He is certainly no fan of President Bush, but Donald Trump is now weighing in on the Bush administration's handling of the economic crisis. Look, I mean, these people inherited a mess. And they weren't necessarily to blame for it. And they are trying to fix it. [End Clip] All right, my interview with Donald Trump, that is coming up next. Also, the final debate, as we have been saying, only two hours and, what, 47 minutes away. John McCain may be tempted to lash out at Barack Obama, but would he only hurt himself by going negative? And they are still sitting on the fence, 20 days to go. When will undecided voters finally make up their minds? The best political team on television is standing by. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room. President Bush and his economic team have certainly come in for some heavy criticism for the country's economic crisis. So, how does one of the country's best known businessmen feel about the job that they are actually doing? Today, I had a chance to sit down over at Trump Towers with the real estate mogul Donald Trump . We had this discussion. Let's talk about the economy right now. And I want you to do, in your Donald Trump -style, some quick analysis, but give me some grades for these people, how they have done in dealing with the economic crisis that we are all going through right now. OK, grades. A is the best. F is failing -- President Bush? Well, I would certainly not give him an F. And I guess you can't give him an A, because, unfortunately, look at the mess we are in. But I think that he has been dealing with the crisis pretty well. And he has some very smart people -- and I am sure Paulson is going to be on your list -- in Paulson and Ben B., as the expression goes. They are pretty smart people. They are very smart people. So, I would give him a B. Really? Aren't you shocked to hear me say that? Yes. I am pretty surprised. [Crosstalk] You're talking about dealing with the crisis. You are not talking about getting us into the crisis. You're talking about dealing with the crisis. So, I would give him a B. [Crosstalk] How they have dealt with this financial crisis. I would give him a B. All right, Henry Paulson? I would give him an A. Really? I would give him an A. And I know a lot of people are saying, oh, this and that. But the fact is, he came into a mess. He didn't create the mess. And he is helping us get out of the mess. So, if Obama were elected, you would advise him to keep Paulson on the job? I wouldn't necessarily. He has got his own people. And he has got his -- some very, very smart people with him. But I think Paulson, I would give an A, because he really took something very strong. Now, you could say the U.K. came up with the first land, but Paulson is the one that got us there in the first place, in terms of the concept. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, Ben B., as you call him. I think that he has -- was a little bit late on the draw, but he has come around strongly. And I would give him a B-plus, a good strong B-plus. Look, I mean, these people inherited a mess. And they weren't necessarily to blame for it. And they are trying to fix it. I would say that Ben was a little bit late. And, based on the lateness, but I am not sure there's -- if he was earlier, I am not sure that we would be in any different -- so, I would give him a B-plus. John McCain? Well, John is one of 100 senators. And you could put Obama in the same category. And they have to vote yea or nay and they sort of voted... Yea. ... the same way. Yes. So, I would certainly -- I probably wouldn't put them anywhere, because I don't think they had that much influence on what has happened. And Barack Obama same? Same thing. I don't think that Barack Obama or John McCain had that much influence as to what happened with what is going on with the economy. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker? Well, you know, when she first got in and was named speaker, I met her. And I'm very impressed by her. I think she's a very impressive person. I like her a lot. But I was surprised that she didn't do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush. It was almost -- it just seemed like she was going to really look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing. Impeaching him? Absolutely, for the war, for the war. Because of the conduct of the war. Well, he lied. He got us into the war with lies. And, I mean, look at the trouble Bill Clinton got into with something that was totally unimportant. And they tried to impeach him, which was nonsense. And, yet, Bush got us into this horrible war with lies, by lying, by saying they had weapons of mass destruction, by saying all sorts of things that turned out not to be true. [Crosstalk] Their argument is, they weren't lying, that that was the intelligence that he was presented, and it was not as if he was just lying about it. I don't believe that. You believe that it was a deliberate lie? I don't believe it. And I don't think you believe it either, Wolf. You are a very, very intelligent young man. I don't think you believe it either. By the way, thank you for calling me a young man. Young. Yes. [Crosstalk] Young is more important than intelligent is. The fact is that he lied. And he got us into a war that was a horrendous mistake. And, any way you take it, that war