President Donald J. Trump Approves New York Disaster Declaration

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2020 President Donald J. Trump Approves New York Disaster Declaration Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that a major disaster exists in the State of New York and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Isaias on August 4, 2020.   Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by Tropical Storm Isaias in the counties of Nassau and Suffolk.   Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.   Pete Gaynor, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Seamus K. Leary as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.     Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.   FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV

President Donald J. Trump Approves Delaware Disaster Declaration

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2020

President Donald J. Trump Approves Delaware Disaster Declaration Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Delaware and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Tropical Strom Isaias from August 4 to August 7, 2020.   Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by Tropical Storm Isaias in Kent County.   Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.   Pete Gaynor, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Timothy S. Pheil as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.    Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.   FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV

President Donald J. Trump Approves North Dakota Disaster Declaration.

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2020 President Donald J. Trump Approves North Dakota Disaster Declaration. Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that a major disaster exists in the State of North Dakota and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms and flooding from June 29 to July 1, 2020. Federal funding is available to State, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the counties of Benson, Grand Forks, McKenzie, Mountrail, Nelson, and Wells. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Pete Gaynor, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named James R. Stephenson as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.   Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP TO GUESTS AT THE AL SMITH DINNER The White House

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2020 REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP TO GUESTS AT THE AL SMITH DINNER   The White House          THE PRESIDENT:  It is a profound honor to address the 75th annual Al Smith Dinner.  For generations, this wonderful event has been a revered institution in New York and New York life. I fondly remember attending with my father a long time ago. I was a young man, but never forgot it. This organization’s incredible tradition of Catholic charity exemplifies the very best not only of this city, but of this country.       I want to thank Cardinal Dolan -- a very special man -- for his extraordinary stewardship of the Archdiocese and for his deep dedication to God and to our nation. I also want to thank him for all of the help he’s given me, and so many things and so many different ways. Thank you very much, Cardinal. We very much appreciate it.      Let me also thank Mary Erdoes and the entire Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation.      As you know, tonight’s Al Smith Dinner is unlike any other, sadly. Our country, and the entire world, have been struck with a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. China shouldn’t have let it happen, but it did. When the virus came in from China, we saw New Yorkers respond with the same grit and tenacity, courage, and selflessness that have always defined this city that we love so much.      Doctors and nurses worked around the clock. The heroes of the New York PD -- NYPD -- we love them and they endorsed me, so I like them even more. But they are great.  New York’s Finest. And the FDNY, the bravest -- they are the bravest, they’re great; I know them all very well -- and other first responders risked their lives to save others.      And of course, the Catholic community and the men and women of the New York Archdiocese answered the call and, frankly, answered it like nobody else could. In Catholic schools, hospitals, shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries, you served with the supreme devotion to your fellow citizens.      The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation made a historic $8 million dollar gift to support the children and the families of New York. Thank you.      You showed the world the essence of the Catholic faith. I’ve known about it for a long time. I lived right next to a magnificent Catholic church. As Jesus Christ said in the Gospel, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”      As President, I want to thank the Catholic community for the magnificent generosity you showed in America’s hour of need.      We mourn for all of those who lost a loved one, and in their memory, we will defeat the virus. Through advances in treatment, we have reduced the fatality rate by 85 percent since just April. We are on track to develop and distribute a vaccine before the end of the year, and maybe substantially before. And I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight, and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country.       From the very beginning of our republic, Catholics have uplifted and enriched our nation beyond measure. Catholics like Charles Carroll helped secure American independence. Women like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton founded a movement that created thousands of schools and lifted children out of poverty. And the great Al Smith, the original “Happy Warrior,” -- that’s what he was; he was a happy warrior. I know it well. I consider myself to be a happy warrior, but it’s not so easy in these times. But he was a happy warrior of American politics. He spent his life fighting for hardworking Americans and battling the anti-Catholic prejudice that you see even today coming out of the Democrat party.      Today, this amazing group continues that proud tradition of faithful service. Your work reminds us of an essential truth: In this country, civil society—and especially our religious institutions—are an essential foundation of American freedom. Our nation is strong because of Catholics and, frankly, people of all faiths.      That is why, as President, one of my top priorities is to defend religious liberty and the cherished role of faith and faith-based organizations in our national life.      To protect your God-given rights, I was recently honored to nominate one of our most brilliant legal minds, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, to the United States Supreme Court, and that was an honor indeed. She is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School where her professor, one of the most respected anywhere in the country, said she was the single greatest student he’s ever had in his class. We will not stand for any attacks against Judge Barrett’s faith. Anti-Catholic bigotry has absolutely no place in the United States of America. It predominates in the Democrat party, and we must do something immediately about it, like a Republican win—and let’s make it a really big one.      To support the noble mission of Catholic schools, my administration is working to advance School Choice. It was my great honor to help the Catholic Church with its schools. They needed hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide, and I got it for them. Nobody else. I got it for them. I hope you remember that on November 3rd, but I got it for them. And it was an honor to do it. I did it at the request of Cardinal Dolan and others of your leaders. They really needed it. We took care of that situation. Very important.      We are once again standing with Catholic charities and healthcare providers such as the Little Sisters of the Poor. We’ve been with them all in the way in this long fight. We are fighting for Catholic adoption agencies and fighting hard. And we are defending the sacred right to life. Remember that when you vote,. That’s so important, and so important to the Supreme Court. Every child, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of God.      Few institutions in history have done more for New York, more for America, or more for people of the world than the Catholic Church. From the parishes of this city came the soldiers who fought to end slavery, the workers who raised up the towering skyline of Manhattan, the chaplains who landed on the beaches of Guadalcanal, the nuns who marched for civil rights, and the police officers and firefighters who we love so much, who ran into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.      Now more than ever, our nation needs a renewal of the values that this organization promotes and that the Catholic faithful live out each and every day in peace. We love the Catholic people. We love the Catholic religion. And above all, we respect it greatly.      As President, I will always support you in your effort to serve our fellow citizens and to lift up all humanity. I will protect the Catholic Church, and I will defend the rights of religious believers of every race, religion, color, and creed.      Thank you once again to the Al Smith Memorial Foundation. God bless You, God bless New York, and God bless America.                               END

