Fox 10 Phoenix will carry today’s session – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBmWHeym4jk

CSPAN will also carry it live – https://www.c-span.org

It’s time for some OFFENSE! Beginning 10:00AM Eastern time from the Senate. Tune in!

OFFENSE in DEFENSE of the President. Finally, the President will be able to defend himself to the public against these spurious charges. The eight gifted attorneys in the header above will be seen in the Senate. You may see the eight House members below, the Fire-Breathers, drifting all over the media.

Since August 28th, the Politico Article by Natasha Bertrand (which we suspect was planted by Schiff’s staff), the Dems have hammered the President, turning the narrative of funding to Ukraine into a “Trump personal gain for the election of 2020” and therefore scurrilous and impeachable. The Dems impeached the President in 78days, when Clinton and Nixon both took years to resolve (because of all the appeals). The Dems claim they have overwhelming evidence, but need more witnesses, more information, and AN ACTUAL CRIME would help the Dems case. Yet, they cannot wait for proper procedure and appeals on subpoenas…… because the voters may re-elect the President……… and that cannot happen…… according to the Dems.

Yet, after months of conducting secret depositions in the basement and made-for-television hearings in the House, fervently pushed by mass media, the public still does not want the President removed. To be clear, if this was a real trial, it would be as if the Prosecutor was on the field for FIVE MONTHS……. with no telling of the other side of the story…… and the Dems still can’t convince the jury, which is us. The President is entitled to a defense, his side of the story has yet to be told. We can assume the President’s defense will be hefty and persuasive.

https://twitter.com/WarRoom2020/status/1220869190971797507

Within the movie we are watching, there are a few Senators who are targeted as “moderate”, which the Dems have been trying to harangue. Lisa Murkowski, Collins, Romney, and Lamar Alexander. When Congressman Nadler accused the Repub Senators of a cover up if they did not vote for more witnesses, Susan Collins was so upset she wrote a note to the Chief Justice Roberts. Strike One.

Well, this evening, Schiff lost Murkowski. Schiff made a comment that Repubs in the Senate had been warned if they voted against the President “their head would be on a pike”. Lisa was NOT amused. The Repubs are furious, and the media darling, Schiff, is in big trouble for making a fatal error, over playing his hand. Strike Two.

Republicans are VERY angry about Schiff’s decision to reference that CBS “head on a pike” report. Murkowski says “that’s where he lost me.” Barrasso says “whatever gains he may have made, he lost all of it — plus some — tonight.”

— Emily Cochrane (@ESCochrane) January 25, 2020

Barrasso speaking to the cameras, and reported by the New York Times, Emily Cochrane (above) might as well be Strike 3

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has been seen as a swing vote, appeared wary of a legal fight, characterizing House Democrats as trying to get the Senate to go through a legal battle they bypassed." https://t.co/YjZHb6fuRy

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) January 24, 2020

If you are on Twitter, please follow Congressman Andy Biggs. His twitter feed is extraordinary. He is obsessed with the subject of impeachment (and strongly defending the President). His twitter feed is pushing out info on the impeachment about every 20 minutes to an hour (He’s like I was with Davos).

HUGE error from Adam Schiff to make the closing argument about himself, the "whistleblower," & Hunter Biden.

Democrats have a grave fear of the next three days, when their lies will be exposed & the truth will be championed.

President @realDonaldTrump will soon be exonerated!

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) January 25, 2020

Here is the transcript to the President’s phone call with President Zelinsky: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf

Here is the link for the Whistleblower Complaint. Both may come in handy tomorrow: https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190812_-_whistleblower_complaint_unclass.pdf

Jay Sekulow talks about what to expect tomorrow and mentions Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS.

See you tomorrow! 10:00am Eastern! Don’t be late.

Let’s meet at the old saw mill………. and ride!

……Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm…..

Longfellow, of course, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

President Trump will speak today, in person, at the annual March For Life. FULL TEXT is at the bottom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzKgsOSf-Xg

We will drop in live links as they become available. He will become the first President to do so spanning the 47 years of the March. Yes, coincidentally, President Trump announced he would attend on Wednesday January 22, the 47th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Until today, VP Pence was the highest ranking official to speak. Pence has been a featured speaker every year since 2017.

President Trump addressed the participants from the Rose Garden in 2018. See here:

The Trump Administration is strongly pro-life and President Trump loves babies.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend. “It’s the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world. But this is not just a protest… TOGETHER, WE GATHER TO CELEBRATE LIFE.”  https://marchforlife.org/national-march-for-life/

The March and walk is the culmination of a week of events, entertainment, and training for advocates. Extremely organized group. Learn more here: https://marchforlife.org/national-march-for-life/#events

This is the main event! The March for Life Rally kicks off at noon at 12th St. on the National Mall. Immediately following the Rally—usually around 1 p.m.—we march peacefully up Constitution Ave. After marching, consider attending the Silent No More testimonies outside the U.S. Supreme Court, or advocating for life to your Representative or Senators.

March For Life is an enormous and powerful organization protecting the sanctity of life, respectable beyond measure. Let’s take a look at the politics for a moment. Tomorrow, they voice will be magnified, louder than ever before.

***** Understand, these March For Life participants will flood the Capitol all day long and especially when the Walk is finished……… during the middle of a Schiff speech ****** On the last day of Dems Shampeachment ****** Almost like President Trump planned it that way……..

Let’s make sure we grasp the visual in our minds. Focus on the “compare and contrast” split screen, the picture on the evening news for those who don’t pay attention. President Trump will be OUTSIDE speaking to 500K people who are in DC to protest politicians who want to kill babies. Inside, Adam Schiff will be trying to impeach the President of the United States for a non-crime….

Amazing

The comparison is inescapable. In a mind’s eye, Schiff/Nadler/Schumer/ the Senate Dems and impeachment managers are characterized as the baby killers. That comparison, even if it’s unfair, will happen.

The March comes 6 weeks before one of the most significant abortion cases since Roe V Wade will be heard by SCOTUS. Plus, the Louisiana lawmaker who wrote the contentious law will be a featured speaker at the rally. According to CBS:

Representative Katrina Jackson introduced the state’s “Unsafe Abortion Protection Act,” a 2014 law not currently in effect that requires abortion-providing doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. If the Supreme Court allows the law to go into effect, abortion access could be entirely eliminated in Louisiana.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-abortion-rights-groups-get-support-from-trump-the-first-president-to-attend-march-for-life-rally-today-2020-01-23/

We also learned from the CBS article that Planned Parenthood plans to spend 45 million in the 2020 election cycle AND Susan B. Anthony Group plans (who is pro-life) plans to spend 52 million in 2020. Various blue states have adopted heinous laws to allow abortion up to the moment of birth of baby, and relaxed regulations for the presence of licensed physicians. The abortion issue will be important in the election cycle, …….as if we needed an election cycle to make it important.

Note: Alexis McGill Johnson is the CEO of Planned Parenthood and spoke at Davos about “women’s health”. I’m biting my tongue.

List of Speakers identified:

• Claire Culwell is a twin abortion survivor. 
• Jim Daly is an author and broadcaster, president of Focus on the Family and host of its daily radio broadcast
• Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of Susan B. Anthony List. 
• Louisiana First Lady Donna Hutto Edwards 
• Senator Katrina R. Jackson, was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana. (the one who wrote the law being challenged at SCOTOS)
• Elisa Martinez is the founder and Executive Director of New Mexico Alliance for Life
• Steve Scalise proudly represents the First Congressional District of Louisiana (!!!!!!!)
• Melissa Ohden is the survivor of a failed saline infusion abortion in 1977
• Catalina Scheider Galiñanes is a young Catholic teen with a passion for the pro-life movement. She is 16 years old and is a junior at Oakcrest School in Vienna, Virginia.
• Elected in 1980, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton, N.J.) is currently in his 19th two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives and serves residents of the Fourth Congressional District of New Jersey.
• David Platt is pastor of McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. and the founder of Radical (radical.net). He holds a Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has previously served as the president of the International Mission Board. 
• His Grace Bishop Apostolos of Medeia
• and a late addition…….. The President of the United States
• Photos of speakers and expanded biographies found here: https://marchforlife.org/national-march-for-life/#events

Printable posters and trip planners found here: https://marchforlife.org/downloads/#downloadplanner

Get the March For Life App for your phone, here: https://marchforlife.org/downloads/#downloadplanner

State Marches found here: https://marchforlife.org/state-marches-near-you/

Love your babies………..

Full Text of the President’s Speech at the March for Life, 2020. (hat tip to Dep)

Thank you very much and thank you, Jeanne. It is my profound honor to be the first president in history to attend the March for Life. [applause] We are here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential. [applause] 

For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life.  

And today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. [applause]

I want to welcome tens of thousands – this is a tremendous turnout – tens of thousands of high school and college students who took long bus rides to be here in our nation’s capital. And to make you feel even better, there are tens of thousands of people outside that we passed on the way in. If anybody would like to give up their spot, we can work it out.

