worth. china tremendously. —— in worth. china would have superseded us as an economic power, but now they are not close. china 25 is very insulting, because it means that in 2025, they will take over economic lee the world. i said, that is not happening. we have gone way up and they have gone down. i don't want them to go down, we will have a good meeting and we will see what we can do, buti meeting and we will see what we can do, but i have to say this, billions of dollars will soon be pouring into oui’ of dollars will soon be pouring into our treasury from taxes that china is paying for us. if use the —— if you speak to the leading authority oi'i you speak to the leading authority on china, he said he has never seen anything like it. and neither has china. but we will try and make a deal with china, because i want to have great relationships with the president, as i do, and also with china. how do you see your role as a moral

leader? there are so many people. i ama leader? there are so many people. i am a great moral leader and i love oui’ am a great moral leader and i love our country. go ahead, please. you said earlier in the press conference that the democrats had a choice and you would not work with them on legislation if they were investigating new, do you not have a choice in the matter as well?|i think choice in the matter as well?” think it is inappropriate, we should get along and get deals done, now we can investigate, they work at us, we look at them, it goes on for two years and then at the end of two years and then at the end of two years nothing is done what is bad for them, years nothing is done what is bad forthem, being in years nothing is done what is bad for them, being in the years nothing is done what is bad forthem, being in the majority i'm going to blame them. you understand, they are the majority. it makes it much simpler for me, they will be blamed. but i think nancy pelosi, i put that statement out today on social media that if she is short of votes because thankfully i think she deserves and i think a lot of people

thought i was kidding, i think she deserves it, she has been fighting for it, i really mean this. there is nothing sarcastic about it, it was really meant with very good intentions. i think she deserves it, she has fought long and hard and is a very capable person. you have other people shooting at her, trying to take over the speakers ship, i have said, it's appropriate, if we can, and if we will, if she has a problem i think i would be able to very easily supply the necessary votes. that is not said in any way other than i really believe she deserves that position. i also believe nancy pelosi and i can work together, along with everyone we have to work with. mr president why can you not do that while subpoenas are coming through?” can you not do that while subpoenas are coming through? i think we will. now the election is over, the

election is over, now everybody is in love but then i see the hostility of questions in the room, i come in here asa of questions in the room, i come in here as a nice person wanting to answer questions and i have people jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me. the election is over. iam questions at me. the election is over. i am very, i am extraordinarily happy, i really am. i would tell you if i wasn't. look what happened in florida, look what happened in georgia. look at what happened in georgia. look at what happened in georgia. look at what happened in so many locations with governorships, nobody talks about the governorships. look at the amount of work that was given to these other candidates against my candidate. i'm extraordinarily happy and ifi candidate. i'm extraordinarily happy and if i was not, you look at the midterms, and you look at the elections, generally, you see it, it's very rare that a party who has the presidency does well. we did very well to win florida, both the senate and the governorship, against

two very talented people. i will tell you what, we did incredibly. to win georgia when you had some of the biggest stars in the world campaigning endlessly, including president 0bama, i tell you what, this was a great victory for us. and again, from a deal—making standpoint we are all much better off though it turned out, i believe if the democrats want to weaken do 0tamendi semedo cement of great legislation. go ahead. should we keep this going for a little while ? go ahead. should we keep this going for a little while? yes i think we should. when you get bored, please tell me. tell me. never bored! hopefully not. i don't want to overstate. on the campaign trail you called yourself a national list and some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. i don't know why

you would say that, it's a racist question. some people say that the party supports nationalists because of that. why do i have among the highest poll numbers with african americans? that such a racist question. honestly? i know you have it written down and you'll tell me, let me tell you, it's racist question. you know what the word is? i love our country. i do. you have nationalists and you have global lists, i also love the world and i don't mind helping the world but we have two straight out our country first. what you have said is so insulting, it's a terrible thing you said. mr president, you talked about middle—class tax cuts on the campaign trail, how will you get democrats to support that policy? you have to ask them. you know what

