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Trump's Remarks in Press Conference; September 7, 2020
Last edited Tue Sep 8, 2020, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference | September 7, 2020
ECONOMY & JOBS
Issued on: September 7, 2020
North Portico
1:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Happy Labor Day. That was, really, a very special time I had speaking to some of the labor union heads and other people. They’re very happy with the way things are going. As you probably see, the numbers are terrific.
{snip}
Under my leadership, next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country, I project. And some people are starting to agree. We have a “V” shape. It’s probably a “super V.” And you see what’s going on with the stock market, where it’s, in certain cases, already setting records. NASDAQ has set 17 records already, and this is as we’re, hopefully, rounding the final turn in the pandemic.
{snip}
Joe Biden and the radical, socialist Democrats would immediately collapse the economy. If they got in, they would collapse it. You’ll have a crash the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Your stocks, your 401(k)s — remember, it’s the people that own these massive, listed companies. A lot of people: rich people and not so rich people and middle-income people. And those stocks will crash like you’ve never seen before.
{snip}
Biden wants to surrender our country to the virus, he wants to surrender our families to the violent left-wing mob, and he wants to surrender our jobs to China — our jobs and our economic wellbeing. I’ve taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. No other President has done what I’ve done. I’ve given much of it to the farmers. I’ve given it to farmers and manufacturers, but I’ve given most of it to the U.S. Treasury. Nobody has done that. We haven’t taken in 10 cents from China ever.
{snip}
They take our money, and they spend it on building airplanes and building ships and building rockets and missiles. And Biden has been just a pawn for them. He’s been so easy. They dream about Biden. There was a report today that they hope that Joe Biden becomes President. If Joe Biden becomes President, China will own the United States, and every other country will be smiling also. They’ll be smiling.
{snip}
But we’re getting out of the endless wars; you know how we’re we doing. We defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate — 100 percent. When I was in — when I came in, it was a mess; it was all over. They have it, in a certain color, all ISIS. A year later, I said, “Where is it?” “It’s all gone, sir. Because of you, it’s all gone,” because of my philosophy. But all gone. And I said, “That’s good. Let’s bring our soldiers back home. Some people don’t like to come home. Some people like to continue to spend money.” One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another, and that’s what it was.
{snip}
So, Happy Labor Day, everybody. Yeah. Go ahead.
Q Thanks, Mr. President. The issue of what happened when you were in France continues to be a story.
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to have to take that off, please. Just — you can take it off. Your health — how many feet are you away?
Q I’ll speak a lot louder.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled. So if you would take it off, it would be a lot easier.
Q I’ll just speak a lot louder. Is that better?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s better, yeah. It’s better.
Q Mr. President, some people are having a hard time believing your denials of the Atlantic story because of what you said about John McCain in the past. Do you understand that? And have you asked John Kelly —
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t understand that.
Q And have you asked John Kelly to refute that story?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t understand it at all, no, because I’ve always been on the opposite side of John McCain. John McCain liked wars. I will be a better warrior than anybody, but when we fight a war, we’re going to win them. And, frankly, I was never a fan of John McCain. You know that; that’s been very obvious. I was — but I had to approve his entire — his funeral. I wanted him to get — he deserved a first-class — you know, and it all was approved by me. We sent Air Force One to pick up the casket — a lot of things.
But, no, I was never a fan of John McCain because he wanted the endless wars, and I didn’t. I thought that the way the vets were taken care of — our great vets — was not good, not appropriate. And, of course, he took the fake, dirty dossier and gave it over to the FBI. So this is not somebody — am I supposed to say, “What a wonderful guy”?
So, you know what? I lived with him. He lived with me. But we had different philosophies. I think my philosophy is right. I think it’s turned out to be right. But I wasn’t a fan. But I respect people, and I respect a lot of people. That doesn’t mean I necessarily have to agree with them, and I didn’t agree with him on a lot of things.
The story is a hoax, written by a guy who has got a tremendously bad history. The magazine itself — which I don’t read, but I hear it’s just totally anti-Trump; he’s a big Obama person, he’s a big Clinton person. And he made up the story. It’s a totally made-up story.
In fact, I was very happy to see Zach Fuentes came out and said now he’s — that’s — I think that’s number 15 — and these are people that were there. That’s the 15th person. General Kellogg, everybody that was there knew what happened. And so I was happy to see that Zach came out and said it’s not true. He just came out.
And it’s a disgrace. Who would say a thing like that? Only an animal would say a thing like that. There is nobody that has more respect for not only our military, but for people that gave their lives in the military. There’s nobody — and I think John Kelly knows that. I think he would know that. I think he knows that from me.
But Zach Fuentes, as you know, worked for John. And I think they both know that. But Zach came out, as you know, today or yesterday, last night, and said very strongly that he didn’t hear anything like that. Even John Bolton came out and said that was untrue.