We have a tremendous group of people outside. Thousands and thousands wanted to get in. This is some great success. [applause]

Young people are the heart of the March for Life. And it’s your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation. [applause]

The life movement is led by strong women, amazing faith leaders, and brave students who carry on the legacy of pioneers before us who fought to raise the conscience of our nation and uphold the rights of our citizens. You embrace mothers with care and compassion. You are empowered by prayer and motivated by your unselfish love. You are grateful and we are so grateful ­­– these are incredible people – to be joined by Secretary Alex Azar and Kellyanne Conway. [applause]

And thanks also to Senators Mike Lee and James Lankford who are here. Thank you, fellas. And Representatives Steve Scalise, Chris Smith, Ralph Abraham, Warren Davidson, Bob Latta, John Joyce, Lloyd Smucker, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Brad Wenstrup. Thank you all. I have to say – and I look at it, and I see it exactly – we have many more politicians in the audience. But if you don’t mind, I won’t introduce them all.

All of us here understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. [applause] Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life. [applause]

When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. [applause] When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family. When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor that radiates from each human soul. One life changes the world – from my family, and I can tell you, I send love, and I send great, great love – and from the first day in office, I have taken historic action to support America’s families and to protect the unborn. [applause]

And during my first week in office, I reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy and we issued a landmark pro-life rule to govern the use of Title X taxpayer funding. I notified Congress that I would veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policy or that encourages the destruction of human life. [applause]

At the United Nations, I made clear that global bureaucrats have no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that protect innocent life. [applause] Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House. [applause]

As the Bible tells us, each person is wonderfully made. [applause]

We have taken decisive action to protect the religious liberty – so important – religious liberty has been under attack all over the world and frankly, very strongly attacked in our nation. You see it better than anyone. But we are stopping it. And we’re taking care of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor. [applause]

We are preserving faith-based adoption and to uphold our founding documents, we have appointed 187 federal judges, who apply the consultation as written, including two phenomenal supreme court justices – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. [applause]

We are protecting pro-life students’ rights to free speech on college campuses. And if universities want federal taxpayer dollars, then they must uphold your First Amendment right to speak your mind. And if they don’t, they pay a very big financial penalty, which they will not be willing to pay. [applause]

Sadly, the far left is working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious leaders from the public square, and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life. They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice. And we will win because we know how to win. [applause] We all know how to win. We all know how to win. You’ve been winning for a long time. You’ve been winning for a long time.

Together, we are the voice for the voiceless. When it comes to abortion – and you know this, you’ve seen what’s happened – Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades, and you can even say, for centuries.

Nearly every top Democrat in congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion all the way up until the moment of birth. Last year, lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb right up until delivery.

Then, we had the case of the Democrat governor in the state of Virginia, the commonwealth of Virginia. And we love the commonwealth of Virginia, but what is going on in Virginia? What is going on? The governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth. You remember that.

Senate Democrats even blocked legislation that would give medical care to babies who survive attempted abortions. And that’s why I’ve called on Congress – two of our great senators here, so many of our congressmen here – I called upon them to defend the dignity of life and to pass legislation prohibiting late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in their mother’s womb. [applause]

This year, the March for Life is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which forever enshrined women’s rights to vote in the United States and given by the United States constitution. Such a big event. Today, millions of extraordinary women across America are using the power of their votes to fight for the right and all of their rights as given in the Declaration of Independence – it’s the right to life. [applause]

To all the women here today, your devotion and your leadership uplifts our entire nation and we thank you for that. The tens of thousands of Americans gathered today not only stand for life – it’s really here that they stand for it so proudly together. And I want to thank everybody for that. You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs, and medical care to the women that you serve. You find loving families for children in need of a forever home. You host baby showers for expecting moms. You make – you just make it your life’s mission to help spread God’s grace.

And to all the moms here today, we celebrate you and we declare that mothers are heroes. [applause] Your strength, devotion, and drive is what powers our nation. Because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.

We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve. The dreams they will imagine. The masterpieces they will create. The discoveries they will make. But we know this: every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting.

And above all, we know that every human soul is divine and every human life, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of Almighty God. [applause]

Together, we will defend this truth all across our magnificent land. We will set free the dreams of our people. And with determined hope, we look forward to all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility, and grace of every American child.

I want to thank you. This is a very special moment. It’s so great to represent you. I love you all. [applause] And I say with a true passion, thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you. [applause]

Welcome to the Friday OPEN THREAD at the QTree! What a week it has been. Thank you for the Thursday hand-off TrumpIsMine. What would we do without FLEP’s News Roundup to keep up? Thank you, Flep. Hat tip and a hearty thank you to all contributors and the lurkers!

We don’t believe in political correctness at QTree. You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it. Important Guidelines are outlined here in the January 1st open thread, with an addendum on 20191110. In other words, please keep it SOMEWHAT civil. We have a new board – actually a new SITE – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation. NOT HERE. This board will remain a REFUGE for those who need civility, either some or all of the time. That’s life at QTreehouse as we head into the weekend.

https://media.giphy.com/media/d1vaWA1lsbIdy/giphy.gif

Are you dizzy from too much winning? Just so we’re all on the same page…. Wednesday we received the biggest Birthday present, ever = effectively annihilating the WTO. Today, the President will speak to 500K people who support LIFE as they march up Constitution Ave (while Schiff is trying to impeach Trump and ignore our vote). The timing is PERFECT. And over the weekend, maybe by Tuesday, the President will release a plan for Peace in the Middle East. Catch your breath!

Pour another cup of coffee. Cuzzzzz, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”. We’re on Wolfie’s magic rollercoaster, Remember? Wolfie told us what to expect! Fasten your seat belts and hang on!

Today is the March For Life in DC. We have a separate thread scheduled and hopefully looking for a contribution from Lady Penguin. President Trump will be the first President to attend in person. We know the Trump Admin is strongly pro-life for all the right reasons, but take a look at the politics……. for tomorrow. President Trump will be OUTSIDE speaking to 500K people who are in DC to protest politicians who want to kill babies. Inside, Adam Schiff is trying to impeach the President of the United States for a non-crime…. Amazing

SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT!, “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“ He needs our prayers and help more than ever before!

And remember….. it is time to drain the swamp in DC and LOCALLY. Please make a commitment in the new year to attend a LOCAL board meeting for your town or municipality or school board. Get involved and make your presence known. Put your local officials phone numbers in your cell phone and call them once a week (or more often).

“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American People.”

Candidate Donald J Trump

Also remember Wheatie’s Rules:

1. No food fights.
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

We have ONE MORE DAY of Democrats for the Shampeachmint and our team takes the field. Put another pot of coffee on, please. We’re busy at the Q Tree!

• This past Wednesday, the day the President came home from Davos, was the Trump’s 15th wedding Anniversary……. I’m thinking FLOTUS may have received a Swiss Watch with a few diamonds….. (Smile!) He brought us a present too, a rework of the WTO!
• Yesterday the President was in Florida at the annual winter meeting for Republicans – he wasn’t there last year because of the shut down. The RNC loves President Trump’s record fundraising. Good idea to go, tighten up the donor base going into Shampeachment votes.
• Today the President speaks at the March For Life and will be the FIRST President to do so. Conservatives will take over DC today, flooding the zone.
• Next week we have TWO rallies, one in New Jersey (already 100K tickets requested) and one in Iowa.
• We’re coming off of big wins this week in Davos, and it doesn’t look like the drama in the Senate is hurting the President.
• There will also be a big ceremony for the passage of USMCA.
• And just announced, we get a Middle East Peace Plan and Bibi is coming to the White House. Wait…….. WHUT? President Trump is going to solve Peace in the Middle East while Schiff is trying to impeach him?
• Notice how President Trump just assumed Iran has rolled over, and Trump is moving on.
• Soleimani isn’t even cold yet, and the ink on China Phase One has barely dried.

President Trump is suffocating the Dem Party, and he is “Takin’ Care of Business”.

All in all, things are looking pretty good.

**** Special thanks to MA_Kswiss who reported LIVE FROM DAVOS, Wolfie’s tremendous Shmpeachment thread, and Flep’s back up on the bi-lats! That was a fun week!

See you all at Wheatie’s Treehouse in the morning!

Happy Birthday, America.

If we were looking for some inkling of capitulation from the globalists, we found it…….. at long last, and the impact will be bigger than we can understand in the snapshot of a 24hr news cycle. Next month, the debacle of Shampeachment will be a distant memory, but this…… what happened today in Davos……… this will last for decades…. and it’s glorious.

Imagine being a 7yr old kid, anxiously awaiting your birthday. All year long, you go to other kids’ parties, your mom buys great presents….. things you secretly wanted…… which you give away to other kids. The seasons fade, summer ends, and the weather turns cooler in time to head back to school. Months tick by….. and YOUR birthday finally comes up on the calendar. You divulge your deepest desires to your parents in coded hints. The anticipation builds and you scour the house, like a secret spy, to search for a brightly wrapped present. Endlessly you pester mom, then dad, finally siblings, for clues as to what you might be getting. By birthday week, as friends are expected at your party, you can barely contain the excitement.

