Boldly Committed to Truth Telling in the False Face of Fakery
Remarks by President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Paul Ryan
Q Mr. President, the meetings now between South Korea and North Korea - the discussions -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Hope it works out.
Q I was going ask, are you comfortable that this will remain just about the Olympics? Are you -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think so. I spoke with the President, as you know - with President Moon of South Korea. He thanked me very much for my tough stance. And you know, for 25 years, they haven't been using a tough stance. They've been giving everything.
When you look at what Bill Clinton did - and you've seen the famous clip where Bill Clinton wants to give them everything, and where I said, years ago, with Russert on Meet the Press - many years ago, I talked to - I don't think anything has changed. You have to have a certain attitude and you have to be prepared to do certain things. And I'm totally prepared to do that.
But President Moon called me, and we had a great discussion a couple of days ago, and he thanked me very much. And I hope it works out. I very much want to see it work out between the two countries. I'd like to see them getting involved in the Olympics and maybe things go from there. So I'm behind that 100 percent.
He actually thanked me. He said - and a lot of people have said, a lot of people have written - that without my rhetoric and without my tough stance - and it's not just a stance - I mean, this is - this is what has to be done, if it has to be done - that they wouldn't be talking about Olympics, that they wouldn't be talking right now.
Q Are you comfortable that they're not also taking the conversation beyond the Olympics while he continues to -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hope they do. I hope they do. I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics. We have a very good relationship with South Korea. I would love to see it go far beyond the Olympics, absolutely.
And at the appropriate time, we'll get involved. But I like the idea of their dealing on the Olympics. That should be between those two countries.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, did you ask the White House Counsel to ask Attorney General Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation?
THE PRESIDENT: Everything I've done is 100 percent proper. The story, by the way, in the Times was way off, or at least off. But everything that I've done is 100 percent proper. That's what I do is I do things proper.
And you know, I guess the collusion now is dead because everyone found that, after a year of study, there's been absolutely no collusion. There has been no collusion between us and the Russians.
Now there has been collusion between Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and the Russians. Unfortunately, you people don't cover that very much. But the only collusion is between Hillary and the Russians, and the DNC and the Russians, and one of those things.
Okay, any other questions?
Q In what way was the New York Times story off?
THE PRESIDENT: You'll find out. But the story was off.
Q Do you stand by Jeff Sessions as your Attorney General?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I do.
Q And will Gary Cohn continue to remain in position?
THE PRESIDENT: I hope so. Where's Gary? Is he here? He was here. Gary, come here. (Laughter.) Did you hear the question, Gary, in this beautiful hangar that's freezing?
MR. COHN: I did not, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: They said, will Gary Cohn continue or remain in the administration? I said, I hope so.
Now, if he leaves, I'm going to say, I'm very happy that he left, okay? (Laughter.) All right. Come here, Gary. Come here. Are you happy, Gary? He's just passed a very big bill. I think he's pretty happy.
MR. COHN: Yes, I'm happy. How's that? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Gary, hopefully, will be staying for a long time.
Yes, ma'am.
Q Just to follow up on the conversations between North Korea and South Korea, are you willing to engage in phone talks with Kim Jong-un right now?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. I always believe in talking.
Q Do you think that that would be helpful?
THE PRESIDENT: But we have a very firm stance. Look, our stance - you know what it is. We're very firm. But I would be - absolutely I would do that. No problem with that at all.
Q So no prerequisites for coming to the table and talking with him?
SPEAKER RYAN: That's not what he said.
THE PRESIDENT: We - that's not what I said, at all. Look, right now, they're talking Olympics. It's a start. It's a big start. If I weren't involved, they wouldn't be talking about Olympics right now. They'd be doing no talking or it would be much more serious.
He knows I'm not messing around. I'm not messing around - not even a little bit, not even 1 percent. He understands that. At the same time, if we can come up with a very peaceful and very good solution - we're working on it with Rex and we're working on it with a lot of people - if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world. Very important, okay?
Yes, sir.