Now, what was true is that we had the worst weather. I think it was as bad a rain as I’ve just about ever seen. And it was a fog you — you literally couldn’t see. I walked out, and I didn’t have — I didn’t need somebody to tell me. I walked out and I said, “There’s no way we can take helicopters in this.” I understand helicopters very well. And they said, “No, sir, that’s been cancelled.”
They would have had to go — Secret Service, I have the whole list — they would have had through a very, very busy section, during the day, of Paris. They would have had to go through the city. The Paris police were asking us, “Please don’t do it,” because they’re not ready. When you do that, you need a lot of time. They take days and days and days to prepare for that.
I wanted to do it very badly. I was willing to sit in the car for two hours, three hours, four hours. I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. And I had nothing else to do. I went there for that; I had nothing else to do. It was ended because of the terrible weather, and nobody was prepared to go through, in terms of Paris, the police, the military, and the Secret Service. And they came out very strongly and said, “Sir, we can’t allow you to make this trip.” If I wanted to: “Sir, we can’t allow you, from a safety standpoint.”
It was a phony story, just like the dirty dossier — the fake, dirty dossier; just like the Russia collusion; just like all of the other phony stories. And there’ll be more phony stories.
But I do appreciate Zach coming out. But Zach now is the 15th person that’s denied it. Zach now, I think, also talked about the weather aspect of it. And he’s probably the 14th or 15th person that blamed it on weather. So that’s enough of that.
Yes, please.
Q Thank you. Christina Bobb, One America News. Thank you for holding the briefing.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
Yeah, please, go ahead.
Q If I could follow up on that. We’re also hearing reports of groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter traveling around the country, leaving their home cities to go riot and protest in other cities where they’re causing damage.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Do we expect to see prosecution or charges —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — from the Department of Justice for those traveling for that purpose?
THE PRESIDENT: So we have now over 1,000 people — federal — in jail. We’re prosecuting many people. A big thing was when I signed the law putting people in jail, if you knock down monuments. That was three months ago. There hasn’t been a federal monument knocked down in three months, or even thought about. I don’t think they’ve even thought about it. So that’s had a very big impact — a very big impact.
But, yeah, we’re going around, and the nice part is you people take — see those people up there? — they take nice pictures of everybody, so we don’t even have to bother. We can use the news photos. We had a photo right over there of Andrew Jackson, the monument. He was getting ready, and this guy was a big, brave guy, and he was up like this, and he was showing off to all his friends. And he got arrested, and so did a lot of other people get arrested. And I would say we have the ultimate proof. Now, in that case, we got there before they ripped down the statue of Andrew Jackson, which is so beautiful, which is right over there. But they never got it.
But right after that, I signed a — an order saying you go to prison for 10 years. And as soon as I signed that order, that was the end of the statues coming down. But they have other ideas. They’ve — they’ve got plenty of ideas. They’re not at want for ideas.
Please, go ahead.
Q Mr. Spunt — David Spunt from Fox News. Mr. Trump — Mr. President, thank you for taking my question. Sir, you talked a lot about the economy and touted the economy. Three weeks ago, in Bedminster, I asked you specifically why you have not called Democratic leadership in the White House to meet with them. If they don’t want to meet, it’s on them.
A lot of people are criticizing you. I cover you on the weekends and stuff. You’re —
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think they are.
Q — doing a lot of golfing. Why have you not met with them in person?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q I mean, we’re in September. There is no deal. There is no hope of a deal.
THE PRESIDENT: I know. I know.
Q We’re two months out from the election. What do you say to —
THE PRESIDENT: Don’t say there’s “no hope.” Why do you say there’s “no hope”?
Q But what can you say to the millions —
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q Well, what can you say — it doesn’t seem —
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q It doesn’t seem like there’s hope, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: And let me just tell you: I know my customers; that’s what I do. I know Pelosi, I know Schumer very well. They don’t want to make a deal because they think it’s good for politics if they don’t make a deal. This has nothing to do with anything other than you have to know who you’re dealing with. I do. These are people that I don’t have a lot of respect. I don’t think they have a lot of respect for the American people. And I know who I’m dealing with.
{snip}
Q But as President, shouldn’t you take the high road, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I am taking the high road. I’m taking the high road by not seeing them. That’s the high road.
{snip}
Yeah. Go ahead.
Q Yeah, David Jackson, USA Today. My question is about the Durham report, which you have talked about recently. You said, “Let’s see what happens.” Now, you’ve accused people of committing crimes against you during the Russia investigation —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Sure. Sure.
Q –including President Obama and Joe Biden.
THE PRESIDENT: They spied on my campaign. That’s right.
Q Because my question is —
THE PRESIDENT: They spied on my campaign. And if they were Democrats, they would have been in jail two years ago. They would have been in jail — literally, if this side were the Democrat side, they would have been in jail two years ago for 50-year terms for treason and other things.
