Sometimes we just read and think; sometimes we just read and laugh. This is the latter.

China continually looks at President Trump and the U.S. trade position through the wrong prism. Those around Chairman Xi genuinely seem to be incapable of understanding a U.S. President who independently represents long-term U.S. larger interests, and simultaneously leverages the U.S. market as a customer in a one-sided transaction.

The disconnect in Beijing analysis of the dynamic is really quite something.

After last weeks strategic magnanimous panda maneuver, Beijing was shocked, shocked, that President Trump continued to maintain “wrong thinking” toward the upcoming discussion with Chairman Xi.

It appears China fully expected some reciprocal trade bargaining based on their implied promise to release North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un from manipulation; but Trump didn’t flinch.  Instead, of acquiescence to magnanimous panda, President Trump sends Chairman Kim a letter filled with “excellent content“. Beijing was snubbed.

So yesterday as a follow-up Beijing indicates a willingness to revisit the prior agreement by putting the face of Vice-Premier Liu He back into their negotiation position:

(Reuters) […] Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a phone conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted to its website on Tuesday morning. (more)

Liu He was the chief negotiator for Chairman Xi, and was stripped of the official title as spokesperson for the Xi regime after Beijing reneged on the deal.  The message was clear: during the three months of negotiations Liu He had agreed to too much structural change on China’s side of the trade confrontation.  The deal was scrapped by Beijing, and Liu He was stripped of his special envoy status as a person speaking for Chairman Xi.

By putting Liu back into the discussion this week, Beijing was signaling a willingness -likely a ruse, but a willingness nonetheless- to revisit the terms that existed prior to the breakdown.

The G20 is rapidly approaching… Beijing needs to identify POTUS Trump’s position.  Things in Beijing are urgent as preparations (mostly optics) for how Chairman Xi will engage with President Trump are needed.

So into this dynamic of China evaluating where they can expect to find their position, we’ve got two signals from a series of public messages: (1) magnanimous panda will give up DPRK nukes, in exchange for better terms; and when that didn’t get the desired result, (2) China signals they are willing to revisit the prior terms.

However, today Team Donald Trump responds to the messages:  NO DEAL !

Can you see what President Trump is doing here?

Trump is mirroring the historic approach deployed by China.  Beijing is facing a new dynamic where the U.S. President will not accept any retreat from his current position. This zero-sum outlook is exactly the same approach all Chinese negotiators use…. only this time it’s Trump using their strategy against them.  It’s President Trump who will not retreat from gained position.  This has to be seriously perplexing for Beijing.

Now, to be fair, unlike China President Trump is not constitutionally predisposed to never give ground… he’s a negotiator of reasonable compromise.  However, President Trump has modified his approach based on his knowledge of his adversary.

In essence, Donald Trump is mirroring the ideology and negotiating position of the person on the other side of the table….. only now, based on two-years of groundwork in preparation for his position, President Trump is carrying all the strength and leverage.

China is on its heels.  Trump has set up a dynamic where a pre-planned group of regional allies can easily compensate for any manufacturing deficit caused by Trump’s adversarial position toward China.   The corporate exodus visible within this plan has already begun.

The G20 is being held in Osaka, Japan.  Essentially President Trump’s home turf as expressed by his relationship with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the recent high-honor of the first state visit to celebrate new Japanese Emperor Naruhito.

The geography for the G20 is perfect for this moment.  The dynamic of regional allies are all aligned with Trump as planned from the November 2017 ‘golden ticket‘ tour of Asia. Additionally, President Trump carries all of the economic leverage he was quietly assembling as Beijing underestimated and misinterpreted the Trump bravado.

At no time in history has a U.S. President ever had all of the consequential dynamics aligned in his favor.  This did not happen accidentally.

That’s why U.S. officials are saying they are not coming to the meeting with any concessions, and for the first time in modern history Beijing will have to make the compromise, or suffer a very visible set of consequences.

Quite remarkable.

Enjoy.

Stephanie Grisham has served as spokeswoman for First Lady Melania Trump since March 2017. She’s sharp as a tack, fierce as a wolverine and intensely loyal to the first family. [Twitter Here]

Today First lady Melania Trump announces Stephanie Grisham will replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders as White House press secretary.

[Tweet Link]

Ms. Grisham will also serve as White House communications director, a position that has been vacant since Bill Shine stepped down in March to advise President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.  “I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country,” Melania Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Earlier today President Trump announced a new executive order, constructed to facilitate a regulation change, that will require healthcare providers to inform patients of the cost of their procedures in advance of treatment.  [Lots of Background Here]

The President makes the announcement [Video and Transcript Below]

[Transcript] – 3:17 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Wow. (Applause.) Wow. That’s very nice. Thank you very much everybody. Wow. We must be doing something right lately. (Laughter.) That’s very nice. I appreciate it very much. And welcome to the White House. Great place. No place like it, actually.

We’re here to announce new groundbreaking actions that we’re taking to dramatically increase quality, affordability, and fairness to our healthcare system. This landmark initiative continues our campaign to put American patients first. This is a truly big action. People have no idea how big it is. Some people say bigger than healthcare itself. This is something that’s going to be very important.

For too long, it’s been virtually impossible for Americans to know the real price and quality of healthcare services and the services they receive. As a result, patients face significant obstacles shopping for the best care at the best price, driving up healthcare costs for everyone.

With today’s historic action, we are fundamentally changing the nature of the healthcare marketplace. This is bigger than anything we’ve done in this particular realm. And probably, Alex, it’s not even close, from what they’re telling me.

We will empower patients with the information they need to search for the lowest costs and the highest-quality care. In other words, they’ll be able to seek out their doctor, seek out the doctor they want, and they’ll be given vast amounts of information about those doctors.

We’re grateful to be joined by Secretary Alex Azar and Administrator Seema Verma. Thank you very much. Alex? Where’s Seema? Hi, Seema. (Applause.)

And I also want to recognize and thank a great senator, Chuck Grassley. Chuck, thank you very much. (Applause.) And, by the way, congratulations on ethanol. E15, right? He fought so hard. Oh, he’s tough. When he goes after you, he’s brutal. (Laughter.) But he gets what he wants and then he likes you, right? Anyway, congratulations to the farmers, frankly, Chuck. Right? Great job. Appreciate it. And that’s all year-round.

And Mike Braun. Mike, thank you. Thank you, Mike. Great job you’re doing.

Representatives Greg Walden — we worked so hard together on Right to Try, Greg. Right? Right to Try. People are loving it. Michael Burgess, Doug Collins, Devin — Devin Nunes. Thank you all. Incredible people.

Lieutenant Governors Geoff Duncan and Dan Forest. Thank you, fellas. Thank you. Thank you. You didn’t get a very good seat. I can’t believe it. (Laughter.) That’s not like you.

And all of our great state legislators. We have a lot of them with us today, and a lot of great medical people and doctors.