my plan is, i will last them and if they say yes. you said many times on they say yes. you said many times on the campaign trail that you did not wa nt the campaign trail that you did not want nancy pelosi to be speaker, you spend a lot of time talking about are... it is not a question of warned, would i have preferred i would love to think about that... what did she say to you yesterday? we had a very warm conversation, she loves this country and is a very smart woman, she's done a very good job, she's had a very... did she promised they would not seek to impeach you? we did not talk about impeaching, do you impeach somebody

because he created the greatest economic success because he created the greatest economic success in the history of oui’ economic success in the history of our country, let impeach him because the country is so successful, has he done anything wrong they ask, has he done anything wrong they ask, has he done anything wrong they ask, has he done anything wrong, no but let's impeach him anyway. they also said let's impeachjustice impeach him anyway. they also said let's impeach justice cavanagh, let's impeach justice cavanagh, let's impeach justice cavanagh, let's impeach him and now they have this second woman coming out, i have to say this because it's public but after him we will impeach the vice president, we will impeach mike pence, mike pence does not get impeached for anything, let impeach the president and then we will impeach the vice president, these people are sick and they have two get their bearing, they have to get their bearing and when you ask about their bearing and when you ask about the vision, they are the ones that cause division, they cause tremendous division. regarding all the retirements in the house mr president, quickly you suggested,

you said many of the retirements that happened in the house made it difficult, made it difficult for you in this election cycle and that it was because they were chairmanships that were vacated byjeff flake was not a chairman, paul ryan also retired, why do you think that is, who's fault is it? in jeff's case pure and simple it is me, i retired him. i'm very proud of that. he is retired. i would like to call it another word but we will treat him with respect. jeff flake is a beauty. two questions, please. one, too many people. you seem to enjoy this then you very much, are you going to make the standard press conference a staple of the remaining two years or will you have more briefings with sarah sanders?” think sarah is fantastic, where is

she, she is so great. you have represented me so well and been abused. she has been horribly treated. so she will stay on? it's interesting, we were talking about this the other day, i had a period where i thought i would not do any real interviews and then they started seeing why is he not, then over the last couple of months i decided i will do it, outside a helicopter, this and that, then they say why is he doing so many press conferences, what is wrong, so when i don't do them the ask what is wrong, when i do do them they say what is wrong? and when i go in the middle they say is wrong. 0k, good. excuse me, you complained about access when i purposely stayed away from the press for a while because i wanted to see how it worked and can be honest with you, did work well. mr president, so sarah will stay on

as press secretary? ok, please, go ahead. no. first off i personally think it's good to have you here because a free press. xavier thevenard good to have you here because a free press. xavier theve na rd i good to have you here because a free press. xavier thevenard i do too. i have two questions for you if that's all it's a rare opportunity, first a point of congregation on tax returns, you brought up the audit, that does not prevent you from releasing them. i said it did not prevent me, i said lawyers would prevent me, i said lawyers would prevent you from doing it, come on, let's go, give me a more exciting question. 0marosa has accused you of using the n word and a rapper called littlejohn says you called him littlejohn, is your response?” don't know who that is. have you ever made racist remarks?” don't know who that is. have you ever made racist remarks? i would never do that, i would never make racist remarks, and if i did you

people would have known about it, i have been hearing there are tapes three years. number one i never worried about it because i never used racist remarks, i have never used racist remarks, i have never used racist remarks, i have never used racist remarks. one point of fa ct used racist remarks. one point of fact because you told her... 896, single digits. you talk about division, it's people like this that cause division, great division, point of fact is i never used a racist remark, that is the point of fa ct. racist remark, that is the point of fact. who are you from? yahoo? ? i hope they are doing well. where are you from? leben on, good. we are happy to have this opportunity. president erdogan said he will not follow your sanctions and will keep buying oil from... who said that? president erdogan, turkey. you're