Q But excuse me, my question is: Do you want the Justice Department to indict people over this?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to say that. I have to see the report. I haven’t seen — I purposely — I don’t know if that was a good thing, smart thing. I don’t know. But nobody can complain about it. I have every right to have been very much involved, and maybe someday I’ll get involved in it.
They spied on my campaign, and that includes Biden and Obama. They spied on my campaign trying to defeat me. They wrote up a fake dossier that has proven to be totally fake — written by Christopher Steele, paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats — and they used that illegally in the FISA courts.
If we did what they did, you would have many people in jail all right — right now. And you have, other than the one agent that admitted his guilt that he forged documents — we don’t have that yet, but the report hasn’t been issued yet. Let’s see what happens.
Q It sure sounds like you want to prosecute people.
THE PRESIDENT: But let me just — let me just tell you something: President Obama and Biden — Sleepy Joe, he knew everything that was happening. They were spying on my campaign, and they got caught. Now let’s see what happens.
But if this were the opposite way, people would have been jailed. They would have been in jail already for a period of at least — it would have started two years ago, and it would have been 50 years for treason, because you can’t do that. That’s never — and nothing like that’s ever happened before. Then they created, at tremendous expense — the money they paid is tremendous; I’m sure you know the money that was paid, millions of dollars. They created a fake dossier — a fake dossier — proven to be, now, fake. Everyone — and they used it in the FISA courts. That’s a crime.
Q But it sure sounds like you want to prosecute —
THE PRESIDENT: So far, I haven’t seen anybody have a problem. But the report hasn’t been issued yet. Let’s see what happens with the Durham report.
But this started at Obama, and some people would say — and some people, “Well, but he was President,” like, “Let’s leave him alone.” If it were me, they wouldn’t be leaving me alone, I can tell you. It’s a totally double standard, and it’s a — it’s a disgrace.
And if I were a Republican senator and if I were a Republican congressman — and we have some great ones, but we have a lot of them that don’t fight the way that the other side fights. We have much better policy. We have much better things going for us, like borders and walls and immigration and no sanctuary cities. And a lot — they have a lot of bad stuff going, but they’re dirty fighters.
And the dirtiest fight of all is the issuance of 80 million ballots, unrequested. They’re not requested; they’re just sending 80 million ballots all over the country. Eighty million ballots, non-requested. I call them “unsolicited ballots.” That’s going to be the dirtiest fight of all. People are going to get ballots; they’re going to say, “What am I doing?” And then they’re going to harvest. They’re going to do all the things.
And if you look at the last period of six months — take a look at the races where they’ve sent ballots out. Take a look at Carolyn Maloney, whose race should be redone because she won that race totally unfairly to her opponent. Her opponent did very well against her. That race should be rerun, but they declared her the winner because they heard I found out about it. But take a look at what’s happened in New Jersey and in Virginia, in different places. It’s a disgrace. That’ll be a beauty.
Yeah, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. If proven true, are you okay with Postmaster General DeJoy and the fact that he asked former employees at his private company to make donations to the GOP and then reimburse them? Are you okay with that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I don’t know too much about it. I read something this morning, but I don’t — other than that, I’d have to see it. He’s a very respected man. He was approved very much by both parties, I guess. It was sort of a — an approval that took place by both parties. I don’t know exactly what the story is. I’ll certainly know within a short period of time. I just read it for the first time — I read it this morning, just like you did.
Q Would you support an investigation, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. Sure.
Q And in —
THE PRESIDENT: I think let the investigations go. But — but he’s a very respected man. Again, it was a bipartisan commission. Postmaster general is appointed by a bipartisan commission. And we’ll see how that goes. But, no, I think he’s a very honest guy, but we’ll see.
Yeah.
Q He’s proven to be a campaign —
Q Thank you, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Mr. President, just a follow-up, please, if you don’t mind. If it’s proven to be a campaign finance scheme, do you think he should lose his job?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. If something can be proven that he did something, always. You know?
Q Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Always. They’ve been looking at me for four years; they found nothing. Four years. Think of it: For four years — from the day I came down the escalator, I’ve been under investigation by sleaze, and they found nothing. They found nothing. A friend of mine said, “You have to be the most innocent, honorable man ever to hold the Office of President.”
Think of it: They spent — just Mueller alone, he spent — I guess the real number turned out to be $48 million, but whatever it was — many, many millions of dollars. They had 18 angry Democrats looking. They had FBI agents all over the place. They had every — and they have no collusion. Friends of mine have said — sophisticated friends have said, “You’ve got to be the most innocent guy ever to hold this office.” And there’s a lot of truth to that.
Yeah, please.
{snip}
Yeah, please.
Q Mr. President, can I follow up Jeff Mason’s question? Have you asked John Kelly to publicly refute The Atlantic? And then, can I ask something else?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I have nothing against John. I have nothing against anybody. No.
