As we keep saying: chopper pressers are the best pressers.
In response to a chopper presser by President Trump on May 24th, 2019, the Australian government sent U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr an unsolicited letter saying they would “fully support” Barr’s investigative “efforts”:
Earlier today the New York Times attempted to construct a narrative that Bill Barr requested President Trump to contact the Australians on his behalf. This letter refutes the construct of the New York Times report which was based on Lawfare leaks and spin.
In corporate and diplomatic parlance the letter from Australia, based on the public comments from President Trump, is known as “requesting a climate assessment in advance of a forced inquisition’.
In other words, Australia sensed they were going to be contacted based on Trump’s comments; so they took the initiative, engaged in open-door diplomacy, and contacted Bill Barr in advance letting him know they were “supportive of his efforts.”
Chopper Pressers are the best pressers. The remarks from President Trump on May 24th, 2019, are directly appropriate to revisit today:
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[Transcript – May 24th, 2019] – Q Mr. President, are you ordering (inaudible) investigation into James Comey and McCabe?
THE PRESIDENT: So, we want to be very transparent. So, as you know, I declassified everything. Everything they want. I put it under the auspices of the Attorney General. He’s going to be in charge of it. He’s a great gentleman and a highly respected man.
So everything that they need is declassified, and they’ll be able to see how this hoax — how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started. It was a — an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the President of the United States. It should never, ever happen to anybody else. So it’s very important.
Now, people have been asking me to declassify for a long period of time. I’ve decided to do it. And you’re going to learn a lot. I hope it’s going to be nice, but perhaps it won’t be.
Q What if the Barr investigation does not turn out the way you think it will?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to see. I gave — as you know, I declassified, I guess, potentially, millions of pages of documents. I don’t know what it is. I have no idea. But I want to be transparent. Everybody wanted me to declassify. I’ve done it. And you can almost say he’s the trustee. He’s a highly respected man. Our Attorney General is in charge. Let’s see what he finds.
But we have — we have documents now that I have declassified for the purpose of the Attorney General. He can then show them to the public, do whatever he wants to do with them.
But you have to get down to what happened. Because what happened is a tremendous blight on our country. What happened — the investigation — they tried to do a takedown, and you can’t do that. And let me just tell you: This should never, ever happen to another President again.
Q Mr. President, why should people trust the Attorney General to select what to declassify? Even Robert Mueller expressed concerns about the way Barr handled his findings.
THE PRESIDENT: The question is so false and so phony. The Attorney General —
Q The Special Counsel sent a letter to the Attorney General —
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just explain — let me explain to you something. The Attorney General is one of the most respected people in this country and he has been for a long period of time. He is going to look at a lot of documents. Some he might find interesting; maybe he’ll find none interesting.
But for over a year, people have asked me to declassify. So what I’ve done is I’ve declassified everything. He can look. And I hope he looks at the UK, and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine. I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country. It’s the greatest hoax —
Q How will you protect (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. Excuse me.
It’s the greatest hoax, probably, in the history of our country. And somebody has to get to the bottom of it. We’ll see. But for a long period of time, they’ve wanted me to declassify and I did.
Q (Inaudible) of this investigation. What is it truly about? Is it about getting payback for the two years of investigation?
THE PRESIDENT: This is about finding out what happened. I won an election. I won it easily — 306 to 223. I won it pretty easily. And I’ll tell you what: This is all about what happened and when did it happen. Because this was an attempted takedown of the President of the United States, and we have to find out. Why did somebody write a text message — the two lovers — that if she loses, we have an insurance policy? An insurance policy to take down the President. We’re going to find out what happened and why it happened.
Let me just tell you —
Q Is it payback, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s not payback. I don’t care about payback. I think it’s very important for our country to find out what happened.
White House trade and manufacturing advisor Peter Navarro appears on CNBC to discuss the Bloomberg news story about the White House blocking U.S. investment in China. Additionally, Navarro is asked about U.S-China trade discussions.
This interview happens on the heels of a massive win for the White House at the Universal Postal Union Congress, where the UPU accepted that inbound package deliveries to the United States will no longer be subsidized by U.S. taxpayers – {Details Here}.
Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks to honor the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript, POTUS remarks @5:32] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mike. And I have to start off by saying that all of my life I’ve heard that if it rains on a big occasion, it brings luck. So, Mark, I think you’re going to be the luckiest general in history. (Laughter.)
