Text of Friday's Rose Garden Word Salad Debacle
Remarks by President Trump on the National Security and Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border
-- IMMIGRATION | Issued on: February 15, 2019
Rose Garden
10:39 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Before we begin, Id like to just say that we have a large team of very talented people in China. Weve had a negotiation going on for about two days. Its going extremely well. Who knows what that means, because it only matters if we get it done. But were very much working very closely with China and President Xi, who I respect a lot. Very good relationship that we have. And were a lot closer than we ever were in this country with having a real trade deal.
Were covering everything all of the points that people have been talking about for years that said couldnt be done, whether it was theft or anything. Anything. The unfairness. Weve been losing, on average, $375 billion a year with China. A lot of people think its $506 billion. Some people think its much more than that. Were going to be leveling the playing field.
The tariffs are hurting China very badly. They dont want them. And frankly, if we can make the deal, itd be my honor to remove them. But otherwise, were having many billions of dollars pouring into our Treasury. Weve never had that before with China. Its been very much of a one-way street.
So, thats happening. And the relationship with China is very good, but I think they finally respect our country. They havent respected us for a long time. Not for a long time.
The UK and the U.S., as you probably have been seeing and hearing, were agreeing to go forward and preserve our trade agreement. You know all of the situation with respect to Brexit, and the complexity and the problems. But we have a very good trading relationship with the UK, and thats just been strengthened further.
So with the UK, were continuing our trade, and we are going to actually be increasing it very substantially as time goes by. We expect that the UK will be very, very substantially increased as it relates to trade with the United States. The relationship there, also, is very good.
We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate. And that will be announced over the next 24 hours. And many other things. A lot of positive things are going on.
Were working on a summit. And you know all about the summit. It will be in Vietnam Hanoi. And we will well be meeting in Hanoi. Well be meeting in Hanoi. I think a lot of you will be going, I suspect. And I hope we have the same good luck as we had in the first summit. A lot was done in the first summit. No more rockets going up. No more missiles going up. No more testing of nuclear. Get back our remains, the remains of our great heroes from the Korean War. And we got back our hostages.
But we hope were going to be very much equally as successful. Im in no rush for speed. We just dont want testing. The sanctions, as you know, remain. Everything is remaining. China has been helping us, and Russia has been helping us. And South Korea, I think you can say, has been weve been working very closely with South Korea, with Japan.
But China, Russia, on the border, have really been at least partially living up to what theyre supposed to be doing. And thats okay as per the United Nations.
So we will have a meeting on the 27th and 28th of February, and I think that will be a very successful one. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim. We have also established a very good relationship, which has never happened between him or his family and the United States. They have really taken advantage of the United States. Billions of dollars has been paid to them. And we wont let that happen.
But we think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have a tremendous potential as an economic force, economic power. Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China right smack in the middle is phenomenal.
And we think that they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future. So I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim in Vietnam.
Today, Im announcing several critical actions that my administration has taken to confront a problem that we have right here at home. We fight wars that are 6,000 miles away; wars that we should have never been in, in many cases. But we dont control our own border.
So were going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border. And were going to do it one way or the other we have to do it not because it was a campaign promise, which it is. It was one of many, by the way; not my only one. Were rebuilding the military, our economy is thriving like never before.
You look at other economies theyre doing terribly, and were doing phenomenally. The market is up tremendously today, not that thats anything, but, you know because Ill go back in and theyll say, Oh, the market just went down. But the market is getting close to the new highs that we created. We have all the records. We have every record. But were getting close to that point again where well create new records.
So our country is doing very well, economically. And weve done a lot. But one of the things I said I have to do and I want to do is border security, because we have tremendous amounts of drugs flowing into our country, much of it coming from the southern border. When you look and when you listen to politicians in particular, certain Democrats they say it all comes through the port of entry. Its wrong. Its wrong. Its just a lie. Its all a lie.
They say walls dont work. Walls work 100 percent. Whether its El Paso I really was smiling, because the other night I was in El Paso we had a tremendous crowd, and tremendous crowd. And I asked the people many of whom were from El Paso, but they came from all over Texas. And I asked them. I said, Let me ask you, as a crowd: When the wall went up, was it better? You were there, some of you. It was not only better; it was like 100 percent better. You know what they did.
But thats only one example. There are so many examples. In El Paso, they have close to 2,000 murders right on the other side of the wall. And they had 23 murders. Its a lot of murders, but its not close to 2,000 murders right on the other side of the wall, in Mexico.
So everyone knows that walls work. And there are better examples than El Paso, frankly. You just take a look. Almost everywhere. Take a look at Israel. Theyre building another wall. Their wall is 99.9 percent effective, they told me 99.9 percent. Thats what it would be with us, too.
