this election marks the largest senate games for a presidents 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 presidents party has gained even a single senate sea seat. as of now, we picked up it looks like three. it 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 numbers. 55 is the largest number of republican senators in the last 100 years. in the last 80 years, a sitting president's party has only gained a cumulative total of

eight senate seats. averaging one per decade. so we have picked up two, three, four, that is a big percentage of that number. so in the last 80 years, you think, only eight seats. in president obama's first midterm election, he lost six senate seats including in the deep blue state of massachusett massachusetts. republicans captured at least four senate seats held by democrat incumbents, and these are tremendously talented, hardworking people that did this. indiana, north dakota, florida, missouri. we also won two open senate seats in tennessee, and i want to congratulate our great champion who did such a great job in tennessee.

and in utah. and arizona is looking very good. really very good. she has done a terrific job, that was a big race and she has done a terrific job. in the open seats democrats recruited 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 and overcome a historic number of retirements. the most house republican tyrants 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 were not chairman, because the republicans have a role for six years. and what they do is wonderful in one way, and lets people come through the system and become

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

i like. i don't know she likes me anymore, but that's okay. she used two. but she worked very hard in georgia, very, very hard. and if you look at them, the four governor's races, crucial to 2020 in the presidential race. florida, iowa, ohio, and georgia, the big ones. florida, iowa, ohio, and georgia. it cannot get much more important than that. they were incredible. they were actually incredible campaigns too. incredible. as of right now, republicans will control the majority of governorships across the country. including three great women who worked very hard. the governors of alabama, south dakota, and iowa. they worked very, very hard. they are very talented. by expanding the senate majority, the voters have also

clearly rebuked the senate democrats for their handling of the kavanaugh hearings, i think that that was a factor. may be a big factor. tremendous energy was given to the republican party for way that they treated then judge cavanaugh, now justice kavanaug kavanaugh. and expressing their support for confirming great pro-constitution judges. candidates who embraced our message of low taxes, low regulations, no crime -- low crime, strong borders, and great judges excelled last night. they excelled. they really, i mean, we have a list of people that were fantastic. and i'm just going to point them out. mike bossed, rodney davis, andy

barr was fantastic. i went to kentucky, for the most part i did not campaign for the house, but i did make a special trip for andy barr, because he was in a very tough race. and he won. that was a very tough race, the polls were all showing that he was down, down substantially, and he won. could stop her and of a minnesota. great guy, he is new. and ran a fantastic race. you have some that said let's stay away, let's stay away. they did very poorly. i'm not sure that i should be happy or sad. but i feel just fine about it. carlos curbelo, mike kaufman. too bad, mike. mia love. i saw mia love, she would call 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 concept was another one. i think that she could've won that race, but she did not want to have an embrace. for that, i do not blame her. but she lost substantially lost. peter roskam did not want the embrace. erik paulsen did not want the embrace. and in new jersey, i think that he could have done well, but did not work out too good. bob you can come i feel badly, that is something that could've been one. john fatso, those are some of the people that decided for their own reason not to embrace whether it is me or what we stand for, but what we stand for

meant a lot to a lot of people. and we have had tremendous support and tremendous support in the republican party among the biggest support of the history of the party. i've actually heard and 93% it is the record. but it will not say that. because who knows. but we have had tremendous support. america is booming like never before. doing fantastic. we have larry kudlow here, he said that the numbers are as good as he has ever seen, numbers at any time for our country. but he has a young man, so he has not seen that many numbers. where is larry? you are a young man, right, larry, you have not been doing this too long. but they are as good as you have ever seen. and we may have, if you have a question for larry, we will 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 have a great relationship. people just do not understand. 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. and she has worked long and hard. i give her a great deal of credit for what she has done and accomplished. hopefully we can 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. and i really believe that we will be able to do that. we are going to have a lot of reason to do it. and i will say, just as a matter of business. i was very successful with the people last night.

so if the republicans won, let's say that we held on by two, one, or three, it would've been hard to have that many republicans to even get support among republicans. because there will always be one, two, three people there for good reason or bad raising or for grandstanding, we have that too. you have seen that. plenty of grandstanding. but for certain reasons that many people, you are always going to have a couple that will not do it. so that puts us in a very bad position. in other words, had we kept, and this is new. i am saying this for a very basic reason. it puts us in a very tough position. we win by two, three, and he will have one, two, three, four, or five say that we will not go along with this. we want this, this, this period and all and all of a sudden, we would not be able to get in and in many cases in the 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 what ever they are looking at. and we will negotiate. and as you know, it has been very hard in the senate, because we essentially do not get the votes from democrats. because they do stick together well. i do not agree with them on a lot of policy. but i agree that they stick together. they stick together good. so we going to the senate, we do not have the ten votes. and what happens? it does not get past. even if it gets out of the house, it does not pass. so under the new concept of what we are doing, i say come on. let me see what you have. they want to do things. i keep hearing about investigations. fatigue, like from the time almost from the time that i announced i was going to run.

