very hard and are today to make sure israel has what it needs to defend itself. >> can you tell us was the president briefed on this last night as the reports started coming out and how he has been about this throughout the day question marks because the president was briefed on reports coming out of the middle east. he routinely -- i will not get into the specific timing of the parameters of it but he has been kept fully informed. as you would expect he would be from the national security team meeting on a continuous basis as well. >> the foreign minister said the assassinations undermined the strenuous efforts made by egypt and its partners to stop the war in the gaza strip. you have just said an earlier answer that it doesn't mean the united states would stop working toward a cease-fire deal, but can you talk about the concerns about the negotiators continuing that work and what it means about that going forward? >> i can tell you as we are standing here today there are still at that work. we have a team in the region. we will keep the shoulder to the wheel, it is that important. we believe the gaps are narrow

enough to be closed. we still believe the details to be hashed out. it is too soon to know based on the reporting of the last 24/48 hours what impact this will have if any on the cease-fire deal. it was always collocated, it remains obligated and reports coming out of the region as we have seen over the last 24/48 as complicated. >> i would just say we have and maintain communications with our counterparts in egypt and cover with israel those communications are ongoing. >> to be clear about that, has the u.s. reached out or had to contact either or indirectly with iran since the occurrence in iran? >> i have no diplomatic conversations this week. >> to be clear they have not been with them or with any of the intermediaries or you cannot tell us if there have? >> i have no conversations this

week. >> fundamentally is an iranian response here inevitable? >> look, you've seen the comments by the supreme leader. he said publicly. it is out there for everyone to see. i will certainly not speculate about whether and to what degree iran does anything. what i can tell you is we have and will maintain a level of readiness to preserve our national security interest in the region. it is not as if we take a blind eye to what they are doing they have shown their capability of what they are doing in the region. it's not like we have demonstrated an unwillingness to defend israel from threats in the region including from iran. if that happens. we maintain that readiness and capability to do so now. i would also say lastly, peter, what i said earlier. we do not want to see an escalation in everything we have been doing since the 7th of october to manage that risk.

those risks go up and down every day. there are certainly up right now. they don't make the task of de-escalation, deterrence, and assuaging which is the goal, any less complex. >> to be clear does the u.s. think this action was esca escalatory, provocative, justified? >> as i said earlier i'm not in the position to verify the accounts. >> thank you. i have two questions on russia and ukraine. so the size of egypt we see with china, russia, saying the killing would jeopardize the cease-fire talks. what is the response to those countries? and the united states were in china expecting its influence in the middle east and may not be using its influence that u.s. and allies believed to be positive? speak on the first thing i believe i've already kind of dude addressed this i'm not in a position to verify the reporting, certainly the statement by hamas i just want to do that.

in china was that many times by china and any other nation whether in the region or not that want to get involved in de-escalating the tensions and bring this war to a close and make sure that israel is guaranteed going forward paired any other nation's contributions that can be done in an incredibly transparent and sustainable way it would be great but we haven't seen that. >> does the united states know the whereabouts of paul whalen and can you confirm the report the first delivery? >> look, on your first one, all i will say is that we have been consistently since the beginning of this administration working hard to bring home americans wrongfully detained overseas and of the attention of the president has paid personally to the cases of paul we went and evan gershkovich from "the wall street journal" is very, very high as is the whole team.

we continue to work at that very, very diligently. on the second question, you have to talk to the ukrainians. i certainly will not talk about weapons capabilities. i will only add to her mind as we have said and said at the nato summit that the process of providing f-16s to the ukraine continues to move forward paired we said there would be operational by the end of the summer and we have no reason to doubt that. >> thank you so much. hi. on venezuela, two questions. one about the call with the president yesterday. did president biden ask anything specific from the brazilian president? any kind of help to moderate the situation in venezuela? >> the president was grateful for the time. they obviously talked about the electoral results invented dell mike venezuela and our concerns from where that is leading to. i will not go beyond the read out in specific tasks. the president was grateful for the time. >> and another because as you were saying another country as

you were asking for the full release but three days later as you were saying that it's running out is no indication giving into international pressure and remains the data on the opposite is you are saying the violence and how they are persecuted and people protesting against the results. does the u.s. still believe can be convinced to release a state and how long will the u.s. wait? >> they need to release it. we've been calling for it as we said our patience is running out those electoral authorities, which obviously work for mr. manure, the need to release the data so that the world can see exactly what happened here. we will continue to call for that. and i will not get ahead of policy decisions that have not been made yet. >> and gonzales will not be election? >> we want to see the full tabulated data from polling

