{"id":72763,"date":"2019-01-07T09:23:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T17:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=72763"},"modified":"2019-01-07T09:23:40","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T17:23:40","slug":"president-trump-before-marine-one-departure-to-camp-david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=72763","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Before Marine One Departure to Camp David"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Mr. President, are you losing leverage, sir, as Republicans want to reopen the government?  THE PRESIDENT:  So the job numbers were fantastic.  The best numbers we\u2019ve had in many years.  It shocked Wall Street analysts.  It didn\u2019t shock me.  I know what\u2019s going on.  But the job numbers were beyond anybody\u2019s expectations.  Really, hundreds of thousands more than your top picks.  So that was a great thing.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J0I6b5XTxQE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One of the elements of job numbers is, if you remember, the past administration said you\u2019d need a wand to bring back manufacturing jobs.  Well, manufacturing jobs are coming back at a very high level.  We had a tremendous manufacturing jobs report, and we\u2019re very happy to see that.  We\u2019ve worked very hard.<\/p>\n<p>We have many companies coming back into the United States; many car companies going to Michigan, going to Pennsylvania, going to Ohio, and other places.  But they\u2019re coming back into the United States.  In most cases, they\u2019ve left, and now they\u2019re coming back in.  So we\u2019re very happy about that.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to Camp David.  We\u2019ll be discussing many topics: North Korea; the China trade deal, which is coming along very well.  Both of those subjects coming along very, very well.  We\u2019ll obviously be discussing the wall, which is desperately needed, even if you read some of the papers that don\u2019t report accurately, of which there are many.  But a couple in particular, they say that the surge to come into our country has never been stronger.  And it\u2019s very unfair to people that want to come in legally.  But the surge has never been stronger.  And we have to build a wall, or we have to build a barrier.<\/p>\n<p>The barrier, or the wall, can be of steel instead of concrete, if that helps people.  It may be better.  But I\u2019m willing to do that so our great steel companies \u2014 which are now back in business \u2014 they were very, very \u2014 they were doing very poorly when I took office, and now they\u2019re doing very well.  A lot of steel workers working that never had a chance of getting a job in the steel industry again.  Our steel industry was dying, and now it\u2019s very vibrant.<\/p>\n<p>I intend to call the head of United States Steel and a couple of other of our great steel companies to have them come up with a plate or a design of a beautiful steel product, which we now make here, and we\u2019ll use that as our barrier.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re trying to do everything possible to get money to our incredible people, but many of those incredible people agree with me and they say, \u201cMake sure you win this battle.\u201d  This is a very important battle to win, from the standpoint of safety, number one; defining our country and who we are; also from the standpoint of dollars.  This wall will pay for itself many times during the course of a year.  The money we\u2019re talking about is very small compared to the return.  You\u2019ll receive a return many times during the course of the year.  That\u2019s the kind of numbers we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p>But most importantly, it\u2019s about safety; it\u2019s about security for our country.  It\u2019s about stopping human traffickers.  It\u2019s about stopping drugs.  So we have to have it.  Got to have it.  But we have no choice.  It\u2019s not a question.  You think I like doing this?  I don\u2019t like doing this.  But we have no choice.  We have to have it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, do you relate to the pain of federal workers who can\u2019t pay their bills?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I can relate.  And I\u2019m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustment.  They always do.  And they\u2019ll make adjustment.  People understand exactly what\u2019s going on.  But many of those people that won\u2019t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n<p>And I will tell you, I just saw a poll \u2014 75 percent \u2014 it was on Fox.  But I just a saw a poll \u2014 75 percent, that immigration is so important.  And it is.  It\u2019s a very big issue.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I can\u2019t hear you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    If you think you can declare a national emergency, what is the point of having a shutdown?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I may declare a national emergency dependent on what\u2019s going to happen over the next few days.  We have a meeting.  Vice President Pence and a group will be going to a certain location that you know where that is, and they\u2019ll be having another meeting.  I don\u2019t expect to have anything happen at that meeting, but I think we\u2019ll have \u2014 nor does the Vice President.  But I think we\u2019re going to have some very serious talks come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>We have to have border security.  If we don\u2019t have border security, we\u2019re going to be crime-ridden, and it\u2019s going get worse and worse.  It was so sad watching the funeral of the slain police officer yesterday \u2014 Officer Singh.  