President Trump Delivers Remarks Upon Departure

https://youtu.be/I0R8E1n0JZI

1:41 P.M. EST
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  It’s a little windy out here, so
I’ll button up my coat.  You have a couple of more people who want to
join you. 
 
     Q    So we’re hearing you’re going to commute the sentence of Blagojevich? 
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod
Blagojevich.  He served eight years in jail.  That’s a long time.  And I
watched his wife on television.  I don’t know him very well.  I’ve met
him a couple of times.  He was on, for a short while, on “The
Apprentice,” years ago.  Seemed like a very nice person.  Don’t know
him.
 
     But he served eight years in jail.  He has a long time to go.  Many
people disagree with the sentence.  He’s a Democrat; he’s not a
Republican.  It was a prosecution by the same people -- Comey,
Fitzpatrick -- the same group. 
 
     Very far from his children.  They’re growing older.  They’re going
to high school now, and they rarely get to see their father outside of
an orange uniform.  I saw that and I did commute his sentence.  So he’ll
be able to go back home with his family after serving eight years in
jail.  That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my
opinion --
    
     Q    Mr. President --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  -- and in the opinion of many others. 
 
Yes.
 
     Q    Do you have confidence in your Attorney General?  First --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, I have total confidence in my Attorney General. 
 
     Q    And do you agree with his statement that he -- that you should stop tweeting about Justice Department issues?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, people like that.  But, you know, everybody
has the right to speak their mind.  And I use social media.  I guess I
use it well, because here I am.  I'm here.  And I probably wouldn’t have
gotten here without social media because I certainly don’t get fair
press. 
 
     So I wouldn’t have gotten here without social media and, perhaps,
with all of the hoaxes.  You had the impeachment hoax, you had the
Mueller hoax, you had the “Russia, Russia, Russia” nonsense.  All
scams.  And if I didn’t have social media, I probably wouldn’t be here. 
So I'm very happy with social media. 
 
     But I think he's doing an excellent job.  He's a strong guy.  I
never spoke to him about the Roger Stone situation.  Roger Stone, just
so you know, never worked -- he didn’t work for my campaign.  There
might've been a time -- way early, long before I announced -- where he
was somehow involved a little bit.  But he was not involved in our
campaign at all.  And I think it was a very, very rough thing that
happened to Roger Stone. 
 
     Because when you look what happened with Comey after a 78-page,
horrific report, when you look at what happened to McCabe with a
recommendation of prosecution, and you look at all of these other
people, and then you look at what happened to General Flynn, a highly
respected man -- look at -- I mean, his life has been destroyed.  If
you're looking at Roger Stone for a tweet and some other things -- you
take a look at what’s happening to these people.  Somebody has to stick
up for the people. 
 
     So, my social media is very powerful.  I guess, Mark Zuckerberg
just recently said, "Trump is number one in the world" on social media,
which is a very nice statement, I guess.  Certainly it's something you
can be at least a little bit proud of.  But it means I have a voice so
I'm able to fight the fake news. 
 
     Q    Has the Attorney General threatened to resign over your
tweets?  And then, also, he said that your comments on Twitter are
making it "impossible" to do his job.  Are you making his job
impossible?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, but it allows me -- yeah, I do make his job
harder.  I do agree with that.  I think that’s true.  He's a very
straight shooter.  We have a great Attorney General, and he's working
very hard.  And he's working against a lot of people that don’t want to
see good things happen, in my opinion.  That’s my opinion, not his
opinion.  That’s my opinion.  You'll have to ask what his opinion is. 
 
     But I will say this: Social media, for me, has been very important
because it gives me a voice, because I don’t get that voice in the
press.  In the media, I don’t get that voice.  So I'm allowed to have a
voice. 
 
     Q    Do you think he could still do his job with integrity, though? 
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, yeah. 
 
     Q    He says it’s making it hard for him to do his job with integrity.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  He’s a very -- he’s a man with great integrity.  The Attorney General is a man with incredible integrity. 
 
     Now, just so you understand, I chose not to be involved.  I’m
allowed to be totally involved.  I’m actually, I guess, the chief law
enforcement officer of the country, but I’ve chosen not to be involved.
 
     But he is a man of great integrity.  But I would be -- I could be involved if I wanted to be.
 
     Q    Are you also pardoning Bernie Kerik? 
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.  I just pardoned Bernie Kerik --
 
     Q    Okay.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  -- a man who had many recommendations from a lot of good people.
 
     You know, oftentimes -- pretty much all the time -- I really rely
on the recommendations of people that know them.  We have Bernie Kerik. 
We have Mike Milken, who’s gone around and done an incredible job for
the world, with all of his research on cancer, and he’s done this and he
suffered greatly.  He paid a big price; paid a very tough price.  But
he’s done an incredible job. 
 
     And -- yeah.  These are all people that you have to see the recommendations.  I rely on recommendations, very importantly. 
 