places. want to see something verifiable and can convince not only the united states but the international community about what the results actually were. >> hi, john. two journalists were killed today in gaza. in an israeli -- is obvious they were journalists everything was clear they were journalists. are you condemning this and do you have any other reaction on the killing of journalists since october 7th? >> i don't have any specifics about this particular strike to speak to. it is difficult for me to get into any detail discussion of it. we obviously continue to not only recognize and honor of the services that journalists do around the world in places like gaza which is very dangerous, it is a combat zone. we know that takes a special kind of bravery for a journalist to go on the ground in a place like that and we want to make

sure as creme has mentioned herself in the last day or so that press freedoms are observed and recognized and respected and reporters are allowed to do their job. that includes covering the war in gaza but i don't have any detail on this particular strike to be able to make to characterize it one way or another. obviously our hearts go out to the families and all of those touched and affected by this terrible loss. >> we talked about what you said before about the temperature going down, but secretary austin also spoke about this and said the sense was that the temperature was going down in the middle east. so can you say to what extent? >> this doesn't help. >> stomach these reports over the next 24/48 hours do not help with the temperature. i will not be pollyannaish about it. we are obviously concerned about this issue and again without confirming over the last 24 in

tehran we are certain they have already spoken to operations they have conducted elsewhere. all of this adds to the collocated nature of what we are trying to get done. what we are trying to get done is a cease-fire deal. that can get six weeks in phase one and a lot of hostages the most at risk out of there and home with their families and get some more humanitarian assistance in there. i know i keep coming back to that, but it is important that we keep coming back to that because that is what we are really trying to drive at. if we can get the phase one by god we can maybe get to face 2. and if we can get a phase two maybe we can get less hostilities paired when you have dramatic, violent events caused by whatever actors it certainly does not make the task of achieving that outcome and easier. >> who is israel supposed to negotiate with if the leader of hamas is dead? >> again, i cannot confirm the reports coming out of toulon are hamas' statements paired we still believe there is a viable process.

we still believe there is interest in counterparts. and will you still believe that there are meetings and discussions to be had. we would not have a team over there right now if we did not believe it was possible to try to get or gather together and push this forward. >> thank you. follow up on one question what is the u.s. strategy for venezuela? is the u.s. planning to impose? >> terrific hypothetical question that i am not going to answer. i would simply say that we will reserve our rights and our abilities in terms of consequences one way or another based on what we see coming out of electoral authorities in venezuela. it is in their interest too to be fairly transparent and credible about what happened on sunday. so we will see where this goes. >> people considered to be the winner, what is the u.s. wanting to do? >> let's see the results.

let's see the results. >> two questions for you. he said there is a team in the region from the u.s. you could have said they are interested counterparts to speak to, who are they and why would they show up to these talks given the guy who was heading the talks for hamas is now dead? what reason do they have two poke their heads up aboveground? >> as i also said it's too soon to know. these reports for the cease-fire deal but what we do know is we have a team in the region. what we do know is we want to keep having these conversations and we believe they are still worth having. we also have not seen any indications at two oh 7:00 p.m. wednesday afternoon the 31st of july that the process has been completely torpedoed and it ain't worth pursuing so we will keep pursuing. >> the process being torpedoed completely or otherwise my colleagues and i have spoken to

family members of hostages who are still being held in the view among many of them is that netanyahu and his government do not want to deal. and netanyahu in particular does not want to deal because if there is a deal and the war ends, his government collapses, and he continues on trial for corruption and goes to prison, does the president still believe the prime minister is acting in good faith here? >> based on the constructive conversations we have with primacy last week, we still believe this is a worthy endeavor paired we still believe that the gaps can be narrowed, the details can be fleshed out and a deal can be had. again, it is too soon to know the recent events over the last 42-48 hours have happened i don't want to sound sanguine but we do think it is worth pursuing in the hostages need to come home. we are not going to stop trying

to work on that. >> these conversations all of them took place before the events of the last few days? is the president look into changing his view based on what has happened? >> i mean i've never known president biden to ever not be willing to open things with a fresh set of eyes. and as i said earlier, it is just too soon to know what is happening with the reports in the region what kind of impact it will have on the cease-fire deal. i can tell you he has not changed is that we want to get the deal and we want to pursue is that the deal on the table was a good one. both sides auto accepted, they ought to sit down in earnest and hash through these details that had to be fleshed out and close the gaps that we believe can be closed and let's move forward and get phase one plan in place. he has not changed his mind on that at all. >> john: there is john kirby with the latest on the situation in the middle east. not a lot of information on the

attacks in beirut rather who believes a cease-fire is possible and as lisa >> and if i was saying maybe cease-fire is more likely now that the remaining hamas leadership knows they don't have a lot of time left. >> sandra: they don't know how it will impact the cease-fire deal talks but to move forward with the deal and multiple occasions, john kirby sang the white house cannot confirm the reports of the death of the hamas leader while he was pressed on that, we never got aa question two jacqui heinrich, not yet. k jp is at the podium and we will wait for an exchange and get back in as necessary, john. >> john: was bring in bret baier a chief political anchor of special report so what do you make what has happened the last 24 hours in the middle east? will this lead to an escalation or credit perhaps accelerate moves to a cease-fire? >> john, good afternoon.

