REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT A RECEPTION FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH East Room February 27, 2020

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2020 REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT A RECEPTION FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH East Room    February 27, 2020 6:57 P.M.  EST      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.      AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!      THE PRESIDENT:   We love you.  Thank you very much, everybody.      I want to just -- first of all, a person that's doing an unbelievable job -- loves everybody in this room.  She's got tremendous heart.  She's been through a lot and she handles it better than anybody I know: our great First Lady.  And she -- (applause) -- she heard you were all here, so she just wanted to come down and say hello.  And we just want to thank you, honey, because you've done an incredible job.  You love this country and we appreciate it too.  Okay?  (Applause.)      Well, thank you.  And we're thrilled to welcome you to the White House as we proudly celebrate African American History Month.      In every generation, African Americans have enriched our culture, deepened our faith, strengthened our community, sustained our values, raised up our conscience, and called our nation to greatness.  And that's exactly what's happened and it's incredible and people are really starting to recognize it.      We're pleased to be joined today by -- Ben Carson is around here someplace.  Where's Ben?  (Applause.)  A friend of mine and an incredible -- he's doing an incredible job.      Alex Azar -- and he's working very hard on a thing called the virus.  (Applause.)  How's it going?  Do you have anything to report to us, Alex?      SECRETARY AZAR:  (Inaudible.)   THE PRESIDENT:  Do you want to come up and talk about it?  Come up for a second, Alex.  Come on.  We might as well learn something about -- it’s a hot topic.  Come on.  You got a lot of press back there, Alex.  Good luck.      SECRETARY AZAR:  We had one or two last night.  (Laughter.)       THE PRESIDENT:  Go ahead.      SECRETARY AZAR:  So I just want to report to everybody that, thanks to the President's historically aggressive containment efforts, we have really been able to keep the risk to Americans low right now, so that everyday Americans don't need to be worried.  But that can change and that's why it's important for all of us to prepare.  That's why the President is leading a whole-of-government effort.      He's put the Vice President in charge of our entire government, getting prepared and making sure our state and local communities also are prepared.  And so the President really deserves incredible credit because he got on this within days and weeks of learning from China about this and took action that people attacked him for.  People attacked him for these actions on controlling our borders and quarantining people.      But it's kept America safe.  It's bought us time.  So thank you, Mr. President.  (Applause.)          THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Yeah, really, we're doing well.  We have incredible professionals like Alex and we appreciate it very much.  Say hello to everybody over there, Alex.  I appreciate it.      Steve Mnuchin, from a place called Treasury.  Where is Steve?  Hi, Steve.  (Applause.)  Hi, Steve.  Hi, Steve.      And a person who has done a fantastic job, incredible job -- Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza.  (Applause.)  I see you there.      Surgeon General Jerome Adams.  Jerome.  (Applause.)      And Jared Kushner, who you know.  (Applause.)  Jared has done a great job on criminal justice reform.  Jared did a fantastic job.  Thank you very much, Jared.      From the very beginning of our republic, African American heroes poured out their blood, sweat, heart, and soul to protect American freedom and to realize our founding promise that we are all made equal by the hand of Almighty God, right?  (Applause.)      The very first person to give his life in our nation’s struggle for independence was an African American patriot, Crispus Attucks.  You know that?  Did you know that?      Black soldiers fought beneath the Star Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry and gave their lives to eradicate slavery in the Civil War.  And that was some fight.      At Pearl Harbor, it was an African American sailor, Doris Miller, who was among the first to return enemy fire.  Last month, the Navy announced that the next American aircraft carrier will bear the proud name of “USS Doris Miller.”  That's pretty good.  (Applause.)  They won’t give me that honor.  That's a big boat.  That's a big ship.      AUDIENCE MEMBER:  One day.      THE PRESIDENT:   All right.  One day, maybe.  But then, in the meantime -- (laughs) -- you’re right.  One day, maybe.      That’s -- congratulations, that really is a big deal.  Aircraft carrier.  Doesn't get bigger than that.  It's going to be one of the biggest ships in the world.      Hundreds of thousands of courageous African Americans defend our flag today.  We are proudly and profoundly grateful to be joined by several members of the United States military this evening.  We salute your tireless devotion and all of the great work you do for our nation.  We want to thank you very much.  It's incredible, the job you do.  Thank you all very much -- military people.  (Applause.)      Also with us is a young -- very young, frankly -- handsome man that I just met: 15-year old Alphonso Hill.  He's an Eagle Scout from Hubert, North Carolina.  I'll be going to North Carolina soon.  (Applause.)  Where is he?  Last year, Alphonso decided he wanted to build a flagpole for his church to honor all of those who have served our military.      At the base is a plaque dedicated to our warriors.  It says, “Thank you for yesterday and thank you for the days to come.”  That's -- that's pretty good.  Did you write that, up Al- -- where is Alphonso?  Come on up here, Alphonso.  We want to thank you for the incredible job you've done.  Come on up.  Say a few words.  Good-looking guy.  Thank you.  (Applause.)      MR. HILL:  Thank you, Mr. President.  It is an honor and a privilege to stand before you today.  My -- my ability is, I'm not here to come by my own doing.  I’d like to thank God, my family, and mentors for their continued support throughout my journey.      As stated before, my Eagle Scout project was designed to showcase and reflect the patriotism that is within our country.  It has also allowed for an opportunity to honor the men and women who are serving, will continue to serve, and who have served this great nation.      Today's recognition is a memory that I'll cherish for a lifetime.  I hope that whoever is watching sees that through encouragement, focus, and passion, anything is possible.  Again, thank you and God bless.  (Applause.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Good job.  He'll be in politics someday, right?  (Laughter.)  You might be standing here someday.  That's great.  Thank you, Alphonso.  Beautiful job.  Thank you very much.  All those medals he's got.  Wow.  (Laughter.)  Impressive.      We have a man who makes pillows.  Did you ever hear of this guy?  He makes pillows.  And I don't know, for whatever reason, he just -- I do like his pillows, but I don't think that’s -- but he's been such a great supporter, especially in Minnesota, where he runs Minnesota now for us.  He's the guy -- so if I lose Minnesota, we shouldn't -- I can blame you.  (Laughter.)  I'll say, “Never buy one of…” --      AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.) THE PRESIDENT:  Huh?  One of the great, great -- and, by the way, thank you for everything.  We really appreciate it.  Okay?  Thank you.  Thank you, man.  (Applause.)  He’s doing a good job.  Built a -- started from nothing, with a small company, and now he does -- what are your sales now?      MR. LINDELL:  Well, we have 46 million My Pillows.      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s fantastic.  That’s fantastic.  And putting a lot of people to work, too.      MR. LINDELL:  Sixteen hundred people in Minnesota.      THE PRESIDENT:  Sixteen hundred.  Sixteen hundred in Minnesota.  Fantastic job.  Fantastic.  (Applause.)  That’s a good product too, by the way.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Proud of you.      As a token of our gratitude, I'd like to give Alphonso a special gift that we can have him take back to his church.  Can we do that, Alphonso?  It's a flag flown on board Marine One.  And we're going to get that flag and I want to thank you, throughout our history, all of the great work that African Americans have done.  (Applause.)      Alphonso, you’ve battled for equality and justice and liberty and we really do revere all of the great fighters.  He's going to be another one, I can see it.  Did you ever hear of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Thurgood Marshall?  And this may be the next one.  Although I think, Alphonso, we have a lot of people in the in au- -- in the offing right here.  (Laughter.)  We have a lot of people that might beat you to it, but you'll be there someday.  I’ll bet you are.  Come on over here, Alphonso.  (Applause.)      (A flag is presented.) (Applause.)      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s pretty good, huh?      MR. HILL:  Yes, sir.      THE PRESIDENT:  He’ll be here.  It's only a question: Will somebody be there first, right?  It’s a lot of people.      You know, we have some.  I think I’m going to read out some of the names because they’ve been incredible.  You know, Kay Coles James who’s been incredible.  (Applause.)  Where is Kay?  She’s been so great and I appreciate it.      Herman Cain -- the great Herman Cain.  Where is he?  (Applause.)  Herman Cain.  What a great man he is and a great friend.  He was leading for the -- in the presidential race a few years ago -- not so long ago.  And he had a tax plan “9-9-9”.  Did anybody ever hear -- (laughter) -- and, man, did that capture everybody’s attention.  Nobody knew what it meant, but that’s okay.  (Laughter.)  It worked.  Herman Cain.      Alveda King.  And she’s now -- (applause) -- she is now with her great -- I say “relative” but, really, essentially, it’s, as far as we’re concerned, it’s your daughter.  That’s your daughter.  That’s what we’re saying.      And I want to congratulate you, Angela.  Okay?  Angela, congratulations.  (Applause.)  We just gave Angela a pardon and she’s going to lead the greatest life, right?  (Applause.)  And she has somebody on her side named Alveda.      AUDIENCE MEMBER:  That’s right!      THE PRESIDENT:  And you can’t get a better reference, I’ll tell you that.      A friend of mine, he’s a pastor but he’s one of the toughest human beings I’ve ever seen.  I think he’s almost too tough to be a pastor, but we won’t say.  And I used to watch him rip apart the CNN people.  Now, they won’t put him on anymore because they didn’t win.  (Laughter.)  They only put people on that say bad stuff.      But he would take people or -- I mean, he’s just very legit.  He’s an incredible guy.  He’s an unbelievable person to have as a friend.  Pastor Darrell Scott.  (Applause.)  Where is he?  Where is he?  Yep.  Thank you, Pastor.  Great guy.      Somebody that’s incredible that’s really become popular, become a real star in so many ways: Candace Owens.  (Applause.)  Where is Candace?  Where is our Candace?  Thanks, Candace.  She’s something.      Terrence Williams, are you here?  Terrence.  Oh, Terrence.  I watched him the other night.  Oy-yi-yi, I felt so sorry for the other side.  (Laughter.)      Two people that I hope are making a fortune because they deserve it.      AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Huh?  Are they making a lot?  Diamond and Silk.  (Applause.)  They’re great people.  First Lady said -- five years ago now, can you believe it? -- said, “You have to watch.  There’s two people on the Internet.  They’re unbelievable.”  (Laughter.)  I said, “I don’t want to watch two people on the Internet.”  (Laughter.)  She said, “Please.”  You know, she said, “You go to watch.”  That means you have to watch, right?      And I watched.  That was the first time I saw them.  I said, “They’re going to be stars.”  And they have been -- just been incredible.  And they’ve been with me for -- almost before I even announced.  They were there right at the beginning.  Thank you both very much.      MS. HARDAWAY AND MS. RICHARDSON:  (In unison.)  We love you.  (Laughter.)      THE PRESIDENT:  It’s a great honor.      And Ben Caron’s incredible wife, Candy, thank you for being here.  (Applause.)  Thank you.      A friend of Pastor Darrell, a friend of mine: Kareem Lanier.  Where are -- where is Kareem?  Kareem.  Yeah, thank you, Kareem.  (Applause.)  Kareem is our good man.      And, Angela, thank you for being here.  That’s -- enjoy your life.      MS. STANTON-KING:  Thank you!      THE PRESIDENT:  Somebody that’s on television speaking so well, so brilliant, so sharp, and she’s on our side: Deneen Borelli.  Deneen, where are you?  (Applause.)  Thanks, Deneen.  You -- you speak the word.  It’s incredible.  When you’re there, nobody plays games with you, right?  Thank you very much.      David Harris, Jr. became very famous.  (Applause.)  He walks through an airport and he’s an Internet sensation, right?  I don’t know, you’ll have to tell us about that.  Thank you, David.      Robert Smith.  Robert, thank you.  Thank you, Robert.  (Applause.)      Somebody that is really -- somebody that I just have liked from the beginning.  He’s -- he was with us from the beginning.  I didn’t know him from the beginning, but he was there.  And nobody speaks more beautifully, nobody says it more beautifully: Paris Dennard.  (Applause.)  Paris.  Thank you, Paris.  Where is Paris?  He’s there.  Thank you.  Thank you, Paris.  Thank you.  Thank you.  What a job.  You’re getting close to your people back there, (inaudible).  (Laughter.)  You’re getting per- -- Paris, thank you very much.      Is CNN back there?  I can’t see them.      AUDIENCE:  Booo --      THE PRESIDENT:  A man who is a great fighter, who I’ve watched over the years -- I like the fights.  And he won, I think, 42 fights and lost very few.  He had great speed.  I’m larger than him, but I said, “Do you think I could take you in a fight?”  And he looked at me and he goes, “Is he serious?”  (Laughter.)  And I agree with what the said.      Andre Berto.  Where is Andre?  Andre?  Great, job, Andre.  (Applause.)  He’s got a lot of wins.  Forty-two wins.  Forty-two wins.  That’s a lot, right?  It’s a lot of fighting.  And he’s sharp as a tack.      Jack Brewer, a great player.  (Applause.)  Where is Jack?  A great NFL player.  Jack, thank you.  And I loved what you said before.  I don’t know if they were listening -- the media.  They don’t want to hear those words, Jack, you know.  But what you said --      MR. BREWER:  It’s true!      THE PRESIDENT:  -- I know they are, and I appreciate you saying them too.  But you -- really, that was beautiful.      And where is Derrick Gradenigo?  Derrick, what you said -- so beautiful.  We won't forget it.  Thank you, Derrick.  Thank you, Derrick.  (Applause.)      Marc Little is here.  Marc, thank you.  Thank you, Marc.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Marc.      Bruce LeVell.  He really had a spell.  (Applause.)  He had a spell.  Thank you, Bruce.  Boy, you did a job.  They turned those cameras off so fast.  (Laughter.)      And somebody that really is special and an incredible woman: Stacy Washington.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Stacy.      And Katrina is around here someplace.  Where is Katrina?  Where is she?  (Applause.)  Where is she?  She’s been -- she’s been there from the beginning.  Almost from before the beginning.      In 1955, one champion of civil rights was a student taking a train from Nashville to Houston when the conductor ordered her to leave the seat immediately because of the color of her skin, if you can believe that.  Gertrude Jane Holliday Stone refused.  Her belongings were stolen and she was threatened with arrest, but she -- she just sat and she defied this horrible order and grave injustice.  She did not give up her seat.  She wouldn’t give it up.      And I just met her, by the way, and I say, they had a lot of problems.  They had a lot of problems.  They weren’t going to win that.        Later in life, Gertrude went on to integrate a major department store, she became the first African American to chair the Houston Public Library Board, and she is here with us today.  She’s an incredible woman, an incredible success, and a nice person.  Gertrude Jane, America is forever in your debt and we appreciate your being here.  Please come up.  Please come up and say a few words.  Gertrude.  (Applause.)  Come on up.      And her son -- her loving son.  That’s very nice.  Thank you very much.  Please.       MS. STONE:  Thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me here.  And my son had to bring me because I’m almost 90 years old.  (Applause.)      In 1955, I boarded the train from Tennessee to Texas for the Christmas holidays to visit my parents.  The conductor got on the train and he looked at my ticket and he says, “You’ve got to move to the Jim Crow coach.”  And I looked at him and I said, “I’m not moving.”      Shortly after that, he got another man -- I suppose the brakeman -- to come.  And now these two men are over me, screaming and hollering and saying unkind things, telling me to move to the Jim Crow coach.  And I told both of them, “I’m not moving.”      When we got to Lake Charles, Louisiana, he had the city policeman to board the train.  And now the three of them are telling me to move to the Jim Crow coach.  They took all of my belongings.  It’s wintertime.  They even took my coat.  And I said, “I’m not moving.”      There was an educator by the name of Horace Mann.  He was also a congressman.  And he said, “Refuse to die until you have done something for humanity.”  (Applause.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Very inspirational.         MS. STONE:  Mr. Trump, I thank you for all that you do for humanity.  (Applause.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Inaudible.)      MS. STONE:  I don’t believe in abortions and he doesn’t either.  (Applause.)  Let me tell you, you might be killing an Einstein.  You might be killing a Nobel Laureate.  And you might be killing somebody that’s going to find the cure for the coronavirus.  (Applause.)       THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you so much.  Thank you.      MS. STONE:  Thank you, President Trump.  Thank you.      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Wait, let me take you back.      Beautiful woman.  Thank you very much.  Thanks, Gertrude.  (Applause.)      The African American community has made every aspect of our national lives richer, better, and brighter.  This week, we remember the renowned NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who recently passed away at the age of 101.  Right?  (Applause.)  Great, great woman.  Our nation will forever honor her soaring legacy in helping American astronauts to win the war on space. And we're just doing now another -- we're doing the space, you know, we're going to be heading to space because that's where it's at now.  And we have to do that and we're going to have another branch of the United States military.      So we have Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines.  We have Coast Guard.  And we have now -- I just call it "Space."  That's what we want.  We want "Space."  And that's where it's at.  That's where it's at, in terms of so many other things.      And we're also -- we'll be heading to the Moon soon.  We're going to have our first female on the Moon.  And then, from the Moon, I don't know if people know this, you have to -- you need to land on the Moon in order to go to Mars.  It's a launching pad for Mars.  So it's going to be great.  But we're really doing tremendous things at NASA.      Brilliant scientists, scholars, lawyers, and inventors, from George Washington Carver to Marie Daly to Clarence Thomas -- and by the way, Clarence Thomas, who I really know well -- incredible, man.  He's an incredible man.  (Applause.)  Incredible man.      I was introducing people and they were saying, "Who's your favorite member of the Supreme Court?"  It is a big group -- 4-or 5,000 people.  And Clarence -- I said, "Clarence Thomas is great."  This was two years ago.  The place went crazy.  I've never forgotten.  Every time I see him, I tell him that story. And he always likes that story.  (Laughter.)  But they went -- they went wild.  They love him.  But they've improved society for all Americans.      The artistic genius of icons like Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis -- who I knew a little bit; he was a wild man.  