Return to Transcripts main page

CNN RIGHT NOW

Trump Slams Biden; Trump Takes Questions Before Departing for Iowa. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 11, 2019 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:22] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brianna Keilar, and we just heard from President Trump speaking at length. We're actually turning that tape around. He was departing on the South Lawn, and so that's something that is on tape. We're going to get that to you.

However, I want to bring in our Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, you have been following everything that the president said. What are the headlines here?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president is essentially unloading on Joe Biden on the South Lawn as he's headed here to Iowa where, of course, he's going to be sharing the state with the former vice president. Now, people close to the president, Brianna, say this isn't surprising because all day he's been watching this coverage of a speech that Joe Biden hasn't given yet but his campaign went ahead and released the text of that speech where he mentions the president dozens of times in it, going after him not only for his trade policies, his climate change policies, but also just his character and his policy issues overall.

And now we are seeing the president retaliate and fire back at Joe Biden saying that he believes that he's mentally weak. He thinks that this is a candidate he's going to be able to beat easily. And he talks about how Joe Biden does mention him so many times in that speech. And he says, someone that has to mention him that many times, that means he's in trouble.

Of course, Brianna, this is setting us up for the showdown once President Trump does actually get here to Iowa. But as we reported earlier, they're not even going to come within 100 miles of each other at the most. That's what we've been pointing out so far. That essentially there's this invisible line drawn down the center of the state. The president will stay on the western side and Joe Biden will be campaigning on the eastern side of the state while they are both here in Iowa.

But, of course, it is going to be this feud that has bubbled up between them and escalated in recent weeks that is going to be looming over both of their visits.

KEILAR: And while he was speaking, Kaitlan, he also went after the House speaker, he went after Nancy Pelosi.

COLLINS: Yes, and that was after Nancy Pelosi sat down for an interview with our colleague Manu Raju earlier where they talked about that comment that had been report by "Politico" and CNN and others that Nancy Pelosi privately told some of her chairmen that she would rather see President Trump in prison than impeached. The president was asked about the comments that Pelosi made earlier today where she said essentially that she didn't want to talk about President Trump anymore and he took that time to criticize Nancy Pelosi, to go after her once again as we've seen him do, pretty recently a new thing for the president to actually go after Nancy Pelosi, but something he certainly hasn't held his criticism back in recent days.

Another thing, Brianna, that I do want to point out that the president said. He said he recently received another letter from the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. He said it was a beautiful letter, but he didn't go into what exactly the details of that letter are going to be. But, of course, we know that the president has left the door open to having a third summit with Kim Jong-un in recent weeks.

KEILAR: Yes, and we don't know when he received that left, so a lot of questions around that.

COLLINS: Right.

KEILAR: Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much.

And just we're -- full transparency, the way this works is we bring in Jeff Zeleny from Iowa where the president is going to be headed. The president spoke on the South Lawn of the White House. This is something that is taped, that is not live. So it actually is physically being run into the White House so that we can turn it around and bring it to you. He talked about so many things, Jeff, and he's really setting the stage for heading to Iowa where the former vice president, Joe Biden, is really -- has been stealing some of the spotlight, and clearly the president wants it back.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, no question about that. And as Kaitlan was just reporting, we do know that President Trump has had Joe Biden in his head for quite some time now. He has been talking about him with his advisers and he was talking to reporters on the South Lawn, as you said, just a few moments ago. He called him a loser, which he's called him before. He also said that I'd rather run against Biden than anyone else. He's the weakest mentally. So those are, I guess, setting the groundworks here for what is a competition potentially to come.

Joe Biden, of course, is trying to prove that he actually is a frontrunner. He's trying to convince Iowa Democrats and others that he's the strongest Democrat to take on President Trump. He's ignoring all of his Democratic rivals and he is focusing on President Trump. He's going to be giving a series of speeches and events here, including in Ottumwa, Iowa, where I am standing right now, and he has described the president as an existential threat to the U.S. He said he simply is not capable and up to the task. He's hitting him on trade and tariffs and saying what he is doing to farmers here and others is certainly hurting them.