i think listening to the words of the israeli ambassador to the u.s., michael herzog come on special report last night, he believed that this was a punch back and had no indication that has below is stepping up its rocket attacks, missile attacks to the extent it could. and was hopeful that this is a kind of knowledge they have that if they strike israel that it will feel the reverberation very quickly. as far as the hamas killing and what we saw inside iran obviously israel has not publicly come out and said that was done as opposed to what they did with the commander and has below, hezbollah, is a strength as you know and possibly a step back from the brink. >> john: i mean we will see i don't think either has below or iran wants all-out war.

i think a show of force i don't think they want to go to war. i want to change topics and get back in the politics and i know you go all over the world but that is where you live and breathe. kamala harris and the pope stomach flip-flop angle from 2004 hear, hear is where kamala harris has flipped and flopped. a ban on fracking, 2019 she says no question i'm in favor of banning fracking. sunday the campaign says trump's false claims about fracking bands is an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class. on abolishing ice harris in 2018 i think there is no question we have to quickly re-examine ice and its role in the way it is being administered and the work it is doing we have to probably think about starting from scratch. on tuesday she said as president i will bring back the border security bill donald trump killed. mandatory gun buyback 2019 i do believe we need to do buybacks on tuesday the campaign says she echoed biden's call for banning

assault weapons but not a requirement to sell them to the federal government and on banning private health insurance 2019 she says we need to have medicare for all, let's eliminate all of that let's move on. on tuesday the campaign said she no longer supports a single payer insurance program. so we go back to 2024, remember this very effective political ad by the bush campaign. >> in which direction would john kerry lead? kerry voted for the iraq war. opposed it. supported it, and now opposes it again. he bragged about voting for the 87 billions to support our troops before he voted against it. john kerry, whichever way the wind blows. >> john: we will go to trump in chicago in just a second but a comment there about can they tag kamala harris with a similar flip-flop that they did john kerry? >> i think they can and i think they will add on the san francisco radical terminology, i think. listen, most times you have a

primary go through. you work over these things and sometimes you do have to evolve from progressive or more extreme views to a more moderate view but it takes time. it takes months and rallies.thi. kamala harris is going to have to answer this in an interview. >> john: hold onto that thought, stay with us we just want to go quickly to trump at the national association of black journalists convention in chicago listen. >> exec hawaii would do something like that and let me go a step further i was invited here and i was told my opponent, whether it was biden or common law kamala, but it turns out sht here and you invite amanda put false pretense and you said you can't do it with zoom. where is zoom? she will do it with zoom but she is not coming. and then you were half an hour late so we understand i have so much respect for you to be late they couldn't get their agreement working -- >> mr. president i would love -- >> i have answered the question.

i have been the best president for the black population since abraham lincoln. that's my answer. >> better than president johnson who signed the voting rights act? >> if you want to start a question and answer period especially 35 minutes late because you can get your equipment not to work in us hostile manner i think it's a disgrace. >> let me ask you a follow up and we will move on to other questions here. some of your own supporters including republicans on capitol hill have labeled vice president kamala harris the first black and asian american woman to serve as vice president be on a major party ticket as a dei higher. is that acceptable language to you? and will you tell those republicans and those supporters to stop it? >> how do you have defined dei, go ahead cody divided? >> diversity, equity, and inclusion question marks because that what your definition is? >> that is literally the word. >> give me a definition. >> so i'm asking a question. >> define it for me.

>> i did, so do you believe vice president kamala harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman? >> i can say now i think it's maybe a little bit different. i have known her long time to indirectly, not directly very much. she was always of indian heritage. she was only promoting indian heritage. i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. i don't know, is she indian or is she black? >> that she has always end in a fight as a black woman. >> i respect either one but she obviously doesn't because she was indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went and became a black person. >> to be cleared to do -- >> i think so and to look into that when you ask a continuing in a very hostile and nasty tone. >> is a direct question do believe vice present kamala harris is a dei higher? >> i don't know i really don't know, could be there are some

and there are plenty. i know this lady right over there, harris is a fantastic person who just interviewed me at length and we had a great interview i think i heard you got very good ratings. >> you told me it was the longest one of your life so we had a good discussion. look, i want to talk about why you're here today. i mean, it is not lost on us how divided we are as a country. as you were coming today we really got to see we are divided along the lines of race, along the lines of gender and there is this question of in this moment where we are why i come here? what is your message today? >> my message is to stop people from invading our country that are taken, frankly, a lot of problems with it but one of the big problems and a lot of the journalists in this room i know and i have great respect for a lot of the journalists in this room are black. i will tell you that coming from

