Trump takes on media: Full News Conference 11/7/18

[0:05] It was a big day yesterday, an incredible day, and last night the Republican Party defied history [0:13] to expand our Senate majority while significantly beating expectations in the House [0:20] for the midterm and midterm year. We did this in spite of a very dramatic fundraising disadvantage [0:31] driven by Democrats' wealthy donors and special interests and very hostile media coverage, [0:38] to put it mildly. The media coverage set a new record and a new standard. [0:45] We also had a staggering number of House retirements, so it's a little tough. [0:50] These are seats that could have been held pretty easily, and we had newcomers going in, [0:55] and a lot of them worked very hard, but it's very difficult when you have that many retirements. [0:59] We held a large number of campaign rallies with large, large numbers of people going to everyone. [1:10] To the best of my knowledge, we didn't have a vacant or an empty seat. I'm sure you would have reported [1:14] it if you spotted one, including 30 rallies in the last 60 days, and we saw the candidates that [1:23] I supported achieve tremendous success last night. As an example of the 11 candidates we campaigned with [1:32] during the last week, 9-1 last night. This vigorous campaigning stop, the blue wave that they talked [1:45] about — I don't know if there ever was such a thing, but could have been. If we didn't do the [1:49] campaigning, probably there could have been. And the history really will see what a good job we did in [1:56] the final couple of weeks in terms of getting some tremendous people over the finish line. They really are [2:03] tremendous people, but many of them were not known. But they will be known. This election marks the [2:10] largest Senate gains for a president's party in a first midterm election since at least President [2:18] Kennedy's in 1962. There have been only four. And welcome everyone here to News Now. We are live [2:27] at the White House. President Trump doing a post-election news conference. Let's listen in. [2:32] As of now, we picked up — it looks like three. Could be four. Perhaps it could be two. But we picked [2:40] up a lot. And most likely, the number will be three. You people probably know that better than [2:48] I do at this point, because you've looked at the more recent numbers. 55 is the largest number [2:56] of Republican senators in the last 100 years. In the last 80 years, a sitting president's party has only [3:05] gained a cumulative total of eight Senate seats, averaging one per decade. So, if we picked up [3:13] two, three or four, that's a big percentage of that number. So, in the last 80 years, you think of that [3:20] only eight seats. In President Obama's first midterm election, he lost six Senate seats, including [3:29] in the deep blue state of Massachusetts. Republicans captured at least four Senate seats, [3:37] held by Democrat incumbents. And these are tremendously talented, hardworking people that did this. [3:48] Indiana, North Dakota, Florida, Missouri. We also won two open Senate seats in Tennessee. [4:02] I want to congratulate our great champion, who did such a great job in Tennessee, Marsha, and in Utah. [4:15] And Arizona is looking very good, really very good. She's done a terrific job. That was a tough race, [4:22] and she's done a fantastic job. In each of these open seats, Democrats recruited very strong candidates [4:28] with substantial fundraising and media support. We were getting bombarded with money on the other side. [4:37] In the House, Republicans dramatically outperformed historical precedents and overcame a historic [4:43] number of retirements. The most House Republican retirements in 88 years, 43 House Republicans [4:52] retired. Now, I will say this, that in many cases, they were chairman of committees, and they left because [5:00] they weren't chairman, because the Republicans have a role for six years. And what that does is wonderful in [5:06] one way. It lets people come through the system and become chairman. In another way, it drives people [5:12] out, because when they're a chairman, they don't want to go and not be a chairman. You're the chairman [5:16] of a committee, and you're a big deal. And all of a sudden, you're not doing that anymore. So they leave. [5:21] We had a lot of them leave. That's—I guess you can flip a coin as to which system is better. [5:27] The Democrats do the other. Some of their folks have been on those committees for a long time [5:32] as chairman. In 2010, President Obama's first midterm, he lost 63 seats. By contrast, as of the [5:41] most current count, it looks like around 27 House seats or something. And we'll figure that out pretty [5:48] soon. We also had a slew of historic wins in the governor's races. The governor's races were [5:53] incredible against very well-funded, talented and skilled Democrat candidates and people that worked [6:03] very, very hard respectfully for those candidates, like Oprah Winfrey, who I like. I don't know if she [6:10] likes me anymore, but that's okay. She used to. But she worked very hard in Georgia, very, very hard. [6:18] And if you look at them, with four governor's races, crucial to 2020 and the presidential race. [6:27] Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Georgia—the big ones. Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Georgia. Can't get much [6:38] more important than that. They were incredible. They were actually incredible campaigns, too. Incredible. [6:45] As of right now, Republicans will control the majority of governorships across the country, [6:52] including three great women who worked very hard—governors of Alabama, South Dakota, [6:59] and Iowa. They worked very, very hard. They're very talented. By expanding our Senate majority, [7:07] the voters have also clearly rebuked the Senate Democrats for their handling of the Kavanaugh [7:15] hearings. That was a factor. I think maybe a very big factor. The way that was handled, I think, [7:21] was tremendous energy was given to the Republican Party by the [7:25] the way they treated then Judge Kavanaugh, now Justice Kavanaugh, and expressed their support for [7:34] confirming more great pro-Constitution judges. Candidates who embraced our message of low taxes, [7:44] low regulations, low crime, strong borders, and great judges excelled last night. They excelled. [7:53] They really—I mean, we have a list of people that were fantastic. And I'm just going to point them [8:04] out. Mike Bost, Rodney Davis, Andy Barr was fantastic. I went to Kentucky. For the most part, [8:14] I didn't campaign for the House, but I did actually make a special trip for Andy Barr because he was in a [8:20] very tough race in Kentucky, and he won. That was a very tough race. The polls were all showing that he [8:27] was down and down substantially, and he won. And that one I did do. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, [8:35] great guy. He's new. And ran a fantastic race. On the other hand, you had some that decided to, [8:41] let's stay away. Let's stay away. They did very poorly. I'm not sure that I should be happy or sad, [8:49] but I feel just fine about it. Carlos Cubela. Mike Kaufman. Too bad, Mike. Mia Love. I saw Mia Love. [9:04] She'd call me all the time to help her with a hostage situation. Being held hostage in Venezuela. [9:17] But Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia. And Barbara Comstock was [9:26] another one. I mean, I think she could have won that race, but she didn't want to have any embrace. [9:33] For that, I don't blame her. But she lost, substantially lost. Peter Roskam didn't want [9:43] the embrace. Eric Paulson didn't want the embrace. And in New Jersey, I think he could have done well, [9:50] but it didn't work out too good. Bob Eugen, I feel badly because I think that's something that [9:56] could have been won. That's a race that could have been won. John Fasso. Those are some of the people [10:00] that, you know, decided for their own reason not to embrace whether it's me or what we stand for. But [10:09] what we stand for meant a lot to most people. And we've had tremendous support and tremendous support [10:19] in the Republican Party, among the biggest support in the history of the party. I've actually heard [10:26] at 93 percent. It's a record, but I won't say that, because who knows. But we've had tremendous support. [10:35] America is booming like never before, doing fantastic. We have Larry Kudlow here, and he [10:41] said the numbers are as good as he's ever seen numbers at any time for our country. But he's a [10:48] young man, so he hasn't seen that many numbers. Where's Larry? You're a young man, right, Larry? And you [10:55] haven't been doing this too long, but they're as good as you've ever seen. And we may have. If you [11:01] have a question for Larry, we'll do that. But I want to send my warmest appreciation in regards to [11:08] Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. We really worked very well together. We have been working very well [11:14] together. We actually have a great relationship. People just don't understand that, which is fine. And also, [11:21] to perhaps—looks like, I would think, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And I give her a lot of credit. [11:32] She works very hard, and she's worked long and hard. I give her a great deal of credit for what [11:37] she's done and what she's accomplished. Hopefully, we can all work together next year to continue [11:42] delivering for the American people, including on economic growth, infrastructure, trade, lowering the [11:49] cost of prescription drugs. These are some of the things that the Democrats do want to work on, [11:54] and I really believe we'll be able to do that. I think we're going to have a lot—a lot of—a lot [11:59] of reason to do it. And I will say, just as a matter of business, I was with some very successful [12:04] people last night. We were watching the returns. So, if the Republicans won—and let's say we held on [12:10] by two, or one, or three—it would have been very hard out of that many Republicans to ever even get [12:19] support among Republicans, because there will always be one or two or three people, that for [12:23] good reason or for bad reason or for grandstanding—we have that, too. You've seen that. You've seen that. [12:30] Plenty of grandstanding. But for certain reasons, that many people—you're always going to have a couple [12:35] that won't do it. So that puts us in a very bad position. In other words, had we kept—and this is [12:41] no—I'm saying this for a very basic reason. It's common sense. It puts us in a very tough position. We win [12:48] by one or two or three. And you'll have one or two or three or four or five even come over and say, [12:54] you know, look, we're not going to go along with this. We want this, this, this. And all of a sudden, [12:59] we can't even—we wouldn't even be able to get it, in many cases, out of the Republicans' hands before [13:04] we sent it on to the Senate. And now we have a much easier path, because the Democrats will come to us [13:18] with a plan for infrastructure, a plan for health care, a plan for whatever they are looking at, [13:26] and we'll negotiate. And as you know, it's been very hard in the Senate, because we need essentially [13:31] 10 votes from Democrats, and we don't get those votes, because the Democrats do really stick together [13:37] well. I don't agree with them on a lot of policy, but I agree with them on sticking together. They [13:42] stick together great. So now we go into the Senate. We don't have the 10 votes. And what happens? [13:48] It doesn't get passed. Even if it gets out of the House, it doesn't get passed. So under the new [13:54] concept of what we're doing, I say, come on, let me see what you have. They want to do things. You [14:01] know, I keep hearing about investigations, fatigue, like from the time—almost from the time I announced [14:09] I was going to run, they've been giving us this investigation fatigue. It's been a long time. [14:17] They got nothing. Zero. You know why? Because there is nothing. But they can play that game, [14:23] but we can play it better, because we have a thing called the United States Senate, [14:29] and a lot of very questionable things were done between leaks of classified information [14:35] and many other elements that should not have taken place. And all you're going to do is end up in back [14:43] and forth and back and forth, and two years is going to go up, and we won't have done a thing. [14:49] I really think and I really respected what Nancy said last night about bipartisanship and getting [14:56] together and uniting. She used the word uniting, and