Part 1 of 3
Kristen Welker's interview with Trump: NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker conducted a wide-ranging interview with former President Donald Trump.(Full transcript)
by Kristen Welker
NBC News
Sept. 17, 2023, 8:00 AM MDT
KRISTEN WELKER:
President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Thank you.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I want to dive right into this. A lot to get to.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Good.
KRISTEN WELKER:
There are a number of things that make your campaign unprecedented. You are the first former president to run for re-election in more than a hundred years. You are facing four indictments. You have an incredibly significant lead in the GOP primary polls. But I want to ask you this, Mr. President: Why do you want to be president again?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, it’s a very simple answer, and I can give it very easily. It’s called: “Make America Great Again.” Our country is in serious trouble. I don’t think we’ve ever been so low in terms of, certainly opinion, world opinion and country opinion. People are devastated. They look at what’s happening with millions of people coming in, millions of illegal immigrants coming into our country, flooding our cities, flooding the countryside. I think the number is going to be 15 million people by the time you end this — by the end of this year, I think the real number’s going to be 15 million people. They come from prisons. They come from mental institutions, insane asylums. They say, “Sir, please don’t use that term,” but it’s true. They’re terrorists at a level — you know, it was very interesting, on NBC, I saw a poll, and I saw some statistics, and it said in 2019, there were no terrorists. They caught no terrorists. There was nothing that they saw. There was no anything. And now, this year, it’s a record number like they’ve never seen before. So, we did a great job at the border. We did a great job with the military. We did a great job with inflation. We had essentially no inflation. We had a great economy. And, we didn’t have an Afghanistan disaster. We were getting out, but we were going to get out with dignity and pride, not the way they got out. That was a surrender, and an embarrassment, and horrible. We gave $85 billion worth of equipment to the Taliban. We had death, so much death, and so much horrible destruction. And it was a terrible thing. I think it was the lowest point in the history of our country. Now, with all of that, we can change it, and we can make America great again. And that’s why I’m doing this.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, and you have talked about a lot. We are going to delve into a number of issues —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Okay.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– you brought up. You talked about all the people coming across the border. Of course, a lot of families also coming across the border as well —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I want to talk to you about that a little bit later on. But first, let’s talk about the breaking news today. We learned just a short time ago that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, was indicted by a federal grand jury on three gun charges. Given that, Mr. President, can you continue to say that there are two systems of justice?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, I think there’s no question about it. He had a plea deal that was the deal of the century — the art of the deal. You could write a book on it. The art of the deal. And, all of a sudden, that was broken up by a judge who was able to — a brilliant judge, actually, who was able to see through what was happening. And it’s a sad situation. I mean, nobody should be happy about this. I’m not happy about it. Nobody is. It’s a very sad thing, and it’s so bad for our country. But, you know, if you think about it, I’ve been under investigation from the day I came down the escalator, and phony investigations, fake investigations, investigations that I beat every single time. Still under investigations. But it’s a very sad thing, and it’s a slippery slope —
KRISTEN WELKER:
But Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– and dangerous, very dangerous for our country.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But you talked about the plea deal, but now, Hunter Biden’s been indicted. He’s facing —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah, sure, sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– very serious charges. So doesn’t that undercut your entire argument that there are two systems of justice in this country?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, look, it’s one of 12 charges. There are 12 possible charges, and this —
KRISTEN WELKER:
And he’s still under investigation.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– is the only charge that doesn’t affect his father.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, he’s still under investigation.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, sure, maybe. I mean, let’s see what happens. But this is the only charge that doesn’t affect Joe Biden. This was the gun charge. But gun charges are very serious. You know, people have had gun charges and gone to jail for a lot of, a lot of years. I pardoned some people who I thought it was just horrible what happened. But they were put in jail for many, many years, rappers and others. So, look, it’s a bad thing. But it’s one of 12, and it’s the one charge that doesn’t affect Joe Biden.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, of course, there’s no evidence that the president has any link to his son’s business dealings. Let me ask you, though —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, I don’t —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– about a second —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– necessarily agree.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, there is no —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
He called in. I mean, he called in to all these meetings. He was calling in on the meetings. He was put on speakerphone and — every single day and —
KRISTEN WELKER:
The witness who testified —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– literally many, many calls. And what about the fact that he got rid of the prosecutor for a billion dollars? They said —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, the witness who testified —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
“You don’t get rid of this prosecutor, we’re not giving you a billion dollars to Ukraine.” He said that. I mean, there are a lot of things here, Kristen.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, the witness who testified though, said that he never heard any discussion of business when President Biden was put on the phone. But let’s —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
But, wait, wait. You saw the prosecutor —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– let’s talk about —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– thing on television, because I saw it on your network. He said, “You don’t get rid of this prosecutor, I’m not giving $1 billion.”
