[ad_1]
For 15 years presidents have had interviews before the Super Bowl, a tradition that began when CBS sports reporter Jim Nantz interviewed President George W. Bush in 2004.
Friday afternoon President Trump met with Margaret Brennan, moderator of "Face the Nation", in the Blue Room of the White House. The President, who is preparing to deliver Tuesday's State of the Union address, discussed the struggle for funding border security, its disputes with the intelligence community, the situation in Venezuela and the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.
on "Face the Nation" at 10:30 and 15:30 before the Super Bowl on CBS
Conflicts of Inquiries
After United States. the chiefs of intelligence appeared to disagree with Mr. Trump on several subjects during the Congressional testimony last week, he described them as naive and suggested that they might need to go back to "school."
But on "Face the Nation", the president says it's rather the "questions and answers" on the global threats report that they are troubling him, and he then praises the success of American efforts around the world.
"The caliphate is almost knocked out," he said. "We will announce in the not-too-distant future 100% of the caliphate, which is the area – the land – the region, 100. We are at 99% right now, we will be at 100," said Mr. Trump.
Specifically, regarding the threat posed by Iran, Mr. Trump always seemed to doubt intelligence. "My intelligence services collaborators, they actually said that Iran is a wonderful children's garden, I totally disagree with them.It is a vicious country that kills many people, "he said.
Trump said he was "not in agreement" with his intelligence chiefs.
"I have informants, but that does not mean that Iran was technically in compliance with the Iran nuclear deal." President Bush had informants who said that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction of all kinds, but in fact these informants did not know what they were doing. they tied us into a war in which we should never have been. "
" It was added: "We were in very many places in the Middle East, plagued by enormous difficulties, each of which was caused by the number of terrorists in the country. So, when the intelligence services tell me how wonderful Iran is – if you do not mind, I'll settle for my own lawyer. "
Trump said that he would not prevent his intelligence chiefs from testifying again, saying, "I want them to have their own opinion and I want them to give me their opinion."
Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan
Brennan pointed out The chief intelligence officers of the president had stated that a void left by the departure of US troops could result in a resurgence of the Islamic State or of Al-Qaeda in Syria or Iraq.
"And you know what we'll do, we'll come back if we have to," Trump said. "We have very fast planes, very good cargo planes, we can come back very quickly, and I do not leave, we have a base in Iraq and its base is a fantastic building, I mean, I was there. recently, and I could not believe the money spent on these huge leads.And these – I have rarely seen anything of the kind.And it is there.And we will be there "
He went on to say that he would keep troops in Iraq to be able to" monitor Iran ".
"We have spent a fortune to build this incredible base.We could as well keep it.The reasons I want to keep it are because I want to look a little bit Iran because Iran is a real problem, "he said. "We will continue to watch and we will continue to watch and in case of any problem, if someone is looking to use nuclear weapons or other things, we will know it before."
Trump told Brennan that there were 2,000 soldiers left in Syria, but they are starting to return home, while they are pushing the "last remnant of the caliphate". Subsequently, he said, "They will go to our base in Iraq and eventually some will go home."
He planned to keep a small contingent of troops in Afghanistan for "true intelligence" purposes. "I'll leave information there and if I see nests forming, I'll do something about it." He insisted, however, on bringing troops home.
"We've been here for 19 years, I want to fight, I want to win and we want to bring our great troops back home, I've seen people, I'm going to Walter Reed Hospital. I see what happens to people, I see without legs or arms, and I have also seen what happens to them here because they are in this situation, and they come back and they are totally different people. " , did he declare. Where wives, fathers and mothers say, "What happened to my son? What happened, "in some cases," to my daughter? "It's a terrible thing, we've been there for almost 19 years, and it's about time, we'll see what happens with the Taliban, they want peace, they're tired. We would like to have not loved endless wars. "
Venezuela
M. Trump also discussed the crisis in Venezuela, saying that the use of military force remained "an option". The president of the country, Nicolás Maduro retains power while the United States and dozens of other countries have expressed their support against Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela. The president told Brennan Maduro that he had requested a meeting with him "several months ago".
"I refused because we are very advanced in the process," he said. Mr Trump explained why he had refused to meet with the troubled Venezuelan leader, who had witnessed a dramatic worsening of the economic crisis in the country and whose reelection last year had been widely regarded as tainted.
I decided at the time, no, because so many really horrible things happened in Venezuela, when we look at this country, "he said." It was the richest country of all in this part of the world, which is a very important part of the world. And now you look at poverty, you look at the anxiety, you look at the crime and you look at all the things that are going on. "
Stop or National Emergency?"
Less than two weeks before some parts of the government see their funding expire again, Mr. Trump does not rule out a new government shutdown for the time being. he was asked directly if he was considering such an approach again, Mr. Trump replied: "We will have to see what will happen on February 15." However, he quickly switched to another alternative – to declare a national emergency at the border, which would allow it to finance the construction of a border wall without Congressional approval.
"It's a national emergency, it's other thing and, you know, many national emergencies have been called, "he said." You need a wall. And those who say it are just playing games. "
Trump criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her bargaining tactics in this fight. the fact that the House would not agree to increase the funding of the wall.
"She can continue to play her games, but we will win," he said. "Because we have a much better problem. Politically, what she does is – I actually think it's a bad policy, but most of all, it's very bad for our country. "
Staff
Mr. Trump dismissed reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was considering running for Senate in the Senate, saying that he had asked Pompeo, who had told him that he "did not" "
Yet Brennan pointed out that the president had an unusually large number of acting agents in positions of responsibility in the administration, with an acting attorney general, a chief of staff , Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Interior
"This is not serious. It's easier to act when they act, "said Mr. Trump." I like playing because I can act very quickly. That gives me more flexibility. "
When he knows it's time to fire someone, Mr. Trump replied," When that does not happen … when that does not happen not finished." Without asking, he pointed his former Secretary of Defense, James Mattis.
"As with General Mattis, I was not happy with his service, I told him:" Give me a letter, "he said. to Brennan, who pointed out
"He resigned because I asked him to resign," said Mr. Trump. "He resigned because I was very kind to him. But I gave him big budgets and he did not do well in Afghanistan. I was not happy with the work he was doing in Afghanistan. And if you look in Syria, you will see what happened. I have been to Iraq recently, if you look at Syria, what has happened in Syria in recent weeks, you will find that things are not getting worse, that things are going on that are very good. I was not happy. but I wish him good luck. "
Source link