Finally, your big day comes……. and it’s more than you ever imagined. As the scene unfolds, it’s a 10′ tall birthday cake, a new bicycle to ride – one for every day of the week, HUNDREDS of buddies at your party – people you don’t even know (but they’re your friends), the whole school is there, an entire circus, a train, and planes to ride, even your beloved deceased Grandma is at your party..…. somehow…. and she brings a big stash of your favorite candy…… enough to last for years. Everyone loves you and it’s the best day of your life.……. all in slow motion….. recorded…… so you can replay the moment again and again.

THAT is what President Trump and the Trump Team gave us today.

Let’s all understand, at the Davos 2020 conference, the final presser from the President of the USA is probably the biggest event of the week. Here, President Trump took the stage for a few minutes and then….. surprisingly…… introduced the Director General of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo. whom Trump refers to as “Roberto”. Did any of you know this guy before today?

Normally, it would be highly unusual for the President of the USA to share a stage with ANYONE at such a momentous occasion, but here, only 6 minutes into his presser, President Trump called “Roberto” to the podium. And we saw capitulation like we’ve never seen before…….

The WTO is on the chopping block and Team Trump will largely write the new rules. Wait…….. whut??? Otherwise, as Trump implied, he will dismantle the WTO. I stopped dead in my tracks with a half eaten banana. I actually felt the news move through me as a physical force. Today…. was my big birthday party, bigger than I ever imagined……. and it was America’s birthday party as well.

Never in a million years did we imagine President Trump would be able to accomplish this much in such a short period of time. He’s giving us our entire wish list. It’s the best Christmas and birthday rolled together. It’s a new bicycle for every day of the week, the big cake, the elephants to ride, and airplanes to fly. It’s the rebirth of the United States. It’s prosperity for our kids. It’s the gift of a level playing field for all of America’s workers. It’s the promise of fairness. No more screwing over America. It’s vindication and acknowledgement of the decades of pain felt by regular Americans. It’s the endless stash of birthday candy which will last long enough for my grandchildren.

It really is……… THAT BIG.

The reporters, pundits, most Congressmen, and even young trade reps, will never be able to understand the impact of what happened today. To be fair, it’s not their fault, they only receive a paycheck and are not responsible for the whole company with this kind of DUNS category#, or this section of the Blue Book. You can’t understand the pain unless you feel it, and work in it. Most employees and companies don’t produce anything tangible. They simply have no life experience in this arena.

ONLY a business person, one who has bought supplies originally in the USA, and now forced to buy overseas for decades, could see the problem firsthand. ONLY someone old enough to see how we used to do business, and then compare it to how we have to do business now, would have the correct perspective…. the vision to see the glaring errors. ONLY a man who has been frustrated by local suppliers going out of business, and witnessed the agony, been to the foreclosure sales of friends – caused by unfair foreign competition, and annoyed at the policies of DC, would understand how America lost our wealth. AND ONLY an exceptional man would have the ability and courage to fix the problem.

THAT man is Donald Trump, and he is surrounded by other men, like Wilbur Ross, with similar experience.

As a partner in a brokerage firm during the 80’s, I traded FOREX, okay fine, BUT back then I didn’t understand how much bad trade harmed our whole economy – and hurt our people. Later in life, when I was forced to trade internationally for building products, my life, my customer’s lives, were filled with frustration and endless angst. We KNEW what was wrong with American Trade Policy and we were tired of being defeated at every turn. We were all business owners, responsible for our employees and their families. We were active politically and called our Senators, Governors, and demanded that the ROBBERY of America STOP. Yet, like the 7yr old kid awaiting a birthday, our moms (the government) were always buying presents for some other kid (China/Brazil/India/Turkey). Our day, America’s day, to celebrate never came. As the years turned into decades, at OUR annual conferences, we pounded bourbon and railed at the idiocy of our leaders…. our friends in peril, and opportunities lost.

Ahhhh, but we were babies in the international trading arena. Citizen Trump built big things, and one can imagine his frustration and indignation loomed larger. Trump’s resolution and payback has been a long time in coming. For him, it is personal. It’s the big nut for America. Solving the problem of trade inequity gives America the money to solve the other problems we have…. the bridges, schools, even humanitarian issues beloved and deficit funded by the left.

You think the problem started with President Trump? That President Trump is the source of the controversy? That he is mean, a bully, racist, or dumb, for trying to solve the problem? Ohhh, hell no.

Look here, at Citizen Trump, November 21, 1991, providing testimony to the House Budget Committee about the problems with passive losses in the Tax Act of 1986 which, once implemented, cost the the country about 500 billion dollars, the loss of 700K construction jobs, and the recession of ’91&’92. HERE, beginning at 39:30, Republican Congresswoman, Helen Delich Bentley, talks about Free Trade versus FAIR TRADE, and the problems of shipping jobs overseas.

You think “Free Trade versus Fair Trade” is a new slogan? No. Were you surprised? Republicans and Democrats were arguing about the concept, concerned about American manufacturing, using the same slogans, 30years ago.

Trump knew. All our leaders knew. The wipe out of America was never addressed. It was intentional negligence.

When the WTO allowed China to enter with “developing nation” status, it meant Chinese imports into the USA were allowed at the lowest tariff rate of any other country’s products entering the USA in the same category class. In other words, China was granted the best deal on customs duties, access to our markets, with no protections for OUR industries, and targeted subsidies by the CCP to wipe out our companies. Today, we’re are familiar with how the Chinese targeted our farmers during negotiations. Well, imagine a situation whereby American farmers were targeted for 30yrs, and the CCP supplied Chinese farmers with seed, fertilizer, and tractors to help them compete…….. oh, and Chinese farmers don’t have to pay back their loans. THAT is what China does.

Industry by industry, the Chinese stole (or were given) our technology starting with basic housewares and easily manufactured items, graduating to autos, airliners, and precision medical devices or construction equipment. The great glassware manufacturers of upstate NY, Ohio, and Indiana were sold out, first. Then came the rest of our manufacturing base, the furniture companies in the Carolinas, the textile mills (from 8000 to about 50 remaining in the USA), auto parts, blue jeans and underwear….. steel, cabinetry, drywall, nails, lighting, plumbing fixtures, …….. almost all gone.

Kohler still has a corporate office in the USA, beautiful hotel attached, gorgeous facility, and sponsors a well known golf tournament. Are they in the Fortune 100? Probably. You probably think Kohler is a great American company……. Yet, I have Kohler fixture prototypes in my master shower – because they walked out the back door of their factory in Xiamen. One of my guys in Xiamen had a nephew who worked at the factory, and thought Miss Daughn might like a nice little present in her container. Surprised? I sure as heck was. So much for copyright protections in China…. I mean…. the prototypes were walking out the BACK DOOR.

Were we not paying attention in 2001? The approval for China to join the WTO came on November 11, 2001 (formally approved a month later), but only came after FIFTEEN YEARS of negotiations. The meeting, in Doha Qatar, was guarded by helos, 2 ships, and 2100 American Marines – only 2 months after the Trade Towers came down. America was in disarray at that time. This deal began in later stages of Reagan, proceeded under Daddy Bush, was pretty much “inked” under the Clinton Admin. Did we know what we were signing? https://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/11/10/china.WTO/index.html

In the CNN article above, a few leaders were worried about China’s ability to keep their promises, but Chinese officials dismissed those concerns.

To Team Trump’s credit, Wilbur Ross, our Wilburine, who has been to China 86 times BEFORE he became our Commerce Sec, immediately began investigations and leveled charges against the Chinese at the WTO. Pretty soon, judgments started rolling in. We didn’t hear much about them in the press but the Trump Admin was determined and extraordinarily aggressive. Wilbur also pursued charges against France (Airbus) and other countries. The cases at WTO often take years to resolve, and sometimes those victims bringing charges are out of business or hobbled when the time comes for their birthday party (like the great settlement for Delta Faucets which DOUBLED the tariff on Chinese manufactured stainless sinks – the CCP, via subsidies, was intentionally trying to wipe out remaining American manufacturers of kitchen sinks!!!!).

The biggest problem with the WTO is no teeth to enforce a judgement. China often simply ignored a ruling against them. Yet………… Methinks Wilbur and his team have worn out the WTO. I’m just guessing……. (and I just make muffins).

Keep in mind, other countries have already addressed the Chinese problem to protect their own workers. Brazil has a 35% tariff against all foreign manufactured goods. About 17% supports their version of Social Security, and the other 18% supports local municipalities (police/fire/admin). Turkey charges an 18% tariff on Chinese goods but they implemented it when China began to play games with currency manipulation. Heck, even IRAN has a 40% tariff on Chinese imports AND a 40% tariff when China buys raw materials from Iran (the Chinese are known to raid mining operations in Iran because Iran is so rich in natural resources).

