Donald Trump Speaks At Black Journalists Convention (Full Transcript)

You don’t even say, hello, how are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit.

I love the black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the black population of this country, including employment, including Opportunity Zones with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for black workers and black entrepreneurs. I’ve done so much. And you know, when I say this, historically, black colleges and universities were out of money.

They were stone-cold broke. And I saved them, and I gave them long-term financing, and nobody else was doing it. I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that.

And let me go a step further. I was invited here, and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me under false pretense.

And then you said, you can’t do it with Zoom. Well, you know, where’s Zoom? She’s going to do it with Zoom, and she’s not coming. And then you were a half an hour late.

Just so we understand, I have too much respect for you to be late. They couldn’t get their equipment working or something was wrong. I think it’s a very nasty question. I have answered the question.

I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln. That’s my answer. That’s my answer. For you to start off a question-and-answer period, especially when you’re 35 minutes late because you couldn’t get your equipment to work in such a hostile manner, I think it’s a disgrace. I really do.

Discussion on Vice President Kamala Harris

INTERVIEWER: Let me just ask a follow-up, sir, and then we’ll move on to other questions here. Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, have labeled Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president and be on a major party ticket, as a DEI hire. Is that acceptable language to you? And will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?

DONALD TRUMP: How do you define DEI? Go ahead. How do you define it?

INTERVIEWER: Diversity, equity, inclusion?

DONALD TRUMP: OK, yeah. Go ahead. Is that what your definition?

INTERVIEWER: That is literally the word.

DONALD TRUMP: Give me a definition, then. DEI. Give me a definition of that.

INTERVIEWER: Sir, I’m asking you a question, a very direct question.

DONALD TRUMP: No, no. You have to define it. Define it for me, if you will.

INTERVIEWER: I just defined it, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I can say no. I think it’s maybe a little bit different. So I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian, or is she black?

INTERVIEWER: She is always identified as a black woman from a historically black college.

DONALD TRUMP: I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went, she became a black person.

INTERVIEWER: Just to be clear, sir, do you believe that she is a…

DONALD TRUMP: And I think somebody should look into that, too, when you ask a continue in a very hostile, nasty tone.

INTERVIEWER: It’s a direct question, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is a DEI hire, as some would tell me she is?

DONALD TRUMP: I really don’t know. I mean, I really don’t know. Could be. Could be. There are some, and there are plenty. I know this lady right over here, Harris, is a fantastic person who just interviewed me at length, and we had a great interview, I think, and I heard you got very good ratings on that interview.

Discussion on Country’s Division and Trump’s Message

INTERVIEWER: Well, you told me it was the longest one of your life, so I think we had a good discussion. Look, I want to talk about why you’re here today. I mean, it is not lost on us how divided we are as a country. And as you were coming today, we really got to see that we are divided along the lines of race, along the lines of gender, and there is this question of, in this moment where we are, why come here? What is your message today?

DONALD TRUMP: My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it. But one of the big problems, and a lot of the journalists in this room I know and I have great respect for, a lot of the journalists in this room are black. I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs. You had the best —

INTERVIEWER: What exactly is a black job, sir?

DONALD TRUMP: A black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is. Anybody that has a job.

INTERVIEWER: All right. Mr. President —

DONALD TRUMP: They’re taking the employment away from black people. They’re coming in, and they’re coming in, they’re invading. It’s an invasion of millions of people, probably 15, 16, 17 million people. I have a feeling it’s much more than that. And everybody has been seeing what’s happened. The first group of people, the black population, is affected most by that, and Kamala is allowing it to happen.

She’s the border czar. She’s the worst border czar in the history of the world. There’s never been a border czar like this. She’s never even essentially been. She said she was there once, but not the right part of the border. So she was a border czar. She’s done a horrible job. These people are coming into our country, and they’re taking black jobs and Hispanic jobs.

And, frankly, they’re taking union jobs. Unions are being very badly affected by all of the millions of people that are pouring into our country. And one thing, as we discussed, many of these people are coming in from mental institutions, from prisons, from jails. They’re gang members in other countries.

Other countries are setting loose their prisoners. They’re opening up their prisons and their mental institutions. And they’re taking their bad people, drug dealers, gang members, and they’re bringing them into the United States. And, by the way, their crime rate is going down, and our crime rate is going to be a disaster.

