Boldly Committed to Truth Telling in the False Face of Fakery
Remarks by President Trump in Thanksgiving Teleconference with Members of the Military
THE PRESIDENT: What?
Q What does that look like in practice, to shut down the border?
THE PRESIDENT: You see it. I mean, it took place two days ago.
Q Did you have to sign an order? Is there any -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. They call me up and I sign an order.
Q Can we get a copy of that?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you don't need it. Don't worry. It's not that big a deal, but maybe to some people it is.
What we want to do is we want to have a strong border. We want to have people come into our country. I want to have a lot of people come in. We need them. But they have to come in through merit, and they have to come in legally. They have to come in legally.
You know, we have a lot of people - millions of people - that have been waiting on line for years to become citizens of our country. Great people. They went through a whole process. And then these people come in and they think they're just going to walk in and - it's a very unfair thing to all of the people that have been waiting on line, in some cases for many years. They've done it right, but they don't think they've done it right, because they said, "Well, how can we do it right, and we go through this very complicated legal process," and they have lawyers and everything else, and then you have people rushing through the border, and they're supposed to stay? It's not happening with me. We've been very tough on the border.
I mean, the problem that we have is that I've created, and helped create, a country that's doing better than it's ever done economically. So a lot of people are coming up here, because their countries are not doing well. And perhaps for a reason. But whatever that reason is, their countries are not doing well.
Okay? A couple of more. Anybody else?
Q How prepared are you for this meeting with President Xi? How are you preparing for it? And how confident are you that you got a deal?
THE PRESIDENT: I'm very prepared. I've been preparing for it all my life. You know, it's not like, "Oh, gee, I'm going to sit down and study." I know every ingredient. I know every stat. I know it better than anybody knows it. And my gut has always been right. And we're doing very well, and I will tell you, China very much wants to make a deal. China has been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years. They have taken out four-, five-, and six-hundred billion dollars a year. That doesn't include the theft of intellectual property, which has been horrible, what they've been doing.
And, you know, it's not a question of preparing. I think I've prepared for this meeting - I had a meeting literally right in that corner with President Xi. We have a great relationship. I like him a lot. I think he likes me. Probably likes me less now than he did before we did what we're doing.
But we've picked up trillions of dollars in value. And China has lost trillions of dollars in value since I'm President. Trillions. Many trillions in value. And we've picked up many trillions of dollars in value.
And we are a true economic power, far greater than we were before I became President. We are an economic power that is far greater than we were. When we were - when I took over, we were teetering. We were in bad shape. We were going down to minus-four, minus-five, minus-six percent in GDP. Instead, last quarter, we had 4.2 percent.
And we are doing very well. I can say this: China wants to make a deal very badly -
Q Do you think it's going to happen next week?
THE PRESIDENT: - because of the tariffs. Because right now, on $250 billion, they'll be paying us, as of January 1st, 25 percent. And in many cases, they're already paying 25 percent. On the rest that they're not, they're paying 10. But the 10 percent goes to 25 percent on January 1st. And so they're going to be paying a tremendous amount of money, which, frankly, is great for our country. We're taking in billions of dollars from China. We never took in 10 cents from China. They took everything from us; we never took anything from them.
Now, as of already, we're taking in - right now, we're taking in billions. China is - people don't understand this: China is right now paying us - right now, paying us billions of dollars a month. That's never happened before. And soon, they're going to be paying us many, many billions of dollars a month.
But China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will.
Q Are you worried about Matt Whitaker's finances and his potential (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: No. Matt Whitaker is a highly respected person. And, you know, once I choose somebody, they always go through hell. But Matt Whitaker is a highly respected man. The Justice Department respects him tremendously. I've spoken to a lot of people. And, you know, the press has been nasty to Matt Whitaker.
But I can tell you that he is a highly respected, strong person. And he's doing a great job. Everybody tells me that. He's doing a really great job.
Q Have you done anything, Mr. President, to try to bring Julian Assange back to the United States? And would you want him to face -
THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven't been asked to. No.
Q Would you want him to face charges here? Do you think he should?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know anything about it. I'm not very familiar with the whole situation.
But I would say that if somebody made a request, I guess it's something we'd consider. I just don't know very much about that situation.
Okay? What else? Anything else?
