Press Conference by President Trump | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    Will we make a deal, Steve? I don't really know. But I think we're going to.

    In the meantime - and I've said it a thousand - I don't want to bore you: no rockets, no missiles, no nuclear tests - you know, for over a year, where you haven't seen.

    Before I got here, everybody in this room thought you were going to war. And then what happened - it was funny - they said, "He was terrible. He was so rough with Chairman Kim - Kim Jong Un. He was so rough. It's terrible. He's going to cause..."

    Well, I had a great meeting with President Putin. And on that one, they said, "He was too soft with President Putin." I had a great meeting with the President. It lasted for two hours. We discussed everything: Ukraine, Syria, Israel and Israel's protection. We had a great meeting. They wanted me to end up in a boxing match.

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

    Go ahead.

    Q So how do you - how long do you -

    THE PRESIDENT: Wait. One second.

    Q How long do you think it should take North Korea to denuclearize?

    THE PRESIDENT: I don't know. I don't want to get into -

    Q We've seen estimates of one year, two year -

    THE PRESIDENT: Steve, I don't want to get into the time game. You know why? I told Mike Pompeo, I said, "Mike, don't get into the time game." We stopped them. They're taking down plants. They're taking down a lot of different testing areas. They're going to take down some more. You'll be hearing about that very soon. I don't want to go ahead of myself, but you'll be hearing about it soon. They have no interest right now in testing nuclear.

    You know, we had a case just about when I was coming into office - you all remember it - where there was a massive - they thought it was an earthquake. A mountain moved over an inch and a half. We're talking about mountains. You know, North Korea is very mountainous. Beautiful land. Beautiful. This mountain actually shifted. It shifted. And somebody thought it was an earthquake. And then they found out, no, this was nuclear testing. Shifted a mountain. Now I'm talking about serious stuff. Serious size.

    When I came in, and certainly before I came in - and even at the beginning of mine because when I was having rhetorical contests - you know, contests, really, I guess you could call it - with Chairman Kim, which we both smile at now and we laugh at. But everybody thought that was a horrible thing.

    We've had - many Presidents were unable to do anything, anything at all with North Korea. We now have a good relationship. We have a good relationship. And most importantly, all of the things that you've been hearing about -the horror stories - in my opinion, they're gone.

    Now, could they start up again? Yes. I'm a deal guy. Could they start? Yeah. Could be that we don't work it out.

    I think - I have it right here - I think that what we've done behind the scenes, which nobody really knows about - and I don't blame you for not knowing about, you know, personal letters, private letters. But saying they want to get it done. We know much more than the media for a change. Much more. But if you saw what's going on behind the scenes, I think you'd very impressed.

    We were a country going to war. I really believe that President Obama would admit that he said it's by far his biggest problem. When I sat with him, prior to going to office - going into office, he said to me that's by far the biggest problem. And he said to me that he was very close to going into war.

    And millions of people - not - you know, I - they say, "Oh, thousands of people..." No, no, no, not thousands. Millions of people would have been killed. And that could have left - you're right next to China. You're right - that could have been a world war very easily.

    Right now, we're in a great position. I don't want to play the time game. I told Mike Pompeo, "Don't let them do that to you." I haven't given anything.

    And all of a sudden - we got back, it was a few weeks ago. I think we were back like two and a half months from the summit, which was a great success. And people are screaming, "What's taking so long?" I said, "Oh, I get it." You got to understand the media. I've been dealing with the media all my life. Too much. Too much.

    They're screaming and I saw that. And our guys were - and not Mike - but our guys were being, "Oh well, we're working as fast..." I said, "I got all the time in the world. I don't have to rush it." There's no - you know, secession of sanctions. We got the sanctions on. I didn't take any sanctions off.

    I did see a reporter last night - a guy I like, personally, a lot. And he asked a question to President Moon of South Korea. He said, "Why did the President give so much?" I didn't give anything. I gave nothing. What have I given, other than some time? Yes, I flew to Singapore. We had a meeting.

    Now, giving would be if I took the sanctions off. I didn't want to do - if you asked General Mattis, for a year and a half, I said, "Why don't we stop these ridiculous," in my opinion, "the military games?" I call them the "military games." If I told you how much those games cost - and, frankly, I told South Korea, "You should be paying for these games." We pay for them.

