Transcript - Interview: Katie Pavlich of Townhall Interviews Donald Trump at The White House - July 14, 2020 | Factba.se

Katie Pavlich

00:00:00 - 00:00:01 (2 sec)

Good morning, Mr. President. Thank you so much --

Donald Trump

00:00:01 - 00:00:02 (0 sec)

Katie Pavlich

00:00:02 - 00:00:04 (2 sec)

-- for taking the time to speak with us this morning. We really appreciate it.

Donald Trump

00:00:04 - 00:00:05 (1 sec)

Thank you, Katie, very much.

Katie Pavlich

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

Beautiful scene here in the Rose Garden.

Donald Trump

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

It is. It's a beautiful place.

Katie Pavlich

00:00:08 - 00:00:10 (2 sec)

It's been a challenging year for the country.

Donald Trump

00:00:10 - 00:00:11 (0 sec)

Katie Pavlich

00:00:11 - 00:00:16 (5 sec)

And over the past couple of weeks, you've had a number of events at the White House to bolster your support for law enforcement.

Donald Trump

00:00:16 - 00:00:17 (1 sec)

Katie Pavlich

00:00:17 - 00:00:32 (15 sec)

But as we see mass retirements and a number of police officers ambushed around the country, what are the steps that your administration is going to take forward from this point on to make sure that our police officers feel that they are supported.

Donald Trump

00:00:32 - 00:01:00 (28 sec)

So we're very strong in law and order, and we're calling these very Liberal Democrats, usually in all -- we don't have any Republicans involved to be honest, but there are cities that are run by Liberal Democrats like Seattle. I don't know if you know, but we were going in there the following morning and they heard that, and we told them, we said, we're going in. And they sent the police in and they solved it but we would have done it. In Minnesota, in Minneapolis, we had National Guard after watching that -- what happened with the police.

Donald Trump

00:01:00 - 00:01:13 (13 sec)

They didn't run. They were told to run. They were told to leave. The police would have been perfect. They would have settled it. There are great police there. I know some of the people in that force, but they were told run, leave -- leave the police -- they took over the police station, these people.

Katie Pavlich

00:01:13 - 00:01:14 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:14 - 00:01:45 (31 sec)

But after going through that for about four days, five days, we had the National Guard and it was like cutting through butter. It was like a knife cutting through butter. It was so easy and it stopped. And we're doing many things. We did on the statues -- nobody's playing with federal statutes anymore. They go to jail for a period of 10 years. And by the way, it's not a negotiated sentence. It's -- you go to jail for 10 years, if you knocked down. And since that was two and a half weeks ago, we haven't had any problem. But we're now looking at doing, having to do something. You know, we have to be asked to go into --

Katie Pavlich

00:01:45 - 00:01:45 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:45 - 00:02:05 (20 sec)

-- a city like Chicago, which is so ridiculous where they had like 68 shootings and 18 deaths over the weekend. It's not even comprehensible, worse than Afghanistan, worse than any war zone. And so, we're supposed to be asked, she is supposed to call the Mayor, Lightfoot, she's supposed -- Laurie. She's supposed to call and she's supposed to say, we need your help.

Donald Trump

00:02:05 - 00:02:18 (13 sec)

We call her, would you like to have us go in? And they don't want us. And I say, what's going on? We are going to have to do something very comprehensive because we don't want to sit back and watch this. It can end very easy.

Katie Pavlich

00:02:18 - 00:02:20 (2 sec)

So what does that going to be? What does that mean, something comprehensive?

Donald Trump

00:02:20 - 00:02:23 (3 sec)

Well, that means sending people in. Just sending people in to clean it up.

Katie Pavlich

00:02:23 - 00:02:25 (2 sec)

So it'd be nationalizing the National Guard?

Donald Trump

00:02:25 - 00:02:48 (23 sec)

By the way, the Chicago Police are great. They're great but they're not being allowed to do their job. The greatest example is New York, what's happening in New York. Crime is up 358% shooting. Nobody's ever seen numbers like this. They're not allowed to do their job. And if they do their job, if they do it well, and it gets a little bit rough, they're afraid that they're going to go to jail for the rest of their life.

Katie Pavlich

00:02:48 - 00:02:48 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:02:48 - 00:03:16 (28 sec)

I mean, it's a -- you, you can have a bad apple but we're -- what we're do -- 'cause what happened was terrible, with as you know, George Floyd. What happened there was terrible. It was -- we all, everybody acknowledges that. But what this has done to the world, what this has done to law and order. And when you look at St. Louis with two people that came out, they were going to be beat up badly if they were lucky, OK. If they were lucky.

