Remarks by President Trump at FIRST STEP Act Roundtable with Governor Bryant and Law Enforcement Leaders | Eastern North Carolina Now

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    Q Why is Mississippi, in your view obviously, so important?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I get along very well with the people of Mississippi. They like me and I like them. I mean, as you know, I won by a tremendous amount. I don't know, how many?

    SENATOR WICKER: Eighteen and a half points.

    THE PRESIDENT: Eighteen and a half points. I'd say that's a lot. And I think when you win by eighteen and a half points, and you're running for the Senate, you say, "Mr. President, do you think you could come up and give us a hand?" I really think that Cindy is doing very well. I know the state very well. I like the state a lot. And I think she's going to have a tremendous victory tomorrow. And frankly, I don't want to take my chances.

    We did very well. The press has not wanted to talk about the Senate. But if you look at the Senate, we did - I mean, I won't say historic, but we did numbers that were shockingly good. You know, we're going to end up - if Cindy wins, we end up at 53-47. That's a big improvement from where we were.

    And, you know, people talk about the House. Now, don't forget, with the House, I didn't campaign for the House, other than if somebody happened to be there. There are just too many people. But where I did campaign, like in Kentucky, where we went with Andy Barr, who was down by six points, and he ended up winning against McGrath, who was a tough opponent. He ended up winning after I left, and so many other places.

    Plus, we had tremendous success with governors. I mean, you look at Ohio. You look at Florida. You look at Georgia. I mean, Georgia, as you know, President Obama was there; Michelle was there; Oprah was there. And I was there all by myself. And, in all fairness, Mike went also about four times. That's true. I had Mike, and they had Oprah. I'll take Mike. (Laughter.)

    Q You used the term "grabbers" earlier, and I just want to be clear that I understand what you're talking about. Are you suggesting that the women who were photographed yesterday at the border with children, were grabbing those children, are not their mother?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, no. But it's a term that's used, because as you know, many people - very - it's a very violent, horrible thing. But they feel they have an advantage when they're with a young child. And they're called "grabbers." Well, that's a term I've heard, but it's - that's what they're called, "grabbers." They grab a child, because when they have a child, they feel a lot safer. And I don't know who was there yesterday. I will say this: When you know there's going to be potential violence, you know there's going to be tear gas or something, you don't take your child and bring them there.

    So I can't tell you that, but I can say that all over the border you have a lot of grabbers. You have a lot of people that grab children, and they have no idea who these children are. They're not parents. They have no idea. And frankly, to release the children to these people is a disaster.

    And just about that, by the way, the releasing - if you look at President Obama, if you look at other Presidents, they've had the same. You know, these laws have not been changing every 24 hours. In many cases, they should because they're so bad. But these laws have not been changing. They were the same for President Obama. They were the same for President Bush. And it went back quite a ways.

    But we're doing a great job. We're very, very tough on the border. And I think that's what people want. I guess you could have open borders. But if you want open borders, and if you want everybody to pour into our country, I would really have a great suggestion for you: Vote Democrat. Because that's what they want; they want open borders.

    Q And, sir, about Mississippi - about the Mississippi race, there's a sense here that - especially when you talk to Democrats - that race is a major theme -

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hope it isn't. Yeah.

    Q - because of the comments that Senator Hyde-Smith made. Do you think that that comment about public hanging was appropriate?

    THE PRESIDENT: First of all, there was an apology made, and I heard that loud and clear. Second of all, really, it was something that was sad and it was a little flip. And frankly, I think that Cindy, when I spoke to her - she called me - she said, "I said something that I meant exactly very different." And I heard an apology loud and clear.

    And I also know Cindy, and I know her very well, and I've gotten to know her over the last period of time as a senator, as a very, very talented United States senator. And I know where her heart is, and her heart is good. That's not what she was meaning when she said that.

    Q Mr. President, how is your Attorney General search going?

    THE PRESIDENT: It's going well. It's going well. In the meantime, we have somebody that's a very good man, Matt Whitaker. But it's going well. We're looking. A lot of people want that job. It's a great job, if you're into the world. We have a lot of law enforcement in here, and I'll tell you, every one of them wants to be the Attorney General of the United States. (Laughter.) Every one of them. I can take these guys over here. How about you guys? All right? (Laughter.) There's a man - he'll take it. He'll take it. We have a lot of good people. Sheriff, you'll take it, right? So we have no dearth of talent, I can tell you that.

    No, we're looking at some people. And I and a lot of other people, by the way, have tremendous confidence, in the meantime, of Matt Whitaker. He's a tremendous person and he's a great gentleman. And he's really liked and respected by a lot of people.

    Q Mr. President, are you close to a deal with the incoming Mexican administration to keep asylum-seekers on that side of the border?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't want to say that. But we are having great talks with them. As I said, Mike and Ivanka and some other people are going down to the inauguration, and they look forward to it. It's going to be, I hope, a beautiful day. And we're getting along very well with the incoming. We got a lot well with the past administration. We're doing very well with the incoming administration. And I like him a lot, I must say. I've spoken to him; I like him. We get along. I think we have some views that are a little bit different, but maybe they're becoming joined.

    But when it comes to the border, it's not a question of incoming or past administrations. We're closing the border if we have any problem. If people think they're going to rush our border, we just lock up that border so tight nobody gets through. And behind that, we have ICE and we have the Border Patrol, and we have the local police, and we have police, and we also have our military. And our military has done an incredible job reinforcing walls, putting up the barbed-wire fencing, which is very, very powerful stuff. Nobody has gone over the barbed-wire fencing.

    Q Mr. President, did Mexico actually agree to keep asylum-seekers in Mexico while their cases are being processed? What was the back-and-forth?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, no. Very serious talks were had and are currently being had also.

    Q Did they break down at one point?

    THE PRESIDENT: No. No. No, not at all. No, we're talking very seriously.

    Look, it's important to Mexico because we are a tremendous trading partner for Mexico, much more so that way than the other way. I mean, Mexico, frankly, on trade, does much better than we do with them. So when we close the border - I mean, it's much more painful for Mexico than it is for us by a factor of maybe about 10 or more.

    So we're getting along very well with Mexico and we intend do, and I hope it can continue that way. But we're not letting people into our country that we don't want there. We're not letting people into our country that don't come in legally. They have to come in legally.

    And we want people that are going to help us. We have a lot of companies moving into our country. Tremendous car companies and Foxconn, and a level like we've never seen before. We need people, but they have to come in based on a merit system, based on a system where they can help us, not where they're going to hurt us.

    Q You also told us -

    Q On the prison reform - sorry, Jill. Go ahead.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, go ahead.

    Q You also told us in Mar-a-Lago that you were planning to interview potential new members of your administration. Which positions did you interview for? And did those happen?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I have certain - I'll tell you - let me start off by saying I have a fantastic Cabinet. We have incredible people. It's a lot of people. There are a few positions that I'm thinking about. But I could leave it the way it is right now and be very happy, or I could make changes and maybe be even happier with those positions.

    But we have a great Cabinet. We have some tremendously talented people, and they're really doing a good job.

    Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you.

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