Watch Now: President Donald Trump's full press conference after Midterm Elections results

doing his air he's doing well let's listen to the

president

of the United States thank you very much please thank you there was a great day yesterday an amazing day and last night the Republican Party defied history to expand our majority in the Senate while significantly beating expectations in the House for the midtown and mid-year we did it despite a very dramatic fundraising disadvantage driven by deep-pocketed donors and special interests from the Democrats and very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly, media coverage set a new record and a new standard we also had an amazing amount of withdrawals from the House so it's kind of hard these receipts that could have been held up quite easily and we had newcomers and a lot of them worked really hard but it's really hard when you have so many retreats that we held a large number of campaign rallies with large numbers of people who turned out to everyone, to my knowledge, we did not have a vacant or empty seat.

I'm sure I would have reported it if I had seen one that included 30 rallies in the last 60 days and we saw the candidates I endorsed achieve tremendous success last night as an example of the 11 candidates we campaigned with over the last week nine one Last night this vigorous campaigning stopped the blue wave that you talked about I don't know if there ever was such a thing but it could have if we hadn't campaigned it probably could have and history will really see what a good job we did in the last few weeks in terms of convincing some extraordinary people. the finish line really are tremendous people, but many of them didn't know each other, but they will. 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 only been four

midterm

elections

. since 1934 where a president's party has won even a single senate seat as of now it looks like three could before maybe it could be two but we got a lot and most likely the number is three, you guys probably know better than me at this point because you've seen the most recent numbers 55 is the most republican senators in the last 100 years in the last 80 years a party of sitting presidents has only won a cumulative eight seats in the senate averaging one per decade so if we take two or three or four that's a huge percentage of that number so in the last eight years you think about only eight seats in the first midterm election President Obama's term lost six Senate seats, including in the deep blue state of Massachusetts Republicans won at least four Senate seats held by Democratic incumbents and these are tremendously talented and hard-working people who did this Indiana North Dakota Florida Missouri we also won two open senate seats in Tennessee I want to congratulate our great champion he did a great job job in Tennessee Marsha and in Utah and Arizona it looks great they are really very good she has done two excellent job that was a race difficult and has done a fantastic job in each of these open seats Very strong Democrat candidates with substantial fundraising and media support bombarding us with money from the other side in the House House Republicans dramatically outperformed precedent and they surpassed a historic number of retirements the most House Republican retirements in 88 years forty-three House Republicans retired now I will say this that in many cases they were committee chairs and they left because they were not chair because the Republicans have a six year rule and what that does is wonderful in one sense and it allows people to go through the system and become president and in another sense it throws people out because when they are president they don't want to go and not be president you're a committee chair and you're a big deal and all of a sudden you're not doing that anymore so they leave we had a lot of them leave i guess you can flip a coin which system is better the democrats vs the others, some of your friends have been on those committees for a long time as president in 2010 president obama's first midterm exam he lost 63 seats by contrast from the most current tally looks like about 27 house seats or something like that and we will find out very soon you also had a lot of historic victories in gubernatorial races gubernatorial races were amazing against talented and skilled very well funded democrat candidates and people who worked very very hard with respect for candidates like Oprah Winfrey who I like I don't know if he likes me more but okay he used to but he worked so hard in Georgia very very hard and if you look at him with four crucial gubernatorial races for 2020 and the presidential race Florida Iowa Ohio and Georgia the greats Florida Iowa Ohio and George it can't get much more important they were amazing actually they were amazing, amazing campaigns from now on Republicans will control most governorships across the country including three great women who worked very hard the governors of Alabama, South Dakota and Iowa worked very, very hard and very talented in expanding our majority in the Senate voters have also clearly rebuked Senate Democrats for their handling of the Cavanaugh hearings that was a factor, I think it may be a very big factor, the way it was handled, I think it was a tremendous energy that was given to the Republican Party by the way they treated then Justice Cavanaugh, now Justice Cavanaugh and ex

press

ed their support to further confirm excellent pro-constitutional judges candidates who bought into our message low taxes low regulations low crime strong borders and great judges stood out last night really stood out i want to say we have a list of people who were fantastic and i'm just going to point that out Mike directed Rodney Davis.

Andy Barr was fantastic. I went to Kentucky most of the time. I didn't campaign for the house, but I actually did a special trip for Andy Barr because he was in a very tough race at Kentucky and he won. a very tough race, all the polls showed he was getting lower and lower and he won and I did that Pete's Tauber from Minnesota, great guy, he's new, then he ran a fantastic race, on the other hand, there were some who decided to stay. away let's get away they did it very badly i'm not sure if i should be happy or sad but i feel good for that carlos what a beautiful mike coffman to do wrong mike mia love i saw a love she called me all the time to help her with a situation hostages being held hostage in Venezuela but Mia love didn't give me love and she lost very badly sorry about that Mia and Barbara Comstock was another I mean I think I could have won that race but she didn't want to have any hug so I don't blame her but she lost substantially lost Peter Roskam didn't want the hug Eric Paulson didn't want the hug man in New Jersey I think I could have done well but it didn't work out either well Bob you can I feel bad because I think that's something that could have been a race that could have earned John Faso those are some of the people you know decided for their own reason not to embrace if it's me or what we stand for but what we stand for meant a lot to most people and we've had tremendous support and tremendous support of the Republican Party among the largest supporters in the party's history.

In fact, I heard that 93% is a record, but I won't say that because who knows, but we've had tremendous support. America is booming like never before, making it fantastic. We've got Larry Kudlow here and he said the numbers are the best he's seen at any time for our country but he's a young man so yeah and look at a lot of numbers where Larry is you're a young man right Larry and you haven't been doing this for a long time but they're as good as you've ever seen and we may have it if you have a question for Larry we'll do that but I want to send my warmest appreciation to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell we really work really well together we've been working really well together we actually have a great relationship people just don't understand what's funny and maybe it also seems like i think speaker nancy pelosi and i give her a lot of credit she works so hard and she's worked so hard and hard I give him a lot of credit for what he's done and what he's accomplished I hope we can all work together next year to continue to deliver for the American people, including economic growth, trade in infrastructure, lowering the cost of drugs prescribed, these are some of the things that the Democrats want to work on and I really believe that we will be able to do that.

I think we're going to have many, many, many reasons to do it and I'll just say as a matter of business I was with some very successful people last night we were seeing the

results

so if the Republicans won and let's go let's say we hold for 2 or 1 or 3, it would have been very difficult out of so many Republicans to get the support of the Republicans because there will always be one or two or three people who for a good or bad reason or out of grandstanding also have that, you have seen you have seen a lot of bragging, but for certain races that a lot of people will always have a pair that won't, so it puts us in a very bad position in other words if we would have held and this is no.

