i knew him a little bit. and he was a very fine person. but that was a big mistake. giving the panama canal to panama was a big mistake. they lost 38,000 people. it cost us the equivalent of a trillion dollars -- maybe more than that. probably the most expensive -- they say it was the most expensive structure, if we call it a structure, which i guess you can, ever built. and giving that away was a horrible thing, and i believe that's why jimmy carter lost the election even more so than the hostages. those two things. >> if i could qualify on ukraine and iran, the two negotiations you'll be heading into. on ukraine, you said just before it's a lot more complicated now. >> president donald trump: much more complicated. because it would have never started. >> but it has started. >> president donald trump: well, not only started, but the cities are knocked down. >> you've got what you got. at this point, to hold on the leverage and dealing with president putin, would you make a commitment to the ukranians

that you will keep supporting them during the negotiation? >> president donald trump: >> president donald trump: well, i wouldn't tell you if that were the case. >> entering the armistice and the ceasefire. >> so, you know, a big part of the problem was russia for many, many years, long before putin said you could never have nato involved with ukraine. they have said that and that is written in stone, and they say they should be able to join nato, and then russia has someone right on their doorsteps, and i understand that. and there were a lot of mistakes made in the negotiations, and when i heard t that, and they could end up in a war. >> -- t your view is they could never join nato? >> well, it was my view it was

understood and i believe they had a deal and biden broke it. they had a deal which would have been satisfactory to ukraine and everybody else, and biden said no, you have to be able to join nato and that's always been -- nobody knows more about nato. years ago when i didn't know much about nato, but i got it right anyway. i said they are taking advantage. and i was the one -- and the secretary-general was here, and saying if it weren't for me nato wouldn't exist because i raised from countries that weren't paying their bills at that time, 28 countries. 20 of them were not paying their bills. 21 to be exact. they weren't paying. or they were paying a very small portion and i raised over $680 billion. that was the number he gave. by saying if you don't pay, we're not going to protect you. as soon as i said that, the money came pouring in and obama could have said it and bush could have said it.

nobody said it but me. i took a lot of heat. there was the statement they're not paying their bills. i said we're not going to protect you because you're not paying the bills. in a true sense i saved nato, and nato is taking advantage of us, and one of the problems and i said it to president zelenskyy europe is in for a tiny fraction than we are in now. whether you like the situation or not, europe is much more affected than the united states. we have a thing called the ocean in between us. right. why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than europe and you know, they are a similar size -- a little smaller, but similar size economy when you add them up, and europe is in for a small fraction the united states is in. biden could have called them up during the term. that's what i did. i said you have to pay your bills and they all -- won stood up. i won't say who. you probably have it because the

papers -- media hated to report on it. but a prime minister up from a country -- you know our famous meeting of 28 nations with no press, nobody in the room, and stood up and said does that mean if we don't pay our bill, and at that point it was 2%. it should be 5%. it should be 5%, not 2%. at that point it was 2. many people didn't pay. some people didn't pay. many didn't -- including germany and germany was at less 1%. >> you're going to press for 5%? >> i think nato should have 5%. you can't do it at 2. every country, if you have a country and a regular military, you're at 4%. i think -- they are in dangerous territory. they can all afford it. they should be at 5%, not 2%. i'm the one that got them to pay 2%. but a gentleman stood up, a prime minister stood up and he said to me, sir, can i ask you a question, you're saying we have to pay our bills. if we don't pay our bills, will

the united states protect us from russia? i said you don't pay, you mean you're delinquent in he said yes. if you're delinquent, we will not protect you. i took a lot of heat. although it was somewhat closed door and i took heat from the media, and you know what happened? the money started pouring in. that's why nato has money and the secretary-general said it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen in a negotiation. now if i would have said yes, we will, nobody would have paid. i would have loved to say yes, we'll protect you even if you don't pay. but that's not the way life works. >> mr. president, two questions related to each other. first, you said on your first day of office, you're going to pardon january 6th defendants. are you planning to pardon those who were charged with violent offences? >> president-elect trump: we're looking at it and other people are there, and 26, 28 people from the fbi came out very quietly, and nobody reported it. but they had people in some form

related to the fbi. they had 4 or 5 people strongly related to the fbi. we have to find out about that. we have to find out about hezbollah. we have to find out about who exactly was in that whole thing because people that did some bad things were not prosecuted. you know, i see it all the time. and you see it, too. people that were doing some bad things weren't prosecuted and people that didn't even walk into the building are in jail right now. so we'll be looking at the whole thing. but i'll be making major pardons, yes. please. >> on jack smith's -- >> good afternoon, mr. president, it's good to see you again. two questions about syria and the ongoing war in gaza. about syria, the pentagon disclosed last month the u.s. has some 2,000 troops in syria. that's almost double the number initially we were told of 900. will you keep that troop capacity the same upon taking office. >> president-elect trump: well, i won't tell you that because it's part of a military strategy. i will say turkiye, and turkiye

