Office of the Press Secretary
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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP IN THANKSGIVING TELECONFERENCE WITH MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY Via Teleconference Mar-a-Lago Club and Resort | Palm Beach, Florida
November 22, 2018
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, well thank you all very much. And I say to our great, great warriors, “Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving.” We’re celebrating Thanksgiving over in the United States, as you know, and you’re celebrating it wherever you are in all parts of the world. And we’ll be talking to you individually.
We’re honored to be joined on today’s call by great patriots, you are really great patriots, representing each branch of the American armed services. Melania and I want to express our profound gratitude for the extraordinary sacrifices you make to defend our nation. While you are away from your families and loved ones, I hope that you’ll take solace in knowing that all of the American families that you hold so close to your heart are all doing well. The nation is doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. We’re the hot nation of the world and it’s nice to know you’re fighting, and you’re fighting for something that’s doing well, and that’s our country. I want to begin by welcoming Colonel Stephanie Barton and the men and women of the 101st Airborne Division. These are real warriors. And you have the Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade and they are joining us from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, where our soldiers are providing invaluable aid in combined joint area operations throughout Afghanistan. You are doing an incredible job. A lot of progress has been made and your courage truly inspires us all. We know what you’re doing. We watch it. And oftentimes we’re watching it every night during the news. And we know it’s dangerous and we also know that you’ve had an unbelievable impact. Joining us from al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait is the Central Command -- response and Crisis Response Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force. Lieutenant Colonel Sam Howie, you are really great Marines and you’re the embodiment of honor, and courage, and commitment. It’s incredible, the job you’re doing. I particularly want to congratulate you on the work you’ve done to crush ISIS from the air and from the ground. And really it’s -- big, big progress has been made. They’re very close to being gone and we like it that way. But you have shown incredible courage. And I have to say, you’ve shown great, great leadership. So, thank you very much. And, Lieutenant Colonel, thank you very much and we’ll be talking to you in a little while. Happy Thanksgiving as well to Captain Pat Hannifin and all of the sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. Great ship. Your ship’s motto is one that we embrace every day: Peace Through Strength. That’s what the motto is, and we have that motto at home. Everywhere the Seventh Fleet sails, the USS Ronald Reagan is an enduring symbol of American might, American strength, American power and, really, American goodness, in so many ways. From the United States Air Force, we’re joined by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, which is supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and NATO’s Resolute Support. Brigadier General David Lyons -- thank you very much, David -- is the Commander. And I want to congratulate you and every Representing the U.S. Coast Guard are crewmembers from six Coast Guard cutters and from the shore support teams that are part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, which is the largest Coast Guard unit outside of the United States. And I’m actually going right now -- I’m in Palm Beach, Florida, and I’m going over to your local Coast Guard station and we’re going to spend some great time with the men and women of the Coast Guard. They have, from a lot of standpoints, you could call it branding, you could call it whatever you want, the job they’ve done on hurricanes in this country. They’ve saved thousands and thousands of people. In fact, in Texas, they saved over 12,000 people. If you think of what that means, over 12,000 people. They went into seas and they went into areas that nobody else would go into. And it was incredible. What they’ve done in Texas, what they did in Florida, what they did in Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard has really become a symbol of strength and perseverance and toughness and genius, actually. It’s purely genius. So, hello to Lieutenant Nicholas Hartmann who is the Commanding Officer of the cutter Aquidneck. And I also want to congratulate Seaman Christopher Wilson on being selected for “A” school. That’s “A,” like in “A.” That’s the best, right? Seaman Wilson, you truly make us proud. Congratulations. That’s a big deal. Going to that school is like going to the Wharton School of Finance, if you happen to be doing what you do. And to everyone on today’s videoconference also, I want to thank you all for serving. Today we thank God for the blessings of having you people be our heroes, and you really are our heroes. And your families are back here and they love you, and they respect you and they look forward to seeing you because you’re the ones who keep America safe and strong and free. You do a job like nobody else. And it is really great respect that we all have. You are very much appreciated, like you wouldn’t believe, by the American public, by the citizens of our country. I want to maybe start with the Air Force. And I know that Brigadier General David Lyons is on the phone. And, David, tell me a little bit about what you’re doing. BRIGADIER GENERAL LYONS: Our mission here, we defend the two busiest airfields in Afghanistan: Kandahar and Bagram. We support our teammates and our mission set, and then we deliver decisive combat air power across the entire country of Afghanistan. Mr. President, I know you can’t see us right now, but you’ve got 150 airmen in this room that would love to say Happy Thanksgiving to you. (Inaudible), what do you say to the President? PARTICIPANTS: Happy Thanksgiving! THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. Well, that’s really fantastic. How are things going over there? Are they -- are you looking up? How is looking to you? You’ve seen it. You’ve been there a while and you’ve seen what’s going on. You know what’s happening better than anybody. How do you find things going? BRIGADIER GENERAL LYONS: Well, both the Taliban and ISIS are resilient adversaries, but I think that we’re doing well. We get after them every single day. Our objective here is to fight the away game. And so what I mean by that is we never want this adversary to reach our shores again. And so every airman here is dedicated to keeping this fight away from our shores. A stable Afghanistan is good for Afghanistan, but we do what we do for America, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Well, said it better than anybody could have said: “Keep them away from our shores.” And that’s why we’re doing the strong border. As you probably see over the news what’s happening in our southern border and our southern border territory. Large numbers of people, and in many cases, we have no idea who they are. And in many cases, they’re not good people; they’re bad people. But large numbers of people are forming at our border, and I don’t have to even ask you; I know what you want to do. You want to make sure that you know who we’re letting in. And we’re not letting in anybody essentially because we want to be very, very careful. So, you’re right. You’re doing it over there, we’re doing it over here. And your people at the border, we have the military at the border for the first time. I don’t know if it’s ever -- or certainly there’s never been a presence like this, but we have a very powerful border now. We have the concertina fencing and we have things that people don’t even believe. We took old, broken wall and we wrapped it with barbed wire-plus. I guess you could really call it “barbed wire-plus.” This is the ultimate. And nobody is getting through these walls. And we’re going to make sure they’re the right people because that’s what you and your family want and all of your families, that’s what they want. And that’s why we’re all fighting. You know, we’re fighting for borders. We’re fighting for our country. If we don’t have borders, we don’t have a country. So we’re doing very well on the southern border. We’re very tough. We get a lot of bad court decisions from the Ninth Circuit, which has become a big thorn in our side. We always lose and then you lose again and again, and then you hopefully win at the Supreme Court, which we’ve done. But it’s a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services; when they tell you how to protect your border. It’s a disgrace. So, we’re winning and you’re winning. And I appreciate it very much. And, General, your reputation is an incredible one. Thank you very much for doing the job, and I’ll see you back when you’re in the United States. Or maybe I’ll even see you over there. You never know what’s going to happen. BRIGADIER GENERAL LYONS: Thank you, Mr. President. We appreciate that. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Really great. And thank all the men and women with you. Really spectacular people. Well, next, let’s talk to the U.S. Coast Guard Commanding Officer of Coast Guard cutter Aquidneck. And it would be Lieutenant Nick Hartmann. And so, Nick, tell me a little bit about what you’re doing, where you are, and how’s it going. LIEUTENANT HARTMANN: Good morning, Mr. President. This is Nicholas Hartmann, like you mentioned, from Coast Guard cutter Aquidneck. Here in the room we have 14 members from Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. And we’re located in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Mr. President. Our mission out here is to patrol the Arabian Gulf Straits of Hormuz and conduct our U.S. Central Command and NAVCENT objectives here in the Gulf. A lot of our work is partnering and building relationships with the Gulf Coast countries, and so that we have a good standing and resolve here in the Arabian Gulf and in Central Command AOR. Things, in my opinion, Mr. President, are going very well for us. THE PRESIDENT: And what do you see in the region? What’s going on in the region? How are they feeling about things? How are they feeling about trade? Because, you know, trade for me is a very big subject all over. We’ve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals. We don’t have any good trade deals. How are you finding things in the region, Nick? LIEUTENANT HARTMANN: Mr. President, from our perspective out on the water, sir, we’re seeing that there is an abundance of trade happening in the region. There are vessels moving through the Straits of Hormuz and across the Arabian Gulf on a daily basis carrying cargo to and fro. And we don’t see any issues in terms of trade right now, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Well, you’ll keep it that way. And you know, we want to have good, free trade. And we also want to have fair deals where we can do well too. Not just everybody else. Right now, every nation in the world does well with us; we don’t do well with them. So that’s changing and it’s changing fast. And where you are is a big factor in that, as you know. You’ve been told and you’ve been briefed. Well, I want to thank you very much, Nick. And great job. And again, as I said, there’s no brand that’s gone up like the Coast Guard over the last couple of years because of what you’ve done with the hurricanes in this country. People saw things that they’ve never seen before. The bravery of those -- of your people going out in waves like -- like, you know, record setting. It’s been record setting. The one hurricane in Texas, they say, dumped more water and it was more violent in terms of water than anything we’ve ever had in the country. And you guys went out there and you did it like just a day in the office. And I really appreciate it. We all really appreciate it, Nick. And thank you very much. Thank you very much. LIEUTENANT HARTMANN: Thank you, Mr. President. And Happy Thanksgiving. