known but we they will be known. this election marks the largest senate gains for a president's party in a first midterm election since at least president kennedy's in 1962. there have been only four midterm elections since 1934 in which a president's party has gained even a single senate seat. as of now we picked up at it looks like three. could be four. perhaps it could be two. but we picked up a lot. and, most likely the number will be three. you people probably know that better than i do at this point because you have looked at the more recent up in numbers. 55 is largest number of republican senators in the last 100 years. in the last 80 years, a sitting president's party only gain ad

cumulative total of eight senate seats, averaging one per decade. so if we picked up two, three, or four, that's a big percentage of that number in the last eight years, think of that only eight seats. in president obama's first midterm lech he lost six senate seats including in the deep blue state of massachusetts. republicans captured at least four senate seats held by democrat incumbents and these are tremendously talented, hard-working people that did this. indiana, north dakota, florida, missouri. we also won two open senate seats in tennessee. i want to congratulate our great champion, who did such a great

job in tennessee, marsha. and in utah. and arizona is looking very good. really, very good. she has done a terrific job. that was a tough race and she has done a fantastic job. in each of those open seats democrats recruited very strong candidates with substantial fund-raising and media support. we were getting bombarded with money on the other side. in the house republicans dramatically outperformed historical precedents overcame a historic number of retirements. the most house republican retirements in 88 years. 43 house republicans retired. now i will say this. in many cases they were chairman of committees and they left because they weren't chairman. because the republicans have a rule for six years. what that does, wonderful in one

way and let es people come through the system and become chairman. in another way it drives people out. when they're chairman, they don't want to go not to be a chairman. you're chairman of a committee. you're a big deal. all of sudden you're not doing that anymore. so they leave. we had a lot leave. i guess you can flip a coin which system is better. the democrats do the other. some of their folks have been on committee a long time as chairman. in 2010 president obama's first midterm he lost 63 seats. by contrast, as of the most current count, looks like around 27 house seats or something. and we'll figure that out pretty soon. we also had a slew of historic wins in the governor races. the governors races were incredible against very well-funded, talented, skilled democrat candidates and people that worked very, very hard, respectfully for those candidates like oprah winfrey,

who i like. i don't know if she likes me anymore but that is okay. she used to. but she worked very hard in georgia, very, very hard. and if you look at them, four governors races crucial to 2020 and presidential race. florida, iowa, ohio, and georgia. they are big ones. florida, iowa, ohio, and georgia. can't get much more important than that. they were incredible. including three great women who worked very hard. governors of alabama, south dakota, and iowa. they worked very, very hard. they're very talented. by expanding our senate majority

the voters have also clearly rebukeed the senate democrats for their handling of the kavanaugh hearings. that was a factor. i think maybe a very big factor, the way that was handled. i think was tremendous energy was given to the republican party by the way they treated then judge kavanaugh. now justice kavanaugh. expressed their support for confirming more great pro-constitution judges. candidates who embraced our message of low tax, low regulations, low crime, strong borders and great judges excelled last night. they excelled. they, they really -- i mean we have a list of people that were fantastic. and i'm just going to point them

out. mike bost, rodney davis. andy barr who was fantastic i went to kentucky. for the most part i didn't campaign for the house but i made a special trip for andy barr because he was in a very tough race in kentucky and he won. that was a very tough race. the polls were all showing that he was down and down substantially and he won. and that, what i did do. pete stauber of minnesota, a great guy. he is new. ran a fantastic race. on other hand you had same decided let's stay away. let's stay away. they did very poorly. i'm not sure i should be happy or sad but i feel just fine about it. carlos curbelo, mike coffman, too bad, mike. mia love. i saw mia love, she called me all the time to help her with a

hostage situation. being held hostage in venezuela. but mia love gave me no love. and she lost. too bad. sorry about that, mia. and barbara comstock was another one, i think she could have won that race but she didn't want to have any embrace. for that i don't blame her. but she, she lost substantially lost. peter roskam, didn't want the embrace. eric paulsen didn't want the embrace. and in new jersey, i think he would have done well but didn't work out too good, bob hugin. i feel badly i think that is something that could have been won. that is a race that could have been won. john faso, those are some of those people that decided for their own reason not tome brace whether it's me or what we stand

for but, what we stand for meant a lot to most people. we've had tremendous support and tremendous support on the republican party. among the biggest support in the history of the party. at 93% it's a record. i won't say that but who knows. but we had tremendous support. america is booming like never before, doing fantastic. we have larry kudlow here and he said the numbers are as good as he has ever seen numbers at anytime for our country. but he is a young man, so he hasn't seen that many numbers. where's larry? you're a young man, right, larry? you haven't been doing this too long, but they're as good as you have ever seen. we may have, if you have a question for larry, we'll do that. but i want to send my warmest

appreciation in regards to majority leader mitch mcconnell. we really worked very well together. we have been working very well together. we actually have a great relationship. people just don't understand that. which is fine and also to perhaps, looks like i would think speaker nancy pelosi. and i give her a lot of credit. she works very hard. she worked long and hard. i give her a great deal of credit what she has done, what she has accomplished. hopefully we all work together next year to continue delivering for the american people including on economic growth, infrastructure, trade, lowering the cost of prescription drugs. these are some of the things that the democrats do want to work on i really believe we'll be able to do that. i think we'll have a lot of, a lot of reason to do it. and i will say just as matter of business i was with some very successful people last night. we were watching the returns.

so if the republicans won and let's say we held on by two or one, or three, it would have been very hard having that many republicans to ever even get support among republicans. there will be always one or two or three people for good reason or for bad reason, for grandstanding, we have that too, you have seen that. you've seen that. plenty of grandstanding but for certain reasons, that many people, you will always have a couple that won't do it. so that puts us in a very bad position. in other words, had we kept, this is no, i'm saying this for a very basic reason, common sense. it puts us in very tough position, we win by one, two or three, you will have one or two or three are or four or five come over say look we'll not go along with this. we want this, this, we wouldn't be able to get in many cases out of republicans hands before we sent it on to the senate.

and, now, we have a much easier path because the democrats will come to us with a plan for infrastructure, a plan for health care. a plan for whatever they are looking at. and we'll negotiate. as you know it has been very hard in the senate because we need essentially 10 votes from democrats. we don't get those votes because the democrats do really stick together well. i don't agree with them on a lot of policy but i agree with them sticking together. they stick together great. now we go no the senate. we don't have 10 votes, what happens? it doesn't get passed, even if it gets out of the house it doesn't get passed. under the new concept what we're doing, come on, see what you have. they want to do things. i keep hearing about

investigations fatigue, like from the time, almost from the time i announced i was going to run they have been giving us this investigation fatigue. been a long time. they got nothing, zero. you know why? because there is nothing but they can play that game but we can play it better because we have a thing called the united states senate and a lot of very questionable things were done between leaks of classified information and many other elements that should not have taken place. and all you're going to do is end up back and forth, back and forth, two years it will go up and we don't have done a thing. i really think, i really respected what nancy said last night about bipartisanship and getting together and uniting. she used the word uniting. she used the bipartisanship

statement which is so important. that is what we should be doing. we can look at us. we can look at them. it will go back and forth. probably very good for me politically. i can see it is good politically. i think they are better at that game than they are potentially. we'll find out. or we can work together. you can't do them simultaneously by the way. somebody say you can do them both. no you that the. if they're doing that, we're not doing the other so you understand. we won't be doing that but now what happens, we send it to the senate and we'll get 100% democrat support and we'll get some republican support. and if it is good i really believe we have republicans will help with the approval process. they will really help with the approval process. so, it really could be a beautiful bipartisan type of situation. if we won by one or two or three or four or five, that wouldn't happen. and the closer it is the worst

it is. this way they will come to me, negotiate, maybe we'll make a deal, maybe we won't. that is possible. we have a lot of things in common in regards to infrastructure. we want to do something on health care. they want to do something on health care. there are a lot of great things we can do together. if they send it up, we'll get democrats and republicans, some of the republicans, i will make sure i send something up the republicans can support and they want to make sure they send something up that the democrats can support. so our great country is booming like never before and we are thriving on every single level, both in terms of economic and military strength. in terms of development. in terms of gdp. we're doing unbelievably. i will tell you our trade deals are colling along fantastically. the usmca and south korea is finished.

