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Remarks by Trump in a Meeting with Governor Murphy of New Jersey
Last edited Fri May 1, 2020, 04:06 AM - Edit history (1)
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governor Murphy of New Jersey
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 30, 2020
Oval Office
11:30 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. It’s an honor to be with Governor Phil Murphy of a wonderful state known as New Jersey. I spent a lot of time in New Jersey. It’s a beautiful state. People don’t realize how dense it is, right?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: They keep saying, I guess, you’re number two? And I’ve even heard number, right?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yeah, I think number one.
{snip}
Q Is it fair for the voters to take into consideration your handling of the pandemic when they assess whether to reelect you in the fall?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure, I think they do. I think they have to do a number of things. They do have to do that. And maybe Phil could speak to that because I think I’ve handled it — and not me; I think our whole group has been spectacular. We had ventilators; we didn’t have any. We built them. We have thousands — tens of thousands are right now under construction. And we’ve given — as Phil said, you got, I think, more ventilators than anybody in the United States.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I believe that’s correct.
THE PRESIDENT: New Jersey needed them very badly.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yep.
THE PRESIDENT: And there was never a person that needed a ventilator that didn’t get one in any state. Not one person that needed a ventilator. So we didn’t say, “He didn’t get a ventilator and somebody passed away. Somebody didn’t make it.”
Now we had a mask problem. Now we have so many masks, we don’t know what to do with them. We had a big problem.
And you have to understand: When we took over, the cupboards were bare. And the thing that — frankly, it’s not as tough as the ventilator situation. We’re the king of ventilators. But what we have done is — on testing, we’re doing numbers the likes of which nobody has ever seen before.
And I told you, the President of South Korea, President Moon, called me to congratulate me on testing. And we did more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. And I think they told me yesterday a number — if you add up the rest of the world, we’ve done more testing. And it’s a higher quality test.
So I think we’ve done a — I think the whole team, federal government — we built hospitals for you and others.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: You bet.
THE PRESIDENT: We built medical centers. And I’m talking about thousands and thousands of beds. Many, many medical centers. We had — as you know, we had the governor of Florida and the governor of Louisiana over the last two days. They could not have been — and one was a Democrat, and this gentleman happens to be a proud Democrat. They could not have been more supportive of the effort of the federal government.
And I’ll tell you, Jim —
Q But aren’t you seeing massive lines for food?
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just tell you, we have — we started off with empty cupboards. The last administration left us nothing. We started off with bad, broken tests and obsolete tests.
What we’ve come up with, between the Abbott Laboratories, where you have the five-minute test. Did they test you today?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: They did test me.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Now I feel better. (Laughter.)
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m negative.
THE PRESIDENT: You did the five-minute — the Abbott test.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I did the quick turnaround.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s so great.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I feel like a new man.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s a brand — you know what? That’s a brand-new test. That didn’t exist eight weeks ago, and now it’s like the rage. Everybody wants that test.
No, I think we’ve done — I think we’ve done a really great job.
Q But the Obama administration — people from the Obama administration would disagree on your assessment that the cupboards were bare. They said that there was equipment in —
THE PRESIDENT: Well — well — I know, Jim.
Q — the National Stockpile.
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just tell you — I — that’s fine.
Q And as for, you say, broken tests, it’s a new virus. So how could the test be broken when you needed a new test?
THE PRESIDENT: We had a broken — Jim, we had broken tests. We had tests that were obsolete. We had tests that didn’t take care of people.
But here’s what’s very important: If you take a look at the swine flu, H1N1 — or, as Joe Biden would say, N1H1, but it’s actually wrong. He didn’t even know the name, okay? H1N1, the swine flu — the Obama administration was a disaster. And they did polling on how did they do, and their polls were so negative, so bad. They did a very poor job.
And they did a poor job on a lot of things. They did a poor job on our military. They did a poor job on our ammunition. When I got here, we had no ammunition. Just like we had no ammunition, we had very little medical, too.