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. You take care of yourself. Let’s go to the Army. Good old Army. We love the Army. We have Colonel Stephanie Barton of the U.S. Army. And, Stephanie, tell us a little bit about yourself and where you are, and what you’re focused on and what you’re doing. COLONEL BARTON: First and foremost, good morning and Happy Thanksgiving on behalf of the 101st Sustainment Brigade. We’re currently located in Bagram, Afghanistan. Sir, what we do for the country of Afghanistan, we’re the senior logistics headquarters in theater. And it is an away game -- and I will tell you, in order to fight and win the nation’s wars, it’s because of sustainment and logistics. And you’ve got highly motivated, true professionals in this room and outside this room that are truly making it happen. We support -- if it’s in the hands of the warfighter, it comes through us, to them. So we support everything from coalition to joint forces, from border to border here in the country, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Good and how are you finding things in Afghanistan right now? COLONEL BARTON: Sir, it’s good. We’re truly making the mission happen when it comes to sustainment. We’re response for all the strategic, operational, and tactical logistics. Like I said, if it comes in the theater, we get it in the warfighters' hand. But we have a phenomenal team and I can’t speak enough about that. Because a lot of the times, it’s the sustainment (inaudible) we’re behind the scenes, which is fine. But it’s a good team effort and it takes the support by all to make it happen. THE PRESIDENT: So, Colonel, how many people are you commanding right now, would you say? COLONEL BARTON: Sir, 10,000. THE PRESIDENT: Wow. That’s a lot of people. That’s fantastic, Stephanie. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. And not only is it important what you’re doing, but you’re enjoying what you’re doing. Is that right? COLONEL BARTON: Sir, absolutely. We truly love it. And I will tell you, our formation is a great mix, sir. We have all the Army COMPOs from the active duty, National Guard, Reserve. We have Army DOD civilians and civilian contractors that -- really, we all come together and make this mission happen. So, we do hate that we’re not with our family and friends today, but I’ll tell you, we are a close family here and I’m truly happy to be a part of it. It takes the whole community, from (inaudible) theaters to civilians, to make it happen. And, sir, you would be very proud, because we truly are. THE PRESIDENT: That’s fantastic. We’re proud of you. And I’ll tell you what, we’re proud of your people. And please say hello to everybody. Have an incredible Thanksgiving and know we’re taking good care of you. You know, the budget is now at $716 billion, Stephanie. Right? So, we’re getting rid of some of that old equipment that you -- you see what’s going in. The best in the world, right? So, you see a big difference. It’s an awfully big difference from what we had before. And it’s only getting better. We’ll be stronger than ever before. And with people like you, we feel very confident. So, Stephanie, thank you very much. Happy Thanksgiving to all. And I will see you when you’re back. COLONEL BARTON: Sir, sounds great. We have one last message if that’s okay? THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes. COLONEL BARTON: One, two, three -- PARTICIPANTS: Go Army! THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. I really appreciate that. I really do. I appreciate it. And take care of yourself. We’ll see you all soon. Thank you. From the U.S. Marine Corps, we have Colonel George Schreffler. And, George, are you on? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: Sir, this is Lieutenant Colonel Sam Howie. Colonel Schreffler is doing a battlefield circulation right now. THE PRESIDENT: Oh. LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: I’m the executive officer, and I’m here with several Marines who would like to wish you and our fellow Americans a Happy Thanksgiving. (Inaudible.) THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. That’s great, Sam. Good. How’s it going over there? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: It’s going great, sir. Right now, with the Special Purpose MAGTF. We’re based in Kuwait. But we have Marines from Jordan all the way up to Afghanistan, and up into Iraq and Syria. And, every day, those Marines are ensuring that those who do us harm, pays for it. It’s pretty amazing watching you -- what you’ve done with men and women tells the Marines and what they do -- puts a smile on their face every day. THE PRESIDENT: And how is the progress coming, would you say? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: I would say the progress is excellent, sir. We’ve moved throughout those areas and cleared the vast majority of those enemy forces who face us. And right now, I think we’re in a good position to continue to (inaudible) the rest of the year or foreseeable future. THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. That’s great. I’m hearing very good things. And they treat you good over there I imagine? Right? Do they treat you good? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: Sir, outstanding. Our partners throughout, including here at al-Jaber Air Base. For the Air Force, they treat us like gold. We want for nothing and today we had a -- I think everyone can agree, a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner here aboard the base. THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. That’s great. Well, they should. We’re good friends and they’ve been a good ally. We treat them well and they treat us well. And a lot of good things are happening over there. People are surprised to see how fast things are turning around. But you have one of the great bases. You have something that’s incredible and special. And we’ll get to see you very soon. And I will say -- and say hello to everybody else -- but I will say, I want you to have a great Thanksgiving. You are -- what’s the time difference? What -- what is your time lag over there? How many hours between, let’s say, East Coast? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: Right now, sir, it’s 18:00 in the evening. So it’s about an eight-hour difference between us. THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. That’s a pretty big time difference, right? That’s a pretty big time difference. So you’ve celebrated. Well, listen, you just take care of yourself and say hello to the Colonel and everybody. And you’re special people -- very, very special people -- and we’re very proud of you. And give my regards to Kuwait and everybody. But a lot of progress being made. Your country is really doing well. It’s really doing well, like it hasn’t done before. So that’s good. It’s always good to be fighting for something that is working. And unlike a lot of countries, this one works well and it’s working better than ever. So, we’ll see you when you’re back or maybe we’ll see you some other place. Okay? LIEUTENANT COLONEL HOWIE: (Inaudible.) Semper Fidelis. THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Take care of yourself. From the U.S. Navy, we have the Commanding Officer, Captain Pat Hannifin. And, Pat, are you on the phone? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. I’m with you. And from the over 4,800 sailors and airmen aboard USS Ronald Reagan, the nation’s only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier. We are currently in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, about 13 hours ahead of you. It’s still Thanksgiving here. And from all the sailors aboard Reagan, serving peace through strength for America in the Indo-Pacific, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s great, Pat. I appreciate it very much. And say hello to everybody, and Happy Thanksgiving to you. So, the condition of the ship is A1? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Alpha-1, sir. Absolutely. THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. Very important. So, you know, we have another big one. The Gerald Ford is going to be joining you pretty soon. How does this compare in size and scope with the Gerald Ford? You know all about that. That’s the new one, right? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. Size and scope. A good friend of mine just left command to that. But size and scope about the same. Certainly some improvements there to the plants and few of the -- and the radars and even the catapults and gear are slightly different as well. THE PRESIDENT: So tell -- hey, Pat -- CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: But we’ll push (inaudible) daily. THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Pat, tell me about the catapult system. So on the Gerald Ford they don’t use steam, which is the first one that I’ve ever heard of that doesn’t use steam. And I know they have some difficulties, which I’m not happy about. And they spent a lot of money. And I was just curious. The steam system is tried and true for many, many years, as long as we’ve had aircraft carriers. How do you find steam versus what they’re doing on the Gerald Ford, which is electronic and digital, if you can believe it? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. All of our Nimitz supercarriers have been using steam for decades, and we find it pretty reliable. However, the electromagnetic catapults they’re running there offer some great benefits to -- obviously, like any new piece, you got to work through the bugs. But they offer some benefits not only to stress and strain on the aircraft; to extend service life and other pieces. I have no doubt we’ll work through that just as we work through all of our other advancements and continue to bring it to the enemy when called to do so. THE PRESIDENT: So, when you do the new carriers, as we do and as we’re thinking about doing, would you go with steam or would you go with electromagnetic? Because steam is very reliable, and the electromagnetic -- I mean, unfortunately you have to be Albert Einstein to really work it properly. What would you do? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. You sort of have to be Albert Einstein to run the nuclear power plants that we have here as well, but we’re doing that very well. I would go, sir -- Mr. President, I would go electromagnetic cast. I think that’s the way to go. We do pay a heavy cost for transiting the steam around the ship. THE PRESIDENT: Good. Okay. I like to hear that. I’m actually happy about that answer, because at least, you know, they’re doing what they’re doing. But that’s actually a very good answer. So, Pat, how are you seeing things over there? What’s going on? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. We have been flying, sailing, and operating everywhere international law allows, just as we have for decades out here in full support of our free and open Indo-Pacific push in company with our Japanese and other allies. We’ve worked with the Japanese here in Keen Sword, the Australians, Canadians. So a lot of allies out here. And we are certainly their best friend and our ally. And our adversaries, their worst fear. And that’s exactly what we want to do is bring peace through strength to this region. THE PRESIDENT: Right. And you have a six-month deployment, approximately? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Sir, we’re a little shorter than that. But Reagan, as your only permanently forward-deployed carrier, spends about half of the time each year out, and about a half back in getting maintenance worked on it. Each of the sailors and airmen aboard spend three to five years out here with us at a time before going back to a stateside assignment. But we’re all honored to be serving the nation out here. THE PRESIDENT: Right. Pat, why is it that the Reagan is the only one that’s permanently deployed of all the aircraft carriers? Why is that? Was it set up for that, or is -- it just happens to be? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. We have worked a single aircraft carrier out in Japan for decades now. Reagan took that role back in about 2013. I’m sorry -- that’s not quite right. About 2016. But it switches out. So, different carriers out here for different periods of time. It was George Washington before us. And then a few of the conventional carriers, you know, going way back to Midway and Kitty Hawk and Independence. THE PRESIDENT: Right. CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: So we’ve been running that for a while. But -- and it’s just an infrastructure piece that takes quite a bit of infrastructure to make that work. But we get a lot of presence out of it for the region. THE PRESIDENT: And do you feel safe in the region? Do you see any hostility? Do you see any aggression? Because, you know, you’re hearing a little bit about aggression from a couple of the players. What are you feeling? CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Yes, sir. We have safe and independent operations out here throughout the theater. We do feel safe. There have been a couple of close calls, but in most cases, the vast majority, they are professional navies, and we have no doubt that we can bring that -- we bring the U.S. interest to the theater and expect that to continue into the future. THE PRESIDENT: That’s great, Pat. Well, I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and say hello to everybody in the Navy. And just in closing, I want to wish everybody a really, really Happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see you when you’re back and maybe I’ll see you over there. But it’s a great honor to talk to you. I know everything about what everyone is doing. And you’re doing an incredible job and you’re keeping us safe. And we all miss you back here. But we’ll be seeing you soon. And on behalf of the whole country, I want to just thank you for what you’re doing. Very, very special people. Men and women that are just incredible people. You’re highly respected. And I’ll tell you what: Our country has such respect -- I don’t think you hear it enough -- but our country has such respect for you and the job you do. So, Happy Thanksgiving, and we will see you soon. CAPTAIN HANNIFIN: Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you all. Goodbye. Great people. They’re great people. Okay? Q Mr. President, are you looking forward to going to Afghanistan or going to the Middle East for any of these? THE PRESIDENT: We're going to do some interesting things. At the appropriate time, we'll be doing some very interesting things. Q Do you have a sense of when yet, of when the trip might be? THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me? Q Do you have a sense of when the trip might be yet? THE PRESIDENT: I do, but I can't tell you. (Laughter.) You're the last people I can tell. How is everything in Florida doing? Okay? Weather is good, right? It's Florida. Welcome to the Southern White House. Q Does the CIA have a recording of MBS demanding Khashoggi's silence? THE PRESIDENT: I don’t want to talk about it. You have you ask them. Q What about the border, Mr. President? We've seen some court -- THE PRESIDENT: Well, the border is coming along very well. It's become very strong. We're getting some terrible decisions from the Ninth Circuit, as usual. I don't know if we've ever had a victory in the Ninth Circuit. We have to appeal it, appeal it. A vast number of their decisions get overturned, generally speaking, and it's a shame. It's a shame. It's a disgrace, frankly. And essentially, they're legislating. They're saying what to do. Some judge, sitting in some location very far away, is telling our incredible military and law enforcement what to do. And it's not right, and it's been going on like that for a long time. And we are doing really well, considering the laws are a disaster. And if we had the right laws, it would be a lot less expensive, and we'd do it a lot easier. But we don’t have the right laws, and we have people interpreting the laws, and they always give us a bad interpretation. So, hopefully, we've shown some light on the Ninth Circuit. I know that Chief Justice Roberts -- John Roberts -- has been speaking a little bit about it. And I think we've -- and I have a lot of respect for him. I like him and I respect him. But I think we have to use some common sense. The Ninth Circuit -- everybody knows it -- it's totally out of control. And what they're doing, what they're saying, the opinions are very unfair to law enforcement. They're very unfair to our military. And they're very unfair, most importantly, to the people of our country, because I'm keeping them safe. And you see how we've fortified things, and all of that -- all of that vast amount of fighting that you see going on at the border, it's all taking place in Mexico. And Mexico cannot believe how tough these people are. The mayor of Tijuana and so many others had said, "Boy, these are tough people." They start fighting right away; they're tough people. You have many criminals in that caravan, and the big caravan hasn’t arrived yet. And we're very well fortified. We have fencing and walls like very few people have. We've been able to do it rather quickly. Concertino wire -- Concertina wire. And so many other things are there now that they didn’t have. And they're not coming through. We're not letting criminals into our country. Got to come in legally. You have to come into a process. And we want people to come in, because I have many, many companies moving back into the United States. They're opening up car plants. They're opening up factories all over the country. The United States is booming. We have the lowest unemployment we've, essentially, in most groups, ever had. So we have a lot of good things happening. We need workers, but they have to come in legally. We want them to come in, but they have to be people that want to work and want to do a great job for our country. They come in through a merit system. They have to come in. Right now, under the Democrats, they don’t have a merit system. They want open borders, and people can just flow in. You have tremendously dangerous people in those caravans. And we do not want them coming into the United States, and we're not going to let them. We're throwing out MS-13 and so many others. We're throwing them out of our country by the thousands that got in here over the years, and we're throwing them out by the thousands. And we're bringing back towns, we're making towns safe, and we're doing an excellent job. But we're getting hurt by the Ninth Circuit, very, very badly. Everybody files in the Ninth Circuit. I haven’t seen anybody file anyplace else. They automatically go to the Ninth Circuit. They could go anyplace in the country. And I think we're going to have to stop that somehow. The judges are going to have to get together, our Congress is going to have to get together and stop it. Because they're taking advantage of our country by filing consistently and always -- just about, that I see -- in the Ninth Circuit. Even our legislation that we did have passed, it failed in the Ninth Circuit; it failed in the Ninth Circuit appeal. It then won in the Supreme Court. And it's just a shame, because it's really hurting people. It's hurting our law enforcement tremendously. And now that the military is on the border, it's really hurting our military. And frankly, when they hear these decisions, these are professional. The military, the law enforcement, first responders, they can't believe the decisions that are being made by these judges. This is what they do; they do law enforcement, law and order. And they get these decisions now, and they say, "Who makes these decisions?" They're not into the -- you know, lawyer things. They say, "Who makes these decisions? Who are the people that are giving these decisions that are going to make it unsafe for us,” meaning law enforcement and military, “and making it unsafe for the United States?” So, despite that, we have a very powerful border, and a lot of good things are happening. Q Mr. President, are you concerned that by not punishing Saudi Arabia more, it could send a message to other world leaders that they can do as they please, and America could be weak in their eyes? THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. Saudi Arabia has been a long-time strategic partner. They're investing hundreds of billions of dollars in our country. I mean, hundreds of billions. They're keeping the oil prices low. I see that yesterday, one of the papers, I was blamed for causing traffic jams because I have the oil prices so low. Well, I have the oil prices low because I'm jawboning them and others all the time to keep them low. Nobody ever did that. No President ever did that. And gasoline is now at a very low number. But I actually got even beat up for that, where they said, “The President has the gasoline so low that he's causing traffic jams.” Can you believe this one? I said, “That's one nobody ever thought of.” So, anyway, no -- but I'll always -- let's have some traffic jams. We want low oil prices. And Saudi Arabia has really done a good job in that respect. They pumped out a lot more oil than was going to be pumped out, when I called them about four weeks ago. And if you look at oil four weeks ago, it was at 82, 83, and was going up to a 100 a barrel. That would have doubled your prices and even tripled your prices at the car, for gasoline. And instead, you have very low gas prices all over the country. That's because of what I did, and Saudi Arabia helped us. But very importantly, they're investing billions of dollars. They're buying their equipment from us. And remember this: They don’t have to buy it from us. They can buy it from Russia and they can buy it from China. They make very good equipment. They don’t make as good equipment as we make; nobody