usmca has gotten rave reviews. we'll not lose companies anymore to other countries. they will not do that they have a tremendous economic incentive. meaning it is prohibitive pour them to do that. it will to the be like nafta which is one of the worst deals i have ever seen although we made some pretty bad ones too. now is the time for both parties to join together, put partisanship aside and keep the american economic miracle going strong. it is a miracle. we're doing so well. i said it at a lot of rallies. some of you heard it so much you don't want to hear about it. when people come to my office, presidents, prime ministers, they all congratulate me almost the first thing what we've done economically because it is really amazing. our steel industry is back. our aluminum industry is starting to do really well. these are industries that were

dead. our miners are working again. we most all work together to protect our military. have to do that. to support our law enforcement, secure our borders and advance really great policy including environmental policy. we want crystal clean water. we want beautiful, perfect air. air and water has to be perfect. at the same time we don't want to put ourselves at a disadvantage to other countries who are very competitive with us and who don't abide by the rules at all. we don't want to hurt our jobs. we don't want to hurt our factories. we don't want companies leaving. we want to be totally competitive and we are. right now we have just about the cleanest air, the cleanest water we have ever had. it is always going to be that way. we insist on it. so environmental is very important to me. with that i will take a few questions, if you would like. whoa. i didn't know what happened.

all right, go ahead, john. that was a lot of hands shooting up so. reporter: a lot to talk about. >> a lot to talk about. reporter: mr. president you talked at length now about bipartisanship. presumed speaker of the house nancy pelosi talked about it last night. i'm sure that is encouraging to the american people, do you really believe given what the relationship has been like between this white house and the democratic party that will happen? >> i think there is a good chance. i think there is a very good chance. reporter: if i could finish, sir, will you have to compromise on certain issues to the point where it could hurt you in 2020 and do you expect when democrats take over the chairmanship of all these important committees you will get hit with blizzard of subpoenas from the russian investigation to your cell phone use, to your tax returns? >> ready. if you're going to, if that happens, we'll do the same thing and government comes to a halt. i would blame them because they are now going to be coming up

with policy. the majority in the house. i expect that they will come up with some fantastic ideas i can support on the environment, on so many different things, including prescription drug prices which we made a big dent in already. including some of the things that we're working on for the vets. we've gotten choice approved. we got a lot of things approved. but they have other elements that we want. there are many things we can get along on without a lot of trouble that we agree very much with them and they agree with us. i would like to see bipartisanship. i would like to see unity. and i think we have a very good chance -- maybe not everything but i think we have very good chance of seeing that. go ahead. reporter: one question on the lame duck, sir. one on your cabinet. you toyed with the idea during the campaign of a shutdown before the midterms in order to secure border wall funding. are you prepared to go on a

shut-down strategy on the lame duck, since this might be your last best chance to secure that? >> not necessarily. i speak to democrats all the time. they agree that a wall is necessary. as you know we're building the will. we started. we should build it at one time, not just chunks. reporter: but you want to start it sooner. >> not pieces of the whole wall. now we're doing it. we have military, other elements of a wall that are pretty nasty to be honest with you nevertheless pretty hard to get through it. no i would like to see the wall. many of the poem that will be dealing you know in 2006, they approved the wall essentially. it was very strong border fence but it was same thing. and they all approved it. they agreed. i have statements from everyone of them. they said they we need the wall. they sound like me. we do need it. because we have people, coming, i'm not jug talking about the caravans, we have people coming through the border, physically

can't put that many people, this is 2,000-mile long stretch, you can't physically put that many people to guard it. if you did, tremendous fighting would ensue. we need the wall. many democrats know we need the wall and we'll just have to see what happens. i will be fighting for it. they have done everything in their power -- i got the military 700 billion, 716 billion, the wall is tiny, tiny fraction of cost of that. their whole agenda is try not giving me anything for the wall. i really believe politically they're hurting themselves. i think politically that is a good thing but i want to get the wall up. reporter: no shutdown scenario. for lame duck? >> i can't commit to that but it is possible. reporter: give us your thinking after the midterms, your attorney general, the deputy attorney general, do they have long term -- >> i would like to answer that at little bit difficult time. we're looking at a lot of

different things including cabinet. i'm very happy with most of my cabinet. we're looking at different people for difficult positions. you know it is very common after the midterms. i didn't want to do anything before the midterms but i will tell you for the most part i'm extremely happy with my cabinet. i think mike pompeo fit in so beautifully. reporter: how about the interior secretary? >> we're looking at that i do want to study whatever is being said. reporter: he is in jeopardy? >> i think he is doing an excellent job. we will take a look at that very strong, probably have an idea about that about a week. reporter: thank you, mr. president. >> wow, this is -- go ahead. fav me a fair interview the other day so might as well ask him a question. reporter: thank you, mr. president. thinking up there you told me the other day you are an open book. >> i think i am an open book. reporter: point-blank, democrats go after your tax returns, will you try to block that or will you allow them to have them?

>> look, as i have told you, they're under audit. they have been for a long time. they're extremely complex. people wouldn't understand them the done among the biggest and best law firms in the country, same thing with accounting firms. the accountants are veries large, powerful firm from the standpoint of respect, highly respected, big firm. great law firm. you know it very well. they do these things. they put them in. but people don't understand tax returns. now i did do a filing over 100 pages i believe which is in the offices. when people went to saw the filing and saw magnitude of it, they were very disappointed. they saw the detail. get far more from that. i guess we filed that now three times. but you get far more from that than you ever get from a tax return. but when you're under audit, i'm on very continuous audit. there are some companies. it is a very big company, far

bigger than you would even understand. but it is a great company. but it is big and it is complex and it's probably feet high. it's a very complex instrument. i think that people wouldn't understand it. but if i were finished with the audit, i would have an open mind to it. i would say that, but i don't want to do it during the audit. no lawyer, even from the other side they say often, not always, but when you're under audit, you don't have, don't subject it to that. you get it done. then you release it. so when that happens, if that happens, i would certainly have an open mind tonight. so that means if the audit is still on you will not turn over to tax returns or fight to block it? >> nobody turns over return when it is under audit. okay? >> go ahead. reporter: i was tempted to ask you why you like oprah so much but i will go on to the question --

>> why do i like oprah? what kind of a question is that? reporter: just asking, real curious. >> real comedian. i do like oprah. i do. person i knew well. came to my place in palm beach. i have a lot of respect for her. unfortunately she didn't do the trick. reporter: you said up here from this podium, are you offering my way or highway scenario to the democrats? you're saying that -- >> negotiation. not at all. reporter: if they start investigating you, that you can play that game and investigate them. >> bigger than them. i think. reporter: compartmentalize that, can you compartmentalize that still continue to work for them for the benefit of rest of the country or are all bets off? >> no. if they do that, all of this is a war-like posture. reporter: wait a minute. follow-up -- >> you heard my answer. go ahead. reporter: since it is jim, i will let it go.

reporter: thank you, mr. president i want to challenge you one of the statements you made in the tail end of campaign in midterms. >> here we go. reporter: if you don't mind, that this caravan was invasion. >> i consider it to be a invision. reporter: caravan is not invasion. it's a group of migrants moving up from central america towards the border with the u.s. >> thank you for telling me that i appreciate it. reporter: why did you characterize it as such? >> because i consider it an invasion. you and i have a difference of opinion. reporter: do you think you demonized immigrants in this election to try to keep them -- >> not at all. i want them to come into the country. they have to come in legally. jim, they have to come in through a process. it has to be a process. i want people to come in. reporter: your campaign -- waitings wait. we need them. hundreds of companies are moving in we need the people. reporter: your campaign had ad migrants climbing over walls. >> that is true. they weren't actors.

they weren't actors. do you think it was actors? they weren't actors. they didn't come from hollywood. these whether people, this was an actual, you know, it happened a few days ago. and. reporter: they're hundreds of miles away. hundreds and hundreds of miles away. that is not an invasion. >> honestly let me run the country. you run cnn if you did it well. your ratings would be much better. reporter: mr. president, if i may ask one another question. >> that is enough. that's enough. reporter: ask one another. >> that's enough. that's enough. reporter: mr. president i have one other question if i may have on the russian investigation. are you concerned that you may have -- >> i'm not concerned about anything about the russian investigation because it's a hoax. that's enough. put down the mic. reporter: are you worried about indictments coming down in the investigation. >> tell you what. cnn should be ashamed of himself having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. you shouldn't be working for

cnn. go ahead. you're a very rude person. the way you treat sarah huckabee sanders is horrible. the way you treat other people are horrible. you shouldn't treat people that way. go ahead, peter. reporter: in jim's defense i traveled with him in washington. he is diligent reporter. >> i'm not a big fan of yours either. reporter: ask the question -- >> you are not the best. reporter: mr. president -- >> just sit down please. [inaudible]. when you report fake news, which cnn does a lot. you are the enemy of the people. reporter: mr. president, over the course last several is days, at end of campaign you repeatedly said americans need to fear democrats. democrats would unleash a wave of violent crime that endangers families everywhere? >> because -- reporter: why are you pitting americans against one another? >> peter are you trying to be him? reporter: just a question.

