Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  Earlier today President Trump stopped to answer questions from the assembled press pool as he departed the White House.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Hi, everybody. Hi. How are you? So, the stock market is doing very well. The economy is booming. We have a new record in sight. It could happen even today. But we have a new stock market record. I think it’ll be about 118 times that we’ve broken the record. Jobs look phenomenal.

We’re doing very well in Syria, with Turkey and everybody else that we’re dealing with. We have secured the oil. We have a lot of oil. We’ve secured the oil. We have a couple of people that came knocking. We said, “Don’t knock.” And I think I would say that things are going very well.

I know people are still in a basement, in a secure room in the basement, trying to make us look as bad as possible. But that’s not working too well. A lot of things are happening very good.

And I appreciate Republicans are just outraged, and the American public is outraged, that the Do-Nothing Democrats, they’re doing nothing. They are doing nothing. There’s such an opportunity to get things done. We need USMCA passed. It’s a great deal for our country, for our farmers, manufacturers, unions. It’s a great deal for our country. So we need USMCA passed.

Q Mr. President, some Democrats say comparing the impeachment inquiry to a lynching was painful and offensive. You’re going to an HBCU today. Will you apologize?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a word that many Democrats have used. It’s a word that many people have used over the years. But that’s a word that has been used many times.

And let me tell you something: The level of unfairness for a perfect conversation with the President of Ukraine — this was a perfect conversation. And, frankly, had they known what the conversation was, they wouldn’t have even wasted everybody’s time. But this was a perfect conversation with the President of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine and his Foreign Minister, separately, came out and said there was absolutely nothing wrong with the conversation. The President of Ukraine and the Foreign Minister came out and said there was no anything. There was no — he used the word “no blackmail.” They said there was no pressure; there was nothing done wrong.

This is a hoax — just like there was no collusion. After two years, they found out and wasted $45 million. This is a disgrace that this could happen in our country.

But remember —

Q Will you apologize for using the word “lynching”?

THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait.

The President of Ukraine, right now — the President of Ukraine said “no pressure.” The President of Ukraine and his Foreign Minister said, again, “no pressure, no blackmail.” They don’t even know what you people are talking about. It’s a ph- — it’s a hoax. It’s a hoax. It’s just a continuation of the Russian witch hunt, which turned out to be phony. The Mueller deal was phony. And now they have this.

And all it is, is very simple: It’s one conversation that I had with the President of Ukraine that was perfect. That Adam Schiff defrauded everybody and he made up the conversation in the halls of Congress.

Q Are you at all concerned about the growing criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so, because I think Rudy is a great gentleman. He’s been a great crime fighter. He looks for corruption wherever he goes. Everybody understands Ukraine has big problems in that regard. Rudy Giuliani is a fine man. He was the greatest mayor in the history of New York, and he’s been one of the greatest crime fighters and corruption fighters. Rudy Giuliani is a good man.

Q Would you like to see your Justice Department still investigate Biden? Should the Justice Department still be investigating Biden?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think what Biden did, and his son — and now, I guess, they’re finding also Romania; that just came out today. Or some other country. And I’m sure there are more than that.

When a man walks away — who has no talent, no skill, no experience — with $1.5 billion out of China; when he walks away with $168,000 a month for him and his friend, from Ukraine, when Ukraine supposedly gave him $3 million — whatever the numbers are — and he’s got no experience in oil and no experience anywhere, and now other nations are coming out. I heard one today; I won’t embarrass the nation.

All he’s doing — and in my opinion, that’s a payoff, because you don’t pay that kind of money for any other reason. And then you look at what the father did with oil, and “let’s get oil.” And then, all of a sudden, “let’s not get oil.” And now he’s a great environmentalist, because the Ukraine benefits by that, and other places benefit by that.

No, I consider what they did to be an outrage to our country. I consider that to be an outrage to our country.