The only weakness is they go to a wall and then they go around the wall. They go around the wall and in. Okay? Thats what it is. Its very simple. And a big majority of the big drugs the big drug loads dont go through ports of entry. They cant go through ports of entry. You cant take big loads because you have people we have some very capable people; the Border Patrol, law enforcement looking.
You cant take human traffic women and girls you cant take them through ports of entry. You cant have them tied up in the backseat of a car or a truck or a van. They open the door. They look. They cant see three women with tape on their mouth or three women whose hands are tied.
They go through areas where you have no wall. Everybody knows that. Nancy knows it. Chuck knows it. They all know it. Its all a big lie. Its a big con game.
You dont have to be very smart to know: You put up a barrier, the people come in, and thats it. They cant do anything unless they walk left or right, and they find an area where theres no barrier, and they come into the United States. Welcome.
Weve detained more people. Our border agents are doing such incredible work. Our military has been incredible. We put up barbed wire on top of certain old walls that were there. We fixed the wall and we loaded it up with barbed wire. Its very successful.
But our military has been fantastic, and I want to thank them. And its very necessary. Weve broken up two caravans that are on their way. They just are breaking. Theyre in the process of breaking up. We have another one that we havent been able to break up yet.
Weve been actually working with Mexico much better than ever before. I want to thank the President. I want to thank Mexico. They have their own problems. They have the largest number of murders that theyve ever had in their history almost 40,000 murders. Forty thousand. And they got to straighten that out, and I think they will.
But I just want to thank the President, because hes been helping us with these monstrous caravans that have been coming up. We had one that it was up to over 15,000 people. Its largely broken up. Others have gotten through. And, in Tijuana, you have a lot of people staying there. If we didnt have the wall up, and if we didnt have the wall secured and strengthened, they would have walked right through; theyd be welcomed to the United States.
One of the things wed save tremendous just a tremendous amount on would be sending the military. If we had a wall, we dont need the military because wed have a wall.
So Im going to be signing a national emergency. And its been signed many times before. Its been signed by other Presidents from 1977 or so. It gave the Presidents the power.
Theres rarely been a problem. They sign it; nobody cares. I guess they werent very exciting. But nobody cares. They sign it for far less important things, in some cases, in many cases. Were talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs.
We have some of the greatest people I know. Theyve been with me from the beginning of my campaign almost from the first week. The Angel Moms. Unfortunately, we have new Angel Moms. One incredible woman just showed me her daughter who were talking about killed, in the year of 18. I said, I havent seen you before. She said, No, Im new. I said, Thats too bad. Its too bad. Its so sad.
Stand up, just for a second. Show how beautiful your girl was. Thank you.
I have such respect for these people. Angel Moms, Angel Dads, Angel Families. I have great respect for these people. These are great people. These are great people. Theyre fighting for their children that have been killed by people that were illegally in this country.
And the press doesnt cover them; they dont want to, incredibly. And theyre not treated the way they should be. Theyre fighting for other people because they dont want what happened to their children or husband or anybody.
We have one young lady whose husband please, stand up. Your husband was just killed in Maryland. Incredible man. Just killed. Beautiful children wont be seeing their father again.
These are brave people. These are people that they dont have to be here. They dont have to be doing this. Theyre doing it for other people. So I just want to thank all of you for being here, okay? I really do. I want to thank you. Incredible people.
Last year, 70,000 Americans were killed, at least I think the number is ridiculously low by drugs, including meth and heroin and cocaine, fentanyl. And one of the things that I did with President Xi in China, when I met him in Argentina at a summit before I even started talking about the trade it was a trade meeting. It went very well, but before I talked about trade, I talked about something more important.
I said, Listen, we have tremendous amounts of fentanyl coming into our country. It kills tens of thousands of people I think far more than anybody registers. And Id love you to declare it a lethal drug and put it on your criminal list. And their criminal list is much tougher than our criminal list. Their criminal list a drug dealer gets a thing called the death penalty. Our criminal list, a drug dealer gets a thing called, How about a fine?
And when I asked President Xi, I said, Do you have a drug problem? No, no, no. I said, You have 1.4 billion people. What do you mean you have no drug problem? No, we dont have a drug problem. I said, Why? Death penalty. We give death penalty to people that sell drugs. End of problem.
What do we do? We set up blue ribbon committees. Lovely men and women they sit around a table, they have lunch, they eat, they dine, and they waste a lot of time. So if we want to get smart, we can get smart. You can end the drug problem. You can end it a lot faster than you think.
But President Xi has agreed to put fentanyl on his list of deadly, deadly drugs. And its a criminal penalty. And the penalty is death. So thats, frankly, one of the things Im most excited about in our trade deal, if you want to know the truth. I think maybe theres no more important point.
