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Trump News Conference; Trump Shames Republicans. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired November 07, 2018 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: China 25 because I found it very insulting. I said that to them. I said China 25 is very insulting because China 25 means in 2025 they're going to take over economically the world.
I said, "That's not happening."
And we've gone it way up, they've gone down. And I don't want them to go down. We'll have a good meeting and we're going to see what we can do.
But I have to say this: Billions of dollars will soon be pouring into our treasury from taxes that China is paying for us. And if you speak to Mr. Pillsbury, who probably is the leading authority on China, he was on the other day saying he has never seen anything like it. And you know who else hasn't? China hasn't.
QUESTION: And, Mr. President...
TRUMP: But we're going to try and make a deal with China because I want to have great relationships with President Xi, as I do, and also with China.
QUESTION: You're talking about the economic...
TRUMP: OK.
QUESTION: How do you see your role as a moral leader?
TRUMP: Go ahead. Go ahead, please.
QUESTION: Mr. President, just how do you see your role as a moral leader?
TRUMP: Go ahead -- please, please, go ahead. There's so many people, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
QUESTION: As a moral leader, though?
TRUMP: I think I am a great moral leader and I love our country.
Go ahead, please.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) You said earlier in this press conference that Democrats had a choice that you would not work with them on legislation if they were investigating you. Do you not have a choice in the matter as well? Don't you have a responsibility...
TRUMP: No, I think it's inappropriate -- no, no, I think it's very inappropriate. We should get along and get deals done.
Now, we can investigate. They look at us, we look at them, it goes on for two years, then at the end of three years nothing's done.
Now, what's bad for them is being in the majority, I'm just going to blame them. You understand, I'm going to blame them. They're the majority.
Honestly, it makes it much simpler for me. I -- they will be blamed.
But I think Nancy Pelosi -- and, you know, I put that statement out on social media today about Nancy Pelosi, that if she's short of votes -- because, frankly, I think she deserves -- and a lot of people thought I was being sarcastic or I was kidding. I wasn't. I think she deserves it. She's been fighting long for it, she's been fighting -- I really mean this.
This -- there was nothing sarcastic about it or it was really meant in -- with very good intentions. I think she deserves it. She's fought long and hard, she's a very capable person, and, you know, you have other people shooting at her, trying to take over the speakership, and I said -- if -- I've -- it's appropriate, I said, if we can and if we will, if she has a problem, I think I would be able to very easily supply her the necessary votes.
That's not said in any way other than I really believe she deserves that position.
I also believe that Nancy Pelosi and I could work together and get a lot of things done, along with Mitch and everybody else that we have to work with. I think we'll get a lot done.
QUESTION: Mr. President, why can't you...
TRUMP: Yes, go ahead, please.
QUESTION: Mr. President, why can't you do that while subpoenas are coming through?
TRUMP: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Why can't you work together while there are subpoenas and while there are investigations in process?
TRUMP: I think we will.
I -- look, now that the election's over, the election's over. Now everybody is in love. But then I see the hostility of questions in the room. I come in here as a nice person wanting to answer questions and I have people jumping out of their -- their seats screaming questions at me.
No, the elections are over and I'm -- you know, very -- I am extraordinarily happy. I really am.
And by the way, I'd tell you if I wasn't.
Look at what happened in Florida. Look at what happened in Georgia. Look at what happened in so many locations with governorships. Nobody talks about the governorships.
Look at the amount of work that was given to these other candidates against my candidate, and -- I mean, I'm extraordinarily happy. And if I wasn't, I'd let you know. There's nothing wrong.
I mean, look, you look at midterms and you look at elections -- elections generally, you see -- it's very rare that a party who has the presidency does well. We did unbelievably well.
To win Florida, both the Senate and the governorship, against two very talented people? I'll tell you what, we did incredibly.
To win Georgia, when you had some of the biggest stars in the world campaigning endlessly, including President Obama? You know, I'm -- I tell you what, this is a great victory for us.
And again, from a deal-making standpoint, we are all much better off the way it turned out. Because I really believe if the -- if the Democrats want to, we can do a tremendous amount of great legislation.
Yes, please, go ahead. Should we keep this going for a little while?
QUESTION: Yes.