>> very simple. they are very weak on crime. they oven suggested members and people of democrat party have suggested getting rid of i.c.e. getting rid of law enforcement. that will not happen. we want to be strong on boarders. we want to be strong on law enforcement. ii want to cherish i.c.e. becaue i.c.e. does a fantastic job. what they do for us is so, really it is so unrecognized how good a job they do. so we want to take care of them. we want to hold them very close because they do a good job. reporter: the question, to be the question. >> sit down please port port you didn't answer my question. the why are you pitting americans against one another sir? is that how you view citizens of this country? >> i'm not. we won a lot of elections last night. we did very well last night. i think it is going to have very positive impact. i watched nbc this morning. they didn't report it exactly correctly.

but that is very, that is the fact with nbc. nothing i can do about that. but i want this country to have protection. we want security in our country. i want security, peter. you maybe don't think it is so important. i think when you don't have it you are indeed unleashing crime. i feel that. reporter: said you would sign executive order on birthright citizenship. will you sign executive order on birthright citizenship. >> you ask me that question later. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president. the investigation by special counsel robert mueller has been going on last spring. it has been over a year. >> a long time. reporter: been over your head, republicans head in midterms. is this your opportunity to end the investigation? would you consider removing mr. mueller from his position? >> i could have ended it anytime i wanted. i didn't. there was no collusion. there was no anything. i didn't. they, went after hackers in

moscow. i don't know about that. they went after people with tax problems from years ago. they went after people with loans and other things. nothing to do with my campaign. this is a, this is a investigation where many, many millions of dollars has been spent. and there is no collusion. it was supposed to be on collusion. there is no collusion. and, i think it's, i think it's very bad for our country, i will tell you. i think it is a shame. a poll came out today, by the way, from nbc, or at least i saw it on nbc, where a majority of the people do not agree with the mueller investigation or it wasn't approved. they have approval and disapproval. it had much higher disapproval. it should end because it is very bad for our country. i'm not just talking about the tremendous expense. and the other thing is, they should look at the other side also. they only look at one side.

they're not looking all of the things that came up during this investigation. they don't do that. they should also get people that could be fair. not 13 or 14 or 17, i call them the angry democrats. they are angry people. and it's a very unfair thing for this country. it is a very, forget about unfair to me. very bad for our country. reporter: so they're president if it is if its unfair to the country and it is costing millions of dollars, why don't you just -- >> give him the mic i anticipated the question. go ahead, take it. [inaudible] >> i will give you voter up brex. sit down please. sit down, i didn't call you. i didn't call you. i will give you voter suppression. take a look at cnn polls, how inaccurate they were. that is called voter suppression. go ahead, please. reporter: thank you, mr. president. [inaudible]. i'm not responding, i'm not

responding to you. i am talking to this gentleman. [inaudible]. excuse me. would you please sit down. please go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president, now that thes who of representatives. >> such hostile media. so asked you asked me. no you rudy interrupted him. you rudy interrupted him. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president. do your demands remain the same tonights congress on immigration and exchange for a daca fix? in exchange for amnesty for 1.7 million, are you willing to change any of those demands that you gave to congress earlier? >> i think we could do something having to do with daca and what really happen with daca, we could have done pretty good work on daca, but a judge ruled the daca was okay. had the judge not ruled that day we couldn't make a deal. the democrats didn't want to talk anymore. we'll see how it works out at supreme court.

[shouting questions] go ahead. >> [inaudible]. from where? go ahead. >> [inaudible] >> which group? you want me to take a question from? either one. either one. or both. are you together? go ahead. reporter: we're not together. mr. president how do you respond to critics who say that your message on the campaign towards minorities have been polarizing? >> i don't think it has been at all. >> election of two muslim women in the house, making history, is this -- >> i don't understand what you're saying? reporter: is it rebuke of this message? is this reflective of mult at the ethnic and multicultural america? >> i didn't understand -- i can only say this you look at employment unemployment numbers for african-americans, asian-americans, for hispanic-americans, they're at

an historic high. poll came out recently my numbers with hispanics and african-americans highest, bet they ever been, that took place two or three days ago, the been. i have best numbers, african-americans, hispanic-americans i ever had before. you saw the same poll. so i can't say that i can say this, you look at median income, you look at all of the employment and unemployment numbers, they're doing the best they have ever done. and it is very reflective in the polls. reporter: mr. president, i'm from brooklyn you understand me. >> i understand you very well. reporter: my question on health care, how is it possible to keep premiums down and cover preexisting conditions without the individual mandate to fund it? >> wells first of all what we're doing, if you look at the department of labor secretary azar what they have done, they have come up with some

incredible health care plans which is causing great competition and driving prices right down. we are getting rid of the individual mandate because it was unfair to a lot of people. but at the same time we're covering people that need it but the individual mandate was a disaster because people that couldn't necessarily afford it were having to pay for the privilege of not having to pay for health care and it was bad health care at that. so we are working many plans for health care. we're creating tremendous competition. we had obamacare repealed and replaced. unfortunately one person changed his mind at the last moment. and we had no democrat support. i have to say that. we didn't have one vote. we would have repealed it, replaced it. we would have had a large, scale, very good health care plan. now we're doing it a different way. we're doing it a different way. getting rid of the individual mandate is a very, very popular thing and very important thing and people very much appreciate it. [shouting questions]. go ahead. no, no, that is enough.

go ahead, please. reporter: thank you, sir. two questions. one you went through the results an obviously studied them late last night. what lesson did you learn most looking at results? was there one thing as you kind of reviewed them that you will change your strategy not just for congress but going forward and follow-up question? >> i think results that i have learned, may be confirmed. people like me. people like the job i'm doing, frankly. because if you look at every place i went to do a rally, i couldn't do it with everybody. but it was very hard to do it with people in congress because they're just too many, too many stops. but i did it with the senate. i did it with andy barr, as you know. and he won. he won a very tough race against mcgrath. that was a tough race in kentucky. he was down quite a bit and he went there. we had a tremendous, very successful -- some of you were at that rally. he won that race. but i could only do that so much because there are just so many

players involved. what i did focus on the senate and we had tremendous success with the gnat, really tremendous success. reporter: can i ask you one more question, one more question, mr. president, so sorry rare opportunity. a lot of people rushing to iowa, rushing to new hampshire. democrats are looking at 2020. do you want to lock down your ticket right now, sir? will the vice president be your running mate in 2020? >> i haven't asked him, where are you. i hope so. mike, will be my running mate? raise your right hand. will you? the answer is yes. thank you. that was unexpected. i feel very fine. yeah, please. reporter: thank you, mr. president. boeing back to the russia investigation and potential investigations from the now democratic majority and congest, some say that you could stop all this by declassifying -- >> i could fire everybody right now. but i don't want to stop it.

politically i don't like stopping it. it is a disgrace. it should have never been started because there was no crime. it is, everybody has conflicts. they all have conflicts over there, that are beyond anything that anybody has ever seen in terms of conflicts. from, the fact that people asked for jobs from the fact that they have very good friends on other side, like really good friends like comey, who by the way lied and leaked and also leaked classified information. nothing happened there. it might perhaps, maybe something is happening that i don't know about. i stay away from it. you know what i do? i let it just go on. they're wasting a lot of money but i let it go on pause -- because i don't want to do that. you're right i could end it right now. i could say the investigation is over but it is really, it is a disprays, frankly.

-- disgrace, frankly. it is embarassment to our country, a embarassment to the people of our country and it is too bad. go ahead. reporter: what about declassification of documents. some say -- >> looking at declassification we're looking at very seriously. reporter: can i ask one more question? >> amazing how people on the other side don't want the documents declassified. we're looking at it carefully. i wanted to wait until after the midterms. reporter: can i ask you one more question, mr. president? thank you. >> go. reporter: mr. president, you campaigned as pro-life president. you defend rights of unborn children. >> that's right. reporter: unlikely to pass pro-life bills. >> very tough issue. reporter: how will you push forward the pro-life agenda? >> i will push. they have done a good job for me. tough issue for two sides what am i going to do? i won't be able to explain that to you because it is an issue that is very divisive, polarizing issue.

