Prior to departing the White House for a trip to California and Las Vegas, President Trump delivered remarks to the media and took questions. [Video and Transcript below]:

.

[Transcript] – South Lawn – 9:50 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. The economic numbers just came out; they’re very, very good. Our country is doing unbelievably well, economically. Most of you don’t report that because it doesn’t sound good from your perspective.

But the country is doing really, really well. We have a lot of very exciting things going on. A lot of companies will be announcing shortly they’re moving back into the United States. They’re all coming back. They want to be where the action is.

I’m heading to the border. We’re building a lot of wall. We’re going to show you a section. And a lot of things are happening. A lot of very positive things are happening.

Q Mr. President, what should the Fed do with interests rates and (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I personally think the Fed should drop rates. I think they really slowed us down. There’s no inflation. I would say, in terms of quantitative tightening, it should actually now be quantitative easing. Very little, if any inflation. And I think they should drop rates. And they should get rid of quantitative tightening. You would see a rocket ship. Despite that, we’re doing very well.

Q What’s going on with the ICE Director, Vitiello? What is happening with Vitiello’s nomination?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re going in a little different direction. Ron’s a good man. But we’re going in a tougher direction. We want to go in a tougher direction.

Q What is exactly is offensive about Joe Biden’s behavior? And are you the right messenger for that?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I think I’m a very good messenger. And people got a kick out of it. He’s going through a situation; let’s see what happens.

But people got a kick — we got to — we got to sort of smile a little bit, right?

Q Does that mean you see Joe Biden as a threat? Do you see Joe Biden as a threat? Is that why you —

THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t see Joe Biden as a threat. No. I don’t see him as a threat. I think he’s only a threat to himself.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: I just don’t see him as a threat. He’s been there a long time. His record is not good. He’d have to run on the Obama failed record.

You look at what happened with so many different things: North Korea, the Middle East, the economy never got going. No, I don’t think Joe is a threat. I’d love him to be — I mean, look, I’d be happy with any of them to be honest.

Q Why did you change your mind about shutting down the border?

THE PRESIDENT: I never changed my mind at all. I may shut it down at some point, but I’d rather do tariffs. So Mexico, I have to say, has been very, very good — you know that — over the last four days, since I talked about shutting down the border.

If they continue that, everything will be fine. If they don’t, we’re going to tariff their cars at 25 percent coming into the United States. So every time they make a car, it’s a 25 percent tariff. That means we make money as opposed to lose money. We probably bring those car companies back into the United States.

But if, on the other hand, it doesn’t work — which it will, 100 percent — the tariffs will work just like they’ve worked with steel. Our steel industry is so hot right now because of what I did with tariffs. Same thing with aluminum — they’ll work. But if it didn’t work, I will close the border.

I am also — I’m looking at an economic penalty for all of the drugs that are coming in through the southern border and killing our people.

Q Mr. President, how did your meeting with China go yesterday?

THE PRESIDENT: The China meeting was a big success. I think we’re going to have a — look, we have a very good relationship. We’re going to see. I don’t want to predict a deal or not a deal. But we’re very well along. We’ve really negotiated probably the two hardest points very successfully for our country.

And China understands — you know, China has taken advantage of our country for 30 years. And we can’t do that anymore. Not with me.

Q (Inaudible) why aren’t you closing the border this week?

THE PRESIDENT: Because Mexico has been absolutely terrific for the last four days. They’re apprehending everybody. Yesterday, they apprehended 1,400 people. The day before, it was a thousand. And if they apprehend people at their southern border, where they don’t have to walk through, that’s a big home run. We can handle it from there. It’s really good.

Now, Congress has to act. They have to get rid of catch and release, chain migration, visa lottery. They have to get rid of the whole asylum system because it doesn’t work. And, frankly, we should get rid of judges. You can’t have a court case every time somebody steps their foot on our ground. So very important that Congress acts.

But Mexico, in the last four days — it’s never happened like that in 35 years.

Q The USMCA side deal says you can’t do tariffs on cars. Why do you think you can?