For decades, powerful insurance companies, lobbyists, and special interests have denied the public access to the real cost of the healthcare services they provide. It’s that simple. This lack of price transparency has enriched industry giants greatly, costing Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

Patients have been billed nearly $800 for saline; more than $6,000 for a drug test, at the simplest methods used, and $6,000 — I’ve seen them; and over $17,000 for stitches to just stitch up a minor wound. Often, prices differ drastically between providers and hospitals for the exact same services. And there’s no consistency. There’s no predictability. And there’s, frankly, no rhyme or reason to what’s been happening for so many years.

As a result, Americans, such as Erika Jay, who is here today, find themselves in deeply unfair situations. Erika, please, if you would come up and just explain what happened to you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

MS. JAY: Thank you. Over the last three and a half years, while fighting a stage-three cancer, we visited many healthcare facilities. We saw price variations that just caught us off-guard and really surprised us — took us by surprise — from one facility to the next. And it caused us financial hardship.

An example of this is when I had two identical bone biopsy procedures only 11 days apart at facilities that were only 17 miles apart from each other. We learned, when we received the bills for the second procedure, that it cost us more than 330 percent than the first time we had it done. Different facility, identical procedure: drastically different pricing.

This is one of many stories our family has. If price transparency had been required, we would have been empowered to find the best pricing for my care, saving thousands of dollars over the last three years.

Mr. President —

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I’m right here. (Laughter.)

MS. JAY: Thank you for this executive order.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

MS. JAY: And thank you for empowering and helping families like mine all over the nation.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. That’s very nice. (Applause.) Thank you. Thanks very much, Erika.

We believe the American people have a right to know the price of services before they go to visit the doctor. Therefore, in just a few moments, I will be signing a breakthrough executive order. It will create unprecedented transparency about healthcare prices and provide this information to the American people for the first time ever — first time it’s ever been done. People knew it should have been done years ago, but they never got it done. I wonder why.

With this order, hospitals will be required to publish prices that reflect what people actually pay for services in a way that’s clear, straightforward, and accessible to all. And you’ll be able to price it among many different potential providers, and you’ll get great pricing. Prices will come down by numbers that you won’t even believe. You won’t even believe it. More price transparency will mean more competition, and the cost of healthcare will go way, way down.

Vanderbilt economist — highly respected — Dr. Larry Van Horn is here with us. Larry was introduced to me by a gentleman who is a great gentleman, great economist: Art Laffer. And Art Laffer just got — as you know, Larry — just got the Presidential Medal of Freedom a couple of days ago. And Art was telling me that he’s the head of a hospital, where he comes from. He’s on the board. And they did this. He said it is beyond anything he’s seen, from an economic standpoint and even a health standpoint.

And I said, “Let’s talk about it.” And we discussed it, and it’s something known very well, but a lot of people don’t do it because there won’t be some rich people that will be too happy about this. But the people will be happy about it.

So, Larry, could you — (applause) — so, Larry, if you would — one thing, before Larry gets up: One of the other big beneficiaries are really good doctors. The good doctors. And they should be the beneficiaries — not the bad doctors, but the good doctors. And I think all of the doctors in the audience know exactly what I’m talking about. So thank you for being here, because I guarantee you’re all probably very good doctors.

So, Larry, if you would, please come up and share a little of your wisdom and what this is all about. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

DR. VAN HORN: Thank you, Mr. President, for taking this action that will put healthcare information in the hands of the American consumer. This truly will be transformational.

For years, I’ve studied the impact of hidden prices and what that’s had — the impact that’s had on markets — healthcare markets — as well as American consumers.

My analysis suggests that when cash prices are transparent, upfront, in the market, on average, they’re 39 percent cheaper than the amounts that third-party payers pay for like services.

Even when insurance covers the cost, there is, on average, a 300 percent price variation within a market across — for the exact same services. Your healthcare transparency initiative will empower consumers and use free market forces to drive healthcare markets towards lower prices, better outcomes, greater access, and greater value.
But this is bigger than healthcare. Lower prices for healthcare leaves more money in Americans’ wallets and in their paychecks for the purchase of all other goods and services that are important parts of their lives. This will be good for America and good for Americans. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Larry.

Today’s action is not just about lower prices. It’s also about helping Americans find excellent care. Currently, patients do not have adequate tools to find the doctors who would deliver better health outcomes at an affordable cost.

And when they used to talk about Obamacare, “You can keep your doctor,” that turned out to be a lie. Twenty-eight different times it turned out to be a lie. Here, you can keep your doctor, but you can also maybe find somebody other than your doctor at your choice, and that would be based on talent and it would also be based on price.

Because of this, you’ll be able to search out for the right doctor. And it really is, in a true sense, the opposite of Obamacare. You get much better pricing, and you’ll get the doctor that you want and maybe you’ll get better than the doctor that you originally thought about. It’s pretty incredible.

Low-quality care often means unnecessary services. For example, a bad doctor may routinely perform an expensive spinal surgery for back pain without first trying physical therapy.
That’s why my order directs agencies to help inform the public about the quality of doctors and hospitals by leveraging all of this data. By making much better use of this new information, we will save money and save lives, and your care will be much better. It’s incredible.

We’re also joined by Dr. Elaina George, a longtime advocate for patients. Elaina, please come up and tell them a little bit about what transparency means. Thank you. (Applause.)

DR. GEORGE: I love being a doctor. However, one of the most challenging things has been the inability to be an effective advocate for my patients. I’ve had patients deny themselves care because they don’t know how much a service will cost, or, worse, be stuck with a costly bill that they didn’t expect.

I have felt powerless at times because of my inability to help them, especially if I have to send them to a hospital and we can’t find out the price of the service.

Price transparency is a solution to this problem. When patients become healthcare consumers, it will drive prices down, quality up, and most importantly, help doctors serve their patients better.

Thank you, President Trump, for this executive order. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Elaina. Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you, Elaina.

As we fight to increase transparency and lower costs for patients, more than 120 Democrats in Congress support Bernie Sanders’s socialist takeover of American healthcare. It’s very dangerous. The Democrat plan would terminate the private health insurance of over 180 million Americans who are really happy with what they have.

Under my administration, we will never let that happen. We believe in giving patients — (applause) — we believe in giving patients choice and freedom in healthcare, ensuring access to the doctors they want, the treatments they need, and the highest standard of medical care anywhere in the world. And this will make it much better than it’s ever been.

This is a truly historic day. I don’t know that it will be covered that way by the fake news. (Laughter.) But this is truly a historic day. This is a very big thing that’s happening right now. And it’s pretty much going to blow everything away, Alex, as we discussed. People never thought they’d see us do this.

We’re making new affordable health options available to millions of American workers through the association health plans, short-term plans, and health reimbursement arrangements.

We’re working with Congress to stop surprise medical billing. And when you hear “surprise” — (applause) — right? And when we hear “surprise medical bill” we’re not talking about a positive surprise. (Laughter.) We’re talking about, you know, not surprise, “Oh, gee. How happy I am.” You’re talking about, like, a disaster.

Because no American should be blindsided by bills for medical service they never agreed to in advance. Because people get sick. They don’t really think in terms of, “Let’s sit down and negotiate for 20 minutes.” You want to get better. And then you get hit, and you get hit really hard. And that stops.