Now, President Trump said he believes he is going to win Iowa. Of course, in the general election, next year, 2020, Iowa always a battleground state. The president said he expects to win Iowa because of, he said, the farmers. He calls them "my farmers." Republican voters, he believes, will support him.

But, Brianna, no question, the six electoral votes here, next year, as we look beyond the Iowa caucuses, will be very important. Hard to imagine a path to the president winning a second term without winning again here in Iowa.

[13:05:09] KEILAR: It's interesting that he says he thinks that Joe Biden is the weakest mentally. I wonder, Jeff, in your reporting, does he really think that Joe Biden is the weakest, or does he think that, especially looking at poll numbers, that he's the strongest, and he wants to target him early?

ZELENY: Brianna, from what we're told by talking with the president's advisers, he does believe that he would be a strong candidate, largely because of states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin and even here in Iowa. They believe that Joe Biden is the kind of -- more of a middle of the road Democrat who can win back some of those voters who supported President Trump in 2016.

I am in one of the counties in Iowa, one of the 32 counties that flipped, that Obama and Biden won in 2012 and Trump won in 2016. There's 32 of them here, more than any other state in the country. Joe Biden believes he can win those. Of course, President Trump says he can as well.

But it's unclear exactly what the president, how he views Joe Biden, if he would run against him. But every bit of reporting that our team has, he does not view him as the weakest candidate.

Brianna, we've seen this before, he's trying to weaken President Trump.

KEILAR: And, Jeff, if you can -- if you can stand by, let's listen to President Trump. This is the tape from the South Lawn.

[13:06:21] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is like the Academy Awards used to be before they went political. Now nobody cares.

But great honor to be with you.

We're doing very well. Mexico is doing a great job at the border. Really helping us. We want the Democrats to help us as much as Mexico. And we'll have absolutely no problem at the border. We'll clean it up very quickly.

But the agreement with Mexico has been great. They've been working very hard. We're -- we're doing very well together. Good relationship.

Yes? QUESTION: Mr. President...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... today Joe Biden (inaudible). What do you say to Joe Biden?

TRUMP: Well, I heard Biden, who's a loser -- I mean, look, Joe never got more than 1 percent, except Obama took him off the trash heap. And now it looks like he's failing. It looks like his friends from the left are going to overtake him pretty soon.

But I heard he -- you know, his whole campaign is to hit Trump.

You look at what the Obama administration did in terms of the military, in terms of security, in terms of other nations, in terms of almost everything, much of it now, fortunately for everybody here, has been overturned.

But look, when a man has to mention my name 76 times in a speech, that means he's in trouble.

Now, I have to tell you, he's a different guy. He looks different then he used to, he acts different than he used to, he's even slower than he used to be. So I don't know.

But when he mentions my name that many times, I guess I should be complimented.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible) poll numbers?

TRUMP: Who? Who?

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: I never do. My poll numbers are great.

By the way, we've gotten fantastic numbers. I guess Rasmussen just came out with a 50 percent.

And the amazing thing is all I do is get hit by this phony witch hunt -- although they don't mention Russia anymore because there was no collusion. So now they want to try and say, "Well, did he obstruct a no-collusion?"

So there was no crime. The crime was by the Democrats, folks. They've committed, in my opinion, many crimes. And time will tell what happens there. But the crime was by the Democrats.

My poll numbers have been very, very good. We're starting, really, next week. It's going to be something, I think, very special. We're starting in Orlando, Florida.

(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: (inaudible) Joe Biden (inaudible)?

TRUMP: Excuse me?

QUESTION: (inaudible) Joe Biden (inaudible)?

TRUMP: No. I'd rather run against, I think, Biden than anybody. I think he's the weakest mentally. And I like running against people that are weak mentally. I think Joe is the weakest up here. The other ones have much more energy. I don't agree with their policies.

But I think Joe is a man who is -- I call him 1 percent Joe, because until Obama came along, he didn't do very well.

But I...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Look -- look. But I don't bring him up.

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: The best thing that ever happened to the farmers is me. We gave $16 billion to the farmers to make up for the deficit with China. We gave them $16 billion. We don't give them it; they earn it because they're patriots. We give them ethanol at 15, which nobody was ever going to do, which Biden didn't do in eight years as, you know, vice president.

