U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin talks to FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs about the current status of U.S-China trade negotiations. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer have been working together on the overall China issues.
Mnuchin delivers a deliberate explanation of the current status.
Earlier today President Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (the Asian Obama) to discuss issues of mutual interests. The relationship between Trump and Moon is one of the more interesting geopolitical dynamics. President Moon is consistently flummoxed by the effectiveness of Trump and has learned to respect a strategy he doesn’t understand. [Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We’re pleased to be with President Moon of South Korea. We have a long-term friendship, and we are making a lot of progress. We are working on tremendous trade deals. We — as you know, we’ve completed a trade deal, and that’s working out very well for both countries. That deal is completed now, and it’s been in existence for — solidly in existence for six months. And it’s been very good.
And we intend to do some additional things on trade. Of course, we’ll be talking about North Korea. We’ll be talking the purchase of equipment. South Korea is one of our largest purchasers of military equipment. And we’re working together very well.
PRESIDENT MOON: (As interpreted.) Mr. President, it’s a great pleasure to meet you again three months after our last meeting. Your visit to Panmunjom will go down as a historic moment that embodied peace through action. And I have to say that I always marvel at your imagination and bold decision-making.
Thanks to your leadership, we have been able to achieve great progress in terms of inter-Korean relations. And this has also led to a dialogue between the United States and North Korea. And soon, I will be expecting the working-level negotiations between the United States and North Korea to prepare for the third — your third summit with Chairman Kim to resume — to be resumed soon.
And when you have your third summit with Chairman Kim, maybe I hope that this will go down as a truly historic moment in world history. This will be a great achievement that equals a great transformation in terms of a complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
During the time I have been working together with you, the ROK-U.S. alliance has been evolving in a great way, especially in the economic field. We have been able to revise a bilateral free trade agreement, and that has been a great success, while many Korean companies are increasing their investment in America.
And during the course of my visit to New York, we’ll be signing the deal to increase the import of LNG from America, while we’ll also be signing a deal regarding a joint venture between a Korean motor company and an automotive vehicle company in America. So I believe that all of this will come to reinforce our already strong alliance.
And furthermore, I do look forward to engaging in candid discussions with you today on how we could truly make great progress in our alliance in other aspects as well.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much.
Q What’s it going to take to have a third summit with Chairman Kim, sir?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ll see. Right now, people would like to see that happen. I want to know what’s going to be coming out of it. We can know a lot before the summit takes place.
We had, really, two very successful summits. There’s been — as you know, there’s been no lessening of the sanctions. There’s only been an increasing of the sanctions. But very importantly, we have our hostages back. And that was a very big deal. And we got our hostages back. We have the remains of our great heroes from the past back — a lot of them. And they’re coming in, and they actually have a lot of them ready to start coming in again.
So, a lot of things have happened. Plus, there’s been no nuclear testing at all for the last quite a long period of time, at least that we can detect. And the relationships have been very good.
So, we’ll see what happens. But we’d like to see if we can do something. And if we can, that would be great. And if we can’t, that’s fine. We’ll see what happens. But there’s been no nuclear testing for a long time. A long time.
Q Mr. President, for guns, do you plan on announcing a gun plan in the coming days? And if so, is it going to include background checks?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re working very much with the Republicans, and we’re working also with the Democrats. But a lot of the Democrats are wasting their time on nonsense, on pure nonsense. So they don’t have much time to work on guns, unfortunately. If they did, it would be probably pretty easy to do. But we always have to protect our Second Amendment. It’s very important.
I saw where this character from Texas — I can’t imagine he’ll get one vote in Texas. He wants to start confiscating guns. That’s not a good thing. That’s no good. It makes it actually much harder to make a deal when this Beto O’Rourke comes out and starts talking about confiscating guns. When you do that, it makes it much tougher.
But the Democrats are really just wasting so much time on — on nonsense, on junk. And if they focused on this, they could get it done. But we have to protect our Second Amendment. We have to protect people that want and need guns. And we have to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people and sick people. Very simple. It’s not very complicated.
Q Are you considering sanctions — considering actions first before denuclearization as part of your new method for the — in the denuclearization talks?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sanctions where?
Q Sanctions first before denuclearization, as part of your new method in denuclearization talks.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I can’t — you’re going to have to speak up. Say it again. Sanctions. Go ahead. What was —
Q Sanctions — considering action first before denuclearization?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Where?
Q For North Korea and the denuclearization talks.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m not considering actions. We’re getting along very well with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un. And we’re not considering actions at all. There’s no reason for actions.
I will say this: If I weren’t President, you’d be at war with North Korea, in my opinion. If the same group was in that preceded me, you’d be in a war with North Korea.
So we’re not looking at any actions. We have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un. We’ll see what happens. Maybe we’ll be able to make a deal. Maybe not.
Q Mr. President, I meant the sanctions first. I beg your pardon.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Go ahead.
Q Mr. President, there is breaking news just now —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: More breaking news?
Q More breaking news, yes.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: There’s always breaking news. It’s usually — it’s usually breaking fake news. Go ahead.
Q Two rockets just landed in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Do you see this as an escalation in the Middle East? And could —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. You just told me it’s breaking news, so I’ll have to see it. You know, right now, I’m here. I haven’t heard it.
Q But this is not the first time.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: When did this happen?
Q Just now, but this is not the first time. Many rockets landed before.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, that is not the first time. Nope. We’ll look into it. We’re going to look into it.
Q But are you worried about the U.S. embassy in Baghdad — the security there?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to look into it. I know nothing about it. You just told me it’s breaking, so therefore I assume it’s relatively new, like within the last four days.
Q Mr. President, do you plan on discussing the North Korean short-range missile tests with your counterpart?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. We’re going to discuss that.
Q And, Mr. President, yourself: Do you have any comment —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I will be discussing that.
Q — on the North Korean missile tests?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. I will be discussing. We didn’t have an agreement on short-range missiles. And a lot of people and a lot of countries test short-range missiles; there’s nothing spectacular about that. But we will be discussing that also. Okay?
Q Can we hear from President Moon if he is troubled by the short-range missiles and if he’d like to see you maybe try to stop it from happening — talk to Chairman Kim?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ll take a look at it. We’re going to talk about it. But I didn’t really discuss that with Kim Jong Un. That was never a part of our discussion. We did discuss nuclear testing and other things. And, frankly, he’s lived up to his word on those things that we discussed. And we actually signed an agreement in Singapore. We actually had two very good meetings.
