Monthly Archives: July 2017

The leaders appeared downright chummy during a joint press conference on Thursday in Paris, mostly skipping by their political differences and focusing on shared priorities like Syria, terrorism and what Macron described as "free and fair trade."

"Thank you for the tour of some of the most incredible buildings anywhere in the world," Trump said as he began his own remarks. "It was a very, very beautiful thing to see."

When asked about Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal, Macron soberly reiterated his own position, but didn't press or attempt to publicly shame his counterpart. The schism on that issue would "absolutely not" prevent France and the US from working together on other matters, he assured, turning kindly in his Trump's direction.

Trump was clearly charmed, echoing Macron's declaration of "friendship" before enthusing at the prospect of a shared dinner later on at the Eiffel Tower. Of the climate deal, he offered: "Something could happen with respect to the Paris accord, we'll see what happens. But we will talk about that over the coming period of time and if it happens, that would be wonderful and if it doesn't that will be OK too."

Perhaps it was all a bit of stagecraft. No one expects Trump to seriously reconsider his position on the climate pact. More instructive here were Macron's machinations. In a country where leaders prove themselves in their dealings with Europe, the new president stands to gain influence at home if he proves capable of influencing Trump where others, like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, could not.

The prospect is less of a stretch than it might seem on paper.

Macron entered office this year under ostensibly different circumstances than Trump. But like the President, he pitched voters on a demolition of the status quo and a French take on Trump's promise to "drain the swamp." Macron also upended the traditional partisan hierarchy in France. Though he served as a minister in his predecessor's French Socialist government, he rules now under the banner of his own centrist party, "En Marche!" Trump, though he came to power as a Republican and governs alongside them, sold himself as a right-wing populist. The fiscal conservatism championed by Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan was, at least during the campaign, very much an afterthought.

The parallels and similarities have some fairly strict limits. Trump is a nationalist. Macron is a proud globalist who came to power by routing the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen. Trump prefers bilateral diplomacy. He cheered Brexit. He wants to share a private dinner, not a microphone with dozens of world leaders. Macron believes in a robust European Union and has been among the President's foremost critics on climate change policy. Temperamentally, they are also opposites. The handshake drama is resonant, to a point, because it provides a neat example of their respective preoccupations with personal power dynamics.

But unlike Trump, who has repeatedly expressed doubts over Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election, Macron has been less circumspect on the question. He earned applause among Democrats when he skewered Russian state-owned media during a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin.

Contrast that with Trump's own meeting with Putin, after which where was no press conference. What exactly was said between Trump and Putin when the American president "pressed" the Russian one on the issue of election meddling, remains the subject of debate between their two camps.

But over the past six weeks, Macron has made waves with a handful of less easily categorized remarks and public observations.

In an address to parliament 10 days ago, he shared plans to bypass lawmakers -- whose ranks he suggesting cutting by a third -- if they slowed or opposed his agenda.

"I want all these deep reforms that our institutions seriously need to be done within a year," he said. "These reforms will go to parliament but, if necessary, I will put them to voters in a referendum."

Those comments, and Macron's tweaks to what top White House adviser Steve Bannon might call the "administrative state" didn't go unnoticed by the President's team. Turning to his French counterpart with a smile on Thursday, Trump cheered Macron's "courageous call for that less bureaucracy. It's a good chant, less bureaucracy. We can use it too."

Macron offered his July 3 remarks at the Palace of Versailles, the 17th century home of the "Sun King," Louis XIV. While past French leaders have used the venue in times of crisis, Macron chose it as a backdrop -- ominously so, critics said -- for what amounted to a policy speech.

And while that might seem at odds with Trump and his hyperactive social media presence, the leaders seem to share a low opinion of the news media covering their administrations.

Trump could only be impressed.

Continued here:

Donald Trump is not the only unpredictable leader in Paris today - CNN

President Trump spoke at a news conference in Paris on July 13 and defended Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer. (The Washington Post)

In this occasional series, we will bring you up to speed on the biggest national security stories of the week.

Another bombshell in the growing scandal surrounding PresidentTrump and Russia landed earlythis week. On Tuesday, the presidents son Donald Trump Jr.released anemail exchange withhim and and a publicist who told him that a Russian lawyer could provide the Trump campaign with potentially damaging information about Hillary Clintonthatwas part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump.