QUESTION: Yes, I think you should keep this going.
TRUMP: You know what, when you get bored, would you please tell me? Seriously. Tell me.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: You're never boring.
TRUMP: I don't want to -- hopefully not.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: I don't want to overstay, but -- yes please, go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi, Mr. President. Yamiche Alcindor with "PBS NewsHour."
On the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist. Some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. Now people are also saying... TRUMP: I don't know why you'd say that.
QUESTION: ... that the president...
TRUMP: That's such a racist question.
QUESTION: There are some people that say that now the Republican Party is seen as supporting white nationalism because of your rhetoric.
[13:05:00]
TRUMP: Oh, I don't believe it. I don't believe it.
QUESTION: What do you make of that?
TRUMP: I don't believe it.
I just -- well, I don't know, why do I have my highest poll numbers ever with African-Americans? Why do I have among the highest poll numbers with African-Americans?
I mean, why do I have my highest poll numbers -- that's such a racist question. Honestly, I mean, I know you have it written down and you're going to tell me -- let me tell you. It's a racist question.
I love...
QUESTION: And, Mr. President, I...
TRUMP: you know what the word is? I love our country. I do.
You call -- you have nationalists, you have globalists. I also love the world. And I don't mind helping the world. But we have to straighten out our country first. We have a lot of problems.
QUESTION: And...
TRUMP: Excuse me.
But to say that, what you said, is so insulting to me, it's a very terrible thing that you said.
QUESTION: And, Mr. President -- Mr. President...
TRUMP: OK, please, go ahead. Go ahead.
QUESTION: ... the people have -- you talked about...
TRUMP: Excuse me.
QUESTION: ... you talked about middle-class tax cuts on the campaign trail. How will you get Democrats to support that policy or...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You have to ask them. Hey. (CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Well, what's -- what's your plan for working with Democrats...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, excuse me. You know what my plan is?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... on a middle class-backed plan?
TRUMP: You know what my plan is? I'll ask them. And if they say yes, I'm all for it. And if they say no, there's nothing you can do because you need their votes.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Francesca Chambers, dailymail.com.
You said many times on the campaign trail that you didn't want Nancy Pelosi to be speaker. At least, you suggested that. You spent a lot of time talking about her and Chuck Schumer...
TRUMP: It's not a question of want. I would have -- so, here's -- let me -- let me answer.
Would I have preferred winning by two or three or four? I would almost have to think about that.
But certainly, I like to win. And if I win, she's not going to be speaker.
QUESTION: What did she say to you, though, yesterday, that made you...
TRUMP: We had a great conversation.
Honestly, we had a very warm conversation.
You know, she loves this country. And she's a very smart woman. She's done a very good job. She was really -- I mean, she's had a very...
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Did she promise that they wouldn't seek to impeach you?
TRUMP: She's had a very, very -- we didn't talk about impeaching. We didn't talk -- what do you do? Do you impeach somebody because he created the greatest economic success in the history of our country? "Let's impeach him because the country is so successful. Let's impeach him."
"Has he done anything wrong?" They asked somebody. "Has he done anything wrong?" "No, but let's impeach him anyway." And they also said, "Let's impeach Justice Kavanaugh. Let's impeach him." And now they have the second woman coming out. That -- the first or second.
And I hate to say this, but it was public. "And after him, we're going to impeach the vice president. We're going to impeach Mike Pence." Mike Pence doesn't get impeached for anything.
So "Let's...
QUESTION: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: "Let's impeach the president, and then we'll impeach the vice president."
These people are sick. And you know what? They have to get their bearing. Really, they have to get their bearing.
And when you ask about division, they're the ones that cause the division. They cause tremendous division...
QUESTION: OK. Regarding all of the retirements...
TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead, please.
QUESTION: ... in the House -- regarding all of the retirements in the House, Mr. President, really quickly, you -- you suggested that...
TRUMP Who was retiring?
QUESTION: You said that many of the retirements that happened in the House made it very difficult...
TRUMP: Many retirements, yeah.
QUESTION: ... for -- that made it very difficult for you in this election cycle, and that it was because they were chairmen, there were chairmanships that were vacated.
But Jeff Flake wasn't a chairman of a committee. And Paul Ryan also retired this cycle. So why do you think that is? Whose fault is it that there were so many retirements?