Were going to make billions of dollars with this trade deal. Its going to be great for our country and great for China, I hope. Their market is down close to 40 percent. Our market is way up. Weve picked up, since my election, trillions of dollars of worth. Trillions. Many trillions. And China has lost trillions of dollars. But I want it to be good for China and I want it to be good for the United States. So well see what happens.
China is coming here next week, by the way. Theyre coming home, the traders. And then China is coming here next week. And then Ill be meeting with President Xi at some point after that to maybe for some remaining deals. Well make them directly, one-on-one, ourselves.
So, were going to be signing today, and registering, national emergency. And its a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people, and its unacceptable.
And by signing the national emergency something signed many times by other Presidents many, many times. President Obama in fact, we may be using one of the national emergencies that he signed, having to do with cartels. Criminal cartels. Its a very good emergency that he signed. And were going to use parts of it in our dealings on cartels. So that would be a second national emergency. But, in that case, its already in place.
And what we want really want to do is simple. Its not like its complicated. Its very simple: We want to stop drugs from coming into our country. We want to stop criminals and gangs from coming into our country. Nobody has done the job that weve ever done. I mean, nobody has done the job that weve done on the border.
And in a way, what I did by creating such a great economy and if the opposing party got in, this economy would be down the tubes. You know, I hear a lot of people say, Oh, well. But maybe the previous administration Let me tell you, the previous administration, it was heading south, and it was going fast. We would have been down the tubes. The regulations were strangling our country. Unnecessary regulations.
By creating such a strong economy you just look at your televisions or see whats going on today; its through the roof. What happens is more people want to come, so we have far more people trying to get into our country today than probably weve ever had before. And weve done an incredible job in stopping them, but its a massive number of people.
If we had the wall, it would be very easy. We would make up for the cost of the wall just in the cost of the fact that I would be able to have fewer people. We wouldnt need all of this incredible talent, some of whom are sitting in the first row. You wouldnt need all of this incredible talent. We would get we would get thousands of law enforcement people, including Border Patrol. You put them in different areas, you have them doing different things. Law enforcement and Border Patrol.
And I want to thank law enforcement, and I want to thank Border Patrol, and I want to thank ICE. ICE is abused by the press and by the Democrats. And, by the way, were going to be taking care of ICE. You know, we talk about the new bill. Were going to be taking care of ICE. They wanted to get rid of ICE. And the bill is just the opposite of that. A lot of good things happened.
So, thats the story. We want to have a safe country. I ran on a very simple slogan: Make America Great Again. If youre going to have drugs pouring across the border, if youre going to have human traffickers pouring across the border in areas where we have no protection, in areas where we dont have a barrier, then very hard to make America great again.
But weve done a fantastic job, but we havent been given the equipment. We havent been given the walls. And in the bill, by the way, they didnt even fight us on most of the stuff. Ports of entry. We have so much money, we dont know what to do with it. I dont know what to do with all the money theyre giving us. Its crazy.
The only place they dont want to give as much money $1,375,000,000. Sounds like a lot, but its not so much, although were putting it to much better use than it used to be. A lot of the past administrations, they had it was easy to get, and they didnt build or they didnt do what they could have done. It would have been great. It would have been great to have done it earlier, but I was a little new to the job, a little new to the profession.
And we had a little disappointment for the first year and a half. People that should have stepped up did not step up. They didnt step up, and they should have. Would have been easy. Not that easy, but it would have been a lot easier. But some people didnt step up. But were stepping up now.
So we have a chance of getting close to $8 billion. Whether its $8 billion or $2 billion or $1.5 billion, its going to build a lot of wall. Were getting it done. Were right now in construction with wall in some of the most important areas. And we have renovated a tremendous amount of wall, making it just as good as new. Thats where a lot of the money has been spent on renovation. In fact, we were restricted to renovating, which is okay. But were going to run out of areas that we can renovate pretty soon. So and we need new wall.
So I want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank, in particular, the Angel Moms and Dads for being here. Thank you very much. We have great respect for you. The real country, our real country the people that really love our country, they love you. So I just want you to know that. I know how hard you fight and I know how hard a fight youre having.
I also want to thank all of the law enforcement for the job you do. Believe me, our country loves you and they respect you greatly. And were giving you a lot of surplus. Were giving you surplus military equipment, which a lot of people didnt like giving, previous to this administration. But hundreds of millions of dollars of surplus equipment. And as we get it, as you know, we send it down. And you have much better protection. But I really appreciate you being here.