That was a very sad thing.  But this is going on in many places.  Over the course of \u2014 if you go back to the year 2000, we have thousands of people that have been killed by illegal immigration, by people coming into the country illegally, and killing our citizens.  We can\u2019t have it.  We can\u2019t have it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Will federal workers get paid on January 11?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll see what happens.  We\u2019ll see whether or not it\u2019s settled.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible) Republican senators (inaudible)?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I will say this: I have tremendous support within the Republican Party.  If you look at Congress, you saw \u2014 with all of the numbers, you saw just a very small group of people voting.  And it wasn\u2019t really against; it was a vote to open.  It wasn\u2019t against.  Because I think everybody agrees \u2014 frankly, the Democrats agree that you need border security.  They agree that you need a barrier.<\/p>\n<p>I put out a quote this morning of Barack Obama; I put out a quote this morning of Hillary Clinton in 2015 \u2014 that was a few years ago \u2014 strongly saying that you need a border to keep illegals out.  And that\u2019s what you have to have.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not just illegals.  It\u2019s criminals.  It\u2019s drugs.  It\u2019s the new phenomena that\u2019s been age-old, been going on for thousands of years, but it\u2019s never been worse than now because of the Internet.  Human trafficking \u2014 where they grab women, put tape over their mouth, come through our border, and sell them.  And they go both ways, in both directions.  Now, they don\u2019t go through a port of entry.  They\u2019d be caught.  But they go up where there\u2019s no wall.  They make a right; they go to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Look, we better get smart.  Human trafficking is a big business.  It\u2019s a big deal.  Dealing in children is a big deal.  Children are probably the most harmed by not having the wall or its equivalent.<\/p>\n<p>But if you look at the human trafficking, they come in, they nab women, they grab them, they put tape over their mouth, they ties their hands, and they take them to another country, and they go right over that border.  If we had a powerful wall, or its equivalent, they wouldn\u2019t be able to do it because they\u2019d have to go through ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, how will a compromise look?  How do you envision a compromise (inaudible)?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Look, I can say this: Everybody is playing games.  But I can say this: I think that the Democrats want to make a deal.  I really do.  I feel that.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What is the deal?  Will you come down from $5.6 billion?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll call it something different.  I don\u2019t think I have to.  That\u2019s for this year.  We\u2019ll call it \u2014 excuse me.  We\u2019ll call it something different.  A lot of work has been done on the wall.  There\u2019s been tremendous renovation.  And if you look in San Diego, there\u2019s been new wall built, which doesn\u2019t get reported.  I don\u2019t know why.  You don\u2019t want to report it.  But take a look at San Diego and other areas.  We\u2019ve had new wall built.  But we can do much more if they give us the money to do it.<\/p>\n<p>But a lot of work has already been done.  You know, when they say \u201cbuild the wall,\u201d I don\u2019t say that anymore.  I say \u201cfinish the wall.\u201d  Because we have done a lot of work.  If you know, the billion-six and a billion-six, for two years, it had language in that really allows you to build a certain amount of wall, but mostly renovate existing wall.  We\u2019ve renovated a lot of walls, and they\u2019ve done a very good job.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible) DACA?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  So we\u2019ll see what DACA \u2014 what happens with DACA.  DACA is, right now, before the United States Supreme Court.  If the Court does what most great legal scholars think they\u2019ll do, they won\u2019t give President Obama, or President Trump, the power to do what President Obama did.  And if that happens, it will be a great thing for our country.  You know why?  Because we\u2019ll work out a deal very fast with the Democrats, on DACA.  We\u2019ll work out a deal very quickly with Democrats, on DACA.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Are you waiting for that to happen?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019re waiting for the Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Will you keep the shutdown going on until the Supreme Court decides?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll see how long the shutdown goes on.  Look, this shutdown could end tomorrow, and it could also go on for a long time.  It depends \u2014 it\u2019s really dependent on the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What are the chances it could end tomorrow?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s really depending on the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What would have to happen for (inaudible).  What are you looking for \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we\u2019re going to see how we do here.  And everybody knows \u2014 all you have to do is read today\u2019s Washington Post.  And you see where big surges of people are coming in and trying to get through the border.  Some of that \u2014 a lot of that is my fault.  You know why.  Because I\u2019ve created such a great economy that people are pouring up to try and get jobs.  