Q Do you plan on involving yourself in Republican primaries in this midterm year?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I'll be very much involved. In fact, that's one of the reasons - hard to believe, my polls numbers have gone way up. You'll have to explain that to me someday. But I will tell you, they - actually, they've been explaining it to me, but they want me to be involved, and we're going to be very involved. In fact, not only with the Senate, also with the House.
Q And protecting incumbents? Will you -
THE PRESIDENT: Protecting incumbents and whoever I have to protect. But we need more Republicans. We have to have more Republicans.
With that being said, I think we're going to go bipartisan. I think we're going to have some really great bipartisan bills. But we need more Republicans so that we can really get the rest of the Make America Great Again agenda passed.
And so I will be actually working for incumbents and anybody else that has my kind of thinking. And I think it's going to happen. We're going to make a lot of trips. We'll be very involved. I think you folks are going to be very happy because you're going to be doing a lot of travel.
Q Does that include some challengers to incumbents too?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it - I don't see that happening. I don't see that happening at this moment, no. I think they've sort of scattered.
You had somebody that lost us the state of Alabama. And I think, as far as I'm concerned, that was a shame that that was lost. That should never have been lost.
And you have to - look, with it all being said, we have the right policy, we have the right everything. You still need a good candidate. You don't have a good candidate, you're just not going to win. So we should have never lost Alabama. It shouldn't have happened.
Okay, any other questions? Yes, ma'am.
Q Mr. President, can you lay out - I know that you guys released a very long list of requirements - things that you wanted to see on immigration tied to a DACA fix.
THE PRESIDENT: I do.
Q But can you explain to us right now the exact points -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I can just say some of the basics.
Q What exactly do you need to sign it?
THE PRESIDENT: I can say some of the basics. We want the wall. The wall is going to happen or we're not going to have DACA. You know, we want to get rid of chain migration. Very important. And we want to get rid of the lottery system.
In addition to that, we want some money for funding. We need some additional border security. These are great people and we need some border security. We need ICE. But we want to make sure that, in terms of what we want - and we want DACA to happen. We all - everybody, I think I can speak for everybody - we want John Cornyn from Texas. We all want DACA to happen. But we also want great security for our country. So important. We want to stop the drugs from flowing in. Very important.
So we have to get rid of the visa lottery. You know, the lottery is a disaster. They give you people - in fact, as you know, the person on the West Side Highway that killed eight people and so badly injured - legs and arms - so badly injured many more, they came in through the lottery system.
And remember this, the lottery - it's just common sense - they're not sending us their finest, okay. When somebody gets picked in the lottery, we're not getting their best people. So we have to get rid of the lottery system, we have to get rid of chain migration, and we have to have a wall.
Q Do you want the lottery and the chain migration aspects in that same piece of legislation?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it should be in the same legislation, yes. And I think, frankly, that the Democrats feel strongly about it too. I mean, Chuck Schumer is New York. He saw somebody that came in through the lottery system. He saw this man kill eight people on the West Side Highway that he knows very well and he loves like I do. I think he's okay with it. I really think we'll have a lot of Democrat support. I hope so.
Yes, sir.
Q Mr. President, have there been any more efforts to get Mexico to pay for the wall?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I believe that Mexico will pay for the wall. I have a very good relationship with Mexico. As you know, we're negotiating NAFTA. We'll see how that goes.
Yes, but Mexico will pay. In some form, Mexico will pay for the wall.
MS. SANDERS: Probably got time for one more question.
THE PRESIDENT: One more question.
Q Mr. President, if Robert Mueller asks you to come and speak with his committee personally, are you committed, still, to doing that? Do you believe that's appropriate for a President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Just so you understand - just so you understand, there's been no collusion; there's been no crime. And in theory, everybody tells me I'm not under investigation. Maybe Hillary is, I don't know, but I'm not.
But there's been no collusion. There's been no crime. But we have been very open. We could have done it two ways. We could have been very closed and it would have taken years. But you know, it's sort of like, when you've done nothing wrong, let's be open and get it over with.
Because, honestly, it's very, very bad for our country. It's making our country look foolish, and this is a country that I don't want looking foolish. And it's not going to look foolish as long as I'm here. So we've been very open and we just want to get that over with.
