Oct 4, 2019

Trump Transcript: Trump Claims No Quid Pro Quo – October 4

Trump Transcript No Quid Pro Quo Corruption
RevBlogTranscriptsDonald Trump Press Conference TranscriptsTrump Transcript: Trump Claims No Quid Pro Quo – October 4

Donald Trump talked with reporters outside the White House on October 4, 2019 and claimed there was no quid pro quo in his statements or calls. He also said the claims he made yesterday about China and the Ukraine investigating the Bidens was about “corruption,” not politics. Read the full transcript of his statements outside the White House.

Donald Trump: (00:01)
Unemployment numbers just came out, and they’re the best numbers we’ve had in over 50 years. The unemployment number is down to 3.5%, so that goes way, way back. We haven’t had numbers like this in a long time. Wages are up by almost 3%, that’s a fantastic increase for everybody out there working. We’re very happy about those numbers. The stock market is substantially up as it was yesterday, and our country does well. Europe is not doing well. Asia is doing poorly, to put it mildly. And we continue to do very well, we’re the miracle.

Donald Trump: (00:41)
But the unemployment numbers just came out, 3.5% unemployment, and that is a tremendous number, the lowest in over 50 years. So, very happy. And I think really very important, again, I’ll say, wages are up. When I was running, wages were nowhere. They were going down and people were having doing three jobs, and they were making less money than they made 20 years before. Now wages are up, so we’re very happy about that.

Donald Trump: (01:08)
One other thing having to do with Poland. So Poland is a country, great people. We have a lot of Polish Americans living in the United States. I’ve just signed, I will soon be signing, and signed certain preliminary applications, we will be giving a full visa waiver to Poland. That means that people from Poland can easily travel there, and people from here can easily go back and forth. They can each, people from the U.S., people from Poland can very easily go back and forth between the United States in Poland. So they’ve been trying to get this for many, many decades, and I got it for the Polish people in honor of the Polish people in the United States and in Poland. So we’re very happy with that. Yeah?

Reporters: (01:58)
Did you see Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios by the Post this morning for lying?

Donald Trump: (02:02)
Well, I heard Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios. That’s good. He should’ve gotten them two and a half years ago. That’s a very nice question, let me shake your hand. Come here. That’s a very nice question. Almost a surprise, I figured that was a trick question.

Reporters: (02:18)
Also, what does your letter to Pelosi say? And when will you send it?

Donald Trump: (02:22)
Well, we’ll be issuing a letter. As everybody knows, we’ve been treated very unfairly, very different from anybody else. If you go over, not only history, I mean, you go over any aspect of life, you’ll see how unfairly we’ve been treated. We’ve done a fantastic job. Everything to me is about corruption. We want to find out what happened with 2016, and as you know, there’s a lot of work going on on that. I don’t care about Biden’s campaign, but I do care about corruption. His campaign, that’s up to him. Politics, that’s up to them. I don’t care about politics. Politics, as I think I made clear, and yesterday somebody asked me a question, and I gave an answer, but always in the form of corruption, what I want to do, and I think I have an obligation to do it, probably a duty to do it, corruption. We are looking for corruption.

Donald Trump: (03:13)
When you look at what Biden and his son did, and when you look at other people, what they’ve done, and I believe there was tremendous corruption with Biden, but I think there was beyond, I mean beyond corruption having to do with the 2016 campaign and what these lowlifes did to so many people to hurt so many people in the Trump campaign, which was successful despite all of the fighting us. I mean, despite all of the unfairness. So we are looking at corruption. We’re not looking at politics, we’re looking at corruption.

Reporters: (03:47)
What did you say to the Chinese about the Bidens, sir? What did you say to the Chinese about the Bidens, sir?

Donald Trump: (03:51)
I don’t know. Somebody said that a long time ago … was that in 2017? I don’t know, you’d have to tell me when. All I can tell you this, when I speak to foreign leaders, I speak in an appropriate way. If you notice, they don’t mention the call that I had with the President of Ukraine. They don’t mention that because it was so good. The only time they mentioned it was when Adam Schiff made it up. You talk about Pinocchios, that should get 10 Pinocchios. He made up a story, it was a phony story, Adam Schiff. So they don’t talk about that anymore.

