Transcript - Interview: Sean Hannity Interviews Donald Trump Via Telephone - March 4, 2020 | Factba.se

Note

00:00:00 - 00:00:00 (0 sec)

[This transcript was provided by Fox News Channel and was proofread by Factba.se. Interview courtesy of Fox News Channel's Hannity.]

Sean Hannity

00:00:00 - 00:00:11 (11 sec)

I understand the president is now on the line, the President of the United States -- the 45th President, Donald J. Trump. Mr. President, thank you for being with us, sir.

Donald Trump

00:00:11 - 00:00:12 (2 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:00:12 - 00:00:31 (19 sec)

I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh -- you have released the whirlwind, you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. You heard from the chief justice today. That sounds like a threat to me. Your reaction?

Donald Trump

00:00:31 - 00:00:52 (21 sec)

Well first of all, let me start by saying Dr. Siegel, I thought was terrific tonight, and I really appreciate the words. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a real professional. And as far as Schumer is concerned, it was a terrible thing he said. I was amazed by it. And if that were a Republican, you would see really bad things happening.

Donald Trump

00:00:52 - 00:01:12 (20 sec)

It's very unequal justice. And it's a disgrace that he was able to say something like that. And he wasn't shielded by the halls of Congress like Schiff was when he lied about my phone call, where he made up a phone call and gave it in Congress. And you immediately say, good, we'll take it to court. But he's got immunity, because he's talking in Congress.

Donald Trump

00:01:12 - 00:01:31 (19 sec)

And so he totally made up a -- it was a fake phone call. He just totally made it up, his speech. And it was disgraceful. Well, Schumer did it outside on the streets in front of a rough crowd. So it was a disgrace to the Supreme Court and to the U.S. Senate.

Sean Hannity

00:01:31 - 00:01:57 (26 sec)

Mr. President, my analysis of last night, and the lead up, it seemed the media has ignored this, Bernie Sanders was again doubling down on supporting one murderous dictatorship regime after another. It seems like there's not a whole lot of policy differences between the candidates -- maybe Mike Bloomberg was an exception -- on issues, but supporting murdering dictatorships, I would argue is a tipping point.

Sean Hannity

00:01:57 - 00:02:02 (6 sec)

Your reaction to that? And do you think that impacted last night? And your reaction overall to last night?

Donald Trump

00:02:02 - 00:02:21 (18 sec)

Well, I don't know what impacted last night. I think Elizabeth Warren, who did terribly last night, but she got enough votes that if Bernie Sanders would have had those votes -- and I assume he would have gotten a vast majority, he would have won all of those places -- or certainly most of them. He would have won Texas.

Donald Trump

00:02:21 - 00:02:38 (17 sec)

He would have won Minnesota. He would have won Massachusetts. So Elizabeth Warren, really what she did -- and you know, others left -- they dropped out and they supported Joe Biden, and that really helped. Now, Joe didn't work that out, but somebody within that group worked it out. That was smart. But Joe would never be able to do that.

Donald Trump

00:02:38 - 00:02:55 (17 sec)

And -- but I will say this, Bernie Sanders, had he -- if he were able to convince Elizabeth Warren to endorse him, or even to just drop out, because she's doing terribly, he would have won a large number of the states that he lost last night.

Sean Hannity

00:02:55 - 00:03:13 (18 sec)

There are a lot of issues that I see. I know that people are acting perhaps as though it doesn't exist. I -- there -- Joe Biden is beyond a gaffe machine. I would argue that the toughest job in the world is your job, to be the president of the United States of America, leading the world. You need strength.

Sean Hannity

00:03:13 - 00:03:24 (11 sec)

You need stamina. You need focus. You need the ability to react in real-time. What do you make of these numerous gaffes of Joe Biden?

Donald Trump

00:03:24 - 00:03:50 (26 sec)

Well, look, I don't want to be too critical. I just -- you know, I've never seen anything like it to be honest. And I'm sure that the Democrats are saying the same thing. But they'd rather have him than Bernie. And Bernie just doesn't make too many gaffes but Bernie's got his own difficulties. But the way they push him – you know, look, the media is all on their side.

Donald Trump

00:03:50 - 00:04:13 (23 sec)

When I say all – all, but a little bit including yourselves and some of the folks on FOX, some of the folks around. You have some great people. You have Rush who's doing, I hear really well. I hear he's doing much better. And Mark Levin, and -- you know, I mean we have a lot of support. You'd be amazed. We have a lot of support, the great Lou Dobbs.

Donald Trump

00:04:13 - 00:04:38 (26 sec)

So many people we have as supporters outside of just, you know, our Fox News, which, you know, I have my own -- I have my own little difficulties with, if you want to know the truth. They put people on that I think are inappropriate and say very, very false things and people don't challenge them. I think they're trying to be very politically correct, or fair and balanced, right, is the term -- fair and balanced.

Donald Trump

00:04:38 - 00:04:41 (3 sec)

But I think they hurt themselves, if you want to know the truth.

Sean Hannity

00:04:41 - 00:05:05 (24 sec)

Mr. President, I have not seen this reported much. The turnout for you has been record-breaking. And that goes, starting back with Iowa, New Hampshire. Last night, you received more votes in Vermont, Minnesota, and Massachusetts than any incumbent in the last four decades. In Colorado, Republican turnout for you last night -- this was an uncontested primary -- greater than the past three Republican primaries combined.

