and thank you, everybody. >> thank you. god bless you everybody. have a great day. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen the executive vice president and ceo of the national rifle association of america, wayne la peer. thanks so much.

thank you very much. it's great to see all of you and it's really great to be here with you today. we're all here for one reason. and you know what that is. we all care about america. no matter where you come from to be here today, or how you made it to this room, we all gather here just as patriots have always gathered in our country. united in our love of country and perseverence of our great freedoms. this is the year we make a true and honest and real difference in this country. between more freedom and less. between a greater nation or not. justice scalia, that's the type of difference that justice

scalia made. with eloquence. justice scalia defended the fundamental freedom guaranteed to every american in a very real and personal way. he defended that liberty. given to each one of us at our birth. b by our creator. justice scalia -- and i don't have to tell you this. you all know it. he was a monumental jurist. and he was a hero of american freedom. he was also an avid sportsman. and shooter. and i'll tell you this. he was a darned good wing shot. he was also a true friend to america's 100 million gun owners and the 5 million men and women of the national rifle association of america. we all mourn him and we miss him. e thought of president obama

replacing justice scalia is harrowing. but i'll tell you this. the thought of the next president putting perhaps two or more justices on the bench should scare the hell out of all of us. and here's someone already planning for that day. >> well i'll tell you what i do have a litmus test. i have a bunch of lissmuss tests because i agree with you. the next president could get as many as three appointments. one of the many reasons why we can't turn the white house over to the republicans again is because of the supreme court. >> yeah. yeah. you got it. hillary rodham clinton couldn't pass a polygraph but she's already got a litmus test. and you know what?

she flunchings both. -- flunks both. we can't all sit on the supreme court and make the kind of difference that justice scalia made. but if we follow his simple advice, we can make an incredible difference, even change the course of our entire country in this next election. here it is, real simple. in scalia's own words. the only article in faith that plays any part in my judging is the commandment thou shalt not lie. thou shalt not lie. in a time when all of us are bombarded with media jeapeda and their web of spin and political conniving, the very breast and most effective and surest way to defend freedom is found in those four words, thou shalt not lie. i talk to people all over

america and i'm out there every week on the road somewhere in this country. they're fed up. good honest folks worry themselves sick about the future of their families, the future of their country while we watch self-serving political and media rig and game the sims for their own personal wealth and their own personal power were disgusted with the lies. all of us are. we're enraged. we're so outraged that it's game over in this country for the liars. this election year proves the rage of the american people to e real and to be powerful. candidates, strategists and pundits are learning this year

that telling it like it is brings success. straight talk bring reese ward. you know, that's something i learned in kindergarten. truth counts. truth matters. truth endures. history proves that if you give the american people the straight truth, they will choose honest freedom every single time. that's why for decades the n.r.a. has been the guiding light for american gun owners. and those who treasure our constitutional freedoms in this country. the second amendment guarantees all of our freedoms. and we are unafraid of honest debate, we're unapologetic in going toe to toe with anyone who gets between us and those freedoms. yet while so many of our

constitutionally guaranteed freedoms have been diminished over the last seven years, second amendment freedoms, thanks to people like you all over this country has been expanded. and n.r.a. membership -- yeah. [applause] >> i applaud that too. we all do. and n.r.a. membership and favorability among the american public has grown to record levels. why? because when it comes to telling the truth and fighting for our fundamental freedoms, no one fights harder longer or ronger than the n.r.a. [applause] we do it together every single time. we speak the hard truth that no one else will. and when it comes to speaking out and defending those rights and freedoms that are ours, the

n.r.a. will never -- and i mean never -- back down. you can count on that. [applause] we've been exposing lie yars about freedom for decades, telling the truth that most americans know in their hearts to be right. let me give an example. back in the early 90's, the clintons pushed one anti-gun scheme after another. restrictions that only affected law-abiding people. so i debated then congressman charles schumer back then on national television. yeah, i know. he's a piece of work. isn't he? yeah. always been. way back then i described our broken mental health system and argued that the records of those adjudicated mentally incompetent and dangerous should be included in a

background check. watch this old video and see if you can catch schumer's deceit. >> are you in favor of computerizing the mental health records of people into a national computer bank? >> you bet i am. >> can we join hands on that? >> because last year you guys were against it. >> that was more than 20 years ago. looks like it too. the congressman -- he shook my hand, went back to his office, and then he did nothing. to this day, schumer and obama and hillary clinton have still done nothing. nothing. to ensure that the records of those adjudicated mentally incompetent and dangerous are part of the national instant check. but they sure try every day to restrict the rights of law-abiding people like all of you in this room today. by imposing laws that they have no intention of enforcing

against the bad guys. the n.r.a. we've always fought back. and we've beat them back. and how do we do it? we do it with the truth every single time. president clinton attacked lawful gun owners. he claimed the n.r.a. was to blame for crime. we told the truth about crime and the politics of the clinton white house. that the president who let federal prosecutions of gun crimes drop to near historic lows seem willing to tolerate a certain level of violence to urther his political agenda. the media, i will tell you they went nuts. pressuring me to back down. pressuring me to apologize. watch this. >> so up here the world is watching. an american citizen, the head of the n.r.a., is that saying

that the president and vice president of the united states tolerates killing for political reasons. is that what you're saying? >> all i'm saying >> i need a good answer is to why they won't prosecute. >> are you you saying they tolerate -- the effect of policy of not taking the gang member with the gun off the street and somebody later gets killed. if they would pick them up under the existing federal law that they have right now u on the books and throw them in the frad penitentiary they would save lives. >> you believe the president -- >> all i know is he could save lives. >> why can't you just say you believe? >> if they would put the program it would save lives. >> some people think you're using this hot rhetoric to increase your membership. >> i'm trying to get people to focus on the fact these guys in the white house while they want

