wherever you are using the free c-span radio app. shortly, president trump will deliver remarks at the criminal justice reform gathering in columbia, south carolina. the live coverage event starts eastern, we will have it for you on c-span. f the white house today, the president answered a few questions from reporters. here is what he had to say. >> mr. president. [crowd cheering lightly] hi everybody,p: hi. how are you? so the stock market is doing very well, the economy is booming. we have a new record in si

ght, could happen even today, it could be a new stock market record, it will have been 118 times we have broken the record. jobs are phenomenal. we are doing well in syria and with everyone else we are dealing with. we have secured the oil. we have a lot of oil. we have secured the oil. [inaudible] and i think i would say things are going very well. i noticed people are still in a secure room in the basement, trying to make us look as bad as possible, but a lot of things are happening very good and i appreciate republicans are just outraged and the american public is outraged that the do-nothing democrats are doing nothing. they are doing nothing. there is such an opportunity to get things done. we need usmca past. it is a great deal for our country, for our farmers. manufacturer unions, it is a

great deal for our countries. we need usmca passed. >> [inaudible] was painful and offensive. worddent trump: it is a that many democrats have used, it is a that many people have used over the years, but that is aware that has been used many times. let me tell you something. the level of unfairness for a perfect conversation with the president of ukraine, this was a perfect conversation and frankly, had they known what the conversation was, they would not have even wasted everybody's time. but this was a perfect conversation with the president of ukraine. andpresident of ukraine is foreign minister separately came out and said there was nothing wrong with the conversation. president of ukraine and the foreign minister came out and said there was no anything. he used the word no blackmail.

they said there was no pressure, there was nothing done wrong. this is a hoax, just like there was no collusion. after two years they found out and wasted $45 million. this is a disgrace if this could happen to our country, just for member -- >> [inaudible] president trump: wait, wait. rightesident of ukraine, now, said no pressure. the president of ukraine and his foreign minister said, again, no blackmail, they don't even know what you people are talking about. hoax and ax, it's a continuation of the russian witchhunt, which turned out to be phony. phony, and deal was now they have to -- and all it is is very simple. it is one conversation that i had with the president of ukraine that was perfect. defraudedschiff

everybody and he made up the conversation. >> are you concerned about the growing criminal investigation into rudy giuliani? president trump: i don't think so, because i think rudy is a great gentleman. he has been a great crimefighter. he looks for corruption wherever he goes. everyone understands ukraine has big problems in that regard. rudy giuliani is a fine man. he was the greatest mayor in the history of new york and has been one of the greatest crimefighters and corruption fighters. rudy giuliani is a good man. do you want to see your justice department still investigate biden? president trump: i think what biden did is done, and now they are finding romania, they cannot today or some other country, and i am sure there are most -- came out today or some other country, i am sure there is more than that. when a man with no experience billion dollars out of

china, walks away with thousands month from him and his friends from ukraine -- $3 million, whatever the numbers are, and he has no experience in oil and no experience anywhere, and now other nations are coming out. i heard one today, i won't embarrass the nation. when he is doing, in my opinion, that is a payoff. of money get that kind for any other reason and then you look at what the father did with oil, now all of a sudden let's not get oil. now he is a great environmentalist because the ukraine benefits by that and other places benefit by that. no, i consider what they did to be an outrage to our country. i consider that to be an outrage to our country. [inaudible] >> what you think about lindsey graham and several of your supporters [inaudible] about theo you think non-gop senators?

president trump: some of them were not even spoken to yet. i think there are 47. some of them do not even know about it yet. it only took place yesterday, so they had a great response. --.ave great 185ave 185 out of republican congress men -- i and the had 185 present senators are doing great. [inaudible] president trump: we are doing very well with china. we are moving along nicely and dealing with them right now, and a lot of good things are happening with china. they want to make a deal very badly. [inaudible] president trump: what? >> [inaudible] president trump: we are doing well in afghanistan, we are slowly bringing things down to a

certain level, but we are doing very well in afghanistan. >> your top diplomat in ukraine said you held up military funds because you wanted ukraine to investigate the 2016 election and hunter biden's debt. are you calling him a liar? president trump: here is the problem. he is a never trump her and his lawyer is a never trumper. >> why would you hire him? president trump: everybody makes mistakes. mike pompeo, everybody makes mistakes. he is a never trumper, his lawyer is a never trumper, they are a dying breed and they are still there. the other problem, you are with cnn and you are fake news. >> [inaudible] well, thetrump: democrats don't have any time to work on anything. they have to do usmca, they have to do guns, they have many things.

