WHEN: TODAY, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH
WHERE: CNBC'S "SQUAWK BOX"
Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Donald Trump, Chairman & President, Trump Organization, today on CNBC's "Squawk Box." All references must be sourced to CNBC.
The Donald: Energy & the Republican Candidates
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Trump on Gingrich:
"He really has done great in the debates and that really, I think more than anything else, has elevated him, smart guy. Got some baggage, but everybody has some baggage and we'll see what happens."
Trump on the Environment:
"What's going on with the Energy Department is unbelievable. What's going on with Environmental is unbelievable. Environmentally, whether it's natural gas or anything else, environmentally you can't do anything in this country anymore. You know it's interesting, you go to China and they say 'Yeah, we're going to build a city over here. We're going to take a piece of the ocean and we're going to fill it in and we're going to build a beautiful city.' And I say, 'How long did it take you to get those permits?' And they don't know what I'm talking about."
Trump on Obama:
"Polls say and some of the professionals that do this stuff for a living, they say very strongly that Obama's going to be hard to beat. And I'm just sitting back as sort of a little novice saying how could he not be beaten? With the lousy job that he's doing, you would think this would be a Jimmy Carter race. You would think that this would be easy as hell."
Trump on Huntsman:
"I understand Huntsman's views. I like Huntsman very much but it's just not going to happen. I looked at his answer the other night, I was watching the other night as he was talking about China and I was going to say to him, drop down to your knees. It was almost like he wanted to give the country over to China. His policies and his attitudes on China are absolutely insane."
Trump on the Huntsman Phone Call:
"He called me, he wanted to come up. I didn't return his call. Very rude of me, I was so busy, I did a very big deal, I was so busy. He then called again, I didn't return his call. And then time went by and I just said oh the heck with it. So then during one of the debates he said, 'Unlike you people, I didn't go up to see Donald Trump.' Well he called me to come up and see."
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