As the crowd is here. [chanting] january 1st, 53 Million People in the u. S. Had been talking about the election on facebook. Tonight, there are just four candidates on the stage. Their position has been determined by their standing in an average of the five most recent National Polls as recognized by fox news and conducted and released by march 1st. Here they are. Businessman donald trump. [cheers and applause] texas senator ted cruz. [cheers and applause] florida senator marco rubio. [cheers and applause] and Ohio Governor john kasich. [cheers and applause] tonights rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer. 30 seconds for each followup response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. [bell] so pleasant. We have a big crowd here. And while we expect the audience to be enthusiastic and responsive at times. And they have already been. We also expect them to it be respectful and we want the candidates to get their full time so somewhere between a library and a red wings game. Am i right . [cheers] lets get started. Mr. Trump, as you may have heard, the 2012 republican nominee for president mitt romney had some things to say about you today. [crowd boos] he said your domestic policy will lead to recession. He said your Foreign Policy will make us less safe, and then he listed what he said are your personal qualities, quoting now romney on trump, quote the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the 3rd grade theatrics. He challenged you to answer with substance, not insults. How do you answer mitt romney, sir . Well, look, he was a failed candidate. He should have beaten president obama very easy. He failed miserably, and it was an embarrassment to everybody, including the republican party. He went away it looked like he went away on vacation the last month. So i dont take that. And i guess obviously he wants to be relevant. He wants to be back in the game. As far as domestic policy and trade, which is killing our country, he said free trade. And i believe in free trade, also. If you look at china and look at japan and mexico, both at the border by the way where they are killing us, both at the border and with trade, and every other country we do business with we are getting absolutely crushed on trade. And he said free trade, i say free trade, great, but not when they are beating us so badly. With china we are going to lose 505 billion in terms of trades. You just cant do it. Mexico, 58 billion. Japan, probably about they dont know it yet about 109 billion. Every country we lose money with. As far as im concerned, we have got to reduce, we have to redo our trade deals 100 percent. I have the greatest people in the world lined up to do it. [bell] we will will great trade deals. [ cheers and applause ] mr. Trump, romney also talked about your position on race and the controversy over your failure to denounce david duke on sunday. You have repeatedly disavowed him since then. But i would like to go deeper than that. What are your views on the ku klux klan and white supremacist . I totally disavow the ku klux klan. I totally disavow david duke. I have been doing it now for two weeks. You are probably about the 18th person thats asked me the question. It was very clear. That question was also talked about in the form of groups. Groups. I would like to know which groups are you talking about . You have to tell me which groups. Ultimately he got to the ku klux klan which obviously im going to disavow. By the way if you look at twitter account almost immediately after the program they were disavowed again. Its amazing when i do something on twitter everybody picks it up, goes all over the place. When i did this one, nobody ever picks it up. Take look at my twitter account. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Senator rubio, three weeks ago you said, quote i dont do the personal attacks. Primarily because its not who i am. Because i think its beneath the office that im seeking but also because i dont want to embarrass my kids. But in the past week youve mocked mr. Trumps tan. Youve made fun of his spelling. You called him a con artist. You suggested he wet himself back stage at the last debate along with other vulgar jolts and jabs so what happens . Let me Say Something this campaign for the last year donald trump has mocked everybody with personal attacks. He has done so to people sitting on the stage today. He has done so with people disabled. He has done it with every candidate in this race. If theres anyone who has ever deserved to be attacked that way, its donald trump for the way he has treated people in this campaign. With that said, i would much prefer to have a policy debate. I hope thats what we will have here tonight. Lets have a policy debate. We will. Lets talk about Donald Trumps tragedy and my strategy and john kasichs strategy when it comes to isis and healthcare and the important issues facing this country. Lets be honest about these this too. The media has given personal attacks donald trump has made incredible amount of coverage. Lets Start Talking about the issues that matter to this country. Im willing to do this right here, right now tonight. Mr. Trump, your response . Well, i also happen to call him a light weight, okay. And i have said that. So i would like to take that back. He is really not that much of a lightweight. And as far as and i have to say this, i have to say this. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands . [ laughter ] and he referred to my hands if they are small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee you. Okay. Moving on. Okay, senator cruz, you say that you are the true conservative in this race. But 15 states have voted now, and you have won only four of them. You have lost repeatedly with what is supposed to be your core voter groups including evangelicals and conservatives. Hasnt your brand of conservatism been rejected by an electorate that appears to be more taken with mr. Trumps populist message . Well, megyn, you know at the end of the day for the folks at home, this is not about the insults back and forth between the candidates. This is not about what attacks we can throw at each other. This is the people at home who are struggling. Through seven years of barack obama, this is the single moms who are working two and three jobs, 28, 29 hours a week because their hours have been forcibly reduced because of obamacare. This is the Truck Drivers and Steel Workers and mechanics with calluses on their hands who have seen their wages not grow year after year after year while the cost of living goes up. This is all the young people coming out of school with Student Loans up to their eyeballs that