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President Trump Answers Questions During a Live News Conference. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 16, 2017 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My counsel came, Don McGahn, White House Counsel, and he told me and I asked him, he can speak very well for himself.

[13:30:04] He said he doesn't think anything is wrong, you know, really didn't think.

It was really, what happened after that but he didn't think anything was done wrong. I didn't either because I waited a period of time and I started to think about it, I said "well I don't see" -- to me, he was doing the job.

The information was provided by -- who I don't know, Sally Yates. And I was a little surprised because I said "doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there." But he did something wrong with respect to the vice president and I thought that was not acceptable. As far as -- as far as the actual making the call, fact I've watched various programs and I've read various articles where he was just doing his job.

That was very normal. You know, first everybody got excited because they thought he did something wrong. After they thought about it, it turned out he was just doing his job. So -- and I do. And by the way, with all of that being said, I do think he's a fine man.

QUESTION: Sir, if I could, on the leaks -- on the leaks, sir...

TRUMP: ...Go ahead. Finish off then I'll get you.

QUESTION: I'm sorry. What will you do on the leaks? You've said twice today...

TRUMP: ...Yes, we're looking at them very -- very, very serious. I've gone to all of the folks in charge of the various agencies and we're -- I've actually called the Justice Department to look into the leaks. Those are criminal leaks. They're put out by people either in agencies -- I think you'll see it stopping because now we have our people in. You know, again, we don't have our people in because we can't get them approved by the Senate.

We just had Jeff Sessions approved. Injustice, as an example (ph). So, we are looking into that very seriously. It's a criminal act. You know what I say, when I -- when I was called out on Mexico, I was shocked because all this equipment, all this incredible phone equipment -- when I was called out on Mexico, I was -- honestly, I was really, really surprised.

But I said "you know, it doesn't make sense. That won't happen" but that wasn't that important a call, it was fine, I could show it to the world and he could show it to the world, the president who's a very fine man, by the way. Same thing with Australia. I said "that's terrible that it was leaked" but it wasn't that important. But then I said to myself "what happens when I'm dealing with the problem of North Korea?"

What happens when I'm dealing with the problems in the Middle East? Are you folks going to be reporting all of that very, very confidential information, very important, very -- you know, I mean at the highest level? Are you going to be reporting about that too? So, I don't want classified information getting out to the public and in a way that was almost a test.

So I'm dealing with Mexico, I'm dealing with Argentina, we were dealing on this case with Mike Flynn. All this information gets put into the "Washington Post" and gets put into the "New York Times" and I'm saying "what's going to happen when I'm dealing on the Middle East? What's going to happen when I'm dealing with really, really important subjects like North Korea?

We got to stop it. That's why it's a criminal penalty.

QUESTION: I just want to get you to clarify this very important point. Can you say definitively that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the Russians during the campaign? And on the leaks, is it fake news or are these real leaks?

TRUMP: Well the leaks are real. You're the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean the leaks are real. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake. So one thing that I felt it was very important to do -- and I hope we can correct it. Because there's nobody I have more respect for -- well, maybe a little bit but the reporters, good reporters.

It's very important to me and especially in this position. It's very important. I don't mind bad stories. I can handle a bad story better than anybody as long as it's true and, you know, over a course of time, I'll make mistakes and you'll write badly and I'm OK with that. But I'm not OK when it is fake. I mean, I watch CNN, it's so much anger and hatred and just the hatred.

I don't watch it any more because it's very good -- he's saying no. It's OK, Jim (ph). It's OK, Jim (ph), you'll have your chance. But I watch others too. You're not the only one so don't feel badly. But I think it should be straight. I think it should be -- I think it would be frankly more interesting. I know how good everybody's ratings are right now but I think that actually -- I think that'd actually be better.

People -- I mean, you have a lower approval rate than Congress. I think that's right. I don't know, Peter (ph), is that one right? Because you know I think they have lower -- I heard lower than Congress. But honestly, the public would appreciate it, I'd appreciate it -- again, I don't mind bad stories when it's true but we have an administration where the Democrats are making it very difficult.

[13:30:05] I think we're setting a record or close to a record in the time of approval of a cabinet. I mean, the numbers are crazy. When I'm looking, some of them had them approved immediately.