they have been giving us this investigation fatigue. it has been a long time. they have 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 are going to do is end up in back and forth and back and forth. and two years will go up, and we will not have done a thing. i really think and i really respect what nancy said last night about bipartisanship and getting together and uniting. she used the word uniting, and she used the bipartisanship statement, which is so important. that is what we should be doing. so we can look at us, they can

look at us. we can look at them. and it will go back and forth. and it will probably be very good for me politically. i can see it being extremely good politically. i think that i am better at that game then they are, actually. but we will find out. we will find out. or we can work together. you cannot do it simultaneously, by the way. oh, you can do them both? no, you can't. because if they are doing that, we are not doing the other. just so you understand. we will not be doing that. but now it happens as we send it to the senate, and we will get 100% democrat support. and we will get some republican support. and if it is good, i really believe that if we have republicans that will help with the approval process. and they will really help with the approval process. so it really could be a beautiful bipartisan type of situation. if we won by one, two, three, four, five. that would not happen. and the closer it is, the worse that it is. this way they will come to me,

we will negotiate. maybe we will make a deal, maybe we won't. that is possible. but we have a lot of things in common on infrastructure. we want to do something on health care, they want to do something on health care. there are a lot of great things that we can do together. it will send it up and we will really get the democrats and the republicans, or some of the republicans. and i will make sure that we send something up that the republicans can support. and they are going to make sure that they want to send something up that the democrats can support. so our great country is blooming like never before and we are thriving on every single level. in terms of economic and political strength. in terms of development, in terms of the gdp, we are doing unbelievable. i can tell you that the trade deals are coming along fantastically. the usmca, and south korea is finished. usmca, it has gotten rave reviews. not going to lose companies

anymore to other countries. they are not going to do that because they have a tremendous economic incentive. it is prohibitive for them to do that. so they are not going to have it happen like nafta, which is one of the worst deals i have ever seen. but we have to mention pretty bad ones too. now it is time for members of both parties to join together, put partisanship a side, and keep the american economic miracle going strong. it is a miracle. we are doing so well, and i have set it at a lot of rallies. some of you have heard it so much, you do not want to hear it again. but when people come to my office, presidents, prime ministers, they all congratulate me. almost the first thing on what we have done economically. because it is really amazing. and our steel industry is back. our aluminum industry is starting to do really well. these are industries that were dead. the miners are working again. we must all work together to

protect our military. we have to do that. we have to support our law enforcement, secure our borders, and advance really great to policy, including environmental policy. we went crystal clean water. we want to beautiful perfect ai air. air and water has to be perfect. at the same time, we do not want to put ourselves at a disadvantage to other countries who are very competitive with us. and who do not abide by the rules at all. we do not want to hurt our jobs. we do not want to hurt our factories. we do not one company is leaving. we want to be totally competitive. and we are. and right now we have just about the cleanest air. the cleanest water that we have ever had. and it is always going to be that way. we insist on it. so environmental is very important to me. and with that, i will take a few questions if you like. whoa. i did not know what happened! go ahead. that was a lot of hands shooting

up so quickly. there is a lot to talk about. >> mr. president, you talked in length about bipartisanship, the presumed speaker of the house nancy pelosi talked about it last night. i'm sure that that is encouraging for the american people. but do you really believe given what the relationship has been like between this white house and the democratic party that that will happen? >> president trump: i think that there is a good chance. i think that there is a very good chance. >> if i can just finish, will you have to compromise on certain issues where it could hurt you in 2020? and do you expect that when the democrats take over the chairmanship of all of these important committees that you will get hit with a blizzard of subpoenas on everything from the russia investigation to your cell phone use, to your taxes? >> president trump: then if that happens, we are going to do the same thing. and governments comes to a halt. and i would blame them. because they now are going to be coming up with policy. they are the majority of the