So I think, when you ask how did we do — and I have to say it because the news is so fake and so corrupt — I think we did a spectacular job. I’m not even referring to me. I’m referring to all of these people, including your people who have been working with my people so closely.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: You bet. You bet.
THE PRESIDENT: But the federal government has done a spectacular job, to a point where we’re building, now — we’re going to have thousands and thousands of ventilators, and we’re helping other countries. Because Phil doesn’t need ventilators. You needed them very badly at the beginning.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, Jeff go.
Q Thank you, sir. The intelligence agencies today said that they agree with the scientific community, that the virus did originate in China but was not manmade and was not genetically modified. Do you agree with that assessment?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I haven’t seen the report yet, but I will tell you, if you speak to the head of intelligence right now, you speak to the head, they did say that I was given a briefing when I said I was given it, not before. And they also said that it wasn’t specific and it was not a panic briefing. It wasn’t like, “Oh, we’re going to be invaded.” It was in January, later January —
Q You were getting a briefing in January?
THE PRESIDENT: And I think — I think what you’ll do is you’ll speak to them. In fact, I’ll ask Mark to make a report to you because the — the news was totally — you know, as usual, fake and corrupt.
So intelligence is doing a report, and the report turned out to be exactly as I said.
Q So, Mr. President, so you’re saying that you got a briefing in January about the —
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not saying it. No, no. I’m not.
Q — about the coronavirus.
THE PRESIDENT: You didn’t hear me. I said intelligence are saying it. And they’re going to give a report —
Q Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: — and it will make you very unhappy because it makes you so wrong.
Q Well —
THE PRESIDENT: You, in particular.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, at what point do people need another check if unemployment is at 20 percent?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re talking about that. I know a lot of people are talking about it. But we’ve given a lot of stimulus. And again, we think now it’s so great. I’m so happy that you’re opening up parks and things because that’s a big step for New Jersey because they were hit very hard.
I think that — I think you’re going to see something that’s going to surprise maybe the world. And, you know, we’re the leader of the world. We’re really the leader. In this case, the leader of the world. And we’ve done better. If you look at our deaths, if you look at mortality rates, if you look at the things, we’re — in fact, I’m going to get a chart, because it’s maybe the most impressive thing — right? — how we’ve done. And that’s a tribute to the governors, and it’s a tribute to the federal government and all of us working together.
But I would love you to get that, if you could. Because we’re right at the top — meaning top, in a positive way, of those charts.
I think you’re going to see economic numbers that are going to be fantastic. I believe it very strongly. And you’re going to start to see it with the transition period, which is number three. And quarter four, you’re going to have tremendous numbers. Tremendous numbers.
Q Would you —
THE PRESIDENT: And I think next year you’re going to really have tremendous numbers.
Q Mr. President, can we ask you about General Flynn?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Are you going to pardon him? This is what you tweeted back in December of 2017: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.”
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Do you still believe that he lied to the Vice President and the FBI?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, I’ll tell you —
Q Shouldn’t he be punished for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. When I looked at what they did to him, they tormented him. Dirty cops tormented General Flynn. General Flynn is a fine man. Thirty-five years or so in the military. You don’t get to be where he is by being bad — that, I can tell you.
And then, he — right at the beginning of the administration the dirty cops came in. And you see the notes, Jim. I mean, whether you’re on our side, that side, whatever. I mean, I assume, let’s all talk about fairness. What they did to General Flynn — and, by the way, to Roger Stone and to others — was a disaster and disgrace. And it should never be allowed to happen in this country again.
And what I really hope — because CNN tormented him, in all fairness — I really hope to see, because they haven’t been doing it, and I appreciate your question — I hope to see that CNN will not even apologize, which they should, but just cover it fairly, because he’s in the process of being exonerated. If you look at those notes from yesterday, that was total exoneration. These were dirty, filthy cops at the top of the FBI. And you know the names better than I do, and they were dishonest people.
Now we have to see what’s going to happen. But General Flynn was treated like nobody should — and I’m not talking about generals; I’m saying like nobody in this country should be treated.