Donald Trump: (04:29)
You know when this came out, it was quid pro quo. Well there was none. Also yesterday, the Ambassador, who I heard was tremendous, and a tremendous person, he was 100% for what we’re saying, 100%. And if you look, he also said there was no quid pro quo. That’s the whole ball game. But now the Democrats don’t bring that up anymore because they lied. Look, they never thought I was going to release the phone call between the Ukrainian President and myself. When I released that call, they were jumping around like you wouldn’t believe. They didn’t know how to respond. And then they found out that the call itself was so bad for them. It was a perfect call. There was nothing. We hand that out. We’ve handed the call out to people, and they say, “Wow, this is incredible.” We’re very proud of that call. When I speak to a foreign leader, I speak in an inappropriate manner.

Donald Trump: (05:31)
Now, we’re also doing trade deals with China, and we’re doing deals with a lot of people for the country. So I’m not looking to insult people, I can tell you that, but we could probably find that out-

Reporters: (05:42)
Would you be more willing to do a trade deal with the Chinese if they investigate Biden?

Donald Trump: (05:45)
No, it has nothing to do with it. No. No, I want to do a trade deal with China, but only if it’s good for our country, and it could happen. As you know, they’re very much coming over, next week, as I understand it. So I’d like to do a trade deal with China, but only if it’s a great trade deal for this country. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Reporters: (06:09)
Do you want the House to proceed with an impeachment inquiry at this point, an official impeachment inquiry?

Donald Trump: (06:12)
Well, I wouldn’t mind because we have no rights. The way they’re doing it, they’ve taken away our rights. So if they proceed, and you know, they’ll just get their people, they’re all in line, because even though many of them don’t want to vote, they have no choice. They have to follow their leadership. And then we’ll get it to this Senate, then we’re going to win. The Republicans have been very unified.

Donald Trump: (06:33)
This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. So we beat the one that started immediately. We went through two years of Mueller, and that came out like at 10, it came out perfect. And a few days go by, and they start this nonsense, and this is just as ridiculous. So the Democrats, unfortunately, they have the votes. They could vote very easily, even though most of them, many of them don’t believe they should do it. And I do believe, I do believe that because of what they’re doing, with Pelosi and they’re real leaders, AOC plus three, that’s their real leaders, I really believe that they’re going to pay a tremendous price at the polls.

Donald Trump: (07:17)
And we saw the first glimpse of it two weeks ago in a great state, North Carolina. We saw a great, great glimpse of what’s going to happen, because in North Carolina we had two races. One gentleman, Dan Bishop, was down by 17 points with three weeks to go, and he won easily. And the other man, as you know, Greg Murphy, was up by a very little bit, and he won by a massive amount. I don’t know, some place in the 20s, 20% or something, maybe higher. So I think you got your first glimpse of what’s going to happen. And the big key is that I have to campaign there. But if you look at what happened in North Carolina, two races, we won both of them, and we won them easily, and one was almost tied, and the other one was a big, big lead, and that one turned, and the tie became a land side.

Reporters: (08:09)
Mr. President? [inaudible 00:08:10] the Senate?

Donald Trump: (08:23)
Well, I don’t know about Mitch. I have a lot of respect for Mitch McConnell. I know that I saw his statements, and he thinks that this is ridiculous, he thinks it’s unfair. I saw his statement yesterday that he put out where he read my phone conversation, and he thought it was a wonderful conversation. And it was. But see, the Democrats don’t talk about that anymore. They try and go to other things. These people are looking for anything they can get because they know they’re going to lose the election, and we’re in election season now. For them be doing this now, it’s never been done.

Reporters: (09:04)
Mr. President?

Donald Trump: (09:05)
What?

