{"id":87707,"date":"2019-09-25T18:22:12","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T01:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=87707"},"modified":"2019-09-25T18:27:46","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T01:27:46","slug":"president-trump-press-conference-after-u-n-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=87707","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Press Conference After U.N. Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York, NY&#8230;Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Well, thank you all for being here.  We\u2019ve had a tremendous three days in New York, at the United Nations.  I want to thank the Secretary-General.  It\u2019s been really incredible what\u2019s been taking place.  And he\u2019s been a fantastic host to a lot of countries.  The meetings I had on a bilat, or close, were pretty staggering.  I think we set a new record, but you\u2019ll have to check that out.  The \u2014 we met very, very \u2014 for pretty extended periods of time, either two and two, one on one, or just about at that level with Pakistan, Poland, New Zealand, Singapore, Egypt, South Korea, United Kingdom, India, Iraq, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, France, Japan, Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.  Other than that, we weren\u2019t too busy over the last three days.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OhUc09a_KfA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And, unfortunately, the press doesn\u2019t even cover it.  You know, we have \u2014 we\u2019ve made some fantastic deals, like with Japan.  For farmers, we have a tremendous trade deal with Japan.  And that doesn\u2019t get covered because you waste your time on nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>The PMI manufacturers\u2019 index has gone substantially up, which was an incredible \u2014 Larry Kudlow, wherever you may be \u2014 Larry, please stand up.  He just gave me these numbers.  And existing new home sales are through the roof.  Just came out.  Oil prices have gone down ever since the Saudi Arabia incident, and they\u2019ve gone down very substantially.  So, we have plenty of oil.  But those numbers were surprising to you, Larry.  And the extent of the increase.  Is that a correct statement?  So thank you, Larry Kudlow.<\/p>\n<p>We think we\u2019ll make this little announcement to you because \u2014 important.  You know the so-called whistleblower?  The one that didn\u2019t have any first-class, or first-rate, or second-tier information, from what I understand.  You\u2019ll have to figure that out for yourself.  But I\u2019ve spoken with Leader Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans \u2014 many of them \u2014 and we were going to do this anyway, but I\u2019ve informed them \u2014 all of the House members \u2014 that I fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information, even though it was supposedly second-hand information, which is sort of interesting.<\/p>\n<p>And other things have come out about the whistleblower that are also maybe even more interesting.  But also insist on transparency from Joe Biden and his son Hunter on the millions of dollars that have been quickly and easily taken out of Ukraine and China.  Millions of dollars.  Millions and millions of dollars taken out very rapidly while he was Vice President.  And I think they should have transparency for that.  I\u2019ve informed the Leader about that.<\/p>\n<p>And additionally, I demand transparency from Democrats who went to Ukraine and attempted to force the new President, who I met and is an outstanding person.  I just met a little while ago; some of you were there.  I think he\u2019s going to be outstanding.  He got elected on the basis of corruption.  He wants to end corruption in Ukraine, and I think that\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<p>But they went there and they wanted to force the new President to do things that they wanted under the form of political threat.  They threatened him if he didn\u2019t do things.  Now, that\u2019s what they\u2019re accusing me of, but I didn\u2019t do it.  I didn\u2019t threaten anybody.  In fact, the press was asking questions of the President of Ukraine.  And he said, \u201cNo pressure.\u201d  I used the word \u201cpressure.\u201d  I think he used the word \u201cpush,\u201d but he meant pressure, but it\u2019s the same thing.  No push, no pressure, no nothing.  It\u2019s all a hoax, folks.  It\u2019s all a big hoax.<\/p>\n<p>And the sad thing about this hoax is that we work so hard with all of these countries \u2014 and I mean really hard.  This has been \u2014 I\u2019ve been up from early in the morning to late in the evening, and meeting with different countries all for the good of our country, and the press doesn\u2019t even cover all of this.  And it\u2019s disappearing \u2014 it\u2019s really disappointing also to those countries that are with us and spend so much time with us.<\/p>\n<p>So, we want transparency.  We\u2019ve informed Kevin McCarthy about transparency.  And we said, \u201cVote for it.\u201d  So I think you\u2019ll have close to 100 percent of the Republican votes, I hope.<\/p>\n<p>And it got almost no attention, but in May, CNN reported that Senators Robert Menendez, Richard Durbin, and Patrick Leahy wrote a letter to Ukraine\u2019s Prosecutor General expressing concern at the closing of four investigations they said were \u201ccritical.\u201d  In the letter, they implied that their support for U.S. assistance to Ukraine was at stake and that if they didn\u2019t do the right thing, they wouldn\u2019t get any assistance.  Gee, doesn\u2019t that sound familiar?  Doesn\u2019t that sound familiar?<\/p>\n<p>And Chris Murphy \u2014 who I\u2019ve been dealing with on guns \u2014 you know, so nice.  