So the order is signed. And Ill sign the final papers as soon as I get into the Oval Office. And we will have a national emergency, and then we will then be sued, and they will sue us in the Ninth Circuit, even though it shouldnt be there. And we will possibly get a bad ruling, and then well get another bad ruling. And then well end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully well get a fair shake. And well win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban. They sued us in the Ninth Circuit, and we lost, and then we lost in the appellate division, and then we went to the Supreme Court, and we won.
And it was very interesting, because yesterday they were talking about the ban. Because we have a ban. Its very helpful. Madam Secretary, is that right? Without the ban, wed have a bigger problem. We have a ban on certain areas, certain countries, depending on whats going on in the world. And we won.
But somebody said, President Trump lost on the ban. Well, he was right; I lost at the lower court. He he didnt say that we ultimately won at the United States Supreme Court. They didnt want to say that. They didnt want to go that far. They were saying how I lost. The person sitting right up here Donald Trump lost on the ban. Yeah, I did. And then I lost a second time; you should have said that, too. And then it went to the Supreme Court and I won. Didnt want to take it that far. But we won on the ban and we won on other things, too.
The probably easiest one to win is on declaring a national emergency, because were declaring it for virtual invasion purposes: drugs, traffickers, and gangs. And one of the things, just to finish: We have removed thousands of MS-13 gang monsters. Thousands. Theyre out of this country. We take them out by the thousands. And they are monsters.
Okay. Do you have any questions? Yeah. John, go ahead.
Q Mr. President (inaudible).
AIDE: Yes, we do. There you go.
Q You were prepared. Mr. President, a lot of the money
THE PRESIDENT: Were you saying I was prepared?
Q With the microphone and prepared for questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I thought you meant I was prepared. I couldnt believe you said that.
Q (Laughs.) No, no, no. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: People dont like saying that.
Q You were prepared for questions.
THE PRESIDENT: I am prepared. Im always prepared.
Q A lot of the money that goes to count toward your $8 billion is money thats being reprogrammed in the DOD budget. How can you guarantee to military families and to our men and women of the military that none of the money that would be reprogrammed to a wall will take away from other technology, other renovations, construction that is desperately needed in our military?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. So, John, we had certain funds that are being used at the discretion of generals, at the discretion of the military. Some of them havent been allocated yet, and some of the generals think that this is more important. I was speaking to a couple of them. They think this is far more important than what they were going to use it for. I said, What were you going to use it for? And I wont go into details, but it didnt sound too important to me.
Plus, if you think, Ive gotten $700 billion for the military in year one, and then last year, $716 billion. And were rebuilding our military, but we have a lot. And under the previous administration, our military was depleted badly depleted. And they werent spending I mean, they had a much less they had a much smaller amount of money.
So when I got $700 billion, and then $716 billion and this year, its going to be pretty big too, because theres few things more important than our military. You know, Im a big deficit believer and all of that, but before we really start focusing on certain things, we have to build up our military. It was very badly depleted. And were buying all new jetfighters, all new missiles, all new defensive equipment. We have well soon have a military like weve never had before.
But when you think about the kind of numbers youre talking about so you have $700 billion, $716 billion when I need $2 billion, $3 billion of out that for a wall which is a very important instrument, very important for the military because of the drugs that pour in. And as you know, we have specific rules and regulations where they have drugs, and what you can do in order to stop drugs. And thats part of it, too.
Were taking a lot of money from that realm also. But when you have that kind of money going into the military, this is a very, very small amount that were asking for.
Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. ABC. Not NBC. I like ABC a little bit more not much. Come on, ABC. Not much. Pretty close.
Q Mr. President, what do you say to those, including some of your Republican allies, who say that you are violating the Constitution with this move and setting a bad precedent that will be abused by possibly Democratic Presidents in the future? Marco Rubio has made this point.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, not too many people. Yeah. Not too many people have said that. But the courts will determine that.
Look, I expect to be sued. I shouldnt be sued. Very rarely do you get sued when you do national emergency. And then other people say, Oh, if you use it for this, now what are we using it for? We got to get rid of drugs and gangs and people. Its an invasion. We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country that we stop, but its very hard to stop. With a wall, it would be very easy.
So I think that we will be very successful in court. I think its clear. And the people that say we create precedent well, what do you have? Fifty-six? There are a lot of times well, thats creating precedent. And many of those are far less important than having a border. If you dont have a border, you dont have a country.
You know, we fight before I got here we fight all over the world to create borders for countries, but we dont create a border for our own country.
So I think what will happen is, sadly, well be sued, and sadly, itll go through a process. And, happily, well win I think.
Go ahead. Lets go. Lets hear it, NBC. Come on.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say, in the past, when President Obama tried to use executive action as it related to immigration, you said, The whole concept of executive order, its not the way the country is supposed to be run. You said, Youre supposed to go through Congress and make a deal. Will you concede that you were unable to make the deal that you had promised in the past, and that the deal youre ending up with now from Congress is less than what you could have had before a 35-day shutdown?
