Transcript - Interview: Laura Ingraham Interviews Donald Trump on Fox's The Ingraham Angle - October 29, 2018 | Factba.se

Note

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

[This transcript was provided by FOX News Channel's The Ingraham Angle]

Laura Ingraham

00:00:00 - 00:00:05 (5 sec)

Mr. President, thank you so much for being here today. We really appreciate it.

Donald Trump

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

Thank you, Laura.

Laura Ingraham

00:00:05 - 00:00:13 (8 sec)

I know you're heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers from the Tree of Life Synagogue said last night the following.

Jeffrey Myers

00:00:13 - 00:00:32 (19 sec)

[Prerecorded] I want to address some of the political leaders in the room tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, it has to start with you as our leaders. My words are not intended as political fodder. I address all equally. Stop the words of hate.

Laura Ingraham

00:00:32 - 00:00:36 (5 sec)

So given his words, what do you think your role tomorrow will be and should be?

Donald Trump

00:00:36 - 00:00:54 (18 sec)

Well, I'm just going to pay my respects. I'm also going to the hospital to see the officers and some of the people that were so badly hurt. So -- and I really look forward to going. I would have done it even sooner, but I didn't want to disrupt anymore than they already had disruption. But I look forward to going to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Laura Ingraham

00:00:54 - 00:01:08 (14 sec)

You said over the weekend you might even tone up your rhetoric -- the media today seized on it, at Sarah Huckabee Sanders' press briefing. They're pointing fingers at you saying, look, you could do more. You're the leader of the free world. What do you say to that?

Donald Trump

00:01:08 - 00:01:28 (20 sec)

Well you know, I did a rally and I said, in fact, I was thinking about canceling it; I also did the Young Farmers and it was great doing that and then I had a rally afterwards and then I said, you know, you make them too important if you start canceling. I remember Dick Grasso wanted to get the stock exchange opened as soon as possible; he did a great job and other things.

Donald Trump

00:01:28 - 00:01:51 (23 sec)

Once you start doing that, once you cancel -- so you're doing a rally and rallies are meant to be fun. Rallies are meant to be everything and I said, "Tone it done," and then you saw the group saying, "No, don't tone it down, don't tone it down." So we had a great rally in Illinois, for some great people and frankly, I think that's probably the way it should be.

Donald Trump

00:01:51 - 00:02:03 (12 sec)

You should go about your life. You can't let these people disrupt anymore than they already have, which is disgraceful; what he did is disgraceful. You can't let it happen. As far as what the rabbi said, I agree with him.

Laura Ingraham

00:02:03 - 00:02:17 (14 sec)

The word "nationalism" has taken off, for the Left, this connotation of feeling anti-Semitism, hate, even violence. Do you think that is fair? And do you want to further clarify -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:02:17 - 00:02:17 (1 sec)

Laura Ingraham

00:02:17 - 00:02:19 (2 sec)

-- what "nationalism" means to you?

Donald Trump

00:02:19 - 00:02:56 (38 sec)

No. To me, I don't have to clarify. It means I love the country, it means I'm fighting for the country. I look at two things, globalists and nationalists. I'm somebody that wants to take care of our country, because for many, many years, you know this better than anybody -- our leaders have been more worried about the world than they have about the United States and they leave us in a mess -- whether it's the wars, whether it's the economy, whether it's debt, whether it's all of the things that they've done, including putting in the wrong Supreme Court Justices and we're -- we've really put two great ones in -- no, I'm proud of this country and I call that "nationalism"; I call it being a nationalist and I don't see any other connotation than that.

Donald Trump

00:02:56 - 00:03:20 (24 sec)

Now, as soon as you make any statement nowadays with the political correctness world, they make a big deal. I'm not a globalist, but I want to take care of the globe, but first I have to take care of our country. I want to help people around the world, but we have to take care of our country, or we won't have a country, including -- we have to take care of our country at the border.