has been after that country in different forms and shapes for 2000 people. the people that went in are from turkiye. and president erdogan is a friend of mine, he's a guy i like, respect. i think he respects me, he is the one that didn't go after certain people that he not. you know who i'm talking about, the kurds, and i don't know how long -- because they are natural enemies. they hate each other. he didn't do that yet. and he didn't do it in the past, also. he started -- and i said please don't do that. and he didn't do it. so -- but if you look at what happened with syria, russia was weakened. iran was weakened. and he's a very smart guy. and he sent his people in there through different forms and different names. and they went in and they took over and that's the way it is. >> i'm sorry, do you have concerns about hts taking control -- >> president-elect trump: the

envoy, is that in the back? standing with my son eric is steve woodkoff who just got back from the middle east and he has done a fantastic job. he's a great deal maker. i say, well, what we need is a deal-maker because nobody makes a deal. we have people that understand where the rivers are and where the bounds are, and they can't talk. they can't make deals. steve has done a great job. i want to thank you, steve. you've been working endlessly for months. and he's working specifically on the hostages, trying to get 'em back. >> that is the second question. >> steve, come up for a second, and you might want to say a couple of words. >> sir -- >> president-elect trump: i didn't know steve was going to be here. actually. >> neither did i. >> president-elect trump: he has done a great job and he didn't know about the danger in the job. now he sees a lot of big danger. >> can i ask you a second part of that.

>> president-elect trump: i have to give you a report on the hostages if i can. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. president. wow. well, i think we're making a lot of progress. and i don't want to say too much because i think they're doing a really good job back in doha. i'm leaving tomorrow back to go to doha. but i think that we've had some really great progress and i'm really hopeful that by the inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president. i actually believe that we're working in tandem in a really good way, but it's the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation. and so hopefully it will all work out and we'll save some lives. >> [indiscernible question] >> i believe we've been on the verge of it. i don't want to discuss sort of

what delayed it. no point to be negative in any way. but i think it's the president, his stature, what he said he expects. the red lines he's put out there. that's driving this negotiation. >> [indiscernible question] >> i'm going back probably this evening or tomorrow night. >> are you confident there will be a deal before january 20th or is that something -- if there is a deal even at all. we've been hearing this now for the better part of -- >> i know. >> i would say -- president-elect trump: there better be. >> i would say the president is exacerbateed, i don't want to talk for him. i don't know anyone who delegates better than president trump. he gives us a lot of authority to speak on his behalf and he comexhorts us to speak emphatically, and emphatically means you better -- because the

alternative -- >> do you think they're waiting for president trump to take office? >> no, i think they heard him loud and clear. before the inaugural. >> before i take office. >> all hell will be paid. >> president-elect trump: do i have to say all hell will break out, and if all hostages are not back -- i don't want to hurt the negotiation, if they're not back by the time i get into office, all hell will break out in the middle east. >> can you elaborate? >> president-elect trump: it will not be good for hamas. not good for anyone. all hell will break out. i don't have to say anymore. that's what it is. they should have given them bac- >> they should never have taken them. and there never should have been the attack of october 7th, people forget that and there was. and many people were killed. no longer hostages. i have people from israel and others calling -- begging me to get -- you know, we had also people there from the united states, just so you know. they're holding some so-called hostages from the u.s. but i've had mothers come to me

and fathers crying, can i get the body of their son back, can i get the body of their daughter back. that beautiful girl where they threw her in the car and pulled her by her pony tail and threw her in the car like a sack of potatoes. i said what happened to her. sir, she's dead. like a 19, 20-year-old -- beautiful girl. and the way they treated her. and i just say this very simply steve's got a job to do. he's a great guy. great negotiator. great person. they respect him over there already. it's what we needed over there. we have people that know everything will the middle east but they can't speak properly. they don't know. he's a great negotiator. that's what i needed. i could have sent that gentleman over there, hussain. he's a great negotiator. people -- they are rare. great negotiators are very rare. like a great surgeon. but we have the right person. i tell this -- i don't want to hurt the negotiation. if the deal isn't done by the time i take office which is now

going to be two weeks all hell will break out in the middle east. okay. >> thank you, mr. president. >> president-elect trump: you have done a great job. >> more than 140 police officers were injured by rioters on january 6th. will you pardon anyone who attacked a police officers? >> president-elect trump: well, you know, the only one killed was a beautiful young lady named ashley babbitt, she was killed and there was somebody else killed, also a maga person. but people don't give it 100% credibility. i'm going to find out about it. we're going to find out. but ashley babbitt was killed. she was shot. should never have been shot. she was shot for no reason whatsoever. in fact, they say that she was trying to hold back the crowd and the crowd was made up of a lot of different people. so we'll see. but i will tell you this: the person that was killed was ashley babbitt.