the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs. >> what exactly is a black job, sir? >> black dog is anyone who has a job, that's what it is anybody who has a job. >> mr. president -- >> taking the employment away from black people they are coming in and they are invading it's an invasion of millions of people probably 15 or 16 or 17 million people i have a feeling it's more than that and everyone has seen what is happening. the first group of people the black population is most affected by that and kamala harris is letting it happen she is the worst border czar in the history of the world shoot there has never been a border czar like this and she said she was there once but not the right part of the border. so she said she is a border czar and has done a horrible job. these people are coming into our country they are taking black jobs and has jobs and frankly they are taking union jobs. unions have been very badly affected by the millions of

people pouring into our country. and as we discussed many of these people are coming in from mental institutions, from presence, from jails, they are gang members and other countries are setting loose their prisoners. they are opening their mental institutions and taking they are bad people, gang members drug dealers and bringing them into the united states. by the way their crime rate their crime rate is going down and ours is going to be a disaster. >> mr. president i want to get into how you address some of the issues of black communities. i say that plural because we live in communities of color that are different we don't grow up the same or think the same it is not monolithic. so as you come here today i want to talk about something that bursts and this is the weight of the inflation right now. the nonprofit money management international release data recently from its analysis that

we have found a 52% rise in people who are seeking counseling for being in credit debt. they are paying for food that is sky-high on their credit cards and now they pay that off and the mmi is saying they are seeing surges since a pandemic of people in financial trouble. much of that falls on the shoulders stomach shoulders of single black moms when you look statistically. how do you turn it around when it comes to money? >> first of all it is very hard to hear you for whatever reason because of the reason they have bad equipment because i guess this woman was unable to get the right equipment. is hard for me to hear you but i hear every other word. it's difficult so i don't know if they can fix it or do something with it but i will do the best i can with it. the inflation is absolutely

destroying our middle-class, or working-class and every class inflation is a disaster. is a country buster. in my opinion the worst inflation we have had, they say it is 58 years but it's more than that it has been devastating. if you take a look at that from 2.4%-10% and you can't get the money. they no longer have the american dream. young black people they don't have the american dream anymore. they can't buy my because they can't borrow the money because of the cost. they can't buy because of the cost of housing or building because of inflation. inflation is a disaster destroying our country destroying the black community -- >> what do you do what is your plan? >> we have to bring the cost of energy which brings down the cost of inflation.

this with the bad energy policy by joe biden. by the way, if i might, i was running against a man named biden you probably saw that. she was losing badly in the polls and they had a rather bad debate. it was one of the worst debates in history and his poll numbers crashed and instead of saying let's keep going and maybe something happens the other when they said oh, we will replace him let's just replace him. that's like you're in a prizefighter in a fight, he is not doing well they say let's bring another fighter. sold our whole campaign now we have to steer but ultimately it's the same because they have bad policy of open borders, unbelievable open borders, horrible energy policies, they want to get rid of gasoline and cars and they want to get rid of

oil and efficient heating -- mr. president -- >> environment fluid they are doing is killing our country it is hurting the black worker, the black population, and every other in our country inflation is the worst it has been in over 100 years they will say it's only 58, whatever it may be. they don't add all the numbers all the really bad numbers and you can check that too but inflation is absolutely destroying this and the people in our country. >> mr. present can ask another question? >> that is very clear now thank you. >> i'm sorry? >> it's clear i can hear you. >> so sonya massey, someone from illinois, an unarmed black woman was shot the other day in her home by deputy sheriff. the deputy has since been charged with murder. you said police would get

immunity from prosecution if you win. why should someone like that officer have immunity? in your opinion question work >> immunity? >> immunity. >> i don't know the exact case but i saw something. it didn't look good to me. it didn't look good to me. are you talking with the water? >> yes. i mean police unions are not backing this person either. >> they will be charging the officer i guess they are charging the officer? >> why should he receive immunity? >> he might not. it depends on what happens. i'm talking about much cases that are different than that. we need people to protect ourselves. by the way in chicago as an example a few weeks ago july 4th weekend 117 shootings and 17 deaths, nobody wants that. nobody wants that. we need to have police officers with the respect and dignity in

this particular case i saw something that did not look good to me. i didn't like it. i didn't like it at all. >> can you get a little more specific back to the immunity question? who would make those distinctions? >> for the most part people are protected by their unions by the police unions or by the police departments. i am saying if i or a group of people would feel a person is being unfairly prosecuted because the person doing the job may be was a crime or did a mistake an innocent mistake there is a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake but if someday made an innocent mistake i would want to help that person. >> what were those exceptions be? what would determine it? >> you go after somebody is a very close call and it is very dangerous. you know, the policeman's life is a very difficult thing because sometimes you have less than a second to make a life and