TRUMP: In Jeff Flake's case, it's me, pure and simple. I retired him. I'm very proud of it. I did the country a great service.
(LAUGHTER)
Go ahead, give him that -- give him the -- he is retired. I'd like to call it another word, but we're going to treat him with great respect.
Go ahead.
(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Jeff Flake, that's another beauty.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Two questions please.
TRUMP: No, one. One. One. Too many people.
QUESTION: Well -- all right. All right.
TRUMP: Sorry.
QUESTION: You seem to enjoy this venue very much. Are you going to make the standard press conference a staple of the remaining two years...
TRUMP: No.
QUESTION: ... or will you have more briefings with Sarah Sanders?
TRUMP: No. You know, when I don't do the -- I think Sarah's fantastic. Where is Sarah? Where is Sarah? Sarah's so great.
I think, Sarah, you've represented me so well.
And been abused -- she's been horribly treated by a lot of people.
QUESTION: So she's going to stay on as press secretary?
TRUMP: No, no. No, no. But it's very interesting because Sarah was -- so we were talking about it the other day.
Because (ph) I had a period where I figured, "You know what I'll do? I won't do any real interviews." And then they started saying, "Why isn't he doing? Why" -- you know, they're all coming up with all kinds -- then over the last couple of months, I decided, "I'll do a lot. We'll stop at the helicopter, we'll do this, we'll do a lot of" -- and then they say, "Why is he doing so many press conferences? What's wrong?"
What -- so when I don't do them, you say, "What's wrong?" When I do do them, you say, "What's wrong?" And when I go in the middle, you say, "What's wrong?" But in the -- you know that, John (ph).
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: (inaudible).
QUESTION: ... complained about it.
TRUMP: OK, good.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, no. You did. Excuse me.
Well, you complained about access when I purposely just stayed away from the press for a while because I wanted to see how it worked.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: And -- and can I be honest with you? It didn't work well.
QUESTION: Mr. President, I (inaudible) a question.
TRUMP: It didn't work well.
QUESTION: So Sarah will stay on as press secretary?
TRUMP: OK, please. Go ahead. No. Go ahead.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Mr. President.
(inaudible) first off, I personally think it's very good to have you here, because a free press and this type of engagement...
TRUMP: I do, too. Actually, I do, too.
QUESTION: Yes, it's vital to go on...
TRUMP: It's called earned (ph) media. It's worth billions. Go ahead.
[13:10:00] QUESTION: So I have two questions for you, if that's all right. It's a rare opportunity.
First, just a point of clarification on the tax returns issue. You brought up the audit. That doesn't prevent you from releasing them.
TRUMP: I know. Oh, sure.
QUESTION: Right, but that...
TRUMP: I didn't say it prevented me. I said lawyers will tell you not to do it.
QUESTION: But if the...
TRUMP: What's your next question? Go ahead. Come on. Let's go.
QUESTION: Well, just on that...
TRUMP: A more exciting question than that, please.
QUESTION: Second one: Michael Cohen recently said you called black voters stupid.
TRUMP: That's false.
QUESTION: Omarosa has accused you of using the "N" word, and the rapper...
TRUMP: That's false.
QUESTION: The rapper Lil Jon has said you called him "Uncle Tom." What's your response?
TRUMP: I don't know who Lil Jon is. I don't -- I really don't.
QUESTION: He was on "The Apprentice".
TRUMP: I don't know. Oh, he was?
QUESTION: Yeah.
TRUMP: OK. Oh, I see.
QUESTION: Have you ever made racist remarks?
TRUMP: Just, I don't know him.
No, no, I would never do that, and I don't use racist remarks.
QUESTION: And...
TRUMP: And you know what? If I did, you people have -- you would have known about it. I've been hearing there are tapes for years and years, there are tapes.
Number one, I never worried about it, because I never did. I never use racist remarks. I've never used racist remarks.
OK.
QUESTION: Well, one point...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Go ahead.
QUESTION: No, no, one -- one point of fact, is that you told you have the highest...
TRUMP: Quiet, quiet, quiet.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: ... of the poll (ph) among African-Americans. It's just 8 percent, sir. Single digits.