but there is a solution. i think i have that solution and nobody else does. we're going to be, we're going to be working on that. go ahead, please. she took your place but that's okay. reporter: mr. president, just a quick question on rural america. in states like indiana, north dakota, folks turned out for republican candidates. can you talk what this means for your agenda in terms of trade and the farm bill? >> the farm bill is working really well. i mean we could have had it approved anytime but we're looking to get work rules approved. farmers want it. i like it. the problem the democrats are not giving us 10 votes we need. everybody wants it. farmers want it. the democrats are not approving farm bill with the work rules. we want the work rules in. the democrats just don't want to vote for that. so at some point they have to

pay maybe a press. yes. reporter: thank you very much, mr. president. >> thank you. reporter: have you seen any evidence that russia or china intervened in yesterday's election. >> we'll make a full report. unlike the previous administration we've done a lot of work on issue. if you look, speak with the fbi. speak with the department of justice, speak to homeland security, we've spent a lot of time. it gets very little coverage in the papers. i mean you cover the nonsense part but you don't cover the important, this is very important. and we have been working very hard on china and russia and everybody else looking into our elections or meddling with our elections. but poem tend not to write about it. we have worked very hard as probably heard. >> what do you intend to say, sir, to president xi and president putin when you meet with them later this month? >> i i have a good relationship with both. i know president xi better but i think i have a very good relationship with both. i actually had a very good meeting in russia you people

didn't agree with. that's okay. doesn't much matter obviously because -- reporter: helsinki? >> but the fact is i had a very, very good meeting, a very, very good meeting with president putin. a lot was discussed about security, about syria. about ukraine. about the fact that president obama allowed a very large part of ukraine to be taken and right now you have submarines off that particular parcel that we're talking about. reporter: that was president putin who annexed crimea. >> that was president obama's regime. that was during president obama, right? that was not during me. reporter: putin did the annexation? >> it was president obama allowed it to happen. had nothing to do with me. go ahead. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president. cody dillon, sky news. you're a man who likes to win but last night was not an

absolute victory for you. >> i'll be honest. i thought it was, i thought it was a very close to complete victory. when you look at it from the standpoint of negotiation, when you look at it from the standpoint of deal-making because it is all about deal-making, again, if we had the majority and we had one or two or three votes to play with, we would never, we would have been at a standstill. i really believe that we have a chance to get along very well with the democrats and if that is the case we can do a tremendous amount of legislation and get it approved by both parties. i consider it to be -- hey, look, i won georgia. president obama campaigned very hard in georgia. oprah winfrey campaigned very, very hard all over the television. i said this is going to be tough. i only had me. i didn't have anybody else. i went to georgia and we had one of the largest crowds that

anybody here has seen ever at a political rally. you know what he won? he won actually by you know, pretty good margin. he won. then we went to florida. and they had celebrities all over the place and a man who happens to be a very smart person was running, ron desantis. people didn't give him a chance. and i went and we had, we did some great work and they're going to have a great governor of the state of florida. and then we talked about the senate. and a lot of money was pouring in for the democrat. this is a man who has been in office for like 44 years or something. this is a man who is professional at getting elected, being in office. he is not, bill nelson not easy to beat, okay? but they had a lot of celebrities coming out for nelson. they had everybody coming out for nelson and rick scott won. i helped him. and i think we've done an a

amazing job. you could look at many other places. look at some of the other places. we just got the word that in iowa, governor who at got extended, kim just got extended. numerous other places. great victory. i will be honest. great victory. some of the news this morning it was in fact a great victory. but if you look at it from the standpoint of gridlock, i really believe there will be much less gridlock the way this is going than any other -- [shouting questions] reporter: quick follow-up on that. >> sit down, please. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president, let me ask you about one of the campaign promises you made down the stretch, 10% tax cut for middle class. you talked about gridlock. democrats run the house ways and means committee. if it mean as tax cut of some kind for middle class, raising rates elsewhere, corporations on wealthiest is that tradeoff you're willing to make?

>> well it could be. this will have to be proproposed, we doesn't have votes in the senate. we would need 10 democrat votes. we probably couldn't get that. if we could we could pass it easily in the house. no need to waste time because we don't have votes in the senate. as an example, if democrats up come up idea for tax cuts, i'm a big believer in tax cuts i would absolutely pursue something even if it means some adjustment. reporter: some adjustment which side, corporate or individual? >> i would love to see a tax cut for the middle class. now it will have to be their decision. if we bring it up to the senate, we need democrat votes, 10. we don't have the votes. reporter: just because market want to know, some adjustment, one, two, 3%? >> i'm just saying i would be willing to do a little bit of adjustment. go ahead. reporter: mr. president, thank you very much. two questions, one is you talked about leaders who called to

congratulate you. did president putin call to congratulate you? will you in fact meet with him for lunch this coming weekend? >> i understand it, i understand a lot of you are going over, we're having lunch with numerous countries. i will be there. i believe president putin will be there. we don't have anything scheduled. i don't think we have anything scheduled in paris. coming back quickly. this is you great event. this is important this will be very important and i think a very beautiful ceremony. i'm looking forward to going. we're representing the incredible heroes of the world but the heroes of our country from world war i. so i will be going there and i am very proud to go there. reporter: did he call you? >> i don't think we have time set aside for that meeting. with that being said we're shortly meeting again at the g20 where he will be there and i will be there. that is where we're actually looking forward to meet. we will be having, we will be having a lunch but i think many

people are there. reporter: did he call you to congratulate you? i could invite you since this is quite a gather we got here, talk about the staff changes at white house weil we're here. we're eager to hear about them. will general kelly stay on? >> as we make changes we'll talk about it. there is no great secret. a lot of administrations make changes after midterms. i will say for the most part i'm very, very happy with this cabinet. we're doing a great job. reporter: what about in the white house, sir? you have a lot of white house staff. some are talking about leaving. general kelly is rumored to be leaving. >> people leave. people leave. reporter: is that going to happen? >> people leave. i haven't heard about john kelly. people leave. they come in. they are here. it is a very exhausting job. i love doing it, i must tell you. it is exhausting for a lot of people. i am surprised at a lot of people. they start off. young people they're there for

two years and they're old by the time they leave. quite exhausting. i love doing it. i will tell you, there will be changes, nothing monumental from that standpoint. i don't think different from most administrations. we have many people lined up for every single position. any position. everybody wants to work in this white house. we are a hot country. this is a hot white house. we are a white house people want to work with. okay. no, no. please behind you. go ahead. reporter: this is been very challenging campaign. this has been -- >> very challenging campaign. reporter: quite a lot of abuse and violence. people have died during the course of this campaign. is there any way which you think the temperature could be lowered? perhaps peace could break out with the media? perhaps your bipartisan relationships across the house and senate may now produce some change? or will we have more the same?

>> that is very fair question. look i would love to see unity and peace and love and, any other word you want to use. and obviously i think we had to especially at this particular juncture, we had to wait until after the midterms are over. now they're over. if they would cover me fairly, which they don't, which they don't, i'm not saying that in a hostile way, i get extremely inaccurate coverage. i could do something fantastic and they could make it look like not good. i don't mind having bad, i make a mistake i would like you to cover it fairly but cover it. but when you do something terrific. look how little the economy is talked about. a poll came out talking about how little the three networks, i don't think they included cnn, but how little the three networks talk about how good the economy is. how little. almost not at all. if president obama had this

economy and by the way, if that administration through somebody else kept going, you would have had negative 4.2 instead of positive 4.2% growth. would you have had negative. it was heading down. the point is this, excuse me, i would love to see unity, including with the media. because i think media, i will be honest, i think it is a very divisive thing for our country. you would be amazed how smart people are seeing your stories, reading your stories, watching, you would be amazed how smart and perceptive they are, they get it. it really brings disunit. [shouting questions] >> you are not called on. go ahead. go ahead. go ahead, please. reporter: how about turkey? >> thank you, president trump. shortly after the victory speech on historic night back in november 2016 i asked you to

what single factor are you most attributed this victory to? >> you have to speak you have. reporter: sure on night of your victory after your speech what you attributed to victory, you pointed to the ceiling, said it was god. based off of that, how would you say over the last two years god plays what kind of factor he plays in the day-to-day execution of the office of president? >> god plays a big factor in my life and god plays a big factor in lives of many people i know well in this room, like your vice president. god plays a very big role in my life. reporter: one more, quick follow-up. which loss last night surprised you the most and which of those unsuccessful candidates are you most likely to -- >> nothing surprises me in politics. there were losses last night and victories last night that have been incredible. there were victories last night nobody would believe, based on suppression polls. they had a lot of suppression

polls. there were victories last night that were very surprising. i'm not going to pick out. reporter: would you -- >> tough enough for the people to have a loss. reporter: administration moving forward as 3.7% unemployed? >> what? reporter: would you consider any of people lost last night for post in the administration in the near future? >> i know a couple of very good unwith. i would actually. go ahead. reporter: mr. president, mr. president, i asked you on monday if there was anything that you regret in your first two years and you said at times you could have, should have, used a quote, softer tone. your critics as you can imagine, your skeptics, they say they're not holding their breath happening. will you indeed change your tone to get things passed through congress after losing the house? you said you might extend a olive branch. what would that look like? >> i would be very good in a low tone but when things are done not correctly about you, written but, said about you, on

television on where it is you have to defend yourself. i would love to do various, much easier than what i have to do. i have to go around, going around is much easier than facing somebody being treated fairly but when you're not treated fairly you really have no choice. i would love to have a very even, modest, boring tone. i would be very honored by that. but you know what? when you have to fight all the time, fight, because you're being misrepresented by the media, you really can't do that. reporter: not about the media, sir, not about the media, what about with congress? >> please, go ahead. [inaudible]. reporter: mr. president, how will you focus -- >> where are you from, please? reporter: japan. >> say hello to shinzo. i'm sure he is happy about tariffs on his cars. go ahead. reporter: how do you focus on trade with japan. will you ask japan to do more --

