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One World with Zain Asher
President-Elect Trump Speaks At Mar-A-Lago; Trump: Russia War Could Escalate; Trump: Will Use Economic Force On Canada; Trump Speaks One Day After Congress Certifies Election Win; Trump: All Hell Will Break Out If Hamas Doesn't Release Israel Hostages; Trump Again Blames Biden Administration For Difficult Transition; Judge Blocks Public Release Of Special Counsel Jack Smith's Final Report On Donald Trump; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired January 07, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jimmy Carter lost the election even more so than the hostage. It's those two things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Follow-up on Ukraine and Iran, the two negotiations you'll be heading into. On Ukraine, you said just before, it's a lot more
complicated now.
TRUMP: Much more complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe --
TRUMP: Because it would have never started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, but it has started. It's -- you --
TRUMP: Well, not only started, the cities are largely knocked down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you've got what you've got. At this point, would -- to hold on the leverage in dealing with President Putin, would you make a
commitment to the Ukrainians that you will keep supporting them during the negotiations?
TRUMP: Well, I wouldn't tell you if that were the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you make a commitment to provide a security guarantee if they do enter into an armistice or a ceasefire along --
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the lines of the French and the Germans have?
TRUMP: So, you know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before Putin said, you could never have NATO involved with
Ukraine. Now, they've said that. That's been like written in stone.
And somewhere along the line, Biden said, no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep. And I could
understand their feeling about that. But there were a lot of mistakes made in that negotiation.
And when I heard the way that Biden was negotiating, I said, you're going to end up in a war. And it turned out to be a very bad war. And it could
escalate. That war could escalate to be much worse than it is right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can join NATO?
TRUMP: Well, my view is that it was always understood. In fact, I believe that they had a deal and then Biden broke it. They had a deal which would
have been a satisfactory deal to Ukraine and everybody else. But that Biden said, no, you have to be able to join NATO. And that's always been and
nobody knows more about NATO than I.
You know, years ago, when I first started this, I didn't know too much about NATO, but I got it right anyway. I said, they're taking advantage.
I'm the one that got and the secretary general was here, as you know, two weeks ago, saying that if it weren't for me, NATO wouldn't even exist right
now because I raised from countries that weren't paying their bills. At that time, 28 countries, 20 of them were not paying their bills, 21 to be
exact. They weren't paying and -- or they were paying a very small portion.
And I raised over $680 billion. That was the number he gave by saying, if you don't pay, we're not going to protect you. And as soon as I said that,
the money came pouring in.
But Obama could have said it. Other people could have said it. Bush could have said it. Nobody said it but me. I took a lot of heat. They said, oh,
that's a threatening statement. Well, they weren't paying their bills. I said, we're not going to protect if you're not paying the bills.
So, in a true sense, I saved NATO, but NATO's taking advantage of us. And one of the problems that I have, and I've said it openly, I said it to
President Zelenskyy, Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we're in.
Now, whether you like that situation or not, Europe is much more effective than the United States. We have a thing called the ocean in between us,
right? Why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than Europe?
And, you know, they're a similar size, a little smaller, but they're a similar size economy as the United States when you add them up. And yet,
Europe is in for a small fraction of the number of the United States is it.
Now, Biden could have called them up during the term. That's what I did. I said, you have to pay your bills. And they all -- one stood up. I won't say
who. You'll probably have it. Because the papers should be -- media hated to report on it.
But a prime minister up from a country, you know, a famous meeting of 28 nations with no press, no anybody in the room, he stood up, he says, does
that mean if we don't pay our bill, and at that point it was two percent, it should be five percent, it should be five percent, not two percent.
But at that point it was two, but many people didn't pay. Some people didn't pay anything. But many people were away, including Germany. Germany
was at less than one percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to press to five percent --
TRUMP: Well, I think NATO should have five percent. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want Ukraine --
TRUMP: Well, you can't do it at two. I mean, at two percent every country. If you're going to have a country in a regular military, you're at two
percent. I think they should be -- you know, they're in dangerous territory. I think you should be -- they can all afford it, but they should
be at five percent, not two percent. I'm the one that got them to pay two percent.
But a gentleman stood up, a prime minister stood up, and he said to me, sir, could I ask you a question? You're saying we have to pay our bills. If
we don't pay our bills, will the United States protect us from Russia? I said, if you don't pay, you mean you're delinquent? He said, yes. I said,
if you're delinquent, we will not protect you.
I took a lot of heat, although it was somewhat closed door. I took a lot of heat from the media. And you know what happened? The money started pouring
in. That's why NATO has money. And the secretary general said, it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen in a negotiation.
Now if I would have said, yes, we will, nobody would have paid if -- I would have loved to say yes, we'll protect you even if you don't pay, but
that's not the way life works
[12:05:07]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, two questions related to each other. First, you said on your first day of office, you're going to pardon January
6th defendants. Are you planning to pardon those who were charged with violent offenses?
TRUMP: Well, we're looking at it and we have other people in there. And as you see, I guess 24 or 28 people came now from the FBI. That came out very
quietly. Nobody reported it, but they had people in some form related to the FBI. They had four or five people that were strongly related to the
FBI. We have to find out about that.
We have to find out about Hezbollah. We have to find out about who exactly was in that whole thing, because people that did some bad things were not
prosecuted.