does. Nobody even close. But they make very good equipment. So they can spend their money in Russia and China and other places, and that is not acceptable. Q But the CIA, Mr. President, concluded with confidence that MBS was responsible. THE PRESIDENT: They didn’t conclude. No, no, Josh, they didn’t conclude. I'm sorry. Q Do you think they did not? THE PRESIDENT: Josh. No, they didn’t conclude. They did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways, but they didn’t have the report. And you can ask Mike; they have not concluded. Nobody has concluded. I don't know if anybody is going to be able to conclude that the Crown Prince did it. But I will say this -- Q Do you think he did it? THE PRESIDENT: I don't know. I don't know. But whether he did or whether he didn’t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it -- the King -- vehemently. The CIA doesn’t say they did it. They do point out certain things. And in pointing out those things, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn’t. But there's no -- that was another part of the false reporting, because a lot of you said yesterday that they said he did it. Well, they didn’t say that. They said he might have done it. That's a big difference. But they're vehemently denying it. And we have hundreds of thousands of jobs. Do people really want me to give up hundreds of thousands of jobs? And frankly, if we went by this standard, we wouldn’t be able to have anybody as an ally. Because look at what happens all over the world. But then you can also take a look at Iran, take a look at Syria, where, you know, millions of people have been just slaughtered horribly, horribly. You take a look at what's going on in Iran and the vicious -- the vicious situation that's taking place there, and the number of people that are being killed and slaughtered. You take a look all over the world. We're not going to be able to deal with -- let's not deal with anybody. The fact is that Saudi Arabia is tremendously helpful in the Middle East. If we didn’t have Saudi Arabia, we wouldn’t have a big base. We wouldn’t have any reason, probably -- I mean, if you look at Israel, Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia. So what does that mean? Israel is going to leave? We want Israel to leave? We have a very strong ally in Saudi Arabia. We have an ally that said they did not commit, at the top level -- the Crown Prince, the King -- they did not commit this atrocity. And it's an atrocity. It's a terrible thing. I dislike it more than you do. But the fact is, they've been a very strong ally. They create tremendous wealth. They create, really, a tremendous number of jobs in their purchases. And very importantly, they keep the oil price down. If you want to see a global depression, all you have to do is lift the oil price $50 a barrel, which could happen very quickly, once we lose that relationship. So I hate the crime. I hate what's done. I hate the cover-up. And I will tell you this: The Crown Prince hates it more than I do. And they have vehemently denied it. The CIA points it both ways. You know, it's -- as I said, maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But I will say very strongly that it's a very important ally. And if we go by a certain standard, we won't be able to have allies with almost any country. Okay? Q Who should be held accountable? THE PRESIDENT: Maybe the world should be held accountable, because the world is a vicious place. The world is a very, very vicious place. If you look at what's happening in China, if you look at what's happening in so many different countries -- I could name many countries. If you look at what's happening with terrorism all over the world. That's the other thing with Saudi Arabia -- they really are -- they're putting up tremendous amounts of money to actually fight terrorism. Now, if they were a part of terrorism -- and nobody is going to try and justify that; they were a big part of it -- but they're spending a lot of money, and they're opening up. And they're doing a lot of things that are very good. They're really opening up that country for a lot of good. You know, until this happened, there were a lot of people saying a lot of good things about the Crown Prince. So he strongly denies it. He vehemently denies it. And my policy is very simple: America first. Keep America great again. And that's what I'm doing, and we're doing better than anybody thought even possible. Yes, ma'am. Q Sir, you've been talking to the troops. I'm wondering if you can -- THE PRESIDENT: To who? Q the troops, today -- THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Q I'm wondering if you can tell us: At what point do you want to withdraw troops from Afghanistan? THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're always looking to do the right thing, and we'll be seeing over a period of time. But we're looking. You know, I just spoke to Afghanistan, as you know. We're always looking to do whatever is right. We're in very strong negotiations in Afghanistan right now, which a lot of people don’t know about. This may be the first. But we are in very, very strong negotiation in Afghanistan. And we'll see what happens. If something happens, that would be a great thing. I'd very happy about that. I really think the people of Afghanistan also -- and they are good fighters, and they fought for a long time; they fought for a lot longer than we fought. They've been fighting for many, many, many decades. But I think they're tired of fighting. And we'll see what happens. But we are talking about peace, and we'll see if that happens. Q Negotiations with? THE PRESIDENT: We have negotiations going on. I don't know that they're going to be successful. Maybe they're not; probably they're not. Who knows? They might be, they might not be. You know my attitude in all of that stuff, whether it's North Korea or anybody else. Maybe they are going to be successful, and maybe they're not going to be. But we have negotiations going on right now in Afghanistan, okay? Q Mr. President, what is your response to people who say that a phone call wasn’t enough for the troops today? THE PRESIDENT: Well nobody has done more for the military than I have. I took the budget from very little to $700 billion and then $716 billion. And I’m now going over to the Coast Guard, where I did last year and I will probably a lot. But we're going over to the Coast Guard. And just, I really believe nobody -- in fact, a number of generals were on television over the weekend, and just unrelated, but they all mentioned the fact that nobody has done, as a President, for the military, in a long time what I’ve done. Because I’ve taken spending, where you had a depleted military, and it wasn’t being fixed and it was a mess, and it, frankly, put us in danger, and I was able to get Congress to give us $700 billion and now $716 billion for our military. And I’ve also done more for the vets than anybody has ever done. I got Choice approved. They’ve been trying to get Choice for 40 years -- more than 40 years; they couldn’t get it -- where a vet can go directly to a doctor now instead of waiting on line for two months and two weeks and three weeks, and amounts of time that are unthinkable to anybody, including yourselves. So I think I’ve done more than anybody else, certainly in many, many years, and probably in many decades. Q Mr. President, are there any updates on the troops that are being sent to the border in regards to the caravan? THE PRESIDENT: No, no troops. We're going to have a strong border. Our southern border is going to very strong. We're not -- you heard me speaking to some of the folks just now in different parts of the world, and they're so proud of the job they're doing. And you got to have borders. If you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country. I mean, the Democrats want open borders, and they want these people coming in. Many of those people are criminals, okay? And have been so adjudged. We know who they are. They have records. They have, some, very substantial criminal records, some very bad criminal records. They're in the caravan. You saw what happened in Tijuana, where a number of the people said these are tough people. They start fighting; they're starting fistfights. They have fistfights all over the streets. They're starting fistfights. They said, “These are not like normal, innocent people.” These are people, you talk to them, and they start a fistfight. I don’t want that in this country. Okay? Q Mr. President, what about the idea that the military may use lethal force against these migrants coming through? THE PRESIDENT: If they have to, they’re going to use lethal force. I’ve given the okay. Q Did you authorize them to do that? THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, if they have to. I hope they don’t have to. But, you know, you're dealing with a minimum of 500 serious criminals. So I'm going to let the military be taken advantage of. I have no choice. Do I want that to happen? Absolutely not. But you're dealing with rough people. You ask the people in Tijuana, Mexico -- they opened with wide arms, just, "Come in, come in. Let me help you. Let us take care of you." And within two days, now they're going crazy to get them out. They want them out. Because things are happening. Bad, bad things are happening in Tijuana. And again, it's not in this country, because we've closed it up. I actually -- two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We're saying, nobody is coming in, because it was out of control. But you take a look at Tijuana, Mexico, and you see what's happening there -- it's really a bad situation. Q What do you mean you closed the border and nobody is coming in? What do you mean by that, sir? THE PRESIDENT: If we find that it's uncontrollable, Josh; if we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control, or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control. Q You mean the entire border, or (inaudible) country? THE PRESIDENT: The whole border. I mean the whole border. And Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States, where they make so many cars at great benefit to them --not at great benefit to us, by the way. But at least now we a good, new trade deal with Mexico and with Canada. But we will close the border. And that means that Mexico is not going to be able to sell their cars into the United States until it's open. But we're going to either have a border or we're not. And when they lose control of the border, on the Mexico side, we just close the border. And we have a very powerful border. We built a very strong border in a very short period of time. And the military has been fantastic, the job they've done. And, by the way, Border Patrol and ICE, all of the law enforcement we have involved -- and we have local law enforcement too -- they have done an incredible job. And they've wanted this for years. You know, I'm the first President that's done it to this extent, but they've wanted this for years. And some of the Presidents, I guess they didn’t care, or they wanted open borders. I don’t think they wanted open borders. Because most of them, if you go back to 2006, they all approved, essentially, a wall -- a very powerful fence -- which is pretty much the same thing. But in 2006, if you look -- Obama, you look at Hillary Clinton, you look at Schumer, all of the people that are standing up protesting -- they think it's