I won't tell the stories about Sammy because there's too much.  Billie Holiday.  They transformed American music, right?      Millions around the world have been inspired by towering legends like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Tiger Woods -- who just got the Presidential Medal.  You saw that.  Just got it recently, a few months ago.  Incredible guy.      Recently, our entire nation was saddened by the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old, beautiful daughter.  Kobe was one of the greatest competitors of all time.  I'll tell you, I watched him play a lot of basketball.  He was incredible.  Just incredible and respected.  Our nation continues to hold his family in our hearts and prayers.      In every field, every generation, and every calling, African Americans have lifted up our nation to new heights and, like all citizens, you're entitled to a government that puts your needs, your interests, and your families first.  And that's what we're doing.  We're doing that for everyone.  Our country is doing so well.      We'll get this one problem -- it just shows you what can happen.  Everything can be perfect, and then you hear, "Gee, there's a bug.  There's a flu.  There's a virus.  They didn't know what it was in China."  And I said, "Uh oh.  That doesn't sound good."  And, fortunately, we made the early moves and we closed our borders and it was a big thing.  (Applause.)  But I will say that things happen in life that are -- if they would have said, "What are -- give me 10 bad things that you think could happen," that wouldn't have been on the list, right?  But you never know.      But it's working out very professionally.  We're doing a tremendous job and our people are doing a tremendous job.  We have the greatest experts in the world.  Our nation is in the midst of the great American comeback.  That's what it is.  In just over three years, we've created 7 million brand-new jobs -- something that would have been unthinkable to even say.  I wouldn't have been able to get away with it.  They would have stopped me.  They would have said, "That's not realistic.  You're exaggerating."  I would have never said “7 million” because even I didn't think we could reach that number -- 7 million new jobs.      We've created 1.3 million new jobs for African Americans.  (Applause.)  Black American unemployment has reached an all-time low in the history of our country.  It's the best -- best we've ever done.  (Applause.)  Black youth unemployment has reached a record low.  (Applause.)  African American poverty rate has plummeted to the lowest level in the history of our country. These are good numbers.  I don’t know.  I mean, I should be at 100 percent.  I hate to tell you, right?  No, we have incredible --      Wages for African American workers have increased by $2,400 per year.  That's a record increase.  Young people nationwide have seen their wages increase by more than 10 percent.      My administration is fighting for the great jobs, great schools, great healthcare, and truly great future for African Americans and for all Americans.  And we're doing it in record numbers.      We signed legislation that achieved permanent funding for historically black colleges and universities.  (Applause.)  And I just told the story to a group that were in the Oval Office. Most of them, I think, are here, I think, for the most part.      But every year from the time I'm -- you know, I'm now here, can you believe it, more than three years?  How time flies.      I first came here and I stood with my wife -- and right opposite the Lincoln Bedroom -- it was the first night.  And I said, "Do you believe this?  This is unbelievable."  And then, all of a sudden, time flies and now you're more than three years. And now I have to get people working so that we win Minnesota, right?  (Applause.)  You'll do it.      But, but time does fly.  And, you know, when you look at what's going on -- the incredible things that we've done for everybody -- it's been really -- it's been really -- I don't like to say a "miracle" because it's something I always said we could do, but it's been pretty incredible for everybody.  And I think maybe even especially for the people in this room, because you've really been big beneficiaries of people that are smart.      You know, a very special senator from South Carolina -- you know this.  You know who I'm talking about?  Tim.  Right?  Tim Scott.  He came to me with an idea for a thing called "Opportunity Zones."  And -- and he said -- and, you know, over the years, they've had many of these.  They've had many different ideas.  They have ideas.  And so -- they never work. And I liked the idea.  And I said, "Let's see if we could do it, Tim."  We got it passed.  It went through Congress.  And they are employing thousands and thousands of people.  And they're taking areas that were -- there was no investment.  And people are putting money into those areas, and jobs are being created.      And Opportunity Zones is -- a lot of people aren't talking about it, but Opportunity Zones are one of the great things that have happened to the black community, to a lot of communities, when you think.  But I would say the biggest beneficiary is the black, Hispanic community.  It's been an incredible success and I'm very proud of it.  I'm very proud of Tim Scott for bringing it to me.  And I'm glad I said I liked that idea.  You never know.  You know, you try things and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't work as well.  But this has been one of the great stories -- the whole thing with the Opportunity Zones.  So it's been really incredible.      And the other thing that's been a great story is criminal justice reform.  (Applause.)  And, as you know, they've been trying to -- it was -- it's been very unjust.  Maybe a real spokesman or person, you might say -- in the old days, you'd say “spokesman,” now you say “spokeswoman” or “spokesperson” -- but Alice Johnson, who's been -- (applause) -- she was in jail for 22 years.  And she was in jail for -- think of it -- 22 years and she had a long time to go -- almost 20 years to go -- for something that was just not a fair situation.      And she admits -- she said, "Oh, she shouldn't have made a phone call…" and something.  But 22 years.  And she's an incredible -- and she's actually recommended -- I said, "How many people are like you in the prison?"  And she said -- she said, "Quite a few."  I said, "Are they all innocent?"  "No."  I'm glad she that.  (Laughter.)  She said, "No, some are very bad."  I said, "Good.  So at least you're not just saying everybody's perfect, right?"  She said, "No, some are very bad."  But she said, "You have a lot of people that are great people that were treated very unfairly."      So we have criminal justice reform that was done -- which is really most helpful -- by far, frankly -- to the black community.  And it's something that was a great honor.  Jared Kushner, who stands right over here, he was pushing it very hard.  (Applause.)  He was pushing it very hard.      Late at night I'd get calls about criminal justice reform.  I'd say, "What's that, please?"  And he was explaining about fairness and unfairness.  We understand what fairness -- I get treated unfairly, too.  We all get treated unfair.  (Laughter.)  And all we have to do -- you know when you get treated unfairly, you know what you have to do?  Just keep winning.  Win, win, win.  Right?  (Applause.)  Keep winning.  That's what you've been doing.  That’s what you've been doing.  So we got criminal justice reform done.  So many things.  It was just incredible.      I was going to tell you before -- the black colleges, universities -- so every year, they'd come to see me.  And they'd come up, and they'd say, "Hello."  I say, "Good."  Then, after two years, I said, "Huh.  Why are they coming back?  That's strange."  And I said, "Why are you coming back?"  "Well, we have to because we don't have funding.  We have to come back every year and ask for it."  He said, "I feel like a beggar."  This is the dean of a great school.  And I said, "I understand that."  And I sort of let it go.      And then the next year, they came in -- not so long ago.  And I think it was about 35 people -- the heads of the school, the top people at these different schools.  Many of them I knew.  Great schools -- Howard, a lot of great schools.  And I said, "You're back."   The same man.  I said, "You're back."  And he said, "Yeah, we're back.  We're back begging for money."  I said, "You shouldn't have to do this.  Not fair."  And I had passed legislation that takes care of your historically black colleges and universities for the long term so you don't have to come back.  (Applause.)  Thanks.      And Ben Carson helped me a lot, I have to say.  Right, Ben?  Ben Carson.  I said, "Take off your housing hat for a little while.  We have to take care of this."  And the only bad thing -- I said, "I'm not going to see you people anymore.  I won't see you coming up to the White House every year."  But they appreciated it, and nobody could have got it done but us.  I'll say "us" because I'm trying to be modest, you know.  I want to be modest.  But nobody could have gotten that done but us.  And it's a great thing.  They do an incredible job.  Such an important job.      Every day, I will not rest, I will not stop, I will never give up until we've delivered equal and abundant opportunity to every neighborhood all across our land.  Together, we will bring hope to every family, justice to every citizen, and pride to every loyal American heart.  Because of your courage and your devotion, we will make America stronger and safer and prouder and freer and greater than it ever was before.  (Applause.)      And I just want to congratulate the black community because what you've done and the progress you've made over the last three years is also record setting.  It's record setting. There's never been anything like it.  And the word is out.  You know, the word is out.  People know.  People know what we've done all together.      But I just want to thank you all.  You're really -- incredible job you've done.  You go back a long time, this country would not be this country without the incredible job that your ancestors have done, that you've done, and you can be very proud of it.  You can be very proud of it.  (Applause.)      So, I want to say thank you and God bless you all.  God bless you all.  We're with you all the way.  Thank you.  (Applause.)                           END                 7:31 P.M. EST