arent able to find a job. And i dont think the people of america are interested in a bunch of bickering school children. They are interested in solutions, not slogans. Its easy to say make things better, make things great. You can even print it and put it on a baseball cap. The question is do you understand the principles that made America Great in the first place . As president , i will repeal every word of obamacare. I will pull back the regulators that are killing Small Businesses. And we will pass a simple flat tax and abolish the irs. And thats going to do, megyn. [bell] Small Businesses are going to explode. We will see millions of high paying jobs. We will see wages going up. We will see opportunity. Thats where our focus needs to be. Thats where my focus is. And that is why our campaign is the only campaign that over and over again has beaten donald trump to date, and its why we are the one campaign that Going Forward can and beat donald trump in this election. Go ahead, mr. Trump. I have heard ted say that over and over again on television, that he is the only one that can beat me. Just, for the record, i have won 10. He has won 3 or 4. Last week, in fact, on tuesday, i was a half a million votes higher than him. I was a million votes higher than marco. 1 million votes. Thats a lot of votes. And was by far in first place. So i keep hearing that he is the only one that can beat me but he is getting beaten very, very badly. So where does this come from . Where does it come from . Go ahead, senator rubio. I would say a couple of things. There is no doubt that donald has done well in these elections. There is no doubt about that. The numbers are there. Here is what the numbers also say, two thirds of the people who cast a vote in a republican primary or caucus have voted against you. They do not want you to be our nominee. The reason why is because we are not going to turn over the conservative movement or the party of lincoln or reagan, for example, to someone whose positions are not conservative. To someone who last week defended planned parenthood for 30 seconds on a debate stage. To someone, for example, who has no ideas on foreign someone who thinks the Nuclear Triad is a rock band from the 1980s. Time and time on issue after issue has not proven that he has the principles that outline what the conservative movement has been about and as ted said the things that made America Great. America is great because of the conservative principles of limited government and Free Enterprise and Strong National defense and our nominee needs to be someone that stands by those things. Donald has not demonstrated that. Go ahead, mr. Trump, and then we have to go to governor kasich. Very nice words but happens to be wrong. Cnn just came out with a poll two days ago, a National Poll, excuse me, a National Poll, a National Poll where he is at 15 . He is at 14 , and im at 49 . So when he says 75 , that would mean that 80 of the people dont dig you and im back down to 15 . Of all the people on the stage he performs worse than Hillary Clinton. Wrong, i beat Hillary Clinton in many polls. I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls. If you are our nominee. Hold on, senator. Keep on talking. I beat Hillary Clinton. Hold on, hold on. I hope you can. If the audience cannot understand when you are talking over each other. Finish your point, mr. Trump. I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls. The q poll just came out, i beat Hillary Clinton in a recent fox poll. I beat Hillary Clinton in u. S. A. Today. I beat her today in a poll in ohio. I beat im the only one that beats Hillary Clinton. I and i have not started on hillary yet. Believe me, i will start soon. I havent even started. Governor kasich . Governor kasich, today you admitted that you have a narrow path to the nomination through a contested convention. Today also mitt romney proposed that republicans should vote for senator rubio in florida. She should vote for you in ohio. They should vote for senator cruz in states that he can beat mr. Trump to prevent mr. Trump from getting the nomination. So, do you buy romneys blueprint and can you say tonight to your florida supporters that they should vote for senator rubio to get a contested convention . You know, this is so much about process. It frankly is boring to me. I would like it clear though since we are talking about polls, i beat Hillary Clinton by more than anybody, by 11 points. The reason it happens in in one poll. In one poll. The reason it happens because democrats tell me all the time, can i get the crossover votes. You see, because throughout this campaign, i have talked about issues. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums that we are seeing here on stage and people say everywhere i go, you seem to be the adult on the stage. [cheers and applause] in terms of, you know, mitt romney, hes a great guy. But he doesnt determine my strategy. The fact of the matter is im running for president because i worked hard to fix this country when i was in washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee where we had some of the most significant job growth after we balanced the budget. We had wages going up. It was very successful in ohio. Our wages grow faster than the national average. Were up over 400,000 jobs. We paid down back in the old days they paid down a half a trillion dollars of the national debt. Its a formula that works. And i believe that formula will work when i return to washington as the president. And, by the way, i wont need onthejob training because i know how to do all of this. And within the first 100 days i will have a plan that will pass the congress. [bell] because it is reasonable and i can bring both sides together. Governor, you say this is all about process, but for voters, they need to see a path to get to the nomination if theyre going to support you. On super tuesday, you finished in Single Digits in nine out of 11 states. So you concede that your path is through a contested convention. How do you get there . Bret, i think we are all already there. The simple fact is you all wrote me off. You wrote me off before i even got to New Hampshire. Then when i finished second in New Hampshire you wrote me off in the south. Then you wrote me off in super tuesday. I split delegates in vermont with donald trump. I finished second in massachusetts and we won delegates in virginia. Guess what, its now march madness and we are heading up north to the place, to my turf, okay . [cheers and applause] let me just tell you this, i will win ohio. Im going to move all across this country and over time as people begin to finally hear my message do you know what people say to me, bret, all the time . Why dont they give you any time on the debate stage . Why is that . Now all of a sudden im starting to get it, what i want people to know is i know how to bring people together, republicans and democrats. I have successfully, both at the federal. [bell] federal level and state level brought economic growth, wage growth and Economic Security to this country. And i want to go bang and do it back and do it again and message of bringing people together and motivating people in the neighborhoods to realize they dont need somebody from washington galloping in there are many things they can do where they live because the strength in our country is in our neighborhoods and our families. Im going to keep doing this. We want to focus now on the economy, which is one of the top issues on facebook with 6. 