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

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

job in tennessee, marsha, and in utah. and arizona is looking very good. really very good. she has done a terrific job, and that is a tough race, and she has done a fantastic job, and in each of the open seats, the democrats are recruited strong candidates with substantial fund-raising and media support. we were getting bombbarded with money on the other side. in the house, republicans dramatically outperformed the historical precedence and overcame a historic number of retirements and the most house republican house retirements in 88 years. 43 house republicans retired, and now i will say this that in many cases, they were chairmen of committees, and they left because they were not chairmen and the republicans have a role for six year, and what that does is wonderful in one way and lets people come through the system,

and become chairmen and in other ways it drives people out. because when they are the chairmen, they don't want to go to not be the chairmen and you are the chairmen and a big deal and now all of the sudden, you not doing that, and so we had them leave, and lot of them leave. and so you can flip a coin as to which system is better. the democrats do other, andle is of their folk folks have been chairmen for a long time. and in obama's first term he lost 63 seat, and by contrast, the most current count around 27 house seats or r something, and we will figure that out pretty soon. we also had a slew of historic wins in the governor's races, and the governor's races were incredible against very well funded and talent and skilled democrat candidates and people that worked very, very hard respectfully for those

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

the voters have also clearly rebuked the senate democrats for their handling of the kavanaugh hearing and that is a factor and maybe a very big factor of the way it was handled was tremendous energy given to the republican party by the way they treated then judge kavanaugh and now justice kavanaugh. and expressed the support for confirming more great pro constitution judges. candidates who embraced our message of low taxes, low regulations, low crimes and strong borders and great judges excelled last night. they excelled. they really, and i mean, we have a list of people that were fantastic. i am just going to point them out. mike bost, rodney davis, andie

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

being held hostage in venezuela, but mia love gave me no love, and she lost. too bad. sorry about that, mia. and barbara comstock is another one and i think that she could have won that race, but she did go on and not have any embrace for that, and for that i don't blame her. but she lost substantially, and substantially lost. peter roskam did not want the embrace, and eric paulson did not want the embrace, and in new jersey, i think that he could have done well, but it did not work out too well, bob hugin, and i feel badly, because i think that is something that could have been won, and that is a race that could have been won, and john fasso and those are some people who decided for their own reason not the embrace whether it is me or what we

stand for, but what we stand for meant a lot to most people. and we have had tremendous support and tremendous support on the republican par the ti among the biggest support in the h history of the party. i have actually heard at 93%, it is a record, but i won't say that, because who knows. but we have a had tremendous support. america is booming like never before. doing fantastic. and we have larry kudlow here, and he says that the numbers are as good as he has ever seen in numbers at a any time for our country, and he is a young man, and so he as not seen that many numbers. where is larry? you are a young man, right, larry, and you have not been doing this too long, but they are as good as you have ever seen. and we may have, if you have a question for larry, we will do that, but i want to send my warmest appreciation and regards to majority leader mitch

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

the returns, and so if the are republicans won, and say we held on by two or one or three, it would have been very hard having that many republicans to ever even get support among the republicans, because there is always one or two or three people that for good reason or bad reason or for grandstanding, and we have that, too, and you have seen that. you have seen that. plenty of grandstanding but for certain reasons with that many people, you will have a kocoupl of people who won't do that and so that going to put us at a bad position. and in other words, had we kept and i am saying this for a very b basic reason, and it is common sense, it puts us in a tough position, we win by one or two or three, and you'll have one or two or three or four or five even come over to say, look, we won't go along with this, and we want this, this, this, and all of the sudden, we wouldn't even be able to get it in many cases out of the republicans' hands before we sent it on to the

senate. and now we have a much easier path, because the democrats will come to us with a plan for in a infrastructure and plan for health care or a plan or whatever they are looking at and we will negotiate. as you nknow it is very hard in the senate, because we need essentially ten votes from the democrats, and we don't get the vote, because the democrats really do stick together well. i don't agree with them on a lot of policy, but i agree with them sticking together, and they stick together great. so we go into the senate and we don't have the ten votes, and what happens? it does not get passed and even if it is out of the house, it is not going to be passed. so under the new concept of what we are doing, i say, come on, let me see what you have, and they want to do things, and i keep hearing about investigations fatigue like from the time of almost from the time

i announced that i would run. they have been giving us this the investigation fatigue. it has been a long time. they got nothing. zero. you know why? because there is nothing. but they can play that game, but we can play it better, because we have a thing called the united states senate, and a lot of very questionable things were done between leaks of classified information and many other elements that should not have taken place, and all you are going to do is to end up in back and forth and back and forth and two years is going to go up, and we won't have done a thing. i really think that, and i really respected with what nancy said last night about bipartisanship and getting together and uniting. she used the word uniting and the bi-partisanship statement which is so important, because that is what we should be doing.

