President Trump's press conference in the United States, annotated

President Trump held the fifth official press conference of his 20-month presidency on Wednesday – the day before the appointment of his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, to a crucial audience about an allegation of sexual assault.

Trump doubled his doubts about Kavanaugh's accusers (but repeatedly refused to call them liars), suggested that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein be safe (for the time being) and that He attacked North Korea.

Below is the complete transcription, with our annotations in yellow.

TRUMP: Thank you very much everyone. We spent three wonderful days at the United Nations in New York. And it's all a rally. Wow, it's a lot of people, a lot of media.

(TO LAUGH)

We have – we have covered a lot of territory. We have just left, as you know, Abe Prime Minister of Japan, we are starting trade negotiations with Japan. They had not wanted to talk about trade for years. And now, they are ready to talk about trade. And I'm sure we'll do a very good job.

I just concluded, as you know, two days ago, a trade agreement with South Korea, a terrific deal with South Korea. It means a lot of work for our farmers. We are open to farmers. We open ourselves to many different groups.

We will be able to sell much more than double the number of authorizations we have been granted under a totally defective agreement, which existed before. And we are very happy with that. This agreement is effectively concluded.

We are very good with Mexico. The relationship is very good. And with Canada, we will see what happens. They charge us 300% duty on dairy products; we can not have that. We can not have that.

TRUMP: With China, as you know, we launched an announcement today. They would like to see me lose an election because they have never been challenged like that. But I want to open China to our farmers, our industrialists and our companies. And China is not open. But we are open to them. They charge us 25, 35, 55% for things, and we do not charge them anything to enter the country.

Cars, they are 25%, and we are at 2% and 2.5% and we do not even collect them, but we collect them now. We are doing very well in our situation with China in terms of trade. I have good relations with the President of China, President Xi

But it must be a two-way street, and it has not been for 25 years or more. And billions and billions of dollars have been taken out of the United States for the benefit of China, and we simply can not have it. We must make it right. We are now at $ 250 billion, with a 25% interest rate, and a lot of money is coming into our coffers.

And that had no impact on our – absolutely, by the way, no impact on our economy, which I said that would not be the case. In fact, steel is like the hottest industry there is. If you look at what happened with steel, we impose a 25% duty on the dumpers. They dump massive amounts of steel. They want to stop the activities of the iron and steel companies and after their cessation of activity, they are responsible for paying five times more than you ever thought possible.

And we need steel and we need aluminum. And these industries are doing well, but the steel is amazing. US steel opens at least eight plants, Nucor opens factories and it's big factories – $ 750 million and $ 1 billion in plants, in some cases. So, what is happening with the steel industry is very exciting for me. It is rebuilt during the night.

If you look at the miners and the coal, if you look at the energy, LNG, Japan just gave us incredible numbers. They double the amount they will buy for Japan. They take LNG and they double it.

I said, "You have to do me a favor. We do not want these big deficits. You will have to buy more. They buy huge amounts of military equipment, and other countries are doing the same thing because we have trade imbalances with almost everyone. It is a rare exception that we do not do it.

So we are doing very well as a country. Unfortunately, they just raised interest rates a bit because we are doing very well. I'm not happy about that because I know it's going to be a question. I'm not happy about that. I prefer to pay the debt or do other things, create more jobs. I worry so much about the fact that they seem to like to raise interest rates. We can do other things with money.

And – but they raised them, and they raise them because we're doing very well, you know. We are doing a lot better than I expected in terms of the campaign. I said, "We were going to do that. And we do a lot better than anyone ever thought possible. And I will say that if the others were present, it was the opposite because they were going to impose restrictions, they were going to put regulations. They were going to stifle the economy because it was already choking, but it would have been worse, and they were going to raise their taxes. That's what they want to do now, if they have control, which I do not think they will have control for a long time.

That being said, we will answer some questions and – yes, please.

John, go ahead. We have all the time.

QUESTION: Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. But of course, what you expect tomorrow is hearings with Judge Kavanaugh. . .

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION:. . . before the Judiciary Committee.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: In 1991, when Joe Biden moved to the Bush White House, Anita Hill's allegations against Clarence's Bush White House asked the FBI to investigate, as part of the judge's investigation Thomas, not a criminal investigation. . .

TRUMP: agree, agree.

QUESTION:. . . but a background investigation. When these allegations came up, why did not this White House do the same thing? And with all the allegations regarding Judge Kavanaugh, was there a missed opportunity for investigators to look into this issue and get some clarity in one way or another?

TRUMP: Well, the FBI told us that they had investigated Judge Kavanaugh six times, five times – many times over the years. They know him very well. But here there was nothing to examine from one point of view at least – they did not know the place, they did not know the time, they did not know the year – they knew nothing. And it's like that, where are you going?

And it's not for the FBI, if you look at what Joe Biden said, he said, "They do not," and he said it very clearly. So I think that when we really look at all this, it will not change the spirit of the Democrats; their obstructionists. They are in fact crooks, because they know how good this man is and they have destroyed a man's reputation, and they want to destroy him even more.

And I think people will see that half way through. What they did to this family, what they did to these children – these beautiful children and what they did to his wife. And they know it's a big job. And they go into a room, and I guarantee you, they laugh like hell on what they shot at you and at the audience, they laugh like hell.

It would not have been important for the FBI to come back with the best score, and you understand that very well, John. If they came back with the most perfect, we found everything and he is perfectly innocent of everything, it would not have made any difference. you would not have had a voice.

If we win, we will get votes from the Democrats. You will have three, four or five Democrats who will give us votes, because they are in states that I won by 30 and 40 points, and they will give us votes. But other than that, you probably will not, John.

Yes, go ahead please?

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, there are now three women who are accusing Kavanaugh J. of sexual misconduct. Are you saying that these three women are liars? Is there anything that could be said? . .

TRUMP: Yeah.

QUESTION:. . . tomorrow could this lead you to withdraw the appointment? Nothing at all. . .

TRUMP: I will not get into this game. I'm just telling you – it's one of the highest quality people I've met. And everyone who knows it says the same thing, and all that is wrong for me. These are false accusations in some cases, and in some cases even the media agree with that. I can only say that what they did to this man is incredible.

You know, it's very interesting that I choose a lot of judges – I have 145 judges that I will choose at the end of a fairly short period of time, because President Obama did not have much trouble choosing the judges. When I got there, I said, how is this possible? I have 145, including the Court of Appeal, the judges. And they just did not do it, you know why? They were tired, they became complacent – something happened. I have 145 judges. Everyone wants to be a federal judge, not just a judge of the Supreme Court. I'm talking about the Court of Appeal. I am talking about the district court. I do not think that they will want so much. I will call people and we will call people who do that

TRUMP: And people will be scared, because we could say it about you. Thirty-five years ago, you may not know what's going on. What is going on? Why did they wait so long? Why did Senator Feinstein wait for the hearings to be over and introduce this case? Why did not she bring it at first?

When you say, for example, the FBI, why did not they bring that just at the beginning of the hearing? You would have had all the time in the world for the FBI. It would have been good. Now, the FBI, as you know, investigated this time because they have five or six other times, and they conducted a very thorough investigation. But it's a big job.

And I'd love to be in the room with the Democrats, close the door, you're all gone, you're waiting outside and Schumer and his friends are laughing. How they deceived you all. Let's stop them simply. A big con.

Yes go ahead.

QUESTION: But – but, Mr. President, if I could follow up, you have girls. Can you understand why a victim of sexual assault would not report it at that time? You do not understand

TRUMP: By the way, I only say that, 36 years old. Free. No nothing. Everybody . . .

QUESTION: But – but that – it happens often. I want to say . . .

TRUMP :. . . People will have to make a decision. Thirty-six years, there is no charge. All of a sudden, the hearings are over and the rumors are starting to come out. And then you have this other crook, Avenatti, another beauty today. I only say that you have to look at the facts.

Senators are very competent people. They are very good. I know a lot of them, they are friends. They are very talented and very good people and they will vote. They will have to believe what they believe.

I can – when I look at what happened to the reputation of a great gentleman – a great intellect, a brilliant man, someone who is lucky enough to be one of our Supreme Court justices – intellectually, I find that a shame.

Yes, please.

QUESTION: Yes, Mr. President. I'm calling Tomas Regalado (ph) from Radio and TV Marti.

TRUMP: ok.

QUESTION: Mr. President, yesterday, during the speech in the United States, you spoke about the problem of Venezuela because of Cuba and the Castros, their integration in Venezuela and socialism and communism. Mr. President, will you be more proactive against Cuba as well? And. . .

