syria and iraq. from the beginning of this campaign, you have said you will follow the judgment of military commanders and the pentagon. here's the commander saying a lot more troops are needed on the ground. will you follow that advice and inject americans again into what is in essence is metastasizing shi'a/sunni war. >> we need to do whatever we need to do to defeat isis. right now we're not using a fraction of the tools we have, not using our air power, not

arming the kurds. we need to put whatever ground power. a question that jake asked, we have our troops engaged in combat but president obama has rules of engagement that are so strict that their arms are tied behind their back, they're not able to fight, not able to defend themselves or kill the enemy. i have to tell you, hugh, i think that is wrong, it is immoral. i give my word to every soldier, sailor, airman and marine, every wife, husband, son and daughter, every mother and father that will end in january 2017. >> governor kasich, if it takes 20,000 or 30,000, if the pentagon says that's what needs to be done, will you follow their advice? >> hugh, i said all along and laid out my foreign policy, i'm going to remind everybody that 55% of the foreign policy experts in this country said i was the best to be commander in

chief. we absolutely have to win this with a coalition. arabs have to be with us, the europeans have to understand that this threat is closer to them -- is as close as it is to us. in addition to that, you have to be in the air and you have to be on the ground. and you bring all the force you need. it got to be shock and awe in the military speak. then once it gets done, and we will wipe them out, once it gets done, it settles down, we come home and let the regional powers redraw the map if that's what it takes. >> mr. trump, more troops? >> we really is no choice. we have to knock out isis. we have to knock the hell out of them, get rid of it and then come back and rebuild our country, which is falling apart. i would listen to the generals but i'm hearing 20,000 to 30,000. we have to knock them out fast. we're not allowed to fight. we can't fight. we're not knocking out the oil

because they don't want to create environmental pollution up in the air. these are things that nobody even believes. they think we're kidding. they didn't want to knock out the oil because of what it going to do to the carbon footprint. we don't fight like we used to fight. we used to fight to win. now we fight for no reason whatsoever. we don't even know what we're doing. so the answer is we have to knock them out, we have to knock them out fast and get back home and we have to rebuild our country, which is falling apart. >> thank you, mr. trump. let turn from current conflicts to those who have served had conflicts. senator rubio, according to a v.a. study of 22 veterans who commit suicide every day, they have no connection to the v.a.? what would you do to ensure the veterans get what they need?

>> my brother is a veteran. he's struggling with the v.a. we heard a horrible story, a headline in the "usa today" and it says calls to the v.a. suicide hotline went to voice mail. about a few days ago we found out one of the veterans who left a voice mail committed suicide and they happened to call him back the day after he died. people need to be held accountable for this. one of the things i'm proudest of is in my time in the u.s. senate working with jeff miller here from florida in a bipartisan way, and bernie sanders was a part of this, we passed a v.a. accountability bill. it gives the v.a. secretary the power to fire people that aren't doing a good job. senior executives should be held accountable if the v.a. outreach isn't working. no one being held accountable. even though we passed that law, no one has been fired for outreached, for that call going

to voice mail. when i am president, if you work at the v.a. and you are not doing your job, you will be fired from the v.a. >> as part of a an attempt to cut costs, the republicans voted to try to reduce spending in the post 9/111 era to reduce benefis to the g.i. bill. >> the veteran administration needs to be restructured, downsized and spread out. it needs to be so responsive to the need of the veterans. secondly, the pentagon need to share information with returning veterans, with the operations in the states and with the job people in the states so that when a veteran comes home, they can be linked with a job.

and when that happens, that means that every veteran will get work because they're our golden employees. no veteran out to be without health care, no veteran ought to be homeless or unemployed in the united states of america. >> let turn to another issue. just over a week from now president obama will visit cuba, the first time in 88 years a sitting u.s. president will set foot in cuba. two of you on it stage have parents that were born in cuba and moved to the united states. let's go to dana bash. >> senator rubio, donald trump believes with president obama in his decision to reengage diplomatically in cuba. the majority of americans seem to deal with that as well. why are they wrong? >> i would love a relationship between cuba and the united states to change. but it would require cuba to change, at least its government. today it has not. the fact of the matter is after these changes were made, there

are now millions and hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow to the castro regime. it will allow them to set permanent and in stone, carry out a transition where the military continues to run the country, they'll put a puppet figure forward to run the country, there as not been a single change on the island in human right. the only thing that has changed is now the cuban government has more sources of money from which to build out their oppressive apparatus and we asked nothingin return. compare that to the changes required in burma. they were required to make some democrat being openings. when there was a diplomacy being op -- diplomatic opening, it required a democratic opening.

