Remarks by President Trump in Thanksgiving Teleconference with Members of the Military | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The fact is that Saudi Arabia is tremendously helpful in the Middle East. If we didn't have Saudi Arabia, we wouldn't have a big base. We wouldn't have any reason, probably - I mean, if you look at Israel, Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia. So what does that mean? Israel is going to leave? We want Israel to leave?

    We have a very strong ally in Saudi Arabia. We have an ally that said they did not commit, at the top level - the Crown Prince, the King - they did not commit this atrocity. And it's an atrocity. It's a terrible thing. I dislike it more than you do. But the fact is, they've been a very strong ally. They create tremendous wealth. They create, really, a tremendous number of jobs in their purchases. And very importantly, they keep the oil price down. If you want to see a global depression, all you have to do is lift the oil price $50 a barrel, which could happen very quickly, once we lose that relationship.

    So I hate the crime. I hate what's done. I hate the cover-up. And I will tell you this: The Crown Prince hates it more than I do. And they have vehemently denied it. The CIA points it both ways. You know, it's - as I said, maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But I will say very strongly that it's a very important ally. And if we go by a certain standard, we won't be able to have allies with almost any country. Okay?

    Q Who should be held accountable?

    THE PRESIDENT: Maybe the world should be held accountable, because the world is a vicious place. The world is a very, very vicious place. If you look at what's happening in China, if you look at what's happening in so many different countries - I could name many countries. If you look at what's happening with terrorism all over the world.

    That's the other thing with Saudi Arabia - they really are - they're putting up tremendous amounts of money to actually fight terrorism. Now, if they were a part of terrorism - and nobody is going to try and justify that; they were a big part of it - but they're spending a lot of money, and they're opening up. And they're doing a lot of things that are very good. They're really opening up that country for a lot of good.

    You know, until this happened, there were a lot of people saying a lot of good things about the Crown Prince. So he strongly denies it. He vehemently denies it. And my policy is very simple: America first. Keep America great again. And that's what I'm doing, and we're doing better than anybody thought even possible.


    Yes, ma'am.

    Q Sir, you've been talking to the troops. I'm wondering if you can -

    THE PRESIDENT: To who?

    Q the troops, today -

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

    Q I'm wondering if you can tell us: At what point do you want to withdraw troops from Afghanistan?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're always looking to do the right thing, and we'll be seeing over a period of time. But we're looking. You know, I just spoke to Afghanistan, as you know. We're always looking to do whatever is right. We're in very strong negotiations in Afghanistan right now, which a lot of people don't know about. This may be the first. But we are in very, very strong negotiation in Afghanistan. And we'll see what happens. If something happens, that would be a great thing. I'd very happy about that.

    I really think the people of Afghanistan also - and they are good fighters, and they fought for a long time; they fought for a lot longer than we fought. They've been fighting for many, many, many decades. But I think they're tired of fighting. And we'll see what happens. But we are talking about peace, and we'll see if that happens.

    Q Negotiations with?

    THE PRESIDENT: We have negotiations going on. I don't know that they're going to be successful. Maybe they're not; probably they're not. Who knows? They might be, they might not be. You know my attitude in all of that stuff, whether it's North Korea or anybody else. Maybe they are going to be successful, and maybe they're not going to be. But we have negotiations going on right now in Afghanistan, okay?

    Q Mr. President, what is your response to people who say that a phone call wasn't enough for the troops today?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well nobody has done more for the military than I have. I took the budget from very little to $700 billion and then $716 billion. And I'm now going over to the Coast Guard, where I did last year and I will probably a lot. But we're going over to the Coast Guard.

    And just, I really believe nobody - in fact, a number of generals were on television over the weekend, and just unrelated, but they all mentioned the fact that nobody has done, as a President, for the military, in a long time what I've done. Because I've taken spending, where you had a depleted military, and it wasn't being fixed and it was a mess, and it, frankly, put us in danger, and I was able to get Congress to give us $700 billion and now $716 billion for our military.

    And I've also done more for the vets than anybody has ever done. I got Choice approved. They've been trying to get Choice for 40 years - more than 40 years; they couldn't get it - where a vet can go directly to a doctor now instead of waiting on line for two months and two weeks and three weeks, and amounts of time that are unthinkable to anybody, including yourselves.

    So I think I've done more than anybody else, certainly in many, many years, and probably in many decades.