So why were the Americans and Europeans so stupid? More importantly, WHO benefited from American and European stupid trade policies?

American companies (and Europe was in on it too), multinationals, helped the Chinese develop manufacturing to take advantage of low wages, and no OSHA requirements. Forget about extra expenses for eye goggles, hardhats, and steel toed boots in China – flip flops are okay. And forget about Workman’s Comp for an accident, or suing the company. It’s easy to pollute in China. I’ve often told the story of the white marble factory we bought from, who had to move, because the blue jeans factory upriver was dumping blue dye into water and all the WHITE marble was suddenly BLUE. So, the water in Flint Michigan was important but I bet those same leftists bought those blue jeans……….. YES, those same executives, who are often the most radical politically, LOVE to pollute and exploit low wages abroad, in factories with dangerous working conditions.

But judgement day has come to the WTO and the American globalists on Wall Street and in London/Brussels/Berlin. It’s a safe bet……. as happy as I am today, the US Chamber of Commerce, the lobbying arm which was most responsible for shipping our jobs overseas, was probably in panic mode. Yeah, Tom Donahue was throwing up today………… for me, I’m feelin’ pretty good about it.

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In order to share with you guys, I finally found the transcript from the Davos presser this morning when I checked back in this afternoon. Read the words yourself and watch the video above from Trump’ presser. It’s capitulation and it feels so good. It is the biggest birthday gift – ever. The big “get” from Davos this year was …….
THE CHANGE at the WTO.

And everything changes from this moment forward. Here is what Director General Roberto Azevedo, whom Trump refers to as “Roberto”, said in front of the entire international press corps. Emphasis is mine.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL AZEVÊDO: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I think it’s fair to say that we have been saying, for quite some time, that if the multilateral system, if the WTO is to deliver and perform its role in today’s global economy, it has to be updated. It has to be changed. It has to be reformed.

This is an agenda that is squarely before members. I don’t think anybody in Geneva misses the point. I think they understand that the — the system has not been functioning properly in many areas. That’s something that we’re trying to address.

I’m very happy that, in the conversation today with President Trump, he agreed that this is something that needs to happen; the WTO has to change. We are committed to effect those changes. And this is something that we’re serious about.

And I am going to be, together with President Trump, as soon as possible, discussing what needs to change, what needs to be effected in the WTO, and we’re committed to doing that.

And, of course, I will be talking to all of the other WTO members, making sure that they all understand that this is serious. This is a path that we all have to be on together if we want to make the WTO relevant and performing to today’s requirements, frankly.

So thank you very much, Mr. President. It’s an honor to be with you and with everybody else. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great.

Transcript from Davos 2020 Presser for the President of the USA  https://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-remarks-by-president-trump-in-press-conference-1841160983

Yeah, the WTO execs will be in DC this week or next.

No kidding?

Does that sound odd to anyone here? Urgency? When did “urgency” happen? Sounds like President Trump and his team lit a fire underneath the seats of some cushy bureaucrats. Have you ever seen bureaucrats with a desire for urgency?

Wonder what the offer was?

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Heh……….

Sure, I know, some of the Eeyores will come along and ruin my birthday party with dire warnings of stealth operations by the US Chamber to water-down WTO changes. I’m not sure they matter so much anymore. Those boys have lost their luster….. as if men wearing “wife beater” white t-shirts to the grocery store was ever attractive. We should not have been so enamored with the globalists 40yrs ago. Bottom line, China has become a dangerous place to do business, American sentiment has turned, and tax policy in the USA is MUCH better AND safer. Companies will do what is in their best interest, of course. Yet the case for manufacturing in the USA has never been stronger.

And we’re gonna get a new and improved WTO. Happy Birthday!

Just don’t tell the press until we’re finished writing the rules.

Here is the President’s closing Presser at Davos – chock full and quite revealing. Major news drop concerns the reshaping of the WTO:

Transcript from The President’s Presser found at the link HERE and printed out at the end of this thread: https://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-remarks-by-president-trump-in-press-conference-1841160983

Take a look at the picture in the header. See all the distance between President Trump on the left and the guy who introduced him on the right? THAT’s how far apart America is from the globalist economic model……. and it’s a good thing.

We are winning. THEY are losing. We are full of optimism for our future. They are forecasting doom and the end of civilization. We have record-shattering and historic results in our economy. They are in the doldrums.

It reminds me of living with an alcoholic. At some point, we just don’t want to be around them anymore. President Trump has plucked their feathers and left the chicken naked, perfectly set up for an EU Trade Deal. Our guy is brutal, “but takes the lumps out”……. like his dad taught him. Are the globalists, particularly in the EU, close to capitulation?

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Here he is, our President, “As long as they’re fair, we’re not going to have a problem.”, but he has those tariffs in his back pocket, the tariffs which he imposed, and HE wields like a club. I mean, he makes it look so easy and we KNOW it is not. How did we get so lucky to get this guy as our President? He’s taking us all to school.

Asked if he plans to impose tariffs on European automobiles, Pres Trump says he expects to come to a deal with Europe. If not, then he says he'll give tariffs "very strong consideration. "If they’re fair, we’re not going to have a problem.” pic.twitter.com/EmTV7EP81D

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 21, 2020

You’ve probably already heard by now, the entire focus of Davos 2020 is “The Voice of Youth”, Climate Change, and income inequality. It’s a socialists wonderland. Yet, our President likened the Eco-Communists a Davos to the Fortune Tellers of old, foreshadowing doomsday, wearing the mask, intentionally hiding their desires to assume power and control our future. Spot on, Mr. President, as usual. “They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers…they predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70s and the end of oil in the 1990s.”, President Trump at Davos, 2020.

Wonder who he was talking about?

Can you imagine Donald Trump as your dad, and you trying to hide something from him? Put one over on him? Or trying to sneak into the house past curfew? No way…. no teenager could ever get past a dad like Trump, but I digress. Don’t you wonder how he has the patience to sit through the dribble and be gentile?

Enough of the fear and dread. Gheez, they are toxic. Have you heard the good news?

We have our own QTreeper IN DAVOS!!!!!!!!!! Yes, MA_KSwiss is there! We really are the news! Check out yesterday’s thread for KSwiss’ journey to Davos and her experience there. Great stuff. We’re lucky to span the globe!

In case you were wondering, our President has MAJOR star power. Look at all the billionaires and international press straining to get close to him. LOOK at the top of the photo, two deep on the mezzanine, hanging over the edges to catch a glimpse of the guy from Queens, a man named Trump.

Note to all: Our dearest FLEP is posting all the bi-lats the President had yesterday, along with the President’s comments at dinner. Thank you, FLEP. Our Davos coverage is exxxpanding. Hehe….. Pretty soon we’re going to need our own studio and a satellite feed!

Here is the full speech President Trump gave yesterday. Charles Payne on Fox Biz was so excited by his speech, I thought we were going to have to pry Charles off the studio ceiling. Charles is a BIG man, bit there was SO MUCH spring in his step yesterday, he was walking like a pixie.

Here is the President’s schedule for tomorrow. Did he sleep at all?

• President’s schedule tomorrow according to Mark Knoller of CBS: Wednesday in Davos:
• Pres Trump’s 2nd and final day at the @wef
• -breakfast with American business CEOs
• -bilat with Pres Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Govt
• -bilat with Iraqi Pres Salilh
• (Note: The Fox Biz interview is in here somewhere)
• -departs Davos for DC. Due back 5:10pm.

Pretty quick trip, eh? We have a betting pool going at our house. I think the President will come home with at least 200 Billion in deals. Big T says 100 billion. We know Governor Abbot of Texas has already landed a big fish, but he’s not sharing details. Not a bad “net” for a day and a half of work.

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We had MANY comments yesterday which were “stop and make you think”, deep strategy on geopolitics, or great links and back up. I wanted to share a few in case you missed some. Thank you to all who contributed. It’s easy for me to throw up a thread (while I’m making blueberry muffins), but the contributions of QTreepers are why we keep coming back.

On Climate Change: Are you tired of condescending third world leaders lecturing the civilized world about Climate Change, while they have their hands out? The hypocrisy makes our skin crawl. Plumnelly1 made a post yesterday which bares repeating here. It’s a perfect response and timely piece to emphasize President Trump’s main theme in his speech ~ The Fortune Tellers who use fear to control our lives:

Roy at Breitbart has got it figured out…
call me Roy • 5 hours ago
The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate at Bergen Norway.
Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.
Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.
Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the Gulf Stream still very warm.
Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.
Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelt which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.
Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.
* * *
* * * * * *
I must apologize.
I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post – 96 years ago.
This must have been caused by the Model T Ford’s emissions or possibly from horse and cattle flatulence?
Even the left wing SNOPES say’s this is true !!

Roy from Breitbart, via PlumNelly1 and verified by Snopes, here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/warm-welcome/

Eisenhower deep dive and the Q Post: Wolfie’s long comment and several others who chimed in on the latest Q post and Eisenhower’s warning and response to the Military Industrial Complex, is a great series and worth a look. Doesn’t matter how you may feel about Q, this series was informative general history and a lively discussion.