>> i don't, really don't understand you. reporter: how would you focus on trade with japan? >> trade with japan. we're dealing with japan on trade. japan it is a great country. great prime minister who had very successful election. he is a very good friend of mine. he is one of the people i'm closest with but i tell him all the time that japan does not treat the united states fairly on trade. they send in millions of cars, very low tax. they don't take our cars. if they do, they have a massive tax on the cars. japan, i'm not blaming japan. i'm blaming people that were in charge of the united states for allowing that to happen. but as you know, we have close to 100 billion-dollar trade deficit with japan. japan is treated us very fairly. don't feel lonely. because you weren't only one. reporter: thank you, mr. president. two international news questions.

first one, secretary pompeo talked about with north korea have been postponed. what is happening there? and will your meeting happen -- >> we're going to make it because of trips being made. we'll make it another date. but we're very happy how it is going with north korea. we think it is going fine. we're in no rush. sanctions are on. reporter: still expect to meet kim jong-un? >> excuse me. the sanctions are on. missiles have stopped. rockets have stopped. the hostages are home. the great heros have been coming home. mike pence was in hawaii where the. one of the most beautiful ceremonies anyone ever seen for fallen. great heroes. important when i was running, as many years ago it was, in many cases grandchildren were asking about that. they are coming home. being provided to us as we

speak. i'm no, no you rush. sanctions are on. i read a couple times, seen a few times, i've done so much. what have i done? i met. i would love to take the sanctions off but they have to be responsive too. it is two-way street. we're not in any rush at all. there is no rush whatsoever. you know before i got here they were dealing with this for, over 70 years. i guess on a nuclear front for 25 years. that's a long time. been there, left singapore four or five months ago. we made more progress in four or five months than they made in 70 years. nobody else could have done what i have done. i will say this, i will say this very simply. we're in no rush. the sanctions are on. whatever it is. but that meeting will be rescheduled. reporter: that meeting, your meeting with kim jong-un, sir, will it happen in the next

month? >> sometime next year i would say. sometime early next year. reporter: quick question on usmca. now it has been concluded, have you repaired your relationship with prime minister trudeau? >> yes, i have. we have a very good relationship [shouting questions] reporter: thank you very much, mr. president we've been talking about division and division exists in country right now. some statistics are disturbing to anyone. anti-semitic incidents increased by 57% since 2016. hate crimes are on the rise. why do you think that is? what will you do about it? >> it is very sad to see it. i hate to see it. as you know i have done more, in fact if you were with us the last time we met, prime minister netanyahu said that this president has done more for israel said that this president has done more for israel than any other president. those words. both the fact words. jerusalem, protection, working

together, so many different things. you know, many, many presidents have said they are going to build the embassy in jerusalem. never happened. making it the capital of israel. never happened. but it happened with me and quickly. not only did it happen, we built the embassy it would've taken another 15 or 20 years, probably billions of dollars and we did it for a tiny amount of money. nobody has done more for israel than donald trump and the nice part is that it's not me saying that. that is prime minister n'djamena and yahoo! appeared >> mr. president, what about the divisiveness country? >> we want to see it here. one of the things that can help you with the success of our country. we are really successful now. we've got 11 points $7 trillion.

if you know, china has come down tremendously, tremendously. china would have superseded within two years as an economic power. now they're not even close. china got rid of because i found it very insulting. i said that to them. china 25 means in 2025 they're going to take over economically the world. i said that's not happening. we've gone way up. they've gone down. i don't want them to go down. we will see what we can do. i have to say this. billions of dollars will soon be paying into our treasury from taxes china is paying for us. if you speak to mr. pillsbury who's probably the leading authority on china said he's never seen anything like it. you know who else hasn't? china has sent.

we will try and make a deal with china because i will have great relationships with president xi as they do and also a china appeared >> how do you see your role as a moral leader. >> are so many people. i'm sorry. >> i think i am a great moral leader and i love her country. go ahead, please. >> thank you, sir. he said earlier democrats had a choice that you would not work with him on legislation if they were investigating you. do not have a choice in the matter as well? >> i think it's very appropriate. we should get along and get deals done. we can investigate. they look at us. we look at them, goes on for two years. at the end of two years nothing was done. with bad for them is be in the majority i'm just going to blame them. they are the majority. honestly it makes it much simpler for me.

they will be blamed. i think nancy pelosi and you know i put that statement out on social media today about nancy pelosi because frankly i think she deserves an a lot of people think i was being sarcastic or it's kidding. i was then. i really mean this. there is nothing sarcastic about it. it was met with very good intentions. she deserves it. she's fought long and hard. she's a very capable person. view of other people shooting at her trying to take over the speaker showed. i said if we can and if we will come if she has a problem i think i would feel to very easily supply her the necessary votes. that is not set in anyway other than i really believe she deserves that position. i believe nancy pelosi and i can work together and get a lot of things done along with mitch and everybody else that we have to work with.

>> mr. president, why can't you do that while subpoenas are coming through? >> i think we will. now that these elections over. now everybody's in love. but then i see the hostility of questions coming here is a nice person wanting to answer questions and i people jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me. the election is over and i'm extraordinarily happy. i really am. look at what happened in florida. look what happened in so many locations of governorships. nobody talks about the governorships. look at the amount of work given to other candidates against my candidate. i mean, i'm extraordinarily happy. if i wasn't, there's nothing wrong. you look at midterms and elections generally.

it's very rare that a party who has the presidency does well. to win florida, both the senate and the governorships against two very talented people. i'll tell you what, we did incredibly. two when george w. had some of the biggest stars in the world campaigning endlessly including president obama. you know, i'll tell you this is a great victory for us. from the dealmaking standpoint, we are all much better off the way it turned out. if the democrats want to, we can do a tremendous amount of great legislation. yes, go ahead. should we keep this going for a little while? >> outcome i think you should get going. >> when you get bored would you please tell me? seriously, tell me. i don't want to overstate.

please come and go. >> mr. president, "pbs newshour." on the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist. some side as him invalid my white nationalists. >> i don't know why he said that. such a racist question. >> some people say because of your rhetoric. when you make about? >> better now, why do i have my highest numbers ever with african-americans? what i have the highest poll numbers of african-americans? that is such a racist question. honestly. i know you have it written down and you're going to tell me. >> mr. president -- >> you know what the word is? i love her country. i do. he had nationalist veneer globalists. i also love the world and i don't mind helping the world but we have to straighten out her country first. we have a lot of problems. to say which you said is so insulting to me. it's a very terrible thing you said.

>> mr. president, you talk about middle-class tax cuts on the campaign trail. how to get democrats to support that policy? >> excuse may come you know what my plan is? i'll ask them if they say yes i'm all for tonight they say no there's nothing you can do because you need their votes. go ahead. >> thank you mr. president. francesca chambers daily build.com. you said many times on the campaign trail and you spent a lot of time talking about her. >> let me answer. but i have preferred winning? i would almost have to think about that. certainly i like to win and if i win she's not going to be speaker. >> what did she say to you yesterday? >> honestly, we had a very warm conversation. she loves this country and she's a very smart woman.

she's done a very good job. >> dishy promised they wouldn't speak to impeachment? >> we didn't talk about impeaching. do you impeach somebody because you created the greatest economic success in the history of our country? let's impeach him because it's so successful. has he done anything wrong? no, but let's impeach in any way. they also said let's impeach justice kavanagh. and now they have the secular coming now. i hate to say this, but it was public. after him were going to impeach the vice president. we're going to impeach mike pence. mike pence doesn't get impeached for anything. let's impeach the president and i will impeach the vice president. these people are sick. they have to get their bearing. when you ask about division,

they are the ones that caused the division. >> okay, regarding all the retirement in the house, mr. president, very quickly, you suggest -- you said many retirement that have been in the house that made it very difficult for you in this election cycle and that is because they were chairman that were vacated. but jeff flake was then chairman of the committee and paul ryan also retired the cycle. whose fault is that? >> i retired him. i'm very proud of it. the country a great service. go ahead. he is retired. i'd like to call it another word but were going to treat him with great respect. >> thank you, mr. president. two questions, please. >> one, one, one, to many people. >> you seem to enjoy this venue very much.

are you going to make the standard press conference a staple of the remaining two years or will you have more briefings for sarah sanders? >> i think sarah is fantastic. where is sarah? she is so great. you've represented me so well. she's been horribly treated. >> so she's going to stay on? >> is very interesting the other day. you know they'll do, i won't do any real interviews. and then they say why is he doing and then over the last couple months i decided will do this, we'll do that and then we say why is he doing so many press conferences. when i don't do them come you say what's wrong. when i do do them you say what's wrong and when i go in the middle to say what's wrong. right?