TRUMP: See, when you talk about division, it's people like this that cause division, great division, great -- no, no, point of fact is that I've never used a racist remark. That's the point of fact.
Where -- who are you from?
QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) I'm from Yahoo! News. We don't (inaudible)
TRUMP: Yahoo -- oh, Yahoo! News? No, good. Good. I hope they're -- I hope they're doing well.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Where are you from?
QUESTION: TV (ph) Lebanon. Lebanon.
TRUMP: Oh, Lebanon.
QUESTION: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. We're so happy to be -- as well, have this opportunity.
Mr. -- President Erdogan said he's not going to follow your sanctions, and he's going to keep buying oil from...
TRUMP: Who said that?
QUESTION: President Erdogan, Turkey.
TRUMP: I know. I know.
QUESTION: And you're going to meet him soon.
TRUMP: I just can't understand his...
QUESTION: OK.
You're going to meet him soon. You're going to have this talk, and some countries are going to take the same stance that President Erdogan is doing. And...
TRUMP: So let me just say about the oil, OK?
So we're pull -- we imposed, just recently, the strongest sanctions in the history of our country, just about, although I guess North Korea's there, too.
But I gave some countries a break on the oil. I did it a little bit because they really asked for some help. But I really did it because I don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 a barrel or $150 a barrel, because I'm driving them down. If you look at oil prices, they've come down very substantially over the last couple of months. That's because of me, because you have a monopoly called OPEC, and I don't like -- wait. And I don't like that monopoly. I don't like it. And oil prices are coming down.
So rather than deciding to be as tough as I am on most of the sanctions, what I've done is I said, "We're not going to do it that way. We're going to let some of the oil go out to these countries that really do need it, because I don't want to drive the oil prices up to $100 or $150 a barrel," which could happen very easily. It's a very fragile market, very, very fragile. I know it very well, and it's the absolute right decision.
And they'll get tougher as time goes by, maybe. But I don't want to have any effect on the oil prices worldwide, where I drive them up, because I consider that to be a tax, and I don't like taxes.
QUESTION: Well, (inaudible) peace process (inaudible) in Palestine?
TRUMP: Please, please, please.
QUESTION: The peace process is over.
TRUMP: Who?
(UNKNOWN): (inaudible) Jon Tester.
TRUMP: Oh, congratulations to Jon Tester. Congratulations. I'm sure you're very unhappy about that.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Mr. President...
TRUMP: Yes, please, go ahead.
QUESTION: ... can you address the...
TRUMP: Then we'll take a couple of more, and then we'll go.
QUESTION: OK.
Can you address concerns in places like Georgia, where people waited in line to vote for hours, where voting machines weren't working in certain districts, and there wasn't power?
TRUMP: Do you think that's the reason that the candidate lost?
QUESTION: Well, there are concerns being raised that that wasn't (inaudible)
TRUMP: OK, (inaudible) I wasn't involved in Georgia. I wasn't.
QUESTION: I know, but our -- but as president...
TRUMP: Other than -- other than I love the state. I do love the state.
QUESTION: Yes, but as president of the United States, are you concerned about the access that people are having to voting?
TRUMP: I heard it was very efficient in Georgia. I heard it was very efficient.
But again, you'd have to ask the state governments, because it's just one of those things you're going to have to ask them.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead, please. Please, go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank -- thank you, Mr. President. You expressed some concerns about social media companies unfairly censoring conservatives during the election. Do you anticipate working with Democrats to regulate these companies, or are you satisfied with that concern?
TRUMP: I would -- I would do that, yeah. I would look at that very -- I think it's a serious problem.
At the same time, you start getting into speech. It's a very dangerous problem. That could be the beginning, so it's very dangerous.
[13:15:00]
Believe it or not, I'm one that really likes free speech. A lot of people don't understand that. But I am a big believer, and when you start regulating, a lot of bad things can happen.
But I would certainly talk to the Democrats, if they want to do that. And I think they do want to do that.
Yes, sir, go ahead.
QUESTION: Former President -- former President Barack Obama famously said that he had a pen and a phone to use executive power on issues like immigration. Do you see yourself using executive power to get some of your immigration agenda done?
TRUMP: I do, I do.