Q Are you interviewing people this week for new jobs in your administration?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We'll have a few. I'm very happy with my Cabinet and people that work for me, and for us - really work for the country. We have a great Cabinet. We have absolute stars. But a few of them, I would say, can do very well outside. Everyone is doing well when they leave. That's one thing I'll tell you. Everyone that leaves the Trump administration has come out really well. I'm very proud of a lot of them. Look at Hope - Hope Hicks is doing a fantastic job. She's a fantastic young woman, and I'm very proud of her. Look how she's doing. She's become a very important person in the outside world. And we have many such people, where they work here for a year and a half, or for a period of time, and they go outside and they do really well, many of them.
So - and that's what I want - I want to see. There's always a lot of change. Yeah, I'll probably be changing a couple, maybe a few, but very little. Overall, we're very happy.
Q Are you doing interviews this week for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I'm doing interviews this week. I'll do interviews, as we say, in the Southern White House. People like doing interviews here.
Q What jobs are you interviewing for, Mr. President?
Q For DHS?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'll let you know. I'll let you know. But -
Q You could just tell us here now, if you wanted to.
THE PRESIDENT: I know. Maybe I will. (Laughs.)
Q Have you talked to Ivanka about her emails?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have, actually. And very innocent, short period of time. Very early on. There was no deletion of emails, like the 33,000, plus probably another 100,000 that Hillary Clinton did after she got a subpoena. There was no bleached bit. There was no anything. Just innocent emails. There were not classified emails. A much different deal. That's another fake-news story. And she did transition out. She was a private person, and then ultimately she transitioned out from private to government. And I believe all of her records are in the Historical Society, the historical records. Much different than the other situation that I've talked about for a long time.
But she transitioned out, but everything is in historical records.
I'll see you over at the Coast Guard. I'm going over to say hello to the Coast Guard right now, which I look forward. And I'll see - I don't know if you're going, but if you are, I'll see you there.
Thank you all very much.
Q What are you most thankful for, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: For having a great family and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. I've made a tremendous difference in the country. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office, that you wouldn't believe it. And - I mean, you see it, but so much stronger that people can't even believe it. When I see foreign leaders, they say, "We cannot believe the difference in strength between the United States now and the United States two years ago." Made a lot of progress.
Thank you very much.
Go Back
Q What does that look like in practice, to shut down the border?
THE PRESIDENT: You see it. I mean, it took place two days ago.
Q Did you have to sign an order? Is there any -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. They call me up and I sign an order.
Q Can we get a copy of that?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you don't need it. Don't worry. It's not that big a deal, but maybe to some people it is.
What we want to do is we want to have a strong border. We want to have people come into our country. I want to have a lot of people come in. We need them. But they have to come in through merit, and they have to come in legally. They have to come in legally.
You know, we have a lot of people - millions of people - that have been waiting on line for years to become citizens of our country. Great people. They went through a whole process. And then these people come in and they think they're just going to walk in and - it's a very unfair thing to all of the people that have been waiting on line, in some cases for many years. They've done it right, but they don't think they've done it right, because they said, "Well, how can we do it right, and we go through this very complicated legal process," and they have lawyers and everything else, and then you have people rushing through the border, and they're supposed to stay? It's not happening with me. We've been very tough on the border.
I mean, the problem that we have is that I've created, and helped create, a country that's doing better than it's ever done economically. So a lot of people are coming up here, because their countries are not doing well. And perhaps for a reason. But whatever that reason is, their countries are not doing well.
Okay? A couple of more. Anybody else?
Q How prepared are you for this meeting with President Xi? How are you preparing for it? And how confident are you that you got a deal?
THE PRESIDENT: I'm very prepared. I've been preparing for it all my life. You know, it's not like, "Oh, gee, I'm going to sit down and study." I know every ingredient. I know every stat. I know it better than anybody knows it. And my gut has always been right. And we're doing very well, and I will tell you, China very much wants to make a deal. China has been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years. They have taken out four-, five-, and six-hundred billion dollars a year. That doesn't include the theft of intellectual property, which has been horrible, what they've been doing.
And, you know, it's not a question of preparing. I think I've prepared for this meeting - I had a meeting literally right in that corner with President Xi. We have a great relationship. I like him a lot. I think he likes me. Probably likes me less now than he did before we did what we're doing.