she used the bipartisanship statement, which is [15:04] so important, because that's what we should be doing. So we can look at us, they can look at us, [15:10] and then we can look at them. And it'll go back and forth. And it'll probably be very good for me [15:15] politically. I could see it being extremely good politically, because I think I'm better at that [15:19] game than they are, actually. But we'll find out. I mean, you know, we'll find out. Or we can work [15:25] together. You can't do them simultaneously, by the way, just in case somebody says, [15:29] oh, you can do them both. No, you can't. Because if they're doing that, we're not doing the other, [15:32] just so you understand. So we won't be doing that. But now what happens is we send it to the Senate, [15:41] and we'll get 100 percent Democrat support, and we'll get some Republican support. [15:46] And if it's good, I really believe we have Republicans that will help with the approval [15:51] process, and they will really help with the approval process. So it really could be a beautiful [15:58] bipartisan type of situation. If we won by one or two or three or four or five, that wouldn't happen. [16:06] And the closer it is, the worse it is. This way, they'll come to me, we'll negotiate, [16:10] maybe we'll make a deal, maybe we won't. That's possible. But we have a lot of things in common [16:15] on infrastructure. We want to do something on health care. They want to do something on health [16:20] care. There are a lot of great things that we can do together. And now we'll send it up, [16:24] and we will really get, we'll get the Democrats, and we'll get the Republicans or some of the [16:28] Republicans. And I'll make sure that we send something up that the Republicans can support. [16:35] And they're going to want to make sure they send something up that the Democrats can support. [16:40] So our great country is booming like never before, and we're thriving on every single level, [16:46] both in terms of economic and military strength, in terms of development, in terms of GDP. [16:53] We're doing unbelievably. I will tell you, our trade deals are coming along fantastically. The USMCA [17:00] and South Korea is finished. USMCA has gotten rave reviews. We're not going to lose companies anymore to [17:09] other countries. They're not going to do that because they have a tremendous economic incentive. [17:14] It's meaning it's prohibitive for them to do that. So it's not going to be like NAFTA, [17:20] which is one of the worst deals I've ever seen, although we've made some other pretty bad ones, [17:24] too. Now is the time for members of both parties to join together, put partisanship aside, [17:32] and keep the American economic miracle going strong. It is a miracle. We're doing so well. [17:40] And I've said it at a lot of rallies. Some of you have probably heard it so much. You don't want to [17:44] hear it again. But when people come to my office, presidents, prime ministers, they all congratulate [17:50] me almost the first thing on what we've done economically, because it is really amazing. And our [17:57] steel industry is back. Our aluminum industry is starting to do really well. These are industries [18:03] that were dead. Our miners are working again. We must all work together to protect our military. [18:10] We have to do that to support our law enforcement, secure our borders, and advance really great policy, [18:19] including environmental policy. We want crystal, clean water. We want beautiful, perfect air. [18:26] Air and water. It has to be perfect. At the same time, we don't want to put ourselves at a [18:33] disadvantage to other countries who are very competitive with us and who don't abide by the [18:39] rules at all. We don't want to hurt our jobs. We don't want to hurt our factories. We don't want [18:45] companies leaving. We want to be totally competitive, and we are. And right now, we have just about the [18:52] cleanest air, the cleanest water we've ever had, and it's always going to be that way. We insist on it. [18:57] So, environmental is very important to me. And with that, I'll take a few questions, [19:02] if you'd like. Whoa! I didn't know what happened. All right. Go ahead, John. [19:08] That was a lot of hand shooting up so quickly. There's a lot to talk about. [19:15] Mr. President, you talked at length just now about bipartisanship. [19:19] The presumed speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, talked about it last night. I'm sure that's encouraging [19:24] for the American people. But do you really believe, given what the relationship has been like between [19:30] this White House and the Democratic Party, that that will happen? [19:33] I think there's a good chance. I think there's a very good chance it will happen. [19:37] If I could just finish here. It will happen. [19:39] Will you have to compromise on certain issues to the point where it could hurt you in 2020? [19:43] And do you expect that when the Democrats take over the chairmanship of all these important [19:47] committees, you're going to get hit with a blizzard of subpoenas on everything from the [19:50] Russian investigation to your cell phone use to your tax returns? [19:54] Ready? Then you're going to, if that happens, then we're going to do the same thing. And [19:59] government comes to a halt. And I would blame them because they now are going to be [20:05] coming up with policy. They're the majority of the House. I expect that they will come up with [20:11] some fantastic ideas that I can support on the environment, on so many different things, [20:18] including prescription drug prices, which we've made a big dent in already, including some of the [20:25] things that we're working on for the vets. We've gotten choice approved. We've got a lot of things [20:29] approved, but they have some other elements that we want. There are many things we can get along on [20:34] without a lot of trouble, that we agree very much with them and they agree with us. I would like to [20:40] see bipartisanship. I'd like to see unity. And I think we have a very good chance of — and maybe not [20:46] on everything, but I think we have a very good chance of seeing that. Go ahead. [20:49] One question on the lame duck, sir, and one on your cabinet. You toyed with the idea during the [20:58] campaign of a shutdown before the midterms in order to secure border wall funding. [21:04] Are you prepared to go on a shutdown strategy during the lame duck, since this might be your [21:08] last best chance to secure that? Not necessarily. Look, I speak to Democrats all the time. [21:14] They agree that a wall is necessary. And as you know, we're building the wall. We've started, [21:18] but we should build it at one time, not in chunks. But you want much more money, [21:22] and you want it much sooner. No, we need the money to build the wall, [21:24] the whole wall, not pieces of it all over. And we are doing it. Now we have the military. [21:29] Now we have other elements of a wall that are pretty nasty, to be honest with you. But it's [21:34] nevertheless, it's pretty hard to get through it. But no, I'd like to see the wall. Many of the people [21:40] that we'll be dealing with, you know, in 2006, they approved the wall, essentially. It was a very [21:46] strong border fence, but it was the same thing. And they all approved it. They all agreed. I have [21:50] statements from every one of them. We have them saying, we need the wall. I mean, [21:53] they sound like me. But we do need it, because we have people coming. And I'm not just talking [21:58] about the caravans. We have people coming through our border that you physically can't put that many [22:04] people. It's a 2,000-mile stretch. You can't put that many people along that stretch to guard it. [22:10] And even if you did, tremendous fighting would ensue. So we need the wall. Many Democrats know we need [22:19] the wall. And we're just going to have to see what happens. I mean, I will be fighting for it. [22:23] They have done everything in their power to make sure—I got the military $700 billion and $716 billion. [22:30] The wall is a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost of that. But their whole agenda has been to try not [22:37] giving me anything for the wall. I really believe, politically, they're hurting themselves. I actually [22:42] think, politically, that's a good thing for me. But I want to get the wall up, because we need— [22:45] So no shutdown scenario? I don't know. I can't tell you that. [22:49] No, I can't commit to that. But it's possible. [22:51] And can you give us clarity, sir, on your thinking currently, now after the midterms, [22:55] about your attorney general and your deputy attorney general? Do they have long-term job security? [23:00] I'd rather answer that at a little bit different time. We're looking at a lot of different things, [23:05] including cabinet. I'm very happy with most of my cabinet. We're looking at different people for [23:13] different positions. You know, it's very common after the midterms. I didn't want to do anything [23:17] before the midterms. But I will tell you that, for the most part, I'm extremely happy with [23:22] my cabinet. I think Mike Pompeo has fit in so beautifully. He's done an incredible job. [23:26] How about your interior secretary? [23:29] We're looking at that. And I want—I do want to study whatever is being said. [23:33] Is he in jeopardy? [23:35] I think he's doing—I think he's doing an excellent job. But we will take a look at that [23:38] in a very strong—and we'll probably have an idea about that in about a week. [23:41] Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Go ahead, John. [23:48] He gave me a fair interview the other day, so I might as well ask him a question. [23:52] All right. Thank you, Mr. President. And picking up there, [23:54] you told me the other day that you are an open book, so— [23:57] I think I am an open book. [23:59] So, point blank, Democrats go after your tax returns. Will you try to block that, [24:04] or will you allow them to have it? [24:06] Well, look, as I've told you, they're under audit. They have been for a long time. [24:11] They're extremely complex. People wouldn't understand them. [24:14] They're done by among the biggest and best law firms in the country. Same thing with the accounting [24:20] firms. The accountants are a very, very large, powerful firm from the standpoint of respect, [24:26] highly respected. Big firm. A great law firm. You would—you know it very well. [24:33] They do these things. They put them in. But people don't understand tax returns. Now, [24:38] I did do a filing of over 100 pages, I believe, which is in the offices. And when people went and [24:45] saw that filing and they saw the magnitude of it, they were very disappointed. And they saw the, [24:50] you know, the details. You get far more from that. And I guess we filed that now three times. But you [24:56] get far more from that than you could ever get from a tax return. But when you're under audit—and I'm [25:01] on a very continuous audit, because there are so many companies, and it is a very big company, far bigger than [25:07] you would even understand. But it's a great company. But it's big. And it's complex. And it's probably [25:16] feet high. It's a very complex instrument. And I think that people wouldn't understand it. But if I [25:24] were finished with the audit, I would have an open mind to it. I would say that. But I don't want to [25:28] do it during the audit. And really, no lawyer, even from the other side, they say often, not always, [25:35] but when you're under audit, you don't have—you don't subject it to that. You get it done, [25:41] and then you release it. So when that happens, if that happens, I would certainly have an open [25:46] mind to it. So that means if the audit is still on, you will not [25:49] turn over the tax returns, or you'll fight to block it? When it's under audit, no, nobody would. [25:52] Nobody turns over a return when it's under audit, okay? Thank you. Yeah, go ahead, please. [26:00] One, I was tempted to ask you why you like Oprah so much, but I think I'll go on to the question that— [26:05] Why do I like Oprah? What kind of a question is that? [26:08] Yeah, I'm just asking. Just curious. But the real question— [26:10] He's a comedian here. The real question is— [26:12] I do like Oprah, by the way. I do. She was a person I knew well, came to my place in Palm Beach [26:18] often, and I have a lot of respect for her. Unfortunately, she didn't do the trick. [26:22] The real question is, you just sat up here and said that, from this podium, that it's—are you offering [26:29] an my way or highway scenario to the Democrats? You're saying