We’re expanding access to tax-free health savings accounts. To give critically ill patients access to lifesaving cures, we passed Right to Try. We were helped so much by these gentlemen in the front row. What a job you all did, and I really appreciate it. And you, too, Senator. I’ll tell you, that was really great. We think in terms of the House — because I know how hard you fought for it, Greg and Doug. You guys were amazing. But — and Devin, I know you worked on this one very, very hard with everything else you do, but I appreciate it. And very few people would’ve done that.

You know, Right to Try is interesting because it’s been — they’ve been trying to get it for 45 years. And they couldn’t do it. And it sounds simple, but it’s not, because everybody had a reason for not wanting it. The insurance companies didn’t want it because of liabilities. The country didn’t want it because they didn’t want to be sued.

But now you have terminally ill patients that used to — if they were rich enough, they’d go Asia. They’d go to Europe. They’d go all over the world looking for a cure. And we have the greatest doctors in the world right here; the greatest lab technicians and labs and medical services. We have everything. But it takes a period of time to get a certain potential cure approved. Sometimes 15 years. And, by the way, we brought that down to probably an average of six.

But you need time because you don’t want to hurt anybody. But these are patients that are terminally ill and they didn’t want to give them a potential cure because they didn’t want to hurt them, but they’re terminally ill. So we agreed that people would sign a waiver. Nobody is going to be held liable. The drug companies, which didn’t want it because they didn’t want it on their record, we made it a much less part of their record. And we set up different standards where it would be in other parts, which was great for them.

And everybody is happy, and many lives have been saved. And I’ll tell you, we had one the other day that was on — so incredible. A young — incredible young woman where they made a medical mistake and it was over for her. They were explaining last rites. And then, all of a sudden, she did this and she’s now healthy. They think she’s going to be actually fine. You might have seen it. It’s been — it was actually an incredible thing.

So I’m really happy. I talk about it a lot. Right to Try — something that sounds so simple, and yet for 45 years they’ve been trying to get it approved. And they got it.

And just so you feel good, Greg and Doug and everybody — tremendous success. Have you been seeing what’s going on? So many people that were definitely not going to make it are now living, and, in many cases, they’re going to be just fine. So it’s something very — you can all be very proud of that.

So for the first time in a long time, we’re doing things that nobody has ever done before, from the standpoint of what we’re here for.

We eliminated the Obamacare individual mandate penalty, which was the most unpopular thing in Obamacare, by far. And I had a decision to make: Do we do a good job with Obamacare — the remnant of Obamacare? Or do we do a bad job? If I do a bad job, well, there you can blame Obama and the Democrats. If we do a good job, they’ll get a little bit more credit. But it’s still very faulty. It doesn’t work, and it’s too expensive. And I told our great Secretary Alex Azar, “Don’t do a good job, do a great job. Do what you have to do. Work with the states. Do whatever you have to do to make it as good as possible.” Once we got rid of the individual mandate, it made it better.

But Obamacare doesn’t work, but it works at least adequately now. And we had that choice to make. And, politically, it’s probably not a good thing that I did, but it’s the right thing to do for a lot of people. So I want to thank you and I want to thank Seema for doing a fantastic job. I appreciate it. (Applause.)

And we spend a lot of time defending Medicare and Social Security, and we’re always going to protect patients with preexisting conditions. People don’t understand that — that we are fighting very, very hard to get it taken care of for preexisting conditions. And if we weren’t, that wouldn’t happen.

But the Republicans are very much behind that. Totally behind that. And if we do anything and if you see anything a little unusual, it doesn’t make it because we’re putting in very, very strong — taking care of patients with preexisting conditions.

And I would say, Alex, that that is, really, a very strong foundation of what we’re doing and what we’re all about. So it’s very important.

Together, we’re taking power away from bureaucrats. We’re taking it away from insurance companies and away from special interests. We’re giving that power back to patients, and we’re giving Americans the right to know. So we have the right to try, and now we have the right to know, and the right to negotiate, and the right to pick your own doctor, and the right to get great prices. And other than that, you know, what can I tell you? (Laughter.) You can’t do better than that.

But we’re taking one more giant step toward a healthcare system and a healthcare system that’s really fantastic, and it’s going to be good, and it’s going to work for the people.

So I just want to thank everybody for being here. I’m going to go and sign the executive order. And if this is half as big as some people are saying it will be, it will be one of the biggest things ever done in this world, in this industry, in this profession.

And I want to especially thank all of the doctors for being here. We have a lot of doctors in this room, and they’re very proud of what they do, and they want to have our system work. And this is something that I think is going to get it to really work efficiently and well.

Thank you very much for being here. I’m going to sign the executive order. Thank you. (Applause.)

(The executive order is signed.) (Applause.)

Transcript END – 3:40 P.M. EDT

Following an executive order signed by President Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin holds a press conference to deliver the details [Video and Transcript]:

More details on Treasury Website Here.

[Transcript] SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So I think, as you know, I just left the Oval Office, where President Trump signed a new executive order authorizing even more expanded sanctions against Iran. So now — along with our existing sanctions authority, we have additional sanctions to go after the Supreme Leader’s Office and lock up literally billions of dollars more of assets. Along with that action today, we are also announcing specific actions targeting those responsible for recent activities.

I think, as you know, previously, we have sanctioned Soleimani for his behavior. Along with that, today I am going to announce three of his other senior leaders: Tangsiri, who is responsible for the Iranian regime’s forces threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz; Hajizadeh, who is the Commander of the Air Force and responsible for downing the U.S. unmanned aircraft in international air space; as well as Pakpour, who is responsible for IRGC’s ground forces.

Along with those, we are also designating five Naval District’s leaders: Gholamshahi, Zirahi, Yadollah Badin, Mansur Ravankar, and Ozma’i. These sanctions are all very important for recent activities.

The President has also designated — instructed me that we will be designating Zarif later this week.

So, with that, I am happy to take a few questions.

Q Mr. Secretary, the President indicated last week that he believed that the shoot-down of the drone may have been a mistake that was made by local commanders on the ground. Taken together what you’ve announced today, it would seem to indicate that maybe this wasn’t a mistake, that it was an intentional act that was known all the way up the chain of command.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: No, I wouldn’t read anything into that. Again, many of these — the executive order that the President signed was in the works previously. These actions are people who have either made threats, or specific things. And, again, I don’t think you should interpret this anywhere otherwise, other than we are designating people who we believe were responsible for the chain of command, whether they knew it or not.

Q Secretary Mnuchin, thank you so much for doing this briefing. What is your response to your critics who say these sanctions are more symbolic than substantive, and they won’t bring Iran to the negotiating table because Iran has said they’re not coming back to the negotiating table after the President ripped up the nuclear deal?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, I think the President was very clear. If they want to come back to the negotiating table, he’s ready. If not, they won’t. For the people who say these are just symbolic, that’s not the case at all. We’ve literally locked up tens and tens of billions of dollars. These sanctions will come along with additional entities where people are hiding money. So, no, these sanctions are highly effective.