Proclamation on National Manufacturing Day, 2020

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2020 NATIONAL MANUFACTURING DAY, 2020   - - - - - - -   BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   A Proclamation          Since the founding of our Nation, Americans have been renowned for their craftsmanship and productivity.  On National Manufacturing Day, we celebrate our dedicated American workers who carry on this legacy, recognizing that manufacturing is a cornerstone of our economic prosperity and national security.  The workmanship and ingenuity of American manufacturers make "Made in the U.S.A." an enduring stamp of patriotism and excellence, and we will always support the men and women whose work ensures that American manufacturing is second to none.      Since my first day in office, I have put America first, ushering in an unprecedented manufacturing revival.  In 2017, I signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, supercharging our economic resurgence after more than a decade of stagnation.  My Administration also embarked on a long-overdue effort to eliminate unnecessary and burdensome regulations, unleashing the full potential of our manufacturers.  Under my leadership, we also renegotiated one-sided and unfair trade deals, finally putting American workers and their interests first to ensure they can compete on a level playing field with their foreign counterparts.      These policies and achievements have delivered historic results for the American worker and American families.  Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, our Nation had added more than 483,000 manufacturing jobs since my inauguration.  In addition, more than 430 organizations have signed my Administration's Pledge to America's workers, committing to providing education and training opportunities for 16 million American students and workers over the next 5 years, with manufacturing workers as a primary beneficiary.  Thanks to the renegotiated  United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, which I signed in September of 2018, American manufacturers are being treated more fairly on the global stage, and we ended a bilateral trade deficit of more than 170 percent caused by previous administrations' disastrous policies.  In January of this year, I also delivered on my promise to replace the outdated North American Free Trade Agreement by signing into law the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which will create nearly 600,000 new jobs -- including 76,000 in the auto industry alone -- and spur up to $235 billion in new economic activity for our country.      In recent months, the vital importance of our Nation's manufacturing sector to the strength, security, and resilience of our country has become abundantly clear.  Since the arrival of the coronavirus from China, the health and safety of the American people has depended more than ever on American manufacturing for essential goods and medical supplies.  To help facilitate the delivery of essential supplies and goods, I invoked the Defense Production Act and related authorities more than 100 times since March to launch the greatest manufacturing mobilization since the Second World War, quickly focusing the might of American industry toward defeating the virus.  Our manufacturers have delivered when they were needed most, working with Federal, State, and local government partners to produce more than 240 million N95 respirators, one billion surgical masks, 45 million face shields, 430 million gowns, and 28 billion gloves -- in addition to continuing to keep grocery store shelves stocked and deliver other essential goods to the American people.  The men and women who occupy manufacturing sector jobs have been and continue to be heroes in this effort, ensuring the strength of our supply chain and fueling our nationwide response to the virus.      As our Nation continues to reopen, we know that our manufacturing sector is vital to our economic recovery.  Already, we are seeing signs that a historic resurgence is well underway; we added 29,000 manufacturing jobs in August alone, the same month in which manufacturing activity reached a 19 month high.  American workers have pioneered the greatest advancements in history, and they will overcome this latest challenge as well and continue to transform lives around the world.  Today, as we celebrate National Manufacturing Day and our Nation's exceptional manufacturing heritage, let us resolve to expand American excellence in manufacturing into the future, securing our national prosperity for generations to come.      NOW, THEREFORE, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2, 2020, as National Manufacturing Day.  I call upon all Americans to observe this day to celebrate today's manufacturing and the U.S. manufacturers that make our communities strong.      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.                                 DONALD J. TRUMP