that if they start investigating you, [26:38] that you can play that game and investigate them? [26:40] Better than them. [26:42] Can you compartmentalize that? [26:44] And I think I know more than they know. [26:45] Can you compartmentalize that and still continue to work with them for the benefit [26:49] of the rest of the country? Are you—are all bets off? [26:52] No. If they do that, then it's just—all it is, is a warlike posture. [26:58] And so then the—wait a minute, then the follow-up— [26:59] You heard—you heard my answer. Go ahead. [27:01] Well, since it's Jim, I'll let it go. [27:03] Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to challenge you on—on [27:08] one of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign, uh, in the midterms that— [27:13] Here—here we go. [27:14] That—well, if you don't mind, Mr. President— [27:16] Come on. [27:16] That this caravan was an invasion. As you know— [27:19] I consider it to be an invasion. [27:20] But as you know, Mr. President, the caravan was not an invasion. It's a—it's a—a group of [27:24] migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the U.S. [27:28] Thank you for telling me that I appreciate it. [27:29] And why—why did you—why did you characterize it as such, uh, and— [27:34] Because I consider it an invasion. You and I have a difference of opinion. [27:37] But do you think that you demonized immigrants in this election— [27:40] No, not at all—to try to keep— [27:41] I want them—I want them to come into the country, but they have to come in legally. [27:44] You know, they have to come in, Jim, through a process. [27:46] I want it to be a process. And I want people to come in. [27:49] And we need the people. [27:50] Your campaign— [27:51] Wait, wait, wait. [27:52] You know why we need the people, don't you? [27:54] Because we have hundreds of companies moving in. We need the people. [27:58] But your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls and so on. [28:02] Well, that's true. [28:02] It port— [28:03] But they weren't actors. [28:04] They're not going to be doing that. [28:04] They weren't actors. [28:05] Well, no, it's true. [28:06] Do you think they were actors? [28:08] They weren't actors. They didn't come from Hollywood. [28:10] All right. [28:10] These were—these were people—this was an actual—you know, it happened a few days ago. [28:16] And, uh— [28:17] They're hundreds of miles away, though. [28:18] They're hundreds and hundreds of miles away. [28:20] You know what? [28:20] That's not an invasion. [28:21] Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. [28:24] You run CNN. [28:25] All right. [28:25] And if you did it well, your ratings would be much better. [28:27] Let me ask— [28:28] If I may ask one other question— [28:29] Mr. President, if I may— [28:30] If I may ask one other question, are you worried— [28:32] That's enough. [28:32] That's enough. [28:33] Mr. President, I— [28:33] That's enough. [28:34] I was going to ask one of the— [28:34] The other folks— [28:35] That's enough. [28:36] Pardon me, ma'am. [28:36] I'm— [28:37] Excuse me. [28:38] That's enough. [28:38] Mr. President, I had one other question. [28:39] Peter, let's go. [28:40] Mr. President, if I may ask on— [28:41] On the Russia investigation, are you concerned [28:43] that— [28:44] That you may have— [28:45] I'm not concerned about anything with— [28:46] That you may have indictments coming down— [28:47] That you may have indictments coming down— [28:48] Because it's a hoax. [28:49] Are you— [28:49] That's enough. [28:50] Put down the mic. [28:51] Mr. President, are you worried about [28:52] indictments coming down in this investigation? [28:56] Mr. President— [28:58] I'll tell you what. [28:58] CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. [29:02] You are a rude, terrible person. [29:05] You shouldn't be working for CNN. [29:07] Go ahead. [29:07] I think that's unfair. [29:10] You're a very rude person. [29:11] The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible. [29:13] And the way you treat other people are horrible. [29:16] You shouldn't treat people that way. [29:17] Go ahead. [29:17] Go ahead. [29:18] Peter, go ahead. [29:19] In Jim's defense, I've traveled with him and watched him. [29:21] He's a diligent reporter who busts his butt like the rest of us. [29:22] Well, I'm not a big fan of yours either, so— [29:24] I understand. [29:24] To be honest with you. [29:25] So let me ask you a question, if I can. [29:27] You repeatedly said— [29:28] You are— [29:28] You are the best. [29:29] Mr. President, you repeatedly, over the course of— [29:32] Okay, just sit down, please. [29:35] Well, when you— when you report fake news— [29:37] No. [29:37] When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, [29:41] you are the enemy of the people. [29:42] Go ahead. [29:43] Mr. President, over the course— [29:44] Over the course of the last several days of the campaign, sir— [29:47] Sir, at the end of the campaign, you repeatedly said that Americans [29:50] need to fear Democrats. [29:51] You said Democrats would unleash a wave of violent crime that endangers families [29:56] everywhere. [29:57] Why are you— [29:57] Because they're very weak on crime. [29:59] Why are you pitting Americans against one another, sir? [30:01] Peter, what are you trying to be him? [30:02] No, I'm just asking the question. [30:03] Let me just tell you. [30:04] Very simple. [30:06] Because they're very weak on crime. [30:08] Because they have often suggested members and people within the Democrat Party at a high level [30:13] have suggested getting rid of ICE, getting rid of law enforcement. [30:17] That's not going to happen, okay? [30:19] We want to be strong on the borders. [30:21] We want to be strong on law enforcement. [30:23] And I want to—I want to cherish ICE, because ICE does a fantastic job. [30:28] The—the—what they do for us is so—really, it's so unrecognized how good a job they do. [30:35] So we want to take care of them, and we want to hold them very close, because they do a good job. [30:39] But the question—to be clear—to be clear, though, the question— [30:41] Thank you very much. [30:42] Why are you— [30:42] Sit down, Peter. [30:43] But the question—but you didn't answer my question. [30:45] Just very simply. [30:46] The question is, why are you pitting Americans against one another, sir? [30:49] I'm not. [30:49] Is that how you view citizens of this country? [30:52] Well, look, I'll tell you what. [30:52] We won a lot of elections last night. [30:55] We did very well last night. [30:57] But in many ways, it's divided the country. [30:59] I think it's going to have—I think it's going to have a very positive impact. [31:02] I watched NBC this morning. [31:03] They didn't report it exactly correctly. [31:05] But that's, you know, very, very—that's the fact with NBC. [31:08] Nothing I can do about that. [31:10] But I want this country to have protection. [31:14] We want security in our country. [31:16] I want security, Peter. [31:19] I mean, you maybe don't think it's so important. [31:21] And I think when you don't have it, you are, indeed, unleashing crime. [31:24] I feel that. [31:25] Go ahead. [31:25] You said you would sign an executive order on birthright citizenship. [31:28] Are you still going to sign the executive order on birthright citizenship? [31:30] You'll answer—you'll ask me that question a little bit later. [31:32] Go ahead. [31:33] Okay. [31:33] Go ahead, sure. [31:34] Thank you, Mr. President. [31:37] The investigation by the special counsel Robert Mueller has been going on since last spring. [31:42] It's been over your head— [31:44] It's been a long time. [31:45] Yeah, it's been over your head, over Republicans' head, during the midterms as well. [31:48] Is this an opportunity for you, Mr. President, to end that investigation? [31:52] Would you consider removing Mr. Mueller from his position? [31:55] I could have ended it any time I wanted. [31:57] I didn't. [31:59] And there was no collusion. [32:01] There was no anything. [32:03] I didn't. [32:04] They went after hackers in Moscow. [32:07] I don't know about that. [32:07] They went after people with tax problems from years ago. [32:12] They went after people with loans and other things. [32:17] It had nothing to do with my campaign. [32:19] This is an investigation where many, many millions of dollars has been spent. [32:25] And there's no collusion. [32:26] It was supposed to be on collusion. [32:28] There's no collusion. [32:30] And I think it's—I think it's very bad for our country, I will tell you. [32:35] I think it's a shame. [32:37] And a poll came out today, by the way, from NBC, or at least I saw it on NBC, [32:43] where a majority of the people do not agree with the Mueller investigation, or it wasn't approved. [32:49] They have approval and disapproval, and it had a much higher disapproval. [32:55] It should end, because it's very bad for our country. [32:58] So if it's bad— [32:59] And I'm not just talking about the tremendous expense. [33:02] And the other thing is they should look at the other side also. [33:05] They only look at one side. [33:06] They're not looking at all of the things that came up during this investigation. [33:12] They don't do that. [33:13] They should also get people that can be fair, not 13 or 14 or 17. [33:20] I call them the angry Democrats. [33:22] They are angry people. [33:23] And it's a very unfair thing for this country. [33:26] It's a very, very— [33:27] Forget about unfair to me. [33:28] It's very bad for our country. [33:30] So, Mr. President, if it's unfair to the country and it's costing millions of dollars, [33:37] why don't you just— [33:38] Give him the mic, please. [33:39] I've answered the question. [33:40] Go ahead. [33:40] Take the— [33:41] Take the mic. [33:43] Well, I'll give you voters— [33:44] I will give you voter suppression. [33:46] You just have to— [33:47] Sit down, please. [33:48] Sit down. [33:49] I didn't call you. [33:50] I didn't call you. [33:51] I didn't call you. [33:52] I'll give you voter suppression. [33:54] Take a look at the CNN polls, how inaccurate they were. [33:57] That's called voter suppression. [33:59] Go ahead, please. [33:59] Thank you, Mr. President. [34:03] I'm not—I'm not responding. [34:04] I'm responding to— [34:05] Excuse me. [34:06] I'm not responding to you. [34:07] I'm talking to this gentleman. [34:08] Would you please sit down? [34:10] Excuse me. [34:11] Excuse me. [34:12] Would you please sit down? [34:13] Please, go ahead. [34:14] Thank you, Mr. President. [34:15] Now that the— [34:16] Now that the House of Representatives has— [34:17] Very hostile. [34:18] It's such a hostile media. [34:19] It's so sad. [34:21] You asked me about— [34:22] No, you rudely interrupted him. [34:25] You rudely interrupted him. [34:27] Go ahead. [34:28] Thank you, Mr. President. [34:29] Do your demands remain the same to the United States Congress [34:32] on immigration in exchange for a DACA fix, [34:36] in exchange for an amnesty for $1.7 million? [34:38] Are you willing to change any of those demands that you gave to Congress earlier? [34:42] I think we could really do something having to do with DACA. [34:45] And what really happened with DACA, we could have done some pretty good work on DACA, [34:49] but a judge ruled that DACA was okay. [34:52] Had the judge not ruled that way, I think we would have made a deal. [34:56] Once the judge ruled that way, the Democrats didn't want to talk anymore. [35:00] So it'll see—we'll see how it works out at the Supreme Court. [35:03] Do you still— [35:03] Go ahead. [35:06] From where? [35:12] Yeah, go ahead. [35:12] Go ahead. [35:13] Go ahead. [35:18] Which—which group? [35:19] Where do you want me to take a question from? [35:20] Yeah. [35:20] Go ahead, ma'am. [35:21] Go ahead. [35:21] Take the—oh. [35:23] Either one. [35:23] Either one. [35:24] Okay. [35:24] Could both? [35:25] Or both. [35:26] Are you together? [35:28] Go ahead. [35:29] We're not together. [35:29] Mr. President, how do you respond to critics who say that your message on the campaign [35:34] towards minorities have been polarizing? [35:36] I don't think it has been at all. [35:37] But it's the election of two Muslim women. [35:40] One of them is veiled to the House, which is making history. [35:43] Is this a rebuke of this message? [35:45] I don't understand what you're saying. [35:46] What? [35:46] But is it a rebuke of this message? [35:48] Do you think that this is more reflective of multi-ethnic and multicultural America? [35:53] Well, that question—I can only say this. [35:56] You look at the employment and unemployment numbers for African Americans, for Asian Americans, [36:02] for Hispanic Americans, they're at a historic high. [36:06] A poll came out recently where