Transcript - Interview: Donald Trump Is Interviewed by Mike Gallagher on the Radio - October 17, 2017 | Factba.se

Mike Gallagher

00:00:00 - 00:00:06 (7 sec)

Over here, Mr. President. Nice to see you, sir. How are you? Come on here.

Mike Gallagher

00:00:06 - 00:00:15 (9 sec)

Make a seat. And we've got the President of the United States join us here in the Indian Treaty Room. [Inaudible] You wouldn't believe that he is the most recognized man in the history of the country.

Donald Trump

00:00:15 - 00:00:16 (1 sec)

Mike Gallagher

00:00:16 - 00:00:17 (1 sec)

How are you, Mr. President?

Donald Trump

00:00:17 - 00:00:19 (1 sec)

I'm very good. Thank you, Mike.

Mike Gallagher

00:00:19 - 00:00:37 (18 sec)

This is a big day. Tax reform day, a message that -- it's funny you say so often fake news. I'm on the train yesterday coming to Washington DC to interview you about tax reform. Then I'm reading an article on the train that says [Inaudible] between you see and [Inaudible] And the article says, "the president doesn't reach out to Talk Radio.

Mike Gallagher

00:00:37 - 00:00:47 (10 sec)

He doesn't -- he doesn't connect." I'm thinking, here we are delivering a message about tax reform. In the Talk Radio World today, here we go again with more fake news.

Donald Trump

00:00:47 - 00:00:58 (11 sec)

It is fake news. And it's really disgraceful what they can say between Russia and you and John Hennelly and so many others. We have so many friends in Talk Radio. Some people say Talk Radio won me the election.

Donald Trump

00:00:58 - 00:01:00 (2 sec)

But I'd say it certainly helped.

Mike Gallagher

00:01:00 - 00:01:01 (1 sec)

We didn't get the [Inaudible]

Donald Trump

00:01:01 - 00:01:07 (6 sec)

And you've been great, Michael. I appreciate that very much. Now we do a lot of Talk Radio and we really respect it.

Mike Gallagher

00:01:07 - 00:01:07 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:07 - 00:01:08 (1 sec)

As a media [Inaudible]

Mike Gallagher

00:01:08 - 00:01:18 (10 sec)

Well, and we're getting the message out. I mean, for years, Talk Radio maybe arguably didn't move the needle. We had eight years of Bill Clinton. We had eight years of Barack Obama. But a lot of us fought hard for you.

Mike Gallagher

00:01:18 - 00:01:30 (12 sec)

A lot of us saw that this was so crucial for the good of business owners, the economy, border security. So we fought the good fight. You won. Now it's like the dog that caught the car.

Mike Gallagher

00:01:30 - 00:01:33 (4 sec)

Now we've got to get it Done. You've got to get some Republicans to play ball.

Donald Trump

00:01:33 - 00:01:40 (6 sec)

That's right. Well, we have a good group of Republicans. We really do. Don't forget there's three or four people that let us down.

Donald Trump

00:01:40 - 00:01:57 (17 sec)

That's all it is. We had -- as you know, we had health care, it was done. And then a hand went up and then the hand was -- went up in the wrong direction at two o'clock in the morning, and everybody was shocked by it and disappointed. Whether you call it disgraceful or whatever you want to call it, you can call it what you will.

Donald Trump

00:01:57 - 00:02:11 (14 sec)

But in all fairness to the Republicans, you have some great people that are Republican senators. And we have some great congressmen and women that I know and I like so much. But I will tell you, we were very, very disappointed with that. But here is the good news.

Donald Trump

00:02:11 - 00:02:17 (7 sec)

We're gonna get it. We have the votes. We're gonna get it. Now we have a problem with Ed Cochran.

Donald Trump

00:02:17 - 00:02:22 (4 sec)

He's not feeling well. You know that. He's quite sick, quite ill and some other things. But we're gonna get it.

Donald Trump

00:02:22 - 00:02:33 (11 sec)

We're gonna to get taxes. We're gonna get the health care reform. I'm going to get economic development which [Inaudible] have talked about. We're gonna get a tremendous infrastructure bill. But I'm awaiting the [Inaudible].

Mike Gallagher

00:02:33 - 00:02:41 (8 sec)

When people say, "the president can't figure out how to get this done." I keep reminding them, "well, what hapened on November 8?" The president figured out a lot of things and did the impossible.

Donald Trump

00:02:41 - 00:02:53 (12 sec)

I figured it out. I know, I know exactly what we're doing. I have a great plan. We were upset by one vote in health care, as we said. We're gonna get it. You know I voted five times, I don't care, I don't care.

Donald Trump

00:02:53 - 00:03:06 (13 sec)

You know how somebody can vote for seven years, repeal, replace, repeal, replace when it didn't mean anything. Now you have a president that's actually gonna sign it. But it didn't mean because you had somebody that wasn't gonna sign it. Plus, they didn't even have the Senate in this circumstance.