6 Million People discussing it online. A lot of that conversation is happening here in detroit where the Unemployment Rate is 10. 9 . Thats more than double the national average. Senator rubio, you have taken to calling mr. Trump a con artist who portrays himself as a hero to working people while he has really been in your words sticking it to the American Workers for 40 years. But he has built a big company that employs thousands of people. Question how many jobs you have created . First of all, government first of all, chris, my point is exactly right. He has spent a career of convincing americans that he is something that he is not in exchange for their money. Now he is trying to do the same in exchange for their country. This is a fact of the. He talks about great businesses he has built. He inherited over 100 million. With that money. Wrong. With that money he lost. Mr. Trump, its not your turn, sir. He can start tonight by announcing that all the donald trump clothing will no longer be made in china and mexico but be made here in the United States. On the issue of job creation, i find this interesting. The private sector creates jobs. The jobs of those of us in Public Service are to put in place policies that allow the economy to grow. Thats the problem with the democratic party. They think government is what creates jobs. Government does not create jobs. Now, the way you create jobs is you make america the easiest and the best place in the world to start a business or to expand an existing business. If you go on my website marcorubio. Com you will see a real plan to fix our tanks. Taxes. [ bell ] to roll back taxes. Fix obamacare. Not just lines around the United States. Serious proposals. Mr. Trump i would like to you respond. You have 30 seconds to respond. As part of that could you respond to his specific assertion about trump collection clothes, which you say some of it is made in mexico. This little guy has lied so much. Here we go. About my record. He has lied so much about my record. [crowd booing] senator rubio, why dont you let him finish. I will tell you this. First of all, i got a call from my sister and brother tonight, we said we had no idea dad gave you 200 million. Believe me i started off with 1 million. I built a Company Worth more than 10 billion. I say it not in a bragging way but thats the kind of thinking we need. Very low debt, tremendous cash flow. My financials are all they are all in there with the federal elections. You have seen them. Everybody has seen them. I say it only because thats the kind of thinking this country needs with 19 trillion in debit. Believe me. Wait one second. Specifically and quickly on the question, will you promise that you will and how soon will you move your clothing collection, the clothes that are made in china and mexico . They devalue their currencies i will do that. And by the way i have been doing it more and more. They devalue their currencies, in particular china. Japan is unbelievable what theyre doing. They devalue their currencies and they make it impossible for clothing makers in this country to do clothing in this country. And if you look at whats happened on Seventh Avenue and you look at whats happened in new york with the garment industry. So much of the clothing comes out from vietnam, china and other places. Its all because of devaluation. By the way, the transpacific, if you look at the tpp, a total disaster, which, by the way, marco is in favor of. They need it is a disaster for our country. [ bell ] its trying to be approved by various people, including president obama. And i will tell you something. The biggest problem with that is they dont take into concurrence the devaluation. Thank you, mr. Trump. Senator rubio . And they are killing. Wait, senator rubio. The answer is he is not going to do it. And you know why . Because there are plenty of clothing makers in america. If you go on my website marcorubio. Com, everything we have on there is made in america. The reason he makes it in china or mexico is because he can make more money on it. Thats why he is doing it the second point, you see what happens again if when you challenge him on a policy issue. You ask him about the economy and the first thing he does is launch an attack about some little guy thing. Because he doesnt have answers. No, no. I have good answers. And hes asking us to make him the president. You havent employed in your life one person. Ive employed tens of thousands of people. You havent employed one person. You ever heard of trump state . Trump vodka . Youve ruined these companies. Mitt romney came up with things that were false. Totally false. And now, the funny thing is, he didnt talk about the hundreds of really successful jobs, the buildings all over the world that have made a fortune. He doesnt talk about that. I have a policy question for you, sir. Lets see if he answers it. I will. Dont worry about it, marco. Dont worry about it. Dont worry about it, little marco, i will. Big donald. Dont worry about it, little marco. Youve got to do better than this. The number one absentee record id like to ask you a policy question. Your proposed tax cuts thats why the people of florida do not like him. Mr. Trump, your proposed tax cut would add 10 trillion to the nations debt over ten years, even if the economy grows the way that you say it will. You insist that you could make up for a good deal of that, you say, by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. Correct. Like what . And please be specific . Department of education. Were cutting common core. Were getting rid of common core. Were bringing education locally. Department of Environmental Protection. We are going to get rid of it in almost every form. Were going to have little tidbits out, but well take a tremendous amount out. We have various other things. If you look