INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Khan of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Before Bilateral
Meeting------------------------------------------------Oval Office12:13 P.M
EDTPRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much
It my great honor to have the very popular and, by the way, great athlete — one of the greatest — but very popular Prime Minister of
Pakistan.We have many things to discuss: military and terrorism and trade
And I think we&re going to spend a lot of time talking about trade because we do very little trade with Pakistan compared to what we could
be doing and should be doing when our countries really get along perfectly
And I think we&re having that start
We&re going to have that start.But there tremendous upside with respect to trade
One of the things we&re going to be discussing too is hostages; perhaps the polio vaccine, because Pakistan is one of the countries, and
we&ll talk about that as to, you know, what your feeling is on that
But we have a situation in Pakistan where we want to talk about the polio, or the possible polio vaccine.And I think we&re going to have
We&re going to be spending a long time together
We have our representatives meeting right after we&re finished
Prime Minister, with tremendous economic numbers for the United States — the best we&ve ever had
We&ve got the best economy we&ve ever had
And I think we can shift some of that over to Pakistan
We should be doing tremendous business together
So, I look forward to it.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Inshallah.PRESIDENT TRUMP: And it is an honor to have you with us
Thank you very much.Q And, Prime Minister Khan, can you speak (inaudible) —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Well, I&ve
been looking forward to this meeting since I assumed office as Prime Minister of Pakistan
I mean, the United States is vital for Pakistan
We have links which have gone back since Pakistan became independent
You know, we&ve been fighting wars together: first Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan was a frontline state, allied to the United
States And then again the War on Terror, which was after 9/11.So I look forward to my conversation with you, Mr
President, Pakistan has been your ally for 14 years into the Afghan War
So, first terrorism, first economy disaster, and all that
And, still, we — we were taken to the court with all the accusations that Pakistan is now responsible to (inaudible).Now, when India has
— India and United States has developed an alliance in the region
How do, you know, you plan to foresight about the Pak-United States relationship — how they can be strengthened when your preference is
India? Number one.And secondly, you know, after your campaign, what kind of promises — if you are elected again, what kind of promises
you are going to fulfill?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay
(Laughter.) That could go on for hours — that answer.I will say that we have a very good relationship with India
I know that your relationship is strained a little bit
But we will be talking about India; a very big part of our conversation today
And I think maybe if we can help intercede and do whatever we have to do
But I think it something that can be brought back together.And we&ll also be talking about Afghanistan
We&ve reduced our number of troops there by quite a bit
We are continuing to reduce troops in Afghanistan
We&re working with Pakistan and others on getting an agreement signed, as you know
And we&ll see what happens.But we will be talking about India and Afghanistan very much so.Q The Washington Post is reporting today that
Huawei had a relationship with North Korea to build their commercial wireless network
Have you been briefed on that? Do you have concerns?PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know all about it
And we&re working on it, and we have companies that are now getting very, very strong in that department
And we&re going to have 5G
We&re going to have the best 5G in the world, just like we have everything else.Our Silicone [sic] — Silicon Valley cannot be competed
There nobody that can compete with Silicon Valley for the brainpower or for what we do.And nobody was focused on 5G but now they are
And we have great companies going into 5G
Even if they don''t want to, a lot of them were very happy doing what they were doing
But now they&re going — at my request, they&re going into 5G
So we don''t need — we don''t need anything from anybody.Q Do you have any additional concerns with North Korea?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say
it? What?Q The Post is reporting about Huawei relationship with North Korea.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we&ll have to find out
Our relationship with North Korea has been very good
We&ve really established a good relationship with Kim Jong Un
We&re getting our remains back
We got our hostages back.And we have a very, very good relationship, the two of us, and that very important
There been no nuclear testing
And what they&re doing with 5G will be, you know — we will have to see
I&ll have to — I&ll find out.Q This is (inaudible) from (inaudible) News TV Pakistan.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it again.Q This is