so we can look at us, and we can look at us and they can look at them, and it will be back and forth and probably very good for me politically, and i can see it extremely good politically, because i think that i am better at that game than they are actually, but we will find out. and we will find out or we can work together. and you cannot do them simultaneously, and somebody said you can do them both, and no, if they are doing that, we are not doing the other so you understand. so we won't be doing that. and so what happens now is that we send it to the senate and we will have 100% democratic support and some republican s support, and if it is good, we will have republicans who will help with the approval process and they will really help with the approval process, and so it is really could be a beautiful bipartisan type the of situation. if we won by one or two or three or four or five and the closer

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

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

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

that is a lot of hands shooting up so quickly. >> there is a lot the talk to about. >> there is a lot the talk about. >> and mr. president, you talked at length about the bipartisanship, and the presumed speaker of the house of the house nancy pelosi talked about it last night, and that is encouraging for american people, but do you really believe that given what the relationship is like between this white house and the democratic party that it will happen? >> i think that ta thehere is a chance that it will happen. >> and do you to compromise on issues that could hurt you in 2020 and do you expect when the democrats take control of the committees that you will be blitzed with issues from the subpoenas of the cell phone use and then -- >> and if you do have that happen, then we will do the same thing and government comes to a halt, because we will be coming one policy, the majority in the

hou house, and i expect that they will come up with some fantastic ideas that i can support on the environment, on so many different things, including prescription drug prices which we have made a big dent in already including some of the things that we are work on for the vets. we have gotten choice approve and lot of things approved, but they have other element s ths te want. and there are many things that we can get along on without a lot of trouble that we agree very much with them, and they agree with us. i would like to see bipartisanship. i'd like to see unity, and i think that we have a good chance of -- and maybe not on everything, but we have a good chance of seeing that. go ahead. >> one question on the lame duck, sir, and one on the cabinet. you toyed with the idea during the shutdown of the midterms in order to secure border policy,

and is this the last best chance to secure that? >> look, i speak to the democrats all of the time. and they agree that a wall is necessary. a wall is necessary, and as you know, we have started, but we should build it at one time, and not in chunks. >> but you need more money. >> and one wall and not pieces all over ax and now we have the military and other elements of a wall that are pretty nasty to be honest, honest, but it is hard to get through it. no, i would like to see the wall, but many of the people that we are dealing with in 2006, they have approved the wall essentially. it was a strong border fence, but it is the same thing, and they all approved it and i have statements from every one of them and i have them saying we need the wall. they sound like me, and we do need it, because we have people coming in, and i am not talking about just the caravans, but we have people coming through the border that you cannot physically put that many people, and it is a 2,000-mile stretch and you can't put that many

people along that stretch to guard it. and even if you did, tremendous fighting would ensue. and so we need the wall, and many democrats know that we need the wall, and we are just going to have to see what happens, and we will be fighting for it. they have done everything in their power to make sure, and i got the military $700 billion and $716 billion and the wall is the tiny fraction of that, but the whole agenda has been to try not the give me anything for the wall. i really believe politically they are hurting themselves and i actually believe that is politically a good thing for me, but i want to get the wall up. >> and no shutdown scenario for the lame duck -- >> i can't commit to that, but it is possible. >> and can you give us clarity of your thinking now after the midterms about the deputy the attorney general and the -- do they have long term security. >> i would rather answer that at a different time. we are looking at a lot of

things, including the cabinet. i am very happy with most of the cabin cabinet. we are looking at different people for different position, and it is common after the midterms. i did not want to do anything before the midterms, but i will tell you that for the most part, i am extremely happy with my cabinet. i think that mike pompeo has fit in beautifully and he has done an extraordinary job. >> and what about the interior secretary? >> i am looking at that and study at what is being said -- >> is he in jeopardy? >> i think that he is doing an excellent job, but we will look at that very strong and have an idea about that in a week. >> thank you, mr. president. >> wow, this is -- go ahead, jim. he gave me a fair interview the other day, and so i might as have him ask me a question. >> and picking up, you told me the other day, that you are an open book. >> i think that i am an open book. >> and point blank, the democrats go after your tax returns and will you try to block that or allow them to have