ON-THE-RECORD PRESS CALL BY PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP'S BUY AMERICAN AGENDA

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2020 ON-THE-RECORD PRESS CALL BY PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP'S BUY AMERICAN AGENDA   Via Teleconference     12:07 P.M. EDT        MR. NAVARRO:  Thank you.  Hi.  It’s Peter Navarro here, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.        What I’m going to do methodically -- and this will all be on the record -- is to work through the latest report from the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.  This report, entitled “Donald J. Trump: The Buy American, Hire American President” will be released this afternoon.  You’ll get a copy of this sometime this afternoon, probably with this embargo until three o’clock.        Since the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20th, 2017, my mission at the White House has been to help the greatest jobs President and trade negotiator in history rebuild America’s manufacturing base.  And over the past four years, this administration has led by one beautiful phrase, “Made in the USA,” and two simple rules: Buy American, hire American.        What we do in this report is take you through a tour of five critical dimensions of President Trump's “Made in the USA” strategy.  The point here is simply that “Buy American” is much, much more than simply “Buy American” rules in government procurement.  It's also four other things: It has to do with the “Hire American” actions we've taken.  The Trump trade negotiations and tariffs are very much a “Made in the USA,” “Buy American, Hire American” strategy.  The fourth dimension has to do with our defense budget on military sales.  And the last dimension we'll talk about is the one of the oldest pieces of “Buy American” legislation: the Jones Act.        A major theme underlying this report is something that President Trump has said many times: Economic security is national security.  The concept here is that when we engage in “Made in the USA” actions, that not only creates jobs and prosperity, it also strengthens both our manufacturing base and our defense industrial base in a way which makes our nation more secure.        The subject of this reporting is purely a policy statement rather than a political one.  It is the claim by former Vice President Joe Biden to the two words “Buy American.”  We were, frankly, amazed that Joe Biden would try, yet again, another kind of plagiarism -- this time of a key platform plank of President Trump's entire administration.        I would just remind everybody that it was Joe Biden who gave us made “Made in Mexico”'s NAFTA in 1994 and “Made in Shanghai, China” into the World Trade Organization in 2001.        And I think what you'll see as I walk you through this report is really a comprehensive and well-thought-out strategy that dates back to candidate Trump promising that the two simple rules -- the “Buy American, Hire American” -- would be that which governs this administration.        So let me -- let me take you through this Magical Mystery Tour here of our “Made in the USA” strategy.  And let's start with the “Buy American” procurement, which is the most obvious.        We spend about $200 billion a year -- taxpayer funds -- on projects like roads and bridges and building construction.  There's substantial legislation Congress has passed over the years to ensure that when the government spends money on such procurement, the products are made in whole or in part in the USA.  But there's just a lot of loopholes that have existed in the law.        So what we've done since the President took office is set out to enforce, strengthen, and expand these “Buy American” procurement policies.  And as you'll see in the report, the President has signed at least 10 “Buy American” executive orders.  One of them has made it more difficult to grant unnecessary waivers.  That EO also extended “Buy America”’s reach through (inaudible) federal financial assistance to the states and local governments.        Some of the “Buy American” EOs target specific industries.  For example, Communist China can no longer sell bulk power equipment to the U.S.  This is important because Chinese malware or corrupted components can threaten our national electricity grid.        We also had a really great order for commercial fishermen, which opens up new markets; reduces unnecessary regulations; cracks down on unfair trade practices in countries like China -- it's always China; and streamlines the aquaculture permitting process.        My favorite of these executive orders -- and I think, in many ways, the most important in light of the Communist China virus and the pandemic -- is the most recent order, the order signed that is designed to invoke “Buy American” for our essential medicines in what's called medical countermeasures that we need to fight pandemics and crises like the China virus.  And that one, of course, on August 6, 2020, requires that our essential medicines and medical countermeasures be purchased domestically by agencies like Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services.         The one metric I can give you -- two metrics, actually: If you look at domestic procurement in the Obama-Biden years, we see that it went from $323 billion to $419 billion in the Trump -Pence years.  That's about a 26 percent increase.  And that comparison is based on Obama-Biden fiscal years 2015 plus 2016 versus Trump-Pence 2018/2019.  We skipped 2017 because those -- that's an overlapping year.         All right, so that's dimension number one.         Let's go to dimension number two which is “Hire American.”  And we got three different areas where the President has really taken strong action: visa abuses, apprenticeships, and the veterans’ transition to the civilian workforce.         And what we do is we lay out all of the many things the President has done in this area.  I highlight a few.  I mean, the Justice Department has helped crack down on visa abuses, where there's been attempts to replace American workers with cheap foreign labor.  The President, in June, halted the visas for foreign workers through the end of the year so that in our current situation we wouldn't have foreign workers taking urgently needed jobs for Americans.         There's also the ignominious case in the Tennessee Valley Authority which tried to lay off more than 200 employees -- forced those employees to train their foreign replacements.  President Trump signed an executive order on that; fired the chairman and board member.  And TVA has backed off from that.         On the apprenticeship front, we've really been very aggressive about this.  This is so critical really to ensuring a strong manufacturing base and also meeting the challenges of new technology.       We've had -- since the June 17th executive order on this, the Department of Labor has registered nearly 816,000 people entering apprenticeship programs.  The Office of Economic Initiatives created the Pledge to American Workers.  That has resulted in 440 companies and organizations participating and 16 million new education and training opportunities for American students and workers.         Interestingly enough, President Trump also reformed the hiring practices of the federal government, which was arbitrary -- kind of, one-size-fits-all, degree-based focus.  And what we've been able to do is make this more skills-based, and that gets us a deeper pool of talented individuals to best serve our nation.         President Trump loves our veterans.  Just loves our veterans.  He signed three pieces of legislation to help them transition into the civilian workforce: The Hire Vets Act, the Valor Act.  And also, we've got numerous executive orders which are designed to assist the transition of military personnel into civilian activities -- not just the military personnel themselves, but also their spouses.         One of my favorites in this regard is the executive order that helps our sea veterans transition from Coast Guard, Marines, and the Army and Navy to the Merchant Marine.  This is one of the remits of this office to make sure we have enough Merchant Mariners to provide for our military in times of conflict.  So I think that order was quite important.         So that's the first two dimensions.         The third dimension has to do with trade policy and tariffs.  As you know, the Trump-Pence administration inherited a broken global trade system in which overseas competitors and predatory foreign governments stole our technology, unfairly subsidized national champions, and dump their products into our markets.         I would remind you that this was a product of about 20 years of malfeasance by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including people like Bill Clinton and Joe Biden who supported both NAFTA and China's entry into the World Trade Organization.         Going back to Bush-Cheney and through Obama-Biden, we lost over 70,000 factories and millions of manufacturing jobs to the NAFTA and China trade shocks.  States like North Carolina with their textile and furniture industries got hit first and hard.  But after that, the NAFTA and China shocks would ripple across the manufacturing heartland of America to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and beyond.         It's been a cornerstone President Trump's economic plan to fix this broken system.  And if you look at what he's done, it's been truly remarkable by any measure.         Both President Obama and President Trump promised to renegotiate NAFTA.  Guess who did that?  The -- it was interesting that during the NAFTA debate, you had the usual suspects from globalist-oriented places like the Peterson Institute telling us that NAFTA would create 170,000 U.S. jobs and that our trade balance with Mexico would remain in surplus.  How's that working out?  And then the Obama-Biden ticket promised to renegotiate NAFTA in 2008.  How's that working out?        But the point, I think, is that with USMCA, which entered into full force, I view this as the Full Employment Act for the American auto industry.  It raises the North American content 75 percent and then ensures that a lot of that will be in Detroit by imposing tough labor and environmental provisions on Mexico.        You've got the Korean deal, which -- that was Hillary Clinton's baby.  Again, the same -- the same usual suspects, same scenario, telling us that our exports would go up and we'd have more jobs.  In fact, just the opposite happened.         The most important thing about that deal is that it prevented the tariffs on South Korean light trucks and pickups from expiring in 2021.  Ambassador Lighthizer pushed that out until 2041.  And if we hadn't done that, Detroit would have been all but dead because pickups and light trucks really are what holds our auto sector together in many ways.        The Japan deal -- nice, targeted deal for $7 billion in agricultural goods -- what it did basically: also eliminated any day damage that might have happened because of Japan's joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  It's really important to understand the TPP because that's something, again, that Joe Biden says he’s going to jump right into.         This was sold to us by the Obama-Biden administration and the globalist elites as a strategic counterweight to Communist China’s influence in Asia.  But President Trump very clearly understood that the TPP would have required the U.S. to turn over much of its auto and auto-parts sector, particularly to Japan and Vietnam, and in exchange for someone undefined and uncertain alleged strategic benefits.  And that was really a deal breaker.  The idea of sacrificing America's auto industry on the altar of national security was the TPP deal breaker.         As President Trump has said, any nation that trades its prosperity for security will end up losing both.  So the TPP is by -- sometimes the best trade deal is the one you don't sign to begin with, and TTP is certainly in that category.         If you switch to the Trump tariffs, these have been enormously successful.  They were met with great skepticism when they were first imposed.  And the globalist elites in the fake news continue to try to drum up stories attacking these tariffs, but the reality is that if you look first at the steel and aluminum tariffs, these are central elements in the ships, planes, missiles, bombs, and combat vehicles we need to fight back against strategic opponents like China, Russia, and Iran.         When we put the tariffs on in March of 2018 -- and here's what we've seen just statistically: During the Obama-Biden years, we saw steel imports, as a percent of total U.S. consumption, rise from 22.7 percent in 2009 to 30.1 percent in 2016.  And this was a great hardship to our industry.        