The New York Times first reported over the weekendthat Trump Jr. met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, at Trump Tower in 2016. Then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were present, as well. The president has defended his son, calling him a wonderful young man and a good boy.

Here is everything you need to know about this fast-moving story:

Who are thenew key players?

Rob Goldstone, a British music publicist for Russian pop star Emin Agalarov.Goldstone is encouraged by Agalarov to arrange a meeting between the Russian lawyer and Trump Jr., according to the emails. He sends an email to Trump Jr. in June 2016 saying that the information the Russian lawyer could provide would be interesting to Trump. The exact line in his email reads: This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump.

Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer.Veselnitskaya was first described in Goldstones email as a Russian government lawyer. AlthoughVeselnitskaya worked in a local prosecutors office in Russia, she said she does not work for the Kremlin. In an interview with The Washington Post, Veselnitskaya defended herself by saying no one tasked her with meeting Trump Jr. and that the story is nonsense. She has also advocated for lifting economic sanctions against Russia imposed by Congress. The Kremlin has denied knowing her.

Emin Agalarov, the Russian pop star, son of real estate developerAras Agalarov. TheAgalarovsfirst met Trump in 2013, when they helped Trump bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. Trump even appeared inone of the music videos by the younger Agalarov. His father tried to set up a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, but it never transpired.

What was actually discussed in the meeting?

Trump Jr. said the meeting with the Russian lawyer didnt result in anything useful.

In his official statementconcerning the meeting, Trump Jr. saidVeselnitskaya made no sense and thatshe changed the topic to discuss the American adoptions of Russians and the Magnitsky Act, the piece of U.S. legislation she has been working to overturn. The law is seen as the firstgateway to lift what Moscow considers are punishingU.S. sanctions placed on Russia for its intervention in Ukraine.

Veselnitskaya told The Post that even from the start of the meeting, it was clear we were talking about two different things. In all, Trump said the meeting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes.

So why is this a big deal?

After months of speculation whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the presidential race, the emails offera stark example of thecampaign seeming eager to receive information from the Kremlin about its political opponent.

Most ethics lawyers agree that it is very unusual that a foreign government would provide this kind of informationon a rival candidate.

Typically, the research comes from scrubbing public records andlegislative histories.

Did Trump Jr. break the law?

Not necessarily, because it depends whether what Trump was offered would be considered a thing of value. U.S. law states it isillegal for campaigns to solicit or accept contributions from foreign nationals or foreign governments. The Post's David A. Fahrenthold explains: What Trump Jr. was offered might be considered a thing of value, if the information he was seeking had cost someone money to produce or if it was something that a campaign might have paid for.

Trump Jr. maintains his meeting did not produce any value.

What could Trump Jr.have done instead?

Some say the campaign should have called the FBI. During the 2000 presidential debate,Vice President Al Gores staff received a package containing stolen materials fromGeorge W. Bushs campaign. The Gore campaign contacted the bureau.

Read more:

What exactly is going on with Donald Trump Jr.? - Washington Post

By Richard A. Moss By Richard A. Moss July 13 at 11:47 AM

Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Fox News's "Hannity" on July 11 to defend his meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign, and his father jumped to his defense on Twitter. (Amber Ferguson,Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Yesterday, President Trump suggested in a Reuters interview that there wasnt anything surprising or wrong about his sons enthusiasm for learning secrets that he had been told were part of a Russian effort to help Trumps presidential campaign. He said:

I think many people would have held that meeting. Most of the phony politicians who are Democrats who I watched over the last couple of days most of those phonies that act holier-than-thou, if the same thing happened to them, they would have taken that meeting in a heartbeat.

Trump is right that foreign powers have tried to influence U.S. politicians in the past. Foreign powers have many ways to exercise influence in representative democracies. Some of these may be public, and others surreptitious. 2016 certainly wasnt the first time the Kremlin tried to influence a U.S. election, and Moscow is by no means alone in attempting to sway U.S. politics. However, these efforts have worked in complicated ways, andAmerican politicians have not been as quick to accept their help as Trump suggests.