the other thing is when they talk -- you know, there was never charges of insurrection or anything like that. but if there were, this would be the only insurrection in history where people went in as insurrectionists with not one gun. okay. and let me tell you, the people that you're talking about have a lot of guns in their home for hunting and for shooting and for entertainment. a lot of good reasons. but there wasn't one gun that they found and why didn't they find the bomber? the pipebomber? you know they know who the pipebomber is. the fbi knows who it is. the status of the fbi has gone down so far and the status of the doj or as i call it the department of injustice. it's the department of injustice. it's being laughed at at all over the world and hopefully with pam bondi, and kash patel and other people we're putting in, that will come back. due to a poll in the fbi, i

guarantee i'm at 90% with the agents of the fbi. but they have hurt -- hurt that incredible place. law enforcement -- you think of the fbi, they raided this house. by the way, they could have told me could i see this. i would have given -- i actually told them, come in anytime you want. you can see anything. they raided the house and the case was dismissed. and now i'm in litigation -- i'm suing them for doing that. and i feel so badly doing it, i'm the president of the united states and i'm suing the united states, but i'm suing them for other things, too. the fbi has gone so -- its reputation has been so horribly hurt. between comie who is the worst and all of the others, and what happened to the fbi, and we'll make it great again. we're going to make the fbi great again, and we're going to make the justice department fair and strong again. all they did was attack me

because i'm their political opponent and that includes local judges, and like merchan. ask him why there's a gag order where i'm not allowed to speak. think of it, i'm the president of the united states and i'm not allowed to speak. why? because if i did speak, people would understand the scam. it's a scam. and we have very dishonest judges. and new york judges very bad. and one valued this house at $18 million because it's good for the case, the chandelier is worth more than $18 million. $18 million and we have another one who was so nasty. so horrible. such a brute. most vicious vile person. these are new york judges. but we've won most of the cases so we're very happy about that. >> your position is clear. have you let your staff take

specific actions to draw plans, and can you elaborate again if you ruled out military coercion. >> president-elect trump: well, we need greenland for national security purposes and before i ran, people have been talking about for a long time. approximately 45,000 people. and people don't know if denmark has any legal right to it. if they do, they need it for national security, that's for the free world. i'm talking about protecting the free world. you don't even need binoculars, and you look outside you have china ships all over the place. you have russian ships over the place. we're not letting that happen. we're not letting it happen. if denmark wants to get to a conclusion, but nobody knows if they even have right, title or interest. the people are probably going to vote for independence or to come into the united states. but if they did do that, then i with a tariff denmark at a very

high level. >> plans for acquisition? >> no, we're not at that stage. i haven't entered office. >> secondly, sir, elon musk has drawn some criticism and a lot of attention for some of his actions and provocative statements about foreign affairs including in europe. your reaction to that? is that -- >> president-elect trump: where he likes people that tended to be conservative. i don't know the people. elon is doing a good job, a very smart guy. i don't know the people you're talking about. i know he said negative things about a couple of people running for office. that's not so unusual. yes, please. >> wanted to ask you about ukraine and putin. how soon do you anticipate going to meet with putin to discuss the ukraine situation? >> president-elect trump: well, i can tell you that but i know putin wants to meet. i don't think it's appropriate to meet until after the 20th. which i hate. every day -- many, many young

people are being killed. soldiers. you know, the land is very flat. and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers from each -- many of hundreds of thousands from each side are dead. and they're laying in fields all over the place. nobody even to collect. there are land mines all over. it's a disaster. but it's very flat. it's farmland and it's very, very flat. and the only thing that stops a bullet is the human body. and the human body is stopping a lot of bullets. >> having a conversation with him -- >> president-elect trump: i hope to have -- six months? >> 3 to 6 months. >> i hope long before 6 months. look, russia is losing a lot of young people and so is ukraine and it should have never been started. that's a war that should never happened. i guarantee you if i were president, that war would have never happened. >> who would you like to nominate to replace michael barr as vice chair -- [indiscernible]

>> president-elect trump: i'll be announcing someone soon. >> working on the assumption of being serious making canada the 51st state, and the leader of the conservative party of canada said under no circumstances -- >> president-elect trump: maybe he won't win, but i don't care. i don't care what he says. >> -- considering military force to acquire panama and greenland. are you considering military force to annex to acquire canada? >> no. economic force. canada and the united states would be really something. you get rid of the artificially drawn line and you take a look at what it looks like and it would also be much better for national security. don't forget, we basically protect canada. but here is the problem with canada. so many friends up there. i love the canadian people. they're great. but we're spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it. we're spending hundreds of

billions a year to take care of canada. we lose in trade deficits, we're losing -- we don't need their cars. you know, they make 20% of our cars. we don't need that. i would rather make them in detroit. we don't need the cars. we don't need their lumber. we have massive fields of lumber. we don't need their lumber. we have to unrestrict them because stupid people put restrictions on. but i can do that with an executive order. we don't need anything they have. we don't need their dairy products. we have more than they have. we don't need anything. so why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect canada? and i said that to -- as i called him governor trudeau. i said, listen, what would happen if we didn't subsidize you, if we didn't -- because we give them a lot of money. as an example, we're buying ice breakers and canada wants to join us in the buying of ice breakers, i said, we don't really want to have a partner on the buying of ice breakers. we don't need a partner. but -- >> -- the u.s. have the right to

lay claim -- [indiscernible] >> president-elect trump: no right. here's what we have. we have the right not to help them with the financial difficulties. we owe trillio trillion of dolld we'll knock it out fast because we have other things. no, no, no right. but why are we supporting a country -- 200 billion plus a year. our military is at their disposal. all of these other things. they should be a state. that's what i told trudeau when he came down. i said what would happen if we didn't do it. he said canada would dissolve, canada wouldn't be able to function. if we didn't take 20% of the car market. they send us hundreds of thousands of cars. they make a lot of money with that. they send us a lot of other things we don't need. we don't 23450 need the cars ore other products. we don't need their milk. we have a lot of milk. we have a lot of everything.