Geopolitics going forward, what is Team Trump planning?: The surprise at the end of yesterday’s thread which made me stop on a dime…….. came from BlackKnightRides. Gosh, we did miss him, didn’t we? He sees President Trump laying out the agenda for 2021. Take a look. My spidey-senses are all tingly.

The POTUS PATTERN for Davos:

• UK wants to cut a really great post-BREXIT Trade Deal
… as a SEA-LANE CONDUIT to end-run Tariffs on the EU.
… for PRODUCTS that POTUS allows to do so.
… BOOSTING the impact of upcoming Tariffs to force an EU Deal
… ENRICHING them for FIRST-to-EXIT the EU with BREXIT.

• Swiss now want to cut a really great post-BREXIT Trade Deal
… as an AIR-FREIGHT CONDUIT to end-run Tariffs on the EU.
… for PRODUCTS that POTUS allows to do so.
… BOOSTING the impact of upcoming Tariffs to force an EU Deal
… MAXING the pressure for others to EXIT the EU for Reciprocal Trade Deals of their own.

• Pakistan now positioning for a USAPak Trade Deal
… as a competing prod for dithering India to EARN their own Deal
… with opportunities to DISPLACE imports from China as they miss purchase hurdles
… and SAND in the COGS of China’s Belt & Road initiative.

The geopolitical ramifications of a Pakistan Deal could be STUNNING:
• Assigning Pakistan to create the Afghan Solution
• Working a rapprochement between Pakistan and India over Kashmir
• Goosing India to sign a Reciprocal Trade Deal of their own
• Thwarting China while we’re at it.

BKR, January 21, 2020.

And no sooner than Black Knight Rides laid it all out, but Phoenix Rising posted the following…… made the hair stand up on the back of my neck……Looky here.

"I would say we've never been closer than we are right now," says Pres Trump of US-Pakistan relations, at start of meeting with PM Imran Khan. Says they'll be discussing trade, but also border issues, Kashmir, and India. Khan says only US can help resolve disputes with India. pic.twitter.com/4vqhBw42qs

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 21, 2020

Added to the mix was the realization yesterday of how Team Trump uses the economy as a weapon, both offensively……….. and defensively to begin alleviating major threats for a “Black Swan Event” like a nuclear weapon from DPRK in Japan or a crisis in the Middle East. We’ve never seen another administration use our economy so effectively. PLUS, the realization that Google, Twitter, Facebook, are compromised when it comes to threatening our President for the election of 2020. American Big tech needs Daddy Trump to protect them from taxes and scalping by the EU. Germany/France are desperate to find funds to make up for the loss of UK after Brexit, and of course, American Big Tech as a big fat pocket to fleece. Big Tech HAS to play nicely and they know no Dem candidate could defend them as well as President Trump. See what I mean?

We think we’re connecting dots from the ether, we catch a glimpse of what might be happening on a bigger stage, for the benefit of us all, and just when we think we’re feeling pretty smart and proud of ourselves ……….. this happened. Macron tweeted to Trump and Trump responded……… and we realize President Trump is already 10 steps ahead of us.

Excellent! https://t.co/5OBYCFQCQo

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2020

What a glorious time to be alive!

Q Treepers certainly gave us quite a bit to think about yesterday. Wonder what will happen today? I’m still learning to ski, KSwiss said there would be hot chocolate!

Love to all!

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Transcript from the President Trump Presser in Davos:

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2020

**
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
IN PRESS CONFERENCE

Davos Congress Centre
Davos, Switzerland

————————————————————

** 12:33 P.M. CET

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please come on up, Roberto and Larry. Robert, Steve, come on up.

Good afternoon. We’ve had a tremendous two days here. We’ll be heading back right after this conference, and I’ve just concluded some additional meetings. We’ve had a lot of them. I think Davos has treated us really beautifully. It’s been a tremendous success. Everyone is talking about America’s unprecedented economic success. It’s really the talk of the town, so to speak.

Since my election, America has gained over 7 million new jobs. The unemployment rate is now the lowest in over half a century. The average unemployment rate for my administration is the lowest of any U.S. President in recorded history, which is very nice; we have some good ones. We have some bad ones too, by the way.

Unemployment rates among African American, Hispanic American, Asian Americans has reached a record low in the history of our country — the lowest. African American youth unemployment has reached the lowest in the history of our country. So proud of that. African American poverty numbers have plummeted to their lowest rate ever recorded. Doing really well.

Unemployment rate for women has reached the lowest level in almost 70 years. And the veterans unemployment rate dropped to a record low. Unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached its all-time record low also. These are incredible numbers, Rob.

Workers without a high school diploma have received the — and achieved the lowest unemployment rate ever in recorded history. And that’s so important. Without a high school diploma — we have a lot of great people that don’t have a high school diploma. So we have record-low unemployment.

A record number of young Americans are now employed. We have the highest number of people working in our country that we’ve ever had before. We’ve never had anything even close. We’re almost up to 160 million.

And we’ve lifted 10 million people off of welfare. And you know all about food stamps; we talk about it all the time. But millions and millions of people don’t need food stamps anymore. It’s not that we’ve lifted them off, which we have, but they don’t need them anymore; they have jobs. They’re doing really well.

The U.S. stock markets have soared and they’ve reached the highest point that they’ve ever, ever had. We’ve made at least $19 trillion, in terms of wealth — in terms of wealth creation for our country, beyond the stock markets.

And we are now, by far, the biggest economy in the world. China would have caught us. They were getting very close. It was anticipated that, in 2019 — this is for many years; I’m not telling you any secrets — that, by 2019, China would become the largest economy in the world. And right now we’re much larger. But we have a great new deal with China. A great deal.

And we have, I would say, our best relationship that we’ve ever had with China, on top of everything else.

And we’re starting phase two. Phase one turned out to be much bigger than we anticipated, because we have intellectual property protections. We have — many of the financial deals and aspects of the financial deals that we wanted, we got done, and other things.

In addition to the farmers, we’ve got the total, complete package for the farmers. And we think that’ll — we estimate that will be anywhere between $40- and $50 billion. The number, I think, is going to be closer to $50 billion. The most they’ve ever done is $16 [billion]. So we go from $16 [billion] to anywhere from $40- to $50 billion that they’ll be purchasing.

We’re an economic powerhouse like, actually, we’ve never been. Jobs, factories, companies are pouring back into the United States. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been in Davos, is we have had conversations with other leaders of other countries where we’ve traditionally had tremendous deficits.

I say, “You have to move factories and plants back here.” They took a lot of them. They actually took a lot of them, and now they’re going to move them back. They’re not going to move them back; the companies are coming back because everybody wants to be here. But the countries also understand that we have to balance out our trade, and we’re doing incredibly well in that way.

And one of the people that was very important for me to meet from the World Trade Organization is Roberto Azevêdo. And he is a highly respected man. He happens to be this gentleman right here. I thought I’d have him say a few words.

But the World Trade Organization — as you know, I’ve had a dispute running with them for quite a while, because our country hasn’t been treated fairly. China is viewed as a developing nation. India is viewed as a developing nation. We’re not viewed a developing nation. As far as I’m concerned, we’re a developing nation, too. But they got tremendous advantages by the fact that they were considered “developing” and we weren’t. And they shouldn’t be. But if they are, we are. And we’re talking about a whole new structure for the deal, or we’ll have to do something.

But the World Trade Organization has been very unfair to the United States for many, many years. And without it, China wouldn’t be China, and China wouldn’t be where they are right now. I mean, China — that was the vehicle that they used. And I give them great credit. And I also don’t give the people that were in my position great credit, because, frankly, they let that all happen. But the vehicle was the World Trade Organization.

And Roberto and I have a tremendous relationship, and we’re going to do something that I think will be very dramatic. He’ll be coming with a lot of his representatives to Washington sometime — maybe next week or the week after — and we’ll start working on it.

So I’d like to introduce, just for — briefly — Roberto, and say a few words on behalf of the WTO. And then I’m going to introduce Larry Kudlow to say exactly where we are, in terms of our economy. Some of you know, but we’ve had some tremendous numbers just over the very recent past.

So, please, Roberto.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL AZEVÊDO: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I think it’s fair to say that we have been saying, for quite some time, that if the multilateral system, if the WTO is to deliver and perform its role in today’s global economy, it has to be updated. It has to be changed. It has to be reformed.

This is an agenda that is squarely before members. I don’t think anybody in Geneva misses the point. I think they understand that the — the system has not been functioning properly in many areas. That’s something that we’re trying to address.

I’m very happy that, in the conversation today with President Trump, he agreed that this is something that needs to happen; the WTO has to change. We are committed to effect those changes. And this is something that we’re serious about.

And I am going to be, together with President Trump, as soon as possible, discussing what needs to change, what needs to be effected in the WTO, and we’re committed to doing that.