Laura Ingraham

00:03:20 - 00:03:33 (13 sec)

When you hear people use the phrase "anti-Semitism" to describe anything connected to you, you have a Jewish daughter, you have grandchildren who are Jewish -- what's your reaction to that?

Donald Trump

00:03:33 - 00:03:57 (24 sec)

And I just received an award from the State of Israel from Bibi Netanyahu, thanking me because I moved the, as you know, the embassy to Jerusalem, making Jerusalem the capital of Israel and I just did that -- now how many presidents said they were going to do it and they never did it? Many, many presidents. I won't go over the names but I can tell you every one of them; I can tell you what every one of them said.

Donald Trump

00:03:57 - 00:04:14 (17 sec)

I just opened up -- and we opened it up; we didn't just name it -- you know, it was going to take years and years to build and it was going to cost over a billion dollars -- I opened up a beautiful building for $400,000, already open, saved well over a billion dollars -- and it's opened after four months.

Laura Ingraham

00:04:14 - 00:04:21 (7 sec)

And you were criticized for that, too -- you were criticized at the time, I believe for being too pro-Palestinian, and now you're criticized on the other side.

Donald Trump

00:04:21 - 00:04:49 (29 sec)

Yeah. And in fact, this horrible human being, this terrible person that did the shooting, he was not a Donald Trump fan, because he said I was too close to Israel. So, ah… that seemed to be his reasoning. So I will tell you, I'm going to show you, right after this, I'm going to show you the most beautiful plaque -- it just came; they must have known you were going to be doing this interview -- but it was sent by Bibi Netanyahu thanking me for opening the embassy in Jerusalem, which as you know, is like the biggest deal.

Laura Ingraham

00:04:49 - 00:04:55 (6 sec)

The phrase "enemy of the people" -- another phrase that's been seized upon by many in the media -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:04:55 - 00:04:55 (0 sec)

Laura Ingraham

00:04:55 - 00:05:06 (11 sec)

Many at CNN, but not just CNN. There was a woman who was on CNN a short while ago saying that you have radicalized more people than ISIS -- that was CNN today.

Donald Trump

00:05:06 - 00:05:23 (17 sec)

Well, that's must be some kind of a sick woman. When I say "the enemy of the people" I'm talking about the fake news and you know it better than anybody. You have news out there that is so fake and I can do the greatest thing ever, North Korea, as an example -- we would have been going to war -- normal would have been going to war with North Korea.

Donald Trump

00:05:23 - 00:05:40 (17 sec)

I think President Obama would have gone to war very -- if he had an extra year he would be in right now a war with North Korea -- he told me it was by far, and I'm not knocking him for this, he said it's by far his biggest problem. Look at what we've done. And yet, when they talk about North Korea, they say, what's taking so well? [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:05:40 - 00:05:41 (1 sec)

But you know they're going to be biased. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:05:41 - 00:05:42 (0 sec)

Yeah, but [Inaudible] -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:05:42 - 00:05:43 (1 sec)

But you know they're going to be biased.

Donald Trump

00:05:43 - 00:05:57 (14 sec)

[Inaudible] -- for 70 some odd years now -- and they say, I left, I left Singapore, where we had our meeting -- where we really had a very good meeting and a good relationship -- like what, four months ago -- they say the new line is, "What's taking so long?" I say -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:05:57 - 00:06:02 (5 sec)

How does that help expand your base, to call them "the enemy of the people"? How does it help America heal from things like this? [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:06:02 - 00:06:18 (16 sec)

That's a very good question, very fair. Before we finish, though, so we've done a great job with North Korea. Then they said we can't get him on anything because the sanctions are wrong, we got everything, there's no missiles, we got our hostages back, we have the remains coming back, everything. So now they said, he met, the new line is… I met -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:06:18 - 00:06:21 (3 sec)

Of course. But why are you expecting they're going to be fair to you?

Donald Trump

00:06:21 - 00:06:22 (1 sec)

No, but think of it, how -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:06:22 - 00:06:23 (1 sec)

They're never going to be fair to you.