good for them politically. See, I think it's very bad for them politically. I think the fact that they're weak on the border is very, very bad for them politically. But, you know, I've only been a politician for three years, so maybe they know better than me. Q Is there going to be a government shutdown over this wall, in December? THE PRESIDENT: Could happen, yeah. Over border security. The wall is just a part of border security -- a very important part. Probably the most important part. But could there be a shutdown? There certainly could. And it will be about border security, of which the wall is a part. Q Do you think Secretary Nielsen is doing a good enough job in securing the border? THE PRESIDENT: Well, she’s in there trying, I’ll tell you. It's a tough job. I mean, yesterday she gets a ruling that things that we were doing -- a judge that knows nothing about it -- decided to take law enforcement into his own hands, and he gives a ridiculous ruling. So we'll appeal it. But it makes the job harder. We're still doing the job perfectly. But it makes the job harder, and it makes the job more dangerous. Because a judge made a ruling that was shocking. Okay? Q Just to be clear, going back to the idea of shutting down the border, what would it take for you reach that step and want to do that? THE PRESIDENT: Well, I've already shut it down. I've already shut it down, for short periods. Q Are you talking about that one border port that closed? THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Yeah. I've already shut down parts of the border, because it was out of control, with the rioting on the other side, in Mexico. And I just said shut it down. Q What does that look like in practice? THE PRESIDENT: What? Q What does that look like in practice, to shut down the border? THE PRESIDENT: You see it. I mean, it took place two days ago. Q Did you have to sign an order? Is there any -- THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. They call me up and I sign an order. Q Can we get a copy of that? THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you don’t need it. Don’t worry. It’s not that big a deal, but maybe to some people it is. What we want to do is we want to have a strong border. We want to have people come into our country. I want to have a lot of people come in. We need them. But they have to come in through merit, and they have to come in legally. They have to come in legally. You know, we have a lot of people -- millions of people -- that have been waiting on line for years to become citizens of our country. Great people. They went through a whole process. And then these people come in and they think they're just going to walk in and -- it's a very unfair thing to all of the people that have been waiting on line, in some cases for many years. They've done it right, but they don’t think they've done it right, because they said, “Well, how can we do it right, and we go through this very complicated legal process,” and they have lawyers and everything else, and then you have people rushing through the border, and they're supposed to stay? It's not happening with me. We've been very tough on the border. I mean, the problem that we have is that I've created, and helped create, a country that's doing better than it's ever done economically. So a lot of people are coming up here, because their countries are not doing well. And perhaps for a reason. But whatever that reason is, their countries are not doing well. Okay? A couple of more. Anybody else? Q How prepared are you for this meeting with President Xi? How are you preparing for it? And how confident are you that you got a deal? THE PRESIDENT: I'm very prepared. I've been preparing for it all my life. You know, it's not like, "Oh, gee, I'm going to sit down and study." I know every ingredient. I know every stat. I know it better than anybody knows it. And my gut has always been right. And we're doing very well, and I will tell you, China very much wants to make a deal. China has been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years. They have taken out four-, five-, and six-hundred billion dollars a year. That doesn’t include the theft of intellectual property, which has been horrible, what they've been doing. And, you know, it's not a question of preparing. I think I've prepared for this meeting -- I had a meeting literally right in that corner with President Xi. We have a great relationship. I like him a lot. I think he likes me. Probably likes me less now than he did before we did what we're doing. But we've picked up trillions of dollars in value. And China has lost trillions of dollars in value since I'm President. Trillions. Many trillions in value. And we've picked up many trillions of dollars in value. And we are a true economic power, far greater than we were before I became President. We are an economic power that is far greater than we were. When we were -- when I took over, we were teetering. We were in bad shape. We were going down to minus-four, minus-five, minus-six percent in GDP. Instead, last quarter, we had 4.2 percent. And we are doing very well. I can say this: China wants to make a deal very badly -- Q Do you think it's going to happen next week? THE PRESIDENT: -- because of the tariffs. Because right now, on $250 billion, they'll be paying us, as of January 1st, 25 percent. And in many cases, they're already paying 25 percent. On the rest that they're not, they're paying 10. But the 10 percent goes to 25 percent on January 1st. And so they're going to be paying a tremendous amount of money, which, frankly, is great for our country. We're taking in billions of dollars from China. We never took in 10 cents from China. They took everything from us; we never took anything from them. Now, as of already, we're taking in -- right now, we're taking in billions. China is -- people don’t understand this: China is right now paying us -- right now, paying us billions of dollars a month. That's never happened before. And soon, they're going to be paying us many, many billions of dollars a month. But China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will. Q Are you worried about Matt Whitaker's finances and his potential (inaudible)? THE PRESIDENT: No. Matt Whitaker is a highly respected person. And, you know, once I choose somebody, they always go through hell. But Matt Whitaker is a highly respected man. The Justice Department respects him tremendously. I've spoken to a lot of people. And, you know, the press has been nasty to Matt Whitaker. But I can tell you that he is a highly respected, strong person. And he's doing a great job. Everybody tells me that. He's doing a really great job. Q Have you done anything, Mr. President, to try to bring Julian Assange back to the United States? And would you want him to face -- THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven’t been asked to. No. Q Would you want him to face charges here? Do you think he should? THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know anything about it. I'm not very familiar with the whole situation. But I would say that if somebody made a request, I guess it's something we'd consider. I just don’t know very much about that situation. Okay? What else? Anything else? Q Are you interviewing people this week for new jobs in your administration? THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We'll have a few. I'm very happy with my Cabinet and people that work for me, and for us -- really work for the country. We have a great Cabinet. We have absolute stars. But a few of them, I would say, can do very well outside. Everyone is doing well when they leave. That's one thing I'll tell you. Everyone that leaves the Trump administration has come out really well. I'm very proud of a lot of them. Look at Hope -- Hope Hicks is doing a fantastic job. She's a fantastic young woman, and I'm very proud of her. Look how she's doing. She's become a very important person in the outside world. And we have many such people, where they work here for a year and a half, or for a period of time, and they go outside and they do really well, many of them. So -- and that's what I want -- I want to see. There's always a lot of change. Yeah, I'll probably be changing a couple, maybe a few, but very little. Overall, we're very happy. Q Are you doing interviews this week for that? THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I'm doing interviews this week. I'll do interviews, as we say, in the Southern White House. People like doing interviews here. Q What jobs are you interviewing for, Mr. President? Q For DHS? THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'll let you know. I'll let you know. But -- Q You could just tell us here now, if you wanted to. THE PRESIDENT: I know. Maybe I will. (Laughs.) Q Have you talked to Ivanka about her emails? THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have, actually. And very innocent, short period of time. Very early on. There was no deletion of emails, like the 33,000, plus probably another 100,000 that Hillary Clinton did after she got a subpoena. There was no bleached bit. There was no anything. Just innocent emails. There were not classified emails. A much different deal. That's another fake-news story. And she did transition out. She was a private person, and then ultimately she transitioned out from private to government. And I believe all of her records are in the Historical Society, the historical records. Much different than the other situation that I've talked about for a long time. But she transitioned out, but everything is in historical records. I'll see you over at the Coast Guard. I'm going over to say hello to the Coast Guard right now, which I look forward. And I’ll see -- I don't know if you're going, but if you are, I'll see you there. Thank you all very much. Q What are you most thankful for, Mr. President? THE PRESIDENT: For having a great family and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. I've made a tremendous difference in the country. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office, that you wouldn’t believe it. And -- I mean, you see it, but so much stronger that people can't even believe it. When I see foreign leaders, they say, “We cannot believe the difference in strength between the United States now and the United States two years ago.” Made a lot of progress. Thank you very much. END |
Saturday, November 24, 2018
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP IN THANKSGIVING TELECONFERENCE WITH MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
POTUS URGES ACTION ON FOREST MANAGEMENT
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP URGES CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO IMPROVE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND HELP PREVENT WILDFIRES“With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California.” – President Donald J. TrumpNEED FOR IMPROVED FOREST MANAGEMENT: Improving forest management is critical to addressing the wildfires that are devastating communities and ecosystems across the country.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Congress can help prevent further wildfire devastation by passing a Farm Bill that includes robust fire protection and forest management provisions.
PROTECTING OUR COMMUNITIES: Passing the Farm Bill will help to build on efforts launched by the Trump Administration to improve forest management.
