Transcript - Interview: Donald Trump Interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox - June 12, 2018 | Factba.se

Sean Hannity

00:00:00 - 00:00:05 (6 sec)

Part 1 of my interview with President Trump right after this historic meeting.

Sean Hannity

00:00:05 - 00:00:07 (2 sec)

Mr. President, great to see you.

Donald Trump

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

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Sean Hannity

00:00:08 - 00:00:17 (8 sec)

Historic day. Let's just -- I think most people like me want to know what was going on in that room one on one.

Donald Trump

00:00:17 - 00:00:23 (7 sec)

Well the big thing is this is now my 25th hour of being up and negotiating, and we've been negotiating very hard.

Sean Hannity

00:00:23 - 00:00:30 (7 sec)

This is about the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the entire peninsula.

Donald Trump

00:00:30 - 00:00:50 (20 sec)

And so without that, we could not have had a deal. I mean, the one thing -- we want to de-nuke the entire peninsula, we want to de-nuke that whole situation. That is a hotbed, and you know what's been happening for years, and nobody did anything about it. And you have to. We have no choice. We had to.

Donald Trump

00:00:50 - 00:01:16 (27 sec)

The relationship was really good. The -- you know it built. And, I talked about early on in the relationship, and the feeling, well, we had a very good feeling right from the beginning, and we were able to get something very important done, and actually some things happened after that was signed Sean, where we're getting rid of certain missile research areas, certain missile testing sites. They're getting rid of a lot.

Sean Hannity

00:01:16 - 00:01:23 (7 sec)

You know in the lead up to this, and this was pretty amazing, because obviously I'm a pretty strong critic of our news media --

Donald Trump

00:01:23 - 00:01:23 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:01:23 - 00:01:39 (16 sec)

in our country, but a lot had happened. He dismantled the nuclear test site. He crossed over the DMZ. Three hostages were released. The missiles stopped being fired. He was willing -- he -- you wouldn't have come here if he did not, if he was not willing to talk about denuclearization.

Donald Trump

00:01:39 - 00:01:40 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:01:40 - 00:01:53 (13 sec)

So all of that happened before you walked in, and I don't remember that you sent cargo planes of cash, or gave anything really for the lead up. Why do you think you -- why do you think he's interested in doing this after spending that time with him?

Donald Trump

00:01:53 - 00:02:13 (19 sec)

Well, it's sort of interesting, because I noticed some of the press -- and I'm not even knocking them, because honestly, they're treating me very good on the subject. What's to treat badly? But some of the press would say he's meeting with them, and therefore he has a major loss. I said, since when? Others wanted to. It never worked out. It probably never could have worked out.

Donald Trump

00:02:13 - 00:02:29 (16 sec)

But, we really have gotten a lot. You haven't seen missiles going up in seven or eight months. You haven't seen research. You haven't seen nuclear tests, very importantly. Japan is very happy because they were being encircled. I mean there was a period of time when they were going right over the middle of Japan.

Donald Trump

00:02:29 - 00:02:47 (18 sec)

And we got our hostages back. And you're right. We didn't pay for that. But, but I think -- I don't say that in a braggadocios way at all, because he did such a smart thing, because that was such a good -- a good thing to do. And, and I feel so badly about Otto Warmbier. That was the one thing.

Donald Trump

00:02:47 - 00:03:15 (28 sec)

And Otto did not die in vain. I actually believe -- and I've gotten very friendly with Otto's parents. They're incredible people -- devastated as they, you know, as would think, great parents. He was a great young man. But I think without Otto, this whole thing wouldn't have happened. Because it crystallized when he came back in the condition, it crystallized so much to so many people, maybe even to the other side, frankly. But I think that truly did not die in vain.

Sean Hannity

00:03:15 - 00:03:32 (17 sec)

I've known you for a lot of years and I think one trait that I could say is brutal honesty. In the room alone, and then the subsequent talks with your team and their team and their team. How honest, how brutal? What was said? Bring -- try to bring people into the room.

Donald Trump

00:03:32 - 00:03:50 (17 sec)

So we got along very well. We got along from the beginning. We started off, he and myself, and two interpreters, and from the beginning we got along. You know, I've made a statement, and I've said it before, I've said it about a lot of different kinds of relationships. You can almost tell right at the beginning.