And, of course, I will be talking to all of the other WTO members, making sure that they all understand that this is serious. This is a path that we all have to be on together if we want to make the WTO relevant and performing to today’s requirements, frankly.

So thank you very much, Mr. President. It’s an honor to be with you and with everybody else. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great.

Larry, please. Larry Kudlow.

MR. KUDLOW: Oh, thank you, sir. So I think we’re coming into the new year with a lot of positive momentum in the economy. And, again, I want to repeat the President’s speech yesterday: These are transformational free enterprise policies, lower tax rates across the board, deregulation, energy independence, and breaking down trade barriers for better deals for exporting.

Just recently, we’ve seen all the confidence surveys are strong — consumer confidence, business confidence, small business confidence. The huge stock market rally, which continues, is, I believe, a sign of business and consumer confidence and predicting an even stronger economy in 2020.

Also, lately, housing markets are very strong. We’ve seen some huge numbers in new housing starts, and existing and new home sales. That’s a great omen; it’s the leading indicator. And even with softness in manufacturing last year, we’re seeing now the IHS Markit surveys for PMI manufacturing up four straight months for the U.S. And I think that’s a terrific sign of a comeback.

I think the President’s trade deals have inspired a lot of confidence among large and small businesses, and I think it’s going to add at least a half a point to GDP this year. I think we’re going to be moving into the 3 percent zone. We still have to cope with the slowdown in Boeing. We’ll see how that plays out. But I think USMCA and the China deals are going to add a lot to growth this year and the years ahead.

And the great part about this, to me — I’ve been around for a while — is, when you look inside, look under the hood, in this growth spurt, with 3.5 percent unemployment and virtually no inflation — which itself is a remarkable development — it is the American middle class, it is the American blue-collar middle class — they have the fastest wage growth. And, in fact, the lower-wage folks are getting the fastest wage increases, exceeding significantly from what their managers are making.

And I would add also, as the President has indicated: In this stock market rally, I know it’s commonplace to say it only helps a few rich people. That is just not true. Over half the households in this country own shares through 401(k)s, and IRAs, and brokerage accounts, and so forth. You look at the numbers — and the CEA just published a great slide book on this — the bottom 50 percent has had a 47 percent increase in their net wealth — consumer net wealth — between home prices and share prices, and that is a booster rocket to this economy. It not only gives them confidence, it gives them some serious spending power, and the consumer spending numbers bear it out.

So, ours is an optimistic message, and I think the President really carried the day in his speech yesterday.

Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Larry. I mean, when you think that, soon — it’ll start pretty soon. It’s already started, to a certain extent. I asked them to do it. China is going to be purchasing more than $250 billion worth of goods from our country. That’s massive. Those are numbers that nobody has ever heard of before. And that number can grow. It can grow. With time, it’s going to grow substantially, I predict.

And then you have the USMCA — Mexico, Canada — and that’s massive numbers we’re talking about there. And we made a deal with Japan — $40 billion. And we made a deal with South Korea. That’s a tremendous deal, also. That was a horrible deal, and we turned it into a really good deal. So it was really something.

While we were in Davos — most of you know this — we met with the world leaders — various world leaders, including the President of the European Commission, who we’re going to start negotiating a trade deal with, because the European Commission was, frankly, in many ways, tougher than China. I say that respectfully, but that’s the way it is. They’ve taken advantage for a long time.

And so we’re going to have a deal. I suspect we’re going to be able to make a deal. Otherwise, we’ll have to do something else. And they’ll — they’ll — I think they’re going to make a deal. They haven’t wanted to negotiate with past Presidents, but they’re going to negotiate with me. The President of the Swiss Confederation, who’s been very nice and terrific; the President of Kurdistan — we had a tremendous meeting; along with President Salih of Iraq, Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan, and President Ghani of Afghanistan.

In addition, we met with many of the business leaders — both at breakfast today, and lunch yesterday, and dinner yesterday. Many of you were at those meetings, at least for a little while. And tremendous numbers of jobs will be coming into the United States.

A lot of these leaders — these are the biggest business leaders in the world, and this morning was very inspirational. I mean, these companies are really going to expand. And it was a request of mine, but what we did — we’ve been very good to them. They’re all doing very well.

And we have companies from Europe, companies from Asia now coming to the United States. “That’s where the action is,” as one of them said. “That’s where the action is.” So it’s really been — it’s really been great.

And now we’ll be going — we’ll be leaving and going back to Washington. Okay?

Yes.

Q Mr. President, (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.

Q All right. Mr. President, do you want to hear from witnesses in the impeachment trial? Your team has been a little inconsistent on this.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’ll tell you the way I look at it: It’s a total hoax. It’s a disgrace. They talked about their tremendous case. And it’s all done — their tremendous case. They had no case. It’s all a hoax. It’s a con job. Like Schiff — he’s a corrupt politician.

Now, I’ll leave that to the Senate. The Senate is going to have to answer that. I have great respect for the Senate, as a body and many of the individuals. I have great respect. So I’ll leave that to the Senate.

But this is the greatest witch hunt. This started from the day I came down with the future First Lady. The day we came down the escalator, this started. And I watched the — they’ve been driven crazy. You know what’s driven them crazy? All of these record numbers on unemployment — African American, Asian American. You take a look. Hispanic American is numbers that nobody has even believing. They look at all of this. They’re looking at this tremendous success, the likes of which they’ve never seen before in this country. They’ve never seen anything like this. And it’s driven the Democrats crazy.

As Congressman Green said — Al Green. He’s a beauty. As Congressman Green said, “We got to beat him by impeachment because we can’t beat him in the election.” And I hope that’s true, because, honestly, they can’t beat me in the election. I don’t think they can. I know what they’re — I know what I’ll be running against. One way or the other, it’s one of them. And I think we’re going to do very well.

But I think we’re going to do well because nobody has done, in the first three years — less than three years, because a lot of these numbers were taken from two months ago; they ended two months ago. In less than three years, nobody has done the kind of numbers we’ve done.

So I’m going to head back and I’ll be watching it, but it’s really going to be up to the Senate. We’re going to have them make that determination.

Please. Please.

Q Yes, Mr. President. You were the keynote speaker here, but you shared some of the spotlight with a Scandinavian teenager: Greta Thunberg —

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, that’s very nice.

Q — who you had said needs to work on her anger. She had some very harsh words about —

THE PRESIDENT: I didn’t say “anger.” I said “anger management.”

Q “Anger management.” Yes, sir.

She had some very strong words here that the United States and other industrialized countries need to do more. Do you still feel that you’re doing enough? You talk about clean air —

THE PRESIDENT: How old — how old is she?

Q She’s —

Q Seventeen.

Q Seventeen now. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh. That’s good.

Q But what is your response to her —

THE PRESIDENT: She beat me out on TIME Magazine.

Q But did you hear from other world leaders and business leaders who said that they think that she has a message that you should listen to?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t, actually. But I would have loved to have seen her speak. I did not.

Q Do you still think climate change is hoax?

THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. I think what is — I think aspects of it are. I think that some people are — they put it at a level that is, you know, unrealistic, to a point you can’t live your lives.

We want to have the cleanest water on Earth. We want to have the cleanest air on Earth. Our numbers, as you saw — we had record numbers come out very recently. Our numbers are very, very good — our environmental numbers. Our water numbers, our — our numbers on air are tremendous.

We have to do something about other continents. We have to do something about other countries. When we’re clean and beautiful and everything is good, but you have another continent where the fumes are rising at levels that you can’t believe — I mean, I think Greta ought to focus on those places.

But we are doing better right now than we’ve ever done, in terms of cleanliness, in terms of numbers. We have a beautiful ocean called the Pacific Ocean, where thousands and thousands of tons of garbage flows toward us, and that’s put there by other countries. So I think Greta has to start working on those other countries.

Q Mr. President —

THE PRESIDENT: By the way, congratulations on your show.

Q Thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT: They made a very wise decision.

Q Thank you very much. Well, we invite you for an interview whenever you’re available.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, good.

Q Can I ask you just to be clear, and for future Presidents: Is abuse of power an impeachable offense?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’ve got to talk to the lawyers about it. But I will tell you: There’s nothing here. I had a very innocent conversation with a very fine gentleman from the Ukraine, and it was based on that. People don’t even want to talk about the conversation. I got to watch glimpses in between all of these meetings that I just told you about. I got to watch glimpses of what is taking place, wasting time, in Washington.

And I watched — they don’t talk about my conversation. They don’t talk about my transcripts. Remember this: When Schiff made up the phony story, and he repeated it to Congress and the world — and it was a totally phony story — then I released the transcript. There was supposed to be a second whistleblower. What happened to him? There was — wait, wait. Otherwise, I won’t do your show. (Laughter.) Wait. There was supposed to be an informer. What happened to the informer?

All of these people disappeared. And when they saw this transcript, they said, “We got problems.” But they went ahead because they were already there because they — they had a phony, concocted story made up.