I want to thank everybody for being here — Vice President Pence. And thank you all for the incredible service members. We have the finest military anywhere in the world. The American military is the greating — greatest fighting force, without question, in the history of the world. And today it’s stronger than it’s ever been, by a large factor. No enemy on Earth can match the awesome might of the American Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines.
We’re gathered together for a truly historic occasion. We’re here to welcome our outstanding new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: General Mark Milley. Mark, I want to congratulate you. You’re my friend. You’re my advisor. And you deserve this position. I never had a doubt. Congratulations. (Applause.)
I also want to express our profound gratitude to Mark’s wife Hollyanne, and his children, Mary and Peter, for their selfless devotion to our country. The strength of our military is truly found in the love and support of our military families. So important. Those families are so important.
We’re especially honored to be joined by some of America’s Gold Star Families. Your treasured loved ones made the supreme sacrifice for our nation. They’re looking down on you right now. You look up in the sky, and they’re looking down on you. Our debt to you is infinite and eternal. America will hold you in its heart forever. And we will never forget.
We’re also grateful to the many veterans here today. (Applause.) To our heroic wounded warriors in attendance: Our nation will always remember what you did for the cause of freedom.
Joining us as well are: Secretary Mark Esper. Thank you, Mark. Great job you’re doing. Secretary Mike Pompeo. Mike, thank you very much. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Thank you, Andrew. Many of our great secretaries and my Cabinet and service chiefs.
I know we have a couple of wonderful representatives — I think you have many, so I’ll get myself in trouble, but I see John Carter and I see Brad Wenstrup. Thank you very much for being here, fellas. Thank you very much. And I see a senator that’s so supportive of our military and this administration, Senator Dan Sullivan. Thank you, Dan — of Alaska. Done a great job.
As we prepare to welcome a new Chairman, we must first pay tribute to one of America’s most admired and beloved military leaders: outgoing Chairman Joseph Dunford, here today with his wonderful wife, Ellyn.
Joe Dunford hails from just outside Boston. His father was a Marine — and a tough one — who landed on Inchon, in Korea, and fought at the Chosin Reservoir. So, Joe knew which branch he was destined to join. He didn’t have too much of a decision to make, I think. What do you think about that? Huh? Not a big decision? No.
In 1977, he was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps.
In 2003, Joe commanded some of the first American troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom — and very, very successfully commanded them. For his exceptional bravery, he received the Legion of Merit with Combat Valor.
As a general, Joe was promoted so quickly that he was nominated for his third star before he had formally received his second. How do you do that? How do you do that, Joe?
In 2013, he was named International Security Assistance Force Commander in Afghanistan. And he was instrumental in strengthening Afghan security forces to share more of the burden. And today, they are indeed sharing much more of the burden.
In 2014, Joe became Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the next year he was named Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And in that role, Joe published the first Joint Military Net Assessment in 20 years. We have a lot of the ideas that we’ve brought forward. And, you know, we’ve spent $2.5 trillion since I’m President — $2.5 trillion — far more than this country has ever even thought about spending. But we had to have a modern, great military with the most magnificent and the finest machinery, planes, boats, ships, weapons of all kinds. We’ve never had anything like you have today. When I took over, we were a very depleted military, and today we’re at a level that we have never even come close to.
Joe solidified America’s competitive advantage through global integration of the Joint Force. He also provided critical leadership during the complete rebuilding of our military.
And he helped me in another way — something that probably only Joe and Ellyn really know — because in, I would say, in 2015, I sat with Joe at a dinner. And believe it or not, I was getting a big award from the Marines. And Joe was presenting the awards, and I had no even thought of running for President. And I said to my wife and family, “Look at that guy. He’s a great looking guy, isn’t he? He’s like central casting. He’s like right out of Hollywood.” But he made the great presentation that night.
And I got to talk to him because I sat with him and Ellyn and his son, Patrick. And I was asking Joe lots of questions about the military. He said, “You really enjoy this, don’t you?” I said, “Well, I just love our country. It’s very important to me. I love our country.” And I said, “I don’t know. What do you think? Should I give it a shot?” This was before it was public. He was one of the first people I asked. I said, “What do you think? You think I’d have a shot? If I get it, we’re going to rebuild that military. It’s going to be stronger than ever before.”
And he helped me form an opinion. He gave me a lot of information. And he has ever since. So, for that, I want to thank you and Ellyn, and I want to thank Patrick. I hope I got his name right. It was a long time ago, but I think his name was Patrick, right? Huh? Did I do good? (Laughter.)