a lot more gun laws they refuse to enforce the gun laws on the books against the drug dealers, the gangs, and the violent felons and they're the ones doing the killing. >> you stand by your comment? >> they're not enforcing the laws. >> it's -- whi >> why won't you say yes or no? >> you want this to be wayne's rhetoric versus the white house when it ought to be on the lack of prosecutions. >> we here in the press want to hold you accountable. >> if this administration would enforce the federal law they would save lives and they're not doing it. while they call for a lot more laws. cheers and applause] >> we fought back with the truth about clinton's lack of enforcement of the federal gun laws that were on the books. and guess what happened that year. n.r.a. membership soared. our popularity greater than the president or both chambers of congress. and most of all, most of all,

gun owners in arkansas, florida, west virginia, tennessee and all over this country went to the polls and voted their freedom first. and when that happened, al gore went away and george w. bush went to the white house. honest debate matters. that's a lesson the national news media never learned especially when it comes to the truth about firearms. in 2003, the old failed clint gun ban was about to expire. cnn violated all journalistic standards trying to save the ban on semi-automatic firearms. by airing a video of fully automatic machine guns that had nothing whatsoever to do with the legislation we were

debating. i just happened to be in the studio when they air that had video. take a look at this. >> now we give you the other side for the executive vice president of the national rifle association. thanks for being with us. if the ban expires what kind of weapons would be legal? >> let me say this to start. i'm glad you ran that story because apparently the only difference between the "new york times" and cnn is that when a reporter for the "new york times" fakes a story he's fired. and at cnn he's not. your bureau chief deliberatively faked a story yesterday intending to show that the performance characteristics of banned firearms on the list are somehow different from the performance characteristics of firearms not on the banned list. he was implying that these were machine guns or fully automatic guns. that's not true.

>> i have to stop you there. no one fakes stories at cnn. and john definitely did not fake a story. you're very off base. i'm going to let you say your opinion but don't accuse our reporter of faking any stories, sir. >> let me say it again in front of the whole country. your reporter faked that story yesterday. it deliberatively misled the viewers. to >> all right. >> now, -- yeah. you know, cnn finally admitted that i was right and they ran a correction. but the sad thing is millions of viewers were deceived. and the deal is if i hadn't caught them red-handed like a bank robber running out of the bank with a bag of dye exploding all over the bank robber, they would have never ran that correction and they would continue to be holding up that lie as truth. no wonder trust in the media is

at the lowest level in history in this country. we all of us the american people are fed up. we've had enough of agenda-driven journalists who refuse to tell the truth. truth does prevail. especially during our nation's most troubling times. when a deranged monster murdered 26 young children and teachers in newtown, n.r.a. members mourned with the nation. and we were attacked again blamed again for a tragedy that had nothing to do with lawful gun ownership. so i stood before the nation and spoke the simple truth that ignited a firestorm among the media and the political eleet. >> worst they perpetuate the dangerous notion that one more gun ban or one more law imposed on peaceable lawful people will protect us.

where 20,000 other laws have failed. brave and heroic and as self-sacrificing as those teachers were in those classrooms, and as prompt and professional and well trained as those police were when they responded, they were unable through no fault of their own unable to stop it. as parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. it's now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools. the only way -- the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. cheers and applause]

ou know, that day i simply and honestly propose that our school our children should be protected at least as much as our jewelry stores, our banks, and our sports stadiums. or maybe the oscars in hollywood the other night. the national news media, they saveadged me. yet what parent wouldn't feel safer dropping their kids off at a school with a police car out front? the national media and the politicses, they set their fire on hair over it. they called me just about every evil nasty name in the book. but you know what happened? in state legislatures, in school districts all over this country, the american people

began implementing what i proposed. placing trained security in their schools. they didn't wait for congress or the president to act. they took matters right in their own hands to protect their own children. as a result, millions of children go to school today no longer the sitting ducks of the worst and most dangerous of all lies gun free zones. the news media -- yeah. the news media protected by their own armed security they never admit it. but today millions of children are safer for one reason. the n.r.a. [applause] the overwhelming majority of americans agree, the simple truth that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

the politicians and the media be damned. [applause] a couple of months ago, president obama participated in the so-called town hall. owners,ing lawful gun and attempting to advance his own agenda. at one point, a young woman, who had been brutally raped, mustard the kurds to stand and tell the president her story, and expressed her beliefs in owning a gun for protection. the president lectured her. he implied she wasn't really trained enough are capable enough to defend herself using a firearm. mr. president, no woman should be faced -- should be left to

face evil with empty hands. [applause] to all of america's women, you are not free if you are not free to defend yourself. president clinton -- obama, let's not move ahead, president clinton did the same if president -- obama obama, hillary clinton, or anyone else denies you that right, they do not really care about you at all. it is your right to protect yourself. don't ever let anyone take it away from you. [applause] the president went to that town hall to call out the nra. i will tell you. back.a answered right [video clip]

>> there is a reason why the nra is not here. >> you are saying you would welcome to meet with the nra. >> i said this repeatedly, i'm happy to meet with them. the conversation has to be based on facts and truth. arerescreened questions anything but an honest dialogue. i will meet you for a one-on-one one hour debate with a mutually agreed-upon moderator. no prescreened questions and no gas bank answers. america will judge for themselves who they trust and believe on this issue. or the the nra -- you nra. let's see if you are game for a fair debate. it is your chance to show the

american people that you are not afraid to meet the nra on neutral ground. [applause] you know the deal, the president has yet to respond. what? he is just down the street. i wonder if he is afraid of the truth. the truth that, during his this,ency, and listen to the american news media does not tell the public this. the truth that, during his presidency, federal prosecution of gun drives have dropped dramatic lee. the truth that, in his own hometown, over 400 chicagoans have been shot this year, compared to this time a year

ago, the homicide rate has risen 100%. does that sound like a number anyone can be proud of? own chicago,, you and that failure is on you. [applause] clintons, andhe all the rest of them never seem to get the most basic truth. the most basic truth of all. right there. you know what? i hung that sign on our building way back in 1993, when the clintons ran the white house. it is sad to say that 23 years , it is deja vu all over again. same old clintons, same old message. "it's the criminals, stupid."

