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CNN RIGHT NOW

Trump Speaks Amid Attacks on Lawmakers; Protests in Puerto Rico; Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Speak at the White House. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 22, 2019 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Arlington National Cemetery tomorrow, that after a private funeral.

Thank you for joining us today on INSIDE POLITICS. See you back here this time tomorrow. Brianna Keilar starts "RIGHT NOW." Have a great day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brianna Keilar, live from CNN's Washington headquarters.

And we start with new comments from President Trump. We are waiting to hear from the president any moment now. He met with Pakistan's prime minister at the White House. Plenty on the agenda, including regional security, the fight against terrorism, and tensions over the administration's decision to cut off billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan.

Let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.

What are you hearing about this visit between these two leaders?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president just took a ton of questions from reporters, about 40 minutes' worth of questions, sitting in the Oval Office with the prime minister of Pakistan. And now after saying just last week that the president was not going to watch Robert Mueller's testimony on Wednesday, he just told reporters he might watch a little bit of it. He renewed his attacks, Brianna, on former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying and claiming that he's conflicted, even though in Robert Mueller's report it shows the president's own aides said that argument was petty and ridiculous.

And, of course, the president is continuing to frame what is going to happen on Wednesday as a do-over for Democrats. That's how the president and his allies have been framing that in the last several days. And it looks like that's going to be the tactic they continue up until Wednesday.

But, Brianna, that's not all. The president also touched on a slew of other issues. One big one was the president talked about Iran and he said he doesn't know if he's going to be able to make a deal with Iran anymore. And that comes after CNN reported on Friday that the president had been moving in a more hawkish direction after he called off that strike at the last minute last month. That's what he's been telling people behind the scenes. And now it seems he's alluding to that as he's talking with reports about not only his strategy in Iran, but also what he wants to do in Afghanistan.

He also denied that report about -- that -- from the Iranian intelligence community this morning saying that they detained over a dozen citizens saying that they were related to CIA operatives and, of course, the president says that's not true. Something he tweeted this morning and just reaffirmed to reporters while he was speaking there in the Oval Office, as well as touching on a slew of other topics.

And, of course, Brianna, continuing that feud that the president has had for several weeks now with those four Democratic congresswomen up on Capitol Hill. Something he said this morning in his tweets that he was calling them racist, saying they were inexperienced and uneducated, not very smart, even as behind the scenes his allies are trying to get him to focus on their policy differences and stop focusing on their age and the color of their skin.

KEILAR: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much. We'll be keeping an eye out for that tape of the president. So many questions, as you pointed out.

Meantime, thousands of people are filling the streets of San Juan in Puerto Rico, and they are getting help from one of the island's biggest stars. Ricky Martin arrived in Puerto Rico today to join protesters, who are demanding that Governor Ricardo Rossello resign. But the governor, he insists he will not step down amid these allegations of widespread corruption.

Rossello has pledged to not seek another term, but his current term isn't up for a year and a half, and that is not satisfying his critics. Puerto Ricans have been protesting for days but these demonstrations today could be the largest so far.

And the final straw for the governor's critics was the disclosure of months of text messages between him and his inner circle, the messages filled with vulgar, homophobic, sexist language, even making light of Hurricane Maria deaths.

Nick Paton Walsh is in San Juan.

And, Nick, can the governor continue to withstand this pressure?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's extraordinary, isn't it, that you would have thought that seeing hundreds of thousands of people in the way that we did earlier on today, Ricky Martin, el residenta (ph), various musical acts flying in especially to kind of add to the momentum here, that behind me in Fortaleza, the governor's mansion. There might have been a rethink. But it does seem still to be sticking with what he said yesterday on FaceBook just ahead of the protests that he wasn't going to resign, that he wasn't going to fight an election next year that he almost certainly would lose. But he would resign the presidency of his party but wasn't going anywhere. Today has been an extraordinary, historic moment, frankly, across

Puerto Rico. The sheer volume of people on the street there, I mean absolutely startling to see the expressway ground to a halt like that and much of this town here something of a ghost town frankly.