I was very heartened to see that a friend of his — because I know Zach is a friend of his and worked for him — I was very heartened to see that Zach Fuentes came out with the statement that he did — I guess, late last night — that it was not true.
Q Can I ask another question on a different topic, Mr. President? Mr. President, what exactly is un-American about federal government training programs that are aimed at improving inclusivity or pointing out biases?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to do a report. Yeah, I fired those people; they’re all gone. And it was a disgrace, frankly. And we’re going to give you a big report that’s going to make you very happy.
All right, yeah, please.
Q Thank you. Darlene Superville, AP. You said a moment ago, “They’ll say anything.” You were talking about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their comments about the vaccine. You have asserted —
THE PRESIDENT: No, they say worse; they say negative. They say negative. They’re going to make the vaccine into a negative so that when we have it — and I spoke to the head of Pfizer, I spoke to the head of Johnson & Johnson, I spoke to the head of the greatest medical companies in the world. We’re doing great. We’re going to have it soon.
Q Right —
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. So now what they’re saying is, “Oh, wow, this is bad news. President Trump is getting this vaccine in record time.” By the way, if this were the Obama administration, you wouldn’t have that vaccine for three years, and you probably wouldn’t have it all.
So we’re going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’m talking about.
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: But let me just tell you — wait. And what they’re doing, because they think it is going fast. And if you talk to a lot of your sources — if you have sources — if you talk to your sources in the FDA, you’ll see it’s going very, very well. The numbers are looking unbelievably strong, unbelievably good.
So now they’re saying, “Wow, Trump has pulled this off. Okay, let’s disparage the vaccine.” That’s so bad for this country. That’s so bad for the world to even say that. And that’s what they’re saying.
But I watched Kamala’s poll numbers drop from 15 to almost zero, and then drop out even before she ran in Iowa because people didn’t like her, and I understand why. She will never be President — although I have to be careful, because Obama used to say that about me. So I have to be a little bit careful.
Q Right, but —
THE PRESIDENT: But you have to look at her a little bit more closely, because obviously Joe is not doing too well. So you’re going to have to look at her a little bit too closely.
But she’s talking about disparaging a vaccine so that people don’t think the achievement was a great achievement. I don’t want the achievement for myself, I want something that’s going to make people better, that people aren’t going to get sick with. That includes therapeutics, where we’re doing equally as well. Therapeutics.
Q May I finish? May I finish the question?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Your point is that: What they’re saying is that they’re saying it for a political purposes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You have asserted repeatedly that a vaccine will be on the market by — before the election, by the end of October.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t say — I didn’t say “they will.” I said, “By the end of the year.”
Q Aren’t you doing the same thing that you —
THE PRESIDENT: No, but you’re not quoting me accurately.
Q — say they’re guilty of?
THE PRESIDENT: I said that vaccines will be on the market before the end of year, but they may even be on the market — they may even be developed and fully developed, tested, and everything else.
You know, we have 30,000 people, in just one vaccine right now, under test in very, very highly infected areas. So we’re going to be able to get a good result, one way or the other, very soon.
So I didn’t say what you said. What I said is “by the end of the year.” But I think it could even be sooner than that. It could be during the month of October, actually. Could be before November.
Q But aren’t you also saying that for political reasons?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. The fast — with me, it’s: The faster, the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically, but I’m saying it in terms of this is what we need. We have to have — if get the vaccine early, that’s a great thing, whether it’s politics or not.
Now, do benefits inure if you’re able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess, maybe they do. But the most important thing to me is saving lives; it’s the most important thing.
Yeah, go ahead. In the back.
Q Hi. Just based on some of your recent tweets, do you —
THE PRESIDENT: You sound so clear as opposed to everybody else, where they refuse.
Q Your tweets about the 1619 Project —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — why do you object to that being taught in schools? And do you object to slavery itself being taught in schools?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, so — no, I want everybody to know everything they can about our history. I’m not a believer in cancel culture, the good or the bad. If you don’t study the bad, it could happen again. So I do want that subject studied very, very carefully and very accurately.
But we grew up with a certain history, and now they’re trying to change our history — revisionist history. That’s why they want to take down our monuments. That’s why they want to take down our statues.
I saw something the other day, which was absolutely horrendous: Washington Monument, they want to rename it — the D.C. committee, but the D.C. committee is all Democrats. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson — I mean, we’re talking about — this is the big stuff now. This is the big stuff. And they want to rename it. They want to re-designate it. They want to take some down. No, we don’t do that. Never going to happen with me, I guarantee you that.