(inaudible) from (inaudible) News TV Pakistan
Lindsey Graham, when he met Imran Khan, he says you both are kind of same personalities
You are the President who fulfill all your promises with the campaign.PRESIDENT TRUMP: I do
I do.Q And the same Imran Khan; he also fulfilling all his promises
So how do you see this meeting? Like, same kind of person? Straight to point?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think we&re going to have a great
I know that it an important meeting
I consider this a very important meeting because I think we haven''t met the potential of either country
I think the potential with Pakistan and likewise, the opposite way, I think we have not even come close to meeting it
There is tremendous potential between our country and Pakistan.I think Pakistan is going to help us out to extricate ourselves
We&re not fighting the war
If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week
I just don''t want to kill 10 million people
Does that make sense to you? I don''t want to kill 10 million people.I have plans on Afghanistan that, if I wanted to win that war,
Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth
It would be over in — literally, in 10 days
And I don''t want to do — I don''t want to go that route.So we&re working with Pakistan and others to extricate ourselves
Nor do we want to be policemen, because basically we&re policemen right now
And we&re not supposed to be policemen
We&ve been there — we&ve been there for 19 years, in Afghanistan
And I think Pakistan helps us with that because we don''t want to stay as policemen
But if we wanted to, we could win that war
I have a plan that would win that war in a very short period of time
You understand that better than anybody.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Mm-hmm.PRESIDENT TRUMP: We&ve been in there not fighting to win, just
fighting to — they&re building gas stations; they&re rebuilding schools
The United States, we shouldn''t be doing that
That for them to do.But what we did and what our leadership got us into was ridiculous
But we will — I think we&ll have some very good answers on Afghanistan, very quickly.Q Mr
President, Jerry Nadler says the Mueller report lays out evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors.Q (Inaudible.)PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah,
Go ahead.Q Does that concern you about Wednesday?Q This is (inaudible) from GTV Network Pakistan
The Pakistani army has fought war against terror
And it has fought and protected and gave sacrifices in protecting Pakistan-Afghanistan border, as well
But Pakistan sincerity was always doubted
Coalition support fund was suspended by United States Defense Department
So, at this time, the Pakistani economy is facing great trouble
Are you going to restore any package for Pakistan?PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we are going to — that right — we were paying $1.3 billion to
Pakistan as aid, for many years
The problem was Pakistan — this is before you — Pakistan was not doing anything for us
They were really, I think, subversive
They were going against us
And this is something we&ll be ta- — I ended that about a year and a half ago, the $1.3 billion.And I tell you what: To be honest, I
think we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now than we did when we were paying that money
But all of that can come back, depending on what we work out.We&re working out things that are very important
We have a very — I consider this very important
We&re working out things that are very, very important
And I think, at the end of this, at the end of a very short time, we&re going to have a very great relationship with Pakistan
It a great — they&re great people
I have many friends from Pakistan
Living in New York, I have a lot of Pakistani friends — I will tell you that
And they&re great people: smart, tough
There no question about that
They&re like him; they&re tough
President, are you worried about Wednesday?PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I&m not going to be watching
Maybe I&ll see a little bit of it
I&m not going to be watching Mueller because you can''t take all those bites out of the apple.We had no collusion, no obstruction
We had a total &no collusion& finding
The Democrats were devastated by it
They&ve gone off the deep end
They&re not doing anything
They&re not doing healthcare
They&re not going infrastructure.They&re not lowering drug prices
First time in 53 years that drug prices went down last year
And I&m doing that without the help of Congress, which makes it much tougher to do
Because if they worked with us, I could get drug prices down in half
But the Democrats don''t seem to care about drug prices
All they care about is a phony investigation where the report was written — it said &no collusion& — the report was written, and the
Attorney General, based on the report, was easily able to find there was no obstruction
They&re wasting their time.And Robert Mueller, I know he conflicted — he had a lot — there a lot of conflicts that he got, including
the fact that his best friend is Comey
But he got conflicts with me, too
He got big conflicts with me