You would never recognize Fortaleza because since we've been here it's been jam packed with protesters, but they're now out on that Las Americas Expressway heading in this direction. And I think the fear many people have potentially is what next. Well, we saw clashes on Wednesday. It's been totally peaceful so far. But many are asking, how does he finally leave his role?

We asked the mayor of San Juan earlier whether or not they might consider some sort of impeachment. And she said to me that we would essentially be looking at a process where that was the only option. There is legal expert board now, three individuals, looking at whether the chats themselves are enough to launch that proceeding and then it will go to congress, but none of that is action now. That's what the crowds demand. And that is, unfortunately, it seems what Governor Rossello is not heeding.

[13:05:23] Now, obviously, his defense is, I was democratically elected. I'm saying I'll serve out my term. But this protesters movement here seems to think that the scale of what they refer to as his crimes or misdemeanors is enough that he should leave power immediately.

Brianna.

KEILAR: It's just hard to imagine if he has a year and a half left in his term, Nick, that -- actually, Nick, if you can stand by for me, President Trump has spoken just moments ago. Let's listen to the tape.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we're going to have 5G. We're going to have the best 5G in the world, just like we have everything else. Our Silicon Valley cannot be competed with. There's nobody that can compete with Silicon Valley for the brain power or for what we do.

And nobody was focused on 5G, but now they are. And we have great companies going into 5G, even if they don't want to. I have a lot of them were very happy doing what they were doing. But now, they're going -- at my request, they're going into 5G.

So we don't need -- we don't need anything from anybody.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: Say it?

QUESTION: (inaudible) North Korea.

TRUMP: What?

QUESTION: The Post is reporting about Huawei's relationship with North Korea.

TRUMP: Well, we'll have to find out.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Our relationship with North Korea has been very good. We've really established a good relationship with Kim Jong-un, I have personally. There's no rocket testing. There's no missile testing. We're getting our remains back. We got our hostages back. And we have a very, very good relationship, the two of us, and that's very important. There's been no nuclear testing.

And what they're doing with 5G will be -- you know, we will have to see. I -- I'll have to -- I'll find out.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: Say it again?

QUESTION: (inaudible) Pakistan.

Lindsey Graham, when he met Imran Khan, he says you both are kind of same personalities. You are the president who fulfills all your promises. Will -- will you (inaudible)?

TRUMP: I do.

QUESTION: And the same, like, Imran Khan. He's also (inaudible). So how do you see this meeting, like, the same kind of person, straight to the point?

TRUMP: Well, I think we're going to have a great meeting today. I know it's an important meeting. I consider this a very important meeting because I think we haven't met the potential of either country. I think the potential with Pakistan, and -- and likewise, the opposite way. I think we have not even come close to meeting it. There is tremendous potential between our country and Pakistan.

And I think Pakistan's going to help us out to extricate ourselves. We're like policemen. We're not fighting a war.

If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people. Does that make sense to you? I don't want to kill 10 million people. I have plans on Afghanistan, that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone. It would be over in -- literally, in 10 days, and I don't want to do -- I don't want to go that route.

So we're working with Pakistan and others to extricate ourselves.

Nor do we want to be policemen, because basically, we're policemen right now and we're not supposed to be policemen. We've been there...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We've been there for 19 years, in Afghanistan. It's ridiculous.

And I think Pakistan helps us with that, because we don't want to stay as policemen.

But if we wanted to, we could win that war. I have a plan that would win that war in a very short period of time. You understand that better than anybody.

We've been in there, not fighting to win; just fighting to -- they're building gas stations. They're rebuilding schools. The United States -- we shouldn't be doing that. That's for them to do. But what we did, and what our leadership got us into is ridiculous.

But we will -- I think we'll have some very good answers on Afghanistan very quickly.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead. You go ahead. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible) Pakistan.

[13:10:03] Pakistani army has fought war against terror, and it has fought (inaudible) in protecting Palestine (inaudible). But Pakistan's (inaudible). Are you going to restore any package (ph) for Pakistan?

TRUMP: So we are going to -- that's right. We were paying $1.3 billion to Pakistan as aid (inaudible) for many years. The problem was Pakistan -- this was before you. Pakistan was not doing anything for us. They were really, I think, subversive. They were going against us.