I say this for a very basic reason, it is common sense, it puts us in a very difficult position, we would not buy one or two or three and you will have one or two or three or four or five they even come and say, look, we are not going to agree deal with this, we want this, this and all of a sudden we can't even get it out in a lot of cases. out of the hands of the Republicans before we sent it to the Senate and now we have a much easier road because the Democrats will come to us with an infrastructure plan, a health care plan, a plan for whatever they're considering and they'll negotiate like you guys i know it's been very difficult in the senate because we need essentially 10 votes from the democrats and we don't get it because the democrats really stick together, well i don't agree with them on a lot of policies but i do agree with them. by sticking together, they're holding up very well, so now we're going to the senate, we don't have the 10 votes and what happens, it doesn't pass, even if it leaves the house, it doesn't pass, so under the new concept. of what we're doing, I'd say, come on, let me see what you've got, they want to do stuff, you know, I keep hearing about investigations, fatigue, like from the time almost from the time I announced I was going to run, they've been giving us this investigation fatigue, it's been a long time, they got nothing, zero, you know why, because there's 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. they were made between leaks of classified information and many other elements that shouldn't have happened and all you're going to do is end up back and forth and back and forth and it's going to be two years and we won't have done anything I really believe and I really respect what Nancy said last night about bipartisanship and coming together to come together.

She used the word unite and she is the statement of bipartisanship, which is very important because that's what we should be doing so we can see we can look at us now we can look at them and it will go back and forth and it will probably be very good for me politically. I could see that he's extremely good politically because I think I'm better at that game than they actually are, but we'll find out. I mean, you know we'll find out or we can work together. You can't do it simultaneously. By the way, just think of someone sewer. we're doing that we're not doing the other just so you understand so we won't do that but now what happens is we send it to the senate and we'll get 100 percent support from democrats and we'll get some republican support and if it's well i really think we have republicans that will help with the passage process and will really help with the passage process so it really could be a beautiful bipartisan situation if we win by one or two or three or four. or five that would not happen and the closer it is the worse it is like that it will be good for me to negotiate maybe we will make a deal maybe not that is possible but we have many things in common in infrastructure we want to do something in health care they want to do something in health care there's a lot of wonderful things we can do together and now we'll send it and we'll really get the democrats and we'll get the republicans or some of the republicans and make sure we send something that the republicans can't support and will want make sure you send something that the democrats can support so that our great country is booming like never before and we're thriving on every level both in terms of economic and military strength in terms of development in terms of GDP we're doing amazingly I'll tell you that our trade agreements are workingfantastically USA MCA and South Korea ended up with us.

MCA has received rave reviews. We are no longer going to lose companies to other countries. They are not going to do that because they have a tremendous economic incentive. That means it's prohibitive for them. It's not going to be like NAFTA, which is one of the worst deals I've ever seen, although we've made some pretty bad ones; now is the time for members of both parties to come together, put partisanship aside and keep the american people going. the economic miracle is going strong it is a miracle that we are doing so well and i have said it at many rallies some of you probably you've heard us how much you don't want to hear it again but when people come to my office presidents prime ministers they all congratulate me almost first for what we've done economically because it's really amazing and our steel industries are back or the aluminum industry is starting to work very well these are industries that were dead our miners are working again we must all work together to protect our military we have to do that to support our law enforcement secure our borders and promote really great policy including environmental policy we want crystal clear water we want perfect beautiful air Aeryn's water has to be perfect at the same time We don't want to put ourselves at a disadvantage against other countries that are very competitive with us and don't play by the rules at all.

We don't want to damage our jobs. We don't want to damage our factories. We don't want companies to go away, we want to be totally competitive and we are, and right now we have the cleanest air, the cleanest water we've ever had and always will, we insist on it, so the environment is very important for me. and with that i'm going to answer some questions if you want i didn't know what happened at the time go ahead johnny that was a lot of hands shooting so much there's a lot to talk about mr. President, you spoke at length about bipartisanship, the presumptive Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, spoke about that last night.

Democratic Party that that will happen, is there really a good chance, but I think there's a very good chance if it could end? expect that when the Democrats take over the chair of all these important committees, they will hit you with a storm of subpoenas on everything from the Russian investigation to your cell phone use to your tax returns, then you will if that happens then come on to do the same and the government stops and I would blame them because now they are going to propose policies they are the majority in the house I hope they come up with some fantastic ideas that I can support on the environment on many different things including drug prices prescriptions, which we've already made a big dent in, including some of the things we're working on for vets that we've gotten choice approval on.

I have a lot of things to try but they have some other elements that we want there are a lot of things that we can get along on without a lot of problems that we agree very much with them and they agree with us I would like to see bipartisanship I would like to see unity and I think we have a very good chance and maybe not at all but I think we have a very good chance of seeing that go forward a question about the lame duck sir and one about your cabinet who toyed with the idea during the campaign of a shutdown before the midterms to secure funding for the border wall are you prepared to pursue a shutdown strategy during lame duck as this might be your last best chance not necessarily securing that look i talk to democrats all the time they agree when a wall is necessary, the wall is necessary and as you know we are building the world we started but we must build it all at once not in pieces but you want a lot more money and now you are ready to build the wall all the time wall not pieces of it all over the place and we're doing it now we have the army now we have other elements of a wall which are pretty nasty to be honest with you but it's still pretty hard to get through but no.

I would like to see the wall many of the people we will be dealing with know that in 2006 they approved the wall essentially it was a very strong border wall but it was the same and they all approved it they all agreed I have statements from each of them we have them saying we need the wall I mean they sound like me but we need it because we have people coming and I'm not just talking about the caravans we have people coming across our border who physically can't put that many people it's a 2,000 mile stretch you can't put that many people along that stretch to protect it and even if you did there would be tremendous fights so we need the wall a lot of democrats know we need the wall and we're just going to have to see what happens I mean I'll fight for it they've done everything they can to make sure I got the 700 billion military and 716 billion the wall is a small fraction of the cost of that but their entire agenda has been to try not to give me nothing for the wall I really think that politically they are hurting themselves.

In fact, I think politically that's a good thing for me, but I want to put up the wall because we need it, so there's no lockdown scenario. I don't know the minute for me. I can't commit to that, but it is possible and it can give us clarity, sir, on your current thinking now after the midterms on your attorney general and your deputy attorney general. Do they have long-term job security? a little different time we're looking at a lot of different things including the cockpit. I am very happy with most of my cabinet. We are looking for different people for different positions.

You know it's very common after midterms. I did not want to. do something before the by-election, but I will tell you that, for the most part, I am extremely happy with my cabinet. I think Mike Pompeo has adapted to it so well. He has done an amazing job on the home secretary for him. Oh, we're looking at that and I want to, I want to study whatever is being said, it's him, I think he's doing, I think he's doing an excellent job, but we'll look at it very solidly and probably have an idea about it in about one week.