we don't need any of it. i said why are we doing it. he said i don't really know. he was unable to answer the question. i can answer. we are doing it because of habit. we are doing it because we like our neighbors. and we've been good neighbors. but we can't do it forever, and it's a tremendous amount of money, and why should we have a 200 billion deficit and add on to that many, many other things that we give them in terms of subsidy. and i said that's okay to have if you're a state. but if you're another country, we don't want to have it. we're not going to have it with european union either. european union we have a trade deficit of $350 billion. they don't take our cars. they don't take our farm product. they don't take anything. and so we're not going to have it with them either. brian, go ahead. >> happy new year, by the way. >> president-elect trump: thank you. >> we have breaking news, and looks like cannon has blocked the doj from releasing the smith report until further court

proceedings. get your thoughts on that. >> president-elect trump: wow, that's a big story. if i get it right, the fake witch-hunt started by the doj having to do with books and records and biden h had many mo, and he was not protected by the presidential records act, i was. all of the fake stuff that took the lives of people, i mean, literally destroyed people. people are destroyed because of what they did. destroyed. but we got to be president but biden did it for 40 years. he did it when he was a senator. that was illegal and they ruled it illegal. how about that. >> they said it's illegal but he's fit to stand trial. he can stand for president of the united states and he was unfit to stand trial. and i was going to use it as a

talking point but all of a sudden i had a new candidate who was also unfit to stand trial and you're saying that the -- cannon was thrown off the case and he dropped all of the lawsuits against us, and they lost the lawsuit and so this is -- to jack smith. so he dropped the lawsuits, and told to by the doj because there was no lawsuit. they lost in court in front of a very strong and a very brilliant judge. they lost in court. and that pertained to other cases in other courts. so he wanted to do a report. just before i take office, probably. so he'll do, like, a 500-page report and it will be a fake report just like the investigation was a fake investigation. and i said, well, wait a minute, this guy was thrown off in disgrace. in disgrace. he's gone back to the hague or whenever they're going to send him in disgrace.

because he failed so badly. because it was a fake case against a political opponent. they thought they were going to use this to beat me. so what you're saying is they -- and i'm just hearing that. they're not allowed to issue the report. so if they're not allowed to issue the report, that's the way it should be. because he was thrown off the case in disgrace. why should he be allowed to write a fake report? it will only be a fake report. that's great news, good. >> if i can follow it up quickly. a comment, many americans are angry that we're sending millions of dollars every month to the taliban. do you anticipate -- >> president-elect trump: it's not believable. not millions. billions. we pay billions of dollars to essentially the taliban, afghanistan. and that's given by biden. that's the same man that took away 50 to 60 trillion dollars' worth of value from the united states. think of it. probably our most valuable asset. took away our most valuable asset. this can't be allowed to happen.

we are now a nation of common sense. when he does that, 625 million acres, this can't be allowed to happen. thank you for the information. >> yes, sir. >> president-elect trump: most other people knew about it but wouldn't have told me. >> mr. president, on the campaign trail you vowed to bring down the grocery prices fast. and you told time magazine that bringing down prices will be very hard. what can the american people -- >> president-elect trump: it's hard to bring down prices when somebody else has screwed something up like they did. but we'll bring them down. in energy will bring it down, and energy and bad spending is what brought it down. energy will bring it down. we'll have prices down. i don't think you'll see drastic price reductions. example, food, bacon, ham, apples, everything has gone through the roof. it's one of the reasons i won. as you know, and i said it,

inflation was one of the reasons i won, but i think the biggest reason i won was the fact that they are allowing prisoners to come into our country. they release their prisoners, their murderers -- thousands of murderers are now walking around the streets of our cities and farmland -- all over. murder -- people they've killed. many, 32% have killed more than 1 volodymyr zelenskyy. they release them. and that is the reason where he got dutch a loud vote. and go ahead. >> and can you -- president carter is laying in state in washington and you had harsh words about the panama canal and any disconnect and. >> look, i liked him as a man and i disagreed with his policy. he thought giving away the panama canal was a good thing, and that and the hostages and

that was a bigger factor and that is a deal that should not have been made. again, this was a question that was asked of me, and i didn't want to bring up the panama canal because of jimmy carters death. and i was a young guy when it happened, and losing 30,000 people to malaria, mosquitos, and they were dying, and paying four times in the united states, and they went over there and died in the jungles of malaria, and nothing to stop it. and we gave it away for $1. >> in congress, you appeared to open the door in your radio interview yesterday for 2 bill approaches, and it's still your preference for one big beautiful