it's harboring fugitives of american justice, including people stealing our medicare money and moving back to cuba, all in exchange for nothing. >> mr. trump, you said the concept of opening cuba is fine. you said the concept of opening cuba is fine. >> what i want is i want a much better deal to be made. right now cuba is making -- as usual with our country, we don't have people making good deals, we don't have a clue. i heard the threat was made that they want reparations for years of abuse by the united states and nobody's talking about it and they'll end up signing a deal and then we'll get sued for $400 billion or $1 trillion. all of that stuff has to be agreed to now. we don't want to get sued after

the deal is made. i don't agree with president obama. i do agree something should take place. after 50 years, it enough time, folks. but we have to make a good deal and get rid of all the litigation that's going to happen. this was just a little story but it was a big story to me because i said here we go, we make a deal and then get sued for a tremendous amount of money for reparations i want to do something but it's got to be done intelligently. we have to make a good deal. >> senator rubio, i know you want to get in. mr. trump, are you saying you would continue diplomatic relations or reverse them? >> i would want to make a good deal, a strong, solid, good deal. right now everything is in cuba's favor. every single aspect of this deal is in cuba's favor. it the same as the iran deal. all we do is keep giving. we give and give and give. >> mr. trump, there is an embassy. you would have to decide whether to have it open or close it.

which would it be? >> i would probably have the embassy closed until a really good deal was made and struck by the united states. >> first of all, the embassy, the the former caonsulate, it's the same building. we can just go back to calling it the consulate. secondly i don't know where they're going to sue us. cuba has free elections, cuba stops putting people in jail for speaking out, it kicks out the chinese listening station, it stops helping north korea evade u.n. sanctions, and they take the fugitives from justice, including the cop killer and send her back to the united

states, that's a good deal. >> senator cruz, if you become president, would you reverse course and once again break diplomatic relations with cuba? >> yes, i would. i think this highlights a choice for republican primary voters. when it comes to foreign policy, do you want to continue on the same basic trajectory as the last seven years as the obama foreign policy? when it comes to these deals, cuba and iran, they were negotiated by hillary clinton and john kerry. there's a really difference between us. donald supported hillary clinton and john kerry. and what he said right now is that he agrees in principle with what they're doing. the only thing he thinks is at that they should negotiate a little bit better deals, they should be more effective. i have a fundamental disagreement and i think most republicans and most americans do, that we shouldn't be allowing billions of dollars to go to nations that hate us to go

to cuba, to go to iran and to let them use those billions of dollars to try to murder us. >> well, if ted was listening, he would have heard me say something very similar. i said we would not do the deal unless it was going to be a very good deal for us. i said it loud and i think clear. i have many friend and own many properties in miami, many, many, and i have many people that know and they feel exactly the way i do, make a deal but it's got to be a great deal for the united states, not a bad deal for the united states. as far as iran is concerned, i would have never made that deal. it's one of the worst deals ever made by this country. for ted to say i agree with this deal, it a staple in my speeches that may be the worst single deal i've ever seen negotiated. so don't try to put it on me like i love it.

>> senator cruz, a response? >> it a matter of public record that donald supported john kerry in 2004 over george w. bush, he supported hillary clinton, gave her two checks in 2008, and once she was secretary of state, he described her as one of the greatest secretaries of state in industry. his answer is only if someone smarter was in government, things would be better. no. we need leaders who would protect american interests. when it comes to iran, giving the ayatollah khomeini over $100 billion, that reflects you do not understand the radical islam being terrorist that is the ayatollah that wants to murder us. we need a commander in chief that understands our enemies and doesn't give them billions of dollars to threaten our safety and security.