Thank my Lord. President, thank you, go ahead, Jim, he gave me an interview the other day, so I might as well ask him a question, okay? Thank you, mr. president and pick you up there he told me the other day you are an open book so i think i am an open book so straight up democrats go after your tax returns will you try to block that or allow them now to look like you i said they are under audit they have been for a long time they are extremely complex people you would not understand it done by one of the biggest and best law firms in the country the same with the accounting firms which are the accountants a very very large and powerful from the point of view of respect the great law firm highly respected a great law firm where you would know very well they do these things they put them but people don't understand tax returns now i did a presentation over a hundred pages i think that it's in the offices and when people went and saw that presentation and they saw the magnitude of it, they were very disappointed and they saw the, you know the details, you'd get a lot more out of that and I guess we presented that now three times, but you get a lot more of that than you could ever get from a tax return but when you're under audit and I'm in a very continuous order because there are a lot of companies and it's a big a much bigger company than you might imagine but it's one is a big company but it's big and complex and it's probably a meter tall it's a very complex instrument and I think people wouldn't understand it but if I was done with the audit I would have an open mind I would say that but I don't want to do it during the audit and really no lawyer even on the other side they say often not always but when you're under audit you don't have you don't subject him to do it and then release him so when that happens if that happens he would certainly have an open mind which means if the audit is still going on it won't turn in the tax return so you'd like no one to return when it's not right thanks when i was tempted to ask you why you like oprah so much but i think i'll move on to the why question I like what kind of the question it's just curious but there's a real question the median here the real question I like Oprah but I do she was a person I knew well she would come to my house in Palm Beach to often and I have a lot of respect for her, unfortunately she didn't.

It doesn't work, the real question is that you installed yourself here and said that from this podium that it is, you are offering a stage in my way or on the highway to the democrats, you are saying that if they start investigating you, you can play. That game investigates better than they can come you can analyze I think I know more than they know you can cut and part mentalize that and continue working with them for the benefit of the rest of the country or you or all the bets no if they do that and everything that it's is a similar stance to the world and so there's enough to win then follow up on them to do well since it's jim i'll let it go alright i think mr. president challenges him in one of the statements he made in the campaign talent in the terms there we go well if he knows mr.

President that this Caravan was an invasion as you know it is known as President Caravan was not an invasion it is a group of migrants moving from Central America towards the US border thanks for ten why did you characterize it as such? I consider an invasion, you and I have a difference, but do you think he demonized immigrants still as electrons now to try to love them? I want them to come into the country but they have to come Legally you know they have to come and Jim through a process I want it to be a process and I want people to come in and we need the people your campaign you are clean wait you know why we need the people , because we have hundreds of companies that are moving, we need the people, their campaign had an ad showing immigrants climbing walls and such, but they weren't acting, they're not going to be doing, they weren't actors, well, no, it's true you think they were actors they weren't actors they didn't come from hollywood they were these were people this was real you know it happened a few days ago and it's hundreds of miles away even though it's hundreds and hundreds of miles away that's not a dodge I honestly think that you should let me run the country you run cnn o and if you did well your ratings let me ask mr.

President, if he allows me, I should be concerned, that's enough, the President asked one of the other people that he said enough, forgive me, ma'am, sir. President, that's enough, this president, he had one of these, can I ask about the Russia investigation. President, are you concerned about the allegations that will come out of this investigation, mr. President, I'll tell you what CNN should be ashamed of having you working for them, you're a terrible rude person, you shouldn't be working for CNN, go ahead, I think it's not a very rude person the way you treat Sarah. Huckabee is horrible and the way you treat other people is horrible.

You shouldn't treat people that way. Keep going in defense of Jim. I have traveled with him and observed him. so i understand to be honest so let me ask you a question if i may you have repeatedly learned that you are the best mr. president you repeatedly in court just sit down please well when you report fake news you know when you report fake news CNN does a lot you are the enemy of the people go ahead mr president in the final days of the campaign sir sir at the end of the campaign you said repeatedly that americans should fear the democrats you said that the democrats would unleash a wave of violent crime that would endanger families everywhere why cry?

Why are you pitting Americans against each other? What are you trying to be him? get rid of the ice get rid of law enforcement that's not going to happen that's ok we want to be strong on the border we want to be strong on law enforcement and i want i want to appreciate ice because ice does a fantastic job at what they do for it's so really it's so little recognized how well they do their job, so we want to take care of them and we want to have them very close because they do a good job so that the question is clear, that the peace of mind a lot why are you sit down, but the questions, but you didn't answer my question just the question is why you pit americans against each other sir i am not like that as you see i am a citizen of this to tell you what we want very much. from last night's election we did very well last night anyway i think that's going to happen i think it's going to have a very positive impact i

watch

nbc this morning they didn't exactly report it correctly but that's what you know very well that's the fact with NBC I can't do anything about it, but I wantthis country has protection, we want security in our country, I want security, Peter, I mean, maybe you don't think it's that important, I think when you don't have it, you're actually unleashing. crime I feel like I would instead sign an executive order on birthright citizenship are you still going to sign the executive order on the 4th birthday later?

He will explain that question a bit later. president the investigation by special counsel robert muller has been going on since last spring it's been over a year long it's been in over your head over the head of republicans during the midterms too is this an opportunity for you , Mr. president to end that investigation, would you consider removing mr. Muller from his position could have ended it anytime he wanted I didn't and there was no collusion there was nothing I didn't do they went after hackers in Moscow I don't know if they went after people with tax problems for years they went after people with loans and other things that have nothing to do with my campaign this is an investigation in which many millions of dollars have been spent and there is no collusion who is supposed to be in collusion there is no collusion and i think it's me i think it's very bad for our country I will tell you I think it is a shame and today a poll came out on NBC or at least I saw it on NBC where the majority of people do not agree with Muller's research or it was not approved they have approval and disapproval and it had a much higher disapproval should end because it's very bad for our country so if it's there and I'm not just talking about the tremendous spending and the other thing is that they should look at the other side too they just look to one side they're not looking at all the things that came up during this investigation don't do that they should also get people who might be fair not 13 or 14 or 17 i call them the angry democrats they are angry people and it's a very unfair thing to this country it's very very unfair to me , it is very bad for our then, mr.

President, if it's the boys' fault, President, if it's unfair to the country and it's costing millions of dollars, why don't you give him the microphone? give you voter sup

press

ion you just have to sit please sit I didn't call you I didn't call you I didn't call you I'll give you voter suppression check out the CNN polls how inaccurate they were that's called voter suppression please thank you Mr. President I'm not I'm not answering I'm answering I'm sorry I'm not answering you I'm talking to this gentleman please sit down excuse me please sit down please go ahead thank you Mr.

President now that now that the House of Representatives media say that you asked me but no you rudely interrupted you rudely interrupted go ahead thank you Mr. President are your demands still to say the same thing to the United States Congress on immigration in exchange for a daca solution in exchange for a amnesty for 1.7 million? Are you willing to change any of those demands that you gave to Congress earlier? I think we could actually do something that has to do with daca and what actually happened with daca we could have done a pretty good job on daca but a judge ruled that daca was fine if the judge hadn't ruled that way I think we would have come to a deal once the judge ruled that way the democrats didn't want to talk anymore so we'll see we'll see how it works on the supreme court you move on from where yes go ahead where do you want me to take the questions? go ahead, ma'am, go ahead and take one, one or both, are you together, we're not together, mr.