I think that some of it -- I can use executive power on some -- not all, but -- I mean he certainly used it. He used it on DACA, and when he did it, he said something to the effect that, "I'm not allowed to do this, it'll never hold up, but I'm doing it anyway."
And he did it and they found judges that approved it. We also found judges that didn't approve it, so it's obviously going to be determined in the Supreme Court.
And if the -- if the court rules in favor of what President Obama thinks they should rule, which is what he said, then I will probably have a deal with the Democrats in a very short period of time.
We were very close to having a deal until we got that very strange ruling.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) You -- you also made some promises about immigration during the campaign, and I want to know if you're going to follow through with them. Are you going to...
TRUMP: Which one are you talking about?
QUESTION: Birthright citizenship. Are you going to sign an executive order to...
TRUMP: We're looking at it very seriously, absolutely.
QUESTION: I mean, is -- is it a yes or no or are you...
TRUMP: And I -- I believe we have the absolute right. But that's another case that will be determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.
QUESTION: Are you going to send 15,000 troops to the border?
TRUMP: You've been reading the same documents as I have. You know exactly what I'm doing. You know exactly what I'm doing.
So go ahead, what's your next question?
QUESTION: Also, on the Khashoggi matter, it's been more than a month since the death of Mr. Khashoggi, the journalist.
TRUMP: A very sad thing. A very terrible thing.
QUESTION: Do you think Saudi Arabia is guilty of -- of having him murdered? And if so, what kind of punishment will be involved?
TRUMP: I'll have a stronger opinion on that subject over the next week. And I'm working very closely with Congress -- we're working together, some very talented people -- and we're working with Congress, we're working with Turkey and we're working with Saudi Arabia, and I'm forming a very strong opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Go ahead, John (ph). Go ahead, John (ph).
QUESTION: Mr. President, just a quick follow-up.
You said something about Nancy Pelosi. You said that Nancy Pelosi, she loves our country. Do you regret some of the things you said during the campaign?
TRUMP: No.
QUESTION: I mean, various times you said Democrats want to put a wrecking ball to our future, they want to destroy our country...
TRUMP: No, I believe that -- I believe that. With their current policy, they're using a wrecking ball on our country. I believe that 100 percent. This would be a wrecking ball.
But I think there's a compromise somewhere and I think that could be really good for our country.
OK, how about one more? Go ahead.
QUESTION: Do you regret the ad -- do you -- do you regret the ad that -- that you did that was branded as a racist ad? Even Fox News wouldn't air it, NBC wouldn't air it. Do you regret it?
TRUMP: No, I don't, no. Do I regret it?
QUESTION: Yeah.
TRUMP: Surprised you asked me that question. I do not.
Go ahead, please.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Thank you, sir. And I think we'd all love to have more of these if you're willing.
In 2017, shortly after you took office, your Homeland Security Department shuttered a program to counter homegrown, right-wing extremism, white supremacism and related terrorist groups -- domestic terrorist groups, and redirected that funding towards fighting Islamic terrorism.
Do you believe that white supremacist terrorists, right-wing terrorists, these homegrown terrorists on that side of the spectrum are a problem, sir? And what is your administration going to do about it?
TRUMP: Yeah, I do. I do believe that's a problem. I believe all hate is a problem, but I do believe that is a problem.
QUESTION: What are you going to do about it, sir?
TRUMP: And it's a problem we want to solve.
OK, go ahead.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What are you going to do about it, sir? Sir -- sir, what are you going to do about it?
TRUMP: Go ahead.
QUESTION: You cut off the funding.
QUESTION: Mr. President, you said...
TRUMP: No, we have given funding for that, a lot of funding. But I do believe it's a problem. And -- and can I tell you what? It's a problem that I don't like even a little bit.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Aixa Diaz with Hearst Television.
You've said, "Pretend I'm on the ballot" yesterday, you called it a referendum on your presidency. Many local districts across the country rejected your midterm message, particularly suburban women.
How do you bridge that divide now, also with the influx of women coming into Congress?
TRUMP: I -- I thought that message was very well received. I mean, just look at the results.
Midterm elections are disasters for sitting presidents and administrations. This has been a very successful -- and -- and look, you can write it any way you want, and if you disagree with me -- this has been an incredibly successful -- when you look at the races, how about Ohio? I didn't even mention -- I mentioned Florida, I mentioned Georgia. How about the governor of Ohio...