THE PRESIDENT: No. Look, I went through Congress. I made a deal. I got almost $1.4 billion when I wasnt supposed to get one dollar not one dollar. Hes not going to get one dollar. Well, I got $1.4 billion. But Im not happy with it. I also got billions and billions of dollars for other things port of entries, lots of different things. The purchase of drug equipment. More than we were even requesting.
In fact, the primary fight was on the wall. Everything else, we have so much, as I said, I dont know what to do with it we have so much money. But on the wall, they skimped.
So I did I was successful, in that sense, but I want to do it faster. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didnt need to do this. But Id rather do it much faster. And I dont have to do it for the election. Ive already done a lot of wall, for the election 2020. And the only reason were up here talking about this is because of the election, because they want to try and win an election, which it looks like theyre not going to be able to do. And this is one of the ways they think they can possibly win, is by obstruction and a lot of other nonsense.
And I think that I just want to get it done faster, thats all.
Okay. Yes, maam, go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Q Roberta Rampton from Reuters. I wanted to ask about China. Do you feel that enough progress has been made in the talks to head off the increase in tariffs scheduled for March 1?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, youre talking to the wrong person, because I happen to like tariffs, okay? I mean, were taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs from China. And our steel industry now, as an example, we tax dumped steel much of it comes from China at 25 percent. Our steel industry is so vibrant now again, theyre building plants all over the United States. Its a beautiful thing. And from a defensive standpoint, and from any standpoint, you need steel.
You know, you can do without certain industries. Our country cannot do without steel.
So, I love tariffs, but I also love them to negotiate. And right now, China is paying us billions of dollars a year in tariffs. And I havent even started.
Now, heres the thing: If we make a deal, they wont have to pay. You know, itll be a whole different story. They wont be paying that, but well have a fair deal. There wont be intellectual property theft. There wont be so many other things that have gone on. And no other President has done this. No other you know, we didnt have a deal with China. You had the WTO, one of the worst trade deals ever made probably even worse than NAFTA, if thats believable, which, you know, hard to believe, because I think NAFTA was just a disaster. It was a total disaster for our country.
And now we made the USMCA, which is going to be a terrific a great deal. And, by the way, the USMCA, from Mexico thats United States, Mexico, Canada thats where the money is coming from, not directly but indirectly, for the wall. And nobody wants to talk about that. Because were saving billions and billions of dollars a year, if Congress approves that deal.
Now, they might now want to approve a deal just because theyll say one of the things Im thinking of doing this has never been done before: No matter how good a deal I make with China, if they sell me Beijing for one dollar, if they give me 50 percent of their land and every ship that theyve built over the last two years which is a lot and they give them to me free, the Democrats will say, What a lousy deal; thats a terrible deal.
Like, ZTE, I got a billion more than a billion-dollar penalty in a short period of time. And the Democrats said, Oh, shouldve gotten more. When I made that deal, I said, This is incredible. I just got I got over a billion-dollar penalty, plus they had to change their board of directors. They had to change their top management. But they had to pay over a billion dollars. I said, What a deal. It took like a week. And the Democrats didnt even know there was a problem with ZTE.
Im the one that find them. Im the one that settled it. Over a billion dollars. And President Xi called me and he said it would be important to him if they could get a deal. And we made a deal paid like, in a short period of time.
The Democrats went out and said, Oh, they shouldve done better. So what Im thinking of doing is getting Chuck Schumer, getting Nancy Pelosi, having them bring two or three of their brilliant representatives. And well all go down together, and what well do is well negotiate. Ill put them in the room and let them speak up. Because any deal I make with China, if its the great its going to be better than any deal that anybody ever dreamt possible, or Im not going to have a deal. Its a very simple.
But any deal I make with China, Schumer is going to stand up and say, Oh, it shouldve been better. It shouldve been better. And you know what? Thats not acceptable to me. So Im thinking about doing something very different. I dont think its ever been I just dont want to be second-guessed. But thats not even second-guess; thats called politics. Sadly, Id probably do the same thing to them, okay?
But any deal I make toward the end, Im going to bring Schumer at least offer him and Pelosi. Im going to say, Please join me on the deal.
And, by the way, I just see our new Attorney General is sitting in the front row. Please stand up, Bill. (Applause.) Such an easy job hes got. Hes got the easiest job in government. Thank you and congratulations. That was a great vote yesterday. Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go ahead. Go ahead.