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Visit from Turkey in Press Briefing Room
At 11:29 a.m. a live turkey was brought into the press briefing room, accompanied by handler Jeff Sveen (pronounced "Sven"), who is also chairman of the National Turkey Federation.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters declined to say whether the bird was "Peas" or "Carrots." She noted that online voting had just concluded to determine which bird President Trump will "pardon" at 1:00 p.m. in the Rose Garden.
"We're not telling you which one this is," Walters said.
Whichever bird it was stayed for four minutes, at first exiting a carrying crate when Sveen said: "Come on, buddy."
A press aide came through the door from lower press a minute earlier and insisted: "I'm not a turkey."
Turkey farmer Ruben Waldner stood to one side with Sveen's wife Marcy. They said they expected to meet President Trump in the Oval Office during the afternoon.
Waldner is from Huron, South Dakota and raised the two birds contending for today's pardon. Originally named Jeff and Ruben, they were rechristened by the White House.
Several still photographers, sitting on the floor in front of the first row of seats, made "gobble-gobble" sounds until the bird responded in kind with the real thing.
There was no talk of pardons from the bird, but one reporter in the back shouted a question about whether it had been "promised anything in exchange for your pardon."
The bird didn't want to go back in his/her crate at the end of the brief photo-op, and instead started walking toward the photographers.
With another "Come on, buddy," Sveen coaxed the turkey back inside and left.
Presidential Proclamation “Thanksgiving Day, 2018”
Office of the Press Secretary
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Thanksgiving Day, 2018 - - - - - - - By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation On Thanksgiving Day, we recall the courageous and inspiring journey of the Pilgrims who, nearly four centuries ago, ventured across the vast ocean to flee religious persecution and establish a home in the New World. They faced illness, harsh conditions, and uncertainty, as they trusted in God for a brighter future. The more than 100 Pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower, instilled in our Nation a strong faith in God that continues to be a beacon of hope to all Americans. Thanksgiving Day is a time to pause and to reflect, with family and friends, on our heritage and the sacrifices of our forebearers who secured the blessings of liberty for an independent, free, and united country. After surviving a frigid winter and achieving their first successful harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims set aside 3 days to feast and give thanks for God's abundant mercy and blessings. Members of the Wampanoag tribe ‑‑ who had taught the Pilgrims how to farm in New England and helped them adjust and thrive in that new land ‑‑ shared in the bounty and celebration. In recognition of that historic event, President George Washington, in 1789, issued a proclamation declaring the first national day of thanksgiving. He called upon the people of the United States to unite in rendering unto God our sincere and humble gratitude "for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country" and "the favorable interpositions of his Providence." President Abraham Lincoln revived this tradition as our fractured Nation endured the horrors of the Civil War. Ever since, we have set aside this day to give special thanks to God for the many blessings, gifts, and love he has bestowed on us and our country. This Thanksgiving, as we gather in places of worship and around tables surrounded by loved ones, in humble gratitude for the bountiful gifts we have received, let us keep in close memory our fellow Americans who have faced hardship and tragedy this year. In the spirit of generosity and compassion, let us joyfully reach out in word and deed, and share our time and resources throughout our communities. Let us also find ways to give to the less fortunate ‑‑ whether it be in the form of sharing a hearty meal, extending a helping hand, or providing words of encouragement. We are especially reminded on Thanksgiving of how the virtue of gratitude enables us to recognize, even in adverse situations, the love of God in every person, every creature, and throughout nature. Let us be mindful of the reasons we are grateful for our lives, for those around us, and for our communities. We also commit to treating all with charity and mutual respect, spreading the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout our country and across the world. Today, we particularly acknowledge the sacrifices of our service members, law enforcement personnel, and first responders who selflessly serve and protect our Nation. This Thanksgiving, more than 200,000 brave American patriots will spend the holiday overseas, away from their loved ones. Because of the men and women in uniform who volunteer to defend our liberty, we are able to enjoy the splendor of the American life. We pray for their safety, and for the families who await their return. 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 Thursday, November 22, 2018, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third. DONALD J. TRUMP |
Friday, November 16, 2018
National Family Week Presidential Proclamation, 2018
Office of the Press Secretary
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National Family Week, 2018
- - - - - - - By the President of the United States of America
During National Family Week, we celebrate the immeasurable contributions, influence, and virtues of one of the greatest institutions -- the family. Whether related by biology, marriage, or adoption, the family is a primary source of unconditional love and steadfast support. Strong families multiply joy, share challenges, and provide firm foundations for each member's growth and success in life. Families are central to learning values, and they enrich our neighborhoods, communities, and Nation.
My Administration is focused on creating an environment in which families can thrive. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has produced larger paychecks for workers, who are now keeping more of their hard-earned income. Due to this historic legislation and the elimination of unnecessary and burdensome regulations, the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest point in nearly 50 years last month, and more Americans are working today than ever before in our history. We have fought for and implemented more family-friendly policies like doubling the child tax credit and making it available to low-income working families; creating the dependent tax credit for taxpayers with children over the age of 16 and non-child dependents; and establishing an employer tax credit for paid family and medical leave. I also created, by Executive Order, the first ever National Council for the American Worker, to enhance Americans' access to the skills and support necessary to secure and retain a good paying job. In both of my budgets, I have also requested congressional funding for a national paid family leave program. All of these reforms are giving much-needed financial relief to hardworking parents. When Americans have greater opportunities to work and provide for their families, our Nation is stronger and more prosperous. Every family, regardless of its social status or background, faces its own challenges. Tragically, many American family members are in the midst of a heart-wrenching and difficult battle against drug addiction. For this reason, I have tasked my Administration with strengthening our public health and safety response to the arising crisis of opioid and other drug addiction. In February, I secured $6 billion in new funding for combating the opioid epidemic. In March, I released my Administration's plan to address the epidemic by reducing drug demand, cutting off the flow of illicit drugs, expanding access to overdose prevention and evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, and conducting research to improve prevention and treatment. And, last month, I signed the historic SUPPORT Act, which will reduce the length of time children spend in foster care due to a parent who is struggling with a substance use disorder. We will continue to remain firm in our commitment to provide help to families devastated by opioid addiction. This week, we recognize in a special way that American families are integral to building and sustaining our great Nation, and we thank God for this precious gift. We must encourage and support the success of our families so that they can create loving and nurturing homes for all our children.
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 November 18 through November 24, 2018, as National Family Week. I invite communities, churches, and individuals to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities to honor our Nation's families.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third. DONALD J. TRUMP |
President Trump Comments on Acosta Ruling
November 16, 2018President Trump Comments on Acosta Ruling
-BuzzFeed News
"People have to behave. We're writing up rules and regulations..I think you were treated very unfairly. Both of you. Because you had somebody interrupting you. With the rules and regulations, we will end up back in court and we will win."
Meaning of rules and regs:
"Decorum. You can't take three questions and four questions. You can't stand up and not sit down."
"We want total freedom of the press. It's more important to me than anybody would believe. But you have to act with respect when you're at the White house, and when I see the way some of my people get treated at news conferences, it's terrible. So we're setting up a certain standard, which is what the court is requesting...we always have the option of leaving...and the other media and press in the room won't be happy."