my numbers with Hispanics and with African Americans are the highest, [36:12] the best they've ever been. [36:13] That had—that took place two or three days ago, the poll. [36:16] I have the best numbers with African American and Hispanic American that I've ever had before. [36:24] And you saw the same poll. [36:26] So I can't say that. [36:27] I can say this. [36:28] You look at median income, you look at all of the employment and unemployment numbers, [36:34] they're doing the best they've ever done. [36:35] And it reflects—it really is very reflective in the polls. [36:39] Yes, go ahead. [36:40] Mr. President, I'm from Brooklyn, so you'll understand me. [36:42] I understand you very well. [36:44] Uh, my question is on health care. [36:46] How is it possible to keep premiums down and cover pre-existing conditions [36:52] without the individual mandate to fund it? [36:55] Well, first of all, what we're doing, and we're—if you look at the Department of Labor, [36:59] also, uh, Secretary—separately separate—secretary Azar, what they've done, [37:03] they've come up with some incredible health care plans, which is causing great competition [37:07] and driving the prices right down. [37:09] But we are getting rid of the individual mandate because it was very unfair to a lot of people. [37:14] But at the same time, we're covering the people that need it. [37:17] But the individual mandate was a disaster because people that couldn't necessarily afford it [37:23] were having to pay for the privilege of not having to pay for health care. [37:27] And it was bad health care at that. [37:29] So we are working many plans for health care. [37:33] We're creating tremendous competition. [37:35] We had Obamacare repealed and replaced. [37:37] Unfortunately, one person changed his mind at the last moment. [37:41] And we had no Democrat support. [37:43] I have to say that. [37:43] We didn't have one vote. [37:45] We would have repealed it, replaced it. [37:47] We would have had a large-scale, very good health care plan. [37:50] Now we're doing it a different way. [37:52] We're doing it a different way. [37:54] Uh, but getting rid of the individual mandate is a very, very popular thing [37:57] and a very important thing. [37:59] And people very much appreciate it. [38:00] Go ahead. [38:03] Thank you, sir. [38:08] Two questions. [38:09] One, I know you went through the results and you obviously studied them late last night. [38:13] What lesson did you learn most from looking at those results? [38:16] Was there one thing, as you kind of reviewed them, that you'll change your strategy, [38:20] not just for Congress, but kind of going forward? [38:22] And then just a follow-up question. [38:23] Well, I think the results that I've learned and maybe confirmed, I think people like me. [38:27] I think people like the job I'm doing, frankly. [38:30] Because if you look at every place I went to do a rally, I couldn't do it with everybody. [38:35] But, and it was very hard to do it with people in Congress, [38:39] because there's just too many, there'll be too many stops. [38:42] But I did it with the Senate. [38:44] I did it with Andy Barr, as you know. [38:46] And he won. [38:48] He won a very tough race against McGrath. [38:52] I was a very, very tough race in Kentucky. [38:55] And he was down quite a bit. [38:57] And I went there. [38:58] And we had a tremendous, very successful, some of you were at that rally. [39:02] And he won that race. [39:03] But I could only do that so much because there were just so many players involved. [39:08] But I did focus on the Senate. [39:10] And we had tremendous success with the Senate. [39:13] Really tremendous. [39:13] Can I ask you one more question? [39:15] Sorry, Mr. President, one more question, if you don't mind. [39:17] I'm so sorry, sir. [39:18] It's a rare opportunity. [39:19] A lot of people are going to be rushing to Iowa, rushing to New Hampshire. [39:22] You know that the Democrats are already looking ahead to 2020. [39:25] Do you want to lock down your ticket right now, sir? [39:28] Will the vice president be your running mate in 2020? [39:30] Well, I haven't asked him, but I hope so. [39:32] Where are you? [39:33] Mike, will you be my running mate? [39:36] Stand up, Mike, please. [39:37] Raise your right hand. [39:38] No, I'm only kidding. [39:40] Will you? [39:41] Thank you. [39:41] Okay, good. [39:42] The answer is yes. [39:43] Thank you, sir. [39:44] That was unexpected, but I feel very fine. [39:49] Yeah, please. [39:50] Thank you, Mr. President. [39:51] Going back to the Russia investigation and the potential investigations from the now [39:56] democratically — Democratic majority in Congress, some say that you could stop all [40:01] this by declassifying — [40:02] I could. [40:02] I could fire everybody right now. [40:04] But I don't want to stop it because politically I don't like stopping it. [40:07] Yeah. [40:08] It's a disgrace. [40:10] It should have never been started because there was no crime. [40:14] It is — everybody has conflicts. [40:16] They all have conflicts over there that are beyond anything that anybody's ever seen in terms of [40:21] conflicts, from the fact that people ask for jobs, from the fact that they have very good friends on the [40:30] other side, like really good friends like Comey, who, by the way, lied and leaked and also leaked classified [40:39] information. [40:39] Nothing happened there. [40:41] It might, perhaps. [40:42] Maybe something's happening that I don't know about. [40:44] I stay away from it. [40:45] But you know what I do? [40:47] I let it just go on. [40:48] They're wasting a lot of money. [40:50] But I let it go on because I don't want to do that. [40:54] But you're right. [40:55] I could end it right now. [40:56] I could say that investigation is over. [41:00] But it's — it's really — it's a disgrace, frankly. [41:04] And it's an embarrassment to our country. [41:07] It's an embarrassment to the people of our country. [41:10] And it's too bad. [41:10] Go ahead. [41:11] What about the declassification of the documents? [41:13] Some say that that would clear it all up. [41:15] We're looking at that. [41:15] No, no. [41:15] We're looking at that very seriously. [41:17] Declassification, we're looking at that very seriously. [41:19] Can I ask one more? [41:20] It's amazing how people on the other side just don't want those documents declassified. [41:25] But, no, we're looking at that very carefully. [41:27] I certainly wanted to wait till after the midterms. [41:29] Can I ask — [41:30] Thank you. [41:33] Go ahead. [41:35] Thank you, Mr. President. [41:36] You have campaigned as a pro-life president. [41:38] You have defended the rights of unborn children. [41:41] You now have a divided Congress. [41:42] It's unlikely to pass — [41:43] That's right. [41:43] — to pass any pro-life bills. [41:45] Very tough issue. [41:46] How are you going to push forward your pro-life agenda? [41:48] Just going to push. [41:49] I've been pushing. [41:50] I've done a very good job, too. [41:52] I'm very happy with me. [41:52] But it's a tough issue for the two sides. [41:55] There's no question about it. [41:56] But what are you going to do — [41:56] There is great — [41:57] What am I going to do? [41:58] I won't be able to explain that to you. [42:00] Because it is an issue that is a very divisive, polarizing issue. [42:07] But there is a solution. [42:09] I think I have that solution. [42:11] And nobody else does. [42:13] We're going to be — [42:13] We're going to be working on that. [42:15] Yes, go ahead, please. [42:19] She took your place, but that's okay. [42:21] Mr. President, just a quick question on rural America. [42:25] In states like Indiana and North Dakota, folks turned out for Republican candidates. [42:29] Could you talk a little bit about what this means for your agenda in terms of trade and the farm bill? [42:33] The farm bill is working really well. [42:36] I mean, we could have had it approved any time. [42:38] But we're looking to get work rules approved. [42:40] The farmers want it. [42:41] I'd like it. [42:42] The problem is the Democrats are not giving us the 10 votes that we need. [42:46] We are — everybody wants it. [42:48] The farmers want it. [42:49] But the Democrats are not approving the farm bill with work rules. [42:53] We could have it very fast without the work rules. [42:57] But we want the work rules in. [42:59] And the Democrats just don't want to vote for that. [43:03] So at some point, they'll have to pay maybe a price. [43:05] Jeff, go ahead. [43:06] Mr. President. [43:06] Thank you very much, Mr. President. [43:11] Thank you. [43:11] Have you seen any evidence that Russia or China intervened in yesterday's election? [43:16] Well, we're going to make a full report. [43:18] And unlike the previous administration, we've done a lot of work on that issue. [43:22] And if you look — speak with the FBI, speak with the Department of Justice, [43:27] speak to Homeland Security. [43:29] We've spent a lot of time — it gets very little coverage in the papers. [43:33] I mean, you cover the nonsense part, but you don't cover the importance. [43:36] This is very important. [43:37] And we have been working very hard on China and Russia and everybody else looking into our elections [43:44] or meddling with our elections. [43:45] But people tend not to write about it. [43:47] But we have worked very hard, as you probably heard. [43:50] What do you — what do you intend to say, sir, to President Xi and to President Putin [43:54] when you meet with them later this month? [43:56] Well, I have a good relationship with both. [43:59] I know President Xi better, but I think I have a very good relationship with both. [44:04] I actually had a very good meeting in Russia that you people didn't agree with, but that's okay. [44:08] It doesn't much matter, obviously, because here I am. [44:11] You mean Helsinki. [44:12] But the fact is that I had a very, very good meeting — a very, very good meeting with President Putin. [44:19] And a lot was discussed about security, about Syria, about Ukraine, about the fact that President [44:28] Obama allowed a very large part of Ukraine to be taken. [44:31] And right now you have submarines off that particular parcel that we're talking about. [44:35] You know what I'm talking about. [44:36] That was President Putin who annexed Crimea, sir. [44:39] That was President Obama's regime. [44:41] That was during President Obama, right? [44:44] That was — that was not during me. [44:46] But it was President Putin, sir, who did the annexation. [44:48] No, no. [44:49] It was President Obama that allowed it to happen. [44:52] Had nothing to do with me. [44:54] Okay, go ahead. [44:54] Yeah, go ahead. [44:56] Go ahead. [44:57] Go ahead. [44:57] Thank you, Mr. President. [45:01] Cordelia Lynch, Sky News. [45:03] You're a man who likes to win, but last night was not an absolute victory for you. [45:08] I'll be honest. [45:10] I thought it was a — I thought it was a very close to complete victory. [45:15] When you look at it from the standpoint of negotiation, when you look at it from the standpoint [45:20] of deal-making, because it's all about deal-making, again, if we had the majority and we had one or [45:28] two or three votes to play with, we would never — we would have been at a standstill. [45:32] I really believe that we have a chance to get along very well with the Democrats. [45:36] And if that's the case, we can do a tremendous amount of legislation and get it approved by [45:43] both parties. [45:44] So I consider it to be — hey, look, I won Georgia. [45:50] President Obama campaigned very hard in Georgia. [45:53] Oprah Winfrey campaigned very, very hard all over the television. [45:58] I said, this is going to be tough. [46:00] I only had me. [46:01] I didn't have anybody else. [46:02] And I went to Georgia. [46:04] And we had one of the largest crowds that anybody here has seen ever at a political rally. [46:10] And you know what? [46:11] He won. [46:12] And he won actually by, you know, pretty good margin. [46:14] He won. [46:15] And then we went to Florida. [46:17] And they had celebrities all over the place. [46:21] And a man who happens to be a very smart person was running, Ron DeSantis. [46:28] And people didn't give him a chance. [46:30] And I went and we had — we did some great work. [46:34] And they're going to have a great governor of the state of Florida. [46:36] And then we talked about the Senate. [46:39] And a lot of money was pouring in for the Democrat. [46:43] This is a man who's been in office for, like, 44 years or something. [46:46] This is a man who's like a professional at getting elected and being at office. [46:50] So he's not — Bill Nelson, not easy to beat, OK? [46:54] And — but