US-president elect Donald Trump had his first press conference - the
first time he took questions from reporters since July, today... and it
was mostly a disaster, according to some US media outfits. Read the full
transcript after the cut courtesy
NYTimes.com
OK, questions? Yes, John (ph)?
QUESTION: (Inaudible) so much.
TRUMP: Thank you.
QUESTION: Appreciate it.
A couple of aspects of the intelligence briefing that you received on Friday that we’re looking for further clarification on.
TRUMP: Sure.
QUESTION:
First of all, did the heads of the intelligence agencies provide you
with the two-page summary of these unsubstantiated allegations? And
secondly to that, on the broader picture, do you accept their opinion
that Vladimir Putin ordered the hack of the DNC and the attempted hack
of the RNC?
And
if you do, how will that color your attempts to build a relationship
with a leader who has been accused of committing an act of espionage
against the United States?
TRUMP:
OK, first of all, these readings as you know are confidential,
classified. So, I’m not allowed to talk about what went on in a meeting.
And
— but we had many witnesses in that meeting, many of them with us. And I
will say, again, I think it’s a disgrace that information would be let
out.
I
saw the information; I read the information outside of that meeting.
It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen. And it was
gotten by opponents of ours, as you know, because you reported it and so
did many of the other people. It was a group of opponents that got
together — sick people — and they put that crap together.
So,
I will tell you that not within the meeting, but outside of the
meeting, somebody released it. It should have never been — number one,
shouldn’t have even entered paper. But it should have never have been
released. But I read what was released and I think it’s a disgrace. I
think it’s an absolute disgrace.
As
far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked
by other countries and other people. And I — I can say that you know
when — when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked
recently, they didn’t make a big deal out of that. That was something
that was extraordinary. That was probably China.
We
had — we had much hacking going on. And one of the things we’re gonna
do, we have some of the greatest computer minds anywhere in the world
that we’ve assembled. You saw just a sample of it two weeks ago up here
where we had the six top people in the world — they were never in the
same room together as a group. And we’re gonna put those minds together
and we’re going to form a defense.
TRUMP:
And I have to say this also, the Democratic National Committee was
totally open to be hacked. They did a very poor job. They could’ve had
hacking defense, which we had.
And
I will give Reince Priebus credit, because when Reince saw what was
happening in the world and with this country, he went out and went to
various firms and ordered a very, very strong hacking defense.
And they tried to hack the Republican National Committee and they were unable to break through.
We have to do that for our country. It’s very important.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION:
... just to the last part of that question (inaudible) how could all of
this potentially color your attempts to build a better relationship
with President Putin?
TRUMP:
Well, you know, President Putin and Russia put out a statement today
that this fake news was indeed fake news. They said it totally never
happened.
Now, somebody would say, “Oh, of course he’s gonna say that.”
I respected the fact that he said that.
And I — I’ll be honest, I think if he did have something, they would’ve released it; they would’ve been glad to release it.
I
think, frankly, had they broken into the Republican National Committee,
I think they would’ve released it just like they did about Hillary and
all of the horrible things that her people, like Mr. Podesta, said about
her. I mean what he said about her was horrible.
If
somebody said about me, what Podesta said about Hillary, I was the
boss, I would’ve fired him immediately or that person. Because what he
said about her was horrible.
But
remember this: We talk about the hacking and hacking’s bad and it
shouldn’t be done. But look at the things that were hacked, look at what
was learned from that hacking.
That Hillary Clinton got the questions to the debate and didn’t report it? That’s a horrible thing. That’s a horrible thing.
Can
you imagine that if Donald Trump got the questions to the debate — it
would’ve been the biggest story in the history of stories. And they
would’ve said immediately, “You have to get out of the race.” Nobody
even talked about it. It’s a very terrible thing.
Yeah?
QUESTION: Can I ask you a question, sir?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President-elect.
On
that intelligence report, the second part of their conclusion was that
Vladimir Putin ordered it because he aspired to help you in the
election.
Do
you accept that part of the finding? And will you undo what President
Obama did to punish the Russians for this or will you keep it in place?
TRUMP:
Well, if — if Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a
liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia. Russia
can help us fight ISIS, which, by the way, is, number one, tricky. I
mean if you look, this administration created ISIS by leaving at the
wrong time. The void was created, ISIS was formed.
If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks? That’s called an asset, not a liability.
Now,
I don’t know that I’m gonna get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do.
But there’s a good chance I won’t. And if I don’t, do you honestly
believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me? Does anybody in
this room really believe that? Give me a break.
OK?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... President Obama...
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION:
... make clear whether during your visits to either Moscow or St.
Petersburg, you engaged in conduct that you now regret and that a
reasonable...
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION:
Would a reasonable observer say that you are potentially vulnerable to
blackmail by Russia or by its intelligence agencies?
TRUMP: Lemme just tell you what I do.
When I leave our country, I’m a very high-profile person, would you say?
I am extremely careful. I’m surrounded by bodyguards. I’m surrounded by people.
And
I always tell them — anywhere, but I always tell them if I’m leaving
this country, “Be very careful, because in your hotel rooms and no
matter where you go, you’re gonna probably have cameras.” I’m not
referring just to Russia, but I would certainly put them in that
category.
And
number one, “I hope you’re gonna be good anyway. But in those rooms,
you have cameras in the strangest places. Cameras that are so small with
modern technology, you can’t see them and you won’t know. You better be
careful, or you’ll be watching yourself on nightly television.”
I tell this to people all the time.
