Transcript - Interview: Donald Trump Calls In to Fox and Friends for an Interview - August 5, 2020 | Factba.se

Note

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

[Transcript and video provided courtesy of Fox News' Fox & Friends. The transcript as checked and confirmed as accurate.]

Brian Kilmeade

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

All right, Mr. President, thanks so much for doing this, this morning. Can we talk about probably the think that everybody's talking about today and that's mail-in voting? What bothered -- what seems to bother you most and stop me if I'm wrong is, if a state like Nevada or another state just blankets a state with ballots unrequested. And that's different from requesting an absentee ballot because you're concerned about your health or the pandemic, would you make that -- am I accurate in that dissemination?

Donald Trump

00:00:36 - 00:01:01 (25 sec)

No, absentee is OK, because you have to go through a process, Brian, and you go through a process, and you make a request and they send it to you and you get it and you fill it out. And it's a process, and it's a smaller number. What they're going to do is blanket the state, anybody that ever walked, frankly, will get one.

Donald Trump

00:01:01 - 00:01:31 (30 sec)

And you know, the governor's a clubhouse politician, he's somebody that, frankly, was shocking and shocking what he did. More shocking what he did, without town halls, without meetings, without the public, they went out and they just approved this ridiculous system. And the Post Office will never be equipped to handle it. And you see it in New York in a much smaller scale, we have a congressional race, Carolyn Maloney, Congresswoman, it's been six and a half weeks now, they have no idea what happened.

Donald Trump

00:01:31 - 00:01:55 (24 sec)

They're thousands of votes off. They're missing votes. There are fraudulent votes. They have to do the election over. There's no way that she can take that election because -- I mean, it's between two Democrats, but I guess he's probably, as the expression goes, more progressive. But she's -- she's in trouble.

Donald Trump

00:01:55 - 00:02:07 (13 sec)

And frankly, they have to do the election over, there's --

Brian Kilmeade

00:02:07 - 00:02:10 (3 sec)

But, you're suing Nevada, right? You're suing Nevada?

Donald Trump

00:02:10 - 00:02:45 (34 sec)

I'm suing -- I'm suing -- no, but it's the same thing, it's mail-in voting. Patterson, New Jersey, 20 percent of the votes were either fixed or messed up or missing or fraudulent and people are in big trouble. The town council, the mailmen, a lot of people are in big trouble. That's Patterson, that's 20 percent of the votes.

Donald Trump

00:02:45 - 00:03:30 (45 sec)

You can't do a mail-in vote. Now, Florida's different in the sense that it had been doing it, and they've had two very good governors, frankly, and they have an infrastructure that's taken years to build, but Nevada they start voting very soon, and he just threw it out there. And the other thing is the votes don't have to be counted or tabulated until seven days after November 3rd. So that means if we're waiting for one state and it's a very great, important state, big state, if we're waiting for that state you don't know what the answer's going to be till after maybe seven days, and -- but it's not going to be seven days.

Donald Trump

00:03:30 - 00:03:37 (8 sec)

It's going to be months or years. They will never be able to tabulate their votes because they're not set up for it.

Pete Hegseth

00:03:37 - 00:04:09 (31 sec)

Mr. President, thank you for joining us. You mentioned the Postal Service. Well, your former opponent is out of the woods or tweeting from the woods, and this is part of what she said about the Postal Service and your treatment of it. Hillary Clinton tweeting this. "I fear Republican sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service, including slowing mail delivery, is a Trump strategy to make voting more -- by mail more difficult this fall. Request your ballots and return them as early as you can." Your response to Hillary Clinton accusing you of sabotaging the Post Office?

Donald Trump

00:04:09 - 00:04:25 (17 sec)

Well first of all, you know, remember the famous question when she asked me whether or not I would accept the results of the election? You know, she felt pretty confident until the end of that debate and frankly she was very strong. Do -- would you accept the results of the election? Well, she didn't accept the results.

Donald Trump

00:04:25 - 00:04:52 (27 sec)

She still hasn't. She's living in a cocoon, and I guess people don't like her or somebody doesn't like her, but she was -- she didn't do the job. She didn't do the job that she was supposed to do, and she should accept that. Now she continues to go on and she's talking now about the Postal Service. Well, as you know, the postal service for 40 years has had big problems, and they're not equipped to handle a governor where they say millions of ballots, by the way, will be posted in a couple of weeks.

Donald Trump

00:04:52 - 00:05:18 (25 sec)

Gear up. You can't do that. It doesn't work that way. It's a very complex process. So Nevada, we're in court. We'll see how it works out, but if it doesn't work out you're not going to know the November 3rd election results. I'm talking for the country. It could be for months and months. I mean, actually it could be for years because you'll never -- they sent and they plan to send these ballots to everybody that's ever walked in the state of Nevada.

Donald Trump

00:05:18 - 00:05:20 (3 sec)

It will be a disaster.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:05:20 - 00:05:41 (20 sec)

What about the debates? Joe Biden was interviewed yesterday by Dana Perino, and she said that Joe Biden will be debating you in those three debates. He's already committed to that, but then you have people with "The New York Times," Joe Lockhart suggesting that Biden not debate you. You have others saying that all of a sudden it's not an accurate forum, and they're not in favor of these debates.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:05:41 - 00:05:43 (2 sec)

Why do you think that is?

Donald Trump

00:05:43 - 00:06:00 (17 sec)

Well, they're trying to get out. I mean, my people are telling me that they're playing very cute. They're trying to get out. There's no question about that, but, you know, we should have the debates. The one problem I have, the debate's very late. It's at the end of September and a lot of ballots will already be cast by that time.

Donald Trump

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

They want to make the debates as late as possible. And you know, this commission, they've already apologized to me for what they did. They were oscillating my mic during one debate. They've actually apologized. If you can believe it, I have it in writing that they were doing it, what they do, and this is a commission that's a very left-leaning commission.

Donald Trump

00:06:19 - 00:06:40 (21 sec)

I frankly wouldn't have even used it, and I could have done that, except it's been used for years, but this is a Clinton-Obama type commission and, you know, they call it -- it's a beautiful name, but I'm not happy with it. But why are they putting the first debate so late? The first debate should be before the first -- at least before the first ballots go out, and the have it a month later -- almost a month later.

Donald Trump

00:06:40 - 00:06:41 (1 sec)

It's ridiculous.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:06:41 - 00:06:42 (1 sec)

Yes, September 29th in Ohio.

Donald Trump

00:06:42 - 00:06:49 (8 sec)

But regardless of what it is, I'm ready to debate. I don't care. He really wants to get out, but he has -- in all fairness to him, he has not said that.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:06:49 - 00:06:53 (3 sec)

Would you prefer more debates?

Donald Trump

00:06:53 - 00:07:10 (17 sec)

I wouldn't mind more. What's more important to me is the first debate be moved up, so that when people are putting in their first ballot they're going to know. I mean, there's a vast difference. There's never been two candidates or two philosophies, let's say, that are more different than what we have. I mean, we want law and order.

Donald Trump

00:07:10 - 00:07:26 (16 sec)

We want strong police. We're not defunding the police. We're probably, could say, we're doing the opposite of defunding the police. You look at Portland. That's all -- that's all radical left Democrat. They want every city to be like a Portland. If we didn't go out to Portland -- they've done a great job -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:07:26 - 00:07:26 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:07:26 - 00:07:51 (26 sec)

-- just a very small group. If we didn't go out to Portland, they would have knocked down and burned down the Post Office, which is a $500 million -- the federal building, the courthouse, which is -- and the Post Office and anything else federal. You know, we didn't go just for the courthouse. We went for every federal building there because they weren't protecting it. They were unable to protect it, but we got it to a point where it's reasonable, and if we have to do something more we'll do more.