Reporters: (09:06)
U.S. is talking with North Korea in Sweden right now. What do you expect?

Donald Trump: (09:07)
So we’re dealing with North Korea. They want to meet, and we’ll be meeting with them. It’s probably being set up as we speak, but we’ll let you know. But North Korea would like to do something, Iran would like to do something. We have a lot of countries in a very good position right now, despite the witch hunt, which hurts our country and it hurts in America. But Iran wants to do something, North Korea wants to do something, and China would like to do something.

Reporters: (09:34)
Mr. President, is the Justice Department investigating Joe Biden?

Donald Trump: (09:40)
I don’t know, that you’d have to ask … Is the Justice Department investigating Joe Biden?

Reporters: (09:46)
Yeah.

Donald Trump: (09:46)
Well, that you’d have to ask Attorney General Barr, but I can tell you just as an observer, what I saw Biden do with his son, he is pillaging these countries, and he’s hurting us. How would you like to have, as an example, Joe Biden negotiating the China deal. If he took it over from me after the election, he would give them … wait … he would give them everything. He would give them everything. How would you like to have that? Joe Biden would just roll out the red carpet, he’d give them everything.

Donald Trump: (10:20)
So again, this doesn’t pertain to anything but corruption. And that has to do with me. I don’t care about politics, I don’t care about anything, but I do care about corruption. And to have somebody take out a billion-and-a-half dollars out of China, who is totally unfit, he’s unfit, to have him get a billion-and-a-half dollars, to have him, and now I’m hearing the number of 50,000 a month, now I’m hearing the number of $50,000 a month is very low, it’s a much higher number that Biden’s son was getting per month. In fact, it’s much higher. And for him as a totally unqualified person to be getting hundreds of thousands a month is very, very sad.

Donald Trump: (11:11)
So again, is the Justice Department investigating that? I just don’t know.

Reporters: (11:16)
Mr. President, do you think the Democrats have the votes?

Donald Trump: (11:22)
Well, I think they follow the leader. One thing with the Democrats, I give them credit for it, a lot of them don’t want it. You know that, you interview them. A lot of them are in, they call them Trump districts, where I won, and then they won after when I was in running. But I’m going to win them big. If you look at what’s happened with my polls, they’re through the roof. You know why? Because of this phony witch hunt. If you look at what happened with the fundraising, we’ve set a record, the Republicans, because people are sick and tired of it.

Donald Trump: (11:51)
I got a call the other night from pastors, the biggest pastors, Evangelical Christians. They said, “We have never seen our religion or any religion so electrified.” They say they’ve never seen anything like it. Churches are joining, hundreds of thousands of people. And you know, that’s to a large extent because of you, and your partner, the Democrats.

Reporters: (12:15)
Do you think it’ll pass in the House, sir? Do you think it’ll pass the House and die in the Senate?

Donald Trump: (12:19)
Well, I think this, I think this. We have a great relationship in the Senate. I have a 95% approval rating of the Republican Party. I believe the Senate, and I haven’t spoken to that many senators, but I believe the Senators look at this as a hoax. It’s a witch hunt. It’s a disgrace. Should have never happened. Just like Russia collusion delusion should have never happened, that was a witch hunt. And just like that, should have never happened. So I think of the Senate, I think they feel that the Republican Party has been treated very, very badly. Now in the House, they have the majority, they all vote with AOC plus three. Nancy Pelosi’s petrified of them. I mean, she’s afraid she’s going to lose her position. Nancy Pelosi will lose her speakership right after the election, when the Republicans take over the House.

Reporters: (13:16)
Mr. President, sir, can we talk about the text messages, that included holding off a visit to the White House?

Donald Trump: (13:22)
The one text message that I saw was just about the last text message, because I don’t even know most of these ambassadors. I didn’t even know their names. But the text message that I saw from Ambassador Sondland, who’s highly respected, was there’s no quid pro quo. He said that. He said, “By the way,” it almost sounded like in general, he said, “By the way, there’s no quid pro quo.” And there isn’t. Now, for Biden. There would be. But listen to this, there is no pro quo. And that was the text message that I saw, and that nullified everything.

