Remarks by President Trump Before Marine One Departure | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    South Lawn  •  Issued on: November 9, 2018  •  9:05 A.M. EST


President Trump aboard Marine One; his constant mode of transportation: Above. (White House photo)     Click image to expand.
    THE PRESIDENT: So we're heading off to Europe. It should be a very beautiful period of time - the 100th anniversary of the ending of World War I. We have many countries; the leadership of many countries will be there, especially since they heard the United States will be there. And we look forward to that. It'll be a great, really, commemorative service. I think it's going to be something very special. I've seen what they have planned, and I think it's going to be something very, very special.

    I just signed the proclamation on asylum. Very important. People can come in, but they have to come in through the ports of entry. And that, to me, is a very important thing. Again, I reiterate we needs Democrats' votes. They have to pass new immigration laws, because they're flooding our country. We're not letting them in, but they're trying to flood our country. We need the wall; we're building the wall. But we need it all built at one time, and quickly. It's very important.

    We need Democrat support on new immigration laws to bring us up to date. The laws are obsolete and they're incompetent. They are the worst laws any country has anywhere in the world. And it's only because we don't have the Democrats' votes. So we need Democrat vote so we can change immigration, and we'll have no trouble whatsoever at the border. We want people to come into our country, but they have to come into our country legally. They have to come into our country legally.

    We want people to come in through the merit system so that they can work for all of these great companies that I have coming into our country. We have many car companies coming in. We have many tech companies coming in. We have literally hundreds of companies moving back into the United States. We need people. We need to have - you see the unemployment numbers are at record lows. We need people in our country, but they have to come in legally, and they have to have merit. They have to come in through a system of merit. We have everything worked out. We need some votes from the Democrats, or we need support from the Democrats, and hopefully they see what's going on.

    And the reason this is happening is we've created such a successful country, economically, that everybody is flooding into our country, or they want to. But we're stopping them at the border. And that's why we have our great military there.

    Q Mr. President, what do you say to all the criticism of Matt Whitaker and the calls for him to recuse himself, given what he said about the Russian (inaudible)?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, Matt Whitaker - I don't know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions, and he was always extremely highly thought of, and he still is. But I didn't know Matt Whitaker. He worked for Attorney General Sessions. He was very, very highly thought of, and still is highly thought of. But this only comes up because anybody that works for me, they do a number on them.

    But Matt Whitaker is a very smart man. He is a very respected man in the law enforcement community. Very respected; at the top of the line. And actually, the choice was greeted with raves, initially, and it still is in some circles. You know, it's a shame that no matter who I put in, they go after them. It's very sad, I have to say. But he's Acting. I think he'll do a very good job. And we'll see what happens.

    But I will say this: Matt Whitaker is a very highly respected man, and you didn't have any problems with Matt Whitaker when he worked for Jeff Sessions. He's respected by law enforcement. He's a very strong law enforcement personality and person.

    Q Mr. President, did you talk with Matt Whitaker at all about the Mueller probe before you appointed him?

    THE PRESIDENT: I didn't speak to Matt Whitaker about it. I don't know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker has a great reputation, and that's what I wanted. I also wanted to do something which, frankly, I could have brought somebody very easily from the outside. I didn't want to do that. When Sessions left, what I did, very simply, is take a man who worked for Sessions. Again, he worked for Jeff Sessions. He's a highly respected man, especially by law enforcement. And I think he's going to do a great job. He's there in an acting position. He's a - probably, from what I hear - a very strong person, a very strong personality. And I think that's what they need.

    Q Is Kellyanne's husband's wrong?

    THE PRESIDENT: Who?

    Q Kellyanne's husband wrote that the appointment was unconstitutional.

    THE PRESIDENT: You mean Mr. Kellyanne Conway?

    Q He wrote that you're unconstitutionally appointing him. He is wrong?

    THE PRESIDENT: He's just trying to get publicity for himself. Why don't you do this: Why don't you ask Kellyanne that question, all right? She might know him better than me. I really don't know the guy.

    Q Given Matt Whitaker's public comments, (inaudible) -

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, when you make a comment -

    Q (Inaudible.)


    THE PRESIDENT: First of all - let me speak, please. First of all, when you make comments, I see everybody on television - all these lawyers, all these law enforcement people making comment after comment. They never ask to get recused. They make comment. The fact that you go on Fox or CNN or MSNBC or anybody, and you make a comment, you'd have nobody left to choose. You would have absolutely nobody left.

    I see different people, at different times, going on shows. Am I supposed to say, "Oh, now he's never qualified to serve in government?" So, all the time I'm watching many different people go on many different shows, saying many different things. That doesn't mean they're unqualified.