Donald Trump

00:07:51 - 00:07:53 (2 sec)

We have to straighten out that city.

Brian Kilmeade

00:07:53 - 00:07:53 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:07:53 - 00:07:58 (4 sec)

It's been -- it's been a mess for years, run by radical liberal Democrats.

Brian Kilmeade

00:07:58 - 00:08:13 (16 sec)

Mr. President and if -- and they did not want to use their state police until you brought in the federal agents and then they agreed to use the state police. So, that seems to be a victory. I don't want to spend too much time on the elections, but looking at the pandemic, seniors and those with underlying conditions are most concerned about voting.

Brian Kilmeade

00:08:13 - 00:08:32 (19 sec)

They could be the most patriotic person in the world, but even your age bracket, Mr. President, they're concerned about going out in a crowded area, and it's legitimate. So, having said that, what does the Administration plan on doing to make it easier? More poll sites, clean teams, making demand -- demanding more -- more places in more areas.

Brian Kilmeade

00:08:32 - 00:08:41 (8 sec)

Providing the financing to do that, so if we admit there's a pandemic and a hurdle, what do you plan on doing at it if mail-in voting makes you unsettled?

Donald Trump

00:08:41 - 00:08:58 (17 sec)

Brian, all of those things and more, but all of those things. And remember, November 3rd is a long way, that's a long way. The numbers are coming down very rapidly in Florida, they're coming down in California, they're coming down in Texas, they're coming down. Those three places shot up and those numbers are coming down.

Donald Trump

00:08:58 - 00:09:17 (19 sec)

So, by the time we get there we'll probably be in very good shape. But all of those things, cleanliness, they'll wear the mask, they'll do whatever they have to do, but they want to vote. We have people that really want to get out and vote. It's going to be very safe, but by November 3rd, that's -- you know, time wise that's eternity, frankly, as far as I'm concerned.

Donald Trump

00:09:17 - 00:09:23 (5 sec)

For Trump that's eternity, and November 3rd is a long ways off. A lot of things are going to happen --

Brian Kilmeade

00:09:23 - 00:09:24 (1 sec)

But, we could have a second wave.

Donald Trump

00:09:24 - 00:09:25 (1 sec)

-- and I think it's going to be very positive.

Brian Kilmeade

00:09:25 - 00:09:29 (4 sec)

But, we could have a second wave. The virus got a mind of its own.

Donald Trump

00:09:29 - 00:09:43 (14 sec)

You could have a second wave, other countries have had a second wave. You know what nobody talks about is some of these countries that were being held up as the greatest examples, they're having massive second waves now, and look at what's happening with Australia. And you look at what's happening to France.

Brian Kilmeade

00:09:43 - 00:09:43 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:09:43 - 00:09:49 (5 sec)

You look at Spain, is it a big, big second wave. Italy's got a wave going.

Brian Kilmeade

00:09:49 - 00:09:49 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:09:49 - 00:10:07 (18 sec)

A lot of countries are having a -- but nobody ever talks about that. We have done an incredible job in this country, an incredible job. And our testing is the best ever, the best in the world. And everybody talks about it, other than some of the fake news, they don't like talking about it.

Pete Hegseth

00:10:07 - 00:10:26 (19 sec)

Mr. President, your latest campaign ads portray Joe Biden as a vessel, an empty vessel for the radical left. That's the argument your campaign is making, and certainly he's made an alliance with a lot of the folks in the Bernie camp. Well, the -- the -- Joe Biden's chief surrogate, his wife, Dr. Jill Biden was on our network yesterday.

Pete Hegseth

00:10:26 - 00:10:32 (5 sec)

She made a different argument; they're definitely listening to your ads. Here's what she said.

Jill Biden

00:10:32 - 00:10:54 (22 sec)

[Begin Video Clip] You know, Joe's a moderate and that doesn't mean that his ideas aren't progressive, and bold, and forward-thinking. But he's -- he's not someone who's left, he's not someone who's right, he's a moderate. And that's who he's always been. I think Joe has a really strong vision of where he wants to take this country and he has a strategy and a plan.

Jill Biden

00:10:54 - 00:11:03 (9 sec)

And whether it's on climate change or education or the economy, Joe knows where he's going and what he wants to do. [End Video Clip]

Pete Hegseth

00:11:03 - 00:11:07 (4 sec)

Mr. President, is Joe Biden a moderate? Is that what voters will believe?

Donald Trump

00:11:07 - 00:11:33 (27 sec)

Joe Biden's whatever they tell him to be. And I think it's good that a wife is -- I would expect a wife to say that. That's the appropriate thing to say. But, Joe is being taken so far left. Look at the manifesto that he and Bernie agreed to. That's further left than Bernie ever was. No borders. You know, think of it, open -- open up the walls, let's open up the walls, let everybody -- you know, we're up to 276 miles of wall now.

Donald Trump

00:11:33 - 00:11:53 (20 sec)

Thank goodness we have it, because Mexico is heavily infected, and we'd have a surge. I mean, Mexico's having tremendous COVID problems, we built -- we will have the wall completed, almost completed by the end of the year, shortly thereafter it will be completed, 537 miles of beautiful, very, very powerful wall.

Donald Trump

00:11:53 - 00:12:13 (20 sec)

And wherever we put it, nobody's getting through, nobody's getting through. But the fact is that Joe has -- has agreed already, so how can they say he's a moderate? He's agreed to all these things. You take a look what he wants to do police forces, in Florida, Texas, they just gave me all of the -- law enforcement gave me their endorsement.

Donald Trump

00:12:13 - 00:12:37 (23 sec)

But they have no choice, it's not -- I told them when we were together. I say, I'm very happy to have it, but you have no choice, because you take a look at what they're doing with the funding, whether it's defund or reducing the funds very substantially. But Joe's -- is -- is totally involved with every one of those horrible things, whether it's sanctuary cities and -- and the whole concept of open borders is so bad.

Donald Trump

00:12:37 - 00:13:03 (26 sec)

And then they're going to raise your taxes by two, three, four times. People are going to -- hey look, our stock market is very close to hitting a new record. Nasdaq has already hit a new record. Joe will drive the market into a depression, and the biggest thing holding back our stock market is the possibility that Biden gets elected, because if he gets elected, our stock market will crash.

Donald Trump

00:13:03 - 00:13:26 (23 sec)

If we didn't have an election right now, two things would happen. Number one, our stock market would be even higher, and it's already setting some records. And the other thing is Iran, China, everybody will be at the table the first day within 24 hours wanting to make a deal, including North Korea. By the way, if Hillary Clinton got in you would have been in a war right now with -- a long time.

Donald Trump

00:13:26 - 00:13:44 (19 sec)

Maybe it would be over, maybe it wouldn't, but you'd be in a war with North Korea. North Korea, we're doing fine. We're doing fine with everything. They're all waiting now to see, and they don't want Trump. China -- the last person -- I've taken in tens of billions of dollars from China. Nobody took in ten cents from China.

Donald Trump

00:13:44 - 00:14:13 (28 sec)

China was having the worst year they've had, Brian, in 67 years. Pete, you and I talked about it once before. The worst year they've had in 67 years, we had the greatest year we've ever had, last year, and now we're going to do it again. Next year's going to be a very strong year -- very, very strong. Maybe competitive what we just had prior to the China virus coming in, prior to the plague coming in. So we're set up to phenomenal numbers, and you saw the numbers coming out yesterday.