As the -- through the first six months of 2020, we've got that below where it started in the Obama administration, down to 21.8 percent.  And equally important, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of new investment.  But one of the great attributes of tariffs is they help induce investment domestically.  Steel companies have announced more than 29 additional new projects or expansions, totaling more than $9.5 billion.  We've seen the same thing with aluminum -- 37 new projects or expansions, totaling $4.8 billion.         And, by the way, on the aluminum issue, the Obama-Biden administration just about killed that industry.  Just from 2015 to 2016, aluminum imports as a share of total U.S. consumption jumped from 41 percent to 53 percent.  And right now, we're down to 22 percent as of 2019, thanks to the Trump tariffs.        If you look at the China tariffs, we've got the economic aggression of Communist China and its seven deadly sins against American workers.  It's always useful to summarize what those seven deadly sins are: the cyber intrusions by Chinese government officials to steal American business secrets.  I would note that that's still -- we’re in 2020 now, and that's five years after Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the CCP, told Barack Obama in the Rose Garden that he would stop doing that.  Clearly, that was a lie.        Sin two: intellectual property theft.  You got forced technology transfer, dumping of products below cost into our markets, abuse of state-owned enterprises to bully American companies, a long history of currency manipulation, and let’s not forget all the Americans dying from Chinese fentanyl and opioids.         What we have now are two successes: tariffs on more than $360 billion, which has delivered over $60 billion to the U.S. Treasury.  And in a fact-check on Joe Biden, who claimed that our deficit with China keeps rising, that is wrong.  After reaching a peak in October of 2018, and after the Trump-China tariffs kicked in, our trade deficit with China has in fact been declining for the first time in over a decade.  We also, under pressure from the Trump tariffs, got Communist China to sign a phase one trade deal on August -- excuse me, on January 15th, 2020.  And at least they appear to be making historic purchases of corn, soybeans, pork, beef, and chicken.        The solar and washing machine tariffs are likewise wildly successful.  We had a situation here -- again, it's always Communist China sticking it to us, it seems like -- 2012 to 2016, China increased its illegal dumping of solar panels and modules.  Imports soared by 500 percent, prices fell by 60 percent, and we lost 25 U.S. solar panel and module manufacturers to this Chinese predation.         And after a case at the International Trade Commission, the President approved tariffs on eight and a half billion dollars’ worth of solar panel imports.  That has got us, yes, 2,600 U.S. jobs across eight factories and preserved 1,750 jobs across five factories, and the U.S. is now home to the two largest solar manufacturers in the Western Hemisphere.         We got a similar situation playing out where, for a change, it wasn't the Chinese this time; it was the Koreans -- LG and Samsung -- attacking our washing machine industry, although I would note that LG and Samsung did it with the help of the Chinese.  President Trump levied tariffs on foreign washing machines.  And I personally visited the “Pride of Clyde” in Ohio, Whirlpool.  And they roll out washing machines now at the rate of one every four seconds.  It's pretty impressive.  Thank you, Donald J. Trump.        We've also seen, interestingly enough, LG and Samsung having found out that if they can't beat the tariffs they'll join them -- they've invested in large manufacturing facilities in South Carolina and Tennessee, and they'll be creating over 1,600 U.S. jobs in America, rather than Seoul.        The last element of dimension three -- I do have to give a shout-out to Secretary Wilbur Ross; he's the tip of the spear for what's called “anti-dumping and countervailing duties.”  Anti-dumping duties are used when products are exported to the U.S. at prices below cost.  And then countervailing duties are used for unfair export subsidies.         What we've seen is a substantial increase in orders.  They’re called AD and CVD orders.  We got 62 in the Obama-Biden administration in the last four years -- no, in the first four years of that administration.  And then that compares to 188 orders for the Trump Commerce Department, a 203 percent increase.  Again, congratulations to Wilbur Ross.        The fourth dimension is a combination of defense budget hikes and an expansion of foreign military sales.  The increases in the defense budget translate directly into increased American manufacturing because much of the production in America's defense industry follows very strict “Buy American” rules, but at the same time, selling -- foreign military sales really yield some benefits I'll talk about in a minute.        I think the top line for the defense budget hikes is this: Obama-Biden cut the defense budget by about 16 percent and had a -- just a crushing blow to our defense industrial base and resulted in a significant deterioration of our combat readiness.  It really was unconscionable what that administration did.  And they were clueless both to the importance of defense industrial base in our economy, as well as in our security.         We're now at over $700 billion per year in the defense budget.  At a macro level, the Council of Economic Advisers estimates that support -- these hikes support 1.1 million jobs and contribute about a quarter point of GDP growth per year.  And that’s just very substantial.         But at the micro level, you can also go around the country, as I have, and look at facilities which would otherwise be diminished or shut down -- just really flourishing now.  A couple I'll mention on the map: the Lima Tank Plant in Ohio; similar facility in York, Pennsylvania; a similar facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; you've got the shipyards in Marinette, Wisconsin, and Philadelphia and Panama City.         And “economic security is national security,” again, is the theme.  These create great jobs, they also keep our nation secure.        The foreign military sales is really interesting.  The Trump-Pence administration has really taken a very different approach to that.  Obama-Biden didn't seem to want to help our strategic allies and partners, and they didn't realize they were shooting us in the foot.      But this is pure “economic security is national security.”  When you sell items like the M1 Abrams tank, the F-16 fighter jet, the THAAD missile defense system, that's tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs and supply chains across America, and workers of all backgrounds benefit -- the high-paying jobs, scientists, engineers, software designers, welders, machinists, electricians.        But these sales also, on the national security front, strengthen our alliances and also reduce the need for American boots on the ground in foreign lands, which is a high priority of President Trump.        All I can tell you on the FMS for a topline stat is we're looking at a 38 percent increase in fiscal years 2018, 2019 compared to the last two complete fiscal years of the Obama-Biden administration.  And it adds up to more than 130,000 additional jobs.        So let me end this report discussion with a brief comment on the Jones Act -- one of America's oldest pieces of legislation.  It requires that any vessel transporting merchandise between two points in the U.S. be built, owned, and crewed by American citizens.  And the “built” part of the Jones Act helps ensure America has a robust domestic shipbuilding capability, which is critical to our defense industrial base.        And then, the Jones Act ships be crewed by Americans likewise helps ensure our nation has a Merchant Marine workforce efficient to serve both our commercial and military needs.        And I want to remind you that Merchant Mariners, during times of conflict, transport military goods, such as tanks, helicopters, and troops, and they really are mission critical.         And, you know, we’re up against Communist China again, which provides really extreme subsidies to their shipbuilding industry.  They're now -- they control the world's second-largest fleet and construct a third of the world’s ships, while our shipbuilding industry, prior to the Trump-Pence administration, has been in steep decline.  But we've begun to turn that around.         During the eight years in the Obama-Biden administration, a number of U.S. flagships dropped 22 percent, and gross tonnage fell 13 percent.  Right now, we bounced off the Obama low by 10 percent, and tonnage is up to 7.3 million tons.        So, that's -- that’s the big overview of the report.  We'll get this out to you by email this afternoon.  And let's keep this embargoed until three o'clock so everybody can operate on the same playing field.         We will have a video on this, which should be posted to the Whitehouse.gov site within a couple of days.  And, right now, I'll do -- I'll take a few questions, but please do me the courtesy of asking questions only about this report.         I'll turn it over to the moderator now.         Q    Hi.  Firstly, I’d just like to convey my best wishes to the President and his family.  And thank you, Dr. Navarro, for having this call and all your hard work to put American workers first.         So you probably know, yesterday, Congressman Brooks introduced the American Jobs First Act to overhaul the H1B program.  And I was just wondering: Is this the program that they -- the President supports?  Like, does he support this bill to overhaul the H1B program?  And is there anything in there -- for example, the suspension of the F-1 OPT program -- that the President could consider implementing by executive action?        MR. NAVARRO:  I can't speak to the bill itself.  The one thing I can tell you in the report is reference to the memorandum of understanding that was signed between the Department of Labor and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.  It allows the two departments to share immigrant and nonimmigrant petition records and data, and really marks the first time DOL will have access to suspected employer violations within the H1B visa program.         This kind of Secretary of Labor-certified tool has never been used.  What we are clearly signaling is that we are taking this area very seriously.         Thank you.  Next question.         Q    Hi.  Thank you, Dr. Navarro, for this briefing.  I have a question about Kodak deal -- pharmaceutical deal -- which was put on hold in August.  Is there any update on that?  And is the White House in talks with other companies to replace Kodak?  Thank you.        MR. NAVARRO:  So this is a “Buy American” report, so we'll go to next question.        Q    Hi, thank you for doing this call.  I guess another piece of the -- you know, helping U.S. businesses is the China trade deal.  And I was just wondering if Trump will keep phase one in place before the election, even if the Chinese are still falling short on purchases.        MR. NAVARRO:  Again, this is the “Buy American,” report so we'll go to the next question.        Q    Hi, Dr. Navarro.  So, as part of your explanation for this report, you said that President Trump's tariffs have been enormously successful and that they're very much part of the “Made American, Hire American” strategy.  But more than 3,700 U.S. companies, including Coca-Cola, Ford, Home Depot, Target, and Tesla, have filed lawsuits against the Section 301 tariffs with the Court of International Trade and are asking for a refund plus interest.  What do you make of those lawsuits?        MR. NAVARRO:  I think it underscores the fact that there's a schism between the working men and women of America, particularly in blue-collar manufacturing, and the globalist elites who run our multinational corporations.  And for decades, going back to Joe Biden's NAFTA, have chased cost efficiencies around the world without any regard for the United States of America.  So this behavior by these corporations is, in my judgment, “dog bites man,” but it's still reprehensible.         This President, Donald J. Trump, is the President of blue-collar America and represents the party in the working class.  These multinational corporations, basically, do not.        Next question and last question.        Q    Hi there.  Thank you very much for doing this call.  Thank you for the access.  I'm going to ask the question that's on a lot of people's minds today, especially because other White House officials have responded on record about it --        MR. NAVARRO:  All right.  I think we're -- I think we’re done here.  Thank you.  Bye-bye.                                           END          12:43 P.M. EDT