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

FIVE STORIES PRESIDENT TRUMP DOESN'T WANT YOU TO MISS Trump Says Coronavirus Response is Working, Taps Pence to Lead Fight -The Washington Times “President Trump told Americans not to panic over the coronavirus Wednesday, saying he’s taken the reins, U.S. patients are recovering, and his decision to defy critics and restrict travel from China is working,” Tom Howell Jr. reports. “Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low,” the President said.  Vice President Pence: President’s message is clear: We’re ready. Trump's India Statecraft is Forward-Thinking and Necessary -Washington Examiner “Addressing more than 100,000 people in a packed Ahmedabad stadium [in India this week], Trump offered a bright vision of future friendship between the world's most powerful and its most populous democracies.” 🇮🇳 Watch: President and First Lady visit the historic Taj Mahal! Trump Meets With Black Supporters, Vows Equal Opportunity -The Associated Press During a reception Thursday honoring African American History Month, President Trump “cited low unemployment rates for African Americans and passage of a criminal justice bill providing earlier release for thousands of federal drug offenders” as strides made under the Trump Administration to deliver equal opportunity for all Americans. Trump’s Court Win Denying Sanctuary Cities Grants is Major Blow to Liberal Extremists -Fox News “On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturned a lower court decision and ruled that the Department of Justice can indeed withhold grant money from local and state governments that purposely flout the law and put American lives at risk,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd writes. MORE: “Immigrants who seek opportunity should comply with longstanding American values” During India Trip, Melania Trump Visits 'Happiness' Class at School -The Associated Press “U.S. first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday visited a ‘happiness class’ at a government-run school in the Indian capital. The curriculum dovetails with her ‘Be Best’ initiative to teach children and young adults to be kind, avoid drugs and take care of themselves,” The Associated Press reports.  First Lady: Meeting students at Sarvodaya School was “unforgettable”

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

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2020 President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his Administration: Christopher T. Hanson of Michigan, to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the remainder of a five-year term expiring June 30, 2024. Christopher Hanson is an energy policy professional with more than two decades of experience in nuclear energy, fuel cycle, security, and radioactive waste issues.  He currently serves as a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Before working in the Senate, Mr. Hanson served as a Senior Advisor in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.  Mr. Hanson also served as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton where he led multiple engagements for government and industry.  Mr. Hanson earned master’s degrees from Yale Divinity School and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on ethics and natural resource economics. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. Kenneth J. Braithwaite of Pennsylvania to be the Secretary of the Navy. Kenneth Braithwaite currently serves as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Norway. Ambassador Braithwaite is a distinguished 27-year veteran of the United States Navy and United States Navy Reserve.  Ambassador Braithwaite completed his military service in 2011 as the Navy’s Vice Chief of Information. Additionally, he served as Commanding Officer, Joint Public Affairs Expeditionary Support Element (Reserve), Joint Forces Command.  In that role, he deployed to Pakistan as the overall Director of Strategic Communications supporting the work of the American Embassy. Ambassador Braithwaite also served as Group Senior Vice President for Vizient, Executive Director of Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, Vice President of Government Affairs for Ascension Health, and State Director to United States Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). Ambassador Braithwaite received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy, his pilot wings as a Naval Aviator, and a master’s degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. --- Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key position in his Administration: Kendel S. Ehrlich of Maryland, to be the Director of the Office of Sex Offenders, Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking, Department of Justice.

Statement from the President

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2020

Statement from the President Nearly 19 years ago, American service members went to Afghanistan to root out the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks.  In that time, we have made great progress in Afghanistan, but at great cost to our brave service members, to the American taxpayers, and to the people of Afghanistan.  When I ran for office, I promised the American people I would begin to bring our troops home, and seek to end this war.  We are making substantial progress on that promise. Soon, at my direction, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will witness the signing of an agreement with representatives of the Taliban, while Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will issue a joint declaration with the government of Afghanistan.  If the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan live up to these commitments, we will have a powerful path forward to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home.  These commitments represent an important step to a lasting peace in a new Afghanistan, free from Al Qaeda, ISIS, and any other terrorist group that would seek to bring us harm.  Ultimately it will be up to the people of Afghanistan to work out their future.  We, therefore, urge the Afghan people to seize this opportunity for peace and a new future for their country. I thank the hundreds of thousands of American warriors who have proudly served in Afghanistan. We have killed or captured many ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists.  We honor your service and the sacrifices you and your families have made for the American people.  These agreements are a result of the strenuous efforts of those who fought so hard in Afghanistan for the United States of America.

Memorandum on the Effect of Titanium Sponge Imports on the National Security

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2020 February 27, 2020 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE                THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE                THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND                BUDGET                THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL                SECURITY AFFAIRS                THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC                POLICY                THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND                TECHNOLOGY POLICY SUBJECT:       The Effect of Titanium Sponge Imports on the             National Security By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (the "Act"), it is hereby ordered as follows:     Section 1.  The Secretary of Commerce's Investigation into the Effect of Titanium Sponge Imports on the National Security.      (a)  On November 29, 2019, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) transmitted to me a report on his investigation into the effect of imports of titanium sponge on the national security of the United States under section 232 of the Act.     (b)  The Secretary advised me of his finding that titanium sponge is being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States as defined under section 232 of the Act.  The Secretary noted that imports of titanium sponge, which accounted for 68 percent of all titanium sponge consumed in the United States in 2018, threaten to impair the national security by placing the remaining U.S. titanium sponge producer's operation under severe financial stress.  The Secretary found that low-priced titanium sponge imports, as well as low-priced titanium scrap imports, depress the price of U.S. titanium sponge and discourage recapitalization and modernization of the remaining active producer's aging production facility.  The Secretary concluded that if the remaining facility ceases operation, the United States will have no active domestic capacity to produce titanium sponge for national defense and critical infrastructure needs.  The Secretary advised that, absent domestic titanium sponge production capacity, the United States will be completely dependent on imports of titanium sponge and scrap, and will lack the surge capacity required to support defense and critical infrastructure needs in an extended national emergency.     (c)  I have also considered the Secretary's finding that 94.4 percent of titanium sponge imports in 2018 were from Japan.  The United States has an important security relationship with Japan, including our shared commitment to eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat; our decades-old military alliance; and our strong economic and strategic partnership.     (d)  I concur in the Secretary's finding that titanium sponge imports threaten to impair the national security of the United States as defined under section 232 of the Act.     (e)  I also agree with the Secretary's recommendation that actions to adjust imports under section 232 not be taken at this time.  The Secretary has advised me that measures apart from the adjustment of imports are more likely to be effective to address the threatened impairment of the national security, and such measures are set forth in section 2 of this memorandum.       Sec. 2.  Measures to Address the Threatened Impairment of the National Security.     (a)  The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Commerce are directed to form a working group, along with the heads of other executive departments and agencies as the Secretaries deem appropriate, and invite their counterpart agencies in Japan to participate in discussions with the working group in order to agree upon measures to ensure access to titanium sponge in the United States for use for national defense and critical industries in an emergency.     (b)  The Secretary of Defense is directed to take all appropriate action, including using his delegated authorities under the Defense Production Act (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and seeking new appropriations as necessary, to increase access to titanium sponge for use for national defense and critical industries and to support domestic production capacity for the production of titanium sponge to meet national defense requirements.     (c)  The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Commerce shall provide periodic updates to me on the progress of these efforts.     Sec. 3.  General Provisions.   (a)  Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:         (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or         (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.     (b)  This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.     (c)  This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.                         DONALD J. TRUMP