You would have been at war right now with North Korea if I weren’t President.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Earlier this morning First Lady Melania Trump opened the New York Stock Exchange with a group of 4th grade students to celebrate the “Be Best” campaign.
Thank you @Stacey_Cunning & @NYSE for welcoming me & celebrating Be Best w/ such bright & uplifting students from @UNISNYC! #BeBest twitter.com/stacey_cunning…
She rang the Opening Bell with students from the UN International School to highlight the #BeBest campaign
Honored to participate in this timeless tradition of ringing the opening bell @NYSE with @UNISNYC students. #BeBest twitter.com/NYSE/status/11…
NYSE Opening Bell
: @FLOTUS & fourth-grade students from @UNISNYC highlight the #BeBest Campaign pscp.tv/w/cFi-jzIyODE3…
President Trump meets with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders discussed the conflict in Libya and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the development of a unified and democratic Libyan government able to stand against terrorism.
President Trump and President Al Sisi also discussed the recent attack on critical energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the need to work together to safeguard global commerce and regional stability. [Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to be with my friend, the President of Egypt. And he is a real leader. He’s done some things that are absolutely amazing in a short period of time. When he took over not so long ago, it was in turmoil. And it’s not in turmoil now.
So, I just want to say: We have a long-term, great relationship. It’s better than ever before. We’re doing a lot of trading, a lot of business. We’re talking about many different locations like Libya. I think Libya might just be a subject that we’re going to be discussing. I have a feeling.
And the relationship is great. It’s great to have you. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT EL-SISI: (As interpreted.) I thank you, Mr. President. It’s a great pleasure to have this meeting with you. And this is the second meeting in less than two months. This speaks volumes —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.
PRESIDENT EL-SISI: — of the level and depth of understanding, and the great appreciation that I hold for your country.
Your Excellency, let me go on the record to stress the wisdom in dealing with — handling the military option and in dealing with Egypt and especially challenges.
Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, are you worried about the demonstration in Egypt that’s calling for President El-Sisi to go?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Louder, please.
Q Are you worried about demonstrations in Egypt that’s been calling for President —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Demonstrations?
Q Yes, in Egypt, that’s been calling for President El-Sisi to go.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I guess everybody has demonstrations. Even your best friend in the whole world, President Obama, he had a lot of demonstrations.
No, I’m not — I’m not concerned with it. Egypt has a great leader. He’s highly respected. He’s brought order. Before he was here, there was very little order. There was chaos. And so I’m not worried about that at all.
Q Mr. President, did Sheldon Adelson or any other Republican donors ask you to tone down your trade dispute with China just because they’re concerned about the economy or the impact?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, we’re doing very well with China. We are way up. Our stock market is up many, many, many trillions of dollars, and our country’s worth is up many trillions of dollars. And China is down many trillions of dollars.
If my opponent had won the election, China’s economy would have surpassed the United States by now. And with me, there’s a tremendous difference. We’re way number one, and China is number two. And China is going to do fine. We’re talking to China. We have very serious conversations coming up, Steve. You might want to talk about that for just one second.
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: We’re meeting with the Vice Premier. He’ll be coming to Washington, D.C. next week. We look forward to those conversations. We had a deputy-level meeting. And as the President has instructed us all along, if we can get the right deal, we’ll do it. If not, we’re perfectly comfortable where we are.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: China wants to make a deal. They have a lot of people that don’t have jobs now because their supply chain is broken. And we’ll see what happens. But they’re also starting to buy our agricultural product. They’re making a big move toward buying our actual — you know, our product, and the ag product. And I appreciate that very much.
I was telling people to tell President Xi we appreciate it. But they are starting to buy our agricultural product. And China wants to make a deal. We’ll see what happens.
Q Did Adelson try to contact you about this issue?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t want to say that.
Go ahead.
Q President Trump, is there any opportunity to have a meeting with the French President regarding Iran?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, Emmanuel is a friend of mine. And he can always have a meeting. And we’ve had to turn down many meetings, because for some reason, everybody wants to meet with us. And I consider it a great honor. But they want to meet.
The United States is doing really well. Everybody wants to meet with the United States. We can’t do everybody. So we’ve turned down, unfortunately, far more than we can do. We’ve had a lot of meetings today — the bilats.
But Egypt is a very special place, a very important place. I think you have the largest population anywhere in your part of the world, by far.
PRESIDENT EL-SISI: Yes.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And my wife was there, and she took these beautiful pictures with the pyramids in the back. She loved the pyramids. She was in love with the pyramids. And you treated her so nicely. But the First Lady was there with a group. And those pyramids are something very special. The pictures were something she’ll never forget. That was really good.
Okay.
Q Mr. President, is it possible to ask a question of the Egyptian President of whether he has any comments, sir, on the demonstrations going on right now in your country?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure.
PRESIDENT EL-SISI: (As interpreted.) Let me say that you will always find something like this in our region, especially with political Islam. There have been efforts that have been put forth for many years to make sure that this political Islam is having a role on the political arena. And, consequently, this part of the world will remain in a state of instability as long as political Islam (inaudible).
Well, I want you to rest assured that, especially in Egypt, the public opinion and the people themselves are refusing this kind of political Islam to Egypt. They have demonstrated their refusal before, and they refuse those to have control on the country for only one year.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay. Steve?
Q The French President is trying to play this mediation role with Iran. Is that something you support or something that will work?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We don’t need a mediator. Iran wants to do something, and I don’t think we need a mediator. He’s a friend of mine. But we’re not looking for any mediators. They know who to call.
Q Mr. President, is there a scenario where you could meet President Rouhani this week in New York?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we have no meeting scheduled. Somebody said they’d like to meet. There was some talk about Yemen. All of the sudden, they want to get out of Yemen. That’s a good thing. I just heard that a little while ago, as you probably heard it.
We’ll see what happens. But we have nothing scheduled at this moment.
Q But you wouldn’t rule it out?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I never rule anything out. Why would I do that?
Q Mr. President, the Chinese delayed a trade delegation visit of farming communities, I believe in Nebraska and another state. Can you comment on that and whether you see that as a good sign, bad sign, neither?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they’re starting to buy a lot of our ag product. But, Steve, could you maybe —
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: That was actually at our request they delayed that. So, we didn’t want there to be any confusion. They have started buying agriculture. They’re going to reschedule that at a different time. The timing didn’t work. But that was — that was purely at our request.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Why was that our request? Just out of curiosity.