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

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

what kind of question is that? >> that is not the question. >> he is a real comedian here, and i do like oprah. and a person that i know well with and came to my place in palm beach often and i have respect for her, and unfortunately, she did not do the trick. >> and the question is up here, and you just said from that podium that, are you offering and a my way or the highway scenario to democrats -- >> no, negotiation. not at all. >> and if they start to investing you that you can play that game and you can investigate them -- >> better than them. >> and compartmentalize that -- >> and i know more than they do. >> and benefit the rest of the country -- >> no. >> or are all bets off? >> no, if nay do -- if they do that, then it is a war-like posture. >> and i will follow up. >> go, ahead, jim. >> since it is jim, i will let it go. >> and i want to ask about one

of the statements that you made at the tail end of the campaign in the midterms. >> here we go. >> and if you don't mind, mr. president -- >> and come on. okay. >> and the caravan is an invasion. >> it is not an invasion. >> and the group of migrants moving up from central america to the u.s. >> thank you for that information. >> and why did you characterize it that much. >> and it is considered an invasion and you and i have a different opinion. >> and with do you think that y have demonized immigrants -- >> no, i want them to come into the country, and do it legally. i want them to come in through the process and i want people to come in and we need the people. >> and your campaign -- >> and wait, wait, you know why we need the people? because we have hundreds of companies moving in, and we need the people. >> and your campaign ad showed migrants climbing over walls and so on. >> and that is true. they were not actors.

they were not actors and it is true. do you think they were actors? they did not come from hollywood. these were people, and this is an actual, you know, it happened a few days ago and -- >> the-- they are hundreds of ms away and that is not an invasion. >> and honestly, i think that i should run the company and you run cnn and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better. that is enough. >> and if i could have one more -- >> and that is enough. >> and if i could ask, one of the other folks, and pardon me, ma'am. >> that is enough. >> let's go. >> and if i i could ask on the russian investigation, are you concerned that you may -- >> i am not concerned about anything with the russian investigation, because it is a hoax, and that is enough. put down the mike. >> and mr. president, are you worried about the indictments coming down in this investigation -- >> come on, move on. >> i will tell you that cnn should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. and you are a rude and terrible person and you should not be

working for cnn. go ahead. >> i think that is unfair. >> you are a rude person, and the way you treat sarah huckabee is horrible and other people is horrible and you should not treat people that way. >> and in jim's defense and i have travelled with him and watched him and he is diligent and busts his butt. >> well, i am not a big fan of you, either. >> well, okay. >> and you are not the best. and just sit down, please. >> and i want to just -- >> when you report the fake news, and when you are report the fake news which cnn does a lot, and you are the enemy of the people. go ahead. >> mr. president, over the course of the several days of the campaign -- sir, at the end of the campaign, you said that americans need to fear democrats and you said that democrats would unleash a wave of crime that endangers families everywhere, why? >> because they are weak on crime. peter. pet

peter, what are you trying to be him? >> no, i am asking the question. very simplem because they are weak on crime. and because they have often suggested members and people within the democratic party at a high level have suggested getting rid of i.c.e. and getting rid of law enforcement, and that is not going to happen, all right. we want to be strong on the borders and strong on law enforcement, and i want to cherish i.c.e., because they do a fantastic. and what they do for us is so really so unrecognized how good of a job they do. and so we want to take care of them and we want to hold them very close, because they do a good job. >> and to be clear. >> thank you very much. sit down, please. >> and you did not answer my question, and simply, why are you pitting americans against one another, sir. >> i am not. >> is that how you view the citizens -- >> look, we won a lot of elections last night, and i sthit going to have a positive impact. i -- nbc this morning and they did not report it correctly, but