    They say, "Well, we fly the planes in from a short distance away." I said, "Where is that?" "Guam." "Oh, huh. How long a trip is that?" "Seven hours." "Oh, great." We're flying these massive bombers and everything. I've wanted to stop this for a long time. I consider that an asset.

    But we've done - we're saving, by the way - just for the taxpayer, we're saving a fortune. And if we need them, we can start them up immediately. If I think we need them, I'll start them before the generals will start them.

    The fact is, this reporter said that. I said, "What have we done? I haven't given anything." And we're really onto the cusp. I think we're really going to do something that's going to be very important.

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

    Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. Go ahead. Please.

    Q Thank you.

    f This is the one that was nodding with every nice thing I said, so watch this question.

    Q It's a habit of mine. Hannah Thomas-Peter from Sky News.

    THE PRESIDENT: You're with who?

    Q Hannah Thomas-Peter from Sky News.

    THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. Sky News.

    Q Thank you, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations on the purchase. (Laughter.)

    Q Nothing to do with me.

    THE PRESIDENT: I hope you benefited. (Laughter.) Go ahead.

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

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

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

    THE PRESIDENT: They did the same thing with the Russia investigation. They tried to convince people that I had something to do with Russia. There was no collusion.

    Think of it. I'm in Wisconsin. I'm in Michigan. I say, "Gee, we're not doing well." I won both those states. "We're not doing well. Uh, let me call the Russians to help." Does anybody really believe that? It's a con job.

    And I watch these guys - Little Adam Schiff, and all of the guys. He takes a call from a Russian who turned out to be a faker. You know, he was a comedian or something. "This is so-and-so calling for..." - he took the call. Why is the taking a call from a Russian?

    Senator Warner took a call from a Russian. He was a comedian or something, but he said, "We have pictures of President Trump." "Oh, where can I get them?" If we ever did that, it would be like a big deal.

    Yeah, it's a con job. And it's not a bad term. It's not a bad term at all.

    Q Are you worried -

    THE PRESIDENT: I'll tell you one thing I can say: I've had a lot of people talking about this to me, with respect to what's happening, because it's a horrible precedent.

    I'm going to have to get other judges and other Supreme Court judges, possibly. I could have a lot of the Supreme Court judges, more than two. And when I called up Brett Kavanaugh - spoke to him and his family - and told them that I chose them, they were so happy and so honored. It was as though - I mean, the biggest thing that's ever happened. And I understand that - U.S. Supreme Court.

    I don't want to be in a position where people say, "No, thanks. No, thanks. I don't want to." You know, "I spoke to somebody 38 years ago, and it may not be good." We have a country to run. We want the best talent in the world.

    But I'll tell you this: The people that have complained to me about it the most - about what's happening - are women. Women are very angry.

    You know, I got 52 percent with women. Everyone said, "This couldn't happen - 52 percent." Women are so angry. And I, frankly, think that - I think they like what the Republicans are doing, but I think they would have liked to have seen it go a lot faster. But give them their day in court. Let her have her day in court. Let somebody else have a day in court.

    But the ones that I find - I mean, I have men that don't like it, but I have women that are incensed at what's going on. I've always said women are smarter than men. I've said that a lot and I mean it. But women are incensed at what's going on.

    Yes, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead, in the back.

    Q Sorry. It's me?

    THE PRESIDENT: Who are you? Or where are you from?

    Q It's me? It's me?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, you. (Laughter.) The guy looks - guy looks like he's shocked. That's not - this is going to be not good.

    Q It's going to be good, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: The guy looks totally like stunned that I - have you ever been picked before for a question? (Laughter.)

    Q Yes, sir, but not from President of the United States.

    THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Go ahead. Give me a question.

    Q Thank you very much. My name is Majeed Gly from Rudaw Media Network. I want to, sir, ask you - you always talk about -

    THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, you said where? From where?

    Q Rudaw Media Network from Kurdistan region, north of Iraq.

    THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

    Q I'm a Kurd. Sir -

    THE PRESIDENT: Good. Good. Great people.

    Q Thank you, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Great people.

    Q (Inaudible.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.

    Q Mr. President. Mr. President, I want to -

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Are you a Kurd?

    Q (Inaudible.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Good.

    Q Mr. President -

    THE PRESIDENT: They're great people. They're great fighters. I like them a lot. Let's go. I like this question so far.

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

    THE PRESIDENT: It's true.