Donald Trump

00:06:23 - 00:06:36 (13 sec)

But Laura, think of it. I met. [Laughter] Okay? That's their new line. I shouldn't have met. So you know. And if you go back to before I got here, it looked like we were going to war, a bad war, with North Korea. So -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:06:36 - 00:06:46 (10 sec)

But I was here with Reagan, I worked for Reagan -- they called him stupid, dumb, slept in the afternoon, incompetent, a war monger -- and he always kind of -- [Crosstalk] [Inaudible] But he was, he --

Donald Trump

00:06:46 - 00:06:49 (3 sec)

I don't want to [Inaudible] -- No, but he didn't have social media.

Laura Ingraham

00:06:49 - 00:06:50 (1 sec)

Yeah, that's true.

Donald Trump

00:06:50 - 00:07:11 (22 sec)

He would have fought back. He didn't have social media. When they -- it's my form of telling the truth. Here's the problem. We have a lot of supporters -- you know that better than anybody. All you have to do is look at your ratings, ok? But you know it better than anybody -- those supporters know that they're lying. I watched Meet the Press this weekend -- everything was so falsely put, putting words in people's mouths.

Laura Ingraham

00:07:11 - 00:07:16 (5 sec)

Are they trying to hobble you in the Midterms? Because you're the best -- [Crosstalk] -- closer for this party. That's what the Republicans are saying.

Donald Trump

00:07:16 - 00:07:42 (26 sec)

They're going at it away -- and I'm getting 25 and 35,000 people to these rallies -- nobody's ever seen -- there has never been a -- this isn't bragging -- there has never been anything like what's happening. I went to Illinois -- you oughta see -- a Boeing 747 -- this massive hangar packed -- and they had to use a second hangar for the overflow, nobody's seen [Inaudible] for now -- and always -- look what happened for Ted Cruz; who's doing great now -- we left Houston, he's now doing great -- they don't even talk about that race and his opponent is not very good.

Laura Ingraham

00:07:42 - 00:07:58 (15 sec)

The bomber who sent the letters to CNN and the Democrats, was a fan of yours. He obviously also seems insane, completely insane -- so what do you say about that? You put "bomb" in quotes -- they went crazy over that, too, over the weekend, because you seized the word "bomb" in quotes --

Donald Trump

00:07:58 - 00:07:58 (0 sec)

Look at it [Inaudible] -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:07:58 - 00:08:01 (3 sec)

Would you like to kind of --

Donald Trump

00:08:01 - 00:08:20 (20 sec)

No, look -- he was insane a long time before -- you look at his medical records -- he was insane for a long time. Bernie Sanders had a fan who shot a very good friend of ours, Steve Scalise -- and other people -- he was a total maniac -- nobody puts his name in the headline, Bernie Sanders in the headline with the maniac -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:08:20 - 00:08:24 (4 sec)

In fact, Nancy Pelosi said, "Do not politicize this," back at the time.

Donald Trump

00:08:24 - 00:08:58 (34 sec)

I was in the headline of the Washington Post, my name associated with this crazy bomber. Trump bomber or something. But I was in the headline… when they got him. They didn't say -- bomber found -- they talked about Trump in the headline. Now they didn't do that with Bernie Sanders when he had -- they didn't do that with the Democrats when other people came at -- they didn't do that with President Obama with the church, the horrible situation with the church -- they didn't do that. They put my name in the headlines. It's -- when I say "enemy of the people" I'm talking about the fake news and it is fake.

Laura Ingraham

00:08:58 - 00:09:00 (1 sec)

For which [Inaudible] organization -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:09:00 - 00:09:36 (36 sec)

My people understand. One quick story. So a reporter for the Washington Post, there's a story that -- a place that I was doing, an arena was empty and he shows a picture; not a very good crowd, Mr. Trump, something to that effect. And then it turned out that he took the picture five hours before the people started coming into the arena. The arena was packed and there were thousands of people outside. They had to retract it. But this is the kind of dishonesty that we have. [Commercial Break]

Laura Ingraham

00:09:36 - 00:09:51 (15 sec)

We looked at some individual races, Florida, obviously so important to 2020, but important, period -- Andrew Gillum against Ron DeSantis, Ron DeSantis, Congressman, strong supporter of yours -- over the weekend you called Andrew Gillum, you referenced him being a thief. [Crosstalk] What did you mean by that?