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: We didn’t want confusion around the trade issues.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, but I want them to buy farm products.
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: There was no confusion. We want them to buy agriculture. They’ve committed to buy agriculture. And they’re doing that.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They’ve committed to buy a lot of agriculture, and they’re going to start, and they’ve started. And we should get them over there as soon as possible so they can start buying.
But they have already started buying, as you know and as you’ve heard, a lot of product from our farmers, our ranchers. Okay?
Thank you very much. Thank you everybody.
President Trump meets with Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong of the Republic of Singapore at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders celebrated the longstanding and expanding U.S.-Singapore bilateral security partnership, and formally renewed 1990 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries on Defense Cooperation.
The leaders also discussed the extensive economic relations between the United States and Singapore, and reaffirmed their commitment to promoting free, fair, and reciprocal trade and investment among the world’s economies. The President thanked Prime Minister Lee for hosting the first U.S-DPRK summit, and the two leaders agreed to sustain efforts to bring about the final, fully verified denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. [Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. As we just said, we signed a very important agreement having to do with defense and mutual defense, and I guess you could say mutual offense, also.
But we — we’re now going to talk about trade. We do tremendous amounts of trade with Singapore. And the Prime Minister — highly respected. One of the truly most respected men anywhere in the world. And he’s been my friend for a long time. And we’re doing very well. But we do tremendous trade with Singapore, and we appreciate it very much, Mr. Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Well, thank you, Mr. President. As you said, we’ve just signed an agreement to extend our memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: It’s the second time we are extending this. It reflects the very good defense relationship we have between the two countries, but also reflects our broader cooperation and friendship.
And, in economics, we have an FTA between the U.S. and Singapore.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: The volume of trade is substantial, and the volume of investments, too. In Singapore, you are one — you are our most important foreign investor. And, in America, as small as we are, we have 55 billion dollars’ worth of investments —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s not too bad.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: — in many different states. And (inaudible) they tell me a quarter million U.S. jobs. So it’s not bad for a small country.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not bad.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: We’d like to do more, and we hope that you will do more in Singapore and also in the Asia Pacific region.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we had a very successful meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and it was in Singapore. And people don’t give that meeting as much credit as it deserves. The relationship was established, and it was a tremendous success.
And we saw each other there. Really got to know each other there very well. And you’ve done a fantastic job. It’s a great country.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Well, we were very honored to host that first summit between you and —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: — Mr. Kim. We are happy that it has helped to turn the situation in Korea around and point it in the right direction. And we wish you every success in continuing to make progress on this very difficult task.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you. It’s moving along pretty well, actually. So, thank you very much. That was a great couple of days we spent, and we enjoyed it. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much everybody.
Q Mr. President, why did you go to the climate change meeting today? What prompted you to pop in there?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because I believe in clean air and clean water. It’s very simple. We have the cleanest air. We have the cleanest water. Cleaner than it’s ever been before in our country. And I like clean air and I like clean water.
Q Are you going to — could you give us a little flavor of your speech tomorrow? Are you going to bring up Iran, North Korea?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to bring up a lot, Steve. We have a lot of different things to talk about. And if I talk about everything that we’re working on, it would go on for two days.
But there are a lot of things to talk about. We have a lot of really great relationships, and we have some relationships that are — let’s call it “in formation.” We’re being nice.
But we’ll be talking about Iran. We’ll be talking about various things that we’re doing. And we’re having tremendous success. We’re also going to be talking about the economy. As you know, Mr. Prime Minister, our economy is doing fantastically well. We have the best unemployment numbers we’ve ever had in most categories, and getting better. We just had some phenomenal results today, Steve, as I understand it. We just had — Wilbur, we just had a great couple of numbers.
Larry Kudlow, could you discuss that, please?
MR. KUDLOW: PMI —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Some great numbers just came out.
MR. KUDLOW: PMI — manufacturing, up. Up. Unfortunately, Europe’s was down, and Germany’s was down a lot. It looks like we’re in a turning zone back up on manufacturing.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Others were down, and we’re up. And we continue to go in the right direction. We’re getting numbers that we never anticipated having. And we’re doing very well. Other parts of the world are not doing nearly as well.
But — and I think we have tremendous potential upward.
Q Just on Iran, are you going to make the case to keep the pressure on them in your speech tomorrow?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don’t want to say now, Steve. But, look, we have a lot of pressure on them right now. More pressure than they’ve ever had. And Iran knows that they’re in a position that they’re — a lot of things are going to happen. Let me just put it this way: A lot of things are happening with respect to Iran. A lot more than you would know. A lot more than the media knows. But a lot of things are happening. Okay? I’ll be discussing it a little bit tomorrow.
Anybody else?
Q Mr. President, are you content with the way Rudy Giuliani has been handling the Ukraine situation over the last —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think he was excellent. I watched him the other night. I haven’t watched that show in a long time. I don’t watch CNN because it’s fake news. But I watched Rudy take apart Fredo. Fredo’s performance was incompetent. Rudy took him apart.
The press doesn’t give him credit because they take little tiny snippets, where wherever Rudy was a little bit — if he mispronounces a word, they’ll show that. They won’t show the whole. Rudy Giuliani took Fredo to the cleaners. It’s the first time I’ve watched CNN in a long time, too. I hate to watch it because it’s so fake.
Okay? Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We are close friends with Singapore and with Prime Minister Lee, and we’ve gotten to know each other very well.
And we’re signing a memorandum of defense — really, an understanding. And it’s a very strong understanding. We know where we are. We have an extraordinary relationship with Singapore and with the Prime Minister.
And we’re going to be — there’ll be a lot of — a lot of trade involved in our agreement today. We’re going to be doing a lot of trade, a lot of military equipment, et cetera, et cetera. So I just want to thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. And great honor to be with you. It’s a great honor.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: I would like to thank the President for signing this memorandum with me, updating our memorandum on defense cooperation between Singapore and the United States. We’ve had this since 1990.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: We’ve updated it once before in 2005, and we’re very happy to update it once more to extend for the next 15 years at least.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: It reflects our very good cooperation in defense matters between the United States and Singapore, and also the broader cooperation we have in so many other fields — in security, in economics, in counterterrorism, and in culture and education, as well.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: So we are very happy with our relationship. We hope to grow it. And we hope that it will also be a means for the U.S. to deepen its engagement in Southeast Asia and in the Asia Pacific region.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Very good. Well, it’s an honor. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Thank you. Now we sign.