Discussion on Economic Issues Affecting Black Communities

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, I want to get into how you address some of the issues with black communities. And I say that plural because we live in communities of color that are different. We’re not all the same. We don’t vote the same. We don’t think the same. It’s not monolithic.

So, as you come here today, I want to talk about something that bursts. And this is the weight of the inflation on this country right now. The nonprofit Money Management International recently released data from its midyear analysis that we have found a 52 percent rise in people who are seeking counseling for being in credit debt. They’re paying for food that is sky high on their credit cards, and now they can’t pay that off.

The credit counseling nonprofit, MMI, as I said, is saying now that they’ve seen surges that they haven’t seen since we were in a pandemic of people in financial trouble. Much of that falls on the shoulders of single moms, single black moms, when you look statistically. How do you turn it around? What’s your plan for the black community when it comes to money?

DONALD TRUMP: So, first of all, it’s very hard to hear you, for whatever reason, because of the fact that they have bad equipment, because I guess, you know, this woman was unable to get the right equipment. But it’s very hard for me to hear you, but I can hear every other word. It’s very difficult, actually. But so I don’t know if they can fix it or do something with it, but I’ll do the best I can with it.

The inflation is absolutely destroying our middle class, our working class, virtually every class. Inflation is a disaster in our country. Inflation is a country buster. It breaks every country. We had, in my opinion, the worst inflation we’ve had. They say it’s 58 years, but I think it’s much more than that. It’s been devastating. And if you just take a look at a lot of things they don’t include, like interest rates.

Interest rates went from 2.4 percent to 10 percent, and you can’t get the money. People can’t buy houses. They no longer have the American dream. Young people, young black people, they don’t have the American dream anymore. They can’t buy a house. They can’t borrow the money because of the cost of the money. They can’t buy it because of the cost of housing, because of the cost to build it, because of inflation. Inflation is a disaster, and it’s destroying our country, and it’s destroying the black community probably as much or more than any other.

INTERVIEWER: So what do you do? What’s your plan?

DONALD TRUMP: You know what we have to do? We have to bring down the cost of energy, and that’s going to bring down the cost of inflation. This was all started with a bad energy policy by Joe Biden. By the way, just if I might, I was running against a man named Biden. You probably saw that. And he was losing very badly in the polls, and then he had a rather bad debate.

I would say it was a bad debate. I would say it was one of the worst — worst debates in history. And his poll numbers crashed. And instead of saying, you know, let’s keep going and maybe something happens the other way, they said, oh, we’re going to replace him. Let’s just replace him. That’s like you’re in a fight. A prizefighter is in a fight. He’s not doing well.

You say, let’s bring in another fighter. So our whole campaign was steered toward him, and now we have to steer toward him. But ultimately, it’s the same, because they have bad policy. They have policies of open borders — unbelievable open borders, horrible energy policies.

They want to get rid of, as you say, gasoline in cars. They want to get rid of oil. They want to get rid of efficient — efficient heating. Environmentally, what they’re doing is killing our country. They’re absolutely destroying our country. But the inflation is the thing that’s hurting the black worker, the black population, and every other population within our country. Inflation is the worst it’s been, I think, in over 100 years. And they’ll fact-check it.

They’ll say it’s only 58. Whatever it may be, they don’t add all the numbers. They don’t add the really bad numbers, and you can check that too. But inflation, Harris, is absolutely destroying this country and the people in our country.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, can I ask you another question that is also impacting black Americans?

DONALD TRUMP: And that’s very clear now. Go ahead.

INTERVIEWER: I’m sorry?

DONALD TRUMP: It’s very clear. I hear you.

Discussion on Police Immunity and Specific Case

INTERVIEWER: Okay. So, Sonya Massey, someone from Illinois, an unarmed black woman, was shot the other day in her home by a deputy sheriff. The deputy has since been charged with murder. You said police would get immunity for prosecution if you win. Why should someone like that officer have immunity, in your opinion?

DONALD TRUMP: Immunity?

INTERVIEWER: Immunity.