So you could say it\u2019s my fault.  And I want people to come in, but they have to come in legally.  They have to come in legally.  They can\u2019t come in the way they\u2019re coming in.  Because criminals are coming in; human traffickers are coming in; drug dealers are coming in.  We can\u2019t have it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible) impacts the economy.  So the longer the shutdown goes, (inaudible).<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Our economy is doing so well.  Nobody understands how well our economy is doing.  Our economy is doing so well.  And don\u2019t forget, I\u2019m paying interest.  I didn\u2019t have funny money to play with.  President Obama had zero interest.  I have interest to pay.  And now, a lot of people that weren\u2019t getting interest in their money for many years \u2014 you understand \u2014 they\u2019re now actually getting interest on their money.<\/p>\n<p>But he was playing with funny money because there was no interest.  We\u2019re playing with paying interest, like, in all fairness, you\u2019re supposed to be doing.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, what do you expect out of the China talks on trade this week in Beijing?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  The China talks are going very well.  I spoke to President Xi recently.  I really believe they want to make a deal.  The tariffs have absolutely hurt China very badly.  But our country is taking in a lot of money through tariffs.  A lot of money.  A lot of tariffs; steel-dumping tariffs and others.<\/p>\n<p>But I think China wants to get it resolved.  Their economy is not doing well.  They\u2019re down close to 38 percent.  That\u2019s a lot.  And I think that gives them a great incentive to negotiate.  But we\u2019re doing very well with China.  My relationship with President Xi is as good as any relationship that a President here has had with a president or leader in China.  And I think good things are going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I say this: North Korea, we\u2019re doing very well.  And again, no rockets.  There\u2019s no rockets.  There\u2019s no anything.  We\u2019re doing very well.  I\u2019ve indirectly spoken to Chairman Kim.  And when I came here, this country was headed to war with North Korea.  And now we have a very good dialogue going.  Very good.  We have \u2014 with North Korea, we have a very good dialogue.  I\u2019m going to not go any further than that.  I\u2019m just going to say it\u2019s very special.<\/p>\n<p>And anybody else but me, you\u2019d be in war right now.  And I can tell you, the previous administration would have been in war right now if that was extended.  You would, right now, be in a nice, big, fat war in Asia with North Korea if I wasn\u2019t elected President.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Do you have a place in mind for your next summit with Kim Jong Un?  Do you have a place in mind for the next summit?  Could it be in Europe?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019re negotiating a location.  It will be announced probably in the not-too-distant future.  They have made it very clear \u2014 in fact, they\u2019ve actually said to the media that they would like to meet.  And they do want to meet, and we want to meet, and we\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\n<p>But the sanctions remain in full force, in effect.  And they will until we have some very positive proof.  But I will tell you, we are doing very well with North Korea, and we\u2019re also doing very well with China, on trade.<\/p>\n<p>The other one is Iran.  Iran is doing very poorly, once I took the horrible Iran nuclear deal off.  It\u2019s had a massive effect in Iran.  They\u2019re pulling back troops all over the place.  They\u2019re not doing well.  They want to talk.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What about Syria?  How long will the troops stay in Syria?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  In Syria, we\u2019ve had a tremendous impact.  When I went there \u2014 don\u2019t forget, when they went to Syria five years ago, they were supposed to be there for three to four months, and they never came out.  We are pulling back in Syria.  We\u2019re going to be removing our troops.  I never said we\u2019re doing it that quickly.  But we\u2019re decimating ISIS.<\/p>\n<p>When I was elected President two years ago, ISIS was all over Syria and all over Iraq.  We\u2019ve wiped out ISIS in Iraq.  We\u2019ve wiped out ISIS.  And we\u2019re doing it for two reasons.  We\u2019re really doing it because we don\u2019t want them coming here, just so we understand.  But we\u2019re doing it for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we\u2019re helping other countries when we do that too.  You have to remember, Iran hates ISIS more than we do, if that\u2019s possible.  Russia hates ISIS more than we do.  Turkey hates ISIS, maybe not as much as we do.  But these are countries that hate ISIS.  And they can do a little of the fighting in their neighborhood also, because we\u2019re fighting them in their neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>But with that being said, we\u2019re pulling out of Syria, but we\u2019re doing it and we won\u2019t be finally pulled out until ISIS is gone.<\/p>\n<p>Q    How long is the pull-out period?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s going quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible) agreement with Turkey (inaudible).  John Bolton said today the withdrawal (inaudible).<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  John Bolton is, right now, over there, as you know.  And I have two great stars.  And John Bolton is doing a great job, and Mike Pompeo is doing a great job.  They\u2019re very strong and they work hard.  