Transcript - Interview: Chanel Rion of One America News Network Interviews Donald Trump - August 26, 2020 | Factba.se

Chanel Rion

00:00:00 - 00:00:05 (5 sec)

Mr. President, thank you so much for having us here at the White House with you.

Donald Trump

00:00:05 - 00:00:05 (1 sec)

Chanel Rion

00:00:05 - 00:00:06 (1 sec)

We appreciate it.

Donald Trump

00:00:06 - 00:00:08 (2 sec)

Thank you very much.

Chanel Rion

00:00:08 - 00:00:30 (22 sec)

When you're hosting that briefing room, sitting across from you there are people there who, if in any other circumstance you would probably get along with them fine, if you weren't president and if they weren't journalists. Something happens though. Somewhere along the way, the cameras turn on and all of a sudden the vitriol starts.

Chanel Rion

00:00:30 - 00:00:59 (28 sec)

Their questions, often devoid of rationality, reason, decency. My question to you is, do you think these attacks against you in that briefing room -- Are they organic questions from individual, free-thinking people, or do you think that these journalists are afraid they might lose their jobs if they don't attack you the way they do every day?

Donald Trump

00:00:59 - 00:01:23 (24 sec)

I think most of them are told what to ask, and I see them reading their notes and then they look up and they ask this really obnoxious question. Then I can respond to it. I used to love really sparring with them, but now we're getting down to final strokes. We just got a great poll, 52% in Zogby, which frankly was never good for me, and 52% -- That's a big number.

Donald Trump

00:01:23 - 00:01:39 (16 sec)

That's a really good number. By the way, before the plague set in from China, it was over as far as I was concerned. I mean, we were doing great, and then it came in and we had to go back to work. Now we're doing great and the economy is going to be very strong. We're going to have a great third quarter.

Donald Trump

00:01:39 - 00:01:57 (18 sec)

But I think they're told actually, what to ask, how to ask it. What I do now is, if I don't like a question I'll say, "Thank you very much. Bye-bye." And I leave. Frankly, I mean, I'm not telling any town secrets. What happens then is that everybody gets angry at the reporter that asked that obnoxious question.

Donald Trump

00:01:57 - 00:02:13 (16 sec)

I don't mind tough questions. What I don't think is fair are some of these questions that are really statements more than questions. They're supposed to be asking questions of the President of the United States, and if they can't do that, then I just do something else.

Chanel Rion

00:02:13 - 00:02:22 (9 sec)

Your administration has been incredibly open to the press, and I don't -- Do you feel that that's recognized properly in terms of how accessible your administration has been?

Donald Trump

00:02:22 - 00:02:46 (24 sec)

Well, you have one man who I think hasn't answered a question since July something, some date in July, long time ago. That's a long time ago. And then you have me. Here I am with you and I'm with everybody. I go to the helicopter and I'll take questions, screaming questions. I've answered every question you would imagine that could be asked, and I feel good in doing it.

Donald Trump

00:02:46 - 00:03:07 (21 sec)

The reason I do that is because it is fake news. I get so many -- There's so much corrupt -- It's really worse than fake. It's corrupt. Sometimes you'll see the evening news and they'll start off with the exact -- There was a line they used a while ago called manufactured. Something was manufactured. All three newscasts said it was a manufactured statement or something.

Donald Trump

00:03:07 - 00:03:14 (7 sec)

I said, "Who uses that word?" I've never heard that word used in politics. All of a sudden they're using the word manufactured, all three of them.

Donald Trump

00:03:14 - 00:03:44 (29 sec)

They're like a pipeline from the DNC. If you look at -- NBC is horrible. NBC is horrible. Concast -- It's supposed to be com. I call it con, because it's a con. Concast is horrible. ABC is horrible. CBS -- Of course, CNN is just -- It's just dishonest stuff. You look at it and it's -- Then of course, MSDNC -- We call it MSDNC -- is just atrocious, between them and CNN.

Donald Trump

00:03:44 - 00:04:00 (17 sec)

You get all of this bad -- I really have no choice. If I don't answer questions, if I don't go out there -- not that I want to do it, but if I don't go out there and give an answer -- Oftentimes it's live television, which frankly, I like a lot better, because they don't chop it up into 15 different pieces where it doesn't make sense.