Well, I want to thank you all, and I just want to wish you a very happy Labor Day. And we’re having tremendous success, whether it’s on the vaccines, whether it’s on the pandemic — the plague that came in from China, that China should have never let happen because I will never feel the same about China. And I just want to again wish you a happy Labor Day.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
2:13 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference | September 7, 2020
ECONOMY & JOBS
Issued on: September 7, 2020
North Portico
1:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Happy Labor Day. That was, really, a very special time I had speaking to some of the labor union heads and other people. They’re very happy with the way things are going. As you probably see, the numbers are terrific.
{snip}
Under my leadership, next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country, I project. And some people are starting to agree. We have a “V” shape. It’s probably a “super V.” And you see what’s going on with the stock market, where it’s, in certain cases, already setting records. NASDAQ has set 17 records already, and this is as we’re, hopefully, rounding the final turn in the pandemic.
{snip}
Joe Biden and the radical, socialist Democrats would immediately collapse the economy. If they got in, they would collapse it. You’ll have a crash the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Your stocks, your 401(k)s — remember, it’s the people that own these massive, listed companies. A lot of people: rich people and not so rich people and middle-income people. And those stocks will crash like you’ve never seen before.
{snip}
Biden wants to surrender our country to the virus, he wants to surrender our families to the violent left-wing mob, and he wants to surrender our jobs to China — our jobs and our economic wellbeing. I’ve taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. No other President has done what I’ve done. I’ve given much of it to the farmers. I’ve given it to farmers and manufacturers, but I’ve given most of it to the U.S. Treasury. Nobody has done that. We haven’t taken in 10 cents from China ever.
{snip}
They take our money, and they spend it on building airplanes and building ships and building rockets and missiles. And Biden has been just a pawn for them. He’s been so easy. They dream about Biden. There was a report today that they hope that Joe Biden becomes President. If Joe Biden becomes President, China will own the United States, and every other country will be smiling also. They’ll be smiling.
{snip}
But we’re getting out of the endless wars; you know how we’re we doing. We defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate — 100 percent. When I was in — when I came in, it was a mess; it was all over. They have it, in a certain color, all ISIS. A year later, I said, “Where is it?” “It’s all gone, sir. Because of you, it’s all gone,” because of my philosophy. But all gone. And I said, “That’s good. Let’s bring our soldiers back home. Some people don’t like to come home. Some people like to continue to spend money.” One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another, and that’s what it was.
{snip}
So, Happy Labor Day, everybody. Yeah. Go ahead.
Q Thanks, Mr. President. The issue of what happened when you were in France continues to be a story.
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to have to take that off, please. Just — you can take it off. Your health — how many feet are you away?
Q I’ll speak a lot louder.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled. So if you would take it off, it would be a lot easier.
Q I’ll just speak a lot louder. Is that better?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s better, yeah. It’s better.
Q Mr. President, some people are having a hard time believing your denials of the Atlantic story because of what you said about John McCain in the past. Do you understand that? And have you asked John Kelly —
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t understand that.
Q And have you asked John Kelly to refute that story?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t understand it at all, no, because I’ve always been on the opposite side of John McCain. John McCain liked wars. I will be a better warrior than anybody, but when we fight a war, we’re going to win them. And, frankly, I was never a fan of John McCain. You know that; that’s been very obvious. I was — but I had to approve his entire — his funeral. I wanted him to get — he deserved a first-class — you know, and it all was approved by me. We sent Air Force One to pick up the casket — a lot of things.
But, no, I was never a fan of John McCain because he wanted the endless wars, and I didn’t. I thought that the way the vets were taken care of — our great vets — was not good, not appropriate. And, of course, he took the fake, dirty dossier and gave it over to the FBI. So this is not somebody — am I supposed to say, “What a wonderful guy”?
So, you know what? I lived with him. He lived with me. But we had different philosophies. I think my philosophy is right. I think it’s turned out to be right. But I wasn’t a fan. But I respect people, and I respect a lot of people. That doesn’t mean I necessarily have to agree with them, and I didn’t agree with him on a lot of things.
The story is a hoax, written by a guy who has got a tremendously bad history. The magazine itself — which I don’t read, but I hear it’s just totally anti-Trump; he’s a big Obama person, he’s a big Clinton person. And he made up the story. It’s a totally made-up story.
In fact, I was very happy to see Zach Fuentes came out and said now he’s — that’s — I think that’s number 15 — and these are people that were there. That’s the 15th person. General Kellogg, everybody that was there knew what happened. And so I was happy to see that Zach came out and said it’s not true. He just came out.
And it’s a disgrace. Who would say a thing like that? Only an animal would say a thing like that. There is nobody that has more respect for not only our military, but for people that gave their lives in the military. There’s nobody — and I think John Kelly knows that. I think he would know that. I think he knows that from me.
But Zach Fuentes, as you know, worked for John. And I think they both know that. But Zach came out, as you know, today or yesterday, last night, and said very strongly that he didn’t hear anything like that. Even John Bolton came out and said that was untrue.
