Transcript - Remarks: Donald Trump Meets with Angela Merkel of Germany - April 27, 2018 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

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

Thank you very much. It's a great honor to have Chancellor Merkel, and I will say that, you can rest assured, she was going to win that election, and congratulations on winning, and, by the way, a formal congratulations. That is a great victory.

Donald Trump

00:00:15 - 00:00:41 (26 sec)

We're working on a lot of different subjects, including trade, including NATO, including military of all types, and we have a really great relationship and we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning. But some people didn't understand that. But we understand it, and that's what's important. But a very extraordinary woman, and it's an honor to have you at the White House. Thank you very much.

Angela Merkel

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

[Via Translator] Thank you very much. Thank you very much for this very warm reception, and also for the words of congratulation. You know, it took some time to build the government, and that is certainly true.

Angela Merkel

00:00:57 - 00:01:14 (18 sec)

But I thought it was very important on this first visit outside of Europe to come to The United States, to come to Washington, in order to, yet again, underline that we wish to deepen our relationship further, and... and I hope and trust and am very much looking forward to the very good talks that I trust we will have today.

Donald Trump

00:01:14 - 00:01:18 (3 sec)

Good, well, thank you very much.

Angela Merkel

00:01:18 - 00:01:19 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:19 - 00:01:20 (1 sec)

Question

00:01:20 - 00:01:28 (8 sec)

Mr. President, how did you feel about the report that was issued today?

Donald Trump

00:01:28 - 00:01:55 (27 sec)

Yeah, we were honored. It was a great reporter. No collusion, which I knew anyway. No coordination, no nothing. It's a witch-hunt, that's all it is. There was no collusion with Russia, if you can believe this one, there was... she probably can't believe it. Who can? But the report was very powerful, very strong. There was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian people.

Donald Trump

00:01:55 - 00:02:10 (15 sec)

As I've said many times before, I've always said there was no collision, but I've also said there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me. With that all being said, if we can get along with Russia, that's a good thing, not a bad thing, but there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me.

Donald Trump

00:02:10 - 00:02:33 (22 sec)

I was very honored by the report. It was totally conclusive, strong, powerful. Many things said that nobody knew about, and said in a very strong way. They were very forceful in saying that the Clinton campaign actually did contribute to Russia. So, maybe somebody ought to look at that. But what we really should do is get on with our lives and get on with a lot of things.

Donald Trump

00:02:33 - 00:03:01 (28 sec)

We have a lot of great things happening, including potentially with North Korea, Angela, as you see. A lot of very positive things happened over the last 24 hours. We're in total touch with both North Korea and South Korea. We'll be setting up a meeting very shortly. We have, we have it broken down to probably two sites now, two or three sites, locations, and hopefully we're going to have great success. We'll see what happens, but hopefully we're going to have great success.

Donald Trump

00:03:01 - 00:03:14 (13 sec)

So President Moon and I are speaking, and we're speaking very much with South Korea, and with North Korea. The relationships are building and building strongly, and this will be a great thing for the world. This will be a great thing for Germany.

Donald Trump

00:03:14 - 00:03:27 (14 sec)

But this will be a great thing for the world. Angela and I have discussed this over the period of the last 15 months -- quite a bit -- North Korea, the North Korean problem, and I think you're seeing that a lot of very positive things are happening.

Question

00:03:27 - 00:03:32 (4 sec)

Do you expect [Inaudible] on Iran today, Mr. President?

Donald Trump

00:03:32 - 00:03:52 (20 sec)

I don't know, I think we'll be talking about Iran probably, but I don't necessarily expect it one way or the other. I know we're gonna have a very good discussion on Iran, as I did with Emmanuel, who has just left, the President of France. So we'll be having discussions on Iran. We'll be having discussions on trade. We'll be having various discussions.

Question

00:03:52 - 00:03:57 (5 sec)

What is being done Mr. President, to ensure Mr. Kim isn't playing the U.S. like he did --

Donald Trump

00:03:57 - 00:04:14 (17 sec)

Oh, I don't think he's playing. No, I don't think he's playing and -- and you know it's never gone like this, it's never gone this far. I don't think it's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody... for them wanting to make a deal, and yeah, I agree. The United States has been played beautifully, like a fiddle because you had a different kind of a leader.

Donald Trump

00:04:14 - 00:04:46 (33 sec)

We're not going to be played, okay? We're gonna, hopefully make a deal. If we don't, that's fine. The United States in the past was played like a fiddle. Money going in and nobody knew what was happening the day after an arrangement was made. If you call it a deal, I doubt it, but an arrangement was made. They start with the nuclear weapons again. That's not happening to us. We will, I think, come up with a solution, and if we don't, we leave the room with great respect, we leave the room and we just keep it going.

Donald Trump

00:04:46 - 00:05:14 (27 sec)

I also will tell you that President Xi of China has been very helpful at the border, and I want to acknowledge that. I think it's very important to acknowledge. But President Xi has been extremely helpful to me. We have a very good relationship. He's been extremely helpful to me at the border. So we'll see where it all goes. But now this isn't like past administrations. We don't play games. Thank you very much. Everybody. Thank you. Thank you.