VIDEO: Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With France’s Macron
President Trump, in a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, was taking questions related to weighty foreign policy matters when ABC News reporter asked the president if he intended to pardon his attorney Michael Cohen. Here’s a full transcript of the exchange:
AdvertisementPRESIDENT TRUMP: Mr. President, they’re all saying what a great relationship we have, and they’re actually correct. It’s not fake news. Finally, it’s not fake news. So it’s a great honor, great honor that you’re here. But we do have a very special relationship. In fact, I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off; you have a little piece. We have to make him perfect. He is perfect. So it is really — it is really great to be with you, and you are a special friend. Thank you.
PRESIDENT MACRON: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I want to thank President Trump and your country, your people, for this very warm welcome, this wonderful ceremony.
Indeed we, both of us, just reminded how great our common history is, and that each time we work together in order to protect liberty and freedom and our peace. And we have a lot of challenges ahead of us regarding our two countries — terrorism, security, and a lot of other issues we will discuss. So we have a lot of work to be done together.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.
PRESIDENT MACRON: But I’m very honored and very pleased, because whatever the context could be, this relationship is stronger than the events. And on top of it, we have an excellent personal relationship.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s true. That’s true.
PRESIDENT MACRON: So I want to thank you for that.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.
PRESIDENT MACRON: Thank you, Donald.
Q Mr. President, what would you like to say about Iran during the talk with the President?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ll be talking about Iran, and we’ll be talking about many things — terrorism, generally. But we will be discussing the Iran deal. I know the President wants to speak to me about that. We’ll be discussing, probably, the Paris Accord and various other things.
So we’re going to have — we have not much time to do a lot of discussing, but a lot of things will work out. We have got a very special relationship. I don’t imagine it’s ever been closer in the history of our two countries, and that’s a long and beautiful history.
So we will be talking about a lot of different subjects, but the Iran deal will be one of them, yes.
Q But would you consider staying in the Iran deal?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to be talking about it, and we’ll see. I mean, people know my views on the Iran deal. It was a terrible deal. It should have never, ever been made. We could have made a good deal or a reasonable deal. The Iran deal is a terrible deal. We paid $150 billion. We gave $1.8 billion in cash. That’s actual cash, barrels of cash. It’s insane. It’s ridiculous. It should have never been made. But we will be talking about it.
Q Mr. President, what about Michael Cohen? Are you considering a pardon for Michael Cohen?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: All right, thank you very much.
Stupid. Stupid question.
Go ahead. Any other — anybody else? Please.
Q Mr. President, what will you tell the President about the Iran nuclear deal?
PRESIDENT MACRON: (Speaks in French.) What I just said is that the Iran deal is an important issue. We’ll discuss about that. But we have to take it as a part of the broader picture —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure.
PRESIDENT MACRON: — which is security in the overall region. And we have the Syrian situation, we have upcoming election in Iraq, and we have the stability to preserve for our allies in region. And what we want to do is to contain the Iranian presence in the region, and JCPOA is part of this broader picture. Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: It just seems that, no matter where you go, especially in the Middle East, Iran is behind it, wherever there’s trouble — Yemen, Syria. No matter where you have it, Iran is behind it. And now, unfortunately Russia is getting more and more involved. But Iran seems to be behind everything where there’s a problem, and you just have to take a look. You look at what’s happening, you look at the fighters — Iran is always there. And we’re not going to allow certain things to happen that are happening.
And the Iran deal is a disaster. They’re testing missiles. And what is that all about? You look at the ballistic missiles that they’re going and testing, what kind of a deal is it where you’re allowed to test missiles all over the place? What kind of a deal is it when you don’t talk about Yemen and you don’t talk about all of the other problems that we have with respect to Iran, especially look at what they’re doing in Iraq. You just take a look at what’s happening in any — virtually any place in the Middle East, Iran is behind it.
So what kind of a deal is this where it wasn’t even discussed? And I know John Kerry made the statement that he didn’t want to discuss other things while he was making the deal. Despite all of the money that we gave them, he didn’t want to discuss it because it was too complicated. That’s not the way to do it, because it was too complicated.
So we made this terrible deal, but we’ll be discussing it.
Q The Iranians said they’ll restart their nuclear program if the deal is —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll find out. You’ll find out about that. It won’t be so easy for them to restart. They’re not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they’re going to have big problems — bigger than they’ve ever had before. And you can mark it down. If they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Q (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me?
Q (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You’ll find out.
Q (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll answer his question. Number one, they have a great President. He will go down as one of your great Presidents. And number two, we love France and we love the French people. But Emmanuel will go down as one of your great Presidents. That’s what I say to the French people. And they’re lucky. And he’s lucky to have them also.
Thank you.