1600 Daily The White House • February 27, 2020 TONIGHT: President Trump honors African American History Month

The White House • February 27, 2020 TONIGHT: President Trump honors African American History Month This evening, President Trump will speak at a White House reception honoring African American History Month—a celebration that coincides this year with the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment gave African-American men the right to vote. Ratified in 1870, it prohibits the government from denying or abridging suffrage based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”  WATCH LIVE at 6 p.m. ET: President and First Lady attend reception African Americans have enhanced—and advanced—every aspect of American life. “Their fight for equality, representation, and respect motivates us to continue working for a more promising, peaceful, and hopeful future for every American,” President Trump wrote in his 2020 National African American History Month Proclamation. Great strides are being made today to expand the American Dream for every citizen, no matter their race or background. The blue-collar, working-class economic boom under President Trump is lifting communities that Washington neglected for too long: The African-American unemployment rate hit an all-time low in 2019.   African-American poverty has fallen to the lowest rate ever recorded.   Historic criminal justice reform, signed by President Trump, reformed Clinton-era sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed African Americans. Now, Second Chance Hiring is giving these citizens a path to rewarding careers. Patriotism means fighting for every American. “Our great Nation is strengthened and enriched by citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed,” President Trump says. “The Trump Economy Benefits Historically-Disadvantaged Americans”  Watch: First Lady hosts movie night celebrating African-American History Month Video of the day: First Lady visits school in New Delhi While visiting India with President Trump earlier this week, First Lady Melania Trump dropped by a local school that teaches a “happiness curriculum” to its young students. That mission is close to the First Lady’s heart—her Be Best initiative focuses on helping children in all aspects of their social, emotional, and physical well-being. “Unforgettable afternoon at the Sarvodaya School in New Delhi! It was an honor to be surrounded by extraordinary students and faculty. Thank you for the warm welcome! #BeBest,” she wrote on Twitter. “First Lady Melania Trump visits 'happiness' class at Delhi school” Photo of the Day President Trump, joined by Vice President Pence and members of the Coronavirus Task Force, speaks to members of the press | February 26, 2020

CORRECTED: Remarks by President Trump at a Business Roundtable | New Delhi, India