He\u2019s always, \u201cOh, no, we want to work it out.  We want to work it out.\u201d  But they\u2019re too busy wasting their time on the witch hunt.  So, Senator Chris Murphy literally threatened the President of Ukraine that, if he doesn\u2019t do things right, they won\u2019t have Democrat support in Congress.  So you\u2019re going to look all of this up.<\/p>\n<p>One other thing \u2014 I\u2019m just going off of certain notes and elements of what we\u2019ve been doing over the last three days, but this just came up a few minutes ago: The \u201cAmazon-Washington Post\u201d just put out a fake article that Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire \u2014 who I\u2019ve gotten to know, and he\u2019s a tough cookie \u2014 and I was surprised; I was shocked to hear this \u2014 was going to quit, blaming the White House for something that they wouldn\u2019t let him talk openly, freely.  And I was shocked because I know Joe, and he\u2019s tough.  A tough guy.<\/p>\n<p>And I was really surprised to hear he was going to quit.  Before I could even either talk to him or talk to anybody else, he put out a statement \u2014 I didn\u2019t speak to Joe yet \u2014 but he said, \u201cAt no time have I considered resigning my position.\u201d  In other words, the story in the Washington Post was a fake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt no time have I considered resigning my position since assuming this role on August 16, 2019.  I have never quit anything in my life, and I am not going to start now.  I\u2019m committed to leading the intelligence community to address the diverse and complex threats facing our nation.\u201d  That\u2019s from the Acting Director of National Intelligence, a very good man, Joseph Maguire.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re having a great period of time.  Our country is the strongest it\u2019s ever been economically.  Our numbers are phenomenal.  Wilbur, thank you.  And Larry.  Everybody.  The numbers are phenomenal.  Our economy is the strongest in the world.  We\u2019re the largest economy in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Had my opponent won, we would be second right now because China was catching us so rapidly, we would\u2019ve been second by this time.  And unless somebody does a very poor job as President, we\u2019re going to be first for a long way, because we\u2019ve picked up trillions and trillions of dollars in value and worth of our country, and China has lost trillions and trillions of dollars, and millions of jobs, and their supply chain.  And they want to make a deal.<\/p>\n<p>This year, America came to the United Nations stronger than we have ever been before: Since my election, the United States has not only brought our economy to a level that we have never seen, the most jobs that we\u2019ve ever had \u2014 you know you\u2019ve heard me say it many times \u2014 African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, the best unemployment numbers we\u2019ve ever had.  And the most and best employment numbers: 160 million \u2014 very close to that number \u2014 in jobs.  We\u2019ve never been anywhere close.<\/p>\n<p>Wages are up, and inequality is down.  Something that people don\u2019t like writing about.  But wages are up.  I used to speak during the campaign, and I\u2019d talk about wages where people were making less money three years ago than they were making 21 years, 22 years ago, and they\u2019d have two jobs and three jobs.  When I say \u201cthree years ago,\u201d I\u2019m talking into the area sometime prior to the election.  And they were doing very badly.  And now, for the first time in many years, wages are up and employment is up, and unemployment is down.  And it\u2019s a beautiful thing to watch.<\/p>\n<p>In a week of active and ambitious diplomacy here at the United Nations, America renewed our friendships.  We advanced our values greatly and made clear to everyone that the United States will always defend our citizens to promote prosperity.<\/p>\n<p>I met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at length, of the United Kingdom, continuing our discussions on a magnificent, new bilateral trade deal.  So we\u2019ll see what happens with respect to Brexit, but I suspect we\u2019ll have a fantastic deal with the UK. It should be much bigger than it has been over the last number of years.  Over the last 20 years, frankly.  It should be a much bigger deal.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s true with many countries.  We\u2019re going to have much bigger trade deals with a lot of countries that have an opportunity to come.  And they all want to do business with the United States, especially now.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, I stood alongside Prime Minister Abe of Japan \u2014 a friend of mine, a great gentleman.  Had a great reelection.  And we signed a terrific new trade deal, which tremendously helps our farmers and ranchers, and technology.  The technology companies are really big beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<p>We also held very productive conversations with leaders of Pakistan, India.  And many other nations are achieving stronger ties of fair and reciprocal trade.  And with respect to Pakistan and India, we talked about Kashmir.  And whatever help I can be, I said \u2014 I offered, whether it\u2019s arbitration or mediation, or whatever it has to be, I\u2019ll do whatever I can.  Because they\u2019re at very serious odds right now, and hopefully that\u2019ll get better.<\/p>\n<p>You look at the two gentlemen heading those two countries \u2014 two good friends of mine \u2014 I said, \u201cFellas, work it out.  Just work it out.\u201d  Those are two nuclear countries.  They\u2019ve got to work it out.<\/p>\n<p>This week, we also made incredible strides on national security with President Duda of Poland.  