    Q Mr. President, are there any updates on the troops that are being sent to the border in regards to the caravan?


    THE PRESIDENT: No, no troops. We're going to have a strong border. Our southern border is going to very strong. We're not - you heard me speaking to some of the folks just now in different parts of the world, and they're so proud of the job they're doing. And you got to have borders. If you don't have borders, you don't have a country.

    I mean, the Democrats want open borders, and they want these people coming in. Many of those people are criminals, okay? And have been so adjudged. We know who they are. They have records. They have, some, very substantial criminal records, some very bad criminal records. They're in the caravan.

    You saw what happened in Tijuana, where a number of the people said these are tough people. They start fighting; they're starting fistfights. They have fistfights all over the streets. They're starting fistfights. They said, "These are not like normal, innocent people." These are people, you talk to them, and they start a fistfight. I don't want that in this country. Okay?

    Q Mr. President, what about the idea that the military may use lethal force against these migrants coming through?

    THE PRESIDENT: If they have to, they're going to use lethal force. I've given the okay.

    Q Did you authorize them to do that?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, if they have to. I hope they don't have to. But, you know, you're dealing with a minimum of 500 serious criminals. So I'm going to let the military be taken advantage of. I have no choice. Do I want that to happen? Absolutely not. But you're dealing with rough people.

    You ask the people in Tijuana, Mexico - they opened with wide arms, just, "Come in, come in. Let me help you. Let us take care of you." And within two days, now they're going crazy to get them out. They want them out. Because things are happening. Bad, bad things are happening in Tijuana. And again, it's not in this country, because we've closed it up.

    I actually - two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We're saying, nobody is coming in, because it was out of control. But you take a look at Tijuana, Mexico, and you see what's happening there - it's really a bad situation.

    Q What do you mean you closed the border and nobody is coming in? What do you mean by that, sir?

    THE PRESIDENT: If we find that it's uncontrollable, Josh; if we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control, or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control.

    Q You mean the entire border, or (inaudible) country?

    THE PRESIDENT: The whole border. I mean the whole border. And Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States, where they make so many cars at great benefit to them -not at great benefit to us, by the way. But at least now we a good, new trade deal with Mexico and with Canada.

    But we will close the border. And that means that Mexico is not going to be able to sell their cars into the United States until it's open.

    But we're going to either have a border or we're not. And when they lose control of the border, on the Mexico side, we just close the border. And we have a very powerful border. We built a very strong border in a very short period of time. And the military has been fantastic, the job they've done.

    And, by the way, Border Patrol and ICE, all of the law enforcement we have involved - and we have local law enforcement too - they have done an incredible job. And they've wanted this for years. You know, I'm the first President that's done it to this extent, but they've wanted this for years.

    And some of the Presidents, I guess they didn't care, or they wanted open borders. I don't think they wanted open borders. Because most of them, if you go back to 2006, they all approved, essentially, a wall - a very powerful fence - which is pretty much the same thing. But in 2006, if you look - Obama, you look at Hillary Clinton, you look at Schumer, all of the people that are standing up protesting - they think it's good for them politically. See, I think it's very bad for them politically.

    I think the fact that they're weak on the border is very, very bad for them politically. But, you know, I've only been a politician for three years, so maybe they know better than me.

    Q Is there going to be a government shutdown over this wall, in December?

    THE PRESIDENT: Could happen, yeah. Over border security. The wall is just a part of border security - a very important part. Probably the most important part. But could there be a shutdown? There certainly could. And it will be about border security, of which the wall is a part.

    Q Do you think Secretary Nielsen is doing a good enough job in securing the border?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, she's in there trying, I'll tell you. It's a tough job. I mean, yesterday she gets a ruling that things that we were doing - a judge that knows nothing about it - decided to take law enforcement into his own hands, and he gives a ridiculous ruling. So we'll appeal it. But it makes the job harder. We're still doing the job perfectly. But it makes the job harder, and it makes the job more dangerous. Because a judge made a ruling that was shocking. Okay?


    Q Just to be clear, going back to the idea of shutting down the border, what would it take for you reach that step and want to do that?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I've already shut it down. I've already shut it down, for short periods.

    Q Are you talking about that one border port that closed?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Yeah. I've already shut down parts of the border, because it was out of control, with the rioting on the other side, in Mexico. And I just said shut it down.

    Q What does that look like in practice?