THE PRESIDENT: This will supersede USMCA. USMCA is a great deal and it’s very good for Mexico, but this will supersede USMCA.

Q Mr. President, are you going to the Correspondents’ Dinner or are you going to hold a rally?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m going to hold a rally.

Q Instead of the Correspondents’ Dinner?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because the dinner is so boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally instead.

Q Where?

THE PRESIDENT: We haven’t determined. We have about three sites. Everybody wants it. It’ll be a big one, but the Correspondents’ Dinner is too negative. I like positive things. Okay?

Q Are you worried about Michael Cohen’s hard drive?

THE PRESIDENT: No. They’ve already got it. He’s old news. He lied numerous times during his last testimony. They’ve had that for many months.

Q Are you confident you’ll be able to keep the Democrats from getting your taxes?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don’t know. That’s up to whoever handles it. I don’t know. Hey, I’m under audit. But that’s up to whoever it is. I — from what I understand, the law is 100 percent on my side.

Q (Inaudible) temporary protected status for Venezuelans — will you give it to them? You said their country is in crisis.

THE PRESIDENT: Venezuela is a mess. This is what socialism brings. If you elect a socialist here, you’ll have the same exact country as you have in Venezuela. Thank you.

END 9:57 A.M.

President Trump delivered remarks today during a White House Opportunity and Revitalization economic group meeting. [Video and Transcript Below] What is the axiom that needs to be continually referenced when contemplating the forces aligned against President Donald Trump?  “There are trillions at stake“.

President Trump is single-handily navigating U.S. interests amid a landscape where the entire BIG CLUB is aligned against him.  All but a handful of DC politicians are owned by Wall Street’s BIG CLUB (Donohue and McConnell); multinationals & allied media. Meanwhile, to enhance their self-interests/plans, the ‘Occupy’ left-wing Democrats have abandoned all prior positions and joined a tactical alliance with Wall Street in the hopes of removing President Trump.  These are the forces against all ‘America First‘ policies.

.

[Transcript] -White House – […] PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re losing, a few years ago, two hundred, routinely, to China. We can’t do that. We’re going to turn it around. It’s got to be a great deal. If it’s not a great deal, we’re not doing it.

But it’s going very well. Top officials are here. And, you know, we’re very well along on the deal. It’s a very complex deal. It’s a very big deal. It’s one of the biggest deals ever made. Maybe the biggest deal ever made. It will be a great deal for our farmers. Technology, intellectual property theft — everything is covered. There’s not a thing that’s not covered.

We could have made a quickie, but we’re in a very good position. Our economy is way up. China is not way up. And we’re — could either make a very good deal or we’re not going to make a deal at all. But I think it looks like the deal is moving along very nicely.

So I think you’re going to meet me in — we’re going to say hello to the media for a little while, sometime after 2 o’clock. Okay?

Thank you, everybody.

Q (Inaudible) Mexico?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, a lot of good things are happening with Mexico. Mexico understands that we’re going to close the border or I’m going to tariff the cars. I’ll do one or the other. And probably start off with the tariffs. That will be a very powerful incentive, because Mexico has the strongest immigration laws anywhere in the world. They don’t have courts like we do. We have a stupid system of courts. It’s the craziest thing in the world. We could be the only country that has it. If you put a foot on the property, you put a foot into the United States: “Congratulations. Go get Perry Mason to represent you.” You end up with a court case.

And then they release you, and you come back four, five years later but nobody comes back. Two percent come back. The not-so-smart ones come back. It’s the most ridiculous system anyone has ever seen.

And we have catch and release and we have chain migration, where somebody comes in and brings the whole family. “Bring them all: your grandparents, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins.” The craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Put in by Democrats.

And the Democrats are going to straighten it out. And if they don’t straighten it out — and I predicted this. I mean, I hate to see it, but at least I can say I was right. I told everybody. This is — you have a national emergency at our border and nobody even talks about drugs — the drugs that are flowing in.