Donald Trump

00:14:13 - 00:14:37 (24 sec)

They were incredible, having to do with automobile production, having to do with manufacturing. I mean, we're -- the numbers that are coming out are shocking and startling to people. The biggest hang in the market is the possibility that if Biden gets in and raises everybody's taxes, including on corporations, but he wants to raise individual taxes by doubling and tripling, and that's their agenda.

Donald Trump

00:14:37 - 00:14:42 (5 sec)

And then they want to go with the crazy Green New Deal which will put everybody out of business.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:14:42 - 00:14:46 (4 sec)

What's your plan for businesses when it comes to the payroll tax cuts?

Donald Trump

00:14:46 - 00:15:05 (19 sec)

Well, I may do it myself. We're negotiating right now. I have the right to suspend it, and I may do it myself. I have the absolute right to suspend the payroll -- you know, to do the payroll tax and we call it a payroll tax suspension. That's an incentive for people and small businesses and businesses generally to hire back their workers.

Donald Trump

00:15:05 - 00:15:21 (16 sec)

And we're doing very well in that regard. But I will tell you this, the blue states, the Democrat states, they don't want to open up anything. They don't want their schools open. They don't want their businesses open. They want to keep it shut, and you can't do that. You're hurting people by doing that. You know, there's a cost.

Donald Trump

00:15:21 - 00:15:32 (11 sec)

We did the right thing. We closed, and then we opened. If we didn't close at that time where that terrible virus that should have never been here, China should have stopped it, if we didn't close -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:15:32 - 00:15:32 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:15:32 - 00:15:48 (16 sec)

-- we would have had millions of people dead. We've done it right. Now it looks like a very strong V based on all of the numbers we're getting, and you'll have a big number on Friday. I don't know what it's going to be, but you have another jobs numbers. You know, the last two months we've set a record on the job numbers, and now we're going to have -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:15:48 - 00:15:49 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:15:49 - 00:16:09 (20 sec)

-- another big job number on Friday, so it'll be interesting to see what that is. But we're heading definitely a V, but the Democrats are standing in our way. They don't want their states open. Even if the state is in good shape because, you know, much of the country's in really good shape. We see the red spots and we have them in red, you know, the COVID areas, but the country's in very good shape.

Donald Trump

00:16:09 - 00:16:20 (11 sec)

And we're set to rock and roll, but the big problem we have is Democrats don't want to open their schools. They don't want to -- because they think it's going to hurt the election -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:16:20 - 00:16:20 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:16:20 - 00:16:25 (4 sec)

-- for the Republicans and they shouldn't play that game. They should put the people first.

Brian Kilmeade

00:16:25 - 00:16:41 (16 sec)

But Mr. President, when it comes to the coronavirus, roughly we're getting 60,000 new cases a day and 1,000 deaths, so that's what's got people freaked out. Got 18 states with increasing cases as they try to get a hold of this thing. Going back to the testing for a second, while we have testing, we don't have the reagents and we don't have the swabs.

Brian Kilmeade

00:16:41 - 00:16:56 (15 sec)

I'm just wondering, what is going on with the Abbott test? If you got that 15-minute test that the White House has all around the country, you don't make the Abbott test. Why can't they flood the country with the Abbott test? It would help sports, schools and businesses -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:16:56 - 00:16:56 (1 sec)

That's what they're doing, Brian. Brian, we're at -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:16:56 - 00:16:58 (1 sec)

-- but where is this test?

Donald Trump

00:16:58 - 00:17:10 (12 sec)

We're at 50 percent on the test -- the Abbott test or its equivalent where it's a five-minute test and goes up to 15 minutes. It's a great test. By the way, that test didn't even exist until we came up with that test.

Brian Kilmeade

00:17:10 - 00:17:11 (1 sec)

But it's like they stopped making it.

Donald Trump

00:17:11 - 00:17:12 (1 sec)

And at the beginning -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:17:12 - 00:17:18 (6 sec)

I don't know anybody that gets it. They're all going to these labs and it's taking forever -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:17:18 - 00:17:38 (21 sec)

They're -- Brian, we have right now 50 percent -- 50 percent of the country is short-term testing. We're going to more, but you have to remember, we did 61 million tests. The next country is -- like Germany is at three. India with 1.5 billion people is at 11. We're at 61. Nobody's even close to us in testing, and you know, it's just another talking point.

Donald Trump

00:17:38 - 00:18:01 (23 sec)

And by the way, when you do a lot of testing you have more cases, so they say we have more cases. Well that's because we test, and we find people that need help, and we take care of them. This country has done a great job on the corona and I will say, has not -- the people that have worked on it have been amazing what we've done, from ventilators, where we had nothing, to making them now for the world.

Donald Trump

00:18:01 - 00:18:19 (18 sec)

You know, we're supplying the world now with ventilators. And you go back four months, we didn't have any. And it's a complicated piece of machinery, it's big, it's expensive. The job we've done has been an amazing job, when you say that 18 states -- but what you don't say, Brian, is that many states, most states, are coming down, way down.

Donald Trump

00:18:19 - 00:18:42 (23 sec)

And now Florida, Texas, as I said, California and others are coming down. But most states are coming down. You look at a map and white means good. Most of the -- most of the map is in the white color. The red color is the corona or potential, and it's a very relatively small portion, but it's coming down.

Donald Trump

00:18:42 - 00:18:59 (17 sec)

Some states are going up a little bit, but they will very shortly -- they're under control, they'll be coming down. This is a terrible thing that China sent us, this is not easy. This is a terrible thing. And all you have to do is look at every other country in the world, 188 countries are suffering with this plague.

Pete Hegseth

00:18:59 - 00:19:22 (23 sec)

Mr. President, at this moment around kitchen tables one of the biggest question mark for families and parents and kids is will my children actually be going back to school? Could the plan that exists now change later? Teachers' unions out there making demands, like take the cops out of the school and we need Medicare for All and crazy political demands that feel like extortion.

Pete Hegseth

00:19:22 - 00:19:37 (15 sec)

Yet to a parent, they want to know will it be in person, will it be virtual? If I'm in a private school, are they going to treat me -- do they put the same parameters the governor did on the government schools? What is the latest on your view of how these schools should reopen?

Donald Trump

00:19:37 - 00:20:04 (27 sec)

My view is the schools should open. This thing's going away. It will go away like things go away and my view is that schools should be open. If you look at children, children are almost -- and I would almost say definitely, but almost immune from this disease, so few. They've got stronger, hard to believe, and I don't know how you feel about it, but they have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this.

Donald Trump

00:20:04 - 00:20:29 (25 sec)

And they do it -- they don't have a problem, they just don't have a problem. I mean literally in New Jersey where you had thousands, many thousands of deaths -- the governor, Phil Murphy told me, good guy, too, by the way, but he told me thousands and thousands of deaths, it was hard hit, there was only one person under the age of 18 who died of this, and I think that person also had diabetes, a young person.

Donald Trump

00:20:29 - 00:20:47 (18 sec)

It doesn't -- and especially when you get younger than that, it doesn't have an impact on them. And I've have watched some doctors say they're totally immune, I don't know why, I hate to use the word totally because the news will say, oh, he made the word totally, and he shouldn't have used that word. But the fact is that they are virtually immune from this problem.