TRUMP: I was very proactive against Cuba. I do not like what is happening in Cuba. As you know, President Obama gave them a laissez-passer and I did not like it, any more than Cubans based in Miami and based in our country, from Cuba and having suffered in Cuba.

I do not like what he did, I ended up in large part. I do not like what's happening in Cuba and I certainly do not like what's happening in Venezuela

QUESTION: Mr. President. . .

TRUMP: Yes, please. Go from the front.

QUESTION:. . . Mr President, to conclude quickly, you also said that you had called for action to call on world leaders to put an end to socialism. Do you want to be recognized as one (inaudible). . .

TRUMP: Well, I would not say that socialism works very well around the world, okay? You can look at Venezuela as your number one – your number one – I guess, the one that is most obvious. But you go around the world; Socialism is not going very well.

Please. . .

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP :. . . Go from the front.

QUESTION: Thank you very much. If you do not mind, after finishing, if Wegener (ph), or Halley (ph), or – Vivian (ph) or one of our female colleagues could follow me, it would be great. Mr. President, just to follow up on these allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.

TRUMP: What does he mean by that? Explain. What – what does it mean?

QUESTION: I think it would be – I think it would be great if one – if a reporter got it. . .

TRUMP: What does it mean? No, what does it mean?

QUESTION:. . . I think it would be great if a reporter asked you a question about this problem. So, if you do not mind, I'd like to move on. . .

TRUMP: That would not bother me at all, no.

QUESTION:. . . D & # 39; agreement.

TRUMP: That would not bother you at all.

QUESTION: Okay, well, leave me – if I could. . .

TRUMP: I would not make any difference to me.

QUESTION:. . . D & # 39; agreement.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: If I could follow John (ph) and John (ph) 's question, why, Mr. Chairman, do you always seem to oppose the accused and not the accuser? You have three women here who all make allegations, all of whom are asking for their stories to be heard.

QUESTION: And you know, if you look at Roy Moore's case, if you look at one of your collaborators, you seem to be on the side of the accused, not the accuser. Is it because of the many allegations you have made against you over the years?

TRUMP: First of all, I was not happy with Roy Moore, let's go right. But Roy Moore was in a Republican candidate and I would have rather had a Republican candidate to win. I was very happy with Luther Strange, who was a wonderful man from Alabama, but Luther Strange had a lot of things against him when it comes to women – whether it's a man or a woman, these are , you know, it can happen on the other side.

The allegations can go in the other direction, you understand it. And whether it's a man or a woman 30 years ago, 36 years ago, I do not even know how many years ago, because no one knows what the weather is like. It is long and I could choose, for example, with a little luck, I will not have to do it in replacement, because I hope that it will be very well Thursday. It's going to be fine Monday or Saturday or Sunday or every time they vote, but I could pick a woman and she could have charges made years ago.

QUESTION: Because …

TRUMP: And I would look at the character – no. What I need to do…

QUESTION: Or reluctant to come forward. You raised doubts about these accusers. Many of them ..

TRUMP: I do not think people are hesitant to come forward. They'll have a chance to talk – they have a great chance – excuse me, excuse me. They have a major chance to talk and it will be tomorrow, I guess. We have delayed this, namely the Republican senators, not me, the Republican senators have delayed this for weeks. They give women a major chance to speak. Now, it is possible that I hear it and that I say good, I change my mind. This is possible. We want to give them a chance to talk and they are given …

QUESTION: Give all three a chance? All three should have a chance.

TRUMP: Well, who has a chance. We have delayed it a long time, but they are going to have a big shot at talking and defending their cause. And you know what? I can also be persuaded. D & # 39; right? Yes, please. If you like it, go for it. Go from the front. I would like to go – yes, go ahead please.

QUESTION: Thank you Mr. President. And a few questions to allow you to follow up on some of the answers that I did not hear from you, if you left me a few questions. First of all, do you think these three women are liars, yes or no?

TRUMP: Were they what?

QUESTION: Are they liars?

TRUMP: I can not tell you, I have to watch tomorrow, I have to read. I just heard about it a short time ago. I can tell you that his lawyer has little life, okay. I can not tell you if they are liars or not until I hear them. I do not know what happened today because I've been very busy with Japan, South Korea, China and about seven other countries, as you know, and I chaired the Council of security. I do not know the person who came forward. I know the lawyer and – and you do not have much worse – the bad reputation, take a look at his past.

So for other women, I'll see what happens tomorrow. I will watch. You know, believe it or not, I'll see what has been said. They may be convincing. That said, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been for many years one of Washington's most respected people. It has been on, I guess you call it the second highest court. And every person knows him, many people know him well and these people do not believe what is happening. I can always be convinced. I have to hear it

QUESTION: Looks like what you're saying is there's a situation, there's a scenario in which you would remove Brett Kavanaugh's appointment. Is it correct?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: If I thought it was – if I thought he was guilty of something like that, yes of course.

QUESTION: And you will wait until tomorrow to make up your mind?

TRUMP: I want to watch. I want to see. I hope I can watch. I meet many countries tomorrow. But I will be sure to be able to look, and I will also rely on very fair and talented Republican senators who – look, if we brought George Washington here and we said, we have George Washington, the Democrats would vote against him. Just so you understand. And he may have had a bad past. Who knows, you know?

(TO LAUGH)

It may have had, I think, acquisitions. Did not he have some things in his past? George Washington would be voted against 100% by Schumer and the scammers. I mean, 100%, 100%. So their point of view does not matter.

That's when John asked about the FBI, if the FBI had conducted the most in-depth investigation of the FBI's history and found it 100% perfect, he would lose every vote .

Now, if the Republicans win tomorrow, I think you're going to get Democratic votes. You know why? Because we all know why. Because it's called politics. Then you will probably get votes.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: OK. Let's go. Another question. Yes. She gets up, I would like to ask three questions. This is not really fair for everyone. Should I let her ask another question?

QUESTION: Follow on …

TRUMP: Go ahead. See?

QUESTION: In response to a question from a colleague about the benefit of the doubt you gave to people like Roy Moore, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Brett Kavanaugh. They are all men. Why is that?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's not a benefit of the doubt. I …

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Has there ever been a case where you gave the benefit of the doubt to a woman?

TRUMP: I know them – Hallie (ph), I've known them for a long time and a lot of these people. Many people. And some were disappointed. I've been disappointed by others, like – you know, there are pretty low loads. But I have known people for a long time. I have never seen them do anything wrong. I have never seen them do anything wrong. And there is probably that I agree. I can tell you that there are some that I have been looking at for a long time. And in a few cases, they were not Republicans, and many cases were not. They were exactly the opposite. But I have been watching them for a long time and I have known for a long time that they are not good people and have never been mentioned.

D & # 39; AGREEMENT. Yes, ma'am, go ahead.

Thank you very much, by the way. Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you very much …

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Thank you

QUESTION: … Mr. President.

When the allegations surfaced for the first time, you first said how important it was for Dr. Ford to testify and that you wanted to hear from him.

TRUMP: I do it.

QUESTION: But …

TRUMP: I would have liked it to go faster.

QUESTION: Well, you also said that if what she said was bad as she claims, her parents would surely have reported. And just today you said …

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, there is a truth. I mean, there is a chance that his parents could have declared 36 years ago.

QUESTION: So – so my question is …

TRUMP: That does not mean that they had to report it, because in some cases, people keep silent. It's a very difficult situation for a woman, there is no doubt. And in some cases, they report it.

Frankly, if they had reported it, it would have been pretty amazing, right? But I guess they did not, and that's fine. I'm not saying that they had to report it because it's a very personal thing; it's a very big problem. There is no question about it.

Go from the front.

QUESTION: Do you want to hear his story before …

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'd like to hear his story, yes. Well, we give him time.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: … have you already made your decision?

TRUMP: They would have given him time last week. It is the United States Senate. It's the most important position that a president can give, I think we can say, by far. I have heard that this is the most important decision the chair can make. I do not agree with that. War and peace. I always say, war and peace, and after that justice of the Supreme Court, right.

I look forward to hearing from him. We could have heard from him last week. We could have heard from him for a long time. It will be interesting to hear what she has to say. D & # 39; AGREEMENT.

QUESTION: Let me follow up on Jim's question. Mr. Chairman, let me follow up on Jim's question: I do not think we have an answer to

TRUMP: Which one? What question? Who?

QUESTION: How are your personal experiences charged by more than –

TRUMP: I was accused. I have been accused

QUESTION: – a dozen sex women –

TRUMP: false accusations.