So for the last four days — and you actually have covered it to a very minor extent — Mexico has been capturing people and bringing them back to their countries at their southern border. They’ve been taking people under their very powerful laws — they have the right to do it — and they’re bringing them back to where they came from. That’s about three days now, I guess, since — frankly, since they heard I was going to close the border.

But before I close the border, if Mexico — and we love Mexico. We love the country of Mexico. We have two problems: We have the fact that they allow people to pour into our country. We have to stop them. Border Patrol has been incredible. ICE has been incredible. Law enforcement has been incredible.

And the other problem is drugs. Massive amounts of — a large — most of the drugs — much of the drugs coming into our country come through the southern border in all different ways. Much of it where we don’t have walls.

The wall is under construction, by the way — large sections. We’re going to be meeting, I think, on Friday at a piece of the wall that we’ve completed, a big piece. A lot of it is being built right now. A lot of it is being signed up right now by different contractors. It’s moving along very nicely. But we need the wall, but we need lots of other things.

So we need help from Mexico. If Mexico doesn’t give the help, that’s okay, we’re going to tariff their cars coming into the United States.

The other thing is — because Mexico is such a big source of drugs, unfortunately — unfortunately — now we have China sending fentanyl to Mexico so it can be delivered into the United States. It’s not acceptable.

So the second aspect of it is, which you haven’t heard before, is that if the drugs don’t stop — Mexico can stop them if they want — we’re going to tariff the cars. The cars are very big. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to close the border. But I think that’ll work. So it’s massive numbers of dollars.

So if we don’t see people apprehended and brought back to their countries, if we see these massive caravans coming up to our country, right through Mexico — coming right through Mexico, like nothing. Busses are even given to them.

For the last three days, it hasn’t happened, since I said we’re closing the border. The only thing, frankly, better but less drastic than closing the border is to tariff the cars coming in. And I will do it, just like — you know I will do it.

I don’t play games. I’ll do it.

So we’re doing it to stop people. We’re going to give them a one-year warning. And if the drugs don’t stop, or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, in particular cars.

The whole ballgame is cars. It’s the big ballgame. With many countries, it’s cars. And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border. Because Mexico, last year, and over — for many years — just like China, except China numbers are even bigger.

And I don’t blame China and I don’t blame Mexico, if they can get away with it. I blame the people that used to sit in this seat, because they should have done something about it. And I’m not just talking about President Obama; I’m talking about many Presidents. They should’ve done something about it.

So if Mexico doesn’t do what they can do very easily — apprehend these people coming in — and they can do it in a much more humane fashion. Why should they walk up 2,000 miles and then be brought back? They can stop them right at their southern border, right where they come into Mexico. And they have unbelievable immigration laws where they have the right to do it. The most powerful in the world. As good as you can have. And they’re going to do it. And if they don’t do it, we’re going to tax the cars. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to close the border.

But we’re also going to do something having to do with tariffs on drugs. Because not only are hundreds of thousands of lives a year being ruined in our country, but numbers of people are dying that you wouldn’t believe. I mean, we’ll lose one military personnel and it’s a front-page story. And yet, we have 100,000 people. People don’t even know the number. They say 77,000; they say 72,000. Any number they give, you can guarantee to raise it. And if the drugs don’t stop, we’re going to put tariffs on. It also costs our country at least $500 billion through our southern border — $500 billion.

So we will put tariffs on if they don’t apprehend, and ultimately we’re going to give a period of time. But if, in a year from now, drugs continues to pour in, we’re going to put tariffs on.

Now, we have a deal: USMCA. It’s all done. They’re going to have to live with it, okay? They’re going to have to live with it. I’m not trying to be unfair. They’re going to have to live with it. The USMCA is a great deal for everybody. But this is more important to me than the USMCA, so they’re going to have to live with it.

Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, can you get the USMCA passed by Congress?

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. I’ll tell you one thing: It’s a great deal. If they don’t pass it, it’s purely political, that’s all. The USMCA, everybody wants to see it passed. But we’ll see. Whatever they want to do is okay with me.