QUESTION: But what's your message to suburban women voters?
TRUMP: Excuse me, excuse me -- a fantastic man who was down in the polls and everybody was talking about this person that was so great, and I went up there and I did a rally and they have now a great governor -- they're going to have a great governor in Ohio for hopefully a long period of time, but for four years. And Mike DeWine is a fantastic person.
And I went up there for two reasons: because I felt that his opposition was not a good person, and we know a lot about him, and I felt that Mike was a fantastic person. And he won. And not only did he win, he won easily.
So add that to Florida, and add that to Georgia, and add that to all of the other races that we won. Outside, even, of the Senate races, which were the biggest of all.
Because these were races that -- and Mike Pence can tell you, and some of the folks over here can tell you, these were races that were going to be unopposed.
We were going to -- we were not going to oppose certain of the people running, certain senators. They said they couldn't be beaten. They said Heidi could not be beat. "Please don't do it," they couldn't -- this was a year out.
QUESTION: What about in the suburban districts? How do you get...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Excuse me. No, but you're telling me about...
QUESTION: ... those (ph) back?
TRUMP: You're telling me about popularity. They said -- many of these people, when I said nine out of 11, but I said -- when -- many of these people, these weren't, like, easy race -- these were tough races.
And so, I think the level of popularity, with -- the first question I was asked was about, "Well, what have you learned? What about your own popularity?"
I think that's what I learned, is my -- I was very well-received by this great country, by the people of our great country.
And I'm very proud of that because I love the people of this country. These people, we are the greatest people. I love the people of our country.
And...
QUESTION: So what do you say to women, Mr. President?
TRUMP: And I'll tell you something. When you look at the races that we won in Florida, which we weren't expected to win, and Georgia, which we weren't expected to win, and Ohio, which we weren't expected to win, and won -- I mean, you look at some of them, the number of votes that we got is incredible.
So I'm really happy with -- not only the way it came out, but the response to me as your president.
And as your president, I've made our country safe, I've rebuilt and -- I'm in the process of rebuilding our military, and the jobs are here, every one of them, built here. We're going to have the strong -- and very shortly, we're going to have the strongest military our country has ever had.
I've done more for the vets than any president has done, certainly in many, many decades, with Choice. And with other things, as you know, with other things. But out vets are doing better than they've ever done. But if you look at Choice -- Choice alone. I mean, just take a look at what we've done with Choice.
But the people of our country are very happy with the job that I'm doing.
And, you know, one of the things...
QUESTION: But looking ahead to 2020...
TRUMP: ... one of the things that they want so much is security. They want security, both at the border -- they want it with our military, they want it with law enforcement, they want it with ICE.
You know, we've taken out thousands of MS-13 gang members. Thousands out of -- hard to believe. Thousands out of our country.
Women of our country, who are incredible people, they want security. They want safety. They want financial security also. We've done that. But they want physical security. And we've taken out thousands of people that shouldn't be in this country.
But we have to get strong immigration laws so they don't come in. We want laws where they don't come in, where we don't have to take them out, per se.
And, again, I'm very honored to be with all of you. It was a great day yesterday. It was a great evening. I think we had a tremendous success.
And hopefully, the tone can get better. Hopefully...
QUESTION: How will you change that? TRUMP: Hopefully the tone can get a lot better.
[13:23:40] And I really believe it begins with the media. If you would cover -- and there was a very interesting story written in a very good paper recently that talked about the fact that it isn't good what the media is doing and that I do have the right to fight back because I'm treated very unfairly. So I do fight back. And I'm fighting back not for me, I'm fighting back for the people of this country.
Thank you all very much. Thank you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so there you have it, for nearly an hour and a half, the president very, very combative, answering reporters' questions. He opened with about a 20-minute statement that sounded a bit like a campaign rally, but then he went on to declare a huge victory for himself and the Republicans last night, even though the Republicans, Jake, lost the House of Representatives, a major setback because now there's all sorts of ramifications for them.