bill. >> president-elect trump: i like one big beautiful bill. i like it always will, always have. and if it's two, it will be quicker, and you can do the immigration stuff early, and for immigration, and we won the case on the wall, and they tried to sell the wall for 5 cents on the dollar, by the way. we fortunately had one judge that stopped that. they were discarding the wall. 5 cents on the dollar. you know what they were doing, they were calling us up and saying sell it back at 200 cents. in other words, double what we paid for it. they were going to buy it from this guy, 5 cents on the dollar. they were making deals. and fortunately, we had a smart judge that stopped it cold. i think he called for an investigation, too, and he should. but think of it. they were selling the wall that was exactly the wall that the border patrol wanted. designed by them. steel, concrete, rebar. exactly as they want. and very heavy steel, and very

powerful steel. hard to cut. very, very heavy. 7,000-pound concrete which is a very strong concrete and everything was top of the line. very expensive. double what we paid for it then. 6 years ago. and let me tell you. they were selling it for 5 cents on the dollar to people and those people were calling us, asking us to pay 200 cents. because it's a good deal because we can have it immediately. you know what immediately is? just leave it in place. no. no the papers have not written that. and this is like the other things the people do. the people either hate our country or very stupid. i don't believe they are stupid. nobody can cheat on elections like they cheated and be stupid. they either hate our country or are stupid. remember what i said, because nobody wants to report it. they were selling the wall for 5 cents on the dollar and trying to resell it back to us for 200

cents or less. but for 200 cents on the dollar. that's a nice return. >> -- stop doing fact checks on its website -- meta said it would stop fact checks on the website. >> president-elect trump: i watched the news conference and i thought it was a very good news conference. honestly, i think they have come a long way, meta, f facebook. i think they came a long way, and the man was impressive. i watched it on fox, i'm not allowed to say that. >> do you think he's directly responding to the threats you have made to him in the past? >> president-elect trump: probably. >> the last time you were here, you were asked a question about the u.s. possibly launching a preemptive strike on iran. you said you wouldn't answer that. >> who? >> on iran. the u.s. launching preemptive strike on iran nuclear

facilities. >> president-elect trump: i don't talk about it. it's a military strategy. >> it's a legitimate question. >> no, it isn't, only a stupid person would answer that. it's a military strategy, and i am not answering on military strategy. brian, one more. >> could you give us a preview of what you might talk to leaders of congress who expected to come here in the next couple of days, and you have a very supportive congress behind you. >> president-elect trump: they're great. we have a wonderful republican congress. we have a leader that h i have a lot of confidence in and hopefully he'll be a great leader, a great speaker, and we have a leader, whic by the way,d the senate, and john thune has been doing a great job, and the question is whether one bill or two bill. i can live either way. i like the idea of one big bill. i will live either way. and the senators are coming down, and then ultimately meeting in the white house in a few weeks, and right now, this is the winter season.

they call it the winter white house. it was built -- i don't know if you know this, margorie merry weather post and ef hutton built this and built one of the best estates in our country, and i get a lot of credit for saving it and a lot of people knocked down in palm beach. just about all of them. build 10 mansions on one place. and this was built as a southern white house and she gave it to the government, and by the way, jimmy carter gave it back, and said it's too expensive for the united states. i didn't realize that. >> real quickly -- >> actually, jimmy carter -- nixon was through watergate, and nixon came here once and thought it was incredible and he had a thing called watergate if anybody remembers that. and so he had other things on his mind, to put it mildly, and jimmy carter felt it was too extravagant for the country, and fortunately for me, he gave it back to the foundation, and i bought it from the foundation.

>> -- on reconciliation. some republicans saying in trade for a massive bill that you and they share the interest in he thn --they share interest in. they want big spending cuts. >> i like big spending cuts, and i'm on the record for big spending cuts, and the debt ceiling, and it was put in our lap. i don't want the ceiling. i just don't want to see a default. that's all i want. i never talked about spending more money, necessarily, than -- all i want is no default. because nobody knows what would happen if there was a default. it could be 1929 and it could be nothing. but that was put into our lap and it shouldn't have been and it was and so we'll handle it. but debt ceiling is not about raising a lot of money. it's really just about extending it. i just want to see an extension. [mixed voices] >> sir, a question on immigration. how much can you do by executive

order? are you planning to do on executive order when it comes to immigration? and how much do you want congress to tackle this issue? and also on day one -- >> president-elect trump: well, i had the safest border in the history of our country by far, and you remember the famous chart i brought down and i love that chart for a lot of reasons, but i have the safest border by far in our country, and i took it over and it was a mess. nothing like now. this is ten times worse. i got elected the border the first time, and i got elected largely because of the border the sec --the third time, and td time i did very well, and not as well as the last time. this is too big to rig. you know the expression? too big t to rig. they tried but they couldn't do it. i didn't get very much from congress at all. i just said we're being invaded and i took the money out of the military. much of the wall -- i built -- over 500 miles of wall. much of that wall was built through money i put in military.

we took it out because we can't get things from congress those days and we took it out. and and that wall was built largely with money coming from the military. very simple. i went to the military. i said our country is being invaded by very -- nothing like what is invading our country now. they weren't releasing prisoners into our country, and weren't releasing mental institutions in. some bad dudes were coming in. i said our country is being invaded and i took the money largely from the military. i was sued nine times by the democrats in congress, and i won all of the suits. we ended up building 571 miles of wall. once that wall was built, they started going around it. so we're going to add another 200. that would have been up in three weeks and then we had an unfortunate election result and they said we don't want to put it up. we'll sell it. and they started selling it for 5 cents on the dollar.