     Q    Are you planning to pardon Roger Stone?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I haven’t given it any thought.  In the meantime,
he’s going through a process.  But I think he’s been treated very
unfairly. 
 
     Yes.
 
     Q    You tweeted this morning about China and wanting U.S. companies to be able to --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.
 
     Q    -- sell jet parts.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.
 
     Q    Are you -- are you not concerned about national security on that? 
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I’m very concerned about national security.  Number
one, I’m concerned about national security.  Nobody has done a better
job with national security than me.  You take a look at what’s going on:
We’ve done a great job on national security.  A lot of countries are a
lot different now than they were when I started.
 
     But I will say that we’re not going to be sacrificing our
companies, for all of the growth and everything else -- they’re ready,
they’re exploding; they’re doing so well -- by using a fake term of
national security.  It’s got to be real national security.  And I think
people were getting carried away with it. 
 
     So I want our companies to be treated -- I want our companies to be
allowed to do business.  I mean, things are put on my desk that have
nothing to do with national security, including with chipmakers and
various others.  So we’re going to give it up.  And what will happen:
They’ll make those chips in a different country or they’ll make them in
China or someplace else. 
 
     So, national security is very important.  I’ve been very tough on
Huawei, but that doesn’t mean we have to be tough on everybody that does
something.  We want to be able to sell all of this incredible
technology.  We’re number one in the world.  We want to be able to sell
to other countries.
 
     Q    Mr. President, do you trust the Taliban in this ceasefire? 
And are you confident that a peace deal can be reached in Afghanistan?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  We are doing something -- we’ve been in the war in
Afghanistan now for 19 years.  We’ve substantially reduced the force, as
you know.  We’re really acting more as a law enforcement agency than we
are as a military, because we could win that very quickly and easily if
I was willing to kill millions of people.  I’m not willing to do that. 
I’m not willing to do that.  We’d win that so quickly your head would
spin.  And I’m not talking about nuclear; I’m talking about very
conventional.  But I’m not willing to kill millions of people. 
 
     So we are negotiating with the Taliban.  We’ve been negotiating
with them for a while.  We will see what happens.  There’s a chance of
making a deal.  There’s a chance.
 
     I can’t believe -- so quiet, all of a sudden. 
 
     Q    Senator Graham is traveling with --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I saw that Senator Murphy met with the Iranians.
 Is that a fact?  I just saw that on the way over.  Is there anything
that I should know?  Because that sounds like, to me, a violation of the
Logan Act. 
 
     Q    Can I ask about Venezuela, sir?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, what happened with that?  Did you read about
Senator -- or hear about Senator Murphy met with the Iranians?
 
     Q    No.  Tell us about it.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, they ought to find out about it if it’s
true.  I don’t know.  It just came out as I was leaving the car.
 
     Q    Can I ask about Venezuela, sir?  Do you think Guaidó is still the guy to get Maduro out of office?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, he’s the person that the country, right now,
prefers, and that’s what I go with.  We’ll see what happens.  We put
additional sanctions on -- very strong sanctions -- this morning on
Venezuela.  We’ll see what happens.  We’re watching Venezuela very
closely.
 
     Q    You were asked specifically about Roger Stone, but are you
ruling out pardons for Stone, for your former campaign Chairman Paul
Manafort, and for Michael Flynn, for example?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I’m not even thinking about that.  There’s a
process that people are going through.  These are unrelated situations
where people have done a great job with very, very strong
recommendations.  But we haven’t thought about that yet.  Right now
there’s a process.
 
     I think Roger Stone has been treated unfairly.  I think General
Flynn has been treated very unfairly.  I think a lot of people have been
treated very unfairly.  I think the Mueller scam is just exactly what
it’s -- what a lot of people are calling, because it was started
illegally.  It was started by abuse.  It was phony.  It was a fake
dossier.  And they went in, and they went into the FISA courts and they
forged papers, and they did a lot of bad things.  So the whole Mueller
thing, to me, is a scam. 
 
     Q    Do you think Roger Stone deserves any prison time?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  You’re going to see what happens.  Let’s see what happens.
 
     Q    You spoke to President Erdoğan the other day --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I think he’s treated very unfairly.
 
     Q    You spoke to President Erdoğan of Turkey the other day --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I did.
 
     Q    Are you concerned about all-out war breaking out between Turkey and Syria?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I did.  I had a very good conversation with
President Erdoğan.  I respect him.  We have a very good relationship. 
Yes, I agree, he’s a tough guy.  But we have a very good relationship.  I
seem to do better with tough people.
 
     But the fact is that he’s fighting on Idlib.  He doesn’t want
people to be killed by the thousands and hundreds of thousands, and he
called me about that and other reasons.  But we spoke about Idlib, and
we’re working together on seeing what can be done.
 
     Q    What’s the solution?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it’s a very tough solution.  You have a lot
of warring going on right now.  A lot of warring going on.  But I’m
dealing with President Erdoğan.
 
     Q    On this swing, can you talk a little bit about these coming three days, and also why you wanted to --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.
 