(The memorandum of understanding is signed.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.) We’re going to see you — we’re going to see you in the other room. We’ll see you in the other room. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER LEE: Thank you.
For the second bilateral meeting President Trump meets with President Andrzej Duda of Poland at the 2019 United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders discussedpartnerships on defense, security, and energy. Specifically, President Trump highlighted the great progress on the joint basing arrangement with Poland, and signed the Joint Declaration on Advancing Defense Cooperation. Both Presidents acknowledged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a threat to Europe’s energy security, and discussed how best to stop the project. Finally, President Trump informed President Duda that he expects to announce Poland’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program in the coming weeks.
[Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Duda of Poland. And we’ve become friends over the last fairly short period of time. But it’s been — it was quite a day in Poland, when we made the speech. You said some nice remarks, I said some nice remarks, and a lot of people remembered what we said. And that was a big — that was a big afternoon, a big weekend, and it’s something we — that I will never forget, frankly. And I know the United States was very well received.
The people of Poland loved the United States. We love the people of Poland. We love Polish people. I think it’s — you can tell me: How many Polish people — ancestry — do we have in the United States right now? What is it approximately?
PRESIDENT DUDA: How many people —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.
PRESIDENT DUDA: — we think is living here in the United States?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: It’s a tremendously large number.
PRESIDENT DUDA: Oh, it’s about 10 million.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. It’s one of the largest. They’re great people. They’re fantastic people. So, thank you.
We’re going to be discussing trade —
PRESIDENT DUDA: I met them yesterday in New Britain.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s right. That’s right. I know exactly what you’re saying. We’ll be discussing trade and many other things. We have some long meetings set up over the next two weeks. But Poland has been a very, very great country, as far as the United States is concerned. We do a lot of business with Poland.
And they also make product and they sell a lot of us product — a lot of us really very good product. You have great craftsmen. And that’s what we like, is great craftsmen. But so do we. So, we’ve had a great trading relationship.
The visa waivers are in store; it’s already approved. And we’re doing it mechanically now so that we get them done as soon as we can, so it’s much easier to get to Poland and to the United States for the people that want to get there. It’s something that’s very important. It was very important, I think, for the President to get that done. And he was able to do it. Through a lot of hard work, he was able to do it.
So I congratulate you, and that’s something that’s going to be great for a lot of — as you say, for the 10 million people living in the United States that want to travel easily to Poland. It’s our honor.
PRESIDENT DUDA: (Inaudible) to visit United States more Polish people as tourists.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s true. That’s true. That’ll work both ways.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
Q Could you talk about that defense cooperation agreement you just signed? What were the details of that?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to be cooperating in so many different ways, and militarily, primarily. We’ll be moving soldiers there. Poland has borne the expense. They’re going to be building us facilities that I’m sure will be very beautiful. They’re — it’s being worked out right now.
But Poland came to us; they asked us if we would put some troops there. And they will bear the entire expense, and we appreciate that. And we worked out a deal.
Perhaps, Mike, you’d want to say something about that?
SECRETARY POMPEO: We’ll put out the full document shortly. You can see all the hard work that both our teams have done. Both our Department of Defense and the Poland Ministry of Defense have done great work to (inaudible) and to do better information sharing — all the things that friendly partner countries do to keep each other secure.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And we’ll most likely be moving troops from other places in Europe, as opposed to new troops going over there.
Q Are you considering more troops to Poland in the future? Are you considering —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ll talk to the President and the others about that. Yeah.
Q Mr. President, did you order a review? Did you initiate a review of Ukraine’s aid in order to encourage them to investigate Joe Biden?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I think what happens, if you look at Ukraine — and very important to me — why isn’t Europe — in fact, I was speaking about this to the President — to President Duda. Why isn’t Europe spending more money? Why is it always the United States spending money? I’ve been complaining about this to my people for a long time.
We spend so much money not only to Ukraine, but to other places. And why isn’t Germany spending more money? Why isn’t France? Why aren’t other countries in Europe helping Ukraine more? Why is it always the United States? And I’ve been saying that from the beginning. And I don’t like it that it’s only us.
Despite that, we’ve given far more than the Obama administration. He used to send sheets and pillows, and we sent anti-tank guns and weapons. But we really do.
And when I spoke with — I had a great conversation with the new President of Ukraine. And during that conversation, we discussed it. Perhaps you’ll see it, perhaps you won’t see that. It depends on what we want to do. But we had a great conversation. A very, very — a very nice conversation, too. But one of the things we discussed is why isn’t Europe helping Ukraine more? Why is it always the United States? That’s bothered me from day one. It’s not fair to the United States.
Q Mr. President, when are you going to visit Poland?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it?
Q When are you going to visit Poland?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll be there fairly soon. We’ve had a very open standing invitation, and I’ll be there very soon. That was something — I really love doing that. We made a speech. Even the fake news gave me great reviews on that speech. (Laughter.) So I was very happy. So in that case, it wasn’t fake. It was real. That was real news.
Q Why have you decided to increase U.S. military presence in Poland? Is it because of Russian threat?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I don’t think so at all. I think it’s just because we have a President of Poland who I like, who I respect. And he asked whether or not we’d be willing to do that. And I said, “Well, you know, there’ll have to be installations built.” And they said they’re willing to do that. And we worked out a deal, and it’s my honor.
Again, we have 10 million Polish — in terms of heritage — Polish people in the United States. Certainly special parts of the United States. And they’re great people. It’s a great country. They’ve done very well, and their economics are very good. They’ve had an economy that’s been very strong — stronger than most.
So we worked out a deal. And I think it’s great for Poland and it’s very good for us.
Q Sir, is visa waiver a done deal already? Will citizens of Poland be able to come to the United States soon without —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Very soon. Yeah. We have to work out structurally. In other words, from the — we have to get it done. But they qualify. We worked together very hard on that. But now they qualify, Georgette, and we’re going to be able to work that out very quickly. I think over the next couple of months we could have it done. And I know Poland has been looking for that. How many years have you been looking for that — the waivers? How many years have you? How many?
PARTICIPANT: Thirty.