We signed a joint declaration advancing defense cooperation.  And, crucially, Poland has agreed to put up 100 percent of the money \u2014 something I don\u2019t think you\u2019ve ever heard said before.  But they\u2019re going to put up 100 percent of the money, of hosting additional U.S. military personnel that we\u2019ll be taking from various other countries.  We won\u2019t have more over; we\u2019ll have \u2014 we\u2019ll be moving them around.<\/p>\n<p>Poland is building us phenomenal new facilities.  They\u2019re spending everything, and they\u2019re going to really do a job.  But we\u2019ll be moving a few thousand soldiers, and Poland will be paying that for it.<\/p>\n<p>Together with Prime Minister Lee of Singapore, I signed an important agreement extending our defense cooperation.  This hasn\u2019t been changed in many years.  Then, yesterday, I met with prospective members of the Middle East Strategic Alliance, which is a group that I know very well; I know all of them.  And through this effort, the nations of the Middle East are taking more responsibility for securing their own future and their own neighborhood.  And they\u2019re also reimbursing us and paying us for a lot of the military work that we incredibly do.<\/p>\n<p>But because we\u2019re now independent, energy-wise \u2014 we\u2019re energy independent \u2014 we have very few boats going over the Middle East.  We used to have them going through the Straits all the time.  And you probably noticed that, every once in a while, they go after somebody else\u2019s.  They haven\u2019t gone after ours yet. If they do, they\u2019ve get big problems.  But we have very few boats going over there.  They were saying the other day, they\u2019ve never attacked an American boat, and I\u2019m not asking for trouble.  But if they do, they know they have far bigger trouble.  But then they said, \u201cBut, you know, we don\u2019t see very many American boats over here anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This week also brought extraordinary progress to nations of our own hemisphere.  In recent days, we\u2019ve achieved historic asylum cooperation agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  We were with El Salvador today.  A great young gentleman became the President.  He\u2019s strong and tough, and he\u2019s taking care of crime.  He was really something today.  I was very impressed with him.  And likewise with Honduras, who we met.  We signed a cooperation agreement with both, and also with Guatemala.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re working with our partners in Central America to ensure that asylum-seekers can pursue relief as close to their home countries as possible.  That\u2019ll make a tremendous difference at our southern border.<\/p>\n<p>And Mexico \u2014 I have to say, President Lopez Obrador has been outstanding \u2014 an outstanding partner.  And he\u2019s doing a great job in Mexico.  The cartels are way down, and the numbers \u2014 our Secretary is here now \u2014 the numbers are way down.  Way, way down.  And we\u2019re doing that without the help of Congress, meaning the Democrats in Congress who won\u2019t give us a single vote to take care of loopholes.<\/p>\n<p>We have loopholes that are so horrible, and it would be so easy to fix.  And they know they should be fixed but they don\u2019t want to do because they don\u2019t want to give Trump any credit because it\u2019s all about the election.  That\u2019s all they care about.  They don\u2019t care about our country; they care about the election.<\/p>\n<p>And the sad part is, with all of the tremendous work that we\u2019ve done this weekend \u2014 whether it\u2019s Secretary Mnuchin or Secretary Pompeo, who had some outstanding, outstanding meetings \u2014 with all of this tremendous work that we\u2019ve done, the press doesn\u2019t even cover it.  And the Democrats did this hoax during the United Nations week.  It was perfect.  Because this way, it takes away from these tremendous achievements that we\u2019re taking care of doing, that we\u2019re involved in in New York City, at the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p>So that was all planned, like everything else.  It was all planned.  And the witch hunt continues, but they\u2019re getting hit hard in this witch hunt, because when they look at the information, it\u2019s a joke.  Impeachment?  For that?  When you have a wonderful meeting, or you have a wonderful phone conversation?<\/p>\n<p>I think you should ask.  We actually \u2014 you know, that was the second conversation.  I think you should ask for the first conversation also.  I can\u2019t believe they haven\u2019t, although I heard there\u2019s a \u2014 there\u2019s a rumor out they want the first conversation.  It was beautiful.  It was just a perfect conversation.<\/p>\n<p>But I think you should do that.  I think you should do, and I think you should ask for VP Pence\u2019s conversation because he had a couple conversations also.  I can save you a lot of time.  They\u2019re all perfect.  Nothing was mentioned of any import other than congratulations.  But the word is that they\u2019re going to ask for the first phone conversation.  You can have it anytime you need it.  And also Mike Pence\u2019s conversations, which were, I think, one or two of them.  They were perfect.  They were all perfect.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very sad what the Democrats are doing to this country. They\u2019re dividing.  They\u2019re belittling.  They\u2019re demeaning our country.  So many leaders came up to me today and they said, \u201cSir, what you go through, no President has ever gone through.  And it\u2019s so bad for your country.\u201d  People laugh at the stupidity of what they\u2019ve asked for.  And here we could do asylum.  We could do all of these different things so easily.  We could do asylum quickly.  