And this is something we'll be talk -- I ended that about a year and a half ago, the $1.3 billion.

And I'll tell you what: To be honest, I think we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now than we did when we were paying that money.

TRUMP: But all of that can come back, depending on what we work out. We're working out things that are very important. We have a -- this -- I consider this very important. We're working out things that are very, very important.

And I think at the end of this, at the end of a very short time, we're going to have a very great relationship with Pakistan. And we should, right? It's a great country. It's a great -- they're great people. I have many friends from Pakistan.

Living in New York, I have a lot of Pakistani friends, I will tell you that.

And they're great people. Smart, tough. They are tough, there's no question about that. They're like him, they're tough.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Question, one question...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, are you (inaudible)?

TRUMP: No, I'm not going to be watching, probably. Maybe I'll see a little bit of it. I'm not going to be watching Mueller because you can't take all those bites out of the apple.

We had no collusion, no obstruction, we had no nothing. We had a total no collusion finding. The Democrats were devastated by it, they went crazy, they've gone off the deep end. They're not doing anything. They're not doing health care. They're not doing infrastructure. They're not lowering drug prices.

I'm lowering drug prices. First time in 53 years, the drug prices went down last year, 53 years. And I'm doing that without the help of Congress, which makes it much tougher to do. Because if they worked with us, I could get drug prices down in half. But the Democrats don't seem to care about drug prices.

All they care about is a phony investigation, where the report was written. It said no collusion. The report was written. And the attorney general, based on the report, was easily able to find, there was no obstruction. There's no nothing. They're wasting their time.

And Robert Mueller, I know he's conflicted. He -- a lot -- there's a lot of conflicts that he's got, including the fact that his best friend is Comey. But he's got conflicts with me, too. He's got big conflicts with me.

As you know, he wanted the job of the FBI director, he didn't get it. And we had a business relationship where I said no. And I would say that he wasn't happy. Then all of a sudden, he gets this position.

But you know what, he still ruled -- and I respect him for it -- he still ruled, no collusion, no obstruction. And this thing should have ended a long time ago. This has been going on for two and a half years. And we're never going to allow this to happen to another president again because most of them wouldn't be able to take it.

On top of everything else, we have the strongest economy. We were just discussing this with the prime minister. We have the strongest economy that the United States has ever had.

We have the highest stock market yesterday, literally. The highest stock market we've ever had, on Friday, Thursday. We've broken the record, I think, 109 times, for highest stock market. But on, I believe, Thursday of last week, we hit the all-time highest in the history of our country.

Our country is doing phenomenally well. Unemployment is the lowest in 51 years, soon to be the lowest in history, if it keeps going this way, in a short period of time. Black, Hispanic, Asian unemployment, the lowest in history. Women, the lowest in 72 years.

Nobody has ever done what we've done. Nobody's done, in two and a half years, what we've done. The biggest tax cuts in history, the biggest regulation cuts in history. So many things for health care. We got rid of the individual mandate, which was the worst part of Obamacare.

Going to end up -- if we end up winning the House back, we keep the presidency, we should keep the Senate. We should keep the presidency, I would think, easy, when you have the strongest economy in the history of our country, and somebody's going to run against that particular president? Even though, in this case, it's me.

In theory, I have a big advantage. I don't know. I'm going to have to ask you. But in theory, I have a big advantage.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: So a lot of great things are happening. But the Democrats, they don't want to talk about that. They want to stay off the economy subject. And what they're doing, is just hearing after hearing after hearing. It's nonsense, OK? They tried an impeachment vote, and they got slaughtered last week. They got absolutely slaughtered. It was the most ridiculous -- I didn't even know they were going to do it.

And I'll tell you, just didn't (ph) finish it. I have a lot of respect for the Democrats because most of them voted against impeachment last week.

QUESTION: (inaudible).

TRUMP: And I have a lot of respect for those Democrats that did that. Because they're doing the right thing for the country. No collusion, no obstruction, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

[13:15:03] QUESTION: Can you say if there's a deal soon?