was a mistake. So, you think he should have been impeached because of it? Look, it was not Saddam Hussein that attacked the World Trade Center, OK? In fact, those people, when they sent their families back, most of them went back to Saudi Arabia. It was not Saddam Hussein that took down the World Trade Center. And, in fact, Saddam Hussein killed terrorists. They had very few terrorists, because he didn't terrorists in Iraq, and he killed terrorists. So, we go and attack Saddam Hussein. Now, Iraq now is the number-one breeding ground for terrorists. All the terrorists go to Iraq to learn the trade. You know, we all have trades, right? And they go to Iraq. But you didn't have that when Saddam Hussein was running Iraq with an iron fist. Now you do. Now, we took out Saddam Hussein. What have we created? A mess. And the day we leave Iraq, it is going to be -- forget it. [End Clip] All right. We are going to have more of the interview with Donald Trump. He is discussing at length what is going on. Stay with us -- more from Donald Trump , my interview with the billionaire. That's coming up, continuing, right after the break. Also, John McCain's balancing act -- can he be calm and experienced, an angry fighter, and a maverick all at the same time? The best political team on television is standing by to weigh in. We will have a complete debate preview. There, you're looking at live pictures from Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, out on Long Island. Two hours, 38 minutes from now, the debate, the final debate, of this campaign begins. So, how does one of America's most famous businessmen really feel about the government's committing $700 billion to bail out banks and other Wall Street firms? Here is the rest of my interview today with Donald Trump . Let's talk a little bit about the billions that are being pumped into the banks. Well, let's talk a little bit about -- one other thing about Iraq. They have hundreds of millions of dollars was just recently found in the banks of New York. Eighty-seven billion surplus. Hundreds of billions of dollars. You think it is much more than the 87? I think it's much more. Yes. And it's building up every day. Because of the oil... [Crosstalk] Are we not entitled to anything? They have so much money, they don't know what to do with it. Are we entitled to anything? Because the United States is still spending about $10 billion a month in Iraq, and you want the Iraqis to start spending that? The United States has been stupidly managed for the last eight years. So, on this issue, you give Bush a... On that issue, a F-minus. All right. On the issue of the war, an F-minus, and I don't think there is such a thing. Let's talk about, quickly, because we are almost out of time, the billions that are being spent to pump up and to reassure investors out there, the credit lines and everything else. Some say this is private nationalization of the banking system. Others go further and say this is socialism in the works. You are a capitalist. How concerned are you about this? Well, it is probably is a little bit of a combination of both, but I think it was necessary. The banks were in a seizure. The banks were unable to move. They were unable to do anything. And at least now they have some liquidity. You save companies like Morgan Stanley. You save some banks, very good companies like Morgan Stanley. [Crosstalk] That's because the Japanese came in, Mitsubishi, right? Well, they came in, but they also had some government help. And the Japanese got some government assurances or whatever. Can you believe that Lehman Brothers is out of business? Well, Lehman Brothers missed it by about a week-and-a- half. Yes. Had Lehman Brothers been able to survive another week- and-a-half. But the fact is, you can't lose all of your institutions. And I know it for a fact. I have friends, they have buildings. They have wonderful buildings, fully occupied buildings. They have tiny mortgages. When the mortgages come due, they can't even renew them. It's ridiculous. The banks are essentially out of business. Now, the real question is, is that going to be enough? You don't want to make it anymore, but is it going to be enough? And will you start to see some money flowing? So far, the answer is no. So far, the banks still don't have the money to put out. Is it a good idea for these big financial institutions that are being saved in effect by U.S. taxpayers for the restrictions on the CEO compensation to go forward, the golden parachutes and all that kind of stuff, ended because U.S. taxpayers are now directly pumping up these companies? Well, I think it is a great idea that that has ended, yes. You can't have the golden parachutes and they're not allowed to have the golden parachutes. So, if you go into that pool, you can't have golden parachutes and some other things. And I think, politically, that is important. And I think it is important anyway. If you have to go into that pool, you don't get those big benefits. And I think that is a good thing. Bottom line, are you upbeat in the short term about what is going to happen in the U.S. economy? No, I'm not. I am upbeat for the long term. We have a great country. It is the greatest country in the world. And I'm very upbeat in the long term, but, short term, probably not. Donald Trump , thanks. Thank you very much. [End Clip]