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know the exact case, but I saw something, and it didn’t look good to me. It didn’t look good to me. Are you talking with the water, right?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Well, police —

DONALD TRUMP: It didn’t —

INTERVIEWER: I mean, police unions are not backing this person either. But, again, why would —

DONALD TRUMP: They’re going to be charging the officer. I guess they’re charging the officer.

INTERVIEWER: So why should he receive immunity?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, he might not. I mean, it depends. It depends on what happens. I’m talking about people that are much different cases than that. We need people to protect ourselves. And, by the way, in Chicago, as an example, last — a few weeks ago, July 4th weekend, they had 117 shootings and 17 deaths. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that.

We need to have our police officers have the respect and dignity back. In this particular case, I saw something that didn’t look good to me. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like at all.

INTERVIEWER: So can you get a little more specific, back to the immunity question? Who would make those decisions?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, right now, for the most part — for the most part, people are protected by their unions, by their police unions, or by their police departments. But I’m saying if I — I felt, or if a group of people would feel that somebody was being unfairly prosecuted because the person did a good job, maybe with crime, or made a mistake — an innocent mistake — there’s a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. But if somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person.

INTERVIEWER: What would those exceptions be? What would determine an innocent mistake?

DONALD TRUMP: You go after somebody, and it’s a very close call, and it’s very dangerous. And, you know, they have — the policeman’s life, and woman, is a very difficult thing because sometimes you have less than a second to make a, you know, life-and-death decision. And sometimes very bad decisions are made. They’re not made from an evil standpoint, but they’re made from the standpoint of they made a mistake.

Discussion on Prosecution and Justice System

INTERVIEWER: So I want to follow up really quickly. You know, I find it interesting because you do talk about reining in prosecutors, especially when it comes to prosecutors that are prosecuting you. Why doesn’t that skepticism apply to law enforcement?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I’ve been prosecuted because I’m a political opponent of two people that have weaponized our justice system. I’ve been prosecuted. I just won the big case in Florida. Everyone said that was the biggest case. That was the most difficult case. And I just won it.

Now, Biden has a similar case, except much worse. I was protected under the Presidential Records Act. Biden wasn’t, because he wasn’t president at the time. And he had 50 years’ worth of documents, and they ruled that he was incompetent, and therefore he shouldn’t stand trial.

And I said, isn’t that something? He’s incompetent and he can’t stand trial, and yet he can be president. Isn’t that nice? But they released him on the basis that he was incompetent. They said he had no memory, and he was a nice old guy, but he had no memory, and therefore we’re not going to prosecute him. I won the case, and it got very little publicity. I didn’t notice ABC doing any publicity on it, George. George Slopidopoulos.

I didn’t notice you do any publicity on it at all. I won the case, the biggest case. This is an attack on a political opponent. I have another one where I have a hostile judge.

INTERVIEWER: No, excuse me.

DONALD TRUMP: You’re the one that held me up for 35 minutes, just so you understand.

INTERVIEWER: If we can move on now to the state of the race, sir. I want to get back to the campaign.

Discussion on J.D. Vance and Campaign

INTERVIEWER: Senator J.D. Vance is your running mate. He’s had a lot of controversy lately, and I want to read you a few things that he has said in the past. He said, the Democrats running the country are a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.

He’s not talking here about how great it is to be a parent. He’s attacking what he says are the choices people are making to not have children. Did you know that he had these views about people who do not have children before you picked him to be your running mate, and do you agree with him?

DONALD TRUMP: No. I know this. He is very family-oriented, and he thinks family is a great thing. That doesn’t mean he thinks that if you don’t have a family, it’s not. I know people with families. I know people with great families. I know people with very troubled families, and I also know people with no families. They didn’t meet the right person. Things happen. You go through life. You don’t meet the right person.

INTERVIEWER: But he’s not just talking about families here. He also says that people that don’t have children should get less votes than those that do.

DONALD TRUMP: That’s all right. I’m just speaking for myself. And I think I’m speaking for him, too. He strongly believes in family. But I know people with great families. I know people with not great families that don’t have a family. And the people without the family are far better. They’re superior in many cases, okay?

He’s not saying they’re not. What he’s saying is that he thinks the family experience is a very important thing and it’s a very good thing. But that doesn’t mean that if you grow up and you grow older and you don’t meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet and would have been good, that that’s a bad thing. He’s not saying that.