I'm going forever and I still have a lot of people that we're waiting for. And that's all they're doing, is delaying. And you look at Schumer and the mess that he's got over there and they have nothing going. The only thing they can do is delay. And, you know, I think that they'd be better served by, you know, approving and making sure that they're happy and everybody's good.

And sometimes -- I mean, I know President Obama lost three or four, and you lose them on the way, and that's OK. That's fine. But I think it would -- I think they would be much better served, John, if they just went through the process quickly. This is pure delay tactics.

And they say it, and everybody understands it. Yeah, go ahead, Jimmy.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Well, I had nothing to do with it. I have nothing to do with Russia. I told you, I have no deals there, I have no anything. Now, when WikiLeaks, which I had nothing to do with, comes out and happens to give, they're not giving classified information. They're giving stuff -- what was said at an office about Hillary cheating on the debates.

Which, by the way, nobody mentions. Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates. Can you imagine -- seriously -- can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair. OK, he should be put in the electric -- you would even call for the reinstitution of the death penalty, OK. Maybe not you John. Yes? We'll do you next Jim, I do you next(ph).

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) clarify --

TRUMP: Yes, yes, sure

QUESTION: Did you direct Mike Flynn to discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador --

TRUMP: No, I didn't.

QUESTION: -- prior to your -- TRUMP: No, I didn't.

QUESTION: -- inauguration.

TRUMP: No, I didn't.

QUESTION: And then fired him --

TRUMP: Excuse me.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: No, I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence. Very simple. Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries and his counterparts. So, it certainly would have been OK with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn't doing it.

I didn't direct him, but I would have directed him because that's his job. And it came out that way -- and in all fairness, I watched Dr. Charles Krauthammer the other night say he was doing his job and I agreed with him. And since then, I've watched many other people say that.

No, I didn't direct him, but I would have directed him if he didn't do it. OK? Jim?

QUESTION: Thank you very much, and just for the record, we don't hate you. I don't hate you.

TRUMP: OK.

QUESTION: So, pass that along --

TRUMP: Ask -- ask Jeff Zucker how he got his job. OK?

QUESTION: If I may follow up on some of the questions that have taken place so far here, sir --

TRUMP: Well, that's -- well, you know, we do have other people. You do have other people and your ratings aren't as good as some of the other people that are waiting.

QUESTION: It's pretty good right now, actually.

TRUMP: OK, go ahead, John.

QUESTION: If I may ask, sir, you said earlier that WikiLeaks was revealing information about the Hillary Clinton campaign during the election cycle. You welcomed that. At one time --

TRUMP: I was OK with it.

QUESTION: -- you said -- you said that you loved WikiLeaks. At another campaign press conference you called on the Russians to find the missing 30,000 e-mails. I'm wondering, sir, if you -- TRUMP: Well, she was actually missing 33 and then that got extended with a pile after that.

QUESTION: Then(ph), your(ph) numbers(ph) were off too.

TRUMP: No -- no, but I did say 30. But it was actually higher than that.

QUESTION: If -- if I may ask you, sir, it -- it sounds as though you do not have much credibility here when it comes to leaking if that is something that you encouraged during(ph) the campaign -- TRUMP: OK, fair question. Ready?

QUESTION: Well, if I may ask you that --

TRUMP: No -- no, but let me do one at a time.

QUESTION: If I may as a follow up?

TRUMP: Do you mind?

QUESTION: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: All right. So, in one case, you're talking about highly classified information. In the other case, you're talking about John Podesta saying bad things about the boss. I will say this, if John Podesta said that about me and he was working for me, I would have fired him so fast your head would have spun.

He said terrible things about her. But it wasn't classified information. But in one case, you're talking about classified -- regardless, if you look at the RNC, we had a very strong -- at my suggestion -- and I give Reince great credit for this -- at my suggestion, because I know something about this world, I said I want a very strong defensive mechanism.

I don't want to be hacked. And we did that. And you have seen that they tried to hack us and they failed. The DNC did not do that. And if they did it, they could not have been hacked. But they were hacked and terrible things came in. And, you know, the only thing that I do think is unfair is some of the things were so -- they were -- when I heard some of those things I picked up the papers the next morning and said, oh, this is going to be front page, it wasn't even in the papers.

Again, if I had that happen to me, it would be the biggest story in the history of publishing or the head of newspapers. I would have been headline in every newspaper.