>> i was against the giving of the money at all cost. i said don't negotiate at all until you get the prisoner back. if the prisoners don't come back early three years ago, one of the longest negotiations i've ever seen, by the way, if they don't come back early, i was saying don't negotiate. they come back early. what you do is you take it back and you say either give us the prisoner or we double up the sanctions. what we should have done is doubled up the sanctions and made a much better deal. that deal is a disaster. ted, the money is largely gone because of incompetent and very, very poor negotiators, but that money, the $150 billion, is largely gone and already spent everywhere but the united states. >> let's refocus this back on cuba. governor kasich, a pair of entrepreneurs from alabama and north carolina have received approval to build the first u.s. factory in cuba making tractor for small farms. this is a direct result of

president obama's policy in cuba. if you were elected would you encourage more u.s. companies like that to do business in cuba? >> no, i wouldn't. if you talk to our friends around the world, they say what is america doing? you don't support us, we can't figure out where you are, you won't arm the freedom fighters in ukraine, we let the russians trump up some excuse in the business of russian-speaking people. you had a red line in syria. you walked away from it. you refused to fund the syrian rebels, you undercut egypt and woo e we ended up with the muslim brotherhood for while and we turn our back on netanyahu when he comes to congress to talk about the iranian deal. i know in human nature that sometimes there's a sense that you make better with your enemies than you do with your friends. you know what happens when you do that? you make a terrible mistake. you need to support your friends, hold your enemies out here and negotiate tough deals. the fact is they need to understand who we are.

the chinese understand. they don't own the south china sea. they have to stop hacking everything we have in this country or we'll take out their systems. we will arm the ukrainians so they have lethal defensive said. we will destroy isis and mr. putin, you better understand you're either with us or against us. we're not rattling a sword, you're not our enmiemy but we'r not going to put up with this any longer. where has america gone is what many of our allies say around the world? when i'm president, they'll know exactly where we are because we're coming back. >> while we're discussing issues of importance to floridians, i reached out to the republican mayor of miami to find out what he wanted to hear from you this morning. he told me, quote, climate change means rising ocean levels, which in south florida means flooding downtown and our

neighborhoods. it's an every day problem in our neighborhoods. as president, will you pledge to do something about it? senator rubio, the miami mayor has endorsed you. will you honor his request for a pledge and acknowledge the reality of the scientific consensus of climate change and pledge to do something about it? >> sure the climate is changing and one of the reasons is because the climate has always been changing. i think the fundamental question for a policy making is is the climate changing because of certainly we are doing and if so, is there a law you can pass to fix it? south florida was bit on land that was largely a swamp. i have long supported mitigation efforts. but as far as a law that we can pass in washington to change the weather, there's no such thing. on the contrary, there is laws they want us to pass, there are laws they want to us pass that would be devastating for our

economy or these programs like the president put in with the clean power act or all these things he's forcing down our throat on the war on coal. americans are going to pay the price of that. the cost of doing that is going to be rammed down the throat of the american consumer, the single parent, the working family who are going to see increases in the cost of living, the businesses that are going to leave america. you know what impact it would have on the environment? zero. because china and india will still be polluting at historic levels. i want to be a safe and clean place but these laws they're asking to pass will do nothing for the environment and will hurt and devastate our economy. >> just to clarify, when the republican mayor of miami, he's saying the scientific consensus is that man does contribute to

climate change. when you talk to him because he's the mayor of miami and he endorsed you, you say he's wrong? >> i would say there's no law we could pass that would have an impact on that. if you took the gift list of every one asking us to pass these laws, there would be no change. it would continue to go on. mrk america is not a planet. it's a country. here's what he will immediately -- he's a great mayor and a good friend but here's what he's immediately going to start hearing from. he'll start hearing from families in south florida who are barely making it by and now their electric bill went up $20 or $30 a month because we made it more expensive to generate power. that cost will be passed on to working families. i am not going to destroy the

u.s. economy for a law that will do nothing for our economy. >> i don't think it has to be either you're for environmental rules or u you're not going to have any jobs. in our state, we reduced emissions by 30%. we want to dig coal but clean it when we burn it. we believe in natural, in nuclear power, i believe in solar energy, wind energy, efficiency, renewables matter. now, it doesn't mean because you pursue a policy of being sensitive to the environment because we don't know how much humans actually contribute, but it important we develop renewables, a battery technology can unleash an entirely different world. the fact is you can have a strong environmental policy at the same time that you have strong economic growth.

