live at 7:00 eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. >> watch the c-span networks live next week as the house intelligence committee holds the first public impeachment hearings. they will hear from three state department officials starting on wednesday at 10:00 a.m.. george kent mat in will testify. and friday, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine will appear before the committee and ahead of the hearings, testimony from the deposition. nd the transcripts at c-span .org/impeachment. >> president trump met with reporters on the white house lawn. he spoke about the phone call with ukraine's president.

and a possible trip to russia next may. this is 25s. -- 25 minutes. >> i told them i got to come over and see the fake news. what you got, john? >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: i am not concerned about anything. the testimony has been fine. for the most part i have never heard of these people, no idea ho they are. they are very fine people, never trumpers. nobody has any firsthand knowledge. there is no firsthand knowledge. all that matters is one thing, the transcript. it is perfect. let's not on television, it was a great constitutional lawyer who said what trump said, and he was respectfully -- what

president trump said was perfect on the transcript. what he said on the telephone call with the president of ukraine was perfect. he said nothing else matters. what he said was perfect. he analyzed it every line, every paragraph, not complex, it was perfect. nothing else matters. with that being said, every one of the people canceled themselves out. they go all over washington, let's find the 10 people that hate president trump the most, and let's put them up there. in some cases they turned out to be very much honest and fair, but in no cases have i been hurt. >> what do you say to those who don't believe you? pres. trump: it should not be having public hearings. this is a hoax.

it is like the russian witchhunt it is a continuation. when you look at the lawyer for the whistleblower, i thought it ended when they found the lawyer was compromised. the lawyer is a bad guy. i thought that was the end of it. this is the continuation of the hoax. it is a disgraceful thing. in the meantime we have the best markets we have ever had, stock markets, unemployment numbers, we have the best employment numbers. we have almost 160 million people. we have never been close to that. but you people don't want to talk about that. >> can you tell me whether it is tariffs, rollbacks -- pres. trump: they would like to have a rollback. i haven't agreed to anything. china would like to get a rollback. not a complete rollback because they know i won't do it. we're getting along very well with china. they want to make a deal a lot

more than i do. i'm happy right now. we are taking in billions of dollars. i am happy. china would like to make a deal uch more than i would. will you endorse jeff sessions in the alabama senate race? pres. trump: i have not gotten involved. he said nice things last night but we will have to see. >> [indiscernible] >> have you forgiven him for recusing himself? pres. trump: i don't even think about it. >> [indiscernible] what do you say to the people who just don't believe you? [indiscernible] shows that you did something wrong? pres. trump: it is simple. i had a good call with the president of ukraine. the call was perfect. they are after -- i have a second call, which no one knew about and i guess they want that to be produced also. you heard that, john. have a second call. i had a second call which came before this one.

now they want that one and if they want it i will give it to them. i have not seen it recently. but i'll give it to them. i had a call before this with the president of ukraine. i have no problem giving it to them. i have no problem. [indiscernible] >> on the bidens did you ask bill barr or anyone to investigate the bidens and if not, why would you ask the president of ukraine to do something you were not willing to ask your own justice department? pres. trump: we are looking for corruption. we are giving hundreds of millions of dollars. take a look at biden and you will see tremendous corruption. what he did is quid pro quo times 10. quiet. quiet. are you ready? i never spoke to him about anything.

bill barr can do whatever he wants to do. i saw the same tape on television and it shows joe biden is a crook. he is 100% crooked. the fake news which is you and you, you don't want to do anything about it. walked out with millions of dollars from ukraine. millions of dollars from china. he doesn't know anything. he walks away. it is a corrupt deal. it is a corrupt enterprise. if the press did it right, it is a hell of a story. [speaking simultaneously] >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: we will look at it assuming we get it. i never like to talk about things until we have them but it could be iowa or farm country or someplace like that. it will be in our country but it could be someplace like that. i don't think so. we have more of the farm belt.