Q Mr. Secretary, we’ve seen the attack on the oil tankers. We’ve seen the attack on the drone. What makes you think that these sanctions have been effective? What signs are there that they have been —

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Oh, there’s no question these sanctions have been very effective in cutting off funds going to the IRGC and other people. And I can only presume — I’m not going to presume why they’re doing things, but these are highly, highly effective on locking up the Iranian economy. And as the President said, we look forward to a time in releasing sanctions if they’re willing to negotiate.

Q Thank you. When you talk about sanctions on the Supreme Leader, that is as high as you can go inside of Iran. Can you give us the thinking as to why the administration wanted to bring it up to that level?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: I think the President had been clear: maximum pressure on the sanctions. So that is — that is our strategy. And it’s not just him; it’s the Leader’s office, which encompasses a whole range of activities.

Q Mr. Secretary, thank you. Have you done the intelligence research to figure out what assets any of these individuals that you just named actually have in the United States or in the global financial system? That is, do any of these people have money or assets outside of Iran?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So the answer is: Whenever we do sanctions, we do do intelligence. I can’t comment on any of the specific intelligence. But again, I would say we follow the money and it’s highly effective.

Q Do any of these people have assets outside of Iran?

Q Mr. Secretary, thank you. Is a military option or military reprisal still on the table?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: I obviously can’t comment on that. I’m going to leave that to the President.

Q Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Have you consulted with America’s allies, regarding these sanctions? And is there buy-in from America’s allies? Will they also be imposing sanctions similar to what the U.S. —

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: No, I have not consulted on these specific sanctions. The answer is: In general, I’ve had many, many conversations with all our allies. I was in Japan 10 days ago, meeting with the finance ministers and discussed our sanctions program. I’ll be going to the G20 with the President. Again, this will continue to be a topic of discussion.

Q Yeah, Mr. Secretary, if that’s to me —

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: I’ll give it to you. It wasn’t, but then we’ll go to you.

Q All right, thank you. You said this was in response to events of — and the recent events. Is that about the shooting down of the drone or the attack on the six tankers or both?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Again, what I said is: Some of these were in the works. Some of these are an addition. All of the above.

Yes. Go ahead.

Q I mean, you know, this is — the President came close to military action. Now you’re coming back with sanctions. What was the direct response to the shoot-down of the drone?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Again, I said “some of them.” I’m not going to identify which ones are which. I’ve said that some of this was in the works, some of this is a result of recent activities.

Q Mr. Secretary, how do these sanctions deal — how do these sanctions relate to President Trump’s “deal of the century” — what’s happening coming up in Bahrain?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: I look forward — I’m leaving for Bahrain in about an hour. So I look forward to our discussion in Bahrain. We’ll be rolling out the economic plan, which will be great opportunities for the people of Palestine. We have a terrific group there of finance ministers, business leaders all around the world. I think we have about 350 people going. So I look forward to it.

Q Mr. Secretary, thank you, sir. Yeah, just following up on an earlier question. You talked about the sanctions are effective, in terms of inflicting pain on the economy. Is there evidence yet — or will there be evidence, do you think — that this is having an effect on Iran’s behavior?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, let me first comment that our issue is not with the people of Iran. So I just want to be very clear: We are not looking at creating issues for the people of Iran.

Having said that, we are — have sanctions against bad behavior. And there’s no question that locking this money up worked last time. And there’s no question locking the money up works now.

Thank you very much.

END Transcript – 1:21 P.M. EDT

Earlier today President Donald Trump issued an executive order outlining new sanctions on Iranian interests and entities that will be determined by the U.S. Treasury Dept. The sanctions target the Supreme Leader of Iran and the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran.

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“We call on the regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions, change its destructive behavior, respect the rights of its people, and return in good faith to the negotiating table.” – President Donald J. Trump

Full Executive Order Below:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, in order to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 of March 15, 1995, in light of the actions of the Government of Iran and Iranian-backed proxies, particularly those taken to destabilize the Middle East, promote international terrorism, and advance Iran’s ballistic missile program, and Iran’s irresponsible and provocative actions in and over international waters, including the targeting of United States military assets and civilian vessels, hereby order:

Section 1. (a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

(i) the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office (SLO); or

(ii) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(A) to be a person appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran or the SLO to a position as a state official of Iran, or as the head of any entity located in Iran or any entity located outside of Iran that is owned or controlled by one or more entities in Iran;

(B) to be a person appointed to a position as a state official of Iran, or as the head of any entity located in Iran or any entity located outside of Iran that is owned or controlled by one or more entities in Iran, by any person appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran or the SLO;

(C) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section;

(D) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section; or

(E) to be a member of the board of directors or a senior executive officer of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section.

(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order.

Sec. 2. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to impose on a foreign financial institution the sanctions described in subsection (b) of this section upon determining that the foreign financial institution has knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant financial transaction for or on behalf of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1 of this order.

(b) With respect to any foreign financial institution determined by the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with this section to meet the criteria set forth in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of the Treasury may prohibit the opening, and prohibit or impose strict conditions on the maintaining, in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by such foreign financial institution.

(c) The prohibitions in subsection (b) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order.

Sec. 3. I hereby determine that the making of donations of the types of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1701(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1 of this order would seriously impair the President’s ability to deal with the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957, and I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.

Sec. 4. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order include:

(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; and

(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

Sec. 5. The unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in subsection 1(a) of this order would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and the entry of such persons into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended. Such persons shall be treated as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).

Sec. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including adopting rules and regulations, to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order, other than the purposes described in section 5 of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions within the Department of the Treasury. All departments and agencies of the United States shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement this order.

Sec. 7. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

Sec. 8. For the purposes of this order:

(a) the term “person” means an individual or entity;

(b) the term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;

(c) the term “foreign financial institution” means any foreign entity that is engaged in the business of accepting deposits, making, granting, transferring, holding, or brokering loans or credits, or purchasing or selling foreign exchange, securities, commodity futures or options, or procuring purchasers and sellers thereof, as principal or agent. The term includes, but is not limited to, depository institutions, banks, savings banks, money service businesses, trust companies, securities brokers and dealers, commodity futures and options brokers and dealers, forward contract and foreign exchange merchants, securities and commodities exchanges, clearing corporations, investment companies, employee benefit plans, dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels, and holding companies, affiliates, or subsidiaries of any of the foregoing. The term does not include the international financial institutions identified in 22 U.S.C. 262r(c)(2), the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the North American Development Bank, or any other international financial institution so notified by the Secretary of the Treasury;

(d) the term “knowingly,” with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person has actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result; and

(e) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.

Sec. 9. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1 of this order.

Sec. 10. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 11. The measures taken pursuant to this order are in response to actions of the Government of Iran occurring after the conclusion of the 1981 Algiers Accords, and are intended solely as a response to those later actions.

[Executive Order Link]

Oh dear, China is unhappy.  According to the Global Times President Trump is not “showing enough good faith” to demonstrate he “wishes to ease the trade tensions” with magnanimous panda. Sincerity is not being observed.