We could do loopholes; get rid of them.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, we actually made deals with Mexico and with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras.  And we\u2019re doing it with them instead of with our Congress, but we\u2019re doing it.  We get it done.<\/p>\n<p>The wall is being built, by the way.  It got little coverage.  I went to the border.  It\u2019s going up in New Mexico.  It\u2019s going up in Arizona.  It\u2019s going up in California, believe it or not.  They really wanted that wall in California, in San Diego.  As soon as it was completed, they said, \u201cWe don\u2019t want a wall.\u201d  They were begging me for a wall.  I should take it out and move it to another location.<\/p>\n<p>We were with the Governor \u2014 spoke to him a lot \u2014 but the Governor of Texas, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Attorney General of Texas, the senators of Texas \u2014 Cornyn, Ted Cruz.  And we\u2019re building an incredible wall.  That\u2019s going to \u2014 number one, it\u2019s going to look great.  It\u2019s going to be virtually impossible to cross unless you\u2019re one hell of a mountain climber.  It\u2019s very tough.  It\u2019s going to be very tough to get people and drugs over those walls, because they\u2019re the real deal.<\/p>\n<p>I went to the Secretary of Homeland security, and he got all his people together.  I said, \u201cGive me four walls \u2014 your optimum.  Every single thing included.\u201d  And they give me 20 percent less, 20 percent less, and 20 percent less \u2014 meaning, less cost.  They came back, they said, \u201cThis is the wall, sir.  This would be the best.\u201d  We have the panels on top, which are anti-climb panels.  I don\u2019t know if you noticed the steel on top.  We have a different design for a different area, but this anti-climb is very tough.  They\u2019ve \u2014 we had people going out and real climbers telling us which is the toughest to climb.  But these are anti-climb panels.  Very tough to get across.<\/p>\n<p>And the wall is going up, many miles a week.  And we hope to have over 400, but maybe as much as 500 miles, which we\u2019ll pretty much do it because you have a lot of natural barriers; you have mountains, you have really rough rivers.  You have some really rough land that you can\u2019t cross very easily.  So they serve as their natural walls.  But we \u2014 we\u2019ll have, we think, over 400, but we could even have 500 miles.<\/p>\n<p>To combat the malice, corruption of both the Venezuelan and Iranian dictatorships, today I issued proclamations suspending the entry into the United States of senior regime officials and their families.<\/p>\n<p>And further, to promote American values, on Monday I was proud to be the first President in history to host a meeting at the United Nations \u2014<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m so surprised; first President for this.  I can\u2019t believe that I\u2019m first.  I spoke to Franklin Graham about that.  I can\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 at the United Nations, on protecting religious freedom and liberty for people around the world.<\/p>\n<p>While some partisans and unelected bureaucrats in Washington may choose to fight every day against the interests and beliefs of the American people, my administration is standing up for the American people like no administration has in many, many years.  You forgot the American people.  You totally forgot the American people.<\/p>\n<p>This week, every \u2014 every week, I really can say \u2014 of my presidency, we\u2019re standing up for American prosperity, American security, and the American way of life.  And together, with our friends and partners, we\u2019re building a more peaceful, prosperous, and promising future.<\/p>\n<p>We have a tremendous relationship now with a lot of nations that are very happy with what\u2019s going on, and that includes in South America, where they\u2019ve been so helpful, where nobody thought this would be possible.  The relationship with Mexico is an example, or El Salvador, or Honduras, or Guatemala.  Nobody even knew about it.  Yet, we sent them hundreds of millions of dollars, and all we got back was caravans of people pouring in.<\/p>\n<p>We had tremendous \u2014 we had tremendous \u2014 it was terrible.  And we\u2019ve got that stopped, and the countries are now helping us.  And we stopped those payments, by the way.  We don\u2019t pay those countries that money anymore.  But I will tell you, if they\u2019re as good as they seem to be \u2014 they\u2019re really doing a job on crime and stopping the wrong people from leaving and coming to the United States \u2014 we\u2019ll be helping them a lot with economic development projects and other things.<\/p>\n<p>So, with that, we had a tremendous three days.  It was beautiful to see.  Made a lot of new friends.  I read you a list of all the countries I saw pretty much one on one.  And it\u2019s been very busy, but it\u2019s been very, very fruitful.<\/p>\n<p>So we could take a couple of questions. I\u2019d love some questions on some of the things that we accomplished at UNGA, instead of the witch hunt \u2014 the phony witch hunt questions, which I know that\u2019s what you want to ask because it\u2019s probably better for you, but it\u2019s not better for the country.<\/p>\n<p>So maybe we\u2019ll take a few \u2014 a few questions.  Please.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  You suggested that you didn\u2019t do anything wrong in the course of your conversations with the Ukrainian President.  But can you explain to the American people why it is appropriate for an American President to ask a foreign leader for information about a political rival, and what you would have said if you discovered that Barack Obama perhaps had asked a foreign leader for information about you before your campaign for the presidency?