I was in Russia years ago, with the Miss Universe contest, which did very well — Moscow, the Moscow area did very, very well.
And I told many people, “Be careful, because you don’t wanna see yourself on television. Cameras all over the place.”
And again, not just Russia, all over.
Does anyone really believe that story?
I’m also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION:
... how you plan to disentangle yourself from your business. But first,
I have to follow-up on some of these Russian remarks.
Based
on your comments here today, do you believe the hacking was justified?
Does Russia have any leverage over you, financial or otherwise? And if
not, will you release your tax returns to prove it?
TRUMP:
So I tweeted out that I have no dealings with Russia. I have no deals
that could happen in Russia, because we’ve stayed away. And I have no
loans with Russia.
As
a real estate developer, I have very, very little debt. I have assets
that are — and now people have found out how big the company is, I have
very little debt — I have very low debt. But I have no loans with Russia
at all.
And
I thought that was important to put out. I certified that. So I have no
deals, I have no loans and I have no dealings. We could make deals in
Russia very easily if we wanted to, I just don’t want to because I think
that would be a conflict. So I have no loans, no dealings, and no
current pending deals.
Now,
I have to say one other thing. Over the weekend, I was offered $2
billion to do a deal in Dubai with a very, very, very amazing man, a
great, great developer from the Middle East, Hussein Damack, a friend of
mine, great guy. And I was offered $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai — a
number of deals and I turned it down.
I
didn’t have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict
situation because I’m president, which is — I didn’t know about that
until about three months ago, but it’s a nice thing to have. But I don’t
want to take advantage of something. I have something that others don’t
have, Vice President Pence also has it. I don’t think he’ll need it, I
have a feeling he’s not going to need it.
But
I have a no conflict of interest provision as president. It was many,
many years old, this is for presidents. Because they don’t want
presidents getting — I understand they don’t want presidents getting
tangled up in minutia; they want a president to run the country. So I
could actually run my business, I could actually run my business and run
government at the same time.
I
don’t like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I
wanted to. I would be the only one to be able to do that. You can’t do
that in any other capacity. But as president, I could run the Trump
organization, great, great company, and I could run the company — the
country. I’d do a very good job, but I don’t want to do that.
Now, all of these papers that you see here — yes, go ahead.
QUESTION:
(inaudible) do you believe the hacking was justified? And will you
release your tax returns to prove what you’re saying about no deals in
Russia?
TRUMP: I’m not releasing the tax returns because as you know, they’re under audit.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... since the ’70’s has had a required audit from the IRS, the last place to release them, but as president sir...
TRUMP: You know, the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters, OK? They’re the only who ask.
QUESTION: You don’t think the American public is concerned about it?
TRUMP: No I don’t think so. I won, when I became president. No, I don’t think they care at all. I don’t think they care at all.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP:
I think you care — I think you care. First of all, you learn very
little to a tax return. What you should go down to federal elections and
take a look at the numbers. And actually, people have learned a lot
about my company and now they realize, my company is much bigger, much
more powerful than they ever thought. We’re in many, many countries, and
I’m very proud of it.
And
what I’m going to be doing is my two sons, who are right here, Don and
Eric, are going to be running the company. They are going to be running
it in a very professional manner. They’re not going to discuss it with
me. Again, I don’t have to do this. They’re not going to discuss it with
me. And with that, I’m going to bring up Sheri Dillon, and she’s going
to go — these papers are just some of the many documents that I’ve
signed turning over complete and total control to my sons.
(CROSSTALK)
DILLON: Good morning. It’s my honor and privilege to be here today at President-elect Trump’s request.
He’s
asked me, as you just heard, to speak about the conflicts of interest
and the steps he’s taking. As you know, the business empire built by
President-elect Trump over the years is massive, not dissimilar to the
fortunes of Nelson Rockefeller when he became vice president. But at
that time, no one was so concerned.
President-elect
Trump wants the American public to rest assured that all of his efforts
are directed to pursuing the people’s business and not his own. To that
end, as he explained a few moments ago, he directed me and my
colleagues at the law firm Morgan Lewis and Bockius to design a
structure for his business empire that will completely isolate him from
the management of the company.
He
further instructed that we build in protections that will assure the
American people the decisions he makes and the actions that he takes as
president are for their benefit and not to support his financial
interests.
DILLON:
As he said, he’s voluntarily taking this on. The conflicts of interest
laws simply do not apply to the president or the vice president and they
are not required to separate themselves from their financial assets.
The primary conflicts of interest statutes and some have questioned it,
is Section 18 USC 208 and it’s simply inapplicable by its terms. And
this is not just our interpretation. It’s Congress itself who have made
this clear in 1989 when it amended Section 18 USC 202 to state that,
except as otherwise provided, the terms office and employee in section
208 shall not include the president.
Even
so, President-elect Trump wants there to be no doubt in the minds of
the American public that he is completely isolating himself from his
business interests. He instructed us to take all steps realistically
possible to make it clear that he is not exploiting the office of the
presidency for his personal benefit. He also sought the guidance of
individuals who are familiar with and have worked extensively in the
fields of government ethics and constitutional law.
Critical
to the Morgan Lewis team is Fred Fielding, standing here to our side
and with us today and many of you have known him. He has served several
presidents over the years including serving as counsel to Presidents
Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush as well as serving on President George
H.W. Bush’s Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform and he also held the
position of vice chair of the Ethics Resource Center.
Mr.
Fielding has been extensively involved with and approved this plan.
He’s here today to support the plan and he will continue to provide
guidance as the plan is implemented and as Eric, Don, along with others,
take over.