And, as you know, they\u2019re doing things that are very \u2014 very good.  We\u2019re coming up with some very good results.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I\u2019m in no hurry.  I have Acting.  And my Actings are doing really great.  David is doing great at Interior.  Mick Mulvaney is doing great as Chief of Staff.  But I sort of like Acting.  It gives me more flexibility.  Do you understand that?  I like Acting.  So we have a few that are Acting.  We have a great, great Cabinet.  If you look at my Cabinet, we have a fantastic Cabinet.  Really good.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Is Pence doing a good job on the shutdown negotiation?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I think we\u2019re doing a great job in the shutdown negotiation.  We have no choice.  Look, there will be \u2014 there will be \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    Do you need to be more involved, sir?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Excuse me.  I\u2019m totally involved, but I\u2019m involved with principals.  Because ultimately, it\u2019s going to be solved by the principals.  Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and myself can solve this in 20 minutes, if they want to.  If they don\u2019t want to, it\u2019s going to go on for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>I will tell you this: If we don\u2019t find a solution, it\u2019s going to go on for a long time.  There\u2019s not going to be any bend right here.  And the people that voted for Donald Trump, which are a lot of people \u2014 one of the great elections ever \u2014 those people are for it so much.  And let me tell you: People that didn\u2019t vote for Donald Trump are for it also.  They want border security.  They want to stop human trafficking.  They want to stop drugs.  They want to stop crime.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Have you accepted Speaker Pelosi\u2019s invitation to deliver the State of the Union?  (Inaudible) on the 29th?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I will be making the State of the Union on January 29th.  And I look forward to it.  I look forward to it.  And I look forward to speaking, really, before the world.  We have a lot of great things to say.  Our country is doing better than any country in the world, right now.  Our military is almost completely rebuilt.  When I took it over, it was a mess.  It was depleted.  Our trade deals are going great.  We have a deal with Mexico, with Canada, with South Korea.  We\u2019re negotiating with Europe, the European Union.  We\u2019re negotiating with China, which is, by far, the biggest of them all.  We\u2019re doing very, very well.  Very, very well.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible) Russia \u2014 Paul Whelan (inaudible)?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, we\u2019re looking into that.  We\u2019re looking into that.  Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, what should be done about federal workers who are calling out sick right now?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Look, they have to do what they have to do. But many of those workers agree with me.  And I think, frankly, there\u2019s been very little of that so far, as you know.  Very, very little.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, any more?  Thank you, everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I don\u2019t like doing this.  I have no fun doing this.  I was elected to protect our country.  That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing.  And Presidents before me have all voted for this, or many of them.  And many of the senators that I\u2019m negotiating with right now have voted for this.<\/p>\n<p>But let me tell you something: They didn\u2019t have the guts do it, just like they didn\u2019t have the guts to move the embassy to Jerusalem, in Israel.  They didn\u2019t have the guts to do things that they should have done.  Just like they didn\u2019t take out ISIS.  Just like so many other things.  I was voted 306 to 223 \u2014 or something like that \u2014 by a lot.  I was voted to be your President, partially because of security.  It\u2019s a big part of what I talked about.  Not only the wall; the military and lots of other things.  I think \u2014 I think I\u2019ve done a great job.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I think I\u2019ve done a great job.  I\u2019m getting credit from the real news for doing a great job.  But border security is a big part of that.  We also have to stop drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Q    (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Listen.  We also have to stop drugs.  If we don\u2019t stop drugs soon \u2014 there has never been a time, over the last 10 years \u2014 and it\u2019s gotten worse and worse over the last five.  There has never been a time when our country was so infested with so many different drugs coming from so many different locations.  And I believe that President Xi, in China, when he made the pledge to me to criminalize fentanyl, I believe that\u2019s going to go a long way to helping us.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to Camp David.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>END                 9:44 A.M. EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Mr. President, are you losing leverage, sir, as Republicans want to reopen the government? THE PRESIDENT: So the job numbers were fantastic. The best numbers we\u2019ve had in many years. It shocked Wall Street analysts. It didn\u2019t shock me. I know what\u2019s going on. But the job numbers were beyond anybody\u2019s expectations. Really, hundreds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/whitehouselogo200.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}