at the irs, if you look at every single agency, we can cut it down, and i mean really cut it down and save. The waste, fraud, and abuse is massive. Larry kudlow, great guy, everybody respects him, said my plan for taxes and tax cutting is the best by far of everybody. [ applause ] but mr. Trump, your numbers dont add up. Please put up full screen number four. The Education Department you talk about cutting. The total budget for the Education Department is 78 billion. That includes pell grants for low income students and aid to states for special education. I assume you wouldnt cut those things. The entire budget for the epa, the Environmental Protection agency, 8 billion. Okay. The deficit this year is 544 billion. Thats more than a half trillion dollars. Your numbers dont add up, sir. Let me explain something. Because of the fact that the pharmaceutical companies are not mandated to bid properly, they have hundreds of billions of dollars in waste. We dont bid properly. We dont have proper bidding procedures. The reason we dont is because they take care of all of the senators, all of the congressmen, and they dont bid. Mr. Trump excuse me. Youre talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. No, youre not. Of course, you are. No, youre not, sir. Lets put up full screen number two. [ applause ] you say that medicare could save 300 billion a year negotiating lower drug prices. But medicare total only spends 78 billion a year on drugs. Thats the facts. Youre talking about saving more money on medicare im saying saving through negotiation throughout the economy. Youll save 300 billion a year. And thats a huge were going to buy things for less money. Of course it is. The only drugs that we pay for is through medicare. Im not only talking about drugs. Im talking about other things. Well save more than 300 billion a year if we properly negotiate. We dont do that. We dont negotiate. We dont negotiate anything. Can i no. I promise ill get to you in a moment. Senator cruz, one of the centerpieces of your campaign, you mentioned it again tonight, is that you will abolish the irs. [ applause ] question, though. Who will collect the taxes that youre still calling for . Who will oversee to make sure that people pay the taxes that they rightfully owe, and who will check on the various Tax Deductions and tax credits that you still want . So, my simple flat tax i have rolled out in precise detail how it will operate, where everyone american can fill out our taxes on a postcard. If you want to actually see the postcard, see all the details. You can find them on our website. Its tedcruz. Org. When we get rid of all the corporate welfare, all the subsidies, all the carveouts in the irs code, it dramatically simplifies it. Under obama, the irs has become so corrupt and so politicized, we need to abolish it altogether. [ applause ] now, at the end of that, there will still be an office and the Treasury Department to receive the postcards, but it will be dramatically simpler. Let me take a moment to go back to this exchange that was going on. In between all of the insults, let me point out the specificity that was lacking. Its very easy to say lets cut waste, fraud, and abuse. Ive rolled out a detailed plan to cut 500 billion in federal spending, specifying exactly what i would cut. Its easy to say it. But one of the great disconnects to all the people, all of the voters i understand the folks who are supporting donald right now. Youre angry. Youre angry at washington. And he uses angry rhetoric. But for 40 years, donald has been part of the corruption in washington that youre angry about. And youre not going to stop the corruption in washington by supporting someone who has supported liberal democrats for four decades from jimmy carter to john kerry to Hillary Clinton. Youre not going to stop the corruption and the cronyism by supporting someone who has used government power for private gain. Instead, we need a president who stands with the American People. Governor kasich, i promise i will get to you. You do get 30 seconds to respond, mr. Trump. All of a sudden, i hear for 40 years ive been involved in washington. I have been supporting people for many years. And these people have been politicians. And theyve been on both sides, democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives. Ive supported everybody. Because until recently, i wasnt a politician. And i hope maybe you dont consider me a politician right now. I hate the term politician. But ive been supporting politicians. A recent article somewhere said donald trump is a world class businessman who goes out and he does get along with everybody. Ive supported democrats and ive supported republicans. And as a businessman, i owed that to my company, to my family, to my workers, to everybody to get along. Part of the problem we have in washington is its total gridlock. Nobody gets along. We need people to get along. We need to be able to get things done. Governor kasich, democrats, as you know, will make income inequality a big issue in the general election. You support raising the minimum wage, although you say not to the 15 an hour that democrats are talking about. Mr. Trump opposes any increase because he says it will price American Workers out of the world market. Is he wrong about that, no increase in the minimum wage . First of all, i didnt say i was for an increase in the federal minimum wage. I said in ohio we increase it modestly every single year. But you did talk about states doing it. Well, if states want to do it, they ought to sit down with Business People and the lawmakers and figure out what will work. Hold on a second here, with everything else. Im the only person on this stage who actually was the chief architect of balancing the federal budget. Its not a theory for me. Its not some you have to know how to put everything together. And, you know, i spent ten years of my life to get there. And i did not do that because im worshipping at some balanced budget shrine. The reason i did it is when you have common sense regulations, lower taxes on individuals and businesses, and you have a fiscal plan that makes sense, the job creators will expand employment, and what happened . When i was there, the jobs were exploding. Bill clintons tried to take credit for it. When i went to ohio, we were up 400,000 jobs. Its the same formula. But it isnt easy. I fought the entire washington establishment and won. Because when you balance the budget, you must affect every single thing. Everything in the federal government specifically. You cannot get there with theories or broad statements. And you have to be willing to take the heat. In fact, i fought a republican