Now, what was true is that we had the worst weather. I think it was as bad a rain as I’ve just about ever seen. And it was a fog you — you literally couldn’t see. I walked out, and I didn’t have — I didn’t need somebody to tell me. I walked out and I said, “There’s no way we can take helicopters in this.” I understand helicopters very well. And they said, “No, sir, that’s been cancelled.”
They would have had to go — Secret Service, I have the whole list — they would have had through a very, very busy section, during the day, of Paris. They would have had to go through the city. The Paris police were asking us, “Please don’t do it,” because they’re not ready. When you do that, you need a lot of time. They take days and days and days to prepare for that.
I wanted to do it very badly. I was willing to sit in the car for two hours, three hours, four hours. I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. And I had nothing else to do. I went there for that; I had nothing else to do. It was ended because of the terrible weather, and nobody was prepared to go through, in terms of Paris, the police, the military, and the Secret Service. And they came out very strongly and said, “Sir, we can’t allow you to make this trip.” If I wanted to: “Sir, we can’t allow you, from a safety standpoint.”
It was a phony story, just like the dirty dossier — the fake, dirty dossier; just like the Russia collusion; just like all of the other phony stories. And there’ll be more phony stories.
But I do appreciate Zach coming out. But Zach now is the 15th person that’s denied it. Zach now, I think, also talked about the weather aspect of it. And he’s probably the 14th or 15th person that blamed it on weather. So that’s enough of that.
Yes, please.
Q Thank you. Christina Bobb, One America News. Thank you for holding the briefing.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
Yeah, please, go ahead.
Q If I could follow up on that. We’re also hearing reports of groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter traveling around the country, leaving their home cities to go riot and protest in other cities where they’re causing damage.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Do we expect to see prosecution or charges —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — from the Department of Justice for those traveling for that purpose?
THE PRESIDENT: So we have now over 1,000 people — federal — in jail. We’re prosecuting many people. A big thing was when I signed the law putting people in jail, if you knock down monuments. That was three months ago. There hasn’t been a federal monument knocked down in three months, or even thought about. I don’t think they’ve even thought about it. So that’s had a very big impact — a very big impact.
But, yeah, we’re going around, and the nice part is you people take — see those people up there? — they take nice pictures of everybody, so we don’t even have to bother. We can use the news photos. We had a photo right over there of Andrew Jackson, the monument. He was getting ready, and this guy was a big, brave guy, and he was up like this, and he was showing off to all his friends. And he got arrested, and so did a lot of other people get arrested. And I would say we have the ultimate proof. Now, in that case, we got there before they ripped down the statue of Andrew Jackson, which is so beautiful, which is right over there. But they never got it.
But right after that, I signed a — an order saying you go to prison for 10 years. And as soon as I signed that order, that was the end of the statues coming down. But they have other ideas. They’ve — they’ve got plenty of ideas. They’re not at want for ideas.
Please, go ahead.
Q Mr. Spunt — David Spunt from Fox News. Mr. Trump — Mr. President, thank you for taking my question. Sir, you talked a lot about the economy and touted the economy. Three weeks ago, in Bedminster, I asked you specifically why you have not called Democratic leadership in the White House to meet with them. If they don’t want to meet, it’s on them.
A lot of people are criticizing you. I cover you on the weekends and stuff. You’re —
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think they are.
Q — doing a lot of golfing. Why have you not met with them in person?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q I mean, we’re in September. There is no deal. There is no hope of a deal.
THE PRESIDENT: I know. I know.
Q We’re two months out from the election. What do you say to —
THE PRESIDENT: Don’t say there’s “no hope.” Why do you say there’s “no hope”?
Q But what can you say to the millions —
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q Well, what can you say — it doesn’t seem —
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q It doesn’t seem like there’s hope, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: And let me just tell you: I know my customers; that’s what I do. I know Pelosi, I know Schumer very well. They don’t want to make a deal because they think it’s good for politics if they don’t make a deal. This has nothing to do with anything other than you have to know who you’re dealing with. I do. These are people that I don’t have a lot of respect. I don’t think they have a lot of respect for the American people. And I know who I’m dealing with.
{snip}
Q But as President, shouldn’t you take the high road, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I am taking the high road. I’m taking the high road by not seeing them. That’s the high road.
{snip}
Yeah. Go ahead.
Q Yeah, David Jackson, USA Today. My question is about the Durham report, which you have talked about recently. You said, “Let’s see what happens.” Now, you’ve accused people of committing crimes against you during the Russia investigation —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Sure. Sure.
Q –including President Obama and Joe Biden.
THE PRESIDENT: They spied on my campaign. That’s right.
Q Because my question is —
THE PRESIDENT: They spied on my campaign. And if they were Democrats, they would have been in jail two years ago. They would have been in jail — literally, if this side were the Democrat side, they would have been in jail two years ago for 50-year terms for treason and other things.