I have to tell you, I've been covering presidential news conferences for a long time. I've seen many presidents in the East Room of the White House answering reporters' questions. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: No. And what we saw here was a president who clearly feels threatened and was responding by threatening. He threatened Democrats. He threatened the news media. And he made it very clear, no matter how many times he kept saying that he had a tremendous night, it was close to a complete victory, he knew in his heart that was not the true.
[13:25:06] He knows that he is going to have to deal with Nancy Pelosi. He knows that there is a real issue when it comes to his relationship with the First Amendment, with press -- reporters asking him, pressing him on questions and he does not think that he needs to change anything.
It was remarkable -- I mean there were so many things in that press conference that were remarkable, including his multiple attacking of various reporters, including, and perhaps most strikingly, Yamiche Alcindor from PBS, an African-American reporter, a great reporter, who asked him about the fact that when he used nationalist to describe himself there were many white nationalists, racists, would took comfort in that. And what his response to that was, he accused her of asking him a racist question. There is nothing racist about her question. And it is unfathomable that that was his response to it.
But one other thing that I think we need to -- I know everybody here is eager to talk about what we just witnessed -- one other thing that I think we need to note, the president started out by doing a dance on the graves of Republicans who did not show him enough fealty. Republicans who, for their own purposes, many of them in those suburban districts that turned away from President Trump where he was toxic, that commercial was toxic, his language was toxic, people like Congressman Carlos Curbelo in Florida, people like Congresswoman Barbara Comstock in Virginia, people like Congresswoman Mia Love in Utah, who, by the way, her race hasn't been called yet, so his saying that she lost was -- is premature. She may actually end up winning that race. He danced on their graves. He said because they didn't embrace him, they lost. And he was flip about it. He almost seemed to be happy about the fact that Congressman Mike Coffman, Republican from the suburbs of Denver, lost because he didn't want the president's support.
I've never seen a president take delight in people of his own party losing. And the only thing I can say -- compare that to is, you know, some of the works of Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese. I mean that's how gangsters act. The idea that you're not loyal to them and, therefore, you deserve the punishment.
There are plenty of presidents we've seen, whether Bill Clinton or George W. Bush or Barack Obama who lose elections, who lose members of Congress in these wave elections, whether it's '94 or 2006 or 2010, and there are members of Congress who didn't want them to campaign with them because it would be bad for their re-election. And they understand that. And they don't dance on their graves. And President Trump did that in addition to all the lies and falsehoods he shared in that press conference.
BLITZER: Yes.
TAPPER: And the denial of the fact that he had a, at best, mixed election night and the Democrats taking over the House is a huge problem for him.
BLITZER: And he went after those Republicans, Republicans who lost, moderate Republicans, and he said, too bad. He was very, very bitter about that.
I want to go -- let everybody have a chance to give us their thoughts about what we just witnessed. It was an historic moment.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It was a historic moment because we've never heard a president like this in a post -- a post- election press conference. I mean I want to -- he was shaming these people and it was outrageous to do so.
And then the other point I want to make in terms of Nancy Pelosi and the House, he -- it was all about threatening to retaliate against them if they dared to do their job, which is oversight. And he said, you know, we can play it better. We can play it better than you. If you -- you know, if you do that, I'm better --
TAPPER: Yes, I think I'm better at that game than they are.
BORGER: Right. Then we're going to do the same thing and the government will come to a halt. And, you know, they got nothing. They can play that.
So, you know, he threatened -- he threatened the new majority in the House. And it was -- it's kind of stunning because, on the one hand, he thought he was handing them over something, you know, saying, OK, we can work together. Maybe we can do something on prescription drugs. But he dared them and he said, you start -- you start going after me and I'm going to start my investigations. I'm going to do all of my investigations on the FBI and everything else and we know what he's -- we know what he's talking about.
So there isn't any Kumbaya. There isn't -- it's just never going to be because he cannot separate the personal from the agenda. It's all -- it's all the same with him. And that's why he was shaming the people who didn't -- who didn't -- who told him to stay away. It's just all about him.
[13:29:37] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And I was going to say, I was in Mike Coffman's district. I did a story in the suburbs of Denver. And he is flat wrong. If he went out to campaign for Mike Coffman, he probably would have lost by 25 points, not just 10 points, because that was the classic suburban district with independents, with women, who had, in many elections before, voted for Republicans, different kinds of Republicans.