KRISTEN WELKER:
That was looked into, as well. And, as you know, there was never any wrongdoing —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Oh, come on.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– determined.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
If I ever said that —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s move on —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– quid pro quo.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s move on to what a second Trump term would look like.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
When you launched your campaign in March, you told the crowd, quote, “I am your retribution.” What does that mean? What does that look like?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I think retribution is talking in terms of I have to protect people. What they’re doing to people is so horrible. They’re putting people in jail for long periods of time, firemen, policemen, accountants, even lawyers. They’re in prisons for years now and don’t even have trials in some cases. And if you look at antifa and other groups, practically nothing happened to them. They burned down Portland. They burned down Minneapolis. They took over Seattle. I mean, they literally took over a big chunk of the city. People died, and nothing happened to them. We have to protect all people.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But when you talk about retribution, are you talking about directing your attorney general to try to go after your political enemies?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
When I talk about retribution, I’m talking about fairness. We have to treat people fairly. These people on January 6th, they went — some of them never even went into the building, and they’re being given sentences of, you know, many years.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Are you going to pardon those people —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
And nothing is happening.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– who’ve been convicted —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, I’m going to look at them, and I certainly might if I think it’s appropriate. No, it’s a very, very sad thing. And it’s — they’re dividing the country so badly, and it’s very dangerous.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, Mr. President, we’re going to delve into that a little bit later on, but I want to stay on this idea of what you mean by retribution. Are you looking to appoint an attorney general who will prosecute the people you tell them to prosecute?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I’m looking to appoint an attorney general who’s going to be tough on crime and fair. Very simple.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And go after your political enemies?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, no. I would never do that. But Biden has done that. Look, Biden — these aren’t indictments against me. These are Biden indictments. This isn’t God coming down and very fairly said, “Oh, you spoke badly about an election.” The election was rigged. There’s no question about that. There’s so much proof on it. Even if you go to the more modern-day proof with the — they call it Twitter Files, FBI and Twitter, or you take a look at the Amazon stuff or the Google stuff, or you take a look at “2,000 Mules,” you take a look at all of the ballot stuffing that’s on tape, you take a look at the fact that the legislatures didn’t approve a lot of the things that were done in the elections, and they had to approve. And we could go on forever. We could go on forever. But, but no. I want somebody that’s going to be strong, respected, tough, and fair.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Just to go back to a couple of the points you said, the ballot stuffing. That’s something that’s been debunked.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
It hasn’t been debunked. It’s on camera.
KRISTEN WELKER:
As you know, let’s — But I do want to keep moving forward.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah, but, Kristen, it’s on camera. Hundreds — even thousands and thousands of people. You take a look. True the Vote. Take a look. It’s on camera. They have thousands of —
KRISTEN WELKER:
But Mr. President, you know Republican officials and top law enforcement officials, they have told you that that’s debunked.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I know, but, Kristen, you can’t say — They have thousands of pictures of people — I know you have to say that for your network, but you shouldn’t say it, because that’s the problem.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But, Mr. President–
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
The news has lost such power.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s stay on track, though, Mr. President. Let’s stay on track with these questions —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, but you’re saying– It hasn’t. We have thousands of essentially motion pictures of people stuffing the ballot boxes. Tens of thousands.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But, Mr. President, they’re not stuffing the ballot boxes. And you’ve been told that by your top law enforcement officials. But let’s stay on track, because we have so much ground to cover. We have policy ground to cover, Mr. President.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You have people that went and voted in one place, another place, another place, as many as, I understand, 28 different places in one day with seven, eight, nine ballots apiece. They can’t do it anymore, because it would look too phony. These were professional people. They were stuffing the ballot boxes. It’s there.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I mean, it’s there to see. A lot of people don’t like looking at it.
