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Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governors-Elect
Press Release:
Cabinet Room • December 13, 2018 • 2:12 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We have invited the nation's - our great nation's newly elected governors. And some really terrific people. They're going to do a wonderful job.
All of them had great victories. Some had very, very outstanding victories, in terms of the percentage of victory, and even surprising. We have some real stars in the room. And they became stars because of the way they handled themselves. I could almost say - I think I could pretty much say, Mike, most of them have become stars, if not all. Because you won. Winning is a wonderful thing. (Laughter.)
President Trump meets with all Governors Elect, including Ron Desantis, Florida, (center): Above. (White House photo) Click image to expand.
So I thought what I'd do is go around the room, and maybe you could just introduce yourself; say hello. We have some Cabinet members, too. You can quickly introduce yourself, because we've all seen you guys. But I'd love to - maybe say a couple of words. And it's an honor to have you all.
Kristi?
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the invitation to be here today. I'm Kristi Noem, the governor-elect in South Dakota. Farmer, rancher, small business owner. Served in our state legislature and leadership, and spent the last eight years in Congress, representing and fighting for the state of South Dakota. So thank you for the invitation.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yeah, thank you. And tax reform.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Appreciate that.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. We did a job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yep.
THE PRESIDENT: Mike?
GOVERNOR-ELECT DEWINE: Mr. President, thank you for having us. We appreciate it very, very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mike. And good job.
Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY AZAR: Alex Azar. I'm the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And, as you get to know your budgets, you'll realize we'll spend a lot of time together. (Laughter.) And we just - we pride ourselves on being a great partner to governors and states and flexibility. So, please - open door, everybody.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT STITT: Kevin Stitt, newly elected governor of Oklahoma. And excited to be here, and it was wonderful getting the phone call from you after our primary victory.
THE PRESIDENT: That was a great victory. Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT STITT: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LITTLE: I'm Brad Little, from Idaho. I'm the lieutenant governor. I'm the new governor-elect, and thank you also for the phone call. It put a big punctuation point.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great going.
Jared - you know.
Secretary.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: Alex Acosta, Secretary of Labor. And, Mr. President, we just spent about an hour chatting with the governors, and so we're off to a great start in this partnership.
THE PRESIDENT: Johnny, thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT BRYAN: Albert Bryan - Governor-elect, United States Virgin Islands. Thank you, Mr. President and Vice President Pence. Donna Christian sends her regards.
Would really like to thank the administration for their support in the hurricane recovery thus far. And looking forward to a continued, growing relationship and the support of the administration moving forward.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you. Congratulations.
SECRETARY ROSS: Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce.
GOVERNOR-ELECT WHITMER: Gretchen Whitmer, governor-elect in Michigan, the Great Lakes State. And I'm happy to be here, and looking forward to a good working relationship with your administration.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, we're going to have it. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
GOVERNOR-ELECT WHITMER: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: Mr. President, I'm Bill Lee, and I'm the governor-elect of Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: And I'm honored to be here today with you and with Mr. Vice President. We look forward to serving the people of Tennessee and partnering with you.
THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic race.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: You did a great job. Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT EVERS: Tony Evers, governor-elect from Wisconsin. Thank you very much for the invitation today. Looking forward to working with your administration.
THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations.
GOVERNOR-ELECT EVERS: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Mike Dunleavy, from the great state of Alaska. And I want to thank you for your words of encouragement and offer of assistance with our recent earthquake, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: And that worked out quite well, hasn't it? Huh?
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Nobody passed away. Nobody died in that whole -
THE PRESIDENT: Amazing.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Yes it is.
THE PRESIDENT: Just hit the right spots, I guess.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: It's hard to describe.
THE PRESIDENT: Because that was a big one.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: It was a big one. Second-largest.
THE PRESIDENT: Great, Mike. Thank you very much.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Thank you.
SECRETARY NIELSEN: Hi, sir. Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security. I congratulate to - congratulations, first of all. But, secondly, we are here to support and assist you against all hazards, manmade threats, natural disasters. So I know you've spent some time with different parts of DHS already, but we look forward to working with all of you very closely. So thank you for being here.
MS. CONWAY: Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President. Congratulations to each of you. And consider us a resource and a partner in working with you on some issues of the day, like workforce development, prison reform, opioids and the fentanyl crisis, and obviously all things economic. Thank you. And infrastructure. Welcome.
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks.
GOVERNOR-ELECT GUERRERO: Good afternoon. I'm Lou Leon Guerrero, from Guam, where "America's day begins." (Laughter.) My passion is in healthcare. I'm a nurse by profession, a senator for 10 years, and then ran the only locally owned and locally chartered bank - Bank of Guam - for 12 years. And now governor-elect of Guam and look forward to working very closely with this administration.
And I ask you, President Trump, to please do not forget Guam out there. We're a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but I think we're the first line of national defense for our country. So -
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much.