Sean Hannity

00:05:05 - 00:05:18 (12 sec)

In Texas, you received more votes last night than Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren combined. And we're seeing similar results in every state. How do you interpret that?

Donald Trump

00:05:18 - 00:05:33 (15 sec)

Well, I appreciate you saying that. I've heard those numbers. I have not read them in any media. I don't read those numbers because they don't tell us those numbers. But the people get it, Sean. The people are genius. The people are brilliant in so many ways. They get it. But you don't read those numbers.

Donald Trump

00:05:33 - 00:05:50 (17 sec)

Those numbers aren't broadcast for the most part. I've never seen them. I've heard them. I had heard that. And I had heard that we broke records all over the place. And never once have I seen it. And I'm pretty good with the media. I see a lot of the media, what's going on. I haven't read it. I haven't seen it.

Sean Hannity

00:05:50 - 00:06:13 (24 sec)

Well, I like to pride ourselves on this program for giving news and information that they ignore. Let me ask you, because we now know that there is a corruption issue, and there is an investigation officially in the country of Ukraine as it relates to Joe Biden, who said, you've got six hours, you're not getting the billion unless you fire the prosecutor investigating my zero-experience son, Hunter being paid millions.

Sean Hannity

00:06:13 - 00:06:36 (22 sec)

After all you went through, and now that you see Ron Johnson in the Senate, and you see Ukraine investigating this issue -- and then the other countries such as China that Peter writes about in great detail, that Hunter, again, no experience, making tons of money. Do -- it has to be a campaign issue, how do you plan to use it? Or do you plan to use it?

Donald Trump

00:06:36 - 00:07:10 (34 sec)

Well, to show you how crazy it is, it's not a campaign issue for the Democrats. They don't want to bring it up. They were obviously told you can't bring that up. So even people that are against -- if you look at Joe, they're against Joe. They don't want to bring that up. That was off-bounds. I watch certain reporters say that this is totally unsubstantiated, and were sorry to even ask you a question -- Anderson Cooper -- then he asks a question at one of the debates, and it was so mild, and a ridiculous answer is given, because there is no answer to it -- of course it's corrupt.

Donald Trump

00:07:10 - 00:07:28 (19 sec)

And so, he gives a really bad answer. And they go into the next question. Nobody says anything, the other people that are running trying to beat him don't bring it up. That wouldn't happen with the Republicans, I can tell you. I'm not saying good, bad, or indifferent, but that certainly wouldn't happen with the Republicans.

Donald Trump

00:07:28 - 00:07:46 (18 sec)

And you know, it's incredible. That will be a major issue in the campaign. I will bring that up all the time, because I don't see any way out. I don't see any way -- for them, I don't see how they can answer those questions. And maybe they can. I hope they can. I'd actually prefer it that they can. But I don't believe they'll be able to answer those questions.

Donald Trump

00:07:46 - 00:07:49 (2 sec)

That was purely corrupt.

Sean Hannity

00:07:49 - 00:07:56 (8 sec)

Any thoughts in your mind why you think Barack Obama has not endorsed his vice president of eight years?

Donald Trump

00:07:56 - 00:08:15 (18 sec)

Well, I would say because he didn't think he could make it. He didn't think he had a shot at it. You know, he's dealing with people that I didn't rate the highest on the political scale. I know everybody. And I look at -- even a party. I know people that are Democrats that are far above what you're watching.

Donald Trump

00:08:15 - 00:08:34 (19 sec)

I watched one night. And I looked at the cast of characters. I said, this is -- 350 million people. And this is the best we can do? I don't think so. I will tell you, I know some Democrats that would blow all of those Democrats away. But they didn't run. Maybe they just didn't want to run against me. I've heard that.

Donald Trump

00:08:34 - 00:08:50 (16 sec)

Maybe it's true and maybe it's not -- makes me feel good. But they didn't want -- they're going to wait -- they're going to wait for another four years. But you have some Democrats that are very impressive. This is not a group that I think was very impressive at all.

Sean Hannity

00:08:50 - 00:09:12 (22 sec)

Mr. President, Joe Biden has a record. He served as vice president for eight years. That record would include the Iranian deal. That record would include how they reacted and responded with the H1N1 virus. See -- I'll get to that in more detail in a minute. That record would include 13 million more Americans after eight years on food stamps, eight million more in poverty.

Sean Hannity

00:09:12 - 00:09:27 (15 sec)

The lowest labor participation rates since the '70s. The worst recovery since the '40s. The lowest homeownership rate in 51 years. And that would also include the accumulation of more debt than all 43 presidents before Obama/Biden combined.

Donald Trump

00:09:27 - 00:09:27 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:09:27 - 00:09:32 (5 sec)

-- your record. How do you compare?

Donald Trump

00:09:32 - 00:09:50 (18 sec)

Well, I think what we've done is unprecedented. The largest tax cuts in history. Trade deals all over the place. I mean, they're -- they're going to start kicking in fairly soon. Unfortunately, by the time we get to the election, they'll just be partially kicked in. But the deal with China, $250 billion a year.

