[Question not in transcript, relating to health care] I'd rather see repeal and replace because I -- I can do either way. If you remember, it was -- you know, it was an idea that I had very early on, repeal. Trouble with repeal is you'll have millions of people out there that -- well, it's like we just got the highest confidence in many years; you know, people out there that will say, well, you know, how do we know we're going to have health care? And I hate to do that to people. But you've been concerned about that, right -- I've always -- I'm always concerned about that. I don't like it. I don't -- I don't like it from that standpoint. Now, with that being said, you might be able to make a very good deal because I think there's a lot of pressure on the Democrats. But the Democrats are nothing more than obstructionists. That's all they can do. That's all they seem to be good at. So they're obstructionists, so what they will do, even though it's for the good of the country, they will obstruct. They can't do anything about Obamacare, and I understand that. They don't want to vote against it. But now, once it's done -- it was my original theory: once it's begun, now they can get together. They can do something. But they won't do that. There's too much -- and this isn't with respect to me; this is years. É I mean, if you look at what's been going on over the last long period of time. I actually asked people that are political people -- I could ask you people -- you know, is it the worst you've seen it? And I've had every single person, no, actually there's certain other times that were worse. There were certain times in Obama's administration that were worse. The partisanship, you mean. You think -- yeah, the partisanship. So, anyway. So I'd rather see -- I'd rather see replace. I'd rather add the replace. And we have a very good plan. That's the one thing, we really have a good plan. We've covered a lot of territory. It's a very, very difficult situation because you move a little bit to the left and you lose four guys, you move a little bit to the right all of a sudden you have a bloc of people that are gone. You have about a one-inch road and it wheels through the middle of the valley, and if it's even slightly off -- it's a very difficult -- it's a very difficult thing, always has been. You know, if you think, Hillary Clinton, smart person, she was the first lady of the country, her entire life was spent -- her entire eight years was spent trying to get health care. Never even came close. Obama -- and one thing I have to say, I'm here now exactly six months. Obama took would you say a year and a half? Yeah. He took a year and a half, yeah. Because people were saying, Trump has not produced. I honestly believe for six months I have done more than just about any president when you look at all of the bills that were passed, 42, 43. [Break in Transcript] What are you most proud of in the first six months? A lot of things. I think I'm proud of the Supreme Court choice. And that's not just a nomination, that's getting him through. I'm very proud of opening up regulations. One of the reasons you see optimism is because people can actually use their land. They can farm their land. I've had tremendous and tremendous -- look, I had 45,000 people there yesterday. It's the biggest crowd they've ever had, and they were -- they were going wild yesterday in West Virginia. But people can actually use their land and they can build. And I think one of the things that I have to be very proud of is the VA. I think we have a great, great administratorÉ and a great secretary, David Shulkin. He's -- he was actually approved 100 to nothing, by the way. What about your disappointments? Any disappointments in the first six months? Well, I'd have to let you know. I have to see where we are with this. Let's see. Maybe it doesn't work, but I think it's going to. And, you know, it is -- it would have been easier to start with taxes, but this is better if it works, OK? If it works, this is better. More generally. But I think, you know, depending -- so if you asked me that question in a month or really at the end of the year, because we hope to get this. We hope to get taxes and then infrastructure. And then I'm going to do a very big -- we're doing very big trade deals, and we're looking forward to that. But we want to do, ideally, this first. You know, a lot of people said you should have started with taxes or you should have started with infrastructure. Well, infrastructure I'll actually have bipartisan support, and I can use infrastructure to carry other things along. So I don't want to waste it at the beginning, if that makes sense. [Break in Transcript] [Question not in transcript, on Apple building plants in the United States] But one of the things we're doing that, so Gary and I are working -- because I said, you know, Gary [Cohn], we're going to have Foxconn come in. We're going to have a lot of companies that are coming in. Foxconn's coming in with a big plan. We have Tim Cook I spoke to, and he's promised me three big plants -- big, big, big. I said, you know, Tim, unless -- Really? Where? We'll have to see. You can call him. But I said, Tim, unless you start building your plants in this country, I won't consider my administration an economic success, OK? And he's called