house. i expect that they will come up with some fantastic ideas that i can support on the environment. on so many different things. including prescription drug prices, which we have made a big dent in already. including some of the things that we are working on for the vets who have gotten choice approve. we have gotten a lot of things approved. but they have some other elements that we want to. if there are many things we can get along on. it can be without the trouble that we agree with them and they agree with us. i would like to see bipartisanship. i would like to see unity. and i think that we have a very good chance, maybe not on everything. but we have a very good chance of seeing that. go ahead. >> one question on your cabinet. you toyed during a shutdown before the midterms in order to secure border wall funding. are you prepared to go at a shutdown strategy during the lame duck, since this might be

the last best chance to secure that? >> president trump: not necessarily, i speak to democrats all the time. a wall as necessary. we have started, but we should build it at one time and not adjuncts. >> but you want much more money. >> president trump: we have the money to build a wall. not pieces. we have the military. and now we have other elements of a wall that are pretty nasty, to be honest with you. but it is nevertheless pretty hard to get through. but i would like to see the wall. many of the people that will be dealing with you all and 2006, they agreed with the same thing. and they all approved it. if statements from every one of them. seeing that we need the wall. they sound like me. but we do need it. because we have people coming. i'm not just talking about the caravans. we have people coming through the border that you physically cannot put that many people, it is a 2,000-mile stretch. you cannot put that many people along that stretch to guard it.

and even if you did, tremendous fighting would ensue. so, we need the wall. many democrats know we need the wall. and we are going to have to see what happens. i will be fighting for it. they have done everything in their power to make sure, i got the military $700,000,000,000.716 billion. the wall is a tiny fraction of the cost of that. but their whole agenda has been to try not to giving me anything for though wall. i really believe politically that they are hurting themselves. i actually think politically that is a good thing for me, but i want to get the wall up. >> so no shutdown scenario? >> president trump: i cannot commit to that, but it is possible. >> can you give us clarity on your thinking after the midterms about your attorney general and her deputy attorney general, do they have long timers job security? >> president trump: i will answer that had a little bit of a different time, we are looking at a lot of things including cabinet. i'm very happy with most of my

cabinet. we are looking at different people for different positions. you know, it is very common after the midterms. i do not want to do anything before the midterms. but it will tell you that for the most part i am extremely happy with my cabinet. i think that mike pompeo has fit in so beautifully. he has done an incredible job. >> what about your interior secretary? >> president trump: we are looking at that. and i want to study whatever is being said. >> is he in jeopardy? >> president trump: he is doing a fantastic job. but we will look at that, and probably have an idea about that in a week. >> thank, mr. president. >> president trump: wow. go ahead. he gave me a fair interview the other day. so i might as well let him ask a question. >> thank you, mr. president. you told me the other day that you are an open book. >> president trump: i think i am an open book. >> so pointblank, democrats go after your tax returns, will you try to block that? or will you allow it? >> president trump: look, as i

have told you, they are underwater. they have been placed on time. they are extremely complex. people would not understand the them. it is taken by the biggest and best law firms in the country. same with the accounting firms. they are very, very, large powerful firms in terms of respect and value respected. a big firm. a great law firm, where you know it very well. they do these things. but people do not understand tax returns. i did a filing of over 100 pages, which is in the offices pity them with people went and saw that filing, they saw the magnitude of it and they were very disappointed. they saw the detail. you get far more from that, and i guess we file that down three times, but you get far more from that then you can ever get from a tax return, but when you are under audit. and i am under current and continuous audit. because there are so many companies. it is a 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 is probably feet high. it is a very complex instrument. and i think that people would not understand it. but if i were finished with the audit, i would have an open mind to it. i would say that. but i do not want to do it during the audit. and no lawyer even from the other side, they say often. not always. but when you are under audit, you do not subject it to that. you get it done, and then he released it. so when that happens, if that happens, i would certainly have an open mind to it. >> that means of the audit is still oncoming will not turn over the tax returns? >> president trump: nobody would. nobody returns a return when it is under audit. go ahead, please. >> i was tempted to ask you why you like oprah so much, but i think that i will go on to the question -- >> president trump: why do i like oprah? what kind of question is that?