PRESIDENT DUDA: Thirty. (Laughs.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thirty? (Laughter.) Thirty is a long time. I didn’t know it was that long. But we got it done. Trump gets it done. Other people don’t get it done. We get it done. And that was a good one. That’s good for everybody.
Q Mr. President, on the aid question — aid — from a moment ago. Did you tell the Ukrainian leader that they would have the aid only if they investigated Joe Biden and his family?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I didn’t. No, I didn’t. I didn’t do it at all.
Q Can you elaborate as to what you did say, sir?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: But Joe Biden said it about his son. Joe Biden was very dishonest, what he did. What he did is he said if they don’t do this or that and get rid of a certain prosecutor — Joe Biden said it. But because you’re a faker — you in particular; you’re a fake-news group of people — you don’t want to report that.
I didn’t do it. And you can — and I hope you’re going to be able to see a call, because I didn’t do it. You know everybody is looking for that call. And keep going the way you’re doing because when you see the call, you’re going to be very surprised.
No, but Joe Biden —
Q Are we going to see that call?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Let me just — let me just — be quiet. Joe Biden is the one that did a very, very bad thing when he said that. And I think it was $1.2 billion he wasn’t going to give unless they got rid of the prosecutor who was investigating his son and the company that his son works for. Then you also say: How much did his son make from the Ukraine? And then ask another question: How much money did his son make from China, based on energy?
He knows nothing about energy, so why did he leave China? Why did he leave the Ukraine with all of this money?
So, Joe Biden was very dishonest. Now, when you see the call — if you see it; I hope you see it, frankly — you will find out that I did not do that at all. And you’ll be very disappointed when you see it.
It’s really a disgrace. It really is a situation where — it just shows, the press, you’ve had such a bad week between Justice Kavanaugh and this and other things. It’s showing how dishonest so many members of the press are. Not all of you, but so many members of the press are so totally dishonest.
But this is a case — I hope you get to see the call because your question, you will see, I did not ask for — I did not make a statement that “you have do this or I’m not going to give you aid.” I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that.
With that being said, what I want is I want — you know, we’re giving a lot of money away to Ukraine and other places. You want to see a country that’s going to be not corrupt. The President is a good man. He got elected on the fact that he was going to get rid of corruption in Ukraine. That’s, I think, the primary reason he got elected. So he gets elected on the basis of ending corruption in Ukraine. Well, I think that’s good, and that’s what I want to see. But when Biden does a thing like that, then there’s still corruption, and that’s not good.
Q Sir, you can release — you can authorize a release of the transcript. Will you do that, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I can do it very easily. But I’d rather not do it from the standpoint of all of the other conversations I have. I may do it because it was a very innocent call on both his part and mine. We had a very nice call. It was really a congratulatory call because he had just won. It was just confirmed. And he’s the new President. And I think he’s going to do an excellent job.
But remember, he got elected on the basis of — the biggest part was corruption, in his campaign. And so he wants the same thing, and he’s looking for the same thing as I am. He did a very good job. It was a very nice call. I hope you get to see it. And I hope you get to see it soon.
Q (Inaudible), question, sir.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: What?
Q On Iran. The Iranian Foreign Minister —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Boris Johnson. You were going to say Boris Johnson?
Q No, no. No, I’m talking about the Iranian Foreign Minister.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, you mentioned Boris Johnson at the beginning of the —
Q No, the Iranian Foreign Minister, sir.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because he wants a new deal with Iran.
Q Sure.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right?
Q But the Iranians are saying now that they’re willing to negotiate to end the war in Yemen. Do you take this seriously?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it again.
Q The Iranian Foreign Minister —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Talk up, please.
Q The Iranian Foreign Minister is saying that they are willing to negotiate to end the war in Yemen. Do you take this statement seriously?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think that’s a very big, positive statement, if they said that. I haven’t heard it. I’ve been here and having lots of different meetings. We just had a very good meeting with Pakistan, by the way. We had a great meeting on religious liberty, I think, when you get right down to it, Mike. That was pretty much incredible. It was the first time that the President of the United States was involved in a meeting such as that.
No, I think that Boris Johnson made a strong statement saying that he’d like to see a new agreement. And I think that’s good. And if what you’re saying about Yemen is true, I like that also. We haven’t heard that yet. That’s a very positive thing if that’s the case.
Q Mr. President, on the whistleblower — on the whistleblower, you say you want the transcript of the call released. Do you also want the whistle- —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I didn’t say that at all.
Q Do you also want the whistleblower’s complaint —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I didn’t say that at all. It may get released. I didn’t say that at all. I don’t think it’s a great precedent to be releasing calls with foreign countries — heads of foreign countries. So I don’t think it’s a great precedent, so I didn’t say I was going to release it at all.
I will tell you, it’s a great call. It’s a very honorable call. It’s a nice call. The Ukrainian government, last night, very strongly, they announced that this call was a very nice call. There was — and they also said there was no pressure put on them, like the character over to your left. There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. I put no pressure on them whatsoever. I could have. I think it would probably, possibly, have been okay if I did. But I didn’t. I didn’t put any pressure on them whatsoever. You know why? Because they want to do the right thing. And they know about corruption. And they probably know that Joe Biden and his son are corrupt. They probably know that.
Joe Biden and his son are corrupt. All right? But the fake news doesn’t want to report it because they’re Democrats. If that ever happened — if a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair by right now.
Look at the double standards. You people ought to be ashamed of yourself. And not all. We have some great journalists around. But you got a lot of crooked journalists. You’re crooked as hell.
Okay. Thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. We’re signing a joint declaration on advancing defense cooperation with Poland and the United States. It has been under — I think you could say under review. We’ve been looking at it for many years, and it’s getting done now. We have a great relationship with Poland.
And, Mr. President, I’d like to thank you very much. It’s been a lot of fun working with you, and I think it’s been very productive.
We’re also doing waivers — the visa waivers for Poland. And that’s in the works. We’re working on the structure right now. But you can report back to the people of Poland, and the Polish people in the United States, that President Trump got it done, and nobody else could for a long time, as you know.
So thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you.
(The declaration is signed.)
Thank you. (Applause.) Congratulations. It’s fantastic. Thank you very much. Thank you. We’re going into the other room now.
PRESIDENT DUDA: Thank you very much.
The first bilateral discussion meeting at the 2019 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) takes place between President Trump and Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan.