END 12:24 P.M. EDT – [Full Transcript Here]

This is a rather remarkable statistic [Technical Data Here] Weekly unemployment claims dropped to 202,000 for the week ending March 30th.  That’s the lowest level of jobless claims since December 1959.  More people are working today than ever in U.S. history. [The DOL jobless claims statistic is not connected to the unemployment rate; the BLS unemployment report for March will be announced tomorrow morning.]

(Via CNBC) The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a more than 49-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength despite slowing economic growth.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 for the week ended March 30, the lowest level since early December 1969, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.  Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 216,000 in the latest week. (read more)

Carpe Donktum strikes again.  A little while ago President Trump tweeted the hilarious spoof created by meme generator Carpe Donktum.  Here’s the video meme:

.

And below is the tweet from President Trump welcoming back Joe Biden.

President Trump’s MAGAnomic policies are tailored to raise the income levels of all Americans; however, to the anxiety of his political opposition, the focus for greatest economic benefit is the middle-class, blue-collar and white-collar workers.

In essence, the demographic hardest hit by 30 years of bad policy is the demographic receiving the largest gains from a return to Main Street, ‘America-First’ policy.

It is not really a complex dynamic to understand. Abandon the flawed multinational policy that led to outsourcing and overseas investment, and what you get is domestic growth and investment in the United States.  That’s the heart of America-First.

(Pennsylvania) Bell-bottoms were the height of style the last time the Pittsburgh region saw unemployment dip as low as it was in February.

The jobless rate edged down to 3.6 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from January and the lowest since at least the early 1970s, according to the monthly workforce report released on Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Persistently low unemployment — which has fallen more than a percentage point over the last year — has challenged hiring managers who struggle to fill positions as the pool of available workers shrinks to historic lows.

[…]  Employers are seeking specific skills and experience — such as customer service, retail sales, truck drivers and restaurant managers — which can be increasingly difficult to match up as the labor market tightens. The average salary listed on the job advertisements was $46,000 in January, down from $52,000 the year before, according to the data.

Nearly half the added positions were in construction, which is in the middle of a building spree in the Pittsburgh region. The industry grew by 2,900 jobs, or nearly 6 percent of its total workforce since February 2018.  (read more)

What happens when the labor market is tight and there is competition for U.S. workers is strong?  The value of each worker increases…. wages and benefits increase!

The growth of Main Street achieves results that are the exact opposite of what happens when the investment class holds influence over White House policy and grows Wall Street (multinationals).  We are only able to receive this specific benefit because we have a President in the White House who is obligated to no-one except the U.S. electorate.

President Donald Trump is the first president in our life-time who took office without having to shape economic policy to the benefit of the Big Club.

Therefore every single decision is made with only the best outlook of the American electorate in mind.  President Trump has no political conflicts determining his stewardship.  It is a remarkable and refreshing dynamic.

President Donald Trump meets with military leadership at the White House prior to a dinner event.  During the briefing session President Trump took some questions from media about the security incident at Mar-a-Lago and a new demand from congress to review his income tax returns.  [Video Below – Transcript will follow]

President Trump rifs through remarks at the annual Spring dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), a group which works to elect Republicans to the House of Representatives.

Today is NATO day; the 70th anniversary of NATO formation.  President Trump hosts an oval office open-press meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg prior to their bilateral meeting.  The President takes multiple questions from the media about a variety of issues. [Video Below –  – Transcript Added]

.

[Transcript] – Oval Office – 1:53pm EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have Secretary General Stoltenberg of NATO with us. We have developed a very great relationship, and I’m very happy to say the Secretary General will be with us for quite a long time because he was just extended. So congratulations on that.

SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s a big thing. And I was with you 100 percent. But you know that. I felt very strongly about that.

We’ve worked together on getting some of our allies to pay their fair share. It’s called burden sharing. And as you know, when I came, it wasn’t so good, and now it’s — they’re catching up.

We have 7 of the 28 countries are currently current and the rest are trying to catch up, and they will catch up. And some of them have no problems because they haven’t been paying and they’re very rich. But we’re looking at the 2 percent of GDP level. And at some point, I think it’s going to have to go higher than that. I think probably it should be higher. But we’re at a level of 7 out of the 28.

