President Donald Trump discusses Hurricane Sally response efforts, Woodward interview backlash, and his coronavirus response on 'Fox & Friends.'
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Your shot breaking up because
the weather is getting so severe
lets bring in the president of
the United States. President
Trump welcome back to Fox AMP
friends,
President Trump. Well, thank you
very much
good to be here
great to be with my friends. I
think were going to do this.
Weve agreed to do it once a
week in the morning, and I look
forward to it like the old days
Steve. I havent heard that
President Trump thats, when you
have great people working for
you, you dont, have to get
involved youre the best
people and you do actually and
so anyway, weve agreed to do it,
probably mostly on Monday, were
going to do it mostly on Monday
and if we have to Tuesday
Ainsley well see how it goes.
I know
lets talk about that, but I do
want to say: yeah were going
to see how that goes, and weve
also invited Joe Biden to come
on our show too many times too.
Mr President,
President Trump, I dont think
hell do it.
I have a feeling he wont. Do it
hell need a teleprompter and
you dont want to give the
answers early
hes, getting the answers from
the fake news.
The whole thing is crazy. Nobody
has ever seen anything like it.
They give him the questions and
then he reads the answers and
everybody knows hes doing it
and nobody says it
its the most crazy thing ive
ever seen.
I think I should try that some
time
im going to do that
Brian, you have a teleprompter,
you dont use it.
You kind of wing it in your live
events, but the one thing you
just watched, Mr President,
because you do watch the news
you see whats happening in
Alabama, Louisiana and
Mississippi.
What do you? What do they tell
you? And what could you tell our
audience about what to expect
now?
President trump? Well its not
what it was the one a month ago,
that was really bad and we got
very lucky that was really big
coming in, but it went through an
area that didnt have as much
stuff as the expression goes
when it starts going through
city areas and cities, and that
happens too. But we did a great
job with that one. Last time
we got a little bit lucky, both
in Texas and in Louisiana,
because it got pieces of both
that werent heavily occupied,
but it still does tremendous
damage.
This one is smaller, but its a
little bit more direct, but we
have it under control.
We have FEMA there.
We have. The army corps of
engineers is all they can bring
things back so fast. You wouldnt,
leave it and theyre great.
The coast guard is always
involved.
The coast Guard is an Mvp
theyve done so good and saved
so many lives.
You wouldnt believe how many
people are out there when these
storms come in.
Some people go storm watching in
boats its like. Why are they
doing that? But the Coast Guard
is incredible.
If you remember Texas, two years
ago, they saved six thousand lives its,
not even believable the numbers
and they have been fantastic. So
we have it under watch very
strongly and FEMA is there long
ago, actually, a couple days ago
before it hit and theyre doing
a real good job and out in the
California fires. I was there
yesterday with them and its
California, Washington and
Oregon Washington State, and
they are out there, and these are
really incredible people and
very brave, very brave,
Steve yeah. They certainly are
and they are up against it with
these two gigantic jobs facing
them.
Mr President, well talk about
the wildfires in a moment, but I
think the number one story over
the last five or six days has
been the comments that you made
to Bob Woodward regarding how
you would downplay the pandemic
to the people, because you didnt
want to freak them out.
You didnt want panic on your
hands.
I think a lot of your supporters
are going. Why on earth? Would the
president of the United
States sit down and talk to Bob
Woodward, something like eighteen times
on tape?
President trump? Well, because I
assumed he was a little bit fair.
I didnt do it previously.
He only writes bad books and I
actually got to read it last
night.
I read it very quickly and it
was very boring
Steve. Do you think accurate?
Mr President,
President Trump thats a boring
book,
its okay,
I mean its fine.
I dont want to create panic,
people say: oh, you should have
gone out there and say you know,
jumped up and down youre
going to die youre going to
die.
No, I dont want to do that.
I dont want to build it up and
ill say it right now
were rounding. The turn of the
pandemic
were rounding. The turn
I was in Arizona yesterday. The
numbers are very good.
If you look at Texas is coming
down, Florida is doing great
places that were really a
problem. The east coast is doing
great.