QUESTION: – misconduct. Right.

TRUMP: Excuse me.

QUESTION: How have these –

TRUMP: I was accused. And I was accused by – I believe it was four women. You can check with Sean Hannity, you can check with Fox because they have covered very well.

QUESTION: And how –

TRUMP: Who was paid? Excuse me. Excuse me. Four or five women have accused me of having paid a lot of money to tell me stories. We surprised them and the mainstream media refused to broadcast it on television. They even refused to write about it. There were four women and maybe more. I think the number is four or five. But he was paid back his mortgage of $ 52,000. Another had other things to do. And I believe the one who reported it has seen $ 750,000 offered to say negative things about me.

And it is she who reported it. This woman is amazing. She reported instead of taking money. I have therefore had many accusations about me.

QUESTION: Good.

TRUMP: I mean, they made false statements about me knowing that they were fake. I never met them. I have never met these people. And what did they do? What did they do? They took money to say bad things. I've had stories written in The New York Times, on the front page, about four women – the entire front page of The New York Times. I think it was four big pictures. I said wow, it's a great thing, what is it?

These are women who have been quoted saying bad things about me. Not the worst of me, but bad things. And I said gee, it's a pity. I knew them for a long time. 15 years ago, 20 years ago. I said it was a pity, I'm surprised at them And then suddenly, I see them on TV, nothing to do with me. The next day or the next day, they were furious. They said that Donald Trump was a nice guy, we never said that. The New York Times made false reports.

They are false news. And you know what? The New York Times would not report that their story was wrong. These women said great things. Not only did they not say the wrong things, they said great things about me. Cover page. And these women – they are incredible women. They went on TV – and they did not want to and I did not ask them – and they said the New York Times had invented it. They gave false quotes.

And they did a lot of shows. They were really furious and they could not believe it. That's why – people know that a lot of news is fake and that many people sitting here are wrong. But 20% of them are wonderful, agree?

QUESTION: If I could just ask –

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

QUESTION: – my question, Mr. Trump. You did not let me ask my question.

TRUMP: You have been asking a question for 10 minutes.

QUESTION: No, you interrupted my question.

TRUMP: Please sit down. Please.

QUESTION: I ask how this influenced your opinions on the allegations –

TRUMP: Well, that has an impact on my opinion and –

QUESTION: – against Judge Kavanaugh.

TRUMP: – Do you know why? Because I've had a lot of false accusations against me. I am a very famous person, unfortunately. I am a famous person for a long time. But I had a lot of false accusations against me, real accusations. I know friends who have had false accusations. People want glory, they want money, they want anything. So when I see it, I see things differently from those watching TV at home where they say oh, Judge Kavanaugh, this or that.

That happened to me several times. I have had a lot of false accusations. I had a woman sitting on a plane and I attacked her while people were coming in on the plane and I have a number one bestseller. I mean, it was a totally bogus story. There are a lot of them. So when you say that this has an effect on me regarding my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh, absolutely, because I have had it many times.

TRUMP: And if the news had brought these four people back – I could not believe it. When I heard that they caught these four people, I said wow, it's a great story. And it was for Fox. D & # 39; AGREEMENT.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier today and just now, you have made an important allegation against the Chinese government, you suggested that …

TRUMP: I did it.

QUESTION: The Chinese have mingled or mingle with –

TRUMP: That's right, that's what I hear.

QUESTION: The mid-term election of 2018 –

TRUMP: That's what I hear.

QUESTION: What evidence do you have of that, sir? Is there an analysis (inaudible) –

TRUMP: We have evidence, we have evidence – it's going to come out. Yeah, I can not tell you now, but it happened – it did not come out of nowhere, that I can tell you. Maintenant, ils ont effectivement admis qu’ils s’attaquent aux agriculteurs, je pense que la plupart d’entre vous peuvent couvrir cela. J'aime que tu secoues la tête oui, je vais te poser la question suivante à cause de ça, OK? Cela va probablement être le tueur de toutes les questions.

Mais laissez-moi juste expliquer, laissez-moi –

QUESTION: Si vous ne voulez pas présenter les preuves, monsieur

TRUMP: La Chine a maintenant 250 milliards de dollars, et elle paie 25% sur cela. Ils paient des milliards et des milliards – cela ne s’est jamais produit en Chine et j’aime la Chine et j’aime beaucoup le président Xi. Je pense qu’il est un de mes amis, il n’est peut-être plus un de mes amis, mais je pense qu’il respecte probablement – de ce que j’entends, si vous regardez M. Pillsbury, l’autorité principale en Chine.

Il était sur un bon spectacle, je ne mentionnerai pas le nom de la série, récemment, et il disait que la Chine avait un respect total pour Donald Trump et pour le très grand cerveau de Donald Trump. Il a dit Donald Trump, ils ne savent pas quoi faire – n’est jamais arrivé.

Une chose qu’ils essaient de faire, c’est qu’ils essaient de convaincre les gens de s’opposer à Donald Trump, parce qu’une personne politique normale et régulière qui n’a aucune idée de ce qu’il fait – laisserait la Chine continuer à prendre 500 milliards de dollars. année de notre pays et reconstruire leur pays. Je veux dire, ils construisaient 29 ponts massifs comme le pont George Washington.

Ils construisent des choses que nous ne construisons plus, mais nous commençons à les reconstruire. Et notre économie est plus chaude que jamais. Je ne sais pas si vous avez vu les niveaux de confiance de ce matin qui sont venus, fantastiques. Et, en toute équité, les taux augmentent, ils augmentent les taux parce que nous n’avons jamais fait comme nous le faisons actuellement.

Et l'une des choses qui est agréable à propos de leurs taux, les personnes qui ont été les plus touchées par ces taux d'intérêt zéro et – lorsque le président Obama avait une économie qui était – était le pire retour depuis la Grande Dépression et tout ça, vous avez tous entendu ça. Mais rappelez-vous, il jouait avec de l'argent sans intérêt. Il jouait avec de l’argent drôle, c’est facile.

Je joue avec de l’argent assez cher – alors quand il le fait, les gens qui en profitent sont des gens qui, en réalité, économiseraient 10, 15, 20% de leur salaire toute leur vie – ces personnes ont été tuées. Comme ils placent leur argent à la banque, ils vont vivre de l’intérêt et il n’ya aucun intérêt.

Maintenant, ces gens commencent à s’intéresser et ce sont les gens, franchement, qui méritent – vous savez, ils ont fait du bon travail. Les personnes qui ont bien fait les choses, les personnes qui ont fait le meilleur travail ont été les plus touchées. Donc, dans un sens, je l’aime bien, mais au fond, je suis une personne à faible taux d’intérêt, je déteste vous le dire.

Oui m'dame? Oui, vas y.

QUESTION: M. le président –

TRUMP: Oui?

QUESTION: Vous avez une autre réunion demain avec Rod Rosenstein –

TRUMP: Oui.

QUESTION: Envisagez-vous de renvoyer Rod Rosenstein?

TRUMP: Je lui parle, nous avons eu une bonne discussion. He said he never said it, he said he doesn’t believe it. He said he has a lot of respect for me, and he was very nice and we’ll see. And he’s a member of the Trump Administration, in that sense it’s the Justice Department.

I would certainly prefer not doing that, there was no collusion, there was no obstruction. I mean, unless you call obstruction the fact that I fight back — I do fight back, I really fight back. I mean, if you call that obstruction that’s fine. But there’s no obstruction, there’s no collusion — I’m going to meet with him tomorrow. I may call Rod tonight or tomorrow and ask for a little bit of a delay to the meeting, because I don’t want to do anything that gets in the way of this very important Supreme Court pick. So I don’t want it competing and hurting the decision, one way or the other, decision.

Again, I want to hear what she has to say, but I don’t want to do so — I may delay that. I’m going to see. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to conflict with that. But my preference would be to keep them and to let him finish up. You know, I call it a “witch hunt,” and it is a witch hunt.

If you look at the FBI statements with Strzok and his lover, Lisa Page, if you look at all of the things that have gone on in the FBI, if you look at McCabe taking $700,000 from a Hillary Clinton PAC, essentially run by Terry McAuliffe who’s our best friend in the world and he gives them hundreds of thousands of dollars — and he’s in charge of her campaign, and his wife is getting all of this money to run — she lost — to run.

I mean what’s going on? If you look at the horrible statements like, “Way to go, Page, great story you put into a newspaper,” essentially, now we’ll go and investigate that group. It’s terrible. We have caught people doing things that are terrible. I would much prefer keeping Rod Rosenstein, much prefer.