The United States pays for a very big share of NATO — a disproportionate share. But the relationship with NATO has been very good. The relationship with the Secretary General has been outstanding. And I think tremendous progress has been made.

If you look — in fact, you showed me this originally, yourself — if you look at the charts and the different things, if you go back 10 and 15 years, and it’s a roller coaster ride down, in terms of payment.

And since I came to office, it’s a rocket ship up. We’ve picked up over $140 billion of additional money, and we look like we’re going to have at least another $100 billion more in spending by the nations — the 28 nations. We’re going to have — and that’s exclusive of the United States. We’ll have another $100 billion more by 2020 or a little bit into 2020.

So tremendous progress has been made, and NATO is much stronger because of that progress. And, Mr. Secretary General, it’s a great to honor to have you with us at the White House. Thank you. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much, Mr. President. And once again, thank you for hosting me and my delegation, once again, in the White House. And it’s great to be back, great to see you. And thank you for your strong commitment to NATO, to our alliance, and to our transatlantic bond, and especially for your very strong leadership on burden sharing. Because as you just mentioned, after years of cutting defense budgets, NATO Allies have now started to invest more. And by the end of next year, they will have added $100 billion more into their defense budgets since you took office.

And that helps and it proves also that NATO is a strong alliance. We have increased the readiness of forces. We have stepped up in our joint fight against terrorism. And we are investing more.

So, actually, North America, United States, and Europe, we are doing more together now than have done for many, many years. And that shows the strength of this alliance. In the year, we actually are celebrating the 70th anniversary of NATO.

So it’s great to see you. I look forward to our meeting. And thank you for your support.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you. And it has been an honor. And we’re very proud of what’s happened over the last couple of years with respect to the relationship and to NATO.

A lot of the media doesn’t understand what took place, but a tremendous amount of additional money was invested by other nations, which was a fair thing from the United States — you know, from our standpoint, the standpoint of the United States. And a lot more money will be invested.

But we’ve been picking up a tremendous and disproportionate share, and we just want fairness. I have to have fairness for our taxpayer too. And I think that’s what’s happening, and I very much appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Thank you all very much.

Q Mr. President, is your intention, sir, to close the border this weekend? What would it take to not close the border?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I haven’t made that intention known. And I’m ready to close it, if I have to close it.

Mexico, as you know, as of yesterday, has been starting to apprehend a lot of people at their southern border coming in from Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador. And they’ve — they’re really apprehending thousands of people. And it’s the first time, really, in decades that this has taken place. And it should have taken place a long time ago.

You know, Mexico has the strongest immigration laws in the world. There’s nobody who has stronger. I guess some have the same, but you can’t get any stronger than what Mexico has. And we don’t want people coming up making that very dangerous journey and coming in.

Our system is absolutely maxed out. And Border Patrol has done an incredible job, but the system is absolutely maxed out. And it’s a very unfair thing.

So Mexico has, as of yesterday, made a big difference. You’ll see that — because few people, if any, are coming up. And they say they’re going to stop them. Let’s see. They have the power to stop them. They have the laws to stop them.

And what we have to do is Congress has to meet quickly and make a deal. I could do it in 45 minutes. We need to get rid of chain migration. We need to get rid of catch and release and visa lottery. And we have to do something about asylum. And to be honest with you, you have to get rid of judges.

Every time — and you won’t even believe this, Mr. Secretary General — you catch somebody that’s coming illegally into your country, and they bring them to a court. But we can’t bring them to a court because you could never have that many judges. So they take their name, they take their information, and they release them. Now, we don’t release too many. We keep them. It’s called “catch and keep.” But you don’t have facilities for that. But you have to bring them through a court system. If they touch your land — one foot on your land: “Welcome to being Perry Mason. You now have a big trial.”

So what they’ve done over the years is they release them into the United States and they say, “Come back in four years for a trial.” And nobody comes back. I guess 1 percent — 1 to 2 percent, on average, come back. And nobody can understand why they come back. They’re the only ones that come back.