going to meet him soon, you're going to have this talk, some countries will take the same steps... let me tell you about the oil, we imposed re ce ntly tell you about the oil, we imposed recently the strongest sanctions in the history of our countryjust about. i guess north korea is there as well. but i gave some countries a break on the oil. i did it a little bit because they asked for some help. but i really did it because i don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 of ballarat or a a barrel because i am driving them down, oil prices have come down substantially over the last couple of months because of me. you have a monopoly called 0pec and i don't like, wait, i don't like that monopoly. 0il prices are coming down. so rather than deciding to be as tough as i am oi'i than deciding to be as tough as i am on most of the sanctions what i have

done, what i have said is we are going to let some of the oil go to these countries which do need it because i don't want to drive oil prices up to 100 or $150 a barrel which can happen because it's a fragile market which i know very well. it's the absolute right decision. they will get tougher as time goes by, maybe, but i don't wa nt time goes by, maybe, but i don't want to have any effect on the oil prices worldwide because i consider that the attacks and i don't like taxes. the peace process is over between israel and palestine... inaudible congratulationsjohn inaudible congratulations john tester. inaudible congratulationsjohn tester. i inaudible congratulations john tester. i am sure you are unhappy about that. go ahead. mr president... iwill take sure you are unhappy about that. go ahead. mr president... i will take a couple more and then we can go... places like george up, people waited in line for hours to vote and voting machines were not working... do you

think that's a reason the candidate lost? concerns are being raised. i was not involved in georgia, other thani was not involved in georgia, other than i love the state. as the president are you concerned about the access people have to voting.” heard it was very efficient in georgia but again you would have to ask the state governments because it is one of those things you have to ask them. go ahead, please. please, go ahead. thank you mr president, you expressed some concerns about social media companies unfairly censoring conservatives during the election, do you anticipate working with democrats to regulate these companies are you satisfied?” with democrats to regulate these companies are you satisfied? i would look at that, i think it's a serious problem but at the same time you start getting into speech, that's a dangerous problem. that could be the beginning. it's very dangerous. believe it or not i am on that really likes free speech, a lot of people don't understand that but i ama

people don't understand that but i am a big believer when you start regulating a lot of bad things can happen. but i would certainly talk to the democrats if they want to do that and i think they do want to do that. go ahead. former president barack 0bama famously said he had a pen and a phone to use executive power on issues like immigration, do you see yourself using executive power to get some of your immigration agenda done?” power to get some of your immigration agenda done? i do. i do. i think some of it i can use executive power on some, not all. i mean he certainly used it. he used it on dhaka and when he did it he said something to the effect that i am not allowed to do this, it will never hold up but i'm doing it a nyway never hold up but i'm doing it anyway and he did it and they found judges that approved it. we also find judges which did not approve it so find judges which did not approve it so it will be determined on the supreme court. if the court rules in favour of what president 0bama thinks we should rule, which is what

he said, then i will probably have a deal with democrats in a very short period of time. we were very close to having a deal until we got that very strange ruling. you make promises about immigration during the campaign, i want to know he will follow through the stop birthright citizenship, will you sign an executive? i believe we have the absolute right but it's another case which will be determined by the supreme court. will you send 15,000 troops to the border? you have read the same document as i have, you know exactly what i'm doing. what is your next question? on the khashoggi matter, almost a month, do you think saudi arabia is guilty of having him murdered and if so... i have a much stronger opinion over the next week andi stronger opinion over the next week and i am working closely with congress, we are working together with some talented people and we are

working with congress, we are working with congress, we are working with congress, we are working with turkey and we are working with turkey and we are working with turkey and we are working with saudi arabia and forming a strong opinion. go ahead, john. mr president, a quick follow—up, you said something about nancy pelosi, that she loves our country. do you regret some of the things you said during the campaign, you said democrats want to put a wrecking ball to her future and destroy our country? i believe that, with their current policy. this would be a wrecking ball but i think there is a comp my somewhere and i think it could be good for our country. how about one more? do you regret the add you did which was branded as racist and even fox news would not air? i'm surprised you ask me that question, i do not. thank you sir, i think we would love