The farmers are my best friend. Nobody has treated the farmers better than Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President...

QUESTION: Mr. President -- Mr. President, could you...

QUESTION: (inaudible)?

QUESTION: (inaudible) agreement with Mexico and China (inaudible)

[13:10:00] TRUMP: That's the agreement that everybody says I don't have. So no, because I'm going to let Mexico do the announcement at the right time.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: From Mexico, they want to go through.

But here's the agreement. It's a very simple agreement. This is one page -- this is one page of a very long and very good agreement for both Mexico and the United States.

Without the tariffs, we would have had nothing. We had nothing two weeks ago. Mexico told us, "Absolutely -- " I don't know where the Times got the story, but I think they got it, probably, from somebody that worked here and said, "Oh, how well they were doing."

Well, for a long time, for many years, people tried to get what we got in a period of a couple of days, and they couldn't get it. That's the difference. They couldn't get it.

So, Mexico, we're getting along with them great. Marcelo and the president and all of them -- we're getting along great. They've started a very strong action. They're moving right now 6,000 soldiers to their southern border. Who ever heard of that? Do you think we had that two weeks ago?

Two weeks ago, I'll tell you what we had: We had nothing. And the reason we had nothing is because Mexico felt they didn't have to give us anything. I don't blame them.

But this is actually, ultimately going to be good for Mexico too, and it's good for the relationship of Mexico with us.

So here's your thing. You know, they all say, "Oh, he doesn't -- " I -- I just give you my word. Inside here, and I would love to do it, but you will freeze-action it, you will stop it, you will analyze it. Every single letter, you'll see. But in here is my -- is the agreement.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Speaker Pelosi said today that every time you attack her her stock goes up. (inaudible)

TRUMP: Now, look, Nancy is a mess. The Democratic Party is a mess. They're doing everything they can to win the election in 2020.

They are guilty of many crimes, many, many crimes, what they've done. They're guilty of many, many crimes, and hopefully in a short period of time, that'll be seen. They should never have done what they've done. And all they do is waste time on these investigations where there's no obstruction, no collusion, no nothing. And in the meantime, they can't get a border deal done. They can't do anything.

We need -- in addition to the great deal with Mexico, we need them to work on illegal immigration, on lower drug prices, on infrastructure, and they're not doing anything. They are -- they've come to a halt.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, they say you can't be trusted, sir. How do you react to the fact that the Democrats say...

TRUMP: Say it?

QUESTION: ... you cannot be trusted?

QUESTION: Did Mexico agree to negotiate (inaudible) asylum?

TRUMP: I don't want to say, but you can just figure it out yourself. Right here. And -- and the reason is Mexico wants to handle -- that would have to go through their -- their legislative body.

QUESTION: But I -- I heard that they agreed to (inaudible).

TRUMP: A lot of people heard they agreed to it. A lot of people are saying that. Good luck, OK?

I'm not going to say one way or the other, but I will tell you, right here is the story.

You know, I don't like it when newspapers write fake news, or when reporters like you do fake news. I don't like that.

So right here is the agreement. It's very simple. It's right here, and in here is everything you want to talk about. Done. It's done. It's done. It's all done.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: On Joe Biden, (inaudible) this rhetoric about China saying we need to (inaudible)

TRUMP: Joe Biden thought that China was not a competitor of ours. Joe Biden is a dummy. Joe Biden thought China was not a competitor.

China made $500 billion over a short period of time against Obama, Biden, and for many, many years, in all fairness to them. China is a major competitor, and right now China wants to make a deal very badly. It's me right now that's holding up the deal...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... and we're going to either do a great deal with China, or we're not doing a deal at all.

Right now China is paying us billions and billions of dollars. They never gave us 10 cents. And China ate our country alive during Obama and Biden. They ate us alive. And then Biden has some kind of a relationship financially, or his son, with China? Tell me about that, because China ate the United States alive economically, and it's a shame.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: So, Mr. President, how do you respond to the Democrats (inaudible)

TRUMP: No, no, Pelosi attacked me. She was here. She made a horrible statement that I'm sure she wished she didn't make. She made a horrible statement while I was with the queen of England, while I was with -- while I was with the president of France. And you're not supposed to do that, OK?