Sean Hannity

00:03:50 - 00:03:52 (2 sec)

Did you tell at the beginning? What was that first minute?

Donald Trump

00:03:52 - 00:04:19 (28 sec)

I felt, I felt, no I felt very good at the beginning. And we, you know, I talked about -- we have to denuke. This country has to be denuked. And he understood that. He fully understood it. He didn't fight it, and we're doing some great things for his country and South Korea is going to be involved very much in helping, and Japan is going to be involved, and President Xi of China has been you know really terrific on the border. I think less so the last couple of months unfortunately.

Sean Hannity

00:04:19 - 00:04:28 (9 sec)

Was that a big part, because, in your meetings, when you met with the President of China was scheduled, if I recall, for like 15 minutes. Didn't some go on for four hours?

Donald Trump

00:04:28 - 00:04:54 (25 sec)

That's right. Well, we actually met at Mar-a-Lago. He wanted to be at Mar a Lago, and we had a 15 minute meeting scheduled, when he comes in, we were going to go into breakout rooms where we had many people waiting for us. And it ended up lasting four hours. The 15 minutes, President of China. Great guy. It ended up lasting for four hours. We just got along, and we have gotten along. I mean I want him to treat us better on trade. That's my only problem. You know, they're killing us --

Sean Hannity

00:04:54 - 00:04:57 (3 sec)

Is that happening? Did they make concessions on intellectual property, trade...

Donald Trump

00:04:57 - 00:05:15 (19 sec)

Well, they want to do things. It's a tough thing. You know, they're doing so well. They've made so much progress against us for so many years, it's awfully tough for them to bring it back, and we'll see how that all works out. We're gonna -- we're going to do something. Definitely we're going to do something. You know, they offered us $80 billion in purchases of agricultural products.

Sean Hannity

00:05:15 - 00:05:16 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:05:16 - 00:05:19 (3 sec)

But it's just not enough for what we're talking about. It's $80 billion.

Sean Hannity

00:05:19 - 00:05:20 (1 sec)

What do you want?

Donald Trump

00:05:20 - 00:05:35 (15 sec)

I never thought I'd turn down $80 billion. But, e have to do something with intellectual property. We have to do something just generally and trade. Last year we lost $500 billion dollars with China. We can't do that anymore.

Sean Hannity

00:05:35 - 00:06:06 (31 sec)

Let's go to the beginning. There were a lot of people, critics, quickly saying when you said little rocket man, or fire and fury, or, you know, when he said, oh I've got a red button on my desk. You said, well mine's bigger, and it works better than yours. How did we -- how did it evolve from that to this? Because he did say, at the very beginning, we're going to basically start over, and that has been building behind the scenes.

Donald Trump

00:06:06 - 00:06:37 (31 sec)

Well, I think without the rhetoric, we wouldn't have been here. I really believe that. You know, we did sanctions and all of the things that you would do. But I think without the rhetoric, you know, other administrations -- I don't want to get specific on that -- but they had a policy of silence. If they said something very bad, very threatening and horrible, just don't answer. That's not the answer. That's not what you have to do. So I think the rhetoric, I hated to do it. Sometimes, I felt foolish doing it. But we had no choice.

Sean Hannity

00:06:37 - 00:06:39 (1 sec)

So strategically you were doing it.

Donald Trump

00:06:39 - 00:06:56 (18 sec)

Well, yeah, I mean, but I think we gained respect. You know, he's a strong guy. Hey, people were saying what's he like. He's got a very good personality. He's funny, and he's very, very smart. He's a great negotiator. And he's a very strategic kind of a guy.

Sean Hannity

00:06:56 - 00:07:11 (15 sec)

One of the points that I think surprised everybody, I think every American should be very happy about this is the Korean War, which has gone on for so long. More importantly, there are still American remains there --

Donald Trump

00:07:11 - 00:07:12 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:07:12 - 00:07:13 (1 sec)

And they will be repatriated?

Donald Trump

00:07:13 - 00:07:14 (1 sec)

The remains are coming back.

