Transcript: POLITICO sits with President Donald Trump about Joe Biden, impeachment, Bill Barr, North Korea

Andrew Restuccia, Eliana Johnson and Daniel Lippman of POLITICO spoke by telephone with President Donald Trump on Friday, May 10. This 15-minute interview resulted in questions related to an upcoming article. The following is a transcript of the rest of the conversation, slightly modified for clarity and to eliminate unnecessary interference:

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POLITICO: On David Bossie, I know that the campaign has published this statement about him and that he uses his group to promote himself in some way and uses your image. Did you tell him about it? We heard that you were frustrated.

ASSET: I do not have it. I do not have it. I would be disappointed with David if he did it. I suppose that historically, the people involved in the campaigns do the trick. I mean, you know, if you look at whoever, whoever comes forward to the presidency. If they win, you always – you start with a lot of people running, and then you have a group of people who become known. And David was one of the people. David – you know, a lot of people helped us. You know, a lot of people have helped me win. And I studied history and I see that many people are doing very well after the victories. But I do not know. I've just – You made a story about this story, others told a story. I would be disappointed if everything was not there.

POLITICO: Mr. Speaker, you said on Twitter earlier today that you were confident [former Vice President Joe] Biden will beat [Vermont Sen.] Bernie [Sanders] and that he will become the candidate. What is it that makes you think that?

ASSET: I just think so. Maybe I look at it like my race. If you remember, from the day I went down the escalator until the end of the primaries, I was in first position. I was at the center of every debate. And you know, no one has approached. And I – I mean, I had a big lead from the beginning, and it got bigger, you know, as you go, and when people started giving up. And I look at him as analog [to this year’s Democratic primary] because we had 17 plus one. So we had 18, actually. You know we had Gilmore, if you remember.

POLITICO: Oh, I remember it.

ASSET: What many people forget. Whatever the case may be, we had 18 people. But they have – what are they, 21, 22 people now, right? Something like that?

POLITICO: That's true.

POLITICO: Why do you think –

ASSET: So, it seems like – it seems like a lot of them do not register, as happened with [20]16. It seems that many people do not register with the public. And Biden – for some reason I did not understand that – but it seems to be – you know, have some kind of register. Whether it's his name [recognition] or what. And he seems to be doing well. And Bernie seems to be going in the wrong direction. But everyone goes there – I mean, almost everyone does not seem to be doing very well. And so I would certainly say – I do it as in my race in the sense that, you know, I drove it. You know, it's called in the sport: "good pioneer". I do not know if Biden is a good pioneer. I heard about it [how] he spoke to Margaret Thatcher yesterday. I mean, what he said, is that he talked to Margaret Thatcher. I guess he meant Theresa May. So, I do not know, is he a good runner? I do not know. It was a beauty.

POLITICO: What do you think [South Bend Mayor] Pete Buttigieg? I know you mentioned it once in your gathering, but do you think it's a threat?

ASSET: Alfred E. Neuman can not become president of the United States.

POLITICO: And are you – do you think that with the Democrats who speak of impeachment, do you think that a failure of the democrats' destitution efforts would be politically beneficial? Because that's what happened with Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Is that what you –

POLITICO: Do you want them to try to dismiss you?

ASSET: So, you know, everything is based on serious crimes and misdemeanors. And if you look at the Mueller report, there was no collusion. There was no conspiracy. And there was no obstruction. He said this in the first half of the sentence and then said that he could not prove it. But there was no obstruction. And then, the Attorney General, based on the facts, and the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, ruled that there was no obstruction. So you do not have a crime. And destitution is based on crime. And more specifically, it is based on serious crimes and misdemeanors. Not "more" or something else – it's "minor offenses". Not separately, but together. So you need both.

And you know, I know it would be a very, very impossible thing. Plus, you know if you did not do it – in fact, the crimes were committed, but they were committed by the Democrats. They were committed by the DNC, the Clinton campaign, Hillary Clinton. These are the crimes. They have not been committed by us.

So I must say that you know that you mentioned the word [impeachment]I have not heard that word for a while. Because since the report was published, it was said that there was no collusion, no obstruction, no conspiracy. And that was the end. In fact, I have not heard the word uttered since the Mueller report was published. And it 's not like they' re not my friends.

