concerns and then at 4:30 p.m. president trump presented the presidential medal of freedom to former celtic robert cousy. and then addressing issues faced by military women who serve and later in the day, the symposium continues with with a discussion of women in leadership positions in the military. yesterday prub spoke to reporters as he departed the white house for louisville, kentucky. he was asked about a range of issues including background checks, the economy, trade with china and combagget isis. -- combating isis. president trump: the economy is doing very, very well. we'll see what happens with the federal reserve. whether or not they finally get smart and reduce interest rates

like many other places around the world that we have to compete with. our economy is the strongest in the world by far. nothing even close. a lot of good things are happening. we had some very good retail numbers this morning as you saw. i guess the stock market is quite a bit up. i don't demand it but if he used his head, they would lower it. we compete, we are much stronger than germany but we compete with them. in germany they have zero interest rates. when they borrow money, look at what happens. look at what is going on over there. they actually get paid to borrow money and we have to compete with that.

he raised interest rates too fast, too furious and we have a normalized rate, if you can call it that and now we have to go the other direction. we'll see if he does this. if he does it, you'll see a rocket ship. if he does it, we have a very strong economy. we could be in a place that this nation was seldom at if he have interest rates cut by the federal reserve. they have let us down. they missed the call. they raised them too high. they raise it too high and did quantitative tightening. they should not have done the tightening. we could have had some raises but nothing like they did.

pedro: we're working with democrats and republicans. we already have strong background checks. we're going to be filling in some of the loopholes at the border. one to really nice if the democrats would fix the loopholes. i want to thank mexico. they have 26,000 soldiers at our border. they are really stopping people from coming in. what happens is with background checks, we're dealing with democrats and republicans. we're dealing with the n.r.a.. we're dealing with gun owners and everybody. i think we're going to have hopefully something that is meaningful. i didn't say anything about that. we had a great talk with wayne yesterday. didn't say anything about that. just talked about concepts. wayne agrees things have to be done also and we have areas where we can close and for instance, we did -- last time.

we have a lot of background checks right now. gun owners can tell you that. corse tell you that. but there are certain weaknesses. we want to fix the weaknesses. let's see what happens. i'm concerned that no matter what we agree to, when we get there, i'm concerned the democrats will say oh, well, now we want this. t is a slippery slope. that's what a lot of gun owners are concerned with. assuming that is not going to take place by the democrats, assuming they really want to get this done, we can get it done. ou have to speak up. president trump: we're doing a lot, having to do with veteran suicide. we have a task force that is set up. there is a product that is made right now that just came out by

johnson & johnson which has a tremendously positive, pretty short-term, but nevertheless pretty positive effect. i've instructed the head of the media to go out and buy a lot of it and hopefully geerting it at a very good cost. this is a -- i guess it is a form of a stimulant. if somebody is really in trouble from the standpoint of suicide, it can do something. it is pretty well known. it just came out. it is made, i believe by johnson & johnson. we have been dealing with them for two months on buying a lot of it. >> [inaudible] president trump: denmark, i look forward to going. the prime minister's statement was an absurd idea. it was nasty. i thought it was an inappropriate statement. all she had to do was say no, we

won't be interested. we can't treats the united states of america the way they treated us under president obama. i thought it was a very not nice way of saying something. they could have told me no. this is something that has been discussed for many years. harry truman had the idea of greenland. i had the idea. other people have had the idea. it goes back into the early 1,900's. harry truman very strongly thought it was a good idea. i think it is a good idea because denmark is losing $700 million a year with it. it doesn't do them any good. all they had to do was say no, we had rather not do that or we had rather not talk about it. don't say what an absurd idea that is. she is not talking to me. skewed me. she is not talking to me. she is talking to the united states of america. you don't talk to the united states that way. at least under me.

now president obama, when they wouldn't let him land in the philippines where they treated him so badly in so many places, he fill speens one for philippines is one that comes to mind. that is different. but they can't treat the united states with a statement, how absurd. let your wife do it. who is the boss? >> i am the boss. president trump: i agree. she is the boss. go ahead. a lot of people. got a lot of people watching. go ahead. >> with regard to background checks, why shouldn't anyone who wants to buy a gun go through a background check? what's wrong with that? president trump: i want guns to be in the hands of people that are mentally stable. those people, i want them to easily be able to get a gun. but people who are insane, people that are sick up here, i don't want them to be able to get a gun.

>> what's is background check -- president trump: if a person is sick, mentally ill, if a person has done things in their past that are a horror like in the ase of dayton, except they got expunged because he was 17 years old when he wrote a list out, not about guns. he had a kill list and a rape list. but he was 17. one of the things we're talking about is getting rid of the age limit. he was 17. when he turned 18 it was expunged but we didn't fiend out about that and a big percentage of the school, the parents wouldn't let their kids go to that school. they heard about it. when he was 18, it all went away we can't let that happen. >> 100 people a day die from guns. do you see that as a public health emergency? president trump: i do. i do. sure. and they die for a lot of other

reasons too. they do. i think i said it very loudly and plainly and i don't think i changed positions at all. we're working on background checks. there are things we can do but we already have very serious background checks. we have strong background checks. we can close up the gap. we can do things that are very good and things that frankly gun owners wants to have done but we also have to remember the gun doesn't pull the trigger. a person does and we have great mental illness. go ahead. prosecute the -- turned law they committed a federal crime? president trump: we're looking at a lot of things. it is a terrorist organization. you see that they have been doing. we have great support on that.