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2020

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT A BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE Roosevelt House New Delhi, India February 25, 2020   3:34 P.M. IST      PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Please.  Please.  It’s an honor to be with you.  I have a whole big, beautiful speech to give, but I just gave two of them, and I thought we’d do, maybe, a little question and answer.  You’ve heard it before and -- so we could do that.      I just want to say we’ve had a tremendous time in India.  Prime Minister Modi is a fantastic man doing a fantastic job.  He’s a real friend of mine.  And, you know, you always say that in a guarded way.  He’s a friend, but he loves India.  And I’m a friend, but I love the USA.  But he’s done an incredible job. And we’re working together, I would say, better than our countries have ever worked before.      I know many of the people in the room by name and reputation.  Incredible job that you’ve done.  Incredible job that you’ve done.  Really inspirational for not only your country, but really inspirational for anybody looking to be a successful businessperson.  And there are plenty of them around.      The job that you have all done is incredible.  And we know many of you have invested in the United States, and you have to say, “Thank you.  Thank you very much, Mr. President.  You’ve made us even richer.”  (Laughter.)      But the fact is, other than yesterday -- which was something pretty bad, with respect to the virus, and we’ll see what happens -- I see the futures are up today, up fairly substantially.  But that’s a very serious thing, but we think we’re in very good shape in the United States.  We’ve essentially closed the border to areas where we had to close them.  And we had very few.  We took in 32 people over the last two days because they were sick and they’re Americans, and they’re great people.  You know, what are you going to do?  They’re in quarantine.      But we had, essentially, 12 people.  Many of them are getting better now.  Soon, they’ll all be better, we hope.  And we’re watching very carefully.  So we’ve had a very, very good stretch of -- let’s just say we’re fortunate so far.  And we think it’s going to remain that way.      China is working very, very hard.  I have spoken to President Xi, and they’re working very hard.  And if you know anything about him, I think he’ll be in pretty good shape.  They’re -- they’ve had a rough patch, and I think right now they have it -- it looks like they’re getting it under control more and more.  They’re getting it more and more under control.      So I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away.  But we lost almost 1,000 points yesterday on the market, and that’s something.  You know, things like that happen where -- and you have it in your business all the time -- it had nothing to do with you; it’s an outside source that nobody would have ever predicted.  If you go back six months or three months ago, nobody would have ever predicted.      But let’s see, I think it’s going to be under control.  And I think I can speak for our country, for -- our country is under control.  But again, we do business with a lot of other countries.  We take care -- we work with other countries.  We want other countries to be happy, healthy, and well.  They’ve got to be happy, healthy, and well.  It’s very simple.      And so let’s see how it all works out, but I think it’s going to work out fine.  I hope so.  We’re working very hard.  We’re spending a tremendous amount of money also on -- we just asked for two and a half-billion dollars on getting everything ready just in case something should happen, and also helping other nations that really aren’t equipped to do it.      So with that, it’s an honor to be with you.  And if you’d like to ask some questions and find out how much you should invest in the United States of America, I’ll tell you exactly where to invest and how to invest.           We just did a lot of business with India, where they’re buying $3 billion worth of helicopters -- great helicopter.  We have helicopters like -- we make the best military equipment in the world, by far.      And, you know, the Prime Minister actually said, “If you were President 30 years ago, we’d have all your equipment.”  But they started buying many years ago from another nation and others.  And now they’re starting to buy from us.  So that’s an honor.      But we’re up to a pretty high number.  We’ll be up very quickly to a pretty high number.  And we do make, by far, the best.  And they want to have the best, so that’s what we do.           So thank you all very much.  If the press wants to stay for a couple of questions -- you know, we’re going to be having a news conference at 5 o’clock, so you can go to that, or you could stay and hear some of these questions from -- truly some of the greatest business leaders anywhere in the world.      Now, if you’d like to do -- I could do this, Steve: I could read the book for you and we could have nice, beautiful, little speech.  It will take five minutes and you’ll be -- you’ll fall asleep.  And they’ll be -- well, they might find it interesting.  (Laughter.)  I don’t know about them, but you guys have heard it before.      But please, if you have any questions, please.      Anybody?  Okay, let’s go home.  (Laughter.)  Boy, we must have -- we must have done a very good job if you don’t have -- do you want to say something about the energy business?      SECRETARY BROUILLETTE:  Yes, sir.      THE PRESIDENT:  Go ahead.  Please.  And how are we doing?      SECRETARY BROUILLETTE:  We're doing great, sir.  My name is Dan Brouillette.  I have the privilege of serving the United States and the President as his Secretary of Energy.  We've had great conversations here in India with my counterpart, Minister Pradhan.  I expect that in the very near future we're going to have some new energy deals.      And so far -- (music begins to play).  Is that noise?      THE PRESIDENT:  It sounds nice.  (Laughter.)  It sounds like a Trump rally, actually.  (Laughter.)  We're actually saying hello to the embassy people  as soon as we finish.  (Laughter.)      SECRETARY BROUILLETTE:  Sir, I'll just end with this: In last two years, we've seen a remarkable uptick in the purchases of U.S. oil and gas by India.  And when the President was elected in 2017, that number was approximately 25,000 barrels per day of crude oil.  It is now over 250,000 barrels per day.  A tenfold increase.  And we expect it --      THE PRESIDENT:  It's going up.      SECRETARY BROUILLETTE:  It will only get better from here.      THE PRESIDENT:  It's going up very, very rapidly.  Thank you very much, Dan.  Really, a great job.  Where is Robert?      Yes, please.      AMBASSADOR JUSTER:  I think we need to hear why some of these companies have decided to invest in the United States to make manufacturing investments.      THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Good.  Would anybody like to say?  Go ahead.  Please.      MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  Mr. President, I’m Natarajan Chandrasekaran from the Tata Group.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yep.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  Mr. President, let me start by (inaudible).  Thank you, Mr. President.  Thank you for making us richer.  (Laughter.)     THE PRESIDENT:  Good.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  And our group has 10 different companies in the United States.  We have annual revenues of close to $22 billion, and we have manufacturing plants in (inaudible).     THE PRESIDENT:  Great job.  Yeah.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  And then we have our chemicals plant in Wyoming, and we employ about 22,000 people.  And your tax reforms is exceptionally very, very important.     THE PRESIDENT:  So which to you is more important: the tax cuts -- we did massive tax cuts --     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  No, no.  It is a combination.  Taxes --     THE PRESIDENT:  -- or the regulation cuts?     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:   Both.  Both.      THE PRESIDENT:  Because I've had a lot of people in your positions running the biggest companies in the world, saying the tax cuts are very important but the regulation cuts may have been more important.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  So, the regulation cuts are more important in order to start new businesses as well.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  For example, (inaudible) business we have some issues, which (inaudible) resolved now.  And we are a very large (inaudible) as well in the United States.  And we are bringing the skills, and we are going to work with Ivanka.  We want to try and skill 1 million people in the United States.      THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, that’s fantastic.  Thank you.  That’s great.     MR. CHANDRASEKARAN:  So we are deeply engaged with your country.      THE PRESIDENT:  I heard that you were doing that, and I really appreciate it and Ivanka appreciates it.      You know, she started it off -- she wanted to get 500,000 people jobs.  And if you know her, within about two weeks she had that one done.  And I think you're up to over 15 million people being trained by great companies.  Some great companies.  Walmart was very much instrumental and some of the companies in this room.      MS. TRUMP:  Apple.  Salesforce.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  They’ve done a great --      MS. TRUMP:  So many companies.  Both of them -- they can make an impact.      THE PRESIDENT:  So it’s up to 15.  And I don’t think government can teach jobs like that.  In other words, you teach something and it's complex stuff.  Government is not equipped to do that.      We can put all of the money we want into government to do it, and they're just not equipped to do it.  So thank you very much.  Thanks fantastic.  Great story.  Thank you.      Yes, sir.      MR. MAHINDRA:  Mr. President, you talked about regulations, so I do want to confirm that, in 2017, we put out the first automotive assembly plant in southeast Michigan in 25 years.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  That’s right.      MR. MAHINDRA:  It's making off-roading utility vehicles.  And the speech with which we set up the company to get operations going, we have not experienced anywhere in the world.  So we've invested $1 billion.  And right now, we're in the short list of the pick for the United States Postal Service new delivery van -- a decision which should come by the end of the year.  And when that comes through, we will very happily put in another billion and employ about 2,000 people.      THE PRESIDENT:  Very good.  You’ve done a great job.  So when are the bids due?  When are they due?      MR. MAHINDRA:  We are told sometime around August. THE PRESIDENT:  How many vans is it that you'd be making?      MR. MAHINDRA:  About 180,000.      THE PRESIDENT:  Wow.  That’s a big business, isn't it?      MR. MAHINDRA:  When we were told, we were told that, as you know, the Postal Service vans are actually -- they are right hand drive.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  That’s right.      MR. MAHINDRA:  They have diesel.  So guess who makes right-hand drive diesel vehicles work better?  That’s all Indian automakers.  So that’s what we're waiting for.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Well, good luck.  That’s great.  That’s good luck.      Yes, sir.  Please.      MR. BHARTIA:  My name is Hari Bhartia, part of Jubilant (inaudible).  We have invested -- we've invested almost half a billion dollars in the pharmaceutical, very sophisticated things like like nuclear, medicine, energy.      We are present in 22 states.  We have almost 2,000 people.  And another thing that we are doing is starting drug discovery in America for oncology, and that's a biotech venture for new drugs, especially for therapies, which are very limited drugs available.      So my question to you is, really, on the healthcare side, how do you see it for companies like ours coming in from India and setting up manufacturing plants in the States?      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  Healthcare is very important to the Republican Party, I will tell you.  And we haven’t been talking about it.  We've been doing -- we got rid of the individual mandate, which was a disaster in Obamacare, which really ended Obamacare.  We're now taking the shell of Obamacare and really running it well.  I had a choice: I could run it well or I could run it poorly.  Then everybody would be upset and they'd blame President Obama.  We decided to run it well, but would like to terminate it and put in great healthcare.  We can do that.      When you look at single-payer, when you look at what Bernie Sanders and others want to do for the Democrats, it will never work because they're never going to be able to do it.  It's not going to work, number one.  And number two, it's not going to be good even if it did work.      And it's totally unaffordable, which for you would be a big problem.  And I happen to think -- I've been pretty good at markets.  The fact that they are even looking like they're in the hunt, I think drives our stock market down.      When we win reelection -- and I think we will -- when we win, I think the market is going to go up like -- it's going to be like a rocket ship.  Like last time, but even more so.      I think the fact that the Democrats are so radical, so out of control, they honestly don’t know what they're doing.  You see what's happening.  They want to tell you about healthcare and yet they can't count their votes.  In fact, now they're even saying that -- if you look at Nevada, that’s all messed up with the vote count, and some of them are questioning the votes, but certainly Iowa was -- I've never seen anything like it and I've been watching politics for a long time.  