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

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

things that came up in this investigation. they don't do that. they should also get people that can be fair and not 13 or 14 or 17 i call them the angry democrats. and they are angry people. and it is a very unfair thing for this country, and it is a very, very, a forget about unfair to me, but it is bad for the country. >> and so mr. president, if it is unfair -- and just one moment, if it is unfair to the country and it is costing millions of dollars and just end it. >> give him the mic, and i have answered that question. and i will give you, and i will give you voter suppression. you just have to -- sit down, please. sit down, and i did not call you. i did not call you. i will give you voter suppression. take a look at the cnn polls how inaccurate they were. and that is called voter suppression. go ahead. >> thank you. mr. president -- >> and can you -- >> i am not responding to you -- excuse me. i am not responding to you but i am talking to this gentleman and

would you please sit down. excuse me, would you please sit down, and please, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, and now that the house of -- >> it is such a hostile media and it is so sad that you asked me, and no, you rudely interrupted him. you rudely interrupted him. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, and do you or your demands remain the same to the united states congress on immigration and exchange for a daca fix or any of the demands that you gave to congress earlier. >> i think that we can do something with daca and what happened and we could have done some good work on it, because judge ruled that the daca was okay, and if the judge had not ruled that way, we could have made a deal, and once the judge ruled that way, the democrats did not want to talk that way, so we will see how it works ow at the supreme court.

go ahead. >> from where? okay. yeah, go ahead. go ahead. which group? where do you want me to take a question from. ma'am, go ahead. either one. >> okay. or both. are you together? go ahead? >> we are not together. mr. president, how do you respond to the critics who say that your message on the campaign towards minorities have been polarizing. >> i don't believe it has been at all. >> and the election of two muslim women, and one is to the house, and that is making history and that is a rebuke of the -- >> i don't understand what you are saying? >> is this more e buking of the multi cultural or multi ethnic america. >> you look at the unemployment numbers for african-american, and asian americans and hispanic asians are at the historic high

and a poll came out recently where my numbers with hispanics and with african-americans are the highest and the best they have ever been. that took place two to three days ago the poll, and i have the best numbers with african-american and hispanic american that i have ever had before, and you saw the same poll. so i can't say that. i can say this, that you are looking at the median income and all of the employment and unemployment numbers, and they are are doing the best they have ever done. and it reflects, and it is reflective in the polls. yes go, ahead. >> mr. president, i'm from brooklyn so you will understand me. >> i understand you very well. >> my question isp on the health care and how is that possible to keep the premiums down and cover the pre-existing conditions without the individual mandate to fund it? >> well, first of all, what we are doing, and if you are look at the department of labor also s secretary separately, and secretary azoar what they have done, they have come up with

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

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

and we had tremendous success with the senate. >> and can i ask you one more question, mr. president, if i can, sir, because it is a rare opportunity. and lot of people are going to be rushing to iowa and new hampshire and the democrats are looking ahead to 2020 and do you want to lock down your ticket now, and will the vice president be your running mate in 2020, and i have not asked him, but i hope so. and let me ask him. mike, will you be my running mate, and stand up, mike and raise your right hand, and will you? okay. good. and the answer is yes. okay. that is unexpected, but i feel very fine. >> yeah, please. >> thank you, mr. president, and going back to the russia investigation and potential investigation from the now democratically majority in congress, and some say that you could stop all of this by declassifying. >> i could, i could fire everybody right now, but i don't

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

embarrassment to the country, and it is an embarrassment for the people of country, and too bad. >> what about the declassification of the documents and some say that would clear it up. >> we are looking at that. >> and you are considering that. >> and we are looking at that. >> and can i ask one more question. >> it is amaze thoug other people on the other side just don't want those documents declassified, but i am looking in that and i wanted to certainly wait for after the midterms. >> and may i ask you one more question, mr. president. >> go ahead, don. >> you have defended the righs s of unborn children. >> that is right. very tough issues. >> and so how are you going to push forward the pro life agenda. >> i have been pushing and i have done a very good job, too. and it is a tough issue for the two sides and no question about it. there is great -- >> what are you going to do about it? >> i won't be able to explain it to you, because it is an issue that is a very divisive and p

polarizing issue, but there is a solution, i think that i have the solution, and nobody else does. we are going to be working on that. yes, go ahead, please. she took your place, but that is okay. >> mr. president, just a quick question on rural america in states like indiana, and north dakota, and the folks turned out for the republican candidates and can you talk about wa what this means for your agenda nerms the of the trade and the farm bi bill. >> the farm bill is working really well. i mean, we could have had it approve nid time, a -- approve nid time. and we are looking for the work rules approve and this is great and the democrats are not giving tus ten votes that we want. and everybody wants it. the farmers want it, and the democrats are not approving the farm bill with work rules. a and with could have it very fast with oout the work rules, but we want the work rules in. and the democrats just don't want to vote for that. so it is at some point they will have to pay a price maybe. jeff, go ahead.