As you know, he wanted the job of the FBI Director
And we had a business relationship where I said, &No.& And I would say that he wasn''t happy
Then, all of a sudden, he gets this position
But you know what? He still ruled — and I respect him for it — he still ruled &no collusion, no obstruction.&And this thing should&ve
This has been going on for two and a half years
And we&re never going to allow this to happen to another President again because most of them wouldn''t be able to take it.On top of
everything else, we have the strongest economy
We were just discussing this with the Prime Minister
We have the strongest economy that the United States has ever had
We have the highest stock market
Yesterday, literally, the highest stock market we&ve ever had on Friday — Thursday.We&ve broken the record, I think, 109 times for
But on, I believe, Thursday of last week we hit the all-time highest in the history of our country.Our country is doing phenomenally well
Unemployment is the lowest in 51 years, soon to be the lowest in history if it keeps going this way in a short period of time
Black, Hispanic, Asian unemployment — the lowest in history
Women — the lowest in 72 years.Nobody has ever done what we&ve done
Nobody has done in two and a half years what we&ve done: the biggest tax cuts in history; the biggest regulation cuts in history
So many things for healthcare
We got rid of the individual mandate which was the worst part of Obamacare
Going to end up — if we end up winning the House back, we keep the presidency, we should keep the Senate
We should keep the presidency, I would think easy, when you have the strongest economy in the history of our country
And somebody is going to run against that particular President even though, in this case, it me
In theory, I have a big advantage
I&m going to have to ask you
But, in theory, I have a big advantage.So a lot of great things are happening
But the Democrats, they don''t want to talk about that
They want to stay off the economy subject
And what they&re doing is just hearing after hearing after hearing
Okay? They tried an impeachment vote, and they got slaughtered last week
They got absolutely slaughtered
It was the most ridiculous — I didn''t even know they were going to do it.And I&ll tell you, just in finishing: I have a lot of respect
for the Democrats because most of them voted against impeachment last week
And I have a lot of respect for those Democrats that did that because they&re doing the right thing for the country
No collusion, no obstruction.Okay
President, on the debt talks — sir, on the debt talks, can you tell us if there is a deal soon?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, we&re talking about
Secretary Mnuchin is talking about it
We&re having very good talks with the Speaker of the House — with Nancy Pelosi
We&re having very good talks with Chuck Schumer and, of course, with Mitch McConnell and Kevin
We are — Kevin McCarthy.We are, I think, doing very well on debt, if you look at debt limit, however you want to define that
But we&re doing very well on that, and, I think, we&re doing pretty well on our budget.Very important that we take care of our military.Our
military was depleted, and in the last two and a half years, we&ve un-depleted it, okay? To put it mildly
We have made it stronger than ever before
So we had $700 billion, we had then $716 billion, and this year we&re going to be asking for a number slightly larger than that.We&re
putting our military back into a shape that it never been in before: new
The best missiles in the world
The best equipment in the world
The best military equipment of all
We&re building submarines — the finest
Nobody can even think about competing with what we&re building
We&re building, as you know, new submarines.We have a new aircraft carrier coming online
It the largest ship in the world
It so large that maybe I could even land a plane on top of it, okay? But it a big — it a big one
It a phenomenal — it a phenomenal ship.So what we&re doing — what we&re doing is incredible things for our country.And, you know, just
about — just about — and I might say this about the military equipment: It all made in the USA — everything
And, you know, it one of the reasons our job numbers probably are so good — the lowest unemployment.Yeah
President, will you be visiting Pakistan? As you&ve described, Pakistan is a great country
So he will be definitely extending you an invitation
So will you be visiting Pakistan?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I can''t say that yet because, so far, he has not extended me an invitation
(Laughter.) And after today meeting, maybe he won''t
But I have a feeling he might
Yes, I&d love to go Pakistan at the right time.Q On Pakistan, Mr
President —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, please.Q Bahzad Saleemi, here from Pakistani News Channel (inaudible)
Is there any exact date or timeframe of United States troops withdrawal under consideration under your administration?PRESIDENT TRUMP:
Are you talking about from Afghanistan?Q Yes.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, we have already withdrawn quite a few
And we&re doing it very slowly and very safely
And we&re working with Pakistan and with — as you know, we&re negotiating with the Taliban