But General Dunford also provided vital strategic direction to the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. With his help and the great courage of our warfighters, I am proud to say that the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100 percent completely obliterated. When we came to office, it was a mess; it was all over. Now we have thousands of captured ISIS fighters, and we have 100 percent of the caliphate.
As Chairman, Joe has also been a strong supporter and crucial advocate for creating the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces — something that I’m really proud about and something that, when I make these speeches in these massive arenas loaded up with people, thousands and thousands, it just about gets the number one line of applause because I say, “We’re creating the Space Force.” And the place goes crazy. Great popularity, because that’s where it’s going to be at, more and more.
General, your life exemplifies those words that beat in the heart of every Marine: Semper Fi. America salutes your incredible legacy of noble service. You’ve been exceptional. Thank you. Thank you very much, Joe. (Applause.) I think they like you, Joe.
As one exceptional Chairman departs, our nation gains another. Today, Mark Milley takes General Dunford’s place as the highest-ranking member of the most skilled, determined, and powerful military ever assembled in human history.
Mark has been preparing for his duty his entire life. Like Joe, he grew up in a family of patriots just outside of Boston. His dad was a Navy corpsman, and tough as can be, they say. Was he that tough?
GENERAL MILLEY: He was that tough.
THE PRESIDENT: Huh? No games? He didn’t play games?
GENERAL MILLEY: No. No.
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) He says, “No games.”
But his dad was a strong Navy corpsman, serving with the 4th Marine Division in World War Two — a veteran of the assault landings in the Marshall Islands campaign, the Mariana campaign, and in two Iwo Jima hits. During the war, Mark’s mother also served at a Navy hospital in Seattle, treating wounded men from the Pacific.
Inspired by their example, Mark chose the path of duty and the life of service. He could have done whatever he wanted. He was exceptional in every way.
In 1980, he was commissioned into the Army, and quickly joined the ranks of its finest soldiers. He graduated from the Army Ranger School and became a master parachutist and a Green Beret. In a long Army career, Mark deployed to Panama, Colombia, Korea, Somalia, Egypt, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan — often seeing very, very close up the combat.
He has not just served, but shown immense valor, on nearly every continent. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, four Bronze Stars, and the Legion of Merit, along with two awards of the Combat Infantry Badge.
With degrees from Princeton, Columbia — wow, I didn’t know you were such a great academic. (Laughter.) Wow, let me give you a little more. (Laughter.) I’m impressed with that. That’s very good. And the Naval War College — but I liked you anyway — Mark is living proof that the American warfighter is the toughest, smartest and bravest, best and brightest, by far, anywhere in the world.
Following four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he became the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army in 2015. Over the last several years, he has worked tirelessly to rebuild a depleted force into a fully manned, fully trained, and fully equipped Army prepared to achieve complete victory in the conflicts of tomorrow.
And when we were determining where we were going to spend all of these billions of dollars, like you’ve never seen — we haven’t seen it in decades — I went with Mark, I sat with Mark, and I hope we spent it wisely, and I know we spent it wisely. Two and a half trillion dollars.
He built the Army Futures Command, and he created Security Force Assistance Brigades to reduce the need for large deployments.
When Mark took over, only two Brigade Combat Teams were at the highest levels of readiness. Today, that number stands at 28 — an extraordinary turnaround and achievement. And I congratulate everybody here today. (Applause.)
America’s Armed Forces are more powerful than ever and growing even stronger. We have the newest equipment, and we also have equipment that we keep under wraps that nobody has ever even heard of. We have weapons that we pray to God we never have to use. Our nuclear has been totally rebuilt; some brand new and some refurbished. But we hope to God we never have to use any of our weapons — any of our weapons.
In his new role as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley will serve as my top military advisor. I have absolute confidence that he will fulfill his duty with the same brilliance and fortitude he has shown throughout his long and very distinguished career.
From the great General Omar Bradley to the famed Joe Dunford, our nation has been blessed by the advice, counsel, and wisdom of 19 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, we pass the baton to the 20th.
Together, we vow to continue the righteous mission that has united every Chairman and every patriot ever to wear the uniform and to defend our great American flag. We will keep America safe, we will keep America strong, and we will keep America proud so that our children and their children will forever and always be free.