Donald Trump

00:09:50 - 00:10:13 (23 sec)

The deal with Japan -- and it's a partial deal, I'll go back, and we're going to make it much bigger even -- but it's $40 billion a year. The deal with South Korea, the U.S./Mexico deal, the U.S./Canada deal -- the USMCA combined -- one of the biggest trade deals ever made. The deal with China is actually, you know, right in that same category.

Donald Trump

00:10:13 - 00:10:32 (19 sec)

It's an incredible thing what we've done. We've rebuilt the military. We've taken care of our vets. We got choice. Nobody thought we were going to get choice. They've been trying to get Choice for over 40 years. That's Veteran's Choice, where the veteran, if they can't see a doctor quickly, they go out to a private doctor, we pay the bill.

Donald Trump

00:10:32 - 00:10:58 (26 sec)

And it's a great thing for our country. It's a great thing for our veterans. We got Accountability so that if our veterans are treated badly, if they're treated horribly, we have – we had in the VA. We had all sorts of problems -- thieves. You couldn't do a thing, you couldn't fire anybody. I got Accountability passed, which was not easy because of Unions, and because of civil service, and you know, all of the reasons that everybody would understand very easily.

Donald Trump

00:10:58 - 00:11:18 (20 sec)

And we got that passed. They've been trying to get that for many, many decades. Now, what we've done is very unprecedented. Nobody has done more in three years, the first three years, than we have. Now environmentally, we're -- we have the cleanest air. We have the cleanest water. Our air is as clean or cleaner than it's ever been.

Donald Trump

00:11:18 - 00:11:38 (20 sec)

And yet, we're not spending trillions of dollars, giving it to foreign countries under the Paris Accord, where you see what's happening with France, and you see the problems they have because of it. And you know, they're just trying to take our wealth, that whole group. So a lot of things are happening. Our economy is doing fantastically.

Donald Trump

00:11:38 - 00:12:03 (25 sec)

We got hit with the coronavirus. And that was out of surprise. I started hearing about it very quietly a couple of months ago from China. And I said, wow, I hope that doesn't happen over here. They got a little bit more, little bit more, little bit bigger. And against the advice of a lot of great professionals, frankly, and they worked for the administration and outside -- I closed the borders to China.

Donald Trump

00:12:03 - 00:12:25 (22 sec)

And that's why we have a very small number of people that we have to really worry about. Ad you know, a lot of things have happened that have been very fortunate. But I closed the borders, against the advice of a lot of people. And it turned out to be a very wise decision. Otherwise, we would have had, you know, a lot of people coming in during the course of a number of weeks.

Donald Trump

00:12:25 - 00:12:26 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:12:26 - 00:12:27 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:12:27 - 00:12:49 (22 sec)

We're doing great job. We have a great group. Mike Pence is doing a fantastic job. I put him in charge of the group. And we have the greatest doctors in the world. We're also helping other countries. We help a lot of other countries. We would even help Iran, if they wanted. They're hit very hard. But we're helping a lot of other countries.

Sean Hannity

00:12:49 - 00:13:11 (22 sec)

Mr. President, I have the timeline. And, you know, unfortunately, these pandemics pop up. Unfortunately, people die from the flu every year. One of the great things I love about this country is the innovation that our great scientists and medical professionals, they rise to the occasion all the time. And I'll get to H1N1, and Biden/Obama, how they reacted.

Sean Hannity

00:13:11 - 00:13:22 (11 sec)

The WHO identified on December 30th of last year that there was a virus with pneumonia-like symptoms. It was January 7th when they labeled it the coronavirus.

Donald Trump

00:13:22 - 00:13:23 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:13:23 - 00:13:42 (19 sec)

I want to go to your decision of January 31st. And that was a travel ban that Joe Biden said was xenophobic on your part. And it might -- CNN said it might stigmatize people from countries. But you took an added step that hadn't been done in decades, and that was quarantining Americans coming back from the region.

Sean Hannity

00:13:42 - 00:13:57 (16 sec)

This was about three weeks after we just first identified the virus. You're saying that people recommended you not do this? And why? And why did you go with that so quickly? And what was the -- what was your rationale at the time?

Donald Trump

00:13:57 - 00:14:19 (22 sec)

Well, I would say everybody said, it's too early, it's too soon, and good people, brilliant people, in many ways, doctors and lawyers and, frankly, a lot of people that work on this stuff almost exclusively. And they said, don't do it. And my theory was that we take a lot of people in. And China was being hit hard at that time, by that time.

Donald Trump

00:14:19 - 00:14:38 (19 sec)

We started reading a little bit more about it. It wasn't something that was going to affect us. You don't think of it in terms -- when you first heard it in China, you don't think our country is going to be affected. And I thought it was a wise thing to do. And, again, we stepped tremendous numbers of people coming in from China.

Donald Trump

00:14:38 - 00:15:00 (22 sec)

And then we worked on a whole quarantine system, which worked out very well. One of the things we did, the numbers are small, when you're talking around 100 people. But we brought in approximately 40 people from a ship. They're Americans, but they were on a ship. You know all about that. We brought them in. And I knew that, when I bring them in, immediately, our numbers get higher.

Donald Trump

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

Now, again, compared to some countries, we're talking about very small numbers in this -- in our country, very, very small, because of what we did with the borders. But I brought in, actually, approximately 40, a little bit more than that, from outside. Because they're Americans, we had to take care of them.