Memorandum from the President’s Physician

 

Resolute Reads FIVE STORIES PRESIDENT TRUMP DOESN'T WANT YOU TO MISS

 

FIVE STORIES PRESIDENT TRUMP DOESN'T WANT YOU TO MISS September Jobs Numbers Best Since Reagan-Era, Don't Panic America -Fox Business America added 661,000 jobs last month, according to today’s jobs report, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent. “You may read elsewhere about an economic slowdown but September’s very positive jobs numbers actually confirm that we are still experiencing the most dynamic economic recovery in American history,” Andy Puzder writes.   BY THE NUMBERS: September Jobs Report Shows American Grit Cuts in Policing Have 'Led to 710 Murders and More Than 2,800 Gunshot Victims' Across the US -Daily Mail Online “Major cities across the United States are seeing a 'dramatic and widespread spikes in homicides' after police funding cuts,” Lauren Fruen reports. University of Utah Law Professor Paul Cassell dubbed this rise in crime the “Minneapolis effect,” explaining that “as a result of de-policing during June and July 2020, approximately 710 additional victims were murdered and more than 2,800 victims were shot.” Liberals Should Love Amy Coney Barrett  -The Washington Times “Liberals should love Amy Coney Barrett. As an independent woman who has held prestigious positions in legal academia, private practice and the judiciary, she embodies the ideal of professional excellence for feminists . . . If tenacious women like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg prepared the way for women to practice law, formidable women like Judge Amy Coney Barrett have paved it,” attorney Kelly Tshibaka writes.   WATCH: Supreme Court belongs to all Americans, Judge Barrett says NBC News Misrepresents Internal DHS Memo About Their Response to the Kyle Rittenhouse Case -Townhall “NBC News misrepresented an internal memo given to Department of Homeland Security officials that was meant to brief them on the Kyle Rittenhouse situation the week it occurred in August. NBC News reported ‘officials were directed to make public comments sympathetic’ about Rittenhouse and it included quotes from the document.” In reality, these “‘sympathetic’ talking points were not talking points at all,” Julio Rosas reports. Trump Nominated a Third Time for Nobel Peace Prize -The Hill “President Trump has received a third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Aris Folley reports. “Four Australian law professors recently nominated the president for the high honor, with one of them, David Flint, citing his recent role in helping broker relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2020 President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts   Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key positions in his Administration: Thomas Fitton, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure.   Laurence Allen Elder, of California, to be a Member of the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys.   Loren Robert Flaum, of New York, to be a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.   Bill H. Stern, of South Carolina, to be a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESS SECRETARY KAYLEIGH MCENANY James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

 