Q Mr. President, what do you think about Lindsey Graham’s resolution? Some of your supporters think he’s not doing enough. And also, what do you think about the nine GOP senators who didn’t sign on to that resolution against impeachment?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, some of them weren’t even spoken to yet. They got 40 very quickly. I think they’re at 47. And some of them haven’t even — don’t even know about it yet. It only took place yesterday afternoon.

So they had a great response. No, you have — we have great — great support. We had 185 out of 185 the other night — the Republican congressmen. I think we had 185 present and we had 185 positive votes. And with the senators we’re doing great too.

Q Where are we on the China and U.S. deal — trade deal?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re doing very well with China. We’re moving along nicely. We’re dealing with them right now. And a lot of good things are happening with China. They want to make a deal very badly.

Q What is in your new plan for Afghanistan?

THE PRESIDENT: What?

Q What is in your new plan for Afghanistan? Are you able to —

THE PRESIDENT: We’ve moving with Afghanistan. We’re doing well in Afghanistan. We’re slowly bringing things down to a certain level. But we’re doing very well with Afghanistan. Things are moving along.

Q Your top diplomat in Ukraine said that you held up military funds because you wanted Ukraine to investigate the 2016 election and Burisma, the company on which Hunter Biden sat. Are you saying that he’s making that up?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the problem is — here’s the problem —

Q Do you think — are you calling him a liar?

THE PRESIDENT: Here’s the problem: He’s a Never Trumper, and his lawyer is a Never Trumper. And the other problem is you —

Q Mike Pompeo hired him.

Q Why did Mike Pompeo hire him?

THE PRESIDENT: Hey, everybody makes mistakes. I — Mike Pompeo, everybody makes mistakes.

Q Do you want him out now as the top diplomat?

THE PRESIDENT: He’s a Never Trumper. His lawyer is the head of the Never Trumpers. They’re a dying breed, but they’re still there.

Q Based on what?

THE PRESIDENT: And here’s the other problem —

Q Based on what, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: — you’re with CNN and you’re fake news.

Q Mr. President, on guns: This month is nearly a year since the shooting in Pennsylvania.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the Democrats don’t have any time to work on anything. They have to do US — USMCA. They have to do guns. They have to do — they have many things. We want to reduce drug prices even more. You know, we can go so far, but we could get drug prices substantially reduced. The Democrats — the Do-Nothing Democrats have no time to do it.

Q Do you — will you support the Republican plan that came out this week? It expands access to healthcare.

THE PRESIDENT: Which one?

Q The Republican plan that came out this week. Do you support that?

THE PRESIDENT: We have a great Republican plan. And if we take over the House, which we should — especially because of what they’re doing with impeachment — I think we’ll take over the House by big numbers. You’ll have healthcare the likes of which you’ve never seen. Much less expensive. Deductibles will be much lower. You’ll have great healthcare. We have to take over the —

Q But will we see gun legislation?

THE PRESIDENT: Because the Democrats don’t have any time to do anything.

Q Sir, Vice President Pence said, yesterday, that America stands with the protestors in Hong Kong who are protesting against the Beijing government. Do you agree with that, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I know he made the speech yesterday. I went over the speech. The speech was fine. It was fine.

Q Does America —

THE PRESIDENT: No, his speech was fine.

Q — stand with the protestors?

THE PRESIDENT: But I’m also working very closely with China on a deal. But his speech was fine.

Q Mr. President, are you trying to intimidate the whistleblower?

Q On the deal — on the deal with China, Lighthizer says you are — Lighthizer says you are close to finalizing some sections on the deal with China.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s true.

Q What sections? Is it intellectual property?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re doing very well with China. We’re very good with the farmers. The farmers are going to do better, maybe, than anybody. But everybody is doing well.

China wants to make a deal. They’d like to see some reductions in tariffs. They’d like to see some tariffs that are scheduled to go on very soon — they’d like to see them not go on. But China — they really — look, you know it: They really want to make a deal. They’re going to be buying much more farm product than anybody ever thought possible.