Donald Trump

00:15:19 - 00:15:42 (23 sec)

They were left in sort of abeyance. They were in the middle of nowhere. And I felt we had to do it. And, in one way, I hated to do it statistically. I hated to do it from the standpoint of having people coming in. It's going to be -- is it going to look bad? I wasn't worried about the other people catching it very much, because our people so good, and we had quarantine set up. But we brought in a lot of people.

Donald Trump

00:15:42 - 00:16:03 (22 sec)

Now, a lot of those people now are getting better, very much so. And we will be releasing them. And I think we should probably, when we release them -- when people are better, we release them, and we reduce our numbers. So, we have been doing really well. It does have a big impact on older people and people that aren't well, and has very little impact on young people, especially very young people, which is interesting.

Sean Hannity

00:16:03 - 00:16:04 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:16:04 - 00:16:25 (20 sec)

Much, much less so than a lot of other infections or viruses. So, we have learned a lot. We're learning a lot right now. But older people, like the nursing home in Washington, the state of Washington, has been very, very heavily affected. The people are much older, and many of them are not very well.

Sean Hannity

00:16:25 - 00:16:50 (25 sec)

And when -- it's funny you say that, because the H1N1 virus, that was a pandemic in 2009 and '10, interestingly, in Obama/Biden years. We lost around 17,000 Americans. The CDC estimates are, we lost 200,000 to 500,000 lives worldwide. In that case, children were more at risk with the H1N1 pandemic.

Donald Trump

00:16:50 - 00:16:50 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:16:50 - 00:17:13 (23 sec)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who I have watched for years, he is a great scientist. He's been very cautious and has said that this could become another pandemic, like we experienced in '09 and 2010. He said it might be as long as a year before we ultimately get a vaccine. There are 20 specific vaccines presently in development.

Sean Hannity

00:17:13 - 00:17:36 (23 sec)

You have said that you are evaluating on a daily basis. For those Americans that might be fearful tonight, to those that might be talking about, well, potential, down the road, we will close down schools, and maybe there will be more telecommuting kind of working situations, what do you say to them, based on, as this develops, what are we prepared as a country to do to keep our citizens safe?

Donald Trump

00:17:36 - 00:17:58 (22 sec)

Well, I just say that it's, you know, a very, very small number in this country. And we're going to try and keep it that way as much as possible. I will say, though, the H1N1, that was swine flu, commonly referred to as swine flu. And that went from around April of '09 to April of '10, where there were 60 million cases of swine flu.

Donald Trump

00:17:58 - 00:18:18 (20 sec)

And over -- actually, it's over 13,000. I think you might have said 17,000. I had heard it was 13,000, but a lot of -- a lot of deaths. And they didn't do anything about it. Interestingly, with the swine flu, children were -- in particular, they were vulnerable, sort of the opposite in that respect. But children were very vulnerable to the swine flu.

Donald Trump

00:18:18 - 00:18:31 (13 sec)

But they never did close the borders. I don't think they ever did have the travel ban. And we did. And, again, they lost at least 13,000. It could be as high as 17,000 people.

Sean Hannity

00:18:31 - 00:18:31 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:18:31 - 00:18:49 (18 sec)

And we acted much differently. And then I watched Biden try and criticize us, but I'm not sure he knows what he's criticizing, to be honest with you. But I watched him the other day try. Or I watch Schumer. Every time they put a mic at his face, he has no idea the incredible job these people are doing. He will say, oh, they're doing a horrible job, horrible job.

Donald Trump

00:18:49 - 00:19:08 (19 sec)

Well, he says that because that's like the auto -- he will say it about anything. If you say, how great is the deal with China, oh, I don't like it, I don't like it. He said, he took away tariffs. Well, I didn't take away the tariffs. They're paying 25 percent of $250 billion. They pay us a tariff of 25 percent on $250 billion.

Donald Trump

00:19:08 - 00:19:23 (15 sec)

But he was screaming, he took away the tariffs. You know, he didn't want the tariffs. And then, all of a sudden, when he thinks they were taken away -- but we didn't take them away. Just the opposite. It was rather incredible that we didn't take them away, but that's the way it is. And we're getting along very well with China.

Donald Trump

00:19:23 - 00:19:39 (16 sec)

We're dealing with China. President Xi, who I speak with, President Xi is working very, very hard in China. They have a big problem. But their numbers have gotten much better with respect to the coronavirus, very much better.

Sean Hannity

00:19:39 - 00:19:58 (19 sec)

Yes. Let me -- there are a couple of economic indicators that I know markets tend to be skittish, although it really wasn't during the H1N1, swine flu, period, which is interesting to me. But they seem to be adjusting and accepting that all that, I guess, can be done is being done. We do have some economic numbers just out.

Sean Hannity

00:19:58 - 00:20:18 (20 sec)

U.S. economy service sector grew in February at the fastest pace in a year. A CNBC report on ADP, their job report, that the economy adding jobs in February, despite the coronavirus scare, as private payrolls expanded.