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2020 PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESS SECRETARY KAYLEIGH MCENANY   James S. Brady Press Briefing Room     11:22 A.M. EDT        MS. MCENANY:  Well, good morning, everyone.  Three years ago today, 58 people lost their lives and hundreds more were wounded in the horrific Las Vegas music festival shooting.  That was three years ago today.  On behalf of the President and his administration, our hearts continue to break for the victims and their families.  They are in our prayers today.        Fulfilling his Article 2, Section 2 obligation and following well-established precedent, President Trump nominated an eminently qualified candidate for the Supreme Court: Judge Amy Coney Barrett.        Judge Barrett is extremely well qualified: She graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where she received the Hoynes Prize for achieving the best record in scholarship, and she also is a Rhodes Scholar.        As Notre Dame Law Professor Carter Snead said, “There’s just consensus: Amy Barrett is the best student, the smartest and most talented person to ever come through the University of Notre Dame Law School.”        In addition to being a gifted student, Judge Barrett clerked for the D.C. -- for D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman and the “Lion of the Court,” Justice Antonin Scalia.        In 2017, Judge Barrett was confirmed in a bipartisan vote to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  In support of her 2017 nomination, colleagues described Judge Barrett as, quote, “a model of the fair, impartial, and sympathetic judge.”        Judge Barrett is not only a qualified jurist but a woman of character.  Judge Barrett is the devoted working mom of seven children, including two adopted children from Haiti and one child born with special needs.  Judge Barrett is full of compassion and empathy, and she understands the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable.        Judge Barrett would become the first-ever mother of school-aged children to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.  If confirmed, Judge Barrett would be the only Republican-appointed woman on the Court and the fifth woman in the Court’s history.        Her qualifications are many.  Her character is unquestionable.  Her devotion to the Constitution and interpreting the law as written is steadfast.  Judge Amy Coney Barrett is the right choice to serve on the Supreme Court.        And with that, I will take questions.  John.        Q    Kayleigh, if I could start off, I'd like to ask you for a definitive and declarative statement, without ambiguity or deflection: As the person who speaks for the President, does the President denounce white supremacism and groups that espouse it in all their forms?        MS. MCENANY:  This has been answered, yesterday by the President himself, the day before by the President himself on the debate stage.  The President was asked this; he said “sure” three times.  Yesterday, he was point-blank asked, “Do you denounce white supremacy?”  And he said, “I've always denounced any form of that.”         I can go back and read for you -- in August 2019, “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.”  In August of 2017, “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups.”  I have an entire list of these quotes that I can go through with you.         He has condemned white supremacy more than any President in modern history.        Q    But just to clear it up this morning, can you -- naming it -- make a declarative statement that you denounce -- that the President denounces it?         MS. MCENANY:  I just did.  The President has denounced this repeatedly.        Q    You read a bunch of quotes from the past.  Can you --        MS. MCENANY:  The President was asked this.  You're making -- you’re contriving a storyline and a narrative.        Q    No, I’m not.  I’m just asking you to put this to rest.        MS. MCENANY:  He said -- I just did.  I read you all of the quotes.  And if you --        Q    You read me past quotes.        MS. MCENANY:  -- need to see them in writing --        Q    Can you do it currently?        MS. MCENANY:  -- I will put them in an e-mail.        Paula.        Q    So, Kayleigh, could -- can I just -- can you, right now, denounce white supremacy and the groups that espouse it?        MS. MCENANY:  I just did.  The President has denounced --        Q    You read a bunch of quotes from the past.        MS. MCENANY:  -- white supremacy, the KKK, and hate groups in all forms.  He signed a resolution to that effect.  The President just last week -- perhaps you all weren't covering it -- but just last week expressed his desire to see the KKK prosecuted as domestic terrorists.  This President had advocated for the death penalty for a white supremacist, the first federal execution in 17 years.         His record on this is unmistakable, and it's shameful that the media refuses to cover it.         Yes.        Q    Kayleigh, thank you.  The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security say that racially motivated violent extremism is one of the deadliest threats that we face in the U.S.  Does this White House agree with that assessment?  And what is it doing to combat this threat?        MS. MCENANY:  The President has done quite a bit to combat this threat.  First of all, last week, he also -- in addition to saying he wants to prosecute the KKK as domestic terrorists, he said that lynching should be a national hate crime.  Again, I think there's no stronger signal that you can send than advocating for the execution of a white supremacist -- the first time there's been a federal execution in 17 years.  He's been unmistakable.        Q    Saying you want to do it is different than actually doing it.         MS. MCENANY:  He's continually condemned it, and it is really --        Q    His record on this, to go to John’s question, is mixed.        MS. MCENANY:  It is really -- it’s --        Q    He has condemned it.  He has equivocated.  At times --        MS. MCENANY:  It is not mixed in the slightest.        Q    -- he said he didn’t want to acknowledge it or address it.  His record is very mixed on this issue.        MS. MCENANY:  His record is not mixed in the slightest.  And --        Q    His record is very mixed.   MS. MCENANY:  -- when you go back in history, you can see that --        Q    I have his history right here.         MS. MCENANY:  When you go back in history, you can see that --        Q    I have his quotes.        MS. MCENANY:  -- Jesse Jackson has praised the President --        Q    It’s mixed, Kayleigh.  It’s mixed.        MS. MCENANY:  -- as someone who served underserved communities.  This President, with Mar-a-Lago, it was the first Palm Beach Club open to African Americans and Jews.         Q    That’s a part of his record, but his record is mixed.         MS. MCENANY:  And, in fact, he was --        Q    He has not been consistent on the issue of white supremacy.        MS. MCENANY:  -- he was praised.  He has been entirely consistent.        Q    So I’m asking you what has this White House done --        MS. MCENANY:  And it is quite shameful --        Q    -- to combat what the FBI says --        MS. MCENANY:  It is quite shameful --        Q    -- is one of the deadliest --        MS. MCENANY:  Let me speak, Paula.         Q    -- threats in this country?         MS. MCENANY:  Paula, we’re not having a debate on a cable news network.         Q    You’re -- you’re -- you’re saying --        MS. MCENANY:  Right now, you need to let me finish.         Q    -- that he condemns it.  I have his record right here; it’s mixed.   MS. MCENANY:  You need to let me finish.         Q    His record is mixed.        MS. MCENANY:  It’s quite funny that the media goes haywire about interrupting in debates and then chooses to pursue that very same tactic themselves.  This is a White House briefing.  You ask a question and you give me time to answer.         Yes.        Q    Kayleigh, the President said at the debate that Roe vs. Wade was not on the ballot and that Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s view was not known.  She signed a newspaper ad in 2006, which called for, quote, “an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe vs. Wade.”  And the President has explicitly promised to support judges that overturn Roe.  Was he downplaying her views on Tuesday night?  And what do you say to the American public about whether Roe is on the ballot?        MS. MCENANY:  The President has been clear that he would never ask a judge to prejudge a case.  Judge Amy Coney Barrett has, on multiple occasions, said it is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else, on the law.  She said that she continues to stand and vehemently believe the core proposition: If there is ever a conflict between a judge's personal conviction and that judge’s duty under the rule of law, it is never, ever permissible for that judge to follow their personal convictions in the decision of a case, rather than what the law requires.        Q    Kayleigh, does the President expect her to overturn Roe?  He has said he would only appoint judges that overturn Roe.        MS. MCENANY:  The Pres- -- the President would never ask the judge to prejudge a case.        And what I would also say is we fully expect that the Ginsburg rule be followed throughout the course of these proceedings.  It was then-Senator Joe Biden who set the Ginsburg rule in saying that there are no questions on how Ginsburg will decide any specific cases that may come before her.  And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg indeed applied that rule throughout the course of her hearing on the First Amendment religion clause --        Q    Then why did he say that her views are not known?  They are very clear.         MS. MCENANY:  -- and various other issues.         Yes.         Q    Will the President commit to participating in the next debate before the commission changes the rules?        MS. MCENANY:  First, with regard to the commission rule changes: The President made clear his view on that yesterday, that he thinks the only way there's a fair debate is changing the moderator and a change in the Democrat nominee.  He wants to debate.  He plans on being at the debate, but he wants the rules to be fair and wants a fair exchange, and doesn't want rules that cover for a certain candidate’s inability to perform well.        Yes.        Q    Thank you, Kayleigh.  Can you explain why it's appropriate for the President to be holding rallies this weekend in two areas that this White House has declared to be “red zones” in Wisconsin?