Donald Trump

00:20:47 - 00:21:13 (26 sec)

And we have to open our schools. Remember this, and I think you believe this, Pete, it's very bad for our country to be locked into a house, an apartment, what's going on with suicide, what's going on with drugs, what's going on with depression, what's going on with so many other things. People lose their jobs, they never get it back, they have a great job, all of a sudden that little business or that big business is forced to close.

Donald Trump

00:21:13 - 00:21:51 (37 sec)

This is a very bad thing. This isn't like, oh we have a choice of one or another. One is good, one is bad, no. Staying locked up -- the lock -- we did the right thing. We closed it down, we saved millions of lives. Instead of the number that you're looking at, you could be at two million. Think of -- multiply the number that you have now times 10, 15 or 20, that's what you'd be. We did the right thing, we closed it down, but now we're opening up. And now we understand the disease, we understand that the elderly, especially the elderly with the problem, with diabetes or heart, if they have a problem, they're very, very vulnerable, very, very susceptible to this disease.

Donald Trump

00:21:51 - 00:21:55 (4 sec)

And we have to be very, very careful and vigilant with them and we are.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:21:55 - 00:22:09 (14 sec)

Well, on that note, what about the elderly teachers or the teachers that are susceptible or have underlying conditions? Are you worried at all, is that a concern that maybe one of the moms or dads who drops their child off might have COVID and not know it, pass it on to one of these teachers?

Donald Trump

00:22:09 - 00:22:27 (18 sec)

I think the teachers are a different story. And if a teacher is in a certain age group, I think they shouldn't be going in and probably they're going to have to wait until the thing goes by. They'll have to wait. It will go by. By the way, vaccines and therapeutics are coming along incredibly well. I've streamlined the process.

Donald Trump

00:22:27 - 00:22:55 (28 sec)

This would have taken three, four years to be where we are right now and we're going to have one -- I believe long before the end of the year. And we have many that are already in stage two and stage three trials, which is ending the lap and it's been incredible. Nobody can believe what the FDA has been able to do. This would have been a process of two years, three years or four years, and we're ready just about -- we think we're -- I mean, we have such -- such great candidates.

Brian Kilmeade

00:22:55 - 00:22:55 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:22:55 - 00:23:05 (10 sec)

Candidates meaning vaccines and therapeutics, where you walk in, a transfusion or a shot and the people get better. That's the one I really like --

Brian Kilmeade

00:23:05 - 00:23:23 (18 sec)

And Mr. President's in today's -- today's "Washington Post" written by four -- four experts, one of which is Scott Gottlieb, who I know you like. He says blood plasma might be the COVID-19 treatment we need, and if we could get people that have recovered from the virus, get the plasma and get it widespread, that might be the therapeutic.

Brian Kilmeade

00:23:23 - 00:23:32 (9 sec)

You're in the meetings with the leading doctors, do you believe this? And if so, what are you doing to spread this plasma? I haven't heard much about this in months.

Donald Trump

00:23:32 - 00:23:55 (24 sec)

Yes, it's a big thing. In fact, I had the meeting the other day at the Red Cross building, you probably saw that, it was a big meeting on -- it was mostly on plasma. And it was also a meeting for people that have recovered. People that have recovered, if they would go to their blood bank, give the Red Cross or wherever they can find and give -- give a donation, because I'll tell you what, that would be a tremendous thing.

Donald Trump

00:23:55 - 00:24:24 (28 sec)

Scott is 100 percent right. It's -- it's a tremendous thing, what we've done with the plasma. And it makes better -- you know -- makes people better. It's fought them off once, and it will fight them off again. But, that's a new thing -- that's another -- that's another way of doing it, and it's something that we have very, very much -- we're taking tremendous amounts of blood, we are getting tremendous donations from -- from people.

Donald Trump

00:24:24 - 00:24:45 (22 sec)

These are people that have had the disease, the COVID, and they've recovered. Their blood, their -- it -- the plasma, so valuable, so important to us. So, they're doing it, we'd like to have a lot more. And you're right, it is a fantastic answer. It's not the whole answer, but it's a fantastic part of the puzzle.

Pete Hegseth

00:24:45 - 00:25:15 (30 sec)

Mr. President, the debates ongoing on Capitol Hill about another stimulus bill, the Democrats say they want $3.4 trillion, Republicans rightly balk at that. A big part of the discussion is how much supplemental unemployment should be given at the federal level. And I noticed a tweet from Representative Lance Gooden, he's a Republican from Texas, pointing out what he's heard from businesses in his district, because Democrats say it has to be $600, Republicans feel like if you're being paid more to be on unemployment it may be a disincentive to go back to work.

Pete Hegseth

00:25:15 - 00:25:32 (17 sec)

Here's the tweet. He said, "With $600 extra unemployment expired, business owners in my district tell me this week is the first week they've had all their employees show up." Do you believe that if unemployment is more than people are making it's a disincentive for people to go back to work right now?

Donald Trump

00:25:32 - 00:25:47 (15 sec)

Well, that's what the Democrats want to do, they wanted to do that. But, I have to say this, what they really want is bail-out money for their states that have done very poorly, for years of bad managing. Not because of COVID, well you can add COVID to it, but basically for years of bad management. They want bail-out money.

Donald Trump

00:25:47 - 00:26:11 (24 sec)

They want a trillion dollars to bail out states that -- and you know the states, I don't have to go over them, I'm not going to embarrass anybody, but there are states that have done very, very poorly. And they want bail-out, they want to use COVID to get them bailed out. And we can't do that. With all of that being said, we want to get funds to people so they can live, but we don't want to disincentivize people from going back to work.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:26:11 - 00:26:16 (5 sec)

Mr. President, what is your second term agenda? What are your top priorities?

Donald Trump

00:26:16 - 00:26:33 (17 sec)

I want to take where we left, we had the greatest economy in the history of the world, we were better than any other country, we were better than we were ever -- we -- we never had anything like it in this country, 160 million people working. We've never had that before, we've never even come close to that.

Donald Trump

00:26:33 - 00:26:51 (18 sec)

Best employment numbers, best unemployment numbers, for African-American, Asian-American, women, Hispanic, everybody. The best numbers we've ever had, the best stock market we've ever had, although we're coming very close right now. In fact, Nasdaq is already higher than that number, so a lot of good things are happening.

Donald Trump

00:26:51 - 00:27:09 (18 sec)

That needs to be jobs. What I want to do is take it from that point and then build it even better. We -- we are becoming a great manufacturer again. I'm taking business and I'm taking trade back from these other countries that have ripped us off for years, our allies also, have been ripping us off for years.

Donald Trump

00:27:09 - 00:27:24 (15 sec)

They don't pay their bills, they're delinquent. They're our allies, right? Everybody says they're wonderful allies. I said yes, but they've got to pay their bills. We protect them militarily and then they take advantage of us on trade and the military, because they don't pay their bills on military in some cases.

Donald Trump

00:27:24 - 00:27:37 (13 sec)

I mean, Germany was very delinquent, they -- they owed us billions of dollars -- billions of dollars to NATO. They should be paying their bills, they are a rich country, they should be paying their bills. Why should we defend countries and not be reimbursed?

Brian Kilmeade

00:27:37 - 00:27:37 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:27:37 - 00:27:56 (19 sec)

I mean, if somebody thinks differently, they can do whatever they want, but Germany was totally delinquent. You know, it's very interesting, we're supposed to protect Germany from Russia, that's fine, but Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for energy. So, we're protecting Germany from Russia, Germany's paying Russia.