Q So were you wrong to fire him at the time?
THE PRESIDENT: And they did it right at the beginning.
Q Why did you fire him at the time?
THE PRESIDENT: They did it right — Jim, they did it right — well, look at what they did to the guy. I mean, he couldn’t haven’t known too much what was happening. They came at him with 15 buses and he’s standing in the middle of a highway.
What they did to this man — they tormented him; they destroyed him. But he’s going to come back — like I say, he’s going to come back bigger and better. But what they did to him, and I hear there’s a lot of other stuff coming out if I believe everything I’m reading. Because I like to stay out of it. I don’t have to stay out of it at all. But I like to stay out of it.
And, Jim, what they did to him is terrible. And I hope that CNN is going to give him a fair shake and cover it, because I think it’s very important.
Yeah.
Q But, sir, just to follow up on was it a mistake to fire him, would you bring him back on to the administration?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, what I wish I had was all the information where they were out to get him. They wanted him — they were trying to force him to lie. You see the written statements where they were trying to force him into a position where we can get him on a lie or can we get him this way or that way. This is terrible.
This is like what happened in — and I’m not going to name the countries, because we deal with these countries, okay? But what would happen in other countries, not the USA. What they did to General Flynn and others — and others — is a disgrace. And I hope — really, I hope your networks are going to cover it.
Because, you know, I’ve seen where it’s the biggest story in the world a year ago and a year and a half — “Flynn. Flynn. Flynn.” And then he’s essentially exonerated. Now, that’s not official yet. But when you read the notes, how could you do anything else?
Q In his letter of resignation, though, he admitted to —
THE PRESIDENT: And I hear there’s — I hear there’s much — Jim, I hear there’s much more coming out.
Q — giving bad information to the Vice President.
THE PRESIDENT: I think it would be so good for CNN, if you covered it honestly and if you’d report it honestly. It would be so good for the network.
Q Of course, we have.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, with that, thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jim.
END 11:52 A.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governor Murphy of New Jersey
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 30, 2020
Oval Office
11:30 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. It’s an honor to be with Governor Phil Murphy of a wonderful state known as New Jersey. I spent a lot of time in New Jersey. It’s a beautiful state. People don’t realize how dense it is, right?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: They keep saying, I guess, you’re number two? And I’ve even heard number, right?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yeah, I think number one.
{snip}
Q Is it fair for the voters to take into consideration your handling of the pandemic when they assess whether to reelect you in the fall?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure, I think they do. I think they have to do a number of things. They do have to do that. And maybe Phil could speak to that because I think I’ve handled it — and not me; I think our whole group has been spectacular. We had ventilators; we didn’t have any. We built them. We have thousands — tens of thousands are right now under construction. And we’ve given — as Phil said, you got, I think, more ventilators than anybody in the United States.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I believe that’s correct.
THE PRESIDENT: New Jersey needed them very badly.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yep.
THE PRESIDENT: And there was never a person that needed a ventilator that didn’t get one in any state. Not one person that needed a ventilator. So we didn’t say, “He didn’t get a ventilator and somebody passed away. Somebody didn’t make it.”
Now we had a mask problem. Now we have so many masks, we don’t know what to do with them. We had a big problem.
And you have to understand: When we took over, the cupboards were bare. And the thing that — frankly, it’s not as tough as the ventilator situation. We’re the king of ventilators. But what we have done is — on testing, we’re doing numbers the likes of which nobody has ever seen before.
And I told you, the President of South Korea, President Moon, called me to congratulate me on testing. And we did more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. And I think they told me yesterday a number — if you add up the rest of the world, we’ve done more testing. And it’s a higher quality test.
So I think we’ve done a — I think the whole team, federal government — we built hospitals for you and others.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: You bet.
THE PRESIDENT: We built medical centers. And I’m talking about thousands and thousands of beds. Many, many medical centers. We had — as you know, we had the governor of Florida and the governor of Louisiana over the last two days. They could not have been — and one was a Democrat, and this gentleman happens to be a proud Democrat. They could not have been more supportive of the effort of the federal government.