Donald Trump

00:09:51 - 00:10:06 (15 sec)

[Inaudible] Well, the FBI offered him tickets at $1800 apiece and he took them -- he took a trip with the same FBI agent -- I guess he was posing as a developer or something -- the man stone cold took this stuff. I don't even think he should be allowed to continue on with the race.

Laura Ingraham

00:10:06 - 00:10:10 (4 sec)

He responded today by calling you "weak" -- you're howling because you're weak, that's what he said in a Tweet.

Donald Trump

00:10:10 - 00:10:30 (19 sec)

I haven't heard that one lately. That's OK, good, that's a change of pace. Look, here's a guy that, in my opinion, is a stone cold thief. And his city, Tallahassee, is known as the most corrupt in Florida and one of the most corrupt in the nation -- he's a disaster and how he's even close to being tied is hard to believe.

Donald Trump

00:10:30 - 00:10:52 (23 sec)

But Florida can't have -- if Florida has a governor like that -- and I know Florida better than I know practically anywhere -- Florida will become Venezuela; it will be a disaster. And you have Ron DeSantis, who is a Harvard/Yale guy, he's had a really terrific -- you know, he's a very good person; he's going to be a very -- he's going to be a very good to a great governor.

Donald Trump

00:10:52 - 00:11:05 (13 sec)

This other guy is a stone cold, in my opinion, he's a thief. How can you have a guy like this? And you just look at his record. Also, look at his -- the job he's done as the mayor of Tallahassee. He's a total disaster.

Laura Ingraham

00:11:05 - 00:11:08 (3 sec)

John James, of course, running for Senate.

Donald Trump

00:11:08 - 00:11:09 (1 sec)

Laura Ingraham

00:11:09 - 00:11:17 (8 sec)

Beto O'Rourke is down in the polls since you came in Texas, but John James is only eight, nine points off -- [Crosstalk] -- his Senate bid. He's an -- [Crosstalk] -- Army combat veteran.

Donald Trump

00:11:17 - 00:11:18 (1 sec)

Laura Ingraham

00:11:18 - 00:11:20 (2 sec)

Why do you think he's not getting the play by the media?

Donald Trump

00:11:20 - 00:11:47 (27 sec)

He's doing so well that I'm trying to get to Michigan. That's how well John James -- John James is a star. African American. Great guy. And you know how John James, he was one of four or five people running -- and I'm watching television and I see John James, I said, who is that guy? He's running in Michigan. Let me see it again. And I said, that guy is great. He's a star. Now, she, I don't know, she's just a clone for -- all she is, is a -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:11:47 - 00:11:54 (7 sec)

Obama is kind of following you on the campaign trail. He was in Wisconsin.

Donald Trump

00:11:54 - 00:11:56 (2 sec)

How are his crowds?

Laura Ingraham

00:11:56 - 00:12:07 (12 sec)

Yeah. Wisconsin, going to Florida this week -- and he brought up the issue of the caravan and he said the following:

Barack Obama

00:12:07 - 00:12:40 (33 sec)

[Prerecorded] Now the latest, they're trying to convince everybody to be afraid of a bunch of impoverished, malnourished refugees a thousand miles away -- that's the thing, it's the most important in this election? Not healthcare? Not whether the folks are able to retire," etc., etc., "rebuilding our roads, bridges, putting people back work?" We're scare-mongering people on the border. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:12:40 - 00:13:14 (35 sec)

It's a problem [Inaudible] -- yeah. Well, he's trying to do the opposite. It's the problem with our country -- when you look at that caravan and you look that caravan and look at largely, very, you know, big percentage of men, young, strong -- a lot of bad people, a lot of bad people in there. People that are in gangs -- we don't want them in this country.