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah.  Well, that\u2019s what he did, isn\u2019t it, really?  When you think about it.<\/p>\n<p>Look, that whole witch hunt was started, and hopefully that\u2019ll all come out.  But there\u2019s been some fantastic books written that just came out \u2014 whether you will look at Gregg Jarrett, or McCarthy\u2019s book that just \u2014 just came out recently, and so many other books.  And a lot of books are coming out. When you start reading those books, you see what they did to us.  What they\u2019ve done to this country is a disgrace.  They\u2019ve hurt this country very badly.  And no other President should have to go through what I\u2019ve gone through.<\/p>\n<p>The President \u2014 the new President of Ukraine is looking to stop corruption.  There\u2019s a lot of corruption going on, and there was corruption.  I just told you about senators that threatened him with votes and no money coming into Ukraine if they do things.  That\u2019s really what people are trying to say that I did, but the only difference is I didn\u2019t do it.  You take a look at that call; it was perfect.  I didn\u2019t do it.  There was no quid pro quo, but there was with Biden and there was with these senators.  And they threatened.  They said, \u201cYou do this, you do that.  We\u2019re not going to give you votes.\u201d  That\u2019s \u2014 that\u2019s the real deal.<\/p>\n<p>So we have an honest group of people that have been maligned.  And, you know, it\u2019s \u2014 a lot of people say I\u2019ll do even better.  I\u2019m very happy.  Yesterday, I guess we had a 53 poll, and a lot of people say add 10 points to anything.  Anybody voting for Trump, you can add \u2014 anytime you get a poll, you can add 10 points or 7 points or 6 points.  Take it any way you want.  But I don\u2019t know if I consider that to be a compliment, but in one way it is a compliment.<\/p>\n<p>And I guess that\u2019s what happened in the last election: Far more people came to vote than anybody thought possible.<\/p>\n<p>Q    So why should the American people then be comfortable with an American President asking a foreign leader for information about an American citizen?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I think you can look at your senators and you can look at Biden, and you can look at all these other people.  But what we\u2019re looking for is corruption.  An investigation started, called the \u201cRussian witch hunt,\u201d affectionately.  And it was a total phony scam.  It was set up by people within the government to try and stop somebody from getting elected.<\/p>\n<p>And after that person \u2014 namely, me \u2014 won, and convincingly won at 306 to 223 in the Electoral College \u2014 which, by the way, when you run a race, if you\u2019re running electoral \u2014 you know, if you go by the College, Electoral College, that\u2019s a much different race than running popular vote.  And it\u2019s like the hundred-yard dash or the mile.  You train differently.<\/p>\n<p>And I can\u2019t help it that my opponent didn\u2019t go to Wisconsin and should have gone much more to Michigan and Pennsylvania and other places.  But that\u2019s the way it is.  We won election, convincingly.  Convincingly.  And then you had the text message on, \u201cWell, if she doesn\u2019t win, we\u2019ve got an insurance policy.\u201d How bad was that?  You know the insurance policy?  That\u2019s sort of what has been taking place over the last number of years \u2014 the insurance policy.<\/p>\n<p>No, there are a lot of very dishonest people.  We\u2019re the ones that played it straight.  And you know what?  The millions of people out there that are looking at what\u2019s going on \u2014 those people understand it.  They see it.  And they think it\u2019s disgusting.  And our people are being hurt, and our country is being hurt.<\/p>\n<p>When Nancy Pelosi allows her position to be taken over by radical far-left socialists, or worse, that\u2019s pretty bad.  That\u2019s pretty bad \u2014 especially when the senators and all of these other people have actually done what they\u2019re accusing me of doing, which I didn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to have Mike Pompeo say a couple of words.  I\u2019m going to have Steve Mnuchin say a couple of words.  And then we\u2019ll do a couple of more questions.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY POMPEO:  Mr. President, I thought I\u2019d start by talking about Iran.  We had a productive week.  We saw the Europeans take a position with respect to the attacks that took place in Saudi Arabia, making clear this was Iran, just as President Trump and I had been saying, and have now joined us in saying that the existing JCPOA framework is not going to work, it\u2019s not going to solve the world\u2019s problems, it\u2019s not going to create Middle East stability.<\/p>\n<p>Then we had a good set of meetings with our Middle East allies as well.  The President joined for a meeting of the GCC where we talked again about how we can help deter.  We want peace.  We want a peaceful resolution with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  We\u2019re hoping we can get that way.  In the end, it\u2019ll be up to the Iranians to make that decision, whether they\u2019ll choose violence and hate \u2014 and the President said in his speech yesterday to the General Assembly \u2014 if their bloodthirst will continue.<\/p>\n<p>We hope that\u2019s the (inaudible).  We hope we can get the opportunity to negotiate with them and get an outcome that\u2019s good for both of them, for the United States, to make sure that they never have a nuclear weapon and that they can\u2019t foment their terror with ballistic missiles and in the way they have all around the world.  