And we are doing, I think, very well in that regard.Again, it something that we could do — we could go one of two ways: We could do a
number the likes of which they&ve never seen before, and win it very quickly
I don''t want to do that because you&re talking about millions of people, and I don''t want to do that.And we&re working with Pakistan on
And I think — I think it being worked very well, wouldn''t you say so, Mr
Prime Minister?Q Will there still be troops there on Election Day? Will there still be troops there on Election Day in Afghanistan —
United States troops?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don''t know
We&re moving a lot of them out
And —Q Do you want them to be gone by then?PRESIDENT TRUMP: And we&ve done what we&re supposed to do
We&ve been there for 19 years, and we&ve acted as policemen, not soldiers
And, again, if we wanted to be soldiers, it would be over in 10 days
One week to 10 days, if we wanted to.But I have not chosen that
Why are we — why would we kill millions of people? It wouldn''t be fair
In terms of humanity, it wouldn''t be fair
So we&re doing very well, and I think that Pakistan is going to be a big help.Q What role do you see for India and Afghanistan?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: Say it?Q What role do you see for India and Afghanistan? And, Mr
Prime Minister, same question to you
What — does India has a role to bring peace in Afghanistan?PRIME MINISTER KHAN: You see, this is the closest we&ve been to a peace deal
in Afghanistan.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: And there is no military solution in Afghanistan
There is no military solution because, as Mr
President says, if you go all-out military, there will be millions and millions of people who will die.So there is only one solution
And I feel — and I think we will discuss this — it the closest we have been to a peace deal
And we hope that in the coming days we will be able to urge the Taliban to speak to the Afghan government and come to a settlement — a
political solution.PRESIDENT TRUMP: And what the Prime Minister —Q (Inaudible).PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me
What the Prime Minister just said is a very big story
We&re — we&ve made a lot of progress over the last couple of weeks, and Pakistan has helped us with that progress.But a lot of great
A lot of things are happening for the United States, and I think a lot of great things are going to be happening for Pakistan too, under
I really feel that.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Thank you
Thank you.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay?Q Mr
President, on Iran, are we closer to negotiations or to armed conflict?PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think Iran doesn''t know where they are
I&ve been watching and reading a lot of reports
And right now, they&re a very mixed up country
They don''t know whether they&re coming or going
They have tremendous problems economically
Their country is in turmoil
They&re having demonstrations all over Iran
They&re inflation rate is at 75 percent
They have a lot of problems.So whatever it is, it is
I&m just going to sit back and wait
But I will say —Q What can you tell us about the CIA assets?PRESIDENT TRUMP: — they are doing very poorly as a country, and we&ll
see what happens.We did, actually — because they said no — and, you know, it a religious country, or religious leaders, but they lie a
We did shoot down — unfortunately, we had to shoot down a drone
You know how it — how it came down with a new technology that actually quite amazing
But we took down one of their drones
Instead of saying, &Yeah, that happened,& they lied
They say it didn''t happen.So we have — there a lot of proof
It called ''take a look at it on the ocean floor.& Just go down there — take your scuba gear and go down there in the — one of you
But we took down a drone.I think very importantly — I read a report today about CIA; that totally a false story
I don''t think Pakistan would ever do a thing like that, right? Pakistan —PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Definitely not.PRESIDENT TRUMP:
Pakistan never lies.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Definitely not.PRESIDENT TRUMP: But Iran does, unfortunately
So let see what happens with Iran
We are ready for the absolute worst
And we&re ready for sense, too
But we are very geared up
And if they — they are really the number-one state of terror in the world
Now, I have to say, they&ve pulled back because their money is running very low
The deal that President Obama made was a disaster because it was such a short term
It didn''t cover ballistic missiles
And they couldn''t see the important sites
Under this you couldn''t inspect the important sites
There were many things wrong.And, of course, they gave 150 billion dollars plus 1.8 billion in green — green, beautiful cash
That called many plane loads of cash
I think Pakistan would like to have some of that cash
But they gave $1.8 billion in cash, which is unthinkable.And instead of being respectful and thankful — which, frankly, they should have