Russia tried and failed to support the Democrats in 1968

In 1968, Moscow feared that the staunchly anti-communist Richard M. Nixon would be elected. To forestall that, the Kremlin decided to reach out to Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey. As Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, revealed in his memoir,In Confidence, two decades ago: The top Soviet leaders took an extraordinary step, unprecedented in the history of Soviet-American relations, by secretly offering Humphrey any conceivable help in his election campaign including financial aid. Dobrynin explained:

I received a top-secret instruction to that effect from [Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei] Gromyko personally and did my utmost to dissuade him from embarking on such a dangerous venture, which if discovered certainly would have backfired and ensured Humphreys defeat, to say nothing of the real trouble it would have caused for Soviet-American relations. Gromyko answered laconically, There is a decision, you carry it out.

The opportunity soon arose for the well-connected ambassador at a breakfast at Humphreys home. Dobrynin subtly raised the issue of Humphreys campaign finances during a discussion of the election, but the vice president deflected the issue. Humphrey, I must say, Dobrynin wrote, was not only a very intelligent but also a very clever man. He knew at once what was going on. Humphrey told Dobrynin that it was more than enough for him to have Moscows good wishes which he highly appreciated. Dobrynin felt relieved that he had followed his orders and Humphrey had avoided the potentially explosive issue.

Humphrey did not mention the Soviet election outreach or even Dobrynin in his 1991 memoir, The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics.

Russia had tried to hurt Nixons chances in 1960

Russian worries about Nixons anti-communism did not begin in 1968. At their first face-to-face meeting in Vienna, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev joked with the new U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, that the Soviet Union had cast the deciding ballot in [Kennedys] election to the Presidency over that son-of-a-bitch Richard Nixon, in 1960. When Kennedy asked for clarification, Khrushchev explained that he had waited until after the U.S. election to release Francis Gary Powers, a U-2 spy-plane pilot shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, to undercut Nixons claim that he could work with the Soviets.

Khrushchev may have conflated Powerss release which didnt happen until 1962 with two American survivors of an RB-47H spy plane that was shot down in July 1960. Both Nixon and Kennedy had called upon the Soviet Union to release the American pilots. Nevertheless, as Adam Taylor previously wrote in The Washington Post:

Noting that the two candidates were at a stalemate, Khrushchev recalled saying that if Powers or the other Americans were released before the election, it could give Nixon a boost. It would be better to wait until after the election, the Soviet premier thought.

My comrades agreed, and we did not release Powers, he wrote. As it turned out, wed done the right thing. Kennedy won the election by a majority of only 200,000 or so votes, a negligible margin if you consider the huge population of the United States. The slightest nudge either way would have been decisive.

Even 57 years later, the consequences of Khrushchevs actions remain difficult to assess. However, the Soviet Unions activities apparently were indirect, and did not involve any quid-pro-quo.

China possibly tried to influence U.S. politics in 1996

Moscow isnt the only foreign power that has probably tried to influence U.S. politics. The China Lobby the efforts of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the Kuomintang has been well-documented (for example) as soliciting political, economic and military support from the 1940s to the 1970s for Chiang Kai-shek and Taiwan in opposition to Mao Zedong and the Peoples Republic of China. In addition to Taiwans efforts, and possibly to counter them, the PRC may have been involved in U.S. congressional and presidential elections during the 1990s.

In February 1997, Bob Woodward of Watergate fame and Brian Duffy wrote of alleged efforts by the PRC to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee before the 1996 presidential campaign. The 1996 U.S.campaign finance controversy resulted in congressional and FBI investigations but did not lead to the appointment of an independent counsel. The Peoples Republic of China consistently denied any involvement in the U.S. election campaign.

These are the games nations play

In his interview with Reuters, Trump also said: I am not a person who goes around trusting lots of people. But [Putins] the leader of Russia. It is the second most powerful nuclear power on earth. I am the leader of the United States. I love my country. He loves his country. It should come as no surprise that Russian leaders saw it in their interests to support him.

Trumps statement suggests that countries will pursue their interests when and where they can. This reflects the pragmatic realpolitik (devotion to interests above ideals) embodied by Lord Palmerstons famous quip in 1848: We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.

