Transcript - Interview: Andy Mehalshick of WBRE/WYOU 22 Wilkes-Barre, PA Interviews Donald Trump - May 20, 2019 | Factba.se

Unidentified

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Unidentified

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Can you step aside please? Guys, step aside please. Step aside, sir.

Andy Mehalshick

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Donald Trump

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Andy Mehalshick

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Donald Trump

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Andy Mehalshick

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Mr. President, Andy --

Donald Trump

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I hope you enjoyed that.

Andy Mehalshick

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Nice to meet you, sir.

Donald Trump

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Nice to meet you.

Andy Mehalshick

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Welcome -- welcome back to Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump

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Thank you very much. It was a great honor. What a crowd.

Andy Mehalshick

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Mr. President, very quickly, 2020 is coming just around the corner. Can you keep Pennsylvania a red state as compared to the Democratic, think they can turn it blue again.

Donald Trump

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Well I do think so, Andy, you know we have -- if you take a look, we have the best employment numbers in the history of the state, and country, by the way. But Pennsylvania has never done this well. We've got steel back, we brought coal back, we brought so many things back, And the state now is doing better than it's ever done, but we have the unem -- lowest unemployment rate that we've ever had in the state of Pennsylvania, and companies are holding back like clockwork so we're very happy about.

Donald Trump

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Andy Mehalshick

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Making sure here. Opioid epidemic. The folks are really -- hit Pennsylvania very hard, especially [Inaudible] Scranton Wilkes-Barre area.

Donald Trump

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Andy Mehalshick

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What plan do you have for that? What you want to tell folks here about the opioid problem?

Donald Trump

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Well, we're down 17% from last year. And a lot of its doctors prescribing too much and a lot of things happening but opioid's a big problem. Drugs, generally, are a big problem, and we have it down, we have been very tough, really beyond tough, and it's a horrible problem, there's no question about it but we're working with the companies, we're working with doctors and we're getting them to prescribe less.

Donald Trump

00:01:36 - 00:01:57 (21 sec)

You know, that's a terrible thing, the whole Opioid. They take -- they take a little bit and they have the big drug addicts on it, it's no good. We're also coming up with plans. We're spending a lot of money finding a medication on medicine, where it's not addictive, when you can feel the pain because you know the Opioids work for the pain but they also destroy lives.

Donald Trump

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So we're getting it taken care of.

Andy Mehalshick

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Mr. President, a big issue across commonwealth. Health care right now, Obamacare, and what -- what's next? What -- What can we expect here in Pennsylvania? [Inaudible]

Donald Trump

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Well, always, we are going to have preexisting conditions to be taken care of. We got rid of the individual mandate from Obamacare, which is the worst part of Obamacare, we have paid to have ban insured, so we literally have to pay a premium of price, and we got rid of that because, you know, we voted that out.

Donald Trump

00:02:26 - 00:02:36 (10 sec)

We're coming up with a great health care plan, and if we win back the House, keep the Senate, keep the presidency. We're going to have fantastic health care and the plan is coming out over the next four weeks.

Andy Mehalshick

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That's fine, Mr. President. Immigration. Your [Inaudible] Lou Barletta actually won [Inaudible] is a big issue. What can people of Pennsylvania inspected by immigration. Will there be a wall? You said the wall has been built. What can we expect as far as sorting out long top of integrating information?

Donald Trump

00:02:54 - 00:03:19 (25 sec)

We're building massive amounts of oil right now. By the end of next year we're going to have probably close to 500 miles of wall that's gonna stop a lot of the problem that we have. We're working with the Democrats but they seem to want open borders. It's crazy, they want open borders. They want these people to flood in, it means crimes and problems, but we are -- we are we are literally apprehending 40, 50, 60,000 people and probably even more, It's a big problem.

Donald Trump

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When we have the wall up, the problem will cease to a large extent. If the Democrats wanted to play the game fairly and like, in 15 minutes we can have it solved, but they refuse to vote for it. So they are really for open borders, they're really for crimes, because that means crime. But we're stopping a lot of people and we're stopping all of the bad ones.

Donald Trump

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And the ones that get through ultimately are going out.

Andy Mehalshick

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Mr. President, one last question, if I can. Some needs coal. Besides all the Pennsylvania, Virginia, what -- what can you tell those in coal mining industry moving forward?

Donald Trump

00:03:48 - 00:04:12 (24 sec)

Well, the coal mining industry's really starting to go, you know, it was -- it was out of business with the Democrats, you know that. They had it restricted out of business. Now it's really starting to go in a very positive direction. Big numbers are coming out, foreign countries like Vietnam and other countries are buying our coal in reckon amounts and whether it's West Virginia or Pennsylvania a lot of other place, we're selling a lot of coal.

Donald Trump

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I intend that the coal industry would be -- and I call it "Clean Coal" because you could do it. Clean coal is really heading back in the direction and you see it. Minors are going back to work that never thought they'd see that job again. I actually told of it the very beginning, "Are you looking for other jobs?" They said, " Sir, we really want -- " This is before I won.

Donald Trump

00:04:30 - 00:04:42 (12 sec)

They said, "Sir, we really want to have coal. That's what we want to do. We want to dig coal." That decides, dig hole, and now they're digging coal again so I'm really honored by that, and Pennsylvania is one the big beneficiaries.

Andy Mehalshick

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And anything else you want to tell folks in Pennsylvania on your -- as you leave here today?

Donald Trump

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No. I know the state very well. As you know I went to school in Pennsylvania. I love the state, I love the people. They are hard working, they're incredible. They've put up with so much when all the companies left these corporations, these giant corporations left, they took away the jobs, they took away the wealth.

Donald Trump

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Here's the good news, they're all coming back, they're all coming back, you see it happening.

Andy Mehalshick

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Thank you. Mr. President. Nice to meet you sir.

Donald Trump

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Thank you very much. Thank you, Andy. You take care of yourself.

Andy Mehalshick

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Where's your next stop?

Donald Trump

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Back to Washington. [Crosstalk] You want to ask a question?[Inaudible]

Andy Mehalshick

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Keep going in two shot. How important is this 12th Congressional District, special election tomorrow, how important is that?

Donald Trump

00:05:25 - 00:05:48 (23 sec)

Well it's a very important race. Fred Keller is a tremendous guy, very successful. Wants to go to Washington, gives up a lot to do it. He's a great Republican. He's been a really inspiration to a lot of people. It's really important to people to get out and vote on Tuesday, which is tomorrow. And if he wins, I think that sends a big signal because we have tremendous momentum on our side, and I think it's gonna send a big signal.

Donald Trump

00:05:48 - 00:05:54 (7 sec)

It's gonna be a tight race but if he wins, I think tonight would've helped but it's gonna be a tremendous sight.

Andy Mehalshick

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Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. Thank you.

Donald Trump

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Thanks. Thanks very much, Andy.