there is a committee in here. i do like oprah, by the way. i do. she was a person that i knew well. came to my place in palm beach often. and i have a lot of respect for her. unfortunately, she did not do the trick. >> the real question is you just set up here and said from this podium -- are you offering a my way or highway scenario to the democrats? >> president trump: negotiation. not at all. >> if they start investigating you that you can play that game and investigate them? >> president trump: better than them. >> can you compartmentalize that and say that you can work with them for the benefit of the rest of the country? or are all bets are off? >> president trump: no, if they do that, all of this is the posture. you heard what i said. >> since it is jim, i will let it go. >> thank you, mr. president. i would like to challenge you on one of the statements that you

made at the tail end of the campaign in the midterms. >> president trump: here we go. >> if you do not mind, mr. president. that the caravan was an invasion. >> president trump: i consider it to be an invasion. >> it is not an invasion. it is a group of migrants moving up from central america towards the border with the u.s. >> president trump: thank you for telling me that. >> why did you characterize that as such? >> president trump: because i consider it an invasion. when i have a difference of opinion. >> do you think you demonized immigrants? >> president trump: no, i want them to come into the country. but they have to come in legally. through a process. i want it to be a process. and i want people to come in. and we need the people. wait, wait. you know why we need the people? because we have hundreds of companies move in. we need to people. >> your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls -- >> president trump: that's true. they were not actors. it is true. do you think that they were actors? they did not come from

hollywood. these were people, this was an actual -- it happened a few days ago. >> they are hundreds of miles away. that is not an invasion. >> president trump: honestly i think that you should let me run the country. you run cnn. and if you did it well, your ratings will be much higher. >> if i may ask one other question -- >> president trump: that is enough. >> the other folks asked, pardon me, ma'am -- >> president trump: that is enough. >> if i can ask on the russian investigation. are you concerned that you may have -- >> president trump: i am not concerned about anything with the russian investigation, because it is a hoax. that is enough, put down the mi mic. >> mr. president. >> president trump: i tell you what, cnn should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them. you are rude, terrible person. you should not be working for cnn. go ahead.

you are a very rude person, the way that you treat sarah huckabee sanders is horrible. on the way that you treat other people is horrible. you should not treat people that way. >> and jim's defense, he is a diligent reporter. >> president trump: i'm not a big fan of yours either. to be honest. >> i understand. >> president trump: you are not the best. >> over the course of -- >> president trump: just sit down, please. when you report fake news -- no. when you report fake news which cnn does a lot, you're the enemy other of the people. >> mr. president, over the course of the last several days, at the end of the campaign you repeatedly said that americans need to fear democrats. you said the democrats would unleash a wave of violent crime that endangers families everywhere -- >> president trump: they do have crime. peter, what are you trying to do? let me just tell you, first off, because they are very weak on crime. because they have often

suggested members and people within the democratic party at a high level have suggested getting rid of i.c.e. getting rid of law enforcement. that is not going to happen, okay? we want to be strong on the borders. want to be strong on law enforcement. and i want to cherish i.c.e. because i.c.e. does a fantastic job. what they do for us is so really it is someone recognized how good a job they do. so, we went to take care of them, and we want to hold them very close. because they do a good job. >> for the question, to be clear -- >> president trump: thank you very much. to sit down. >> you did not answer my question. very simply, why are you pitting americans against one another? >> president trump: i am not. i will tell you what, we won a lot of elections last night. we do very well last night. and i think that it is going to have a very positive impact. i watched nbc. they did not reported 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 to security in our country. i went security, peter. i mean, you may be do not think it is so important. and i think when you do not have it, you are indeed going for a crime. >> you said that you would sign a an executive order on birthright citizenship, are still going to do that? >> president trump: you will answer that question a little bit later. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. the investigation by the special counsel robert mueller has been going on since last spring, it has been over a year -- >> president trump: a long time. >> over a year over the republicans had, is this an opportunity for you mr. president, to and they investigation? would you consider removing mr. mueller from his investigation? >> president trump: i could have ended it when ever i wanted. there was no collusion. there was no anything. i did not. they went after hackers and i do not know about that. they went after people with tax

problems from years ago. they went after people with loans and other things. it had nothing to do with my campaign. this is an investigation where many, many millions of dollars has been spent. and there is no collusion. we are supposed to be on collusion. there is no collusion. and i think that it is very bad for our country. i will tell you. i think that it is a shame. and april came out today, by the way, from nbc at least i saw itf the people do not agree with the mueller investigation or was not approved. they have approval and disapproval, and it had a much higher disapproval rate. it should end. because it is very bad for our country. and 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 are not looking at all of the things that came up during