Donald Trump

00:27:56 - 00:28:10 (13 sec)

What's that all about? So, there is a whole thing that for years and years -- I don't know why presidents didn't solve these problems, but they are problems that are -- that I'm getting done. I'm getting done like nobody has ever gotten them done before.

Brian Kilmeade

00:28:10 - 00:28:23 (14 sec)

Right. We are just starting the top of the hour. Lucky enough to be talking to the President of the United States about the things that affect your life and affect the country and as you hear around the world. President, just to build on what you just said, you are moving troops out of Germany. We can provide that natural gas to Germany.

Brian Kilmeade

00:28:23 - 00:28:35 (12 sec)

They chose Russia as a supplier, which is pretty insulting. But you're moving troops out of Germany to two countries, Italy and Belgium who also don't pay what they should to NATO, the two percent. Why move them there?

Donald Trump

00:28:35 - 00:28:52 (17 sec)

But they will be paying and we -- I told them. I said, are you going to be paying – they're going to be paying. Brian, I've raised at NATO -- when I went in nobody was -- it was a disaster. I think it was seven countries were paying what they were supposed to be paying. Twenty-eight out of twenty-eight, seven were paying.

Brian Kilmeade

00:28:52 - 00:28:53 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:28:53 - 00:29:10 (17 sec)

Now I've raised -- and Secretary General Stoltenberg who's the head of NATO, is Trump's biggest fan. He goes around, said I can't believe it. President Obama would go make a speech and nobody would pay. But he wouldn't even talk about it. I went and said, you got to pay. I like you all very much but you got to pay.

Donald Trump

00:29:10 - 00:29:34 (25 sec)

We're protecting you, we're spending a lot of money. The United States was paying for everybody. I said you got to pay. Bottom line after one meeting we got $130 billion a year more going to $400 billion and then it makes sense. And by the way, when they say about Russia, that money is largely to protect Europe from Russia.

Donald Trump

00:29:34 - 00:29:54 (20 sec)

So when they say Trump and Russia, Russia, believe me, they'd love to see me lose this election. That I can tell you. $130 billion more paid by those countries that were delinquent. They were all delinquent and it's going to $400 billion but Germany has to pay. Germany is a wealthy country, and they have to pay.

Donald Trump

00:29:54 - 00:30:06 (12 sec)

And we're not going to have 52,000 troops in Germany, where they make a fortune off the troops. You know, they built cities around our troops. We'll let ourselves get rich first. So, Germany took advantage and that's what happens.

Pete Hegseth

00:30:06 - 00:30:17 (12 sec)

Well, Mr. President, as someone who served under a NATO mission in Afghanistan, I could not agree more about how much other countries rely on the United States. We very often don't get much very much back in return. But I want to bring it back --

Donald Trump

00:30:17 - 00:30:36 (19 sec)

We get nothing back. They take advantage of us on trade. We get nothing back. And then on top of it, they make it impossible to do business. They put barriers up, they charge us tariffs. And all of that stuff is coming down. They are dreaming about Joe Biden. They dream about it every night. They go to bed, they say please Joe, let Joe win, we will so be rich.

Donald Trump

00:30:36 - 00:30:50 (14 sec)

And all I'm doing is bringing fairness back because it's – it got out of control long time ago. Long before Obama, Obama did nothing and Biden did absolutely nothing, made it worse, but it was long before them, in all fairness.

Pete Hegseth

00:30:50 - 00:31:05 (15 sec)

Yes, Mr. President, they don't feel the need to defend themselves if they believe we'll do it for them. But I want to come back across the pond, Mr. President, because there are reports that you're considering possibly giving your convention acceptance speech from the White House lawn. What's the latest on what you'll be doing for the convention?

Donald Trump

00:31:05 - 00:31:23 (18 sec)

Well, we're thinking about it. It would be the easiest from the standpoint of security. You know, they move with a lot of people, it's very expensive operation militarily and law enforcement wise. The Secret Service is fantastic, but you know, it's a big deal, and we are thinking about doing it from the White House because there's no movement.

Donald Trump

00:31:23 - 00:31:47 (24 sec)

It's easy, and I think it's a beautiful setting and we are thinking about that. It's certainly one of the alternatives. It's the easiest alternative; I think it's a beautiful alternative. I love the building. I'm there right now. I spend a lot of time here. A lot of people didn't spend as much time. I spend a lot of time here, and I like it, and I think it's a great place and greatly representative of our nation.

Donald Trump

00:31:47 - 00:31:56 (9 sec)

So it would be by far the least expensive from the country's standpoint, because it really is, it's a big deal when you get up and move all of this apparatus.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:31:56 - 00:32:07 (11 sec)

So what is the status of the RNC now? Because at first, it was Charlotte, as you know, and then moved to Jacksonville, but contractually you still had to do a part of it in Charlotte and now we are talking about the White House.

Donald Trump

00:32:07 - 00:32:07 (0 sec)

Ainsley Earhardt

00:32:07 - 00:32:16 (8 sec)

And then how are you going to make sure it's not chaotic? The state convention in Texas we had guests on that said it was so chaotic virtually. How do you make sure these delegates' votes are heard?

Donald Trump

00:32:16 - 00:32:36 (20 sec)

Well, we are going to have -- we're going to have the very first night we'll be in Charlotte. But that's locked down, that state -- the governor just locked them down, I don't know what he's doing. They just locked North Carolina down. We were dying -- we were really wanting to go to North Carolina, and so what we are doing is we are doing one night there.

Donald Trump

00:32:36 - 00:32:56 (21 sec)

And it'll be a nomination night and it'll go very well. We're going to let the press go in and watch it, but socially distanced and lots of things are happening. The state is in a lockdown. States are -- we had no choice. We went to Jacksonville, a place that we're very good, but after we announced, all of a sudden Florida got hit, and now Florida's recovering.

Donald Trump

00:32:56 - 00:33:13 (16 sec)

But what we're going to do is we're going to do virtual and we're going to do some live speeches from different locations, and I'm going to do mine on Thursday night, and that'll be a lot -- the First Lady's making a speech. Numerous people are making speeches, senators, a lot of very, very terrific people.

Donald Trump

00:33:13 - 00:33:14 (1 sec)

We have a terrific -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:14 - 00:33:14 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:33:14 - 00:33:31 (17 sec)

-- really a terrific speakers list. Some of the warrior congressmen that you've watched, Jim Jordan and so many others, Matt Gaetz. We have -- these guys were warriors fighting against just a horrible force that hopefully will get their act together.

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:31 - 00:33:32 (1 sec)

Right. Mr. President?

Donald Trump

00:33:32 - 00:33:34 (1 sec)

We'll have some great, great people making speeches.

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:34 - 00:33:34 (1 sec)

Speaking of -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:33:34 - 00:33:37 (2 sec)

I'll probably do mine live from the White House.

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:37 - 00:33:42 (5 sec)

So, it looks like live from the White House. It's -- so would you say you're locked in on that?

Donald Trump

00:33:42 - 00:33:43 (1 sec)

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:43 - 00:33:44 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:33:44 - 00:33:55 (11 sec)

If for some reason somebody had difficulty with it, I could go someplace else. The easiest, least expensive, and I think very beautiful would be live from the White House.

Brian Kilmeade

00:33:55 - 00:34:16 (21 sec)

Right. Your home there and bills are all paid for. So, Mr. President, speaking of speeches, a week ago many were taken aback when President Obama used a eulogy for Congressman Lewis to really seem to make a campaign speech. One of which was pretty much going after you and clearly talking politics and not much about Congressman Lewis, gerrymandering and getting rid of the filibuster.