Go Back
Cabinet Room • December 13, 2018 • 2:12 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We have invited the nation's - our great nation's newly elected governors. And some really terrific people. They're going to do a wonderful job.
All of them had great victories. Some had very, very outstanding victories, in terms of the percentage of victory, and even surprising. We have some real stars in the room. And they became stars because of the way they handled themselves. I could almost say - I think I could pretty much say, Mike, most of them have become stars, if not all. Because you won. Winning is a wonderful thing. (Laughter.)
So I thought what I'd do is go around the room, and maybe you could just introduce yourself; say hello. We have some Cabinet members, too. You can quickly introduce yourself, because we've all seen you guys. But I'd love to - maybe say a couple of words. And it's an honor to have you all.
Kristi?
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the invitation to be here today. I'm Kristi Noem, the governor-elect in South Dakota. Farmer, rancher, small business owner. Served in our state legislature and leadership, and spent the last eight years in Congress, representing and fighting for the state of South Dakota. So thank you for the invitation.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yeah, thank you. And tax reform.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Appreciate that.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. We did a job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT NOEM: Yep.
THE PRESIDENT: Mike?
GOVERNOR-ELECT DEWINE: Mr. President, thank you for having us. We appreciate it very, very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mike. And good job.
Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY AZAR: Alex Azar. I'm the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And, as you get to know your budgets, you'll realize we'll spend a lot of time together. (Laughter.) And we just - we pride ourselves on being a great partner to governors and states and flexibility. So, please - open door, everybody.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT STITT: Kevin Stitt, newly elected governor of Oklahoma. And excited to be here, and it was wonderful getting the phone call from you after our primary victory.
THE PRESIDENT: That was a great victory. Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT STITT: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LITTLE: I'm Brad Little, from Idaho. I'm the lieutenant governor. I'm the new governor-elect, and thank you also for the phone call. It put a big punctuation point.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great going.
Jared - you know.
Secretary.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: Alex Acosta, Secretary of Labor. And, Mr. President, we just spent about an hour chatting with the governors, and so we're off to a great start in this partnership.
THE PRESIDENT: Johnny, thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT BRYAN: Albert Bryan - Governor-elect, United States Virgin Islands. Thank you, Mr. President and Vice President Pence. Donna Christian sends her regards.
Would really like to thank the administration for their support in the hurricane recovery thus far. And looking forward to a continued, growing relationship and the support of the administration moving forward.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you. Congratulations.
SECRETARY ROSS: Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce.
GOVERNOR-ELECT WHITMER: Gretchen Whitmer, governor-elect in Michigan, the Great Lakes State. And I'm happy to be here, and looking forward to a good working relationship with your administration.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, we're going to have it. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
GOVERNOR-ELECT WHITMER: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: Mr. President, I'm Bill Lee, and I'm the governor-elect of Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: And I'm honored to be here today with you and with Mr. Vice President. We look forward to serving the people of Tennessee and partnering with you.
THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic race.
GOVERNOR-ELECT LEE: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: You did a great job. Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT EVERS: Tony Evers, governor-elect from Wisconsin. Thank you very much for the invitation today. Looking forward to working with your administration.
THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations.
GOVERNOR-ELECT EVERS: Thank you.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Mike Dunleavy, from the great state of Alaska. And I want to thank you for your words of encouragement and offer of assistance with our recent earthquake, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: And that worked out quite well, hasn't it? Huh?
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Nobody passed away. Nobody died in that whole -
THE PRESIDENT: Amazing.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Yes it is.
THE PRESIDENT: Just hit the right spots, I guess.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: It's hard to describe.
THE PRESIDENT: Because that was a big one.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: It was a big one. Second-largest.
THE PRESIDENT: Great, Mike. Thank you very much.
GOVERNOR-ELECT DUNLEAVY: Thank you.
SECRETARY NIELSEN: Hi, sir. Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security. I congratulate to - congratulations, first of all. But, secondly, we are here to support and assist you against all hazards, manmade threats, natural disasters. So I know you've spent some time with different parts of DHS already, but we look forward to working with all of you very closely. So thank you for being here.
MS. CONWAY: Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President. Congratulations to each of you. And consider us a resource and a partner in working with you on some issues of the day, like workforce development, prison reform, opioids and the fentanyl crisis, and obviously all things economic. Thank you. And infrastructure. Welcome.
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks.
GOVERNOR-ELECT GUERRERO: Good afternoon. I'm Lou Leon Guerrero, from Guam, where "America's day begins." (Laughter.) My passion is in healthcare. I'm a nurse by profession, a senator for 10 years, and then ran the only locally owned and locally chartered bank - Bank of Guam - for 12 years. And now governor-elect of Guam and look forward to working very closely with this administration.
And I ask you, President Trump, to please do not forget Guam out there. We're a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but I think we're the first line of national defense for our country. So -
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much.
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