don't you get it? refuses to pick pen to flipr chicago upside down and prosecute every criminal with a gun to the fullest extent of the existing gun laws. save did that, that would chicagohat would make safer. he won't do that. that does not fit his political genda to attack the nra, propel hillary clinton to the white house, and destroy our personal freedom forever. corrupt, and we see right through the

clinton-obama scheme. we know a liar when we see one. we also know a political coward when we see one. president obama, he is never going to debate me on guns. i would clean his glock, and he knows it. he will keep hiding behind his gged appearances, and he will lecture us on what , whileg with our right day by day, all over this country, more more people grow more and more enraged and determined to throw them all out. [applause] >> then there is hillary rodham clinton. she has been clear about one

thing. amendment.he second she hates us, and she is coming after every little bit of our freedom. : i will stanon up to the gum lobby, and we will get common sense gun safety measures. we will fight to get common sense gun safety measures. >> ms. clinton, if you want to come after the nra, and fight over the god-given right of gun owners, and you want to turn this election into a their knucklesbrawl -- bare brawl, bring it on. [applause] going anywhere, and we aren't hard to find. mrs. clinton, we are the

millions of honest decent citizens all over this country. we love our nation. we cherish our freedom. november, we are bringing the fight to you. [applause] >> all of us. all of us have a common cause. our freedom and our future. we can and must fight for it. americans all over this country have declared that this election is not going to be about the politicians. we have decided that it is going life, myut me, my freedom. this is my election. i am taking my country back. [applause]

election must set our nation back on its rightful course where individual freedom is respected, justice is an stored, government gets off our back and leaves us alone, and elected officials start telling us the truth. this is the time to rise up and start making a difference. fight as hard as we can to save the country. we stand up for truth and freedom. vow, on this day, we will stand and fight with always got. he will take our freedom back. let's do it together in november. thank you very much. [applause]

>> we will have more from the 2016 conservative political action conference tonight with former presidential candidate and a ceo of hewlett-packard, -- ceo of hewlett-packard, carly fiorina. tonight at 9:00. >> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, director eli gerardoy policy

discusses issues privacy, national security and encryption. richard smith. join the discussion. >> so many of my former books where horizontal stories, many countries across the whole region. one country in depth, and use it to explore great themes. i think great themes. the holocaust, the cold war, the challenge of vladimir putin. study theomania is to

legacy of empire. >> sunday night on q&a, robert , author of "in europe's shadow." >> romania was intimately a corrupt country. extremely corrupt. it had week institutions. everything was based on bri bes and doubledealing. the shows this is nothing new. what is happening is the romanian population had become grown-up and far more sophisticated, and is demanding clean government. on c-span's q&a. > yesterday, the> 2012 presidential nominee, mitt

attacked donald trump, on.ling him a c his remarks are 20 minutes. [applause] mitt romney: thank you. it is good to be with you today. thank you. announceere to mike enzi for office -- announce for office, instead, i would like to offer

my perspective on the nominating process for my party. back in 1964, just days before the residential election, which incidentally, we lost, ronald reagan went on national television challenging america, saying it was a time for choosing. paths forto wo america. one dedicated to conservative principles. the other, and oppressed government that would lead america down a darker, less free, path. i'm no ronald reagan, by believe with all my heart and soul, we face another time of choosing. one that will have profound consequences for the republican party, and more importantly, for our country. i say this, in part, because of my convictions that america is poised to lead the world for

another century. our technology, our innovation, the skill of our people are going to propel our economy, and raise the standard of living of americans. america will remain as it is today the envy of the world. .arren buffett he said, and i think he is 100% right, the baby is being -- the babies being born in america today are the luckiest crop in history. that doesn't mean we don't have real challenges. we do. at home, poverty exists and wages are stagnant. the attacks of paris and san bernardino, the attacks of putin, the growing assertiveness of china, and the nuclear tests of north korea tell that we live in dangerous times. if we make the right choices,

america's future will be even better than its past. on the other hand, if we make other choices, the bright horizons i described will not materialize. let me put it plainly. if we choose donald trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. let me explain why say that. first, the economy. if donald trump's plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into prolonged depression. his tax plan would balloon the

deficit and the national debt. even though doll shop has offered very few specific economic plans, what little he has said is enough to know the he would be very bad for american workers and families. you say, wait. isn't he a huge business success, doesn't he know what he's talking about? no, he isn't, and no, he doesn't. [applause] his bankruptcies have crushed small businesses, and the men and women who work for them. he inherited his business, he didn't create it. whatever happened to jump airlines, trump university, trump magazine, trump vodka? a business genius, he is not. not every policy donald trump has floated is bad.

he wants todidn't repeal obamace bring jobs home from china and japan. but, his prescriptions to do so are flimsy, at best. successfully bringing jobs home requires policies and reforms. you cannot punish business into doing what you want. serious policyly with a broadt deal -- the only serious policy proposals come from marco rubio, ted cruz, and marco rubio. the rules of political history

have pretty much all been shredded in this campaign. if the other bring jobs home can find some common ground, i believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election, and who can represent conservatives. i would vote for marco rubio in florida, john kasich and ohio, or whichever contender has the best chance in beating donald trump. let me turn to national security. is feeling bombast the enmity of our enemies. insulting all muslims will keep many of them from fully engaging with us in the urgent fight against isis. with what purpose? what he said on 60 minutes.

did you hear the struggle it was about syria and isis. it has to go down as the most ridiculous and dangers idea of the entire campaign. let isis takeout assad, he said. then, we can pick up the remnants. think about that. let the most dangerous terror organization the world has ever known takeover and entire country. this recklessness is extreme.ess in the donald trump tells us he is very, very smart. [laughter] i'm afraid when it comes to foreign policy, he is very, very not smart. [applause] i'm far from the first to conclude that donald trump lacks the temperament to be president. is thell, this

individual who mocked a disabled reporter, who bragged .bout his marital affairs he says he admires vladimir putin. at the same time, he is called george w. bush a liar. that is a twisted example of evil trumping good. [applause] there is a dark irony in his sts of sexual exploits in the vietnam war, while the same time, john mccain was tortured. his honesty is his trademark. he claims he spoke boldly and clearly against going into iraq.