Donald Trump

00:13:14 - 00:13:27 (13 sec)

If they want to come into the country, you have to apply, like other people. We have millions of people coming in, they're applying, they're coming in legally. We have a very strong border. I called up the military. This caravan is not -- they're wasting their time. They are not coming into the country. [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:13:27 - 00:13:32 (5 sec)

What's the military going to be able to do? Obama and -- [Crosstalk] -- Bush both sent the National Guard; it's had no effect. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:13:32 - 00:13:39 (7 sec)

But they're not me. This is the -- I'm sending up the military. This is the military. And they're standing there and one thing that we'll have --

Laura Ingraham

00:13:39 - 00:13:40 (1 sec)

No lethal [Inaudible] -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:13:40 - 00:13:59 (19 sec)

When they are captured, we don't let them out. What has been happening and we're not as of pretty recently -- we're not letting them out. What happens is they would catch and release. We're catching, we're not releasing. So they want to come over. But we're not even doing that. We're not letting them into this country. We're not going to let gang members -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:13:59 - 00:14:02 (3 sec)

But what if they're applying for asylum? Isn't the law, because Congress didn't change the law? [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:14:02 - 00:14:05 (3 sec)

If they applied for asylum, we're going to hold them until such time as their trial takes place.

Laura Ingraham

00:14:05 - 00:14:07 (1 sec)

Where? We have the facilities?

Donald Trump

00:14:07 - 00:14:27 (20 sec)

We're going to put up -- we're going to build tent cities. We're going to put tents up all over the place; we're not going to build structures and spend all of this, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars -- we're going to have tents; they're going to be very nice and they're going to wait and if they don't get asylum, they get out. And very few people -- they don't actually -- if you want to wait, they don't usually get asylum; you know that.

Laura Ingraham

00:14:27 - 00:14:27 (1 sec)

Eighty percent. [Inaudible] [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:14:27 - 00:14:51 (23 sec)

The problem is -- they release them in and then they have the trial three years later and nobody shows up. But we are going to -- unlike Obama and unlike others, we are going to take the people, we're going to put them in and they're going to wait. And you know what? Two things happened. When they find out that that happens, you're going to have far fewer people come up. And also, President Obama separated children from parents. Nobody talks about this. You talk about -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:14:51 - 00:14:52 (2 sec)

[Inaudible] Judge came along and said, can't do it.

Donald Trump

00:14:52 - 00:14:56 (4 sec)

No-no. He separated, no, President Obama separated --

Laura Ingraham

00:14:56 - 00:14:57 (1 sec)

– in the beginning.

Donald Trump

00:14:57 - 00:14:59 (2 sec)

Okay. Just so we all understand. You know, they -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:14:59 - 00:15:05 (7 sec)

But you're kind of saying the military, Mr. President, being called up by you is an election year play. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:15:05 - 00:15:06 (1 sec)

We're being invaded.

Laura Ingraham

00:15:06 - 00:15:08 (2 sec)

Is this politics or is this real?

Donald Trump

00:15:08 - 00:15:34 (25 sec)

When you look at that thousands of people -- somebody said, you know, now on that one, they build it down -- I'm pretty good at figuring out how many people -- thousands and thousands of people -- on the bridge, when you looked at that bridge loaded up with people -- that's called an invasion of our country. This has nothing to do with elections. And I've been saying this long before election -- I've been saying this before I ever thought of running for office. We have to have strong borders. If we don't have strong borders, we don't have a country.

Laura Ingraham

00:15:34 - 00:15:39 (6 sec)

Democrats are worried about the Latino vote suddenly. They're worried they're not going to get the numbers -- [Crosstalk] -- show up.

Donald Trump

00:15:39 - 00:15:40 (1 sec)

They should be, they should be.