The G20 is coming up next week.  Magnanimous panda has exhibited great gesture with North Korea.  Expectations of reciprocal acquiescence abound, and yet President Trump is maintaining wrong thinking toward trade conflicts with China.

Beijing is not pleased; not pleased at all:

Global Times – Ahead of President Xi Jinping’s trip to attend the G20 summit, which takes place from Thursday to Saturday, the US is not showing enough good faith to demonstrate that it wishes to ease the trade tensions, Chinese observers said.

G20 members should unite to oppose protectionism and unilateralism at the summit, and be realistic about the prospects that the two largest global economies will reach a deal in the near future, they said.

Xi will attend the 14th G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan from June 27 to 29, at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in Beijing on Sunday.

At the request of the US, Xi had a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on June 18, and the two sides agreed to meet during the G20, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University’s Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times on Sunday that “a meeting between the two leaders could ease the tension to some extent, but the international community should not be too optimistic, since the complicated disputes between the two sides can’t be solved by only one meeting.”

The US put five more Chinese tech entities on a trade blacklist on Friday, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Observers said the move shows the US is not showing enough good faith ahead of the G20, and it may even add to the difficulty of easing the tension. (read more)

Unless President Trump adopts a conciliatory tone, the glory of great panda will be diminished…  Currently President Trump is not displaying the approach required to facilitate global panda unity.

The pre-G20 signals tomorrow and Tuesday should be quite fun.

.

 

Shifty appears with for an interview with Furrowed Brow to push the impeachment narrative etc.  Within the interview Shifty talks about lengthy coordination and careful planning with Robert Mueller for a scripted July appearance.

[Prompted to 05:38 just hit play]

.

Shifty, Pelosi and Nadler have to be very careful with Mueller to avoid exposing the coordinated enterprise behind the two-year Rosenstein, Weissmann and Mueller scheme.  It will be interesting to see how they plan it out. [If Ever]

Likely they will only bring Mueller under VERY carefully control; and they’d probably prefer a panel approach where scripted Mueller confidants can bookend him during any questioning.  It’s highly unlikely Schiff would attempt to use Robert Mueller as a stand alone witness in a public hearing.

And now…. for something completely different.

Considering the recent back-and-forth hostage negotiations between Chairman Xi and President Trump with rocket-man Chairman Kim stuck in the middle… tonight, we lighten up the DPRK:

According to a Wall Street Journal report, President Donald Trump is considering a requirement that all next-generation 5G cellular equipment used in the United States will have to be designed and manufactured outside China.

As part of the 150-day executive order review, initiated after cybersecurity concerns in the United States, administration officials are asking tech companies and telecom equipment makers if they can develop U.S. hardware including cellular-tower electronics as well as routers and switches, and software from sourcing completely outside China.

(WSJ) […] The conversations are in early and informal stages, they said. The executive order calls for a list of proposed rules and regulations by the 150-day deadline, in October; so, any proposals may take months or years to adopt.

The proposals could force the biggest companies that sell equipment to U.S. wireless carriers, Finland’s Nokia Corp. NOK  and Sweden’s Ericsson, to move major operations out of China to service the U.S., which is the biggest market in the $250 billion-a-year global industry for telecom equipment and related services and infrastructure. There is no major U.S. manufacturer of cellular equipment.

U.S. officials have long worried that Beijing could order Chinese engineers to insert security holes into technology made in China. They worry those security holes could be exploited for spying, or to remotely control or disable devices.

Washington has already essentially banned telecom equipment from Chinese companies, especially industry leader Huawei Technologies Co., from the U.S. over these cybersecurity worries, which Huawei says are baseless. Now, the White House is taking those concerns to the next step by asking Western telecom-equipment makers whether they can rejigger their China-dependent supply chains.

“While the primary national-security concerns center on Chinese-owned firms, the equipment produced by any firm operating in China is at greater risk for vulnerabilities because of access to personnel and facilities,” said Michael Wessel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which reports to Congress on security issues. (Read More)

Thankfully, we have U.S. President Trump in place during this critical moment in history on a multitude of fronts.   Even Trump’s most virulent detractors will admit there is no-one in government more patriotically committed to an America First agenda.

With one branch of government, DC legislative branch, full of purchased agents by foreign governments and corporations, President Trump stands uniquely alone without any attachment to special interests…. Pretty incredible actually; perhaps even divinely so.

The dynamic of these trade decisions having a multi-generational impact on life within our borders; and considering the ramifications if we allow foreign interests to purchase our domestic policy…. The 2020 election is even more critical.

President Trump sat down last Friday for a lengthy one-on-one interview with Chuck Todd on Meet The Press.  In credit to NBC they provide the full unedited interview. WATCH:

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[Transcript AS BROADCAST] CHUCK TODD: Let me start right in. What happened last night?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, you had a situation that was very bad because the night before, they shot down an unmanned drone. And the unmanned is a very big factor. The fact that there was not a person on it, a U.S. person on it, or anybody. And that had an impact on me. I said, “Well, you know, we got a little problem.” And I think they did that on purpose because they understand that they will be hit very hard if that were a plane with a person in it. And I think they knew that there was nobody there. So we had a very, you know, modest but pretty, pretty heavy attack schedule.

CHUCK TODD: And this is a pre-plan that you had, something that if they did something, you had something —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, we had it —

CHUCK TODD: — these were sort of ready-made plans —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure, we have many of them —

CHUCK TODD: — to use if necessary, right?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, I have so many targets you wouldn’t believe.

CHUCK TODD: Right.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have targets all over.

CHUCK TODD: So did you green light something? Or had you said —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nothing’s —

CHUCK TODD: “If we do it, I’ll do this.” What was, what was the order you gave?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nothing is green lighted until the very end because —

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — things change, right?

CHUCK TODD: So you never gave a final order?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no, no. But we had something ready to go, subject to my approval. And they came in. And they came in about a half an hour before, they said, “So we’re about ready to go.” I said, “I want a better definition –”

CHUCK TODD: Planes in the air? Were planes in the air?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. “We’re about ready to go.” No, but they would have been pretty soon. And things would have happened to a point where you wouldn’t turn back or couldn’t turn back. So they came and they said, “Sir, we’re ready to go. We’d like a decision.” I said, “I want to know something before you go. How many people will be killed, in this case Iranians?” I said, “How many people are going to be killed?” “Sir, I’d like get back to you on that,” great people these generals. They said, came back, said, “Sir, approximately 150.” And I thought about it for a second and I said, “You know what? They shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. And here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead.” And I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was, I didn’t think it was proportionate. Now that doesn’t mean —

CHUCK TODD: You think they were trying to provoke you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I don’t think so. And I think it was very important that they, to them, don’t forget, their economy —

CHUCK TODD: They don’t — they, they –you don’t think they intended to get you to respond militarily?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, their economy is shattered. Shattered.

CHUCK TODD: So what’s the message you think they’re sending?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Their inflation is through the roof. They’ve never had, the highest in the world right now. Worse than any place. They’re, they’re living not well.