In its influence campaign and possibly more direct efforts to shape the 2016 election, Russian leaders were almost certainly opposing a candidate, Hillary Clinton, who they saw as an impediment to their interests, much as the Kremlin opposed Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1968. One of the ironies of history is that the Soviet Union was able to achieve a relaxation of tensions dtente with the United States with the very person it had opposed, Nixon.

Other great powers have attempted to influence or have actually influenced elections including the United States in places like France and Italy in 1948, Latin America and elsewhere. Great powers will do so as long as it is in their interests and as long as they feel they can get away with it.

The problem is that if you are caught doing it, you, and the politicians you support, may face serious blowback, as Anatoly Dobrynin recognized in 1968 when he did his utmost to dissuade the Kremlin from attempting to support Hubert Humphrey.

Richard A. Moss is an associate research professor at the U.S.Naval War Colleges Center for Naval Warfare Studies. He is grateful to John B. Turner Jr. of Memphis for reminding him about the section of Dobrynins memoir on the 1968 election

Authors note: The views presented here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Defense Department or its components.

See the original post:

Donald Trump is wrong. When Democrats were offered secret help by the Soviets, they refused. - Washington Post

________________________________________________________________

Internal Transcript

July 12, 2017

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP

IN AN OFF-THE-RECORD CONVERSATION WITH PRESS

Aboard Air Force One

En Route Paris, France

9:15 P.M. EDT

On the visit to France:

Q When were you last in Paris? When were you last in France?

THE PRESIDENT: So I was asked to go by the President, who I get along with very well, despite a lot of fake news. You know, I actually have a very good relationship with all of the people at the G20. And he called me, he said, would you come, it's Bastille Day -- 100 years since World War I. And I said, that's big deal, 100 years since World War I. SO we're going to go, I think we're going to have a great time, and we're going to do something good. And he's doing a good job. He's doing a good job as President.

On North Korea, China, and trade:

THE PRESIDENT: A big thing we have with China was, if they could help us with North Korea, that would be great. They have pressures that are tough pressures, and I understand. And you know, don't forget, China, over the many years, has been at war with Korea -- you know, wars with Korea. It's not like, oh, gee, you just do whatever we say. They've had numerous wars with Korea.

They have an 8,000 year culture. So when they see 1776 -- to them, that's like a modern building. The White House was started -- was essentially built in 1799. To us, that's really old. To them, that's like a super modern building, right? So, you know, they've had tremendous conflict over many, many centuries with Korea. So it's not just like, you do this. But we're going to find out what happens.

Very important to me with China, we have to fix the trade. We have to fix the trade. And I've been going a little bit easier because I'd like to have their help. It's hard to go ***. But we have to fix the trade with China because it's very, very none-reciprocal.

Q Is that your bargaining chip with them to get on board with North Korea? Is, like, you want to --

THE PRESIDENT: Nobody has ever said it before. I say it all the time. Somebody said, what cards do you have? I said, very simple -- trade. We are being absolutely devastated by bad trade deals. We have the worst of all trade deals is with China.

We have a bad deal with South Korea. We're just starting negotiations with South Korea. South Korea, we protect, but we're losing $40 billion a year with South Korea on trade. We have a trade deficit of $40 billion. The deal just came up.

That was another Hillary Clinton beauty. Remember she said it was five-year deal, and now it's an extension period. She said this will put jobs in our country. She said we'll make money with it. Great. We're losing $40 billion a year. It's a horrible deal. So we're starting -- we started, as of yesterday, renegotiating the deal with South Korea. We have to.

But the biggest strength we have are these horrendous trade deals, like with China. That's our strength. But we're going to fix them. But in terms of North Korea, our strength is trade.

Q And do you think that's going to bring them around?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, yeah, when I say reciprocal -- you make reciprocal deals, you're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. But before I did that, I wanted to give it a good shot. Let's see. And they helped us. I have a very good relationship with him. I think he's a tremendous guy. But don't forget. He's for China. I'm for the U.S. So that's always going to be.

So he could be a tremendous guy, but he's going to do what's good for China. And he doesn't want 50 million people pouring across his border. You know, there are a lot of things. I understand the other side. You always have to understand the other side.

Q What about steel?

THE PRESIDENT: Steel is a big problem. Steel is -- I mean, they're dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We're like a dumping ground, okay? They're dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they've been doing it for decades, and I'm stopping it. It'll stop.

Q On tariffs?