You know, I see it all the time, and you see it too. People that were doing some bad things weren't prosecuted. And people that didn't even walk into
the building are in jail right now. So we'll be looking at the whole thing, but I'll be making major pardons. Yes, please. Please.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon, Mr. President. It's good to see you again. Two questions about Syria and the ongoing war in Gaza. About Syria,
the Pentagon disclosed last month the U.S. has some 2,000 troops in Syria. That's almost doubled the number. Initially, we were told of 900.
Will you keep that troop capacity the same upon taking over?
TRUMP: Well, I won't tell you that because that's part of a military strategy. But I will say it was Turkey. Turkey has been after that country
in different names and different forms and shapes for 2,000 thousand years.
Those people that went in are from Turkey. And President Erdogan is a friend of mine. He's a guy I like, respect. I think he respects me also.
He's the one that didn't go after certain people after I requested that he not. You know who I'm talking about? The Kurds. I don't know how long
that's going to be because they're natural enemies. They hate each other. But he didn't do that, yet. And he didn't do it in the past also. He
started and I said, please don't do that, and he didn't do it.
So -- but if you look at what happened with Syria, Russia was weakened, Iran was weakened, and he's a very smart guy. And he sent his people in
there through different forms and different names, and they went in and they took over, and that's the way it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Do you -- do you have concerns about HTS taking control of Syria --
TRUMP: By the way, I have the envoy here -- is that in the back standing with my son, Eric, is Steve Witkoff, who's just got back from the Middle
East, and he's done a fantastic job. He's a -- he's a great dealmaker.
I said, what we need there is a dealmaker, because nobody makes a deal. We have people that understand where the rivers are and where the meets and
bounds -- and bounds are, but they can't talk. They can't make deals. Steve's done a great job. I just want to thank you, Steve. You've been
working endlessly for months and he's working specifically on the hostages trying to get him back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that was my second question --
TRUMP: Steve, come up for a second. Maybe you might want to say a couple of words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But sir, Hamas released another hostage --
TRUMP: I didn't -- I didn't know Steve was going to be here, actually. He's done a fantastic job and it's a dangerous job too and I -- we appreciate
it. He didn't know about this kind of danger and the other deal making he does. Now he sees a lot of big danger. Come on up, Steve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, can I ask you second part of that? Hamas --
TRUMP: Yes. Just one second, please. I'm going to give you a little report on the hostages, if I can. Steve. Thank you very much.
STEVE WITKOFF, PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP'S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: Thank you, Mr. President.
Wow. Well, I think we're making a lot of progress. And I don't want to say too much because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha. I'm
leaving tomorrow back to go to Doha.
But I think that we've had some really great progress. And I'm really hopeful that, by the inaugural, we'll have some good things to announce on
behalf of the president.
I actually believe that we're working in tandem in a really good way, but it's the [resident, his reputation, the things that he has said that are --
that are driving this negotiation. And so hopefully, it'll all work out, and we'll save some lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Question is, is it possible (INAUDIBLE)?
WITKOFF: I believe we've been on the verge of it. I don't want to discuss sort of what's delayed it. There's no point to be -- to be negative in any
way. But I think it's the president, his stature, what he said he expects, the red lines he's put out there. That's driving this negotiation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to the region?
WITKOFF: I'm going back probably either this evening or tomorrow night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you confident there'll be a deal before January 20th? Or is that something that's likely to happen? If there's a deal even
at all we've been hearing this now for that part?
[12:10:02]
WITKOFF: I know. I would -- I would say --
TRUMP: They'd better be.
WITKOFF: Right. I would say that the president is exasperated. I don't want to talk for him. But look, I don't know anyone who delegates better than
President Trump. He gives us a lot of authority to speak on his behalf. And he's -- he exhorts us to speak emphatically. And emphatically means you
better get -- you better do this, because the alternative --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think they're waiting for President Trump to take office?
WITKOFF: No. I think they heard him loud and clear. Better get done by the inaugural.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when you say all hell must be paid --
TRUMP: Before I take office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All hell must be paid if they don't release the hostages.
TRUMP: Do I have to define it for you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I know you're not going to telegraph --
TRUMP: If those hostages aren't back -- I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell
will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't
have to say anymore, but that's what it is.
And they should have given them back a long time. They should have never taken them. They should have never been the attack of October 7th. People
forget that. But there was. And many people are killed. They're no longer hostages.
I have people from Israel and others calling, begging me to get -- you know, we had also people there from the United States, just so you know.
They're holding some so-called hostages from the U.S. But I've had mothers come to me and fathers crying, can I get the body of their son back? Can I
get the body of their daughter back? That beautiful girl where they threw her in the car, pulled her by her ponytail and threw her in the car like
she was a sack of potatoes.
I said, what happened to her? Sir, she's dead. Like a 19 -- 20-year-old beautiful girl. And the way they treated her. And I just say it this very
simply, Steve's got a job to do. He's a great guy, great negotiator, great person. They respect him over there already. It's what we needed over
there. We have people that know everything about the Middle East, but they can't speak properly. They don't know. He's a great negotiator. That's what
I needed. I could have sent that gentleman right over there who's saying he's a great negotiator. They're people. They're rare. Great negotiators
are very rare like a great surgeon.
But we have the right person. But I tell this, I don't want to hurt the negotiation. If the deal isn't done before I take office, which is now
going to be two weeks, all hell will break out in the Middle East.
WITKOFF: Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Thank you. You've done a great job.
WITKOFF: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, more than 140 police officers were injured by rioters on January 6. Will you pardon anyone who attacked a
police officer?