they are not inconsistent with one another. >> senator cruz, i want to talk a little bit right now about how you gentlemen see the world. senator cruz, colin powell this week said the nasty tone of this presidential election is hurting image of the u.s. abroad, he said foreigners of the world looking at this are distressed. does it matter to you what the rest of the world thinks of the united states? >> of course it does. and we've seen for seven years a president that has made the presidency and has made sadly his administration a laughing stock in the world. this administration started with president obama sending back the bust of winston churchill to the united kingdom within the opening weeks. then he decided to go on a worldwide apology tour, apologizing for the united states of america. our friends and allies learned america could not be counted on. when i meet with heads of states

and defense minister and foreign ministers, they say it hard to be friends with america, america doesn't stand with us. but the good news is we've seen this before. we have seen a weak democrat being president undermine the military, weaken our readiness, weaken our respect with jimmy carter. that can change overnight. it worth remembering. iran released our hostages the day ronald reagan was sworn into office. and america needs a president who stands with our friend and allies as i will do and who stands up and demonstrates strength to our enemies. that's why on day one i will rip to shreds this cat traffic ir iranian nuclear deal because the

ayatollah khomeini can never be allowed to get nuclear weapons. >> you have said positive things about putin as a leader and about china's massacre of pro-democracy protesters at tiananmen square. you said when the students poured into tiananmen scare, they almost blew it, they were vicious and then they put it down with strength. >> that doesn't mean i was endorsing it. i said it was a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength. it doesn't mean at all i was endorsing. as far as putin is concerned, i think putin has been a strong leader for russia. he's been a lot stronger than our leader and that doesn't mean i'm endorsing putin. >> many have looked at what the chinese have done and what putin is doing is atrocities. >> i used to think merkel was a

good leader and what she's doing is an atrocity. i can name many strong leaders, i could name many weak leaders. i don't say that as a good way or bad way. i say it as a fact. >> governor, you were outspoken about the tiananmen square massacre. what do you think? >> i think that the chinese government butchered those kids and when that guy stood in front of -- that young man stood in front of that tank, we ought to build a statue of him over here when he faced down the chinese government. now, i will tell you i don't believe that we need to make china an enemy. they're a competitor. but i want to go back to three things they should do. we should have the heat on them to work in north korea to get rid of that guy and the things that he's doing, number one. number two, they need to realize they don't own the south china

sea. i will compliment the administration for sending a -- carrier battle group into the south china sea. and, thirdly, when it comes to the issue of cyber attacks, we're going to have to beef up the cyber command. they need to understand if you attack us, we will defend our se -- ourselves, including our grid. the president has not given the cyber command that authority and i will. when it comes to trade, they can't manipulate their currency. that would not be anything i would allow them to get away with. if i saw them doing it, i would take immediate action and make sure the american worker is protected. >> thank you, governor kasich. when we come back, we'll have more from the republican presidential debate from miami, florida.

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welcome back to the cnn republican presidential debate in miami, florida. mr. trump, i want to start with you in in block. earlier today a man was arrested and charged with assault after sucker punching a protester at your rally. today hillary clinton, your potential general election opponent clearly indicated see sees this as an issue for the campaign. she said "this kind of behavior is repugnant, we set the tones for our campaigns, we should encourage respect, not violence." do you believe you've done anything to encourage this kind of violence? >> i hope not. i hope not. we have 25,000, 30,000 people, they come with tremendous love and passion for the country. you're mentioning one case, i haven't seen, i heard about it, which i don't like. when they see what's going on in

this country, they have anger that's unbelievable. they love this country. they don't like seeing bad trade deals, higher taxes, they don't like seeing a loss of their jobs where our jobs have just been devastated. and i know -- i mean, i see it. there is some anger. there's also great love for the country. it's a beautiful thing in many respects. but i certainly do not condone that at all, jake. >> some of your critics point to points you've made at these rallies including february 23rd, i'd like to punch him in the face referring to a protesters. february 27th, in the good ol' days, they'd have knocked him out of seat so fast. >> knock the crap out of them. knock the hell. i promise you i will pay for the legal fees, i promise, i promise. >> we have some protesters who are bad dudes, they have done bad things. they are swinging, they are really dangerous and they get in there and start hitting people.