so we'll do this again. i just want to thank everybody very much. i'm telling you this is the golden age of america. this is the golden age of america. we're going to have a great country right now. we're a country under siege. we have so many different problems. and nobody respects us overseas. now they do. the italian prime minister, as you know, came here the other night. just flew in and flew out. she wanted to see me. and great respect is being shown when i went to the cathedral in france and great respect by the prime minister, by everybody -- and france -- i have to say they did a great job on the cathedral and great respect is being shown to our country again. we have a great country, but we have to run it properly. it has to be run properly. we want to get back those hostages for israel. and for you us. we do have people that are hostages being held. and i'll just say it again. if this deal is not done with

the people representing our nation, by the time i get to office, all hell is going to break out. thank you very much. >> you've been listening to a rather newsy press conference from president-elect donald j. trump at mar-a-lago. there were at least 4 very newsy items. one of which was breaking news where the president-elect acted in real time. that's when district court judge aileen cannon permanently or temporarily, i should say, enjoyed the doj from distributing, conveying or sharing information in the final report from jack smith. you also heard about new foreign investment. $20 billion worth of data centers powering into our country. reminiscent of the president's last press conference, and spurring 100,000 jobs from a japanese ceo was announced. you heard the gulf of mexico may get the new name. that is the gulf of america. the president-elect announcing his plans there, and then announcing what was the fourth,

but, perhaps, biggest news item of the press conference was that the special envoy to the middle east, steve witkoff, we heard from him live, and he said somesomething to announce by the inauguration, and lives saved, and the president-elect saying if those hostages are not back by the time i get in office, all hell will break out in the middle east, and hello, this is "outnumbered," and i'm kayleigh mcenany and joining mow is me ip and harris faulkner and joining me is brian kilmeade. brian, i want to start with steve witkoff and what we heard, if that is true, your mind goes to do we have hostages released on inauguration day, and what would it be reminiscent of? january 20th, 1981, when

reagan got the iranian hostages released. they are doing their job and at the same time, over the weekend, and i know it was reported by reuters and denied by the prime minister that hamas submitted 35 names they are looking to release in exchange for, we don't know, countless number of prisoners that israel is holding. what he was trying to stay and steve witkoff is saying, he is giving them leverage, and saying i am giving you a deadline, and inauguration you got to get it done. and it's none of this we'll see what happens, and see what the man -- go back and forth. no, there's a deadline now, and the clock has started and one of the things that netanyahu said is we're not leaving gaza. so stop asking us to. the last time we left gaza, you ended up killing over a thousand israelis on october 7th. so we're saying there's going to be a presence there, and that is off the table, and the question is about humanitarian aid, what they could get in and as well

wiped out sinwar how many other higher ups are left, and the president put a deadline on it. it's inevitable. it's not i think. it's not i am. it's i will. what he will do in terms of troops there, i'm not sure. put everyone on notice. >> that would be huge if the hostages released inauguration day. as a lifelong floridan with eyes on the west coast of florida, this news stuck out, and the body of water which i reside, the gulf of mexico may no longer be called that. listen to this. >> president-elect trump: we're going to announce at a future date, pretty soon, we're going to change because we do most of the work there and it's ours. we're going to changing -- sort of the opposite of biden where he is closing everything up. essentially getting rid of 50 to 60 trillion dollars' worth of assets. we're going to change the name of the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america. which has a beautiful ring. that covers... a lot of territory.

the gulf of america. what a beautiful name. >> harris, it has a ring to it. >> harris: you know who believes it is mexico. they are continuing with the interoceanic canal, and they want to put pressure on the pacific and atlantic oceans, and put pressure on the panama canal which this president incoming also has his eye on. it's more than just a name. it's a reminder of what he puts in his front-view mirror. it's us. it's this country. and since we surround that body of water, i could understand why he might want to change the name. but it also lets all of the countries who think we are joking about that fact know for sure that we're not. i mean, mexico is going to be sitting right next door to the gulf of america, potentially. >> that's right, and emilie, hee called the smooth transition just talk, and one of the data points is the 6.5 million acres that biden took off the map off u.s. waterways off the coast to

make them not usable for drilling and this is prudent to a 1953 law that allows the president to do this and in other words he has made it very difficult for president trump to drill, baby, drill. >> emily: what is underscores, and while those on the left talk about a logistical transfer on the 20th, the reality is there is a lot of policies scrambled to being put in place, and e.o.'s being signed at the very last minute by the current commander-in-chief to make the executive functions of the incoming president that much more difficult. so, yes, i see this as absolutely laying out a thick layer of peanut butter and saying, well, enjoy the transition. enjoy executing on all of the things you promised the american people. to me, it also symbolizes yet again that the interests of the current administration is spite. and myopic self-serving interest and nowhere near the interests of the american people and