Q In your remarks, sir, you said that you were too new to politics, earlier in your administration, when you wouldve preferred that this be done. Is that an admission of how you might be changing on the job? And
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Im learning. I mean, I am learning. Dont forget, its not like Ive done this for a senator came into my office and said, Sir, Ive been running for office for 30 years. Ive won seven out of seven. I did lose a couple when I was younger. I said, Well, Ive won one out of one. But, you know, I never did politics before. Now I do politics. I will tell you, Im very disappointed at certain people, a particular one, for not having pushed this faster.
Q Are you referring to Speaker Ryan, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: But Ive learned who?
Q Speaker Ryan.
THE PRESIDENT: Lets not talk about it.
Q Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: What difference does it make? But they should have pushed it faster. They should have pushed it harder. And they didnt. They didnt.
If they would have, it would have been a little bit better. In the meantime, Ive built a lot of wall. I have a lot of money, and Ive built a lot of wall. But it wouldve been nice to have gotten done. And I would like to see major immigration reform, and maybe thats something we can all work on, Bill, where we all get together and do major immigration reform not just for a wall, for a barrier; for port of entry, for other things.
We have a real problem. We have catch-and-release. You catch a criminal and you have to release them. We have so many other things. You have chain migration, where a bad person comes in, brings 22 or 23 or 35 of his family members because he has his mother, his grandmother, his sister, his cousin, his uncle theyre all in.
You know what happened on the West Side Highway. That young wise guy drove over and killed eight people and horribly injured nobody talks about that horribly like, loss of legs and arms going 60 miles an hour, he made a right turn into a park on the West Side Highway, along the Hudson River in New York. He had many people brought in because he was in the United States. Its called chain migration.
And then you have the lottery. Its a horror show, because when countries put people into the lottery, theyre not putting you in; theyre putting some very bad people in the lottery. Its common sense. If I ran a country, and if I have a lottery system of people going to the United States, Im not going to put in my stars; Im going to put in people I dont want. The lottery system is a disaster. Im stuck with it.
Q Mr. President, could you tell us
THE PRESIDENT: It should have wait. It should have never happened. Okay.
Q Mr. President, could you tell us to what degree some of the outside conservative voices helped to shape your views on this national emergency?
THE PRESIDENT: I would talk about it. Look, Sean Hannity has been a terrific, terrific supporter of what I do. Not of me. If I changed my views, he wouldnt be with me.
Rush Limbaugh I think hes a great guy. Heres a guy who can speak for three hours without a phone call. Try doing that sometime. For three hours, he speaks. Hes got one of the biggest audiences in the history of the world. I mean, this guy is unbelievable. Try speaking for three hours without taking calls. Taking calls is easy. Okay, Ill answer this one. Ill answer that one. He goes for three hours, and hes got an audience thats fantastic.
Q Should they be
THE PRESIDENT: Wait
Q Should they be deciding policy, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: They dont decide policy. In fact, if I went opposite I mean, they have somebody Ann Coulter. I dont know her. I hardly know her. I havent spoken to her in way over a year. But the press loves saying Ann Coulter. Probably, if I did speak to her, shed be very nice. I just dont have the time to speak to her. I would speak to her; I have nothing against her.
In fact, I like her for one reason: When they asked her, like right at the beginning, who was going to win the election, she said, Donald Trump. And the two people that asked her that question smiled. They said, Youre kidding, arent you? Nope. Donald Trump.
So I like her, but shes off the reservation. But anybody that knows her understands that. But I havent spoken to her. I dont follow her. I dont talk to her. But the press loves to bring up the name Ann Coulter. And you know what? I think shes fine. I think shes good. But I just dont speak to her.
Laura has been great. Laura Ingraham. Tucker Carlson has been great. I actually have a couple people on CNN that have been very good. I have some on MSNBC. The other day, they did a great report of me. I said, Where the hell did that come from? I think it was the only one in over a year.
So the crazy thing is, I just had, as you know, Rasmussen 52 percent in the polls. Its my highest poll number. And people get what were doing. They get it. They really get it. And Im honored by it.
Yes. Jim Acosta.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I wonder if you could comment on this disconnect that we seem to have in this country, where you are presenting information about whats happening at the border calling it an invasion, talking about women with duct tape over their mouths, and so on and yet theres a lot of reporting out there, theres a lot of crime data out there, theres a lot of Department of Homeland Security data out there that shows border crossings at a near-record low
THE PRESIDENT: Thats because of us. But its still
Q that shows undocumented immigrants committing crime at lower levels
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. Its still massive numbers of crossings.
Q that shows undocumented criminals or undocumented immigrants committing crime at lower levels than native-born Americans. What do you say
THE PRESIDENT: You dont really believe that stat, do you? Do you really believe that stat?
Q What do you well, let me ask you this
THE PRESIDENT: Take a look at our federal prisons.