It is the worst, dumbest immigration system in the world. The Democrats could change it with one meeting. Everybody would agree. But they don’t want to change it because they don’t want to give the Republicans a victory. They don’t want to change it because they want open borders, which means crimes — and lots of other things coming in, including drugs.

So we’ll see what happens. I think the Democrats — today, I spoke to a couple of them and they — all of a sudden, they’re changing because they’re seeing it really is a crisis. It is a national emergency on the border. And let’s see if they can do it.

But I want to thank — it’s a very short period of time, because for years this should have been done. But Mexico is now stopping people coming — very easy for them to do — stopping people coming in through Mexico. Let’s see if they keep it done, if — if they keep doing that.

Now, if they don’t, or if we don’t make a deal with Congress, the border is going to be closed, 100 percent. And this should have been done by other Presidents. So many things should have been done by other Presidents.

But if we don’t make a deal with Congress, or if Mexico — and probably you can say “and/or” — if Mexico doesn’t do what they should be doing — they shouldn’t have people coming into their country either; this is their southern border that they have to protect — then we’re going to close the border. That’s going to be it. Or we’re going to close large sections of the border. Maybe not all of it. But it’s the only way we’re getting a response, and I’m totally ready to do it.

And I will say this: Many people want me to do it, because we’re being abused by a bad legal system that was put in by Democrats. And that has to be changed. And it can be changed in 45 minutes, if they want to change it. Let’s see what they do.

Yes, Steve.

Q Do you worry about the impact on the U.S. economy by closing the border?

THE PRESIDENT: Sure. It’s going to be — have a negative impact on the economy. It’s one of the biggest trade deals in the world that we’ve just done with the USMCA.

It’s a very big trading partner. But to me, trading is very important, the borders are very important, but security is what is most important to me. I have to have security. This is what this gentleman is all about — to my right. And we’re going to have security in this country. That’s more important than trade.

Hey, all you hear me talking about is trade. But let me just give you a little secret: Security is more important to me than trade.

So we’re going to have a strong border, or we’re going to have a closed border. And you know, when we close that border, we will stop hundreds of millions of dollars of drugs from coming in, because tremendous amounts of drugs come through our southern border. And so that’s one of the benefits.

So I’m totally prepared to do it. We’re going to see what happens over the next few days.

Q It sounds like Mexico is doing enough to keep you from immediately closing the border, though, from all their apprehensions (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT: Well, they made a big step over the last two days. Look, they are apprehending people. You see how many there are. A lot. It’s a lot of people. And the fact that they’re doing that means fewer people are going to come. But, you know, we pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador as a combination. And what do they do? They don’t do anything for us. You know, it’s supposed be money well spent. I understand the reason for it, but that money doesn’t get there.

So we’re giving hundreds of millions of dollars to these three countries, and the money is not going to where it’s supposed to be going, number one. Number two, they’re taking advantage of the United States, and they have been for many years. So I cut off the payments yesterday. I know what the payments are supposed to be for; they’re supposed to be to help so that they don’t have this problem. But they don’t do that. The money is gone. It’s not spent properly.

And they arrange — I mean, the thing that bothers me more than anything: They arrange these caravans and they don’t put their best people in those caravans. They put people in there that you don’t want to have in the United States. And we’re not going to have them in the United States. It’s very simple. It’s very, very simple.

Q Are you happy with Stoltenberg as leader of NATO?

THE PRESIDENT: Say it?

Q Why are you happy with Stoltenberg as the leader of NATO?

THE PRESIDENT: I think he’s been a terrific leader. And I can just say, during my time — so it’s already amazing, two and half years — but we get along really well. And he made — his first statement was — we had our first meeting, and I think I got them to put up — the other countries, respectfully — 27 countries; put up the other 27 — $64 billion. Sixty-four billion. That’s a lot of money.

And he went out and he said what a great job he did. A lot of people don’t like giving credit. Like the media never gives me credit, but he gave me credit. Now we’re up to way over a $100 billion, and it’s going to be a lot higher than that by the end of 2020.

