Today at High Noon, the President will give a speech on his Acquittal from the Impeachment Process. Judging from his temperament at the SOTU, and especially this morning at the Prayer Breakfast, this speech may be one for the ages.

• RSBN Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/rightsideradio
• FOX10 Link: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fox+10+phoenix
• Golden State Times Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyLbNJMiAvw
• White House Link: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=The+White+House

Hat Tip to Dora, she found the Nancy Pelosi presser given conspicuously an hour before the President’s speech takes place. It’s a presser like no other. Pelosi is visibly rattled and seething in anger. DO NOT LOOK AWAY. Nancy has cracked.

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
TO THE NATION

East Room

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** 12:21 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Wow. (Applause.) Well, thank you very much, everybody. Wow. We’ve all been through a lot together, and we probably deserve that hand for all of us, because it’s been a very unfair situation.

I invited some of our very good friends. And we have limited room, but everybody wanted to come. We kept it down to a minimum. And believe it or not, this is a minimum.

But a tremendous thing was done over the last number of months, but really, if you go back to it, over the last number of years. We had the witch hunt. It started from the day we came down the elevator, myself and our future First Lady, who’s with us right now. Thank you, Melania. (Applause.)

And it never really stopped. We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never, ever happen to another President ever. I don’t know that other Presidents would have been able to take it. Some people said, no, they wouldn’t have. But I can tell you, at a minimum, you have to focus on this because it can get away very quickly. No matter who you have with you, it can get away very quickly. It was a disgrace.

Had I not fired James Comey — who was a disaster, by the way — it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now. We caught him in the act. Dirty cops. Bad people. If this happened to President Obama, a lot of people would have been in jail for a long time already. Many, many years.

I want to start by thanking some of — and I call them friends, because, you know, you develop friendships and relationships when you’re in battle and war, much more so than, “Gee, let’s have a normal situation.”

With all that we’ve gone through, we’ve done, I think, more than any President and administration, and really, I say, for the most part, Republican congressmen, congresswomen, and Republican senators. We’ve done more than any administration in the first few years, if you look at all of the things we’ve done.

I watched this morning as they tried to take credit for the stock market from — (laughter) — from — think of that. Let me tell you, if we didn’t win, the stock market would have crashed. And the market was going up a lot before the election because it was looking we had a good chance to win, and then it went up tremendously from the time we won the election until the time we took office, which was November 8th to January 20th. And that’s our credit. That’s all our credit. And leading up to that point was our credit because there was hope.

And one of the reasons the stock market has gone up so much in the last few days is people think we’re doing so well. They liked the State of the Union speech. (Applause.) It really is — it’s a true honor to give it.

Making the State of the Union speech, I was with some people that have been around; they’ve been all over the world. And one of them, a highly sophisticated person, said, “You know, no matter where you go in the world, it doesn’t make any difference — there is nothing like what I witnessed tonight.” The beauty, the majesty of the Chamber. The power of the United States, the power of the people in this room.

Really, an amazing — I don’t think there is anything like that anywhere in the world. You can go to any other country, you can go to any other location, any other place. It’s the beauty of everything. It’s what it represents and how it represents our country.

I want to start by introducing some of the people that are here. I know some are going to be left out. But they work so hard. And this is really not a news conference. It’s not a speech. It’s not anything. It’s just we’re sort of — it’s a celebration, because we have something that just worked out. I mean, it worked out. We went through hell, unfairly. Did nothing wrong. Did nothing wrong. I’ve done things wrong in my life, I will admit. (Laughter.) Not purposely, but I’ve done things wrong. But this is what the end result is. (Applause.)

(The President holds up the front cover of The Washington Post newspaper.)

We can take that home, Honey. Maybe we’ll frame it. (Laughter.) It’s the only good headline I’ve ever had in the Washington Post, I’ll tell you. (Laughter.) But every paper is the same. Does anybody have those papers? Does anybody have them? Because they’re really like that. So I appreciate that.

But some of the people here have been incredible warriors. They’re warriors. And there’s nothing, from a legal standpoint — this is a political thing. And every time, I’d say, “This is unfair. Let’s go to court.” They’d say, “Sir, you can’t go to court. This is politics.” And we were treated unbelievably unfairly.

And you have to understand, we first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all bullshit. (Laughter.) We then went through the Mueller report. And they should have come back one day later. They didn’t. They came back two years later, after lives were ruined, after people went bankrupt, after people lost all their money.

People came to Washington to help other people. “Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” I say. They came — one or two or three people in particular, but many people.

We had a rough campaign. It was nasty. It was one of the nastiest, they say. They say Andrew Jackson was always the nastiest campaign. They actually said we topped it. (Laughter.) It was a nasty — it was a nasty — both in the primaries and in the — in the election.

But, you see, we thought, after the election, it would stop. But it didn’t stop; it just started. And tremendous corruption. Tremendous corruption.

So we had a campaign. Little did we know we were running against some very, very bad and evil people with fake dossiers, with all of these horrible, dirty cops that took these dossiers and did bad things. They knew all about it. The FISA courts should be ashamed of themselves.

It’s a very tough thing. And then we ended up winning on Russia, Russia, Russia. It should have taken the one day, as I said, and it took years.

Then Bob Mueller testified. That didn’t work out so well for the other side. (Laughter.) But they should have said, that first week — because it came out. Is that right, Jim Jordan? They knew in the first two days actually. Devin, is that right? Two days. They knew that we were totally innocent.

But they kept it going, Mark. They kept it going forever because they wanted to inflict political pain on somebody that had just won an election that, to — a lot of people were surprised. I mean, we had polls that said we were going to win. We had Los Angeles Times and a few — a few papers, actually, said it was — we were going to win but it was going to be close.

And we did win. It was one of the greatest wins of all time. And they said, “Okay, he won.” And, you know, I wrote this down because that was where a thing called the “insurance policy” — to me, when I saw the insurance policy — and that was done long before the election. That was done when they thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win.

And, by the way, Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid for millions — millions of dollars — the fake dossier. And now Christopher Steele admits that it’s a fake because he got sued by rich people. I should have sued him too. But when you’re President, people don’t like suing.

I want to thank my legal team, by the way — not for that advice, but for other advice. (Applause.) Pat, Jay. Pat. You guys stand up, please. (Applause.) Great job. (Applause.)

Right at the beginning, they said, “Sir, you have nothing to worry about. All of the facts are on your side.” I said, “You don’t understand. That doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter.” And that was really true.

They made up facts. A corrupt politician named Adam Schiff made up my statement to the Ukrainian president. He brought it out of thin air. Just made it up. They say he’s a screenwriter — a failed screenwriter. He tried to go into — unfortunately, he went into politics after that. (Laughter.) Remember he said the statement, which is a mob statement: “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.” I didn’t say that.

Fortunately, for all of us here today and for our country, we had transcripts. We had transcribers — professional transcribers. Then they said, “Oh, well, maybe the transcription is not correct.” But Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and his twin brother — right? — we had some people that — really amazing.

But we did everything. We said, “What’s wrong with it?” “Well, they didn’t add this word or that one.” It didn’t matter. I said, “Add it. They’re probably wrong, but add it.”

So now everyone agrees that they were perfectly accurate. When you read those transcripts, Tim Scott — I don’t know if Tim is here, but he said, “Sir…” He was the first one to call me. “Sir, I read the transcript. You did nothing wrong.” And, Mitch, he stayed there, right from the beginning. He never changed.

And, Mitch McConnell, I want to tell you: You did a fantastic job. (Applause.) Somebody said, “You know, Mitch is quiet.” I said, “He’s not quiet. He’s not quiet.” These are the — he doesn’t want people to know him. And they said, “Is Mitch smart?” I said, “Well, let’s put it this way: For many, many years, a lot of very smart — bad, in many cases, sometimes good — but people have been trying to take his place. And to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never even heard the subject come up, because they’ve been wiped out so fast. (Laughter.) This guy is great, and I appreciate it, Mitch. (Applause.)

And he’s also given us 191 now. (Applause.) A hundred and ninety-one federal judges. Two Supreme Court judges, right? It’s up to 191. (Applause.) True.

Great guy. Great guy. He’s a tough guy to read. I’m good at reading people. A tough guy to read. I’d call him. My wife would say, “How did you do with Mitch?” “Uhh, I don’t know.” (Laughter.) That’s what makes him good — when you can read somebody. Fantastic job.