[13:40:03] I mean, think of it. They gave her the questions to a debate and she -- and she should have reported herself.

Why did Hillary Clinton announce that, "I'm sorry, but I have been given the questions to a debate or a town hall, and I feel that it's inappropriate, and I want to turn in CNN for not doing a good job."

QUESTION: And if I may follow up on that, just something that Jonathan Karl (ph) was asking you about. You said that the leaks are real, but the news is fake. I guess I don't understand. It seems that there's a disconnect there. If the information coming from those leaks is real, then how can the stories be fake?

TRUMP: The reporting is fake. Look, look...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You know what it is? Here's the thing. The public isn't -- you know, they read newspapers, they see television, they watch. They don't know if it's true or false because they're not involved. I'm involved. I've been involved with this stuff all my life. But I'm involved. So I know when you're telling the truth or when you're not. I just see many, many untruthful things.

And I'll tell you what else I see. I see tone. You know the word "tone." The tone is such hatred. I'm really not a bad person, by the way. No, but the tone is such -- I do get good ratings, you have to admit that -- the tone is such hatred.

I watched this morning a couple of the networks. And I have to say, Fox & Friends in the morning, they're very honorable people. They're very -- not because they're good, because they hit me also when I do something wrong. But they have the most honest morning show. That's all I can say. It's the most honest.

But the tone, Jim. If you look -- the hatred. The, I mean, sometimes -- sometimes somebody gets...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, you look at your show that goes on at 10 o'clock in the evening. You just take a look at that show. That is a constant hit. The panel is almost always exclusive anti-Trump. The good news is he doesn't have good ratings. But the panel is almost exclusive anti- Trump. And the hatred and venom coming from his mouth; the hatred coming from other people on your network.

Now, I will say this. I watch it. I see it. I'm amazed by it. And I just think you'd be a lot better off, I honestly do. The public gets it, you know. Look, when I go to rallies, they turn around, they start screaming at CNN. They want to throw their placards at CNN. You know.

I -- I think you would do much better by being different. But you just take a look. Take a look at some of your shows in the morning and the evening. If a guest comes out and says something positive about me, it's -- it's brutal.

Now, they'll take this news conference -- I'm actually having a very good time, OK? But they'll take this news conference -- don't forget, that's the way I won. Remember, I used to give you a news conference every time I made a speech, which was like every day. OK?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, that's how I won. I won with news conferences and probably speeches. I certainly didn't win by people listening to you people. That's for sure. But I'm having a good time.

Tomorrow, they will say, "Donald Trump rants and raves at the press." I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But -- but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it.

But tomorrow, the headlines are going to be, "Donald Trump rants and raves." I'm not ranting and raving.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: If I may, just one more followup...

TRUMP: Should I let him have a little bit more? What do you think, Peter? Peter, should I have -- let him have a little bit more?

Sit down. Sit down. We'll...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Just because of the attack of fake news and attacking our network, I just want to ask you, sir...

TRUMP: I'm changing it from fake news, though.

QUESTION: Doesn't that under...

TRUMP: Very fake news.

QUESTION: ... I know, but aren't you...

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Real news, Mr. President, real news.

TRUMP: And you're not related to our new...

QUESTION: I am not related, sir. No. I do like the sound of Secretary Acosta, I must say.

TRUMP: I looked -- you know, I looked at that name. I said, wait a minute, is there any relation there? Alex Acosta.

QUESTION: I'm sure you checked that out, sir.

TRUMP: OK. Now I checked it -- I said -- they said, "No, sir." I said, "Do me a favor, go back and check the family tree."

QUESTION: But aren't you -- aren't you concerned, sir, that you are undermining the people's faith in the First Amendment, freedom of the press, the press in this country, when you call stories you don't like "fake news"? Why not just say it's a story I don't like.

TRUMP: I do that.

QUESTION: When you call it "fake news," you're undermining confidence in our news media (inaudible) important.

TRUMP: No, no. I do that. Here's the thing. OK. I understand what you're -- and you're right about that, except this. See, I know when I should get good and when I should get bad. And sometimes I'll say, "Wow, that's going to be a great story." And I'll get killed.

I know what's good and bad. I'd be a pretty good reporter, not as good as you. But I know what's good. I know what's bad. And when they change it and make it really bad, something that should be positive -- sometimes something that should be very positive, they'll make OK. They'll even make it negative.