And I think we made real progress uniting the world on that here over these past few days.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  As Secretary Pompeo said on Iran, we had very good discussions with all of our allies about the sanctions program, which is the maximum pressure, and unity on the sanctions program.  The Europeans made it very clear they would not do anything without our consent.<\/p>\n<p>And then, on the economic front, we had the entire economic team here for all the meetings: Secretary Ross, Larry Kudlow; Ambassador Lighthizer just left to go back to D.C.  He\u2019s working hard on trying to get USMCA passed.  But we had a lot of productive discussions.  The Japanese trade deal and a lot of discussions on investing in the U.S., more jobs in the U.S., and more trade.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Okay.  Go ahead, please.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Thank you.  Kristina Partsinevelos, Fox Business.  I want to focus on markets, because I\u2019ll leave it to everybody else to talk about impeachment.  Markets reacted positively after you spoke about China, and that it would happen sooner than \u2014 rather than unexpectedly.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, you have the Foreign Minister of China saying that they have no intention of, you know, unseating the United States.  And yet, they\u2019re investing heavily in infrastructure and military.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Not anymore, maybe.<\/p>\n<p>Q    But what \u2014 what is different this time, though?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And maybe they just say that, Kristina.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What is different this time, though?  The fact that you\u2019re saying it\u2019s progressing.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Oh, I just think it\u2019s progressing.  I think they want to make a deal.  They\u2019re losing their supply chain.  You know, it\u2019s getting killed.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Do you have something specific?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don\u2019t want to say that.  But I can tell you that these two men \u2014 and, in this case, more specifically, Steve, we\u2019re having some very good conversations.<br \/>\nAnd I guess it\u2019s next week that a group is coming in and the week after.  So we have a lot of \u2014 we have a lot of talks going on, and also by telephone.<\/p>\n<p>They want to make a deal.  And you know why they want to make a deal?  Because they\u2019re losing their jobs, and because their supply chain is going to hell.  And companies are moving out of China, and they\u2019re moving to lots of other places, including the United States.  And that\u2019s not good; that\u2019s far worse than they thought.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, in the meantime, we\u2019re taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs.  We\u2019re taking in tremendous numbers in tariffs.  And we\u2019re helping our farmers who got targeted.  Now, by the way, China is starting to buy our agricultural product again.  They\u2019re starting to go with the beef and all of the different things \u2014 pork.  Very big on pork.<\/p>\n<p>But if you look and if you see \u2014 and they actually put out, I think, a statement.  But they\u2019re starting, very heavy, to buy our ag again.  No, they want to make a deal.  And they should want to make a deal.  The question is: Do we want to make a deal?<\/p>\n<p>Q   If USMCA doesn\u2019t pass through Congress, is that it for NAFTA?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, that would be a shame.  Well, I don\u2019t want to answer that question, but you know how I feel about NAFTA.  I think NAFTA is the worst trade deal ever made, although I also happen to think World Trade Organization was not one of the greats.  Not one of the greats.  That was the creation of China, which went like a rocket ship from the day they signed.  It was \u2014 it was terrible.<\/p>\n<p>But, no, we\u2019re going to find out.  That\u2019s going to be a very interesting question, with Nancy and Chuck and all of these people focusing on the witch hunt because they can\u2019t beat us at the ballot.  They can\u2019t beat us at the ballot.  And they\u2019re not going to win the presidential.  We\u2019re having great polls.  We have internal polls that are \u2014 Ohio, Iowa.  Pennsylvania is looking good.  North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>We just won two races that a lot of people \u2014 we thought we were going to lose both of those races.  One was down 17 points three weeks before the race, and he ended up winning by a substantial margin \u2014 by a substantial margin.  And \u2014 Dan Bishop.<\/p>\n<p>And then we had a second race, as you know, and he was up one or two points and ended up winning by \u2014 what was it?  Twenty-five points or some incredible \u2014 I\u2019ll ask you folks because I don\u2019t want to be inaccurate.  Otherwise, I\u2019ll have a front-page story: \u201cWe have breaking news.  Trump exaggerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But he won by many, many points.  And he was leading by maybe two, maybe three, but he won by \u2014 in the twenties.  So it\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s been \u2014 so we\u2019re looking great in North Carolina, looking great in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>And you had one or two congressmen Democrats say, \u201cListen, we can\u2019t beat them at the election, so let\u2019s impeach him.\u201d  Right?  Didn\u2019t you hear \u2014 Al Green.  That\u2019s a beauty.  He\u2019s a real beauty, that guy.  But he said, very distinctively, it\u2019s all \u2014 it was all over the place.  I don\u2019t know \u2014 they\u2019re trying to lose that tape, I guess.