Brian Kilmeade

00:34:16 - 00:34:27 (11 sec)

It made me think, who is having a harder time getting over the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton or President Obama? And do you agree that seemed like a campaign speech and less of a eulogy?

Donald Trump

00:34:27 - 00:34:47 (20 sec)

I thought it was a terrible speech. It was an angry speech. It showed this anger there that people don't see. He lost control, and he's been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech. That speech was ridiculous. I think the answer is they both are just at a state they -- you know, it's just one of those things.

Donald Trump

00:34:47 - 00:35:12 (25 sec)

We've redone 82 percent or something of the Obama things, whether you look at the environment and our air is -- our air and water now is cleaner than it's ever been, but we're producing. You go back just prior to the plague coming in -- and by the way we're going to have those numbers plus next year. You'll watch -- but you look at the numbers we were doing and despite that our air and water, our environmental numbers are better than they ever were.

Donald Trump

00:35:12 - 00:35:30 (18 sec)

But no, I thought that speech was totally inappropriate, very bad. He fought very hard. A lot of people don't realize that I think, and I said it the other day, he fought just as hard or harder than Hillary so that Hillary won. He was -- he was somebody -- I didn't know him, but he was somebody that wanted me not to win.

Donald Trump

00:35:30 - 00:35:30 (0 sec)

He wanted -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:35:30 - 00:35:32 (2 sec)

He mocked you. He mocked you. He mocked you at the -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:35:32 - 00:35:34 (2 sec)

-- to keep this whole thing going, but he's like a moderate now. [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:35:34 - 00:35:43 (9 sec)

-- Washington Correspondents' Dinner. He mocked you on Jimmy Kimmel's show that you're never going to be president, and you became president. Do you think to a degree he's not over that?

Donald Trump

00:35:43 - 00:36:01 (18 sec)

Well, you know, I was at that dinner and the Washington -- a lot of people say I ran because of that dinner. That's absolutely not true. Actually he joked, but it's supposed to be joking, and he joked. And I actually thought he did a very good job at that dinner. I thought that dinner was actually a very good job.

Donald Trump

00:36:01 - 00:36:16 (15 sec)

I thought his speech the other day at the funeral was a terrible, terrible representation of what our country's all about. I thought it was absolutely terrible. But he fought very hard for Hillary Clinton. He fought -- I think he fought harder than she did. You remember I used to complain all the time, look at all this.

Donald Trump

00:36:16 - 00:36:37 (21 sec)

He's going all over the place. And you know, it actually inspired our voters, and we have more enthusiasm right now with our voters, Brian, than they ever had, than we ever had in 2016, and we had greater -- nobody ever saw enthusiasm like 2016. They came from the lakes, the rivers. They came from everywhere.

Donald Trump

00:36:37 - 00:36:55 (18 sec)

They came from places that the Democrats never heard about, and they voted. And they lined up, and I don't know if it was ballots or not. Not too many ballots. They just loved standing there waiting to vote. They came days early. They've never seen anything like it. We have more today. I just got back from Texas and Florida.

Donald Trump

00:36:55 - 00:37:21 (26 sec)

We had lines miles long along the highways and along the roadways with the flag and the American flag and the Trump flag. And the one thing I notice is that whenever you have an opposition group in line, they never have the American flag. They never fly the American flag. I can always tell our crowds, but there was virtually no -- I didn't see anybody -- literally thousands -- tens of thousands of people, they were all for Trump and Trump-Pence.

Donald Trump

00:37:21 - 00:37:40 (19 sec)

You have the sign. Mike Pence has done a great job by the way. Great. He's been a solid, incredible vice president. He's done a fantastic job. People love him, but they had the Trump-Pence signs all up and down the highway, and it was an incredible thing to see in Texas. And I got the full endorsement of law enforcement.

Donald Trump

00:37:40 - 00:37:49 (9 sec)

And you know, I told them you don't have a choice. In all fairness, what's the choice? You know, you don't have a choice, in all fairness, what's the choice, but I have full endorsement of law enforcement almost everywhere.

Pete Hegseth

00:37:49 - 00:38:07 (18 sec)

Mr. President, there is a group on the left that carries the American flag because they want to burn it; and it's ANTIFA. We've seen the violence they brought to cities across America. There was a hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill where Ted Cruz tried to layout and get an understanding of where the funding is coming from -- what this group is all about.

Pete Hegseth

00:38:07 - 00:38:24 (17 sec)

But it seemed, Mr. President, the Democrats are hell-bent on denying that ANTIFA even exists or has violence. We had Representative Jim Clyburn on our program over the weekend. He didn't know federal buildings were under threat, and Jerry Nadler -- well, he said this. Listen, Mr. President.

Jim Clyburn

00:38:24 - 00:38:29 (5 sec)

[Begin Video Clip] What federal building has been under threat? Who attempted to burn any Federal building?

Unidentified

00:38:29 - 00:38:35 (6 sec)

[Video Clip] There's violence across the whole country. Do you disavow the violence from ANTIFA that's happening in Portland right now, those riots?

Jerry Nadler

00:38:35 - 00:38:39 (4 sec)

[Video Clip] That's -- that's a myth that's being spread only in Washington, D.C.

Pete Hegseth

00:38:39 - 00:38:49 (10 sec)

How can Democrats get away with calling ANTIFA a myth and saying that Federal buildings are not under siege? They wouldn't condemn it yesterday at the hearing with Senator Cruz. Why can't they?

Donald Trump

00:38:49 - 00:39:12 (23 sec)

Well, Senator Cruz is right, and you know, look, this isn't being naive. This is being untruthful. These are lying people. These are untruthful people. They know it exists. They are -- ANTIFA's a horrible group. It's a far left group and they used to try and blame the right on all this stuff; and now finally at least they're not doing that so much anymore.

Donald Trump

00:39:12 - 00:39:22 (10 sec)

I don't see very much of that at all -- almost never. ANTIFA is a far left group of radical anarchists and agitators is a nice word, but they're really anarchists.

Brian Kilmeade

00:39:22 - 00:39:24 (2 sec)

Who finances them?

Donald Trump

00:39:24 - 00:39:45 (22 sec)

The Democrats -- the Democrats know they exist. You have Democrats funding them. They say Soros, and they say other people. Who knows, but they're funded. You see them standing there with weapons that are expensive, that -- that -- with signs that were made -- I mean literally, they have signs. Some of their little marches -- they have signs that were made in a high class printing shop.

Donald Trump

00:39:45 - 00:40:07 (21 sec)

I like the signs that are made in a basement. They mean a lot more. But that -- ANTIFA is very well known by the Democrats, and when they say gee, we don't know who they are. Who could they be? They are a bad group. When I signed my bill the other day, the Act that -- and it was very important -- 10 years in jail for ripping down monuments or statues.

Donald Trump

00:40:07 - 00:40:29 (22 sec)

It stopped. That was two months ago. It totally stopped -- at least on a federal basis -- even on a state basis because when they heard they go to jail for 10 years -- and that's 10 years, that's a real -- I took an old law, and I reinstituted it, which everyone said, oh, it's too tough. Well, let me tell you, it's 10 years for ripping down a statue or ripping down a monument, and they were going to march on Washington.

Donald Trump

00:40:29 - 00:40:49 (19 sec)

They were going to rip down -- the march totally stopped once I signed that bill. I gave a news conference. I signed the bill. I said you can come, but anybody, and we now have hundreds of people in court that are being prosecuted all over the country, so it's a -- hey, we've done a good job. The problem – we've done a great job.