TRUMP: Yeah, we're talking about it. Secretary Mnuchin is talking about it. We're having very good talks with the speaker of the House, with Nancy Pelosi. We're having very good talks with Chuck Schumer. And of course, with Mitch McConnell and Kevin. We are -- Kevin McCarthy.

We are, I think, doing very well on debt. If you look at debt limit, however you want to define that. But we're doing very well on that. And I think we're doing pretty well on a budget.

TRUMP: Very important that we take care of our military. Our military was depleted. And in the last two and a half years, we've un-depleted it, OK, to put it mildly. We have made it stronger than ever before.

We need another big year. So we had $700 billion. We had then $716 billion. And this year we're going to be asking for a number slightly larger than that. We're putting our military back into a shape that it's never been in before. New -- the best missiles in the world, the best equipment in the world, the best military equipment of all. We're building submarines, the finest. Nobody can even think about competing with what we're building. We're building, as you know, new submarines.

We have a new aircraft carrier coming on-line. It's the largest ship in the world. It's so large that maybe I could even land a plane on top of it, OK? But it's a big -- it's a big one. President Gerald Ford. It's a phenomenal...

QUESTION: Mr. President...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's a phenomenal ship.

So what we're doing -- what we're doing is incredible things for our country.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I might say this about the military equipment: It's all made in the USA, everything, 100 percent. It's all made in the USA. And, you know, it's one of the reasons our job numbers probably are so good, lowest unemployment.

Yeah?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, (inaudible) extending the invitation. So will you be visiting Pakistan?

TRUMP: Well, I can't say that yet because so far he has not extended me an invitation.

(LAUGHTER)

And after today's meeting, maybe he won't. But I have a feeling he might.

Yes, I'd love to go to Pakistan...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes, please.

QUESTION: (inaudible) from Pakistani news channels (ph) (inaudible).

Is there any exact date or time frame of U.S. troops withdrawal under consideration from your administration?

TRUMP: Are you talking about from Afghanistan?

QUESTION: Yes. TRUMP: Yeah. We have already withdrawn quite a few. And we're doing it very slowly, very safely.

And we're working with Pakistan and with -- as you know, we're negotiating with the Taliban. And we are doing, I think, very well in that regard.

Again, it's something that we could do -- we could go one of two ways. We could do a number the likes of which they've never seen before, and win it very quickly. I don't want to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I don't want to do that because you're talking about millions of people, and I don't want to do that. And we're working with Pakistan on getting a solution.

And I think it's being worked very well, wouldn't you say so, Mr. President?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... in Afghanistan?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. We're moving a lot of them out. And...

QUESTION: Do you want them to be...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We've done what we were supposed to do. We've been there for 19 years. And we've acted as policemen, not soldiers.

And, again, if we wanted to be soldiers, it would be over in 10 days; one week to 10 days if we wanted to. But I have not chosen that. Why are we -- why would we kill millions of people? It wouldn't be fair. In terms of humanity, it wouldn't be fair.

[13:20:03] So we're doing very well. And I think that Pakistan is going to be a big help.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Say it, what?

QUESTION: What role do you see for India in Afghanistan?

And, Mr. Prime Minister, same question to you: What -- does India have a role to play with peace in Afghanistan?

KHAN: You see, this is the closest we've been to a -- a peace deal in Afghanistan. And there is no military solution in Afghanistan. There is no military solution because, as Mr. President says, if you go all- out military, there will be millions and millions of people who will die. So there is only one solution. And I feel, and I think we'll discuss this, it's the closest we have been to a peace deal. And we hope that in the coming days we will be able to urge the Taliban to speak to the Afghan government and come to a settlement, a political solution.

TRUMP: And what the prime minister...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Excuse me.

What the prime minister just said is a very big story, and it's 100 percent true. We've made a lot of progress over the last couple of weeks, and Pakistan has helped us with that progress. But a lot of great things are happening.

A lot of things are happening for the United States. And I think a lot of great things are going to be happening for Pakistan, too, under your leadership. I really feel that.

KHAN: Thank you.