Many people say I have the right to, absolutely, fire him. He said he did not say it, he said he does not believe, and nobody in this room believes it. By the way, I deal with the people in this room. I was with Mike Pompeo before. We were dealing, at a very high level, with Japan.

And I was saying things that nobody in the room even understood, and I said them a long time ago. And I was right. He said, “That’s not the 25th Amendment that I’m looking at.” I think I can say that from Mike.

QUESTION: So you don’t think anyone in your administration has ever discussed the — using the 25th Amendment against you?

TRUMP: I don’t think so — well, yes, enemies, sure. You use anything you can.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: … in your administration or your Cabinet?

TRUMP: Hey, you use anything they can. They’re not in love with me. They’re not going to beat me in the election. They know that. They’re not going to beat me. The people that I’m looking at are total lightweights. I — I dream of running against those people. Maybe I’ll come up with somebody …

QUESTION: But with your administration …

TRUMP: … that’s not — they’re not going to beat me. I’m against what they want to do. I’m in favor of law enforcement. I’m in favor of safety and security and low taxes. I want low taxes. I want borders. We’re getting another $1.6 billion in borders. I want borders. We’ve spent $3.2 billion, and we’re getting another $1.6 billion. And then, eventually, we’re getting the whole thing, and we’ll complete the wall.

They don’t want that — they don’t want that. They don’t want the things that I have. Now I must say. I know many of the democrats. They’ll say things and then wink at me. And again, it’s the same old story. They’ll say things, they don’t mean it. It’s politics.

The reason they don’t want me is because they want to run the show. They want it. It’s power, it’s whatever you want to call it. But what they’ve done here is a disgrace, a total disgrace, and what they do — I know it’s sort of interesting.

In one case, they say, “He’s a fascist. He’s taking over the government. He’s the most powerful president ever. He’s a horrible human being. He wants to take over the entire government, and he’s going to do it. We can’t stop him.”

It did not work. The next week, he said, “He’s incompetent.” I said, “Well, wait a minute.” In one case, I’m taking over the world, and the other case, he’s incompetent. They tried that for a week, that didn’t work.

Look, these are very dishonest people. These are con artists, and the press now said — but the press doesn’t write it.

Wow, that’s a lot of hands. That’s a lot — Steve, go ahead. He is a very high-quality person, this man. But he’ll probably…

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: … hit me with a bad one.

(TO LAUGH)

QUESTION: Why — why…

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: … You’re…

TRUMP: Give to me.

(TO LAUGH)

QUESTION: … You’re getting — you’re getting…

TRUMP: Give it to me, Steve.

QUESTION: … You’re getting …

TRUMP: Reuters.

QUESTION: … You’re getting letters from Chairman Kim. Why do you need a second summit so soon and what do…

TRUMP: Because he’d like it.

QUESTION: … what would it be for?

TRUMP: So I’ve received two letters from Chairman Kim. At some point, I’ll — you know, give these letters. They’re incredible letters. They’re — they’re letters that are magnificent in the sense of his feeling for wanting to get this done. I really believe he wants to get it done. I may be wrong.

I heard somebody on a certain network last night, I won’t mention which one, say why has President Trump given so much to North Korea? I said wait a minute. I asked Sarah Huckabee, please call this person. I gave him nothing other than I met. What did I give him?

I didn’t do what Obama did; give him $1.8 billion in cash to get back four hostages. I got back our hostages, I never paid them anything. I haven’t paid him $0.10. But he wants to make a deal and I’d like to make a deal. We actually have a very good relationship together, a lot different than the last time I was at the United Nations. That was a little bit rough. Don’t forget, that time they said, oh, Trump is saying these horrible things. He’s going to get us into a war.

You were going to have a war — if I wasn’t elected, you’d be in a war. And President Obama essentially said the same thing; he was ready to go to war. You would have had a war and you would have lost millions, not thousands, you would have lost millions of people. Seoul has millions of people, 40 miles and 30 miles from this very dangerous border.

If I wasn’t elected, you would have had a war. President Obama thought you had to go to war. You know how close he was to pressing the trigger for war? Millions of people. With me, nobody’s talking about that. Nobody’s talking about that.

We have a very good relationship. He likes me. I like him. We get along. He wrote me two of the most beautiful letters. When I showed one of the letters, just one, to Prime Minister Abe, he said this is actually a groundbreaking letter. This is an incredible — this is a historic letter. And it is a historic letter. It’s a beautiful — it’s a beautiful piece of art.

And I think we’re going to make a deal. Will we make a deal, Steve? I don’t really know. But I think we’re going to. In the meantime — and, I’ve said a — I don’t want to bore you, no rockets, no missiles, no nuclear tests, you know, for over a year we — you haven’t seen.

Before I got here, everybody in this room thought you were going to war. And then what happened? It was funny. They said he was terrible. He was so rough with Chairman Kim, Kim Jong-Un. He was so rough, it’s terrible. He’s going to cause — well, I had a great meeting with President Putin.

And on that one, they said he was too soft with President Putin. I had a great meeting with — it lasted for two hours. We discussed everything, Ukraine, Syria, Israel and Israel’s protection, we had a great meeting. They wanted me to end up in a boxing match.

And you know what? If I was killer tough with President Putin, they would have said he was too tough. You can’t win with these people but you just keep going. In the meantime, we’re doing well.

Go from the front.

QUESTION: So how do you — how long — how long do you…

TRUMP: Wait. One second.

QUESTION: … how long do you think it should take North Korea to denuclearize?

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't want to get into…

QUESTION: We’ve seen estimates of one year, two year..

TRUMP: … Steve, I don’t want to get into the time game. You know why? I told Mike Pompeo — I said, Mike, don’t get into the time game. We stopped them. They’re taking down plants. They’re taking down a lot of different testing areas. They’re going to take down some more, you’ll be hearing about that very soon. I don’t want to go ahead of myself but you’ll be hearing about it soon.

They have no interest right now in testing nuclear. You know, we had a case — just about — when I was coming into office, you'll (ph) remember it, where there was a massive — they thought it was an earthquake. A mountain moved over an inch and a half. We're talking about mountains. You know, North Korea's very mountainous. Beautiful land, beautiful.

This mountain actually shifted. It shifted. And somebody thought it was an earthquake, and then they found out no, this was nuclear testing. Shifted a mountain. I'm talking about serious stuff, serious size. When I came in and certainly before I came in — and even at the beginning of mine, because when I was having rhetorical — you know, contests, really, I guess you could call it, with Chairman Kim, which we both smile at now and we laugh at, but everybody thought that was a horrible thing.

We've had many presidents were unable to do anything. Anything at all with North Korea. We now have a good relationship. We have a good relationship. And most importantly, all of the things that you've been hearing about, the horror stories, in my opinion, they're gone. Now, could they start up again? Yes. I'm a deal guy. Could they start? Yes. Could be that we don't work it out. I think — I have it right here. I think that what we've done behind the scenes — which nobody really knows about and I don't blame you for not knowing about.

You know, personal letters, private letters. But saying they want to get it done. We know much more than the media for a change. Much more. But if you saw what's going on behind the scenes, I think you'd be very impressed. We were a country going to war. I really believe that President Obama would admit that he said it's by far his biggest problem. When I sat with him prior to going to office — going into office, he said to me that's by far the biggest problem.

And he said to me that he was very close to going into war. And millions of people — not — you know, I — I — they say oh, thousands of people — no, no, not thousands. Millions of people would have been killed. And that could have left — you're right next to China, you're right — that could have been a world war very easily. Right now we're in a great position. I don't want to play the time game. I told Mike Pompeo, don't let them do that to you. I haven't given anything.

And all of a sudden we got back — it was a few weeks ago. I think we were back, like two and a half months from the summit, which was a great success. And people are screaming what's taking so long. I said oh, I get it. You got to understand the media. I've been dealing with the media all my life. Too much. Too much. They're screaming and I saw that. And our guys were — and not Mike, but our guys were being — oh, well, we're working as fast.

I said I got all the time in the world. I don't have to rush it. There's no, you know, cessation (ph) of sanctions. We got the sanctions on. I didn't take any sanctions off. I did see a reporter last night, a guy I like personally a lot. And he asked a question to President Moon of South Korea. He said why did the president give so much. I didn't give anything. I gave nothing.