TRUMP: Well, you know, the only one that was killed was a beautiful young lady named Ashli Babbitt. She was killed and there was actually somebody
else that was killed also, a MAGA person but people don't give it 100 percent credibility. I'm going to find out about it and we're going to find
out.
But Ashli Babbitt was killed. She was shot. She would have never been shot. She was shot for no reason whatsoever. In fact, they say that she was
trying to hold back the crowd. And the crowd was made up of a lot of different people, so we'll see. But I will tell you this. The person that
was killed was Ashli Babbitt.
The other thing is, when they talk, you know, there was never charges of insurrection or anything like that. But if there were, this would be the
only insurrection in history where people went in as insurrectionists with not one gun. OK?
And let me tell you, the people that you're talking about have a lot of guns in their home for hunting and for shooting and for entertainment, a
lot of -- a lot of good reasons. But there wasn't one gun that they found. And why didn't they find the bomber, the pipe bomber? You know, they know
who the pipe bomber is. The FBI knows who it is.
The status of the FBI has gone down so far. And the status of the DOJ, or as I call it, the Department of Injustice, it's the Department of
Injustice, being laughed at all over the world. And hopefully with Pam Bondi and with Kash Patel and with other people that we're putting in, that
will all come back.
If you do a poll in the FBI, I guarantee you I'm at like 90 percent with the agents of the FBI, but they have hurt. Hurt that incredible place. Law
enforcement, I mean, you think of the FBI, they raided this house.
By the way, they could have told me, could I see this guy? I would have given him my -- I actually told them, come in anytime you want. You could
see anything. They raided the house and the case was dismissed. And now I'm in litigation. I'm suing them for doing that. And I feel so badly doing it.
I'm the president of the United States, and I'm suing the United States, but I'm suing them for other things, too.
[12:15:09]
The FBI has gone so -- its reputation has been so horribly hurt between Comey, who is the worst, and all of the others what's happened to the FBI
is -- and we're going to make it great again. We're going to make the FBI great again. We're going to make the Department of Justice fair and strong,
but fair again.
Because all they did was attack me because I'm their political opponent. And that includes with local judges like Merchan. You ought to find out.
Why do -- and ask them. Why do I have a gag order where I'm not allowed to speak? Think of it. I'm the President of the United States and I'm not
allowed to speak. Why? Because if I did speak, people would understand the scam. It's a scam. And we have very dishonest judges and New York judges,
very bad.
We had one that valued this house at $18 million because it was good for that case. He actually valued -- that chandelier is worth more than $18
million. He valued this house at $18 million.
And we have another one who was so nasty, so horrible, such a brute, most vicious, vile person. These are New York judges. But we've won most of the
cases, so we're very happy about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, I have one question.
TRUMP: Please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up -- back up Greenland. Your position is clear. But have you directed your staff taking specific actions to drop plans? And
can you elaborate -- again, you didn't rule out military coercion in the initial --
TRUMP: Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been
talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it,
but if they do, they should give it up because we needed financial security. That's for the free world. I'm talking about protecting the free
world.
You look at -- you don't even need binoculars. You look outside, you have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place.
We're not letting that happen. We're not letting it happen.
And if Denmark wants to get to a conclusion, but nobody knows if they even have any right title or interest. The people are going to probably vote for
independence or to come into the United States.
But if they did -- if they did do that, then I would tariff Denmark at a very high-level.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you asked your (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: No. We're not at that stage, but we have people. I haven't even entered office yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly, sir. Elon Musk would draw some criticism and a lot of attention for some of his actions and provocative statements about
foreign affairs, including in Europe. Your reaction to that. Is that appropriate for him?
TRUMP: You mean where he likes people that were -- that tended to be conservative? I don't know the people. I can say, Elon is doing a good job,
very smart guy. I don't know the people you're talking about.
He was -- I know he said some negative things about a couple of people that are running for office, but that's not so unusual. Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted -- I wanted to ask you about Ukraine and Putin. How soon do you anticipate going to meet with Putin to discuss the Ukraine
situation?
TRUMP: Well, I can't tell you that, but I know that Putin would like to meet. I don't think it's appropriate that I meet until after the 20th,
which I hate. Because, you know, every day people are being -- many, many young people are being killed, soldiers.
You know, the land is very flat. And hundreds of thousands of soldiers from each -- many hundreds of thousands from each side are dead. And they're
laying in fields all over the place. Nobody's even collect. There's landmines all over. It's a disaster.
But it's very flat. It's great. It's farmland. And it's very, very flat. And the only thing that stops a bullet is the human body. And the human
body is stopping a lot of bullets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within the --
TRUMP: I hope -- I hope to have six months. No. I would think -- I hope long before six months. Look, Russia's losing a lot of young people. And so
is Ukraine. And it should have never been started. That's a war that should have never happened. I guarantee you, if I were president, that war would
have never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who would you like to nominate to replace Michael Barr as Vice Chair of Federal Reserve?
TRUMP: I'll be announcing some things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, when you were working under the assumption that you're serious about making Canada the 51st state of the
United States, the leader of the Conservative Party in Canada said, under no circumstance, will it ever be the 51st state.
TRUMP: Sure. Then he probably -- maybe he won't win, but maybe he will. I don't -- I don't --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would suggest --
TRUMP: Listen, I don't hear what you're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, real fast, you said you were considering military force to acquire Panama and Greenland. Are you also considering military
force to annex and acquire Canada?
[12:20:01]
TRUMP: No. Economic force. Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you
take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security. Don't forget, we basically protect Canada.