TRUMP: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: On Iran, are we closer to negotiations or to armed conflict?

TRUMP: I think Iran doesn't know where they are. I've been watching and reading a lot of reports and right now they're a very mixed-up country. They don't know whether they're coming or going. They have tremendous problems economically. Their country is in turmoil. They're having demonstrations all over Iran. Their inflation rate's at 75 percent.

They have a lot of problems. So, whatever it is, it is. I'm just going to sit back and wait. Let's see what happens.

But I will say...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... they are doing -- they are doing very poorly as a country. And we'll see what happens.

TRUMP: We did actually -- because they said no, and, you know, it's a religious country or religious leaders. But they lie a lot.

We did shoot down -- unfortunately we had to shoot down a drone. The drone came down. You know how it -- how it came down with the new technology that's actually quite amazing.

But we took down one of their drones. Instead of saying yes that happened, they lied. They say it didn't happen. So we have -- there's a lot of proof. It's called take a look at it on the ocean floor.

Just go down there, take your scuba gear and go down there -- one of you would do that, I know. But we took down a drone.

I think very importantly -- I read a report today about CIA. That's totally a false story. That's another lie. They put out propaganda. They put out lies. I don't think Pakistan would ever do a thing like that right?

(LAUGHTER)

KHAN: Definitely not.

TRUMP: Pakistan never lies.

KHAN: Definitely not.

TRUMP: But Iran does, unfortunately. So let's see what happens with Iran. We are ready for the absolute worse and we're ready for sense too but we are very geared up and if they -- they are -- they are really the number one state of terror in the world -- now I have to say they pulled back because they -- their money is running very low.

The deal that President Obama made was a disaster because it was such a short term. It didn't cover ballistic missiles and they couldn't see the important sites. Under this you couldn't inspect the important sites. There were many things wrong.

And of course they gave $150 billion plus $1.8 billion in green -- green beautiful cash. That's called many plane loads of cash. I think Pakistan would like to have some of that cash but they gave $1.8 billion in cash, which is unthinkable.

And instead of being respectful and thankful, which frankly they should have been to the United States -- and to President Obama for making that ridiculous deal -- instead of being respectful they put their finger up in the air and this finger, the thumb.

They put their finger up in the air and they disrespected the United States. They shouldn't have done that that was a big mistake. One of the best things I've done is terminate that ridiculous deal.

[13:25:03] If they want to make a deal, it's -- it's -- frankly, it's getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran because they behave very badly. They're saying bad things, and I'll tell you it could go either way very easily. Very easily. And I'm OK either way it goes.

QUESTION: Mr. President (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes, go ahead. Are you from Pakistan?

QUESTION: Yes, I'm from Pakistan.

TRUMP: Good. I want a couple of Pakistani reporters. I like them -- I like them much better than our reporters. QUESTION: Question, (inaudible) News (inaudible).

Question is, what do you think Pakistan could (inaudible) in 18 (ph) years, and do you have so much hope now that it could deliver? What (ph) are those things that Pakistan...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You mean what they didn't do to get into war?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... 18 years...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I don't think Pakistan -- look, I don't think Pakistan respected the United States. I don't think Pakistan respected its presidents. And I think Pakistan could have done a lot. I think Pakistan can do tremendous amount against -- with respect to Afghanistan. They didn't do it, and I don't blame them, because they were dealing with the wrong president.

Who knows. But I think Pakistan could have done -- they're helping us a lot now. I think they could have helped us a lot in the past, but it doesn't matter. We have a new leader. He's going to be a great leader of Pakistan.

And we have a new leader here. Sort of new. I'm two and a half years now, getting to be three years. Can you believe it? You're going to find time flies.

But no, I think Pakistan could have done a lot but they chose not to and that's because they did not respect U.S. leadership.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I'll let you know that very quickly. I'll let you know. I mean I'm going to know soon. It's not going to be like a long-term thing. I -- I figure things out very quickly so the question was -- that's probably the best question you've asked in a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

First time -- she's always asking Mueller, Mueller, Mueller. She's been asking this Mueller thing for three years.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: That's your best question. So I -- I have to focus on that because that's such a great question. I think Pakistan is going to do a lot. I really do. I think Pakistan is going to make a big difference. I think Pakistan will save millions of lives in Afghanistan, because I really believe they can -- they have a power that other nations don't have with respect to Afghanistan.