Donald Trump

00:40:49 - 00:41:07 (18 sec)

The fact is Seattle would be burned down now if we didn't threaten to go in. We were going in and when they heard that we were going in, they sent the cops and this -- and by the way, the ANTIFA -- the radical left -- they gave up immediately because basically they're cowards. Basically they're cowards. They just keep pushing as far as they can.

Brian Kilmeade

00:41:07 - 00:41:07 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:41:07 - 00:41:25 (18 sec)

When I watch police standing there, and these radical anarchists are spitting on the police and doing much worse than that. They're throwing things that you don't want to know about, and the police aren't allowed to defend themselves, they have to stand there. It's a disgrace, but we've done a great job.

Donald Trump

00:41:25 - 00:41:41 (16 sec)

We've saved Portland, and we can do it -- and we did it nice and soft, but we did a very good job in Portland. If we weren't in Portland right now, the federal courthouse would have been ripped down; it would have been burned down. It wouldn't exist, along with lots of other federal buildings and other buildings, too.

Donald Trump

00:41:41 - 00:41:44 (3 sec)

So it's one of those things that if you want the country --

Brian Kilmeade

00:41:44 - 00:41:45 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:41:45 - 00:42:03 (18 sec)

-- like that -- if the whole country is going to be another Portland -- that can happen. You just -- all you have to do is elect this radical group of people. And Joe Biden is totally taken in by them -- by the way -- totally taken in. He can't say -- I mean it's nice that his wife tries to defend him, says -- he's not a moderate.

Donald Trump

00:42:03 - 00:42:08 (5 sec)

Take a look at the manifesto that he agreed to with Bernie. It's further left than Bernie ever was.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:42:08 - 00:42:24 (15 sec)

Yes, he pledged to spend trillions on AOC's new green -- Green New Deal. What's the latest on TikTok? Because all these young folks are worried that you're going to ban it, but yet the adults -- the parents -- don't want the Chinese to be stealing information about their kids.

Donald Trump

00:42:24 - 00:42:47 (23 sec)

So, China has done a big number on us for many, many years. I've taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. Nobody else has ever done it, and one of the things we've done is been very strong. We're not allowing Huawei, that's the big phone company, and we also got a lot of our allies. I said, if you do it that's OK, but we're not going to be able to share any information with you.

Donald Trump

00:42:47 - 00:43:16 (29 sec)

So, we've literally talked to many of our allies that were ready to get a free phone system, or a very inexpensive -- you know -- a -- a 5G system, they were going to get that system. And it would have been a -- it would have been a disaster from a security standpoint. So, Italy and many other countries we've talked out of it. There are still some that are considering it. And if they do it, we're not going to be able to do any security business, because we -- we don't want it going back into the halls of Beijing.

Donald Trump

00:43:16 - 00:43:40 (24 sec)

So, with -- and with -- if you look at TikTok, we said, it's OK if it's bought, if it's bought by a secure American company, they can buy the whole thing instead of 30 percent, which is the American component. But, if you buy it, the United States, which is making it possible to buy, because without us they can't do anything, should be compensated, properly compensated with a very big payment.

Donald Trump

00:43:40 - 00:43:48 (8 sec)

So, that money would go into the Treasury of the United States. And by the way, Microsoft, which is looking at it, and others, they all agreed to that.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:43:48 - 00:43:49 (2 sec)

Well, is China stealing our data?

Donald Trump

00:43:49 - 00:44:13 (23 sec)

Absolutely. Well, they've been stealing for years. They've been stealing everything. We come up with new computers, all of a sudden they're being made -- we have a fighter jet, the F-22, one of the greatest planes in the world, they copied our planes. I saw it without their insignia. I said, let me ask you, what -- what's that all about, that's the F-22? China copied the F-22, one of the greatest fighter jets ever made.

Donald Trump

00:44:13 - 00:44:15 (3 sec)

It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace.

Brian Kilmeade

00:44:15 - 00:44:35 (20 sec)

Yes, they also -- the Mars probe looks exactly like ours. Meanwhile, let's keep it with China for a second. You go to Australia who's changed their defense strategy to defend against China. The U.K. walked away from Huawei. Vietnam extremely worried. Japan extremely concerned. They're reconfiguring and reanalyzing their relationship.

Brian Kilmeade

00:44:35 - 00:44:56 (21 sec)

India, they just had a skirmish and lost some people. You have an opportunity to lace together our allies against this rising China tide, what specifically have you done, being that we seem to be on the same page, but we're not singing from the same hymn sheet, Mr. President. What have you done to set up that anti-China coalition?

Donald Trump

00:44:56 - 00:45:15 (20 sec)

Well Brian, all of the things that you just said, with the U.K, they were all set to buy the Huawei system, Australia, all of those things that you just said, I've done. I had a big talk and a tough talk with Boris. I said, listen, if you do that system you can forget about Scotland Yard, frankly, because we can't do business with you.

Donald Trump

00:45:15 - 00:45:26 (10 sec)

And they were all set to do it, and they terminated. Italy was all set to sign the Huawei system, and they terminated. Australia's been great right from the beginning, I'll tell you what, they are a great ally. [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:45:26 - 00:45:30 (5 sec)

But, Mr. President, have -- are you just waiting -- are you waiting for -- are you going to call a summit together to get --

Donald Trump

00:45:30 - 00:45:51 (21 sec)

No, we're already together. We -- we are very unified. Let me tell you, these countries are almost as angry as I am at the plague being released into their country. China stopped the plague from going into China, but they didn't stop the plague from leaving China and going to Europe and the United States and all over the world, OK, 188 countries.

Brian Kilmeade

00:45:51 - 00:45:52 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:45:52 - 00:45:56 (4 sec)

And those countries have suffered more than we have in many ways, hard to believe.

Brian Kilmeade

00:45:56 - 00:45:56 (0 sec)

Right. And Mr. President --

Donald Trump

00:45:56 - 00:45:56 (1 sec)

More than we have --

Brian Kilmeade

00:45:56 - 00:45:58 (1 sec)

-- on that same note --

Donald Trump

00:45:58 - 00:46:00 (2 sec)

-- and countries have been decimated, and they haven't forgotten that.

Brian Kilmeade

00:46:00 - 00:46:09 (10 sec)

They steamrolled -- right. Mr. President, but they steamrolled Hong Kong, we condemned, we sanction, but we did nothing. What if they move on Taiwan next? What are we prepared to do?

Donald Trump

00:46:09 - 00:46:27 (17 sec)

OK, let me tell you about Hong Kong. So, Hong Kong, we're with them all the way, but, you know, it's part of -- you know -- it's attached. And with Hong Kong, they've taken tremendous amounts of business from us, just on a practical -- from a practical standard, the Hong Kong Stock exchange, they take massive amounts.

Donald Trump

00:46:27 - 00:46:52 (26 sec)

We gave them -- because of freedom, for freedom, we gave them tremendous incentives, and I wouldn't say it's wrong, but they took massive amounts of business away from the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, all of our exchanges. And that was OK, we did that for freedom. We've now taken that all back. Hong Kong will not be a successful exchange anymore, won't be. We gave them such incentives that they had to do well; it was easy to do well.

Donald Trump

00:46:52 - 00:47:01 (9 sec)

We're going to make a lot more money now, I will say that. China has grilled them down; they've sort of lost a lot of their fight, as you know.