And he understood, rightfully, that this was crooked politics. This was crooked politics. How about all these people, they’re running for office. They’re saying the worst things about me, like eight senators on the Democrat side. Most of them got wiped out. You know, they got their 1 percent or less. Most of them got less. They decided to go home. “Let’s go back to California.” Let’s go back to wherever they came from. “Let’s go back to New York.”

How about that one? Our New York senator, Gillibrand. “Let’s go back to New York,” after they get nothing. And then they take an oath that they will be fair, that they will be reason- — and all of the different things. And they had to sign. They’re not fair.

But here’s the beauty: So we have four left. They’re saying the most horrendous things about me. It’s okay, it’s politics. And then they’re supposed to vote — on me. They’re trying to replace me, and then they’re supposed to be voting. So I think it’s — I mean, I think it’s incredible.

But — so, Mitch, I want to thank you very much. Incredible. And you have some of your folks here, and they’re incredible people — and they’ve been, right from the beginning.

And, again, you’re out of session. Unfortunately, I didn’t — you know, I only told these folks, “Let’s do this today.” We did a prayer breakfast this morning, and I thought that was really good. In fact, that was so good it might wipe this out. But by the end — by the time we finished this, we’ll wipe that one out — those statements. (Laughter.)

I had — I had Nancy Pelosi sitting four seats away, and I’m saying things that a lot of people wouldn’t have said — (laughter) — but I meant every — (laughter) — I meant every word of it.

But we have some of the folks that are going to be leaving right after this, and they work hard — and they did work hard. Bill Cassidy, Senator. Stand up, Bill. What a guy. (Applause.) Great man. When I need to know about health insurance and preexisting conditions and individual mandates, I call Bill or I call Barrasso. We get those two guys; they know more than anybody.

A man who just became a senator — he’s a little bit like me; we have a couple of them. A very successful guy in business, and he said, “What the hell, I’ll run for the Senate” — from Indiana. And he ran. And I saw him on television, destroying his opponent in a debate. I said, “You know, this guy could win.” And I got behind him. And, Mike Braun, you have done some great job. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Tough. Tough. Thank you.

A man who got James Comey to choke, and he was just talking in his regular voice. He is the roughest man. He’s actually an unbelievable — and I appreciate the letter you sent me today. I just got it. But he’s got this voice that scares people. (Laughter.) You know, people from Iowa can be very tough. We’re doing very well in Iowa.

But I’ll tell you, Chuck Grassley — he’s looking at Comey: “Well, you tell me, what did you say?” (Laughter.) Now, he wasn’t being rough. That was just the way he talked. (Laughter.) And that was when Comey — I think that was when Comey announced that he was leaking, lying, and everything else, right? He choked because he never heard anybody talk like that. (Laughter.)

You know, you should have gone — I wish you got angry. You could have gotten the whole ballgame. He would have said, “I give up.” (Laughter.) Chuck Grassley is an incredible guy. (Applause.)

And a man who — you know, he was running against a tough, smart campaign and we learned how good she was, right? She was a great campaigner. In fact, by the end of the campaign, she was actually — I thought she was more for me than you were, Josh. I was worried. (Laughter.) I saw her ad; she was saying the greatest things about me. And you know who I’m talking about.

And I went to a great place — Missouri — and I said, “Who do you have to beat her?” And they said, “Well, we have four people.” I said, “Let me see them. I’m got to interview…” — can you imagine? I’m interviewing people for the United States Senate. This is what I do. Where have I gone? But I love it. I love it because we’re getting great people.

The first one I met was Josh Hawley. After about 10 minutes, I said to the people, “Don’t show me anybody else. This is the guy.” He was the attorney general. Did a phenomenal job in the state. Highly respected. And — Claire McCaskill.

So, the theory was you couldn’t beat her. Great campaigner. Remember the last campaign, she was going to be taken out. She was always going to be taken out, then she wins and people say, “How did that happen?” Didn’t happen with him.

But she got so friendly toward me. In fact, one of the ads I still have. I’m putting it in the archives as one of the best ads I’ve ever made. (Laughter.) And she tried to convince people that we were best friends. But Josh ended up winning by five or six points.

You were unbelievable. You were tough. And you are something. And one of the greatest supporters on the impeachment hoax was Josh Hawley. He was incensed actually; I watched it. He was incensed at what they were doing and what they were saying.

And those were the ones — you know, I had some that said, “Oh, I wish you didn’t make the call.” And that’s okay, if they need that. It’s incorrect. It’s totally incorrect. And then you have some that used religion as a crutch. They never used it before. An article written today: “Never heard him use it before.” But today, you know, it’s one of those things. But, you know, it’s a failed presidential candidate, so things can happen when you fail so badly running for President.

But, Josh Hawley, I want to thank you. You were right from the beginning. Man, did I make a good choice. (Applause.) Thank you, Josh. Tremendous future. A man who is brilliant and who actually was deceived, to an extent, comes from a great state, Utah, where my poll numbers have gone through the roof. And one of the senators’ poll numbers, and not this one, went down big. You saw that. You saw that, Mike?

But Mike Lee is a brilliant guy. He’s difficult. (Laughter.) Whenever I sign bills — you know, we do sign a lot of legislation that’s — it’s big and it’s powerful, but it’s sort of everybody has to approve it. And I see 99 to 1 — (laughter) — 99 to 1. I say, “Don’t tell me who’s the one.” (Laughter.) “Is it Mike?” “Yes.” (Laughter.) And he always has a good reason for it too, by the way. But he is — he’s incredible. And right at the beginning, he knew we were right, Mike, and I appreciate it very much. You’re just fantastic. And say hello to the people of Utah and tell them, “I’m sorry about Mitt Romney. I’m sorry.” (Laughter and applause.) Okay?

We can say that Mike Lee is, by far, the most popular senator from the state. But you’ve done a fantastic job, Mike, in many ways. In many ways.

A young woman who I didn’t know at all, but she’s been so supportive — and I’ve had great support from other people in that state. And she’s been so supportive, and she’s been downright nasty and mean about the unfairness to the President. And Kelly Loeffler, I appreciate very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Great.

She saw it very early on, and we have — I don’t know if we have other senators here, but we got a hell of a lot of congressmen. And I’ll go over them quickly, but they have — they have also been — you know, it helped when we won 197 to nothing. That’s got to be a first, Kevin. Right? Is that, like, a first?

The Republicans have this image. See, I say Democrats are lousy politicians because they have lousy policy: open borders, sanctuary cities. They have horrible policy. Who the hell can win? Oh, their new policy is: Raise taxes. They want to raise taxes. You know, all my life, I wasn’t in politics, but I’d say, if you’re a politician, you want to say, “We’re going to lower taxes.” They want to raise taxes.

So they have open borders, sanctuary cities. “Raise everybody’s taxes. Get rid of everybody’s healthcare.” A hundred and eighty million people in the United States. And they’re really happy. “And we’re going to give you a healthcare that’s going to cost more money than the country could make in 30 years if it really does well.” That’s one year.

So I’ve always said they’re lousy politicians, but they do two things: They are vicious and mean. Vicious. These people are vicious. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. And she wanted to impeach a long time ago. When she said, “I pray for the President. I pray for the…” — she doesn’t pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite. (Laughter.) But I doubt she prays at all.

And these are vicious people, but they do two things: They stick together, historically. I’m not talking now. They stick together like glue. That’s how they impeached, because they had whatever the number is — 220 people. So if they don’t lose anybody, they’ll be able to impeach anybody. You could be George Washington. You could have just won the war, and they say, “Let’s get him out of office.” And they stuck together, and they’re vicious as hell. And they’ll probably come back for more, but maybe not because the Republican Party’s poll numbers, Mitch, have now gone up more than any time, I think, since 2004, 2005, and you know what happened then.

But in normal times — decades, you would call it; that was a little unusual time; it was for a very short period — the Republicans [sic] Party — Party’s poll numbers and Donald Trump’s poll numbers are the highest I’ve ever had them. So maybe they were. It’s no way to get your poll numbers up. It’s not worth it — because from my family’s standpoint, it’s been very unfair for my family. It’s been very unfair to the country.

Think of it. A phone call. A very good phone call. I know bad phone calls. This is a phone call with many people. I think Mike Pompeo was probably on the call. Where is Mike? Mike Pompeo was on the call. Many people were on the call. I know there were many people. They even have “apprenti,” bringing up an old favorite word of mine. “The Apprentice.” They have “apprenti.” They have people on these calls. And I know there are many.