Donald Trump

00:20:18 - 00:20:18 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:20:18 - 00:20:41 (22 sec)

They are saying employment, excluding government jobs, rose by 183,000 for the month. Do you expect maybe a short-term slowdown at all in the economy as a result of the virus and maybe -- of course, it's a global economy -- China's -- the impact on China's economy in particular?

Donald Trump

00:20:41 - 00:20:57 (16 sec)

Well, I think we're just doing very well. It's very interesting. You know, for years, you have known me, and I'm sort of saying, keep it within the borders a little bit more. Let's make our own medicines here. And, you know, we have already started that, long before I heard about this, before we knew about the coronavirus.

Donald Trump

00:20:57 - 00:21:17 (20 sec)

But I have started it. But I have been a big person for, let's keep it a little bit inside. I'm not a globalist. I like our country to do well. And I'm certainly interested in the globe. We're working with them to help them in a lot of different ways, including the virus that we're talking about right now.

Donald Trump

00:21:17 - 00:21:35 (18 sec)

But you know, I have been saying, stay here. Well, now people are actually staying here. And that's OK. Let some time go by. They're staying here. But if they want, they can travel. And they are going to safe countries. I met with the top airline executives, the top people in virtually every major airline today in this country.

Donald Trump

00:21:35 - 00:21:59 (24 sec)

And they're very aware of it. And they're ending flights to certain areas, certain areas of Italy, which has been hit hard, not all -- not the whole country, but certain areas, and other places -- and China, very big in terms of China. So, a lot of things are happening. And, frankly, if people want to spend their money in the United States, instead of traveling abroad, I'm very fine with that.

Donald Trump

00:21:59 - 00:22:21 (22 sec)

I think that's great. Numbers are coming out very well. The consumer in the United States is unbelievably strong, stronger than ever before, I believe. And that's why we're doing so well, and other countries are not doing well. The European Union is not doing well. The -- as you know, parts of Asia, China is not doing well, beyond the virus, is not doing well.

Donald Trump

00:22:21 - 00:22:48 (27 sec)

And we're doing great. So, I think we're going to be in great shape. And this will go, and this will pass, and working on vaccines right now. We're working on therapeutic measures. And we're working on a lot of things. I was with some of the greatest doctors in the world over the last two days. And they're saying what they can do today is -- it's incredible, what they're doing and what they have been able to do. And they're able to do it much faster.

Donald Trump

00:22:48 - 00:22:55 (7 sec)

So we're getting some very good ideas. And I think you are going to have things happening pretty quickly.

Sean Hannity

00:22:55 - 00:23:05 (10 sec)

You extended your travel ban. You met with the pharmaceutical companies in the country. I understand you are meeting with -- you're going down to Atlanta to meet with the CDC leadership.

Donald Trump

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

Sean Hannity

00:23:05 - 00:23:21 (15 sec)

I know you have Vice President Pence at the helm of running this task force, and people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is warning it could be a pandemic, it could get worse. And, at times, we might have to take more severe safety measures.

Donald Trump

00:23:21 - 00:23:21 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:23:21 - 00:23:30 (9 sec)

We have a report today the global death rate at 3.4 percent, and a report that the Olympics could be delayed. Your reaction to that?

Donald Trump

00:23:30 - 00:23:50 (20 sec)

Well, I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number. Now, this is just my hunch, and -- but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it's very mild. They will get better very rapidly. They don't even see a doctor. They don't even call a doctor.

Donald Trump

00:23:50 - 00:24:16 (26 sec)

You never hear about those people. So, you can't put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and -- or virus. So you just can't do that. So, if we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work -- some of them go to work, but they get better.

Donald Trump

00:24:16 - 00:24:38 (22 sec)

And then, when you do have a death, like you have had in the state of Washington, like you had one in California -- I believe you had one in New York -- you know, all of a sudden, it seems like three or four percent, which is a very high number, as opposed to -- as opposed to a fraction of one percent. But, again, they don't know about the easy cases, because the easy cases don't go to the hospital.

Donald Trump

00:24:38 - 00:24:59 (21 sec)

They don't report to doctors or the hospital in many cases. So I think that that number is very high. I think the number -- personally, I would say the number is way under one percent. Now, with the regular flu, we average from 27,000 to 77,000 deaths a year. Who would think that? I never knew that, until six or eight weeks ago.

Donald Trump

00:24:59 - 00:25:20 (21 sec)

I asked that question. I said, how many people die of the flu? You keep hearing about flu shot, flu shot, take your flu shot. But I said, how many people die of the flu? And they said, sir, we lose between 27,000 and, you know, somewhere in the 70s. I think we went as high as 100,000 people died in 1990, if you can believe that.

Donald Trump

00:25:20 - 00:25:45 (25 sec)

But a lot of people, regardless, I think it averages about 36,000 people a year. So I said, wow. And that's -- now, that's a percentage that's under one percent very substantially. So, it would be interesting to see what that difference is. But, you know, again, a lot of people don't report, because they get the coronavirus, and they get better relatively quickly.

Donald Trump

00:25:45 - 00:25:46 (1 sec)

It's not that severe.

Sean Hannity

00:25:46 - 00:26:07 (22 sec)

What do you say about the politics that, if you kill a terrorist named Soleimani -- the number one state sponsor of terrorism in Iran, the guy leading those terrorist efforts is Soleimani, a miracle with our intelligence, the 99 percent of good intelligence officials that tracked him down to a Baghdad airport, knowing he was in commercial air flight, which is amazing.