Q But excuse me, my question is: Do you want the Justice Department to indict people over this?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to say that. I have to see the report. I haven’t seen — I purposely — I don’t know if that was a good thing, smart thing. I don’t know. But nobody can complain about it. I have every right to have been very much involved, and maybe someday I’ll get involved in it.
They spied on my campaign, and that includes Biden and Obama. They spied on my campaign trying to defeat me. They wrote up a fake dossier that has proven to be totally fake — written by Christopher Steele, paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats — and they used that illegally in the FISA courts.
If we did what they did, you would have many people in jail all right — right now. And you have, other than the one agent that admitted his guilt that he forged documents — we don’t have that yet, but the report hasn’t been issued yet. Let’s see what happens.
Q It sure sounds like you want to prosecute people.
THE PRESIDENT: But let me just — let me just tell you something: President Obama and Biden — Sleepy Joe, he knew everything that was happening. They were spying on my campaign, and they got caught. Now let’s see what happens.
But if this were the opposite way, people would have been jailed. They would have been in jail already for a period of at least — it would have started two years ago, and it would have been 50 years for treason, because you can’t do that. That’s never — and nothing like that’s ever happened before. Then they created, at tremendous expense — the money they paid is tremendous; I’m sure you know the money that was paid, millions of dollars. They created a fake dossier — a fake dossier — proven to be, now, fake. Everyone — and they used it in the FISA courts. That’s a crime.
Q But it sure sounds like you want to prosecute —
THE PRESIDENT: So far, I haven’t seen anybody have a problem. But the report hasn’t been issued yet. Let’s see what happens with the Durham report.
But this started at Obama, and some people would say — and some people, “Well, but he was President,” like, “Let’s leave him alone.” If it were me, they wouldn’t be leaving me alone, I can tell you. It’s a totally double standard, and it’s a — it’s a disgrace.
And if I were a Republican senator and if I were a Republican congressman — and we have some great ones, but we have a lot of them that don’t fight the way that the other side fights. We have much better policy. We have much better things going for us, like borders and walls and immigration and no sanctuary cities. And a lot — they have a lot of bad stuff going, but they’re dirty fighters.
And the dirtiest fight of all is the issuance of 80 million ballots, unrequested. They’re not requested; they’re just sending 80 million ballots all over the country. Eighty million ballots, non-requested. I call them “unsolicited ballots.” That’s going to be the dirtiest fight of all. People are going to get ballots; they’re going to say, “What am I doing?” And then they’re going to harvest. They’re going to do all the things.
And if you look at the last period of six months — take a look at the races where they’ve sent ballots out. Take a look at Carolyn Maloney, whose race should be redone because she won that race totally unfairly to her opponent. Her opponent did very well against her. That race should be rerun, but they declared her the winner because they heard I found out about it. But take a look at what’s happened in New Jersey and in Virginia, in different places. It’s a disgrace. That’ll be a beauty.
Yeah, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. If proven true, are you okay with Postmaster General DeJoy and the fact that he asked former employees at his private company to make donations to the GOP and then reimburse them? Are you okay with that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I don’t know too much about it. I read something this morning, but I don’t — other than that, I’d have to see it. He’s a very respected man. He was approved very much by both parties, I guess. It was sort of a — an approval that took place by both parties. I don’t know exactly what the story is. I’ll certainly know within a short period of time. I just read it for the first time — I read it this morning, just like you did.
Q Would you support an investigation, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. Sure.
Q And in —
THE PRESIDENT: I think let the investigations go. But — but he’s a very respected man. Again, it was a bipartisan commission. Postmaster general is appointed by a bipartisan commission. And we’ll see how that goes. But, no, I think he’s a very honest guy, but we’ll see.
Yeah.
Q He’s proven to be a campaign —
Q Thank you, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Mr. President, just a follow-up, please, if you don’t mind. If it’s proven to be a campaign finance scheme, do you think he should lose his job?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. If something can be proven that he did something, always. You know?
Q Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Always. They’ve been looking at me for four years; they found nothing. Four years. Think of it: For four years — from the day I came down the escalator, I’ve been under investigation by sleaze, and they found nothing. They found nothing. A friend of mine said, “You have to be the most innocent, honorable man ever to hold the Office of President.”
Think of it: They spent — just Mueller alone, he spent — I guess the real number turned out to be $48 million, but whatever it was — many, many millions of dollars. They had 18 angry Democrats looking. They had FBI agents all over the place. They had every — and they have no collusion. Friends of mine have said — sophisticated friends have said, “You’ve got to be the most innocent guy ever to hold this office.” And there’s a lot of truth to that.
Yeah, please.
{snip}
Yeah, please.
Q Mr. President, can I follow up Jeff Mason’s question? Have you asked John Kelly to publicly refute The Atlantic? And then, can I ask something else?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I have nothing against John. I have nothing against anybody. No.