But I appreciate the job he’s done. He’s done an excellent job. And when it came time to renew — because a lot of people wanted that job; that’s a great job. I mean, it really is. But a lot of people wanted it. But I had no doubt in my mind who I wanted.

Q Have you ever contemplated moving the U.S. out of NATO?

THE PRESIDENT: People are paying, and I’m very happy with the fact that they’re paying.

Yeah?

Q What kind of security threat do you think Russia poses to NATO?

THE PRESIDENT: I hope that it’s not going to be a security threat. I hope we have a good relationship with Russia and with, by the way, China and everybody else. But I think the fact that we have NATO — and NATO is a lot stronger since I’ve been President, would you say that’s correct? We’ve taken a lot more money and —

SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Allies are investing more, and that provides some new capabilities. We need to maintain credible defense and defense for all NATO countries.

THE PRESIDENT: But I think we’ll get along with Russia. I do — I do believe that.

Q Mr. President, on healthcare, why are you pushing a vote on a healthcare replacement until after the 2020 election?

THE PRESIDENT: Because I think we’re going to have a great healthcare package. I think the Republican Party will become the party of healthcare. I see what the Democrats are doing; it’s a disaster what they’re planning and everyone knows it. You’re going to lose 180 million people under private insurance.

And I think, really, very important, Obamacare has been such a catastrophe because it’s far too expensive. It costs the people so much; they can’t afford it. And, of course, the premiums are very high: seven to eight thousand dollars on average. So you have to spend over $8,000 before you even hit.

So, Obamacare has been bad. So if we get back the House, and on the assumption we keep the Senate and we keep the presidency — which I hope are two good assumptions — we’re going to have a phenomenal healthcare.

Q Did Mitch McConnell ask you to delay this?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I wanted to delay it myself. I want to put it after the election because we don’t have the House. So even though the healthcare is good, really good — it’s much better than — when the plan comes out, which we’ll be showing you at the appropriate time, it’s much better than Obamacare.

So when the plan comes out, you’ll see it. It’s possible the Democrats would want to do it. I mean, it’s much better for the people, but I’m assuming they won’t because the Democrats never do anything that necessarily is going to be anything other than political.

So what happens is we’ll go through the election, we have a very good chance at retaking the House, and we have a very good chance of keeping the Senate. And I think we will keep the Senate. And I think we’re going to keep the presidency and we’ll vote in the best healthcare package we’ve ever had.

Q Mr. President, what do you think that NATO has accomplished in 70 years?

THE PRESIDENT: I think many things they’ve accomplished, but I think they also really stand for a signal of truth and of strength. And we have a great leader.

Q Are you going to talk about Germany today? The news from —

THE PRESIDENT: I’ll be talking about Germany. I always talk about Germany. I mean, Germany, honestly, is not paying their fair share. I have great respect for Angela and I have great respect for their country. My father is German. Right? Was German. And born in a very wonderful place in Germany, and so I have a great feeling for Germany.

But they’re not paying what they should be paying. They’re paying close to 1 percent, and they’re supposed to be paying 2 percent. And the United States, over the years, got to a point where it’s paying 4.3 percent, which is very unfair. And the U.S. GDP, especially under me — because the GDP has gone up so much, because it’s 4.3 of a much larger GDP. So we’re paying for a big proportion of NATO, which basically is protecting Europe. So we’re protecting Europe.

At the same time, they’ve taken advantage of us on trade. So we have the best of all worlds: We’re protecting countries that have taken advantage of the United States on trade. But it’s all changing. It’ll take a little while, but it’s all changing.

Q Mr. President, there is going to be a vote in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow whether or not to authorize subpoenas to demand an unredacted version of the Mueller report and all of the background materials. If they do vote out the authority for subpoenas, will the White House fight those?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it’s ridiculous. We went through two years of the Mueller investigation. We have — I mean, not only that. You read the wording. It was proven. Who could go through that and get wording where it was no collusion, no nothing?

So there’s no collusion. The Attorney General now, and the Deputy Attorney General, ruled no obstruction. They said no obstruction. And so there’s no collusion. There’s no obstruction. And now we’re going to start this process all over again? I think it’s a disgrace.