this investigation. they do not do that. they should also get people that can be fair, not 13 or 14 or 17 i call them the "angry democrats." they are angry people. it is a very unfair thing for the country. you think it is unfair to mean? it is very bad for a country. >> mr. president, if it is unfair to the country and it is costing millions of dollars -- >> president trump: i have answered the question. go ahead, take the mic. i will give you voter suppression. you just have to -- sit down please. sit down paired i did not call you. i did not call you. i will give you voter suppression. look at the cnn polls how inaccurate they were. that is called voter suppression. >> thank you, mr. president . >> president trump: i'm not responding. excuse me, i am not responding to you. i'm talking to this gentleman,

will you please sit down? excuse me. would you please sit down. please go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. now that the house of -- >> president trump: it is such a hostile meeting. it is so sad. you asked me -- no, you really untouched -- interrupted him. he rudely interrupted him. >> thank you, mr. president. dear men don't make demands for his mean the same to the u.s. congress on immigration and exchange for a doc fix, and amnesty approval of 1.7 millionu willing to change the demands that you made to congress earlier? >> president trump: i think that we can do something with daca and we had some good work, but a judge ruled that daca was okay. had it they not rule that way, we would've made a deal. but then the democrats did not want to talk anymore. so we will see how it works out at the supreme court. go ahead.

>> can you take a question from the incumbent, please? >> president trump: from where? yes, go ahead. go ahead. which group? what do you want me to take -- go ahead, ma'am. either one. or both. are you together? go ahead. >> we are not together. mr. president, how do you respond to critics that you message on the campaign towards minorities have been polarizing? >> president trump: i do not think that there has been at all. >> one of them is veiled to the house making history, is this a rebuke of this? >> president trump: i do not understand. >> is it a rebuke of the message, is this multiethnic and multicultural america? >> president trump: i cannot answer that question. i can only say this, you look at the employment and unemployment numbers of african-americans, asian-americans, or hispanic americans, they are at a historic high. the poll came out recently where

my numbers with hispanics and with african-americans are the highest, the best that they have ever been, that took place two or three days ago. i have the best numbers with african america -- hispanic-american than i have ever had before and use of the sample, i cannot say that, i can say this, you look at median income, you look at all of the unemployment and employment numbers, they are doing the best that they have ever done. and it reflects, it really is very reflective in the polls. >> mr. president. i'm from brooklyn, so you will understand me. my question is on health care. how is it possible to keep premiums down? and cover pre-existing conditions without the individual mandate to fund it? >> president trump: what we are doing and if you look at the department of labor, also secretary separately but they have done, they have come up with some incredible health care plans which is posing great competition and driving the

price is right down. we are getting rid of individual mandate. it was unfair to a lot of people. but we are covering the people that need it. the individual mandate was a disaster, because people that could not necessarily afford it or 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. 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 did not have one vote. we would have repealed it, replaced it and we would've had a good health care plan. now we are doing at a different way. we are doing at a different way. by getting rid of the individual mandate is a very, very popular thing. and a very important thing. and people very much appreciate appreciated. go ahead. no, that is enough. go ahead, please. >> thank you, sir, one, i know

that you went through the results and you sign them late last night, what lesson did you learn most from looking at the results? is there one thing is you reviewed that you will change, your strategy not just for congress? but going ahead? and a follow-up. >> president trump: i think that people like me. i think that they like the job i am doing, frankly. because if you look at every place that i did a rally, he could not do it with everybody. but it was very hard to do it with people in congress. because there are just too many, there would be too many stops. but i did it with the senate. i did it with andy barr, as you know. and he one man. he won a very tough race against mcgrath. i was at a very tough race in kentucky. and he was down quite a bit. i went there and we had a tremendous, successful, some of you were at that rally, and he won that race. but i could only do that so much, because there are just so many players involved. but i did focus on the senate,

and we had tremendous success with the senate. >> can i ask you one more question, if you do not mind, i'm so sorry sir, it is a rare opportunity. a lot of people will be rushing to iowa and new hampshire, you know that the democrats are already looking ahead to 2020, do you want to lock down your tickets right now? with the vice president beer running mate in 2020? >> president trump: i have not asked him, but i hope so. mike, will you be my running mate? will you? thank you. if the answer is yes. that was unexpected, but i feel very fine. yes, please. >> thank you, mr. president, going back to the potential investigations from the democratic majority in congress, some say that you could stop all of this -- >> president trump: i could fire everybody right now. but i do not want to stop it, because politically i do not

like to stop it. it is a disgrace. it should have never been started, because there was no crime. 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 ask for jobs, from the fact that they are very good friends on the other side, like really good friends like comey, who by the way, lied and to leaked and leaked classified information. nothing happened today are. mind, or perhaps, maybe something is happening that i do not know about. but you know what i do? i let it go on. they are wasting a lot of money. but i let it go on, because i do not want to do that. but you are right, i could end it right now. i could say that investigation is over. but it is really, it is a disgrace, frankly. and it is an embarrassment to our country. is this an embarrassment to the people of our country.