President, how do you respond to critics who say your message on the minority campaign has been polarizing? I don't think it did, but it's the choice of two Muslim women, one of whom is veiled in the house, that is making history. Rebuke of this message, would you say what? But is it a rebuke of this message? Do you think it is more reflective of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural America? African-Americans for Asian-Americans for Hispanic-Americans are at an all-time high a survey came out recently where my numbers with Hispanics and African-Americans were the highest the best thing ever happened that took place two or three days ago in the survey, although I have the best numbers with African-Americans and Hispanic Americans I've had before then you saw the same survey so I can't say you can say this look at the median income look at all the employment and unemployment numbers they're doing the best they've ever done and it really reflects that it's very reflective in polls yes sir.

President, I'm from Brooklyn, so you understand my question is about health care, how is it possible to keep premiums low and cover pre-existing conditions without the individual mandate to fund it well in the first place, what are we doing and that? if you look at the Department of Labor, also the secretary, separately, it separates the secretary from a czar. the individual mandate because it was so unfair to a lot of people, but at the same time we're covering people who need it, but the individual mandate was a disaster because people who couldn't necessarily afford it had to pay for the privilege of not having to pay for health care and it was bad health care so we are working on a lot of plans for health care we are creating tremendous competition we got Obamacare repealed and replaced unfortunately one person changed their mind at the last minute and we had no democrat support i have to say we didn't have a vote we would have repealed it, replaced it we would have had a very good large scale health care plan now we are doing it a different way we are doing it a different way but get rid of the individual mandate is something very, very popular and very important and people appreciate it very much no no that's enough two questions one I know you reviewed the

results

and obviously studied them last night what lesson did you learn the most from looking at those results?

Was there a thing while you were checking them out? You will change your strategy not just for Congress, but you will and then just to follow up. Well, I think the results that I have learned and maybe confirmed. I think people like me. I think people like the work I'm doing. to do it with people in Congress because there are too many, there will be too many stalls, but I did it with the Senate, I did it with Andy Barr, as you know, and he won, he won a very tough race against McGrath. very tough race in Kentucky and he was way down and I went there and we had tremendous success some of you were at that rally and he won that race but I was only able to do that because there are so many players involved but I focused on the Senate and we had tremendous success with the senate really tremendous sorry mr.

Sir. president job question a dome I'm so sorry it's a rare opportunity a lot of people will rush to Iowa to New Hampshire you know the democrats are already looking ahead to 2020 do you want to secure your ticket right now sir? vice president be your running mate in 2020 well i haven't asked him but i hope where you at mike will you be my running mate? get up Mike raise your right hand now I'm fine thank you okay yes the answer is yes okay Gizem that was unexpected but I feel great yes please. Thank you, mr. president going back to the Russia investigation and possible investigations of the now democratically Democratic majority and Congress, some say he could stop all of this by decoding.

I can, I could fire everyone right now, but I don't want to stop it because politically I don't. I don't like to stop it, it's a shame, it should never have been started because there was no crime. the fact that they have very good friends on the other side very good friends like Comey who by the way lied and leaked and also leaked classified information nothing happened there maybe maybe something is going on i dont know i stay away but you know what i do i let it go on wasting a lot of money but i let it go on because i don't want to do that but you're right i could end it right now i could say the investigation is over but it's really a shame frankly and it's a shame for our country it is a shame for the people of our country and it is a pity what about the declassification of documents? some say that would clear that up very seriously less than a In case you were looking at it, it's amazing how people on the other side just don't want those documents declassified, but no, we're looking at it very care

full

y.

He certainly wanted to wait until after the midterms. Thank you Mr. President you have campaigned as a pro-life president you have stood up for the rights of unborn children you now have a divided Congress it is unlikely that it is a right of the past to build a harder life how you are going to push your pro-life agenda forward life I have been pushing I have done a very good job, I am very happy with myself, but it is a difficult issue for both parties, there is no doubt what you are going to do, there is a great debate, what am I going to do, I will not be able to explain it to you because it is an issue that is a very divisive polarizing issue but there is a solution I think I have that solution and no one else does what we are going to be we are going to be working on it yes go ahead please she took your place but it's ok mr.

Chairman, just a quick question about rural America in states like Indiana, North Dakota, people ran for Republican candidates, could you talk a little bit about what this means for your agenda in terms of trade and the farm bill? The farm bill is working very well, I mean. We could have approved it at any time, but we are looking to get the work rules approved. The farmers want it. I would like to. The problem is that the Democrats are not giving us the ten votes we need. They all want it. The farmers want but the democrats are not passing the farm bill with labor rules, we could have it real quick without labor rules, but we want labor rules and the democrats just don't want to vote on it so at some point they will. you may have to pay a price jeff thank you very much mr.

President, have you seen any evidence that Russia or China intervened in yesterday's election, we're going to do a

full

report, and unlike the previous administration, we've done a lot of work on that, and if you look, talk to the FBI. with the Department of Justice I talked to Homeland Security we've spent a lot of time it's got very little coverage in the papers I mean it covers the nonsense part but it doesn't cover the important stuff this is very important and we've been working very hard with China and Russia and everyone else who investigates our

elections

or meddles in their elections but people tend not to write about it but we work very hard as you probably heard what you intend to say sir to President Xi and El President Putin, when you meet them later this month, have a good relationship with both of them.

I know President Xi better, but I think I have a very good relationship with both of them. In fact, I had a very good meeting in Russia that they disagreed with. but it's okay, it doesn't matter much, obviously, because they've been thinking, but the fact is that I had a very, very good meeting, a very, very good meeting with President Putin and there was a lot of discussion about security, about Syria, about Ukraine, about the fact that President Obama allowed a large part of Ukraine to be taken over and right now you have submarines in that particular package that we're talking about, yes, that was President Putin, who annexed Crimea, so that it was the regime of President Obama that was under President Obama, right? that was not doing to me i was a resident no that was the president's annexation it was not president obama that allowed it to happen it had nothing to do with me ok yes go ahead go ahead thank you mr president cordelia lynch sky news you are a man who likes to win but last night wasn't an outright win for you other than that i'll be honest i thought it was a i thought it was a very close to complete win when you look at it from a trading standpoint when you look at it from a bargaining standpoint because it comes down to renegotiating if we had a majority and had one or two or three votes to play with we never would have been deadlocked I really think we have a chance to get along very OK with the Democrats and if that's the case, we can do a lot of legislation and get it passed by both parties, so I think it's good, I won Georgia.