Reporters: (14:01)
What other leaders have you looked up?

Reporters: (14:03)
Have you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigation that don’t involve your political opponents? That is, are there other cases where you’ve asked for corruption investigations-

Donald Trump: (14:10)
We would have to look, but I tell you, what I asked for, and what I always will ask for, is anything having to do with corruption, with respect to our country. If a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption, and corruption probes, and I don’t care if it’s Biden or anybody else, but if they can help us, if Biden is corrupt, if his son is corrupt, when his son takes out billions of dollars, billions, and he has no experience, he just got fired from the Navy, when they do that, that’s no good. So the only, just to finish your question, anything having to do with corruption, I actually feel I have an obligation to do that.

Reporters: (14:53)
Including with Mr. Putin, sir? Including with Mr. Putin?

Reporters: (14:53)
Is anyone advising you that it is okay to solicit the help of other governments to investigate a potential political opponent?

Donald Trump: (15:03)
No, I don’t say anything is okay. I’ll tell you what’s okay.

Reporters: (15:06)
Is someone advising you, then?

Donald Trump: (15:06)
Here is what’s okay. If we feel there is corruption, like I feel that was in the 2016 campaign, there was tremendous corruption against me, if we feel there is corruption, we have a right to go to a foreign country. And just so you know, just so you know-

Reporters: (15:23)
Including Mr. Putin, sir?

Donald Trump: (15:24)
I was investigated.

Reporters: (15:26)
Will you acknowledge Mr. Putin as well?

Donald Trump: (15:26)
I was investigated. Okay? Me. Me, in my campaign, I ran, I won, I was investigated. You won’t say that, will you? I was investigated, I was investigated, and they think it could have been by U.K. They think it could have been by Australia. They think it could have been by Italy. So when you get down to it, I was investigated by the Obama administration. By the Obama administration, I was investigated. So when these people talk … But as far as I’m concerned, what I want to look at and what we want to investigate, anything having to do with corruption.

Reporters: (16:07)
Excuse me, Mr. President. Do you view China [inaudible 00:16:17] adversary?

Donald Trump: (16:21)
I view China as somebody we’re trying to make a deal with, we have a very good chance of making a deal with. We’ve had good moments with China, we’ve had bad moments with China. Right now, we’re in a very important stage in terms of possibly making a deal. If we make it, it’ll be the biggest trade deal ever made, if we make it. But I view China as somebody that we deal with on the world’s stage. I would like to get along with China if we can, and if we can, that’s great. If we can’t, that’s okay too. But what we’re doing is we’re negotiating a very tough deal. If the deal is not going to be 100% for us, then we’re not going to make it.

Donald Trump: (17:02)
And I will say this, I will say this. I will say this, China very much wants to make this deal. China’s getting killed. The tariffs are killing China. What’s happened is they have now three million loss of jobs, their chains are broken up. If you look at their supply chain, it’s a disaster. Companies are going to other countries, including us. China right now is a total disaster.

Reporters: (17:34)
Mr. President, does the trade deal with China have anything to do with an investigation into Joe Biden?

Donald Trump: (17:38)
No, no, no, no. Let me tell you, I’m only interested in corruption. I don’t care about politics. I don’t care about Biden’s politics. I never thought Biden was going to win, to be honest. I picked somebody else a long time ago, and we’ll see what happens. But I never thought Biden was going to win, but I don’t care. I mean, frankly, if he won I’d be very happy. I think he’d be an easy opponent. But I never thought Biden was going to win. I don’t care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption. This whole thing, this whole thing is about corruption.

Reporters: (18:21)
[crosstalk 00:18:21] Democratic primary?

Donald Trump: (18:27)
This is about corruption, and this is not about politics. This is about corruption. And if you look, and you read our Constitution and many other things, I have an obligation to look at corruption. I have an actual obligation and a duty.