Donald Trump

00:03:16 - 00:03:31 (15 sec)

They were going to be beat up badly and the house was going to be totally ransacked and probably burned down like they tried to burn down churches. And these people were standing there, never used it, and they were legal, the weapons. And now, I understand somebody local. They want to prosecute these people.

Donald Trump

00:03:31 - 00:03:55 (24 sec)

It's a disgrace. So we are very tough on it. We are dealing behind the scenes. We're saying you better get going. There's a point at which we were allowed to go in. And that point is rapidly being reached. But we were going into Seattle. We did go into -- if you look at the Minneapolis event. You remember that event when they lined up and they just walked right through those streets, like, there was nothing, the National Guard.

Donald Trump

00:03:55 - 00:04:09 (15 sec)

But there's a point at which we will have to do it because we just have to do it for the good of the country. And a lot of people say, don't do it. That's a local problem. That's good for you politically. I don't care if it's good for us or bad for us, we can't let this continue on.

Katie Pavlich

00:04:09 - 00:04:25 (16 sec)

Well, what would be your message to the men and women who are still getting up in the morning and putting on their uniform, and going out and doing the right thing while a number of people are understandably retiring. And they're stuck in these cities that are run by Democrats where the crime continues to increase and there seems to be no backing for the place.

Donald Trump

00:04:25 - 00:04:44 (19 sec)

Well, there's never been a time -- and this has been going on for years. You know, it's gotten worse, worse, worse. It's gotten crazy. When now they want to just abolish police forces, right? Defund and abolish. That's their term, defund and -- and they made it. I mean, I watched Biden. He has a campaign now where he wants to bring energy where you can't use petroleum products.

Donald Trump

00:04:44 - 00:05:00 (15 sec)

You're not going to have any factories working and he wants to do it at a very short period of time. That means Texas is gone. That means all these jobs. You have millions and millions of jobs, but it's not a strong form of energy. I understand alternate -- and I understand every form of energy very well.

Donald Trump

00:05:00 - 00:05:19 (20 sec)

I understand wind. I understand solar. You don't have the power. You don't have the capacity. We would have to close down half of our factories. What, what they're doing. And basically, that's a Bernie Sanders deal. He's gone crazier than Bernie Sanders. And I don't think it's good for votes either. I don't even think it's good politically.

Donald Trump

00:05:19 - 00:05:23 (4 sec)

And then what are they going to do with the airplanes? You know, no more flying? What are you going to do?

Katie Pavlich

00:05:23 - 00:05:23 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:05:23 - 00:05:45 (22 sec)

So they just came out. He moved up to date 15 years and they want to go, I guess, all green by a certain time. The problem is you're not going to have any factories because the capacity is not there. You can do some alternate energy. You can do alternative, alternate. You can do many forms of energy. You have a lot of different forms of energy but it's not going to get us there.

Donald Trump

00:05:45 - 00:06:01 (16 sec)

We're the No. 1 in the world by far and it's not going to be able to keep us there if they do that. But these people have gone crazy. Now with law and order, it's the same thing. With law and order, what they're doing, and it's unfair to the police. And I say to the police, you are loved, you are respected.

Donald Trump

00:06:01 - 00:06:23 (21 sec)

This is a small group of crazy people. Just stay where you are. It's going to be turned around. It's going to be a turn -- it's going to -- you're going to have -- people better be very careful because you are going to have a backlash that's going to be incredible. People better be very careful what they wish for because the American people are not going to take it very much longer.

Katie Pavlich

00:06:23 - 00:06:34 (11 sec)

Moving on to shift gears now to the Wuhan coronavirus. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the house claims that she wants to reopen schools safe -- safely. But has she contacted you at all to try and work with you to do that?

Donald Trump

00:06:34 - 00:06:49 (16 sec)

No, no. With her, it's just words. It's just words. She's not going to do that. And we have to open schools. It's up to the Governors and we're pushing them and pushing them strongly through Department of Education and me. We have to open up schools. And one thing we've learned a lot about this virus, we did the right thing.

Donald Trump

00:06:49 - 00:07:08 (18 sec)

We saved millions of lives by doing what we do -- did. By banning China when nobody else wanted me to. We saved hundreds of thousands of lives. We've done it right. But now we have to keep open but we have to open up schools, a big part of it. And one thing we've learned, if you're under 18 years old, you're in very good shape.

Donald Trump

00:07:08 - 00:07:18 (10 sec)

Very, very few instances where there's a big problem. We have to open our schools and we have to open them up in the fall. As soon as they're ready, which is getting to be very close.