President Obama campaigned very hard in Georgia Oprah Winfrey campaigned very hard all over TV I said this is going to be hard I only had me I had no one else and I went to Georgia and we had one of the biggest crowds What has anyone here ever seen at a political rally and you know what someone actually won by a pretty good margin and then we went to Florida and they had celebrities all over the place and a man who just happens to be a very smart person was directing Ron de Santis and the people didn't give it a chance and I went and we had we did a great job and they're going to have a great governor of the state of Florida and then we talked about the senate and a lot of the moneyit was pouring in for the democrat this is a man who's been in office for 44 years or something this is a man who's like a pro at getting elected and being in office so he's not bill nelson no he's easy to beat, okay, but they had a lot of celebrities rooting for Nelson, they all rooted for Nelson and Rick has one and I helped him and I think us.

I've done an amazing job and you could look at a lot of other places just take a look at some of the other places and we just got word that in Iowa you have a governor who just got an extension which is Fanta Kim he just got an extension and numerous elsewhere I think it was a big win I'll be honest I think it was a big win and actually some of the news this morning was that it was indeed a big win but if you You look at it from a gridlock standpoint, I really think there's going to be a lot less gridlock from the way this is going than from any other.

Wait a moment, please, go ahead. Thank you Mr. President let me ask you about one of the campaign promises you made down the stretch which was a 10% tax cut for the middle class you just talked about the Democrats deadlocked now they run the Media Committee and House Ways House Excise if that means a tax cut of some kind for the middle class but that means raising rates on other corporations on the wealthiest is a trade off I'd be willing to do well for enactment does this will have have to propose now because if we did it now you don't have the votes in the senate you don't have we would need ten votes democrats who probably couldn't get it if we could we could pass it very easily in the house but there's no reason to waste time because we don't have the votes in the Senate, but if, as an example, if the Democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts, of which I am a big believer in tax cuts, I would absolutely look for something, even if it means some adjustment, some adjustment on which side. corporations to make it happen, but I would love to see a tax cut for the middle class now, that will be their decision, they will have to make that decision, as you know, if we take it to the Senate, we need Democratic votes. ten and we don't have those ten votes and just because the markets what and just because the markets would want to know sir some adjustment would be one, two, three percent each side just saying I would certainly be willing to make it a little adjustment go ahead , thank you, yes, one is that he had talked about the leaders who had called to congratulate him, President Putin called to cook and congratulate him and actually meeting him for lunch next weekend as I understand it. what we're having and I guess many of you are going to have a lunch for numerous countries.

I'll be there. I think President Putin will be there. We don't have anything scheduled. I don't think we will. I have something scheduled in Paris and I am coming back very soon there is a big event this is very important this is really going to be very important and I think it is a very beautiful ceremony that I really want to go to and we are representing the incredible heroes of the world , but the heroes of our country from World War I, so I will go there and I am very proud to go, right? I don't think we have time reserved for that meeting.

Now, with that being said, we'll meet again very soon at the G20, where he'll be there and I'll be there, and that's where we're really expecting each other and having lunch, but I think there's a lot of people there. He called you to congratulate you and if he could also invite you, since this is a big meeting, we have here to go ahead and talk about the personnel changes that you expect in the White House. While we're here we're looking forward to hearing about them, usually as we make changes we'll sit down and talk to you about it. that for the most part I am very, very happy with this cabinet we are doing a great job in the White House sir you have a great number of White House staff some have been talking about leaving General Kelly is rumored it will go away it's live the people live and it's going to happen the people live i haven't heard of john kelly but not the people the people go out they go in they are here it's a very exhausting job although i love doing it i must tell you but it's exhausting I am surprised by many people, many people start when they are young, they are there for two years and they are already old when they leave, it is quite exhausting, but I love doing it and I will tell you that there will be changes, nothing monumental, put yourself in that point of view.

I don't think it's much different than most administrations, but we have, I mean, we have a lot of people lined up for every position, any position, they all want to work in this White House. we are a hot country this is a hot White House we are a White House with whom people want to work well No No please behind you behind you is a challenging campaign very challenging assault many abuses and much violence people have died during the Over the course of this campaign, is there any way that you think the temperature could be loaded?

Perhaps peace could break out with the media; maybe their bipartisan relations in the house and senate now can produce some change or we're going to have more of the states a very fair question look i would love to see unity and peace and love and then the other word you want to use and obviously i think we had to do it especially at this particular time we had to wait until midterms were over now they're over if they covered me fairly what they don't what they don't I'm not saying in a hostile way I get grossly inaccurate coverage I can do something fantastic and they'll make it look like it's no good and I don't mind having bad stories if I make a mistake cover it up I wish you would cover it fairly but cover it up but when you do something great look how little talk about the economy this morning A survey came out talking about how little the three chains, I don't think they included CNN, but how little the three chains talk about how good the economy is that little almost nothing if President Obama had this economy and certainly if that administration through someone else went ahead you would have had negative growth four a instead of positive 4.2 percent it would have had negative growth it was headed down but here if the point is excuse me I'd love to see the unity, even with the media because I think the media will be honest I think it's a very divisive thing for our country and you'd be surprised how smart the people who read your stories and see your stories and

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you are you'd be surprised how perceptive and smart they are , they understand it and it really brings you know I don't apologize you you are not you are not called forward please Thank you President Trump shortly after his victory speech on the dark night of November 2016 I asked him to which factor he attributed this most victory to speak for sure on the night of your victory i asked you right after your speech what you would attribute your victory to you pointed to the ceiling and said it was god based on that how would you say in the last two years god plays what kind of factor plays in the daily office run of the games a big factor in my life and god plays a factor in the lives of many people i know very well in this room as your vice president god plays a huge role in my life and what we back lack of fast track fast he lost last night surprised you the most and which of these failed candidates you are most likely to consider nothing for administration olympics but there were some losses last night and there were some wins last night that have been amazing i mean there were wins last night that no one would believe last night victories that were very amazing but i'm not going to pick enough special things for those people for an administration post to go forward as one of the few of the three points that would have unemployed what would any of the people who lost last night for a position in the administration in the near future.

I know a couple of very good ones. In fact, I would go ahead. president mr. President I asked you on Monday if there was anything you regretted in your first two years and you said sometimes you might have should have used a softer-toned quote your critics, as you can imagine, your skeptics say they're not holding his breath about that happening he's actually going to have to change his tune if he wants things to pass in Congress after losing the house and he also said he might extend an olive branch I wish I would love to have I would be very good at a low tone but when things are not done right about you written about you said about you on tv or wherever you have to stand up for yourself i would love to do it very although it is much easier than what i have to do i have to go round and round laps is a lot easier than going up against someone and being treated fairly, but when you're not treated fairly, you really don't have a choice.

I would love to have a very modest boring shade. I would be very honored by that but you know what when you have to fight all the time fight because you're being misrepresented by the media you really can't do but not over the media sir but sir very fast not over the media But what about Congress? It's good, sir. President, can you just how do you focus on economics? Where is your company? Please solutions from Japan oh yeah sure you are happy with the rates and your cars go ahead. That's my Chris. I'm excited, how do you approach trading and commissions with Japan?