me and he says, you know, they're going forward, three big, beautiful plants. You'll have to call him. I mean, maybe he won't tell you what he tells me, but I believe he will do that. I really believe it. [Break in Transcript] [Question not in transcript, relating to reappinting Janet Yellin chairwoman of the Fed] I have a lot of respect for her, and I like her. I've met her just a couple of times, but I like her. It's early to make the decision. Does that mean it's possible you would keep her? I do like low interest rates. I mean, you know, I'm not making that a big secret. I think low interest rates are good. I like a dollar that's not too strong. I mean, I've seen strong dollars. And frankly, other than the fact that it sounds good, lots of bad things happen with a strong dollar. É I would say yes, she is in the running to stay. Is Gary [Cohn] a candidate? [Laughter] He doesn't know this, but yes, he is. [Laughter] Are there other candidates? I actually think he likes what he's doing right now. That's what he tells us. Don't tell Gary what I just said. Are there other candidates? Yeah, there are two or three. But she is -- she is in the running, absolutely. I like her. I like her demeanor. I think she's done a good job. I'd like to see rates stay low. She's always been -- you know, she's historically been a low-interest-rate person, a believer. Do you have a time frame for announcing a decision? I would say sometime by the end of year, probably. [Break in Transcript] [Question not in transcript, relating to taxing the wealthy] The truth is the people I care most about are the middle-income people in this country who have gotten screwed. And if there's upward revision it's going to be on high-income people. You know, I was with Bob Kraft the other night. He came to have dinner with me. He's a friend of mine. And as he left, he said, Donald, don't worry about the rich people. Tax the rich people. You got to take care of the people in the country. It was a very interesting statement. I feel the same way. [Break in Transcript] We want -- look, the job producers we're going to take great care of, but we have to take care of middle-income people in this country. They built the country, they started this whole beautiful thing that we have, and we have to take care of them. And people have not taken care of them, and we're going to. And I mean, I have wealthy friends that say to me I don't mind paying more tax. And I'll tell you what I sort of don't like, is when they -- you know, you'll do your charts in The Wall Street Journal and they'll be brilliantly done, very nice, and they'll show that a rich guy who made, you know, $25 million last year is going to pay less than he was. In a certain way, I don't like that. I'd rather take that difference and put it into the middle-income and put it into corporate. You should be able to get Democrat support for that, right? I mean, you can reach across the aisle -- Yeah, except they're obstructionists. If they weren't obstructionists, I would normally get Democratic support. So we don't anticipate that. We don't Ð [Break in Transcript] On steel tariffs, you committed to imposing steel tariffs. You haven't done that, but you still -- Well, we're waiting -- we're waiting till we get everything completed. We don't want to do at this moment. We're going to -- we're going to wait till we get everything completed here. We're going to see. It's a very unfair situation. They're dumping steel in our country. It's extremely unfair. But we like to keep it as simple as -- we like to keep very complicated subjects as simple as possible. So we're waiting till we get everything finished up between health care and taxes and maybe even infrastructure. But we're going to be addressing the steel dumping at a very -- fairly soon. We -- just so you understand -- we have massive reports. You know, a lot of this stuff you can't just walk in and say I'm going to do this. You have to do statutory studies. And then you have to wait 90 days. And then you have to do another. And you have to wait another 20 days. It doesn't go that quickly. It's like NAFTA. You know, you have a six-month termination. I was ready to terminate NAFTA. I was looking forward to it, frankly, because NAFTA's a horrible deal for the United States. And then I got a call from the president of Mexico, who's a terrific guy, and I got a call from the prime minister of Canada. And they heard I was getting ready to terminate it. And they said: Would you have a meeting with us first? I said, yes. And if you look at my speeches, I've always said, either renegotiate it or terminate it. Now, renegotiating it is easier. And we're in the midst of a renegotiation right now. So we'll see. And maybe we'll have to terminate it. I happen to think NAFTA's one of the truly bad deals -- I mean, outside of the Iran deal, which is one of the worst deals in history -- Do you think it's salvageable? Do you think NAFTA's salvageable? It may be salvageable. What do you need for that? I would say -- I would say it may be salvageable. But certainly, I have an obligation to give it a shot. What are you looking for specifically -- I'm looking for fairness. But what does that -- can you give an example? No, it means -- look, our automobile industry has just left us and gone to Mexico -- I