they had a lot of celebrity coming out for Nelson. [46:57] They had everybody coming out for Nelson. [47:00] And Rick's got one. [47:02] And I helped him. [47:03] And I think we've done an amazing job. [47:05] And you could look at many other places. [47:07] You just take a look at some of the other places. [47:10] And we just got the word that in Iowa, you have a governor who just got extended. [47:17] Kim just got extended. [47:19] And numerous other places. [47:20] I think it was a great victory. [47:21] I'll be honest. [47:22] I think it was a great victory. [47:23] And actually, some of the news this morning was that it was, in fact, a great victory. [47:28] But if you look at it from the standpoint of gridlock, [47:32] I really believe there's going to be much less gridlock because of the way this is going than any other. [47:37] I'll follow up on that. [47:40] Sit down, please. [47:41] Go ahead. [47:42] Thank you, Mr. President. [47:45] Let me ask you about one of the campaign promises you made down the stretch, [47:47] which was a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class. [47:50] Yeah. [47:50] You just talked about gridlock. [47:52] Democrats, they now run the House Ways and Means Committee. [47:55] If it means a tax cut of some kind for the middle class, but that means raising rates elsewhere, [48:00] corporations on the wealthiest, is that a tradeoff that you would be willing to make [48:04] and able to enact the middle class tax? [48:05] Do you know that this will have to be now proposed? [48:08] Because if we did it now, we don't have the votes in the Senate. [48:11] You don't have—we need—we would need 10 Democrat votes. [48:13] We probably couldn't get them. [48:15] If we could, we could pass it very easily in the House. [48:17] But there's no reason to waste time, because you don't have the votes in the Senate. [48:21] But if the—as an example, if the Democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts, [48:27] which I am a big believer in tax cuts, I would absolutely pursue something, even if it means some adjustment. [48:33] Some adjustment on which side? [48:34] The corporate, the individual? [48:35] Yeah, to make it possible. [48:36] But I would love to see a tax cut for the middle class. [48:39] Now, that's going to be their decision. [48:41] They're going to have to make that decision. [48:43] As you know, if we bring it up to the Senate, we'd need Democrat votes, 10, [48:47] and we don't have those 10 votes. [48:48] And just because the markets would—and just because the markets would want to know, [48:51] sir, some adjustment, would that be 1, 2, 3 percent on either side? [48:54] I'm not telling you that. [48:55] I'm just saying, I would be certainly willing to do a little bit of an adjustment. [48:58] Go ahead, behind. [48:59] Thank you. [48:59] Go ahead, please. [49:00] Thank you very much. [49:02] Two questions. [49:03] One is, you had talked about leaders who had called to congratulate you. [49:06] Did President Putin call to congratulate you? [49:09] And will you, in fact, meet with him at lunch this coming weekend? [49:13] Well, as I understand it, we're having—and I guess a lot of you are going over—we're [49:16] having a lunch for numerous countries. [49:19] I'll be there. [49:20] I believe President Putin is going to be there. [49:23] We don't have anything scheduled. [49:25] I don't think we have anything scheduled in Paris. [49:28] And I'm coming back very quickly. [49:30] I'm going over. [49:30] This is a great event. [49:32] This is an important—really, this is going to be a very important and, I think, a very beautiful [49:37] ceremony. [49:38] I'm looking forward to going, and we're representing the incredible heroes of the world, but the heroes [49:44] of our country from World War I. [49:47] And so I'll be going there, and I am very proud to go there. [49:50] Did he call you? [49:51] I don't think we have time set aside for that meeting. [49:54] Now, with that being said, we're very shortly meeting again at the G20, where he'll be there, [49:59] and I'll be there. [50:00] And that's where we're actually looking forward to meeting. [50:02] We will be having—we will be having a lunch, but I think there are many people there. [50:07] And did he call you to congratulate you? [50:08] And if I could also just invite you, since this is a—quite a gathering we've got here, [50:13] to go ahead and talk about the staff changes that you expect in the White House while we're here. [50:18] We're eager to hear about them. [50:19] Is General Kelly going to stay on? [50:21] Well, I think what I'll do is, as we make changes, we'll sit down and talk to you about it. [50:25] I mean, there's no great secret. [50:26] A lot of—a lot of administrations make changes after midterms. [50:31] I will say that, for the most part, I'm very, very happy with this Cabinet. [50:36] We're doing a great job. [50:36] But what about in the White House—what about in the White House, sir? [50:38] You've got a lot of White House staff. [50:40] Some have been talking about leaving. [50:41] General Kelly has been rumored to be leaving. [50:44] Well, that's okay. [50:44] People leave. [50:45] People leave. [50:45] And is that going to happen, sir? [50:47] People leave. [50:47] I don't—I haven't heard about John Kelly. [50:49] But no, people—people leave. [50:52] They come in. [50:54] They're here. [50:54] It's a very exhausting job, although I love doing it, I must tell you. [50:58] But it's exhausting for a lot of people. [51:00] I'm surprised at a lot of people. [51:02] They start off—they're young people. [51:04] They're there for two years, and they're old by the time they leave. [51:07] It's quite exhausting. [51:09] But I love doing it. [51:10] And I'll tell you, there will be changes. [51:13] Nothing monumental from that standpoint. [51:16] I don't think very much different than most administrations. [51:18] But—and we have—I mean, we have many people lined up for every single position. [51:25] Any position—everybody wants to work in this White House. [51:27] We are a hot country. [51:29] This is a hot White House. [51:30] We are a White House that people want to work with. [51:34] Okay. [51:34] Go ahead. [51:36] No, no. [51:37] Please. [51:37] Behind you. [51:38] Behind you. [51:38] Go ahead. [51:39] This has been a very challenging campaign. [51:43] It is—this has been a very challenging campaign. [51:45] It's been a very challenging campaign. [51:46] It has involved quite a lot of abuse and a lot of violence. [51:50] People have died during the course of this campaign. [51:52] Yeah. [51:53] Is there any way in which you think the temperature could be lowered? [51:56] Perhaps peace could break out with the media? [51:59] Perhaps your bipartisan relationships across the House and the Senate [52:03] may now produce some change? [52:05] Or are we going to have more of the same? [52:06] It's a very fair question. [52:07] Look, I would love to see unity and peace and love and any other word you want to use. [52:16] And obviously, I think we had to, especially at this particular juncture, we had to wait until after [52:22] the midterms are over. [52:23] Now they're over. [52:25] If they would cover me fairly—which they don't—which they don't—I'm not saying that in a hostile way. [52:31] I get extremely inaccurate coverage. [52:34] I can do something that's fantastic and they'll make it look like not good. [52:39] And—and I don't mind being—having bad stories. [52:41] If I make a mistake, cover it. [52:44] I'd like you to cover it fairly, but cover it. [52:46] But when you do something terrific, look how little the economy is talking about. [52:51] A poll came out this morning talking about how little the three networks—I don't think they [52:56] included CNN—but how little the three networks talk about how good the economy is. [53:02] How little—almost not at all. [53:05] If President Obama had this economy—and by the way, if that administration through somebody else [53:14] kept going, you would have had negative 4.2 instead of positive 4.2 percent growth. [53:21] You would have had negative—it was heading down. [53:23] But here—the point is this—excuse me. [53:25] I would love to see unity, including with the media, because I think the media—I'll be honest, [53:32] I think it's a very divisive thing for our country. [53:35] And you would be amazed at how smart people are that are reading your stories and seeing [53:39] your stories and watching. [53:40] You'd be amazed how perceptive and how smart they are. [53:44] They get it. [53:45] And it really does bring disunity. [53:47] I—I didn't—excuse me. [53:50] You—you are not—you are not called on. [53:53] Go ahead. [53:54] Go ahead. [53:55] Go ahead. [53:57] Please. [53:57] How about Turkey? [53:59] Thank you, President Trump. [54:01] Shortly after your victory speech on the historic night of—back in November 2016, [54:06] I asked you to what single factor you most attributed this victory to and— [54:10] You said you have to speak up? [54:11] Sure. [54:13] On the night of your victory, I asked you, right after your speech, [54:16] to what you would attribute your victory. [54:18] You pointed up to the ceiling and you said that it was God. [54:22] Based off of that, how would you say, over the last two years, [54:26] God plays—what kind of a factor he plays in the day-to-day execution of the Office of the President? [54:32] Well, God plays a big factor in my life, and God plays a factor in the lives of [54:36] many people that I know very well in this room, like your vice president. [54:41] God plays a very big role in my life. [54:43] And—and—and one—one more back to—a quick one, quick follow-up. [54:47] Which loss last night surprised you the most, and which of these unsuccessful candidates are you [54:52] most likely to consider for future administration? [54:53] Nothing surprises me in politics. [54:55] But there were some losses last night, and there were some victories last night [54:58] that have been incredible. [55:00] I mean, there were victories last night that nobody would believe, [55:03] especially based on the suppression polls. [55:05] They had a lot of suppression polls. [55:06] Would you—would you consider any— [55:07] And there were some victories last night that were very surprising, [55:10] but I'm not going to pick out special—you know, special people. [55:12] Would you consider any for a post— [55:13] It's tough enough for those people to have a loss— [55:15] Would you consider any for an administration post, moving forward, [55:17] as one of the very few of the 3.7 percent unemployed— [55:20] What? [55:21] Would you consider any of the people who lost last night for a post in the administration [55:26] in the near future? [55:26] I know a couple of very good ones. [55:28] Yeah, I would, actually. [55:28] Go ahead, please. [55:29] Mr. President—Mr. President, I asked you on Monday [55:35] if there was anything that you regret in your first two years. [55:38] And you said that at times you could have and should have used a, quote, [55:41] softer tone. [55:42] Your critics, as you can imagine, your skeptics, they say they're not holding their breath on that happening. [55:48] Will you indeed have to change your tone if you're to get things passed through Congress [55:52] after losing the House? [55:53] And you also said you might extend an olive branch. [55:55] What would that look like? [55:56] I would love to have—I'd be very good at a low tone. [56:00] But when things are done not correctly about you, [56:05] written about you, said about you, on television, on wherever it is, you have to defend yourself. [56:10] I would love to do various—very even tones, much easier than what I have to do. [56:15] I have to go around, and going around is much easier than facing somebody and being treated fairly. [56:21] But when you're not treated fairly, you really have no choice. [56:24] I would love to have a very even, modest, boring tone. [56:30] I would be very honored by that. [56:32] But you know what? [56:33] When you have to fight, all the time fight, because you're being misrepresented by the media, [56:38] you really can't do that. [56:39] But not about the media, sir. [56:41] But, sir, real quickly, not about the media, but what about with Congress? [56:43] Please, go ahead. [56:44] Mr. President, can you just—how you focus on the economic— [56:51] Where are you from, please? [56:53] Japan. [56:53] Okay. [56:54] Say hello. [56:54] Say hello to Shinzo. [56:56] Yes. [56:57] I'm sure he's happy about tariffs on his cars. [56:59] Go ahead. [57:00] That's my question, actually. [57:01] So how you focus on the trade and economic issues with Japan? [57:05] Would you ask Japan to do more, or would you change your tone? [57:09] I