Also, who do you change at all? No, I really don't understand how you would concentrate on creating. You can trade with Japan while we are dealing with Japan right now in the trade. Japan has a great country. You have a great prime minister. that he just had a very successful election, he's a very good friend of mine, he's one of the people I'm closest to and, but I tell him all the time that Japan doesn't treat the United States fairly in trade, they ship millions of cars at a very low tax they don't accept our cars and if they do they have a massive tax on cars Japan and I don't blame Japan I blame the people who were in charge of the United States for allowing that to happen but as You know, we have a trade deficit close to a hundred billion dollars with Japan and Japan has treated us very unfairly, but don't feel alone because you weren't the only one in North Korea North Korea Thank you Mr.

The President for the question of international news. First. Secretary Pompeo was talking about it not happening with North Korea. He has been postponed. What is happening there and their meetings are still happening. We are going to change it because if trips are being made, we will achieve it. another day, but we are very happy with how it is going with North Korea, we think it is going well, we are not in a hurry, we are not it. The rockets have taken the hostages are home the big heroes have been coming home Mike Pence was in Hawaii where there was one of the most beautiful ceremonies anyone has ever seen for fallen heroes disagreed very important when he was addressing a lot of people many years ago as they were in many cases grandchildren but they were asking about coming home and providing them to us as we speak but in no rush no rush Iran sanctions read a couple times and seen a few times on the they said i had done so much, what did i do then?

I met now. I would love to remove the sanctions, but they have to answer. It's just two straight ways but we're not in any rush at all there's no rush you know 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 those four or five months than they've done in 70 years and no one else could have done what I did, but I'll say this, I'll say it very simply, no hurry. sanction Iran and whenever, but that meeting will be rescheduled, that meeting, but about your meeting with Kim Jong-un, sir, it will happen in the next few months, you sometime next year, I would say sometime before, a Quick question under USMC now that it's concluded have you mended your relationship with PM Trudeau? yes, we have a very good relationship, thank you very much, mr.

President, we've been talking a lot about the division and division that exists in this country right now and some of the statistics are disturbing. I think for almost everyone, anti-Semitic incidents have increased by 57 percent since 2016. Hate crimes are on the rise. why do you think it is and what will you do about it it is so sad to see it i hate to see it and as you know i have done more in fact if you were with us 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 protection of jerusalem working together so many different things but the most important thing is jerusalem you know many presidents have said they are going to build the embassy in jerusalem it never happened to do if the capital of israel never happened never happened but it happened with me and quickly and not onlyit happened, we built the embassy that would have taken another 15 or 20 years and probably cost billions of dollars and we did it for a small amount of money, it's done, it's open, no one has done more for Israel than Donald Trump and the good thing is it's not me saying it, it's prime minister netanyahu, but what about mr. president what about the divisions in this country mr.

President, what about healing the divisions in this country? We want to see him here and one of the things that I think can help heal is the success of our country. We are very successful now. We've gone up eleven point seven trillion dollars in value. If you know China has gone down tremendously China would have overtaken us by two years as an economic powerhouse now not even close to China got rid of their China 25 because I found it so insulting. I told them that I told them that China 25 is very insulting. because China 25 means that in 2025 they are going to take over the world economically I said that this is not going to happen and we have gone up a lot they have gone down and I do not want them to go down we will have a good meeting and we will see what we can do, but I must say that soon they will enter billions of dollars in our Treasury from the taxes that China pays for us and if you talk to Mr.

Pillsbury, who is probably the foremost authority on China, he said the other day that he had never seen anything like that and you know who else hasn't He has made China and he is the president, but we are going to try to make a deal with China because I want to have excellent relations with President Xi as I have and also with China. You're talking about how you see a role as a moral leader. President, how do you move forward? There are so many people. I am serving as a moral leader, even though I believe I am a great moral leader and I love our country.

Forward. Thank my Lord. that you wouldn't work with them on legislation if they were investigating you have no choice in the matter don't wait no I don't think it's highly inappropriate we should get along and make deals now we can investigate they look at us we look at them continues for two years then after two years nothing has been done now the bad thing for them is being the majority I'm just going to blame them you understand I'm going to blame them they're the majority honestly it makes it so much simpler for me they will be blamed but I think Nancy Pelosi and You know, I put out that statement on social media today about Nancy Pelosi that if she's undervoted because, frankly, I think she deserves it, and a lot. of people thought I was being sarcastic or joking I wasn't I think she deserved it she's been fighting so hard that's why she's been really fighting I mean this wasn't sarcastic at all or actually meant very well I think he deserves it.

She has fought long and hard. He is a very capable person. And you know you have other people shooting him to take over the presidency. I said if it is appropriate. I said yes we can and yes we will. She could very easily provide her with the necessary votes, that's not said any other way than that I truly believe she deserves that position. I also think that Nancy Pelosi and I can work together and do a lot of things together with Mitch and everyone. another thing we have to work with i think we will do a lot mr.

President, why don't you do that while the subpoenas arrive? Excuse me, why can't you guys work together while there are subpoenas or while investigations are underway? I think we'll see now that the election is over now that everyone is in love but then I see the hostility of the questions and then when I come here as a good person wanting to answer questions and I have people jumping out of their seats yelling questions at me I know that the Elections are over and I am very I am truly extraordinarily happy and by the way I tell you if I wasn't look what happened in Florida look what happened in Georgia look what happened in so many places with governorships no one talks about governorships look at the number of job that was given to these other candidates against my candidate and I want to say that I am extraordinarily happy and if I were not happy, I would tell them that there is nothing wrong.

Look, it is very rare that a party that has the presidency does well. We did incredibly well to win Florida both in the Senate and the governorship against two very talented people. I'll tell you what we did unbelievably to win Georgia when you had some of the biggest. stars in the world campaigning endlessly, including President Obama, I tell you this was a huge win for us and again from a bargaining standpoint we're all much better off the way it turned out because I really believe that if the democrats want we can do a lot of great legislation yes please go ahead we should get on with this yes I think you should keep this up gentlemen when you get bored please tell me seriously tell me I don't want , I hope not.

I don't want to stay any longer, but go ahead, hello, mr. president yummy shell Center with PBS newshour on the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist some people saw that to embolden white nationalists now people are so racist there are some people who say the republican party is now seen as supporting white nationalists what do you think? I don't think so, just well I don't know why I have my highest phone numbers with African Americans. Why do I have the highest poll numbers with African Americans? I mean why do I have my poll numbers higher? that's such a racist question honestly i mean i know you've got it written down and you're going to tell me let me tell you it's a racist question you know what the word is i love our country i'm calling you got nationalists you got globalists.

I also love the world and I don't want to help the world, but first we have to straighten our country, we have a lot of problems and excuse me, but to say that what you said is so insulting to me, it's a terrible thing. what did you say mr. President, people have talked about you, you talked about tax cuts for the middle class on the campaign trail, how are you going to get the Democrats to support that policy? I totally agree and if they say no there is nothing I can do because I need your votes go ahead yes.