KRISTEN WELKER:
— you took your case to court in 60 different cases all across the country. You lost that. But let’s stay on track because we have so many —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
We lost because the judges didn’t want to hear them.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, we have so many topics to cover.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
But if this were ever before a court, we would win so easy. There is so much evidence that the election was rigged. And you may not even put this section on your show, and you’ll have to decide what you want to do. But people know it was rigged. Look, the media —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, there’s no evidence of that. And you know there’s no evidence of that
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
When I first got involved in politics —
KRISTEN WELKER:
We have so many different topics —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Tremendous evidence.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I want to talk about what a potential —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Kristen, let me ask you this.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You agree there was Twitter Files, right?
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You agree there were 51 intelligence agents that lied? You agree with that?
KRISTEN WELKER:
I’m not the one who’s being interviewed. Let’s stay on track —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, no, but — I know, but that’s rigging the election.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Because I want to talk about policy because that’s what voters want to hear about, Mr. President. Let’s talk about what’s happening on Capitol Hill right now.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Go ahead. Go ahead.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Speaker McCarthy announced that he was launching an impeachment inquiry this week into President Biden. Do you see this as a part of the retribution that you seek?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, not at all. I think, look, you look at the terrible things that have been happening with respect to Biden. Look at everything: Jamie Comer, Jim Jordan, who are fantastic people and very legitimate people. I watched Jamie Comer just a little while ago talking about a lot of different facets of what’s going on, and he was the one that said, “I guess there were — there were 12 things where it looks like it’s stone-cold guilty, and the gun charge is only one of the 12.” He said, “This is the only one that doesn’t implicate Joe Biden.”
KRISTEN WELKER:
So, but my question for you: Did you talk to Speaker McCarthy about this House impeachment inquiry?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, no. I don’t talk to him like that.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Did you tell him that he should open a House impeachment inquiry?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, no. I don’t do that. I don’t think he’d do that. I mean, he wouldn’t do it based on me, no.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Did you talk to your Republican allies on Capitol Hill and say, “You should support this impeachment inquiry”?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, I don’t have to talk — they’re more proactive than I am. They think it’s terrible. I will say this: They think I was treated very unfairly. I mean, when I was impeached for a perfect phone call, and now it turned out to be perfect. I hope you will admit that, at least. Because I was right, 100% right. But I was impeached for a perfect phone call. And how sad that is. And we had 196 to nothing vote — Republicans. Very unusual for the Republican Party. I was so proud of them. A hundred ninety six. The entire House, not one person dissented. And then — other than Romney, who sort of gave me half a vote. But we had 100% in the Senate. People think I was treated very unfairly.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, the people who —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
And I know, I know I was treated —
KRISTEN WELKER:
The people who voted for that impeachment say that the phone call that you reference was about a quid pro quo.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
It was perfect.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
My phone call was perfect. My phone call was saying, “Please investigate any crimes that you see.” And by the way, I’m mandated to do that as the president of the United States. And it was really, really a call to congratulate him on winning the election. But —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, let’s —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No, what — when you talk about quid pro quo, please don’t talk about quid pro quo, because there was none in the call at all. Where there’s a quid —
KRISTEN WELKER:
That was the heart — what I’m saying is —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Where there is a quid pro quo —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– that was the heart of that impeachment.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– was when Biden said, very strongly, “We’re not going to give them the billion dollars unless they get rid of the prosecutor.” That’s a quid pro quo.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, let me take a step back here, because a lot of voters say what they want to talk about right now is your vision for the future.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And I’ve been traveling to a lot of the early voting states, and they say that your focus on the past is a problem for them. What do you say to those voters?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I have no focus on the past except that you have to learn from history. You have to learn from the past. We had an election that was very, very terrible. It was a terrible thing for our country. And you have to learn from that. You can’t forget that and just go — now, with all of the things that we said, I had the best economy maybe in history.
KRISTEN WELKER:
We’re going to talk about it next.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Right.
KRISTEN WELKER:
So, let’s stay on track with —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I had the best economy in history, and I’m going to do it again. I had the best energy. We were energy independent, soon to be energy dominant. Now, we’re begging for energy. I mean, what they’ve done to this country, they’re destroying our country.