     Q    Wait.  Also why you wanted to fly back to Las Vegas every night to spend the night there?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don’t know exactly the schedule because I don’t set the schedule.
 
     Q    (Inaudible) flying to Vegas every night to stay there.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Largely, the schedule is set by the Secret Service.  We do what they want us to. 
 
     But we’re going to California.  We’re going to Nevada.  We’re going
to Arizona.  We’re going to different places.  And I guess we’re coming
back here.  But I don’t set the schedule.  I have nothing to do with
it.
 
     Q    Mr. President, you saw Michael Bloomberg made the Democratic
debate stage tomorrow night.  Do you have any advice for him as he makes
his first debate appearance?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  No, he doesn’t need that kind of advice.  He’s been
doing it for a long time.  It just seems unfair what’s happening to
Bernie Sanders, to be honest with you.  I watched it happen four years
ago.  And always be careful what you wish for, and I’m not wishing for
anything.  Whoever it is, I’ll be very happy.
 
     But it seems that Bernie Sanders and that whole big section of the
Democratic Party -- or, as I call it, the “Democrat Party,” which is
really the correct name -- it seems they’re being taken advantage of
like they were four years ago, to me.
 
     Q    But what’s your campaign strategy for being in Nevada while the Democrats are focusing on the caucuses there?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’ll be making a speech in Nevada, and that
will be probably the day before, I guess, as they have it arranged. 
That seems to be pretty effective.  We got more votes than any incumbent
President in history, in Iowa and in New Hampshire, as you saw. 
 
     And, in that case, I went just before -- the day before and I went
the day before, in both cases: Iowa and New Hampshire.  So it seems to
be effective.
 
     I’ll be going to South Carolina -- they’re working that out now --
probably the day before.  But, you know, look, we have a big voice and
we might as well use it.
 
     Q    Mr. President, are you still satisfied with how President Xi is handling the coronavirus?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I think President Xi is working very hard.  As you
know, I spoke with him recently.  He’s working really hard.  It’s a
tough problem.  I think he’s going to do -- look, I’ve seen them build
hospitals in a short period of time.  I really believe he wants to get
that done, and he wants to get it done fast.  Yes, I think he’s doing it
very professionally. 
 
     We’re also working with him and helping him, as of the last few days, as you know.
 
     Q    Some people don’t seem to trust the data coming out of China.  Are you worried about that?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Look, I know this: President Xi loves the people of
China, he loves his country, and he’s doing a very good job with a
very, very tough situation.
 
     Q    Mr. President, Senator Graham is traveling with you.  Do you
want to talk to him about the Judiciary Committee doing any
investigations into the Bidens or others?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  You know, if it comes up, yes.  But we’ll see what
happens on that.  That’s really up to Senator Graham.  And he is
traveling with me. 
 
     Q    Do you think you’ll get a trade deal with India before your visit?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we can have a trade deal with India, but I’m
really saving the big deal for later on.  We’re doing a very big trade
deal with India.  We’ll have it.  I don’t know if it’ll be done before
the election, but we’ll have a very big deal with India.
 
     We’re not treated very well by India, but I happen to like Prime
Minister Modi a lot.  And he told me we’ll have 7 million people between
the airport and the event.  And the stadium, I understand, is sort of
semi under construction, but it’s going to be the largest stadium in the
world.  So it’s going to be very exciting.  But he says between the
stadium and the airport, we’ll have about 7 million people.  So it’s
going to be very exciting.  I hope you all enjoy it. 
 
     Are you going? 
 
     Q    Yes, sir.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Are you going, Steve?  I hope so.  Are you going, Jeff? 
 
     Q    No, sir.  (Inaudible) is going.
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I hope you’re going too.  All right?  Okay?  So I’ll see you maybe on the plane. 
 
     How are you? 
 
     Q    I’m good.  How are you?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Marriage is good?  Huh?
 
     Q    Yes, thank you.
 
     Q    One other thing: Is there a search underway for “Anonymous”?  Remember “Anonymous” is --
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, there is.  It’s not so much a search.
 
     Q    Who do you think it is?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I -- I know who it is.  Yeah.
 
     Q    Who is it?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  I can't tell you that.
 
     Q    Why not? 
 
     Q    Why not?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  But I know who it is.
 
     Q    Why not?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  But we won’t -- we won’t get into it.  People know
it’s -- people know it’s a fraud.  I know who it is and I know who some
of the leakers are.  But some of the leakers don’t exist.  It’s made up
by the press.  So, you know, they say, “Nine people have said” or “two
people have said,” and those people don’t exist.
 
     But, no, I know all about “Anonymous.”  I know a lot about the leakers too.
 
     Q    Do you believe it’s a person who still works at the White House?
 
     THE PRESIDENT:  We know a lot.  In fact, when I want to get
something out to the press, I tell certain people.  And it's amazing, it
gets out there.  But, so far, I'm leaving it that way. 
 
     I'll see you later.  Thank you.  See you on the plane.