But the ones that committed the crimes are the Democrats and others. [13:15:00] (CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Do immigrants from Venezuela deserve asylum in the U.S.?

And why haven't you...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We're looking at that, and we're very much involved with the Venezuela crisis. It's a horrible thing, a horrible situation. It's been brewing for many years. It really started in the worst form during the Biden-Obama administration, but it's been brewing for a long time.

QUESTION: (inaudible)?

TRUMP: So we're looking at that very strongly.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Xi -- Jinping Xi (inaudible) meet with you. Where are you on that?

TRUMP: My relationship with President Xi of China is a very good one. One of the people I really like. I get along with him right. He's representing China. I'm representing the United States of America.

We're doing very well. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars. Companies are leaving China right now and they're coming here because they don't want to pay the tariffs, and they're going to other countries.

But I think that China -- I can tell you China would like to make a deal very badly. They're getting hurt very badly by the tariffs, because companies can't pay the tariffs, so they're leaving China.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And the other thing you have to remember about China is that China will subsidize companies so our taxpayer is not paying for very much of it. A report came out: They're paying for very little of it.

But what it's doing is creating a fair playing field, which we've never had with China since the WTO, the World Trade Organization.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... about you meeting with Kim Jong-un?

QUESTION: How do you respond to the Democrats who say you are lying...

TRUMP: We expect to meet with President Xi very shortly. We think we'll meet him at the G-20. We're talking. We have a very good relationship.

Look, we had a deal with China and then they went back on the deal. They said, "We don't want to have four major points, five major points, so we changed it."

But we had a deal with China. And unless they go back to that deal, I have no interest.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: Right now, we're taking in billions and billions of dollars. I've created something -- what we've done in the last two and a half years, we've picked up $14 trillion in net worth of the United States, and China has gone down probably by $20 trillion. There's a tremendous gap. When I came in, that gap was getting very close.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, (inaudible) Iowa in 2020?

TRUMP: Well, I love Iowa. I've gotten along great. I won Iowa by a lot the last time. Usually Republicans wouldn't win a -- would not win it by that much, but I won Iowa, as you know, by a lot. I have a great relationship with the farmers. I have a great relationship with everybody.

I mean, Iowa, I think, is going to be something that we win very easily.

I think we're going to win -- I saw a fake poll, a suppression poll, in Pennsylvania. I even saw one in Texas.

They're suppression. They're fake polls. Just like the fake media, of which there are many here, there are fake polls.

We're going to win Texas by a lot. We're going to win Iowa by a lot. We're going to win -- I would say every -- Pennsylvania, I think we're going to do very well. We have steel companies opening up that for 40 years they didn't open up steel companies; now they're opening up.

No, I think we're doing very well.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... South Korea (inaudible)?

TRUMP: So, I see that. And I just received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un. And I think the relationship is very well. But I appreciated the letter.

I saw the information about the CIA with respect to his brother, or half-brother. And I would tell him that would not happen under my -- under my auspices, that's for sure. I wouldn't -- I wouldn't let that happen under my auspices.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: But I just received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un. I -- I can't show you the letter, obviously. But it was a very personal, very warm, very nice letter. I appreciate it. And I'll say it again. I think that North Korea has tremendous potential. And he'll be there.

I think that North Korea, under his leadership -- but North Korea, because of what it represents -- the people are great. The land is great. The location is incredible, between Russia, China and South Korea. I think North Korea has tremendous potential. And the one that feels that more than anybody is Kim Jong-un. He gets it.

QUESTION: But do you (inaudible)

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: He totally gets it.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I have not heard about that, but we'll see.

QUESTION: Mr. President (inaudible) the Democrats who...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I would, but I want to get it further advanced.

In the meanwhile, no nuclear testing, no major missile testing, nothing like when I first got here.

When I first got here, it was a bad mess. We have a very good relationship together. Now I can confirm it because of the letter I got yesterday. And I think -- you know, I think that something will happen that's going to be very positive.

[13:20:00] But in the meantime, we have our hostages back, the remains keep coming back, we have a relationship.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Say it?