I was with Gavin Newsom
yesterday, his numbers are
getting very low,
were doing good and we have a
vaccine coming very shortly.
The vaccine is going to be here
very soon and weve already got
therapeutics with remdesivir and
other things. The plasma
we have you know weve had a
tremendous number of people that
get better now that didnt get
better three months ago, Steve. Mr President, what about
this? We got a grip on the
this. We got a grip on the
pandemic.
There is a vaccine
president trump yeah im, not
doing it for political reasons.
I want the vaccine fast.
If this were like, I call it the
o Biden administration. You
would not have a vaccine for
year. Ive sped up the
process with the FDA.
Theyve been great.
Dr Hahn has been great. The
head of the FDA, Alex Azar,
has been fantastic and
its been incredible. What weve
done because well have a
vaccine in a matter of weeks. It
could be four weeks it could be
eight weeks, but were going to
have it and were getting very
good results and its really
looking good, and they are great
companies, Pfizer Johnson, AMP,
Johnson Moderna. We have a lot
of great companies, they arent
just one and they are all doing
really well
its going to be soon
now. Will it be before the
election it could be in
terms of if we have something
and well start delivering it
immediately upon getting it, but
were very close to getting the
vaccine and thats
something I look forward to, and
I think it be so good for the
world, not just for us
for the world.
Now you have other people
looking for vaccines and well
see how they do and were
working in conjunction with them,
but were going to have a
vaccine very very soon
were also going to have
additional therapeutics.
We have some great things and
we have some great things
in store so in development
right now, so I think were
really going to do something
very special,
well see what happens, but if
this were another administration,
you would have
been talking about two years if
youre lucky before you got to
this point,
Ainsley one more question on
the pandemic really quickly,
because we want to get to the
deputy shooting and get out to
the California wildfires. But I
was flipping around different
stations yesterday last night
and there were all these shots
of you and Nevada in Henderson
Nevada. All saying they were
critical of you for ignoring the
public health professionals,
warnings against the indoor
gatherings during the pandemic-
and I know some people in your
administration have responded
and said why werent you
critical of the rioters that
were shoulder to shoulder not
wearing masks? What do you say?
President trump? Well, I do say
that, but ill tell you, we had
four sites or five sites a lot
of sites outdoor sites. I had it
the night before were in Minde
n right outside of Reno,
and we had a tremendous
crowd there,
probably thirty thousand close to thirty thousand
people.
We had more people outside that
couldnt get in, but we had this
big open site and it was
great.
The governor of the state tried
to make it impossible for us to
have a rally.
You know Democrat rather
liberal Democrat and a political
hack, and he tried to make it
difficult, and we had this great
supporter who said I dont care.
The pressure was put on him and
we had an unbelievable rally. We
were outside and then we had
another one scheduled the
following day in LAS Vegas,
and it was terrible because we
kept getting he wouldnt allow
sites and he followed us.
I mean this guy was doing
everything and his people were
doing everything possible.
We had outdoor sites and this
whole thing was planned.
So then, finally, we get from a
great supporter gave us this
very big building and they
put people in, but that wasnt
our fault.
We had four outdoor sites, maybe
even five outdoor sites and he
wouldnt allow it to happen
now. This is the same guy thats
going to be in charge of the
ballots.
Do you think thats fair,
its millions of ballots are
going out and hes the governor
of the state.
Do you think its a fair thing,
because im winning that state
easily, but the one thing he
cant beat? If they cheat on the
ballots
now he will cheat on the ballots.
I have no doubt about it.
This is the same man whose in
charge of the ballots,
so you have the
Steve youre talking about the
governor.
The governor is in charge.
They followed us everywhere. They
had a site.
My people told me theyve, never
seen anything like it.
Every place we had a big open
site outdoor site, which is
great.
It would have been perfect,
they said no,
so we had to go some place. We
ended up in a very big building,
but I would have preferred being
outside, like we were the night
before, but the night before was
amazing that we got it because
they were trying to break it up.
This is what were up against.
This is whats happening and
its a disgrace and youre going
to see something with these
ballots.