When I speak to the head of a nation — and they have many people on. I mean, also on — do you think they just — in the case of Ukraine, he’s a new president, seems like a very nice person, by the way. His whole thing was corruption. He’s going to stop corruption. We even have a treaty — 2001, 1999. It’s a treaty — signed treaty — that we will work together to root out corruption in Ukraine.

I probably have a legal obligation, Mr. Attorney, to report corruption. But they don’t think it’s corrupt when a son that made no money, that got thrown out of the military, that had no money at all, is working for $3 million up front, $83,000 a month. And that’s only Ukraine. Then goes to China, picks up $1.5 billion. Then goes to Romania, I hear, and many other countries.

They think that’s okay? Because if it is — is Ivanka in the audience? Is Ivanka here? Boy, my kids could make a fortune. (Laughter.) They could make a fortune. It’s corrupt. But it’s not even that; it’s just general corruption.

And the other thing, as mentioned in the call and something that I’ve told Mike Pence, our great Vice President — I would tell him all the time, and I told him when he went on the trip, because he was over there. He never mentioned anything about this when you had your meeting. It’s a terrible thing.

But I told Mike. I said, “Mike, we’re giving them money, and, you know, you’re always torn about that because we have our country to build, we have our cities to build and our roads to fix. But we’re giving them money. Tell me, why isn’t Germany paying money? Why isn’t France? Why isn’t United Kingdom paying money? Why aren’t they paying money? Why are we paying them money?” Is that a correct statement, Mike?

I say, “Find out what the hell is going on.” And I told that to all of my people, OMB. I said — I asked that question: “How much is Germany paying? Why isn’t Germany paying?” Why is the United States always the sucker? Because we’re a bunch of suckers. But that’s turning around fast. But it makes it harder when stuff like this happens, because you want to focus, and you want to focus perfectly.

Think what we could have done if the same energy was put into infrastructure, prescription drug prices. Think of what we could have done. And I’m now talking both sides. Think of what we could have done if we had the same genius — because it’s genius.

I will say, it’s genius on the other side — maybe even more so because they took nothing and brought me to a final vote of impeachment. That’s a very ugly word to me. It’s a very dark word. Very ugly. They took nothing. They took a phone call that was a totally appropriate call. I call it a “perfect call” because it was. And they brought me to the final stages of impeachment.

But now we have that gorgeous word — I never thought a word would sound so good. It’s called “total acquittal.” (Applause.) Total acquittal.

So — so I want to, if I could, real fast, just introduce a few of the people. I have to start with — I have to start with Kevin. Man, did you do a job. Lucky you’re there. Lucky you’re there because it wouldn’t have worked out. If you don’t have the right people — I’ll tell you, Kevin McCarthy has done an incredible job. (Applause.) Really. Stand up.

And he loves this job, and he loves this country. I’ll tell you what: Mitch and Kevin, they love what they do. Now, Mitch wouldn’t even tell you he liked it. (Laughter.) I’d say, “Mitch, do you like it?” “I don’t know.” (Laughter.) He’s the greatest poker player, right?

Kevin will say, “I love it.” Right? And I will say that you’re going to be Speaker of the House because of this impeachment hoax. (Applause.) I really believe it. I really believe it. And I’m going to work hard on it. I’m going to try and get out to those Trump — those Trump areas that we won by a lot.

And, you know, in ’18, we didn’t win. We just won two seats in North Carolina — two wonderful seats in North Carolina that were not supposed to be won. But I went and I made speeches, and we had rallies, and we did a great job and we won. We took two seats. Nobody writes about that. If we lost them, it would have been the biggest story of the year.

But we’re going to go, we’re going to do a job, and we’re going to win a lot of seats. We’re going to win a lot of seats. People are very angry that Nancy Pelosi and all of these guys — I mean, Nadler — I know him much of my life; he’s fought me in New York for 25 years. I always beat him. And I had to beat him another time. And I’ll probably have to beat him again. Because if they find that I happen to walk across the street, and maybe go against the light or something, “Let’s impeach him.” (Laughter.)

So we’ll probably have to do it again because these people have gone stone-cold crazy. But I’ve beaten them all my life, and I’ll beat them again if I have to. (Applause.) But what they’re doing is very unfair. Very unfair.

So Kevin McCarthy has been great. So, a few names, right? And there’ll be a few you forget. If you want, you can raise and I’ll say, “Great. Love to have you. Wonderful.” (Laughter.) But we’re going to do the best we can. And I have my Cabinet, but my Cabinet is different — I appoint them. Okay? I didn’t see all of them helping so much. (Laughter.) You know, they were running their various bureaucracies, right? (Laughter.) No, my Cabinet is great, and they’re all here.

But today is the day to celebrate these great warriors, right? These are great warriors. They really fought hard for us. And —

So I’ll start: Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota. Kelly, thank you. Great job. (Applause.) Great job.

Jim Banks of Indiana. Jim, thank you. Great job. (Applause.)

Andy Biggs. Where is Andy? Boy, oh, boy, Andy. He got — (applause) — there’s a guy. He’s tough. I hear we’re doing well in Arizona, huh? It’s going good, yeah? I think so. I think I saw a poll that was very good for me. I think we have to make sure Martha is going to do — I think Martha is going to do good. But we have some states that are going to be not easy, but Arizona has been great.

And we’re stopping illegal aliens from coming in. We’re putting up walls. New Mexico, too, a state that’s never been in play for Republicans, is totally in play. Right? Nevada is really looking good. We’re doing well. We’re doing well. We’re going to have a great — there’s more spirit. I will say this: There’s more spirit now for the Republican Party, by far, than the Democrats.

You know, Mike Pence just got back from a place — a beautiful place that Chuck Grassley knows well: Iowa. And he was talking about these fiasco — the Democrats, they can’t count some simple votes, and yet they want to take over your healthcare system. Think of that. (Laughter.) No, think of it.

But we also had an election out there, and we got 98 percent of the vote. We have two people running, you know, and I guess they consider them non-people, but they are running. I mean, one was a governor. One was a congressman. They’re running. We got 98 percent of the vote.

And everybody from the media was saying, “Who are those crowds over there?” You know, they expect it to be one of these competitive — where everybody is running because they want to win, they want to win. And it was Trump. Right, Mark Meadows? It was Trump. This was a Trump crowd.

And a lot of — actually, a lot of my guys went there. They went to Iowa. And a lot of friends went there, and we had tremendous — they say the spirit — the spirit for the Republican Party right now is stronger, I think, than it’s ever been in the history of our country. I think it’s stronger than it’s ever been. (Applause.)

And that includes Honest Abe Lincoln. You know, a lot of people forget Abe Lincoln. I wish he were here. I’d give him one hell of an introduction. Right? (Laughter.) But he was — he was a Republican. Abe Lincoln. Honest Abe.

Bradley Byrne, Alabama. What a great place. (Applause.) Thank you, Bradley.

A man who has been an unbelievable friend of mine and spokesman, and somebody that — that I really like. And I know, Kelly, you’re going to end up liking him a lot. Something is going to happen that’s going to be very good. I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. But Doug Collins — where is he? Where is Doug? (Applause.) You have been so great. Thank you very much, Doug. Thank you very much. Thank you. Really amazing job.

A young man who is — born with a great gene, because I know his father and how great a politician he was. But he’s from Florida. Sometimes controversial, but actually, he’s not controversial. He’s solid as a rock and he’s a friend of mine. Matt Gaetz. Matt? (Applause.) Thank you, Matt. Thank you. Great job.

All right, this guy. So he’s the NCAA — meaning, a couple of years ago, when he was in college — wrestling champion. NCAA. That’s the big deal. That means, in all of college, you’re the champ, you’re the best. His record was ridiculous. Nobody would — nobody could beat him. And I see it. You know, every time, I see it. When I first got to know him — Jim Jordan — when I first got to know Jim, I said, “Huh, he never wears a jacket. What the hell is going on?” (Laughter.) He’s obviously very proud of his body. (Laughter and applause.)

And they say where he works out — you know, where the congressmen, senators, they work out — they say, when Jim works out — even though he’s not as young as he was, but he works out — the machine starts burning. You know, it’s just a different form of a workout than us. Right, Sonny? And — there he is. Look at that guy.