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, so the President believes that people have a First Amendment right to political speech.  He is having a rally.  People can choose whether or not to come.        Q    But the governor has begged the White House to please not continue having events like this.  Your own Coronavirus Task Force says this is an area that people need to be really careful in, double down on social distancing.  So why is it right for the President to be coming in there and holding another rally or two rallies?        MS. MCENANY:  Well, we -- we employ measures to protect rally-goers.         Q    Yeah, but you don’t.  I mean, we’ve all covered these rallies.        MS. MCENANY:  We encourage mask wearing, hand sanitizing.        Q    These people are shoved together.  There are thousands of people standing close to each other, not wearing masks.         MS. MCENANY:  Did you watch the Democrat nominee’s rally yesterday?  There was no social distancing there, so I assume you guys expressed the same line of questioning to the Democrats.        But what I would say is this: Is there really seems to be two standards of health in this country, one for Trump supporters and one for everyone else.  You had 1,300 health experts literally sign a letter that said, “We do not condemn these gatherings…” -- speaking of the protests that we all saw play out -- “We do not condemn these gatherings as risky for COVID-19 transmission.  We support them as vital to the national public health.”  So it's vital if you're protesting, but somehow political speech is no longer vital when it comes to a Trump supporter.        Kaitlan.        Q    So, the Proud Boys, or people who consider them to be members of this group, give voice to these misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant views.  They're a despicable group by pretty much anyone's standard.  So when the President was asked about them, and you say he denounced them -- that’s what you're insisting that he did on the debate stage the other night -- if that's the case, then why are they celebrating what the President said on the debate stage in front of millions of people?        MS. MCENANY:  Well, I don't speak for that group, so I'm not sure why you're asking me why they're saying a certain thing.        Q    But I’m saying, if someone denounced you, you probably wouldn't put it on a t-shirt and makes badges of it, right?         MS. MCENANY:  The President did denounce them.  He was asked, “Will you tell them to stand down?”  He said, “Sure,” and went on to stand --        Q    He said to “stand by,” which seems like an instruction.        MS. MCENANY:  He said, “Stand back.”  And then just yesterday, when he was asked, he said specifically “stand down,” a synonym with “stand back.”  And the President said “sure” when asked by the moderator whether they should stand down.  So again --        Q    No, he said -- MS. MCENANY:  So, again, another -- it's really interesting, too, to see that the media seems to be the only one putting the names of these groups into headlines, into media reporting.  He didn’t know who the Proud Boys were.  The first time I heard of them was in the debate.  But the media continues to put these names into circulation and give them a lot of public attention.        Justin.        Q    The President was given about 12 hours -- more than that -- since from the debate from when he was asked to clarify yesterday.  And he didn’t come out and clarify yesterday.  Instead, he did what you did when John asked you to unambiguously denounce these groups.  You just pointed to past things that you've said.  You can't -- I just don’t understand why you knew you were going to get these questions, and you don’t have a statement ready to just say, "We do unambiguously denounce these groups --        MS. MCENANY:  Kaitlan, you know what is --        Q    -- and they are not our supporters that we welcome.”        MS. MCENANY:  Do you know what is -- do you know why people have lost trust in the media?  There was a reporter from your network yesterday -- your network -- and in a tweet said, quote, "The President --        Q    I'm asking you a question.          MS. MCENANY:  I’m answering your question.        Q    I don't even know what you're going to bring up, but that has nothing to do with what I’m asking you right now.        MS. MCENANY:  I sat here -- I sat here when you lobbed your partisan attack question, so you will allow me to give an answer.         The President and someone from your network said yesterday, in a tweet, “The President dodged a question about white supremacy.”  That was a tweet from a CNN reporter.  The President specifically, verbatim, was asked yesterday, "White supremacy, do you denounce them?"  To which he responded, "I have always denounced any form of that."  Those are the facts.  And, CNN, I know that truth is of no moment to your network, but those are the facts.  And that’s shameful (inaudible) your reporting.          Q    They're not the facts.  Why are Republicans -- Republicans are calling on the President to be more forceful.        MS. MCENANY:  Justin.        Q    Thanks, Kayleigh.        Q    His own party.        MS. MCENANY:  Justin.        Q    Thanks, Kayleigh.  I had a question about unemployment, but I first wanted to clean up something from your opening.  You said Judge Barrett was a Rhodes Scholar.  I'm not sure that that's true.         MS. MCENANY:  Um, that’s what I have written here.         Q    She attended Rhodes College.         MS. MCENANY:  Attended Rhodes College.  So, my bad.         Q    So, very different thing.  All right.        MS. MCENANY:  Yes.        Q    Anyway, within the last week, around 50,000 workers, Disney, United, American Airlines all lost their jobs.  There's negotiations going up on Capitol Hill that there seems to be a division between Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, who has expressed some willingness and an ability to work with Speaker Pelosi, and Chief of Staff Meadows -- who is widely reported to be against, sort of, moving forward with this deal -- was up on the Hill speaking with Senator Paul yesterday but not involved in the actual talks.         At this point, isn't it time for the President, especially considering the tight calendar before the election, to step in himself and have these conversations?  And, you know, this came up at the debate the other night.  If not now, when for the President to get involved?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, so, you know, first, I would say Nancy Pelosi is not being serious.  If she becomes serious, then we can have a discussion here.  But I --        Q    She lowered her offer by trillions of dollars.        MS. MCENANY:  And we -- we raised our offer.  But when you lower your offer $2.2 trillion, and you ask for direct payments to illegal immigrants, and you ask for certain deportation forgivenesses in your offer, it's not a serious offer.  What we are talking about here is relief for the American people, for American citizens, not direct payments for illegal immigrants.        We raised our offer to $1.6 trillion; among that was $250 billion for state and local.  The $250 billion for state and local is the estimated loss because of COVID.  And also, there's $150 billion for schools, $50 billion above what Nancy Pelosi asked for.  It is a good proposal, but it's one that she is not interested in.         And do you have one more question?        Q    Well, I was just going to follow up on -- whenever you're --        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, no, go ahead.        Q    If immigration is a stumbling block and this deal is not going to -- not going to get done because of that -- you know, Chief Meadows, in the past, had said that you guys were looking at unilateral executive actions on airline aid, specifically.  We're seeing massive layoffs in that sector right now.  He had also said that there might be other things available for the millions of other Americans who are facing joblessness right now.  But are any of those things going to happen?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, it's a great question, and it's very sad to see what's happening in the airline industry.  I met a few of the airline workers on a flight who would lose their job.  And their job loss -- 19,000 people facing layoffs -- is because of Nancy Pelosi.        The White House, right now -- you talk about unilateral action -- we are willing to look at a plan, a legislation that is just clean legislation to protect those airline workers.  Nancy Pelosi, rather than playing election partisan politics, should come to the negotiating table.  Let's consolidate around things we agree on.  And I think something we can agree on is 19,000 workers should not lose their job in the airlines, so it's incumbent upon Nancy Pelosi to engage with Secretary Mnuchin and the Chief of Staff on making that a reality.         Yes.        Q    Thank you, Kayleigh.  As you know, the President has criticized the mail-in voting process quite a bit over the last few weeks.  The other day, he said, "They found a lot of ballots in a river."  Who is “they”?         MS. MCENANY:  So what the President was referring to are something that we've seen just in the last seven days where, in Wisconsin, there were trails of mail ending up in a ditch.  So that's, I believe, the specific he was referring to, and that included absentee ballots.        Q    Where specifically -- in this particular statement though, who is "they" that found those ballots, and where is this river anywhere in this country?        MS. MCENANY:  The local authorities.  It was a ditch in Wisconsin that they were found in.  And I can get the article to your inbox, if you’d like.  And beyond that --        Q    So he mis -- but that’s fine.  If he misspoke, that's fine.  So he meant --        MS. MCENANY:  No that's -- that's -- I believe --        Q    He meant a di- -- he meant a ditch rather than a river?        MS. MCENANY:  That’s what the President was referring to.  And you're really -- you're missing the forest for the trees here.  The point is --        Q    No, I just wanted to know where -- I cover the news, and I like to report accurately in the news.  And when the President says, "They found a lot of ballots in a river," I simply want to know where the river is.        MS. MCENANY:  No, you simply want to ignore the fact of the matter.         Q    I don’t.        MS. MCENANY:  Again, please --        Q    I got asked -- I got asked so many questions about this by my Fox affiliates --        MS. MCENANY:  -- allow me to respond.  