So here’s the story: I did nothing wrong. It was a perfect conversation. It was totally appropriate. The best lawyers in the world have looked at it. The Department of Justice has looked at it, given it a sign-off. There was nothing wrong.

They never thought I was going to release the conversation. They probably didn’t think we had transcribers or we had it trans- — transcribed or taped. But they never thought we were going to release it. When we released that conversation, all hell broke out with the Democrats, because they say, “Wait a minute. This is much different than Shifty Schiff told us.”

So we’re doing very well. I got to watch enough. I thought our team did a very good job. But honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.

Q I ask you because your attorneys say it’s not. Alan Dershowitz says the framers of the Constitution did not permit impeachment on grounds like abuse of power or obstruction. They objected open-ended, vague criteria.

So for future Presidents, is abuse of power an impeachable offense?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it depends. But if you take a look at this, and from what everybody tells me, all I do is — I’m honest. I make great deals. I’ve made great deals for our country. Now we’re working with the WTO. You’re probably surprised by that, but this has been a long-term, abusive situation to the U.S. I make great deals for our country, and they’re honest deals.

And when you read that transcription — and, by the way, it wasn’t one call; it was two calls. Nobody likes to talk about that. There was one call, which was perfect, and then there was a second call — I guess, a couple of months later — which was perfect.

The President of Ukraine said it was perfect. The Foreign Minister of Ukraine said it was perfect. So if we have a transcription, we have the call, and we have the person on the other side of the call saying it was good —

Now, here’s the other thing: They got their money long before schedule. They got all their money. What nobody says — this is very important to me: Why isn’t Germany paying? Why isn’t UK paying? Why isn’t France paying? Why aren’t the European nations paying? Why is it always the sucker — United States? That’s one.

And the other thing I wanted to check very carefully — and it’s very important — is corruption. And we do that, too. This was a perfect call, and I think we’re doing very well.

Q Mr. President, (inaudible). Thank you, Mr. President. For the phase two of the China trade deal, do you expect human rights in Hong Kong to be a part of the discussion?

THE PRESIDENT: We are discussing that already. Yes. We would like to see if we can do something. But again, we’re doing a trade deal, and it’s — it’s a very big deal. Phase one is done. Phase two is being discussed.

We are discussing aspects of your question. Yes.

Q Mr. President, thank you. Just to clarify on (inaudible) question. We know that Senate will set the rules for witnesses, but what do you want? At one point, you demanded a witness (inaudible) —

THE PRESIDENT: I can live either way. I can live —

Q But what do you want?

THE PRESIDENT: I’ll tell you what I think: It’s such a hoax. I think it’s so bad for our country. When we have the head of the World Trade Organization here, and he has to listen to this nonsense about a call that was perfect, that nobody talks about. I never see them talking about the transcription. I never see them talking about the call, because there’s nothing to say.

You read it — somebody should just sit there and read it. And everybody’s going to say, “You mean that’s an impeachable event?” If that were impeachable, Lyndon Johnson would have had to leave office in his first day. Kennedy would have had to leave office his first day. It’s a hoax. And you understand it’s a hoax better than anybody. It’s a hoax. And that’s the way it is.

Yeah, go ahead.

Q Mr. President, a question on Iran: Initially, you said repeatedly to Americans that after Iran retaliated for the Soleimani strike, no Americans were injured. We now know at least 11 U.S. service men were airlifted from Iraq. Can you explain the discrepancy?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things. But I would say, and I can report it is not very serious. Not very serious.

Q So you don’t consider a potential traumatic brain injury serious?

THE PRESIDENT: They told me about it numerous days later. You’d have to ask Department of Defense. No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries, relative to other injuries that I’ve seen.

I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war — in fact, many cases put — those bombs put there by Soleimani, who is no longer with us. I consider them to be really bad injuries.

No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries. No.

Q Mr. President, can I ask you about the EU trade deal: Do you have any timeline for that? And if you don’t hit that timeline, if there is one, are you automatically going to go to auto tariffs or is there another —

THE PRESIDENT: I have a timeline.

Q — is there another avenue, other than auto tariffs?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Great question, actually. I don’t have a timeline, but maybe I do, in my own mind. They have to move relatively quickly, but they have to treat us fairly.

The European Union was formed pretty much for this reason, I suspect — you know, if you really think about it. Why was it formed? They formed their airplane company, which does very nicely, and now is doing better than ever because Boeing has not had a good time of it. They have — they have — they better start recovering fast. I hope they do. They have some good people in there now. They have great people in the company, but they have some good people leading it now. So, hopefully, that will be taken care of.

But, I — no, I have a date in my mind, and it’s a fairly quick date. And if we’re unable to make a deal, then we’ll do even better. We’ll do even better.

Q Are auto tariffs (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: But they haven’t treated us right. Look, the United States has been losing $150 billon, and more, for many years — $150 billion. More. I mean, really, more than that — with the European Union. They have trade barriers where you can’t trade. They have tariffs all over the place. They make it impossible.

They are, frankly, more difficult to do business with than China. We have a great relationship with China now. We had some testy moments — very testy. Beyond testy. Worse than a lot of people would understand. But we got it done, and I think phase two will go nicely also.

But with the European Union — and, frankly, I’ll be honest, I wanted to wait until I finished China before I went to work on, respectfully, Europe.

But Europe — you know, it’s so beautiful. I guess a lot of us come, indirectly, from Europe. Isn’t that nice? But they are actually more difficult to do business with than China. All you have to do is ask Boris. But I think Boris is going to be okay, too. I think he’s going to come out great. I think he has — he had a lot of guts. He’s done a terrific job. I think he’s in a good position, which they would have never been able to do before Boris.

I have a date. I have a very specific date in my mind.

Q Before or after the election? (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Before. I think — I think we’ll have a deal before.

Q With the EU?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I think so. I mean, they have to do that. I mean, I don’t want to — look, I’m not saying it from strength or from weakness; I’m just saying they have to do it.

They wanted to make a deal. This — our nation, our country wanted to make a deal under President Obama. The EU refused to talk to him. And then they said, “No, no, we like it the way it is.” Of course they like it the way it is; they’re making $150 billion-plus, right?

And, as you know, President Bush was desperate to make a deal. They wouldn’t even talk to him.

Me, they’re talking to, and we’ll have a deal. If we don’t have a deal, we’ll do even better.

Q Mr. President —

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, ma’am. Go ahead.

Q Is it true that you’re considering extending the travel ban? And, if so —

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q — to which countries?

THE PRESIDENT: So we have a travel ban. It’s a very powerful ban. And a lot of — I heard a reporter recently say, “He lost the ban in court.” They didn’t say that we won it in the Supreme Court. I’d say that’s a little deceptive, John, wouldn’t you? He said, “He lost the travel ban.” I didn’t lose the travel ban. The travel ban was lost in the lower courts and won in the Supreme Court, two years ago.

No, we are — we’re adding a couple of countries to it. We have to be safe. Our country has to be safe. You see what’s going on in the world. Our country has to be safe.

So we have a very strong travel ban, and we’ll be adding a few countries to it.

Q Could you give us a hint about the region or the countries?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, no, you’re going to — it’s going to be announced very shortly. Okay?

John. Yeah, John.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. In regards to the proceedings going on in the Senate, would you like to see this over quickly? Would you like to see a thorough examination of the facts? What did you make of the dustup between the White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Jerrold Nadler last night? And are you absolutely against John Bolton testifying?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’re asking a lot of questions.

Q Three. That’s not a lot.

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, Jerrold Nadler — I’ve known him a long time. He’s a sleazebag; everybody knows that.

Pat Cipollone is a high-quality human being. I was very impressed with Pat. He had great emotion yesterday. Pat is a brilliant guy, but I’ve never seen that emotion. And that’s real emotion. That’s because he knows this is a hoax. And I was very proud of the job he did.

I’ve known — I’ve known Jerry Nadler for a long time. He’s opposed many of my jobs. I got them all built — very successfully built in New York. But — so we have yet another fight. Isn’t it — isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it surprising? Isn’t it amazing?

But if you look at, you know, other aspects or other parts of your question, I think that the — I would rather go the long way. I would rather interview Bolton. I would rather interview a lot of people.

The problem with John is that it’s a national security problem. You know, you can’t have somebody who’s at national security — and, if you think about it, John, he knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader, and it’s not very positive, and then I have to deal on behalf of the country? It’s going to be very hard. It’s going to make the job very hard.

He knows other things. And I don’t know if we left on the best of terms. I would say probably not, you know. And so, you don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms — and that was due to me, not due to him. And so, we’ll see what happens.

But when you have a national security — where you could call it “presidential prerogative.” You could just call it — the way I look at it, I call it “national security” — for national security reasons. “Executive privilege,” they say. So that would — John would certainly fit into that. When you’re a national security advisor — like this gentleman is doing a fantastic job, Robert — I just think it’s very hard.