And I will say, as of this moment they're working very hard and very nicely...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... protesters in Hong Kong and these ongoing protests being beaten by gangs, and potentially the Hong Kong and Chinese government sort of looking the other way allowing these peaceful protesters to be beaten. Have you seen any of that footage? Have you been briefed on any of that? Do you...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I have...

QUESTION: ... anything in China...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You know, I know President Xi. We're working on trade deals right now. We'll see what happens. Meantime they're paying us billions and billions of dollars of tariffs, which is fine with me, but I know that they're working -- I know that's a very important situation for President Xi, and you know, you could say what you said, but you could also say that he has allowed that to go on for a long time and -- and, you know, it's been -- it's been relatively -- I think it's been relatively nonviolent.

QUESTION: Do you believe the protesters should be allowed to protest on the streets in Hong Kong as they've been...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, they are -- I mean they are. I don't think China has stopped them. China could stop them if they wanted. I think -- I think that, again, I'm not involved in it very much but I think President Xi of China has acted responsibly -- very responsibly.

They've been out there protesting for a long time. I've never seen protests like it, where you have that many people. It looks like two million people. Those are big protests. But I think that president -- I -- I hope that President Xi will do the right thing, but it has been going on a long time, there's no question about it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. President (ph) made good remarks about Pakistan, and said that Pakistan can help block the -- to end the (inaudible) Palestine (ph), the (inaudible) process and (inaudible) process. So what (inaudible) Pakistan can do to bring peace, because they're also (inaudible) and the security team?

So what solution Pakistan -- what step (inaudible) to push forward to peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and assurances for the U.S....

(CROSSTALK) KHAN: Number one, this is the longest war that the United States has ever fought. It's almost 19 years. Number two, I am one of those who always believed that there was no military solution because anyone who knows the history of Afghanistan -- you just have to look back at the history. There was always going to be a political settlement at the end.

And I have to compliment President Trump because he has now forced people to end the war, to have a -- have a settlement, and that's where I think Pakistan is playing a very important role, because Pakistan has a 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan, and all the areas where the trouble is, which is the eastern side of Afghanistan.

So this is a critical time. I'm looking forward to my talks with President Trump. We have our military leadership here, because this is obviously a security situation, and what we want is understanding between the two countries.

I can assure President Trump that whatever we will be saying will be the -- we will be straight with them, there will never be any question of doubt on Pakistan's intent, because in -- a -- apart from Afghanistan, the country that wants peace in Afghanistan more than any other country is Pakistan, because we get directly affected by it and Pakistan needs stability.

We have had 15 years of fighting this war on terror, over 70,000 Pakistani casualties, over $150 billion lost to the economy. So we desperately want peace, and I'm happy that President Trump has pushed this forward. So we hope -- I'm looking forward to these talks.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (Inaudible) and apart from Afghanistan, there is a real security threat in South Asia, and that is (inaudible) by the United Nations and even (ph) by the U.S., who voted in support of that resolution at the U.N.

Now are you going to make any kind of commission (ph) and intervention of President Trump, and the same question (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

KHAN: I...

QUESTION: Is he going to play any role in that...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: OK, he's got it. He's got it.

KHAN: I will be asking President Trump. He's -- it's the most powerful country in the world, the United States. It can play the most important role in bringing peace in the subcontinent. You know, there are over 100 -- well, over a billion-and-a-quarter people in the subcontinent. They're held hostage to the issue of Kashmir, and I feel that only the -- the -- the most powerful state headed by President Trump can -- can bring the two countries together.

I -- from my point, I can tell you we have tried our best, we've made all overtures to India to -- to start dialogue, resolve our differences through -- through dialogue but unfortunately we haven't made any headways as yet, but I'm hoping that President Trump would push this process.

TRUMP: So I was with -- I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago and we talked about this subject. And he actually said, would you like to be a --

[13:30:01]