don't—I really don't understand you. [57:10] How would you focus on trade and economic issues? [57:13] Trade with Japan? [57:14] Yes. [57:14] Well, we're dealing with Japan right now on trade. [57:17] Japan has—it's a great country. [57:20] You have a great prime minister who just had a very successful election. [57:24] He's a very good friend of mine. [57:25] He's one of the people I'm closest with, and—but I tell him all the time that Japan [57:30] does not treat the United States fairly on trade. [57:33] They send in millions of cars at a very low tax. [57:36] They don't take our cars. [57:37] And if they do, they have a massive tax on their cars. [57:41] Japan—and I'm not blaming Japan. [57:43] I'm blaming the people that were in charge of the United States for allowing that to happen. [57:49] But as you know, we have close to a hundred billion dollar trade deficit with Japan. [57:53] And Japan has treated us very unfairly. [57:55] But don't feel lonely, because you weren't the only one. [57:58] How about North Korea? [58:00] How about North Korea? [58:01] Thank you, Mr. President. [58:03] Two international news questions. [58:05] The first one, Secretary Pompeo's talks about North Korea have been postponed. [58:15] What is happening there? [58:16] And will your meeting still happen with— [58:19] We're going to change it because of trips that are being made. [58:22] We're going to make it at another date. [58:24] But we're very happy how it's going with North Korea. [58:26] We think it's going fine. [58:27] We're in no rush. [58:28] We're in no hurry. [58:28] The sanctions are on. [58:30] You still expect to meet Kim Jong-un? [58:31] No, no, excuse me. [58:32] Wait. [58:32] Sorry, sir. [58:32] The sanctions are on. [58:34] The missiles have stopped. [58:35] The rockets have stopped. [58:36] The hostages are home. [58:39] The great heroes have been coming home. [58:44] Mike Pence was in Hawaii, where the—one of the most beautiful ceremonies that anyone's ever seen [58:51] for the fallen. [58:52] These are great heroes. [58:54] Very important. [58:55] When I was running, a lot of people—as many years ago as it was, [58:59] in many cases, grandchildren, but they were asking about that—they're coming home, [59:03] and they're being provided to us as we speak. [59:07] But I'm in no rush. [59:08] I'm in no rush. [59:09] The sanctions are on. [59:11] I read a couple of times, and I've seen a few times where they said, [59:15] he's done so much. [59:17] What have I done? [59:18] I met. [59:19] Now, I'd love to take the sanctions off, but they have to be responsive, too. [59:24] It's a two-way street. [59:26] But we're not in any rush at all. [59:28] There's no rush whatsoever. [59:29] You know, before I got here, they were dealing with this for over 70 years, [59:35] and I guess on a nuclear front for 25 years. [59:38] That's a long time. [59:40] I've been there. [59:41] I probably left Singapore four or five months ago, [59:44] and we made more progress in that four or five months than they've made in 70 years, [59:49] and nobody else could have done what I've done. [59:52] But I'll say this. [59:53] I'll say this very simply. [59:56] We're in no rush. [59:57] The sanctions are on, and whenever it is—but that meeting is going to be rescheduled. [1:00:02] That meeting? [1:00:02] But how about your meeting with Kim Jong-un, sir? [1:00:05] Will it happen in the next month? [1:00:07] Sometime next year, I would say. [1:00:09] Sometime next year? [1:00:10] Sometime early next year. [1:00:11] And a quick question on the USMCA. [1:00:13] Now that it's been concluded, have you repaired your relationship with Prime Minister Trudeau? [1:00:18] Yes, I have. [1:00:19] We have a very good relationship. [1:00:20] Thank you very much, Mr. President. [1:00:24] We've been talking a lot about division and the division that exists in this country right now, [1:00:29] and some of the statistics are disturbing, I think, to just about everyone. [1:00:33] Anti-Semitic incidents have increased by 57 percent since 2016. [1:00:38] Hate crimes are on the rise. [1:00:40] Why do you think that is, and what will you do about it? [1:00:43] It's very sad to see it. [1:00:44] I hate to see it. [1:00:45] And as you know, I've done more. [1:00:46] In fact, if you were with us the last time we met, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that [1:00:54] this president has done more for Israel than any other president. [1:00:58] Those words—those exact words. [1:01:01] Jerusalem, protection, working together, so many different things. [1:01:05] But the big thing is Jerusalem. [1:01:07] You know, many, many presidents have said they are going to build the embassy in Jerusalem. [1:01:15] Never happened. [1:01:17] Making it the capital of Israel. [1:01:19] Never happened. [1:01:20] Never happened. [1:01:21] But it happened with me and quickly. [1:01:23] And not only did it happen, we built the embassy. [1:01:27] That would have taken another 15 or 20 years and cost probably billions of dollars. [1:01:31] And we did it for a tiny amount of money. [1:01:34] It's already done. [1:01:34] It's open. [1:01:36] Nobody has done more for Israel than Donald Trump. [1:01:40] And the nice part is that's not me saying it. [1:01:42] That's Prime Minister Netanyahu. [1:01:45] But what about the—Mr. President, what about the divides in this country? [1:01:49] Mr. President, what about healing the divides in this country? [1:01:52] Well, we want to see it—we want to see it healed. [1:01:54] And one of the things I think that can help heal is the success of our country. [1:01:58] We are really successful now. [1:02:00] We've gone up $11.7 trillion in worth. [1:02:05] If you know, China's come down tremendously. [1:02:09] Tremendously. [1:02:10] China would have superseded us in two years as an economic power. [1:02:16] Now they're not even close. [1:02:19] China got rid of their China 25 because I found it very insulting. [1:02:22] I said that to them. [1:02:24] I said China 25 is very insulting because China 25 means in 2025 they're going to take over economically [1:02:32] the world. [1:02:32] I said that's not happening. [1:02:34] And we've gone way up. [1:02:37] They've gone down. [1:02:38] And I don't want them to go down. [1:02:39] We'll have a good meeting, and we're going to see what we can do. [1:02:42] But I have to say this. [1:02:45] Billions of dollars will soon be pouring into our Treasury from taxes that China is paying for us. [1:02:51] And if you speak to Mr. Pillsbury, who probably is the leading authority on China, [1:02:57] he was on the other day saying he has never seen anything like it. [1:03:01] And you know who else hasn't? [1:03:02] China hasn't. [1:03:03] But we're going to try and make a deal with China, [1:03:06] because I want to have great relationships with President Xi, as I do, and also with China. [1:03:12] You're talking about how do you see your role as a moral leader? [1:03:15] Go ahead, please. [1:03:15] Mr. President, just how do you see your role as a moral leader? [1:03:17] Go ahead. [1:03:18] There's so many people. [1:03:19] I'm sorry. [1:03:19] As a moral leader, though. [1:03:20] I think I am a great moral leader, and I love our country. [1:03:25] Go ahead, please. [1:03:25] Thank you, sir. [1:03:29] You said earlier in this press conference that Democrats had a choice that you would not [1:03:33] work with them on legislation if they were investigating you. [1:03:36] Do you not have a choice in the matter as well? [1:03:38] Don't you have a responsibility? [1:03:38] No, I think it's inappropriate. [1:03:39] No, no. [1:03:40] I think it's very inappropriate. [1:03:42] We should get along and get deals done. [1:03:45] Now, we can investigate. [1:03:47] They look at us. [1:03:48] We look at them. [1:03:49] It goes on for two years. [1:03:50] Then, at the end of two years, nothing's done. [1:03:54] Now, what's bad for them is, being in the majority, I'm just going to blame them. [1:03:59] You understand? [1:03:59] I'm going to blame them. [1:04:00] They're the majority. [1:04:01] Honestly, it makes it much simpler for me. [1:04:03] They will be blamed. [1:04:05] But I think Nancy Pelosi — and, you know, I put that statement out on social media today [1:04:11] about Nancy Pelosi — that if she's short of votes, because, frankly, I think she deserves — and [1:04:16] a lot of people thought I was being sarcastic, or I was kidding. [1:04:18] I wasn't. [1:04:19] I think she deserves it. [1:04:20] She's been fighting long for it. [1:04:21] She's been fighting — I really mean this. [1:04:24] There was nothing sarcastic about it, or it was really meant with very good intentions. [1:04:29] I think she deserves it. [1:04:31] She's fought long and hard. [1:04:32] She's a very capable person. [1:04:34] And, you know, you have other people shooting at her, trying to take over the speakership. [1:04:39] And I said, if it's appropriate, I said, if we can and if we will, if she has a problem, [1:04:47] I think I would be able to very easily supply her the necessary votes. [1:04:51] That's not said in any way other than I really believe she deserves that position. [1:04:56] I also believe that Nancy Pelosi and I can work together and get a lot of things done, [1:05:00] along with Mitch and everybody else that we have to work with. [1:05:04] I think we'll get a lot done. [1:05:05] Mr. President, why can't you do that while subpoenas are coming through? [1:05:08] Excuse me? [1:05:09] Why can't you work together while there are subpoenas or while there are investigations in process? [1:05:13] I think we will. [1:05:14] Look, now that the election's over, the election's over. [1:05:17] Now everybody is in love. [1:05:19] But then I see the hostility of questions in the room. [1:05:22] I come in here as a nice person, wanting to answer questions, and I have people jumping out of their [1:05:28] their seats, screaming questions at me. [1:05:31] No, the election's over, and I'm, you know, very—I am extraordinarily happy. [1:05:37] I really am. [1:05:37] And by the way, I'd tell you if I wasn't, look at what happened in Florida. [1:05:41] Look at what happened in Georgia. [1:05:43] Look at what happened in so many locations with governorships. [1:05:46] Nobody talks about the governorships. [1:05:48] Look at the amount of work that was given to these other candidates against my candidate. [1:05:54] And, I mean, I'm extraordinarily happy. [1:05:57] And if I wasn't, I'd let you know. [1:05:59] There's nothing wrong. [1:05:59] I mean, look, you look at midterms, and you look at elections generally, you see [1:06:05] it's very rare that a party who has the presidency does well. [1:06:11] We did unbelievably well. [1:06:12] To win Florida, both the Senate and the governorship, against two very talented people? [1:06:20] I'll tell you what. [1:06:21] We did incredibly. [1:06:22] To win Georgia, when you had some of the biggest stars in the world campaigning endlessly, [1:06:29] including President Obama? [1:06:32] You know, I tell you what, this was a great victory for us. [1:06:35] And again, from a deal-making standpoint, we are all much better off the way it turned out. [1:06:41] Because I really believe if the Democrats want to, we can do a tremendous amount of great legislation. [1:06:47] Yes, please, go ahead. [1:06:51] Should we keep this going for a little while? [1:06:52] Yes, I think you should keep this going. [1:06:55] When you get bored, would you please tell me? [1:06:57] Seriously, tell me. [1:06:58] You're never bored. [1:06:59] I don't want to — hopefully not — I don't want to overstay. [1:07:03] But please, go ahead. [1:07:05] Hi, Mr. President. [1:07:06] Yamiche Alcander with PBS NewsHour. [1:07:09] On the campaign trail, you called yourself a nationalist. [1:07:11] Some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. [1:07:14] Now people are also saying — [1:07:15] I don't know why you'd say that. [1:07:15] That's such a racist question. [1:07:17] There are some people that say that now the Republican Party is seen as supporting [1:07:21] white nationalists because of your rhetoric. [1:07:22] Oh, I don't believe that. [1:07:22] What do you make of that? [1:07:23] I don't believe it. [1:07:24] I just — well, I don't know. [1:07:25] Why do I have my highest poll numbers ever with African Americans? [1:07:28] Why do I have among the highest poll numbers with African Americans? [1:07:32] I mean, why do I have my highest poll numbers? [1:07:35] That's such a racist question. [1:07:37] Honestly, I mean, I know you have it written down and you're going to tell me. [1:07:40] Let me tell you, that's a racist question. [1:07:42] And, Mr. President, I'm going to ask — [1:07:43] I love — you know what the word is? [1:07:45] I love