Sean Hannity

00:07:14 - 00:07:14 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:07:14 - 00:07:21 (6 sec)

And we got that at the end. In fact, we have some things that you don't even have in the report. We put out the report --

Sean Hannity

00:07:21 - 00:07:21 (1 sec)

What can you tell us?

Donald Trump

00:07:21 - 00:07:36 (15 sec)

-- what we signed. Missile sites that they use for the launching of missiles and missile research areas, that's going to be gone. We made a lot of progress, tremendous amount of progress, and one of the things that I'm very happy about. We're not going to

Sean Hannity

00:07:36 - 00:07:37 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:07:37 - 00:07:48 (12 sec)

We're flying these massive bombers in for practice from Guam. I said, how far is Guam? Six and half hours or so. I said, that's a long way for a big bomber times, you know, 20 --

Sean Hannity

00:07:48 - 00:07:49 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:07:49 - 00:08:07 (18 sec)

-- and lots of other planes coming in. So, we're not going to be doing the war games as long as we're negotiating in good faith. So, that's good for a number of reasons, in addition to which we save a tremendous amount of money. You know, those things tha

Donald Trump

00:08:07 - 00:08:20 (13 sec)

I would look at them coming in from the sea and bombs exploding everywhere. I said, what does this cost? I don't even want to tell you. But it's a lot. So we're not going to be doing that as long as we're negotiating in good faith, which I think we will be.

Sean Hannity

00:08:20 - 00:08:33 (14 sec)

You managed expectations, I think, pretty well. You didn't think coming in here you were going to sign an agreement. And you said maybe it takes two, three, four, or five meetings, but you were open to going as fast or slow as he wanted.

Donald Trump

00:08:33 - 00:09:01 (27 sec)

We get along better than I would have assumed, right from the beginning. We got a lot more done today than I ever thought possible. And he's going back, he's now headed back, and he I think he's going back to get this done. He wants to get it done. You know, when you hear the whole thing about his father and other administrations, or his grandfather, the fact is -- and he, and he brings that up. But they weren't dealing with me. They were dealing with different people, and nobody's ever come close.

Sean Hannity

00:09:01 - 00:09:04 (4 sec)

What did you learn from -- did he talks about the difference between past administrations and yours?

Donald Trump

00:09:04 - 00:09:16 (12 sec)

Yes, but I can say that, because I don't want to be the one saying it. At some point, I'm sure he'll say it. But they never got done. And they would never this close either. I mean, it was never to a point where they were like we are.

Sean Hannity

00:09:16 - 00:09:42 (26 sec)

Is there a history lesson to learn here? I think, in one sense, we could talk about past administrations. Reagan, evil empire. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. His own advisers did -- wanted to take those words out of that speech. And you compare, Bill Clinton gave Kim Jong-un's father $3 billion dollars in energy subsidies.

Donald Trump

00:09:42 - 00:09:43 (1 sec)

A tremendous amount of money.

Sean Hannity

00:09:43 - 00:09:48 (5 sec)

The mullahs in Iran, you have said the worst deal in the history of mankind. That's --

Donald Trump

00:09:48 - 00:10:06 (18 sec)

Probably the worst deal I've seen. Worse than NAFTA, and I think NAFTA it is pretty bad, worse than the WTO, the World Trade Organization, which frankly built China, in addition to the money that we gave them all the time. You know, I mean these were terrible deals. But I would say that the Iran deal was one of the worst I've ever seen.

Donald Trump

00:10:06 - 00:10:14 (8 sec)

I will say, speaking of the Iran deal, since we got out of that deal, and we could do it very easily because they never had it approved by Congress. It was just President Obama.

Sean Hannity

00:10:14 - 00:10:15 (1 sec)

This must be approved by Congress.

Donald Trump

00:10:15 - 00:10:40 (25 sec)

I want it to be approved by Congress, because otherwise it's really doesn't mean very much. I want it -- I would think anybody would want it approved by Congress. But since we took out of that deal -- we got out of that deal, I think Iran is a much different place. I don't think they're looking so much to the Mediterranean and Syria and Yemen. They're starting to pull people out of Yemen. They're starting to pull people out of Syria.