excuse me. you complained about access when i purposely just stayed away from the press for a while because i wanted to see how worked. >> first outcome i think it's very good to have you here. [inaudible] >> actually, i do, too. media is worth billions. go ahead. it's a rare opportunity. first a point of clarification on the tax returns issue. you brought up the audit that doesn't prevent you from releasing them. >> i said lawyers will tell you. let's go. more exciting. michael: recently said you called black voters stupoid. you've been accused of using

the. and while john says you -- a little tom. >> i would never do that and i don't use racist remarks. if i did, you would've known about it. number one, and i never -- i've never use racist remarks. >> one point a factor -- quiet, quiet. >> is just 8%. single digits. >> when you talk about division, it is people like this that cause division. great division. point of fact is i've never used a racist remark. that's the point of fact. who are you from? i hope they're doing well. where you from? >> lebanon.

thank you mr. president. so happy to have this opportunity. and you're going to meet him soon. you're going to meet him soon and some will take the same step. >> let me just say about the oil. we oppose the strongest sanctions in the history of our country just about. north korea is there, too. but i gave some countries a break on the audio. i did a little bit because they asked for some help. but i really did it because i don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 a barrel by $150 a barrel because i'm driving them down.

i don't like it. oil prices are coming down. so rather than deciding to be as tough as i am on most of the sanctions, what i've done this and said we're not going to do at this way. but some of it will go out to these countries because i don't want to drive oil prices up to 100 or $150, which could happen easily. a very fragile market. i know it very well. to get tougher as time goes by. i consider that to be attacked for not like taxes. [inaudible] >> congratulations to jon tester. i'm sure you're very unhappy about that. go ahead.

>> mr. president, can you address -- >> will take a couple more and ago. >> can address concerns in places like regular people voted in mind for hours for voting machines weren't working in certain districts. >> is that the reason the candidate lost? >> there concerns being raised -- >> other than i love this day. >> is president of the united states, are you concerned the axis of evil are having their voting? >> i heard is very fishing in georgia appeared but again, you have to ask the state government because it's one of those things you have to ask them. go ahead, please. please go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. you express concern about social media companies unfairly censoring conservatives during the election. do you anticipate working with democrats to regulate these companies? >> i would look at that. i think it's a serious problem. at the same time you saw it

getting into speech. that's a very dangerous problem. that could be the beginning. it is very dangerous. believe it or not i'm one that really likes free speech. a lot of people don't understand that. i'm a big believer in when you start regulating a lot of bad things can happen. i would certainly talk to the democrats if they want to do that and i think they do want to do that. >> former president barack obama famously said he had a pen and a phone to use executive power on issues like immigration. do you see yourself using executive power to get some other immigration agenda done? >> i do. i think some of it i can use executive power on time. not all. he certainly used it. he used it on daca. he said i'm not allowed to do this he'll never hold up but i'm doing it anyway.

he did it and they found judges that approved it. they also found judges do to found judges that did the purpose will be determining the supreme court. if the court rules in favor of a president obama thinks they should rule, which is what he said, then i will probably have a deal with the democrats in a very short period of time. we were very close to having a deal until we got that very strange ruling. >> you also made promises about immigration during the campaign. i wanted to know if you're going to follow through with him. birthright citizenship. one is an executive order? yes or no. >> i believe we have the absolute right. that's another case determined by the supreme court of united states. >> are you going to send 15,000 troops to the border? >> you been reading the same documents. you know exactly what i'm doing. what's your next question? >> on the khashoggi matter, spent within a month since the

death of mr. khashoggi. >> very sad from a very terrible. >> are they guilty of having a murdered? >> will have a much stronger opinion over the next week and i'm working with congress. some very talented people and we're working with congress, working with turkey in in saudi arabia and informing a very strong opinion. go ahead, john. >> mr. president, just a quick follow it. you said something about nancy pelosi. you said she loves her country. do you regret some of the things you said during the campaign? there's times he said democrats want to put a wrecking ball to her future. >> with the current policy there isn't a wrecking ball. i believe that 100%. this would be a wrecking ball. as a compromise somewhere that can be be really good for our country. >> the ad that was branded that was branded as a racist and even fox news would merit, nbc.

>> and surprise u.s. asked that question in. i do not. go ahead. >> thank you, sir. we'd all love to have more of these if you're willing. in 2017, shortly after you took office, your homeland security department shattered a program to counter homegrown right-wing extremism, white supremacist on a related terrorist, domestic terrorist groups and redirected funding towards fighting islamic terrorism. do you believe white supremacist terrorist, right-wing terrorists, and on that side of the spectrum are a problem, sir? i do believe it's a problem. but i do believe that is the problem. and it's a problem when one assault. >> sir, what are you going to do about it?

>> mr. president, you said -- >> i do believe it's a problem. can i tell you what? it's a problem that i don't like even a little bit. >> diaz pictures television. you said pretend i'm on the ballot yesterday. you call that a referendum on your presidency. many local districts across the country rejected your message particularly suburban women. how do you bridge that divide now? >> very well received. just look at the results. midterm elections are disasters for sitting presidents and administrations. this has been a very successful. look, you can write it anyway you want. this has been incredibly successful. how about ohio. i didn't even mention. i mentioned florida. i mention georgia appeared how about the governor of ohio? a fantastic man who's down in the polls and everybody was

talking about this person that was so great and i went up there and at a rally and they have now a great governor in ohio for a long period of time. mike dewine is a fantastic person. i went up there for two reasons because i felt his opposition was not a good person and we know a lot about him and i thought mike was a fantastic person and he won. not only did he win, he won easily. i've got to florida and georgia and all of the other races we want outside even the senate races which were the biggest of all because these are races that might hence can tell you in some of the folks over here can tell you. these were races that were going to be unopposed. we were not going to oppose people running. certain senators. they said they couldn't be beaten.

said heidi could not be beaten. please don't do it. >> excuse me come you're telling me about popularity. they said many of these people when i said nine out of 11. these aren't like easy races. these were tough races. so i think the level of popularity, the first question i was asked was what have you learned? what about your own popularity. i was very well received at this great country, by the people of our great country and i prodded that because i love the people of this country. we are the greatest people. i love the people of our country. and i'll tell you something, when you look at the races we won in florida, which we weren't expected to win in georgia which we weren't expected to win in ohio, which we weren't expected to win and i mean you look at some of them, the number of votes he got his incredible. so i'm really happy with not

only the way it came out that the response to me as your president. as your president, i made her country safe. i'm in the process of rebuilding our military in the jobs are here. everyone of them built here. very shortly were going to have the strongest military her country has ever had. i've done more for the vets than any president has done certainly in many, many decades with choice in with other things as you know, with other things. our vet are doing better than they've ever done. choice alone, just look at what we've done with choice. but the people of our country are very happy with the job that i'm doing. >> looking ahead to 2020. >> one of the things they want so much as security. both that the border, with our military, law enforcement. they won it with i.c.e. you know, we've taken out

thousands of ms-13 gang members. hard to believe. thousands out of her country. women of our country and who are incredible people. they want security, safety, financial security also. we've done that. but they want physical security and we've taken out thousands of people that shouldn't be in this country. we have to get strong immigration laws so they don't come in. we want laws where they don't come in, where we don't have to take them out per se and again, i'm very honored to be with all of you. it was a great day yesterday. it was a great evening. i think we had tremendous success and hopefully the town can get better. hopefully the town can get a lot better and i really believe it begins with the media appeared we used to call the press. but i really believe it begins with the media appeared if you

would cover and it was a very interesting story written a very good paper recently that talked about the fact that it is in good with the media is doing and i do have the right to fight back because i'm treated very unfairly. so i do fight back and i'm fighting back now for me. i'm fighting back for the people of this country. thank you all very much. >> .my friends is what they call a 90 minute or so, the president taking on everyone in virtually every publication. some reporters getting a chance to go around and ask a second round of questions. the president indicating he would take a warlike posture democrats wanted to investigate him, that it would be tit-for-tat, but if that's what they want, and that's what they want. the president also offered to work with house democrats on issues they might be able to find a common bond. you saw him at the vice president locking out their

dessert he indicated that he might consider switching out the vice president or at least mike pence running within in favor of nikki haley. but ultimately deciding and asking in the room, might come the one with me? yes, were on, we are going to run together. the president also attacking republican house candidates particularly who lost saying they should have embraced him. included in that you talk conservative congresswoman mia love. much more there as well about the overall improvement in the economy and he says everyone has been talking about except the media appeared bleak room at the white house. you got into the substantive issues, but that was a pretty aggressive give-and-take. >> are a remarkable. i don't know how this played out on television, but it was somewhat surreal at certain points to be inside this room that is covered a lot of city