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

not agree and it does not matter much obviously. >> and in helsinki. >> and the fact is that i had a very, very good meeting, a very, very good meeting with president putin and a lot was discussed about security, about syria, and about ukraine, and about the fact that president obama allowed a very large part of ukraine to be taken and right now you have submarines off of that particular parcel that we are talking about, and you know what i am talking ab. >> a-- talking about. >> and that is president putin who annexed cry knee imea. >> and that is president obama who did that. >> and that is the putin who annexed -- >> no, that is president obama and nothing to do with me. go ahead. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. connie from sky news. you are a man who likes to win,

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

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

place, and you look at some of the other places, and we just got the word that in iowa you have a governor extended, andy kim, who was extend and num row pla -- number of places, and to be honest, i think it is a great victory. and some of the news is that it was a great victory, but looking at it from the standpoint of gridlock, and i really believe there is going to be much less gridlock because of the way in is going than any other. >> and a quick follow up on that. >> sit down, please. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, let me ask you about one of the campaign promises down the stretch which is a 10% tax cut for middle-class and you talked about the gridlock and the democrats are run the house ways and means committee and if it means a tax cut for the middle-class but raising rates on corpse corporations of the wealthiest, and is that a tradeoff --

>> well, you have to know that if we did it now, we would not have the votes, and we need ten democrat votes, and if we could, we could pass it easily in the house, but no reason to waist the time, because you don't have the votes in the senate, but as an example f the democrats come up with an idea for the tax cuts which i am a big believer in tax cuts, and i would pursue something even if it means some adjustment. >> on which side, the corporate or the individual -- >> yes, to make it possible, but i want to see a tax cut for middle-class. that is their decision now, and they will have to make that decision. as you know if we bring it up to the senate we need ten democratic votes and we don't have them. >> and just because the markets would want to the know and some adjustment is one or two or three percent on either side? >> well, i am not telling you that, but some little adjustment, yes. >> and mr. president, thank you very much. two questions, one is that you had been talking about the

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

>> and did he call to congratulate you and if i could also invite you, since this is a quite a gathering here to go ahead to talk about the staff changes that you expect in the white house while we are here and eager to the hear about them, and is general kelly going to stay on -- >> well, as we make the changes we will sit down to talk to you about it. and no great secret. a lot of the administrationses make the changes after the midterms, and i will say that for the most part, i am very, very a happy with this cabinet. we are doing a great job. and -- >> what about in the white house, sir? you have white house staff and some of them have been talking about leaving and general kelly are rumored to leave. >> people leave. >> is that going to happen, sir? >> i have not heard about john kelly, but no, people leave. they come in, and they are here and it is a very exhausting job. although i love doing it i must tell you, but it is exhausting for a lot of people. i am surprised at a lot of people, they start out as young people and at the end of two

years they are old when they leave. and it is excite exhausting, but i love doing it, and i will tell you that there are going to be changes, but nothing monumental and nothing different from most administrations, and we have -- i mean we have many people lined up for every single position. any position, and everybody wants to work in this white house. we rare a hot country, and this is a hot white house, and a white house that people want to work with. >> no, no. pleads. behind you please, behind you. >> this has been a challenging campaign. >> yes, it has been a very challenging campaign. >> and it has involved a little bit of abuse and violence and people have died in the course of the campaign, and any way in which you think that the temperature could be lower and perhaps peace could break out with the media and perhaps your bipartisan relationships across the house and the senate may produce some change or are we