and it is too bad. >> what about the complication of the documents. >> president trump: we are looking at that very seriously. the declassification, we are looking at that very seriously. it is amazing how people on the other side just do not want those documents declassified. we are looking at that very carefully. i certainly wanted to wait until after the midterms. >> can i ask you one more question, mr. president ? >> president trump: go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. you campaigned as a pro-life president. you have defended the rights of unborn children. you know have a divided congress, it is unlikely to pass the pro-life bill. >> president trump: a very tough issue. >> how will you push forward your pro-life agenda? >> president trump: i will just push. i've done a good job too. we are very happy. but it is a tough decision for the two sides paid what will i do? i will not be able to explain that to you. because it is an issue that is a very divisive, polarizing issue. but there is a solution, i think

that i have that solution. and nobody else does. we are going to be working on that. yes, go ahead, please. she took your place, but that is okay. >> mr. president, just a question on rural america, in indiana north dakota, folks turn out for a republican candidate. could you talk about what this means for your agenda in terms of trade and the farm bill? >> president trump: the farm bill is working really well. we could've had it approved at any time had but we are looking to get work rules are approved. the farmers wanted, i like it. the democrats are not giving us the ten boats that we need. everybody wants it, the farmers want it, but the democrats are not approving the farm bill with work laws. we could have a very fast without the work rules. but we want the work rules in. and the democrats just do not want to vote for that. so at some point, they will have to pay maybe a price after. >> mr. president .

thank you, very much, mr. president. have you seen any evidence that russia or china intervened in yesterday's election? >> president trump: we will make a full report. unlike the previous administration we have done a lot of work on that issue. and if you speak with the fbi, and the department of justice coming to speak to homeland security, we have spent a lot of time. it gets very little coverage in the papers. to cover the nonsense, but you do not cover the important part. this is very important. and be up been working very hard on china, and russia and everybody else looking into our elections or meddling with our elections. but people tend not to write about it. but we have worked very hard. >> what do you intend to say to president xi into president putin when you meet with them later this month? >> president trump: i have a good relationship with both. i know that president xi -- i know him better. but i have a good relationship with both. i had a good meeting in russia that you people do not agree

with. it does not matter, obviously. but the fact that i had a very, very good meeting. a very, very good meeting with president putin. and a lot was discussed about security, 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 of that particular parcel. >> that was president putin who annexed crimea. >> president trump: that was during president obama. right? there was not during me. >> that was the president's annexation. >> president trump: it was president obama that allowed it to happen. at a nothing to do with me. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, from sky news. you are a man who likes to win, but last night who is not an absolute victory. >> president trump: i will be honest, i thought that 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 dealmaking, because it is all about dealmaking, again, if we had the majority, and we had one, two, three votes to play with, 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 from both parties. so i consider it to be -- and look, i won georgia. president obama campaigned very hard in georgia. oprah winfrey campaigned very, very hard all over the television. i said that this is going to be tough. i only had me. i did not have anybody else. and i went to georgia, and we had one of the largest crowds that anybody here has seen ever at a political rally.

and you know it's coming he won. and he won actually by a pretty good margin. and 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, and people did not give them a chance. and i went, and we did some great work. and they are going to have a great governor at the state of florida. and then we talked about the senate. and a lot of money was pouring in for the democrats, this is a man who has been in office for like 44 years, or something. this is a man who is a professional getting elected and being in office. so bill nelson, not easy to beat, okay. they had a lot of celebration coming through, and everybody coming after nelson. and rick scott won. and i helped him. and i think that we have done an amazing job. you can look at other places. you look at some of the other

places, and we just got the word that in iowa you have a governor who just got extended. and numerous other places. i think that it was a great victory. i will be honest. i think it was a great victory. and some of the news this morning was that it was in fact a great victory. but if you look at it from the standpoint of gridlock, i really believe that there is going to be much less gridlock, because of the way that this is going than any other. >> mr. president, a quick follow-up. >> president trump: sit down, please. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, let me ask you about one of the campaign promises you made down the stretch, the 10% tax cut for the middle class. you talked about gridlock, democrats run the house in the committee. if it means a tax cut of some type for the middle class, but that means raising rates elsewhere, corporations, on the wealthiest, is that a trade-off that you would be willing to make? >> president trump: you know that this will have to be now proposed, because if we did and now, we do not have the votes in