council meetings and times that i felt like that in the hour and 27 minutes we heard in the back and forth the president engaged with as well. this started as a bit or a lap for president trump said he believes last night. he talked about how it was a big day not only for republicans, but for him as well. he rattled off a series of numbers including the fact republicans are able to increase their lead in the senate and minimize the losses in the house at least when you look at historical standards over the past year than two decades. the president at one point taunting republican members of congress. the president said he did not align with his message said they lost their races because of that and at times even said goodbye. quite literally waving at them. the question-and-answer portion of which there was a slew of topics. not even sure where to begin. let's start with the issue i brought to the president which

is one of the campaign promises he made down the stretch which would be a middle-class tax cut. one of the realities of what occurred last night across the country is not only did republicans gain their lead in the senate, the democrats now have control of the house. and so i asked the president how that would work with a tax-cut potential going forward. the president saying that there could be some increases. i'm not sure if you use the word increases, slight adjustment was the word he used saying that their credit they suggest a trade-off for tax increases for the wealthy, the middle class, but we'll see how this plays out. neil: i hate to jump on you there. nancy pelosi, democratic leader after she speaks to the press now. >> democratic candidates. members elected to affect their districts and embody the bountiful diversity of our nation. women lead the way to victory

with the least 30 new women coming to the congress. is that not exciting? there's still some not finalized yet so there could be more. democrats also seek date wins across the country. while it is my responsibility, winning the governorship is essential for good policy in our country and open elections and the rest. wisconsin, illinois, kansas, maine, michigan, mexico and nevada. we are very proud or colleague is now the governor in colorado, jared polis is now the governor, current colleague. even replacing a democratic governor, great governor chicken liver. that is a democratic member there. tim walz in minnesota, our colleague again winning in

minnesota. so for us, seeing the extraordinary leadership of these numbers going into governor's offices seen an increased number was a great night for the american people. we won from the beginning we focus on health care. two years ago today, the day after the election, not the same date, but the same day after the election, everyone came together and said we see the urgency. we want to take responsibility and that gave us opportunity to protect affordable care act. that was so essential to the health and financial security of america's working families and we knew it would be a target of the trump administration. so just so you know, we have mobilized many of the groups

outside. they were self mobilized as well. but we all came together despite where we might be on the spectrum on other ratios to say this was her focus. they are planned to launch our campaign on the weekend of martin luther king day in january and we did. after the president's inauguration as you know, some things have started to happen in our country are and much of that was about health care. excuse me. health care, the beat goes on. over the course of the next year and a half, working with the outside groups and they deserve a great deal of credit and i'm proud of our democratic unity in the congress of the united states in that unity was essential to the clarity of our message and differentiation from republicans on that sub check. working together, voting

together, we were able to make our case. the outside groups and we participated in some of this that the outside groups had 10,000 events across the country speaking out about the risk that was involved in the republican policy in terms of the health care in our country. medicare, medicaid, and the benefit of a preexisting medical condition, taking away, all of that, so much more. the issue about the cost of prescription drugs. of those issues, coalitions, advocacy groups across the country, labor unions, veterans, the list goes on and on and so many people involved in that. leading up to this thing on the ballot in some of you have said to me, how did this emerge as

the issue in the campaign? my answer is we made our own environment because we knew how important health care is not only to the good help for families, but to the financial well-being of their families health care cost being such a major assault on their economic security. when we put together are for the people agenda, our first priority was to lower health care costs by the prescription drug, leader mitch mcconnell went forward with medicare, medicaid and aspects of social security were on the chopping block. the president told his punch when it came time to lowering the cost of prescription drugs by enabling secretaries to negotiate that.

so this is very important. dallas for the people, lower health care costs, bigger paychecks by building infrastructure of america, integrity in government are reducing the goal of big money. that was our agenda. our candidates ran with it. but health care, health care, health care and every household in america is an important issue. but in his office i occupied now set all politics as well, but when it comes to health care, all politics is personal. again, while gop tried relentlessly to distract and divide, our candidates kept her focus on that subject. when i say or candidates, i say are candidates for reelection as well. voters delivered a resounding verdict against congressional republicans attacks from

medicare, medicaid and the affordable care act in people with preexisting conditions and districts everywhere in america. they went in the new direction, and now they want a new direction. a houston lawyer to make progress in the lives of america's family and seniors. democrats pledged a new majority for the people agenda. lower health care costs, lower prescription drugs. bigger paychecks building the infrastructure. clean up corruption to make america work for the american people's interest. yesterday's election was not only a vote to protect america's health care. it was a vote to restore the health of our democracy. under the constitution i'm proud of article i, the first branch of government. a legislative branch.

right after the beautiful preamble stating our purpose, article i the legislative branch there is a coequal branch and a check and balance with other branches of government. american people want to put an end to uncheck gop controlled of washington restoring again the checks and balances envisioned by our founders. that's a responsibility we have when we take that oath to protect and defend the constitution. we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve and not to have it be a rubber stamp for president trump. house democrats will honor our responsibility to the constitution as i said, how we will open, how we will do things, we will open the congress and insist upon openness and transparency so that the american people can see the impact of public policy on

their lives, putting an end to what they did with their tax scam in the dark of night and the speed of light, no hearing on a bill that would have trillions of dollars that impact on our economy. that is over. we will strive and not openness with the american people as their partners because they will see the impact of legislation on their lives. we will strive for bipartisanship. we believe we have a responsibility to seek common ground where he can. where we cannot, we must stand our ground, but we must try. and so by openness and transparent day, accountability, bipartisanship is very important part of how we will go forward. we believe the responsibility we have to honor the vision of our founders, and they gave us in their declaration a call for life, liberty and pursuit of

happiness. how beautiful. they also give us guidance on how to achieve that from anyone. they couldn't imagine how many they would become or how differently would be from each other, that they knew we had to strive, recognizing that this is a marketplace of ideas. different views on the role of government and that's a healthy debate for the american people to witness and the rest i have. we do so with confidence and our values and proposals, but also with humility were others have to say. so that will be the kind of congress that we have, one again and honors the guidance of e pluribus unum. last night i had a conversation with president trump about how it worked worked together on issues. one of ours is for the people agenda, and building an infrastructure of america and i hope we can achieve that. he talked about it during his

campaign and really didn't come through with it in his first two years in office. that issue has not been a partisan issue in the congress of the united states. over the years we've been able to work together regionally, across the aisle, across the capital and down pennsylvania avenue. hope we can do that because we want to create jobs for in situ chinese tea. good paying jobs -- sea to shining sea. good paying jobs. my colleague was here, and high-speed broadband across america and especially into rural areas as well as urban areas and housing and the rest. that is an initiative that will create good paying jobs, but also generate other economic growth in their region. so we hope we can work in a

bipartisan way in that way. the other issue we could work on a work on his lowering the cost of prescription drugs and that is something the president has talked about. 12 years ago when we won the house, all five of those became law. when we couldn't get 60 votes was enabling the secretary to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. we hope to get that done now because that is a big impact on america's family budget. the third issue for us is integrity in government to reduce special-interest money and i commend all of our candidates for their two the health care agenda and also to the good government agenda. they have written letters saying that they want h.r. one, which

is a better deal for america's democracy to be something they voted on. i say to them, when you come here, you'll have an impact on what the legislation is. the house and tweeting, but nonetheless our new congress will be part of how the agenda goes forward and we look forward to that in the congress. also spoke to mitch mcconnell, leader mcconnell this morning and how we could work together especially on infrastructure. i did see congratulations from speaker ryan and i welcome not and we discuss how is doing and how it is not to win. in any event, the concern that he was suspect dean were his colleagues he would no longer be be -- i want to say something because winning this election,

because on the right side of the future, this is where we have to go. the challenges that we face, we have to jump over gerrymandered lines all over the country. so when we talk about our success, it's about the grassroots operation, all of these groups do care about health care, many of them out there to help elect people who share health care about -- the lifetime casting on insurance coverage and certainly restoring the benefit of preexisting conditions. they are spectacular from every walk of life in a couple different walks of life and

experience their knowledge and their values to the congress and look forward to that. the president should do this, that in the other thing. we think about gerrymandered the country is, but nonetheless how we were able to succeed in this election is a tribute again to the quality of our candidates, the determination of our grassroots across the country and the values that we share with the american people. in terms of working with the president, i would say i work very productively with president bush when we have the majority and we have the presidency. we passed one of the biggest tax

bills in terms of stimulants for low income people as well as no income people in each presidency. the list goes on. and there's so many issues we were together and vehemently opposed them. but the point is we work together. we have some ideas and we can send them something. but the fact is would like to work together so i legislation will be bipartisan. we went for the boldest common denominator. our position would be a consensus within our own party of what we can support, but also welcoming under ideas -- other ideas. we look forward to a new era in terms of what is happening. the past few years seem like a very, very long time in terms of the path it has taken us down. derivation, what they had in

mind for us. when i think of the american people and how beautifully diverse in the house of newcomers in our country has causally reinvigorated america. and then of course our own country god gives to us and how it has been neglected and degraded in these past couple of years. i think that there's plenty of opportunity for us to match legislation with the rhetoric that we are hearing. it might surprise you to know that the president i quoted the most on the campaign trail, ronald reagan. i'll read you just one paragraph. ronald reagan said this is the last speech that i will make as president of the united states and this is one final thought and observation about a country which i loved.

that's quite a headliner. thanks to reach no wave of new arrivals to this new land of opportunity. we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. this quality is vital to our future as a nation. it goes on to say if we ever close the door to the americans or leadership in the world to be lost. the beauty of our land, the value in our constitution worst and foremost. we think there is an opportunity to work together. a sign of good faith, presenting to withdraw their assault on preexisting conditions and if it, what does the republican

attorneys general they will define the law of the land and they will join in a lawsuit. as a sign of good faith and draws the lawsuit. we look forward to welcoming our new class of russian and. we will celebrate their diversity, the freshness of their thinking and they will immediately be incorporated into our building.