THE PRESIDENT: There are two ways -- quotas and tariffs. Maybe I'll do both.

On healthcare:

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think, first, I want to do -- well, we have a few things. We have a thing called healthcare. I'm sure you haven't been reading about it too much. It is one of the -- I'd say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare. It's like this narrow road that about a quarter of an inch wide. You get a couple here and you say, great, and then you find out you just lost four over here. Healthcare is tough.

But I think we're going to have something that's really good and that people are going to like. We're going to find out over the next -- you know, we just extended for two weeks. Which, that's a big --

On the border wall:

Q You were joking about solar, right?

THE PRESIDENT: No, not joking, no. There is a chance that we can do a solar wall. We have major companies looking at that. Look, there's no better place for solar than the Mexico border -- the southern border. And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actually look good. But there is a very good chance we could do a solar wall.

One of the things with the wall is you need transparency. You have to be able to see through it. In other words, if you can't see through that wall -- so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what's on the other side of the wall.

And I'll give you an example. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don't see them -- they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It's over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall. But we have some incredible designs.

But we are seriously looking at a solar wall. And remember this, it's a 2,000 mile border, but you don't need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers. You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don't really have people crossing. So you don't need that. But you'll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles.

Plus we have some wall that's already up that we're already fixing. You know, we've already started the wall because we're fixing large portions of wall right now. We're taking wall that was good but it's in very bad shape, and we're making it new. We're fixing it. It's already started. So we've actually, in the true sense -- you know, there's no reason to take it down or ***. So in a true sense, we've already started the wall.

On Donald Trump, Jr.:

THE PRESIDENT: Don is -- as many of you know Don -- he's a good boy. He's a good kid. And he had a meeting, nothing happened with the meeting. It was a short meeting as he told me -- because I only heard about it two or three days ago.

As he told me, the meeting went -- and it was attended by a couple of other people who -- one of them left after a few minutes -- which is Jared. The other one was playing with his iPhone. Don listened, out of politeness, and realized it wasn't . . . .

Honestly, in a world of politics, most people are going to take that meeting. If somebody called and said, hey -- and you're a Democrat -- and by the way, they have taken them -- hey, I have really some information on Donald Trump. You're running against Donald Trump. Can I see you? I mean, how many people are not going to take the meeting?

On President Putin and Russia:

Q Are you mad that Putin lied about the meeting that you had with him, especially about --

THE PRESIDENT: What meeting?

Q At the G20, when he said that you didn't -- you know, you accepted that the hacking wasn't real.

THE PRESIDENT: He didn't say that. No. He said, I think he accepted it, but you'd have to ask him. That's a big difference. So I said, very simply -- and the first 45 minutes, don't forget, most of the papers said I'd never bring it up. Had to be the first 20 to 25 minutes.

And I said to him, were you involved with the meddling in the election? He said, absolutely not. I was not involved. He was very strong on it. I then said to him again, in a totally different way, were you involved with the meddling. He said, I was not -- absolutely not.

Q Do you remember what the different way was that you asked --

THE PRESIDENT: Somebody said later to me, which was interesting. Said, let me tell you, if they were involved, you wouldn't have found out about it. Okay, which is a very interesting point.

Q But did you say, okay, I believe you, let's move on?

THE PRESIDENT: What I said, I asked him, were you involved? He said, very strongly -- said to him a second time -- totally different -- were you involved? Because we can't let that happen. And I mean whether it's Russia or anybody else, we can't let there be even a scintilla of doubt when it comes to an election. I mean, I'm very strong on that.

And I'm not saying it wasn't Russia. What I'm saying is that we have to protect ourselves no matter who it is. You know, China is very good at this. I hate to say it, North Korea is very good at this. Look what they did to Sony Studios. They were the ones that did the whole deal to Sony. You know, we're dealing with highly sophisticate people.

So, China is very good. You have many countries. And you have many individuals that are very good at this. But we can't have -- and I did say, we can't have a scintilla of doubt as our elections and going forward.

Q Have you told him that?

THE PRESIDENT: I told him. I said, look, we can't -- we can't have -- now, he said absolutely not twice. What do you do? End up in a fistfight with somebody, okay? Because then I brought up Syria, and I said --

Q Afterwards?