My interpretation — you’ll have to ask him, actually — but my interpretation is he’s strongly family-oriented. But that doesn’t mean if you don’t have a family, there’s something wrong with it.

INTERVIEWER: Just one last point, and then we’ll move on. Just one of the bedrock principles of American life is one person, one vote. Senator J.D. Vance has suggested that someone who has children should have more votes than a person who does not have children. I just want to be clear here, is that the position of your campaign?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, no, but it’s not something I have ever heard before. I can tell you this. Right now, you have illegal aliens coming into our country, many from prisons and many from mental institutions, and they want to give them votes. I don’t think they should have votes. They came into our country illegally and they’re taking the vote away from all of the people in this room that have been here a long time, that have worked hard, that in many cases — and you’ll see this happening.

If I’m not elected, you’re going to see it happen. If I am, you’re not going to have any problem. But you’re going to see it happening a long time. You’re going to see the — people in this room and people outside of this room are going to be losing their jobs to people that have come into this country illegally.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, can we stay with just kind of the state of the race right now? Because I felt like that vice president question — candidate question was right in there with that. So let’s talk about J.D. Vance for a little bit. He’s had some stumbles out of the gate. I don’t know if you’re hearing what we hear as reporters, but it’s been a tough couple of weeks for him. Why did you choose J.D. Vance?

DONALD TRUMP: Why didn’t I?

INTERVIEWER: Why did you choose him? And I’m having a hard time hearing, too.

DONALD TRUMP: I chose him because — I’ll tell you why. I chose him because he’s a very strong believer in work and the working man and woman, and especially the working man and woman who have been treated very unfairly, because you have many of them — many of them in this room. But you have many of those people.

They were treated very unfairly. They worked very hard, and they were treated unfairly. He wrote the book that became a bestseller. The movie became a smash hit. He’s a very smart guy. Without the benefit of having a family that has contacts, like a father that was well-connected, he got into Yale Law School. He graduated in two years from Ohio State, summa cum laude. I mean, you take a look at — you know, his career has been an amazing career.

He started off at a level with a difficult family situation — very difficult — with the mother and the father and everything else. He ends up going to Yale Law School and was one of the top students, became the head of the law journal. I mean, that’s an amazing thing. He went — he’s a four-year — he was in the military with great distinction for four years, got out, went into business, became successful in business — very successful in business, actually.

He did public offerings and other things. And I — you know, I have to believe in that. I mean, he’s somebody that was born in a rough situation. Most of the people know that situation because it was very well documented in his book. And I have a lot of respect for somebody that can get into Yale and become one of the best students in Yale, that meets a young woman at Yale who was also outstanding, and they get married, they have a beautiful family. But he had a — you know, he’s made himself an amazing life. He then gets — goes to Ohio, lives in Ohio, and he had my endorsement. That helped.

And he wins the Senate. He becomes a United States senator. So he’s a United States senator. And so, Harris, like, I respect you for your success. I respect people for their success.

INTERVIEWER: The reason I ask the question is because the last time you and I sat and talked was the day that you were shot. We’d been together for much of that day. You left to go to Butler, Pennsylvania, and we didn’t know what was next.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: And two days after that —

DONALD TRUMP: I’m sorry. I cannot understand. Your microphone is so —

INTERVIEWER: It’s really hard for me to understand you, too. I mean, it’s just — I can understand you perfectly.

INTERVIEWER: Because she’s closer. I can understand you.

DONALD TRUMP: I’m happy to hear that. I’m really happy to hear that. But I can’t understand — I love that. I have a few more questions.

Harris, because of the distance — and the mics are really in lousy shape, but I cannot understand what you’re saying. Go ahead.

INTERVIEWER: So what I wanted to say was, the last time we spoke, you said some words that were prophetic because I asked you who you wanted to choose for vice president.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: And you said, normally, it really wouldn’t matter what they would — you know, you choose somebody that you think has a future, that sort of thing. But you said these words three and a half hours before an attempted assassination on your life. You told me that bad things happen, Harris. And that’s why this decision is important this time. Bad things happen. You said it twice. When you look at J.D. Vance, is he ready on day one?

DONALD TRUMP: Does he what?