mean, a big chunk of it. And it's very unfair for them to take our companies, built their cars, and then sell the car back into our country with no tax. It's very unfair. They fire all our people in Michigan and Ohio, and they take it, and they build a car. And now they sell the car back in with no tax. It's not fair. [Break in Transcript] You mentioned the Iran deal, but it's been certified as in compliance twice now. It comes up again in September. Would you -- is there going to come a point where you just -- Well, we're doing major studies. Oh, I would be very surprised if they will be -- look, we've been extremely nice to them. We've been extremely nice to them in saying they were compliant, OK? We've given them the benefit of every doubt. But we're doing very detailed studies. And personally, I have great respect for my people. If it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago. Do you expect them to be declared noncompliant the next time? Personally, I do. I do. In September? I think they'll be noncompliant. I think they're taking advantage of this country. They've taken advantage of a president, named Barack Obama, who didn't know what the hell he was doing. And I do not expect that they will be compliant. Will you overrule your staff on that, if they come back with a recommendation -- Oh, sure. Sure. Look, I have a lot of respect for Rex and his people, good relationship. It's easier to say they comply. It's a lot easier. But it's the wrong thing. They don't comply. And so we'll see what happens. I mean, we'll talk about this subject in 90 days. But, yeah, I would be -- I would be surprised if they were in compliance [Break in Transcript] OK, if I may, can I ask you quick, Mr. President, we've talked about your achievements and disappointments. I was reminded of President Eisenhower, when he left office, said that his two biggest mistakes in officer were both sitting on the Supreme Court. From things you've been saying in the -- So far I can't say that, right? From the same -- from the things you've been saying in the last week or so, and tweeting, it sounds as though you may think that maybe your biggest mistake is running the Justice Department. Is that -- I'm disappointed in Jeff Sessions, yes. Do you want him to leave? Number one, they should go after the leakers in intelligence. I don't mean the White House stuff where they're fighting over who loves me the most, OK? [Laughter] It's just stupid people doing that. Anthony's already taken care of that. [Laughter] I know, that's just -- and Anthony [Scaramucci] will handle that. [Laughter] I can -- Anthony can do that out of his back pocket, OK? I'm talking about intelligence leaks. I'm talking like the story about Syria that was in The New York Times the other day. I'm -- which by the way, was a decision made by people, not me. But, you know, they wrote it 100 -- it was in the -- The Post, I thought. It was in The Washington Post. It was in The Washington Post. That was not something that I was involved in, other than they did come and they suggested. It turns out it's -- a lot of al-Qaeda we're giving these weapons to. You know, they didn't write the truthful story, which they never do. So all of those things are very important. But, no, I'm very disappointed in the fact that the Justice Department has not gone after the leakers. And they're the ones that have the great power to go after the leakers, you understand. So -- and I'm very disappointed in Jeff Sessions. You can fire him. Look, Jeff -- I could. But we'll see what happens. But I was -- I appointed a man to a position. And then shortly after he gets the position, he recused himself. I said, what's that all about? Why didn't you tell me that you were going to do that, and I wouldn't have appointed you? But I appointed him. And shortly thereafter, he recused himself. So I think that is a -- You also suggested in Cleveland today they should be going -- or, yesterday -- they should be going after Hillary Clinton. Is that -- Well, I didn't -- I wouldn't have wanted to. But I see the way they go after us on a witch hunt, you know? The Russian -- the Russian story's all an excuse for the Democrats losing. In fact, if you read the book, "Shattered," they have a whole chapter where they sat the day after the election and they said: Yeah, Russia. It was Russia. And, you know, Trump was involved. OK, the one thing interesting, you never heard me even associated with anybody. But, no, that's a total witch hunt, the whole Russia story. It's a hoax. It's a hoax. We had no collusion with Russia. We never dealt with Russia. People that were on the campaign, like Corey, came in yesterday. It was very interesting. He was being interviewed. He said -- I was watching, Corey Lewandowski -- he says: I was here from the beginning. And I must be honest with you, I never dealt with any Russians. He was only the campaign manager. I can even look at Hope. She was here from virtually the same day that Corey started, those two. Hope, how many Russians have you seen involved in the campaign, OK? None. [Laughs] OK? You know, I mean, it's sad. So they do that. And I say, that's fine. But then we should really look at real crimes, because real crimes are what Hillary did with 33,000 emails, where she deleted them and bleached them after getting a