QUESTION: ... the CIA was wrong (ph) -- (inaudible) Iran (ph) (inaudible)?

TRUMP: I don't know anything about that.

I know this: That the relationship is such that that wouldn't happen under my auspices.

But I don't know about that. Nobody knows.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Quiet, quiet. Quiet.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible) address the Democrats (inaudible) lying?

QUESTION: (inaudible) does that include (inaudible?

TRUMP: Up a little higher.

QUESTION: Does that include -- remember when you said that the border wouldn't be as bad if Congress would pass a (inaudible) appropriations bill. Would that include the (inaudible) that they...

TRUMP: So, Congress has to get their act together. They have to pass immigration laws. They have to get rid of -- I mean, as far as I'm concerned, the most important thing is to get rid of the loopholes. Because you have loopholes and asylum problems that they could do in 15 minutes if they wanted to.

The Democrats in Congress are causing this country tremendous drug problems, tremendous security problems. And they have to get together and they have to work out asylum and the loopholes.

It would take literally 15 minutes, it's so simple.

QUESTION: That's (inaudible) the bill?

TRUMP: What we're going to do it, we're going to sit down at some point with the Democrats. We're going to work it all out. It is a quick negotiation.

And they know I'm right, they just don't want to do it politically. They want to have open borders. And open borders mean crime. It really means crime, it means drugs.

So we get 90 percent of our drugs coming in through the southern border, which I think everyone pretty much agrees to. Hundreds of billions of dollars. We can close it up so easy.

Now, we took a big step with Mexico over the last three days. This is an even bigger step. But we took a big step with Mexico.

The Democrats have to sit down with us and we have to work something out very easily on asylum and on loopholes.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Democrats say they don't want to...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Any plan -- any plan, any thought about another meeting with Kim Jong-un?

TRUMP: Well, it could happen but I want to bring it further down the line.

Look, in the meantime, he's kept his word. There's no nuclear testing. There's no large -- you know, long-range missiles going up. The only thing he's sent up were very short-term -- short-range. And that was just a test of short-range. It's a whole different deal.

But he's kept his word to me. That's very important.

And again, the letter he sent was a beautiful letter. It was a very warm letter. That's a very nice thing.

And I don't say that out of naivete. I say, that was a very nice letter.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... agreement in your conference (ph), where does that go and (inaudible)?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: This will go into a -- this will go into effect -- and it's my option. It's not Mexico's. But it will go into effect when Mexico tells me it's OK to release it.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: If they bring the numbers way down, we won't have to use it. OK?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: If they bring the numbers way down, we won't have to.

But this is my option. It goes into effect when I want it to. But I have a lot of respect for the president of Mexico, I have a lot of respect for the people we dealt with, so I don't want to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And they have to go back to Congress to get that approved.

But it goes down -- listen, it goes down -- it goes into effect at my option. But I wouldn't do that. I want to deal with them, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Say it.

QUESTION: Why haven't you nominated a DHS or defense secretary?

TRUMP: Well, I have, defense secretary. I have. It's done. I put it out.

QUESTION: It's done?

TRUMP: Yeah. It's done from the standpoint of the nomination.

(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait. Pat Shanahan was nominated two weeks ago.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yeah, no. I put it out. I put it out officially. No, now he has to go through the process.

QUESTION: OK, what about...

TRUMP: He's now going through.

That we'll make a determination. I think Kevin is doing a very good job right now, but we'll make a determination in the not too distant -- we have acting. We'll make a determination. But I think Kevin's doing a very good job.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Iran, are you hopeful about the dialogue with Iran?

TRUMP: I hope that everything works out with Iran.

Iran is a country that now, because of all of the sanctions and other things, is a much different country than when I came here. When I came here, they were all over the place, causing terror, causing problems. They're not doing that right now. And I think they respect the United States right now much more than they ever have.

So Iran's got a lot of problems. And I'd like to help them with those problems. We'll see what happens.

[13:25:00] But they have tremendous inflation. Their money is worthless. You can't buy a loaf of bread. It's a lot of problems in Iran. That's a lot different than it was two and a half years ago.

And big things were sanctions, but I think the biggest thing was when I -- and the most important was when I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was an incompetent deal.