death decision. sometimes very bad decisions are made. they are not made from an evil standpoint but from the standpoint of you made a mistake. >> i want to follow up really quickly. i find it interesting because you do talk about reining in prosecutors especially those that are prosecuting you. why doesn't that skepticism applied to law enforcement? >> i have been prosecuted because i'm a political opponent of terkel people will weaponized our justice system. i have been prosecuted, just won the big case in florida and everyone said that's the biggest case, that was the most difficult case and i won it. biden has a similar case except much worse, biden was not because he was not president at the time and had 50 years worth of documents and they ruled he was incompetent and shouldn't stand trial and i said isn't that something? he is incompetent and he can't

stand trial and yet he can be president is not nice? releasing him on the basis he was incompetent and he said he had no memory and he is a nice guy but he had no memory. therefore we won't prosecute h him. i did notice abc doing any publicity on it. >> i would love to move on to that i won the case the biggest case this is an attack on a political opponent. they also judge. >> have u.s. limited time. >> you held me up 35 minutes. if we can move out of the state of the race i want to get back to the campaign. senator j.d. vance's to her running mate. he had a lot of controversy lately and i want to redo a few things he said in the past. he said the democrats running the country are about an inch of "childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they have made so

they want to make the rest of the country miserable too" he is not talking here about how great it is to be a parent he is attacking what he says are the choices people are making to not have children. did you know he had these views about people who don't have children before you picked him to be a running mate and do you agree with him? >> no, i know this, he is very family oriented and he thinks family is a great thing. that doesn't mean he thinks if you don't have a family -- i know people with families i know people with great families and i know people are very troubled families. i also know people with no families that did not meet the right person, things happen. you go through life you don't meet the right person. >> he's not talking about families here. some people don't have children should get less votes than those that do? >> i'm speaking for myself. he strongly believes in family but i know people with great families, i know people with not great families that don't have a family and the people without the family are far better they are superior in many cases okay?

he is not saying they are not. he thinks the family experience is a very important thing it's a very good thing. it doesn't mean if you grow up and you grow old and you don't meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet it would've been good, that that is a bad thing he is not saying that. my interpretation you left ask him actually but my interpretation is he is strongly family oriented but that doesn't mean if you don't have a family there is something wrong with you. >> one last point we will move on. one of the bedrock principles of american life is one person one vote. senator j.d. vance has suggested someone who has children should have more votes than someone who does not have children i want to be clear here. is that the position of your campaign? >> no but that is something i've never heard before. i can tell you this we have illegal aliens coming into our country and many from prisons and money from mental institutions and they want to

give them both i don't think they should have votes. they came into our country illegally -- >> people who are citizens are only allowed to vote. >> people that are here a long time that worked hard in many cases you will see this happening if i'm not elected but if i am you won't have any problem but if i'm not you will see it happening a long time you will see people in this room and people outside of this room will be losing their jobs to people who have come into this country illegally. >> mr. president can we stay with the state of the race right now because i felt like that vice president question candidate question was right in there with that. let's talk about j.d. vance. he has had some stumbled out of the gate. i don't know if you are hearing as reporters but it has been a tough couple of weeks for him. why did you choose j.d. vance? why did you choose him i'm a heart having a hard time hearing you i know they can. >> i will tell you >> i will

tell you he is a strong believer in work and the working man andd especially the working man and woman who have been treated very unfairly. because you have many of them in this room and many of them that were treated very unfairly that worked very hard and were treated unfairly he wrote the book the book became a best seller in the movie was a smash hit. the benefit like a father well-connected he got into yale law school, he graduated two years from ohio state; loud ai mean you take a look it's an amazing career. he started off at a level with a difficult family situation, very difficult with the mother, father and every thing else. he ends up going to yale law school as one of the top students, became one of the law journal i mean it's an amazing

thing. he was in the military with great distinction he's got very successful in business actually. i have to believe someone born in a rough situation most of the people know that situation because it was very well documented in this book. and i have a lot of respect for someone who can get into yale and become one of the best students in yale that meets a young woman in yale who was also outstanding. they get married, they were beautiful family, he has made himself an amazing life. he lives in ohio and he had my endorsement, that helped but he wins the senate and becomes a united states senator. is a united states senator. so, harris, like i respect you

for your success, i respect people for their success. >> the reason i asked the question is the last time we sat and talked was when you were shot. you left to go to butler, pennsylvania, and we did not know what was next. >> i am sorry i cannot understand your microphone. >> it is really hard. >> i can understand you perfectly. >> i will just get closer. >> i'm happy to hear that, sir. i have a few more questions. >> because of the distance and the mics are in lousy shape but i cannot understand. >> are you asking questions? >> what i wanted to say was the last time we spoke you said some words that were prophetic because i ask you who you wanted to choose for vice president and you said normally it really wouldn't matter. you would normally pick someone with a future but you said these words three and a half hours before an attempted assassination on your life.