president who i thought was not offering constructive proposals to fix this economy. So when we talk about all this, theres one person on this stage, and one person who has been a candidate for president in either party that restored economic strength, growth, a balanced budget, paid down debt, cut taxes, the things that people in this country want. No theories, reality. Thank you, governor. [ cheers and applause ] lets talk immigration for a little bit. Senator cruz, well start with you. You have repeatedly touted how you have stood shoulder to shoulder with senator Jeff Sessions to fight illegal immigration and amnesty. But senator sessions just endorsed donald trump. If voters want Jeff Sessions style immigration policies, isnt their choice rather clear . Yes, their choice is very clear. If you look to the actual record you know, donald mentioned a moment ago that he was just doing business when he was writing checks to liberal democrats. But thats not, in fact, the checks he was writing. Listen, we can all understand, if you write a check to a City Commission because youre looking for a zoning waiver on building a building. That may be corrupt, but you could understand Real Estate Developers doing that. Thats not what donald trump did. Donald trump supported jimmy carter over Ronald Reagan. Donald trump supported john kerry over george w. Bush. If you dont like obamacare, donald trump funded harry reid and nancy pelosi taking over congress to pass obamacare. On immigration, if you dont like amnesty, if you dont like the gang of 8, donald trump funded five of the eight members of the gang of 8. 50,000. And lets talk about this election. The choice republican primary voters are making is who is best prepared to stand up to Hillary Clinton and beat Hillary Clinton . Donald trump has written checks to Hillary Clinton not once, not twice, not three times ten times. And four of those checks were not to her senate campaign. It wasnt that she was the new york senator and the cost of doing business. It was to her president ial campaign. Donald trump in 2008 wrote four checks to elect Hillary Clinton as president , so id like to ask donald, why did you write checks to Hillary Clinton to be president in 2008 . It wasnt for business. And how can you stand on a debate stage now with her and say you dont think she should be president . Actually, it was for business. It was. It was for business. I pride myself, including outside of the United States. Im doing almost 120 deals outside of which i hope to be able to stop very soon and let my children handle it. But were doing many deals outside of the United States. I support politicians. In 2008, i supported Hillary Clinton. I supported many other people, by the way. And that was because of the fact that im in business. I did support very heavily Ronald Reagan. I also supported george bush, by the way. Mr. Trump but what would you say stand by, senator cruz. You wrote her four checks. Let me tell you something, ted. The last person that Hillary Clinton wants to face is donald trump. That i can tell you. All right. Lets move on. With all due respect, we have questions. We have questions. That i can tell you. Hold on, we can do more of this later. Mr. Trump. Hi. How are you doing . Nice to be with you, megyn. Great to have you here. Youre looking well. As are you. Back in january, you gave an offtherecord interview to the New York Times. It was apparently audiotaped. A recent report in buzz feed citing sources at the time reports that in that interview you expressed flexibility when it comes to your immigration policies, specifically with respect to your promise to deport the 11 Million People who are now living here illegally. You have suggested that you may have expressed some flexibility when it comes to the size of the wall that you want to build. But did you tell them specifically that you are flexible when it comes to your deportation plan . I dont know exactly when you talk about offtherecord. First of all, buzz feed, they were the ones that said under no circumstances will i run for president. And were they wrong. A lot of people said that. Then, i did have a meeting with the editor of the new york time times, a very nice meeting. Many of those things were off the record, i think at their suggestion and my suggestion. I take being off the record as a very important thing. I think its a very powerful thing. I will say this. These three gentlemen have gone off the record many times with reporters and i think they want to honor that and i would always honor that. I will say, though, in terms of immigration and almost anything else, there always has to be some tug and pull and and when i watch ted stand on the senate floor, i had Great Respect for what he did. He stood there for a day and a half, or something, and in the meantime, what came of it . Nothing. You have to be able to have some flexibility. Some negotiation. Now, sometimes you ask for more than you want and you negotiate down to the point. I may have discussed Something Like that with the New York Times. But i would never release offtherecord conversations. I dont think its fair, frankly, to do that to anybody. How flexible are you on this issue . Not very flexible. Not very flexible. I give the example, im going to build a wall. Im the one that wants the wall. Im the one that can build the wall. Its going to get built. And by the way, mexico is going to pay for the wall. I can tell you that. Mexico is going to pay for the wall. And i used an example. This isnt necessarily what was said. But whatever was said. The wall is 50 feet high. Is it going to be 45 feet . That could very well be. He wants it to be higher. That could very well be. But theres always give and take. Theres always negotiation. And the best negotiator that knows what hes doing will make a great deal. But we need give and take in government. If you dont have give and take, youre never going to agree on anything. Senator rubio, you not only supported the failed Immigration Reform effort through the gang of 8, but youre still on record as favoring an eventual path to citizenship for those who are here illegally. And in addition, you favored instate tuition for florida illegal immigrants. Youve been hitting mr. Trump hard on this flexibility discussion with the New York Times. But his supporters might say at least his opening stance was tough. Well, first of all, let me say that on the issue of the off the record, thats not up to the New York Times. Thats up to you, donald. If tonight you tell the New York Times to release the audio, they will do it and we can see what your true views are on immigration. Because it is a major issue. And your