Thank you again, General Dunford, for the incredible job you’ve done. And to General Mark Milley: Good luck, Godspeed, God bless you, God bless our military, and God bless America. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
Guardian of the swamp gates, Chris Wallace, returns from executive planning sessions with fellow travelers to advance the Trump-Ukraine Conspiracy narrative. Taking the most recent talking points from House Democrats on Fox News Sunday, the insufferable Wallace debates White House advisor Stephen Miller.
Baghdad Wallace skips over the actual transcript of the Trump-Zelenskyy phone call and instead prefers to debate the scripted narrative within the whistleblower complaint about the content of the phone call. Whistleblower good / Orangeman bad.
There are two aspects to this recent story: the visible surface issue; and the unspoken issue below the surface. In essence, there’s more here than most will recognize at first blush.
The surface level aspect is the Trump administration considering a block on U.S. investments into the opaque financial system that is China.
The U.S. financial media view the proposal through the prism of the White House looking for leverage over Beijing during negotiations:
(Via CNBC) […] Restricting financial investments in Chinese entities would be meant to protect U.S. investors from excessive risk due to lack of regulatory supervision, the source said.
The deliberations come as the U.S. looks for additional levers of influence in trade talks, which resume on Oct. 10 in Washington. Both countries slapped tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods. The discussions also come as the Chinese government is taking steps to increase foreign access to its markets.
Bloomberg News first reported earlier on Friday that Trump administration officials are considering ways to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows into China, including delisting Chinese companies from American stock exchanges and preventing U.S. government pension funds from investing in the Chinese market. (read more)
The below-the-surface issues are not widely discussed.
First, here’s an interview that just might make your jaw drop. Listen to Michael Bloomberg become an apologist for the communist regime in China, simply because Beijing is holding his financial assets hostage. Seriously, this is alarming. WATCH:
Could you even imagine that guy being President? With that outlook toward China? Bloomberg is known in U.S. left-wing social circles as an “environmentalist”, yet did you hear him say China moving the coal plants to just outside the city is a solution? …. As if smog and pollution is best solved through relocated geographics’. That’s how financial engagement with China turns people into pretzels… hostage pretzels to their financial self-interests.
Moving on… Despite the Wall Street pundits proclamations, it is clear by now that President Trump is methodically decoupling the U.S. from China. President Trump has been subtle at times with hints, and then not-so-subtle at other times with deliberate warnings to U.S. companies.
A good example of the dynamic is found in President Trump’s discussions with Apple CEO Tim Cook. It is clear that President Trump doesn’t want to harm U.S. companies, but simultaneously he needs them to accept that there is almost no possibility of a U.S-China trade agreement. Therefore the administration is in somewhat of a strategic influence-game with U.S. multinationals.
If you begin looking at the U.S-Chinese investment situation from Trump’s position; and you accept there is not going to be a trade agreement; then you can see POTUS trying to protect U.S. investments from the fallout.
China needs dollars; everyone who follows trade and China’s economic position understands that without dollars China sinks. The current economic weakness in Europe is driven partly by China getting less dollars due to their conflict with the U.S.
It is the reverse exfiltration problem. With less dollars inbound to Bejing, China has to limit purchases from other nations; less purchases from Europe are an outcome. This is a source of contention from Germany, France and the EU.
President Trump appears to be looking for ways to influence the withdrawal of U.S. investments, especially pension and retirement accounts, from what he and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin perceive as high-risk exposure in China. However, it’s not because the administration wants to pressure Beijing; but rather because the administration is attempting to protect American investment interests.
President Trump knows as soon as he fully decouples, all investment assets in China will plummet…. and everyone knows China’s financial markets are tenuous at best. Trump has been warning American interests, albeit carefully and with nuance, to position themselves according to a predictable outcome. This latest series of discussions is simply an extension of the Trump administration trying to get people to think ahead…. forced medicine.
Friday President Trump delivered remarks at the White House to celebrate Hispanic heritage month. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: That’s very nice. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: A lot of spirit. (Applause.) A lot of spirit. How are you?
Well, thank you all for being here today. And I’m delighted to once again celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with you at the White House. Right? (Applause.)
This evening, we come together to honor the devotion, and the drive, and the faith, and genius, and exceptional achievements of our incredible Hispanic American community, right? (Applause.)
Everybody here — Hispanic and/or Hispanic American — who isn’t? (Applause.) Do we have anybody? Do we have anybody who isn’t? I don’t think so. How are you? Great man of faith. Great.
Hispanic Americans have been a big part of our national story from the very, very beginning of our country. You work hard. You raise your strong and beautiful families. You care for your neighbors. (Applause.) You start businesses, you create jobs, and you teach your children to love our country and to cherish our God-given freedom. Right? (Applause.)