been to the United States and to President Obama for making that ridiculous deal — instead of being respectful, they put their finger up
in the air — this finger, the thumb — they put their finger up in the air and they disrespected the United States
They shouldn''t have done that
That was a big mistake.One of the best things I&ve done is terminate that ridiculous deal
If they want to make a deal, it — frankly, it getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran because they behave very badly
They&re saying bad things.And I&ll tell you, it could go either way very easily
And I&m okay either way it goes.Q Mr
President (inaudible) —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes
You&re from Pakistan?Q Yeah, I&m from Pakistan.PRESIDENT TRUMP: I want a couple of Pakistani reporters
I like them much better than our reporters.Q (Inaudible) News
(Inaudible.) Question is: What do you think Pakistan could (inaudible) in 18 years? And you have so much hope now that (inaudible)
What are those things that Pakistan could do right now?PRESIDENT TRUMP: You mean what they didn''t do to end the war?Q (Inaudible) 18
years they could do now.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don''t think Pakistan — look, I don''t think Pakistan respected the United States
I don''t think Pakistan respected its presidents
And I think Pakistan could have done a lot
I think Pakistan can do tremendous amount against — with respect to Afghanistan
They didn''t do it and I don''t& blame them because they were dealing with the wrong President
Who knows? But I think Pakistan could have done — they&re helping us a lot now.I think they could have helped us a lot in the past
We have a new leader; he doing to be a great leader of Pakistan
And we have a new leader here
Sort of new; I&m two and half years now — getting to be three years, can you believe it? You&re going to find time flies.But, no, I
think Pakistan could have done a lot but they chose not to
And that because they did not respect United States leadership.Q Is Pakistan doing enough now? Is Pakistan doing enough now?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: Well, I&ll let you know that very quickly
I mean, I&m going to know soon
It not going to be like a long-term thing
I figure things out very quickly.So the question was — that probably the best question you&ve asked in a long time
(Laughter.) First time — she always asking, &Mueller
Mueller.& It been — she been asking this Mueller thing for three years
So I have to focus on that because that such a great question.I think Pakistan is going to do a lot
I think Pakistan is going to make a big difference
I think Pakistan will save millions of lives in Afghanistan because I really believe that they can — they have a power that other nations
don''t have with respect to Afghanistan.And I will say, as of this moment, they&re working very hard and very nicely, and we appreciate it.Q
(Inaudible) reports and video of protestors in Hong Kong — in these ongoing protests — being beaten by gangs
And, potentially, the Hong Kong and Chinese governments are sort of looking the other way, allowing these people — protestors to be
Have you seen any of that footage? Have you been briefed on any of that? Do you have any —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I have.Q —
message to Beijing and China?PRESIDENT TRUMP: And, you know, I know President Xi
We&re working on trade deals right now
In the meantime, they&re paying us billions and billions of dollars of tariffs, which is fine with me.But I know that they&re working — I
know that a very important situation for President Xi
And, you know, you could say what you said, but you could also say that he has allowed that to go on for a long time, and, you know, it
been relatively — I think it been relatively non-violent.Q Do you believe that protestors should be allowed to protest on the streets
of Hong Kong, as they&ve been doing peacefully?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they are
I don''t think China has stopped them
But China could stop them if they wanted
I think — I think that — again, I&m not involved in it very much — but I think President Xi of China has acted responsibly
They&ve been out there protesting for a long time.I&ve never seen protests like it, where you have that many people
It likes two million people
But I think that President — I hope that President Xi will do the right thing
But it has been going on a long time
There no question about it.Do you want to do a couple more? Do you have anybody you want to take a question from?Q Mr
President made good remarks about Pakistan and said that Pakistan can help lot to end the violence in Afghanistan — the dialogue process
and reconciliation process
So what really Pakistan can do to bring peace? Because you are also (inaudible) by your military commander, General Bajwa and other
security team.So what solution Pakistan — what strategy paper you have to push forward the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan
and assurances to the United States ?PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Number one, this is the longest war that the United States has ever fought
It almost 19 years.Number two, I am one of those who always believed that there was no military solution, because anyone who knows the