But one day I’m looking, and he looks tough. And I’m looking, and I’m looking at those ears. And I say, “Those ears have something going on there.” I said, “Did you ever wrestle?” “Yeah, I did.” But he doesn’t talk. But I checked. This guy was a world — this guy was a champion, top, top wrestler. And when I had the top — I had all of the teams.

And, by the way, your Super Bowl champions are coming, I think next week or soon. Very soon. And every one of them want to be here. (Applause.) And the coach loves us. The coach is great. Andy Reid. And every one of them want to be here. We have — people love it.

But we had all of the NCAA championship teams here. They had the golf, the basketball. They had every team here. And one of the teams was wrestling. The wrestling team. Was that Penn State? And Penn State won the title. They have a great team.

And I walked up with Jim, and it’s like I didn’t exist. (Laughter.) Those wrestlers, they grabbed him. They love Jim Jordan, and we love you too because you are some warrior. (Applause.) True. True.

A woman who became a star — we have a couple of women that became stars. You two. And I always liked the name of her — you know, I liked the name, “Lesko.” I liked it. That’s how I picked it. I liked the name. I saw that face. I saw that everything. They gave me cards. She had like seven opponents, right?

And you have no idea how much the public appreciates how smart, how sharp you are. This I can’t tell. I can’t tell. They just said, “You know, she’s really good. She’s really talented.” And I said, “Let’s go.” We worked with her. She won her race. Tough race. It’s no longer tough. Because what she does out there is incredible. Arizona loves her.

But you were so incredible, representing — I don’t say “me” — representing our country and getting it out of this impeachment hoax. What you did was incredible.

So, Debbie, please stand up. Debbie Lesko. (Applause.)

A man who I — I became very friendly with — I don’t know why. Do you ever have where — I’ll ask the media: If certain people call, you take their calls. Other people call — if they don’t have information, they won’t take anybody’s call. But other people call, and you don’t.

This is a guy — he just — he’s just a very special guy. His wife I actually like better than him, to be honest. (Laughter.) Because he doesn’t know that I know that he didn’t actually support me right from the beginning, but she did. (Laughter.)

And on my worst day — right? — on my worst day, my worst — I won’t tell you why it was my worst, but it was not one of those good days — she got on a bus, got many other buses and women all over North Carolina, and they toured North Carolina. Well, Mark was back sort of semi-supporting another candidate, which he ended up leaving very quickly. I don’t think you had a choice, because of your wife, but thank her.

And Mark Meadows, he’s an extraordinary guy. I mean, the only problem is, I guess, he’s announcing — he’d only win by 40 points, but he’s announcing that he’ll be not running this time. Do you have somebody good to run? Somebody going to win your district by at least 20 points, please? Okay? But he’s a tremendously talented man, not just as a politician. As a human being, he’s incredible.

And during these horrible times — I mean, the way he worked and Jim and all of you guys — the way they worked so — it was like their life was at stake. So many.

Ron DeSantis is another one. He worked so hard. Then he called me. He said, “Sir, I’d like to run for governor.” I said, “Governor? I don’t want you to run. I like you staying.” “No, I want to run for governor.” And I said, “Well, if you have to.” “I’d like your support.” I said, “How can I support you? You’re at three.” He was at three. He had no money. Somebody was at 38 and they had $22 million cash, right? I said, “Look, if it’s important, I’ll do it,” because they — he’s been another great warrior. And he’s — by the way, he ran. I endorsed him. His numbers went through the roof.

The man who we beat, who was expected to win easily, called me after the race. He said, “You endorsed him, and it was like a nuclear bomb went off. There was nothing I could do.” He never even spent his money. He saved it.

But Ron DeSantis is another one, and now he’s the governor of Florida. And, by the way, he’s a great governor. He’s a very popular governor. His numbers are in the 70s. And he’s done a great job.

But, Mark, I want to thank you very much. Fantastic job. Thank you very much. Mark Meadows. (Applause.)

And Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Where’s Mike? Central casting. What a job. You can represent me anytime. (Applause.) You can represent me anytime. Thank you. What a job you’ve done. Thank you, Mike.

And a man nobody has ever heard of, except the other side. He’s the other side’s worst nightmare. This guy goes down into dungeons and basements; he’ll find a document, no matter what. He’s the most legitimate human being. He’s the hardest worker. He’s unbelievable. He took tremendous abuse. I mean, abuse.

The — the media and, you know, the other side, and the bad ones, the leakers, the liars, the dirty cops — they wanted to destroy him. They tried. They got close, but he wouldn’t let it happen. And, honestly, in a certain way, he was the first one. Wouldn’t you say, Jim and Mark and everybody? This was the first guy. He came out of nowhere. He’s saying, “These people are corrupt.” He’s still saying it. And he was unbelievable. Devin Nunes. He was unbelievable. Unbelievable. (Applause.) That’s so true, Devin.

He’d come in and say — I didn’t even know hi;, I just heard there were like — there was this congressman who kept going into a basement — into files. (Laughter.) He knew something was wrong. You felt it, right? And now we know a lot more than we knew then, right? You never thought it was as bad as it is. And hopefully we’re going to take care of things, because we can never, ever allow this to happen again. (Applause.)

Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Scott, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Scott. Really great. And you’re doing very well over there, by the way. Just saw your numbers.
A man who is a — I mean, central casting. If I’m going to pick Perry Mason, I’m going to do a remake of Perry Mason — other than Bill Barr, I’d pick this guy. But I have to say, I’ll pick Barr. I pick Barr first, right? (Laughter.) John Ratcliffe, right? But I have to tell you, if we’re doing a remake of Perry Mason, the man I get — there’s nobody in Hollywood like this — John Ratcliffe, right? (Applause.) Stand up, John.

So — such a great lawyer. Incredible guy. Incredible talent. But just a great lawyer and we appreciate it. He gets on that screen, and everyone says, “I agree.” The other side folds up so fast. We’ll probably be using a lot of you in the next year. But you have been fantastic, John. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.

A man who’s braver than me and braver than all of us in this room. He got — he got whacked. He got whacked. My Steve, right? I went to the hospital with our great First Lady that night. Right, honey? And we saw a man that was not going to make it. He was not going to make it. He was — the doctor — and I told him his wife — I said, “She loves you.” “Why do you say that?” Because she was devastated.

A lot of wives wouldn’t give a damn. (Laughter.) A lot of — a lot of wives — a lot of wives would have said, “Oh, yeah.” I said, “How’s he doing?” “Oh…” She couldn’t even talk. She was inconsolable. Most wives would say, “Not good. Listen, I’m going home now.” (Laughter.) But the doctor came in — the wife is like — she was a total mess. She was really devastated. And he really — it looked like he had a 20, 25 percent chance. I think you set a record for blood loss.

And, Steve Scalise, I — actually, honestly, I think you’re better looking now. You’re more handsome now. (Laughter.) You — you weren’t that good looking. You look good now. (Laughter.) He looks better now. Can you believe it? I don’t know what the hell that is. (Applause.) It’s true. Better now. (Applause.) What a guy.

And he was practicing — he was practicing for the baseball game against, I guess, the Democrats, right? And this whack-job started shooting. Hurt Roger — I don’t know if Roger is here. But hurt a number of people — hit them. But really hit Steve. He — Steve was at second base. He was the second baseman. And he went down and it was terrible. I mean, I saw the whole thing and it was terrible.

Fortunately, you had two brave policemen with you. Because of your high position in Congress, you had two policemen and they were amazing — the man and a woman. And they came and they didn’t have rifles. They were against a, supposedly, pretty good sharpshooter with rifles — good equipment. And all they had was a gun. And they started coming in from the outfield, shooting. And they’re so far away that a handgun is not preferred. This guy has the rifle and he’s hitting people. And he was going to move up and there was no out. I mean, if he would have been able to move up, there was no way to get out. The entrance was a single entranceway on the other side, where he was.

So everyone went into the dugout — ran into the dugout, but Steve was really hit badly in the stomach, and — with a bullet that rips you apart. It was supposed to do that. It rips — it rips you apart.

And these two people came charging forward. Boom. Boom. Boom. And one of them — you know who — one of them — him? — got the shooter. Hit him. And then got him. Killed him from the long distance. It was amazing. If you didn’t have those two people — you can imagine, right? You could imagine what would happen.

So Melania and I went to the hospital that night. And he was in such bad shape, and he’s been working ever since, so hard. But six months ago, they had a baseball game at the Nationals Park. And I’m watching and it’s — it’s on television. And it’s just, you know, a game. People — you want to win it, right? And Steve’s at second base. The poor guy can’t even walk.