the senate. we would need ten democratic votes and we probably could not get them. if we could, we could pass it easily in the house. but there is no reason to waste time, because you do not have the votes in the senate. as an example, if the democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts, which i am a big believer in tax cuts. i would absolutely pursue something even if it means some adjustment. >> some adjustment on which side? the corporate, the individual? >> president trump: to make it cut nomadic possible. i would love to see some cuts on the middle class. but that is their decision, if we bring it up to the senate, we need democrat votes, ten, and we do not have the ten votes. >> just because the markets wouldn't want to know, some adjustment, with every one, two, 3%? >> president trump: i would be willing to do a little bit of an adjustment. go ahead. >> mr. president, thank you very much pay to two questions, one you talked about leaders who had called to congratulate to you, dear president putin called to

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

congratulate you? and can i invite you, since this is quite a gathering, to go ahead and talk about the staff changes that you expect in the white house while we are here? we are eager to hear about them. >> president trump: as we make changes, we will sit down and talk to you about it. i mean, it is no great secret. a lot of administrations make changes after midterms. i will say that for the most part, i am very, very happy with his cabinet. >> but what about in the white house, sir? you have a lot of white house staff that have been talking about leaving. general kelly has been rumored to be leaving -- >> president trump: people leave. >> will that happen? >> president trump: i have not heard about john kelly. the people leave. they come in. they are here. it is a very exhausting job. although, i love doing it. i must tell you. but it is exhausting for a lot of people. i am surprised at a lot of people. they start off as young people, they are there for two years and then they are old by the time they leave. it is quite exhausting. but i love doing it.

and i will tell you, there will be changes. nothing monumental from that standpoint. i do not think very much different than most administrations. and 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 that people want to work with. okay. no, no. please come up behind you go ahead. >> this has been a very challenging campaign. >> president trump: a very challenging campaign. >> it has involved quite a lot of abuse, people have died during the course of this campaign. is there anyway that the the temperature could be load? peace could break out with the media? perhaps your bipartisan relationships across the house and senate could now produce some change? or will it be more of the same? >> president trump: it is a

very fair question. look, i would love to see unity, peace, love, and any other word you want to use. and obviously i think that we we had to especially at this particular junction, we had to wait until the midterms were over. now they are over. if they would cover me fairly, which they don't. i'm not saying that in a hostile way. i get extremely inaccurate coverage. i could do something that is fantastic, and they will make it look like not good. and i don't mean -- if i make a mistake, cover it. i would like you to cover it fairly, but cover it. but if you do something terrific, look how little the economy has talked about, a bull talked about how little the three networks, i do not think that they included cnn, but how little the three networks talk about how good the economy is, how little, almost not at all, and 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. he would have had negative. it was heading down. but the point is this, excuse me. i would love to see unity. including with the media. because i think that the media. i will be honest, it is a very divisive thing for our country. and you will be amazed at how smart people are that are reading the stories and seeing the stories and watching. he would be amazed how perceptive and smart they are. they get it. and it really does bring disunity. excuse me. you are not, you are not called on. go ahead. go ahead, please. >> thank you, president trump, shortly after your victory speech on the night back in november 2016, i asked you to one single factor you attributed

the victory too. >> president trump: you have to speak up. >> on the night of your victory i asked you after your speech to what you would attribute the victory. he went into the ceiling and said that it was god. based off of that, how would you say over the last two years god plays what kind of a factor that he plays as a day-to-day execution? >> president trump: god plays a big factor in my life and a factor in the lives of many people that i know very well in this room. like a vice president. god plays a very big role in my life. >> and one more -- a quick follow-up, which lost last night surprised you the most? and which of these unsuccessful candidates -- >> president trump: nothing surprises me. there were some losses last night. and there were some victories last night that have been incredible. there were victories last night that nobody would believe. especially based on the suppression poles. there were a lot of suppression poles. there were some victories last