KRISTEN WELKER:
We’re going to talk about the economy in just a minute. But before we move on from Capitol Hill, do you think Republican hardliners should abandon their threat to shut down the government over their spending priorities now that there is this impeachment inquiry?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
No. I think if they don’t get a fair deal — we have to save our country. We have $35 trillion in debt. We have to save our country. You know, the —
KRISTEN WELKER:
So, you would shut down the government? You’d support that?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I’d shut down the government if they can’t make an appropriate deal, absolutely.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let’s talk about the economy. And I want to start by talking about this big standoff between the auto workers and the big three auto manufacturers.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah.
KRISTEN WELKER:
My question for you, Mr. President, whose side are you on in this?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I’m on the side of making our country great. The auto workers are not going to have any jobs when you come right down to it, because if you take a look at what they’re doing with electric cars, electric cars are going to be made in China. The auto workers are not going to have any — I’ll tell you what. The auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership, and their leadership should endorse Trump. The reason is: You’ve got to have choice, like in school. I want school choice. I also want choice for cars. If somebody wants gasoline, if somebody wants all electric, they can do whatever they want. But they’re destroying the consumer, and they’re destroying the auto workers. The auto workers will not have any jobs, Kristen, because the — all of these cars are going to be made in China. The electric cars, automatically, are going to be made in China.
KRISTEN WELKER:
So, let’s talk about UAW’s leadership. The president, Shawn Fain, has withheld his endorsement of President Biden. This is what he had to say about you. Quote, “Another Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster.” How would you win that endorsement?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, if that’s the case, I probably won’t win his — I don’t know the gentleman, but I know his name very well, and I think he’s not doing a good job in representing his union, because he’s not going to have a union in three years from now. Those jobs are all going to be gone, because all of those electric cars are going to be made in China. That’s what’s happening, number one. Number two, the electric cars are much more expensive and they don’t go far enough. So if somebody wants to take a little bit of a long — just like the trucks. If somebody wants to take a little bit of a long ride, let’s go to Maine, or let’s go to Kentucky from New York, let’s — you can’t do it. I mean, you have to stop all the time. They don’t go far enough. They’re very expensive. They have a lot of drawbacks. Now, with that being said, some people are going to want them. Some people are going to travel short distances. What they’re doing with our trucking industry is a disaster, because they want all electric trucks. And a truck on a — with a large tank, large gasoline or diesel capacity, can go up to 2,000 miles. An electric truck goes 300 miles. So, what are these guys going to do? They’re going to, they’re going to stop every 300 miles and recharge their truck and spend three hours?
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s move on and talk about another big-picture issue when it comes to the economy: the issue of interest rates, inflation, something that you’ve —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– talked a lot about.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah.
KRISTEN WELKER:
The Federal Reserve is obviously independent, but I wonder, Mr. President, if you are reelected, would you direct your Federal Reserve chair to lower interest rates?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well you know that I put a lot of pressure on him. It was outside pressure, because nobody knows whether or not you can really do that, but I did, because I thought his interest rates were too high. And he ultimately dropped his interest rates. The same gentleman, as you know. And — but it was a lot of pressure. I mean, I was very active on that. Right now, interest rates are very high. They’re too high. People can’t buy homes. They can’t do anything. I mean, they can’t borrow money. The banks don’t have the money. The banks aren’t lending the money. The banks — by the way, Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank of America, they discriminate against conservatives. It’s a disgrace, and they shouldn’t be allowed to, and I’m going to do something about that. But you take a look at banks throughout the country. And I think because of the regulators — but you take a look at Bank of America and Chase, they discriminate against conservatives and Republicans.
KRISTEN WELKER:
What’s the evidence for that, Mr. President
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Oh, we’ll give you plenty of evidence —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. All right, well, let’s stay on track with this question, though. So, just to be very clear, if you were reelected, would you direct your Fed chair to lower interest rates?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Depends. It depends.