Sean Hannity

00:26:07 - 00:26:10 (3 sec)

They could have shot down the plane, but they -- we care about human life.

Donald Trump

00:26:10 - 00:26:11 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:26:11 - 00:26:43 (32 sec)

And they waited until he was on the ground. You don't get a lot of support even on something like that, something I would think we would all agree on. A virus is another example, where it is -- it is non-discriminating. They don't -- it will attack Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, and liberals. And even as quickly as you acted, I -- you were attacked for it, xenophobe, you're stigmatizing countries, when I assume that your interest were the best interest of the American people.

Sean Hannity

00:26:43 - 00:26:50 (7 sec)

What does it say about the state of our politics, we can't even agree to work together on solving a virus that will attack all of us?

Donald Trump

00:26:50 - 00:27:14 (24 sec)

Well, Sean, the Democrats weaponize the virus against the Trump administration. They weaponize anything we do. And yet, if they did it, they'd be, you know, hailing it. But they do weaponize this. You know, when -- they know what a great job we're doing. They know we have the best in the world. We have -- and we have really shown it. Even when you look at the small numbers that we're talking about within this country, they're very, very small.

Donald Trump

00:27:14 - 00:27:29 (15 sec)

I mean, we have a very large country, to put it mildly, and a great country, by the way. And it's getting greater all the time. But they weaponize the virus against us. And they will just say -- even though they have no facts, they will just say, oh, we don't like the job they're doing. You know, it's just off the cuff.

Donald Trump

00:27:29 - 00:27:47 (18 sec)

It's like a natural reflex. And it's not good. Especially, it's not good with something like this. They can say it about certain things, but, this one, everybody has to pull together. And not all Democrats have done that, I must say. Lately, I notice that it's gotten really a lot less, I would say 50 percent less.

Donald Trump

00:27:47 - 00:28:00 (13 sec)

But the same -- the bad ones, the Schumers and others, they will always say -- no matter how good you do, if you found a cure, and everything disappeared within 24 hours, they would say you did a terrible job, terrible, terrible.

Sean Hannity

00:28:00 - 00:28:01 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:28:01 - 00:28:10 (10 sec)

And that's unfortunate for the country. But we live with it. And here I am in the White House. I'm president, and they're not. It's sort of an amazing factor, isn't it?

Sean Hannity

00:28:10 - 00:28:27 (17 sec)

In 244 days, the American people are the ultimate jury, as I say. Let me go back to that election for a second. It was very early on when Mike Bloomberg got in the race that you said, you're wasting your money. About almost $600 million, estimates anywhere between $5 million and $12 million per delegate.

Sean Hannity

00:28:27 - 00:28:34 (7 sec)

He's now out of the race. What did you see? A lot of people thought he might do better. Why did his campaign not catch on?

Donald Trump

00:28:34 - 00:28:52 (17 sec)

Well, once he debated, I said, he's going to be in trouble, because it's not his thing. And he's a smart guy. He's a smart guy in a certain way, in a different kind of a way, but not in a political way. He's got a very bad political instinct. He's surrounded by people that I know, in some cases, I know pretty well.

Donald Trump

00:28:52 - 00:29:09 (18 sec)

They're losers. He's really surrounded by losers. But they have become winners, because they ripped him off for a lot of money. They really took him to the cleaners. But some of these guys are really third-rate people. And they wanted him to keep going. And the longer he goes, the more money they make. That's why they did it, because they knew that it's not for him.

Donald Trump

00:29:09 - 00:29:25 (16 sec)

And I will tell you, I thought the strategy was incredible, when the DNC wouldn't let him in the debates. He should have kept it that way. If he would have kept it that way, he would have done -- I don't think he could have won, but he would have done much better. He did really badly. But he would have done much better.

Donald Trump

00:29:25 - 00:29:47 (22 sec)

And then, today, as you notice, he said, oh, I'm going to support -- I'm going to support Joe Biden. And that's OK. I mean, that's fine. I don't know how you can do it. I mean, how can you -- how does campaign finance laws, how do they let you do that? But he wants to -- he couldn't get out fast enough. I guarantee he was on that debate when a very mean -- she is a very mean person.

Donald Trump

00:29:47 - 00:30:07 (20 sec)

You could ask Bernie Sanders, because what she's done to him is terrible. But when Elizabeth Warren went after him, he was saying, get me off this stage. Get me off here fast. He got beat up very badly by Elizabeth Warren. It was not a pretty sight to watch. And that was the end of him. I mean, it's incredible.

Donald Trump

00:30:07 - 00:30:14 (7 sec)

It was so bad, that was the end of him. It ended right there. And he was unable to recover from the debate performance, especially the first one.

Sean Hannity

00:30:14 - 00:30:17 (3 sec)

Are you convinced now it's Biden's to lose?

Donald Trump

00:30:17 - 00:30:38 (22 sec)

I think so. I just don't know how he gets there. I don't know how he gets across the line. Maybe he will. Maybe it's -- who knows. He was always very gaffe-prone. He was always -- he was always in trouble in that way, but never like this. This is going -- what's going on now is crazy. But I think they will do anything to assume power.