END
10:28 A.M. EDT
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Not the time or occasion to be asking that question. It actually was a stupid question because Cohen hasn’t been charged or arrested for anything, just the dirtbag mueller playing his little games like a mentally challenged moron. I’m sure the lame media and the pathetic demoTRASH will try to make it a big deal but -again- it will backfire on them.
In eight years Obama disastrously moved our nation from its moorings. A person indoctrinated/enculturated in all things anti-American and clever enough to fool people to whom it never occurred that the President would deliberately undermine our Republic with the goal of taking from us what other men had been purchased in blood over two hundred years — OUR FREEDOM. I earnestly pray that we recover from the insidious damage inflicted by this enemy of individual and national liberty on dumb, unsuspecting sheep citizens.
It was NOT just a stupid question, it came from a stupid so called journalist.
Trump should haver let Macron answer the stupid question when he got finished laughing at the reporter.
Commie Libs have no class, not even low class. They try to embarrass Trump and it backfires.
He sounded dumb as a stump.
Not only do we no longer have journalists in the United States any longer but they have turned themselves into a bunch of obnoxious overbearing anti-American liberal/progressives who only report fake news and are out to destroy the United States and the American people and our freedoms and rights. The questions that they ask President Trump are not only disrespectful to him but they are disrespectful to the American people and our country. The media/press in the United States are literally committing suicide because they have no relevance, credibility, integrity, honesty, ethics and any purpose at all.
Yes, President Trump, it was a stupid question. This was a very prestigious State Visit between two world powers. We The People had every right to expect our journalists to ask deep, intelligent, penetrating questions pertaining to the mutual, urgent concerns being discussed by Presidents Trump and Macron. Not ignorantly bring up unshared concerns. Bad manners, lousy timing, immature conduct. This person should be eliminated from the next State Visit Briefing.
I am appalled at our President’s embarrassing lack of understanding of our world. And his complete lack of diplomacy. I am mortified that he is our President.
I’m embarrassed that you call yourself an American, Sydney. President Trump’s foreign policy has been right on. You on the other hand are an Anti American bigot. You most likely voted for the criminal Hillary and will support as many progressive, closet marxists that intend on destroying our constitutional form of government. I ask that you please visit Venezuela and see how great your socialist type of government works. Or better yet move out of the United States of American to your utopian, socialist/commie country like China or Russia. If you are so embarrassed leave because Trump is the President like it or not.
Sad that President Trump has to listen to these IDIOTS.
The press are IDIOTS.
Yes a very stupid question made to embarass Trump!
It is very interesting how the leftist NBC=
Not Bright Conpany put out fake news and leftist info all the time.
Take a look at their CEO which explains everything!
Eliminate, great suggestion. Use the same action for any others who don’t show more class.
It’s a prerequisite to being a journalist… STUPID…
You know a reporter is biased when he can’t stay on the current topic. He tries to change the subject to promote his agenda.
A news reporter is urged to be aggressive for “the story,” but in this case the President had to reject the question, obviously made despite the ceremonious state affair occasion. The reporter was out of line, asking a question meant to provoke rumor and disrespectful of the President who was trying to maintain an air of seriousness for the sake of international diplomacy.
When the President was surprised by such a non-related issue in an instance where state diplomacy was paramount, he used two words of admonition to cool that reporter down.
I believe the man was attempting to embarrass the President in front of the guests, and if that reporter hasn’t learned his lesson of “time and place for everything,” he will feel Trump’s dissatisfaction with him again.
“Stupid question” WAS Totally ‘unApropo’. ( w/girlie girls shouting in background)
> The expression on Macron’s face says it all = hahahaa US. junkie junk. (disrespectful press & ‘no clue’ of ‘time & place’ .
> Mr. Pres , Get Stronger’ In Your “thank you very much” to CUT 0ff ‘the morons’.
Haha haaa. & eee gads. (embarrassing) , ‘press’ Needs ‘Finishing School’.
smz/mi
Eliminate this disrespectful embarrassment from the press corp for three mounths.
Diplomacy at work, looks good!
Most people do not understand Trumps ways, they have beome programmed in the robotic ways of the useful idiots, programmed to obey, not to think and especially not to question, so, when Trump speaks in the common peoples language most in the “upper class” have no idea what he says, those who do understand back him 100% and the MSM, elite and established have no clue….. But the people “on the street” do.
MAGA & MOLON LABE!
Consider the ties to the Obama administration between senior management of the “national” networks and senior positions in the White House. I hesitated to identify the networks as “major”. I don’t watch them.
God Bless Trump! We are lucky he is who & what he is- all the “bad” things the liberals say- so it MUST be good..
I am very pleased with President Trump. But I think it is time to once again have a Justice Department in the United States. What we have now with Sessions, Rosenstein, and Wray is a disgrace to this country. They need to quit trying to protect themselves and turn over documentation to Congress , as has been requested for over a year. Trump needs to sweep the corrupt before mentioned individuals out and start over. With honorable individuals.