to have more of these if you are willing. in 2017 shortly after you took office your homeland security department shattered a programme to counter home—grown right—wing extremism, white supremacy and related terrorist groups, domestic terrorist groups. it redirected that funding towards fighting islamic terrorism. do you believe that white supremacist terrorists, right—wing terrorists, these home—grown terrorists, these home—grown terrorists on that side of the spectrum are a problem, sir? and what is your administration going to do about it? i believe all he is a problem. it's a problem we want to solve. what are you going to do about it serve? you cut of the funding. we have giving funding for that, a lot of funding but i believe it's a problem and can i tell you what, it is a problem i don't like even a little bit. go ahead. you

have said pretend i am on the ballot yesterday, you called that a referendum on your presidency and many local districts across the country rejected your mid—term message particularly suburban women, how do you bridge that divide?” thought my was very well received. this has been a very successful, look, you can write it anyway you wa nt look, you can write it anyway you want and if you disagree with me, this has been an incredibly successful, how about ohio? i did not even mention, i mentioned florida and georgia, how about the governor of ohio? i asked you about suburban women voters... a fantastic man down in the polls and everyone is talking about this person who is so is talking about this person who is so great and i went up there and did a rally and they have now got a great governor, they are going to have a great governor in ohio for hopefully a long time. he's a

fantastic person. i went up there for two reasons, because i felt his opposition was not a good person, we know a lot about him, and i felt that might was a fantastic person. not only did he win, he won easily, so not only did he win, he won easily, so add that to florida and georgia and all of the other races that we won, outside even of the senate which were the biggest of all. these we re which were the biggest of all. these were races, mike pence can tell you, these were races that were going to be unopposed, we were not going to oppose certain people running, certain senators. they said they could not be beaten, they said heidi could not be beaten, they said heidi could not be beaten, they said heidi could not be beaten, please don't do it, thinking, this was a yellow... what about suburban districts... you are talking about popularity, they said many of these people when i said many of these people when i said nine out of 11, many of these people were not like easy races,

these were tough races. so i think these were tough races. so i think the level of popularity for the first question i was asked, it was about what have you learned, what about what have you learned, what about your own popularity, i think thatis about your own popularity, i think that is what i learned, i was very well received by this great country, by the people of our great country and i'm very proud of that because i love the people of this country, we are the greatest people, i love the people. i tell you something, when you look at the races that we won in florida, which we were not expected to win, and georgia which we were not expected to win, and a high low which we were not expected to win, and you look at some of them, the numberof and you look at some of them, the number of votes we got is incredible. iam really number of votes we got is incredible. i am really happy with not only the way it came out but the response to me as your president and as your president i have made our country safe, i have rebuilt and am in the process of rebuilding the

military and the jobs here, every of built here. we're going to the strongest military heart country has ever had. i have done more for the veteran 's than any president has donein veteran 's than any president has done in any decade with choice and with other things as you know. but our bedrooms are doing better than they've ever done. if you look at choice, choice alone, look at what we'd done with choice. the people of our country are very happy with the job i'm doing and... looking ahead to 2020... one of job i'm doing and... looking ahead to 2020. .. one of the things they wa nt to 2020. .. one of the things they want so much is security, both at the border, they wanted with our military and with our law enforcement they wanted with ice, we have ta ken out enforcement they wanted with ice, we have taken out of thousands of ms 13 out of our country. women out of our country who are incredible people

wa nt country who are incredible people want security and safety, they want financial security also and we've done that. but they want physical security. we've ta ken done that. but they want physical security. we've taken out thousands of people that should not be in this country but we have to get strong immigration laws so they don't come in. we want laws where they don't come in, where we don't have to take them out, perse. come in, where we don't have to take them out, per se. again i am honoured to be with all of you, it was a great day yesterday, there is a great evening, i think we had a tremendous success and hopefully the tone can get better. how will you change that? hopefully the tone will get a lot better and i believe it begins with the media. i used to call the press. doesn't believe with you mr president? it begins with the media, if you would cover, there was an interesting story written in a very good paper recently that talked about the fact that it's not good, what the media is doing. and i do have the right to fight back because