Do you remember Bobby Richardson for the New York Yankees? He was known for range, Louie. Range. He had the greatest range. If a ball is hit to shortstop — Bobby Richardson is the second player, the second baseman — Bobby Richardson would field the ball. If it’s hit to first base, he’ll throw it to the first baseman. He had unbelievable range. This was not Steve Scalise. (Laughter.) Steve had no range. (Laughter.) One foot and he has to fall down, right? Because, you know, he was trying to get better. I don’t know who the hell put you on the field. (Laughter.)

And this is a true story. So the game starts and the first pitch — Steve is standing at second base and the guy is really in bad shape. And I said, “This is terrible.” A shot — groundball shot is hit to second and Steve. I say — I didn’t have time to think too much, but I said, “This is not good. That ball is going toward him.”

And this guy stopped that ball, caught the call. He’s now laying down. He throws the ball to first base. He gets him out. I said, “It’s the most incredible thing.” I’ve never seen — athletically — (applause) — I’ve never seen anything like it, right?

And he gets him out and they then took him out of the game, which was a very wise thing because you could never do that again in a million years. (Laughter.) But you weren’t going to let that ball go through. I don’t care if it was hit by the greatest of all time, right? That ball was not going through you, because you are a warrior. Steve is — he is fantastic. You are fantastic. You and Liz and Kevin.

What a great — what a group. I mean, what a group. I got lucky. I got lucky because you need the right people. If I had the wrong people there, he — maybe a different story. Maybe we’d be celebrating something else. But I really want to thank you, Steve Scalise.

And, Elise, you — I just read this story; she’s the most incredible — what’s going on with you, Elise. So I even said — you know, I was up campaigning for her, helping her. But I thought, “She looks good. She looks like good talent.” But did I not realize, when she opens that mouth, you were killing them, Elise. (Laughter.) You were killing them. (Applause.)

Elise — and there’s a big story in the New York Post — I love the New York Post because they treat me well. There aren’t too many of you that do. But today, you’re treating me well. I even had a great headline — New York Times, Washington Post. I had all of these great headlines. Maybe we should just end it right there. (Laughter.)

But you had the greatest story, yesterday in the Post, that people from all over the country are contributing to her campaign. They were so enthralled with the way you handled yourself, what you said, the way you said it. And I’ll always be your friend. I think it was — it’s really an amazing story. What a great future you have. What a great future. Thank you. (Applause.) The First Lady agrees, by the way. The First Lady agrees.

And Michael Turner, you can represent me anytime. Where’s Michael? Where is he? (Applause.) Or you can represent me. How good were you? There’s another — there’s another Perry Mason type, I think. Right? What do you think, John? But, Michael, you were fantastic and we appreciate it.

Brad Wenstrup. Where’s Brad? Brad. (Applause.) Great, great job. This is a big day for lawyers. You notice only the lawyers stayed? All the lawyers stayed behind.

Lee Zeldin. How good are you? How good are you? (Applause.) Man.

And, Louie, your name is not down. They didn’t give me your name. Do you know — if I didn’t announce Louie — (laughter) — whoever the hell made this list, I got to get rid of because I — if I wouldn’t have announced Louie, it might have been the end of the presidency. (Laughter.) Louie, you have been so great. So tough and so smart. I got it just — (laughs) — I got it. But Louie has been amazing. He’s a tough guy. He’s a smart guy. He’s streetwise like crazy. We love Texas, and we’re with you all the way, Louie. We’re with you all the way. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

So that’s the story. We have a great group of warriors, and there are others left, and, I guess, probably, I’m sure I didn’t mention a few, and I apologize if that’s the case. How’s CPAC doing? Good? Huh? My man, stand up please, will you? He’s the one who said, “You should run.” (Applause.) Right?

Matt said — it’s like five years ago, six years ago. And I made a speech, and then they do some kind of a straw poll: “Who made the best speech?” And he said, “I made the best speech.” With all this professional — I hate to say this: With all these professional politicians, they voted, by far, the best speech was Trump. He calls me, he says, “You should run for politics.” I say, “What do I know about politics?”

But you know what? We learned quickly, and our country has never done better than it’s doing right now. (Applause.) So it’s been good. (Applause.) But thank you, Matt. Great. Say hello.

So that’s the story. We’ve been treated very unfairly. Fortunately, we have great men and women that came to our defense. If we didn’t, this would have been a horrific incident for our country. When you have Lisa and Peter, the lovers, the FBI lovers: “I want to believe the path you threw out for” Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. That’s the office. “There’s no way he gets elected” — meaning me. “There’s no way he gets elected.”

This is Peter, to Lisa. He’s probably trying to impress her, for obvious reasons. (Laughter.) “There’s no way he gets elected. But I’m afraid we can’t take the risk.” Now, think of this. In other words, if I get elected, they can’t — “they”; two low-lifes — they can’t take the risk. They can’t take the risk. Think of it.

And that’s where it came up, the greatest word of all: “insurance policy.” So he says, “But I’m afraid we can’t take the risk. She may lose.” It’s like an insurance policy. In the unlikely event you die before you’re 40 — in other words, if I won, they were going to do exactly what they did to us. They were going to try and overthrow the government of the United States — a duly elected president.

And if I didn’t fire James Comey, we would have never found this stuff. Because when I fired that sleazebag, all hell broke out. They were ratting on each other. They were running for the hills. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens. It’s in the hands of some very talented people. We’re going to have to see what happens.

But I can tell you, in my opinion, these are the crookedest, most dishonest, dirtiest people I’ve ever seen. They said — this is Strzok: “God, Hillary should win 100 million to one.” This is about me. This is an agent from the FBI. Look how they let her off. Thirty-three thousand emails deleted. Nothing happens to her. Nothing happens. It’s unbelievable.

But think of that — “God, Hillary should win” — when these guys are investigating Hillary. Then they go to work for Mueller — the two of them — and when Muller found out that everybody knew that they were 100 percent this way, he let them go. But they deleted all of their emails and text messages.

So when we got the phone, they were all deleted. Could you imagine the treasure trove? They illegally deleted. So they left. They left Bob Mueller. He had the look, but he didn’t have a lot of other things. Always had the look. Mr. G-Man.

And I love the FBI and the FBI loves me — 99 percent. It was the top scum. And the FBI people don’t like the top scum.

So think of that: 100 million to one. And he’s investigating me. And then, “God, Trump is a loathsome human being, isn’t he?” These are the people looking at me. I’m really not a bad person. And Page said, “Yes, he’s awful.” How would you like to have that? This is just — this is the good stuff. There’s stuff a hundred times worse than that. These are all dirty people.

And now, I just heard that they’re suing the United States of America because they were interfered with. We’re not going to let it happen. Just not going to let it happen. We cannot let this happen to our country. We can’t. (Applause.)

So, I’m going to leave now. And I don’t know if any of you have anything to say. You could say it. But this is sort of a day of celebration, because we went through hell.

And I’m sure that Pelosi and Cryin’ Chuck — I’ve known this guy all the — the only time I ever saw him cry was when it was appropriate. Known him for a long time. Cryin’ Chuck. But I’m sure they’ll try and cook up other things. They’ll go through the state of New York. They’ll go through other places. They’ll do whatever they can. Because instead of wanting to heal our country and fix our country, all they want to do — in my opinion, it’s almost like they want to destroy our country. We can’t let it happen.

Jim Jordan, did you want to say something? Go ahead. Huh? Mark?

REPRESENTATIVE MEADOWS: No, I just — I wanted to just say that this reflection today, it is a small reflection of the kind of support you have all across the country. We’ve got your back. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

This was a highly partisan situation. Pelosi said — I copied it down exactly. Before the impeachment — she wanted to impeach from day one, by the way. Don’t let it fool you. You know, she said, “No, the impeachment is a very serious thing.” I said, “She wants to impeach. Watch.”

Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and so overwhelming and bipartisan — bipartisan. It was 197 to nothing. And other than one failed presidential candidate — and I call that “half a vote” because he actually voted for us on the other one. But we had one failed presidential candidate. That’s the only half a vote we lost. So, we had almost 53 to nothing. We had 197 to nothing. And the only one that voted against was a guy that can’t stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency.

But she said, “There’s something so compelling — it has to be so compelling and so overwhelming and bipartisan. I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country” — she was right about that — “and it’s just not worth it.” That was Nancy Pelosi a year ago. Right?

