Trump's Remarks in Press Briefing; September 4, 2020

[mahatmakanejeeves]

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | September 4, 2020
Issued on: September 4, 2020

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

5:45 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody, very much. Thank you. So, as we begin Labor Day Weekend, America’s unprecedented economic recovery continues. You see what’s going on. It’s been pretty amazing. The United States economy added today — announced this morning — 1.4 million jobs last month, bringing the total to over 10.6 million jobs created in just four months. That’s a record, by far.

{snip}

So I’m going to ask Larry to come up. I want to thank another man for being here today. There’s a man that’s a incredible leader: Lou Holtz. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s been a friend of mine. And I think I’ve received letters from every football coach, almost, in the nation. And that’s a little exaggeration, but some — some of the greats. Nick Saban wrote a letter. Coach O — and Coach O is central casting. I said, “We’re going to have to put him in a movie” — right? — “as a football coach.” He’d really be good playing a football coach like you. And Urban Meyer wrote a beautiful letter. And so many of the other great, legendary coaches.

Not only coaches though — people in sports and people in life and even great political people, recommending Lou for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And we’ve analyzed it very closely. We’ve looked at all of those recommendations. We’ve looked at Lou’s life and his career and what he’s done for charity. And the football is obvious — he was a great coach — but what he’s done, beyond even coaching.

So Lou will be getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And a date is being picked; it won’t be in the too-distant future. Lou was married to a great woman. Right, Lou? A great woman. And she just passed away a few months ago. This is an incredible woman. She was stronger — I knew her; I knew her well — she was stronger than Lou. I think she was stronger than you, Lou, I hate to tell you. You’re strong, too. But she was special, right?

So I just want to congratulate Coach Lou Holtz on — soon to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And we look forward to that, Lou. Thank you very much. And you can stay around and listen to Larry for a couple of seconds or —

MR. HOLTZ: I — I listen to Larry —

THE PRESIDENT: — or go to your friend.

MR. HOLTZ: — every chance I can.

THE PRESIDENT: You probably know half of the people in the room. I’ll bet they treat you better than they treat me. They treat him good. I wish you’d treat me that way.

Larry, come on up.

{snip. Trump calls on a representative from John Solomon's website.}

Please, in the back.

Q Yes, Mr. President, our editor-in-chief, John Solomon, had an exclusive interview with the head of the Delaware Fraternal Order of Police chapter. He said that they were going to endorse you instead of their native son, Joe Biden.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

Q I’d like your response. As well as — the national organization, the Fraternal Order of Police, is endorsing you as well.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m honored that Delaware — because I don’t see Biden anywhere but Delaware. He’s — and I like Delaware, too. But to have the law enforcement in Delaware give their endorsement to me is really a great honor. It’s really — it just shows you how — how pathetic the Democrats are when it comes to crime, when it comes to law and order.

So, would you please extend my very great thanks? That’s a great honor to get it from Delaware law enforcement. We’ve gotten it from almost all law enforcement, but that’s — that’s a — because every time I see Biden speak, it says, “Delaware, Delaware, Delaware.” He never leaves. I’m all over the country; I’m all over the place.

Yeah, please. Go ahead. Did you have? Yeah, go ahead, Jeff.

Q Thanks, Mr. President. Germany has said that Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was poisoned. What do you think should be done to Russia about that? And what is your message to Russia about that? And how should the international community and the United States respond?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we have to look at it very seriously if that’s the case, and I think we will. There’s nobody been tougher on Russia than I have. We get along. I get along with almost all countries.

I get along with North Korea. Remember? We were supposed to be going to war with North Korea. If Hillary got elected, you’d be at war right now with North Korea. That would be a very messy war, a very bad war. Many millions of people would be killed. In the meantime, we’ve gotten along with them. We didn’t get to war. Everyone said that if I was elected, I’d be at war in one week; it’s been just the opposite.

{snip}

Jon.

Q Mr. President, I just want to ask you about something you said a while back; it’s been talked about many, many, times. Back in 2015, you said that you didn’t think John McCain was a hero, that you prefer people who don’t get captured.

In — in light of all that’s happened since then and all you’ve learned, do you regret saying that? Is that something you wish you had not said?

THE PRESIDENT: I — look, I — I say what I say. And I never got along with John McCain. I disagreed with John McCain. You know that better than anybody, frankly. I wasn’t a fan. I disagreed with many of his views. I disagreed with his views on these ridiculous, endless wars. I disagreed with the way he handled the vets, the VA. The VA is running much better now — and we did with the MISSION Act, and the Accountability, and all the things we’ve done for the VA. He — he was not able to do that.

But I disagreed with John McCain on a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect him. I respected him, but I really disagreed with him on a lot of things. And I think I was right; I think time has proven me right, to a large extent.

Q But on this notion of referring to people who are captured, the —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, please. Go ahead.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier in the statement that you read before questions, you — you spoke about how you believe that we’re, as you put it, “rounding the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I do believe that. Yeah.

{snip. We'll have no more of that. Oh, wait; yes, we will.}

Q And then, just to follow on Jon’s question: I know you spoke you earlier about the Atlantic story, and you referenced the number of administration officials who have come out to support your —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, no, we have 11 people. I was just told — I was just told we have 11 people. There is nobody that feels more strongly about our soldiers, our wounded warriors, our soldiers that died in war, than I do. It’s a hoax, just like the fake dossier was a hoax, just like the “Russia, Russia, Russia” was a hoax. It was a total hoax. No collusion. Just like so many other things. It’s a hoax.