Okay, anybody else? I think we're set. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
END
Contact: White House • whitehouse.gov/the-press-office
Go Back
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Hope it works out.
Q I was going ask, are you comfortable that this will remain just about the Olympics? Are you -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think so. I spoke with the President, as you know - with President Moon of South Korea. He thanked me very much for my tough stance. And you know, for 25 years, they haven't been using a tough stance. They've been giving everything.
When you look at what Bill Clinton did - and you've seen the famous clip where Bill Clinton wants to give them everything, and where I said, years ago, with Russert on Meet the Press - many years ago, I talked to - I don't think anything has changed. You have to have a certain attitude and you have to be prepared to do certain things. And I'm totally prepared to do that.
But President Moon called me, and we had a great discussion a couple of days ago, and he thanked me very much. And I hope it works out. I very much want to see it work out between the two countries. I'd like to see them getting involved in the Olympics and maybe things go from there. So I'm behind that 100 percent.
He actually thanked me. He said - and a lot of people have said, a lot of people have written - that without my rhetoric and without my tough stance - and it's not just a stance - I mean, this is - this is what has to be done, if it has to be done - that they wouldn't be talking about Olympics, that they wouldn't be talking right now.
Q Are you comfortable that they're not also taking the conversation beyond the Olympics while he continues to -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hope they do. I hope they do. I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics. We have a very good relationship with South Korea. I would love to see it go far beyond the Olympics, absolutely.
And at the appropriate time, we'll get involved. But I like the idea of their dealing on the Olympics. That should be between those two countries.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, did you ask the White House Counsel to ask Attorney General Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation?
THE PRESIDENT: Everything I've done is 100 percent proper. The story, by the way, in the Times was way off, or at least off. But everything that I've done is 100 percent proper. That's what I do is I do things proper.
And you know, I guess the collusion now is dead because everyone found that, after a year of study, there's been absolutely no collusion. There has been no collusion between us and the Russians.
Now there has been collusion between Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and the Russians. Unfortunately, you people don't cover that very much. But the only collusion is between Hillary and the Russians, and the DNC and the Russians, and one of those things.
Okay, any other questions?
Q In what way was the New York Times story off?
THE PRESIDENT: You'll find out. But the story was off.
Q Do you stand by Jeff Sessions as your Attorney General?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I do.
Q And will Gary Cohn continue to remain in position?
THE PRESIDENT: I hope so. Where's Gary? Is he here? He was here. Gary, come here. (Laughter.) Did you hear the question, Gary, in this beautiful hangar that's freezing?
MR. COHN: I did not, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: They said, will Gary Cohn continue or remain in the administration? I said, I hope so.
Now, if he leaves, I'm going to say, I'm very happy that he left, okay? (Laughter.) All right. Come here, Gary. Come here. Are you happy, Gary? He's just passed a very big bill. I think he's pretty happy.
MR. COHN: Yes, I'm happy. How's that? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Gary, hopefully, will be staying for a long time.
Yes, ma'am.
Q Just to follow up on the conversations between North Korea and South Korea, are you willing to engage in phone talks with Kim Jong-un right now?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. I always believe in talking.
Q Do you think that that would be helpful?
THE PRESIDENT: But we have a very firm stance. Look, our stance - you know what it is. We're very firm. But I would be - absolutely I would do that. No problem with that at all.
Q So no prerequisites for coming to the table and talking with him?
SPEAKER RYAN: That's not what he said.
THE PRESIDENT: We - that's not what I said, at all. Look, right now, they're talking Olympics. It's a start. It's a big start. If I weren't involved, they wouldn't be talking about Olympics right now. They'd be doing no talking or it would be much more serious.
He knows I'm not messing around. I'm not messing around - not even a little bit, not even 1 percent. He understands that. At the same time, if we can come up with a very peaceful and very good solution - we're working on it with Rex and we're working on it with a lot of people - if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world. Very important, okay?
Yes, sir.
Q Do you plan on involving yourself in Republican primaries in this midterm year?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I'll be very much involved. In fact, that's one of the reasons - hard to believe, my polls numbers have gone way up. You'll have to explain that to me someday. But I will tell you, they - actually, they've been explaining it to me, but they want me to be involved, and we're going to be very involved. In fact, not only with the Senate, also with the House.