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT SIGNING OF H.R.3359, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY ACT
Office of the Press Secretary
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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
AT SIGNING OF H.R.3359,
CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY ACT
Oval Office
12:27 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you for coming over so fast. I think this was a little bit unexpected. You didn’t expect to be here. But I think that this is so important what we're doing right now, that you should be here and it should be covered. Today, it's my great honor to sign the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act into law. The people behind me and alongside of me have been working long and hard on this for -- actually, for years. And I want to congratulate them. We're grateful to be joined by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It's very good. Majority Leader -- that sounds good. Huh? Senator Ron Johnson, who's been a fantastic ally and somebody who's doing a really incredible job. And he chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. And Chairman Michael McCaul, who just had a great victory in Texas, and he's in charge of the House Committee on Homeland Security. And, Michael, congratulations. CHAIRMAN MCCAUL: Thank you, sir. THE PRESIDENT: That was a big -- that was a very solid victory. I also want to thank Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Undersecretary Chris Krebs for being here. And they, too, have been working long and hard on this bill. Every day, America’s adversaries are testing our cyber defenses. They attempt to gain access to our critical infrastructure, exploit our great companies, and undermine our entire way of life. And we can't let that happen. This vital legislation will establish a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security to lead the federal government’s civilian response to these cyber threats against our nation. We've had many, many threats against our nation. Cyber is going to be the newest form. And the threats have taken place, and we've been doing pretty good in knocking them out, but now we'll be -- this will make us, I think, much more effective. We're putting people that are the best in the world, in charge. And I think we're going to have a whole different ballgame. Cyber is, to a large extent, where it's at nowadays. The men and women of the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will be on the front lines of our cyber defense. They will partner with the private sector, and all levels of government, to defend America’s power grids, banks, telecommunications, and other critical parts of our economy. The cyber battle-space evolves -- and it is evolving, and unfortunately, faster than a lot of people want to talk about. But battle-space it is. So as the cyber battle-space evolves, this new agency will ensure that we confront the full range of threats from nation-states, cyber criminals, and other malicious actors, of which there are many. This is going to go a long way. This is a very, very important piece of legislation, and it is my honor to have all of you with us. Thank you, Ron. Thank you very much. And we appreciate your hard work. Thank you. Mr. Leader, thank you. (The bill is signed.) Okay. Thank you, everybody. Q Mr. President, do you have any comment on the CNN ruling a moment ago? THE PRESIDENT: No. Just, people have to behave and they have to do -- we're writing up rules and regulations to make our position. I think you were treated very unfairly, both of you. I think you were treated very unfairly because you had somebody interrupting you. And if they don’t listen to the rules and regulations, we'll end up back in court and we'll win. But more importantly, we'll just leave, and then you won't be very happy, because we do get good ratings. Q Mr. President, when you talk about rules and regulations, what do you mean, sir? THE PRESIDENT: Decorum. You can't take three questions and four questions, and just stand up and not sit down. Decorum. You have to practice decorum. You were there; you understood, and you understand. We want total freedom of the press; that's very important to me. It's more important to me than anybody would believe. But you have to act with respect. You're in the White House. And when I see the way some of my people get treated at press conferences, it's terrible. So we're setting up a certain standard, which is what the court is requesting. And always freedom of the press, always First Amendment. But that's the way it is. And we always have the option of just leaving. You know, if we feel that things aren’t being treated properly, that people aren’t being treated properly, we always have the right to leave. And I think the other media, the other press in the room, will not be very happy if that happens. But I've instructed my people: When they're not treated properly, you have the right to just leave any time you want. Q Mr. President, China gave a response this week to your trade request. Have you seen that response? And are you pleased with it? And what do you think it means? THE PRESIDENT: This is China? Q China, yes. On trade. THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, go ahead. Tell me what their response was. Q They sent a response for the 142 items on trade. Just wondering what your thoughts are about it. THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. That's good. No, China wants to make a deal. China -- as you know, Jeff, China wants to make a deal. They sent a list of things that they're willing to do, which was a large list. And it's just not acceptable to me yet. But at some point, I think that we are doing extremely well with respect to China. I have a great respect for President Xi. I have a great respect for China. But China has taken advantage of the United States for many, many years. Ron Johnson knows that maybe better than anybody, because Ron is a big believer in what I'm doing. And I think that they're going to come in and we're going to either open up China and make it fair -- because it's not fair right now. They do very little business with them, and we do a lot of business. You know, it just can't be. Plus, they have tremendous barriers. They have tremendous tariffs on us that we didn’t have on them. But that's all changed now. We've put on tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods, and we have another $267 billion to go, if we want to. We may not have to do that. China would like to make a deal. Our country has done very well, and China, as you know, has not done very well. They've been down 30 percent, 32 percent. They've been down very substantially. We have helped create China, as we know it today, by allowing money to be sucked out of our country by the billions. Five-hundred billion dollars a year, in many cases, over a long period of time. And we can't allow that to happen. And I think we will have a great relationship with China. Hopefully we'll make a deal. And if we don't, we're doing very well just the way it is right now. We have tariffs coming in on $250 billion worth of goods. And these are -- we're talking about billions and billions of dollars a month will flow into our country, and has already started flowing into our country that comes from China. So China has never been put in this position. And I don’t want to put them in a bad position; I want to put them in a great position. But it's called "reciprocal." We have to have reciprocal trade. We can't have trade that's meant for stupid people. And that's the way they took advantage of our country. And we don’t have that anymore, and they understand that. And I think a deal will be made, and we'll find out very soon. Q Just to follow up, sir, the list that they submitted, do you think it goes far enough? Are you happy with it? Unhappy with it? THE PRESIDENT: It's a pretty complete list. It's a lot of the things we asked for. There are some things -- there were four or five big things left off. I think we'll probably get them too. But it's -- as you know, it's a very complete list. I think it's 142 items, and that's a lot of items. Okay? Thank you very much, everybody. Q One more, Mr. President. You, on Twitter yesterday, seemed a bit agitated about what you might be perceiving the Mueller investigation will do. THE PRESIDENT: No, I'm not agitated. It's a hoax. Q I'm just curious -- THE PRESIDENT: The whole thing was a hoax. There was no collusion. Q But did anything trigger that set of tweets yesterday? THE PRESIDENT: No, not that all. No. I'm very happy. I'm very happy with the White House. I'm extremely happy with our country. We're doing better on the economy. Maybe it's the best economy we've ever had. They may be the best unemployment numbers and employment numbers that we've ever had. There are more people working in the United States right now, at this moment, than have ever worked in the United States, by far -- by far. I'm extremely happy. I'm very happy with almost all of my Cabinet. And, you know, changes are made because they're always made, especially after midterms. But it's all fake news. It is -- I'm thrilled with the way the country is going. I think, on foreign, we're doing very well. We're making trade deals. We just made a deal with Mexico; we just made a deal with Canada; we just made a deal with South Korea that are phenomenal deals. And they were horrible deals before. Q But you seemed unhappy with the Mueller investigation, particularly yesterday morning. I'm just curious about that, sir. THE PRESIDENT: No, it's just a continuation. You can go. And there should have never been any Mueller investigation because there was never anything done wrong. There was no collusion; there never has been. You would have known about it a long time ago if there was. There was nothing -- they should have never had it. They've wasted millions and millions of dollars. There should have never been a so-called investigation, which, in theory, it's not an investigation of me. But it's, as far as I'm concerned, I like to take everything personally, because you do better that way. The witch hunt, as I call it, should never have taken place. It continues to go on. I imagine it's ending now. From what I hear, it's ending. And I'm sure it will be just fine. And you know why it's going to be just fine? Because there was no collusion. The fact is, I was a much better candidate than Hillary Clinton. I went to the right states; she went to the wrong states. She was not a good campaigner. Obviously, I campaigned very well. And I easily won the election and the Electoral College -- 306 -- I guess it was 306 to 223. That's a big difference. Q And you've provided answers, sir? THE PRESIDENT: About what? Q The Special Counsel. Your lawyers will (inaudible)? THE PRESIDENT: My lawyers aren’t working on that. I'm working on that. I write the answers. My lawyers don't write answers; I write answers. I was asked a series of questions. I've answered them very easily. Very easily. I'm sure they're tricked up, because, you know, they like to catch people -- "Gee, you know, was the weather sunny or was it rainy?" "He said it may have been a good day; it was rainy, therefore he told a lie. He perjured himself." Okay? So you have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions. But, no, it's -- the questions were very routinely answered by me. By me. Okay? Q You mean the Special Counsel? THE PRESIDENT: To the Special -- yeah. Q And you submitted the answers yourself, you said. THE PRESIDENT: I haven't submitted them. Yeah, we just -- I just finished them. As you know, I've been a little bit busy. We've been in Europe. We've been working on various deals. We just finished the USMCA, if you look at that deal, which is one of the great trade deals. You'll see. I mean, you can see how happy our farmers are. We've done a lot of work in the last period of time, so we've been very busy. It's been very hard to find time. But it didn’t take very long to do them. And they were my answers. I don’t need lawyers to do that. Now, you need lawyers for submittal. You need lawyers to go over some of the answers. But they're not very difficult questions. Okay? Thank you very much, everybody. END 12:39 P.M. |
HONORING NATIONAL VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES MONTH REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
Office of the Press Secretary