wrong. he spoke in favor of going into iraq. he said he saw thousands of muslims in new jersey celebrating 9/11. wrong. he saw no such thing. he imagined it. he is not of the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. his imagination must not be married to real power. the president of the united states has long been the leader of the free world. the president, and yes, even the nominees of the country's great party, help to find america to billions of people around the world. all of them there the responsibility of being an example to our children and grandchildren. personaldonald trump's qualities. the bullying, degrees, the showing off, misogyny, the absurd third-grade the objects.

we have long referred to him as "the donald." he is the only person in the anntry to whom we added article to his name. it is not because he has attributes that we admire. imagine your children and grandchildren acting the way he does. before whateen people in prominent positions have done when they failed to uphold conduct? we have. watch how he responds to my speech today. [laughter] [applause] will he talk about our policy differences or will he attacked me with every insult? this may tell you what you need to know by his temperament,

stability, and suitability to be president. thatrump relishes any poll reflects what he thinks of himself. polls are also think he will lose to hillary clinton. think about that. on hillary clinton's watch, the , when she wasnt guiding it and part of the obama administration, that state department watched as american diminished in every corner of the world. she jettisoned her most profound believes to gain presidential power. for the last three decades, the clintons have lives at the intersection of money and politics, to enrich their personal finances. they embody the term, crony capitalism. gusts the american

people. a person so untrustworthy and dishonest as hillary clinton must not become president. [applause] of course, a trump nomination enables her victory. the audio and video of the -trump exchange on the ku klux klan will play a hundred thousand times on cable, and who knows how many times on social media. there are people who claim that mr. trump is a con man, a fake. thank you. [applause]

let me say that again. there is plenty of evidence that .r. trump is a con man, a fake mr. trump has changed his opinions, not only over the years, but over the course of the campaign, and on the ku klux klan, three days in a row. we will only know if he is a real deal or phony if he releases his tax reforms. i predict that there are more .ombshells in his tax reforms i predict he doesn't give anything to the disabled and the veterans. i predict that, despite his promise to do so, first made over a year ago, he will never ever release his tax returns. never.

notthe returns under audit, even the returns not being audited. he has too much to hide. nor will he authorized the release of the tapes he made with the new york times. if i am right, you will have all the truth you need to know that donald trump is indeed a phony. will, won't, as he prove he is any less of a phony. all he has to do is release his back taxes, and let us know what he said behind closed doors, to the new york times. anald reagan used to quote scottish philosopher who predicted that democracies would not last a whole lot longer than a couple hundred years. john adams wrote this. lastser, democracy never long. , andon wastes, exhausts

murders itself. there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. that is john adams. i believe america has proven these predictions wrong for two reasons. first, we have been blessed with idents, men of character, integrity, and selflessness have let our country from the very beginning. wererk perfect -- none perfect. in each case, they acted out of a desire for what is right for america, and freedom. the second reason is we are blessed with great people. people who have put the interest of the country above their own. these two things are related. , time and again, have called on us to rise to the occasion.

john f. kennedy asked us to consider what we can do for our country. i understand the anger that americans feel today. in the past, our presidents have channeled that anger and forged it in to, endurance, high purpose, and the will to defeat the enemies. our anger was transformed into energy, directed for good. mr. trump has director our anger for less than noble purposes. he create scapegoats. he calls for the use of torture. he calls for killing innocent children and family members of terrorism. he cheers assaults on protesters. this is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into

the abyss. here's what i know. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. [applause] he is playing the members of the american public as suckers. he gets a free ride the white house, and all we get is a lousy hat. his domestic policies would lead to recession. his foreign policies would make .merica less safe he has neither the temperament or the judgment to be president. his personal quality would mean that america would cease to be a shining city on a hill. hasconvinced that america greatness ahead, and this is a time for choosing.

god bless us to choose a nominee who will make that vision a reality. thank you, and god bless you all. [applause] , thiswashingtonpost.com is the headline, "mitt romney is the human body met of the republican party's trump tears." fromng us is philip bump the post. thank you for joining us. i think it is important to remember -- mitt romney is a charter member of the republican establishment. he embodies all the things of the republican establishment that establishment voters like.

he is very articulate, he is the republican establishment. the republican establishment is under threat. we have seen, over the course of the past two years, it has become less and less necessary for republicans to leverage the party to win office. donald trump is the best example of that. donald trump did not need the party to win the presidency. he has used the party to get nominated, but he does not need them. that puts the republican party in a tough position because he is not accountable to them. if he is elected president, and there is the senate nomination, or house nomination, he can endorse whoever he wants to. his endorsement could potentially mean war. i think mitt romney personally feels this is a threat to what he has worked for in politics.

i think he is doing what he can trump andbstacles at the nomination. host: from your piece, "what trump has done is show how is leftpower left is -- in the republican party." guest: back of the day, there was not a primary system, the party decided to the nomination would be. with the did was they leveraged the anonymity of the candidates as a power source. they do not really know who these candidates were. they control the media engine, the primary process, and gave people the space they needed to the candidacy.