stewarding your tax dollars to hinder president trump. >> kayleigh: there was laughter who they said canada could be the 51st state and i spoke to kevin o'leary, and he said we could be powerful economically, and president trump says an economic not a military takeover. let's listen to what he said. >> they said you are considering a military force for panama and greenland. are you considering military force to annex canada? >> president-elect trump: know. economic force. because canada and the united states, that would really be something. you get rid of the artificially drawn line and look at what it looks like. it would be better for national security. >> kayleigh: apparently an alliance like the european union and one that makes us stronger from attacks from russia and china and foes. >> emily: i don't have a

problem with free trade, and people being able to come and go and visit freely. i don't think we necessarily want to acquire canada. i don't want to acquire canada because of the socialized health care system. we have enough problems with our sort of public/private health care system. that we don't need to take on that massive burden. because if we can't figure things out here, how are we going to impose something there? >> great question. >> a lot of canadians aren't happy with that. and i certainly don't want to be on a list if i need surgery or treatment for something -- i don't want to wait 6 months to get a knee god forbid it comes to something like that. but i do like the idea of economic freedom. you know, allowing these individual markets to decide what people want to buy. i know the president is very focused on trade deficits, and what that means is we are importing more from canada than they are us.

>> if cars can be made in the united states of america, and employ more people, and the cars are reasonably priced and lower and middle income earners can afford to buy them, i am for that, as well. having a rethink of the way we do business is good. but acquiring something that has a lot of problematic aspects, not necessarily forward-looking or freedom-leaning. but if it goes toward freedom, and somehow lowers my taxes, i'm all for it. >> president-elect trump said he inherited a world that was burning and he specifically cited the ukraine war which he does not believe would have happened absent afghanistan and the weakness shown there. he said the perception of the world changed with his re-election. listen to this. >> president-elect trump: since we won the election, a couple of months, since we won the election, the whole perception of the whole world is different. people from other countries have called me, they said thank you, thank you.

the perception of the whole world is different. we're going to have to settle some big problems that are going on right now. >> you heard kayeigh talking about the breaking news point that came up during the news conference. here it is. moments ago during the news conference with president-elect trump, he was asked about this happening. judge aileen cannon blocked special counsel jack smith from releasing his report on the election case against trump. i want to bring in correspondent david spunt on this. and we got the one line on this. fill it in. >> it's a three-page order from federal judge aileen cannon in florida. ironically came on the docket a few minutes after president-elect trump was praising judge cannon and had the courage to handle the case the way she did. the bottom line is this regarding the breaking news. special counsel jack smith who will be out of the job in a few days because the justice

department cannot prosecute a sitting president will release or plans to release two volumes of a report. the first is the election interference case that he brought against former president now president-elect trump. the other is the classified documents case. smith failed at both of those for different reasons. so neither of those went to trial. now jack smith wants to have his parting word with a report. it's not unusual for special counsels to put out reports. this is a bit unusual in this case because the support, harris, and everyone on the couch, is the president that will take the oath of office in those plan two weeks. so judge cannon told the justice department to hold on on releasing the report until the 11th circuit court of appeals makes some sort of decision. it's unclear -- and i want to know if -- and speaking to sources, doj is holding off on

releasing any parts of the report because they don't know exactly what this order means. so we're told jack smith is preparing a lengthy voluminous report in two sections, two volumes, and judge cannon in the 3-page order says that the doj is being told to hold off on releasing any reports until the 11th circuit court of appeals weighs in. harris. >> harris: just quickly, and forgive me if i missed this in your reporting, what is the time period for something like that? could that kind of an appeal happen before january 20th? >> absolutely it could. what i am told by sources is the classified documents case -- that's still an active case. and they could be pardoned after he takes the oath of office, and that report regarding the classified documents, and the

january 6th election interference and the whole case in washington, d.c., that is gone. that is history. we presumably could see that report sooner than the classified documents section. but i think doj right now, specifically the special counsel is trying to figure out how to respond to the judge and we may get more clarity liter. >> kaylei >> harris: great reporting as always, and i want to bring in special reporter, and the reaction from incoming president-elect trump is good news, and he off often says thaf it's a victory. what is victorious in this? >> for the report not to be released. i have a couple of thoughts, and one as david mentioned, two reports. one to the classified documents case, and one relating to the other case, and the classified docs, i don't know they can release that and two defendants in the case, going forward, and

release as the case is active, would be fundamentally unfair and very prejudicial to the case as it moves forward, and donald trump could get into office and could pardon those two. it doesn't change the fact that the case is alive and active and offering to the public pages and pages of documents. and i would argue that jack smith issued the report already, and he did that in october when he did the 165-page filing. and people perceive that as an attempt to influence the elections given the fact he was regurgitating everything we now and the report will be identical to what he has been releasing the last few years, and it is big news and judge cannon said we'll ind -- we'll wait on issug the reports in total as we figure out what to do because there's an active case with the two defendants. but she could delay it long