we had a couple big, strong, powerful guys doing serious damage. if they're going to be taken out, to be honest, we have to run something. and it's not me. it's usually the municipal government, the police because i don't have guards all over these stadiums. we fill up stadiums. it's usually the police and, by the way, speaking of the police, we should pay our respects to the police because they are taking tremendous abuse in this country and they do a phenomenal job. so we should truly give our police, they're incredible people, we should give them a great deal more respect than they receive. >> senator cruz, are you concerned at all that these kind of scenes potentially hurt the republican party for the general election? >> listen, i think for every one of us, we need to show respect to the people. we need to remember who it is we're working for. you know, we've seen for seven

years a president who believes he's above the law, who basehav as an emperor, and he forgot he's working for the american people. turn the camera around here. how many of y'all feel disrespected by washington? washington isn't listening to the people. that's the frustration that is boiling over. and we need to nominate and elect a president who remembers he works for the people. you know, at donald's rallies recently, he's taken to asking people in the crowd to raise their hand and pledge their support to him. i got to say to me i think that's exactly backwards. this is a job interview. we are here pledging our support to you, not the other way around.

[ cheers and applause ] the only hand raising i'm interested in doing is on january 20, 2017 raising my hand with the left hand on the bible, pledging to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of united states. >> if you'd like to respond. >> it shows the total dishonesty of the press. we were having on a few occasions massive crowds. i'm saying who is going to voton tuesday? the place goes crazy. then i say, hey, do me a favor. do you swear you're going to vote for a democrat? everyone's laughing, we're all having a good time. that's why i have much bigger crowds than ted, because we have a good time at mine. but we're all having a good time and the next day on the "today" show and a couple of other place, not too many, they had still pictures of people and they tried to equate it to nazi,

germany. it is a disgrace. it was a total disgrace. and i've had reporters, people that you know, come up to me and said that -- what they did on the "today" show was a disgrace. >> governor kasich, do you worry about the scenes of violence at some of these rallies affecting the republican party's chances in november? >> i worry about rally violence period. elections are important but the unity of this country really matters. jake, here's what i think is happening. there are people out there who are worried about their jobs. they're worried somebody is going to come in and tell this many they're out of work and they're 54 years old and they don't know where they're going to get another job, a man and a woman. maybe they're worried about a trade deal, worried that their wages haven't gone up. they're worried that their kids went to college, you go to college, get a job, things will be great, they went to college, rang up debt and still living in

their parents' basement, seniors are worried about losing their social security. you can either prey on that and be negative about it or you tell people that these things can be fixed. if we're americans rather than republicans and democrats, we get together, we can solve all of these problems. we can provide financial security, we can drive wages up, get kids jobs with a more robust economy. they want to help solve these probably less right where they live and i'll give them the power to do it. >> senator rubio? >> i'm concerned about violence in general. the first people facing that violence are our law enforcement officers and they deserve our respect and our thanks for everything they do for us. on the issue of anger, yes, people are angry. of course they're angry. every institution in america have been failing us for the better part of 20 or 30 years. leadership is about using the anger to motivate us, not to define us, but to motivate us to take action. being here in miami is special.

my grandfather lived with us most of his life. my grandfather was born in 1899 before there were airplanes in the sky. one night in the summer of 1969, he watched a man set foot on the moon. you know what he said when he saw that? he said "americans can do anything." americans can do anything. there is no problem we cannot solve if we embrace all of the principles that made us great. >> thank you, senator. the math suggests that it possible that not one of you will reach the magic number of 1,237 delegates before the republican convention, which would mean a contested convention. let's go back to hugh hewitt. >> governor kasich, the math on the maps say you can only become the nominee if in fact there is a contested venconvention. why shouldn't the person with

the most delegates, even if it's not a majority of delegates be the nominee is. >> math doesn't tell the whole story in politics. the great thing about politics, the reason why we watch it is because what's true today is not necessarily true tomorrow so let's not get ahead of ourselves. secondly, look, when you went to school up there in salem, ohio, okay, if you got an 86, you got a b. because everybody else had an 84 didn't mean you got an a. so you just have to win enough delegates to be the nominee. and, frankly, i don't know if we're going to get a convention like that but if we do, i was at one in 1976 as a wee lad and supported ronald reagan and worked him. he lost, gerald ford served the country by pardoning richard nixon, but he healed the