As customary during each of the bilats the leaders take questions from the media. [Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with my friend, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. And we have some great discussions going on with Pakistan about a lot of things, including the Taliban and Afghanistan, and many other things. And trade, I think, maybe is one of the most important. We’re going to increase trade with Pakistan by a tremendous margin.
We do a very small amount of trade with them, and they want to do a large, and so do we. And we should be able to do that, I think, Wilbur, very easily. So we’re going to double, triple, quadruple the trade. It will be very easy to do. They make great product, and so do we.
And I was really shocked when I saw the original numbers from last year and the year before, and for many years, that the trade with Pakistan isn’t much greater. But it could be many times the number.
So we’ll be talking about trade and other things. And it’s an honor to be with you. Thank you very much. Please.
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: I look forward, Mr. President, to talk to you about, obviously, Afghanistan, which is a big issue for us Pakistanis, because stability in Afghanistan means stability in Pakistan. We also want to talk about all three neighbors: Afghanistan, India, Kashmir. And, of course, Iran, it’s just — we will discuss the situation there because all — these all three neighbors of Pakistan. And I —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: He lives in a very friendly neighborhood. (Laughter.)
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: I mean, as if there are not already enough challenges.
Q Mr. President, after your last meeting with the Prime Minister, you offered to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. And since then, the situation has gotten more complicated, and India continues to deny our access in the region. So where does the offer stand now on (inaudible)?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: It would always stand. If I can help, I would certainly do that. And it will be dependent on both of these gentlemen. One without the other doesn’t work, if you’re going to do mediation or if you’re going to do an arbitration.
But certainly, I would be willing to help if both wanted. If both Pakistan, let’s say, and India wanted me to do that, I am ready, willing, and able. It’s a complex issue. It’s been going on for a long time. But if both wanted it, I would be ready to do it.
Q Mr. President, with all the things — reverting back to my question in the Oval Office on Kashmir —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.
Q — you know, the thing is, you are asking both the parties to accept and one is aggressor, (inaudible) these U.N. resolutions. And that’s non-compliant, plus — you know, merging Kashmir into its own territory.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: This is the kind of reporter I like.
Q Which is (inaudible) U.N. resolution.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I like this reporter. (Laughter.)
Q And how can you —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Are you a member of this team? Or are you a —
Q I’m a member of — I’m not a member of this team. I’m an independent journalist.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know what? You’re saying — you’re saying what you think.
Q No, let me complete my question, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, but I have to be requesting —
Q How can you make —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me.
Q — an aggressor and a (inaudible) meet and —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s okay. I understand.
Q — in violation of the U.N. resolutions?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Very fair question, or statement. I’ll — let me put that one down as a statement, if you don’t mind.
Q Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: But you’re right, you have to have a — they have to have two parties that want to agree. And if they — when they come — and, at some point, India may come. I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi. I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Khan.
And if at any time they say, “You know, we have some points that we think we can maybe iron out,” I think I’d be an extremely good arbitrator. I’ve done it before, believe it or not, and I’ve never failed as an arbitrator. I’ve been asked to arbitrate disputes — pretty big ones — from friends. And I’ve done it in a good, successful fashion.
If I can be of help — you know that — if I can be of help, let me know. But you’d have to have the assent also from the other side.
Q Prime Minister Johnson has now called for a new deal, just moments ago — for a new Iran deal. This is the first time he’s called for that. I wonder what your reaction to it. And have you discussed that with him previously?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think that’s why he’s a winner. That’s why he’s a man that’s going to be successful in the UK. And I think that’s great. You’re talking about Boris, right?
Q Yes, talking about Boris, sir.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Boris is a man who — number one, he’s a friend of mine, and, number two, he’s very smart, very tough. And he does want a new deal because the other deal was ready to expire. It was at a very short number of years left. All that money paid and wasted. You didn’t have the right to inspect the appropriate sites. You were looking at sites that would never be used to create nuclear. The sites that they would use, we weren’t allowed to inspect. What kind of a deal is that? And ballistic missiles — they’re allowed to test ballistic missiles and other things.
But one of the biggest things is the fact that the agreement is going to expire in a very short number of years. And what kind of a deal is that? We’re dealing with countries. You have to go long term.
So, I respect Boris a lot, and I am not at all surprised that he was the first one to come out and say that.
Q Mr. President, this is the first time — (inaudible) from (inaudible) Pakistan. So this is the first time we get honest leadership like you in America. And in past —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I agree with that. This is the first time you’ve had honesty.
Q Sir, in past —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You’ve had a lot of dishonesty, and they’ve treated Pakistan very badly. The people in my position have treated Pakistan very badly. I think that — I wouldn’t say Pakistan has treated us too well either, but maybe there was a reason. And, in fact, I think there was a reason for it.
Q Sir, in past, you have said that you don’t trust Pakistan. So, when we have honest (inaudible) —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I trust Pakistan. But people before me didn’t, but they didn’t know what they were doing. So it’s just one of those little problems in life.
You know, I — you know what I do? I trust this gentleman right here. And I do trust Pakistan. I know — I have a lot of Pakistani friends living in New York. They’re smart. Great negotiators, by the way, in case you had any questions. They’re among the toughest negotiators in the world.
And, you know what? It’s all going to work out. But if I can help, I’d like to help. But I don’t think you’ve ever had a President that felt the way I do, in a positive way, about Pakistan. I don’t think you have. I’ve looked back, and I’ve seen where it was. And — and — but I also have a very good relationship with India. I have a good relationship with both.
So, if they decide to use that feeling among both, I think we can help out. But this has been a longstanding — this has been going on for a long time.
Q Mr. President, yesterday you shared the stage with PM Modi. He alleged that Pakistan is the hub of terrorism. Do you endorse that or do you disagree with that? Because you said that Pakistan has made a lot of progress.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I really have been pointing much more to Iran. I mean, Iran if you look at what, that’s been really the state of terror. And I’ve been saying it’s the number one state of terror in the world. And the agreement we had does not cover that. It was not doing well. It was doing very poorly. And now Iran is doing very poorly. Iran is a different place than when I took over.
When I took over the United States — when I became President — Iran was a real threat to the entire Middle East and maybe beyond. And now they’re having very, very big difficulties, to put it mildly. So we’ll see.
Q Are you happy with the progress that Pakistan has made countering terrorism, particularly eliminating terrorism (inaudible)?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ve heard they’ve made great progress. And under this leader — he’s a great leader — I think he wants to make great progress because there’s no solution the other way. The other way is only going to lead to death and chaos and poverty. It’s all it’s going to lead to. I mean, he understands it. Your Prime Minister understands it.