Donald Trump

00:03:06 - 00:03:17 (11 sec)

So they always vote. Repeal, replace. And then when they finally have it so they can get it, you have to have a [Inaudible] and you're just about to have the Senate, and one vote knocks it out, it's very, very -- it's a disgrace.

Mike Gallagher

00:03:17 - 00:03:27 (10 sec)

It's frustrating. And there you were yesterday with Mitch McConnell, and you got to make deals and you've got to get deals done. You may even have to work with some Democrats, but you've been open to doing that. You said that all along.

Donald Trump

00:03:27 - 00:03:37 (10 sec)

I've got to do what I have to do. We got to get it done. We have to have so much approval. You know the one thing I will say, and you see it in my [Inaudible] how they've been, especially in certain swing states.

Donald Trump

00:03:37 - 00:03:54 (18 sec)

If you look at Iowa and Pennsylvania and you look at North Carolina, we're just there. And West Virginia is through the roof because you see what we've done on coal. We're putting coal miners back to work and West Virginia is doing really well. So many different states. And you know they see, they get it.

Donald Trump

00:03:54 - 00:04:05 (11 sec)

And maybe also because of Talk Radio, [Inaudible] Fox street may very well. But I tell you, CNN is fake news. MSNBC and NBC are terrible. They're probably as bad or worse than CNN.

Mike Gallagher

00:04:05 - 00:04:15 (10 sec)

Well, again, I mean I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but I'm on the train coming here reading on a CNN site that you don't reach out to Talk Radio. Like what am I doing? You're watching [Inaudible] on Tuesday.

Donald Trump

00:04:15 - 00:04:17 (1 sec)

They're really despicable.

Mike Gallagher

00:04:17 - 00:04:17 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:04:17 - 00:04:24 (6 sec)

They're despicable people. They do a terrible job. Their ratings are reflecting it, very badly relative to others.

Mike Gallagher

00:04:24 - 00:04:24 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:04:24 - 00:04:40 (15 sec)

And I tell you what, it's just that something we have done so well with what -- I'll give you an example. We have way over 50 legislative approvals where we went through the Senate, where we went through the House. Nobody talks about it. They said we have none.

Donald Trump

00:04:40 - 00:04:45 (6 sec)

[Inaudible] said we have none. We have almost a record number. It's almost a record number. Maybe a record.

Donald Trump

00:04:45 - 00:05:02 (16 sec)

And I would say almost because then they'll check you. But then they'll say, you know, in 1824, so they'll say, Donald Trump isn't telling the truth. These are very, very terrible people. So we have just about a record number of legislative approvals. Nobody knows that.

Donald Trump

00:05:02 - 00:05:04 (2 sec)

So with all of the…

Mike Gallagher

00:05:04 - 00:05:05 (1 sec)

A lot of this audience knows.

Donald Trump

00:05:05 - 00:05:12 (7 sec)

So think of this. We have the Accountability Act. Nobody could get it for 40 years. For 40 years, they couldn't get it.

Donald Trump

00:05:12 - 00:05:32 (20 sec)

And I have to say respectfully, there was the union, there was the civil servants. It was the civil service. And all of that and everyone said, you could never get it. So now if somebody has a horrible job for the veterans, if they are sadistic, which happens, if they are lazy and slow and don't show up, we can actually fire them. Before, you can't fire them.

Donald Trump

00:05:32 - 00:05:45 (13 sec)

So now we passed a lot of things for the veterans. We passed a lot of things for economic development. And then for the EPA, look at what we're doing with EPA. So we're doing great. And of course, we have Judge [Inaudible] as you know.

Mike Gallagher

00:05:45 - 00:05:47 (2 sec)

And federal judges, which is a deal.

Donald Trump

00:05:47 - 00:06:05 (18 sec)

People don't even know them. In all fairness, the Wall Street Journal wrote a fantastic article the other day about how well we're doing with federal. There will never have been an impact like we're going to have with federal judges. I think we have 145 of them, not including Court of Appeals where we have 17.

Mike Gallagher

00:06:05 - 00:06:06 (1 sec)

And that's the game changer.

Donald Trump

00:06:06 - 00:06:12 (5 sec)

It will change the whole [Inaudible]. Now they're delaying us. They're obstructing, the Democrats. They're taking our picks.

Donald Trump

00:06:12 - 00:06:15 (3 sec)

They're taking my nominations, and they're just taking forever.

Mike Gallagher

00:06:15 - 00:06:17 (2 sec)

Yes. But you're up for the challenge, right?

Donald Trump

00:06:17 - 00:06:19 (2 sec)

Yes, we're very much. You know it.