Q I believe in facts and statistics and data, but
THE PRESIDENT: Okay? Any more? Quick, lets go.
Q Let me just ask you this: What do you say to your critics who say that you are creating a national emergency, that youre concocting a national emergency here in order to get your wall because you couldnt get it through other ways?
THE PRESIDENT: I ask the Angel Moms: What do you think? Do you think Im creating something?
Ask these incredible women, who lost their daughters and their sons. Okay?
PARTICIPANT: This is real.
THE PRESIDENT: Because your question is a very political question because you have an agenda. Youre CNN. Youre fake news. You have an agenda. The numbers that you gave are wrong.
Take a look at our federal prison population. See how many of them, percentage-wise, are illegal aliens. Just see. Go ahead and see. Its a fake question.
Yes. Go ahead.
Q Can I ask a follow-up?
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Just to follow up on that, unifying crime reporting statistics numbers from your own Border Patrol, numbers from this government show that the amount of illegal immigrants are down, there is not violence on the border, and that most
THE PRESIDENT: Theres not violence on the border?
Q Theres not as much violence as
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, really?
Q Let me wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait
THE PRESIDENT: You had 26 people killed
Q Let me finish the question, please. Let me finish the question, please.
THE PRESIDENT: Two weeks ago, 26 people were killed in a gunfight on the border
Q I understand what youre I understand what youre saying.
THE PRESIDENT: a mile away from where I went.
Q I was there. I understand. Thats not the question. The question is
THE PRESIDENT: Do we forget about that?
Q No, Im not forgetting about it. Im asking you to clarify where you get your numbers, because most of the DEA crime reporting statistics that we see show that drugs are coming across at the ports of entry, that illegal immigration is down, and the violence is down.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
Q So what do you base your facts on?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, let me come on, lets go. Sort of sort of
Q And, secondly
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. You get one. You get one. Ready?
Q Well, the second question is
THE PRESIDENT: Just sit down. Wait. Sit down. Sit down.
Q Could you please answer it?
THE PRESIDENT: Sit down. You get one question.
I get my numbers from a lot of sources like Homeland Security, primarily. And the numbers that I have from Homeland Security are a disaster. And you know what else is a disaster? The numbers that come out of Homeland Security, Kirstjen, for the cost that we spend and the money that we lose because of illegal immigration: Billions and billions of dollars a month. Billions and billions of dollars. And its unnecessary.
Q So your own government stats are wrong, are you saying?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. I use many stats. I use many stats.
Q Could you share those stats with us?
THE PRESIDENT: Let me tell you, you have stats that are far worse than the ones that I use. But I use many stats, but I also use Homeland Security.
All right, next question.
Q And do you wait a minute. Just a quick follow-up.
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. No. Go. Please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to bring you back to China for a second. The White House put out a statement today talking about the March 1st deadline. The other day, though, you gave the possibility that maybe this could slide. Are you eyeing a possible extension 30 days, maybe 60 days? What is the status there? Or is March 1st the deadline?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Very good question. So its a very big deal. I guess you could say its like must be the biggest deal ever made, if you think. Trade with China, how big does that get? Although if you look, the USCMA is right up there. But its very complicated. There are many, many points that were bringing up that nobody ever brought up or thought to bring up, but theyre very important, because we were on the wrong side of every one of them.
There is a possibility that I will extend the date. And if I do that, if I see that were close to a deal or the deal is going in the right direction, I would do that at the same tariffs that were charging now. I would not increase the tariffs.
Q Let me also ask you about the debt, sir, because its gone from a shade under $20 trillion from when you took office. Now its a shade over $22 trillion and heading in the wrong direction. What are your plans to reverse it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, its all about growth. But before I
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: really focus on that and you have to remember, President Obama put on more debt on this country than every President in the history of our country combined. So when I took over, we had one man that put on more debt than every other President combined. Combine them all. So you cant be talking about that. But I talk about it because I consider it very important.
But first, I have to straighten out the military. The military was depleted. And if we dont have a strong military that hopefully we wont have to use because its strong if we dont have a strong military, you dont have to worry about debt; you have bigger problems. So I have to straighten out the military. Thats why I did the $700- and $716 billion. But growth will straighten it out.
You saw last month, the trade deficit went way down. Everybody said, What happened? Well, whats happening is growth. But before I can focus too much on that, a very big expense is military. And we have no choice but to straighten out our military.
Q Is growth the only answer, sir, or is (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, maam, go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. On North Korea back on the last summit, you guys came out with a pretty general agreement.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q I was wondering what you thought has, you know, been accomplished since the last summit. And then
THE PRESIDENT: A lot.