CHUCK TODD: Do you want to do a separate deal with Iran? Or do you want to get everybody involved in the same deal? Get the Russians, get the Chinese?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t care which, what kind of a deal. It can be separate or it could be total.

CHUCK TODD: But it’s one-on-one talks, you and the Ayatollah?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All it is — all it is —

CHUCK TODD: Is it one-on-one talks, you and the Ayatollah, or you and the President?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It doesn’t matter to me. Here’s what I want, anything that gets you to the result. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s not about the straits. You know, a lot of people covered it incorrectly. They’re never mentioned. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. They’d use it. And they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.

CHUCK TODD: Did you send a message —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And it’s not about the oil.

CHUCK TODD: — last night? You know, Reuters is reporting that you sent a message to the Iranians saying, “I don’t want war. I want to talk.”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wrong. It’s wrong. I did not send that message. I did not send that message. I don’t know who —

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know who would have said that.

CHUCK TODD: Send a message right now to the Ayatollah.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean it’s fake news.

CHUCK TODD: Then send a message right now to the Ayatollah.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wouldn’t be much different than that message.

CHUCK TODD: Which is?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m not looking for war and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next —

CHUCK TODD: No pre-conditions?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — three years. Not as far as I’m concerned. No pre-conditions.

CHUCK TODD: And you’ll talk anywhere?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here it is. Look, you can’t have nuclear weapons. And if you want to talk about it, good. Otherwise you can live in a shattered economy for a long time to come.

CHUCK TODD: If you, are you, do you feel like you were being pushed into military action against Iran by any of your advisors?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks.

CHUCK TODD: Yeah, you have some serious hawks.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have some hawks. Yeah, John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he’d take on the whole world at one time, okay? But that doesn’t matter because I want both sides. You know, some people said, “Why did you put –” You know, I was against going into Iraq for years and years. And before it ever happened I was against going into Iraq. And some people said, “Oh I don’t know.” I was totally against and I was a private citizen. It never made sense to me. I was against going into the Middle East. Chuck, we’ve spent $7 trillion in the Middle East right now.

CHUCK TODD: What would a candidate Trump have said about a president who, on his watch, had Iran shooting down a drone, a Venezuelan dictator thumbing his nose at you, Obamacare still on the books and no results yet on the border? The border getting tough —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, let’s, let’s take a look. Let’s take a look —

CHUCK TODD: I just say — what would candidate Trump have said about that?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, let’s take a look. The border’s doing great. Mexico’s been fantastic. They’ve been trying to get a deal with Mexico for 45 years, right? So for 45 years, they couldn’t get a deal. I got one in one day. I said, “We’re going to put tariffs on and we’re going to either have a deal or not. We agreed in one day.” Mexico just moved 6,000 people to their southern border. 6,000 troops to their southern border. The border’s working out well. And the wall is being built. I mean, a lot of people don’t like to talk about it. We’re building the wall. We will have 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year and that’s hard because the Democrats don’t want to approve it. We just beat them in a big lawsuit, as you know, in Washington, in D.C. We just beat them in a very big lawsuit.

CHUCK TODD: But does it frustrate you that your border numbers are worse than Obama’s?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, because the people are coming up because our economy is so good. They’re pouring up because the economy is so good. Obama had a lousy economy. It was a dead economy.

CHUCK TODD: Can I ask you about that?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Our, our economy is good.

CHUCK TODD: Let me show you this chart. Do you see that chart?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

CHUCK TODD: It’s the unemployment rate from the peak of the recession.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.

CHUCK TODD: Your economy is great. I’m not saying it’s not great. But this recovery started and in the 28 months that you’ve been president and the last 28 months of Obama’s presidency, he averaged more new jobs than your first 28 —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That’s because he started off with a, with such a bad base. I mean, he hit —

CHUCK TODD: Ok. But it is — is it not a continuation?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, but Chuck, you have to understand, nobody was working. The whole place was a disaster. And I don’t– I’d never take that away.

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But it’s very easy —

CHUCK TODD: Alright.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — because when that turned around they pumped a tremendous amount of money into the economy. He also had a Federal Reserve person who kept the interest rates low. I don’t. I don’t have that privilege.

CHUCK TODD: Sounds like you do now. Do you feel like you have —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no.

CHUCK TODD: — do you feel you have sent —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He raised them far too fast.

CHUCK TODD: — the threat —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He raised them far too fast.

CHUCK TODD: — your threat to demote him, do you think that’s had an impact?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I didn’t ever threaten to demote him.

CHUCK TODD: There’s been some talk that you might demote him to the number two slot.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I, I, I’d be able to do that if I wanted but I haven’t suggested that. I mean —

CHUCK TODD: That’s not a threat —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, it’s not —

CHUCK TODD: — that’s just a reminder that you can?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, I have the right to do that. But I haven’t said that. What he’s done is $50 billion a month in quantitative tightening. That’s ridiculous. What he’s done is he raised interest rates too fast.

CHUCK TODD: Do you worry it’s going to hurt —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’ve been proven right.

CHUCK TODD: — your reelection?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think the economy’s so strong we’re going to bull through it. But I’m not happy with his actions. No, I don’t think he’s done a good job. I think this, if he didn’t raise rates Obama had very low rates. So Obama was playing with funny money. I wasn’t. I’m playing with the real stuff.

CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait. Obama had somebody that kept the rates very low. I had somebody that raised the rates very rapidly. Too much. He made a mistake. That’s been proven. And yet my economy is phenomenal. We have now the best economy, maybe in the history of our country. One — just to finish off, when I took over, this country, the economy was ready to collapse. You take a look at the numbers. It was ready to collapse. And if I didn’t win —

CHUCK TODD: I just showed you the numbers. It was not ready to collapse.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No no, no, that’s — You showed me unemployment numbers.

CHUCK TODD: That was unemployment. It was not ready —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.

CHUCK TODD: — to collapse.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. Take a look at your GDP, take a look at your jobs, take a look at your optimism.

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at all of the charts. When I took over from election day on, I mean, you show me one chart which, where I did —

CHUCK TODD: It was the unemployment rate.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — well in that too, but I’m not —

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — talking about that. Take a look at some of the optimism charts and everything else. It went from 57 to 92. Nobody’s ever seen anything that —

CHUCK TODD: You’re right. You’re right.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — right after I won.

CHUCK TODD: The optimism, you’re right.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, optimism is a big part of success in business. Okay.

CHUCK TODD: You were always hard on Obama. You thought he wasn’t enough of a cheerleader.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He was not a cheerleader.

CHUCK TODD: If you could have one do over as president, what would it be?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it would be personnel.

CHUCK TODD: Who is it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one —

CHUCK TODD: That’s your, in your mind, that’s your worst mistake?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake.