campaign that youve made a center issue. As far as my record on it is concerned, i absolutely want to solve this issue. And i did the best we could in a senate that was controlled by liberal democrats and harry reid in the hopes that the house made up of conservatives would take it up and make it even stronger. And i said that repeatedly at the time. Im not just saying that now. I said it throughout that process. We do need to deal with this issue. When im president , it will not be dealt with the way it was done in the senate. It will be done first and foremost by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving it to the American People, and only after that is done can anything else happen. And it will be something the American People support. Well see what theyre willing to support. Its not going to be an executive order and were not going to ram it down their throats. Mr. Trump, ill let you respond, but will you release the tapes . I will say one thing. What marco said i understand it. Hes talking about a little give and take and a little negotiation. And thats okay. Thats not the worst thing in the world. Theres nothing wrong with that. I happen to be much stronger on illegal immigration. Sheriff joe arpaio endorses me. But give and take is okay. I thought what he said is okay. We made differ on the degree. But what he said to me is okay. Will you release the tapes . No, id never do that. I have too much respect if i deal with you off the record, if i deal with bret or chris off the record, i have too much respect for that process to say, just release everything. I would not do that. Okay. Stand by. Were going to continue this right after the break. We have more. Coming up, more with megyn, immigration, plus questions on other top issues, including the war on terror. The fox news republican president ial debate live from detroit continues after a quick break. Pet moments are beautiful, unless you have allergies. Then your eyes may see it differently. Only flonase is approved to relieve both itchy, watery eyes and congestion. No other nasal allergy spray can say that. When we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. Most allergy pills only control one substance. Flonase controls six. And six is greater than one. Complete allergy relief or incomplete. Let your eyes decide. Flonase. 61 changes everything. Whewhat does it look like . Ss, is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student . Is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves . Is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the Natural World . Whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. Tiaa. eeeeohmumohweh hush my darling. dont fear my darling. the lion sleeps tonight. hush my darling. man snoring dont fear my darling. the lion sleeps tonight. woman snoring take the roar out of snore. Yet another innovation only at a sleep number store. Theyre not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country. [ applause ] so you are abandoning the position on your website. Im changing it and im softening the position, because we have to have talented people in this country. And youre not releasing the discussion with the New York Times behind closed doors. That is correct. Which will have some asking whether on your immigration policy you are really just playing to peoples fantasies, cl which is a tactic you praised in your book. Im playing to the fact that our country is in trouble, that we have a tremendous problem with crime. The border is a disaster. Its like a piece of swiss cheese. And were going to stop it. Were going to stop people from coming into our country illegally. Were going to stop it. Senator cruz, not long ago, you proposed quintupling the number of these Foreign Worker visas. After you announced for president , you reversed yourself, citing reports that the program was being abused. But that abuse had been around long before your 180. In fact, it was so bad just a few months earlier than a Bipartisan Group of senators called for an investigation and you declined to join them. Isnt it a good thing that the American Public didnt trust ted on that one . Well, the abuse of the h1b program has been rampant. In the face of that abuse, i have proposed and promised as president i will impose a 180day moratorium on the h1b program for an audit. Youve got u. S. Companies that are firing American Workers, bringing in Foreign Workers, and forcing them to train their replacements. And i would note that is not dissimilar to what we discovered at the last debate concerning the hotel that donald owns down in florida. Down in florida, that hotel has brought in hundreds of Foreign Workers. And afterwards, it was really striking. I watched a cnn interview donald did where he explained, he said the problem is you cant find americans who are qualified or who want to work as waiters and waitresses. Now, let me ask the people here. How many people here have worked as a waiter or waitress . [ applause ] millions across this country. That is an astonishing statement. Marcos dad started as a bartender. My dad started washing dishes. And yet, you know how Many Americans wanted those jobs . Roughly 300 applied. Donald hired 17. And thats why this New York Times tape is so troubling. Because whats been reported is that donald told the Editorial Board of the New York Times what im saying on immigration, i dont believe. Im not going to build a wall. Im not going to deport people. This is all just rhetoric for the voters. Now, if he didnt say that, he has an easy solution, simply release the tape. But for everyone at home whos mad at politicians who have lied to us, donalds record right now, as hes standing here okay. His record right now is one of repeatedly hiring illegal aliens. Your time is up, sir. Go ahead, mr. Trump. First of all, ive had tens of thousands of people working for me, most of which, almost 98, 97, 98 of the people in this country, from this country. Im very proud of it. You have a club in palm beach, florida, its a very, very successful club. Has a very short season. Its called the season. And it goes from november until march. Its a few months, five months at the most. People dont want a shortterm job. They dont want it. So we will bring people in. And we will send the people out. All done legally. All done with a process thats approved by government, 100 approved. We bring people in. We bring them out. When we can, we hire people from palm beach or west palm beach. But we bring people in, we bring them out. We want to hire as Many Americans as we can, but they dont want parttime, very short parttime jobs. Understood. Thank you. Thats not accurate. Im sorry, megyn, thats not