our country. [1:07:47] I do. [1:07:48] You have nationalists. [1:07:49] You have globalists. [1:07:51] I also love the world. [1:07:52] And I don't mind helping the world. [1:07:54] But we have to straighten out our country first. [1:07:55] We have a lot of problems. [1:07:56] And there's — [1:07:57] Excuse me. [1:07:58] But to say that, what you said, is so insulting to me. [1:08:01] It's a very terrible thing that you said — [1:08:03] And, Mr. President — [1:08:04] Mr. President, people have — [1:08:06] You talked about — [1:08:06] Excuse me. [1:08:07] — you talked about middle class tax cuts [1:08:09] on the campaign trail. [1:08:10] How will you get Democrats to support that policy? [1:08:13] You have to ask them. [1:08:14] Well, what's your plan for working with Democrats on a middle class tax plan? [1:08:17] You know what my plan is? [1:08:18] I'll ask them. [1:08:19] And if they say yes, I'm all for it. [1:08:20] And if they say no, there's nothing you can do [1:08:22] because you need their votes. [1:08:23] Go ahead. [1:08:23] Yes. [1:08:25] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:08:25] Francesca Chambers, DailyMail.com. [1:08:28] You said many times on the campaign trail [1:08:31] that you didn't want Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker. [1:08:33] At least you suggested that. [1:08:34] You spent a lot of time talking about her and Chuck Schumer. [1:08:36] I have a question of want. [1:08:37] I would have — [1:08:39] So, here's — let me answer it a little. [1:08:42] Would I have preferred winning by two or three or four? [1:08:45] I would almost have to think about that. [1:08:47] But certainly, I like to win. [1:08:50] And if I win, she's not going to be Speaker. [1:08:53] What did she say to you, though, yesterday that made — [1:08:55] We had a great conversation. [1:08:56] You give her her support. [1:08:57] Honestly, we had a very warm conversation. [1:08:59] You know, she loves this country. [1:09:01] And she's a very smart woman. [1:09:04] She's done a very good job. [1:09:07] She was really — I mean, she's had a very — [1:09:09] Did she promise that they wouldn't seek to impeach you? [1:09:11] She's had a very — [1:09:12] We didn't talk about impeaching. [1:09:15] We didn't talk — [1:09:16] What do you do? [1:09:16] Do you impeach somebody because he created the greatest economic [1:09:21] success in the history of our country? [1:09:22] Let's impeach him because the country is so successful. [1:09:25] Let's impeach him. [1:09:26] Has he done anything wrong? [1:09:27] They asked somebody. [1:09:28] Has he done anything wrong? [1:09:29] No, but let's impeach him anyway. [1:09:32] And they also said, [1:09:32] Let's impeach Justice Kavanaugh. [1:09:35] Let's impeach him. [1:09:37] And now they have the second woman coming out. [1:09:39] The first, the second. [1:09:40] And I hate to say this, but it was public. [1:09:43] And after him, we're going to impeach the vice president. [1:09:47] We're going to impeach Mike Pence. [1:09:49] Mike Pence doesn't get impeached for anything. [1:09:52] So let's impeach the president, and then we'll impeach the vice president. [1:09:58] These people are sick. [1:09:59] And you know what? [1:09:59] They have to get their bearing. [1:10:02] Really, they have to get their bearing. [1:10:03] And when you ask about division, they're the ones that cause the division. [1:10:08] They cause tremendous division. [1:10:09] Okay, regarding all of the retirements in the House. [1:10:11] Regarding all of the retirements in the House, Mr. President, very quickly, you suggested that— [1:10:16] Who was retiring? [1:10:17] You said that many of the retirements that happened in the House made it very difficult— [1:10:20] Many retirements, yeah. [1:10:21] That made it very difficult for you in this election cycle, [1:10:24] and that it was because they were chairmanships that were vacated. [1:10:28] But Jeff Flake wasn't a chairman of a committee, and Paul Ryan also retired the cycle. [1:10:32] So why do you think that is? [1:10:33] Whose fault is it that there were so many retirements? [1:10:35] In Jeff Flake's case, it's me, pure and simple. [1:10:38] I retired him. [1:10:39] I'm very proud of it. [1:10:40] I did the country a great service. [1:10:42] Go ahead. [1:10:42] Give him that. [1:10:43] Give him that. [1:10:44] He is retired. [1:10:46] I'd like to call it another word, but we're going to treat him with great respect. [1:10:49] Go ahead. [1:10:49] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:10:51] Jeff Flake, that's another beauty. [1:10:53] Go ahead. [1:10:54] Two questions, please. [1:10:55] No, one, one, one, one. [1:10:57] Too many people. [1:10:57] All right. [1:10:58] Sorry. [1:10:58] All right. [1:10:59] You seem to enjoy this venue very much. [1:11:02] Are you going to make the standard press conference a staple of the remaining two years, [1:11:09] or will you have more briefings with Sarah Sanders? [1:11:12] You know, when I don't do the—I think Sarah's fantastic. [1:11:15] Where is Sarah? [1:11:16] Where is Sarah? [1:11:17] Sarah's so great. [1:11:18] I think, Sarah, you've represented me so well. [1:11:20] I've been abused. [1:11:21] She's been horribly treated by a lot of people. [1:11:24] So she's going to stay on as press secretary? [1:11:25] But it's very interesting, because Sarah was talking about it the other day. [1:11:29] So I had a period where I figured, you know what I'll do? [1:11:31] I won't do any real interviews. [1:11:33] And then they start saying, why isn't he doing what—you know, they're all coming up with all— [1:11:37] Then over the last couple of months, I decided I'll do a lot. [1:11:40] We'll stop at the helicopter. [1:11:41] We'll do this. [1:11:42] We'll do a lot of—and then they say, why is he doing so many press conferences? [1:11:46] What's wrong? [1:11:46] What? [1:11:47] So when I don't do them, you say, what's wrong? [1:11:50] When I do do them, you say, what's wrong? [1:11:52] And when I go in the middle, you say, what's wrong? [1:11:54] But in the middle, you know that, Joe. [1:11:56] Right? [1:11:57] Yeah, it's sort of right. [1:11:58] I said that we're complaining about access. [1:12:00] Okay, good. [1:12:02] No, no, you did—excuse me. [1:12:03] Well, you complained about access when I purposely just stayed away from the press for a while, [1:12:08] because I wanted to see how it worked. [1:12:10] And can I be honest with you? [1:12:12] It didn't work well. [1:12:13] Mr. President, I didn't finish the question. [1:12:15] So Sarah will stay on as press secretary? [1:12:18] Okay, please, go ahead. [1:12:20] No, go ahead. [1:12:26] First off, I personally think it's very good to have you here, [1:12:28] because the free press and this type of engagement— [1:12:30] I do, too. [1:12:30] Actually, I do, too. [1:12:31] Yes, it's vital to the— [1:12:32] It's called earned media. [1:12:33] It's worth billions. [1:12:34] Go ahead. [1:12:35] So I have two questions for you, if that's all right. [1:12:37] It's a rare opportunity. [1:12:39] First, just a point of clarification on the tax returns issue. [1:12:42] You brought up the audit. [1:12:43] That doesn't prevent you from releasing them. [1:12:45] I know. [1:12:45] Oh, sure. [1:12:46] Right. [1:12:46] I didn't say it prevented me. [1:12:48] I said lawyers will tell you not to do it. [1:12:50] Go ahead. [1:12:50] What's your next question? [1:12:51] Go ahead. [1:12:52] Come on. [1:12:52] Let's go. [1:12:52] Just on that— [1:12:53] More exciting question than that, please. [1:12:54] Second one. [1:12:55] Michael Cohen recently said you called black voters stupid. [1:12:58] That's false. [1:12:58] Omarosa has accused you of using the n-word, [1:13:01] and the rapper Little John has said you called him Uncle Tom. [1:13:04] What's your response? [1:13:05] I don't know who Little John is. [1:13:07] I really don't— [1:13:07] He was on The Apprentice. [1:13:08] I don't know. [1:13:09] Oh, he was? [1:13:09] Yeah. [1:13:10] Oh, I see. [1:13:10] Have you ever made racist remarks? [1:13:12] No. [1:13:12] I don't know. [1:13:12] No. [1:13:12] I would never do that, and I don't use racist remarks. [1:13:15] And you know what? [1:13:15] If I did, you people have— [1:13:17] you would have known about it. [1:13:18] I've been hearing there are tapes for years and years. [1:13:21] There are tapes. [1:13:22] Number one, I never worried about it because I never did— [1:13:24] I never used racist remarks— [1:13:26] I have never used racist remarks. [1:13:28] Okay. [1:13:28] Well, one point of fact— [1:13:29] Go ahead. [1:13:30] No, no. [1:13:31] One point of fact, because you told her you have the highest approval among African Americans. [1:13:34] Go ahead. [1:13:35] It's just eight percent, sir, single digits. [1:13:37] See, when you talk about division, [1:13:40] it's people like this that cause division. [1:13:42] Great division. [1:13:44] Great— [1:13:44] No, no. [1:13:45] Point of fact is that I never used a racist remark. [1:13:48] That's the point of fact. [1:13:49] Where— [1:13:49] Who are you from? [1:13:50] Yeah, who— [1:13:52] Yeah, who you— [1:13:53] No, good. [1:13:54] Good. [1:13:54] I hope they're— [1:13:54] I hope they're doing well. [1:13:55] So, first question— [1:13:58] Where are you from? [1:13:59] MTV Lebanon. [1:14:00] Lebanon. [1:14:00] Lebanon. [1:14:00] Lebanon. [1:14:01] Yes. [1:14:01] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:14:03] We're so happy to be here as well, have this opportunity. [1:14:05] Mr. President Erdogan said he's not going to follow your sanctions, [1:14:09] and he's going to keep buying oil from— [1:14:11] Who said that? [1:14:12] President Erdogan. [1:14:15] Turkey. [1:14:15] I know, I know. [1:14:16] And you're going to meet him soon. [1:14:17] I just can't understand this. [1:14:19] Okay. [1:14:19] You're going to meet him soon. [1:14:20] You're going to have this talk, and some countries are going to take the same steps [1:14:23] that President Erdogan is doing. [1:14:25] So, let me just tell you about the oil, okay? [1:14:27] So, we imposed, just recently, the strongest sanctions in the history of our country, just [1:14:35] about. [1:14:36] Well, I guess North Korea is there, too. [1:14:38] But I gave some countries a break on the oil. [1:14:43] I did it a little bit because they really asked for some help. [1:14:47] But I really did it because I don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 a barrel or $150 a barrel, [1:14:54] because I'm driving them down. [1:14:55] If you look at oil prices, they've come down very substantially over the last couple of months. [1:15:00] That's because of me, because you have a monopoly called OPEC. [1:15:04] And I don't like, wait, and I don't like that monopoly. [1:15:07] I don't like it. [1:15:08] And oil prices are coming down. [1:15:11] So, rather than deciding to be as tough as I am on most of the sanctions, what I've done is I said, [1:15:19] we're not going to do it that way. [1:15:20] We're going to let some of the oil go out to these countries that really do need it, [1:15:24] because I don't want to drive the oil prices up to $100 or $150 a barrel, which could happen very [1:15:29] easily. [1:15:29] It's a very fragile market, very, very fragile. [1:15:31] I know it very well. [1:15:33] And it's the absolute right decision. [1:15:36] And they'll get tougher as time goes by, maybe. [1:15:39] But I don't want to have any effect on the oil prices worldwide where I drive them up, [1:15:43] because I consider that to be a tax, and I don't like taxes. [1:15:46] We'll have a peace process between Israel and Palestine. [1:15:48] Please, please. [1:15:49] The peace process is over. [1:15:50] Who? [1:15:51] Just to ask. [1:15:53] Oh, congratulations to Jon Tester. [1:15:55] Congratulations. [1:15:57] I'm sure you're very unhappy about that. [1:15:59] Go ahead. [1:16:00] Mr. President, can you address the— [1:16:05] We'll take a couple of more, and then we'll go. [1:16:06] Can you address concerns in places like Georgia, where people waited in line to vote for hours, [1:16:12] where voting machines weren't working in certain districts, and there wasn't power— [1:16:16] You think that's the reason that the candidate lost? [1:16:19] Well, there are concerns being raised that that wasn't— [1:16:21] I wasn't involved in Georgia. [1:16:23] I know, but as president— [1:16:24] Other than I love the state. [1:16:25] I do love the state. [1:16:25] Yes, but as president of the United States, are you concerned about the access that people [1:16:30] are having to voting? [1:16:31] I heard it was very efficient in Georgia. [1:16:33] I heard it was very efficient. [1:16:34] But again, you'd have to ask the state governments, because just one of those things, you're