Youre, going to see corruption
like youve, never seen
youre going to see a rigged
election.
This guy would do anything and
hes in charge of the ballots
and that kind of a take in
charge of the ballots. So you
have millions of ballots the
man that tried to prevent us
from getting the site and hes
the man that forced us inside
Brian right. But do you think
that in retrospect, Carl
Bernstein called you a Homicidea
L president, who put
together a Homicideal assembly
by bringing people indoors
without masks? A lot chose not
to wear masks in the middle of a
pandemic?
Whats your response,
President Trump? Well, I know
Carl Bernstein a little bit.
Hes a nut job
hes been a nut job for many
years.
He was the second wing.
I dont have a lot of respect
for either of them frankly, but
he was a total nut job and I
see him and hell say anything,
no matter what you did liked to
im doing a great deal with
Israel,
Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.
Everyone said it was impossible,
no matter what you do with some
of the fake news. Doesnt make
any difference.
This one is great
its sort of interesting- and I
dont say this in a bragging way,
but I get nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize last
week on two different deals.
The other was Serbia, but I get
nominated for that and in
this case Israel
it wasnt even on the nightly
news.
If can you imagine when Obama
was nominated by the way he
didnt do anything? He got it
very quick and they couldnt
even explain what he did, which
was a joke, but when he got
nominated it was all over the
news,
its like very different
standards, but Carl Bernstein is
a dummy,
hes, a dumb guy and Woodwards
book last night. I read it
its like lightweight reading
and he doesnt get it.
When my policies turn out to be
right, as they have with Israel,
were going to have a lot of
other countries joining us very
soon by the way
they are all going to go in and
then well have peace in the
Middle EAST and were doing
it through the back door.
Theyve, never thought of it
before with all this talk, they
never thought of it before and
were getting accolades. Even the
New York Times and Tom Friet
Man said thats great
thats great
they gave us, I dont know you
cant get a better review than
they gave us on this day, like
what weve done here and with no
death
we havent had death that has
not been fighting, in fact, were
bringing our troops back home
from the ridiculous endless wars.
They are all coming home and
they should be home.
Its enough
theyve been there for nineteen years
in Afghanistan for nineteen years, its
ridiculous
Steve. Mr President,
President Trump were getting
great accolades, but the news
doesnt cover it.
The Bernstein book was really
boring.
I have to tell you
Steve: it was
President Trump and the
Woodward book and Bernstein
S book. The guy cant
write,
but Woodwards book to me was a
very boring. It was a very
boring. It was inaccurate.
Lets put it this way,
no matter what you did, it was
going to be negative and I
wanted to give it a shot.
I didnt devote much time, but I
wanted to devote time
last time. I didnt talk to him
and it was a bad book
Steve. Do you regret it
President trump? Well last time,
I regretted it because I didnt
talk to him once
I didnt talk to him one time
Steve this time,
President Trump, this time. Well,
I wanted to see if it could
be done,
the guys, a Democrat works with
the Washington Post. That tells
you right there, which is truly a.
I call it the its the. I
guess you could say its the
flunky for Amazon but works
for the Washington Post. You
know all about the Washington
Post.
You dont get a break with them,
but look if you want to remain
sane, just dont read it, because
what they do is disgraceful.
Whats happened to the news.
Whats happened to the media in
this country is a terrible thing,
its a shame and its really
much of it is absolutely the
enemy of the people and they
see it and nobody said it like. I
say it, but I say it loud and
clear: its the enemy of the
people, whether its the New
York Times Washington, post or
the networks.
Think of it you get nominated
for a Nobel Prize
Steve, Mr President, were part
of the press too. Are we the
enemy of the people?
President? Trump? No youre, not, I
would say about twenty percent isnt.
We dont have the enemy of the
people all over. Fortunately,
but we have tremendous disparity.
You have tremendous unfairness
in the press.
I came up with a name long time
ago, its the fake news media
and you have to live with it and
one of the great things that I
have. I have such a big social
media presence. I can get
around and get the word out
and my presence too,
I can do things that other
people cant do so I get the
word out, but the media.
Transcript generated on 2020-09-15.