Mike Gallagher

00:06:19 - 00:06:20 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:06:20 - 00:06:21 (1 sec)

We've been there a long time.

Mike Gallagher

00:06:21 - 00:06:36 (15 sec)

No, I mean it's been a tough year and a half and we're fighting hard. And I talk to people, the disconnect between the people, the millions who support you and the media is extraordinary. It's as if the media is tone, deaf about the people who want you to succeed so that the country succeeds.

Donald Trump

00:06:36 - 00:06:52 (16 sec)

The New York Tmes, the Washington Post are so inaccurate, so [Inaudible] They will take a good event and make it bad. They will take something that really is positive, I mean it's just the way it is. And actually, people admit it. And actually, the New York Times actually almost admitted it, Mitch.

Donald Trump

00:06:52 - 00:06:54 (2 sec)

They said, we don't even care.

Mike Gallagher

00:06:54 - 00:06:59 (5 sec)

Well, they wrote. [Inaudible] wrote a piece and said, listen, we're not going to be objective with this guy. We've got to stop him.

Donald Trump

00:06:59 - 00:07:01 (3 sec)

And it continues, and it continues. It's an amazing phenomena.

Mike Gallagher

00:07:01 - 00:07:03 (2 sec)

It does. Does it get to you?

Donald Trump

00:07:03 - 00:07:20 (17 sec)

You know what gets to me? What's incredible to me is I would say I watch the news on me, and I would see, nobody, nobody would vote for Trump. Then I see polls coming out. We had one come out today [Inaudible] at 47, 46 or 47. And you know, at 47, you can't lose.

Donald Trump

00:07:20 - 00:07:36 (16 sec)

That's a very high number. In fact, Obama got out at 46. So he was very popular if you call that popular. I don't know why he was popular but I guess he was popular. We're doing -- we're undoing a lot of the damage that he did. And let's face it, Mike, I inherited a mess.

Donald Trump

00:07:36 - 00:07:59 (23 sec)

Whether you look at North Korea, whether you look at the Middle East, whether you look at so many different things. You look at what the environmental things they have done, have done to some of our companies, it's just [Inaudible] Getting out of the Paris Accord was a great thing. That was going to cost us a fortune. It was gonna cost us millions of jobs. It was a disaster. And by the way, I can get back in anytime I wanted to at a much better deal.

Donald Trump

00:07:59 - 00:08:01 (2 sec)

I'm not particularly interested.

Mike Gallagher

00:08:01 - 00:08:06 (5 sec)

You've got tax reform done. I think it's going to be seven years before you get to return to Trump Tower.

Donald Trump

00:08:06 - 00:08:20 (14 sec)

Well, we need a couple of extra votes. We hope John McCain is gonna vote for us. We have nobody has any idea here, but we hope he's gonna vote. I probably won't be able to be here. So that's very bad. That's almost like a no vote.

Donald Trump

00:08:20 - 00:08:30 (11 sec)

I think about it. I do believe Rand Paul is gonna come through. I do believe he's gonna come through. I hope he's going to come through. You know, I've gotten along very well with him.

Donald Trump

00:08:30 - 00:08:47 (17 sec)

Whenever I really need him, he's been there for me. I must tell you, he was there for me on the first health care bill, two of them. And frankly, he liked the second health care better, meaning the one that I didn't ask him for the vote because I could see we weren't gonna get there. But now we are there and I think Rand will be there.

Donald Trump

00:08:47 - 00:08:58 (11 sec)

Let's see what happens, but we have the votes coming up starting on Thursday. Budget is phase 1 and the vote is phase. 2. And if the Republicans don't do it, it would be disgraceful to them.

Mike Gallagher

00:08:58 - 00:09:08 (10 sec)

Well, let's pray they get their act together and they're on board with millions of people praying for you. You win, we win, and I'm grateful that you took the time to join us for [Inaudible] And it's a great idea.

Donald Trump

00:09:08 - 00:09:13 (5 sec)

You have been my friend from the beginning. You noticed I walked over you very quickly.

Mike Gallagher

00:09:13 - 00:09:26 (13 sec)

Yeah. I don't think Brian -- All right. He's a great guy, and we appreciate the effort for the White House to reach out to say, hey, we're going to reach millions of people with this message because we've got to get this done. [Inaudible] for you.

Donald Trump

00:09:26 - 00:09:38 (12 sec)

You've been my friend. I thank you very much. We're gonna get it there. We're gonna lower lower those taxes. We're going to make ourselves competitive again. We're the highest taxed nation in the world. We will turn it around faster.

Mike Gallagher

00:09:38 - 00:09:41 (4 sec)

Keep up the good work. Thank you, Mr. President. Keep fighting the good fight.

Mike Gallagher

00:09:41 - 00:09:43 (2 sec)

President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump

00:09:43 - 00:09:46 (3 sec)

Thank you very much.