Hispanic Americans enrich America in countless ways, and we will always honor this solemn commitment to you. I will always be with you, and I think you know that maybe better than anybody knows it. (Applause.) All of our citizens — every single day, we’re fighting for you. We’re putting your needs, your families, and your futures first. We’re putting America first. We’re putting the people in this room — we’re putting you first. All right?
And we’re delighted to be joined for this special occasion by Vice President Mike Pence, who is doing a fantastic job. (Applause.) Say a couple of words, Mike. Say a couple of words. Come on.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And it is wonderful to be here just a few short days before we kick off Hispanic Heritage Month. The Americans gathered in this room, and all you represent stand for everything that’s great about this country and everything that this President and this administration fight for every day: faith and family and freedom. Thank you for being here at the White House, and God bless you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mike.
We have some very powerful, important people that have been doing a fantastic job on the Cabinet. Administrator Andrew Wheeler — where’s Andrew? Where is Andrew? (Applause.) Thank you. Whoa, Andrew. I thought you were taller than that. I thought you were taller than that, Andrew. (Laughter.)
Deputy Secretary Patrick Pizzella. Patrick. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. (Applause.) Good job, Patrick.
U.S. Treasurer — who everybody know — Jovita Carranza. (Inaudible.) (Applause.) Thank you, Jovita.
A great football player at Ohio State — fantastic. He went into the NFL and he was tough as can be. A lot of people don’t know that. He’s a tough cookie and he’s a friend of mine: Representative Anthony Gonzalez. Thank you. (Applause.)
Along with a lot of other political people, and state and local leaders, and a lot of diplomats. All the diplomats, thank you very much. We always love diplomats in the White House because we can use diplomats sometimes. (Laughter.)
I also want to thank Christine D’Clario for her beautiful rendition of our National Anthem. Thank you, Christine! Great job.
Last week, I had the privilege of awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to another phenomenal member of the Hispanic American community: the legendary pitcher for the New York Yankees — I think one of the great pitchers of all time; certainly, the greatest reliever of all time — Mariano Rivera. (Applause.)
He was something. Boy, his record — you know, he was up — and he’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and — as a Yankee fan. But there’s never been any human being that broke more bats. I said, “What do you do?” He threw a heavy ball. I said, “Mariano, how do you do that?” He said, “I don’t know. God just gave me this ability.” (Applause.)
But you’d have people up there, and those bats were breaking left and right. It was a heavy ball, and his record was incredible.
He — his earned run average in all of the playoffs — and I think he has a record for games played. But his record was — his earned run average was less than one run a game. And they won many, many World Series, and many games. So he’s a special person and a really nice person, too.
Mariano is one of millions of the outstanding men and women of Hispanic heritage who has excelled in every dimension of American society, and helped to build our community into the greatest nation the world has ever seen. (Applause.)
Today, thanks to our pro-American economic policies — you all know this — Hispanic Americans are thriving like they have never thrived before. (Applause.)
We’ve created more than 6 million new jobs since my election. More than 1 million Latinas have entered the workforce. (Applause.) And, as you probably heard me say on occasion, Hispanic American unemployment right now is at the lowest level in the history of our country. (Applause.) How do they beat us in a debate? When they say, “We’re going to get Hispanic vote…” And I say, “Really?” The lowest level in the history — I mean, it’s the lowest in the history of our country. So that’s something special. (Applause.)
Since 2016, Hispanic American median household income has risen by $1,500, and is now the highest level in the history of our country. (Applause.) How about that? Not doing bad, right?
Half a million more Hispanic Americans now own a home, and we’ve never seen these kind of numbers before. So I’m very proud to report that more Latinas own small businesses than ever before. (Applause.) And — you know, great business people. When I was out on that business market, I hated competing with you. (Laughter.) Smart and tough and vicious, but I won’t say that tonight. (Laughter.)
We have one of these amazing entrepreneurs with us tonight. Maria Rios is the President and CEO of Nation Waste, Inc. And she’s got an incredible story to tell. Maria, please come forward. Please. (Applause.)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Bill Whittle thinks she has just handed the president a 2020 election victory. But how does a president under impeachment run a campaign? And what will Republican lawmakers say as they seek reelection without knowing the outcome of an impeachment trial? Bill Whittle Now with Scott Ott comes to you five times each week thanks to our Members. Join them today at https://BillWhittle.com/register/
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses the forecast for ratification of the USMCA against the backdrop of Pelosi’s announced focus on impeachment.