country. we don't know what's going to happen. we still have about half the delegates to be selected. that's what's going to be a very interesting thing to see how it all turns out as we move forward over the next couple weeks. >> mr. trump, if you arrive in cleveland with a plurality and the most but not a majority, is it legitimate from someone else to emerges from that convention? >> i think that whoever -- first of all, i think i'm going to have the delegates, okay? i think. let's see what happens. let's see what happens. but if somebody doesn't have the delegates, and i guess there's two of us up here that can and there are two of us that cannot at this moment -- no, that's just -- by the way, that is not meant to be a criticism, that's just a mathematical fact, okay? if two of us get up there, i would say this -- if marco, if the governor, if ted had more

votes than me in the form of delegates, i think whoever gets to that top position as opposed to solving that artificial number that was set by somebody, which is a very random number, i think that whoever gets the most delegates should win. that's what i think. >> senator cruz, if you overtake donald trump at the convention, what would you do to take his passionate supporters and keep them from bolting the convention and sabotaging the fall election? >> there's some -- >> make me president. >> donald, you are welcome to be president of the smithsonian. you know, there are some in washington who are having fevered dreams of a broken convention. they're unhappy with how the people are voting and they want to parachute in their favorite washington candidate to be the nominee. i think that would be an absolute disaster. we need to respect the will of the voters. it's one of the reasons why in

the course of this election -- listen, everyone up here has worked very, very hard but dodged donald is right. there are only two of us that have a path to winning the nomination, donald and myself. at this point i have you roughly 360 delegates, he has about 100 more than i have. we have beaten donald in eight separate states all over the country, geographically from maine to alaska, so for the people at home, if you're one of the 65% of republicans who recognizes we nominate donald trump, hillary wins. that's why the media wants him to be the nominee so much. if you recognize that, then i want to invite you, if you've supported other candidates are come and join us. we are seeing candidates coming to the and uniting. it's why carly fiorina endorsed me yesterday, why mike lee endorsed me today. i ask everyone to come together

and stand together and beat hillary clinton in november. >> mr. trump. >> i listen and i watch ted on television when he speaks. he's always saying i'm the only one what beat donald? six contests and i beat him. but i beat him in 13 contests. he never mentions that. and another little minor fact. i have about 1,600,000 votes during this primary season, more votes than ted. the other thing is i beat hillary and i will give you the list, i beat hillary in many of the polls that have been taken and each week i get better and better. and believe me, i haven't even started on her yet. >> senator rubio. >> let me tell you what this election is about for me and i get all the delegate math and debate. on tuesday night i didn't do as well obviously as i wanted to and i was a little bit disappointed when i got home. and my wife told me a story that night, which is the reason why i

can get up the next day and keep fighting. there's a gentleman here in south florida who just got out of surgery. his doctors told him he needs to be home resting. every day he sits outside of a polling centers and holds a sign that says "marco rubio." for him i represent all the sacrifices his generation made so they can have a better lives. he has not given up on me and i am not going to give up on him. i believe that at the end of this process this nation will make the right choice because i've always believed that god has blessed america, that god's hand is upon this country and that its greatest days are yet to come. >> let's go back to steven dinan of "the washington post." >> you are largely self-funding your campaign. will you maintain your pledge

not to take outside contributions throughout the general election? >> i have not made that decision yet. i will make a decision on that. my decision is i would go through the entire primary season and i have turned down probably $275 million worth. i have many, many friends that come up all day long, $5 million, $10 million, i'm turning down money. i feel kind of foolish to be honest. i don't know if i get any credit for it but i'm self-funding my campaign. other than very small donations where people are sending in $200, $20, it not a large amount. i'm self-funding my campaign. i've been in this business a long time and i was on the other side until eight months ago i was on the or side. i made massive contributions, large contributions to politicians, both democrats and republicans. i was liked by everybody, which is an important thing. i will say this -- people control special interests,

lobbyists, donors, they make large contributions to politicians and they have total control over those politicians. i don't want anybody to control me but the people right out there. and i'm going to do the right thing. >> senator cruz, the vast majority of republicans and voters agree with mr. trump. do you deny those big donors do have influence? >> absolutely. it's what i've called the washington cartel. it's career politicians in both parties that get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests. donald told you for 40 years he's been sitting at that table using his money to buy influence, supporting liberal democrats like hillary clinton and john kerry, but also supporting the republican establishment and funding their effort to crush the tea party. and now his argument is after four decades of being part of