But here's the problem with Canada. So many friends up there. I love the Canadian people. They're great. But we're spending hundreds of billions a
year to protect it. We're spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. We lose in trade deficits. We're losing mass.
We don't need their cars. You know, they make 20 percent of our cars. We don't need that. I'd rather make them in Detroit. We don't need the cars.
We don't need their lumber. We have massive fields of lumber. We don't need their lumber. We have to un-restrict them, because stupid people put, you
know, restrictions on, but I can do that with an executive order.
We don't need anything they have. We don't need their dairy products. We have more than they have. We don't need anything. So why are we losing $200
billion a year and more to protect Canada?
And I said that to, as I called him, Governor Trudeau. I said, listen, what would happen if we didn't subsidize you? If we didn't -- because we give
them a lot of money. We help them. As an example, we're buying icebreakers. And Canada wants to join us in the buying of icebreakers.
I said, you know, we don't really want to have a partner in the buying of icebreakers. We don't need a partner. But --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the U.S. (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: I -- no right. Nope. No right. Here's what we have. We have a right not to help them with their financial difficulties because we owe $36
trillion too We're going to start knocking it out pretty fast, but we're going to be able to do it because of energy and other things.
But no, no. No right. No, no. No right. But why are we supporting a country 200 billion plus a year? Our military is at their disposal. All of these
other things. They should be a state. That's why I told Trudeau when he came down, I said, what would happen if we didn't do it? He said Canada
would dissolve. Canada wouldn't be able to function, if we didn't take their 20 percent of our car up market.
You know, we -- again, they send us hundreds of thousands of cars. They make a lot of money with that. They send us a lot of other things that we
don't need. We don't need their cars. We don't need the other products. We don't need their milk. We got a lot of milk. We get a lot of everything and
we don't need any of it.
So I said to him, well, why are we doing it? He said, I don't really know. He was unable to answer the question, but I can answer it. We're doing it
because of habit and we're doing it because we like our neighbors and we've been good neighbors, but we can't do it forever, and it's a tremendous
amount of money. And why should we have a $200 billion deficit?
And add on to that many, many other things that we give them in terms of subsidy. And I said, that's OK to have if you're a state, but if you're
another country, we don't want to have it. We're not going to have it with European Union either.
European Union, we have a trade deficit of $350 billion. They don't take our cars. They don't take our farm product. They don't take anything. And
so we're not going to have it with them either.
Brian, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Happy New Year, by the way.
TRUMP: Thank you. You too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have some breaking news. You may not be aware of this, but it looks Judge Cannon has blocked the DOJ from releasing the
Smith's report until further court proceedings. Get your thoughts on that.
TRUMP: Well, that's a big story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
TRUMP: So if I get it right, the fake witch-hunt started by the DOJ, having to do with books and records. And Biden had many more. And he wasn't
protected by the Presidential Records Act I was. But all of that fake stuff that took the lives of people, I mean, literally destroyed people. People
are destroyed because of what they did. Destroyed, but we got to be president.
But Biden did it for 40 years. He did it when he was a senator, that was illegal. And they ruled it was illegal. How about that? They said, it's
illegal, but he's unfit to stand trial. So he can stand and be president of the United States, but the prosecutor found that he's unfit for trial.
I was going to use that as a major talking point, but I never got to use it because all of a sudden, I had a new candidate who was also sort of unfit
to stand trial, right? But -- so what you're saying is that the judge just blocked the -- so Cannon was thrown off the case. They dropped their appeal
because he had no case. They dropped all of that, the lawsuits against us. They lost the lawsuit.
So this is deranged Jack Smith. So he dropped the lawsuits. He was told to by the DOJ because they had no lawsuit. They lost in court. In front of a
very strong and a very brilliant judge. They lost in court, and that pertained to other cases in other courts.
[12:25:12]
So he wanted to do a report just before I take office, probably. So he'll do, like, a 500-page report, and it'll be a fake report, just like the
investigation was a fake investigation.
And I said, well, wait a minute. This guy was thrown off in disgrace, in disgrace. He's gone back to The Hague or wherever they're going to send
him, in disgrace, because he failed so badly, because it was a fake case against a political opponent. They thought they were going to use this to
beat me.
So what you're saying is the -- and I'm just hearing that they're not allowed to issue the report. So if they're not allowed to issue the report,
that's the way it should be, because he was thrown off the case, in disgrace. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? It'll only be a
fake report. That's great news. Good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if I can just follow up real quickly, you want to comment, many Americans are angry that we're sending millions of dollars
every month to the Taliban. Do you anticipate?
TRUMP: It's not even believable. Billions of dollars, not millions, billions. We pay billions of dollars to, essentially, the Taliban,
Afghanistan. And that's given by Biden. That's the same man that took away 50 to 60 trillion dollars' worth of value from the United States. They
could probably our most valuable asset, took away our most valuable asset.
This can't be allowed to happen. We are now a nation of common sense. When he does that 625 million acres, this can't be allowed to happen. Thank you
for the information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: Most other people probably knew about it, but they wouldn't have told me, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, on your campaign trail, you vowed to bring down the prices at grocery stores very fast.
TRUMP: Yes, we will do it fast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But then you recently told "Time Magazine" that bringing down prices would be very hard. So what can the American people
expect when you get into offices? --
TRUMP: It's always hard to bring down prices when somebody else has screwed something up like they did. But we'll bring them down. We'll get them down.
Energy is going to bring down prices. We're going to have a lot of energy. And energy is what brought it up.