So I understand it. So, because I'm there. I know what was said. I know who's saying it. I'm there. So it's very important to me.

Look, I want to see an honest press. When I started off today by saying that it's so important to the public to get an honest press.

[13:45:04] The press -- the public doesn't believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that. I don't know. But they don't believe you. If you were straight and really told it like it is, as Howard Cosell used to say, right?

Of course, he had some questions also. But if you were straight, I would be your biggest booster. I would be your biggest fan in the world, including bad stories about me. But if you go - as an example, you're CNN, I mean it's story after story after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing, chaos because zero chaos. We are running - this is a fine-tuned machine and Reince happens to be doing a good job but half of his job is putting out lies by the press (ph).

You know, I said to him yesterday this whole Russia scam that you guys are building so that you don't talk about the real subject which is illegal leaks, but I watched him yesterday working so hard to try and get that story proper. And I'm saying "here's my chief of staff," a really good guy, did a phenomenal job at RNC. I mean, he won the election, right?

We won the presidency. We got some senators, we got some - all over the country, you take a look, he's done a great job. And I said to myself, you know - and I said to somebody that was in the room, I said "you take a look at Reince, he's working so hard just putting out fires that are fake fires." I mean, they're fake. They're not true. And isn't that a shame because he'd rather be working on healthcare, he'd rather be working on tax reform, Jim (ph).

I mean that. I would be your biggest fan in the world if you treated me right. I sort of understand there's a certain bias maybe by Jeff (ph) or somebody, you know - you know, whatever reason. But - and I understand that. But you've got to be at least a little bit fair and that's why the public sees it. They see it. They see it's not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred.

And the public is smart, they understand it. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible) ...for those who believe that there is something to it, is there anything that you have learned over the last few weeks that you might be able to reveal that might ease their concerns that this isn't fake news? And second...

TRUMP: ...I think they don't believe it. I don't think the public - that's why the Rasmussen poll just has me through the roof. I don't think they believe it. Well, I guess one of the reasons I'm here today is to tell you the whole Russian thing, that's a ruse. That's a ruse. And by the way, it would be great if we could get along with Russia, just so you understand that.

Now tomorrow, you'll say "Donald Trump wants to get along with Russia, this is terrible." It's not terrible. It's good. We had Hillary Clinton try and do a reset. We had Hillary Clinton give Russia 20 percent of the uranium in our country. You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.

Nobody talks about that. I didn't do anything for Russia. I've done nothing for Russia. Hillary Clinton gave them 20 percent of our uranium. Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember? With the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks. Here, take a look. He looked at her like, what the hell is she doing with that cheap plastic button?

Hillary Clinton - that was the reset, remember it said reset? Now if I do that, oh, I'm a bad guy. If we could get along with Russia, that's a positive thing. We have a very talented man, Rex Tillerson, who's going to be meeting with them shortly and I told him. I said "I know politically it's probably not good for me." The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles off shore right out of the water.

Everyone in this country's going to say "oh, it's so great." That's not great. That's not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia. Now, you've had a lot of presidents that haven't taken that tack. Look where we are now. Look where we are now. So, if I can - now, I love to negotiate things, I do it really well, and all that stuff. But - but it's possible I won't be able to get along with Putin.

Maybe it is. But I want to just tell you, the false reporting by the media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia. And probably Putin said "you know." He's sitting behind his desk and he's saying "you know, I see what's going on in the United States, I follow it closely. It's going to be impossible for President Trump to ever get along with Russia because of all the pressure he's got with this fake story." OK?

And that's a shame because if we could get along with Russia - and by the way, China and Japan and everyone.

[13:50:05] If we could get along, it would be a positive thing, not a negative thing.

QUESTION: Is tax reform on the line (ph)?

QUESTION: Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President, since you...

TRUMP: Tax reform is going to happen fairly quickly. We're doing Obamacare. We're in final stages. We should be submitting the initial plan in March, early March, I would say. And we have to, as you know, statutorily and for reasons of budget, we have to go first. It's not like, frankly, the tax would be easier, in my opinion, but for statutory reasons and for budgetary reasons, we have to submit the healthcare sooner.

So we'll be submitting healthcare sometime in early March, mid- March. And after that, we're going to come up, and we're doing very well on tax reform.

Yes?