what does the republican party have? it has a nomination process, and some primaries that donald trump is able to step into, and when. he doesn't either money, their money,on, -- need their their attention, their approval. host: what do you think the republican party would look like if it is president donald trump? guest: that is a great question. what we are seeing right now is the republican party trying to figure it out. can they exist as the same party? they figure that donald trump will step into line, he is railing against the party, and could change the party, but is really posturing for the campaign. don trump does not want to -- the question

is, what are the party struggle donald trump has made statements that he disagrees with them on a lot of things, like the iraq war, for example. it will be tough when they have a president that stands opposed to what the party stood for in the past. , hepeecht romney spee is the establishment, and donald trump is the antiestablishment candidate. guest: if you think about it, for months and months, the establishment had a candidate, jeb bush. he has his legacy, he was going to be a nominated. it turns out he was a bad candidate. donald trump used him as a , evenng bag, for months

when he was like 3% in the polls. donald trump would beat up on him because he was the establishment. mitt romney all of a sudden steps into that role. he is now the establishment. .e gives donald trump a foil was it a smart move by the former governor, the 2012 presidential nominee? think honestly, i don't it did a whole lot of damage, necessarily. i think he sees the party that he led into thousand 12, a lot of people upset with the party. he is doing whatever he can to try and stop donald trump. i think what he can do is very limited, in the same way that with the associate can do,

probably, is limited. it does not look like he has figured it out. host: philip bump is joining us in new york because work is available online from "the washington post." thank you for your time. >> republican candidate donald trump held a campaign rally where he responded to mitt romney's attacks. this is just under one hour. [applause] donald trump: thank you. what a turnout. [applause]

trump: you know, i was doing a little thing called a debate. >> [indiscernible] get him out, please. get him out. [cheering] : what are they doing? a little television time, i guess. i was going to the debate, directly in from florida. down in florida, we are campaigning, doing really well in florida. we are campaign against the guy who has the worst voting history in the state of florida. rubio. i call him a lightweight.

theas the worst history in -- worst voting record in the history of florida. i was going to detroit. i said to my people, i have to stop in maine. i would not say it is a very direct route, would you say? i'm so glad. outut this incredible sold crowd, and thousands of people outside, to put this crowd together in a period of what? to four hours? maine is amazing. one of the most beautiful places on her. people don't realize how large is your land mass. about the size of new england. can i buy some, please? i've been watching with great

interest, as we go down the line, we have had some amazing results. nearby with new hampshire, it was an amazing, incredible thing. every single time i went to new hampshire, whenever i met with people, their number one problem , heroin. number one problem. i say, how is that possible? you look at these beautiful fields, everything, so bi beautiful. it comes from our southern border, and we are going to close up the border. [cheering] : people are going to come in our country, but they are going to come in legally. i watch these pundits. when i first started, my wife and i came down the escalator, an amazing thing.

i an amazing thing. i said, we have to do something. we have people that don't know what they are doing. trade has been such a disaster. my wife said, if you run, you will win.

she is my poster. we went up to 24, and they said, that is the max, there can't be any more. trump, 49. that's high. movement going on,

folks. time magazine did a couple of weeks ago, talking about everything going on. they have never seen anything like it. i don't become exaggerating. many of the great writers, of which, there are few -- the media is the most dishonest people i have ever dealt with. they said in the history of this country there has never been anything like this. in huntsville, alabama the other day, and had 35,000 people. 35,000 people. we went to arkansas -- is that another one? get him out. get him out. they just don't stop. thank you. bye bye. terrible. incredible. , butnow, you can be nice

if you're nice, they say, it's soft. you can be vicious. then, they say, too harsh. i have developed, a nice, "please, get him out." it's incredible. i love you too. way, i'm self funding my campaign, putting up all my money. . don't want your money i just want one thing, your vote, on saturday. don't forget, i did that day long turn so you can get out the vote. ok? thank you very much. theme isry and our make america great again. over the last little while, i've

met so many people, thousands and thousands of people. we are only confined by the size of the room. thousands and thousands of great americans. i have more confidence in this country than i have ever had before. we have by far the biggest rallies. bernie is second, a distant second, but i have to give him credit. this country has unbelievable people that love this country. remember that. i want to see the day in the not appletant future when makes its iphones in this country, and not in china.

romney made aitt .airly long speech i will address it quickly, because it is irrelevant. mitt is a failed candidate. he felt horribly. he failed badly. that was a race that absolutely should have been won. and i don't know what happened to him. he disappeared. he disappeared. and i wasn't happy about it, i'll be honest, because i'm not a fan of barack obama and that was a race that i backed mitt romney. and i backed him. you can see how loyal, he was begging. i could have said drop to your knees. he would have dropped to his knees. he was begging me. and he said i'm not big like him

and he is the great businessman. since then, i have done much better. but we'll talk about it in a second. he was thinking about running again. he ran a horrible campaign. it was a campaign that never should have been lost. you are running against a failed president. he came up with 47%, he demeaned 47% of the people in our country, the famous 47%. once that was said, i'll be honest, once that was said, a lot of people thought it was over for him. the last month and a half, he disappeared. i called his people and said you have to do yourself a favor. obama, he was on jay leno and david letterman. he was all over the place. mitt was looking for zoning for a nine car garage. who cares about a garage? you are running for president.

and he was a disaster as a candidate. so what happened, and it was very strong and i think if the press goes back, they'll see it. when i heard he was running again and i wasn't sure i was going to be running, but i was very, very strong to hit and everybody, because i didn't want to talk to him. i was so disappointed, because he let us down. he let us down. one thing you lose and you work and you work, he let us down. he should have won. something happened. he went away. he was gone. he was horrible in the third debate. it was a horrible -- something happened. i don't know what happened. maybe someday they'll write a book. his campaign guy was terrible. he is always on television. stuart stevens. he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of modern politics. ran, probably the worst one, because most people thought that the republican candidate would win.

so when hit started raising his -- when mitt started raising his head a few months ago, i very strong. i said mitt romney should not run. he is a choke artist and i said it very strongly. and then jeb bush actually convinced mitt not to run. can you imagine jeb, jeb told him. jeb, he is a good salesman. jeb is a good salesman. he's a high-energy salesman. but, mitt was afraid of jeb because he was afraid that jeb would get the money and jeb would get whatever. i wasn't afraid. i wasn't afraid of jeb. i can tell you that. jeb bush convinced hit not to -- convinced mitt not to run. was going to run, a third attempt. the second was a great catastrophe. and what happened was he went to see jeb and jeb had him convinced he has the money and hit chickened out. i'll tell you the real reason he chickened out, it was me.