Energy and their bad spending is what brought it up. And energy is going to bring it down. We're going to have prices down. I think you're going to see
some pretty drastic price reductions. As an example, food, bacon, ham, apples, everything has gone through the roof. It's one of the reasons I
won.
So as you know, and I said it, inflation was one of the reasons I won. But I think the biggest reason I won was the fact that they are allowing
prisoners to come into our country. They released their prisoners, their murderers. Thousands of murderers are now walking around the streets of our
cities and farmland all over, murderers. People that have killed.
Many, 32 percent, have killed more than one person. They released them from their jails, their prisons, and their mental institutions and insane
asylums into our country. I believe that's the reason we got such a large vote.
Maybe one or two more questions. Yes. Please go ahead. Go ahead. Can we -- you go. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, can you -- President Carter is laying in state today in Washington. You had some harsh words for him about the Panama
Canal. Is there any disconnect there? Do you feel a little bit bad about doing that on this day?
TRUMP: No. Look, I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policy. So he thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing. I think it cost him
the election. That and the hostages. I actually think that was a bigger factor because that's a deal that just should not have been made.
But again, this was a question that was asked of me. I didn't bring it up. I didn't want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter's death.
But people don't bring it up. But, you know, you and other people have asked me about it.
No, it's a deal that I was very strongly against. I was a young guy when this took place. But just why would we spend all of that money? Lose 38,000
people to malaria, the mosquito. They were dying. It was horrible what was happening.
They paid them four times more than they would make in the United States, but they know they were going to go over there and die. And they died in
the jungles of malaria. There was nothing we could do to stop it. Thirty at a time. And then we gave it away for one dollar.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been there through Congress. You appeared to open the door in your radio interview yesterday for a two-bill approach. Is it
still your preference for one big, beautiful bill, as you have said?
TRUMP: Well, I like one big, beautiful bill, and I always have, I always will. But if two is more certain, it does go a little bit quicker, because
you can do the immigration stuff early. Now, you have to understand, for immigration and for the wall, we won the case on the wall.
You know, they tried to sell the wall for $0.05 of the dollar, by the way. And we had fortunately a judge that stopped that, but they were already
discarding the wall. And five cents on the dollar, and you know what they were doing? They were calling us up and saying, we'll sell it back to you
at 200 cents. In other words, double what we paid for it.
[12:30:05]
So they were going to buy it from this guy for five cents on the dollar. They were making deals. And, fortunately, we had a very smart judge that
stopped it cold. I think he called for an investigation too, and he should.
But think of it, they were selling the wall that was exactly the wall that the Border Patrol wanted. That was designed by them. Steel, concrete,
rebar, exactly as it was. Very heavy steel, very powerful steel, hard to cut, very, very heavy 7,000-pound concrete, which is a very strong
concrete.
Everything was top of the line, very expensive, would be double what we paid for it then six years ago. But let me just tell you, they were selling
it for five cents on the dollar to people. And those people were calling us, asking us to pay them 200 cents because it's a good deal because we can
have it immediately. And you know what immediately is? Just leave it in place.
No, no. The papers haven't written that, though. You're in a -- that deal is like all the other things that these people do. These people either hate
our country or they're very stupid. And I don't believe they're stupid, because nobody can cheat on elections like they cheat and be stupid. They
either hate our country or they're stupid.
So remember what I said, because nobody wants to report it. They were selling the wall for five cents on the dollar and trying to resell it back
to us for 200 cents or less, but for 200 cents on the dollar. That's a -- that's a nice return.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Stop putting fact checks on the post on its website.
TRUMP: Say it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meta said today it would stop putting fact checks on its website and instead allow community --
TRUMP: Yes. Well, I watched their news conference. And I thought it was a very good news conference. I think they've -- honestly, I think they've
come a long way, Meta, Facebook. I think they've come a long way. I watched it. The man was very impressive. I watched it. Actually, I watched it on
Fox. I'm not allowed to say that. Say it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he's directly responding to the threats that you have made to him in the past?
TRUMP: Probably. Yes, probably.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last time you're -- the last time you were here, you were asked a question about the U.S. possibly launching a preemptive strike
on Iran. You said you wouldn't answer that question.
TRUMP: Well, who?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously -- on Iran. The U.S. launching a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
TRUMP: And I said I don't -- I don't talk about it. It's a military strategy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it is a legitimate question. It's something --
TRUMP: Well, it's not really, because only a stupid person would answer it.
Look, it's a military strategy. And I'm not answering your questions on military strategy.
All right. One more. Brian, go ahead. Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you -- could you give us a preview of what you might be talking to leaders of Congress who are expected to come here the
next couple of days and you've got a very supportive Congress behind you?
TRUMP: Yes. They're great. So we have a wonderful Republican Congress. We have a leader that I have a lot of confidence in. I think he's going to be
hopefully a great leader, a great speaker.
And we have a leader, by the way, in the Senate, I think has been great. John Thune has been doing a fantastic job. But it goes through the House
first. And the question is whether or not we do the two bills and one bill.
And, you know, look, I can live either way. I like the idea of the one big bill, but I can live either way. But they'll be coming down. The senators
also will be coming down. And then ultimately, we'll be meeting in the White House in a few weeks. But right now, this is the winter season.
You know, they sort of call this the winter White House. It was built -- I don't know if you know this, Marjorie Merriweather Post and EF Hutton built
this. It was the greatest of all the estates in our country.