CHUCK TODD: Is Bill Barr your Roy Cohn?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He should’ve never — I think he’s a very talented, very–

CHUCK TODD: But do you know what I mean by that? You’ve always said —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, look —

CHUCK TODD: “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Is he your Roy Cohn?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You have to understand, Roy Cohn, but I had many, many lawyers. I mean, a lot of lawyers. Roy was one of them. He was a tough guy. Bill Barr is a — first of all, Bill Barr —

CHUCK TODD: Is he cut from the same cloth, do you think?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Bill Barr is a very, he’s equally tough. He’s a fine man. He’s a fine man. The job he’s done is incredible. He’s brought sanity back. I think he’s real — I don’t think, I know, he’s respected. You know, he loves the Department of Justice. He saw what was happening. He has done a spectacular job. Now he’s in the process of doing something and I stay away from it. I really, I stay away from it. But I think he feels that what’s happened in this country was a very bad thing and very bad for our country.

CHUCK TODD: They’re in terrible shape down there, Mr. President. Down in Homestead, Florida, that’s where I grew up, it’s, the conditions are terrible.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I agree. And it’s been —

CHUCK TODD: Do something.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — that way for a long time.

CHUCK TODD: Do something.

CHUCK TODD: I want to ask what’s going down with the, these, the children in these migrant camps. The stories are horrible, Mr. President. You have children without their parents. You have kids taking care of kids.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

CHUCK TODD: You’ve, you’ve read these reports. I know people are coming to you. I know you think this is the Democrats’ problem.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it —

CHUCK TODD: Forget it.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was —

CHUCK TODD: Why aren’t you doing something?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Are you ready?

CHUCK TODD: They’re in terrible shape down there, Mr. President. Down in Homestead, Florida, that’s where I grew up, it’s, the conditions are terrible.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I agree. And it’s been —

CHUCK TODD: Do something.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — that way for a long time.

CHUCK TODD: Do something.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And President Obama built the cages. Remember when they said that I built them? And then it was 1914 —

CHUCK TODD: Do two wrongs —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.

CHUCK TODD: — make a right?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was 2014. Chuck, just listen for one second.

CHUCK TODD: Ok. Alright.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Separation, President Obama, I took over separation. I’m the one that put it together. What’s happened though are the cartels and all of these bad people, they’re using the kids. They’re, they’re, it’s almost like slavery.

CHUCK TODD: But let’s not punish the kids more.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No this has been happening —

CHUCK TODD: Aren’t you — the kids are getting punished more.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You’re right. And this has been happening long before I got there. What we’ve done is we’ve created, we’ve, we’ve ended separation. You know, under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it. Now I said one thing, when I ended it I said, “Here’s what’s going to happen. More families are going to come up.” And that’s what’s happened. But they’re really coming up for the economics. But once you ended the separation. But I ended separation. I inherited separation from President Obama. President Obama built, they call them jail cells. They were built —

CHUCK TODD: Let’s talk about what’s happening now.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — by the Obama —

CHUCK TODD: Your administration, and–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m just telling you —

CHUCK TODD: –you’re not doing the recreation. You’re not even schooling these kids anymore. You’ve gotten rid of all that stuff.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re doing a fantastic job under the circumstances. The Democrats aren’t even approving giving us money. Where is the money? You know what? The Democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid.

CHUCK TODD: It looks like these kids are being used as, as some sort of — is it hostages? They’re being held —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they are being used.

CHUCK TODD: — hostage.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are being used by very bad people on the other side where they actually get —

CHUCK TODD: But now they’re politically being used.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: –paid, where money is being made using them because our laws are so bad. Because if you have a child, you have an advantage. You know that better than anybody. And what should happen, Chuck —

CHUCK TODD: But why let the political debate hurt these children?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Chuck, we could —

CHUCK TODD: They could be impacted for years.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If the Democrats would change the asylum laws and the loopholes, which they refuse to do because they think it’s good politics, everything would be solved immediately. But they refuse to do it. They refuse to do it.

CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know what? If they change those, I say, I used to say 45 minutes. It’s 15 minutes. If they changed asylum and if they changed loopholes everything on the border would be perfect.

CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this, why do you think Nancy Pelosi has held off her impeachment caucus?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I think she feels that I will win much easier. I mean, I’ve been told that by many people.

CHUCK TODD: Do you think impeachment’s good politics for you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I win the election easier. But, you know, I’m not sure that I like having it. Look, I did nothing wrong. I was spied on. What they did to me was illegal. It was illegal on the other side. I did nothing wrong. So impeachment’s a very unfair thing because nothing that I did was wrong. And if you look at the Mueller report, there was no collusion. This was all about collusion.

CHUCK TODD: Nowhere in the Mueller report —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This was about conspiracy.

CHUCK TODD: By the way, Mr. President, you say no collusion. There is not a single, I’ve read this Mueller report, both, both parts of it —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Use the word collusion, or use —

CHUCK TODD: — there’s not one place it says nothing happened.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Use the word collusion. Use the word conspiracy.

CHUCK TODD: It never says no collusion.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’ll be honest with you, nobody even mentions Russia anymore since the Mueller report. They don’t mention it, in all fairness.

CHUCK TODD: I —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nobody mentions Russia anymore. And it was about Russia. It was a hoax.

CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute.

CHUCK TODD: — during the campaign —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait. We’ll give you the time that you need.

CHUCK TODD: What hoax it was?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was a hoax. The Russian hoax with me.

CHUCK TODD: You don’t believe it happened?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I had nothing to do —

CHUCK TODD: You don’t believe the Russians interfered —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What they did with —

CHUCK TODD: — in our election?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — respect to the election is different. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about —

CHUCK TODD: The idea that you were conspiring.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — my campaign working is a hoax.

CHUCK TODD: Fair enough.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay. Good.

CHUCK TODD: But going back, on WikiLeaks, knowing now that that was stolen foreign material, do you regret using it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I, I wouldn’t have. But this was well-known. I think it was in papers. And, again, I’m going back now a long ways. But —

CHUCK TODD: It was all rumored to be Russian stolen property.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute. But —

CHUCK TODD: So why’d you use it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: –but how would I even know that? I made a speech. It was in there about WikiLeaks. I’m not a —

CHUCK TODD: Right, but I’m saying knowing now —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — WikiLeaks person.

CHUCK TODD: Knowing that they are a Russian intelligence —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hey, Chuck.

CHUCK TODD: — asset —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Ok.

CHUCK TODD: — do you regret it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let me tell you– WikiLeaks, et cetera, that’s not my deal in life. You know, in other words, I don’t know about WikiLeaks. It was a strange name. But there were stories about something WikiLeaks that they had information. And I say it in a joking manner at a speech. Joking. Everybody laughing. Everybody having a — And they made it like it was serious. No, I don’t want anything bad to happen to our country. Anything bad happens to this country, I will end it and I’ll end it fast. I don’t want any of that to happen.

CHUCK TODD: You’re going to see Vladimir Putin in a week.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes. I’m going to see many people.

CHUCK TODD: Are you going to address him directly about interference in 2020?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may.

CHUCK TODD: Are you going to tell him —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may.

CHUCK TODD: — not to do it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may if you’d like me to do it, I’ll do that.

CHUCK TODD: Because some — Well, some people think that your answer —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know what? Here’s what you do —

CHUCK TODD: — that your answer last week invited him to do it again.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, that’s not true. That’s not true.