And I’ve always gotten along — I’ve actually gotten along with John Bolton. He didn’t get along with other people — a lot of other people. But when he knows my thoughts on certain people in other governments — and we’re talking about massive trade deals, and war and peace, and all these different things that we talk about — that’s really a very important national security problem, I think.

Having somebody — other people — Mick Mulvaney is probably around here someplace. I’d love to have Mick go, but I think that he’s really expressed himself very well when he did a Chris Wallace interview. That was a very, very powerful interview. That was a long, tough — Chris is a tough interviewer. A very talented guy. And, you know, I think it’s not much he can add. He’s been — he’s been great.

I would like to have — I’ll tell you what I don’t like though — I’d love to have Mike Pompeo testify. But again, that’s a national security problem. But I’d love to have Mike Pompeo — but it’s a national security problem.

I’d love to have Rick Perry. Rick Perry has asked me, “I’d love to testify. Please, let me testify.” Because he knows this is all a hoax. He understands it better than most. And Rick Perry would love to testify. But we’re dealing with national security.

We’re dealing with one other thing: Our country has been tied up with this hoax from the day I came down the escalator. We’ve been fighting it. I’ve been fighting it from the day I’ve been elected. I would say probably long before — it could be long before I came down the escalator that — some people have said that, which is hard to believe.

Q I —

THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait, John.

It’s hard to believe. We’ve been fighting this. I would rather have — personally, I’d rather go the long route. It’s horrible for our country. Our country has to get back to business.

We have people that are corrupt, like Adam Schiff, who misquotes — I don’t mean “misquotes” — makes up a statement. He had no idea that I was going to release the transcript. He never thought I’d do that. And for that, I thank the President of Ukraine, because we got their approval. He had no idea I was going to do that.

But these are corrupt people, some of them. And some of them are just playing the political game. But if you look at the poll numbers, my poll numbers are the highest they’ve ever been. If you look at the funding numbers, if you look at what — the money raised by the Republican Party has just set a record. Nobody has ever done this before. It’s because of the impeachment hoax.

Q Sorry. Sorry. I’ve got three quick ones, too, Mr. President, if you don’t mind.

THE PRESIDENT: Three?

Q Three, yes. Well, my husband asked three; I ask three.

THE PRESIDENT: That means six.

Q No, that means —

THE PRESIDENT: Six for the family. (Laughter.)

Q — that — thank you very much. Thanks for appreciating the family.

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. No, go ahead.

Q Do you plan to show up in any way, shape, or form at your trial?

Number two, you called Kenneth Starr “a disaster” in the past. Do you still feel that way about him now?

And three, Lev Parnas has come forward and said that you knew everything that he was doing in Ukraine.

THE PRESIDENT: No, he’s a conman. Okay, you ready? Let me answer that one first.

Q Okay, so would you say that’s not true?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know him —

Q Okay, you don’t know him.

THE PRESIDENT: — other than he’s sort of like a groupie. He shows up at fundraisers. Okay? So I don’t know anything about him.

I watched Rudy. Rudy is a terrific person — great crime fighter; the best mayor in the history of New York City, by far; solved the crime problem in New York. And I think it’s very unfair the way the media has treated Rudy Giuliani.

I will say this: Parnas I don’t know — other than he probably contributed to the campaign, along with tens of thousands of other people. And I take — or, I mean, I was — this weekend I was taking pictures with hundreds of people. And they — they’re — they contribute to the Republican Party. And I stand there, and I take pictures. And every once in a while, I’ll look at somebody — I say, “Gee, I wonder when that picture is going to be in the New York Times or the Washington Post or on Fox.” You know, so it’s one of those things.

Q So, you mentioned Rudy. You still have great things —

THE PRESIDENT: I think Rudy is a high-quality person.

Q So why is he not on your legal team? Why is he not — I mean, Sekulow and Cipollone —

THE PRESIDENT: Because I don’t want there to be a conflict. I’d love to have Rudy on my team. But, you know, he could be a witness at some point, if this whole sham continues. I would love to have Rudy on the team. He — Rudy is on my team, just so you understand. But I’d love to have him up there. But it could be that he’d have a conflict. It could be.

But Rudy Giuliani is somebody that I think the press has been very unfair to. Greatest mayor in the history of New York — think of it. And one of the greatest crime fighters of the last 100 years. And he hates to see what’s happening because he knows corruption, really, better than anybody.

Okay, go ahead.

Q And Kenneth Starr. How do you feel about him now?

THE PRESIDENT: So Ken Starr is a terrific man. I did make that statement, because, frankly, I didn’t think that Bill Clinton should have been impeached. And I thought it was terrible. I didn’t know Ken Starr, but I didn’t think that Bill Clinton should be impeached — should have been impeached. And I was pretty vocal about that.

I didn’t know Ken, but what I did know is he was very smart. He was very tough. He was very talented. But in a certain way, I was sticking up for Clinton — for Bill Clinton. And, you know, I felt — I sort of still feel that way. I mean, what he did was nothing good. There was a lot of lying going on. There were a lot of things — a lot of bad things.

Now, with me, there’s no lying. There’s no nothing. They have nothing. They don’t even have a crime. They say, “This is the only one that’s ever been impeached, and he didn’t commit a crime.” I didn’t commit a crime. And then you get into high crimes and misdemeanors. But I didn’t commit a crime.

So, no, I have great respect for Ken. But I didn’t think, frankly, that Bill Clinton should have been impeached.

Q So what do you think? Will you show up at your trial any day, in any way, shape, or form?

THE PRESIDENT: I’d love to go. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that be beautiful?

Q So why don’t you go?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. I’d sort of love — sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces. I’d love to do it.

Q So why not commit to going?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. Don’t — don’t keep talking, because I may — you may convince me to do it.

Q Do you think Cipollone and Sekulow would want you there?

THE PRESIDENT: I think they might have a problem. I think they might. And, by the way, I think — I think they’ve all — I think they’ve done a really good job. And I think the other side has so lied. I watched the lies from Adam Schiff. He’ll stand, he’ll look at a microphone, and he’ll talk like he so aggrieved. These two guys — these are major sleazebags. They’re very dishonest people. Very, very dishonest people.

When somebody will make up a statement that I made, when — you remember the statement. Eight times. “Quid pro quo.” Eight times. Think of it. How can you say — eight times? That would mean I was asking somebody eight different times for the same thing? What kind of a conversation would that be? If you asked once, that’d be fine. If you has twice, that would have been — how can you ask eight times? They would say you’re a Looney Tune, right?

And then he said — I think he finished by saying, “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.” That I said that. He made that statement: “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.” And he didn’t say he made it up.

Now, ultimately, he had to, in a sense, apologize. He can hardly apologize. But he had to apologize because, fortunately, we had a tape. We had the transcripts. I am so happy that I had the transcripts, because it showed he’s a liar, and he’s a fraud. And they continue to just go on and on.

But this has happened to me with the Russian hoax. This has happened to me — I called it the “witch hunt.” Greatest witch hunt in American history. And the Mueller report, which exonerated, totally — there was no collusion after all that. Two years, there was no collusion.

And then what happened? Jill Stein from the Green Party gets called a “Russian agent” by Crooked Hillary. And then Tulsi Gabbard — I don’t know either of them, but I know they’re not Russian agents — gets called a “Russian agent.”

This is what these people do; they demean. And the press plays in because the press, largely, is their partner. And, you know, one thing — if we could straighten out the press in our country, we would have a place that would be so incredible. The pre- — the press is so dishonest, so corrupt. I read it all the time — the stories. I don’t mind bad stories when — I deserve bad story sometimes.

But when I do something great or good, let it be written about good. Same thing with other people. The corruption in the media — as I call it, the “fake news media” — is unbelievable. And, hopefully, everybody is going to sort of learn a lesson.

People got Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of me. And it turned out they were totally wrong. Other people — Sean Hannity, Rushbo — a lot of great people, a lot of great writers. They got it right. They didn’t get Pulitzer Prizes, but they got it right.

The Russian hoax was a terrible thing. The dossier was a phony deal paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC, and used in the FISA courts, totally illegally. No, it’s a terrible thing that happened.

This was a takedown attempt at a sitting President of the United States, and we caught them. So let’s see what happens.

Q Mr. President, but would you consider delaying the State of the Union if the impeachment trial has not ended by February 4th?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t see it. No, I don’t see it. No, I’m — you know, a very excellent writer, Bob Woodward — I guess he’s doing another book on Trump, but, this time, I’ll actually give him an interview. He said, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I said, “No, I’m not enjoying it.” He said, “No, you act like you’re winning and you won. You’re actually enjoying it.” I said, “I’m not enjoying it. I’m doing it because it’s very important, what I’m doing.”

I consider what I’ve done here, with this whole witch hunt, from day one — with the insurance policy; with the horrible statements made between Strzok and Page; and McCabe; and Comey, who lied to Congress and did so many other bad things. He lied and he leaked.

When I finish, I think that this is going to go down as one of the greatest things I’ve done for our country. These are bad, corrupt people. These are bad people, and very bad for our country.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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