enough until inauguration and we see what happened there. >> harris: just quickly, and you made the same note i did about jack smith and what could happen moving forward with the possibility he is issuing the same report twice and i wondered what the public would see that they haven't seen. i would imagine it would be redacted. >> i don't think anything. and the special counsel regulations does require a special counsel to file a report with the attorney general. but it is up to the attorney general whether he or she decides to release that report. and you know, attorney general garland could look at that and say, look, we have basically been issued the report the last three years. this man is president. these cases are gone. enough. we're going to start over. we're just going to do away with these things. >> harris: lets me interject here. the new york case, arguments underway right now. where do you put that and the threat of well at some point in the future there could be sentencing. >> yeah, well, look, i think it's fundamentally unfair that

judge merchan gave president-elect trump a week to, you know, go through the appeals courts to make his case before the sentencing on friday. that is very hard to do. to go through the entire process and hope that a court intervenes in a handful of days. but right now, todd blanche who is set to be the deputy attorney general at doj, the number 2 spot, he is at the appellate court in the state of new york and he is arguing that judge merchan's rejection of president trump's immunity arguments was wrong. and as such, he wants to continue to appeal that and also pause the sentencing date as he appeals that immunity argument. >> harris: we got to be super, super quick here. does trump ever reach a point where this is not coming at him once he takes office? >> well, it really depends what happens in the business records case. you know, if he is successful on his appeal, that -- he could eventually be vindicated. but given that he's somewhat at the start of that appeals process, you know, we're still

looking at some time going forward. >> harris: kerri, great to pet t your perspective on the things. back to the couch, the top-line thoughts. >> you heard it mentioned by the president today, and the filing by garland, and we learned that before january 10th, garland would make the decision and it was kneecapped by the judge's order, and i couldn't divorce myself from thinking of the washington post article that came out 7 days ago and based on two dozen sources. biden's close allies who said he was frustrated with garland, regretted choosing him, and wished garland was more aggressive in prosecuting trump and less in prosecuting hunter biden, and some democrats, and said if garland hadn't been here, maybe it would have affected the election.

>> harris: i am wondering, brian, what kayeigh is talking about making it personal and vindictive. does it ever get to the american people? >> we don't know how much joe biden -- >> we won't know now. >> we'll know soon. >> harris: you think we will. >> we will get the story of bad days you can't talk to him and good days where you can. >> harris: nothing to be adjudicated. >> and i'm not going to put an 80-year-old man on trial and remember, hunter biden, and he blew up the deal, and the probation to the gun charge, and opened up everything else when the facts came out. the facts are a problem for joe biden. he is mad at garland for finding the facts on his son and now we have pictures in the new york post last week -- we go back last week that show he was all over the deals in china. that's the story that he wants to stop. as far as these two cases, we're done. that horse has left the barn. it's not coming back. we're not looking for it. >> harris: so, emily, talk to

me about what happened with hunter biden and the only reason we care is because of his dad. no one wants to put an 82-year-old man on trial. >> that's right, and there are things left to be prosecuted, and i would say wait for that. i want to make a point about judge cannon, if i may. the reminder she was the one that ruled that the special counsel was unlawfully elected, and that is still under appeal in the 11th circuit, and what was cited there would be irreparable harm would be done if special counsel jack smith's report was released, and it's important to note that the judge is saying do not let the genie ought of the bottle. right now -- again nie out of ge bottle. in case the appeals circuit overrules here, and remember the two other codefendants while dismissing against president trump. notwithstanding his current status as president, that could potentially blow up again, dang

right, that could have consequences, the report. >> harris: could they pre-pardon? >> pre-pardon? >> harris: you know what i mean. >> you can't pardon for things in the future. >> harris: biden did. >> for durations. i wish i could. you and me would rob a bank. >> harris: you know what the release, kennedy, of any report like this, evenly even though we seen what jack smith has and he did a reissue it. >> we know what is there even if we don't subscribe. >> harris: that's a good point. do we get our money back? the liberal networks, it gives them the talking points that they ran with for years. >> and i think that's what this is. i think that this is a political gift to try to do as much damage as possible to the incoming president. because that has been the focus of the justice department throughout the entire biden administration. during trump's first term, you

know, he had the entire establishment against him. that's haul they were doing was obsessively trying to find ways to impeach him. then when he was out of office, they were just trying to legally cancel him through every coordinated avenue. that failed because he was re-elected. and they had to drop a lot of those cases especially because of the supreme court precedent. so now the only thing left to do is try and throw a grenade and hope the shrapnel does the political damage that they weren't able to do with every other avenue. that is not the job of special counsel. that should not be the precedent. that should not be his aim and what he should be doing. >> it's also the job of the complicit liberal-leaning media. that's not their job. >> and subscribers and rating, and saw it on msnbc after the election. this is not what people want. it's not what they have wanted. it is a disservice to the

american people. and they're finding t out the hd way, but still doing it. >> brian your last thought? >> my last thought is trump made a lot of news, and the foreign policy, and witkoff moving in that region. for somebody not president, he is doing a lot. >> harris: somebody has to do something. >> that's because all joe biden is doing is the tantrum with the drilling and the release of the gitmo detainees. >> harris: and the recidivism alive and among them, and they will hit anything we love and support around the world that they can. >> no question. >> there's still 15 left at gitmo. biden may release more to make obama's dream -- remember, he wanted gitmo closed and biden has furthered that now. he's 15 away, and we'll cover every bit of news for you. ♪ ♪ >> we are inheri