<\/p>\n<p>But he said, \u201cWe can\u2019t\u2026\u201d  Essentially, he said, \u201cWe can\u2019t beat him.  Let\u2019s impeach him.\u201d  That\u2019s pretty \u2014 that\u2019s pretty dangerous stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Steve, go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Thank you, sir.  You had expressed some concerns about the precedent of releasing the transcript.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah.  I don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Why did you go ahead and do it?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Because I was getting such fake news, and I just thought it would be better.  And now they\u2019re asking for the first phone conversation, and I\u2019ll release that too, if it\u2019s important to you.  But they\u2019re asking for \u2014 because I had a conversation previous \u2014 on a previous election plateau that he had hit.  The \u2014 the current president hit a couple of different plateaus.  And I spoke to him, previous to the call that we released, which was a very innocent call \u2014 very, very innocent; very nice call.<\/p>\n<p>And as he said, we were \u2014 \u201cI wasn\u2019t pushed.  I wasn\u2019t pushed,\u201d meaning pressured.  He wasn\u2019t pressured at all.<\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t like the concept of releasing calls because when a president or prime minister, or a king or a queen, calls the United States, you don\u2019t like to say, \u201cGee, we\u2019re going to release your call to the fake-news media, and they\u2019re going to make you look like a fool.\u201d  What happens is, it\u2019s hard to do business that way.  You want to have people feel comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>So I hated it, but you folks were saying such lies, such horrible things about a call that was so innocent and so nice.  In fact, Lindsey Graham said to me, when he read it \u2014 it was very interesting.  He\u2019s a good man.  He\u2019s a smart man.  He said, \u201cI can\u2019t believe it.  I never knew you could be this, really, nice to a person.\u201d  He said, \u201cI cannot believe it.  You were so nice.  I didn\u2019t think you had that in you to be so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I was nice.  I\u2019m nice to a lot of people.  People don\u2019t understand that.  But I was.  But he was shocked that it was such a nice call.  There \u2014 he said, \u201cThere is nothing here.\u201d  And all fair people say the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t like the precedent, Steve.  I don\u2019t like it where you\u2019re dealing with heads of state and to think that their call is going to be released.  But I felt that \u2014 and, you know, we spoke to Ukraine about it.  Mike actually called up his counterpart, and we spoke to Ukraine about it because we want to \u2014 because they could have been \u2014 if that they didn\u2019t want us to do it, we would not have done it.<\/p>\n<p>But he actually said, \u201cThat was a very innocent call.  You can release it all you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Q    And are you now braced for long impeachment saga?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I thought we won.  I thought it was dead.  It was dead.  The Mueller report \u2014 no obstruction, no collusion.  You look at all of the things that happened.<\/p>\n<p>Corey Lewandowski was fantastic the other day, as a person that they have been tormenting.  You look at all the people that they\u2019ve tormented, all the legal fees.  People came here with bright eyes; they wanted to make life so great for other people.  And they left where they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees that they didn\u2019t have.  And it\u2019s a sad thing.  What these Democrats have done to ruin lives is so sad.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen people with only good intention.  They came to Washington because they wanted to make the United States and the world a better place.  And they went home \u2014 they were dark.  They got hit by Mueller\u2019s subpoenas.  I think there were 2,500 subpoenas, or some ridiculous number.  Five hundred people were interviewed, and yet, they don\u2019t interview Joe Biden and his son.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re Democrat, you have automatic protection.  That\u2019s years and years of people putting in certain people into positions.  But when you look at all of the \u2014 all of the trauma that these fakers, of course \u2014 and the press \u2014 look, the press is \u2014 much of the press is not only fake, it\u2019s corrupt.  These stories they write are corrupt; they\u2019re so wrong.  And they know that.<\/p>\n<p>You know, it used to be \u2014 I used to get great press until I ran for politics.  I mean, I used to be the king of getting good press.  I was very good at it.  And I got good.  I mean, they covered me well for what \u2014 otherwise, I probably wouldn\u2019t be here.<\/p>\n<p>And once I ran, I said, \u201cBoy, this is incredible.\u201d  But if you see the way they treat my family \u2014 used to be treated great.  My family worked so hard.  The people that work with me \u2014 these people \u2014 all of these people, they work so hard.  They\u2019ve done such a good \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Look, we have the greatest economy we\u2019ve ever had.  We have a military \u2014 two and a half trillion dollars.  We\u2019ve rebuilt our military.  You don\u2019t hear the vets complaining.  We got Choice approved.  It couldn\u2019t be approved.<\/p>\n<p>But when you see what happened with the viciousness, and when you see little Adam Schiff go out and lie and lie and stand at the mic \u2014 smart guy, by the way \u2014 stand at the mic and act like he\u2019s so serious.  