Transcript - Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters on Air Force One - October 6, 2018 | Factba.se

Note

00:00:00 - 00:00:01 (1 sec)

[Donald Trump met with reporters en route to Topeka, Kansas during the Brett Kavanaugh vote on October 6, 2018. The below was written by a Todd Gillman, a White House reporter for the Dallas Morning News.]

Note

00:00:01 - 00:00:02 (1 sec)

[Gillman wrote it is as complete as possible for the on-the-record portion, approximately seven of the 20 minutes the reporters were with Trump. for the on-the-record portion, and The Washington Post published two minutes of the seven minute exchange.]

Note

00:00:02 - 00:00:03 (1 sec)

[The on-the-record portion begins after Mike Pence announces the result of the vote.]

Donald Trump

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

Great. Very good. Very, very good. We're very happy about it. Great decision. I very much appreciate those 50 great votes. And I think he's going to go down as a totally brilliant Supreme Court justice for many years. Many years. He was chosen for the reason of his temperament, his incredible past, his outstanding years on the court.

Donald Trump

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

He just had an outstanding record. A brilliant scholar—totally brilliant scholar. Top. And we're very honored that he was able to withstand this horrible, horrible attack by the Democrats. It's a horrible attack that nobody should have to go through.

Question

00:00:05 - 00:00:14 (10 sec)

[Video Begins] You talked about how this is a moment for young men across the country. You said it was a "scary moment," but what is your message today to women across this country who are feeling devastated, feeling like the message that's been sent here --

Donald Trump

00:00:12 - 00:00:47 (42 sec)

I don't think they are. I don't think they are. I think actually that women... The people -- look, when you look at the biggest fans, the people that spoke to me most vocif -- really in the strongest of terms in his favor were women. Women. Women were outraged at what happened to Brett Kavanaugh, outraged, and I think that's a total misnomer, because the women, I feel, were in many ways stronger than the men in his favor.

Donald Trump

00:00:47 - 00:01:05 (53 sec)

So you have a lot of women that are extremely happy. A tremendous number of women. Because they're thinking of their sons, they're thinking of their husbands and their brothers, their uncles, and others. And women are, I think, extremely happy."

Donald Trump

00:01:05 - 00:01:35 (49 sec)

At an example, you look at that small number of people outside... And look at where we're going, and we will have thousands and thousands of people. Going to Kansas, we're going to have thousands of people. Totally sold out arenas –- and you know better than I do, with tens of thousands of people outside trying to get in. And those people are for him. And those people are -- that crowd could fit in the second room.

Question

00:01:35 - 00:01:41 (36 sec)

When these allegations first surfaced you said there shouldn't even be a little doubt. Are you a hundred percent certain that Ford named the wrong person, or --

Donald Trump

00:01:41 - 00:02:10 (35 sec)

I'm a hundred percent. I'm a hundred percent. I have no doubt. The FBI has done an excellent job. They went through, and they went through it seven times. The FBI went through seven investigations, and they did a very thorough job, excellent job. And you know, the other thing we know about life: if there were any problems it would have happened over the last 25 or 30 years, during his professional life.

Donald Trump

00:02:10 - 00:02:15 (34 sec)

If any of that -- if there was even a scintilla of something wrong -- he was a very big judge for years, on what they call the second highest court. That would have come out loud and clear.

Donald Trump

00:02:15 - 00:02:20 (10 sec)

This is -- one of the reasons I chose him, is because there is nobody with a squeaky clean past like Brett Kavanaugh. [Video Ends]

Donald Trump

00:02:20 - 00:02:21 (6 sec)

He is an outstanding person and I'm very honored to have chosen him and he will be there for many years.

Question

00:02:21 - 00:02:22 (1 sec)

What impact will this confirmation fight have on the midterms?

Donald Trump

00:02:22 - 00:02:23 (1 sec)

I think we're going to do great in the midterms. I think the Republicans are going to do great in the midterms. I think we have a momentum that hasn't been seen in years. When you hear those screamers in Congress today, the screaming that -- you see how orchestrated it is, how phony it is.

Donald Trump

00:02:23 - 00:02:24 (1 sec)

They practice it together and they do it with the Democrats. This is all the Democrats. It's so bad. It's so bad for our country and people see it... You hear it's all synchronized. It's all phony stuff.

Donald Trump

00:02:24 - 00:02:25 (1 sec)

When you see their signs, you notice yesterday -- I talked about the signs all week, today they're all different because they said oh, we can't do the same sign made by a manufacturer, paid for by Soros or whoever. So I think Republicans are going to do incredibly well, although history always says that whoever's president it goes a little bit the other way. I think we're going to do really well. We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have an economy like no other.

Note

00:02:25 - 00:02:26 (1 sec)

[A paraphrase that Trump said the unemployment report that came out October 5, 2018 was the best since 1969.]

Donald Trump

00:02:26 - 00:02:27 (1 sec)

Probably the greatest economy we've ever had. That has a lot to do with it. Tax cuts. Regulation cuts. Two Supreme Court justices. Many people on the federal courts. Nobody's done what we have done.

Note

00:02:27 - 00:02:28 (1 sec)

[Gillman wrote that Trump asserted that Republicans protect pre-existing conditions and protecting Social Security, unlike the Democrats.]

Question

00:02:28 - 00:02:29 (1 sec)

[Not transcribed, about Steve Daines, GOP senator from Montana, missing the vote for his daughter's wedding.]

Donald Trump

00:02:29 - 00:02:30 (1 sec)

He was ready to come if we needed his vote.

Question

00:02:30 - 00:02:31 (1 sec)

Not transcribed, about the impact his Mississippi speech, which mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, have on the fight.]

Donald Trump

00:02:31 - 00:02:32 (1 sec)

I think that the Mississippi speech had a great impact, yes. I think it was a very important thing. Hey look, the Washington Post said it on their front page. I can't believe they said it, but they said it.