QUESTION: Mr. President, you mentioned Russia. Let's talk about some serious issues that have come up in the last week that you have had to deal with as president of the United States.

TRUMP: OK.

QUESTION: You mentioned the vessel -- the spy vessel off the coast of the United States.

TRUMP: Not good.

QUESTION: There was a ballistic missile test that many interpret as a violation of an agreement between the two countries; and a Russian plane buzzed a U.S. destroyer.

TRUMP: Not good.

QUESTION: I listened to you during the campaign ...

TRUMP: Excuse me, excuse me. When did it happen? It happened when, if you were Putin right now, you would say, "Hey, we're back to the old games with the United States; there's no way Trump can ever do a deal with us." Because the -- you have to understand. If I was just brutal on Russia right now, just brutal, people would say, you would say, "Oh, isn't that wonderful." But I know you well enough.

Then you would say, "Oh, he was too tough; he shouldn't have done that." Look, all of the...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: I'm just trying to find out your orientation to those...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Wait a minute. Wait, wait. Excuse me just one second.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: All of those things that you mentioned are very recent, because probably Putin assumes that he's not going to be able to make a deal with me because it's politically not popular for me to make a deal. So Hillary Clinton tries a re-set. It failed. They all tried. But I'm different than those people.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: How are you interpreting those moves? And what do you intend to do about them? Have you given Rex Tillerson any advice or counsel on how to deal?

TRUMP: I have. I have. And I'm so beautifully represented. I'm so honored that the Senate approved him. He's going to be fantastic.

Yes, I think that I've already...

QUESTION: Is Putin testing you, do you believe, sir?

TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I think Putin probably assumes that he can't make a deal with me anymore because politically it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal. I can't believe I'm saying I'm a politician, but I guess that's what I am now.

Because, look, it would be much easier for me to be tough on Russia, but then we're not going to make a deal.

Now, I don't know that we're going to make a deal. I don't know. We might. We might not. But it would be much easier for me to be so tough -- the tougher I am on Russia, the better. But you know what? I want to do the right thing for the American people. And to be honest, secondarily, I want to do the right thing for the world.

If Russia and the United States actually got together and got along -- and don't forget, we're a very powerful nuclear country and so are they. There's no up-side. We're a very powerful nuclear country and so are they. I have been briefed. And I can tell you one thing about a briefing that we're allowed to say because anybody that ever read the most basic book can say it, nuclear holocaust would be like no other.

They're a very powerful nuclear country and so are we. If we have a good relationship with Russia, believe me, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

QUESTION: So when you say they're not good, do you mean that they are...

TRUMP: Who did I say is not good?

QUESTION: No, I read off the three things that have recently happened. Each one of them you said they're not good.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, it's not good, but they happened.

QUESTION: But do they damage the relationship? Do they undermine...

TRUMP: They all happened recently.

No...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... this country's ability to work with Russia?

TRUMP: They all happened recently. And I understand what they're doing because they're doing the same thing.

Now, again, maybe I'm not going to be able to do a deal with Russia, but at least I will have tried. And if I don't, does anybody really think that Hillary Clinton would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump? Does anybody in this room really believe that? OK?

But I tell you one thing, she tried to make a deal. She had the re- set. She gave all that valuable uranium away. She did other things. You know, they say I'm close to Russia. Hillary Clinton gave away 20 percent of the uranium in the United States. She's close to Russia.

QUESTION: Can we...

TRUMP: I gave -- you know what I gave to Russia? You know what I gave? Nothing.

QUESTION: Can we conclude there will be no response to these particular provocations?

TRUMP: I'm not going to tell you anything about what response I do. I don't talk about military response. I don't say I'm going into Mosul in four months. "We are going to attack Mosul in four months." Then three months later, "We are going to attack Mosul in one month." "Next week, we are going to attack Mosul."

In the meantime, Mosul is very, very difficult. Do you know why? Because I don't talk about military, and I don't talk about certain other things, you're going to be surprised to hear that. And by the way, my whole campaign, I'd say that. So I don't have to tell you. I don't want to be one of these guys that say, "Yes, here's what we're going to do." I don't have to do that. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Wait a minute. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. And I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn't know.

[13:55:00] And eventually, you guys are going to get tired of asking that question.

So when you ask me what am I going to do with a ship, the Russian ship as an example, I'm not going to tell you. But hopefully, I won't have to do anything, but I'm not going to tell you.