Q Are you concerned about the human rights situation in Kashmir?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: About which?
Q Human rights situation — human rights violations.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure. I’d like to see everything work out. I want it to be humane. I want everybody to be treated well. You have two big countries, and they’re warring countries and they’ve been fighting.
And — I mean, I heard a very aggressive statement yesterday. I don’t have to say that. I was there. I didn’t know I was going to hear that statement, I had said. But I was sitting there and I heard a very aggressive statement yesterday from India, from the Prime Minister, and I will say it was very well received within the rule — you know, within in the room. The statement itself. That was a big room; there were 59,000 people.
But it was a very aggressive statement, and I hope that they’re going to be able to come together — India and Pakistan — and do something that’s really smart and good for both. And I’m sure there could be — there’s always a solution. And I really believe there’s a solution for that.
(Cross-talk.)
Easy. Easy. You’ve asked one already. Go ahead. Quickly. Make a one-second statement. Go ahead, make a statement.
Q Now, if you can solve this outstanding issue of Kashmir —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah.
Q — very likely and definitely you will be deserving a Nobel Prize on that.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think I’ll get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things. I think I’m going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.
They gave it out — well, they gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it. And you know what? That was the only thing I agreed with him on.
(Cross-talk.)
Come on.
Q Other than Pakistan and India, the Kashmiri people are suffering the last 50 days. They will talk later on, but right now there was human rights violation in Kashmir. Fifty days lockdown — no Internet, no food, nothing. So, you know, what do you want do for the Kashmiri people?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Where do you find reporters like this? (Laughter.) These guys are fantastic.
All right, go ahead.
(Cross-talk.)
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. He’s talking. Let the American talk for a change.
Q Thank you, sir. Have talks with the Taliban resumed in any way? And have you looked to Pakistan leaders to help you in any way —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, we’ve hit the Taliban very hard.
Q — with assistance in Afghanistan.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I have. And I think that the Pakistan — I think Pakistan will be a great help. I know the Prime Minister wants to be a help. But we’ve hit the Taliban harder than we’ve ever hit them — in all of the years. I guess we’ve been there now 19 years. How ridiculous is that? And when they killed 12 people — one of them an American soldier, as you know, and one a United Nations solider — for the sake of going into the meeting with a little strength, they thought. They went in with weakness. And I cancelled everything. We have hit them harder in the last two weeks than we’ve ever hit them before.
Q When do you think talks could resume again, sir?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll see what happens. But I will say that the Prime Minister has been very helpful and he wants to do something. He wants to see something happen. So, that’s fine.
Q My question is on Pakistan. Mr. Prime Minister, would you like to raise the issue of curfew and lockdown, and the atrocities in Kashmir before the President of America?
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: You know, Mr. President, I was going to raise it in private, but it needs to be said that, for 50 days, 8 million people are under siege by 900,000 troops. And it’s a humanitarian issue. And so I was going to say that — were you supposed to meet Narendra Modi now, I would’ve asked you to at least lift the siege. I mean, it’s a huge humanitarian crisis taking place.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, so we’re going to talking about that in a little while.
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: We’ll discuss that.
Q Mr. Prime Minister, what are your expectations from American President about the Kashmir issue?
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: My expectations: President Trump heads the most powerful country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world has a responsibility. And, you know, you very kindly want to mediate this and you also said that to do both, first India and Pakistan has to agree to mediation.
But, unfortunately, India is refusing to talk to us. So, in this situation, I feel that this is the beginning of a crisis. I honestly feel that this crisis is going to get much bigger — what is happening in Kashmir. So we would like to talk about that later.
But just the fact that the position of the United States — it’s the most powerful country. It can affect the United Nations Security Council. It has a voice. So we look to the U.S. to put out flames in the world.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I will say this: Look, I have my respect for your Prime Minister, I will say that many countries wanted to meet with me and us — the United States — during this very short three-day period, and we were unable to meet with many of them. One of the countries I wanted to meet with was Pakistan and your Prime Minister. And it’s an honor to be here with you. And I think you should let us start talking now because —
PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: — but I do appreciate it. There’s a tremendous spirit from your press. I don’t see that. With us, they want to always tear our country down. And with your press, it’s really — they would like to see something positive for your country.
And I will tell you this: You have a great leader. And he’s a good man. He’s a nice man. Happens to be a great athlete — not that that matters, but it’s always nice.
Q You are a great leader, too, sir.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. You take care of yourselves. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks everybody.
President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence convened a meeting at the U.N. General Assembly of international leaders to discuss religious persecution and religious freedom. It is the first such discussion initiated by a U.S. President.
[Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s very nice. Thank you very much. That’s very nice. And I want to thank Mike. Today, it’s a true honor to be the first President of the United States to host a meeting at the United Nations on religious freedom. And an honor it is. It’s long overdue. And I was shocked when I was given that statistic that I would be the first. That’s very sad, in many ways. And it’s great to be with you.
I want to thank Vice President Pence for the outstanding job he’s doing. He’s been a fantastic and valuable representative of our country.
Likewise, Secretary Mike Pompeo, Ambassador Kelly Craft, Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin, Ambassador Sam Brownback all for joining us today. And we have other representatives of our Cabinet and the administration in the room. We’ve done a lot.
The Johnson Amendment doesn’t get spoken about enough, but I’m very proud to say that we’ve obliterated the Johnson Amendment within our country so that now we can listen to the people that we want to listen to — religious leaders — without recrimination against them. It’s a very important thing, and I said that at the beginning and I say it now: It’s something I’m very proud of.
We’re also grateful that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres could be here, along with so many of his friends and my friends — world leaders. I’ve gotten to know a lot of them, and I would imagine you know all of them. I would imagine. If you don’t, you’re not doing your job. (Laughter.)
And also, I want to thank my daughter Ivanka for being here. She works so hard on all of the things that are very important to the people in this room. So, thank you, Ivanka, for being here. (Applause.)
The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government; they come from God. This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Our Founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions.
Regrettably, the religious freedom enjoyed by American citizens is rare in the world. Approximately 80 percent of the world’s population live in countries where religious liberty is threatened, restricted, or even banned. And when I heard that number, I said, “Please go back and check it because it can’t possibly be correct.” And, sadly, it was. Eighty percent.