What have I given other than some time. Yes, I flew to Singapore. We had a meeting. Now, giving would be if I took the sanctions off. I didn't want to do — if you ask General Mattis for a year and a half, I said why don't we stop these ridiculous, in my opinion, the military games. I call them the military games. If I told you how much those games cost — and frankly I told South Korea you should be paying for these games. We pay for them. They say, well, we fly the planes in from a short distance away.

I said where is that. Guam. Oh. Huh. How long a trip is that? Seven hours. Oh, great. We're flying these massive bombers and (inaudible). I've wanted to stop this for a long time. I consider that an asset. But we've done — we're saving, by the way, just for the taxpayer (ph), we're saving a fortune. And if we need them we can start them up immediately.

If I think we need them, I'll start them before the generals will start them. The fact is this reporter said that. I said, what have we done? I haven't given anything. And we're really onto the cusp — I think we're really going to do something that's going to be very important.

But we're not playing the time game. If it takes two years, three years, or five months, it doesn't matter. There's no nuclear testing and there's not testing of rockets.

Yes ma'am, go ahead. Go ahead please. This is the one that was nodding with every nice thing I said. So watch this question.

QUESTION: It's a habit of mine. (Inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You're with who?

QUESTION: Hannah Thomas Peter (ph) from Sky News.

TRUMP: OK. Good. Sky News. Congratulations on the purchase.

(TO LAUGH)

QUESTION: Nothing to do with me.

TRUMP: I hope you benefited.

Go from the front.

QUESTION: Are you at all concerned at the message that has been sending — being sent to the women who are watching this when you use language like "con job" in relation to allegations to sexual assault?

TRUMP: I've used much worse language in my life than "con job." That's like probably the nicest phrase I've ever used. I mean con job — it is. It's a con job. You know confidence. It's a confidence job, but they — it's a con job by the Democrats. They know it.

QUESTION: What about the message that's being sent to women who are watching?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: They did the same thing with the Russia investigation. They tried to convince people that I had something to do with Russia. There was no collusion. Think of it. I'm in Wisconsin. I'm in Michigan. I say, gee, we're not doing well. I won both those states. We're not doing well. Ah, let me call the Russians to help. Does anybody really believe that? It's a con job.

And I watch these guys, little Adam Schiff and all of the guys, he takes a call from a Russian who turned out to be a faker, you know, he was a comedian or something. This is so and so calling for — he took the call. Why is he taking a call from a Russian? Senator Warner took a call from a Russian. He was a comedian or something, but he said, "We have pictures of President Trump.? "Whoa, where can I get them?" If we ever did that it would be like a big deal. Yes, it's a con job. And it's not a bad term. It's not a bad term at all.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'll tell you one thing I can say. I've had a lot of people talking about this to me with respect to what's happening, because it's a horrible precedent. I'm going to have to get other judges and other Supreme Court judges possibly. I could have a lot of Supreme Court judges, more than two.

And when I called up Brett Kavanaugh, spoke to him and his family and told them that I chose them, they were so happy and so honored it was as though — I mean the biggest thing that's ever happened. And I understand that. U.S. Supreme Court.

I don't want to be in a position where people say, no thanks, no thanks, I don't want it; you know, I spoke to somebody 38 years ago, and it may not be good.

We have a country to run. We want the best talent in the world. But I'll tell you this, the people that have complained to me about it the most about what's happening are women. Women are very angry.

You know I got 52 percent with women. Everyone said this couldn't happen — 52 percent. Women are so angry, and I, frankly, think that — I think they like what the Republicans are doing, but I think they would have like to have seen it go a lot faster.

TRUMP: But give them their day in court. Let her have her day in court. Let somebody else have a day in court. But the ones that I find — I mean, I have men that don't like it, but I have women that are incensed at what's going on. I've always said women are smarter than men. I've said that a lot, and I mean it. But women — women are incensed at what's going on.

Yes, go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead in the back. Who are you, or where you're from? Yeah, you. Guy looks like he's shocked. This is going to be, not good. Guy looks totally like, stunned that I've — have you ever been picked before for a question?

QUESTION: Yes sir, but not from President of United States.

TRUMP: Go ahead, go ahead and give me a question.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, my name's Magid Galee (ph) from (inaudible) Network (ph). I want to, sir, ask you — you always talk about —

TRUMP: Excuse me, you said where — from where?

QUESTION: Hudami Direct Network from Kudasa Region, Northern Iraq (ph) —

TRUMP: OK.

QUESTION: I'm a Kurd.

TRUMP: Good. Good, great people.

QUESTION: Sir — thank you, sir.

TRUMP: Great people.

QUESTION: Mr. President —

UNIDENTIFIED: You are.

TRUMP: Thank you. Are you a Kurd?

QUESTION: Mr. President —

TRUMP: Good.

QUESTION: Mr. President —

TRUMP: They're great people, they're great fighters. I like them a lot, let's go I like this question so far.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Mr. President — you always say you support your allies, Kurds right now after the defeat of ISIS are under a lot of pressure in Syria and in Iraq by many adversaries —

TRUMP: It's true.

QUESTION: What will do to alleviate their position to support them, after they helped the United States to defeat ISIS?

TRUMP: Well we are helping them a lot, and we've been very friendly with them. And as you know we've fought side-by-side and we have defeated ISIS, essentially very short while ago in the Middle East and we did it with a lot of help from the Kurds. And they are, they're great fighters. You know, some people are great fighters and some people aren't — the Kurds are great fighters. And they're great, great people. And we're going to be — we're discussing that situation exactly right now.

QUESTION: What will you do to support them, sir?

TRUMP: Well I'm just telling you, we're going to be discussing that situation. We have already started discussing that situation. But we have had tremendous support from the Kurds in supporting ISIS, OK?

QUESTION: What about Syria, sir — in your speech you did not mention —

TRUMP: Yes, go. You don't need it.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Susan Lee from FOX Business. Did you reject a one-on-one meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?

TRUMP: Yes, I did.

QUESTION: Why?

TRUMP: Because his tariffs are too high, he doesn't seem to want to move and I've told him forget about it. And frankly we're thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada, that's the mother load, that's the big one. We're very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada.

We don't like their representative very much, they're taken — I love Canada by the way, I have so many friends — I have everybody, so many friends. But that has nothing to do with this — I'm representing the United States. Mexico was totally — I mean, they were great. By the way, the new president has been great.

The deal is done, now it has to go through Congress, and you know, a lot of things have to happen. But we've done — Bob Lighthizer, whose here someplace — where's Bob? Bob Lighthizer's done a great job of negotiating, as they have, but the deal is done except for Congress —

QUESTION: Mr. President —

TRUMP: But Canada has treated us very badly, they've treated our farmers in Wisconsin and New York state, and a lot of other states — very badly. Dairy products, 300 percent — 300 percent. How do you sell a dairy product at 300 percent?

The answer is, you don’t. What it is is a barrier. It’s basically they’re saying, we don’t have any barriers — by the way it’s 300 percent so you don’t send any because you can’t compete. So Canada has a long way to go, I must be honest with you, we’re not getting along at all with their negotiators — we think they’re negotiators have taken advantage of our country for a long time.

We had people that didn't know what they were doing, and that's why we had over the last five or six years — if you average it out, we had $800 billion a year in trade losses, it's ridiculous it's not going to happen.

QUESTION: What after NAFTA? Sir, Mr. President, NAFTA —

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: What does that mean for NAFTA, will you be pulling out of NAFTA?

TRUMP: I don't like NAFTA, I never liked it. It's been very bad for the United States, it's been great for Canada, it's been great for Mexico — very bad for us.

QUESTION: Will you pull out of the —

TRUMP: I'm not going to use the name NAFTA. I refuse to use it. I've seen thousands of plants and factories close. I've seen millions of jobs lost to auto companies that moved. Remember, Mexico has 25 percent of our auto business now because of NAFTA. Under our deal, not going to happen anymore. Hate to tell you it's not. We're going to keep companies and I — we — I told the Mexicans, I said we have to keep companies.

But they're getting a lot also. They're getting other things. They're getting a lot of good things. Mexico made a very good deal. But with Canada, it's very tough. What we're doing is if we made a deal with Canada — which is a, you know, good chance still, but I'm not making anything near what they want to do. Wouldn't be fair.

QUESTION: But you're going to — are you going to notify Congress of pulling out of NAFTA?

TRUMP: What we're probably going to do is go with the USMC, like the United States Marine Corps, which I love. General Kelly likes it even more. Where's General Kelly? He likes that USMC, which would be U.S. Mexico Canada. But it'll probably or possibly be just USM. It'll be United States and Mexico.