Been involved in it now for a while.  And I've never seen anything like it.      So -- but I think the fact that there -- you know, there's an election coming up.  I think, you know, a lot of people think we're going to win the election.  I feel we’re going to win the election because what we've done for jobs and for the military, for the vets, what we've done for healthcare, what we've done for healthcare is incredible, including giving options to Obamacare at a far less cost.  A cost that's much less.      But if you look at all of the things that we've done -- rebuilding our military, the biggest tax cuts in history, regulation cuts -- that brought all of you people; that’s why you're in the United States.  And then you're very happy and you're going in with more.      But I think until the election is over, people are -- and it's not just Bernie Sanders.  It's others, too.  I think if people thought that there was a real chance of them getting it, it really is going to keep the market down.  Now, the market has been up 70, 80, 90 percent depending on your definition of -- you can look at about 16 different definitions.  But the country has been incredible.  It had one bad day; that was yesterday.  Futures are up today a little bit.      But if you look at what we've done in terms of the percentage, even taking 1,000 points off, the numbers are incredible.  If the other side had gotten in, I think it would’ve been 50 or 60 points down from where it was, because the big thing again -- these regulation cuts -- they were going put more regulations on.  You couldn’t -- you were being strangled.  Whether it was Keystone Pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, 48,000 jobs between the two of them.  So many other things.  I mean, nothing was getting done.  Nothing was going to be built.  It would take you 20 years to get a highway approved.  A small highway.  It’d take you 20 years to get a roadway approved.  And it was out of control.      We have that way down.  That number is way, way down.  And they may not get approved, because if it doesn’t work from a safety standpoint or an environmental standpoint, we don’t want to get it approved either.  We're not going to let them have it approved.  But it's going to end up taking two years, and we're trying to get it down to less than that.      And if it doesn’t work, at least you're going to find -- and how about working on something for 21 years, and you find out that it just got rejected?  So, half of your working life -- of course, nowadays with people retiring so early, it’s more than half, right?  But half of your working life, you’re trying to get an approval.  And then after 20 or 21 years, they reject you.  We reject -- three to two.  That happens.  It happens.      So we’ve done a real job.  But I think that, frankly, until the election is over, our market -- it’s phenomenal, but our market will jump thousands and thousands of points, if I win.  If I don’t win, you’re going to see a crash like you’ve never seen before.  (Laughter.)  I really mean it, too.  Okay.      Anybody else?  Yes, sir.  Please.      MR. GOENKA:  Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m B.K. Goenka, from Welspun Group.      THE PRESIDENT:  Great.      MR. GOENKA:  We have invested around $400 million and created around 1,500 jobs.      THE PRESIDENT:  I actually follow you guys, you know -- what you’re investing.      MR. GOENKA:  And thank you very much for clearing the Keystone pipeline.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.      MR. GOENKA:  That was a big thing -- immediately, once you become the President.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.      MR. GOENKA:  And all the pipes are manufactured now in the U.S. and that’s a big thing.  (Inaudible) at home.      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s right.  That was one of the things I said.  Right?  I put a little note, in handwriting: You have to make the pipe in the USA.  Right?  On the bottom.  They said, “Sir, this will take two weeks to get.”  I said, “No, it doesn’t.”  You have to.      Now, we had a little problem because they already bought the pipe, right?  And that was a little bit, you know, unfair to them, I thought.  So we had to sort of let them do what they had to do.  But they had bought much of the pipe.  And Dakota Access pipeline was already built, except for the one river area that I freed up for them.  So it was great.      Well, that’s good.  So, is that what you do?      MR. GOENKA:  Yeah.  And we are really like at home, absolutely.  And after all your tax cut and reforms, it’s really a big, big thing.      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  That’s very nice to say.  I appreciate.  Thank you for the investment.      Yes, sir.  Please.      DR. REDDY:  Mr. President, congratulations.  You’re doing an outstanding job in terms of developing the economy and the world, too.  My name is Mohan Reddy.  I represent a company called Cyient -- a technology company.  But more (inaudible) from the technology industry perspective, this industry has gone through a tremendous amount of transformation.  We are now making a large investment in the U.S., hiring thousands -- hundreds of thousands of people right now.  But we still have some challenges in terms of regulation issues, especially administrative and legislative.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  I know that.  Yeah.      DR. REDDY:  So if you can kindly look into that, we’d be very grateful too.      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we are.  Now, some of the regulations have to go through what they call a “statutory process,” where you started to cut -- we have the Secretary of Commerce here, and Wilbur knows exactly what this is all about.      You have a statutory process.  So we’re going to cut regulations, but we have to give a 90-day notice.  Then we have to give 120 days.  Then we have to give 30 days.  And we’re in that process now, with respect to a lot.      No, we’re going to cut a lot more regulations.  No -- no -- and we’re going to also have regulations because I think you need regulation for safety and for environmental.      But no President has ever cut anywhere close to what we’ve done.  And I’ve done it in three years, and some of them have been for eight.  In one case, it’s more than eight.  But no President has come close.      But we are in statutory environments where we have to go -- we have one where we have to wait six months before we do phase two, which is -- and there’s four or five phases, but they’re all in a pipeline to get cut.  And there’s a certain period in about seven or eight months from now where a lot of them are going to be gone.  But we go through the process.  But you’ve seen a big difference.      DR. REDDY:  Yes, sir.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Good.  Thank you very much.  Yeah.  It’ll only get better, too.      Yes, sir.  Please.      MR. AMBANI:  A warm welcome, President Trump.  I’m Mukesh Ambani from Reliance Industries.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.      MR. AMBANI:  We are investors in the United States in the energy sector (inaudible) seven billion.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Big one.  Yeah.      MS. AMBANI:  We have over seven billion --      THE PRESIDENT:  Seven billion.  Big one.      MR. AMBANI:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Right, sure.      MR. AMBANI:  But we also take (inaudible) stock and bring it to India (inaudible) valued added --      THE PRESIDENT:  Right, exactly.      MR. AMBANI:  -- and also (inaudible).  The other thing is that the United States has been -- again, small companies and large companies have been key partners in transforming India’s telecom sector.  (Inaudible) last few years, 4G network.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  You’re doing 4G.  Are you going to do 5G too?      MR. AMBANI:  We’re going to do 5G.  We’re the only network in the world that doesn’t have --      THE PRESIDENT:  Huawei.      MR. AMBANI:  -- a single Chinese component.  It doesn’t have it.      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, that’s good.  Good.  Put a bid in.  (Laughter.)      MR. AMBANI:  (Inaudible) 5G.      I have to thank you personally for your leadership, not only like what you’ve done in the U.S. but the entire ripple effect on all of us.  In India, we could have never imagined the income tax rates have gone down with Prime Minister Modi --      THE PRESIDENT:  They followed us.      MR. AMBANI:  So all of us in the business community are grateful, and I think that also a (inaudible) process, like (inaudible) new acquisitions and (inaudible) acquisitions in the U.S.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  Right.  They’re getting approved a lot quicker.      MR. AMBANI:  They’re getting approved, and we hope that that will continue for Indian companies, particularly in the energy --      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it will be as long as I’m here.  But if the wrong person gets elected, that won’t happen at all. (Laughter.)   And everything will come to a halt, and your unemployment rate will go up to eight or nine or ten.  And a lot of bad things will happen.      And that has -- you know, it is holding back.  There’s no question about it.  I mean, I think we’re favored to win.  Somebody said 65 percent.  But 65 percent means there's 35 percent of something that people don’t want.  And it would be devastating because the economy has never been as good as it is right now.      It's being held back by the fact that we have an election coming up.  And I don’t think there's anybody, frankly, on this side -- on the other side that’s going to be very inspirational.  It certainly doesn’t look like it.  So we'll see what happens.  Thank you.      MR. AMBANI:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Great job you've done.  Yeah.  Fantastic.      Yes, sir.  Please.      MR. SETHURAM:  We are a small company.  My name is Sethuram.  I am a CEO of a company called Thirumalai Chemicals.  We are putting up (inaudible) plant in West Virginia.      THE PRESIDENT:  How much?      MR. SETHURAM:  Seventy million dollars to start with.      THE PRESIDENT:  Seventy what?      MR. SETHURAM:  Seven-zero million dollars to start with, and then going up to $400 million (inaudible) amount.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  It’s nice when you can say that’s a small company.  Right?      MR. SETHURAM:  The support that the West Virginia government has given us is excellent.  We are proud to be there.      THE PRESIDENT:  It’s a great state.  Those people are incredible.      MR. SETHURAM:  Yeah.  The honorable governor and senators have been excellently supporting us.  We need a little bit of banking community support from that area, and we’ll be discussing with various banks too.      THE PRESIDENT:  They’ll get that done.  So you’re dealing with the governor -- the governor?  He’s a great governor, actually.      MR. SETHURAM:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  He’ll get it done.  Good.  Thank you very much.      MR. SETHURAM:  Thank you very much.      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.      Yes, sir.  Please.      MR. BIRLA:  Thanks for the opportunity, Mr. President.  I’m partner of the Aditya Birla Group.  We’ve actually made new acquisitions in the U.S. in the last 12 years, totaling about $12 billion.  The first company called Novelis.  We are in aluminum rolled products.  We have about five large sites across Kentucky, (inaudible), Louisiana.        THE PRESIDENT:  Mostly aluminum?  Mostly aluminum?      MR. BIRLA:  Yeah, aluminum.  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  How is that going?  How’s it all going?     MR. BIRLA:  It’s doing very well.      THE PRESIDENT:  We helped you a lot -- right? -- with the tariffs.     MR. BIRLA:  So we just signed an agreement with one other company called (inaudible) --      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.     MR. BIRLA:  -- which is also in the same space as aluminum rolling based out of Cleveland.  Cleveland.  And I want to follow up with you and thank you, because we got our (inaudible) approval absolutely on time.  (Inaudible), the company (inaudible), which is why we require (inaudible) approval.  And we actually got it a few weeks before (inaudible).  And I wanted to thank you for that.      THE PRESIDENT:  You got it very quickly.  If I weren’t elected, the aluminum business in the United States would be absolutely dead and the steel business would be dead too, frankly.  What we did.  You know, they were dumping steel all over the place and bad things were happening.  And it wasn’t good dumping either.  It was real -- it was sand steel; it was garbage.  And we got that straightened out.  So, good.      But the aluminum business has made a big comeback.  That’s good.  That’s good.     MR. BIRLA:  And we also have a company by the name of Columbian Chemicals, which is the largest producer of carbon black.  Carbon black is a very strong material for (inaudible), and the like.  (Inaudible) employ about three and a half thousand people.      THE PRESIDENT:  So your total investment was 12, did you say?     MR. BIRLA:  That’s right.      THE PRESIDENT:  How much?  $12 billion?  That’s a big investment.  That’s a big investment.     MR. BIRLA:  Twelve billion dollars.      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s good.  That’s good.     MR. BIRLA:  We have revenue of $12 billion (inaudible).      THE PRESIDENT:  It’s big.     MR. BIRLA:  I must say we are very happy investors because whatever goes on in the government -- (inaudible) really impact us.  (Inaudible.)  