Donald Trump

00:04:00 - 00:04:13 (13 sec)

That's happened to me plenty of times, too. I'm very happy to be answering questions because I have no other choice. It's one of the reasons I use social media to the level I do, because otherwise I'd have no voice.

Chanel Rion

00:04:13 - 00:04:39 (26 sec)

Right behind you, you are setting up for the convention, the 2020 convention. I want to take you back in the time machine a little bit. Think back to your very first convention. I don't know how old you may have been your first convention. Looking back as a young man, do you feel that you were drawn to leadership then, the same way that you were drawn to leadership in 2016 when you announced?

Donald Trump

00:04:39 - 00:04:56 (17 sec)

Well, over the years I've been to two or three conventions, unrelated to what I'm doing, which is a lot, to be honest. It's sort of a lot, considering it's every four years. I've always found it to be fascinating, never thinking too much in terms of running. A lot of people said, "You should run." I had great success.

Donald Trump

00:04:56 - 00:05:18 (22 sec)

Then they said, "You should run." Then I did the apprentice and it became a very big hit on television. It was a tremendous hit on television for a long time. I decided not to do that. They wanted to extend for a long time, and I said, "No." In fact, they chose Arnold Schwarzenegger after I said, "I can't do it." That didn't work out too well.

Donald Trump

00:05:18 - 00:05:24 (6 sec)

I didn't do that. I said, "I'm going to run." That's probably when I really first knew it, because I could have had a very nice extension.

Donald Trump

00:05:24 - 00:05:44 (20 sec)

Even if you're rich, it's still a lot of money and it's a lot of prestige. You know, you have a primetime show, actors, major actors want to get onto prime time television and they can't. When I turned that down, I knew that I was going to run because that was really it. I almost ran in the -- I call it the Romney year.

Donald Trump

00:05:44 - 00:06:03 (19 sec)

He should have won that race easily. That should have been a race that was won easily. He choked. But that was one that would have, I think, been easier than beating Hillary. That was second term Obama. He had a horrible four years. I think that one would have -- That was too bad. But I almost did that, but I had a contract.

Donald Trump

00:06:03 - 00:06:13 (10 sec)

I was building buildings and I wanted to get everything finished and perfect, and I did it the following -- Let's call it a session, because that's what it is. It's all sessions.

Donald Trump

00:06:13 - 00:06:36 (23 sec)

But it was really something very special. I think actually beating Obama would have been easier than beating Hillary Clinton, because you had the first woman and you had a lot of things happening. But I think that beating Obama in the second term would have been actually easier. I'd been thinking about it over the years, almost did it four years before.

Donald Trump

00:06:36 - 00:07:03 (26 sec)

We did it this time and it worked out. I think we're doing really well. I mean, nothing's over, but it would have been almost over had the plague not come in from China. Now I'm working very hard and step by step, and I think we're probably ahead. They're seeing the many things we've done, as you do, and as your network reports very accurately.

Donald Trump

00:07:03 - 00:07:05 (2 sec)

I really appreciate your network.

Chanel Rion

00:07:05 - 00:07:22 (17 sec)

Well, thank you Mr. President. To the extent that you can comment on this, you and Joe Biden are roughly the same age, yet we're watching Joe Biden slip very gently into senility while you're at the top of your game. What's your secret?

Donald Trump

00:07:22 - 00:07:39 (17 sec)

Well, I am four years younger, but that's not the big deal because I know people that are 78, 79 and 80, but I also know people that are in their 90s that are totally sharp, mentally sharp, even physically pretty good. Bernie Marcus, Home Depot -- You talk to him, he's no different than he was 20 years ago.

Donald Trump

00:07:39 - 00:08:04 (25 sec)

I know many people. My father was in great shape well into his 80s mentally. They keep talking about, "He's old." But I know so many people in their 80s and even their 90s, where they're sharp. I see them. I see them, a lot of vet -- A World War II vet, a Korean war vet, and I'll meet -- "How old are you?" "I'm 97, sir.

Donald Trump

00:08:04 - 00:08:10 (6 sec)

I love you, sir." I have one, 100. He's, "I'm 100 years old, sir." He's sharp as can be.