THE PRESIDENT: Very shortly there afterward. And I said, there's so much killing in Syria. We got to solve Syria. We've got to solve Ukraine. And you know, I've always said -- and I'm not just talking about Russia -- we're a lot better off -- like it's a good thing that I have a good relationship with President Xi. It's a good thing I have a good relationship with every one of them -- Modi -- you saw that. Every single one of them of all 19 -- there's 20 with us. All 19, I have a great relationship with.

More on the Visit to France and Trade:

So we're doing well. I mean, we're doing well and we're having a good time. Now what we'll do is we'll go celebrate with the President of France -- we have a good relationship -- open up a little trade with them. But it's got to be fair trade. I mean, every deal we have is bad. It's got to be fair trade.

I mean, the European Union, as an example -- I'm all for the European Union, but we have things that we can barely sell into the European Union. They're very protectionist. And we're not. And you have to be reciprocal.

To me, the word reciprocal is a beautiful word. Because people can say, we don't like a border tax or we don't like this or we don't like that. But what they can't say is that, if you're selling a motorcycle and they're coming into your country and not paying tax, and they're going into another country and paying 100 percent tax, people understand that's not fair. So we say we make it reciprocal.

More on President Putin and Russia, and on energy:

Q Do you think you'll invite Putin to the White House?

THE PRESIDENT: I would say yes, yeah. At the right time. I don't think this is the right time, but the answer is yes I would. Look, it's very easy for me to say absolutely, I won't. That's the easy thing for me to do, but that's the stupid thing to do. Let's be the smart people not the stupid people. The easiest thing for me to tell you is that I would never invite him. We will never ever talk to Russia. That all of my friends in Congress will say, oh he's so wonderful, he's so wonderful. Folks, we have perhaps the second most powerful nuclear country in the world. If you don't have dialogue, you have to be fools. Fools. It would be the easiest thing for me to say to Maggie and all of you, I will never speak to him, and everybody would love me. But I have to do what's right.

And, by the way, I only want to make great deals with Russia. Remember this, I have built up -- we're getting $57 billion more for the military. Hillary was going to cut the military. I'm a tremendous fracker, coal, natural gas, alternate energy, wind -- everything, right? But I'm going to produce much much more energy than anyone else who was ever running for office. Ever. We're going to have clean coal, and Hillary wasn't. Hillary was going to stop fracking. She was going to stop coal totally. Hey, in West Virginia I beat her by 42 points. Remember, she went and sat with the miners and they said get the hell out of here. So, I was going to -- if Hillary got in, your energy prices right now would be double. You'd be doing no fracking. You'd be doing practically no fossil fuels.

So Putin, everything I do is the exact opposite. I don't believe -- in fact, the one question that I didn't ask him that I wish I did -- but we had so many other things going, and really the ceasefire was a very complicated talk, it was a very important talk to me because I wanted to see if we could start a ceasefire.

***

Now, why does that affect Russia? Because Russia makes its money through selling of oil, and we've got underneath us more oil than anybody, and nobody knew it until five years ago. And I want to use it. And I don't want that taken away by the Paris Accord. I don't want them to say all of that wealth that the United States has under its feet, but that China doesn't have and that other countries don't have, we can't use. So now we no longer have the advantage. We have a tremendous advantage. We have more natural resources under our feet than any other country. That's a pretty big statement. Ten years ago, five years ago even, you couldn't make that statement. We're blessed. I don't want to give it up. I don't want to say oh, okay, we won't use it. But think of it. So, if Hillary is there, you're going to have a far less amount of fuel. Therefore, energy prices will be much, much higher. That's great for Russia.

So, the next time I'm with Putin, I'm going to ask him: who were you really for? Because I can't believe that he would have been for me. Me. Strong military, strong borders -- but he cares less about the borders -- but strong military, tremendous. We're going to be an exporter of fuel this year. We're going to be exporting. What was the first thing I signed when I got in? The Keystone Pipeline, and the Keystone Pipeline goes from Canada all the way through our country right into the Gulf, and the ships are there to take it all over and compete with Russia.