I was very heartened to see that a friend of his — because I know Zach is a friend of his and worked for him — I was very heartened to see that Zach Fuentes came out with the statement that he did — I guess, late last night — that it was not true.
Q Can I ask another question on a different topic, Mr. President? Mr. President, what exactly is un-American about federal government training programs that are aimed at improving inclusivity or pointing out biases?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to do a report. Yeah, I fired those people; they’re all gone. And it was a disgrace, frankly. And we’re going to give you a big report that’s going to make you very happy.
All right, yeah, please.
Q Thank you. Darlene Superville, AP. You said a moment ago, “They’ll say anything.” You were talking about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their comments about the vaccine. You have asserted —
THE PRESIDENT: No, they say worse; they say negative. They say negative. They’re going to make the vaccine into a negative so that when we have it — and I spoke to the head of Pfizer, I spoke to the head of Johnson & Johnson, I spoke to the head of the greatest medical companies in the world. We’re doing great. We’re going to have it soon.
Q Right —
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. So now what they’re saying is, “Oh, wow, this is bad news. President Trump is getting this vaccine in record time.” By the way, if this were the Obama administration, you wouldn’t have that vaccine for three years, and you probably wouldn’t have it all.
So we’re going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’m talking about.
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: But let me just tell you — wait. And what they’re doing, because they think it is going fast. And if you talk to a lot of your sources — if you have sources — if you talk to your sources in the FDA, you’ll see it’s going very, very well. The numbers are looking unbelievably strong, unbelievably good.
So now they’re saying, “Wow, Trump has pulled this off. Okay, let’s disparage the vaccine.” That’s so bad for this country. That’s so bad for the world to even say that. And that’s what they’re saying.
But I watched Kamala’s poll numbers drop from 15 to almost zero, and then drop out even before she ran in Iowa because people didn’t like her, and I understand why. She will never be President — although I have to be careful, because Obama used to say that about me. So I have to be a little bit careful.
Q Right, but —
THE PRESIDENT: But you have to look at her a little bit more closely, because obviously Joe is not doing too well. So you’re going to have to look at her a little bit too closely.
But she’s talking about disparaging a vaccine so that people don’t think the achievement was a great achievement. I don’t want the achievement for myself, I want something that’s going to make people better, that people aren’t going to get sick with. That includes therapeutics, where we’re doing equally as well. Therapeutics.
Q May I finish? May I finish the question?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Your point is that: What they’re saying is that they’re saying it for a political purposes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You have asserted repeatedly that a vaccine will be on the market by — before the election, by the end of October.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t say — I didn’t say “they will.” I said, “By the end of the year.”
Q Aren’t you doing the same thing that you —
THE PRESIDENT: No, but you’re not quoting me accurately.
Q — say they’re guilty of?
THE PRESIDENT: I said that vaccines will be on the market before the end of year, but they may even be on the market — they may even be developed and fully developed, tested, and everything else.
You know, we have 30,000 people, in just one vaccine right now, under test in very, very highly infected areas. So we’re going to be able to get a good result, one way or the other, very soon.
So I didn’t say what you said. What I said is “by the end of the year.” But I think it could even be sooner than that. It could be during the month of October, actually. Could be before November.
Q But aren’t you also saying that for political reasons?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. The fast — with me, it’s: The faster, the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically, but I’m saying it in terms of this is what we need. We have to have — if get the vaccine early, that’s a great thing, whether it’s politics or not.
Now, do benefits inure if you’re able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess, maybe they do. But the most important thing to me is saving lives; it’s the most important thing.
Yeah, go ahead. In the back.
Q Hi. Just based on some of your recent tweets, do you —
THE PRESIDENT: You sound so clear as opposed to everybody else, where they refuse.
Q Your tweets about the 1619 Project —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — why do you object to that being taught in schools? And do you object to slavery itself being taught in schools?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, so — no, I want everybody to know everything they can about our history. I’m not a believer in cancel culture, the good or the bad. If you don’t study the bad, it could happen again. So I do want that subject studied very, very carefully and very accurately.
But we grew up with a certain history, and now they’re trying to change our history — revisionist history. That’s why they want to take down our monuments. That’s why they want to take down our statues.
I saw something the other day, which was absolutely horrendous: Washington Monument, they want to rename it — the D.C. committee, but the D.C. committee is all Democrats. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson — I mean, we’re talking about — this is the big stuff now. This is the big stuff. And they want to rename it. They want to re-designate it. They want to take some down. No, we don’t do that. Never going to happen with me, I guarantee you that.
Well, I want to thank you all, and I just want to wish you a very happy Labor Day. And we’re having tremendous success, whether it’s on the vaccines, whether it’s on the pandemic — the plague that came in from China, that China should have never let happen because I will never feel the same about China. And I just want to again wish you a happy Labor Day.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
2:13 P.M. EDT
2 replies
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How can people seriously consider re-electing him?