Additionally, Kudlow discusses the status of Chinese trade negotiations and the recently affirmed trade deal with Japan.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives is proceeding with efforts regarding the Trump administration’s trade deal with Mexico and Canada, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday, saying House Democrats had discussed the pact a day earlier.
“We’re moving ahead on the U.S-Mexico-Canada agreement,” Pelosi said at a news conference. “We’re, again, hoping to be on a continuing path to ‘yes’” to approve the deal aimed at replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (link)
“Deal”? ….THAT was before you smothered yourself in shoe polish, Justin!
Reuters Top News
✔@Reuters
Pelosi says House is ‘moving ahead’ on trade deal with Mexico, Canada https://reut.rs/2luGqkm
A much anticipated bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Zelenskyy. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, everybody. We’re with the President of Ukraine, and he’s made me more famous, and I’ve made him more famous. (Laughter.) I will say he’s got a great reputation. He’s very, very strongly looking into all sorts of corruption and some of the problems they’ve had over the years. I think it’s one of the primary reasons he got elected. His reputation is absolutely sterling. And it’s an honor to be with you.
And we spoke a couple of times, as you probably remember. And they’d like to hear every single word, and we give them every single word, and then they’ll say, “Well, about today?” I think the press would like to stay in the meeting, but we have lots of witnesses, if you’d like to have it.
But the country of — our country is doing phenomenally well. We are — we have the best economy we’ve ever had. We have the best employment numbers that we’ve ever had. We have now almost 160 million people working, which is more than we’ve ever had. So we’re doing very well in every respect. And I have a feeling that your country is going to do fantastically well. And whatever we can do. You just take care of yourself. Thank you.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. It’s a great pleasure to me to be here, and it’s better to be on TV than by phone, I think.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And, Mr. President, thank you very much. And I’m not the first time to stay in New York —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: — but I know that you’ve never been in Ukraine.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And your predecessor also — how do you say it in English? — didn’t find time; I mean that. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: So, can you give me a word that you will come to our great country?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m going to try. (Laughter.) And I know a lot of people — I will say this: I know a lot of people from Ukraine. They’re great people. And I owned something called the Miss Universe pageants years ago, and I sold it to IMG. And when I ran for President, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be the greatest thing to own the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. But it’s a great thing. And we had a winner from Ukraine, and we’ve really had — we got to know the country very well in a lot of different ways. But it’s a country, I think, with tremendous potential.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Yes, I know it, because I’m from this country.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: And I want to thank you for the invitation to Washington.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: You invited me. But I think — I’m sorry, but I think you forgot to tell me the date. (Laughter.) But I think in the near future.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They’ll tell you the date.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Laughs.) Yes, they know before us. And I want to thank you — to thank you, especially, Mr. President, to USA, to your government. Like I said, I know many people, many faces, like the Second Family, after you — my Ukrainian family, we know each other.
Thank you for your support, especially now when — you know, when we have two — really, two wars in Ukraine. The first one is with corruption, you know. But we’ll fight — no, we’ll be winner in this fight, I’m sure. And the priority — my priority is to stop the war on Donbass and to get back our territories: Crimea, Donbass, Luhansk.
Thank you for your support in this case. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. If you remember, you lost Crimea during a different administration, not during the Trump administration.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Yeah. So you have chance to help us.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right. I do. But that was during the Obama administration that you lost Crimea, and I didn’t think it was something that you should have. But that was done a long time ago, and I think it was handled poorly. But it’s just one of those things.
One of the elements that we discussed is the United States helps Ukraine, but I think that other countries should help Ukraine much more than they’re doing — Germany, France, the European Union nations. They really should help you a lot more. And I think maybe, together, we’ll work on that. They have to feel a little bit guilty about it because they don’t do what they should be doing.
You’re very important to the European Union. You’re very important — strategically, very important. And I think they should spend a lot more in helping Ukraine. And they know that also, and they actually tell me that, but they don’t seem to produce. So I’m sure you’ll talk to them, and I’ll certainly be talking to them.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much, Mr. President. And, you know, now we need — I want to tell you that we now (inaudible) the new country. And, I’m sorry, but we don’t need help; we need support. Real support. And we thank — thank everybody, thank all of the European countries; they each help us. But we also want to have more — more. But I understand, so only together, America and EU — only together we can stop the war. And, you know, we are ready. We just want to tell that we are — remember that we are the biggest country in Europe, but we want to be the richest one. It’s true; it’s in my heart.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you know, you have great people in Ukraine, and you have very talented people —
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Very smart.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: — in terms of manufacturing, in terms of some of the things they do. And we’ll be doing — we’re doing trading already, but we should be doing a lot more trading with Ukraine. But you have very talented people. They make great things. You’re at the top of the line, really. So that’s very important.