    Now, in all fairness to Matt Whitaker, who, again, I didn't know - okay? - other than through reputation. His reputation is excellent. But in all fairness to him, he did some shows; so did many of the people that you're talking about. So did everybody that - you're talking about a permanent position. I think everybody looking at a permanent position, in any department, has done many shows. Does that mean we can't hire anybody? We have to hire somebody that's in a shell? I don't think so.

    Q Do you foresee a federal role in the Florida recount?

    THE PRESIDENT: Say it again. You have to speak up.

    Q I'm trying to. Do you foresee a federal role in the Florida recount, which you tweeted about last night?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, it could be. Because if you look at Broward - and Palm Beach, to a lesser extent - if you look at Broward County, they have had a horrible history. And if you look at the person - in this case, a woman - involved, she has had a horrible history. And all of a sudden, they're finding votes out of nowhere.

    And Rick Scott, who won by - you know, it was close, but he won by a comfortable margin - every couple of hours it goes down a little bit. And then you see the people, and they were involved with that fraud of the fake dossier, the phony dossier. And I guess I hear they were somehow involved or worked with the GPS Fusion people, who have committed - I mean, if you look at what they've done, you look at the dishonesty -

    Look, look, there's - bad things have gone on in Broward County. Really bad things. She's been to court. She's had a lot of problems. She's lost. I say this: He easily won, but every hour it seems to be going down. I think that people have to look at it very, very cautiously.

    Q You're finishing up the written answers -

    THE PRESIDENT: What?

    Q You're doing the written questions to Robert Mueller. Have you ruled out a sit-down, an in-person sit-down with Robert Mueller?

    THE PRESIDENT: I haven't ruled out anything. I haven't even thought about it. I'm thinking about the world. Right now, I'm thinking about the world. I'm not thinking about sit-downs or not sit-downs. There was no collusion. It's a whole hoax. This was a thing set up by the Democrats, just like they set up other things - when you look at what's going on Florida; when you look at what's going on in lots of different locations.

    The Russian investigation is a hoax. It's a phony hoax. I didn't speak to Russians. The fact is, I was a much better candidate than Hillary Clinton. I worked much harder. I went to the right places. She went to the wrong places, because she didn't know what the hell she was doing. I did a great job; I was a great candidate. She was a bad candidate.

    I went to Wisconsin. I went more to Michigan. I went to Pennsylvania. She didn't do a good job. This has nothing to do with Russians; it's a Russian hoax.


    Q What do you say to Michelle Obama who says she will never forgive you for your birther comments in the past?

    THE PRESIDENT: Oh, Michelle Obama said that? I haven't seen it. I guess she wrote a book. She got paid a lot of money to write a book. And they always insist that you come up with controversial.

    Well, I'll give you a little controversy back: I'll never forgive him for what he did to our United States military by not funding it properly. It was depleted. Everything was old and tired. And I came in, and I had to fix it. And I'm in the process of spending tremendous amounts of money. So I'll never forgive him for what he did to our military. I'll never forgive him for what he did in many other ways, which I'll talk to you about in the future.

    But what he did - because she talked about safety - what he did to our military made this country very unsafe for you and you and you.

    Q (Inaudible) and did you meet Chris Christie here, yesterday?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're looking at other people. I did not see Chris Christie yesterday. I heard he was in the White House. He's a friend of mine. He's a good man. When he got out of the presidential race, as you know, the next day he supported me. He has good taste. So he proved one thing: He has good taste. But when he got out, he immediately supported me. I like Chris Christie, but I have not talked to him about it. He was in the White House yesterday, but I did not see him.

    Q Mr. President, how long are you going to leave Jim Acosta in the penalty box?

    THE PRESIDENT: I think Jim Acosta is a very unprofessional man. He does this with everybody. He gets paid to do that. You know, he gets paid to burst in. He's a very unprofessional guy. Whether it was me or Ronald Reagan or anybody else, he would have done the same thing.

    Look, I don't think he's a smart person, but he's got a loud voice. And -

    Q Is it permanent?

    THE PRESIDENT: Wait, wait. David, do you mind if I answer the question?

    Q Sure. Of course.

    THE PRESIDENT: And as far as I'm concerned, I haven't made that decision. But it could be others also. When you're in the White House - this is a very sacred place to me. This is a very special place. You have to treat the White House with respect. You have to treat the presidency with respect. If you've ever seen him dealing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, it's a disgrace. And he does it for, you know, the reason.

    The same thing with April Ryan. I watched her get up. I mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing. She gets publicity, and then she gets a pay raise or she gets a contract with, I think, CNN. But she's very nasty, and she shouldn't be. She shouldn't be.