history of Afghanistan — you just have to look back at the history — there was always going to be a political settlement at the end.And
I have to compliment President Trump because he has now forced people to end the war, to have a settlement
And that where I think Pakistan is playing a very important role because Pakistan has a 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan, and all the
areas where the trouble is — which is the eastern side of Afghanistan.So this is a critical time
I&m looking forward to my talks with President Trump
We have our military leadership here because this is obviously a security situation
And what we want is understanding between the two countries
I can assure President Trump that whatever we will be saying will be the — we will be straight with them
There will never be any question of any doubt on Pakistan intent, because apart from Afghanistan, the country that wants peace in
Afghanistan more than any other country is Pakistan because we get directly affected by it.And Pakistan needs stability
We have had 15 years of fighting this war on terror
Over 70,000 Pakistani causalities
Over $150 billion lost to the economy
So we desperately want peace
And I&m happy that President Trump has pushed this forward
So we hope — I&m looking forward to these talks.Q Disrupting the peace in the region, and apart from Afghanistan, there is another
security threat in South Asia, and that is Kashmir dispute unresolved even by the United Nations and even by the United States , who voted
in support of that resolution in the U.N.Now, are you going to make any kind of submission and intervention, President Trump? And the same
President Trump —PRIME MINISTER KHAN: I will —Q Is he going to play any role in that Kashmir, where millions have been dead?PRIME
MINISTER KHAN: I —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, he got it
He got it.Q Thank you.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: I will be asking President Trump
He — it the most powerful country in the world, the United States
It can play the most important role in bringing peace in the subcontinent
You know, there are over a — over a billion and a quarter people in the subcontinent
They are held hostage to the issue of Kashmir
And I feel that only the most powerful state, headed by President Trump, can bring the two countries together.From my point, I can tell
you, we have tried our best
We&ve made all overtures to India to start dialogue, resolve our differences through dialogue
But unfortunately, we haven''t made headways as yet
But I&m hoping that President Trump would push this process.PRESIDENT TRUMP: So I was with — I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks
ago, and we talked about this subject
And he actually said, &Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?& I said, &Where?& He said, &Kashmir.& Because this has been going
I was surprised at how long; it been going on a long —PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Seventy years.PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I think they&d like to
And I think you&d like to see it resolved
And if I can help, I would love to be a mediator
It shouldn''t be — I mean, it impossible to believe two incredible countries that are very, very smart, with very smart leadership,
can''t solve a problem like that
But if you want me to mediate or arbitrate, I would be willing to do that.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: President, I can tell you that, right now,
you would have the prayers of over a billion people if you can mediate and resolve this issue.PRESIDENT TRUMP: It should be resolved
So it — but he asked me the same, so I think there something
So maybe we&ll speak to him or I&ll speak to him, and we&ll see if we can do something because I&ve heard so much about Kashmir
It supposed to be such a beautiful part of the world
But right now there just bombs all over the place
They say everywhere you go, you have bombs and it a terrible situation
Been going on for many years
If I can do anything to help that, let me know.Let me give you one thing on Afghanistan, as an example
So a lot of you don''t know this, but we dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever built in history
We dropped it in Afghanistan
We were getting ready to make many of those bombs
This left a hole that was — it took out a lot of the tunnels and everything else
But it left a hole in the Earth that looked like the moon; it looked like a crater from the moon
It was — nobody has ever seen anything like it
People heard it 15 miles away
They said, &What was that?& It shook the Earth
Non-nuclear — the largest ever made, by far.And they were going to make many of them
And I said, &No, we don''t have to
I don''t want to drop that
I don''t want to do that.& So many easy solutions
That actually the easy solution
And they&d come in and they&d say, &Let have peace.& But you don''t have to do that
I think we&re going to be very successful with having to go that route
And I have tremendous confidence in the Prime Minister.All right, one or two more
Go ahead, please.Q This is Nadeem from Voice of America
Are you going to raise the issue of Dr