Reporters: (18:50)
Are you going to comply with the House subpoenas?

Donald Trump: (18:50)
What?

Reporters: (18:55)
Are you going to cooperate with the House [inaudible 00:18:57]?

Donald Trump: (18:57)
I don’t know. That’s up to the lawyers. I know the lawyers think they’ve never seen anything so unfair. They’ve never seen anything so unjust. I’ve been president now for almost three years, and I’ve been going through this for almost three years. It’s almost become like a part of my day. But in the meantime, we have the best economy we’ve ever had. We have the best job numbers we’ve had in 51 years, the best unemployment numbers that we’ve had in a half a century. The best numbers that we’ve ever had. African Americans, Hispanic American, Asian American, women, everything, we have the best numbers that we’ve had in many, many, many decades. And you know what? People understand that. People are working, they’re making money. If you look at one very important number that was just announced, wages, up 3%. That’s unheard of. That’s unheard of. So it’s a great thing.

Reporters: (19:55)
[crosstalk 00:19:55].

Donald Trump: (20:04)
I didn’t hear you. Go, go.

Donald Trump: (20:12)
We’re investigating corruption. We’re not investigating campaigns. I don’t care about his campaign. As I said, I didn’t think and I don’t think Biden’s going to win. All right? I don’t think. And maybe to answer your question, when you say who is going to win, I’d rather not make a prediction, but I do have a feeling about somebody. But I didn’t think, because I’ve watched Biden over the years, and Biden is not the brightest person. I never thought he was going to win. I never felt he was going to win. If you look at his other two campaigns, he was a one percenter, he got very few votes. He got taken off of the garbage heap by Obama. Obama took him off the garbage heap, so it’s one of those things. But I never thought that Biden, I didn’t think Biden was going to win. I guess everybody has a shot, but I don’t think he would be, frankly, my toughest opponent either. And just to finish off, I don’t think that he will win. I didn’t think he was going to win, and I don’t think he is going to win.

Reporters: (21:27)
Pretty badly. Elizabeth Warren has, I think, 36. What do you think about facing Elizabeth Warren?

Donald Trump: (21:28)
It’s fine. I mean, it’s fine. She’s a socialist, and maybe worse than that. But we’ll see. I heard, I haven’t seen these poll numbers. I haven’t seen Biden’s poll numbers. Look, Joe Biden was never going to make it, all right? He was never going to make it. He tried it twice, he was at 1%. There’s a reason. When I announced, I went to number one day one, and I stayed there the entire primary season. I never was off center stage. I was never given credit for that, but that’s okay, except by Steve. The only ones that gave me credit was Steve.

Reporters: (22:00)
Mr. President, did you try to talk with Iran [inaudible 00:22:05]?

Donald Trump: (22:00)
Who?

Reporters: (22:00)
Did you try to talk to Iran-

Donald Trump: (22:08)
No, they were trying to set up a meeting, but he wanted sanctions lifted, and I said, “You must be kidding.” We had no interest. Rouhani wanted a meeting at the UN. We did talk. I didn’t speak to him personally, but our sides talked, he wanted sanctions lifted or partially lifted, and I said no.

Reporters: (22:27)
Mr. President [crosstalk 00:22:32] Venezuela for any of their pain?

Donald Trump: (22:34)
We’re watching Venezuela very, very closely. The people are suffering, and we are watching it very closely. We’re also giving big aid to Venezuela. Now, one thing, I’m now going to Walter Reed Hospital. We’re going to be giving out five Purple Hearts to unbelievably brave young people. And I’m going to meet you, some of you are going over. I don’t know, I think some of you are going over, so we can talk further over there. Although when we’re there, I would like you to respect the process. We’re giving out Purple Hearts to very brave people, wounded warriors, people that have been, I mean, they’re just incredible people, and I’m going to be back here in probably two hours.

Reporters: (23:17)
Sir, do you have an impeachment strategy, sir? Sir, do you have an impeachment strategy?

Donald Trump: (23:17)
Thank you, good job here.

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