we want to reduce drug prices even more. workn go so far but we can on drug prices. the democrats, the do-nothing democrats have no time to do it. >> [inaudible] one?dent trump: which we have a great republican plan and if we take over the house, which we should, especially because of what they are doing with impeachments, [video clip] i think we will tak out of the iuse -- with impeachment, think we will take over the house and have health care like you have never seen. less expenses, prices will be much lower. we will have great health care. we have to take over because the democrats do not have time to do anything. >> [inaudible] that america stands with the protesters in hong kong who are protesting against the beijing government. do you agree with that, sir? president trump: i know he made the speech yesterday.

i went over the speech yesterday. the speech was fine. i am also working very closely with china on the deal, but the speech was fine. >> [inaudible] president trump: [inaudible] we are doing very well with china. we are doing very well with the farmers. the farmers are going to do better maybe that anybody, but everybody is doing well. china wants to make a deal. they would like to see some reductions in tariffs and tariffs that are scheduled to go on very soon, they would like to see them not go on. you know it, they really want to make a deal. they will be buying much more farm products than anyone ever thought possible. >> are you confident that you have the votes in the senate if the impeachment goes there? president trump: only for one reason, i did nothing wrong. reason. i had a perfect conversation

with the president of ukraine, perfect. had they seen that conversation before they made up the story, they made up the story about that conversation. had they seen it, we would not even be talking about it right now. the conversation has been perfect. for that reason, i have tremendous support. you very much, thank you, mr. president. with the opening of the investigation into attorney general william barr -- that attorney general william barr is doing, do you think the people investigate and you are criminals -- investigating you are criminals? president trump: it has been a long time, and i saw some papers, i read them in more detail than you did, and i sorted out the fake news from the real news. as you know, there has been a long-term look at, looks the, -- itk see, and it looks like has become very serious from what i am hearing.

investigate the investigators. whether it is page, clapper, comey, or all of these people, because terrible things went on for our country and we have a great attorney general, highly prestigious man, a very honorable man, and they have been looking at it for a long time. i can't tell you what is happening. i will tell you this. i think you are going to see a lot of really bad things. that andpeople think they know they have problems, because they were very dishonest. it all up to the attorney general and i leave it all up to the people who are working with the attorney general, who i don't know. youi will say this, i think will see things that nobody would have believed. this was the worst hoax in the history of our country, and a lot of people say that it is a impeachment. it was a perfect conversation, perfect conversation with the president of ukraine. they are using that to push for

impeachment. we are going to hit another stock market high. we have the best jobs report. we have the best unemployment numbers. we have the best implement. more people working today -- best employment. -- more people working today in the united states than ever before. i rebuilt the military, i took our troops out of syria and we are getting oil. let me say this. if everything ever happens with this phony witchhunt that the democrats are pursuing, the do-nothing democrats, i really believe that you would have a recession depression the likes of which this country hasn't seen, now. strong statement was made by a very highly respected man this morning on wall street, a man who is very respected about that. that if anything happened to trump, president trump, you would see repercussions in the markets like you haven't seen before. thing, i don't

have a team, i am the team. i did nothing wrong. this has been going on since before i got elected. this was going on since before the insurance policy. policy. the insurance we did nothing wrong. stzrok said they are going to win, they are going to win. but they were wrong. do you know who is angry about it? the republican party is angry about it. this is not a takedown of the president, this is a takedown of the republican party. radically, the democrats should be ashamed of themselves. -- basically, the democrats should be ashamed of themselves. >> [inaudible] president trump: except that -- >> [inaudible]

well, if yoump: let me know who they are -- you are they go --who are they? tell me, tell me. no, tell me who the never trump are, i think they are bad people. some have recovered, ok? i guess they went through a recovery program. it's called, they learned how to win through me, but other have it -- others have not. i am not a fan of a never trumpers and never will be. it is better than a failed obama candidate who i beat in the same election with little experience. i beat the obama people. i beat the bush people and i beat the clinton people, and i had no experience. that is not a bad job. there are a lot of angry people out there and that is the way it goes.

[applause] >> [inaudible] ♪ >> president trump: on his way to a criminal justice reform event in columbia, south carolina. a live picture from the location event. upcoming it was expected to start a couple of minutes ago, 2:15 eastern. clearly the president is running behind. we will have live coverage when it starts here on c-span. you can also watch it online on c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.