|
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________ For Immediate Release November 15, 2018 HONORING NATIONAL VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES MONTH REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP South Court Auditorium 1:46 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Wow. That was such a nice introduction, Mr. Secretary. Thank you. (Applause.) And, by the way, just so you understand, he's doing a great job. Please, sit down. After that introduction, I would have to say that even if he wasn't doing a great job, right? (Laughter.) But he's a fantastic person, who has committed like I've never seen. And, you know, he came out of Defense, and they weren’t happy about it. That's always a good sign -- you know, when they're not happy? When they are happy, you know you picked the wrong person. (Laughter.) But they were not -- they're still not happy about it. Thank you very much. Where are you? There you are. Thank you very much. Beautiful. And thank you, everybody, for being here. This is a tremendously important group of people to me. America's veterans, these are special people. Today I'm thrilled to welcome you all to the White House Conference on Supporting Veterans and Military Families. And we all know how important families are for us. I do want to thank -- I understand with us, a man who's really been of great help, is the Utah Attorney General, Sean Reyes. Where's Sean? Hi, Sean. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Really good. Earlier this week, our nation celebrated Veterans Day, and we also marked the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I. That's a beautiful, beautiful and important day. On Sunday, I had the immense privilege of visiting Suresnes Cemetery in France to pay tribute to the brave Americans who laid down their lives for our nation one century ago. One hundred years. We will never forget what these heroes did to win -- and win they did, the war -- and to secure peace. To everyone here today who has served our country in uniform, and to every veteran and military family across our land, I want to express the eternal gratitude and thanks of our entire nation. Delivering for our great veterans requires strong partnerships at all levels of government. That is why we are so grateful to you, the state -- very important -- and local community leaders -- it all doesn’t work without you; it doesn’t work without you -- from around the country who are participating in today’s very important conference. We're also glad to be joined by Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, wherever Alex may be. Where is Alex? Hello, Alex. He's doing a great job. Thank you. Thank you very much. Who is leading up our efforts to ensure veterans and military families can find great jobs and rewarding careers. And one of the best things we have going is you have maybe the greatest economy we've had in many, many years. Thank you, Alex. I thought I saw you back there. (Laughter.) Now you're where you belong, right next to each other. Right? So I want to thank all of the people that are making this economy go. We have so many people working so hard. But it's booming. And veteran unemployment has reached its lowest level in nearly 21 years. And it's going to be better. (Applause.) Going to be even be better. And that number will be better -- because if you look at the various statistics, African American So we have to do better for the veterans. I think 21 years isn’t the same. I have a feeling that the next chart that comes out, they'll be right up there too. But this is the lowest in 21 years. Since day one, my administration has also taken bold action to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs and deliver our veterans the care they so richly deserve. Working very hard on it. Last year, I signed the landmark VA Accountability Act, which, as you know, by accountability, that ensures us the right to get rid of, in a very nice way, or a very rough way -- any way we want -- (laughter) -- the Secretary probably is a rough way, and that's okay; that's okay, too, Secretary -- those who mistreat our veterans. And they are going to be held fully accountable. This was something that for, I would say, four decades they've been trying to get it approved. Sounds easy; it's not. I love the unions; we love civil service. But they didn’t make this one easy for many, many decades. We got it done. We're good at getting things done. Since my inauguration, we have removed more than 3,600 government employees who were not giving our vets the care or respect that they deserve. In June, I proudly signed into law the most significant VA reform in half a century, called Veterans Choice. Everyone knows what that means. Now, if a veteran cannot get the treatment they need from the VA in a timely manner, they can see a private doctor. They don’t have to wait 12 days or 20 days. I heard horror stories like you wouldn’t believe during the campaign, when I was campaigning. And I appreciate the Secretary saying that it was a very major part -- the veterans -- of all of my speeches. I don’t think I left them out of one speech, and I made plenty of them. And they were at the top. And now we’re really producing I think far greater than anyone would have thought possible. Since I took office, 2.2 million veterans have been able to receive the care they need outside of the VA system. So there’s no more waiting on lines. Literally, people were waiting. You know better than I do. But they’d be waiting three, four, five, six weeks, in some cases, to see a doctor. Now they go and they see a private doctor right outside, hopefully right next to their house or where they live, and we pay for it. And they are very thankful. It’s been incredible. And we’re actually upping that program quite a bit as time goes by. We’re going to be doing certain steps that we always had planned. But we’re doing it step by step. And we’ve had great support in Congress, I have to say that. In September, I signed into law the largest funding bill for the VA in history. We secured $8.6 billion for veterans’ mental health services; $400 million for opioid abuse prevention; and $270 million for rural veterans’ health initiatives. The rural veterans have had it pretty tough over the years because they’re pretty far away from a lot of potentially good treatment. Working with the VA and Department of Housing and Urban Development, we’ve helped nearly 54,000 veterans in need. We’ve helped them find permanent housing and great services last year. To improve the efficiency of the VA, I signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act. Over the last two years, we have taken dramatic action to streamline the bureaucracy, and made tremendous progress. In the last year, we pro-cessed more than one million total claims -- processed -- total claims at the VA, along with 85,000 appeals decisions -- the most in history -- and 62 percent more than the previous year, which is a record. Which is a record. Nobody has ever seen that kind of an improvement. Since I took office, we have reduced the average claim wait time -- such a big factor in what we’re doing; wait times -- by nearly 25 percent. And that number is going to go substantially better with a little more time. We opened the promised White House VA hotline, which has already fielded more than 150,000 calls and emails from our veterans when they have a complaint, a problem -- or in many cases, we receive compliments for what's happened in the last less than two-year period. It’s almost two years. Can you believe it? But it’s still less than two years. In January, I signed an executive order directing the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to ensure seamless access to mental health care and suicide prevention resources for veterans -- tremendous, hard to believe problem; hard to believe, actually -- with a focus on the first year after separation from military service, when a lot of bad things can happen. We secured $206 million for VA suicide prevention programming. And every VA medical center now offers same-day emergency mental health care. But we must do more, and we’re working to do more. We will be working with every state and local leader -- so many of you are here and around the nation -- to improve vital mental health services for America’s great veterans. This is a top priority for my administration. It has been, as I said, from the beginning -- always will be -- until we get it right. And we’re getting close. And once we get it right, we’re going to keep it right -- because it can go bad just as fast as we fixed it. So we’re going to keep it right. Pretty soon, that’s what we’re going to be working on, Mr. Secretary -- just keeping it right. We’re getting to a point. Another crucial element of our veterans agenda is improved access to education. Last year, I signed legislation to allow every veteran to use their GI Bill education benefits at any point in their lives. And earlier this year, I signed an executive order to promote military spouse hiring across the federal government. Military families are the backbone of our nation. So, in addition to everything else, as you see, I did the promotion of military spouse hiring across the federal government. The fact is, I’ve done a lot. (Laughter.) I could -- (applause) -- goodbye, everybody! Goodbye, everybody! That’s a lot. That is a lot. That’s more than anybody has ever even thought about, and I’m proud of it. And we’re not finished yet. That’s why I figured I did so much, I could leave now. But we’re not finished. We never will be finished. To support our heroes in uniform, we have secured a record $716 billion in military funding this year. And last year, we increased it by hundreds of billions of dollars to $700 billion. America’s military might is the best way to prevent war. The stronger we are, the less chance we have of having to go to war. It’s now a new force, a great force. We have the finest equipment, the finest planes, the finest missiles and rockets, ships. Some are being built. Just gave out a tremendous order for brand-new F-35s -- fighter jets. They’re stealth. You can’t see them. Other than that, they’re easy to beat. (Laughter.) I said to one of the pilots, I said, “How good are these?” “Well, sir, the problem is you can’t see them when you fight them.” I said, “That sounds like it’s a big advantage.” And he said, “It’s an awfully big advantage.” It’s incredible equipment, everything we make. We make the best equipment in the world. You should know that. I mean, we make equipment like nobody else even comes close. Our technology is far superior to anybody else. Our jetfighters -- even our tankers -- but our planes, our ships, there’s nobody that makes the equipment like we make it. And the beautiful thing with -- when you hear “$716 billion,” it’s all made in the USA, every ounce of it. Right? (Applause.) And we will soon have the greatest and most prepared force -- military force anywhere in the history of our country, by far. And that’s what we need. It was becoming very depleted and very tired. And you people know probably better than anybody in this country what was happening. It was not good. And now it’s really good. It's our sacred duty to support America’s service members every single day they wear the uniform, and every day after when they return home as veterans and heroes. We take care of them. That’s very important. And they really appreciate it. I think nothing I’ve done is more appreciated. I think we’ve done a lot for a lot of different groups, but nobody has appreciated it more than the vets. I see that when I go out, when I make speeches and I meet people backstage and onstage. I think the vets, maybe more than anybody else, appreciate what we’re doing for them. So together, we will honor those who defend us; we will cherish those who protect us; and we will celebrate the amazing heroes who keep America safe, and strong, and proud, and free. I want to thank you all. You’re very incredible people. I know the job you’re doing; I know how hard it is. I know what you’ve gone through, especially before we came into office. What you went through is incredible. Horrible, in certain ways. But I know what you went through. And it’s my honor to be with you. And God bless America. Keep up the great work. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) END 2:01 P.M. EST |
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