[speaking simultaneously] >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: i won't. i will see how it goes. you have good candidates. alabama is a place where my approval numbers are very good. i think i won by 42 points. i love alabama. i will go watch a good football game on saturday tomorrow with lsu which will be great. we will see what happens. he has got tough competition. you have the football coach doing very well. you have some good people running in alabama. let's see what happens. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: we will see what happens. we are getting along very well. they want to make the deal far more than i do. they want to make it far more than i do but we will see what happens. you know as a reporter of finance, you know what i'm

saying, they devalue their currency. we are taking in billions of dollars of tariffs from china. i like our situation. they want to make a deal much more than i do. but we could have a deal. >> [indiscernible] you can't change her behavior, you probably shouldn't run again in 2020. what do you say? pres. trump: you really shaped my behavior. from the day i came in here i have had problems with phony stuff like a phony dossier which turned out to be false, like false investigations that i have beaten. a lot of my behavior was shaped by the fake news and by the other side. that was a lot of my behavior. the fact is we created the greatest economy in the history of our country. with all of that stuff going on behind me, nobody else could have done it. rush limbaugh doesn't know a man in the world who did what trump did. i don't know leon cooperman, but whoever he is, i know of him, he

can have his own view but in the meantime i am making him rich and a lot of other people including the working man and woman. they have never done so well as they have done right now. the jobs of the best i have ever been. everything about our economy is about the best it has ever been including unemployment. i think in light of all of the things going on. you know what i mean, the fake news, the comeys of the world, all of the bad things that went on. it is called a swamp. you know what i did? a big favor, i caught the -- i caught them all. let's see what happens. nobody else could have done that but me. i caught all of this corruption that was going on and nobody else would have done it. on top of that, we have the best economy, greatest economy we have ever had, best job numbers, african americans, asian americans, hispanics, the best ever. we have done a great job.

tell leon, who i have seen but don't know, tell him congratulations. he did well with trump. [speaking simultaneously] >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: we are dealing with india in lots of different things. prime minister modi is a good friend of mine. you saw me in houston at the event. 55,000 people, it was great. we have a lot of things happening, good relationship with india. he wants me to go. i will be going at some point. >> [indiscernible] why did you acknowledge -- pres. trump: my charity was great. gave a lot of money away. i was sued because new york is a hornets nest and they sue you

for anything. on a really bad thing, if you look at that clinton charity, they left -- that is one of the reasons people leave new york. i gave away $19 million, took no expense, no rent, no fees or nothing. 100% of the money was given away and i had to actually go through a process for years with new york because new york is a corrupt state. it is a corrupt state. it is a sham. i gave $19 million away. what happened is instead of saying thank you, great, they hit me with a lawsuit, and it was started by a man who had to get out because he beat up women. that is the kind of place it s. [speaking simultaneously] pres. trump: we are going to be coming out with a very important decision on vaping. we have to take your of our kids most importantly. we will have an age limit of 21 or so, but we will be coming out with something next week very important. we have a lot of people to look

at including jobs. it is a big industry, but we will take care of it. you mentioned vaping, you are talking about e-cigarettes and lots of things. we are coming up with a big paper next week. speaking simultaneously] >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: we are talking about the age and the flavors, also talking about keeping people working and there is pretty good aspects. we are coming out, close to a final report, john giving a next week. >> raising the age -- pres. trump: we will be doing that. >> the first transcript of the call with zelensky -- it is my understanding the white house is not particularly keen to release that. will you overrule him? pres. trump: they don't want to give information on a scam.