And the other thing is I’ve heard you actually have — over the last fairly short period of time, you’ve really made some progress with Russia. I hear a lot of progress has been made. And just keep it going. It’d be nice to end that whole disaster.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: First of all, I want to tell you, before — before the relations with Russia — I will prolong, just one minute — I mean, you have to know — I want world to know that now we have the new team, the new parliament, the new government.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: So now we (inaudible) about 74 laws, new laws, which help for our new reforms: land reform, big privatization. They did the law about concessions. Did — we (inaudible) general for security, and we launched the Service Secretary.
Is it right Service Secretary?
AIDE: Yes. Anti-corruption court, as well.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: An anti-corruption court. As we came, we did — we launched the anti-corruption court. It began to work on the 5th of September. It was — you know, it was — after five days, we had the new government.
So, we are ready. We want to show that we — we just come. And if somebody, if you — if you want to help us, so just let’s do businesses cases. We have many investment cases. We’re ready.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And stop corruption in Ukraine, because that will really make you great. That will make you great personally, and it’ll also be so tremendous for your nation, in terms of what you want to do and where you want to take it.
Thank you very much. It’s a great honor.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Q President Zelensky, have you felt any pressure from President Trump to investigate Joe Biden and Hunter Biden?
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I think you read everything. So I think you read text. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved to democratic, open elections — elections of USA.
No, you heard that we had, I think, good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things. And I — so I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed — pushed me.
Yes.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: In other words, no pressure.
Q President Trump, would — President Trump, would you like Mr. Zelensky to —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because you know what? There was no pressure. And you know there was — and, by the way, you know there was no pressure. All you have to do it see it, what went on on the call. But you know that. But you can ask a question, and I appreciate the answer.
Go ahead.
Q Mr. President, would you like President Zelensky to do more on Joe Biden and investigate (inaudible)?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. I want him to do whatever he can. This was not his fault; he wasn’t there. He’s just been here recently. But whatever he can do in terms of corruption, because the corruption is massive.
Now, when Biden’s son walks away with millions of dollars from Ukraine, and he knows nothing, and they’re paying him millions of dollars, that’s corruption.
When Biden’s son walks out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund — and the biggest funds in the world can’t get money out of China — and he’s there for one quick meeting, and he flies in on Air Force Two, I think that’s a horrible thing. I think it’s a horrible thing.
But I’m going far beyond that. I know the President, and I’ve read a lot about Ukraine. I’ve read a lot about a lot of countries. He wants to stop corruption.
He was elected — I think, number one — on the basis of stopping corruption, which unfortunately has plagued Ukraine. And if he could do that, he’s doing, really, the whole world a big favor. I know — and I think he’s going to be successful.
Q Mr. President, on Rudy Giuliani, why do you think it’s appropriate for your personal attorney to get involved in government business?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you’d have to ask Rudy. I will tell you —
Q You mentioned it to the President here.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I will tell you this, that Rudy is looking to also find out where the phony witch hunt started, how it started. You had a Russian witch hunt that turned out to be two and half years of phony nonsense.
And Rudy Giuliani is a great lawyer. He was a great mayor. He’s highly respected. I’ve watched the passion that he’s had on television over the last few days. I think it’s incredible the way he’s done.
What he’s at is he wants to find out where did this Russian witch hunt that you people really helped perpetrate — where did it start. How come it started? It was all nonsense. It was a hoax. It was a total hoax. It was a media hoax and a Democrat hoax. Where did it start?
And Rudy has got every right to go and find out where that started. And other people are looking at that, too. Where did it start? The enablers — where did it all come from? It was out of thin air. And I think he’s got a very strong right to do it. He’s a good lawyer; he knows exactly what he’s doing. And it’s very important.
Q Mr. President, do you believe that the emails from Hillary Clinton — do you believe that they’re in Ukraine? Do you think this whole thing originated —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think they could be. You mean the 30,000 that she deleted?