you told me that bad things happen, harris and that is why this is important this time. bad things happen you said it twice. when you look at j.d. vance was he ready on day one? >> what? >> ready on day one? >> trump: have always had great respect for him and the other candidates too and this is well documented. the vice president does not have any impact, virtual no impact pdf 2-3 days where there is a lot of commotion as to who like on the democratic side who it's going to be, it dies down and then it's about the presidential pick. virtually never has it matter may be lyndon johnson noted for different reasons than we are talking about not for voting reasons but for political reasons other political reasons. historically the choice of a vice president makes no difference.

you can have a vice president who is outstanding in every way, i think j.d. is. i think all of them would have been but you are not voting that way, you are voting for the president. you are voting for me. if you like me i'm going to win back pay to be don't like me you are not going to win back. >> i will get my j.d. vance question end. >> j.d. vance question mike >> my j.d. vance question in. to my point and rachel's point in your point, he has a lot of opinions about childless women like myself were divorced people like yourself. do you think i'm in my point is. >> at least it was said in friendly manner. [laughter] >> do you think the republican party is getting a little too judging about people's lives anything about abortion or when you think about what j.d. vance is saying? >> trump: i don't think -- look. at eight the democratic party is really the one that has the problem. i think they are radical on

abortion because they are allowing abortion in the ninth month. they are allowing -- >> i think it's about -- >> they are allowing the death of a baby after the baby is born. >> that is illegal in every state in the country. as a getting a baby in every state -- >> trump: after it's born there are abortions in the eighth and ninth month. and i think the republican party is much lesser. i think i made it much less radical perhaps but the republican party what we are doing is bringing it back to the states where everyone wanted it, democrats, republican everyone at abortion. they didn't want it but never wanted it back. >> the majority of americans opposed to being overturned. >> right now they are voting and bringing it back to the states. i bloom in the three, ronald reagan believed with rape, incest, life of the mother

i think most are republicans to also but if you take a look they are doing an amazing thing out of the federal government the people are voting i will say ohio, let's call it a more liberal version has been approved, kansas is saying the same thing a little bit surprising to a lot of people. it is taking this issue going on 52 years and has torn our country apart and it's giving it to the people to vote on. and they are voting. and many states have already voted. others are in the process of voting. it is bringing it back to the people in the vote of the people and again you have to follow your heart. i believe in the three exceptions, most people believe in the three exceptions most republicans believe in the exceptions. they don't want to see an abortion in the ninth or eighth month, almost everybody agrees to that.

and they certainly don't want to see in the former governor i said where we set the baby aside and decide what to do meaning what do we do? we execute the baby. that is a radical, horrible position. and some people want that. i don't want it. most people don't. >> think you can i pick it really quickly another question? you are an active man. we see you golfing all the time. if you win, you will still be president at 82. which is older than biden is right now. >> not mentally. >> here is the question. >> he is shot. most people, i know many people in their 80s and their 90s that are in great shape, some of our greatest leaders if you look throughout the world, world history the greatest leaders in the greatest leaders in the world were in their 80s.

>> would you consider stepping down if you felt your health was declining? >> absolutely. how'd you make that decision? >> i think think i would know. if i came onto a stage like this and i got treated so rudely as this woman -- >> oh, my goodness my goodness. >> trump: and i am fine. because she was very rude, very rude. that was nasty that was not a question. she gave a statement that was not a question. >> you said you would. >> trump: absolutely if i thought i was failing in some way i want people -- i will go a step further. i want anybody running for president to take an aptitude test. to take a cognitive test i think it's a great idea i took two of them and i aced them. i took two of them but let me ask. i would like to have people running for president and i don't mean because they are 75 or 85, i think anybody running i would like to do it, people say

it's not constitutional. i would like to have something passed where you can do it. i think we should know. i've watch what happened in the last couple of years what is happening in our country is a mess paragraph inflation, we have the millions of people, we have afghanistan which is the worst most embarrassing moment of the history of our country. what he has done to our country and her too she has been a horrible vice president purchase consider the worst vice president and history of our country. >> would you consider taking the cognitive test? >> i would love to. of artie taken two of them but i will do it again. >> mr. president how do you intend -- >> i suggested harris let's take one i sent joe and i will go take a cognitive test. now i do it with her too. i would do it with her also. you know what question what she failed her law exam she didn't pass her law exam so maybe she wouldn't pass the cognitive

test. >> are you saying she wouldn't pass to be clear? >> i'm giving you the facts. >> how can you intend it -- >> trump: she didn't pass her bar exam and she didn't think she would pass it and she didn't think she was going to ever pass it. i don't know what happened, maybe she passed it. >> she did in fact pass it. mr. president i would love to ask you about january 6th. you called yourself the candidate of law and order. when "time" magazine asks if you'd consider pardoning all the rioters you said yes, absolutely. you called them patriots. 140 police officers were assaulted that day. their injuries included broken bones, at least one officer lost an eye, one had two cracked ribs, two smashed spinal disks, another had a stroke. were the people who assault of those 140 officers, including those i just mentioned, patriots who deserve pardons? >> trump: let's bring it back to modern-day like about five days ago. we had an attack on the capital. a horrible attack on the