it is a witch-hunt. i'm ok with releasing it. it does not bother me. i said it was fine. but the second call -- which is really the first call, the one before this, i had a call. i'm sure it was fine. i make a lot of calls. but i have no problem releasing it. i'm very transparent. nobody is more transparent than i am. and if i wasn't, and if i didn't release it, it would've been a problem. the fake whistleblower said something about the call, about all many things which were wrong. when the whistleblower came forward, he talked about the horrible call. turned out to be a perfect call , as i say, mark said it was a perfect call. so they lied. they lied. the whole thing is a scam by the democrats to try to win an election. now they want my first call. i have no problem giving it to them, other than i don't like

giving calls to the media when i am dealing with foreign nations, but i will give it if they want it. >> [inaudible] gordon sondland said at the beginning of september, he presumed there was a quid pro quo. then there was a telephone call to you on september 9. did he ever talk to you prior to that telephone call? pres. trump: let me just say i hardly know the gentleman, but this is the man who said that there was no quid pro quo. and he still says that. he says that i said that. and he hasn't changed that testimony. so, this is a man that said, as far as the president is concerned, there was no quid pro quo. everybody that's testified, even the ones that are trump haters, they've all been fine. they don't have anything. but now they want the first call with the president of ukraine. if they wanted, i will probably give it to them. they want it badly. if they want it, i will give it

to them. i don't like doing it because it sets a bad president, john. that time some because from china, or korea, are they worried about me giving the call? but in this case, because the press has been duped into a hoax, and in some cases started the hoax, i will give the -- then the call if they want it. i think it's a very revealing call. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: that's right. i was invited. i'm thinking about it. it's in the middle of our campaign season, but i will certainly think about it. president vladimir putin invited me -- it's a very big deal, celebrating the end of the war. so, i appreciate the invitation. it is right in the middle of the

political season, so i will see if i can do it, but i would love to go if i could. reporter: bill barr and the doj are not denying that you asked him to have a press conference. pres. trump: they're not saying anything. let me tell you. i never asked him for a press conference. it's fake news by the washington post, which is the fake newspaper. and if i asked bill barr to have a press conference, i think he would do it. but i never asked him to have a press conference. why should i? you know why i wouldn't do it, ? because the phone call was perfect. just read the transcript of the phone call. nobody has to have a press conference but i think if i asked him, and by the way we confirmed, i never asked him. i think if i did ask him, i'm not said this yet, and i do nothing i well, i'm sure i will. but if i asked him to have a press conference i think he would. that being said, it's fake news. they wrote a fake story.

we told them that before they wrote the story. today, when you tell the press something, it's meaningless. because they write whatever, it is fiction. and they don't have sources. they make it up. not everybody. not john. not everybody. but they make it up. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: what they want is they want my first phone call. i had another phone call. and it's a very important phone call. and it came to my attention last night that they want the first phone call. now, the problem i have in releasing the first phone call, because that was actually the second phone call. and yeah, and it's a perfect call. but they found out there's another phone call, and that's the first phone call. and they want it released and we are considering that. which one? i don't know about any calls.

i have no problem. it's up to mike. but i have no problem. reporter: you keep calling it a coup rather than impeachment. pres. trump: you know what it is, really, it's a crooked deal. this is like the fake dossier. this is like everything else. these are crooked people. they lost the election. it was really a landslide from the electoral college standpoint and they lost and they are going to lose again. what they are trying to do is weaken me, but it's actually made me stronger. you look at the polls that just came out, my polls are up. fundraising is through the roof. it's never been this high. and people are angry about it. it made them really angry. it's because it's a hoax.

and i will tell you, the whistleblower, i call in the -- him the fake whistleblower. he gave them a fake report of my phone call. and when i did it, all of the sudden, when i released the call, all of a sudden everybody disappeared. the whistleblower disappeared. whatever happened to the second whistleblower? why isn't the first whistleblower going to testify anymore? you know why? because everything he wrote in that report, almost, was a lie. it's a phony phone call. my phone call was perfect. he made it sound bad. that's why i had to release it. the whistleblower is a disgrace to our country, a disgrace. and the whistleblower, because of that, should be revealed. and his lawyer, who does the worst things possible -- two years ago, he should be sued, maybe for treason. maybe for treason. but he should be sued. his lawyer is a disgrace. they disgrace.