Katie Pavlich

00:07:18 - 00:07:32 (14 sec)

So you've repeatedly justified your decision to shut down the economy on behalf of saving millions of lives. So walk us through the steps of how you are now comfortable, reopening the economy, and reopening schools in the fall. Like, what happened in between there to change your mind?

Donald Trump

00:07:32 - 00:07:56 (24 sec)

Yes, right. Well, that big push. Well, that big push would have been a disaster and we knew nothing about the disease. If you remember, there was a time we knew nothing. Now we know it affects older people, especially older people with a problem with diabetes or heart problem. So we've learned a lot about this disease and we're going to have fires and sometimes embers, but sometimes you're going to have fires, and we're going to put them out.

Donald Trump

00:07:56 - 00:08:12 (16 sec)

But we did the right thing because -- I think you would have had two and a half, 3 million people dead right now. We have 135,000 too many. One is too many. It all came out of China. They should have never allowed this to happen. You're going to see some bad things happening with respect to how this did happen.

Donald Trump

00:08:12 - 00:08:38 (27 sec)

It's a disgrace that it was allowed to happen but it is what it is. And we took -- we -- take a look at ventilators. We didn't have ventilators. We make now thousands of ventilators a month, many thousands of ventilators. We're helping other countries. We have more than we need. We have every place. There's not one person in the country that needed a ventilator that didn't get it. And you have to understand, we started off with -- we didn't have ventilators.

Donald Trump

00:08:38 - 00:08:57 (19 sec)

We have 11 different companies building ventilators right now and really good ones to a point where we're helping many other countries that will never be able to do a ventilator. It's hard to build. It's expensive. It's big. Take a look at what's happened with testing. We test more than any country in the world by many times.

Donald Trump

00:08:57 - 00:09:23 (26 sec)

Now, that is both good and bad and you can spot what's happening and you can spot, uh, so to speak, trends. But the bad is that we have more cases. The reason we have more cases is because we go out looking for cases. So we tested 45 million people. If we tested half, we'd have half the number of cases. If we tested half of that we got -- when I was with the heads of numerous countries but Mexico was just, he was a great guy.

Donald Trump

00:09:23 - 00:09:45 (22 sec)

But basically, they're testing is somebody sick. They have symptoms or they have a problem, or they go to the hospital, they get tested. But they don't report, you know, thousands of cases all over the country like we do. So the testing is good. But what the testing does do is it gives the fake news fodder to go after you, cases, cases, cases.

Donald Trump

00:09:45 - 00:10:01 (16 sec)

For instance, if they did testing like we're doing in Brazil or in Russia, or in China or in any of these places, you'd see numbers that would blow us away. You'd see numbers that would be -- but they don't do that. They do it at the hospital. They do it at doctor's offices. They do it locally. When somebody is not feeling well.

Donald Trump

00:10:01 - 00:10:08 (7 sec)

We test everybody. And probably, the right thing to do but it gives the fake news a lot of ammunition.

Katie Pavlich

00:10:08 - 00:10:12 (4 sec)

Well, what about the therapeutic side? Are you still taking hydroxychloroquine first of all?

Donald Trump

00:10:12 - 00:10:13 (0 sec)

Katie Pavlich

00:10:13 - 00:10:18 (6 sec)

And do you want to comment on the new study that show that drug has actually been very effective in treating COVID patients?

Donald Trump

00:10:18 - 00:10:40 (22 sec)

It's very effective. So the radical left Democrats, whoever you call them, anything you want, they had a thing about hydroxychloroquine because of the fact that I, one day said, hey, I think it's good. I heard good things. There was some very good studies. They went after it. And then, they do test where they test 89-year old people that are close to death.

Donald Trump

00:10:40 - 00:11:02 (22 sec)

In one case, they said they took it and he died immediately that he was close to death. They came out with these terrible and phony, totally phony studies only because I was pushing it because I thought he could help people. And I did. I took it for a period of two weeks because I was in a White House that, uh, a couple of people got positive, had zero impact, zero.

Donald Trump

00:11:02 - 00:11:23 (21 sec)

I mean, I'm still here. Let's put it that way. Uh, and I would take it again. If for any reason I thought -- and it's really something that you'd take early or before. Frontline doctors take it. A lot of people like it since. Then, we got a couple of phony reports and everybody said, oh, no good. Then, since then, some very good reports have come out.

Donald Trump

00:11:23 - 00:11:44 (21 sec)

One report from the Ford clinic, which is a big deal. The Ford system, medical system in Michigan came out. It was unbelievable. Plus, we have a lot of doctors saying it works great. We have one doctor in Westchester, New York. He said he has 500 patients and every one of them lived. You've seen that. But we've had a lot of good report, the French study, and I say it works.