if you remember, mitt was all set to run. i know this from people that are close to him and i think he has a desire maybe at the convention to get some kind of a thing. hillary clinton will destroy him. assuming she is allowed to run and assuming she is not arrested for the e-mails. [cheers and applause] mr. trump: which is so terrible. but let's assume that the democrats are going to protect her, let's assume that i will be running against hillary. i would love to run against hillary. and by the way, we have numerous polls show me beating her easily. i have not even started on her get, other than four weeks ago, remember? she called me sexist and i hit her with the husband and that was the last time i ever heard the word sexist. so that was it. they had a rough weekend. bill was not happy.

i guarantee you, he said don't you ever say that to him again. say it to somebody else, but not to trump. that was a rough, rough weekend. but, mitt was going to run as sure as you are standing here. but he was going to run i you was very, very angry that he was going to run. i didn't know i was going to be this, but i felt i wanted to. nbc wanted to extend "the apprentice" for 26 episodes. steve burke, please, donald, we would like you to do "the apprentice." the ratings after 14 seasons were still fantastic. and i said steve, i think i'm going to run for president. no. no. no you're not. they didn't want me to because the show does great. and ultimately i decided to run. and equal time laws, you can't do both.

how is arnold schwarzenegger doing? arnold? trump? well, we are going to find out if arnold is quick, because if he's not quick and when they're coming at you, you have to be quick and smart. i hope he does well. i hope arnold does well. they renewed the show with me in the upfronts and i gave up a lot of deals and things to do this, takes a lot of effort. those are the people trying to get in. can you believe the? how about everybody clear out and let a new group come in? no? itt was going to

run a little before this period of time, i was very tough. i said he can't run. he can't run. he was going to run. he can't run and i said look we have to keem him out. he is a choke artist. and i started hitting him so hard. we cannot take another loss. we cannot take another loss. and mitt is indeed a choke artist. he choked like i never seen anyone choke other than when rubio when chris christie was grilling him. that was one of the great chokes. he was standing there, shaking and sweating. i was getting ready -- getting ready to grab him because i thought he was going down. bigt did a great day choke. first of all, he doesn't mention the fact that i built a city on the west side of manhattan or buildings on the west side of manhattan and talking about a beef and water company.

which, by the way, i still have. i supply all my clubs with the water. those things, i still have. the magazine, other things. get them out. get them out. get them out. speaking of mexico, i won the hispanic vote by far in nevada, right? [cheers and applause] mr. trump: we won the hispanic vote in nevada in the polls. we won nevada, we won south carolina, new hampshire and then the big, big tuesday where we won a tremendous number. and i have to tell you this. t chickened mit out and now he's saying that hillary is very weak. but ultimately he didn't. he would have gotten beaten very badly. a couple of things were mentioned that we have to discuss. first of all when he talks about me, i wrote a couple of them down. they don't want to talk about 92-story buildings all over the

place, don't talk about the bank of america building in san francisco, 1290 avenue of the americas or the west side rail road yards where i built a city on the west side of manhattan and don't want to talk about 40 wall street but want to talk about water, which i still have. i supply all my clubs. they want to talk about a magazine and i have a magazine that goes to all my clubs. by the way, a school, little deal, but i loved it when it was there, trump university, but i will tell you, just so you understand, the school had 98% approval rating. an attorney felt i could sue trump and get something. 98% of the people took the courses we signed report cards. you put somebody up in the

stand, did you write this. they did a commercial that took it down where two people were saying negatives and we showed the statements and had to take the commercial down. 98% of the people that took the courses said really wonderful things about it. it got an a from the better business bureau. i think how do i settle a case like this? b-plus would be ok, too. but we did better than a b-plus. so and here's one thing i say about business. i watch these bankers and they get millions of dollars a year. 40 million and 50 million and will settle with the government for $2 billion, $5 billion, $12 billion. i say why don't you fight it? if you don't fight it, someone is going to sue you. next week they get sued again. you have to fight these things

out. you have to do what's out. -- what's right. with the university, i knew i could get some bad publicity. do we agree with that, by the way? it's a very small case, civil case and i'm going to win it in court and cost me more money to win it in court than to settle. lousy timing because too busy it wasn't later because i happen to be running for president. any businessman or woman has lawsuits. people sue to get their money back, they sue for this and sue for a million different reasons. 98% approval rating, a from the better business bureau. we are going to win the case. it will be forever because it takes forever. i don't like to settle cases. because once you settle cases everybody says he is a settler, let's sue. a lot of people don't sue me because they say it's too hard.

[cheers and applause] mr. trump: one of the things that mitt brought up which is so serious he said about trade. we have to keep trade, nobody knows more about trade than me. i made so much more money than meant itt. i have a store that's worth more money than hit. i made that statement jokingly when i was in iowa and the "des moines register" which is a terrible paper, but they said that's a terrible statement, that's a terrible statement. and the people put me on and said what are you saying? they said you have a store that is worth more than mitt. i said what's he worth? they said $150 million. it's the gucci store. i said it's much more. we don't believe the store is worth $150 million. they got three appraisers and said that store is worth from

$400 million to a billion two. check your local "des moines register." i'm not sure it's still open. i built an amazing company. and one of the reasons you know it is amazing, the hottest development, the hottest development site probably in the history of the general services administration, g.s.a., that's the government service is the old post office site. that's where it is built in washington, d.c., an entire block fronting on pennsylvania avenue. if i did don't get there, i'm getting to the white house. fronting on pennsylvania avenue but one of the most beautiful buildings. and the g.s.a. for many, many years owned it and wanted to develop it for 30, 35 years and never worked out. big job. and never happened.

they went to bid. and in bidding it they had more bidders and more high-level bidders. let's assume just about the hottest job that they have ever put out to bid. every hotel company wanted it. i'm building a 300-room super luxury hotel. everybody wanted it. they went out to a public bid. and one of the things in choosing the bidder is how strong is the bidder and how good is the bidder's idea. they loved my idea. this bib one of the great hotels in the world. two years ahead of schedule. going to open in september. we are two years ahead of schedule and the g.s.a. people are terrific and we are under budget. the reason is that i'm using marble instead of terrazza.