Donald Trump

00:10:40 - 00:10:52 (11 sec)

You know, it's a whole different thing. Now, I did it for nuclear. But one of the side benefits is, you take a look, a serious look, and Iran is not the country that it was three or four months ago when they were much more emboldened.

Sean Hannity

00:10:52 - 00:10:54 (3 sec)

Well, certainly sanctions played a big part.

Donald Trump

00:10:54 - 00:10:55 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:10:55 - 00:10:57 (3 sec)

The strike forces that you sent into the region off the coast --

Donald Trump

00:10:57 - 00:11:06 (9 sec)

A big part. And I think at a certain point, honestly -- I know the Iranian people. I know many people from Iran. These are great people. I really believe at some point they're going to come back and negotiate a deal.

Sean Hannity

00:11:06 - 00:11:11 (4 sec)

Did reunification come up? Did humanitarian issues come up in the meeting?

Donald Trump

00:11:11 - 00:11:23 (12 sec)

Yes it did. And one of the things I will tell you that I'm most happy about, and that is, you know, is a big sticking point is bringing back the remains of thousands of soldiers that were killed.

Sean Hannity

00:11:23 - 00:11:25 (2 sec)

This came up last minute? This wasn't --

Donald Trump

00:11:25 - 00:11:26 (1 sec)

This was sort of last minute, yeah.

Sean Hannity

00:11:26 - 00:11:26 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:11:26 - 00:11:36 (10 sec)

I said, would it be possible? Because I get letters all the time from families who lost a son, lost a brother, lost a father in Korea. That was a rough fight.

Sean Hannity

00:11:36 - 00:11:37 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:11:37 - 00:11:53 (16 sec)

And they were buried along the roadways. They were buried, as, you know, soldiers going back and forth into battle, and they were burying them along roadways. And they say, please, please could you do it? I get so many letters from people who lost a loved one in North Korea, essentially in North Korea.

Sean Hannity

00:11:53 - 00:11:53 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:11:53 - 00:12:05 (12 sec)

And I would say, I'm going to try. And I brought it up and I'll tell you what. It was almost immediate. Now, in the past it was -- you couldn't even talk about it. But it was really a nice response.

Sean Hannity

00:12:05 - 00:12:11 (6 sec)

How quickly... did you talk about a trip to the United States? Did you talk about --

Donald Trump

00:12:11 - 00:12:30 (19 sec)

I think, at the right time, he'll absolutely be coming to the White House, yeah. Look, we've been very -- it's been a very intense relationship. It's been short, and very intense, and of course, before that, it was pretty rhetorical. It was, you know, not a pretty thing. People were very worried. But without that, I don't think we would have been here today.

Donald Trump

00:12:30 - 00:12:40 (10 sec)

He wants to get something done. I want to get something done. I think we'll get it done. And we started off by really, a very strong document. I think people are surprised to see it. They're shocked to see it.

Sean Hannity

00:12:40 - 00:12:41 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:12:41 - 00:12:45 (4 sec)

And then add some more things that we got after that was signed.

Sean Hannity

00:12:45 - 00:12:52 (7 sec)

And so, can you give us maybe a glimpse into what, that you keep sort of referring to, a little bit, to things that will be coming.

Donald Trump

00:12:52 - 00:13:15 (23 sec)

So, I just think that we are now going to start the process of denuclearization of North Korea, and I believe that he's going back and will start it virtually immediately, and he's already indicated that. And you look at what he's done. So, we've got our hostages back. But they've blown up one of their sites, one of their testing sites. Their primary testing site.

Donald Trump

00:13:15 - 00:13:29 (14 sec)

In fact, some people say their only testing site. They're getting rid of a missile which isn't in the document that was done afterwards. They're getting rid of a missile testing site. They're doing so much now. So, it's a process, and it's it's really moving rapidly.

Sean Hannity

00:13:29 - 00:13:43 (14 sec)

Last question because I know you have a lot to do. Obviously he wants something on his end. Certainly he wants the -- the world community, wants sanctions lifted. He wants economic opportunity, and his people need it desperately. There are people starving there.

Donald Trump

00:13:43 - 00:13:44 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:13:44 - 00:13:53 (10 sec)

So I guess the question is the order. What would he have to do to get the sanctions lifted? To get the economic opportunity opened up for the people?