Q Are you confident that you have the votes in the Senate, if an impeachment goes there?

THE PRESIDENT: Only for one reason: I did nothing wrong. The only reason. I had a perfect conversation with the President of Ukraine. Perfect. Had they seen that conversation before they made up the story — they made up the story about that conve- — had they seen it, we wouldn’t even be talking about it right now. The conversation has been perfect. And for that reason, I have tremendous support.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. With the opening of the investigations that your Attorney General, William Barr —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q — is (inaudible), is this because people who are investigating you are, in fact, engaging in criminal conduct?

THE PRESIDENT: So they’ve started, and it’s been going on a long time. And I sort of semi-read the papers. And I read them probably in greater detail than you, actually. And I try and sift out the fake news from the real news.

But, as you know, there’s been a long-term look at — look-see — and it looks like it’s becoming very serious, from what I’m hearing. Investigate the investigator — whether it’s Strzok and Page, whether it’s Clapper, and whether it’s Comey, and all of these people — because terrible things went on for our country.

And we have a great Attorney General — a highly prestigious man, a very honorable man. And they’ve been looking at it for a long time.

I can’t tell you what’s happening. I will tell you this: I think you’re going to see a lot of really bad things. And a lot of people think that — and they know they have problems because they were very dishonest. And, again, I leave it all up the Attorney General and I leave it all up to the people that are working with the Attorney General who I don’t know.

But I will say this: I think you’ll see things that nobody would’ve believed. This was the worst hoax in the history of our country. And a lot of people say that the phony deal on impeachment, where I have a perfect conversation — perfect — with the President of Ukraine — and they’re using that to impeach one of the most successful Presidents.

We’re going to hit another stock market high. We have the best jobs report. We have the best unemployment numbers. We have the best employment. More people working today in the United States than ever before. I’ve rebuilt the military. We’re strong. We just did a great thing in Syria where we’re getting our troops out. We took over oil. A lot of great things are happening in this country.

I will say this: If anything ever happened with this phony witch hunt that the Democrats are doing — the Do-Nothing Democrats — I really believe that you’d have a recession- depression the likes of which this country hasn’t seen.

Now, a strong statement was made by a very highly respected man this morning on Wall Street — a man who is very respected — about that, that if anything happened to Trump — President Trump — you would see repercussions in the market like you haven’t seen before.

But here’s the thing: I don’t have teams. Everyone is talking about teams. I’m the team. I did nothing wrong. This has been going on for — before I got elected. This was going on from the insurance policy — Strzok and his lover, Page. This was the insurance policy. It was Strzok and Page. We did nothing wrong. But Strzok said, “Oh, she’s going to win. She’s going to win. But if she doesn’t, we have an insurance policy.”

So — so, let me just tell you something. So, this has been going on since before I got elected. And people are angry about it. And do you know who’s angry about it? The Republican Party is angry about it because this isn’t a takedown of the President, this is a takedown of the Republican Party. And, frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed of themselves.

Q (Inaudible) cost of South Korean defense sharing (inaudible)?

Q Mr. President, you tweeted about Never Trumpers the other day. You have a few in your administration. Are you making personnel changes?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you let me who know who they are — who are they? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.

Q I hear you have a list.

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Tell me who the Never Trumpers are because I’m not a fan of the Never Trumpers.

We do have Never Trumpers. I’m not a fan. I think they’re bad people. Some have recovered. Okay? They went through, I guess, a recovery program. It’s called, “They learned how to win through me.” But others haven’t. I’m not a fan of Never Trumpers, and I never will be.

But a Never Trumper sometimes is more vicious than a failed Obama candidate or a failed Clinton candidate who I beat both in the same election with very little experience.

Don’t forget, I beat the Obama people. I beat the Bush people. And I beat the Clinton people. And I had no experience. That’s not a bad job. But there’s a lot of angry people out there. And that’s the way it goes. Thank you.

END 12:07 P.M. EDT

White House Trade and Manufacturing Advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business to discuss the purpose and intent of the USMCA and the ongoing China trade discussions.

