Trump's Remarks in Press Conference; September 7, 2020
Last edited Tue Sep 8, 2020, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)
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. Theyre 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. Its probably a super V. And you see whats going on with the stock market, where its, in certain cases, already setting records. NASDAQ has set 17 records already, and this is as were, 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. Youll have a crash the likes of which youve never seen before. Your stocks, your 401(k)s remember, its 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 youve 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. Ive taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. No other President has done what Ive done. Ive given much of it to the farmers. Ive given it to farmers and manufacturers, but Ive given most of it to the U.S. Treasury. Nobody has done that. We havent 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. Hes 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. Theyll be smiling.
{snip}
But were getting out of the endless wars; you know how were 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? Its all gone, sir. Because of you, its all gone, because of my philosophy. But all gone. And I said, Thats good. Lets bring our soldiers back home. Some people dont like to come home. Some people like to continue to spend money. One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another, and thats 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: Youre going to have to take that off, please. Just you can take it off. Your health how many feet are you away?
Q Ill speak a lot louder.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you dont take it off, youre very muffled. So if you would take it off, it would be a lot easier.
Q Ill just speak a lot louder. Is that better?
THE PRESIDENT: Its better, yeah. Its 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 dont understand that.
Q And have you asked John Kelly to refute that story?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I dont understand it at all, no, because Ive 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, were going to win them. And, frankly, I was never a fan of John McCain. You know that; thats 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 didnt. 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 its turned out to be right. But I wasnt a fan. But I respect people, and I respect a lot of people. That doesnt mean I necessarily have to agree with them, and I didnt 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 dont read, but I hear its just totally anti-Trump; hes a big Obama person, hes a big Clinton person. And he made up the story. Its a totally made-up story.
In fact, I was very happy to see Zach Fuentes came out and said now hes thats I think thats number 15 and these are people that were there. Thats 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 its not true. He just came out.
And its 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. Theres 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 didnt 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 Ive just about ever seen. And it was a fog you you literally couldnt see. I walked out, and I didnt have I didnt need somebody to tell me. I walked out and I said, Theres no way we can take helicopters in this. I understand helicopters very well. And they said, No, sir, thats 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 dont do it, because theyre 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 didnt care. It didnt 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 cant allow you to make this trip. If I wanted to: Sir, we cant 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 therell be more phony stories.
But I do appreciate Zach coming out. But Zach now is the 15th person thats denied it. Zach now, I think, also talked about the weather aspect of it. And hes probably the 14th or 15th person that blamed it on weather. So thats 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. Were 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 theyre 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. Were 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 hasnt been a federal monument knocked down in three months, or even thought about. I dont think theyve even thought about it. So thats had a very big impact a very big impact.
But, yeah, were going around, and the nice part is you people take see those people up there? they take nice pictures of everybody, so we dont 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. Theyve theyve got plenty of ideas. Theyre 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 dont want to meet, its on them.
A lot of people are criticizing you. I cover you on the weekends and stuff. Youre
THE PRESIDENT: I dont think they are.
Q doing a lot of golfing. Why have you not met with them in person?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q I mean, were in September. There is no deal. There is no hope of a deal.
THE PRESIDENT: I know. I know.
Q Were two months out from the election. What do you say to
THE PRESIDENT: Dont say theres no hope. Why do you say theres no hope?
Q But what can you say to the millions
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q Well, what can you say it doesnt seem
THE PRESIDENT: What do you know?
Q It doesnt seem like theres hope, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: And let me just tell you: I know my customers; thats what I do. I know Pelosi, I know Schumer very well. They dont want to make a deal because they think its good for politics if they dont make a deal. This has nothing to do with anything other than you have to know who youre dealing with. I do. These are people that I dont have a lot of respect. I dont think they have a lot of respect for the American people. And I know who Im dealing with.
{snip}
Q But as President, shouldnt you take the high road, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I am taking the high road. Im taking the high road by not seeing them. Thats 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, Lets see what happens. Now, youve 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. Thats 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: Im not going to say that. I have to see the report. I havent seen I purposely I dont know if that was a good thing, smart thing. I dont know. But nobody can complain about it. I have every right to have been very much involved, and maybe someday Ill 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 dont have that yet, but the report hasnt been issued yet. Lets 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 lets 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 cant do that. Thats never and nothing like thats ever happened before. Then they created, at tremendous expense the money they paid is tremendous; Im 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. Thats a crime.