night there were very surprising, but i will not pick out special cases. there are enough of those people to have a loss. >> would you consider any of the administration polls of the 3.7 unemployed? >> president trump: what? >> would you consider any of the people who lost for a post in the future? >> president trump: i know a couple good ones. yes, i would. >> mr. president, i asked you on monday if there was anything that you regret in your first two years, and you said that at times you could have and should have used a "softer tone." your critics, your skeptics, they say that they are holding their breath on that happening. will you have to change your tone if you get things passed through congress after losing the house? and he also said that you might extend an olive branch. >> president trump: i would be very good at a low tone. but when things are done not correctly about you, written about you, said about you on television, or on wherever it

is, you have to defend yourself. and i have something that is much easier than what i have to do. i have to go around. and going around is much easier than facing and being treated fairly. but 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 are being misrepresented by the media, you really cannot do that. >> not about the media, but what about with congress? >> president trump: please, go ahead. >> mr. president, how do you focus on the -- >> president trump: say hello. i'm sure that he is happy about tariffs. >> how are you focused on that in japan? would you ask them to do more?

>> president trump: i really do not understand you. trade with japan? we are dealing with japan right now in trade. and japan has -- is a great country. you have a great prime minister who had a successful election, and one of the people that i am closest with, but i tell him all the time that japan does not treat the united states fairly on trade. they said it at a very low tax, they do not take ours, and they have a massive tax on cars. and i am not blaming japan. i am blaming the people that were in charge of the united states for allowing that to happen. but as you know, we have close to $100 billion trade deficit with japan, and japan has treated us unfairly, but do not feel lonely. you are not the only one. >> thank you, mr. president. two questions. the first one, secretary pompeo

was tough about north korea. what is happening there? and will your meetings happen -- >> president trump: we are going to change it because of trips that are being made. we will make it another day. but we are very happy how it is going with north korea. we think that it is fine. we are in no rush. >> do you still expect to beat kim jong un? >> president trump: the sanctions are on, the missiles have stopped. the rockets have stopped. the hostages are home. the great heroes have been coming home. mike pence was in hawaii where one of the most beautiful ceremony is that anybody has ever seen for the fallen. these are great heroes. very important when i was running. a lot of people, many years ago as it was, in many cases, grandchildren that they were asking about, coming home, and they are being provided to us as we speak. but i am a "no" rush. i am in no rush.

the sanctions are on. i read a couple of times, and i have seen where they said, he has done so much. i meant that. i would love to take the sanctions off. but they have to be responsive too. we are not in any rush at all. before i got there, they were dealing with it for over 70 years. and i guess on a nuclear front for 25 years. that is a long time. i have been there. i probably left singapore for core five months ago. and we made more progress in that four or five months than they have made in 70 years. and nobody else could have done what i have done. but i will say this, i will say this very simply. we are in no rush, the sanctions are on. and in whatever it is. the meeting will be rescheduled. >> that meeting? i thought that your meeting with kim jong un, sir? will it happen in the next mont

month? >> president trump: sometime early next year. >> a quick question on the u.s. and ca, now that it has been included, have you repaired your relationship with prime minister trudeau? >> president trump: yes, i have. we have a very good relationship. >> thank you very much, mr. president. we have been talking about the division that exists in the country right now, some of the just -- statistics are disturbing about everyone, anti-semitic increasing by 57% since 2017, hate crimes are on the rise. what you think that is? and what will you do about it? >> president trump: i hate to see it coming you know that i have done more. if you were with us the last time we meant, prime minister e prime minister netanyahu you said that this president has done more than any other president. those exact words. jerusalem, protection, working together. so many different things. but the big thing is, many

presidents have said that they are going to build the embassy. in jerusalem, never happened. making it the capital of israel. never happen. but it happened with me, and quickly. and not did it happen, the embassy that would have taken another 15 or 20 years and probably cost billions of dollars. and we did it for a tiny amount of money. it is already done. so no one has done more for israel than donald trump. and the nice part is, this is not just me saying it. this is prime minister netanyah netanyahu. >> but netanyahu. >> reporter: mr. president, what about healing that divides in this country? >> president trump: we are really successful now, we got $11.7 trillion, if you know, china has come down

tremendously, tremendously. china would have superseded us in two years as an economic power, now they are not even close. china, i found it very insulting. i said it to them, china, 25 is very insulting. 25, they are going to take over economically, the world. i said that's not happening. we've gone way up and they've gone down -- i don't want them to go down, we've had a good meeting and we will see what they can do. millions of dollars will soon be pouring into our treasury from taxes china is paying and if you speak speak to mr. pillsbury who is probably the leading authority on china, you know who else hasn't? china hasn't? we are going to try to make a deal with china, i