And I’ll tell you, Jim —
Q But aren’t you seeing massive lines for food?
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just tell you, we have — we started off with empty cupboards. The last administration left us nothing. We started off with bad, broken tests and obsolete tests.
What we’ve come up with, between the Abbott Laboratories, where you have the five-minute test. Did they test you today?
GOVERNOR MURPHY: They did test me.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Now I feel better. (Laughter.)
GOVERNOR MURPHY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m negative.
THE PRESIDENT: You did the five-minute — the Abbott test.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I did the quick turnaround.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s so great.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: I feel like a new man.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s a brand — you know what? That’s a brand-new test. That didn’t exist eight weeks ago, and now it’s like the rage. Everybody wants that test.
No, I think we’ve done — I think we’ve done a really great job.
Q But the Obama administration — people from the Obama administration would disagree on your assessment that the cupboards were bare. They said that there was equipment in —
THE PRESIDENT: Well — well — I know, Jim.
Q — the National Stockpile.
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just tell you — I — that’s fine.
Q And as for, you say, broken tests, it’s a new virus. So how could the test be broken when you needed a new test?
THE PRESIDENT: We had a broken — Jim, we had broken tests. We had tests that were obsolete. We had tests that didn’t take care of people.
But here’s what’s very important: If you take a look at the swine flu, H1N1 — or, as Joe Biden would say, N1H1, but it’s actually wrong. He didn’t even know the name, okay? H1N1, the swine flu — the Obama administration was a disaster. And they did polling on how did they do, and their polls were so negative, so bad. They did a very poor job.
And they did a poor job on a lot of things. They did a poor job on our military. They did a poor job on our ammunition. When I got here, we had no ammunition. Just like we had no ammunition, we had very little medical, too.
So I think, when you ask how did we do — and I have to say it because the news is so fake and so corrupt — I think we did a spectacular job. I’m not even referring to me. I’m referring to all of these people, including your people who have been working with my people so closely.
GOVERNOR MURPHY: You bet. You bet.
THE PRESIDENT: But the federal government has done a spectacular job, to a point where we’re building, now — we’re going to have thousands and thousands of ventilators, and we’re helping other countries. Because Phil doesn’t need ventilators. You needed them very badly at the beginning.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, Jeff go.
Q Thank you, sir. The intelligence agencies today said that they agree with the scientific community, that the virus did originate in China but was not manmade and was not genetically modified. Do you agree with that assessment?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I haven’t seen the report yet, but I will tell you, if you speak to the head of intelligence right now, you speak to the head, they did say that I was given a briefing when I said I was given it, not before. And they also said that it wasn’t specific and it was not a panic briefing. It wasn’t like, “Oh, we’re going to be invaded.” It was in January, later January —
Q You were getting a briefing in January?
THE PRESIDENT: And I think — I think what you’ll do is you’ll speak to them. In fact, I’ll ask Mark to make a report to you because the — the news was totally — you know, as usual, fake and corrupt.
So intelligence is doing a report, and the report turned out to be exactly as I said.
Q So, Mr. President, so you’re saying that you got a briefing in January about the —
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not saying it. No, no. I’m not.
Q — about the coronavirus.
THE PRESIDENT: You didn’t hear me. I said intelligence are saying it. And they’re going to give a report —
Q Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: — and it will make you very unhappy because it makes you so wrong.
Q Well —
THE PRESIDENT: You, in particular.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, at what point do people need another check if unemployment is at 20 percent?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re talking about that. I know a lot of people are talking about it. But we’ve given a lot of stimulus. And again, we think now it’s so great. I’m so happy that you’re opening up parks and things because that’s a big step for New Jersey because they were hit very hard.