Allow me to respond.         Q    -- “Where is this river?”        MS. MCENANY:  Allow me to respond to you.        Q    And I can’t give them accurate information --        MS. MCENANY:  Allow me to respond.        Q    -- and that’s why I'm asking you.        MS. MCENANY:  This is -- this is what is happening here: You are ignoring the problem here, which is, last week, in Pennsylvania, you had ballots found in a ditch.  That is a fact.  In Wisconsin, seven military ballots, all marked for Trump, were found cast aside.  There are problems with mass mail-in voting.  I under- -- I actually don't understand the lack of journalistic curiosity and reporting on this.  There used to be --        Q    I want to know where the river is.        MS. MCENANY:  There used to be curiosity.         Q    Where is the river?        MS. MCENANY:  In fact, the Washington Post, before President Trump, highlighted the problems with mail-in voting.  They said the result was an "unexpected stress test of mail balloting systems," when this was tried, “many of which were designed to handle only a small portion of the vote and are not ready to scale up in response to the pandemic.”        So the media once said --        Q    So there is no river?      MS. MCENANY:  -- mail-in voting is "not ready to scale up" in the middle of a pandemic.  Now there's no journalistic curiosity when we're finding Trump ballots --        Q    There’s no river then?        Q    He's asking you about it.        MS. MCENANY:  -- cast aside.  There's no journalistic curiosity when --        Q    I’m asking you where the river is, and you can’t give an answer.        MS. MCENANY:  -- 100,000 ballots were sent out in Brooklyn.         Q    If you say the President meant a ditch, then say he meant a ditch.        MS. MCENANY:  They were inaccurate ballots, and then 100,000 more.        Q    I just want to know where the river is.        MS. MCENANY:  Shameful filibustering and lack of journalistic curiosity.         Yes.        Q    I'm very curious.  Where's the river?        MS. MCENANY:  Yes.        Q    That's curiosity.        Q    Kayleigh, Senator Tim Scott said the President misspoke at the debate on white supremacy.  Did he misspeak?  And has he spoken to Senator Scott?        MS. MCENANY:  When the President announced white supremacy and said "sure," no, he did not misspeak.         Q    Has he spoken to Senator Scott?        MS. MCENANY:  (Calls on the next reporter.)  Yes.        Q    Has he spoken to Senator Scott?        MS. MCENANY:  (Calls on the next reporter.)  Yes.        Q    Kayleigh, the $1.6 trillion that the administration has floated to Speaker Pelosi, is that the highest topline that the administration is going to go?  And Speaker Pelosi also just said that she is expecting a counteroffer from the administration.  Is the White House and Secretary Mnuchin preparing one right now?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, right now, we have the $1.6 trillion number, and I'll let you know if that number goes up.        Yes.        Q    Thanks, Kayleigh.  How does the White House interpret the Pope's refusal to meet with Secretary of State Pompeo?        MS. MCENANY:  I have not spoken to the President about that, so I'd have to get back to you on that.        Yes.        Q    Kayleigh, I wanted to ask you about the statement from the President Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.  How worried is this White House that this conflict is going to escalate beyond a regional dispute?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, sorry, back up one second.  What was the top of your question there?  It was about the -- what we just signed?        Q    Yeah.  There is a statement, I understand, that was put out by Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, and also Donald Trump that calls for peaceful negotiation.        MS. MCENANY:  On Armenia, Azerbaijan.  Right.        Yeah, so President Trump, along with President Putin, as you noted, and President Macron, representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, released a statement condemning, in the strongest terms, the recent escalation of the violence along the Line of Contact in the conflict zone, and we call for an immediate cessation of hostilities between the relevant military forces.  And we also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit, without delay, to resuming substantive negotiations in good faith and without preconditions under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.        Q    Is there though -- just quickly to follow up.        MS. MCENANY:  Yes.        Q    Is there concern about, sort of, regional powers -- major regional powers, being drawn into this?  Is that something that the White House is, sort of, actively trying to combat?        MS. MCENANY:  Um, that’s all I have to say on that matter at this time.         Yes.        Q    Thank you, Kayleigh.  I have two questions for you.  One about the list of former Trump administration officials who are coming out against President Trump, and supporting Joe Biden is growing.  Is the President concerned about these dissidents and what they're talking about?        MS. MCENANY:  No, we're not concerned.  The people who have come out are people who don't have personal interactions with the President, and they're peddling things that are falsehoods to advance their careers.        Q    And I have a question about the Latin vote.  What is President Trump's strategy to convince the Latino voters, beyond the Cubans and Catholics, to vote for him?  What is the -- what is the importance of the Latino vote for him?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, the President believes that he has a lot of accomplishments for the Latino community, in particular, historic low unemployment, a thriving economy, historic high homeownership for Latino men and women in this country.  Those are things that President Trump made possible and will bring back in this economic recovery that we’re seeing -- this V-shaped recovery.        And I’m also -- I’m glad you asked that point specifically because there were some new data that came out that said, “As we’re recovering in this super-V-shaped recovery, we’ve regained nearly -- for the Hispanic community, nearly 6 in 10 jobs lost among Hispanic Americans were regained.  And it took Obama-Biden an entire year to recover that many jobs.        So the V-shaped recovery is indeed a V-shaped recovery for Hispanic men and women in this -- in this country, especially.        Yes.        Q    What about his message against immigration --        Q    Thank you, Kayleigh.        Q    Do you think this could hurt his --        MS. MCENANY:  For what?  On -- oh, no --        Q    The message on immigration.        MS. MCENANY:  On immigration, the President believes that the Latino population very much wants a lawful immigration system.  And also, we believe his law and order message is resonating and very important as voters want to be secure in their homes and secure in their streets.        Yes.        Q    Thank you, Kayleigh.  The President recently unveiled his Platinum Plan, which is geared toward the black community.  It promises to create 3 million new jobs, $500 billion in access to capital.  It’s a lot of money, and nobody really seems to be talking about that.  Can you tell us how this assistance will be administered and how the White House will follow up to track the success of the plan?        MS. MCENANY:  Yeah, this is a very important plan for the black community.  It’s also -- it bears mentioning that, in the pandemic, as we’ve regained jobs, roughly 4 in 10 jobs lost among black Americans have been gained, and it took Obama-Biden two years to do that.  So we’re indeed outpacing in job growth for the black community and the Latino community.        And the President has promised this community that he’s looking to create 3 million jobs in a next term.  He wants to create 500,000 new black-owned businesses, increase access to capital in black communities -- almost $500 billion.  He’s done that with Opportunity Zones, and it’s estimated that about a million people will be lifted out of poverty and given opportunity because of this.        Among another of -- among another number of items, I should say, in the plan, where he wants to prosecute the KKK as domestic terrorists and make lynching a federal crime.  Again, all of that lost upon the media as they misreport, take out of context, ignore the verbatim words of this President when he denounced white supremacy yesterday, when he denounced it at the debate, when he’s denounced it more than any other President in modern history.        And, in fact, something else lost upon the media is the absolute turning of a blind eye to Antifa.  Carrying the water for Democrats, the media -- it apparently agrees with Jerry Nadler that Antifa violence is a myth.  In August Senate hearings, Democrats refused to condemn Antifa.  Again, no journalistic curiosity here, despite the fact that Andy Ngo, who was a victim of Antifa, said Democrats have mastered -- Democrats -- he should add “the media,” too -- have mastered the art of making its violence appear innocuous.        Their violence isn’t innocuous.  Antifa is not an idea.  Andy Ngo can tell you that because he was beaten by a group of protesters -- Antifa protesters -- suffering brain bleed.        Another man can tell you this, who, in 2019, the victim -- his name was Adam Kelly -- suffered from a concussion and got 25 staples in his head.  But still, silence from Democrats, ignoring this group from Democrats.        And, in fact, as we just saw recently, there was a Trump supporter who was killed by a “100 percent Antifa man” -- that is how he described himself.  And again, no reporting here, but I guess I did the job of the media by getting this information myself: This man, who was 100 percent Antifa -- this man, in fact, had been arrested before.  At 2:00 a.m. on July 5th, in a public protest, carrying an illegal weapon, he resisted arrest; he was taken to jail, where he was merely given a citation, put back on the streets; and the very next month, this 100 percent Antifa man was lying in wait before he killed an innocent Trump supporter.        Ideas do no target police officers.  Ideas do not burn down buildings.  Ideas do not kill innocent Americans.  Organizations do.  And Democrats should condemn this shameful group in the same manner President Trump continues to condemn white supremacy.                                      END             11:46 A.M. EDT