What Navarro skims upon is the heart of the economic purpose behind the USMCA as requested by President Trump and constructed by USTR Lighthizer. The USMCA establishes an internal North American manufacturing system; this provides the alternative for Asian manufacturing of goods for the U.S. market.

This manufacturing system is why Mexico is “all-in” to support the USMCA. Additionally, the economic benefits within the system as constructed is exactly why Mexican President Lopez-Obrador is willing to pressure House democrats to ratify and also back-up President Trump on other geopolitical issues (immigration controls etc).

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On the Stock Market dynamic. Currently there is a great deal of investment capital waiting to see where the money should be placed. Investment in China has dropped dramatically; investment in Southeast Asia shifted, but new investment is pending this outcome. Multinationals are calculating the TCP (Total Cost of Production), and if the new USMCA is passed there will be a triggering effect of North American investment because the uncertainty will be eliminated.

Unfortunately the advisors to Speaker Nancy Pelosi know the likelihood of economic benefit from the new North American trade agreement; and that’s why they are holding back passage of the USMCA. The democrats know it would be a big investment boost to the economy. Their political future is dependent on not allowing that to happen.

Their excuse for not passing USMCA is a false-excuse surrounding labor issues. The North American content standards within the USMCA will drive the manufacturing decisions; this is the closure of the NAFTA loophole.

To protect herself from the political backlash, Pelosi has leveraged AFL-CIO union President Richard Trumka to support her false claims. Trumka is trying to help the democrats politically by agreeing with the false-narrative about the labor concerns. It’s all a scheme:

(Via NBC) […] In an interview with The Washington Post published Wednesday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said it would be a “colossal mistake” for the Democratic-held chamber to vote on ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement soon. The head of the key labor group, which represents more than 12 million active and retired members across a range of industries, added that the agreement “would be defeated” if the House voted before Thanksgiving.

Trumka’s comments underscore the sustained resistance to the USMCA from labor groups even as the White House and key business organizations push for the deal’s swift approval. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democratic negotiators have said they want to resolve concerns about the deal harming American workers or the environment before they ratify it.

The labor leader’s remarks undermine a key claim from the president as he makes his case for the deal: that major labor unions back the USMCA. (read more)

Today President Trump has traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to deliver remarks at the 9th annual Shale Insight conference.  Anticipated start time 3:40pm EDT.

UPDATE: Video Added

WH Livestream Link – Fox Business Livestream – Fox Livestream – Local Livestream

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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks departing the White House.  [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. We’re going to Pennsylvania, on an energy meeting and speech, and look forward to it.

I hope you saw what I had to say about the safe zone in Syria, and — are dealing with Turkey. It’s been very successful. We’ll see what happens. It’s a very volatile part of the world, but, so far, it’s been pretty amazing what’s gone on. We’ve lost no soldiers. We didn’t have a soldier hurt. We didn’t have a finger broken. It’s pretty unusual.

And we have thousands of soldiers that have moved out or are moving out of various areas. We have it under very good control. Turkey has done what we’ve asked them to do.

We have tremendous economic might — far more than we had, relatively speaking, when I took office. When I took office, everybody said that China would be the largest economy in the world within the first two years. And we picked up trillions and trillions of dollars of worth, and China has lost trillions of dollars of worth.

So we are far and away the most powerful economy in the world. And if you have a smart President, you’ll stay there.

Other than that, our military is looking good. It’s been rebuilt and we’re respected again.

But I’m going right now — I’ll be going over to Pennsylvania. And many of you, I hope, will be following me.

Thank you. Thank you.

END 1:36 P.M. EDT

Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks about the ongoing issues with Turkey and Northern Syria from the White House.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. My fellow Americans, I greet you this morning from the White House to announce a major breakthrough toward achieving a better future for Syria and for the Middle East. It’s been a long time.