QUESTION: Yes or no, are you going to —

TRUMP: Canada will come along. Now, if Canada doesn't make a deal with us, we're going to make a much better deal. We're going to tax the cars that come in. We will put billions and billions of dollars into our treasury and frankly, we'll be very happy. Because it's actually more money than you can make under any circumstance with making a deal. D & # 39; right? Good job, too. You do a — you do a very good job. Really.

Yes, please. Mr. Kurd (ph). Go from the front.

QUESTION: Thank you very much for your time, Mr. President. Two quickly questions. What will be the USA relations with the Kurds —

TRUMP: Oh, I thought —

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: — post ISIS — post ISIS? And —

TRUMP: OK. We're trying to get along very well — we do get along great with the Kurds. We're trying to help them a lot. Don't forget, that's their territory. We must help them. Je veux les aider Go ahead, what's next. Ils se sont battus avec nous. Ils se sont battus avec nous. They died with us. They are dead. We lost — tens of thousands of Kurds died fighting ISIS. They died for us and with us and for themselves. They died for themselves. But they're great people. And we have not forget — we don't forget — I don't forget what happens someday later, but I can tell you that I don't forget. These are great people. OK. Yes, ma'am. Please.

QUESTION: About — Mr. President, about Iran, one question. What is your clear plan to stop Iranian influence in Iraq, in Syria and especially in —

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I think you've seen that. I must tell you, it's a — I don't mind your question —

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: — thank you.

TRUMP: I think there's been no greater change — other than maybe China, because China, unfortunately their markets have dropped — would you say 30 percent in the last four months, right? I think I watched you recently when you said that. I said I think she's wrong, I think it's actually 32. But that's OK. But a lot. There's been no — other than maybe that, but even that, because China is a very special place. And Iran is a very special place.

But I think there's been no country that's changed so much as Iran. In the last six months, since I took off the horrible, horrible Iran nuclear deal, as they called, one of the dumbest deals ever made — as an example, why didn't they take care of Yemen in the deal? Why didn't they take care of Syria in the deal? You know what Kerry said the reason? It was too complicated. We're giving $150 billion, we paid $1.8 billion in cash. Cash. This whole room would be filled up with hundred dollar bills.

TRUMP: And you'd need probably five rooms like this. We gave $1.8 billion in cash. Why didn't we take care of Yemen? Why didn't we take care of Syria and other — and he said because it was too complicated. Well, you just gave all your cards. You gave them $150 billion. And now Yemen's a mess, but it's getting better. And Syria's a mess, and I was responsible, and I hope it stays that way.

When I put out on social media, a few weeks ago, about Idlib Province, I said, "Don't do it." And I'll tell you. It happened where I was at a meeting with a lot of supporters, and a woman stood up and she said, "There's a province in Syria with 3 million people. Right now, the Iranians, the Russians and the Syrians are surrounding their province, and they're going to kill my sister and they're going to kill millions of people in order to get rid of 25,000 – or 35,000 terrorists, or enemies of theirs, but I think we can call them terrorists."

And I said, "That's not going to happen. I didn't hear of Idlib Province." And I came back to New York, and I picked up the failing New York Times. I hate to admit it was the New York – but it was the failing New York Times. And opened it up, not on the front page, but there was a very big story. I said, "Wow, that's the same story that the woman told me that I found hard to believe, because why would – how would anyone do that with 3 million people?"

And it said that they were being surrounded, and they were going in and starting, literally, the next day, they were going to drop bombs all over the place and perhaps kill millions of people, in order to get 35,000 terrorists.

And I put out on social media and elsewhere, I gave Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, everybody these orders, "Don't let it happen." I said, "Don't let it happen." That doesn't mean they can't be selective, they can't be – you know, go in, and they've got to do what they've got to do, with terrorists – I assume the terrorist – but don't kill millions of people.

And it stopped. You saw that. No one's going to give me credit, but that's OK – that's OK, because the people know. I have had more Syrians thank me for that – this was about four weeks ago, I put that out. I said, "They're surrounding a city of 3 million people, they're going to start bombing the city. Don't let it happen."

And I meant it, too. I meant it. And millions of people have been saved, and I – I gave, today, great credit to Iran. I don't know if you heard that. I gave great credit to Iran, to Russia and to Syria for not doing it. Now I hope it's going to be surgical, meaning, go in and do – it's lengthy and everything else. And they possibly have to do it. But I think millions of people would've been killed, and that would've been a shame.

And hopefully – and I have to tell you. Turkey has been big help. Turkey has been great. Turkey's helped us very much with that whole situation.

QUESTION: Mr. President?

TRUMP: Yes, yes.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Good, thank you very much.

QUESTION: Touching back on Iran. Of course, this week, you've put out a call-to-action to other countries to rally with America, to put pressure on Iran. Rouhani's still calling for the U.S. to come back into the old deal. But after meeting with world leaders this week, did you make any progress towards a potential new deal?

TRUMP: It doesn't matter what world leaders think on Iran. Iran's going to come back to me, and they're going to make a good deal, I think, maybe not – deals, you never know. But they're suffering greatly. They're having riots in every city, far greater than they were during the green period with President Obama, far greater.

When President Obama stuck up for government, not the people, he probably would've had a much different Iran, had he not done that. But I'm sticking up for the people. I am with the people of Iran. But here's the thing — they have rampant inflation. Their money is worthless. Everything is going wrong. They have riots in the street. You can't buy bread. You can't do anything. It's a disaster.

At some point, I think they're going to want to come back and they're going to say, hey, can we do something? And I — very simple, I — I just don't want them to have nuclear weapons. That's all. Is that too much to ask? I don't want them to have nuclear weapons. I want them to have a great economy.

I want them to sell so much oil so that the oil prices — I'm not happy with OPEC. I told them, I'm not happy with OPEC. We take care of all these people, we defend them. They wouldn't be there for two weeks if it wasn't for me, and the United States and our much stronger armed forces than it was — because our armed forces was depleted. We had old equipment.

Now, we have — hey, you know better than anybody, $700 billion and $716 billion, we have the most incredible new jets and everything. We need it. Not that I want to spend it; although, it is jobs. It's all made in the United States.

But Iran has to come back and they have to talk. And I'm not doing this from strength or weakness. I'm just saying at some point they're going to have to have to come back. If you look at what's going on, companies are leaving left and right. Mercedes Benz just left. They're all leaving. They don't want to be in Iran. Because they have a choice, do they want to be with Iran or do they want to be with us, and we have — we picked up $10 trillion since my election.

We were being caught by China, now it's going the other way. People can't believe it. People have never seen this situation with China. Everything's always been — for 20 years, oh, China's so great. China's so great. You don't hear that so much anymore.

I love China. I think they're great. But you don't hear that so much anymore. You know who's great now? We're great now.

OK, how about just a couple more. Now, I could be doing — I could be doing this all day long. I could be doing this all day long. Should we continue for a little while? It doesn't matter to me. A couple more, I don't care. New York Times, come on. New York Times, the failing New York Times, stand up. Go from the front.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

TRUMP: No, I'm talking about the Times is failing. You are far from failing. Go from the front.

QUESTION: OK, but you're not — you were pointing to me, so you meant me. But I…

TRUMP: The Times are very interesting though. The Times, I think they're going to endorse me.

QUESTION: … Yes…

TRUMP: I think that ABC, I — well, Fox — I like Fox, I really do.

QUESTION: … Just to be sure…

TRUMP: But I think ABC, CBS, NBC, the Times, the — they're all going to endorse me because, if they don't, they're going out of business. Can you imagine if you didn't have me?

Go from the front. What would you like to say?

QUESTION: … Just to be sure, I know you were pointing to me but I work for PBS NewsHour right now…

TRUMP: I know that. No, I know that.

QUESTION: … OK. So I want to ask you, yesterday you were talking about your administration's accomplishments at the United Nations and a lot of the leaders laughed. Why do you think they were laughing?

TRUMP: Well, that's fake news.

QUESTION: And what was that experience like?

TRUMP: Yes, it's fake news and it was covered that way.

OK. So I said that since my election our economy has become the hottest in the world, tax reductions, regulations, confidence levels are the highest in 18 years — really soon to be historic, unemployment is the lowest in the history of our country. You look at black unemployment, you look at Asian unemployment, you look at women — 65 years the unemployment numbers are the best we've ever had ever. The numbers pouring into our country, which nobody thought was possible, and I said this.

And I was in front of a large group of highly professional people, most of whom are from either other countries or the United Nations, people that aren't big into clapping, applauding, smiling. And I heard a little rustle, as I said our country is now stronger than ever before — it's true. I mean, it is true. And I heard a little rustle and I said it's true.