INTERVIEWER: Ready on day one, if he has to be.

DONALD TRUMP: I’ve always had great respect for him. And for the other candidates, too. But I will say this — and I think this is well-documented — historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact — I mean, virtually no impact. You have two or three days where there’s a lot of commotion as to who — like you’re having it on the Democrat side, who it’s going to be. And then that dies down, and it’s all about the presidential pick. Virtually never has it mattered.

Maybe Lyndon Johnson mattered for different reasons than what we’re talking about. Not for vote reasons, but for political reasons, other political reasons. But historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference. You’re voting for the president, and you can have a vice president who’s outstanding in every way.

And I think J.D. is. I think that all of them would have been. But you’re not voting that way. You’re voting for the president. You’re voting for me. If you like me, I’m going to win. If you don’t like me, I’m not going to win.

INTERVIEWER: I’m going to get my J.D. Vance question in.

DONALD TRUMP: J.D. Vance?

INTERVIEWER: I’m going to get my J.D. Vance question in.

DONALD TRUMP: Sure.

INTERVIEWER: To your point and to Rachel’s point, he, you know, has a lot of opinions about childless women like myself or divorced people like yourself.

Discussion on Republican Party’s Stance and Abortion

INTERVIEWER: Do you think — well, I mean, my point is here —

DONALD TRUMP: But at least it was said in a friendly manner.

INTERVIEWER: My point is — do you think the party — the Republican Party is getting a little bit too judgy about people’s lives when you think about abortion or when you think about what J.D. Vance is saying?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t think — look, I think that the Democrat Party is really the one that has the problem. I think they’re radical on abortion because they’re allowing abortion in the ninth month. They’re allowing —

INTERVIEWER: But I think it’s not —

DONALD TRUMP: They’re allowing the death of a baby after the baby is born, based on the governor of Virginia.

INTERVIEWER: Sir, that’s illegal in every state in the country.

DONALD TRUMP: Based on the governor of Virginia, they’re allowing the death of the baby —

INTERVIEWER: That’s illegal.

DONALD TRUMP: After it’s born, they’re allowing abortions in the eighth and ninth month of pregnancy.

INTERVIEWER: Well, Democrats have denied —

DONALD TRUMP: I think they’re — and I think the Republican Party is actually much lesser. I think I’ve made them much less radical, perhaps. But the Republican Party, what we’re doing is bringing it back to the states where everybody wanted it — Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives — everybody wanted abortion brought back. They didn’t want Roe v. Wade in the federal government. They wanted it — everybody wanted it back —

INTERVIEWER: But Americans oppose Roe v. Wade being overturned.

DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. They don’t know about this. Right now, they’re voting. It brought it back to the states. Now, I happen to believe in the three exceptions. Ronald Reagan believed with rape, incest, life of the mother. I do. I think most people do. I think most Republicans do also. But if you take a look, right now they’re doing — it’s an amazing thing. Out of the federal government, it’s in states, and people are voting. And I will say, Ohio is — let’s call it a more liberal version — has been approved. Kansas, the same thing. A little bit surprising to a lot of people.

But the people are now voting, and it’s taking this issue that’s been going on for 52 years and has torn our country apart, and it’s giving it to the people to vote on. And they’re voting. And many states have already voted. Others are in the process of voting. And it’s bringing it back to the people and a vote of the people. And it’s not at all radical.

And I — again, you have to follow your heart. I happen to believe in the three exceptions. Most people believe in the three exceptions. Most Republicans believe in the exceptions. But they don’t want to see an abortion in the ninth month or the eighth month. Almost everybody agrees to that. And they certainly don’t want to see, in the case of the governor of Virginia — the former governor, I might add — who said, we set the baby aside and then we decide what to do. Meaning, what do we do? We execute the baby.

INTERVIEWER: Can I —

DONALD TRUMP: That’s a radical, horrible position. And some people — some people want that. I don’t want it. Most people don’t.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Can I just pivot really quickly to another question about — it would have helped, Harris. You’re an active man. You — we see you golfing all the time. But if you win, you’ll still be President at 82, which is older than Biden is right now. Would you —

DONALD TRUMP: But not mentally. Look, mentally.

