Transcript - Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to the Press Before Marine One Departure - January 19, 2019 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

00:00:00 - 00:00:30 (30 sec)

So, I'm going to Dover Air Force Base. A very sad occasion. We'll then be back, and we have a very busy day planned. We had a very good meeting yesterday with North Korea. That was an incredible meeting. It lasted almost two hours. And we've agreed to meet sometime probably at the end of February. We've picked the country, but we'll be announcing it in the future.

Donald Trump

00:00:30 - 00:00:55 (25 sec)

Kim Jong Un is looking very forward to it and so am I. We've made a lot of progress that has not been reported by the media, but we have made a lot of progress as far as denuclearization is concerned. And we're talking about a lot of different things. But we've made tremendous progress that has not been reported, unfortunately, but it will be. Things are going very well with North Korea.

Donald Trump

00:00:55 - 00:01:17 (23 sec)

Things are going very well with China and with trade. There were some false reports about sanctions being removed. We have taken in tremendous amounts of money in the United States because of the sanctions. And we'll see how it goes. And if we make a deal, certainly we wouldn't have sanctions. And if we don't make a deal, we will.

Donald Trump

00:01:17 - 00:01:27 (9 sec)

But I think China has been -- we've really had a very extraordinary number of meetings, and a deal could very well happen with China. It's going very well; I would say about as well as it could possibly go, and without a question.

Question

00:01:27 - 00:01:30 (4 sec)

Mr. President, what goes through your mind in moments like this when you're about to visit with relatives of Americans killed in Syria?

Donald Trump

00:01:30 - 00:01:43 (13 sec)

I think it's the toughest thing I have to do. When I'm going to meet relatives of some of our great, great heroes that have fallen, I think it might be the toughest thing I have to do as President.

Question

00:01:43 - 00:01:44 (1 sec)

[Inaudible] ISIS in Syria [Inaudible]?

Donald Trump

00:01:44 - 00:02:02 (18 sec)

Well, what we've done is we've -- when I took over, Syria was loaded with ISIS. And again, when you say -- and I've always said, who are we killing ISIS for? You know, the worst enemy of Russia, Iran, Syria, if you look at it, is ISIS. So we're killing ISIS for people that aren't necessarily always in agreement with us, let's put it that way.

Donald Trump

00:02:02 - 00:02:20 (19 sec)

We've gone into Syria, and in two years we've, I guess, reduced it to about 99 percent of the territorial caliphate. Now, that doesn't mean you're not going have somebody around. And who knows what happened and who it was, because nobody is sure. But I will say this: We've taken it -- Syria was a mess.

Donald Trump

00:02:20 - 00:02:34 (14 sec)

We've done Assad a very big favor. We've also done our country a favor. But we've brought it down to less than 1 percent. As you know, we didn't stop. We can be pulling back but we've been hitting ISIS very hard over the last three weeks. In particular over the last three weeks. And it's moving along very well.

Donald Trump

00:02:34 - 00:02:50 (16 sec)

It's moving along very well. But when I took over, it was a total mess. But you do have to ask yourself: We're killing ISIS for Russia, for Iran, for Syria, for Iraq, for a lot of other places. At some point, you want to bring our people back home. I've been talking about this since the campaign. But we've done a very -- we're down to 99 percent.

Donald Trump

00:02:50 - 00:02:57 (6 sec)

We have control of 99 percent and we're hitting the rest of it very, very powerfully over the last three weeks.

Question

00:02:57 - 00:02:59 (2 sec)

Will you announce a national emergency today?

Donald Trump

00:02:59 - 00:03:15 (16 sec)

Well, I'm going to be making a statement at three o'clock, Steve. I hope you'll be there. But I think it will be an important statement having to do with the -- as, you know, caravans are coming up. They have a big one coming up now. I'm disappointed that Mexico is not stopping them. I mean, Mexico seems, unfortunately, powerless to stop them.

Donald Trump

00:03:15 - 00:03:34 (20 sec)

Many got through. They broke through the Mexican area where, in theory, they were guarded. And they weren't so well guarded. So you have a lot of people in caravans coming up. If we had a wall, we wouldn't have a problem. But we don't; we have too many open areas. The walls that we fixed and the walls that we built hold beautifully, but we have a lot of open areas, and it's too bad.

Donald Trump

00:03:34 - 00:03:42 (7 sec)

Now, the previous caravans we've stopped. They're right now in Tijuana. I don't know what they're doing in Tijuana but they're not in our country, that I can tell you.

Question

00:03:42 - 00:03:51 (9 sec)

What's your message to Democrats going to be during your address? Are you going to [Inaudible]?

Donald Trump

00:03:51 - 00:03:55 (4 sec)

Well, you're going to see at 3 o'clock. You'll see at 3 o'clock.

Question

00:03:55 - 00:03:55 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:03:55 - 00:04:14 (19 sec)

Well, I hope that Speaker Pelosi can come along and realize what everybody knows. I mean, no matter who it is, they know that walls work. And we need walls. And whether it's personal or not -- it's not personal for me. She's being controlled by the radical left, which is a problem. And, you know, she's under total control of the radical left.

Donald Trump

00:04:14 - 00:04:44 (30 sec)

I think that's a very bad thing for her. I think it's a very bad thing for the Democrats. Everybody knows that walls work. If you look at different places they put up a wall -- no problem. If you look at San Antonio, if you look at so many different places, they go from one of the most unsafe cities in the country to one of the safest cities immediately.

Donald Trump

00:04:44 - 00:04:51 (7 sec)

Immediately. It works. We have to put them up and we will put them up. We got to.

Question

00:04:51 - 00:05:08 (17 sec)

You've talked about federal workers. What is your message to those who are lining up at the food banks and [Inaudible]?

Donald Trump

00:05:08 - 00:05:28 (21 sec)

I think we're making a lot of progress. You know, we're building wall as we speak. Nobody covers that, and I understand that. But we're building wall as we speak. We're going to continue. This country cannot be secure. You have human traffickers. You have criminals of all kind. You have drug pushers and drug smugglers like at a level that people haven't seen over the last five or six years.

Donald Trump

00:05:28 - 00:05:36 (8 sec)

It's gotten to a point nobody has seen anything like it. The Border Patrol has done an incredible job but we need the help and the backup of a wall. Okay.

Question

00:05:36 - 00:05:36 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:05:36 - 00:05:54 (18 sec)

Yes, I thought it was -- I thought that the BuzzFeed piece and, maybe equally as bad, the coverage of the BuzzFeed phony story -- it was a total phony story. And I appreciate the Special Counsel coming out with a statement last night. I think it was very appropriate that they did so. I very much appreciate that.

Donald Trump

00:05:54 - 00:06:12 (18 sec)

I think that the BuzzFeed piece was a disgrace to our country. It was a disgrace to journalism. And I think also that the coverage by the mainstream media was disgraceful. And I think it's going to take a long time for the mainstream media to recover its credibility. It's lost tremendous credibility. And believe me, that hurts me when I see that.

Donald Trump

00:06:12 - 00:07:46 (94 sec)

I'm the President of this country. Media could pull this country together. It hurts me to say it, but mainstream media has truly lost its credibility. And I can say, as far as I'm concerned, from before the election, during the campaign, I said, "Wow, this is really crooked stuff. This is really dishonest reporting." When the New York Times apologized after the election for their bad coverage and their faulty coverage, and then they were wonderful for two weeks, and then they went back to being worse than ever before.

Donald Trump

00:07:46 - 00:08:10 (24 sec)

And so many others. I'm not just blaming the Times. But the mainstream media has lost its credibility, and that's a very bad thing for our country. Thank you very much.