And I saved it and I got a lot of credit for saving it. Most of these big great houses have been knocked down in Palm Beach. Just about all of them
actually. And they, you know, you build 10 mansions on one site, but we saved it. But this was built as the southern White House. And she gave it
to the government.
And by the way, Jimmy Carter gave it back. He said it's too expensive for the United States. So I didn't -- I didn't realize that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Real quick, sir. I was just -- I was just told --
TRUMP: Actually, Jimmy Carter -- Nixon was through Watergate. He came down -- he -- Nixon came here once and he thought it was incredible, but he had
a thing called Watergate if anybody remembers that. And so he had other things on his mind, to put it mildly.
And Jimmy Carter felt that it was too extravagant for the country. So, fortunately for me, he gave it back to the foundation, and I bought it from
the foundation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) some Republicans say in trade for a massive bill that you and they share, they're interested in, they want to see big
spending cuts.
Do you agree with that? And what --
TRUMP: Well, I'm OK with spending cuts. I like spending cuts. Just I'm on the record for spending cuts. And the debt ceiling was given to us. It
shouldn't have been, but it was put in our lap.
And what I want in terms of debt ceiling isn't the ceiling. I just don't want to see a default. That's all I want. I never talked about spending
more money necessarily than -- all I want to see is no default. Because nobody knows what would happen if there was a default. It could be 1929 and
it could be nothing. But that was put into our lap and it shouldn't have been but it was. And so we'll handle it.
[12:35:18]
But debt ceiling is not about raising a lot of money. It's really just about extending it. I just want to see an extension.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE) sir, on immigration. How much can you do by executive order are you planning to do on executive
order when it comes to immigration? And how much do you want Congress to tackle this issue?
And also on day one --
TRUMP: Well, I have the safest border in the history of our country by far. You remember the famous chart that I brought down? I love that chart very
much for a lot of reasons.
But I have the safest border by far in the history of our country. And when I took it over, it was a mess. Nothing like it is now. This is 10 times
worse. I got elected because of the border the first time. And I think I got elected largely because of the border the third time. And the second
time, I did equally well. Well, not as well as the last time, but I did very well.
And I will say, this was too big to rig. You know -- you know the expression? Too big to rig. They couldn't do it. They tried, but they
couldn't do it.
I didn't get very much from Congress at all. I just said that we're being invaded, and it took the money out of the military. Much of the wall I
built, 500 -- over 500 miles of wall. Much of that wall was built through money that I put into the military. We took it out because we couldn't get
things from Congress in those days, and we took it out.
And that wall was built largely with money coming from the military. So, very simple. I went to the military, I said, our country is being invaded
by very similar, nothing like what's invading our country now. They weren't releasing prisons into our country. And they weren't releasing mental
institutions in, but some bad dudes were coming in, right?
And I said, our country is being invaded. And I took that money largely from the military. I was sued nine times by the Democrats in Congress. And
I won all those suits. And we built five -- we ended up building 571 miles of wall.
Once that wall was built, they start going around it. So we're going to add another 200. That would have been up in three weeks. And then we had a very
unfortunate election result. And they said, we don't want to put it up. We'll sell it. And they started selling it for five cents on the dollar.
What a -- terrible.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: So we'll do this again. I just want to thank everybody very much. I'm just telling you, this will be the golden age of America. This is the
golden age of America. We're going to have a great country again. We're a country right now under siege. We have so many different problems and
nobody respects us overseas, but now they do.
The Italian prime minister, as you know, came here the other night, just flew in and flew out. She wanted to -- she wanted to see me. And great
respect is being shown when I went to the cathedral in France. Great respect was shown by the prime minister, the president, by everybody.
France was -- and by the way, I have to say they did a great job in the cathedral.
But great respect is being shown to our country again. And we have a great country, but we have to run it properly. It's going to be run properly. We
want to get back those hostages for Israel and for us.
You know, we do have people that are hostages being held. And I'll just say it again. If this deal is not done with the people representing our nation,
by the time I get to office, all hell is going to break out. Thank you very much. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you clarify what you mean by military force in the Panama Canal?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You have been listening to a wide- ranging press conference from President-elect Donald Trump speaking at Mar- a-Lago for just over an hour there.
A lot of news that he covered, both domestically and internationally. We will be doing a lot of fact-checking for you as well with our Daniel Dale.
Let's just talk about some of the points discussed.
He ended on the Gaza war there and the hostage ceasefire deal that is under way, the talks that are under way in Doha, once again reiterating his
ultimatum that all hell will break loose if the hostages are not returned by the time he is inaugurated on January 20th.
He also reiterated his desire for sovereignty over Greenland and the return of the Panama Canal. And then highlighting, again, his interest in high
tariffs against U.S. neighbors and allies, Canada, Mexico, saying that he was going to label -- re-label the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of the United
States.
I want to bring in CNN's Daniel Strauss who has been watching the news conference with us. Daniel, a lot to get to. I just highlighted on a couple
of the talking points. This was a press conference that began with the announcement of a $20 billion investment from an Emirati billionaire, an AI
data center. We saw the same type of announcement a few weeks ago at his last press conference, $100 billion investment from SoftBank in Japan.
[12:40:22]
The president highlighting that the world is now viewing the United States differently since his election by that. And then your views on some of the
points that stood out to you. A lot of this we have heard from the president before, obviously, no guarantee of protection for Ukraine, the
need for NATO to spend not even two percent of their defense GDP -- for their GDP on defense spending, but now five percent.
And then talking on his own legal battles here at home as well. Some news breaking that Federal Judge Aileen Cannon has at least now temporarily
blocked the public release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report.
DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN REPORTER: Yes. I mean, look, there was a lot in there. The president-elect did not know about the latest development with the
special report on Aileen Cannon. He looked very pleased when he was told about that. But I think two points that seem more subtle in his wide-
ranging press conference was his approach to Congress and the Hill.
He says he is very pleased with both caucus leaders, Speaker Johnson and John Thune. And this is pretty telling because this is a president who has
made clear he wants to move a big domestic policy package through Congress, but he also, in this speech, conceded that it would be more tenable to do
that in two separate bills rather than just one. He's open to that as well.
Still, that's a very, very ambitious approach to moving any presidential agenda through Congress in this day and age.
GOLODRYGA: He also, at the top of his press conference, spoke out against what he viewed as interference by President Biden now getting in the way of
the transition process. This is something that he spoke out on social media over the last 24 hours.
And we should note, in stark contrast from some of his top advisers, including his incoming chief of staff, who said that they've been treated
graciously by the current Biden administration, but he also spoke out against the Biden announcement of banning offshore and drilling. President-
elect Trump said that he will once again want to see drill, baby drill, and will be reversing that order.
Just talk about some of the tension now just within the last 24 hours. He says exists between the two administrations that again by everything we've
heard from his advisors, things were moving quite appropriately.
STRAUSS: Now, it's a little difficult because the president-elect was being vague. But it seems to be that the difference we're talking about here is
between the actual transition where his incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has been working with the outgoing chief of staff, Jeff Zients. And
that seems to be going very well. Wiles herself has said that it's been going smoothly.
And the other part of this, which is the Biden administration's last-minute moves to cement its legacy ahead of the presidency of Donald Trump. And it
seems that what the president-elect, I can't say for certain because he did not get very specific, is referring to is that difference. That the
outgoing administration wants to make sure on environmental issues, for instance, that the incoming administration doesn't reverse everything that
the previous administration has done.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Daniel Strauss in Washington, thank you so much for joining us and being patient sitting through that news conference.
Appreciate the time.
STRAUSS: Thanks.
GOLODRYGA: For more on this, I want to bring in the associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, CNN political advisor, Leah Wright
Rigueur, and senior political correspondent of "The Wall Street Journal," Molly Ball.
And let me start with you, Molly. What stood out to you from what you heard from the president-elect, whether it's on domestic policy or international?
MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, it was, as you said, a quite wide-ranging news conference. And we heard
some interesting things from the president, I think, as Daniel pointed out, about congressional strategy, you know, the new Congress just convened. And
they are really looking for signals from the president about how to proceed.
But he continues to be deferential to the leaders in the House and Senate and try to make them make up their minds. They really would like some
guidance from him. And as one of the questioners mentioned, many of those House members are planning to visit Mar-a-Lago this weekend. So maybe they
will impress upon him that as much as he seems to be saying, it's up to Congress which way to go with this. Congress might do better with a little
bit firmer guidance from the president-elect.
[12:45:06]
I think on a more sort of big picture level, it was a reminder, number one, that we haven't seen very much of Donald Trump in public over the last
weeks, over the course of this transition. He really has been sort of holed up there in Mar-a-Lago doing the transition work. And so he hasn't been in
front of the public as much. And when he does get in front of the public, he does tend to go all over the place and say all kinds of things that then
we're not sure, you know, how serious he is. Is he really talking about, you know, invading Panama? Is he really talking about finding some way to
rename the Gulf of Mexico? What does that even mean?
So it was a reminder of how sort of disruptive he can be once he gets in front of people and starts talking. And how many things he is going to have
on his plate once he gets in. And how little really has been decided on a practical level about how he is going to proceed with all of these
different initiatives.
So definitely an interesting -- went much further than that investment announcement that I think was the ostensible reason for the press
conference. And we heard a lot about a lot of things.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that was exactly the nature of the last press conference that he held, when he began with the announcement of a $100
billion investment from SoftBank, and then we touched on a lot of other subject matters. This is quite similar.
Leah, it's interesting because as you see the bottom of our screen in just a few hours, we will be covering the continuation of the state funeral of
President Jimmy Carter. And it's hard to find two more different presidents, both in demeanor, both in policy, both in style, both in
principles.
And he touched on President Carter, said that he really liked him as a person, that he didn't agree with a lot of his policies, didn't think that
he was a strong president. And on this issue, in particular, of the Panama Canal, what's noteworthy of President-elect Trump wanting to reclaim the
Panama Canal now was that it was actually President Carter who signed the treaty to hand it over to Panama in 1977.
I'm just wondering, from your perspective, the president-elect also went as far as to say he thinks that's ultimately what led to his loss to Ronald
Reagan, even more so in the president's -- president-elect's opinion than the hostage crisis in Iran.
LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL HISTORIAN: Right. So that's not what led to Jimmy Carter's loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.
But it is, I think, in the larger scope of things, part of an issue that Jimmy Carter was willing to address that did ultimately lead to a large
discontent with the Carter administration that, yes, leads to a loss with Ronald Reagan.
And it's part of a larger picture. Jimmy Carter is trying to deal with these massive issues that are facing the American people; inflation,
stagflation, a sluggish economy, an oil crisis.
And one of the things that he does that he doesn't get a lot of credit for is to put in place these kind of regulatory oversights within the
government that are designed to cut costs, to find money, right, and save money wherever the federal government can do it.