And I heard smiles — and I said, oh, I didn't know that's be like a — they weren't laughing at me. They were laughing with me. We had fun. That was not laughing at me.

So the fake news said people laughed at President Trump. They didn't laugh at me. People had a good time with me. We did it together. We had a good time. They respect what I've done. The United States is respected again.

The United States was not respected. Everybody was taking advantage of us, from jobs and taking our companies and not paying the price, to so many other things. Even military protection.

I told a number of countries over the last few days, I said listen, you’re a very rich country. We protect you. Without our protection, you would have real problems. You would have real problems.

QUESTION: I want to …

TRUMP: I said you should reimburse us for this protection. Why are we protecting you? And you want to know what they said? After about two minutes of talking, they agreed with me. And you can ask this group of very talented people. They agreed with me.

But they said — one of them said but Mr. President, nobody ever asked us for that. They never asked us for that. Nobody's ever said you should pay. These are really wealthy countries. I mean I'll be honest. I just asked Japan.

I said, we're defending you. You're a very wealthy country. You're sending us millions of cars. You're making a fortune. We have a tremendous trade deficit with you. And we're defending you and we're subsidizing your military with a massive amount of money.

I said it to South Korea. We have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea. They are very wealthy. These are great countries. These are very wealth countries. I said why aren't you reimbursing us for our cause.

And you know what, they look at me and they can't even answer, because there's no answer. If they're a poor country and they needed protection and people were going to die, I'm all for protecting them. I don't want 10 cents.

But when wealthy countries that have massive trade surpluses with us, massive, and then on top of that, we're paying for their military or we're paying for a lot of their military. That doesn't work. How about two more and we'll call it.

QUESTION: Mr. President, really quickly. Mr. President, you said you feel a kinship — you said you feel a kinship with Brett Kavanaugh and you — Mr. President, really quickly, you said you felt a kinship with Brett Kavanaugh.

You said that you also — your false allegations that you feel like were made against you make you feel like you don't want to believe these women. What message do you think …

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, I didn't say that. Why do you say that? Fake news, why? Did I say that?

QUESTION: Well, can you please explain then what you talking about in your own false allegations?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Excuse me. By the way, I think you do a very good job. But I didn't say that. I do watch you and I think you do a very good job. But I didn't say that.

QUESTION: So could you explain what you meant?

TRUMP: I said — exactly. I look forward to watching her. I do want to hear what she says. And maybe she'll say — I could be convinced of anything. Maybe she'll say something. But in the meantime, I have to tell you, he's one of the highest quality human beings.

He's a tremendous man. He's a tremendous genius. He's a great intellect. He was, I believe, number one at Yale. Is that a correct statement? Number one in his class at Yale. He was a great student in law.

He was — you know I've heard his name. I didn't know him. Didn't know him until this whole thing I didn't know him. But I heard his name for 10 years. And you know how I heard his name?

Everybody was saying he should be on the Supreme Court. I said who is he? His name is Brett Kavanaugh and he should be — he's the most brilliant person, he's the most brilliant lawyer.

They were talking about him on the Supreme Court 10 years ago. With all of that, I want to hear what she has to say. OK.

QUESTION: But you said that you don't feel — but you said that you feel like other (ph) of the numerous false allegations against you and that …

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I've had many false — I've had many false statements against me and if the press would have reported, I would have been very happy. I think John Roberts would tell you that you covered the story where the women were paid to say bad things about me. Sean Hannity covered it. I will tell you when I saw that on Sean Hannity, I actually called him.

Believe it or not, I don't speak to him very much, but I respect him. I called him. I said this is the biggest story, this is a big, big story. He agreed with me. The next day I picked up the papers, there wasn't one word about it. The next day I watched ABC News, John (ph), I watched NBC, I watched CBS, I didn't watch CNN, but next time I'll do it (ph).

QUESTION: And are you OK with —

TRUMP: I watched everything, there wasn't one story other than Fox. And it's a big story, it's a shame. OK, enough. Thank you —

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Is it OK if I give it to the New York Times, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Go ahead. That's enough, please. Good job. Good job.

QUESTION: Mr. President, could I ask a question since I am from the New York Times before this gentleman?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Since you're where? Since you're where?

QUESTION: I'm actually from the New York Times. Yamiche is my former colleague and we miss her. But I was hoping —

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'll let you do it after he does, is that OK?

QUESTION: That's perfectly well.

TRUMP: I will do that in honor of a paper I once loved, thank you.

(TO LAUGH)

Go from the front.

QUESTION: Mr. President, my name is (inaudible) with TruNews.

Today you met with Bibi Netanyahu from Israel, and you brought up actually that you support a two state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli crisis there.

Can you give us any more preview of what the — this great deal, the peace deal —

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well I'd love to be able to make a deal with the Israelis and the Palestinians. You know, my whole life I was told that's the toughest deal. And I disagree, I think health care is probably tougher, OK, you want to know the truth.

But it is tough, but we're going to take care of that too. That's going to get taken care of. We've already taken care of a lot of it. But the whole — my life I've always heard the deal between, as you know, Israel and the Palestinians, that's like the toughest deal.

Every possible thing is tough about that. I think we're going to make a deal. I think we're going to make a deal. So at one of our many meetings today, I was with Bibi Netanyahu, a man who I have a lot of respect for.

A man who's been extremely nice to me, very happy that I did the whole thing with Jerusalem and the embassy, which by the way we got open in four months for less than $500,000 and the budget was over a billion dollars.

So we saved let's say a billion dollars, that's not so bad. And it's open and it's beautiful by the way, Jerusalem stone, one of my favorite stones. I will tell you the question somebody said today well this is the first news conference in a long time.

I said what do you mean? I did like five today. Every time I sit I take a lot of questions from people that are screaming like maniacs in the back of the room, meaning reporters. And one of the reporters, I won't say that it was John Roberts that said that, our issues (ph).

But one of the — it was, but that's OK, don't feel guilty John. But one of the reporters that was screaming asked about the one state two state, and I said I think the two state will happen, I think it's one way more difficult because it's a real estate deal, because you need meets and bounds and you need lots of carve outs and lots of everything.

It's actually a little tougher deal, but another way it works better because you have people governing themselves and — so they asked me about that. I said well I think the two state will happen, I think we're going to go down the two state road.

And I'm glad I got it out and Jared, who's so involved, he loves Israel. He loves Israel. But he's also going to be very fair with the Palestinians. He understands it takes two people to be happy, two groups of people to be happy.

Everybody’s got to be happy and that’s why it’s so tough, because there’s been so much hatred and anger for so many years, that’s what probably the number one ingredient of toughness is.

TRUMP: But they asked me, I said I think it’s going to be a two state. And you know what I did today? By saying that, I put it out there. And if you ask most of the people in Israel, they agree with that.

But nobody wanted to say it. It’s a big thing to put it out, it’s a very big thing to put it out. Now bottom line, if the Israelis and the Palestinians want one state — that’s OK with me. If they want two states, that's fine with me. I’m happy if they’re happy. I’m a facilitator, I want to see if I can get a deal done so that people don’t get killed anymore.

When we had — in Saudi Arabia, we had one of the great conferences in history. Many of you were there, probably all of you were there. It’s one of the most beautiful two days — that and China — two of the most incredible events I’ve ever seen, saw yet — I’ve never seen anything like it.

And we had, I believe 58 Muslim countries — their leaders, the kings, the Emirs, the absolute leaders from every — there was nobody in second place, they were the leaders of the whole thing.

And unbeknownst to anybody else people would come up to me individual — it wasn’t a set up, they’d come up to me and say, “sir, you can’t have peace in the Middle East without peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” I said why, what difference — why does that matter so much?

They said, “it just is impossible to make peace in the Middle East unless you have between the Israelis –” so I heard that from one, the King of Saudi Arabia whose a great guy, King Salman. And then, somebody else came up and he wasn’t told, “oh go up and say it,” I know where they’re coming from.

And I must have had 12 leaders say it, and they just said it. And I started to realize that peace between Israel and the Palestinians for the Middle East is a very important thing and we’re trying very hard to get it. I think probably two state is more likely, but you know, if they do a single, if they do a double — I’m OK with it if they’re both happy. If they’re both happy, I’m OK with either. I think the two state is more likely, OK —

QUESTION: New York Times, New York Times.

TRUMP: OK.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: I would have gotten a bad story in the New York Times, but I will anyways so I guess it doesn’t matter. OK, we’ll do you after then we’ll call it quits.