capital. you saw the people protesting and spraying these incredible monuments, liens come all the magnificent limestone and granite with red paint. red to spray paint that will never come off especially the limestone i know about the stuff i'm a builder, never 100 years from now they viciously attacked our government. they fought with police much more openly then i saw on january 6th. what will happen to those people? what will happen to the people -- >> my question is on -- >> what will happen. >> excuse me. >> would you pardon them? >> trump: absolutely i would. if they are innocent i would pardon them. >> trump: they have no my >> they have been convicted. >> trump: the supreme court, they were convicted by a very tough system. how come the people who tried to burn down minneapolis, how come the people who took a large

percentage of seattle, how come nothing happened to them? >> we are talking about people seen beating officers with flagpoles dragging them down the stairs. there on video have you seen the video, sir? you would pardon those writers? >> trump: they shot a young lady in the face who was protesting they shot her in the face. nobody died that day you do know that? but people died in seattle. >> 140 officers were assaulted. speaker in minneapolis nobody talks and nothing happens to those people but you went after the jay sixth people with a vengeance and i will tell you what. what about the cops that were common i am all for the police that are ushering everybody into the capital? a win, go income will go and what about that? nothing is perfect in life. you have people from minneapolis, you have people from five days ago in

washington, d.c., who were having fistfights and fighting with the police. they were spraying and destroying they were desecrating our monuments in washington, d.c., five days ago and nothing happened to them. you can't have two systems of justice. that's why they went after me as a political opponent because they felt they couldn't win without doing that. and we will win our cases and be vindicated but i have to spend a lot of time on that and money. that is what they want. after the election or on my case i think they probably will because the hatred is pretty great but i will tell you they went after me as a political opponent. that has never happened in our country before. it sets a terrible, terrible precedent. >> what you do day wondering if you win with the first thing? >> what do i do? i close the border and i do two things because i can do a lot of things simultaneously paired i close the border come we don't want people coming, we want people to come in, harris' but they have to be vetted they have to be checked legally.

i want people to come into our country but they have to be vetted and checked. when you say what do i do i do that and a drill baby drill and bring energy way down interest rates are down and inflation my brain way down so people can buy bacon again and a ham sandwich again. so that people can go to a restaurant and afford it. because right now people can't buy food. grocery bills are up 40, 50, 60%. right? she screams at me oh, she is agreeing, thank you very mu much. but i think it's true. the grocery bills are up. and demanding your buy electric cars. elon musk endorsed me and he is a friend of mine he is a good guy a smart guy. but i am against everybody having an electric car. okay? i am much against that. if you want to hybrid or a gasoline propelled car, but we

have more liquid gold gasoline, oil under our feet than any other country. more than saudi arabia, more than russia, more than any other country. i want to use it. i want to use what we have. i want to bring down prices, bring down costs, and i also have to stop the invasion. member, they are taking your jobs. these people coming and are taking your jobs. >> project 2025. >> i think we have to leave it there by the trauma team. thank you so much, mr. trump for coming and running today. >> trump: thank you very much. thank you, everybody very much. [applause] >> and we will email out details -- >> john: there we are from chicago the national association to black journalists convention panel interviewing president trump on stage. center, some interesting questions and interesting dynamic there as well.

not only with the questioners but the crowd. >> sandra: really interesting. i'm sure a lot of people stopped to watch that. our own harris faulkner on the stage getting questions into the former president as well. it appears, john, the white house is already responding to an exchange that happened on that stage. the white house saying the comments the former president made on kamala harris' racial identity or insulting. that's what we have just gotten from the white house as the briefing was ongoing with karine jean-pierre just a short time ago. >> john: our chief political anchor and executive editor of special report as well as the anchor of the special report bret baier has been following around with us. what is your assessment? >> that was quite something. >> sandra: leave at that? >> a couple of things here. obviously he went into the proverbial lion's den with some of those questions. this is what the former president does. he does go to areas that sometimes he faces harsh stomach

harsh questioning. harsh at times tough interview with him asking tough but fair questions and i think some of those questions obviously very fair down the middle others had a different tone to him and he reacted how he thought the tone was coming at him. i think it was interesting he kept complaining about the audio and the equipment and the delay for 35 minutes so that added to the tension in the moment there are tough questions about his vice presidential choice and some of the things he has said. his biggest issue may have been talking about vice president harris as projecting as an indian for a long time and she never said she was black. when he goes down those roads, obviously it opens himself up to criticism and use all the white house jump on that. >> sandra: it is interesting as the president was talking from his view he talks a lot

about the biden economy being very challenging for most americans referencing the high grocery prices and high gas prices and beyond. as he was speaking he could see the dow at 442 points i want to point out at the top of the hour we did get a federal reserve rate hike decision and the federal reserve decided to keep the rates unchanged saying inflation remains somewhat elevated meaning they are basically broadcasting they are not ready to start cutting interest rates yet because of the current environment and the market to interpret that as a positive. the dow has been going up 422 points but to your point, brett, a lot of the questions focus on his vp pick and his running mate choice. and he seemed to continue to really want to get the message out on the border, brett. he circled back to that many times in fact harris asked what you would do day one and he's in close the border. >> i mean think back to the jun.