CHUCK TODD: Are you going to tell him not to and what are the consequences?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My answer last week was both. I said both. I’d do both. Except they didn’t put it on. And when they did put it on people understood. But they didn’t put it on because they put a different segment on. So they ask me a question. But when I said, “Yeah, I’d do both,” people saw that in the last version of it because the thing played like all weekend and on Friday. So it’s just more fake news. Chuck, there’s so much fake news. It would be so good if —

CHUCK TODD: The Republican Party has changed in your image. Do you think you caused that change or do you think the party was changing and you were the leader they selected?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think common sense caused it. You know, I’m about common sense. People say, “Are you conservative?” I guess I’m conservative, but I’m about common sense. I’m about we need borders. We’re going to have borders. And we have strong borders. And by the way, Mexico has done a great job. It’s slowed down so much. But we have an amazing economy and people want to come up. But it’s slowed down so much. But I’m about borders. I’m about great health care. Obamacare is a disaster. I got rid of the individual mandate.

CHUCK TODD: By the way, why is the economy doing so well if Obamacare is still law of the land? You had said in 2011 —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are managing —

CHUCK TODD: — “Obamacare’s going to destroy the economy.” Obamacare’s still here and —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I’ve managed it great.

CHUCK TODD: — the economy’s great.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I had a choice. I could have let it implode and killed it or I could have managed it —

CHUCK TODD: You’re still trying to kill it.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no.

CHUCK TODD: Why are you still trying to kill it with the getting rid of preexisting — If you — This lawsuit that the Department of Justice joined, it could get rid of —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am in favor —

CHUCK TODD: — coverage of preexisting conditions.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am in favor of preexisting conditions. I am fighting —

CHUCK TODD: So get rid — so drop the lawsuit.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will —

CHUCK TODD: So drop your aspect of the lawsuit.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It has nothing to do with it. The lawsuit is one thing. We are going to put in a bill, total preexisting conditions. And the Republicans are in favor of preexisting conditions.

CHUCK TODD: Mr. President, you had full Republican control and they couldn’t pass anything.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Chuck, are you ready?

CHUCK TODD: What makes you think you’re going to get it done this time?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had a negative vote from John McCain. It was a surprising vote. But I got rid of the worst part of Obamacare which was the individual mandate.

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will always protect pre-existing conditions. And the reason Obamacare continues is my decision. Wait, I made a big decision.

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a man named Azar, our secretary, he’s fantastic man, Alex. A total pro. I could have managed Obamacare so it would have failed or I could have managed it the way we did so it’s as good as it can be. Not great, but it’s as good — It’s too expensive and the premiums are too high. I had a decision to make. I could have politically killed Obamacare. I decided not to do it. But still it’s not good. We’re going to come up with great health care if we win the House, the Senate and the presidency.

CHUCK TODD: Are you prepared to lose?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. Probably not. Probably not.

CHUCK TODD: Very hon — I mean, you joke —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It would be much better, it would be much better if I said, “Yeah.”

CHUCK TODD: You’re, you’re —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It would be much easier for me to say, “Oh yes.” No I’m probably not too prepared to lose. I don’t like losing. I haven’t lost very much in my life.

CHUCK TODD: You didn’t like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didn’t it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think it was a — I mean, I’ll say something that, again, is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don’t believe. I look at California.

CHUCK TODD: Mr. President.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.

CHUCK TODD: But that’s a —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at Judicial Watch, take a look at their settlement where California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes.

CHUCK TODD: A million votes of what?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at judicial —

CHUCK TODD: What are you talking about?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Judicial Watch made a settlement. There was, there was much —

CHUCK TODD: About what?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — there was much illegal voting. But let me tell you about popular vote. Do you have a second?

CHUCK TODD: Yes, because you were, you were a big fan of it —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There are two —

CHUCK TODD: — until you weren’t

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I like popular vote.

CHUCK TODD: Yeah.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I do better with a popular vote. But I didn’t campaign for the popular vote.

CHUCK TODD: You’re right. I —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You didn’t see me campaigning in California or New York. If I — if it was up to the popular vote, I would have been I think even better. I won 306 to 223, which was a lot in the Electoral College. But it’s like you’re training for the 100-yard dash versus the mile.

CHUCK TODD: Yep. You’re, you’re totally right.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It’s totally different.

CHUCK TODD: If it’s the popular vote, you campaign differently.–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I went to Wisconsin. —

CHUCK TODD: — I don’t disagree.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — She forgot. I went to Michigan. She didn’t go to Michigan enough. I won Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. I won places that she didn’t do a good job. What can I tell you? No, maybe I did a great job. You know, I never get credit for that. They always say she was a lousy candidate. I actually think that Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious.

CHUCK TODD: You’d rather run against her again, wouldn’t you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.

CHUCK TODD: You only talked about her in your announcement speech.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.

CHUCK TODD: You spent a lot of time talking about her.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. I would actually rather run against Biden.

CHUCK TODD: Than Hillary.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think that would be my preference.

CHUCK TODD: Why?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sleepy Joe. He’s sleepy. She was not sleepy. Let me just tell you something, the Electoral College is tougher for a Republican to win than the popular vote. At least me. I feel that I go to three places. I went to 19 or 21 states. I went to Maine four times because I wanted to get one. And I did get it. And that’s the beauty of the Electoral College.

CHUCK TODD: Right.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, I’ve been a proponent of the other sometimes and I change. But I will tell you, the Electoral College brings you to many of the states in this country.

CHUCK TODD: You, you have joked about a third term. You’ve joked about these things.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I only joke.

CHUCK TODD: Okay.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I joke. And I say “Watch, I will drive Chuck Todd crazy.”

CHUCK TODD: You will, you will accept the re — Ok. You will —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes, there won’t be a third term.

CHUCK TODD: You will accept the results?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 100%. Sure.

CHUCK TODD: And you will accept whatever happens in 2020.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure.

CHUCK TODD: You lose, you’ll be like — you’re not going to like it but you walk out.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In fact, I said at a speech recently, I said, “Watch. We’ll drive the media crazy. Let’s go for a third time and then a fourth.” And some of the media said, “He’s going to do it.”

CHUCK TODD: Speaking of driving people crazy, when you were asked about Mike Pence in 2024 and you, and you, and you paused a minute about endorsing him as your successor, that got a lot of people going, “Is Mike Pence 100% on your ticket in 2020?”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, look, look — 100%, yes.

CHUCK TODD: 100%?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh yeah.

CHUCK TODD: There is no wiggle room?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He’s been, he’s been a terrific vice president. He’s my friend and —

CHUCK TODD: Ok.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — a lot of things. No. Zero. Zero.

CHUCK TODD: So why’d you hesitate in endorsing him in being, succeeding you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because it was a surprise question.

CHUCK TODD: You hadn’t thought about it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you know, I’m not even thinking of it. It’s so far out. I mean, It’s so far out. That would be the only reason. Now what happens in 2024? I don’t know that Mike is going to run. I don’t know who’s running or anything else.

[Transcript End]