accurate. There are at least 300 americans that applied last year. None of them were hired. Wrong. They were not hired. And heres why he does it this way. Let me explain. When you bring them in this way, when you bring someone in from abroad on one of these visas, they cant go anywhere else. They either work for you or they have to go back home. You basically have them captive. You dont have to worry about competing for higher wages with another hotel down the street. Thats why you bring workers from abroad. You argue that youre here to fight on behalf of the american worker, but when you have chances to help the American Workers, youre making your clothes overseas and hiring your workers from overseas. [ bell ] go ahead, sir. The other hotels during the season, they do the same thing. They take in a lot of people because you cant get them. They cant get a lot of people. Longterm employees, we dont do that. But shortterm employees, we have no choice but to do it. And other hotels in that very hot area. It is a very hot area. Its very hard to get people. But other hotels do the exact same thing. Just so you understand, this is a legal process. This is a procedure. Its part of the law. [ bell ] i take advantage of that. Theres nothing wrong with it. We have no choice. Donald, you could resolve this issue very quickly by simply releasing the New York Times tape. Maybe its right. The tapes were not in the subject. If you didnt tell them that, the tapes will prove youre innocent. If, in fact, you went to manhattan and said im lying to the American People, then the voters have a right to know no, youre the liar. Youre the lying guy up here. Youre the one. Release the tapes. Excuse me, ive given my answer, lying ted. All right, lets leave it at that. We have more to get to. Gentlemen, the next topic to discuss is terrorism. Senator rubio, isis is a big topic of conversation on facebook. We have a map that shows the conversation about isis around the country. You proposed sending a larger number of american Ground Troops to help defeat isis in syria and iraq. But military commanders say the biggest isis threat to europe in particular now is coming from libya, not syria. So just to be clear, if youre for putting more u. S. Ground troops in iraq and syria, are you also ready to send u. S. Ground troops on the ground in libya . Well, what ive argued from the very beginning, is in order to defeat isis, you must deny them operating spaces. This is how isis or any radical group can grow. Its how al qaeda was able to carry out 9 11, is that the taliban gave them an operating space in afghanistan. Today, that operating space has largely been based in iraq and syria, but ive been warning about the libyan presence for the better part of two years. So they need to be targeted wherever they have an operating space. They do need to be defeated on the ground. By a ground force made up primarily of sunni arabs themselves. This is a radical sunni movement. They can only be defeated if they are driven out and the territory is held by sunni arabs. But it will require a significant number of American Special operators in combination with an increase in air strikes. And that will increase, if necessary, operating spaces in libya, which in fact they are using to project into the sinai against egypt and ultimately into europe as well. Governor kasich, would you put Ground Troops in libya . Well, first of all, to be clear, not only did i serve for 18 years on the defense committee, more than anybody on this stage, but secondly, i was called into the pentagon after 9 11 to help secretary rumsfeld with some of his difficulties. Let me tell you what happened with libya. I pointed out in the last debate. Hillary clinton worked aggressively to depose Moammar Gadha gadhafi. We had no business doing it. He was working with his. He was cooperating with us. Now we pushed him out, and now we have a Fertile Ground for isis. Fortunately, in libya, theres only a few cities on the coast because most of libya is a desert. The fact of the matter is we absolutely have to be and not just with special forces. Thats not going to work. You have to go back to the invasion when we pushed Saddam Hussein out of kuwait. We have to be there on the ground in significant numbers. We do have to include our muslim arab friends to work with us on that. And we have to be in the air. It should be a broad coalition, made up of the kinds of people that were involved when we defeated saddam. Now, youve got to be on the ground and in the air both in syria and iraq. And at some point, we will have to deal with libya. I am very concerned about isis getting their hands on the oil fields and being able to fund their operations. The fact is, cool, calm, deliberate, effective, take care of the job, and then come home. Thats what we need to do with our military Foreign Policy. Mr. Trump, just yesterday, almost 100 Foreign Policy experts signed on to an open letter, refusing to support you, saying youre embracing expansive use of torture is inexcusable. General michael hayden, former cia director, nsa director and other experts have said that when you asked the u. S. Military to carry out some of your campaign promises, specifically targeting terrorists families, and also the use of interrogation methods more extreme than waterboarding, the military will refuse because theyve been trained to turn down and refuse illegal orders. So what would you do as commander in chief if the u. S. Military refused to carry out those orders . They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me, believe me. But theyre illegal. Let me just tell you, you look at the middle east, theyre chopping off heads. Theyre chopping off the heads of christians and anybody else that happens to be in the way. Theyre drowning people in steel cages. And now were talking about waterboarding. This really started with ted. A question was asked of ted the last two debates ago about waterboarding. And ted was, you know, having a hard time with that question, to be totally honest with you. They then came to me. What do you think of waterboarding . I said i think its fine, and if we wanted to go stronger, id go stronger, too, because frankly, thats the way i feel. Can you imagine these people, these animals over in the middle east that chop off heads sitting around talking and seeing that were having a hard problem with waterboarding . We should go for waterboarding, and we should go tougher than waterboarding. But targeting terrorists families . And im a leader. Im a leader. Ive always been a leader. Ive never had any problem leading people. If i say do it, theyre going to do it. Thats what leadership is all about. Even