every other question no matter what the question was eventually ended up with an answer about the border and about illegal immigration and taking jobs and threats to the homeland from the border. i think he tried to do a similar thing here and specifically about jobs and immigrants taking jobs. again, the whole thing about "black jobs" was jumped on. you are at a national association of black journalists conference. so there were questions that dealt with the black community. listen, he is going to make this very plain spoken attempt to say the democrats are not the party that has helped you out. and african american communities around the country. and that the economy can be lifted up if you give me a chance. this venue i am not sure whether he swayed anyone in that room and he is clearly signaling he is ready to answer all kinds of questions any place.

i think at t debate between kamala harris and donald trump we talked about harris evolving usually is going to i think is him a call was set up later and that was different than appearing in person. >> john: as you said he went into the proverbial lion's den as he likes to do from time to time, a lot of controversy surrounding his appearance they are. one of the cochairs of the association resigned in the wake of the invitation. there were a lot of people who would not come, protesting his appearance there. i don't know if as you said he swayed any mines in the audience but as harris pointed out, and the african american community in this country is not monolithic. there are plenty of african americans who support former president trump. and his support was growing up until joe biden stepped out of the race. how do you think it might change

now that kamala harris is the presumed nominee? >> i think it is fascinating. you saw that rally in atlanta and obviously there's a lot of enthusiasm on the democratic side. whether that translates to actual policy enthusiasm i think is one thing he tried to answer at one point. it does not matter whether it is joe biden or kamala harris it is about the policy. and if you look at what she has said publicly about policy on the economy, on energy, on drilling come on fracking, and all of the things that we talked about earlier about going back and forth, there will be tough questions for her, hopefully, in forums like this and others where she talks about her evolution on those things. the policy is what matters. b to this was from the former president and the and exchange moments ago on that stage, brett. when trump touted his accomplishments while in office for the black community, listen.

>> i think it is disgraceful that i came here in good spirit, i love the black population of this country, i have done so much for the black population of this country. including employment, including opportunities with senator tim scott of south carolina which is one of the greatest programs ever for black workers and black entrepreneurs. i have done so much. i say this, historically black colleges and universities were out of money. >> sandra: important to point out there that the biden white house and many democrats you have heard go after former president donald trump of those claims that unemployment in the black community hit record lows during his term in office and brett, that is true. that did happen. although the record was surpassed while biden has been in office, the black unemployment rate continued to go even lower. so it is true to say it dropped

to a record low under president trump, but it did continue to go down and made a new record low under biden. this was him touting his accomplishments. how will you think that will go over, brett? >> listen they may get overwhelmed by other controversial things and i'm sure the media is on a bunch of things with that panel that don't deal with that but prior to kamala harris being the nominee or presumptive nominee as she will officially get it and a couple of weeks, i think donald trump as a candidate was getting more black percentage of the vote of the black vote in any poll than any for public ever gotten. in any poll ever so clearly she is making inroads later in the point. >> john: as we pointed out

earlier some of them were tweeting out why is he holding up the convention he was patiently waiting backstage as they were figuring out audio problems which did not get worked out during the course of the entire form, but you know trump. if his teleprompter is not working properly or the microphone is not working properly at one of his rallies, he lets the audio company that was contracted to do it no. so he did. he also seemed to take issue to the question one of the folks onstage had asked him listen to this exchange. >> so we understand i have too much respect for you to be late, they cannot get their agreement working. >> mr. president i would love if you answer -- >> i think that's very nasty i have answered the question. i have been the best president for the black population since abraham lincoln. >> john: there is a smattering of applause and a smattering called as well >> it was a conts

interview. i think you showed he can do it he is going to a place that is not comfortable for him and hopefully harris does the same thing because we all learn from tough questions. >> sandra: that is for sure. brett, thank you very much by the way harris will be on the network a short time from now i believe it is more thorough to talk about her experience there on that stage thank you, brett. >> john: yes because she did a rather lengthy interview. some of which we will air on her fine program tomorrow. so it has been another day, senator. everyday winds up being jam-packed. >> sandra: you never know what it will hold. >> john: there's always tomorrow set your dvr never miss "america reports" thank you joining us i'm john roberts. >> sandra: i am sandra smith