QUESTION: We’re kind of thriving, not failing these days.

TRUMP: You’re doing very well. Say thank you, Mr. Trump.

QUESTION: I think I’ll stop short of that.

TRUMP: I wonder how you do — you know, all my life I’ve had very few stories, but I’ve had some on the front page of The New York Times. Now I think I average about three or four a day, right? And of the three or four they’re all negative, no matter what I do they’re negative, but you know what? That’s OK, I still love the paper. Go from the front.

QUESTION: I wanted to come back to China, because I think what you announced today was really important…

TRUMP: I agree.

QUESTION: You talk about this friendship you have with Xi Jinping, and yet essentially what you did today is accused his government of interfering in our internal affairs…

TRUMP: That’s right.

QUESTION: Averting our democratic process, and doing it to hurt you, the Republican Party…

TRUMP: Doing it to help them.

QUESTION: And your backers.

TRUMP: Yeah, doing it to help them.

QUESTION: So, how can a guy who does that be your friend?

TRUMP: I think that we are able to — and maybe he’s not anymore, I’ll be honest with you. I think we had a very good friendship, I think we had a very good relationship, we understand each other. They are doing studies on Donald Trump, they’re trying to figure it all out because this has never happened to them before — it’s never happened.

Think of it, you’ve never seen — you’ve covered very well, you’ve never seen this happen. They’re having big problems, I don’t want them to have problems. But they’ve got to make a fair deal, just like Canada’s got to make a fair deal. I believe that he and I have a very good chemistry together, and I can tell you that about many leaders.

I can also tell you a few where I don’t feel I’ll ever have a chemistry with them, I don’t want to have a chemistry with them. And for those people, I’ll have Pompeo, Nikki, Bolton , Jared — I can go, our general — I’ll have our general or if they can’t do it I’ll have Sarah Huckabee do it, right? But — but for the most part I have very — a very good with Prime Minister Abe, very good with President Moon.

By the way, what President Moon said last night, I know you won’t report it, but Bret Baier interview him last night, and he asked him about me. I can’t say because you would say I’m too braggadocious, but what he said about me last night was an unbelievable thing. “It couldn’t have happened without President Trump, and it never would happen without President Trump. And nobody else could do it.”

You know — I mean you'll take a look, but I will tell you. China is very special, very special. They're incredible people. It's an incredible country. What they've done is unbelievable.

QUESTION: How would …

TRUMP: And it all started with the WTO. It was defective deal, and it all started without the WTO. China is not China as we know it today. And then it started, also, by our people that are standing right on this position that are in the Oval Office, another way of saying it, allowed them to get away with murder, allowed a lot of countries to get away with murder.

I think we still probably have a very good relationship. But you know what? In honor of you, I will, tomorrow, make a call to him and say, “Hey, how you doing,” OK. “You don’t mind paying billions of dollars a month on tariffs?”

QUESTION: I just have two — two small follow ups. One is, how would you compare the level of interference you see today from the Chinese to what Russia did in 2016?

TRUMP: Well, I think it’s different. If you look at the Des Monies Register, I mean they have ads that are made to look like editorials, saying about, “Oh, you got to stop Trump. You got to stop him. You got to vote against him.” My farmers are — these are patriots, you know.

On a network that doesn’t like me very much, which is most of them, but a network that didn’t — doesn’t really treat me very good, they interviewed farmers, and they got hurt because, you know, all of a sudden, China’s stops buying. By the way, they’ve started buying again. I don’t know if you’ve noticed. And soybeans are going up, and things are going up. And we’ve had very little hurt, from what I’ve done.

In fact, the markets have gone up, and the farmers are going to do great. But ultimately — but they had farmers, and these guys are amazing. I love them, and they voted for me, and they love me. And they said, “We don’t care if we get hurt, he’s doing the right thing.”

And you know, a lot of people — it’s a complex game. A lot of people don’t know exactly what it is. They don’t know how to define tariffs. They don’t know it is really different than a tax, although it’s getting close.

But they know that, for the time in many, many years, they have a president that’s fighting for them, that’s not letting their jobs be taken to other countries, that’s not allowing the kind of abuse that we — I mean when you look at what happened, as an example, with NAFTA — and for years, because it was never changed — NAFTA was a defective deal the day it was signed.

You know why? Because they had a VAT tax of 17 percent, and nobody from this country knew that. And by the time they found out, which was about a week later, nobody went and changed it. So you went many years and they never changed it.

There was a VAT tax that Mexico got. So we were 17 or 16 points behind, before we even started. NAFTA was a horrible thing. So the farmers and, by the way, the steel workers, you know, I stopped the dumping. The dumping was horrible. And now if they want to dump, that’s OK, but they’ve got pay the United States of America 25 percent on everything they dump. It's good.

But as I told you before, steel is doing phenomenally well. But the farmers say, “This man’s fighting for us. No president has ever fought for us before.” And you really have to study what’s happened over the 15 years with our — the farmers have been decimated over a 15-year period. They’ve been decimated. The farmers are going to come out great. These are great people. They’re great, great patriots. I think we should finish with that one. Is that OK?

QUESTION: OK

TRUMP: Go ahead. Let's go. Quick.

QUESTION: Sure. What…

TRUMP: I always like — I always like to finish with a good one. Elton John said when you hit that last tune and it’s good, don’t go back.

QUESTION: … Well, let me ask you…

TRUMP: I’ve seen — have you ever seen? They do great. They’re great. They hit the last tune and everyone goes crazy. Then they go back for an encore, right? And they don’t hit it. And they leave, everyone leaves. And they say that wasn’t a very good concert was it?

Let's go.

QUESTION: … Well, I’ll ask you one — one final question…

TRUMP: You — don’t make me wrong. Go from the front.

QUESTION: … ahead of tomorrow’s hearing because you were asked earlier in the news conference about…

TRUMP: Say it again. Say it again.

QUESTION: … about the hearing tomorrow.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: You were asked earlier in the news conference by my friend from Sky News about the message that you are sending to…

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: … the women of the country.

TRUMP: Right.

QUESTION: What about the message that you may be sending to young men? You’re a father. What does this moment that we’re in, the cultural moment…

TRUMP: It’s a very big cultural moment.

QUESTION: … Right. So what — what messages do you have…

TRUMP: It’s a very big — it’s also…

QUESTION: … for the young men of America?

TRUMP: … You’re right. I — I think it’s a great question. This is a very big moment for our country because you have a man who’s very outstanding but he’s got very strong charges against him, probably charges that nobody’s going to be able to be — to prove.

So I could have you chosen for a position — I could have you, or you, or you, anybody — and somebody could say thing (ph) — and it’s happened to me, many times, where false statements are made. And honestly, nobody knows who to believe. I could pick another Supreme Court judge — justice. I could pick another one, another one, another one — this could go on forever.

Somebody could come and say 30 years ago, 25 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, he did a horrible thing to me. He did this, he did that, he did that and, honestly, it’s a very dangerous period in our country. And it’s being perpetuated by some very evil people — some of them are Democrats, I must say — because some of them know that this is just a game that they’re playing. It’s a con game. It’s at the highest level. We’re talking about the United States Supreme Court.

This can go on forever. I can pick five other people. At a certain point, the people are going to say no thank you. This is the most coveted job, probably in the world. And you know what? I would honestly say — because I interviewed great people for this job — he’s great, but I interviewed other great people for this job.

I could conceivably imagine going to one of them and saying it's too bad what happened to this wonderful man, but I'm going to choose you, number two. I want you to go. And I could conceivably be turned down by somebody that desperately wanted this job two months ago. So this is…

QUESTION: With respect, sir…

TRUMP: … this is — this is beyond Supreme Court.

QUESTION: … Right.

TRUMP: There's nothing beyond Supreme Court. This is beyond Supreme Court. This is everything to do with our country. When you are guilty until proven innocent, it's just not supposed to be that way.

Always, I heard you’re innocent until proven guilty. I’ve heard this for so long and it’s such a beautiful phrase. In this case, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I think that is a very, very dangerous standard for our country.

With that being said, I look forward to what she has to say. I also look very forward to what Judge Kavanaugh has to say. I think it's going to be a very, very important day in the history of our country. I want to thank you all.

QUESTION: And, sir…

TRUMP: We’ll do it again.

QUESTION: … the message to young men?

TRUMP: Thank you.

QUESTION: Sir, that — young men…

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: … young teenage men…

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: … nothing to say, sir?

STAFF: Please, ladies and gentlemen, remain seated as our delegation departs.

*******More to come******