As we speak, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Yazidis, and many other people of faith are being jailed, sanctioned, tortured, and even murdered, often at the hands of their own government, simply for expressing their deeply held religious beliefs. So hard to believe.
Today, with one clear voice, the United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution. (Applause.)
To stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief, protect the vulnerable, the defenseless, and the oppressed, America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts.
As President, protecting religious freedom is one of my highest priorities and always has been. Last year, our Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, hosted the first-ever Ministerial to Advance International Religious Freedom.
In this year’s ministerial, Secretary Pompeo announced plans to create the International Religious Freedom Alliance — an alliance of likeminded nations devoted to confronting religious persecution all around the world.
I’ve appointed a special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. We’re standing up for almost 250 million Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith. It is estimated that 11 Christians are killed every day for the following — I mean, just think of this: Eleven Christians a day, for following the teachings of Christ. Who would even think that’s possible in this day and age? Who would think it’s possible?
With us today is Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey for a long period of time. Last year, my administration was thrilled to bring him back home after a very short and respectful negotiation with a very strong man — and a man who has become a friend of mine, fortunately — President Erdoğan of Turkey.
I called the President, and I said, “He’s an innocent man.” They’ve been trying to get Andrew out for a long time — previous administration. I don’t think they tried too hard, unfortunately.
But I want to thank President Erdoğan, and I want to thank you, Pastor, for being here with us today. Where is Andrew? Is he around someplace? Thank you, Andrew. (Applause.)
We did a good job with that negotiation, Andrew. You got back. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty. But you got back. And we’re proud of you. You have a great family. And the love — when Andrew came back, the love from so many people, it was — actually, I hadn’t seen anything quite like it.
So, congratulations. And I understand you’re doing fantastic work with your family. Thank you very much. Thank you, Andrew. (Applause.)
And I also want to thank Franklin Graham because he’s been so instrumental in everything we’re doing. He’s done such an incredible job in so many different ways, including floods and hurricanes. And every time I go, I see Franklin there. He’s always there before me. I don’t know how he gets there before me. I’m going to beat him one day. But he’s always at these places of — really, disaster areas. He’s right there with an incredible, large staff of volunteers that are just amazing. Thank you very much. And, CeCe, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much. And, Paula White, thank you very much.
In July, I met with survivors of religious persecution at the White House. And we’re honored that many of them could be here today as well. Some of these individuals suffered as a result of state-sponsored persecution; others, at the hands of terrorists and criminals. No matter the case, America will always be a voice for victims of religious persecution everywhere. No matter where you go, you have a place in the United States of America. Could I ask those folks to stand up, please? Please, stand up. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much.
In recent times, the world has also witnessed devastating acts of violence in sacred places of worship. In 2016, an 85-year-old Catholic priest was viciously killed while celebrating mass in Normandy, France. In the past year, the United States endured horrifying anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish Americans at synagogues in Pennsylvania and California. In March, Muslims praying with their families were sadistically murdered in New Zealand. On Easter Sunday this year, terrorists bombed Christian churches in Sri Lanka, killing hundreds of faithful worshippers. Who would believe this is even possible?
These evil attacks are a wound on all humanity. We must all work together to protect communities of every faith. We’re also urging every nation to increase the prosecution and punishment of crimes against religious communities. There can be no greater crime than that. This includes measures to prevent the intentional destruction of religious sites and relics. Today, the Trump administration will dedicate an additional $25 million to protect religious freedom and religious sites and relics.
We’re also pleased to be joined today by many of the partners from the business community, as we announce a very critical initiative.
The United States is forming a coalition of U.S. businesses for the protection of religious freedom. This is the first time this has been done. This initiative will encourage the private sector to protect people of all faiths in the workplace. And the private sector has brilliant leadership. And that’s why some of the people in this room are among the most successful men and women on Earth. They know how things get done and they know how to take care of things. And they’re with us now for the first time, to this extent. First time, ever. And we’re really honored to have you in the room. Great business leaders, great people of strength.
Too often, people in positions of power preach diversity while silencing, shunning, or censoring the faithful. True tolerance means respecting the right of all people to express their deeply held religious beliefs.
Before I conclude, I want to once again thank all of the survivors in the room for their courage and resilience. You’re an inspiration to the world. You remind us that no force on Earth is stronger than the faith of religious believers. The United States of America will forever remain at your side and the side of all who seek religious freedom.
Today, I ask all nations to join us in this urgent moral duty. We ask the governments of the world to honor the eternal right of every person to follow their conscience, live by their faith, and give glory to God. The United States has a vital role in this critical mission.
Secretary-General Guterres will now share a few words on the U.N’s efforts to promote religious liberty for all. And he has been a champion of exactly what we’re in this room for.
So I want to thank everybody for being here. God bless you. God bless the faithful. And God bless America. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.
President Trump is in New York City for the majority of this week attending the United Nations General Assembly. Today, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham makes two rare appearances on television to discuss ongoing events/issues.
.
Ms. Grisham also appeared on Fox Business News with Maria Bartiromo:
.
Trump’s comments on Baltimore naturally led to the press saying he wrongly insulted Baltimore. What is interesting is that the Daily Mail from London did its own investigation and found that Trump was correct. On top of that, some $16 billion in federal money that was given to the city cannot be accounted for. That is completely understandable because the pockets of politicians have big holes in them, and surely the money stuffed in their pockets fell out and was probably blown away into the sea.
The Daily Mail found that indeed Baltimore “is home to some of the most dangerous housing projects in the country, where homicide is an epidemic; drugs are on every corner and rats root around in the mounds of trash strewn in side alleys.”
So why will the American press report that Trump is wrong? Could it be just politics?
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
De Oppresso Liber
A group of Americans united by our commitment to Freedom, Constitutional Governance, and Civic Duty.
Share the truth at whatever cost.
De Oppresso Liber
Uncensored updates on world events, economics, the environment and medicine
De Oppresso Liber
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Australia's Front Line | Since 2011
See what War is like and how it affects our Warriors
Nwo News, End Time, Deep State, World News, No Fake News
De Oppresso Liber
Politics | Talk | Opinion - Contact Info: stellasplace@wowway.com
Exposition and Encouragement
The Physician Wellness Movement and Illegitimate Authority: The Need for Revolt and Reconstruction
Real Estate Lending
We Are Living Tech
Centinel2012 