--- title: Republican Debate: Read the Full Transcript description: Here's what they said. canonical: https://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T06:37:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:46.447Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate og:description: In Charleston, South Carolina. og:url: https://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2800 og:image:height: 1575 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Charleston og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate twitter:description: In Charleston, South Carolina. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf5c787e-c143-44c3-8a11-6cf8b1a4f7ba&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes [Watch (HLS stream): FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/43Jv4tOR.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2016-01-15. GOP DEBATE 011416: The FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 15, 2016 6:37 AM UTC GOP DEBATE 011416: The FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 15, 2016 6:37 AM UTC Seven Republican presidential candidates [met for a debate](http://time.com/4182083/republican-debate-donald-trump-nasty/?xid=homepage) on the Fox Business Network in Charleston, South Carolina. The main stage featured New York businessman Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former New York Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The moderators were Fox Business Network anchors Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo. Below is a full transcript of the debate. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] The next Commander in Chief [00:05] is standing on this stage. On Tuesday night I watched story [00:08] time with Barack Obama and I gotta tell you, it sounded like [00:12] everything in the world was going amazing... Hillary [00:15] Clinton would be a national security disaster. She wouldn't [00:18] just be a disaster. Hilary Clinton is disqualified from being [00:21] Commander and Chief of the United States. Well Maria, [00:24] thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of [00:26] the New York Times. [ APPLAUSE ] And the entire New [00:29] York Times attack is that I disclosed that loan on one [00:33] filing with the United States Senate that was a public filing, [00:36] but it was not on a second filing with the FEC. Both of those [00:39] filings were public. Ted Cruz And yes I made a paper work [00:42] error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other [00:45] but if that's the best hit the New York Times has got they [00:49] better go back to the well. On the issue of citizenship [00:51] Donald I'm not going to use your mother's birth [00:55] against you. Donald Trump >> In the last three polls I'm [00:57] beating you so you shouldn't misrepresent how well your [01:01] doing. I win I choose him as my vice presidential [01:05] candidate and the Democrats sue because we can't take [01:09] him along for the ride. I hate to interrupt this episode of [01:11] Court Tv [ LAUGH ] but the real. I like Chris Christie, but we [01:15] can not have a president of the United States that supports [01:18] common core. We cannot afford to have a president of the [01:21] United States that supports gun control [ APPLAUSE ] [01:23] South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is out of the race [01:26] but he joins us tonight in the audience Is [01:31] this America anymore? Do we still have standards? [01:35] You know, we have a war on virtually everything. Race [01:38] wars. gender wars, income wars. Every [01:42] war you can imagine, we have people at each other's [01:45] throats. And our strength is actually in our unity. I also want [01:49] to recognize the people in that church that showed the [01:53] grace of God, and the grace of forgiveness, and the mercy [01:55] they showed. [ APPLAUSE ] i don't know if any of us [02:00] could've done what they did, one after another, within 48 [02:02] hours of that tragedy taking place. The guns don't pull the [02:06] trigger, it's the people that pull the trigger [ APPLAUSE ] [02:08] And we have to find out what is going on. The Second [02:11] Amendment is not an option, because criminals don't buy [02:13] their guns from a gun show. And let me tell you, ISIS and [02:16] terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show. This [02:19] [ APPLAUSE ] Everyone understands that the values [02:23] in New York City are socially liberal, are pro- abortion, are [02:27] pro gay marriage, focus around money and the media. Not [02:32] a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm [02:36] just saying. [ LAUGH ] When the World Trade Center came [02:39] down I saw something that no place on [02:44] Earth could've handled more beautifully, more humanly [02:47] than New York and everybody in the world watched and [02:51] everybody in the world loved New York and loved New [02:54] Yorker's and I have to tell you, that was a very insulting [02:57] statement that Ted made. [ APPLAUSE ] I said from the [03:00] beginning That we should take no Syrian refugees of any [03:04] kind. If we do not know who you are and we do not know [03:07] why you are coming, when I am President, you are not [03:09] getting into the United States of America. [ APPLAUSE ] [03:11] This was a question on entitlements [ CROSSTALK ]. [03:12] [ APPLAUSE ] Oh, I'll ask the entitlement question [03:14] [ CROSSTALK ]. And the reason. No, you're. Already had [03:16] your chance, Mark, and you blew it. But here's the thing. If I [03:19] become President, I couldn't care less about my company. [03:23] It's peanuts. I have Ivanka and Eric and Don sitting there. [03:27] Run the company, kids. Have a good time. I'm gonna do it [03:29] for America. [ APPLAUSE ] I saw you on the Senate floor [03:32] flip your vote on crop insurance cuz they told you it would [03:34] help you in Iowa. And last week, we all saw you flip your [03:37] vote on ethanol in Iowa. [ APPLAUSE ] Iowa, for the same [03:40] reason. That is not consistent conservatism. That is political [03:43] calculation. This last back- and- forth between two sen -, [03:47] two back bench senators. You know, it explains why we [03:50] have the mess in Washington, D. C. We need a president [03:53] that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend [03:57] with the wind. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/"},"headline":"Read the Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston","datePublished":"2016-01-15T06:37:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:40:46.447Z","description":"Here's what they said.","url":"https://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/","keywords":["Debates","Chris Christie","Sen. Marco Rubio","ted cruz","jeb bush","Donald Trump","john kasich","Dr. Benjamin S. 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