Over the last five days, you have seen that a ceasefire that we established along Syria’s border has held, and it’s held very well, beyond most expectations. Early this morning, the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria, and making the ceasefire permanent. And it will indeed be permanent. However you would also define the word “permanent” in that part of the world as somewhat questionable, we all understand that. But I do believe it will be permanent.

I have therefore instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to lift all sanctions imposed on October 14th in response to Turkey’s original offensive moves against the Kurds in Syria’s northeast border region. So the sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that we’re not happy with.

This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else, no other nation. Very simple. And we’re willing to take blame, and we’re also willing to take credit. This is something they’ve been trying to do for many, many decades. Since then, others have come out to help, and we welcome them to do so. Other countries have stepped forward, they want to help, and we think that’s great. The nations in the region must ultimately take on the responsibility of helping Turkey and Syria police their border. We want other nations to get involved.

We’ve secured the oil, and, therefore, a small number of U.S. troops will remain in the area where they have the oil. And we’re going to be protecting it, and we’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future.

In any event, by the moves that we’ve made, we are achieving a much more peaceful and stable area between Turkey and Syria, including a 20-mile-wide safe zone. An interesting term, “safe zone.” That’s the term we’re using it. Hopefully, that zone will become safe. Thousands and thousands of people have been killed in that zone over the years. But it’s been sought for many, many decades, and I think we have something that’s going to be strong and hold up.

Turkey, Syria, and all forms of the Kurds, have been fighting for centuries. We have done them a great service, and we’ve done a great job for all of them. And now we’re getting out. A long time. We were supposed to be there for 30 days; that was almost 10 years ago. So we’re there for 30 days, and now we’re leaving. It was supposed to be a very quick hit and let’s get out. And it was a quick hit, except they stayed for almost 10 years. Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand.

I want to thank Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo for leading the American delegation so successfully to Turkey several days ago, along with National Security Advisor O’Brien. I want to thank them very much. The American delegation negotiated the original five-day ceasefire that [DEL: ended :DEL] [enabled] Kurdish fighters to safely leave. It just got them to a point where, frankly, they were able. It enabled them to get out, to go and move, really, just a few miles in a slightly different direction. So this enabled them to do so.

Countless lives are now being saved as a result of our negotiation with Turkey — an outcome reached without spilling one drop of American blood. No injuries. Nobody shot, nobody killed.

I have just spoken to General Mazloum, a wonderful man, the Commander-in-Chief of the SDF Kurds. And he was extremely thankful for what the United States has done. Could not have been more thankful. General Mazloum has assured me that ISIS is under very, very strict lock and key, and the detention facilities are being strongly maintained. There were a few that got out — a small number, relatively speaking — and they’ve been largely recaptured.

I’m also sure that he will be issuing his own statement very shortly. We had a great talk. But we’ve saved the lives of many, many Kurds. He understands that. The war was going to be vicious and probably not very long. And I’m very happy to have been involved in it, as are our Vice President, our Secretary of State, and all of the other people on our team. By getting that ceasefire to stick, we’ve done something that’s very, very special. But by getting the ceasefire after a tremendous amount of really tough war for a very short period of days, that is something very special.

Our troops are safe, and the pain and suffering of the three-day fight that occurred was directly responsible for our ability to make an agreement with Turkey and the Kurds that could never have been made without this short-term outburst.

Should Turkey fail to honor its obligations, including the protection of religious and ethnic minorities — which I truly believe they will do — we reserve the right to re-impose crippling sanctions, including substantially increased tariffs on steel and all other products coming out of Turkey.

We are now an economic powerhouse like never before, and, very importantly, like no other. Our economic might is stronger than it’s ever been, and our competitors are not doing very well.

We also expect Turkey to abide by its commitment regarding ISIS. As a backup to the Kurds watching over them, should something happen, Turkey is there to grab them.

Further, we implore European countries to come and take those fighters that the U.S. captured and bring them back to their countries for incarceration and for trial. Until just recently, Europe has been very unresponsive in doing what they should have been doing for a long time. Now is their chance to finally act.