a lot of different things. we are going the highest end. the reason i got chosen was because my financial statement was so strong because it could guarantee completion. and number two, we had the best idea. when i listen to this myth and this is in the obama administration. i wouldn't say i had an advantage. i said to my daughter and she was very much involved with that, i said maybe, maybe we aren't going to get it. but my financial statement is so strong and i put it in -- romney talks about taxes. taxes maybe this. very little do you learn from taxes. you can't learn very much. but i did file almost 100 pages of financial statements with the federal elections and it shows that i have a net worth that could be over $10 billion, probably over. and i don't do that in a bragging way. i tell you because that's the kind of thinking we need. we have $19 trillion was -- paul was saying. $19 trillion in debt.

i have very low debt and tremendous cash flow. and i found my financials. he said maybe there is something in his tax return. but i get audited every single year and because the company is so big, fortune 500 companies every year. because my company is so big or some of the reason which is unfair. let's leave it at that. they audit me every year. i think it's unfair. but i have been audited every year for many years. i have nothing -- and nobody in this room would say you are being audited. you get audited and finish up the audit, routine stuff and release the tax returns. if mitt would like to go down to the federal election office you will see 100 pages of financials that were filed ahead of schedule. i could have delayed it for six

months. i filed them for 30 days and i had to work with the accountants and they worked overtime because i didn't want them saying he is asking for extensions. so with mitt, i just wanted to tell you, he came out, it was very nasty. i thought he was a better person than that. i helped him. i raised money for his campaign and two fundraisers for him. the first one was so successful that we had the second one that same day. his wife which is a really lovely woman. she came up and had a fundraiser in my apartment at trump tower. i did a great job. they couldn't have cared less. they said donald, he is a stiff, he's not going to win. i should have listened to the guy. but we had a fundraiser and it was so big and raining out, i won't forget about this. it was a miserable, miserable day and people came in, hundreds

of people phase one and said there's too many people to put them in one and called for another one after. and because everybody's shoes were so wet, i ruined my carpet. this carpet was wiped out and nobody thanked me for the carpet. maybe i could send hit a mitt for carpet ruined. when you help somebody, when you help somebody, i made six robot calls. every single place i made, he won. north carolina. six different places. you helped somebody and then he turns. now, i will say this. i will say this. i will say this. he probably had a right to turn, because nobody could have been nastier than me. and the reason i said that. i love our country too much. if he would have run and even if he would have won, it would have been bad.

he doesn't have what it takes to be president. he doesn't have what it takes to be president. so i do want to mention one thing because it worked so well because his speech was so long and covered a lot of territory. he didn't mention the many buildings and building over 120 jobs all over the world. we just got turnberry and doral and they are having the world championship today in florida and i'm in maine. rory and everybody is down there. and tiger is going down there. but they're all there. all at my place and here i am making a speech in maine, ok. so if i don't win on saturday, i'll say boy, was a mistake. any way, i think we will. he talked about trade. talked domestic.

bye-bye. bye-bye. bye-bye. get them out. get them out. i love you, too. these people. i tell you what, your police are fantastic. do we love our police? \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: where would we be without them in all fairness? they are so abused and one stupid incident or bad incident or one bad person, which happens out of the whole country and it's the biggest story in the news and it plays forever and people don't realize how great a job the police of this country do, i have to tell you. so one of the things that hit

mitt was talking about was domestic policy and we need trade and we need trade and we have to deal with china and deal with all these people, look. last year in terms of a trade deficit we lost with china $500 billion. we lost with mexico. that's why mexico is going to pay for the wall, folks. mexico, look, the wall, it's actually 2,000 miles. we have a lot of natural barriers. wall is going to cost $10 billion. going to be a trump wall and bring it in under budget. i have to name it after myself because maybe -- should i name it after myself? i don't think so. but we are going to have a real wall and going to be great. stop drugs pouring into maine and new hampshire. walls work. properly done, walls work. they come up to me and say, but mexico will never pay.

politicians say, but donald -- first they said there is no wall. you can't bilt a wall. china built a wall that is 13,000 miles. 2,000 miles, we can do it. i hear cruz saying we can't build a wall and we heard him say, we are going to a build a wall. i don't know if rubio said it. i think rubio has bigger problems than worrying about walls. here's the thing we have with mexico a $58 billion trade deficit. if the wall costs $10 billion, a tiny fraction, i guarantee you that mexico is going to pay for the wall just as sure as you are standing there. a politician wouldn't say that. and vincente fox threw the

f-word out. f-bomb. can you imagine if i used that word? that would be a big story. he threw it out and nobody cares. and then we had our vice president apologize to them. i love mexico and the mexican people and i have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of mexican people, thousands have worked for me. the hispanics are phenomenal people. i won the poll in nevada. i won nevada and i won with the hispanics which is so good. so good. \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: but look, here's the problem, their leaders are too smart. we are getting killed at the border and trade. nabisco is moving in from chicago and closing their big plant. look at ford, they are building a massive car complex and closing in michigan and other places and closing and going to

mexico. the other day, carrier air conditioners. good air conditioners. i'm not buying them anymore. they announced 1,400 men and women are being laid off. big, big story. 1,400 and this manager -- well, ladies and gentlemen we are closing our plant and moving to mexico. he was pretty tough. this was not a guy with social grace. they are going to move to mexico. mitt romney said we have to keep free trade. if we keep free trade, we aren't going to have any companies left at all. you more -- know more about nafta but we are going to do something much different. i built a tremendous fortune and i started off with very little. they say my father. if my father would have given -- my sister and brother called me up and said don, are they