Donald Trump

00:08:10 - 00:08:31 (21 sec)

So with Biden, it's not the age. I think there's something going on, but it's not for me to say. It's not for me to say. I do say this. Why isn't he being grilled by you right now, instead of me? Why isn't he taking any questions? Then when you watch -- I watched that fixed ABC interview. That was terrible.

Donald Trump

00:08:31 - 00:08:51 (20 sec)

I like David Muir a lot, but those questions were terrible. The way he asked these really easy questions. The other thing is, Biden's always getting angry. He's so angry, which is a sign, by the way. But you can ask the simplest question -- You couldn't have been softer than David Muir was the other night at ABC.

Donald Trump

00:08:51 - 00:08:53 (2 sec)

Donald Trump

00:08:53 - 00:09:12 (20 sec)

He gets angry all the time, and that's a bad sign. There are lots of reasons to be angry. I should be the one that's angry. I'm less angry, much less angry, and I should be the one that's angry, with all the phony stuff. They spied on my campaign. They got caught. Every day you get a subpoena for this one, that one, that one.

Donald Trump

00:09:12 - 00:09:27 (14 sec)

Just got another one from Schiff, shifty Schiff. These are dishonest people, and you can't do anything about it. Like Schiff, where he goes and repeats what I said in a phone call. It was a total lie, and we caught him cold. You can't do anything because he said it in the halls of Congress. It should be the opposite.

Donald Trump

00:09:27 - 00:09:41 (14 sec)

You have to be more honest in the halls of Congress. So I should be the one, but Biden has great anger. I'm watching that as he's asked a very routine question and he -- There's something going on, but that's not for me to say.

Chanel Rion

00:09:41 - 00:10:03 (22 sec)

Or let you go, Mr. President, tens of millions of Americans, everyday Americans, people that you may not necessarily have lived lives like, really support you and your family and your campaign to the great frustration of your adversaries. Why do you think you are able to have this kind of empathy for people you don't have shared experiences with?

Donald Trump

00:10:03 - 00:10:21 (18 sec)

It's an incredible thing. We went to Texas. We went to Florida. We went to Ohio. We went to Pennsylvania recently, and North Carolina. You see the crowds on the street. Tens of thousands of people, tens of thousands on the highways, and they're all with the Trump flags and they're waving flags and the American flag, by the way.

Donald Trump

00:10:21 - 00:10:42 (21 sec)

The other side, they have very little, very few people with a Biden sign. Even though it's for me, I'm riding, but you rarely see -- By the way, the press will always say, "Biden was heavily represented too." It's like, there was nobody. But, tens of thousands of people, American flags all over the place, which you never see on the other side, all over the place.

Donald Trump

00:10:42 - 00:11:02 (20 sec)

I say it's incredible. I will say this. We had a 2016 election like no other. There is more spirit in this. There's more enthusiasm in this than there ever was, ever, for 2016, and we had unbelievable enthusiasm. We have more today, and that's because I produced.

Donald Trump

00:11:02 - 00:11:28 (26 sec)

When you go back for just before the virus came in, the best numbers -- Employment, I don't have to go through it. The best of everything, no matter who you are, whether it's women or African American or Hispanic or Asian, it doesn't matter. The best numbers we had, the best stock markets, which by the way, are catching up within -- Right now, we've already -- NASDAQ and S&P are higher than they were even then.

Donald Trump

00:11:28 - 00:11:53 (25 sec)

That's because the markets know what's going to happen. We're going to have an incredible next year, if somebody doesn't come along and raise taxes, which they want to do. But there is a tremendous feeling that we have for each other. I have, and they have. There's a great loyalty. In fact, if somebody isn't with me, like a senator or a congressperson, then they really don't get -- I mean, they're writing a lot of stories, but never get elected.

Donald Trump

00:11:53 - 00:12:04 (10 sec)

We have a tremendous relationship together, and they want one thing. They want to make America great again, and that's what I want to do. That's why I'm here, make America great again. It's very simple. That's what we're doing.

Chanel Rion

00:12:04 - 00:12:07 (4 sec)

Mr. President, thank you for sitting with us, or standing with us, as you will, with [Inaudible]

Donald Trump

00:12:07 - 00:12:09 (1 sec)

Thank you, Chanel, very much.