KRISTEN WELKER:
You might.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Depends where inflation is. But I would get inflation down, because drill we must. We will be drilling for oil. We are going to become, again, energy independent. We are going to reduce our debt, because we’re also going to become energy dominant. You know, we were ready to go dominant within a matter of months. We would have been making so much money. We have more oil, I call it liquid gold, under our feet than any other country — Saudi Arabia, Russia. There’s no country with more — and it’s sweet. It’s the finest. We have the best. You know, we’re taking it from Venezuela. You know what it is? Tar.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Are you —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
It’s the worst.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, are you going to appoint a new Fed chair if you’re reelected?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, I guess he would have two years left or something like that, so we’ll see.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. All right.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You know the word jawboning? I did a lot of jawboning against him, and he ultimately lowered interest rates. We had low interest rates. We had the best housing market ever. We had people buying homes.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Economists —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Today, people can’t buy homes.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Economists are looking at some of the figures right now, the fact that the unemployment rate is at 3.8%, and they say it looks like the U.S. may not dip into a recession. What do you make of that assessment?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Oh, I don’t know. You got — people are going to — they say that, and then you end up in a depression. They say you’re going to do great, you end up bad, and the opposite. These — most of them don’t know what they’re doing. It’s a touch. It’s a feel. And I predicted a lot of markets. I predicted a lot of things, frankly, you know? They say, “Trump was right about everything.” I think that the way it’s going now, you’re going to have to — things are not going, right now, very well for the consumer. Bacon is up five times. Food is up horribly, worse than energy. Energy is starting to go up at a level that we haven’t seen in a long time, meaning a couple of years — since he took over, because I had energy prices very low. I had gasoline very low. We have to get the energy down, which they will never do. And they kept it artificial because they took the strategic reserves, which I had a lot to do with filling up for the first time ever. They took the strategic reserves, and he issued it to everybody so that he could keep the gas prices down. Now, strategic reserves are at the lowest level they’ve ever been at, and we need that for war.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And there are a lot of factors —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
We need that —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– that have contributed to that.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Well, no. The big factor is the fact that he took that oil —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s talk about taxes.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– he took that and he let — he wanted to have low gas prices for an election. And now, we have nothing left.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, there are a lot of factors, including global factors, that went into that. Let’s talk about taxes, though.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I don’t know why people stick up for him so much —
KRISTEN WELKER:
You had —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– when he makes bad decisions, like you.
KRISTEN WELKER:
You — Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I don’t know why, and I have a lot of respect for you, and you were very fair in the debate. But I don’t know why you and other people say, “Oh, it’s okay that he’s destroyed the strategic —
KRISTEN WELKER:
No. Just —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– petroleum reserves.” I mean, why do you do that? Or, “It’s okay that he has open borders.” Somebody who was —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– in your position, not quite as good, said this morning, “Oh, having open borders is a wonderful thing.” I don’t know why. And I think that’s why the media —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Not sticking up --
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– has lost so much credibility.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– no, we’re not sticking up, Mr. President, we’re just having a conversation. Let me talk to you about taxes and your differences with President Biden over taxes.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Sure.
KRISTEN WELKER:
He wants to raise corporate tax rates to 28%. It’s reported you want to lower them to 15%. Is that true?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
I’d like to lower them a little bit if we could. But, what I want to do is we have to get some income coming in. You know, when I lowered taxes, we took in more revenue.
KRISTEN WELKER:
To 15%, Mr. President?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You know, that when I — depends. It depends on where we are at the time. You know, a lot happens in a year. But when I lowered taxes, I cut taxes tremendously, created tremendous jobs. So more importantly, we had more revenue with lower taxes than we did with higher taxes.
KRISTEN WELKER:
You also added $8 trillion to the national debt. Your GOP challenger Nikki Haley made that point saying, quote, “The truth is that Biden didn’t do this to us. Republicans did this to us.” Does she have a point?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
So, we had a thing happen to us. We had the greatest economy in history, and then we got hit with Covid. And we had to keep this, this beautiful thing going. And if I didn’t do that, if we didn’t put some money — and nobody knew what Covid was. Remember this was a new thing that came in. Somebody said, “It’s dust coming in from China.” It came from China. They tried and denied it, or they tried for a little while, and we didn’t let it. It came from Wuhan actually, which now they agree. Everybody’s now agreeing that it came from Wuhan. I said that years ago. But we had to do things that were very severe. We had to let some money come out. We were going to — we were on the verge of doing something that was amazing. We were going to have energy at a level bigger than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined. That energy was going to be sold to Europe and all other places. The prices would have come down. We were going to make a fortune, and we were going to start paying off debt. Instead, we got hit with Covid. People didn’t need oil, because nobody was driving all over the world, I mean, frankly. It was a disaster. What China did to the world with Covid is something that we’re going to get to the bottom of. And they have to pay something back. You know, nobody can pay back the cost of all those lives and all the money that was lost. But nobody can back the lives and all of the damage that was caused, including China —
KRISTEN WELKER:
But to Nikki Haley’s key argument, Mr. President —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
But you know what, they have to, they have to pay something back. They have to do something —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– To Nikki Haley’s key argument, though, what do you say to her?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
What does Nikki Haley know? I mean, I know Nikki Haley very well. She said I’m the greatest president. She left, she said I’m the greatest president. Now she’s running for office, and she says something. Look, look, Nikki Haley doesn’t know anything about it. She’s a politician. She knows nothing about it. Very nice woman. Some people like that, I would say. But she left office. She said very strongly, “I will never run. He was a great president,” and then in some cases said, “the greatest president in my lifetime,” in one case said, “ the greatest president ever.” Now she’s running. Nikki Haley has nothing to do with this. We will — we were going to make a fortune off our energy. We were going to send the energy to Europe. Europe was going to pay us tremendous amounts of money. And I’ll tell you, you would have never had the Ukraine monster at all. It would’ve never happened. Russia would’ve never gotten — just by sheer force of personality. But beyond personality, what happened is when oil hit $100 a barrel, and by the way, it’s right there right now again, Putin makes a fortune on this war. You know, everybody said, “Oh, he can’t afford it.” If Biden allowed my policies to stay in place, oil would right now be at $40 a barrel, and Putin wouldn’t be able to afford the war.