American forces defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate during the last two years. We thank the Syrian Democratic Forces for their sacrifices in this effort. They’ve been terrific. Now Turkey, Syria, and others in the region must work to ensure that ISIS does not regain any territory. It’s their neighborhood; they have to maintain it. They have to take care of it.

There were some political pundits who responded to Turkey’s offensive in Syria by calling for yet another American military intervention. I don’t think so. But halting the incursion by military force would have required deploying tens of thousands of American troops against Turkey — a NATO Ally and a country the United States has developed a very good relationship with, including President Erdoğan.

The same people that I watched and read — giving me and the United States advice — were the people that I have been watching and reading for many years. They are the ones that got us into the Middle East mess but never had the vision or the courage to get us out. They just talk.

How many Americans must die in the Middle East in the midst of these ancient sectarian and tribal conflicts? After all of the precious blood and treasure America has poured into the deserts of the Middle East, I am committed to pursuing a different course — one that leads to victory for America.

Through much work, we have done things that everybody said couldn’t be done. Today’s announcement validates our course of action with Turkey that only a couple of weeks ago were scorned, and now people are saying, “Wow. What a great outcome. Congratulations.” It’s too early to me to be congratulated, but we’ve done a good job. We’ve saved a lot of lives.

Most importantly, we have avoided another costly military intervention that could’ve led to disastrous, far-reaching consequences. Many thousands of people could’ve been killed.

The last administration said, “Assad must go.” They could’ve easily produced that outcome, but they didn’t. In fact, they drew a very powerful red line in the sand — you all remember, the red line in the sand — when children were gassed and killed, but then did not honor their commitment as other children died in the same horrible manner. But I did honor my commitments with 58 Tomahawks.

Eight long years after President Obama’s ill-fated push at regime change, U.S. troops are still on the ground in Syria. More than half a million people are dead, hundreds of thousands are terribly injured, and millions more Syrians are displaced. It really is a nightmare of misery.

Across the Middle East, we have seen anguish on a colossal scale. We have spent $8 trillion on wars in the Middle East, never really wanting to win those wars. But after all that money was spent and all of those lives lost, the young men and women gravely wounded — so many — the Middle East is less safe, less stable, and less secure than before these conflicts began.

The same people pushing for these wars are often the ones demanding America open its doors to unlimited migration from war-torn regions, importing the terrorism and the threat of terrorism right to our own shores. But not anymore. My administration understands that immigration security is national security.

As a candidate for President, I made clear that we needed a new approach to American foreign policy, one guided not by ideology, but by experience, history, and a realistic understanding of the world.

We are building up America’s military might like never before, investing $2.5 trillion since my election. But we will not be depleted. We will not happen again. It will not be allowed to happen again, where our military is depleted, fighting in areas of the world where we shouldn’t be.

When we commit American troops to battle, we must do so only when a vital national interest is at stake, and when we have a clear objective, a plan for victory, and a path out of conflict. That’s what we have to have. We need a plan of victory. We will only win. Our whole basis has to be the right plan, and then we will only win. Nobody can beat us. Nobody can beat us.

I want to again thank everyone on the American team who helped achieve the ceasefire in Syria, saved so many lives, along with President Erdoğan of Turkey — a man I’ve gotten to know very well and a man who loves his country. And, in his mind, he’s doing the right thing for his country, and we may be meeting in the very near future.

I also want to thank General Mazloum for his understanding and for his great strength and for his incredible words today to me — but me just as a representative of the United States — because he knows that we saved tens of thousands of Kurds. And we’re not talking in the long term, we’re talking in the short term. We’re talking something that was going on immediately and something, frankly, that was planned for a long time.

The job of our military is not to police the world. Other nations must step up and do their fair share. That hasn’t taken place. Today’s breakthrough is a critical step in that direction.

Thank you all very much, and God bless America. Thank you. Thank you.

END 11:56 A.M. EDT