Thank you all. I'll see you in Iowa.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Thank you.

(CROSS TALK)

KEILAR: All right, President Trump there on tape. This is what he's currently on his way to Iowa, and these are the remarks that he gave at length on the South Lawn before departing.

I want to bring in Abby Phillip from the White House.

You know, one of the big things that we noticed here was obviously that he was going after the former vice president, Joe Biden, in a major way. Both of them will be in Iowa today battling for the spotlight there.

Tell us what stood out to you about his criticisms of the former vice president.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he really test drove a couple of different critiques of Joe Biden. And one of them is this idea that Joe Biden is not going to survive the Democratic primary. He called him 1 percent Joe. Said that President Obama picked Joe Biden up off of the trash heap and chose him as his vice president. So the president is trying to set expectations about what will happen to Joe Biden in the course of a Democratic primary.

He criticized Joe Biden's intelligence, says that Biden is not the way that he -- that he once was, not as intelligent as he once was. And he also said in response to some questions about whether or not he's actually concerned about running against Biden, that he believes that he would actually do well against Joe Biden, pushing back on this narrative that Biden might be the strongest contender that he -- that he might face in a Democratic field given Biden's ability, potentially, to connect with working class voters that President Trump got support from in the last election.

So I -- you know, to me, it seemed that President Trump was trying to really flip the narrative around this whole Biden versus Trump dynamic, especially as they're heading to Iowa together. And he also discounted basically wholesale polls. He said they're all fake polls in Texas and Pennsylvania and Iowa and in other places. He says all the polls that he's seen recently are all wrong and he calls them fake.

But I think he's calling them fake, Brianna, because they're probably not showing him what he wants to see, which is that they're showing a tougher competition than he would probably like and he says that they're all wrong and he's going to do a lot better than a lot of people expect him to come next November.

KEILAR: And, Jeff Zeleny, who is awaiting the arrival of President Trump in Iowa.

What stood out to you as he was giving a test drive, if you will, to borrow a phrase from Abby, these criticisms of Joe Biden?

ZELENY: Well, Brianna, I think Abby put it pretty well there. We have seen President Trump do this again and again with his Republican challengers just four years ago really beginning right here in Iowa and other states. He was also questioning Joe Biden's, you know, his mental capacity and his energy level. So he certainly is trying to brand him as someone as, you know, not being a strong candidate.

But one thing is clear, he, you know, says he could easily beat him. He's occupying -- Joe Biden is occupying a lot of head space for this president. We've seen it several times before, so it really is a battle. And it's a battle that Joe Biden, I guess you could say, started it earlier this morning when his campaign released some pre- advanced excerpts of a speech he intends to give here, and he is calling the president out on policy and substance saying that American taxpayers and farmers and others are paying a penalty for Trump policies on tariffs, on other matters. He says the president is an existential threat to the United States.

So this back and forth, you know, that has been going on for a while is going to happen at a little -- just across the state here really as the president flies here. Joe Biden already on the ground here in Iowa.

So make no mistake, this is a fight that Joe Biden actually wants to have because he's trying to prove that he is the frontrunner in this race, trying to showing Democrats that he can defeat and take on President Trump. But, Brianna, it's hard to see where -- it's hard to know where any of this is going to end, actually, but the president clearly trying to, as Abby said, test drive some messages and brand Joe Biden.

KEILAR: All right, Jeff Zeleny in Ottumwa, Iowa, thank you.

I want to bring in Eliana Johnson and David Chalian.

All right, let's -- let's talk about this argument that he's making, Joe Biden is low energy. He says that he's the weakest mentally. I mean this is like thinly veiled. We know what this is. He's sort of recycling this idea of attacking his health that we saw with Hillary Clinton from 2016.

But I wonder if it also strikes you that he seems to be lashing out in areas where he has his own weakness, right? Family ties to foreign countries when it comes to business and creating this whole -- just throwing up a lot of dust and raising question marks and making voters wonder. That's the whole point of what he's doing.

[13:29:55] And then the health. I mean let's just be honest, both of these guys are older. Both of these candidates are up in years. And Trump himself has some vulnerabilities when it comes to health, elevated cholesterol levels.