kidding. and now it's worth billions and billions and billions of dollars. i will tell you something. with the carrier plant, what you have to do is you have to be smart. so this isn't free trade. we have to have smart trade. china charges tremendous tariffs and taxes. i have a friend who is a manufacturer. he makes great product and puts it into china and they send it back. third time they take it but pays a tremendous tax. you have no idea how tough it is to negotiate with china. and when they take the product, they charge you the tax. china when they sell their product. no tax. take our jobs, no tax, no nothing. not going to work that way. mexico the same thing. ford builds this plant going to make cars, trucks and parts and going to send them into our

country. no tax. where is that good for us? when i watch a guy like romney who truly is a light weight. think of it. he is talking about trade. and i love free trade. i'm a free trader. a lot of the conservatives say donald trump doesn't like free trade. i want smart trade. i don't want to be losing $500 billion a year. i don't want to be losing $58 billion a year. i want to make money or break even at worst. \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: so i tell people, if you had like light weight rubio as president, he is all controlled by the special interests, 100%. remember, i'm self-funding and they aren't paying me anything. a guy like ted cruz getting a lot of money from oil and other places, ok. honestly that's the way life works.

oil, 100%. he'll get a lobbyist, 100%. me, it's different. here's what they will do it. they'll carry it to anyone who will listen. only way we are going to stop this tremendous outflow of companies and pfizer, great drug company leaving going to ireland. wonderful. but you aren't going to take advantage of us. you aren't going to take of us. here's what happens. let's use carrier. i know it's not presidential and my wife called before and said darling, would you ask presidential like you were the other night when you had those victories. i said, but i have incoming. when you have incoming, you can't be too presidential. i said i have incoming. here's what happens. they said act presidential tonight. i said i'll act presidential,

but if somebody hits me, i'm going to hit them back harder. \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: it's one of those things. what happens is they won't do anything, the lobbyists will say you can't do anything to carrier or to ford. they have been loyal to you and very good. and good. that's the end of that. here's what i do. i call up and i would like to use one of my guys. many of the great businessmen and women endorse me. i would announce them but nobody cares. these are the most important people. i will use the greatest business people, greatest negotiators in the world. this is so easy. i want to do it myself but it's so un-presidential for me to call up carrier. i call up say hi, i'm president donald trump, president of the united states. i hope you enjoy your stay in mexico and i hope you build a

beautiful plant and i want to wish you well, but let me tell you something, you moved out. you hurt 1,400 people. these people were devastated. i watched it and did a great job. you hurt 1,400 people and there's no free trade. their politicians are smarter and streeter and smart-wise. i said here's the story, every air conditioning unit you make and every single air conditioning unit you make and comes into the border into the united states, we are going to charge you a 35% tax, ok? \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: and that's it. here's what happens. as sure as you are standing here. you have to speak to the president. they can't speak to me. i didn't take their money. here's what's going to happen. they are going to call me up within 24 hours and say, mr.

president, do you have any second thoughts. i say absolutely not. sir, we decided to stay in the united states. we've decided -- now, we can be cute or say we are coming -- in washington they are playing with all sorts of formula. when mitt made the statement saying he will ruin free trade. if i'm losing $500 billion with china, $58 billion with mexico in terms of deficits, what do i want that trade for any way. who needs that kind of trade? seriously. who needs that kind of trade. mitt admitted i'm a much better businessman than him. i am. we will have better relationships with mexico. we will have better relationships with china. they'll respect us. they don't respect us now. they think we are the dumbest people in the world led by the dumbest people.

china in the south china sea is building a massive military force with runways, tremendous complex. they aren't supposed to be doing this. they have no respect for our country. with me, i'm going to rip up those trade deals and make really good ones. we have the cards. remember, i wrote "the art of the deal," which is the number one business selling book of all time. we have the cards. we have rebuilt china with the money they have taken out of our country for many years in all fairness. it is the greatest single theft in the world. you go to china, they have trains that go 300 miles an hour. we have trains that go chug, chug, chug and then have to stop because the track split. they have trains in china and japan. we are like third world.

go to our airports, you go to dubai and qatar and different places in asian see airports like you have never seen and come home and land at kennedy or l.a.x. and land at la guardia. la guardia with the potholes all over the place. it is a very sad thing. what is happening to our country is very, very, very sad. we are going to make it a lot better and make it different and get rid of those horrible trade deals. at some point we can't continue to lose $500 billion. we can't continue. you add it up whether it's india, vietnam, whether it's anybody, every single country in the world that deals with us takes advantage of the stupidity of the united states and a lot of it is because they have the right lobivities and negotiators and hire the right people on pennsylvania avenue. they have the right people.

and they are negotiating with political hacks, not our best people. almost our worst people. so we are going to make our country so strong. we are going to make it strong militarily. our military is very depleted \[cheers and applause] mr. trump: our military is very badly depleted and everything -- the whole country is depleted and we are going to make our military strong. our vets are treated horribly. horribly. we have to get rid of obamacare and repeal it and replace it. and get rid of common core which is a disaster. you know, in the world educationally, of the 30 countries that they look at, we are number 30 in education, meaning we are the worst. and yet per student cost, number one so far, number two doesn't exist.

we are number one in costs and we are number 30 in terms of success. so we are ranked the worst and yet we spend the most. and part of that is common core, it's terrible. part of it is a lot of theft, waste, fraud and abuse. but we are going to straighten it out. when i won new hampshire, they came out with a report, donald trump spent $2.5 million and i won't mention names but other people spent $45 million. >> who? mr. trump: i don't think he likes me, do you agree? wouldn't it be nice -- so i have the lowest expenditure by far and i have the biggest results by far. way, way number one. wouldn't it be nice if we could do that for our country? we can do that. that's what we are going to do. \[cheers and applause]

mr. trump: so we are simply going to make america great again. we are going to win so much. you are going to get so tired of winning, you are going to say please, let us have a couple of losses. we are going to make america great again and you'll say ok. thank you very much. i love you very much. go vote on saturday. i love you. thank you. thank you. thank you everybody. \[cheers and applause] \[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] \[captioning performed by national captioning him an