going [1:16:39] to have to ask them. [1:16:39] Mr. President? [1:16:41] Yeah, go ahead, please. [1:16:42] Please, go ahead. [1:16:44] Thank you. [1:16:47] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:16:48] You expressed some concerns about social media companies unfairly censoring conservatives during [1:16:53] the election. [1:16:54] Do you anticipate working with Democrats to regulate these companies, or are you satisfied? [1:16:59] I would do that, yeah. [1:17:00] I would look at that very seriously. [1:17:01] I think it's a serious problem. [1:17:03] At the same time, you start getting into speech. [1:17:06] That's a very dangerous problem. [1:17:09] That could be the beginning. [1:17:10] So it's very dangerous. [1:17:11] Believe it or not, I'm one that really likes free speech. [1:17:14] A lot of people don't understand that. [1:17:16] But I am a big believer, when you start regulating, a lot of bad things can happen. [1:17:22] But I would certainly talk to the Democrats if they want to do that. [1:17:26] And I think they do want to do that. [1:17:28] Yes, sir, go ahead. [1:17:29] Former President Barack Obama famously said that he had a pen and a phone [1:17:34] to use executive power on issues like immigration. [1:17:37] Do you see yourself using executive power to get some of your immigration agenda done? [1:17:44] I do. [1:17:45] I do. [1:17:45] I think that some of it I can use executive power on some, not all. [1:17:51] But I mean, he certainly used it. [1:17:54] He used it on DACA. [1:17:55] And when he did it, he said something to the effect that, [1:17:58] I'm not allowed to do this. [1:18:00] It'll never hold up, but I'm doing it anyway. [1:18:02] And he did it, and they found judges that approved it. [1:18:06] We also found judges that didn't approve it, [1:18:08] so it's obviously going to be determined in the Supreme Court. [1:18:11] And if the court rules in favor of what President Obama thinks they should rule, [1:18:17] which is what he said, then I will probably have a deal with the Democrats in a very short period of time. [1:18:25] We were very close to having a deal until we got that very strange ruling. [1:18:28] You also made some promises about immigration during the campaign, [1:18:34] and I want to know if you're going to follow through with them. [1:18:35] Are you going to— [1:18:36] Which one are you talking about? [1:18:37] Birthright citizenship. [1:18:38] Are you going to sign an executive order to ban— [1:18:40] We're looking at it very seriously, absolutely. [1:18:42] Is it yes or no? [1:18:42] And I believe we have the absolute right, [1:18:45] but that's another case that will be determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. [1:18:48] Are you going to send 15,000 troops to the border? [1:18:51] You've been reading the same documents as I have. [1:18:53] You know exactly what I'm doing. [1:18:55] You know exactly what I'm doing. [1:18:57] So, go ahead. [1:18:57] What's your next question? [1:18:58] Also, on the Khashoggi matter, [1:19:00] we've been more than a month since the death of Mr. Khashoggi, the journalist— [1:19:03] Yeah. [1:19:04] First sad thing, very terrible thing. [1:19:05] Do you think Saudi Arabia is guilty of having him murdered? [1:19:08] And if so, what kind of punishment would be involved? [1:19:09] I'll have a much stronger opinion on that subject over the next week, [1:19:12] and I'm working very closely with Congress. [1:19:15] We're working together, some very talented people. [1:19:18] And we're working with Congress. [1:19:19] We're working with Turkey. [1:19:20] And we're working with Saudi Arabia. [1:19:22] And I'm forming a very strong opinion. [1:19:24] Go ahead, John. [1:19:26] Go ahead, John. [1:19:28] Mr. President, just a quick follow-up. [1:19:31] You said something about Nancy Pelosi. [1:19:33] You said that Nancy Pelosi, she loves our country. [1:19:37] Do you regret some of the things you said during the campaign? [1:19:40] I mean, various times you said Democrats want to put a wrecking ball to our future, [1:19:43] want to destroy our country. [1:19:44] I believe that. [1:19:45] With their current policy, they're using a wrecking ball on our country. [1:19:48] I believe that 100 percent. [1:19:49] This would be a wrecking ball. [1:19:52] But I think there's a compromise somewhere, and I think that could be really good for our country. [1:19:56] Okay, how about one more? [1:19:57] Go ahead. [1:19:57] Do you regret the ad that you did that was branded as a racist ad? [1:20:01] And even Fox News wouldn't air it. [1:20:03] NBC wouldn't air it. [1:20:03] I regret it? [1:20:04] That works. [1:20:05] Yeah. [1:20:05] I'm surprised you asked me that question. [1:20:07] I do not. [1:20:07] Go ahead, please. [1:20:16] Thank you, sir. [1:20:17] And I think we'd all love to have more of these, if you're willing. [1:20:21] In 2017, shortly after you took office, your Homeland Security Department [1:20:25] shuttered a program to counter homegrown right-wing extremism, [1:20:30] white supremacism, and related terrorist groups, domestic terrorist groups, [1:20:37] and redirected that funding towards fighting Islamic terrorism. [1:20:40] Do you believe that white supremacist terrorists, right-wing terrorists, [1:20:45] these homegrown terrorists on that side of the spectrum are a problem, sir? [1:20:50] And what is your administration going to do about it? [1:20:53] I do believe that's a problem. [1:20:53] I believe all hate is a problem, but I do believe that is a problem. [1:20:56] What are you going to do about that, sir? [1:20:57] And it's a problem we want to solve. [1:20:59] Okay. [1:20:59] What are you going to do about it, sir? [1:21:01] Sir, what are you going to do about it? [1:21:03] Go ahead. [1:21:03] You cut off the funding. [1:21:04] Mr. President, you've said— [1:21:06] No, we have given funding for that, a lot of funding. [1:21:08] But I do believe it's a problem. [1:21:09] And can I tell you what? [1:21:11] It's a problem that I don't like even a little bit. [1:21:15] Go ahead. [1:21:15] Aixa Diaz with Hearst Television. [1:21:18] You've said, pretend I'm on the ballot yesterday. [1:21:20] You called it a referendum on your presidency. [1:21:23] Many local districts across the country rejected your midterm message, [1:21:26] particularly suburban women. [1:21:28] How do you bridge that divide now? [1:21:30] Also, with the influence of women coming into Congress. [1:21:32] I think my message was very well received. [1:21:33] I mean, just look at the results. [1:21:35] Yes. [1:21:35] The midterm elections are disasters for sitting presidents and administrations. [1:21:39] This has been a very successful—and look, you can write it any way you want. [1:21:44] And if you disagree with me, this has been an incredibly successful—you look at the races. [1:21:49] How about Ohio? [1:21:50] I didn't even mention. [1:21:52] I mentioned Florida. [1:21:53] I mentioned Georgia. [1:21:54] How about the governor of Ohio? [1:21:57] But what's your message to suburban women voters? [1:21:59] Excuse me, excuse me. [1:22:00] A fantastic man who was down in the polls. [1:22:03] And everybody was talking about this person that was so great. [1:22:06] And I went up there, and I did a rally. [1:22:08] And they have now a great governor. [1:22:10] You're going to have a great governor in Ohio for hopefully a long period of time, [1:22:14] but for four years. [1:22:15] And Mike DeWine is a fantastic person. [1:22:20] And I went up there for two reasons, because I felt that his opposition was not a good person, [1:22:26] and we know a lot about him. [1:22:27] And I felt that Mike was a fantastic person. [1:22:31] And he won. [1:22:32] And not only did he win, he won easily. [1:22:35] So add that to Florida, and add that to Georgia, and add that to all of the other races that we won, [1:22:41] outside even of the Senate races, which were the biggest of all. [1:22:44] Because these were races that—and Mike Pence can tell you, and some of the folks over here can [1:22:49] tell you—these were races that were going to be unopposed. [1:22:53] We were going to—we were not going to oppose certain of the people running, certain senators. [1:22:59] They said they couldn't be beaten. [1:23:01] They said, Heidi, could not be beaten. [1:23:03] Please don't do it. [1:23:04] They couldn't. [1:23:05] This was a year out. [1:23:06] What about in the suburban districts? [1:23:07] How do you get those back? [1:23:08] You're telling me about popularity. [1:23:10] They said, many of these people—when I said 9 out of 11, but I said, [1:23:15] many of these people—these weren't like easy races. [1:23:17] These were tough races. [1:23:20] And so I think the level of popularity, the first question I was asked was about, [1:23:24] well, what have you learned? [1:23:26] What about your own popularity? [1:23:28] I think that's what I learned, is my—I was very well received by this great country, [1:23:34] by the people of our great country. [1:23:36] And I'm very proud of that, because I love the people of this country. [1:23:38] These people—we are the greatest people. [1:23:40] I love the people of our country. [1:23:42] So what do you say to women, Mr. President? [1:23:43] And I'll tell you something. [1:23:44] When you look at the races that we won in Florida, which we weren't expected to win, [1:23:49] and Georgia, which we weren't expected to win, and Ohio, which we weren't expected to win, [1:23:55] and won—I mean, you look at some of them, the number of votes that we got is incredible. [1:24:01] So I'm really happy with not only the way it came out, but the response to me as your president. [1:24:07] And as your president, I've made our country safe. [1:24:12] I've rebuilt and am in the process of rebuilding our military. [1:24:17] And the jobs are here. [1:24:18] Every one of them built here. [1:24:21] We're going to have the—very shortly, we're going to have the strongest military our country has ever had. [1:24:26] I've done more for the vets than any president has done, [1:24:29] certainly in many, many decades with choice and with other things, as you know, with other things. [1:24:37] But our vets are doing better than they've ever done. [1:24:41] But if you look at choice—choice alone. [1:24:42] I mean, just take a look at what we've done with choice. [1:24:45] But the people of our country are very happy with the job that I'm doing. [1:24:49] And, you know, one of the things— [1:24:51] But looking ahead to 2020— [1:24:52] One of the things that they want so much is security. [1:24:55] They want security, both at the border. [1:24:57] They want it with our military. [1:24:59] They want it with law enforcement. [1:25:01] They want it with ICE. [1:25:03] You know, we've taken out thousands of MS-13 gang members. [1:25:08] Thousands out of— [1:25:09] Hard to believe. [1:25:10] Thousands out of our country. [1:25:12] Women of our country, who are incredible people, they want security. [1:25:17] They want safety. [1:25:18] They want financial security, also. [1:25:20] We've done that. [1:25:21] But they want physical security. [1:25:24] And we've taken out thousands of people that shouldn't be in this country. [1:25:28] But we have to get strong immigration laws so they don't come in. [1:25:33] We want laws where they don't come in, where we don't have to take them out, per se. [1:25:37] And, again, I'm very honored to be with all of you. [1:25:41] It was a great day yesterday. [1:25:42] It was a great evening. [1:25:43] I think we had a tremendous success. [1:25:46] And hopefully the tone can get better. [1:25:50] How will you change that? [1:25:52] Hopefully the tone can get a lot better. [1:25:54] And I really believe it begins with the media. [1:25:57] I really—we used to call it the press. [1:25:59] Does it begin with you, Mr. President? [1:26:00] I really believe it begins with the media. [1:26:04] If you would cover—and it was a very interesting story written in a very good paper recently [1:26:10] that talked about the fact that it isn't good what the media is doing, [1:26:14] and that I do have the right to fight back because I'm treated very unfairly. [1:26:18] So I do fight back. [1:26:20] And I'm fighting back not for me. [1:26:22] I'm fighting back for the people of this country. [1:26:24] Thank you all very much. [1:26:26] Thank you. [1:26:26] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:26:29] All right, there it is. [1:26:33] President Trump going an hour and 24 minutes there. [1:26:37] Really giving the media a lot, a lot of content there as he went an hour. [1:26:43] Almost an hour and a half right there. [1:26:45] We are learning that Nancy Pelosi is just moments away from doing a news conference. [1:26:50] We're going to keep on—