And I think it’s a shame. I think it’s a shame. But as I said, if we can put this genius to work on roads and highways and bridges and all of the things we can do — prescription drugs. You know, we had — Secretary Azar is here and I want to thank him for this, but we had — first time in 51 years, where drug prices actually came down last year. First time in 51 years. But what we can do, working with both parties in Congress, is — would be unbelievable. It would be unbelievable — all we can do.

And I know Chuck Grassley is working very hard on it and Mitch is working very hard on it. But what we can do is — is incredible. What we can do, just generally. We’ve done so much without it. We’ve rebuilt our military. We’ve cut regulations at a level that nobody thought possible. We’ll always protect our Second Amendment; we all know that.

But I just want to tell you that it’s an honor to be with you all. I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people. And Ivanka is here, and my — my sons and my whole family, and that includes Barron. (Applause.) That includes Barron, who is up there as a young boy.

Stand up, honey. (Applause.) Ivanka, thank you, honey. Come. Come. (Applause.) (The President hugs Ivanka Trump.)

Come here, baby. (Applause.) (The President hugs the First Lady.)

So I just want to thank my family for sticking through it. This was not part of the deal. I was going to run for President, and if I won, I was going do a great job. I didn’t know that I was going to run, and then when I got in, I was going to have to run again and again and again. Every week, I had to run again. That wasn’t the deal, but they stuck with me.

And I’m so glad I did it because we are making progress and doing things for our great people that everybody said couldn’t be done. Our country is thriving. Our country is just respected again. And it’s an honor to be with the people in this room.

Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
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**
END 1:23 P.M. EST

You guys need to see this. President is most serious today.

• RSBN Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/rightsideradio
• Fox10 Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg
• Golden State Times Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXPkK02j6MHW-4xCJzgMuw

We need to be grateful and a little humble. Still a LOT of work to do!

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
AT THE 68TH NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.
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**

9:11 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, thank you very much. I’m working very hard for you, I will tell you. (Laughter.) And sometimes you don’t make it easy, and I certainly don’t make it easy on you. (Laughter.) And I will continue that tradition, if I might, this morning. And, Arthur, I don’t know if I agree with you. (Laughter.) But I don’t know if Arthur is going to like what I’m going to say. (Laughter.) But I love listening to you. It’s really great. Thank you very much.

And thank you, congressmen, for the great job you’ve been doing and the relationship and the help. You’re a warrior. Thank you very much. And, Kevin, you’re a warrior. Thank you. The job you’ve done is incredible. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. A lot of extra work. Unnecessary work.

It’s wonderful to be with the thousands of religious believers for the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast. I’ve been here from the first one, where I had the privilege of being asked. I’ve been with you for a long time before then. And we’ve made tremendous progress. Tremendous progress. You know what we’ve done. I don’t think anybody has done more than all of us together during these last three years. And it’s been my honor.

But this morning, we come together as one nation, blessed to live in freedom and grateful to worship in peace. As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your President, have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people. They have done everything possible to destroy us, and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country.

Weeks ago, and again yesterday, courageous Republican politicians and leaders had the wisdom, the fortitude, and strength to do what everyone knows was right. I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, “I pray for you,” when they know that that’s not so.

So many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on. And I’ll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House.

We’re joined today by two people whose faith inspires us all: our amazing, wonderful friend, Vice President Mike Pence — (applause) — and his wonderful wife, Karen. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you to all of our great political leaders out there — so many that I’ve been working with so hard over the last three years. And we’ve accomplished so much. And to members of my Cabinet in attendance — Secretary Mike Pompeo, Mark Esper, David Bernhardt — (applause) — Gene Scalia, Alex Azar, Ben Carson, Dan Brouillette, Betsy DeVos, Robert Wilke, and Administrator Jovita Carranza.

Joining us — (applause) — for this cherished tradition are a lot of friends in the audience. And many, really, have become friends. They are political leaders. They’ve become great friends. That’s all I get to meet anymore. (Laughter.) That and the enemies and the allies. And we have them all. We have allies. We have enemies. Sometimes the allies are enemies, but we just don’t know it. (Laughter.) But we’re changing all that. But thank you all, and thank you all for being here.

I also want to welcome foreign dignitaries from more than 140 countries. That’s something. (Applause.) That’s something. Everyone here today is united by a shared conviction. We know that our nation is stronger, our future is brighter, and our joy is greater when we turn to God and ask him to shed his grace on our lives.

On Tuesday, I addressed Congress on the state of the Union and the great American comeback. That’s what it is. (Applause.) Our country has never done better than it is doing right now. Our economy is the strongest it has ever been. And for those of you that are interested in stocks, it looks like the stock market will be way up again today.

According to the latest Gallup poll that just came out a little while ago, a few minutes ago, American satisfaction is at the highest level ever recorded. Can you imagine? And that’s from Gallup — no friend of mine. (Applause.) Ninety percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their personal lives. How about that? Isn’t that something? Just came out today. (Applause.) They must have known I was going to be here. (Laughter.)

In everything we do, we are creating a culture that protects freedom, and that includes religious freedom. (Applause.)

As I said on Tuesday in the House Chamber, “In America, we don’t punish prayer. We don’t tear down crosses. We don’t ban symbols of faith. We don’t muzzle preachers.” We don’t muzzle pastors. “In America, we celebrate faith, we cherish religion, we lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the Glory of God.” (Applause.)

So much of the greatness we have achieved, the mysteries we’ve unlocked, and the wonders we’ve built, the challenges we’ve met, and the incredible heights that we’ve reached has come from the faith of our families and the prayers of our people.

Before America declared independence, patriots in all 13 colonies came together in days of fasting and prayer. In the bitter cold of Valley Forge, Washington and his men had no food, no supplies, and very little chance of victory. It reminded me a little bit of 2016. We had very little chance of victory. (Laughter.) Except for the people in this room and some others believed we were going to win. I believed we were going to win. But what they did have was have an unwavering belief that God was with them. I believe that too. God is with the people in this room.

Before a single skyscraper rose up in New York City, thousands of poor American families donated all they could to build the magnificent St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (Applause.)
When Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, he said, “Houston, I would like to request a few moments of silence.” Then, he read from the Bible. (Applause.)

At every stage, our nation’s long march for civil rights was inspired, sustained, and uplifted by faith, prayer, and devotion of religious believers.

To protect faith communities, I have taken historic action to defend religious liberty, including the constitutional right to pray in public schools. (Applause.)

We can also talk about the Johnson Amendment. We can talk about Mexico City Policy. We’ve done a lot. But I also recently took executive action to stop taxpayer dollars from going to colleges and universities that spread the poison of anti-Semitism and bad things about Christianity. (Applause.)

We are upholding the sanctity of life — sanctity of life. (Applause.) And we are doing that like nobody has ever done it before from this position. You better get out and vote on November 3rd — (laughter) — because you have a lot of people out there that aren’t liking what we’re doing.

And we’re pursuing medical breakthroughs to save premature babies because every child is a sacred gift from God. (Applause.)

Together, we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society. We are lifting up citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed. We are bringing hope to forgotten communities. And more Americans are working today — 160 million. A little bit short. Just a little bit. One hundred and sixty million. We’ve never been even close — than ever before. Think of it: More Americans are working today — almost 160 million — than ever before. Our unemployment numbers are the best in the history of our country. (Applause.)

A more specific number and numbers that you hear me say, if you listen: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American — the best unemployment numbers in the history of our country. Women — best in 71 years. Sorry. We’ll have you there soon. Soon, it will be “historic.” I have to apologize to the women; it’s only 71 years.

But the best unemployment numbers, we have — we’re doing things that nobody thought possible. We’re setting records that nobody thought achievable.

And to give former prisoners a second chance at life, which so many people in this room have worked on for so long — (applause) — we passed criminal justice reform into law, and I signed it nine months ago.

And it’s proving more and more that America is indeed a nation that believes in redemption. What’s happened with prisoners is a miracle. Prisoners would come out and nobody would give them a job. And oftentimes, most of the time — almost all of the time — they’d go back into prison. They’d get caught doing something bad. They had no money. They had no hope. They had no job. Now they’re coming out into a booming economy. And employers are hiring them, and to a certain extent, maybe because they’re having a hard time getting people.

First time in our country’s history, actually, we’re running out of people. We have plants moving in by the thousands. We have car companies coming from Japan and from Germany, from lots of other places, and we need people. And employers are hiring prisoners, and they would have never done it, except for what we’ve done with criminal justice reform. But even before that, because the economy has become so powerful.