Thank you Mr. Speaker Francesca chambers Daily Mail calm down you said many times during the election campaign that you wanted nothing from Pelosi being a speaker at least you suggested you spent a lot of time talking about her and the choice of one that I would have so let me she left answer if she would rather win by two or by three or by four she would almost have to think about that but I sure like to win and if I win and she's not going to be a speaker she told you yesterday that made her support her Honestly we had a conversation.

You know that she loves this country and she is a very intelligent woman. She has done a very good job. It was really. we're not talking about impeachment we're not talking about what do you do and accuse someone because they created the greatest economic success in the history of our country we're going to impeach him because the country is so successful we're going to impeach him if he's done something wrong someone has done something wrong no, but we're going to indict him anyway and they also said we're going to indict Judge Cavanaugh we're going to indict him and now they've got the second woman dating the first one for a second and I hate to say this but it was public and then he's going to indict the vice president let's go to impeach mike pence my pinch is not impeached for nothing so we're going to impeach the president and then impeach the vice president these people are sick and you know what they have to get their bearings they really have to get their quarters and when asked about division, they are the ones that cause division, they cost tremendous division. president very fast you-you-you suggested that he retire he said that many of the retirements that happened in the house made the retirement very tenuous that made it very difficult for you in this election cycle and that it was because they were from the president that there was chairs that were vacated, but Jeff Flake was chairing a committee and Paul Ryan also pulled the loop, so why do you think it's whose fault Jeff is slapping me outright?

I removed it. I am very proud. From that I did a great service to the country, go ahead, give him that, give him that he is retired. I would like to call it something else, but we will treat it with a lot of respect. President, it's like it's another beauty, go ahead, two questions please, one, one, one, for many people, okay, you seem to enjoy this place a lot. Are you going to make the standard press

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a staple of the remaining two years or not? with Sarah Sanders, you know when I don't do the I think Sarah is fantastic.

Where is Sarah? Where is Sarah? stick around it's very interesting because Sarah was told we were talking about it the other day so I had a period where I thought you know what I'll do I won't when he interviews him there and then they said why are they doing what you know everyone comes up with, okay, so in the last few months I decided that I will do a lot, I will suffer, the helicopter will do, this will do a lot and then they say why is he putting so much pressure.

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s that are going wrong how about when I don't do them you say it's wrong when I do them you say it's wrong and when I go in the middle you say it's wrong but in the middle you know that I work well it's okay no no you apologize well, he complained of access when I purposely stayed away from the press for a while because I wanted to see how it worked and I can be honest with you it didn't work well mr.

President, I did it, it didn't work out, so Sarah will continue as press secretary, okay, go ahead, no, go ahead. I am the first. Personally, I think it's great to have him here because it's a free press and I do that too, obviously. do it too yes it's critical to talk about earned media it's worth billions so I have two questions for you if that's ok it's a rare opportunity first just a point of clarification on the subject of tax returns You mentioned the audit that doesn't prevent it. to release them I know oh sure I didn't say stop me I said the lawyers will tell you not to but what's your next question come on come on. black voters stupid that's false Omarosa has accused you of using the n word and the Rapala the rapper Little John has said you called him Uncle Tom what's your answer I don't know who Little John is I know he was in the apprentice no I don't know oh, he was fine oh I see, would Marx ever, no he would never do that and I don't use racist comments and you know what if he did? tapes for years and years their number one tapes I never cared because they never did I never used racism I never used racist comments well well one point you know one point you told yourself Brian it's a quiet place look at America , it's only 8%, sir, single digits, when you talk about division, it's people like this that cause division, great division, great.

I hope you're doing well, yes thank you mr. president, we are very happy to have this opportunity, mr. President Erdogan said that he will not follow your sanctions and that he will continue to buy oil from whoever said that. President Erdogan Turkey, I know, I know, and you will meet him soon. we're going to have this talk and some countries are going to take the same steps as the president or the guys that do let me say about oil okay so what we put in place because recently the strongest sanctions in the history of our country almost oh I guess North Korea is there too but I gave some countries a break in oil.

I did it a little bit because they really asked for help but I really did it because I don't want oil prices to go up to $100 a barrel or $150 a barrel because I'm driving them down if you look at oil prices they've gone down substantially in the last few months that's because of me because you have a monopoly called OPEC and I don't like to wait and I don't like like that monopoly I don't like and oil prices are going down so instead of deciding to be as tough as I am on most sanctions, what I have done is say that we will not do it that way.

I'm going to let some of the oil go to these countries that really need it because I don't want oil prices to go up to $100 or $150, but that could happen very easily, it's a very fragile market, very very fragile. I know that very well and it's the absolutely right decision and maybe they will get more difficult as time goes on but I don't want to have any effect on oil prices around the world where I push them up because I think that's a tax and I don't like the Palestinian tax process please, the peace process is over.

Oh congratulations John Tester congratulations I'm sure you're not happy about that can you say we'll have a couple more and then we'll be gone? they weren't working certain districts and you think that's the reason the candidate lost so it raises concerns that the United States is concerned about the access people have to vote I heard it was very efficient in Georgia I heard it was very efficient but again you would have to ask the state governments because only one of those things you will have to ask them yes go ahead go ahead thank you thank you Mr.

President you raised some concerns about social media companies unfairly censoring Conservatives during the election, do you plan to work with the Democrats to regulate these companies or do you? I would do that. Yes, I would look at that verse. I think it is a serious problem at the same time. start talking, thatIt is a very dangerous problem that could be the beginning, so it is very dangerous, believe it or not, I really like freedom of expression, many people do not understand it, but I am a great believer and when you start regular, many things can happen bad things but i would certainly talk to the democrats if they want to do that and i think they do want to do that yes sir ex president ex president barack obama said he had a pen and a phone to use executive power on things like the Immigration Do you see yourself using the executive branch to make part of your immigration agenda?

Yes, yes, I think in part I can use the executive power in some, not all, but I want to say that he certainly used it, he used it. he did it in Daka and when he did it he said something to the effect that I'm not allowed to do this it will never stand but I'll do it anyway and he did it and they found judges who approved we also found judges who didn't approve it, so obviously it will be determined in the Supreme Court and if the court rules in favor of what President Obama thinks they should rule, which is what he said, then I will probably have a deal with the Democrats in a very short period of time. we were very close to reaching an agreement until we got this very strange ruling.

You also made some immigration promises during the campaign. I want to know if you will comply. Are you going to arrest one? Are you talking about birthright citizenship? Are you going to sign an executive order to pay? Looking at it very seriously. Absolutely yes or no, and I think we have the absolute right, but that is another case for the Supreme Court of the United States to determine. send 15,000 troops to the border you've been reading the same documents that i have you know exactly what i'm doing you know exactly what i'm doing so go ahead what's your next question also under the khashoggi matter more than a month ago the death of mr. khashoggi, the journalist, first father, thank you, very terrible thing, do you think Saudi Arabia is to blame for his murder?