But we've picked up trillions of dollars in value. And China has lost trillions of dollars in value since I'm President. Trillions. Many trillions in value. And we've picked up many trillions of dollars in value.
And we are a true economic power, far greater than we were before I became President. We are an economic power that is far greater than we were. When we were - when I took over, we were teetering. We were in bad shape. We were going down to minus-four, minus-five, minus-six percent in GDP. Instead, last quarter, we had 4.2 percent.
And we are doing very well. I can say this: China wants to make a deal very badly -
Q Do you think it's going to happen next week?
THE PRESIDENT: - because of the tariffs. Because right now, on $250 billion, they'll be paying us, as of January 1st, 25 percent. And in many cases, they're already paying 25 percent. On the rest that they're not, they're paying 10. But the 10 percent goes to 25 percent on January 1st. And so they're going to be paying a tremendous amount of money, which, frankly, is great for our country. We're taking in billions of dollars from China. We never took in 10 cents from China. They took everything from us; we never took anything from them.
Now, as of already, we're taking in - right now, we're taking in billions. China is - people don't understand this: China is right now paying us - right now, paying us billions of dollars a month. That's never happened before. And soon, they're going to be paying us many, many billions of dollars a month.
But China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will.
Q Are you worried about Matt Whitaker's finances and his potential (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: No. Matt Whitaker is a highly respected person. And, you know, once I choose somebody, they always go through hell. But Matt Whitaker is a highly respected man. The Justice Department respects him tremendously. I've spoken to a lot of people. And, you know, the press has been nasty to Matt Whitaker.
But I can tell you that he is a highly respected, strong person. And he's doing a great job. Everybody tells me that. He's doing a really great job.
Q Have you done anything, Mr. President, to try to bring Julian Assange back to the United States? And would you want him to face -
THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven't been asked to. No.
Q Would you want him to face charges here? Do you think he should?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know anything about it. I'm not very familiar with the whole situation.
But I would say that if somebody made a request, I guess it's something we'd consider. I just don't know very much about that situation.
Okay? What else? Anything else?
Q Are you interviewing people this week for new jobs in your administration?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We'll have a few. I'm very happy with my Cabinet and people that work for me, and for us - really work for the country. We have a great Cabinet. We have absolute stars. But a few of them, I would say, can do very well outside. Everyone is doing well when they leave. That's one thing I'll tell you. Everyone that leaves the Trump administration has come out really well. I'm very proud of a lot of them. Look at Hope - Hope Hicks is doing a fantastic job. She's a fantastic young woman, and I'm very proud of her. Look how she's doing. She's become a very important person in the outside world. And we have many such people, where they work here for a year and a half, or for a period of time, and they go outside and they do really well, many of them.
So - and that's what I want - I want to see. There's always a lot of change. Yeah, I'll probably be changing a couple, maybe a few, but very little. Overall, we're very happy.
Q Are you doing interviews this week for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I'm doing interviews this week. I'll do interviews, as we say, in the Southern White House. People like doing interviews here.
Q What jobs are you interviewing for, Mr. President?
Q For DHS?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'll let you know. I'll let you know. But -
Q You could just tell us here now, if you wanted to.
THE PRESIDENT: I know. Maybe I will. (Laughs.)
Q Have you talked to Ivanka about her emails?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have, actually. And very innocent, short period of time. Very early on. There was no deletion of emails, like the 33,000, plus probably another 100,000 that Hillary Clinton did after she got a subpoena. There was no bleached bit. There was no anything. Just innocent emails. There were not classified emails. A much different deal. That's another fake-news story. And she did transition out. She was a private person, and then ultimately she transitioned out from private to government. And I believe all of her records are in the Historical Society, the historical records. Much different than the other situation that I've talked about for a long time.
But she transitioned out, but everything is in historical records.
I'll see you over at the Coast Guard. I'm going over to say hello to the Coast Guard right now, which I look forward. And I'll see - I don't know if you're going, but if you are, I'll see you there.
Thank you all very much.
Q What are you most thankful for, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: For having a great family and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. I've made a tremendous difference in the country. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office, that you wouldn't believe it. And - I mean, you see it, but so much stronger that people can't even believe it. When I see foreign leaders, they say, "We cannot believe the difference in strength between the United States now and the United States two years ago." Made a lot of progress.
Thank you very much.
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