OK.

QUESTION: Could I just ask you -- thank you very much, Mr. President. The trouble...

TRUMP: Where are you from?

QUESTION: BBC.

TRUMP: Here's another beauty. QUESTION: That's a good line. Impartial, free and fair.

TRUMP: Yeah. Sure.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: Just like CNN right?

QUESTION: On the travel ban -- we could banter back and forth. On the travel ban would you accept that that was a good example of the smooth running of government...

TRUMP: Yeah, I do. I do. Let me tell you about this government...

QUESTION: Were there any mistakes...

TRUMP: Wait. Wait. I know who you are. Just wait.

Let me tell you about the travel ban. We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court. Got a bad decision. We had a court that's been overturned. Again, may be wrong. But I think it's 80 percent of the time, a lot.

We had a bad decision. We're going to keep going with that decision. We're going to put in a new executive order next week some time. But we had a bad decision.

That's the other thing that was wrong with the travel ban. You had Delta with a massive problem with their computer system at the airports. You had some people that were put out there, brought by very nice busses, and they were put out at various locations.

Despite that the only problem that we had is we had a bad court. We had a court that gave us what I consider to be, with great respect, a very bad decision. Very bad for the safety and security of our country. The rollout was perfect.

Now, what I wanted to do was do the exact same executive order, but said one thing. I said this to my people. Give them a one-month period of time. But Gen. Kelly, now Sec. Kelly, said if you do that, all these people will come in and (inaudible) the bad ones.

You do agree there are bad people out there, right? That not everybody that's like you. You have some bad people out there.

Kelly said you can't do that. And he was right. As soon as he said it I said wow, never thought of it. I said how about one week? He said no good. You got to do it immediately because if you do it immediately they don't have time to come in.

Now nobody ever reports that. But that's why we did it quickly.

Now, if I would've done it a month, everything would've been perfect. The problem is we would've wasted a lot of time, and maybe a lot of lives because a lot of bad people would've come into our country. Now in the meantime, we're vetting very, very strongly. Very, very strongly. But we need help. And we need help by getting that executive order passed.

QUESTION: Just a brief follow-up. But if it's so urgent, why not introduce...

TRUMP: Yes? Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. I was just hoping that we could get a yes or no answer on one of these questions involving Russia. Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election?

TRUMP: Well I told you, Gen. Flynn obviously was dealing. So that's one person. But he was dealing, as he should have been.

QUESTION: During the election?

TRUMP: No. Nobody that I know of. Nobody...

QUESTION: So you're not aware of any contact during the course..

TRUMP: Look, look, look...

QUESTION: ... of the election?

TRUMP: How many times do I have to answer this question?

QUESTION: Can you just say yes or no? TRUMP: Russia is a ruse.

I know you have to get up and ask a question. It's so important.

Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn't. I just have nobody to speak to.

I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration, a few days ago.

We had a very good talk, especially the second one, lasted for a pretty long period of time. I'm sure you probably get it because it was classified. So I'm sure everybody in this room perhaps has it. But we had a very, very good talk.

I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does.

Now, Manafort has totally denied it. He denied it. Now people knew that he was a consultant over in that part of the world for a while, but not for Russia. I think he represented Ukraine or people having to do with Ukraine, or people that -- whoever. But people knew that. Everybody knew that.

QUESTION: But in his capacity as your campaign manager, was he in touch with Russian officials during the election? TRUMP: You know what? He said no. I could only tell you what he -- now he was replaced long before the election. You know that, right?

He was replaced long before the election. When all of this stuff started coming out, it came out during the election. But Paul Manafort, who's a good man also by the way, Paul Manfort was replaced long before the election took place. He was only there for a short period of time.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: How much longer should we stay here, folks?

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: Five more minutes. Is that OK? Five?

QUESTION: Mr. President, on national...

TRUMP: Wait, let's see -- who's -- I want to find a friendly reporter. Used to say it was (INAUDIBLE).

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Are you a friendly reporter? Watch how friendly he is.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Wait, wait. Watch out how friendly he is. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), Mr. President.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: So, first of all, my name is Jake Turx from Ami Magazine.

[14:00:02] And I (INAUDIBLE) community have been reporting. I haven't seen anybody in my community accuse either yourself or any of the -- any of your staff of being anti-Semitic.