INTERVIEWER: Here’s the question —

DONALD TRUMP: He’s shot. He’s shot. But most people —

INTERVIEWER: Would you —

DONALD TRUMP: Most people — I know many people in their 80s and their 90s that are in great shape. Some of our greatest leaders. You look at, throughout the world, world history, the greatest leaders. Some of the greatest leaders in the world were in their 80s.

Discussion on Health and Cognitive Tests

INTERVIEWER: But here’s the question. Would you consider stepping down if you felt that your health was declining? Or would you —

DONALD TRUMP: Oh, absolutely.

INTERVIEWER: And who would make — I think I’d know. How would you make that decision?

DONALD TRUMP: I think I’d know. Look, if I came onto a stage like this and I got treated so rudely, as this woman treated me —

INTERVIEWER: Oh, my goodness.

DONALD TRUMP: And I’m fine with it, because she — it doesn’t — she was very rude, sir. Very rude. That was a nasty — that wasn’t a question.

INTERVIEWER: She didn’t ask me a question. Sir, are you going to answer the question?

DONALD TRUMP: She gave a statement. That wasn’t a question.

INTERVIEWER: I’m not sure if he’s going to answer the question. I’m not sure if he’s going to answer the question. I’m not sure if he’s going to answer the question, actually. You said you would. You would make that decision.

DONALD TRUMP: Oh, absolutely. If I thought that I was failing in some way, I want people to be — I’ll go a step further. I want anybody running for president to take an aptitude test, to take a cognitive test. I think it’s a great idea. And I took two of them, and I H’d them. I got them.

INTERVIEWER: Well, can I just — I took two of them. But let me ask.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, yeah. I would like to have people running for president. And I don’t mean because they’re 75 or 85. I think anybody running — I’d like to do it. People say it’s not constitutional. I would like to have something passed where you can do it. I think we should know.

I mean, I’ve watched what’s happened in the last couple of years under this gentleman, and our country is a mess. We have inflation. We have the millions of people falling in. We have Afghanistan, which was the worst, most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. What he has done to our country — and her, too — what they’ve done to our country, she has been a horrible vice president. She’s considered the worst vice president in the history of our country.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President — Don’t mean to interrupt you, but would you consider taking a cognitive test?

DONALD TRUMP: I would love to do it.

INTERVIEWER: And make it public.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I’ve already taken two of them, but I’ll do it again.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, how do you intend to —

DONALD TRUMP: I suggested — I suggested, Harris, that — let’s take one. I said, Joe and I will go and take a cognitive test. Now, I’d do it with her, too. I would do it with her also. You know what? She failed her law exam. She didn’t pass her law exam, so maybe she wouldn’t pass the cognitive test.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President — How do you think she wouldn’t have passed? Just to be clear —

DONALD TRUMP: I’m just giving you the facts.

INTERVIEWER: To be clear, you don’t think Harris would have passed the cognitive test?

DONALD TRUMP: She didn’t pass her bar exam, and she didn’t think she would pass it, and she didn’t think she was going to ever pass it. And I don’t know what happened. Maybe she passed it. I guess you —

INTERVIEWER: She didn’t pass it. She didn’t, in fact, pass it. There’s a man over here. I think he must work for her.

Discussion on January 6th and Pardons

INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, I would love to ask you about January 6th. You called yourself the candidate of law and order. When Time Magazine asked you if you would consider pardoning all the rioters, you said, yes, absolutely. You called them patriots. One hundred and forty police officers were assaulted that day. Their injuries included broken bones. At least one officer lost an eye. One had two cracked ribs, two smashed spinal discs. Another had a stroke. Were the people who assaulted those 140 officers, including those I just mentioned, patriots who deserve pardon?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, let me bring it back to modern day, like about five days ago. We had an attack on the Capitol, a horrible attack on the Capitol. You saw the people that were protesting and spraying these incredible monuments — bells, lions, all these magnificent limestone and granite — with red paint, red spray paint that will never actually come off, especially on the limestone. It will never — I’m a builder. I know about this stuff. It will never — you’ll see it in a hundred years from now.

They viciously attacked our government. They fought with police. They fought with them much more openly than I saw on January 6th. What’s going to happen to those people? What’s going to happen to the people in Portland that destroyed that city?