These are just Democrats that want to try and demean this country. And it shouldn’t be allowed. And I’ll totally live by what the Attorney General — I have great respect for the Attorney General. I’ll live by what he said.

But I will tell you this: Nothing you give them, whether it’s Shifty Schiff or Jerry Nadler, who I’ve known — he’s been fighting me for half of my life, in Manhattan, and I was very successful, thank you. But Nadler has been fighting me for years and years in Manhattan — not successfully.

I will tell you: Anything we give them will never be enough. We could give them — it’s a 400-page report, right? We could give them 800 pages and it wouldn’t be enough. They’ll always come back and say, “It’s not enough. It’s not enough.”

This thing has gone on for two years. And, really, it started long before that. It practically started from the time I came down the escalator, because this was a whole — this was a whole plot, whether you want to use the insurance policy as a timeframe. This was an insurance policy just in case she — Hillary Clinton — loses. Well, she lost and she lost big.

This has been going on for years. Now they want to keep it going on? We had the most — they spent over $30 million on an investigation. They found no collusion — which, by the way, was the most ridiculous premise I’ve ever heard of anyway, and you understand exactly what I mean. No collusion. There was no collusion. There never was.

After $30 million, we’re going to start this process again because Jerry Nadler wants to start it or because Schiff wants to start it? I’ll rely on the Attorney General to make decisions, but I will tell you: Anything that’s given to them will never be good enough. You could give them more documents than they’ve ever seen and it would never be good enough.

So I think it’s somewhat of a waste of time. This is just politics at a very low level.

Q What about the fact that Congressman Nadler opposed the release of the Starr report in 1998?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s a good thing. That’s very nice that you bring that up. The fact is that Jerry Nadler was on the opposite side of this. And he thought it was a disgusting, terrible thing to even think about giving the Starr report but now we should give the Mueller report.

And actually, the Mueller report is actually much tighter because the Starr report went to Congress. The Mueller report goes to the Attorney General. So there’s a big difference. They made that because the Starr report got out of control with respect to going to Congress, because I guess lots of people had it that maybe shouldn’t have had it and did bad things with it.

So now they limited it to the Attorney General and they did that specifically for that reason. So Jerry Nadler thought the concept of giving the Starr report was absolutely something you could never do. But when it comes to the Mueller report, which is different on our side, that would be something that he should get. It’s hypocrisy and it’s a disgrace.

I will say this: Look, there was no collusion. There was no obstruction. They were very disappointed. I don’t know what they were thinking, because they all know. I guarantee you, they go into a room — between Nadler, Schiff, and the group — and they laugh like hell at how they’ve kept this thing going for two years. They laugh like hell.

And I hope that this investigation now, which is finished — it’s totally finished. No collusion. No obstruction. I hope they now go and take a look at the oringes [origins] — the origins of the investigation, the beginnings of that investigation. If you look at the origin of the investigation — where it started; how it started; who started it, whether it’s McCabe or Comey or a lot of them; where does it go; how high up in the White House did it go — you will all get Pulitzer Prizes, okay? You’d all get Pulitzer Prizes. You should have looked at it a long time ago.

And that’s the only thing that’s disappointing to me about the Mueller report. The Mueller report, I wish, covered the oringes [origins] of how it started — the beginnings of the investigation and how it started. It didn’t cover that. And for some reason, none of that was discussed.

Now, if you look at the IG report, it’s very serious. Now, we have another IG report coming out, hopefully, very soon. And I think you’re going to learn a lot.

But you should look at the beginnings and where it started — the whole situation. Because this has been a very, very bad thing for our country. The question was asked before about Russia, about Germany, about all of the different things that you and I discuss so often.

This has been a very bad thing for the United States. It’s been a total waste of time. But what hasn’t been a waste of time is some very bad people started something that should have never been started. And I hope that’s going to continue forward because people did things that were very, very bad for our country and very, very illegal and, you could even say, “treasonous.” Okay?

Thank you very much everybody.

END 2:16 P.M. EDT