and then ask him this, where is the second whistleblower, right? where is the witness that give -- gave the whistleblower the information? they all disappeared because adam schiff is a corrupt politician. he's corrupt. he made up a speech and he put my voice in it. he made up a speech. had nothing to do with what i said. adam schiff is a corrupt thats not giving us due process, -- politician that's not giving us due process, not giving us lawyers. and despite all that, we're kicking their ass. >> why do bill taylor and [--] still work for you? pres. trump: every one of those people testified absolutely fine for me. they've gone out and gone out of their way to find the people who hate president trump the most. they put them up there. everybody's been absolutely fine.

you know, i don't even know most of these people. many of them i've never heard of. so what crooked schiff is doing, he's a corrupt politician and what he does is he looks all over, tries to find people that don't like donald trump and he puts them up. we're winning so big. i'm leading all of the states, every swing state. the numbers just came in. they're the highest, i think, in history. and i'll tell you what, we are winning so big because we are going -- these are corrupt politicians, and that includes nancy pelosi. she's a corrupt politician. she should go back to her district, which is horrible. it's filthy. it's drug infested. being going to the ocean, in the drainage systems. you should see what's happening in san francisco. nancy pelosi should focus on her district. but these are corrupt politicians.

>> [inaudible] pres. trump: we're going to atlanta. you call it the black vote. we're doing very well with african-americans. i think a big factor is the fact that they're having the best economic year they've ever had in the history of our country. we're going there. we've been invited and i think it would be fantastic. >> are you worried about -- [inaudible] can you beat michael bloomberg? pres. trump: you know, i've known michael bloomberg for a long time. go back early on, he said a lot of good things about donald trump. i know michael. he became a nothing. he's not going to do well, but i think he will hurt joe biden, actually. but he doesn't not have the magic to do well. little michael will fail. he'll spend a lot of money. he's got some really big issues, he's got some personal problems and a lot of other problems. but i know michael bloomberg

fairly well, not too well, but well enough. he will not do well. and if he did, then i'd be happy. there is nobody i would rather run against than little michael. reporter: what about white house officials preventing -- depositions, evidence that the white house is obstructing and could lead to an article of impeachment. pres. trump: they're making that up. this whole thing is a phony setup. when you look at the lawyer who got this started, the whistleblower lawyer. it's a phony deal. these democrats are corrupt. nancy pelosi is a corrupt politician. shifty schiff is a double corrupt politician. he took my words from the phone call, and they were so good, he totally changed them. he went before congress, he made a speech to congress, and in that speech, john, he said things that were horrible. it bore no relationship to the

call. and later on he was embarrassed. let me tell you something, schiff is a corrupt politician . and our people know it, they know it too, by the way. we have the highest poll numbers. we have the most energy. i was with mitch mcconnell and a whole group of people last night, actually, i was with the leaders of faith, and evangelical leaders -- all of them, they've never had the energy that we have had and we have now in the republican party. and beyond the republican party. people that were democrats and are for trump. and we have the poll numbers. reporter: can you explain, just so people understand, why you are not allowing people like mick mulvaney and others to testify? pres. trump: i don't to give credibility to a corrupt witchhunt. i'd love to have mick go up, actually. i think it would be great. i would love to have every person go up, who know me. but what i don't like is when they put people up that i never met before. when they put the head of the

never trumpers on the stand. and even those people were ok . they were fine. those were people i never heard of. the people that i know, i would love to have them go up. the rest is up to the lawyers, i have to do what the lawyers say to a certain extent. not always, but to a certain extent. but i will tell you, i'd like to have the people go up. except one thing, it validates a corrupt investigation. adam schiff is a corrupt politician. he's as corrupt as you'll ever see, when he makes up my words and reads fake words to congress and he asked so innocent. he's a corrupt politician. ok, thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> president trump delivered remarks at the black voices for trump rally in atlanta. the president talked about his administration's record and teta jobs creation and low unemployment for african-americans. he also commented on the impeachment inquiry, adam schiff, and house speaker nancy pelosi. the president was introduced by housing and urban development secretary, ben carson. ♪