Shakil Afridi with PM Imran Khan? And, PM, question to you regarding the freedom of the press in Pakistan: There are a lot of curbs on the
freedom of press, on the media, on the journalists
Can you comment on that?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Go ahead, please.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Pakistan press — to scorn Pakistan press as if there
Pakistan has one of the freest presses in the world
All you have to do is — since I&ve been the Prime Minister in the last 10 months — I mean, the criticism I have received from my own
press: unprecedented.So to say that there are curbs on Pakistan press is a joke.Q Mr
Prime Minister, I —PRESIDENT TRUMP: When you say &unprecedented,& it can''t —Q Mr
Prime Minister —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Wait a minute
There no way you&re treated worse than I am
(Laughter.)PRIME MINISTER KHAN: (Laughs.) It worse than you.PRESIDENT TRUMP: I mean, that can''t be.Q Mr
Prime Minister, you are fighting — Mr
Prime Minister, you are fighting —Q (Inaudible.)PRESIDENT TRUMP: You&re going to have to speak because I didn''t hear your words.Q
Yeah, the question was: Are you going to raise the issue of freedom or release of Dr
Shakil Afridi.PRESIDENT TRUMP: Freedom of the press?Q Dr
The doctor who helped —PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, yes
We will — we&re talking about hostages
We&re talking about hostages being held in various places
I&ve had very good luck with hostages with North Korea, with many places
They&ve treated us with respect, and I appreciate it
It made a big difference.We have two or three hostages that we&re talking about
That one of the gentlemen that we have heard about
And we&ll be — we will be discussing that with many other subjects
Yes, we will.PRIME MINISTER KHAN: And President Trump —Q (Inaudible.)PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Just a minute
Trump, we will be giving you a good news about the two hostages (inaudible).PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good
Thank you.Q On your tweets this morning — why are you escalating the feud with the four congresswomen? The racial tensions —Q On
North Korea, sir — on North Korea, sir —PRESIDENT TRUMP: I&ll tell you in a second.Go ahead
Ask again.Q On your tweets — why are you escalating your feud with the four congresswomen and racial tensions in so doing?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: Well, I think they&re very bad for our country
I really think they must hate our country
I think the four congressmen we&re talking about — the congresswomen, what they&ve said about Israel, what they&ve said about our
country, when they talk about &disgusting people,& when they talk the way they talk; when the one mentioned that &brown people should speak
for brown people,& and &Muslim people should speak for Muslim people,& and you hear all this — it not what our country is all about.No, I
think they&re very bad for our country
I think they&re very bad for the Democrat Party
And they&re pulling the Democrats way left
Nobody knows how to handle them
I feel they&re easy to handle
To me, they&re easy to handle because they&re just out there
They&re very bad for our country
Absolutely.Q Are you stoking racial tensions? But are you stoking racial tensions in so doing?PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I don''t think —
no, no, no racial tension
No, no, there no racial tension.Look, I had my best numbers recently, and it because of the economy and what I&ve done for the African
When you look at — the African Americans are doing better than they&ve ever done in our country
They&re — we&re creating numbers — look at the poverty numbers
Look at so many different — look at the unemployment numbers
The best they&ve ever had.No, we have fantastic relationships with the African American community
Certainly, you&re going to see that in 2020, I believe.Q Mr
President, even your critics — even your critics say that you&re going to win the 2020 election
And you&re obviously very confident about that
Sir, you are also heading up a big war against corruption in Pakistan
So can you just give us a little comment on that?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think he going to win
And I think what going to happen — of course, he got a little ways to wait — (laughter) — but I&ll go over — I&m going to campaign
I&m going to help him win his campaign.Q Mr
President, I&m (inaudible) representing Associated Press of Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan is looking for trade and economic relationships and investment in Pakistan
Are you willing to do that?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.Q Because many experts say that economic prosperity is the best antidote to extremism
and militancy.PRESIDENT TRUMP: I agree
And I think that very true
And that actually a very good question
I see great trade with Pakistan
And I&m not — I&m not talking about a little bit more
I&m talking about — we could go 10 and even 20 times what we&re doing right now.You know, Pakistan is a big country
It actually a very big country, and they have tremendous product
They make tremendous — I&ve bought from Pakistan over the years when I was in the private sector