More on Energy:

The first thing I signed, the first day, was the Keystone Pipeline. That first * was the Keystone and the Dakota Access Pipeline -- also Dakota Access. Now, what does that mean? Dakota Access takes it to the Pacific. Who do they compete with? Russia. Hillary would have never signed -- that was with the reservation -- she would have never signed it. I was given great credit for that one. That was a tough one. First day. It's also 48,000 jobs between both of them. The other one I signed, that was the Keystone. That was dead. That was dead for two years. It was never going to happen. I revived it on day one. You know, you'll check, please check it. I have to be exactly accurate. They'll say, oh I wasn't totally accurate. But that goes to the Gulf, right? Competes with Russia.

More on Energy and Russia:

THE PRESIDENT: So now oil is getting to be record low -- and gas -- because we're producing so much. That means Russia -- and you know Russia *** is having a little hard time because it has come down so much.

On Russia sanctions:

Q But you wouldn't sign a new sanctions bill if it passes the House?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm not talking about new, I'm talking about the old sanctions. Wait, we got to get this right. Ready? I think I said it right but just in case. We have very heavy sanctions on Russia right now. I would not and have never even thought about taking them off. Somebody said, Donald Trump wants to -- I don't want to take them off.

Q Putin didn't raise that with you?

THE PRESIDENT: He never raised it. We did, I think, talk about the sanctions that Congress wants to pass, but it was very brief. Much of it was talked about Ukraine. Look, we talked about the elections. We talked about Ukraine and Syria. Not in that order. We talked about Syria and Ukraine. But I will just tell you, I didn't say this to him. We didn't talk about this aspect of it. I would never take the sanctions off until something is worked out to our satisfaction and everybody's satisfaction in Syria and in Ukraine.

I saw a report and I read a report that Trump wants to take off the sanctions. I've made a lot of money. I've made great deals. That's what I do. Why would I take sanctions off without getting anything?

On allegations of collusion with Russia:

THE PRESIDENT: What pressure? I didn't -- I did nothing. Hey, now it's shown there's no collusion, there's no obstruction, there's no nothing. Honestly, the whole thing, it is really a media witch hunt. It's been a media witch hunt. And it's bad for the country. You know, when you talk about Russia, if Russia actually did whatever they want to do, they got to be laughing, because look at what happens -- how much time. . . .

They feel it's a witch hunt, the people. There are a lot of people. And those people vote. They don't stay home because it's drizzling. We proved that. But every single party chairman said that my base is substantially stronger than it was in November. That's a big compliment. That's a big compliment. And I feel it.

And I think what's happening is, as usual, the Democrats have played their card too hard on the Russia thing, because people aren't believing it. It's a witch hunt and they understand that. When they say "treason" -- you know what treason is? That's Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving the atomic bomb, okay? But what about all the congressmen, where I see the woman sitting there surrounded by -- in Congress.

So I think it's a good thing. When Hillary Clinton spent her ads -- you know, she spent almost 100 percent of her ads on anti-Donald Trump ads. You know that. Every ad was an anti ad. When the election came, nobody knew what she stood for.

I heard tonight, and I saw tonight, and I read tonight that they're making a big mistake. And I a lot of the Democrats feel -- they say, we're putting all our money into this Russia stuff and it's making Trump stronger. Because my people and the people that support me, who are incredible people, those people are angry because they feel it's being unfair and a witch hunt.

***

END

10:15 P.M. EDT

On Don Jr, POTUS was asked if as a father he supported Don Jr. being willing to testify.

"I think if he wants to," Trump said. He mentioned that h had seen something about her being in congress recently talking to members. "She had meetings with various people. So it's the same thing."

He said the press had been unfair and said of the meeting that "they talked about the adoption stuff which was actually a big thing at the time but nothing happened." He addd, "In fact maybe it was mentioned at some point," but then when asked if he had been told that it was about Hillary Clinton and dirt against her he said no.

POTUS was asked about Kelly suggesting to CHC that DoJ has say on what happens to DACA.

"It's a decision that I make and it's a decision that's very very hard to make. I really understand the situation now," POTUS said. "I understand the situation very well. What I'd like to do is a comprehensive immigration plan. But our country and political forces are not ready yet."

He added, "There are two sides of a story. It's always tough."

See original here:

Excerpts of transcripts between Trump and press on Air Force One - CNN

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Twitter users sue Donald Trump for excluding them - The Economist (blog)