POLITICO: Are you also concerned about Senator Richard Burr [of North Carolina] and this assignment of Don Jr.? And did you talk with him or head [Mitch] McConnell about it in terms of –

ASSET: No, I did not talk to him. And that surprises me a lot because it came out about four weeks ago and said that there was no collusion. So it may be a little different, you know, from what you're talking about. But I know my son has testified. I know it [special counsel Robert] Mueller reread his testimony – and very, very strongly – his testimony – and concluded that he had done absolutely nothing wrong. It was an opposite research meeting. And I would say that everyone in Washington had these meetings. You know, your opponent – "Hey, we have information about your opponent." Do you want to hear? I mean, you tell me how many politicians would refuse this meeting. And then, she turned out to have done that – it turned out that you had no information.

POLITICO: But are you frustrated by the fact that Republicans have assigned your son to appear? I mean, it's Republicans who do that.

ASSET: Not the Republicans. It's a Republican.

POLITICO: A republican.

ASSET: Yeah. And I won the state of North Carolina and frankly, another Republican won [the primary]they would not have won the state. I have an excellent relationship with this state. So I was very surprised. He came in and ran with me. I did not know him well, but he ran with me. So yes, I was very surprised to see that.

POLITICO: And you saw the Times report that [Trump lawyer] Rudy Giuliani goes to Ukraine to urge them to continue their investigations? I mean, did you tell him about that? Does he have your blessing to do that?

ASSET: I do not know much about it yet. Very briefly, he mentioned – and he has worked with a number of people who deal with all of this because a lot of very bad things happened before the election. Many very, very bad things happened.

You know, they talk about investigating investigators. And when you look at what happened with [Pete] Strzok and [Lisa] Page and [Andrew] McCabe and [James] Comey and all the terrible things that have happened, I think, you know. But I did not – I did not talk [Giuliani] very long, but I will do it. He leaves when I do not even know. He leaves when

POLITICO: He leaves soon. I think in the next few days.

ASSET: I see. Well, I'll talk to him before he leaves. I'm just curious about this.

POLITICO: But you support his efforts?

ASSET: It could be something very different too. I will talk to him before he leaves.

POLITICO: And one more. Did you ask [Attorney General] Bill Barr, or would you like to ask Bill Barr to investigate Biden about the work of his son – Biden's son in Ukraine? It has become a big problem.

ASSET: Well, I did not tell him about it. But it's certainly a very big problem and we'll see what happens. I did not tell him about it. Can I talk to him about it? I did not think about that. I mean, you're asking me a question I did not think about. It would certainly be appropriate to speak. But I have not done it yet. It could be a very big one – it could be a very big situation. Of course, because he's a Democrat, it's about 1/100 because if he was a Republican, it was much bigger. But anyway, go ahead.

POLITICO: Thank you, Mr. President. The Pentagon said yesterday that North Korea had launched short-range missiles. They confirm that it was what they were yesterday. Do you consider this a breach of trust between you and Kim Jong Un? Are you angry or frustrated with this? And how do you think we should react to that?

ASSET: No, I'm not at all They are short range. They are short-range and I do not consider it a breach of trust. And you know, at some point I can. But at this point, no. These were short-range missiles and very standard equipment. Very standard.

POLITICO: You had previously spoken of your pride that North Korea stopped firing these missiles. So you do not consider it a setback?

ASSET: In fact, some of them were not even missiles. Some of the things they shot were not even missiles. But this is short term and I do not consider it a breach of trust. I'll let you know when I do it. I mean, it's possible that at some point I'll do it. But for the moment, not at all.

POLITICO: Are you considering a pardon from Paul Manafort or Roger Stone since this Russian collusion affair is over, in your mind?

ASSET: Well, the collusion with Russia turned out to be a total hoax, and now people are saying it. But I have not considered any of that for the moment.

POLITICO: And just one more. Have you ever talked to Steve Bannon and would you consider sorting out your relationship with him? Or do you have no interest in working with him again?

ASSET: Well, I've always loved Steve and I mean the last seven or eight months, I mean, you can not have any more beautiful statements about yourself than the things that he has say about me, as you know.

POLITICO: Of course.

ASSET: "The best of all time", you know, etc. But I did not do it. You saw what he said on the various shows and you saw what he wrote. And that's fine, and I appreciate it. But I have not talked to Steve for a while. I did not talk to Steve from time to time.