targeting terrorists families . Well, look. When a familythis really start questio last two debates ago about waterboarding. And ted was, you know, having a hard time with that question, to be totally honest with you. They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding . I said its fine. If we want to go stronger, id go stronger, too. Frankly, thats the way i feel. Can you imagine these people, these animals over in the middle east, that chop off heads sitting around talking and seeing that were having a hard problem with waterboarding . We should go for waterboarding and tougher than waterboarding. Targeting terrorist families . And and im a leader, ive always been a leader. Ive never had any problem leading people. If i say do it, theyre going to do it. Thats what leadership is all about. Even targeting terrorist families . Well, look, when a family flies into the world trade center, a man flies into the the military just like Ronald Reagan did in 1981 coming out of the weak jimmy carter administration. He passed tax reform and regulatory reform. The economy took off. It generated millions in highpaying jobs, trillions in new revenue. He rebuilt the military. Bankrupted the soviet union. And won the cold war. As president , i will do the exact same thing with radical islamic terrorism. We will rebuild this military so that it remains the mightiest fighting force on the face of the planet. And then when i am commander in chief, every militant on the face of the earth will understand that if they go and join isis, if they wage jihad against the United States of america, they are signing their death warrant. Senator cruz, in 2013, you said you were open you were open to the possibility that Edward Snowden had performed a considerable Public Service. You said back then. In revealing certain aspects of the nsa procedures. Many of your colleagues in the senate including senator rubio called him a traitor. It took you until january of this year to call him a traitor and say he should be tried for treason. Why the change of heart . And why did it take you so long . Well, bret, as someone who spent much of his life in law enforcement, i believe you should start with the facts and evidence first before ending up with the verdict. When the news first broke of the United States government engaging in massive surveillance on american citizens, that was a very Troubling Development and its why the United States congress acted to correct it. Now, at the same time, i said in that initial statement that if the evidence indicated that Edward Snowden violated the law, he should be prosecuted for violating the law and, indeed, since then the evidence is clear that not only does snowden violate the law, but it appears he committed treason, treason is defined under the constitution as giving aid and comfort to the enemies of america and what snowden did made it easier for terrorists to avoid detection and snowdens comments afterwards and his behavior afterwards, he fled to russia, fled to china. His conduct afterwards indicates he was not a whistleblower but instead he was undermining the ability to defend this country. But we need a president who isnt rash, who doesnt just pop off at waits to see what the facts are and acts to defend this country. Mr. Trump, you repeatedly deflected calls for specific National Security or defense policy plans with the claim that youll ask the best people when you become president , and take their advice. So who are the best people . Can you reveal two or three names that you trust for National Security . I think richard haas is excellent. I have a lot of respect for him. I think general kaine is excellent. I like colonel jacobs very much. I see him. I know him. I have many people i think are really excellent but in the end its going to be my decision. When you just asked the question about snowden, i will tell you right from the beginning, i said he was a spy and we should get him back. And if russia respected our country, they would have sent him back immediately, but he was a spy. It didnt take me a long time to figure that one out. Believe me. But i would get the best people, people that id be comfortable with and we will do the right thing. Bret, its very interesting to note, i think its for the good of the record here that they took a survey of Foreign Policy magazines, 700 Foreign Policy experts, who would be the best person to conduct Foreign Policy of all the candidates in the race . I received 55 of the vote. Jeb bush received 30 of the vote. And everybody else none of them made double digits. And thats because you have to have the experience. You know, we hear about Ronald Reagan rebuilding the military. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the military. I worked with him. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the economy. I was there. I worked with him. I knew Ronald Reagan. And ill leave it right there with what comes after that. You can figure that one out. Governor kasich, thank you. Were going to have more questions from the candidates right after this break and during the commercial break, join us for a Facebook Live on the fox News Facebook page and tell us what you think about tonights debate in the comment welcome back to the historic fox theater in downtown detroit. And the republican president ial debate. Lets get right back to the questions. Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is they believe you tell it like it is. Time and time again in this campaign, youve actually told the voters one thing only to reverse yourself within weeks or even sometimes days. Weve teed up just three examples in a videotape similar to those we used with senator rubio and senator cruz in the last debate. The first is on whether the war in afghanistan was a mistake. Watch. What about afghanistan, do you believe that american boots should stay on the ground in afghanistan to stabilize the situation . We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. That thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as i said that iraq was going to collapse after we leave. About afghanistan, you said we made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We made a mistake going into iraq. Ive never said we made a mistake our question was about afghanistan. I never said that. Okay. Wouldnt matter. I never said it. Next, on whether we should accept should i respond to that first . Two more then youll have the floor. Next on whether we should accept youll be here a long time. On whether we should accept the syrian refugees. Do you object to migrants who are getting out of the middle east and north africa . Do you object to them coming to the usa