Donald Trump

00:13:53 - 00:14:08 (15 sec)

Well, what he wants is security. And I understand that and he'll get that. And he wants to see if they can make that incredible location -- because it's an incredible -- it's between China and South Korea. Think of it. I'm in the real estate business. Think of that.

Sean Hannity

00:14:08 - 00:14:09 (1 sec)

[Laughing] Are you planning on building Trump Tower maybe, first thing?

Donald Trump

00:14:09 - 00:14:13 (4 sec)

You have prosperous South Korea -- no, but think, how good a location is that?

Sean Hannity

00:14:13 - 00:14:13 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:14:13 - 00:14:14 (1 sec)

You have China --

Sean Hannity

00:14:14 - 00:14:14 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:14:14 - 00:14:31 (17 sec)

-- and you have South Korea. And he's got right in the middle of both of them, surrounded by water. That's called like, can there be anything better than that? And it's also beautiful land. It's incredible land. So I think he wants -- I think he understan

Sean Hannity

00:14:31 - 00:14:35 (4 sec)

Are the Chinese happy? They're involved. The South Koreans. The Japanese.

Donald Trump

00:14:35 - 00:14:47 (13 sec)

I think so. I think -- look. China can't be thrilled about a very strong group of people having nuclear missiles with great capability right next to him. So I really do believe they are -- they were very very helpful.

Donald Trump

00:14:47 - 00:15:01 (14 sec)

I think maybe a little bit less so in the last two or three months, because we're talking about trade and other things, and you know, it's -- nothing's going to interfere with my relationship with President Xi, because I have great respect for him. He's really a great man, in a true sense. He's a great man.

Sean Hannity

00:15:01 - 00:15:09 (8 sec)

One of the best stories you tell, and it's an interesting story, historically speaking, is you were having dessert with him.

Donald Trump

00:15:09 - 00:15:11 (2 sec)

That's right, at Mar-a-Lago. Chocolate cake.

Sean Hannity

00:15:11 - 00:15:12 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:15:12 - 00:15:14 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:15:14 - 00:15:17 (4 sec)

This was the first -- this was after this was after Assad had used chemical weapons --

Donald Trump

00:15:17 - 00:15:19 (1 sec)

That's right. That's right.

Sean Hannity

00:15:19 - 00:15:21 (3 sec)

-- on his own people. And you had launched the first strike. And you --

Donald Trump

00:15:21 - 00:15:46 (25 sec)

I said, Mr. President we just sent 58 missiles into Syria to hit a certain target. And he said, please say it again, with his interpreter I said, we just sent 58 missiles and -- by the way, to show you the technology. Every single one of those missiles, from 700 miles away, in the ocean, ships in the ocean, every one -- 58 missiles, 58 hits. It's incredible technology.

Donald Trump

00:15:46 - 00:16:13 (27 sec)

What -- what we have is so incredible, so lethal. Not that we want to do it, but so lethal. But that was done because Syria, Assad used chemical gasses on children, and we had to do that. Had President Obama gone over the red line, I think you maybe would have had a different story in the Middle East. I really believe that. But he didn't do that. But we did. And so I told him, sitting at Mar-a-Lago, at dinner.

Sean Hannity

00:16:13 - 00:16:14 (1 sec)

Eating chocolate cake.

Donald Trump

00:16:14 - 00:16:21 (7 sec)

I said, either he's going to leave, or we're going to still be friends. But he didn't leave, but he understood. He really understood. He really doesn't want to see it.

Sean Hannity

00:16:21 - 00:16:21 (0 sec)

He agreed? Did he agree?

Donald Trump

00:16:21 - 00:16:31 (10 sec)

Well he, I think, yeah, I think he really did, because he knew that a lot of people ,and a lot of children, were killed by gas. And he -- yeah, he fully understood.

Sean Hannity

00:16:31 - 00:16:34 (3 sec)

I know you have a lot to do. Mr. President, thanks for being so generous with your time.

Donald Trump

00:16:34 - 00:16:35 (1 sec)

Thank you very much.

Sean Hannity

00:16:35 - 00:16:37 (2 sec)

Congratulations. Thank you, sir.

Donald Trump

00:16:37 - 00:16:40 (2 sec)

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.