Q Yes.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, I think they could very well — boy, that was a nice question. I like that question. (Laughter.) Because, frankly, I think that one of the great crimes committed is Hillary Clinton deleting 33,000 emails after Congress sends her a subpoena. Think of that. You can’t even do that in a civil case; you can’t get rid of evidence like that. She deleted 33,000 emails after — not before — after receiving the subpoena from the U.S. Congress.
I mean, I have never heard — now, she’s done far worse than that. Although, I don’t know how much worse it can be. But there were many other things she did that were wrong. But that’s so obvious. She gets a subpoena from the United States Congress and she deletes them. And then she said, as I remember it, that, “Oh, well, they had to do with the wedding and yoga.” She does a lot of yoga, right? So they had 33,000 emails about the wedding of her daughter and yoga. I don’t think so.
How she got away with that one is just — but it’s one of many. And it’s corrupt government. Because we have corruption also, Mr. President. We have a lot of corruption in our government. And when you see what happened with Hillary Clinton, when you see what happened with Comey, and McCabe, and all of these people — we have a lot of things going on here too. Hopefully, it’s going to be found out very soon. But I think that a lot of progress has been made. A lot of progress has been made.
Q Will the military aid continue? Can you assure that it will continue in the future?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re working with Ukraine. And we want other countries to work with Ukraine. When I saw “work,” I’m referring to money. They should put up more money. We put up a lot of money. I gave you anti-tank busters that — frankly, President Obama was sending you pillows and sheets. And I gave you anti-tank busters. And a lot of people didn’t want to do that, but I did it.
And I really hope that Russia — because I really believe that President Putin would like to do something. I really hope that you and President Putin get together and can solve your problem. That would be a tremendous achievement. And I know you’re trying to do that.
Q President Zelensky, in the phone call, you said that you would look into Joe Biden — you would ask your prosecutor to look into the matter. Have you had that conversation —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think — no, I haven’t. But I think that — I think this —
Q I’m asking President Zelensky.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that somebody, if you look at what he did, it’s so bad — where his son he goes to China, he walks away with a billion and a half dollars. He goes to Ukraine and he walks away with $50,000 a month and a lot of money in addition to that. And the whole thing with the prosecutor in Ukraine.
And he’s on tape. This isn’t like “maybe he did it, maybe he didn’t.” He’s on tape doing this. I saw this a while ago. I looked at it and I said, “That’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.” Now, either he’s dumb, or he thought he was in a room full of really good friends, or maybe it’s a combination of both, in his case.
Q President Zelensky —
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I heard your question. Thank you very much. Don’t cry.
I mean that we have independent country and independent general security. I can’t push anyone, you know? That’s it. That is the question — that is the answer. So I didn’t call somebody or the new general security. I didn’t ask him. I didn’t push him. That’s it.
Q Do you feel obligated to fulfill your promises to President Trump?
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Just — sorry.
Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)
(As interpreted.) Obligated to do what? (Speaks Ukrainian.)
Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)
Q (Speaks Ukrainian.)
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: (Speaks Ukrainian.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You want to just —
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: I’m sorry.
(As interpreted.) Concerning the investigation, actually, I want to underscore that Ukraine is an independent country. We have a new prosecutor general in Ukraine — a highly professional man with a Western education and history to investigate any case he considers and deems appropriate.
While we have many more issues to care about and to tackle, we have (inaudible), we have Maidan, we have corruption cases, as President Trump rightly mentioned about that. So we know what to do, and we know where to go and what to tackle.
Q President Trump, is it appropriate to ask the Attorney General to be involved in this matter?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Did you ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to find a way out of impeachment yesterday?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not at all. No. Look, she’s lost her way. She’s been taken over by the radical left. She may be a radical left herself, but she really has lost her way. I spoke to her about guns yesterday. She didn’t even know what I was talking about. She’s not interested in guns.
Q Did it even come up or no?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll tell you what: Nancy Pelosi is not interested in guns and gun protection and gun safety. All she is thinking about is this. She’s been taken over by the radical left, the whole Democrat Party. And you take a look at what’s happening in the media today. The whole party is taken over by the left.
And thank you very much. My poll numbers have gone up. But I don’t want it to go up for this reason. When they look, and when you see what’s happening, people are really angry at Democrats. They’re really angry at the Democrat Party.
And things like, as an example, drug pricing — getting drugs down — things like gun safety, infrastructure, the Democrats can’t talk about that because they’ve been taken over by a radical group of people. And Nancy Pelosi, as far as I’m concerned, unfortunately she’s no longer the Speaker of the House.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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