Donald Trump

00:30:38 - 00:31:00 (22 sec)

And if they think he can do better than Bernie -- and I guess they have less control over Bernie -- Bernie is more for himself. But I was surprised, when Bernie got beaten up last time, that he went out and endorsed Hillary and went around and did like a good puppy, like he's supposed to do. I was a little surprised at that.

Donald Trump

00:31:00 - 00:31:18 (18 sec)

And, even this time, he was saying about how wonderful -- Joe Biden's a wonderful guy, wonderful man. And I'm a little bit surprised by -- it's almost like he's -- I don't know if he's admitting defeat. He might be. But I watched him yesterday saying -- or just a little while ago saying very good things about sleepy Joe Biden.

Sean Hannity

00:31:18 - 00:31:19 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:31:19 - 00:31:20 (2 sec)

And I was a little bit surprised.

Sean Hannity

00:31:20 - 00:31:27 (7 sec)

Let me ask you. In 2016, you had about 8 percent of the African-American vote.

Donald Trump

00:31:27 - 00:31:29 (1 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:31:29 - 00:31:53 (24 sec)

We have carried a lot of your rallies. As you point out in every appearance, that you have record low unemployment now for African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women in the workplace, youth unemployment, African-American youth unemployment. I can cite you polls with African-American support for Donald Trump anywhere from 16 to 34.5 percent, in one case, 33 percent.

Donald Trump

00:31:53 - 00:31:53 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:31:53 - 00:32:06 (13 sec)

Another case, 32 percent. Do you think that these are -- why do you think these approval ratings demographically have shifted, one? And, two, will that translate, in your view, in votes in 244 days?

Donald Trump

00:32:06 - 00:32:28 (21 sec)

Well, it should translate. But I think one of the reasons is criminal justice reform. I did it. Nobody else could have done it. We got some great Republican senators that maybe weren't so inclined. And I explained it to them. And they were really great, really great. I saw Alice Johnson today. She was in jail for 22 years.

Donald Trump

00:32:28 - 00:32:49 (21 sec)

And she had another 20 to go. And it was a crime that -- she admitted she did a mistake, but she was in there for -- it was like a life sentence for something that somebody else would have been given six months to a year for or a very small number. She's a great woman. And she -- I said, do you have other people just like you, Alice, just like you?

Donald Trump

00:32:49 - 00:33:06 (17 sec)

Are they -- she said, oh, yes, there are other people. And I actually let three out. They all came to the office today. It was great to see them, three great people. But I think that criminal justice reform, we got that. I got that. The Democrats didn't get it. I got it. They will probably at some point try and take credit.

Donald Trump

00:33:06 - 00:33:28 (23 sec)

But they couldn't do it. And, again, this was a Biden/Obama law that was -- this was -- and, obviously, it was -- it was really a Hillary -- this was a Bill Clinton and a Hillary. And it was -- I guess Biden was a senator then and pushing it hard. Obama was -- somebody said he was talking about it, but he had to be pretty young, if that were the case.

Donald Trump

00:33:28 - 00:33:49 (21 sec)

But this was a horrible thing. And so criminal justice reform is one. Opportunity Zones, that's the great Tim Scott. He's a great guy. He's a senator, and a great senator, from South Carolina. And he came to my office, talked about Opportunity Zones. And massive amounts of money is being poured into areas that haven't seen money in decades, and jobs.

Donald Trump

00:33:49 - 00:34:23 (34 sec)

And people are really doing well. And the African-American population is doing phenomenally well. The Hispanic population is doing incredibly well. Opportunity Zones is another thing. And the unemployment rate. We have the lowest black unemployment rate. If you look, the black community right now has the lowest unemployment rate in the history of our country, Hispanic American unemployment rate the lowest in the history of our country, Asian the lowest in the history of our country, women the lowest in 71 years.

Donald Trump

00:34:23 - 00:34:46 (23 sec)

And, you know, so many things are happening. And it is true. I mean, we're having rallies now with black young leaders that are unbelievable people. And they will come to the White House. They will have 600, 700 people. They will have rallies outside in different cities for Trump, because it's the first time they have really been helped.

Donald Trump

00:34:46 - 00:35:06 (20 sec)

Nobody has -- the Democrats, they cater to them a month before an election, and then they leave, and they don't do a damn thing for them. And we have worked hard. So, between, I think, criminal justice reform and the Opportunity Zones, it's incredible. What Tim Scott did with Opportunity Zones is really incredible, and how well it's worked.

Donald Trump

00:35:06 - 00:35:12 (6 sec)

So, there are -- but the end result is the lowest unemployment rate. And I think people see that. I think they see it strongly, Sean.

Sean Hannity

00:35:12 - 00:35:20 (8 sec)

There's also been a lot of support for historically black colleges in the country as well. Let me -- let me ask you this.

Donald Trump

00:35:20 - 00:35:37 (17 sec)

By the way, if I might, the historically black colleges, I got to know a lot of the deans and the top people. And they would come -- now I'm here more than three years. They would come every year trying to get money. And after two, three years, I said, why do you guys have to come back every year? And they said, well, nobody's ever given -- we always have to come back.

Donald Trump

00:35:37 - 00:35:53 (17 sec)

And one of them said, we feel like beggars coming into the White House begging for money. And I said, we shouldn't have to do that. You shouldn't have to do that. And I got them long-term financing for the historically black colleges and universities. And they're great people. I got to know them very well.