And I must say that your policy of less regulations, and tax cuts, and appropriate protection for (inaudible) companies from China (inaudible).      THE PRESIDENT:  And it means jobs.  And we just signed the deal with China, and they’re going to be spending $250 billion a year now on our country.  Fifty billion will go -- forty to fifty will go to the farmers for the purchase of farm product.  But China has been -- you know, great.  It’s going to be a great deal.  We’re very happy with it.  They’re going to take care of their other problem, I hope, quickly.  But we’re going to be -- it’s going to be an amazing deal.  Okay?      Thank you.  Great job.      Yes, sir.      MR. PAREKH:  Hello.  I’m Salil Parekh from Infosys.  We made tremendous investments in the U.S. in the past two years -- about $525 million.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.      MR. PAREKH:  Twenty-four thousand employees in the U.S.  Six new centers in different states.  So we’re really grateful for all the approaches (inaudible) changes that have come in, both on taxes and on regulations.  We see the growth effect in your economy to be a tremendous boost for the technology work that we do.  We had a very good discussion, and I’m grateful for the work that you do.      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you.  Great job.  I know your company.  Great job.  And, you know, we now also have it so money can come in.  When your money is offshore, you can bring it in.  Before, it was impossible, virtually -- both bureaucratically and the rate was so high that nobody would pay it.  So nothing came in.      Now we have billions and billions of dollars.  Apple is bringing in $350 billion and they’re building plants.  I just left one -- they just opened one in Texas; I just left it.  And they’re building another one, and a lot of things are happening.  Great things.      Thank you very much.      Please.      MS. HAMIED:  Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. President.      THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.      MS. HAMIED:  My name is Samina Hamied and I’m from Cipla.  As India’s third-largest pharmaceutical company --      THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.      MS. HAMIED:  -- we have invested (inaudible) billion in the United States (inaudible).  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Great.  Great job.  I know what you’ve done.  Great job.  Thank you.      So I want to thank you.  Go ahead.  Let’s go.  I was just going to say, “Get out of here,” but everyone wants a question now, huh?  There’s a young -- young, brilliant businessman.  Go ahead.      MR. AGARWAL:  President Trump, thank you for the opportunity.  I’m Ritesh.  I run Oyo Hotels.  It’s a young startup.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.      MR. AGARWAL:  In the last six years, we’ve grown to become a leading hotel chain worldwide.  We came to the United States less than a year back.  Our aspiration was: Across the U.S., there are lots of small hotels, which can do with better technology, better investments --      THE PRESIDENT:  Sure.      MR. AGARWAL:  -- run by various communities across the country.  In the last eight months, every day, we’ve opened one hotel in the United States.  We now manage over 330 hotels.  We invested over $300 million dollars in the U.S.           But over the couple of years going forward, we expect to invest another $2 billion in the United States.  We brought two, three thousand jobs.  And we’re signing a pledge with Ivanka soon that will bring hundreds of thousands of more jobs to people --      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s fantastic.      MR. AGARWAL:  -- across Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, and so on.      THE PRESIDENT:  Is that where you invest?  Those areas?  That’s where you put --      MR. AGARWAL:  Across this United States, but these are the states where we are the most dense.      THE PRESIDENT:  So, how many hotels do you have right now, then?      MR. AGARWAL:  Three hundred and thirty in the U.S. --      THE PRESIDENT:  That’s fantastic.  That’s --      MR. AGARWAL:  -- but worldwide, over 40,000.      THE PRESIDENT:  That is really great.  I actually know of your company.  Not just a small company, by the way.  Good job.  Thank you very much.      Please.      AIDE:  Mr. President, this is going to be the last question.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, okay.  Well, we’ll do one and one, okay?  Go ahead.      MR. MITTAL:  After aluminum, it is important to speak of steel, Mr. President.  My name is Lakshmi Mittal.  We met in Davos.      THE PRESIDENT:  This one is a big one, right?  This is a big -- this is a big guy.  This is a big player.  Go ahead.  I know him very well.  I’ve seen him on enough covers.  I should know him, huh?      Go ahead.  How’s it going?      MR. MITTAL:  Thank you, Mr. President.  My honor.  But since you have -- you became the President, you saved the steel industry in the United States.  And Section 232 has been the big lesson for the rest of the world on how to support domestic manufacturing.  And this is what we expect the other countries to learn: that they should support domestic manufacturing, not made in China.  They support domestic manufacturing to dump steel in the world.  (Inaudible) over-capacitation.       But I must thank you for what you have done for the steel industry, what you have done for the tax reform, what you have done to reduce regulations.  I’ve never seen the extent of ease of doing the business what we experience in the United States anywhere else in the world.  So I must congratulate you for creating an ease of business ecosystem.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.      MR. MITTAL:  And that is one thing about your country and is very popular.      THE PRESIDENT:  As you know, three years ago, it was just the opposite.  It was one of the worst countries to do business in.  You couldn’t get approvals.  You couldn’t get anything done.  You were sued on environmental -- you know, for environmental reasons, not because of the environment, just because it was a way of stopping a project that would produce jobs.      And I’m a big believer in the environment and I want to take care of the environment, but they were just using the laws.  And we don’t let that happen anymore.  But if it’s something that is wrong -- you know better than anybody -- we stop them from doing it.  But you’ve done an incredible job.      And the steel industry was dead in our country.  And, you know, we need -- there are certain industries you can do without, to be honest with you.  There are certain industry -- we can name a lot of them.  But, steel you need, from a military -- and aluminum you need.  You got to have the aluminum.  But steel you need probably more than anything else.  You have to have it.      And the job you’ve done is incredible.  Biggest in the world by far.  The job you’ve done is incredible.      MR. MITTAL:  Mr. President, we are going to announce a multi-billion-dollar investment in Alabama state.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  That’s a great place.      MR. MITTAL:  Are you interested to come and (inaudible) formation?      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Well, you let me know.  I’ll be there for the groundbreaking.  No, that’s a great -- I know you’re investing.  I know you’re looking at Alabama, right?      MR. MITTAL:  Yes.      THE PRESIDENT:  I know.  I had heard that.  That’s great for a very -- that’s a big plant and that’s going to be this super-efficient, super-modern.  That’s going to be a showcase, I hear.      MR. MITTAL:  I know that you always know more than I do about my own business.  (Laughter.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  No, but people know about -- people know about that.  That’s a great -- that’s a great thing for Alabama and it’s an incredible place to invest.      MR. MITTAL:  One last question for you.  During your last campaign, you had almost a trillion dollars of infrastructure bill.  Why did that (inaudible) you can give into this trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that will (inaudible)?      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you know, we are doing things.  One of the things we’re doing, we’re going to be announcing another tax cut in not so long a period of time, largely for middle-income people, because, you know, we gave them a good tax cut but we’re going to give them a fairly substantial cut.  And that gives a lot of money to the consumer.      One of the reasons we’re doing well, and other countries are not doing well -- China is having a hard time.  They’re all really -- not too many are doing well.  We’re doing better than anybody in the world by far.  It’s because our consumer is rich now because of what we’ve done with a lot of things: jobs, but also tax cuts.  They have money, and other consumers don’t have money.  So that’s great.      That’s really -- it’s an honor to meet you again.  And it was good seeing you there, and I look forward to seeing that plant go up.  But I think you’re going probably be doing numerous plants in the United States.      MR. MITTAL:  Thank you, Mr. President.  One more comment that I have.  United Steel Workers union which used to be Democrats.      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.      MR. MITTAL:  And after your tax reform, they started to see bigger checks.  (Laughter.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Right.      MR. MITTAL:  Now they want to become Republicans.       THE PRESIDENT:  Right.      MR. MITTAL:  People can feel the benefit of your presidency.      THE PRESIDENT:  You gave them -- you gave them the bonus?  You gave them a piece of the cut?  And the rest went into investment?      MR. MITTAL:  (Laughs.)  Yes.      THE PRESIDENT:  No, it’s a great thing.  Thank you very much.  That’s beautiful.  Thank you.      Okay, final question.  Go ahead.      MR. SHROFF:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.      MR. SHROFF:  We’ve been in the U.S. for 35 years.      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.      MR. SHROFF:  We’ve made about 25 investments.  Our profits are in the area of $5 billion.  Last year we invested $4 billion.      THE PRESIDENT:  Good.      MR. SHROFF:  We’re in the agriculture sector.  We also do all our global biotech research in the U.S. -- in agriculture biotech.  And I think the -- you’re looking forward -- the farmers and the agricultural sector really suffered last year.  And I think that there’s a lot of excitement around that and --      THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, there is.     MR. SHROFF:  (Inaudible) it will help us grow our business and assets.      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, as you know, they were targeted as -- and I’m not blaming China for that, because they want to try and win something.  And they were targeted, and I made up the difference, as you know, with the tariffs that came from China.  So they got targeted from China, and then I took money from China, I gave it to the farmers.  And frankly, they didn’t want it.  They just want a level playing field.  They’re incredible people.      But they did well, but now they’re really doing well, because you’re seeing the numbers coming out, and it’s -- it’s going to be something very special.      Not only that -- we have $40 billion coming in from Japan.  We have a tremendous amount coming in from the new trade deal that we made with South Korea.  And then Canada and Mexico are going to be -- you know, the deal is fantastic for our farmers.     MR. SHROFF:  This is World Bank (inaudible).      THE PRESIDENT:  This is -- you know, this is -- that’s right.  I mean, that’s right, in the truer sense.     MR. SHROFF:  (Inaudible.)      THE PRESIDENT:  And you have a good new head of the World Bank too.     MR. SHROFF:  Yes.      THE PRESIDENT:  He’s doing -- he’s one of our people.     MR. SHROFF:  (Inaudible) World Bank (inaudible).      THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, yeah.  Yeah.  Sure.  Well, that -- that, definitely.  I thought you said the World Bank.  That’s right.  (Laughter.)  But that -- that also.  (Laughter.)      Well, listen, I want to thank you all.  Congratulations on your success.  We hope you come to the United States; invest more billions.  Because I view it not as billions, I view it as jobs.  And we have great people and we have the greatest country in the world, in my book.      And, by the way, India -- this has been an honor to be here.  And you have a very special Prime Minister.  You have somebody who is very special and he really knows what he’s doing.      Somebody said, “He’s such a nice man.”  I said, “Well, actually, he’s a very tough man.”  But he is a nice man.  He can be, but he can also be as tough as they come.  You know what that means.      But he’s done a fantastic job.  But we work very closely together, and we create jobs here and he creates jobs over there through yourselves.      So again, anything we can do, let us know.  Congratulations on your success.  And I’m going to say hello to all the people now that work at the embassy, and then we’re going to have a little news conference, unless you guys don’t want to do it.  Maybe you don’t have to do it.      But we’ll have -- (laughter) -- you could just see them saying no.  Last time, you know, I did it where I met many, many prime ministers, presidents, all -- like for three days.  I said, “Well, let’s cancel the news conference because I saw these guys every 45 minutes.”  And when I canceled the news conference, all hell broke out.  So we’re not going to do that.      So, 5 o’clock.  We’ll see you at 5 o’clock, okay?      Thank you, everybody.  Great honor.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)                             END            4:08 P.M. IST