[inaudible] [inaudible] >> the president also said this is a good day for republicans. so put that in there as well. we have a constitutional responsibility to have oversight with the balance of power. that's one of the places i was forced in congress and as well as the intelligence community. both places are hallmarks for bipartisanship. that is changed now when it

rains down from on high. in appropriations in all of the other committees have a responsibility to put oversight and hopefully asking for information will come in. we are concerned about what is happening to degrading of the air we breathe despite what the president said today. i don't think we'll have any shot of scott freelancing in terms of the their responsibility to honor oversight responsibility. and that's the path we will go down. [inaudible] look, i'm a big believer in the committee system. into the caucus.

when we go down we know what they're doing. and we'll do it right. neil: we are continuing to monitor nancy pelosi the democratic leader then it looks like maneuvering very quickly in opposition to speaker of the house. they thought she deserved to become the next speaker of the house. some people thought that was a cynical type of a gesture. the president said it was not intended to be that way but she made it clear in some of those remarks there that it are not sincerely be a come by our relationship. the committee on oversight and also the check and balances on what he's doing, what the white house is doing and he will not drop out in favor of trying to get things done the president

indicating that as well. so on the surface here, they are putting out all the right wording. the devil is going to be ultimately most details they put themselves on record as saying they would not support nancy pelosi as their leader. because if they all do she can't be there later. there are some byzantine way you can escape that. the former house majority leader, has district we should point out, lost to dave brat. the area represented it was her

workable election in the outcome. what happened in suburban areas across the country. we saw it happen he's got suburban areas not just in the north now, but in this southeast that are responding on cultural issues to say, you know what, i don't think the republican party is reflecting what i want and what they said according to the exit polls is they wanted to see more discussion of the issues like health care, education. neil: are they surprised how that helped bring about being? >> iem. if you look at what happened to my state of virginia in the gubernatorial election, we as republicans got loan out there in the most important issue in the minds of virginia voters a year ago with health care. we have a little bit of a

harbinger in the areas of our state. it is a pattern you can see that replicated itself across the country last night. neil: i'm not saying texas evolves is a suddenly purple, but it's certainly not as red. ted cruz getting reelected there. by the thinnest of margins. republicans have to pay attention to begins in the senate which were oppressive notwithstanding. >> i credit the president for getting out there and knowing going how many districts in valley city do in six days, it's impressive and i don't think any president before done something like that. >> is a you're thinking the strategy he used, in other words focus on the senate because the house was looking like a lost cause was the right one. >> i do think if he had not done that we may have lost the senate. honestly, he probably spend even further losses in the house. you know, you have a situation

where we will probably end up in the low 30s for the number of seats the democrats have picked up. that is about average for midterm elections. neil: it's very close now regardless. it is not a huge majority bear. >> it's not a tiny one. i'm in office and we had a much single-digit -- neil: is that right? >> to have a double-digit margin whether it's 15, 18 is not huge but you can work with that. neil: would happen the next couple years. republicans say democrats all they're going to do is investigations, subpoenas, tax returns. he indicated a few minutes ago you do that for tat i'm going to be going after you. it could easily go south. >> it could. i think the challenge for nancy pelosi and her leadership team is going to not overreach and going to the extreme.

neil: chuck schumer and the senate has warned democratic candidates don't go too crazy here. i don't know where nancy pelosi stands on this. she's got a tough line. >> she really does. she's got a lot of rank-and-file. new members are coming in and feel like they've been elected on this mandate of a socialist democrat agenda. neil: and mandate includes not having her. >> how did she get around that? >> i think that will resolve itself. we see nancy pelosi quickly trying to go when in project but she's in charge now. neil: ishii? she's up sensibly the leader. >> right now she absolutely is. the more days ago by worth having if she puts in place a strategy in a strategy and plan to aid will be that much more difficult to stop her from becoming speaker. neil: how do all these candidates who ran on the notion i'm not going to make nancy

pelosi later, how do they get around that? >> so what happens when the majority elects their leadership, the first-round occurs within the caucus. so she will first stand for a nomination if you will in the caucus when they elect their majority leader, majority whip, they will also elect a speaker designate and that is what she'll be able to do because that's a majority vote. all the people that said on her side they would vote for her, they could be true to their word and vote against her in that caucus and then when opening day comes in congress and the new members are assembled on the floor of the house, and they will stand with her conference or other caucus to elect their leader. neil: let me ask you something the president said about republicans. he also attacked the republican house candidate who didn't want his help, saying they should've embraced him.

the luster election battles and i wasn't feeling the love. >> listen, the president obviously has a way of telling us dory of what he believes happens. i'm not familiar with the details of mia love's race. neil: the same in the new jersey senatorial candidate. president trump studies not very popular. >> i think you've got a look at his actions are not just the words after the elections. he didn't go into the suburban seats to help republicans either i think there was a notion among those in the white house when it looked as some of the polling in the suburban districts that those suburban districts were not necessarily going to react in a positive way to all the rhetoric surrounding immigration, law enforcement and the rest. again, i believe the suburban voter wants a suburban agenda for the republican party. in addition to talking about strong borders in a good economy they want to know that the health care is intact, education is there for their children.

they want to know about childcare and how they. they want to take coverage for preexisting conditions. i have not heard republicans state that. the insurance industry and elsewhere friday night, but had not heard that from some of your own republican colleagues. is that an issue republicans have to be . >> where i think our party needs to go, my party needs to say, obamacare doesn't have to accompany preexisting coverage. that is where we were unable, the parties and its candidates were able to project the argument. you don't have to have obamacare if you want preexisting condition coverage. you can go about preexisting condition coverage in another way. when i was leader we presented several different options. i do believe the party, last couple years when they tried to

replace and repeal the aca, they presented options. unfortunately the message didn't quite get through. neil: here we are. she also alluded what happens now on some of the bigger issues, like the caravan that is coming. quoted ronald reagan of all people saying we cannot keep people, prevent them from getting into the country. the accurate, clear reality is, that we haven't stopped that under republican and democratic presidents, under this president we're seeing better than 1.1, 1.25 million this year, legal immigrants become american citizens, breach cards, et cetera. that gets lost also. also the your party looks bigoted or at worst racist. how do you conflate republicans are anti-immigrant when record numbers are being legally allowed? >> these are cultural signals,

sent, received at some level by the suburban voters. the party challenge for 2020 is to make sure that the reporting and that the position is being portrayed in an accurate way. our party has always believed in strong borders. most of america does not believe in open borders. they want strong borders where the law starts at the border. neil: so you think the president is on the right track, the tack he is taking on this? >> the president is on the right track on the issue and we need to make sure we're not only in the lane of this kind of vial rhetoric sometimes you hear around the issue. that we stick to the fact we want strong, secure borders, period. we don't sit there and ridicule immigrants or do anything like that. neil: eric cantor, thank you very, very much, former house majority leader. kevin mccarthy among those indicating in the new makeup of congress he wants that job. we'll see how that goes.

corner of wall and broad. big up day if the markets are worried about the tit-for-tat and nastiness, raucous press conference, they had a funny way of showing it. up 350 points. or they knew eric cantor was coming on the show to talk about big macro issues. who knows. now to charles payne. charles: i think it was eric cantor part. neil: i have no doubt too. charles: good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne. this is "making money." democrats regained control of the house without promised blue wave and so-called rising stars most who have gone home empty-handed. trump team notching big gains in the senate. we're all over the last night's midterms. combative president trump press conference he pulled no punches when it comes to the fake news media. i'm joined by republican congressman, sean duffy comin