Laura Ingraham

00:15:40 - 00:15:41 (1 sec)

Why are the -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:15:41 - 00:16:07 (26 sec)

You know why? Because the Latinos, the Hispanic Americans have the best unemployment numbers and employment numbers in the history of our country. The African Americans have the best employment and unemployment numbers in the history of our country. Asians, best employment numbers in the history of our country. Women, 65 years -- you know, all of these things -- women have the best numbers they've had in 65 years. They should be worried.

Laura Ingraham

00:16:07 - 00:16:15 (8 sec)

How are you going to expand into these traditionally Democratic areas? [Crosstalk] Kanye West spent some time here. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:16:15 - 00:16:17 (2 sec)

[Inaudible] -- Brown -- yeah, they were great. [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:16:17 - 00:16:22 (5 sec)

How big of an effect is West on this push for African American support?

Donald Trump

00:16:22 - 00:16:53 (31 sec)

Well, a person came into my office who does poll numbers said, I do not believe how good these poll numbers are with African Americans. And you see what's happened with my poll numbers. But here's what also happened. When we have the best employment numbers, the best median income numbers, for all of these groups? I mean, we have the best numbers we've ever had. And I sometimes jokingly say, it's going to be awfully tough to beat me in a debate when I have the best numbers ever produced. So I think they should be worried. They should be worried about the African Americans, because they're going to lose them.

Laura Ingraham

00:16:53 - 00:16:53 (1 sec)

Will you do some events in the inner cities?

Donald Trump

00:16:53 - 00:16:57 (4 sec)

I'm doing them, yeah. I already have them scheduled.

Laura Ingraham

00:16:57 - 00:17:13 (15 sec)

One thing that I think a lot of us are very concerned about is what's happening with the market this year. It's flat for the year, down a little bit, off its record high -- both the S&P and the Dow -- I know you've complained about the Fed before -- how much is cheap credit globally as a part of this problem?

Donald Trump

00:17:13 - 00:17:33 (21 sec)

Well, remember this. Obama, President Obama had the worst recap that we've ever had since the Great Depression, okay, in terms of coming back. But he was dealing with zero money, zero interest money. We actually created value for money, so the people that have money in the bank and did it the way you're supposed to do it, they're actually getting interest on their money now. The Fed is being very tight.

Donald Trump

00:17:33 - 00:17:52 (18 sec)

Now in one way you have to say that's very conservative. That's a good thing from the standpoint of conservative. I don't like it. Because it closes it down a little bit. But we're up, we were up almost 50 percent from the time I got elected, almost 50 -- in fact, more in some instances. And now we're down just a little tiny bit.

Donald Trump

00:17:52 - 00:18:10 (19 sec)

But we have such a strong -- when you go job numbers -- when you go companies moving into our country -- we have so many companies, big ones like Foxconn and like the car companies -- they're moving back to Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida -- they're coming back and nobody's ever seen this.

Donald Trump

00:18:10 - 00:18:18 (8 sec)

You've never seen it before. They left and they had no intention. We just signed a deal with Mexico and with Canada. We did a new deal with Korea.

Laura Ingraham

00:18:18 - 00:18:21 (3 sec)

How about Jair Bolsonaro? You talked to him last night. [Crosstalk] What can we expect for --? [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:18:21 - 00:18:22 (1 sec)

He was great. Oh no, he was great.

Laura Ingraham

00:18:22 - 00:18:24 (2 sec)

He's called "the Trump of South America" [Inaudible] -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:18:24 - 00:18:29 (5 sec)

[Inaudible] I told him I'm honored. But we had a great conversation. And he's now the -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:18:29 - 00:18:30 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:18:30 - 00:18:50 (20 sec)

The head of Brazil. Yeah, I could see that happening. You know, Brazil's treated as very tough because they charge very big tariffs. Brazil has been very tough. So we'll be able to straighten that out. But -- and we have, of course, what's happening with China. China has been really hurting our country. Economically. And you see, we're going to win that one. It's going to happen. We're going to win that one.

Laura Ingraham

00:18:50 - 00:18:51 (1 sec)

How confident are you? About the deal.