Donald Trump

00:11:44 - 00:12:11 (27 sec)

But here's the thing, it's been used for malaria for 40 years. It doesn't hurt you to take it. You have to take that zinc and Z-Pak if you're feeling the lungs are in trouble. You take Z-Pak for three or four days. But I took it for two weeks, the Hydroxy, and I had zero impact. All I know is I didn't get it. So I don't want to knock on those columns if they were wood, but no they're not.

Donald Trump

00:12:11 - 00:12:14 (3 sec)

They're concrete or they're stone or something.

Katie Pavlich

00:12:14 - 00:12:14 (0 sec)

No, you can pretend.

Donald Trump

00:12:14 - 00:12:40 (26 sec)

But I'll pretend they're wood. Um, so I took it and for two weeks, exactly, two-week regimen. There was no problem and I didn't get it. But the one thing is it's been tested for many years. Plus, it's a very inexpensive drug. It's been around for so long and it's incredible on malaria. And malaria countries, they say are, you know, where people take Hydroxy have an unbelievably low rate.

Donald Trump

00:12:40 - 00:12:59 (20 sec)

Now, you'd have to check that. Somebody will check it but that's what I've heard. But some great tests came out. The only reason, Katie, that the people went after it was because I was for it. I was only for it for one reason, because if it makes people better and I would love to say, take Hydroxy. It costs almost nothing.

Donald Trump

00:12:59 - 00:13:25 (26 sec)

And give it to all the people in Florida and Texas, people that are -- not people that are advanced with a problem because we have Remdesivir. We have other things too, a lot of great things are happening in terms of therapeutics and vaccines, tremendous stories happening. But with the Hydroxy it's almost free and I'd give it to people before they get it, or when they have the early signs.

Donald Trump

00:13:25 - 00:13:30 (5 sec)

I think you'd see a big difference but tremendous tests are coming out. Tremendous studies are coming.

Katie Pavlich

00:13:30 - 00:13:47 (17 sec)

So, you know, the reason why we're in this situation is because of China. Um, where is the administration on encouraging American companies who are operating and manufacturing in China, especially PPE. Um, how are we -- how are you enticing them to come back to the United States to, uh, manufacture those types of goods?

Donald Trump

00:13:47 - 00:13:47 (0 sec)

Katie Pavlich

00:13:47 - 00:13:51 (4 sec)

Because a number of these boxes you buy at the store for mass and such, say made in China.

Donald Trump

00:13:51 - 00:14:14 (23 sec)

Right. But we're also making them here now. We have plants making all over. You know, like Honeywell and you know, companies that you wouldn't think of for making this kind of stuff. Uh, they're making the, uh, certain types of mask, especially the medical, the doctors, what the doctors need in the hospital, 95s. They, they are doing -- I went up to one of the factories in Maine and it's incredible.

Donald Trump

00:14:14 - 00:14:28 (14 sec)

One of the plants and it's incredible what all of these companies are doing. We're starting to make a lot but you'll be seeing over the next two weeks. I'm doing something that's extremely bold and, uh, you'll see. I think you'll be extremely impressed by it.

Katie Pavlich

00:14:28 - 00:14:28 (1 sec)

So, you're saying --

Donald Trump

00:14:28 - 00:14:51 (22 sec)

Well, look, I've been fighting this with China for a long time. You had the globalists. They want to make everything in China. We can make our pencils here. We don't need 57 pencils for every kid. You can have two. Uh, and look, I'm very upset with China. I think what China did is a disgrace, whether they knew it or not, I won't get into that.

Donald Trump

00:14:51 - 00:15:15 (24 sec)

But one thing, they knew it well enough that it didn't get into the rest of China but it did get out to the rest of the world, including Europe and the U.S. Then, they tried to blame it on Europe. Then, they tried to blame it on American soldiers. They did everything. Now, it's a China virus, whether you like it or not, it's a China virus and you got 20 other names you can give it. But I am very, uh, angry with China.

Katie Pavlich

00:15:15 - 00:15:17 (3 sec)

So just to reiterate, you have something coming on enticing American companies out of China.

Donald Trump

00:15:17 - 00:15:19 (2 sec)

Yeah. We do, we do. Something very strong, yeah.

Katie Pavlich

00:15:19 - 00:15:28 (9 sec)

OK. One more question on China, then, we'll get to the 2020 campaign. The China -- Chinese and the Iranians just announced a military agreement to work together. Just wanted to get your response on that.

Donald Trump

00:15:28 - 00:15:45 (16 sec)

Well, we'll see. And we may have to, uh, stop doing business with both of them. We may, if that's the fact, I'll look at that and I'll see. But if that's the case, let China get rich with Iran. We just don't do business with them. That's fine. As far as I'm concerned, that would be the best solution anyway.