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

economy, and by the way, if administration through somebody else kept going, you would have had negative 4.2 instead of positive 4.2% growth. you would have had negative. it was heading down. the point is this. excuse me. i would love to see unity. including with the media. because i think the media -- i'll be honest, i think it's a very divisive thing for our country. and you would be amazed at how smart people are seeing your stories and reading your stories and watching. you'd be amazed at how p perceptive and smart they are. it brings disunity. excuse me. you -- you are -- you are not called on. go ahead. go ahead. >> reporter: thank you, president trump. shortly after your victory speech on the historic night back in november of 2016 i asked you to what single factor are

you most attributed the victor to. >> speak up? >> reporter: on the night of your victory i asked you after your speech to what you would attribute your victory. you pointed up to the ceiling and said it was god. based off of that, how would you say over the last two years, what kind of he plays in the day today factor of your -- >> god plays a big factor in my life and many people i know very well in this room like your vice president. god plays a big role in my life. >> and one more quick followup. which loss last night surprised you the most and which of these unsuccessful candidates are you most likely to consider for the administration? >> nothing surprises me in politics. there were losses and victories last night that were incredible. there were victories last night that nobody would believe, especially based on the suppression polls. there were victories last night

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

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

>> i don't -- i really don't understand you. >> reporter: how would you focus on trade -- >> trade with japan? we're dealing with japan on trade. japan has -- t a great country. you have a great prime minister. we had a very successful election. he's a very good friend of mine. he's one of the people i'm closest with, and -- but i tell him all the time japan does not treat the united states fairly on trade. they send in millions of cars at a very low tax. they don't take our cars. and if they do, they have a massive tax on the cars. i'm not blaming japan. i'm blaming the people that were in charge of the united states for a allowing that to happen. we have close to a $100 million trade deficit with japan. don't feel lonely. you weren't the only one. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. first one, secretary pompeo's

talks about with north korea have been postponed. what is happening there and are your meetings happen -- >> no. we're going to change it because of trips being made. we're going to make it another date. but we're very happy how it's going with north korea. we think it's going fine. we're in no hurry. the sanctions are on. >> reporter: you're still expecting to meet kim jong-un -- >> excuse me. the sanctions on are. the missiles and rockets have stopped. the hostages are home. the great heros have been coming home. mi mike pence was in hawaii where one of the most beautiful ceremonies that anyone has ever seen for the fallen -- these are great heros. very important when i was running, a lot of people -- as many years ago as it was, in many cases grandchildren, but they were asking about that, they're coming home. and they're being provided to us as we speak.

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

month? >> sometime next year. sometime early next year. >> reporter: a quick question under u.s. nca. have you repaired your relationship with prime minister trudeau. >> yes, i have. we have a very good relationship. >> reporter: thank you very much, mr. president. we've been talking a lot about division and the division that exists in the country right now. and some of the statistics are disturbing to just about everyone. anti semitic incidents have increased by 57% since 2016. hate crimes are on the rise. why do you think that is and what will you do about it? >> it's very sad to see it. i hate to see it. i've done more. in fact, if you were with us the last time we met, prime minister netanyahu said that this president has done more for israel than any other president. those words. those exact words. jerusalem, protection, working together. so many different things. but the big thing is jerusalem. many, many presidents have said

they are going to build the embassy in jerusalem. never happened. making it the capital of israel, never happened, but it happened with me. and quickly, and not only did it happen. we built the embassy. that would have taken another 15 or 20 years and cost probably billions of dollars. and we did it for a tiny amount of money. it's already done. it's open. nobody has done more for israel than donald trump. and the nice part is that's not me saying it. the prime minister netanyahu. >> reporter: mr. president, what about the divides in this country? what about healing the divides in this country? >> well, we want to see it heal, and one of the things i think that can help heal is the success of our country. we are really successful now. we've gone up $11.7 trillion in worth. china has come down

tremendously. tremendously. china would have super seeded us in two years as an economic power. now they're not even close. china got rid of their china 25. i find it insulting. i said that to them. i said china 25. that means in 2025 they're going to take over economically the world. i said that's not happening. and we're going way up. and they've gone down. i don't want them to go down. we'll have a good meeting, and we're going to see what we can do. but i have to say this. billions of dollars will soon be pouring into our treasury from taxes that china is paying for us, and if you speak to mr. pills bury who probably is the leading authority on china, he was on the other day saying he's never seen anything like it. you know what hasn't? china hasn't. but we're going to try to make a deal with china because i want to have gre