Q But it sure sounds like you want to prosecute
THE PRESIDENT: So far, I havent seen anybody have a problem. But the report hasnt been issued yet. Lets 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, Lets leave him alone. If it were me, they wouldnt be leaving me alone, I can tell you. Its a totally double standard, and its a its 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 dont 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 theyre dirty fighters.
And the dirtiest fight of all is the issuance of 80 million ballots, unrequested. Theyre not requested; theyre just sending 80 million ballots all over the country. Eighty million ballots, non-requested. I call them unsolicited ballots. Thats going to be the dirtiest fight of all. People are going to get ballots; theyre going to say, What am I doing? And then theyre going to harvest. Theyre going to do all the things.
And if you look at the last period of six months take a look at the races where theyve 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 whats happened in New Jersey and in Virginia, in different places. Its a disgrace. Thatll 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 dont know too much about it. I read something this morning, but I dont other than that, Id have to see it. Hes 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 dont know exactly what the story is. Ill 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 hes a very respected man. Again, it was a bipartisan commission. Postmaster general is appointed by a bipartisan commission. And well see how that goes. But, no, I think hes a very honest guy, but well see.
Yeah.
Q Hes 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 dont mind. If its 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. Theyve 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, Ive 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, Youve got to be the most innocent guy ever to hold this office. And theres a lot of truth to that.
Yeah, please.
{snip}
Yeah, please.
Q Mr. President, can I follow up Jeff Masons 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, were going to do a report. Yeah, I fired those people; theyre all gone. And it was a disgrace, frankly. And were going to give you a big report thats going to make you very happy.
All right, yeah, please.
Q Thank you. Darlene Superville, AP. You said a moment ago, Theyll 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. Theyre 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. Were doing great. Were going to have it soon.
Q Right
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. So now what theyre 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 wouldnt have that vaccine for three years, and you probably wouldnt have it all.
So were going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date Im talking about.
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: But let me just tell you wait. And what theyre 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, youll see its going very, very well. The numbers are looking unbelievably strong, unbelievably good.
So now theyre saying, Wow, Trump has pulled this off. Okay, lets disparage the vaccine. Thats so bad for this country. Thats so bad for the world to even say that. And thats what theyre saying.
But I watched Kamalas poll numbers drop from 15 to almost zero, and then drop out even before she ran in Iowa because people didnt 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 youre going to have to look at her a little bit too closely.
But shes talking about disparaging a vaccine so that people dont think the achievement was a great achievement. I dont want the achievement for myself, I want something thats going to make people better, that people arent going to get sick with. That includes therapeutics, where were doing equally as well. Therapeutics.
Q May I finish? May I finish the question?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Your point is that: What theyre saying is that theyre 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 didnt say I didnt say they will. I said, By the end of the year.
Q Arent you doing the same thing that you
THE PRESIDENT: No, but youre not quoting me accurately.
Q say theyre 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 were going to be able to get a good result, one way or the other, very soon.
So I didnt 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 arent you also saying that for political reasons?
THE PRESIDENT: No, Im saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. The fast with me, its: The faster, the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically, but Im saying it in terms of this is what we need. We have to have if get the vaccine early, thats a great thing, whether its politics or not.
Now, do benefits inure if youre able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess, maybe they do. But the most important thing to me is saving lives; its 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. Im not a believer in cancel culture, the good or the bad. If you dont 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 theyre trying to change our history revisionist history. Thats why they want to take down our monuments. Thats 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, were 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 dont 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 were having tremendous success, whether its on the vaccines, whether its 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
dhol82
(9,352 posts)How can people seriously consider re-electing him?
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Last edited Tue Sep 8, 2020, 02:31 PM - Edit history (1)
He builds pictures in the minds of listeners. Pictures and situations. Once those situations are planted, he can act as director in a real-time propaganda show inside the brains of listeners. Then he bounces around in the listeners brain planting falsities and other memory land mines he can set off and explode later.
He jumps in and out of different characters rapidly to throw people off. His brain puts up barriers to stop him from saying what he really thinks, but those barriers have leaks and holes in them. These leaks and holes sometimes let out the real Trump. Then, his Director personality steps in and plugs the leaks. There are other lesser personalities in there who chime in sometimes.