Republican Slam Trump's Muslim Ban
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama and Hillary Clinton slamming Donald Trump for his renewed call on a ban of Muslims, after the terror attack here in Orlando. And some top Republicans are critical as well.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do not think a Muslim ban is within our country's interest. I do think it is not reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country.</s>REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I hope he realizes that in order to actually win this war, you're going to need people that he has already alienated.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've said this a thousand times about Donald Trump. He is making it harder to win the war.</s>CAMEROTA: Joining us now to talk about this is Jeff DeWit. He's the Arizona state treasurer and campaign surrogate for Donald Trump. Also, Tim Miller, former Jeb Bush spokesman, who does not support Donald Trump. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. Jeff, let's start with you. What about what you just heard from some of those top Republicans that say Donald Trump as president would certainly need Muslims. He needs Muslims to be able to sort of point out radicals or terrorists in their midst. He should be courting Muslims, rather than alienating them.</s>JEFF DEWIT, ARIZONA STATE TREASURER: Well, we have a big problem. I think we all can understand that. The question is, what do we do to solve the problem. Donald Trump is the only one offering substantive solutions. President Obama keeps going on TV and mis-identifying the problem. So, radical Islamic terrorism, according to the Investigation Project on Terrorism, associated with the University of Maryland, has grown from 3,000 deaths per year, caused by it, to over 28,000 deaths per year in the last five years. It's growing. It is a bigger and bigger problem. President Obama keeps focusing his fight on Iraq when actually the head of the beast is in Syria. And when we look at -- when people get radicalized or recruited to join ISIS, it is coming from Syria. So, we have to do something more to solve the problem. And our currents leadership is not doing that. The problem is getting worst. We have to do something.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Tim.</s>TIM MILLER, FORMER JEB BUSH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Alisyn, yes, see, this is the thing. It is Donald Trump that is mis-identifying the problem. After this horrific massacre in Orlando, that was committed by an American citizen, who was born of an immigrant in the same neighborhood that Donald Trump was born of an immigrant, his response and Jeff's response, his campaign's response is let's ban immigrants from coming into the country. Let's ban Muslims, let's ban people from countries that have Muslims, like Belgium, by the way and the United Kingdom from coming into our country. The terrorist was not an immigrant. So banning immigration is completely mis-identifying the problem and goes against everything our country has stood for since its founding.</s>CAMEROTA: Jeff, there may also --</s>DEWIT: You're putting words in my mouth.</s>CAMEROTA: Hold on, Jeff.</s>DEWIT: That's not what we said, but thank you.</s>MILLER: Yes, it is. It is his plan.</s>CAMEROTA: Hold on. OK, Jeff, clarify it, then.</s>DEWIT: Well, he is saying that ban all immigration.</s>CAMEROTA: Jeff.</s>DEWIT: And things like that. We -- everybody is fine with legal immigration.</s>MILLER: You're not. You want to ban Muslims.</s>DEWIT: Tim is known as the number nine biggest Trump hater, according to "The Washington Post" out there, he is running an anti-Trump</s>PAC. MILLER: That's correct. Proudly.</s>DEWIT: And working for Hillary Clinton. But to indict the question on the other side, to indict all gun owners on the actions of a single gun owner is not the way to go about it either. So, we have to look at the problem.</s>CAMEROTA: Jeff, let me get in there for a second.</s>DEWIT: -- which our current administration is not doing.</s>CAMEROTA: Guys, I'm sorry, the satellite delay, which makes it seem like we're stepping on each other. Jeff, I want to show you this Bloomberg poll. It asked whether or not Trump's rhetoric on the Muslim ban bothers people. And 66 percent, if you combine the top two categories, bothers a lot, a little, yes, it adds up to 66 percent of Americans say, yes, it does bother them. He's not going to be able to win, Jeff, with just 34 percent of Americans for whom it does not bother at all.</s>DEWIT: But again, when they also poll issues and ask about either jobs, immigration, or national security, Mr. Trump handedly beats Hillary Clinton on those issues, because everybody knows while the problem has grown, it has not only grown under President Obama, but it grew while she was secretary of state. So he --</s>MILLER: Alisyn -- Jeff, Jeff is not answering any of your questions. When he said that the Trump campaign supports the legal immigration, that's totally false. He proposed new bans on legal immigration the other day in response to the terrorist attack by a citizen. And two, with regard to the polls you just brought up, the Bloomberg poll, over 55 percent of Americans say they will not vote for Donald Trump. This is a person that cannot win the general election, because he has repulsed minorities, he has repulsed women. And the Republican Party I think needs to consider having an open convention, where we get rid of him as the nominee, because he has no chance to beat Hillary Clinton because of the poll you just showed.</s>CAMEROTA: And yet, Tim, let me get in there for a second, because I want to --</s>DEWIT: And yet Mr. Trump has over 3 million more votes than any Republican candidate in history in the primary.</s>MILLER: More votes again.</s>DEWIT: Jeff, we do know those numbers. But, Tim, I want to push back for a second. We've heard not just from Donald Trump, but from terror experts who say that it does bother them that President Obama seems word radical Islam, because they do think that's at what is the root of some of this toxicity and some of the murders that we've seen. Do you think that Donald Trump has a valid point that you need to call it by what it is?</s>MILLER: I 100 percent agree that it is important that we identify the enemy. When you look at what President Obama has done, the problem is not only that he doesn't say radical Islamic terrorism, but that defines his world view when looking at terrorism. He treats it leak a law enforcement exercise rather than a war against a death cult that wants to see the end of our way of life. But here's the thing, Alisyn, the fight against the PC police that Donald Trump wants to fight about the term radical Islamic terrorism, that's a tiny element of this. The big part behind it is actually winning this fight, and having a real plan to do it. And Donald Trump does not know the difference between the Kurds who are allies and the Quds who are the Iranian army. Donald Trump doesn't have a serious plan after this attack, like I said, he gave a speech about immigration and PC wars. So, if Donald Trump's fight is against the PC police, he is missing the point.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Tim, Jeff, thank you. Sorry for the satellite delay, gentlemen. We appreciate the debate.</s>MILLER: Any time, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Next up, we hear -- thank you, guys. We hear from a very close circle of friends, reacting to the loss of two of the victims, and their thoughts about the political debate that's going on right now surrounding this attack. Stick around for that.