subpoena. Real crimes are what's happening and what happened with the uranium deal. And also -- I mean, you can say the speeches made while she was secretary of state where they paid her a fortune, Podesta owning a big company in Russia -- they talk about me. I have nothing to do with Russia. You know, I put out a letter from a very -- from the biggest law firm saying Trump has no involvement with Russia. I don't. I have no involvement. I mean, I had Ms. Universe there, like, nine years ago, eight years ago, something like that. But I have nothing to do with Russia. So -- and it's very funny, because all of these people that have been on the campaign, some of them right from the beginning -- Anthony's another example. You've been there. You know -- [Inaudible] I said from the podium on Friday that's there's nothing to the Russia story. I said on the weekend there was nothing to the Russia story. You know, Anthony came in to see me before it all began. And he said, I want to back you for president. This was before the June 16th day. I said, Anthony, I'm not really sure that I'm running. I'm not sure. I may, but I'm not sure. He said, you got to run, you got to run. I want to endorse you. I said, but I'm not sure. This was a few months earlier than when I ran. And he was leaving and he was disappointed. I say, Anthony, what are you going to do? He goes, I got to back somebody, because that's the way he is. That's his personality. And he went to a very good guy named Walker. Then I came after the hedge fund business. So he wasn't in love with me for a short period of time. And he backed Bush. And that was OK. But his first choice was Trump. I think it's important to say that because, you know. [Break in Transcript] Just on Sessions, just one thing. Would you like to see him step aside? Would you like to see him resign? Would it be in the country's best interest just -- I'm just very disappointed in him. I'm disappointed in, you know, a number of categories. I told you, the leakers. He should have -- he should be after them. So many people say to me: Why are they going after you on nothing and they leave Hillary Clinton alone on, you know, really major things? And it is -- so I'm disappointed in him. And don't forget, when they say he endorsed me, I went to Alabama. I had 40,000 people, you may have been there, remember, in Mobile? I remember. I had 40,000 people. He was the senator from Alabama. I won the state by a lot, massive numbers. A lot of the states I won by massive numbers. But he was a senator. He looks at 40,000 people and he probably says, what do I have to lose, and he endorsed me. So it's not like a great, loyal thing about the endorsement. But I'm very disappointed in Jeff Sessions. Are you willing for the status quo to continue, though? At what point do you say enough? I'm just looking at it. I'll just see. What about Bob Mueller? It's a very important, very important thing. I mean, but, Bob Mueller is also really the one leading this investigation. It's his job to see -- Well, we're going to see. And he's investigating Russia -- your Russian connection -- He's the Russian guy. So Sessions has recused himself, but is Bob Mueller's job safe? There is speculation -- No, we're going to see. I mean, I have no comment yet, because it's too early. But we'll see. We're going to see. Here's the good news: I was never involved with Russia. There was nobody in the campaign. I've got 200 people that will say that they've never seen anybody on the campaign. Here's another -- he was involved early. There's nobody on the campaign that saw anybody from Russia. We had nothing to do with Russia. They lost an election and they came up with this as an excuse. And the only ones that are laughing are the Democrats and the Russians. They're the only ones that are laughing. And if Jeff Sessions didn't recuse himself, we wouldn't even be talking about this subject. [Break in Transcript] You also -- you brought in Anthony [Scaramucci], obviously. Are you planning other changes -- are you planning other changes in the White House? After you brought in Anthony, are you planning other changes? I mean, we'll see. We'll see. I do say this, I believe we've done more than just about any president of the United States in six months. And I was going to tell you before, so a lot of times I'll turn on television or I'll read in The Wall Street Journal, right -- Thank you. -- what's Trump doing? He hasn't produced health care. I'm not even six months yet, right? So these guys went eight years -- Hillary Clinton, eight years, got nothing. Obama went a year and a half, almost two years, and they had to sell their soul. They had to give away the state of Nebraska in order to buy that vote. And that was two years. I'm six months. They got to give me a little break, OK? And today we're having a big vote, and we'll see what happens. But today's vote is big, because once you get in -- once you're allowed to talk a lot of -- But we can't expect any more staff changes in the immediate -- in the immediate future? No, I don't think so. No? But I'm very happy with Anthony. I think Anthony is going to do amazing. [Break in Transcript] Would you consider pardons, Mr. President, given the investigation is -- You know what? I don't even think of pardons. Here's why, nobody did anything wrong.