Donald Trump

00:18:51 - 00:18:54 (3 sec)

Well, I'd like to make a deal right now. I just say they're not ready.

Laura Ingraham

00:18:54 - 00:18:57 (2 sec)

$250 billion, additional tariffs if that deal doesn't go through. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:18:57 - 00:19:03 (6 sec)

$250 billion and I have $267 billion waiting to go if we can't make a deal.

Laura Ingraham

00:19:03 - 00:19:05 (2 sec)

Are you optimistic? Scale from one to 10. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:19:05 - 00:19:22 (17 sec)

I think that we will make a great deal with China and it has to be great, because they've drained our country. We have really helped rebuild China. They've take up -- they've been taking out an average of $500 billion dollars, billion, a year, for many years. Not going to happen anymore.

Laura Ingraham

00:19:22 - 00:19:29 (7 sec)

Who's your dream person to run against in 2020? You've already raised $100 million. Dream, dream candidate to run against.

Donald Trump

00:19:29 - 00:19:32 (3 sec)

Well, so far I like them all. I don't see anybody that -- [Crosstalk]

Laura Ingraham

00:19:32 - 00:19:35 (2 sec)

Hillary's not going -- apparently she's not down and out. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:19:35 - 00:19:44 (10 sec)

I like her, too; I like her, too. I'd be very happy with Hillary. I like them all. I don't see anybody that I wouldn't enjoy running against. And you know, that could happen. But I don't see it right now.

Laura Ingraham

00:19:44 - 00:19:53 (9 sec)

A couple other questions Fox viewers really want to know. Declassifying those documents -- they were kind of kicked over to the Inspector General -- [Crosstalk] Why not declassify them and get it all out?

Donald Trump

00:19:53 - 00:19:56 (3 sec)

We're getting very close to doing what we have to do. I want to wait till after the election.

Laura Ingraham

00:19:56 - 00:20:00 (4 sec)

Why are you and Rod Rosenstein such good friends now? Seems like everything's been settled.

Donald Trump

00:20:00 - 00:20:31 (31 sec)

Look, look -- I'll tell you -- I do get along, but this should have never, there should never been a Special Counsel. In my opinion. It's an illegal investigation totally. A lot of people agree with me. A lot of people on your show and other shows agree. There was no collusion. There was never any collusion. Jair Bolsonaro shouldn't have ever happened. But with all of that being said, I do get along and I have made everything available. You know why? Because I have nothing to do with Russia. Hillary was a lousy candidate and I did a very good job.

Laura Ingraham

00:20:31 - 00:20:33 (1 sec)

You're going to do written questions? [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:20:33 - 00:20:33 (1 sec)

She didn't go --

Laura Ingraham

00:20:33 - 00:20:34 (0 sec)

Written answers.

Donald Trump

00:20:34 - 00:20:46 (12 sec)

She didn't go to Wisconsin, she didn't go to Michigan enough; she didn't do what she had to do to win. And it's just one of those things. But we have nothing to do with Russia and I think you -- you probably know that almost better than anybody.

Laura Ingraham

00:20:46 - 00:20:50 (4 sec)

The co-written questions to Mueller's -- [Crosstalk] [Inaudible] answers to his question --

Donald Trump

00:20:50 - 00:20:59 (9 sec)

[Inaudible] -- I mean it's ridiculous that I have to do anything because we didn't do anything. But we will probably do something, yes, where we'll respond to some questions.

Laura Ingraham

00:20:59 - 00:20:59 (1 sec)

How is Melania doing?

Donald Trump

00:20:59 - 00:21:10 (11 sec)

She's doing fantastically, really good. She's doing a great job. Just got back from Africa. And she saw some things that were very eye-opening and tremendous poverty. Tremendous poverty. So we're trying to help.

Laura Ingraham

00:21:10 - 00:21:12 (2 sec)

Thank you, sir. Thank you for your time. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:21:12 - 00:21:13 (1 sec)

Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you, Laura.

Laura Ingraham

00:21:13 - 00:21:14 (0 sec)

Really appreciate it.