And these prisoners have done an incredible job. The employers are saying, “Why didn’t I do this 20 years ago?”

So it’s an incredible thing what’s happening to people that are given a second chance, and sometimes a third chance, in all fairness. And it’s something that everybody in this room should be very proud about, because you’ve always felt that way long before it was fashionable. So I want to thank you for that. (Applause.)

As we revive our economy, we are also renewing our national spirit. Today we proudly proclaim that faith is alive and well and thriving in America. And we’re going to keep it that way. Nobody will have it changed. (Applause.) It won’t happen. As long as I’m here, it will never, ever happen. (Applause.)

Something which wasn’t done nearly enough — I could almost say wasn’t done at all — we are standing up for persecuted Christians and religious minorities all around the world — (applause) — like nobody has ever done.

Last year, at the United Nations, I was honored to be the first President to host a meeting of religious freedom. It was based all on religious freedom. That was the first meeting of its kind ever held at the United Nations. There I called upon all nations to combat the terrible injustice of religious persecution. And people listened.

And countries that we give billions of dollars to, they listened because they had to listen. (Laughter.) It’s amazing how that works, isn’t it? (Laughter.) That nobody ever played that game before. (Laughter.)

Weeks ago, a 21-year-old woman, who goes by the name of Mary, was seized and imprisoned in Iran because she converted to Christianity and shared the Gospel with others.

In Venezuela, the dictator Maduro has arrested church leaders. At the State of the Union, I was honored to host the true and legitimate President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó. (Applause.) Good man. I told him that all Americans stand with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom.

Yesterday, our administration launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance, the first-ever alliance devoted to promoting religious liberty. It was something. Really something. (Applause.)

More than 25 countries have already joined our campaign. I want to thank Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, along with Ambassador Sam Brownback, who are both here this morning, for leading this historic initiative. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mike. (Applause.) Thank you.

All of us here today reaffirm these timeless truths: Faith keeps us free. Prayer makes us strong. And God alone is the author of life and the giver of grace. (Applause.)

With us this morning is a pastor who embodies the miracle of faith and the power of prayer: Reverend Gerald Toussaint from Louisiana. Reverend Toussaint is an Army veteran, a truck driver, and a pastor. He leads the same church that his father led, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, which has been a pillar of the community for more than 140 years.

Last year, Mount Pleasant was one of three African American churches in Louisiana that was destroyed in a fire set by a wicked, hate-filled arsonist.

Yet, in the wake of such shocking evil, America witnessed the unshakable unity, devotion, and spirit of Reverend Toussaint and his entire highly spirited, beautiful congregation. Families quickly came together in prayer. Soon, people from all across Louisiana came to help any way they could. Americans in all 50 states and 20 different countries heard about it and they donated more than $2 million to help rebuild Mount Pleasant — (applause) — and the other two churches that were (inaudible).

On Easter Sunday, just days after he lost his church, Reverend Toussaint preached about what it all meant. What does it mean? “The Easter season,” he said, “is a fitting metaphor for recent events. It was dark the day that Jesus was crucified. It was dark [at] night when they burned our church. What has happened since is like a resurrection.” Old things are gone, but it’s going to be a brand-new start, and it’s going to be better than ever, Reverend. (Applause.) Better than ever. Fantastic.

And today, just 10 months later, the ground is cleared. Careful plans have been made, and they’re beautiful plans. And construction is about to begin on the new and very, very magnificent Mount Pleasant Church. Congratulations. (Applause.)

You know, the Reverend says that we’re rebuilding because that’s what Jesus does. He rebuilds, he lives, and he breathes. It’s what he does. He wants it to be rebuilt. It was torn apart, but it’s being rebuilt again, and I’ll bet you it will indeed be bigger, better, and nicer than before. What do you think, Reverend? Yes? And it’s going to have your mark on it. It did have and now it will have even great. And your father is looking down on you right now and he’s very, very proud of the job that you’ve done. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Very much inspire us, Reverend. Thank you.

Well, I want to just thank everybody. This has been very special. Tell your congregation that — and all of your people — that we have 350 million people in our country. They’re proud Americans. And they respect what we’re doing, even those that you don’t think so much like us, respect us, want to be with us. They’re respecting our fight, and we are in a fight.

Religion in this country and religion all over the world — certain religions in particular — are under siege. We won’t let that happen. We are going to protect our religions. We are going to protect Christianity. We are going to protect our great ministers and pastors and rabbis and all of the people that we so cherish and that we so respect.

America is eternally in the debt of our nation’s African American churches all throughout this country. That’s why it’s so fitting and so — it’s one of the reasons we chose this particular church in Louisiana. For generations, they bravely fought for justice and lifted up the conscience of our nation. And we’re grateful beyond any measure.

But I can say that going beyond that, we’re grateful to the people in this room for the love they show to religion. Not one religion, but many religions. They are brave. They are brilliant. They are fighters. They like people. And sometimes they hate people. I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m trying to learn. (Laughter.) It’s not easy. It’s not easy. (Applause.)
When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks. (Laughter.) I do my best.

But I’ll tell you what we are doing: We’re restoring hope and spreading faith. We’re helping citizens of every background take part in the great rebuilding of our nation. We’re declaring that America will always shine as a land of liberty and light unto all nations of the world. We want every nation to look up to us like they are right now. We were not a respected nation just a few years ago. We had lost our way. Our country is respected again by everybody. (Applause.)

This morning, let us ask Father in Heaven to guide our steps, protect our children, and bless our families. And with all of our heart, let us forever embrace the eternal truth that every child is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.

Thank you. God Bless you. And God bless America. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

The Pentagon made 35 TRILLION dollars in accounting changes………. 35 TRILLION!

Soooo, I saw the headline and had a heart attack…….. the BIG ONE.

This is the article in question: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/pentagon-racks-up-dollar35-trillion-in-accounting-changes-in-a-year/ar-BBZcVdy

I read the article, and something strange happened. There was the most awful smell in the air………. like a big dead rat, like a Schiff smell, with Andrew Weissman cheap cologne mixed in….. It smelled familiar….. I’ll admit, I’m scanning the horizon for clues of the next wild hoax, waste of time, brought to us by Nancy and Lawfare.

Notice to Dems: We’ve been through ShaMMMpeachment and Muh Russia. We know the playbook by now. You need a new scam. This one won’t work…… and the people you may deem as dumb and deplorable can see it coming from a mile away. We’ve learned!!

Here’s the story: In an article from MSM, Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg (note – this is Bloomberg reporting in an election year where Michael Bloomberg is prepared to spend billions to defeat our President), wrote a story about the “stark increase in accounting changes at the Pentagon”, changes of 35 Trillion in 2019, 30.7 trillion in 2018, and 29 Trillion in 2017. Note the phrase “accounting changes”.

Tony Capaccio, to make this a bigger story and imply wrongdoing, using all the MSM approved salacious adjectives, interviews the GAO about the “problem” of the increase in accounting changes. Note, we’re supposed to be concerned about an increase in accounting entries but NO ONE said any money is missing. Plus, remember, GAO is an arm of CONGRESS (read as Pelosi), and the Pentagon in the Executive Branch (read as Trump).

Status check: So far, we have an article with an incendiary headline, written by a Bloomberg reporter, and it involves the Pentagon and the GAO – which we now know is partisan. Spidey senses tingling? Suspicious cat?

What is an “accounting change”, you ask? Answer = Moving money from one place to another, allocating it to a different folder. Easy peasy. BUT RARELY do two people do it the exact same way. If I buy a First Aid kit for the car, I would classify it as medical supplies. Big T would call it Auto Expense. Neither is right or wrong, just different.

Example: Let’s say your house is the Pentagon. Everything you have in bedroom #1 has a value. Bedroom #1 might contain a bed, mattress, linen, dresser, nightstands, lamps, mirror, tv, and a couch. Each item would have a line item price. Total of Room #1 is $10,000. Okay, fine.

Well, Christmas comes along and you expect out of town company. You need to move the couch from Room #1 to Bedroom #2. The couch is worth $1,000. Thus, you make an “accounting change” for the value of Bedroom #1 subtracting the value of the couch, and another accounting change to add to the value of Bedroom #2. We moved the couch. We just made $2,000 worth of “accounting changes” for a $1,000 couch. After Christmas, we might move the couch back to Bedroom #1, making another $2,000 worth of accounting changes for the same couch. Heck, over Christmas holidays, we have $4,000 worth of accounting changes for one couch.