Brian Kilmeade

00:47:01 - 00:47:03 (2 sec)

They've been arresting everybody.

Donald Trump

00:47:03 - 00:47:21 (18 sec)

But, from our standpoint, Brian, you have to understand that I've -- I've looked at it for years. I say, why are -- why is Hong Kong getting so much business? That's not good. We gave Hong Kong tremendous incentives to get business, that was business that would normally come into New York and business that would come to the United States.

Donald Trump

00:47:21 - 00:47:41 (19 sec)

The New York Stock Exchange, they're going to do very well, they're going to pick up a lot of business. Now, that's very cold to be saying that, right? That's very cold. But the fact is, Hong Kong is there and the -- and they didn't honor their agreement, there's 25 years to go with their agreement with U.K. They have an agreement, it should have been honored.

Donald Trump

00:47:41 - 00:47:59 (19 sec)

And U.K. has looked at it very strongly. But, we've taken everything back and we're doing a lot more business. We're going to be doing a lot more business. Hong Kong, unfortunately, their exchanges and all of that business will now dry up. It'll fail because they can't do it without the incentives that we gave.

Donald Trump

00:47:59 - 00:48:02 (3 sec)

We gave them so much in order to be successful.

Pete Hegseth

00:48:02 - 00:48:22 (20 sec)

Mr. President, real quick on business. I want to talk about the business of sports. It's reopening in our country. A couple years ago you were very vocal about kneeling for the national anthem. Now, it seems that standing is the new kneeling in that only three players in the NBA -- Jonathan Isaac, Meyers Leonard, and a coach, Gregg Popovich, are actually standing for our nation's anthem.

Pete Hegseth

00:48:22 - 00:48:24 (2 sec)

Your take on the state of the league.

Donald Trump

00:48:24 - 00:48:41 (17 sec)

I think it's disgraceful. We work with them. We work with them very hard trying to get them open. I was pushing them to get open, and then I see everybody kneeling when the -- during the anthem. We're not -- it's not acceptable to me. When I see them kneeling, I don't -- I just turn off the game. I have no interest in the game.

Donald Trump

00:48:41 - 00:49:14 (33 sec)

And let me tell you, there's plenty of other people out there, too. And Black Lives Matter, nobody's done better for our black community than me. Nobody, and that is with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln -- it's true -- criminal justice reform, opportunity zones, best employment numbers in history, every single one I've done -- funding the black colleges and universities historically, they say historically black, but the colleges and universities funded it. For a long time they had no funding.

Donald Trump

00:49:14 - 00:49:36 (22 sec)

They had to keep coming back to Washington. I took care of them for long-term. They're all set. Nobody's done, for the black community, African-American community, what I've done, and I will tell you, they had Black Lives Matter. Where did it start? Marching down streets screaming pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon.

Donald Trump

00:49:36 - 00:49:59 (22 sec)

They were talking about policemen -- policemen and women. Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon. So all of a sudden this has taken on this air of great respectability. Well, how does it start there? It's a Marxist group -- it's a Marxist group that is not looking for good things for our country, and now I see these leagues all kneeling down.

Donald Trump

00:49:59 - 00:50:11 (12 sec)

And again, nobody has done more for the black community by far. I would say nobody other than, I'll give the one exception, Abraham Lincoln, OK? But even that, I mean, to be honest with you, but nobody -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:50:11 - 00:50:11 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:50:11 - 00:50:32 (20 sec)

-- has done more than I have, but when I see people kneeling during the playing and disrespecting our flag and disrespecting our national anthem, what I do personally is turn off the game. And the ratings for the basketball are way down, if you know. And I hear some others are way down, too, including baseball because all of a sudden now baseball's in the act.

Donald Trump

00:50:32 - 00:50:49 (17 sec)

We got to stand up for our flag. We have to stand up for our country. We have to stand up for our anthem, and a lot of people agree with me. Hey, if I'm wrong, I'm going to lose an election, OK? And that's OK with me, but I will always stand for our country and for our flag. That's what we're all about. And our country is now respected again.

Donald Trump

00:50:49 - 00:51:04 (15 sec)

Our country was disrespected, and now our country is respected, and other countries, including our allies -- I say sometimes our so-called allies because they've ripped us up more than the enemies -- but our -- but these allies are respecting us again.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:51:04 - 00:51:20 (16 sec)

Mr. President, this will be the last question. Is there something that you can say to help our country with the race division, with the inequalities? Because your -- most of your supporters at least are going to say, I don't support Black Lives Matter when they're chanting pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:51:20 - 00:51:45 (25 sec)

Most people support law enforcement that support you, and the men and women that are the hard workers that are out there on the front lines. But there does need to be that conversation of Black Lives Matter in the sense that Condoleezza Rice was asked what is one of her biggest pet peeves. I'm just paraphrasing here, but she said I hate it when people look at me because I'm black and they come up with preconceived notions of how I'm going to vote or what my background is like or my education is like.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:51:45 - 00:51:53 (8 sec)

How can we heal as a nation so that we can look at everyone as Americans? As Maya Angelou says, we are more alike than we are different.

Donald Trump

00:51:53 - 00:52:14 (21 sec)

Well, Condoleezza's 100 percent right. Look, we were really there. We were very close. Success -- it's called success. We had the highest employment, the best employment numbers ever -- ever for the Black community, for African-American. The best numbers. Hispanic, Asian, everybody, but we had the best numbers for everybody.

Donald Trump

00:52:14 - 00:52:41 (27 sec)

We were there. I was seeing it. I was even seeing it, believe or not, with Congress. We were doing things. The election was a walk. The election was going to be a walk -- a walk in the park. Now, I'm working, but we're doing well. We have poll numbers now where I'm leading. And you know, we got hit like everybody else and everybody in the same position, all these other countries, but we got hit, but we're doing really well and we're building it again, and people see that we're building it again.

Donald Trump

00:52:41 - 00:52:43 (2 sec)

Biden can't build anything, but -- [Crosstalk]

Brian Kilmeade

00:52:43 - 00:52:43 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:52:43 - 00:52:59 (17 sec)

But we were very close, Ainsley, to being there. We had this tremendous success going, and I could see things changing, and they were changing rapidly and then we got hit with the plague from China. Now, we are doing it again, the best answer, Ainsley, is great success -- great jobs, great income, homes.

Donald Trump

00:52:59 - 00:53:26 (26 sec)

The home ownership was at the highest rate. Now, we had great homeowners. As you saw, yesterday the home ownership numbers were just announced yesterday, and home sales are through the roof. I think it was one of the highest ever. So, we are doing it again but we got interrupted by the virus, by the plague and it was a terrible thing, but the answer just in a word is success.

Donald Trump

00:53:26 - 00:53:33 (7 sec)

Success will bring us together better than any other. There's no other word that can top it. It's going to bring people together, Ainsley.

Brian Kilmeade

00:53:33 - 00:53:39 (7 sec)

All right, Mr. President, thanks for the quality time, we truly appreciate it. On behalf of the audience, thanks so much, best of luck.

Ainsley Earhardt

00:53:39 - 00:53:40 (1 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President.

Pete Hegseth

00:53:40 - 00:53:41 (1 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President.

Donald Trump

00:53:41 - 00:53:43 (2 sec)

Thank you all very much, I love your show. Thank you.

Brian Kilmeade

00:53:43 - 00:53:44 (1 sec)

All right. Thank you.

Pete Hegseth

00:53:44 - 00:53:44 (1 sec)