Donald Trump

00:15:45 - 00:16:03 (18 sec)

We've lost $500 billion a year with China every year for many years, many years. We've lost -- we lose hundreds of billions, not millions, hundreds of billions of diners -- dollars with China. You didn't do business with China, can I tell you something? You made a lot of money for this country. You made a lot of money for this country.

Donald Trump

00:16:03 - 00:16:22 (19 sec)

China has ripped us off from day one. I campaigned on it. We made a great China deal where they have to buy $240 billions -- billion, including $50 billion, $40 billion to $50 billion with our farmers. The problem is, the ink wasn't dry on this deal. The ink wasn't even dry when the plague came in from China.

Donald Trump

00:16:22 - 00:16:28 (6 sec)

So if they want to make a deal with Iran, that's fine. Let's not do business with either of them. That would be just fine with me.

Katie Pavlich

00:16:28 - 00:16:39 (11 sec)

All right. So, speaking of business with foreign entities and foreign countries, here at home, you are up for re-election. It's been an unconventional election year. What is your vision should you win a second term?

Donald Trump

00:16:39 - 00:17:00 (22 sec)

Well, it's unconventional for one big reason because of these mail-in ballots. Patterson, New Jersey just had an election and 20% of the ballots were a fraud and people are going to jail. You have other elections where they're indicting mailman because the mailman are stealing them and selling them. You have others where they're -- even the 2016, 1% are unaccounted for of the mail-in ballots.

Donald Trump

00:17:00 - 00:17:19 (18 sec)

This election is going to be a fraud if they do that. Now, it's different from an absentee where you go in and you write in and you go through a whole procedure, and you do it like I'm working at the White House and I'm in Florida, voting in Florida. So it's a much different situation. Absentee is great because you have to go through a process.

Donald Trump

00:17:19 - 00:17:37 (18 sec)

These mail-ins, think of it, some Democrat Governor sends in millions of ballots all over the state, like in California, millions of ballots. Who, who were they sending them to? Nobody has any idea. They're sending them to dogs. They actually have it sent to dogs. They sent them -- a friend of mine from Westchester County.

Donald Trump

00:17:37 - 00:18:02 (26 sec)

His son died, unfortunately, great son. He died seven years ago. And my friend called up a couple of nights ago, he said, my son, Robert just got sent a ballot, a mail-in ballot. He said, what do I do? I said, save it, give it to me. I want to use it because we're saying that this election -- we cannot have a fair election if we're going to have millions of ballots.

Donald Trump

00:18:02 - 00:18:16 (14 sec)

It's not only where they send them, it's where they don't send them. So you have a Republican neighborhood and you have a Democrat Governor, and they happen to skip that neighborhood. It's a fraud and it's, it's, it's so easy. It's -- it will be a rigged election.

Katie Pavlich

00:18:16 - 00:18:17 (1 sec)

Yeah. And certainly --

Donald Trump

00:18:17 - 00:18:41 (24 sec)

You look at what happened in California, Katie, but look at just a few weeks ago. Patterson, New Jersey, 20% of the ballots were a fraud. People are being locked up left and right, look at the postman that are being indicted for federal crime, for terrible crimes. So, you have States run by Democrats. And in many cases, run by Republicans too.

Donald Trump

00:18:41 - 00:18:57 (16 sec)

And I don't know what's going to happen there, but you have States run by Democrats who are sending out millions of ballots, and then, they come back. There's no -- what you should have is a voter ID and you have to go and vote. Unless, you can't vote and then you should get an absentee ballot, go through a process.

Donald Trump

00:18:57 - 00:19:13 (16 sec)

So it's a very -- to me, that's the most dangerous thing about this election because we're going to win the election. When you look at Joe, he doesn't know what he's doing. Everybody knows it. He's been doing this for 47 years. Now, all of a sudden, he turned green, OK. He turned green, he's become a greenie.

Donald Trump

00:19:13 - 00:19:34 (21 sec)

And he's going to have all our businesses within a short period of time working off of a wind. We'll close up 90% of the factories in our country if they do that and Texas will be out of business. We'll lose 10 million energy jobs. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard. But Joe Biden for 47 years, now, all of a sudden, he's become green.

Donald Trump

00:19:34 - 00:19:38 (3 sec)

And in all fairness, Joe doesn't know where he is. You know that better than anybody.

Katie Pavlich

00:19:38 - 00:19:42 (4 sec)

All right. Well, on that note, Mr. President, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Donald Trump

00:19:42 - 00:19:46 (4 sec)

Thank you. Thank you very much, Katie.