Q are we going to be seeing anything concrete
THE PRESIDENT: A lot has been accomplished. Okay.
Q on denuclearization.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. A lot has been accomplished. Were dealing with them, were talking to them.
When I came into office, I met right there, in the Oval Office, with President Obama. And I sat in those beautiful chairs and we talked. It was supposed to be 15 minutes. As you know, it ended up being many times longer than that.
And I said, Whats the biggest problem? He said, By far, North Korea. And I dont want to speak for him, but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war. In fact, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea. And where are we now? No missiles. No rockets. No nuclear testing. Weve learned a lot.
But much more importantly than all of it much more important much, much more important that that is we have a great relationship. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un. And Ive done a job. In fact, I think I can say this: Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize. He said, I have nominated you or Respectfully, on behalf of Japan, I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize. I said, Thank you. Many other people feel that way too. Ill probably never get it, but thats okay.
They gave it to Obama. He didnt even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, Oh, what did I get it for? With me, I probably will never get it.
But if you look at Idlib Province in Syria, I stopped the slaughter of perhaps 3 million people. Nobody talk about that. They dont talk about that. Russia and Iran and Syria were going to go in and perhaps destroy 3 million people in order to get 45,000 terrorists. And I heard about it from a woman who had her parents and her brothers living there, and she said, Please, please. And I thought I said, No, it cant happen. What are you talking about? No, theyre going to get And I come home, and I read a certain paper where the story was there that they were actually forming to go into to really to really do big destruction. And I put out a statement that you better not do it.
And in all fairness to Russia and Iran and Syria, they didnt attack. Or theyre doing it surgically, at least. Saved a lot of people. We do a lot of good work. This administration does a tremendous job, and we dont get credit for it. But I think the people understand what we do.
So Prime Minister Abe gave me I mean, its the most beautiful five letter five-page letter. Nobel Prize. He sent it to them. You know why? Because he had rocket ships and he had missiles flying over Japan. And they had alarms going off; you know that. Now, all of a sudden, they feel good; they feel safe. I did that.
And it was a very tough dialogue at the beginning. Fire and fury. Total annihilation. My button is bigger than yours and my button works. Remember that? You dont remember that. And people said, Trump is crazy. And you know what it ended up being? A very good relationship. I like him a lot and he likes me a lot. Nobody else would have done that.
The Obama administration couldnt have done it. Number one, they probably wouldnt have done it. And number two, they didnt have the capability to do it.
So I just want to thank everybody. I want to wish our Attorney General great luck and speed, and enjoy your life. (Laughter.) Bill, good luck. A tremendous reputation. I know youll do a great job. Thank you very much. And thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you.
END 11:29 A.M. EST
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)I don't know what is. It is funny when SNL does it but after the laughter fades reality settles in again and the fear for our country's present state and our future is deadly serious.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)I saw a segment of this on SNL with him doing a SING SONG thing. What was the meaning of him doing that? Was there an explanation? It was so bizarre I was stunned.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,600 posts)I started to say "in person," but I mean in real time, in my cubicle.
It was completely weird. You can probably find a snippet at C-Span.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)was he mocking someone or is there some hidden meaning. To me it was so weird he has now descended into total insanity.
murielm99
(30,761 posts)I cannot watch or listen either.
I have to pay attention to him once in a while, just to see and hear what he is doing. I think he is deteriorating badly, right before our eyes.
Someone should do a comparison of his speeches from a couple of years ago and now. It would be further proof that he needs to be removed from office.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)It was so bizarre that he is the president acting that way. He has a serious problem going on yet nothing is being done about it. Our country doesn't deserve having a obvious mentally incompetent person in the White House. He has to be removed.
oldtime dfl_er
(6,931 posts)"You cant take human traffic women and girls you cant take them through ports of entry. You cant have them tied up in the backseat of a car or a truck or a van. They open the door. They look. They cant see three women with tape on their mouth or three women whose hands are tied. "
Harker
(14,034 posts)The transcript, which I read only in part, doesn't quite capture the utter insanity of it quite as well as does the video.
It comes close, though.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,600 posts)For example, not once did I hear Trump pronounce "fentanyl" correctly. He called it "phentanol" every time.
Moreover, as Harker noted in reply #8, the video reveals a lot that is lost in the transcript. Where the transcript is dry, the video is dramatic and alarming.
This person is in a downward spiral -- and gaining speed. We need to get off this flight before it's too late.
shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)That was huuuuuge! The most excellent speech a President has ever given. Everybody knows. People are saying. Nothing but the best words. He's really smart. Probably the smartest ever. In fact, he may be the greatest American of all time. USA USA
BlueWI
(1,736 posts)A lifeline, please? Anyone?
How long will this bankrupt charade continue??