INTERVIEWER: But, sir, my question is on those —

DONALD TRUMP: What’s going to happen to the people that tried to bring —

INTERVIEWER: My question is on those rioters who assaulted officers. It’s easy. You have to ask. Would you pardon those people?

DONALD TRUMP: What’s going to happen?

INTERVIEWER: Oh, absolutely I would. If they’re innocent —

INTERVIEWER: You would pardon those —

DONALD TRUMP: If they’re innocent, I would pardon them.

INTERVIEWER: They’ve been convicted.

DONALD TRUMP: By the way, the Supreme Court just under — well, they were convicted by a very — a very tough system. They were — how come the people that tried to burn down Minneapolis, how come the people that took over a large percentage of Seattle, how come nothing happened to them? How come the people that —

INTERVIEWER: But, sir, we’re talking about people that were —

DONALD TRUMP: How come the people —

INTERVIEWER: — seen beating officers —

DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no. We’re talking about federal buildings.

INTERVIEWER: — with flag poles, dragging them down the stairs. They’re on video. Have you seen that video, sir?

INTERVIEWER: Really? You would pardon those rioters?

DONALD TRUMP: They shot a young lady in the face who was protesting. They shot her in the face. You know, nobody died that day. You do know that. But people died in Seattle. Nobody died. But people died in Minneapolis.

INTERVIEWER: A hundred and forty officers were assaulted that day.

DONALD TRUMP: You know people died in Minneapolis. And nothing happens. And nobody ever talks. And nothing happens to those people. But you went after the J6 people with a vengeance. And I’ll tell you what. What about the cops that were — and I’m all for the police, as you know. But what about the police that are ushering — ushering everybody into the Capitol? Go in. Go in. Go in. What about that?

Look, nothing is — nothing is perfect in life. But you have people from Minneapolis. You have people just from five days ago in Washington, D.C. They were having fistfights and fighting with the police. They were spraying and destroying. They were desecrating our monuments in Washington, D.C., five days ago. And nothing happened to them. And you have — you can’t have two systems of justice. That’s why they went after me as a political opponent, because they felt they couldn’t win without doing that. And we’re going to win our cases, and we’re going to be vindicated.

But I have to spend a lot of time on that and money. That’s what they want. After the election, they won’t care. Although, in my case, I think they probably will, because the hatred is pretty deep. But I’ll tell you, they went after me as a political opponent. That’s never happened in our country before. And it sets a terrible, terrible precedent.

Discussion on Future Plans

INTERVIEWER: What do you do on day one if you win? What’s your first thing?

DONALD TRUMP: What do I do? I close the border. I do two things, because I can do a lot of things simultaneously. I close the border. We don’t want people coming in. We want people to come in, Harris, but they have to be vetted. They have to be checked. They have to come in legally. We want people — I want people to come into our country. But they have to be vetted. They have to be checked.

So when you say, what do I do? That and I drill, baby, drill. I bring energy way down. I bring interest rates way down. I bring inflation way down, so people can buy bacon again, so people can buy a ham sandwich again, so that people can go to a restaurant and afford it. Because right now, people can’t buy food. Your grocery bills are up 40, 50, 60 percent, right? She’s agreeing to me.

Oh, she’s agreeing. Thank you. I like you very much. But it’s — but it’s true. Your grocery bills are up. And then they’re mandating that you buy an all-electric car. You know, Elon Musk endorsed me, and he’s a friend of mine. He’s a good guy. He’s a smart guy. But I’m against all — everybody having an electric car. Okay? I’m very much against that.

You have to be able to — if you want a hybrid or if you want a gasoline-propelled car. But you know, we have more liquid-go gasoline oil under our feet than any other country. More than Saudi Arabia, more than Russia, more than any other country. I want to use it. I want to use what we have. I want to bring down prices, bring down costs. And I also have to stop the invasion. And remember, they’re taking your jobs. These people coming in are taking your jobs.

INTERVIEWER: Project 2025. I think we have to leave it there by the Trump team. All right. So, leave it — that is the last word. Thank you so much, Mr. Trump, for coming today and joining us.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, very much. Great honor.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you, Mr. President.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.

INTERVIEWER: NABJ will email about details regarding the conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris in September. Thank you.

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