KRISTEN WELKER:
We are going to get to the war in Ukraine, but first, I do want to talk about the issue of abortion which is —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Okay.
KRISTEN WELKER:
– important to a lot of voters all across the country. Just this week, women in Idaho and Tennessee, I don’t know if you saw this, filed suit against their states saying their lives were put at risk after they were denied abortion services, because of their states’ restrictive laws put in place after Roe was overturned. So my question for you, Mr. President, is: How is it acceptable in America that women’s lives are at risk, doctors are being forced to turn away patients in need, or risk breaking the law?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Ready? Little bit of a long answer. I hope you have time.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I hope you have time. I’m here for as long as you have.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
So you have Roe v. Wade, for 52 years, people including Democrats wanted it to go back to states so the states could make the right. Roe v. Wade — I did something that nobody thought was possible, and Roe v. Wade was terminated, was put back to the states. Now, people, pro-lifers, have the right to negotiate for the first time. They had no rights at all, because the radical people on this are really the Democrats that say, after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth you’re allowed to terminate the baby —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. President, Democrats aren’t saying that. I just have to, Democrats are not saying that.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Of course they do —
KRISTEN WELKER:
That’s not true.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
You have a Virginia governor, previous governor, who said, “After the baby is born, you will make a determination, and if you want, you will kill that baby.” The baby is now born.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But Mr. President, Democrats writ large are not talking about that. Only 1% of late-term abortions happen, and always in the state of —
FMR PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Okay. They are the —
KRISTEN WELKER:
– crisis.
FMR PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– radical people —
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay.
FMR PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– because nobody wants to see —
KRISTEN WELKER:
But does —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
– abortion after five months and six months and seven months. And, now it’s going to — it gave people the belief — and pro-life, look, just so you understand, it’s pretty much 50/50. It’s a 50/50 issue, amazing. If you look at the charts, it’s been 49/51. It’s been like that for many years, goes both ways — 51 — both ways. Ready? I was able to do something which gave at least pro-life people a voice. Now it’s going to work out. Now, the number of months will be determined.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Can you answer this question?
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
And you’re going to have something where everybody comes together.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Does it bother you though that women say their lives are being put at risk? Do you feel you bear any responsibility, because as you say, you are responsible for having Roe v. Wade overturned.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
What’s going to happen, this is an issue that’s been going on for a long time. And it’s a very polarizing issue. Because of what’s been done, and because of the fact we brought it back to the states, we’re going to have people come together on this issue. They’re going to determine the time, because nobody wants to see five, six, seven, eight, nine months. Nobody wants to see abortions when you have a baby in the womb. I said, with Hillary Clinton when we had the debate, I made a statement, “Rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, you’re allowed to do that, and you shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”
KRISTEN WELKER:
Again, no one is arguing for that —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Again, listen, look —
KRISTEN WELKER:
That’s not a part of anyone’s argument, Mr. President.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Look, the Democrats are able to kill the baby after birth.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me talk to you —
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
Nobody wants that.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Democrats don’t want that either.
FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:
So we’re going to come together —