Q And protecting incumbents? Will you -
THE PRESIDENT: Protecting incumbents and whoever I have to protect. But we need more Republicans. We have to have more Republicans.
With that being said, I think we're going to go bipartisan. I think we're going to have some really great bipartisan bills. But we need more Republicans so that we can really get the rest of the Make America Great Again agenda passed.
And so I will be actually working for incumbents and anybody else that has my kind of thinking. And I think it's going to happen. We're going to make a lot of trips. We'll be very involved. I think you folks are going to be very happy because you're going to be doing a lot of travel.
Q Does that include some challengers to incumbents too?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it - I don't see that happening. I don't see that happening at this moment, no. I think they've sort of scattered.
You had somebody that lost us the state of Alabama. And I think, as far as I'm concerned, that was a shame that that was lost. That should never have been lost.
And you have to - look, with it all being said, we have the right policy, we have the right everything. You still need a good candidate. You don't have a good candidate, you're just not going to win. So we should have never lost Alabama. It shouldn't have happened.
Okay, any other questions? Yes, ma'am.
Q Mr. President, can you lay out - I know that you guys released a very long list of requirements - things that you wanted to see on immigration tied to a DACA fix.
THE PRESIDENT: I do.
Q But can you explain to us right now the exact points -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I can just say some of the basics.
Q What exactly do you need to sign it?
THE PRESIDENT: I can say some of the basics. We want the wall. The wall is going to happen or we're not going to have DACA. You know, we want to get rid of chain migration. Very important. And we want to get rid of the lottery system.
In addition to that, we want some money for funding. We need some additional border security. These are great people and we need some border security. We need ICE. But we want to make sure that, in terms of what we want - and we want DACA to happen. We all - everybody, I think I can speak for everybody - we want John Cornyn from Texas. We all want DACA to happen. But we also want great security for our country. So important. We want to stop the drugs from flowing in. Very important.
So we have to get rid of the visa lottery. You know, the lottery is a disaster. They give you people - in fact, as you know, the person on the West Side Highway that killed eight people and so badly injured - legs and arms - so badly injured many more, they came in through the lottery system.
And remember this, the lottery - it's just common sense - they're not sending us their finest, okay. When somebody gets picked in the lottery, we're not getting their best people. So we have to get rid of the lottery system, we have to get rid of chain migration, and we have to have a wall.
Q Do you want the lottery and the chain migration aspects in that same piece of legislation?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it should be in the same legislation, yes. And I think, frankly, that the Democrats feel strongly about it too. I mean, Chuck Schumer is New York. He saw somebody that came in through the lottery system. He saw this man kill eight people on the West Side Highway that he knows very well and he loves like I do. I think he's okay with it. I really think we'll have a lot of Democrat support. I hope so.
Yes, sir.
Q Mr. President, have there been any more efforts to get Mexico to pay for the wall?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I believe that Mexico will pay for the wall. I have a very good relationship with Mexico. As you know, we're negotiating NAFTA. We'll see how that goes.
Yes, but Mexico will pay. In some form, Mexico will pay for the wall.
MS. SANDERS: Probably got time for one more question.
THE PRESIDENT: One more question.
Q Mr. President, if Robert Mueller asks you to come and speak with his committee personally, are you committed, still, to doing that? Do you believe that's appropriate for a President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Just so you understand - just so you understand, there's been no collusion; there's been no crime. And in theory, everybody tells me I'm not under investigation. Maybe Hillary is, I don't know, but I'm not.
But there's been no collusion. There's been no crime. But we have been very open. We could have done it two ways. We could have been very closed and it would have taken years. But you know, it's sort of like, when you've done nothing wrong, let's be open and get it over with.
Because, honestly, it's very, very bad for our country. It's making our country look foolish, and this is a country that I don't want looking foolish. And it's not going to look foolish as long as I'm here. So we've been very open and we just want to get that over with.
Okay, anybody else? I think we're set. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
END
Contact: White House • whitehouse.gov/the-press-office
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