If so, that topic over the next week and I'm working very closely with Congress, we're working together with very talented people and us. we're working with congress, we're working with turkey and we're working with saudi arabia and i'm forming a very strong opinion go ahead john go ahead john mr. president just a quick fall you said something about nancy pelosi you said nancy pelosi loves our country you regret some of the things you said during the campaign in arias time you said the democrats want to put a wrecking ball in our future the country lives that with their current policy they are using a wrecking ball on our country.

I think 100% this would be a wrecking ball, but I think there's a compromise somewhere and I think that could be really good for our country. How about one more? listen to the ad he made that he was branded as a racist adam even come on it was wood NBC wouldn't it work? Yes, surprise, I would ask myself that question. I'm not going ahead thank you sir and I think you'd all love to have more of these if you're willing in 2017 shortly after I took office your department of homeland security shut down a program to counter local right wing extremism supremacism target and related terrorist groups, domestic terrorist groups and redirected that funding towards fighting Islamic terrorism. do you think white supremacist terrorists right wing terrorists these homegrown terrorists on that side of the spectrum are a problem sir and yes what is your administration i think all hate is a problem but i think that is a problem and it is a problem we want settle right, what you gonna do about it, sir, sir, sir?

What are you going to do about it so that he cuts off mr. president, you know they funded you for that, it's very funny, but I think it's a problem and I can tell you what a problem I don't like one bit, go ahead, ideas ix with Hearst television, you said pretend I'm in the ballot yesterday you called it a referendum on your presidency many local districts across the country rejected your midterm message, particularly suburban women, how does that division now tie in with the very well received images as well? elections are a disaster for incumbent presidents and administrations this has been very successful and look you can write it any way you want and if you don't agree with me this has been incredibly successful when you look at the races what such Ohio? i even mentioned i mentioned florida i mentioned georgia how about the governor of ohio fantastic voters excuse me a fantastic man who was down in the polls and everyone was talking about this person who was so great and i went there and did a rally and now they have a great governor, they're going to have a great governor in Ohio for a long period of time but for four years and Mike DeWine is a fantastic person and I went there for two reasons because I felt his opposition was not a good person and we know a lot about him and I felt that Mike was a fantastic person and he won and he didn't just win he won easily so add that to Florida and add that to Georgia and on that to all the other races we've won outside of even the Senate races which were the biggest all because they were races that and Mike Pence can tell you and some of the people here could tell you that these were races that were going to be unopposed that we were going to we weren't going to oppose some of the people who were running certain senators said they couldn't be beat they said heidi couldn't be beat please don't they couldn't this was a year from now what about mr. bourbon, now don't forget to tell me about your popularity, a lot of these people said when I said 9 out of 11, but I said when a lot of these people weren't like an easy race, they were hard races, so I think the level of popularity was The first question they asked me was about well, what have you learned about your own popularity?

I think that's what I learned. I am very proud of that because I love the people of this country, these people are the best people, I love the people of our country and I will tell you something when you see the races that we won in Harina, that we were not there. I didn't expect to win and Georgia, which we weren't expected to win, and Ohio, which we weren't expected to win, and one, I mean, look at some of them, the number of votes we got is unbelievable, so I'm very happy with not just the way it came out but the answer to me is your president and as your president I have made our country safe I have rebuilt and am in the process of rebuilding our military and the jobs are here every one of them built here we're going to have the fort very soon we're going to have the strongest military our country has ever had i've done more for veterans than any president has certainly done in many many decades with election and with other things like you know, with other things but our vets are doing better than ever but if you look at the election just I mean just take a look at what we've done with the election but the people of our country are very happy with the work that I'm doing and you know one of the things one of the things one of the things they want so badly is security they want security so badly at the border they want it with our military they want it with law enforcement they want it With ice you know we've eliminated thousands of ms-13 gang members, thousands of people hard to believe, thousands from our country, women from our country who are incredible people.

They want security. They want security. They want financial security. We have done it too. that but they want physical security and we have removed thousands of people who should not be in this country but we have to have strong immigration laws so that they do not enter we want laws where they do not enter well we do not have to remove them per se and again I feel very honored to be with all of you it was a great day yesterday was a great night i think we had tremendous success and i hope the tone can improve hopefully hopefully the tone can improve a lot and i really think it starts with the mids.

I really used to call it press. I really think it starts with the media. If you could cover it, it was a very interesting story recently written in a very good article. who spoke about the fact that what the media is doing is not good and that I have the right to fight back because they treat me very unfairly, so I defend myself and I am doing it, not for myself. fighting for the people of this country thank you very much everyone thank you very much hello everyone arena 9 and you've been listening to President Trump weigh in for the first time on the midterms last night a Republican Party lost the house but made gains in In the Senate, we'll be rebroadcasting this extraordinary press conference later today in its entirety, but first I want to get to our panel and now join CBS political reporter Katelyn Huey burns CBS News contributor and Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez and, of course to CBS news political correspondent democrat strategists Joel Payne actually or just a gem a democratic strategist I don't want to say you guys are everything to us but I don't want to give you new headlines with you we listen to the president talk about these successes and the candidates who aligned with him and who took major beatings was the takeout for the republicans yesterday it was very interesting to see earlier in this press conference that the president was publicly shaming the republicans who lost last night by naming them by name Mia love in Utah who that seat is is still a setback Republicans and in Colorado basically blaming the Republicans who lost in these suburban districts partly because of the backlash to the president that we've seen over the course of his presidency basically blaming them for the loss and saying no they did well because they didn't hug Trump this morning, he was projecting a lot of confidence in the results and he pointed out that the republicans are widening their majority in the senate, which is a big problem, especially since it can be the blocker for the democratic house, but this press conference, the way it went on for about an hour and a half, I think suggests otherwise, suggested that Mitchie Kris Kobach forgot to mention it on her list of one. in such an important way you know there are others what's your conclusion Leslie I'm a little curious thank you you know there's a lot to take away from that press conference you know that's it again what's fascinating that the biggest conclusion I take right here the president is trying to embarrass them because he started, if you remember, there was a Republican call and he was sending the message that whatever candidate was with him to go and ride the Trump agenda and support the president was going to win and anyone else would he was going to fall by the wayside, he sat in the primary, he followed it through the general and now he's basically ashamed to build on that point these candidates and teach a lesson to the established Republicans and the party and the people who tried to be more nuanced that it's not his place to do that I'm sorry I'm going to have to interrupt I want to take it to someone that people think could be the next speaker of the House potentially we don't have that yet but Nancy Pelosi's lipo enough people for our seniors and hard-working American families health care was on the ballot yesterday Americans elected an extraordinary class of dynamic Democratic candidates and diverse elected members who reflect their constituencies and who embody the rich diversity of our women-led nation the path to victory with al minus 30 new women coming to Congress isn't exciting and there are still some races that aren't over yet so there could be more Democrats they also secured big gubernatorial victories across the country and while it's my responsibility to win the house for the democrats winning the governorship