iam have the right to fight back because i am treated very unfairly so i do fight back and i am fighting back not for me, i'm fighting back for the people of this country, thank you all very much, thank you. well, that was donald trump at the podium in the white house for something like an hour and a half. i think it is fair to say there is nothing else in global politics quite like a donald trump news conference. i dare say some of you stuck with it and watched the whole thing, many of you might have joined it at some point, let them come back, whatever. to try and quickly summarise what his point was, he is responding to the mid—term election results, he is calling it a tremendous success. almost a com plete tremendous success. almost a complete victory as far as he's concerned. that is the way he is spinning it. he has lost, his party has lost control of the house of

representatives, the lower chamber of the us congress, but interestingly his message was that in his view that could actually help him and the congress get stuff done. he made some interesting remarks about the women we expected to be the new speaker of the house of representatives for the democratic party nancy pelosi, talked about his respect for her, said if he believed he was going to get cooperation from the democrats and a whole raft of issues from tax cuts to health care reform and to building the wall with mexico then he believed it could be a period of what he called beautiful cooperation. but as he continued and he began very subdued, he looked tired but as the news conference continued if you saw it, you will have seen his anger, his anger towards the media expressed. he had

some spats with particular journalists from particular news organisations he believes unfair to him. it got nasty and was bad—tempered and his message at the end which you may have heard was in his view the way the us media, the world media i guess treats him in his view is damaging to america and divisive and the american people don't want it. there is so much to discuss from what we've just heard, lam discuss from what we've just heard, iamjoined by discuss from what we've just heard, i am joined by barbara plett usher, you listened and watched as i did, though is a question now about how donald trump is going to handle this next phase of the presidency now that the democratic party, the opposition party are in control of the house of representatives, what did you read from what you heard? he made a strong appeal from start, for... forgive me barbara, i'm so

sorry, i have to stop you having asked the question because we now understand nancy pelosi who are just revert to, the leader of the democratic party is talking right now. an extraordinary class of dynamic and diverse democratic candidates, members reflected their district and embody the bountiful diversity, women lead the way to victory with at least 30 new women coming to the congress. is that not exciting? and there are still some races which are not finalised yet so there could be more. democrats also secured big wins in the governorships across the country and while it's my responsibility to win the house for the democrats, winning governorships is essential to good policy in our country and open elections in the rest. victories in wisconsin, illinois, kansas, maine,

michigan, new mexico and nevada, we are very proud of new mexico that our colleague is now the governor, in colorado we have the governor, even though that is replacing a democratic governor. it was not a pick—up but it is a democratic member. jim pick—up but it is a democratic member.jim in pick—up but it is a democratic member. jim in minnesota, our colleague, again winning in minnesota. for us, seeing the extraordinary leadership of these memberships going into governor ‘s offices, the increased number of democratic governorships, it was a great night for the american people. we won, from the beginning we focused on health care. two years ago today, the day after the election, not the same date, but the same day after the election, eve ryo ne same day after the election, everyone came together and said we see the urgency, we want to take

responsibility, and that gave us opportunity to protect affordable care. that was so essential to the health and financial security of america's working families. and we knew it would be a target. of the trump administration. by that sunday we trump administration. by that sunday we had mobilised many of the groups outside, and we all came together despite where we might be on the spectrum to say this was focus, we need a plan to each our campaign on the weekend of martin luther king day in january and the weekend of martin luther king day injanuary and we did. after the president's inauguration as you know something historic happened in our country, the women's march, and much of that was about health care, the beat goes on. over the course of

that next year and a half, working with the outside groups, and they deserve a great deal of credit and i am proud of our democratic unity in the congress of the united states and are inside manoeuvring that unity was essential to the clarity of our message and differentiation from the republicans on that subject. working together, voting together, we were able to make our case. the outside groups has 10,000 events across the country, speaking about the risks that was involved in republican policy, in terms of health care in our country. the results on medicare and the results on the benefit of the pre—existing medical condition being taken away, all of that, and