And you’ll hear more of these things, totally unrelated, as we get closer and closer to election. The magazine is a failing magazine, and nobody called me — nobody called me from the magazine and said, “Do you have a comment about it?” No, they just write whatever they want to write because they figure you can’t get sued. You can’t get sued, but it’s very — it’s a very hard — bringing lawsuits.

But we have many witnesses, and it’s a total — it’s a total — it’s just a continuation of the witch hunt, so that it can hopefully effect the election.

But the American people are too smart. So whether it’s the fake dossier that turned out to be a total fraud or so many other things — so many other things have turned out. I’ve been under investigation from before I even get elected. These people have gone after me more than any president in the United States in history — in the history of the United States. And it’s a shame. It’s a shame.

And despite that, we’ve done more in the first three and a half years than any administration. There’s been no administration that’s done more. When you add it all up, there’s been no — despite all of the horrible political games that have been played.

But there’s nobody that’s been — that’s been able to do what I’ve done, and that includes the great MISSION Act, because what Obama passed was a joke. It was a joke. And we took it to a level that nobody thought possible, and that includes Accountability.

So it’s a disgrace that somebody is allowed to write things like that. It could have been — you know, a lot of times, the sources aren’t sources; they don’t exist. And sometimes the sources are just people that are disgruntled, former so-called employees.

Q Well, my question is sort of about that. I mean, the notable voice that’s been missing from the denials is your former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who was obviously intimately involved in this. What — how are we supposed to read —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, here’s the thing: —

Q — the fact that John Kelly hasn’t — hasn’t denied this?

THE PRESIDENT: I know John Kelly; he was with me. Didn’t do a good job, had no temperament, and ultimately, he was petered out. He got — he was exhausted. This man was totally exhausted. He wasn’t even able to function in the last number of months. He was not able to function. He was sort of a tough guy. By the time he got eaten up in this world — it’s a different world than he was used to — he was unable to function. And I told him, “John, you’re going to have to go. Please give me your letter of resignation.” And we did that. And now he goes out and bad — bad mouths.

Now, there are people that are jealous. There are people that are upset that they’re not here anymore. There are people that — we’ve done an incredible job. The virus came in, and now we’re doing an incredible job again. And we’re going to build it up bigger than it was before the virus came in.
But I don’t know that it was him. I haven’t seen that. I mean, I see “Anonymous,” but it could have been a guy like a John Kelly because he was —

Q Did you make that comment at his son’s grave?

THE PRESIDENT: Just so you understand, he was a very — if you look at some of his news conferences, what happened to him: He got eaten alive. He was unable to handle the pressure of this job. This job was a tough job. Mark Meadows is doing a great job, but Kelly was unable to do that.

And as far as that day, I mean, we have so much proof as to going to the — I went to Paris and the environs, and I was all set to go. They had a rainstorm the likes of which you’ve rarely seen. The fog was so great; it was — it was as dense as I’ve ever seen. And I almost knew that you couldn’t use the helicopter. And because they had to drive through, I guess, certain parts of Paris, the Secret Service, who — by the way, we have people here that were on the trip. They’re writing a report. Unable to even think about it. And I said, “Nope, I want to go. I insist on going.” It would have taken us forever.

The Paris police said, “Please, you can’t do this.” They’d have to shut down various parts of Paris, and it just was not a possible situation. The helicopter would have been very quick. They had the helicopter all set, but the helicopter could never fly in that kind of weather. So — and that turned out — and that’s all documented, by the way. We have all of the information from — and probably will release that information.

But I think it’s a shame when a second-rate magazine — I don’t read it; I know very little about this magazine. But when a second-rate magazine can write things like that about somebody that’s done so much for the military, can write things like that and get away with it, where you actually ask questions on it, it’s a disgrace, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

And let me just tell you, I watched the interview with Sleepy Joe Biden, and he didn’t ask questions. You didn’t ask questions like that. Read the questions you asked. They were, like, meant for a child. Those questions were meant for a child. Smiles on faces of reporters — not like you and you. There were smiles on the reporters. “What do you think?” Take a look at those questions that they ask him. They were not meant for a grown-up; they were meant for a child.

Q Can I ask about law and order?

THE PRESIDENT: So I just want to just tell you — I just want to tell you it’s a disgrace, because if you look at what I’ve done for the United States military, I love those people. I’ve gotten them pay raises when they didn’t get anything near what I’ve been able to do. And I’ve rebuilt — $2.5 trillion. I’ve rebuilt the United States military. Now we’re including Space Force. Nobody has done more for them.

And then, when I have to have a report read like that from a third-rate magazine that’s not going to be in business much longer, I look at that and I think it’s a disgrace. And then when I watch Biden getting asked questions that are really meant for a child to answer — anybody could answer — and I look at the level of question that you people ask, I mean, honestly, it’s disgraceful.

So I want to thank you all very much.

Q Law and order?

{snip}

END

6:14 P.M. EDT

[fierywoman]

1. True. There's been no administration in the history of the United States of America that

has done so much to DESTROY the United States of America.

Are you listening to me, TLP, Meidas or whomever: take cadet bonespurs saying that and then show --- bam-bam-bam ...-- all the destruction he has done.

You're welcome.