I think that — I think you’re going to see something that’s going to surprise maybe the world. And, you know, we’re the leader of the world. We’re really the leader. In this case, the leader of the world. And we’ve done better. If you look at our deaths, if you look at mortality rates, if you look at the things, we’re — in fact, I’m going to get a chart, because it’s maybe the most impressive thing — right? — how we’ve done. And that’s a tribute to the governors, and it’s a tribute to the federal government and all of us working together.
But I would love you to get that, if you could. Because we’re right at the top — meaning top, in a positive way, of those charts.
I think you’re going to see economic numbers that are going to be fantastic. I believe it very strongly. And you’re going to start to see it with the transition period, which is number three. And quarter four, you’re going to have tremendous numbers. Tremendous numbers.
Q Would you —
THE PRESIDENT: And I think next year you’re going to really have tremendous numbers.
Q Mr. President, can we ask you about General Flynn?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Are you going to pardon him? This is what you tweeted back in December of 2017: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.”
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Do you still believe that he lied to the Vice President and the FBI?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, I’ll tell you —
Q Shouldn’t he be punished for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. When I looked at what they did to him, they tormented him. Dirty cops tormented General Flynn. General Flynn is a fine man. Thirty-five years or so in the military. You don’t get to be where he is by being bad — that, I can tell you.
And then, he — right at the beginning of the administration the dirty cops came in. And you see the notes, Jim. I mean, whether you’re on our side, that side, whatever. I mean, I assume, let’s all talk about fairness. What they did to General Flynn — and, by the way, to Roger Stone and to others — was a disaster and disgrace. And it should never be allowed to happen in this country again.
And what I really hope — because CNN tormented him, in all fairness — I really hope to see, because they haven’t been doing it, and I appreciate your question — I hope to see that CNN will not even apologize, which they should, but just cover it fairly, because he’s in the process of being exonerated. If you look at those notes from yesterday, that was total exoneration. These were dirty, filthy cops at the top of the FBI. And you know the names better than I do, and they were dishonest people.
Now we have to see what’s going to happen. But General Flynn was treated like nobody should — and I’m not talking about generals; I’m saying like nobody in this country should be treated.
Q So were you wrong to fire him at the time?
THE PRESIDENT: And they did it right at the beginning.
Q Why did you fire him at the time?
THE PRESIDENT: They did it right — Jim, they did it right — well, look at what they did to the guy. I mean, he couldn’t haven’t known too much what was happening. They came at him with 15 buses and he’s standing in the middle of a highway.
What they did to this man — they tormented him; they destroyed him. But he’s going to come back — like I say, he’s going to come back bigger and better. But what they did to him, and I hear there’s a lot of other stuff coming out if I believe everything I’m reading. Because I like to stay out of it. I don’t have to stay out of it at all. But I like to stay out of it.
And, Jim, what they did to him is terrible. And I hope that CNN is going to give him a fair shake and cover it, because I think it’s very important.
Yeah.
Q But, sir, just to follow up on was it a mistake to fire him, would you bring him back on to the administration?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, what I wish I had was all the information where they were out to get him. They wanted him — they were trying to force him to lie. You see the written statements where they were trying to force him into a position where we can get him on a lie or can we get him this way or that way. This is terrible.
This is like what happened in — and I’m not going to name the countries, because we deal with these countries, okay? But what would happen in other countries, not the USA. What they did to General Flynn and others — and others — is a disgrace. And I hope — really, I hope your networks are going to cover it.
Because, you know, I’ve seen where it’s the biggest story in the world a year ago and a year and a half — “Flynn. Flynn. Flynn.” And then he’s essentially exonerated. Now, that’s not official yet. But when you read the notes, how could you do anything else?
Q In his letter of resignation, though, he admitted to —
THE PRESIDENT: And I hear there’s — I hear there’s much — Jim, I hear there’s much more coming out.
Q — giving bad information to the Vice President.
THE PRESIDENT: I think it would be so good for CNN, if you covered it honestly and if you’d report it honestly. It would be so good for the network.
Q Of course, we have.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, with that, thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jim.
END 11:52 A.M. EDT
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