And then he goes into a room with Nadler, and they must laugh their asses off.  They must laugh their asses off.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s so bad for our country.  People have said \u2014 Rush Limbaugh \u2014 great man; Sean Hannity said it.  A lot of people have said it.  Mark Levin.  They said they don\u2019t know if one man anywhere in the world, with all the men they know \u2014 or woman \u2014 that could handle what I\u2019ve had to handle.<\/p>\n<p>And I think that\u2019s true, but I handle it.  To me, it\u2019s like putting on a suit.<\/p>\n<p>All right, how about one more question?  A question on the economy.  A question on the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Go ahead.  Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Hi, Mr. President.  VPItv from Venezuela \u2014 Caracas, Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Good.  Good.  Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  How are you doing?<\/p>\n<p>Q    We made it.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  How are you doing over there?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Pretty bad.  Our situation is pretty bad.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah.  I would say \u201cpretty bad.\u201d  Yeah.  Sad.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Yeah.  But we are fighting.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And it was one of the great countries and one of the richest countries not so long ago \u2014 15 years ago.  It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<p>Q    But we are going to make it.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Right.  I agree with that.  And we\u2019re helping you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We\u2019re helping you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Yeah, I know.  And thank you.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    I have two questions \u2014<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    \u2014 to take advantage of this.  Maduro traveled to Russia and Diosdado Cabello to North Korea \u2014 two of the most antagonist nations in the U.S. interests.  What can be done to contain this?  What are they looking for in that country?  And because the special envoy, Mr. Abrams, said that the Russians are willing to negotiate it.  This is one question.<\/p>\n<p>And the other: Mr. President, you say that the socialists is one of the biggest challenges, you said yesterday in the United Nations.  But the region is far from safe.  Maduro is still a dictator, full in power.  (Inaudible) in Argentina and Brazil are on their (inaudible) about the socialist and populist.  Are you worried about it?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I just say that socialism will never happen in the United States.  It can\u2019t happen in the United States.  And Venezuela \u2014 unfortunately, I have to use your country as the example of what socialism can do, how it can tear the fabric of a country apart.  Because I know a lot about Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve had many, many friends of mine come from Venezuela.  They live \u2014 many in Miami \u2014 a certain section of Miami, I won\u2019t mention the name because they\u2019ll say I\u2019m thinking about my business, and I\u2019m not.  But they are fantastic people and they like your President.  They voted overwhelmingly for me.  They like what I\u2019m doing for Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>We have Venezuela very much in our hearts and very much in our sights.  And we\u2019re watching it very carefully.  And you know what I would say?  We\u2019re giving millions and millions of dollars in aid \u2014 not that we want to, from the Maduro standpoint, but we have to because, on a humanitarian \u2014 people are dying.  They have no food.  They have no water.  They have no nothing.  They\u2019re dying.  No medicine.  Their hospitals are closed or \u2014 or don\u2019t even have electricity.  It\u2019s so sad to see.<\/p>\n<p>Let me just say that we have it under control.  We are watching it very carefully.  And we\u2019re going to be very, very \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    Russia (inaudible) \u2014<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We\u2019re \u2014 we\u2019re watching it very carefully, including other countries that may or may not be playing games.  We\u2019re watching it very closely.<\/p>\n<p>Q    But, you know, if Russia is talking with the USA or Guaid\u00f3, what can you tell \u2014 about us?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Just put this in the back of your mind: It\u2019s all going to be fine.  We know everything that you said, and it\u2019s all going to be fine.  We\u2019re very much involved.  We very much know what\u2019s going on, and we\u2019re very much involved.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all very much.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York, NY&#8230;Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, thank you all for being here. We\u2019ve had a tremendous three days in New York, at the United Nations. I want to thank the Secretary-General. It\u2019s been really incredible what\u2019s been taking place. And he\u2019s been a fantastic host to a lot of countries. The meetings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87708,"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":[12,20,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","category-featured","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/screencapture-youtube-watch-2019-09-25-18_15_17.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87707","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=87707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/87708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}