They make incredible product
They&re hardworking people.I think we&re going to have a fantastic trade relationship
I don''t mean we&ll increase it by 20 percent
I mean, I think we can quadruple it
I think it could go — I mean, literally, it sounds crazy — you could go 10 times more
You could go 20 times more
Because what we do right now is not much, and we should do a lot.So I think that going to be — and I also do agree that that has so much
Having a great trading relationship has so much to do with peace and extremism, in this case
I think it can have a — so I expect that we will, within a very short period of time, start having very significant trade with Pakistan.Q
Sir, are there any lower working-level talks with North Korea scheduled at this point since you met with Kim Jong Un at the DMZ?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: No, we just have a very good relationship, and probably they would like to meet
And we&ll see what happens
There was a little correspondence recently — very positive correspondence — with North Korea.Q Between you or your staff?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: Again, there no nuclear testing
I think we will — yeah, at a certain point.Q What the roadmap to working-level talks, sir?PRESIDENT TRUMP: When they&re ready —
when they&re ready, we&ll be meeting.Q They&re not ready yet, sir?Q One question, please?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Go ahead.Q One question,
(Inaudible) from (inaudible) Pakistan
Did you raise the case for Dr
Afridi?PRIME MINISTER KHAN: Well, there will be things discussed
So, you know, that would be for afterwards.Q Mr
President, on Puerto Rico?PRESIDENT TRUMP: We&ll be — we&ll be discussing it.Q A question on India
Pakistan — one of the (inaudible) Pakistan (inaudible) where India (inaudible) a non-state actors to destabilize them
And the people from there are going to Europe and other places
And they&re getting refused
They&re getting asylum in India, which is actually an indication that India is helping those non-state actors to infiltrate in Pakistan and
One of the guy Pakistan is holding — which was the (inaudible) network
So you do you think that the United States will be playing a role in stopping India to, you know, destabilizing the region?PRESIDENT
TRUMP: I think I can very well
I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi
And I think we&re going to have a phenomenal relationship with the Prime Minister of Pakistan
I do think that it a two-way street
You know, you say India is coming in and destabilizing Pakistan, but India is saying that Pakistan is coming in and destabilizing
So there a lot of room right there where we can meet
I think we can meet.You had a question on Puerto Rico?Q Should the governor of Puerto Rico step down right now?PRESIDENT TRUMP: Did he
He says he not going to because he not going to run for reelection.PRESIDENT TRUMP: He a terrible governor
I think you have an even worse mayor of San Juan
I watched her — my people did nothing but complain about her when we helped them with their hurricane problem
The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a horror show
At the same time, the governor is not good.So the United States Congress — you won''t believe this; please close your ears because this
would be — gave Puerto Rico $92 billion last year for hurricane relief
No, they haven''t gotten the money, all of it, but they&ve got a lot of it, but they&re scheduled to get
The Congress of the United States handed them $92 billion
And that $92 billion is in the hands of incompetent people and very corrupt people.But the governor has done a terrible job
And the mayor of San Juan has — she horrible
I think she just terrible
She so bad for her people
And I think the government of the United States — they have to be careful.I&m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico because we
did a great job in Puerto Rico
They don''t like to give me the credit for it, but we did a great job
I have many Puerto Rican friends
I have a real understanding of Puerto Rico
I&ve had jobs in Puerto Rico.I had — I think the most successful — I owned the Miss Universe contests and pageants, and we had them in
And I&ll tell you, we had tremendous successes
In fact, they said literally 100 percent — this never happens — almost — I think it was close to 100 — but 100 percent of the
island itself was watching
They liked those pageants.Now, I&ve had a great relationship with Puerto Rico
I&m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico
But Congress has given them $92 billion
Pakistan would like some of that, right? Ninety-two, not 1.3 — because Pakistan was getting 1.3
Ninety-two billion dollars, and the money is squandered and wasted and stolen.And I&ll tell you what: The senators are not happy about it,
and Congress is not happy about it
Because you really do — you have incompetent — totally grossly, incompetent leadership at the top of Puerto Rico
The people of Puerto Rico are great
And the people of Puerto Rico like me, and they should because nobody has given them what I give them
But the leadership is corrupt and incompetent.Thank you very much, everybody.END12:55 P.M
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