And one of the areas that they identify is the Panama Canal. It is massively expensive for the United States, at that moment in time, to
support the Panama Canal. So one of the agreements they make is to say to the people of Panama, to the government of Panama, let's take this -- let's
take this off the United States' hands. Let's make this a partnership that eventually leads to the Panama Canal being back in the hands of the
Panamanian people and the Panamanian government.
So that's actually what we see. And Jimmy Carter has the foresight to understand that that is deeply important because the United States can't
carry that burden.
Since then, though, Republicans have seen that as an entryway into bad decision-making, even though the long-term effects of it are deeply
important.
And so I think Donald Trump has made this a centerpiece. And yet, we still don't actually know what the ultimate goal is from these conversations
around the Panama Canal, because the government of Panama has been very clear. They are not giving the Panama Canal back. They are not willing to
entertain these conversations.
So the real question should be, what is Donald Trump trying to do with this idea of the Panama Canal?
And I'll say one more thing here. I do think that it is connected to a larger issue for Donald Trump on issues of economy, national security and
foreign policy. It's connected very much to his ideas about how we view Canada, how we view Greenland, seeing that particularly within the expanse
of climate change as a national security issue for the United States, for trade, for economy, for new markets, for oil and Arctic drilling. These
things are all interconnected.
[12:50:01]
The question is, how is Donald Trump going to address these during his presidency? Is it bombastic barking? Or is it actually meaningful
engagement with these governments for a very specific foreign policy purpose?
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And more and more people are saying, perhaps, we should take it more seriously, and it's the latter, the potential arguments that
you just made there in his second term, in terms of his top priorities.
Leah Wright Rigueur and Molly Ball, thank you so much for joining me.
Well, happening just moments ago, as we mentioned, Judge Aileen Cannon blocked to the public release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's final report
on Trump's investigations.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now live from Washington with more on this.
Katelyn, we saw the president-elect in real time respond to this news. Walk us through Judge Aileen Cannon's decision.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's happening here is the special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith, which resulted in those
two cases against Donald Trump, one in federal court in Washington related to the 2020 election, one in federal court in Florida. That's where Judge
Aileen Cannon sits. She had the case. That's the classified documents and obstruction of justice case.
Those cases were going to be -- they are dismissed. And the special counsel's office was releasing its final report about how they investigated
those cases and made charging decisions in them. Trump was charged and then in Florida, two co-defendants.
What happened was the plan was for the final report from the special counsel's office was going to be released no earlier than Friday of this
week by the Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was going to get to see it and have it in his possession for a few days.
Trump's team ran to court, and Judge Cannon said, no one is sharing this outside of the Justice Department for at least three days. That was her
order just now.
And there are ongoing appeals where Trump's team is asking an appeals court to block the release of this report. And also his co -- two co-defendants,
they don't want the report there -- out there either.
Here's what Trump had to say just a little bit ago at that press conference when he was told that Judge Cannon had done this. Remember, she's a Trump
appointee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're not allowed to issue the report. So if they're not allowed to issue the report, that's the way it should be, because he was thrown off
the case in disgrace. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? It'll only be a fake report. That's great news. Good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POLANTZ: So, Bianna, Trump there is bringing up one of the things that is being argued in court as well, that Jack Smith, as special counsel, he
doesn't have any power anymore in this case in Florida, and thus should not be able to say anything in a report that would be a final report, even
though several other special counsels, Mueller, John Durham, Rob Hur, they all have issued final reports at the ends of their investigations. And we
were waiting for the Justice Department to release one here as well.
GOLODRYGA: And Donald Trump and his team doing what they've done best, and that is just delaying, delaying, delaying, pushing this down the timeline
as far as possible. And now we are just days away until he will be inaugurated into office, and thus all of this goes away. I can't imagine
his own Justice Department ever releasing this report.
Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.
OK. Let's go back to our panel. We liked them so much the first time. We're going to bring them back now. Molly Bally, Leah Wright Rigueur.
Molly, your reaction to, again, I don't know how else to describe this other than how my colleague John Berman did earlier this morning. And the
clock and the delay tactic really has been Donald Trump and his legal team's superpower throughout all of these cases.
And now, there is a high likelihood that we will not see this final report from Special Counsel Jack Smith. Your reaction?
BALL: Well, I think, you know, for critics of Donald Trump who view this as a matter of accountability, it has, of course, been quite frustrating that,
as you say, he has been successful in both running out the clock and on getting protection from friendly courts up to and including the Supreme
Court with its immunity decision last summer, that having assured that he will not face the music for any of these federal cases.
Now, he is still supposed to be sentenced in the New York case, although we'll see if that goes forward as well. But, you know, as he prepares to
resume the presidency, Trump really looks to have -- looks like he has gotten off scot-free on all of the many legal challenges he was facing.
So for his opponents who had hoped that the legal system would offer some measure of accountability for Trump, it certainly looks like that will not
be the case. And we heard in his press conference, Trump, of course, very pleased by the fact that he has defeated what he views as a witch-hunt in
all of these cases.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And he disparaged all of the judges in these cases as well, including the Special Counsel Jack Smith, calling him deranged. Notably, he
did not disparage. Actually, he spoke very highly of Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge in the Florida case that now put a temporary block on the public
release of this report and the judge that he himself nominated and appointed to the bench.
[12:55:15]
I apologize, we are out of time now, but I do appreciate you both joining me again. This has been a very busy, fast-paced hour for us.
And that does it for ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thank you so much for watching. "AMANPOUR" is coming up next. We'll be back here in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:00]
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