that influence buying, that suddenly he will change. but the interesting point is tonight he hasn't pointed to a single special interest he's willing to take on. he didn't take on wall street when he supported the t.a.r.p. bailout and my campaign was funded by 1.1 million contributions all across the country. $62 to tedcruz.org. >> these super pacs are a disaster, very corrupt. it's going to lead to lots of disasters. ted has super pacs and you have to look at the people giving to those super pacs. it's very important to do that. wi there is total control of the candidates, i know it better than probably anybody who has ever lived. i will tell you this, i know the system far better than anybody

else and i know the system is broken. and i'm the one because i know it so well because i was on both sides of it, i was on the other side all my life and made large contributions. frankly, i know the system better than anyone else and i'm the only one up here that's going to be able to fix that system because that system is wrong. >> thank you. at the last debate mr. rubio, you mocked mr. trump for being flexibility. how can you expect to lead the country and get things done if you're not willing to show flexibility. >> you can be flexibility about ideas but you shouldn't be fl s flexible about your principles. i owed over $100 in -- $100,000

in student loan debt. the act that deals with human trafficki trafficking, i did that on a bipartisan issue over. when it comes to repealing and replaces obama care, that's not going to be bipartisan. when it comes to shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy, that's probably not going to be bipartisan. there are issues we can work together on and we should, but there are fundamental issues about the proper role of government and on those issues, i will fight anyone who wants to expand government, raise taxes or weaken our military. >> mr. trump, i want to give you a chance to respond but specifically you talk about flexibility and one of the examples you gave is the height of the border fence. what are the other issues on which you're willing to show flexibility? >> it depends on what come up. we have a great president,

ronald reagan. we had speaker tip o'neill. they got along, had relationships and nobody is complaining about the deals that ronald reagan made and he made it with tip o'neill. we need to have people get together and work good deals out from our standpoint. and i'll tell you this, it can be done. we don't want to continue to watch people signing executive orders because that's not what the constitution and brilliant designers of this incredible document had in mind. we need people that can make deals and can work. right now in washington there's total, absolute gridlock. >> i want to go to governor kasich on this issues of flexibility, sir. >> my record speaks for itself. when i talk about tonight is not theory. these are things that i've done. i was there when we reformed the pentagon on a bipartisan basis to give control to the commanders in the field and force the services to work together. i was the chief architect along

with senator domenici the last time we balanced the budget and first time we walked on the moon. i was there for welfare reform in warm and eliminated entitlement on welfare, i worked in ohio -- my problem is people don't know this. they say does that mean you're too easy? when we did the balanced budget, we cut the capital gains tax, provided a tax credit and shrunk the government. the state of ohio has the smallest government in the state of ohio in 30 years. in regards to social security, we will not get that done alone. we will have to have some responsible democrats who will come in to fix the problem with social security. i know how to do it because i've done it and i'll do it again.

>> we have time for one last break. we'll be back after this. ♪ america, let's take a break from politics this month. let's have a few bud lights and focus on what unites us all. three weeks of non-stop basketball. yes! no! enough attack ads and name calling... yes, that was a foul you jerkface! yes! ♪

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and we're back with the republican presidential debate, just five days before the next primary elections, it is time now for closing statements. candidates, you will each have one minute. and we'll start with governor kasich. >> i'd like to say to all of you, the american people, i have run an unwavering positive campaign for president of the united states. i have tried to be positive in such a way as to show my record, my accomplishments, my vision. and i wanted to raise the bar in presidential politics so our kids can take a look at the way you can run for president and you will someday maybe be president of the united states.

sometimes being positive isn't all that interesting but it's very interesting to my family, children and my supporters that i meet all across the country. i will continue to run a positive campaign. i can fix the problems in washington, i've done it before. and, in fact, i want to turn power, money and influence back to you, the american people, so that you can be in the schools and on the streets fighting drugs and dealing with the issues of poverty. we can do this together. allow me to take care of the federal issues when i send the power back and the money and the influence to you and you can strengthen our nation and our neighborhoods and families. th that's where the spirit and strength of america is. ask my friends in illinois and my beloved buckeyes to consider me on tuesday and, please, let me have your vote. god bless. >> nsenator rubio. >> it's great to be back in miami. my father was