Then, imagine we move the same $1,000 couch, every Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving……. when the relatives come to visit. In 30yrs, we’ve made $120K of accounting changes on one $1000 couch…… which we already depreciated in year #7…… but that’s another accounting course.

Now imagine we’re moving F-35 jets, or ships, or men, or toilet seats…… Imagine we assign a whole task force to General Smith, for Operation ABC in the Persian Gulf. We move all the assets into an accounting folder making all the “accounting changes”. Then, President Trump fires General Smith. General Jones takes over and makes a few changes, Task Force XYZ,……. time for more accounting changes.

From the article: “As an example of how the dollar figures multiply, Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood said recognizing $800 million due a contractor in previously unrecorded payments “requires multiple accounting adjustments that net to $0 but could total over $5 billion” in movement between accounts.

Normally, contractor billion for the government goes 1/3, 1/3, discretionary payment, 10% reserve until job is done, final 5% paid in a year when guarantee runs out. Well, I know how to do contractor billing for the government, but I’m guessing less than 1% of the readership knows the details. Yet, it’s EASY to explain. Yeah, it’s just like moving our couch to another bedroom…….. So, why didn’t Bloomberg’s Capaccio explain it simply? Why didn’t Capaccio make it clear there was no inference of wrongdoing? Why the incendiary headline?

More suspicious cat. It doesn’t mean the Pentagon has lost 35 TRILLION dollars or doing anything wrong. We’re arguing about “my paperwork is not sufficient for you”.

According to the article:

There were 546,433 adjustments in fiscal 2017 and 562,568 in 2018, according to figures provided by Representative Jackie Speier, who asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/pentagon-racks-up-dollar35-trillion-in-accounting-changes-in-a-year/ar-BBZcVdy

Wait a minute. What is this? Jackie Speier, rabid leftist “asks” the GAO to do an investigation? Why does this look familiar to us? Ohhhhhh, we remember, it was Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen who “asked” the GAO to investigate President Trump for violations of the “Impound Control Act” for withholding funds to Ukraine. Yeah, and the GAO issued a press statement which coincided with Schiff’s position the President withheld funds from Ukraine with specific purpose to benefit his election in 2020. The press made a big deal out of it, until we learned there was no penalty, and Obama was in violation 7 times for legit reasons……. yeah, THAT GAO, pushed to investigate by a rabid lefist Congressman.

Would this be two times we have the Dem party in Congress using the GAO to “dig up dirt” on a political opponent? Abuse of power? Misuse of taxpayer dollars? Is the media setting up THE PENTAGON to be the next big hoax?

And we now KNOW how the left uses media story plants to create an investigation. Fool me once, shame on you……..We won’t be fooled twice. We’ve caught on to how the left operates.

Let’s see now……. So far, we have a Bloomberg reporter, an incendiary headline, The compromised GAO, a rabid leftist Congresswoman with an agenda who is giving free access to a Bloomberg reporter, and an inference of a money missing at the Pentagon…. the military…… the thing Trump loves the most.

????? Can you smell the stench? Am I dreaming, here?

This is interesting…….

Let’s look at the words here. “The watchdog agency will release a report on the subject Wednesday after reviewing more than 200,000 fourth-quarter 2018 adjustments totaling $15 trillion.” A “watchdog agency” is exactly the same terminology used by the MSM for the GAO when they tried to sell us the story on Impound Control Act, and the press release by GAO couldn’t have been more partisan. GAO is NOT neutral.

Momma smells a rat.

THEN —- the Bloomberg acolyte interviewed Congresswoman Jackie Speier. LOOK at this statement……. which further establishes the narrative of something wrong with trillions of dollars at the Pentagon. “The “combined errors, shorthand, and sloppy record-keeping by DoD accountants do add up to a number nearly 1.5 times the size of the U.S. economy,” said Speier, a California Democrat. The report shows the Pentagon “employs accounting adjustments like a contractor paints over mold. Their priority is making the situation look manageable, not solving the underlying problem,” she said.

Plus, Jackie’s statement the most SUBJECTIVE statement we’ve seen in a while. What the heck is Jackie talking about? And since the GAO is not really done with their VAST investigation, how can she make a qualified and credible evaluation? Did Jackie review the 15 trillion in accounting changes?

Ohhh, you didn’t know Jackie Speier was from California? Are you surprised? And the report is released on Wednesday, same DAY as Trump acquittal. You know how long it takes to examine 15 trillion in accounting entries? They’ve been working on this one for a long time.

Here we go, more big rats.

From the article: “The GAO estimated based on a sample that at least 96% of 181,947 automatic adjustments made in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 “didn’t have adequate supporting documentation.” LOOK at the words carefully. First, they only did a sample? Is this like the Florida polling firm who only samples female college grads who are on the alumni list from the sociology department? Because we’ve been there already……. That one really happened. Second, “don’t have adequate” is subjective, again.

Reading further, the auditors want accounting adjustments which are supported, but the accounting system at the Pentagon does not have a system which allows for supporting docs or whatever it is the auditors or GAO or Jackie Speier wants. And it does not mean anything is wrong……….. despite Jackie, Bloomberg and the GAO attempts to imply wrongdoing.

Supporting docs, eh? Hmmmm. When we all used checks, I used to write a note in the memo section on every check, as to which account or party I was working on at the time…… it was a “support”/explanation for my allocation of money. Yet, when we all went to bank cards, I have a heck of a time sorting out grocery bills for various parties. My “system” does not allow for supporting docs. Gee whiz, my house is just like the Pentagon.

Here is the part which makes me bang my head against the wall.

No one cares whether or not the Pentagon has lost 35 trillion dollars or a single dollar. Jackie Speier, the GAO, Bloomberg guy, are only worried about the NUMBER of accounting changes. That’s the headline. Who cares how many accounting changes there are? We DO CARE if we’ve LOST MONEY! It’s a fake concern from Jackie Speier….

Just like Ukraine.

I could be wrong, you know, just making muffins, out here in the hinterland of a red state….. Yet, there are too many coincidences to ignore.

Which makes me further believe there’s a big dead fish here. The GAO does not launch into an investigation of 35 TRILLION dollars in Pentagon “accounting changes” (or 15 Trillion or a smaller sample depending on the extent of work done) without approval from on high……… like Nancy Pelosi, backed up by Lawfare. Such an investigation would take extraordinary manpower and matching budget to accomplish.

SOMEONE is making a big stink. Who? Why? And timed to be finished on the Wednesday of Trump’s acquittal? Targeting the Pentagon’s money would make sense, coming from vindictive Dems. Attack the things he loves, the military.

This part is fairly bizarre. According to “Mark Easton, the Defense Department’s deputy chief financial officer, wrote the GAO that in response to its audit the department “is actively developing strategies” to reduce accounting adjustments.”

What in the living heck does THAT MEAN? We’re not going to make as many entries,…… so instead of accounting for ALL the pillows in Bedroom #1 we should just make one entry for “pillows”. Would that make Jackie Speier happy? What the heck? The Pentagon is working on more supporting docs (they imply later on), but we’re still not missing any money.

Again, from the article: “While auditors found no evidence of fraud in the review of finances that Congress required, they flagged a laundry list of problems, including accounting adjustments.”

Common sense, let alone good accounting, tells us that the more entries we have, the better we are able to track the bedroom couch……… Why in the HECK would anyone object to the number of entries and why would it be an issue?

This is the kind of thing which would infuriate President Trump, any business person, any taxpayer. We would start to ask questions. What a waste of time. There are probably a million ways an Oversight Committee could effectively reduce spending in the Pentagon, or MAKE LIFE EASIER for our soldiers. Nah, Jackie Speier is not doing that part.

And SOMEONE needs to explain why in the heck the auditors for the Pentagon and Inspector General of the Pentagon are having their work duplicated by the Congressional GAO, as ordered by Jackie Speier.

It’s time for OVERSIGHT over the Congress!

https://media.giphy.com/media/Cjpnc9sRcZtAs/giphy.gif

Of course, if a bunch of auditors legitimately tracked a Pentagon slush fund, which paid foreign retired spies, to entrap our President, we would be most interested in their results…………. Maybe? No? Wouldn’t it be terrific if they were looking for real waste and fraud?

Hey, we can dream….