Donald Trump

00:35:53 - 00:36:10 (17 sec)

And they serve such an incredible -- such an incredible group of people, and such an incredible and important function. And it's a very large -- you're talking about millions of people are educated and taken care of. And it's really something good. But they don't have to do that. They don't have to come back.

Donald Trump

00:36:10 - 00:36:26 (16 sec)

In fact, I said to them, I will miss you people not coming up to see me. I will miss you guys. I will miss you gals not coming up to see me every year. But they -- I don't think they could be any more thankful. They don't have to bother now. They don't have to do that.

Sean Hannity

00:36:26 - 00:36:50 (23 sec)

When you instituted your travel ban on January 31st, we identified corona on January 7th, and the quarantine, it was in the middle of your impeachment. James Comey -- at all of your rallies, you say, this should never happen to any future president. You fired James Comey. We know all about the dirty Russian dossier that was never verifiable.

Sean Hannity

00:36:50 - 00:37:16 (26 sec)

The top of a FISA warrant says verified. We now know it's been debunked, Hillary paid for it, and that it became the basis, the bulk of information for FISA applications to take away Carter Page's civil liberties and constitutional rights. But, more importantly, it was used -- and the attorney general has confirmed this -- to spy on you as a candidate, your transition team, and, his words, deep into your presidency.

Sean Hannity

00:37:16 - 00:37:45 (29 sec)

I know that we have had the inspector general weigh in. Now we have the Durham-Barr investigation going forward. What without crossing into territory that I assume is different, how does this -- how do we prevent something like this from ever happening again? Now, I'm a big believer we need FISA. We need to be able to entrust Americans with these powerful tools, because we have got a lot of enemies in this world.

Sean Hannity

00:37:45 - 00:37:48 (3 sec)

But it raises questions, if it's going to be turned on the American people or on a presidential candidate or president.

Donald Trump

00:37:48 - 00:38:10 (23 sec)

Well, they weaponized FISA, and they used it horribly. And Comey is a very bad guy. And you have other very bad people at the top. The FBI -- the people in the FBI are incredible. I will bet, if they did a study, if you took a vote, I'd have a vast, vast, vast majority. They're incredible people. But the top people, the people that headed it, between Comey and McCabe and Strzok and his lover, Lisa Page, and the whole group, it was a bad group.

Donald Trump

00:38:10 - 00:38:14 (4 sec)

That's my opinion, and it's a very strong opinion. We will see how bad it was.

Sean Hannity

00:38:14 - 00:38:17 (3 sec)

Yes. Let me ask you. I know--

Donald Trump

00:38:17 - 00:38:22 (5 sec)

But it was a terrible thing. And a lot of very innocent people were hurt.

Sean Hannity

00:38:22 - 00:38:31 (9 sec)

I think we have a dishonest media. I have to declare it on this show. In 2007 and '08, I said, journalism in America is dead.

Donald Trump

00:38:31 - 00:38:39 (8 sec)

And, you know, it's interesting, Sean, just for a second, if you look, two years of investigation, and the end result is no collusion.

Sean Hannity

00:38:39 - 00:38:57 (18 sec)

Nobody was willing to vet Barack Obama at the time. We did that job. I'm proud of the ensemble cast we built, because we -- we tore apart the Espionage Act, and classified top-secret information on Hillary's server, and deleted subpoenaed e-mails, and the dirty dossier, and premeditated fraud on the FISA court.

Sean Hannity

00:38:57 - 00:39:13 (16 sec)

We have been vindicated with the inspector general report. And I guess I never thought that this could happen in America. But the media got it wrong. Russia, Russia. Ukraine, Ukraine. And that's been a lot to go through. Your--

Donald Trump

00:39:13 - 00:39:31 (18 sec)

Well, it has. But they knew it was wrong. And they knew they were wrong. And the whole thing, that's why I call it the fake news, for that and many other reasons. But it is fake news. So much of it is fake, and knowingly fake. And they knew that was wrong. They knew the first day. It should have never happened.

Donald Trump

00:39:31 - 00:39:47 (16 sec)

But I went through it. I did it. And you think of it. After millions -- they spend millions and millions of dollars, and, at the end -- they had unlimited resources -- no collusion. Somebody said, you're the cleanest person in the country. But it was a disgrace. And a lot of people were hurt, and hurt badly.

Donald Trump

00:39:47 - 00:39:51 (4 sec)

Let's see what happens. Let's see what happens going forward.

Sean Hannity

00:39:51 - 00:39:59 (8 sec)

All right, Mr. President, you have been very generous with your time. I know you're doing a town hall on FOX here tomorrow with Bret and Martha --

Donald Trump

00:39:59 - 00:39:59 (0 sec)

Sean Hannity

00:39:59 - 00:40:10 (10 sec)

I guess taking questions from the American people. We will look forward to watching that. You're always generous with your time. We like to get the state of not only the campaign, the country, obviously a lot going on. Thank you for your time.

Donald Trump

00:40:10 - 00:40:12 (2 sec)

Thank you very much, Sean. Thank you.

Sean Hannity

00:40:12 - 00:40:13 (1 sec)