we're looking at various different things. >> yesterday -- president trump: behind you. behind you. land?itional -- fran: -- president trump: green land was just an idea. i think when it was said said in a sarcastic way. we'll do it another time. i love denmark. i've been to denmark. frankly we'll do it another time. respect has to be shown to the united states. go ahead. disloyal.ts are to whom are they being disloyal, sir? president trump: i have been responsible for a lot of great things for israel. one of them was moving the embassy to jerusalem.

making jerusalem the capital of israel. one of them was the golan heights and one of them was iran. a very far weakened nation now. hopefully something works out. we'll see if it happens. it happens. wait a minute. wait. no president has ever done anywhere close to what i have done. another thing -- excuse me, wait a minute. wait a minute. no president has done what i have done. we have a group, i call it a.o. 3 plus 3. you can call the person representative talib. omar. you can go anywhere you want to go. they are anti-semites. they are against israel. she had a plan to greatly embarrass israel by going there on the fact that she wanted to see her grandmother. i hope that is true. it is very bad, the things that

she and others of that group and other democrats have said. they have become the face of the democratic party and i will tell you this. in my opinion, the democrats have gotten very far away from israel. i cannot understand how they can do that. they don't want to fund israel. they want to take away foreign aid to israel. they want to do a lot of bad things to israel. in my opinion, you vote for a democrat, you're being very disloyal to jewish people and you're being very disloyal to israel and only weak people would say anything other than hat. i haven't heard anybody say that. just the opposite. i think if you vote for a democrat, you're very, very disloyal to israel and the jewish people. i have 94% of the republican

party. the highest in history. the highest of any republican. i think they would have a hard ime. that -- > that was about outsmarting president obama? russia outsmarted president obama. they took over during his term, not mine. crimia. they took over crimia. stopped being an organ of the democrats. if you'll let me answer the question, i'm answer it very easily. the fact is president putin outsmarted president obama on crimia and other things drawing the red line in the sand. he outsmarted, he made a living on outsmarting president obama and frankly because of it, obama was upset and he got obama out

what was the g-8 into the g-7. we put russia back in. we spent a lot of time talking about russia at those meetings. i think it would be a good thing if russia were there so we can speak directly and not have to speak over the telephone and other things. here is the it is now the g-7. they were taken out because putin outsmarted on crimia, on the red line. outsmarted obama. he was upset. they took him out. i think russia should be a part of it. we're looking for world piece and other things. trade and other things. it would be a lot easier to have russia in, where they have always been. > the respect and authority.

1929 -- 1992 -- president trump: i read the same report as you. i'm not looking to do indexing. i think it will be perceived as leetist. i don't want that. i want taxes for the middle class, the workers, the people that work so hard. i think indexing is really probably better for the upper income groups. i'm not looking to do that, but if i wanted to do that, i would need a letter from the attorney general. >> do americans need to -- president trump: the fake news, of which many of you are members, is trying to convince the public to have a recession. let's have a investigation. the united states is doing phenomenally well.

one thing i have to do is economically take on china. because china has been ripping us off for many years. president clinton, president bush, president obama and others should have done this before me. my life would have been much easier. although i enjoy doing it. my life would have been much easier if i just said let china continue ripping off the united states. but i can't do that. they want to make a deal. got to be a deal that is good news for united states. when they want to make a deal, probably we will make a deal. t if i didn't do that, somebody said trump's trade war. this is not my trade war. this is a trade war that should have taken place a long time ago by a lot of other presidents. over the last five or six years, china has made $500 billion

ripped it out of the united states. not only that, if you take a look, intellectual property theft. add that to it and add a lot of other things to do it so. somebody -- excuse me. somebody had to do it. i am the chosen one. somebody had to do it. so i'm taking on china. i'm taking on china on trade. and you know what? we're winning. because we're the piggy bank. we're the one that all of these countries including the european union wants to rob and takes advantage of. the european union, $200 billion. china more than $500 billion. sorry. i was sent here by people -- i was sent here by people to do a great job and that's what i'm doing. nobody has done a job like i have done. now would china rather wait for a little more than a year and try to get joe biden to negotiate with instead of president trump? maybe.

but i don't think so. you know why? they are losing too many jobs too fast. they had the worst year in 27 years, buti think it was 52 or . it is the worst year they have said in half a century. i am not proud of that. not have a clue. sleepy joe said china is wonderful. china is wonderful. i am wonderful for the usa. [indiscernible] >> we will meet at some time. the prime minister used a terrible word when describing something we have been talking about for years. president truman said what about greenland? he talked about it openly and i brought it up and it was

discussed many other times and i thought it was not a nice statement the way she blew me off because she is blowing off the united states and we have done a lot for denmark. i know denmark well. i have many friends from denmark and many people from denmark that live in the united states. we treat countries with respect. she shouldn't treat the united states that way by saying one of -- she said -- absurd. that is not the right word to use. absurd. [indiscernible] >> louder. [indiscernible] >> well if you remember, president obama built the cells. he built the cages you people always talk about and attribute to me. president obama in 2014 built those cages and you were very embarrassed when the new york times as usual and others put a

picture of the cage and said how bad trump was only to find out that it was president obama who built those cages, so president obama had separation. i am the one that brought them together. this new rule will do more to bring them together, but it was president obama that had the separation. [indiscernible] >> we are being very strong on the border. the numbers are way down. i want to thank mexico for that. the united states could make -- your question could make that go away quickly if the democrats would meet and we could fix the loophole and asylum, which is what we are talking about to an extent. let me tell you, very much, i have the children on my mind. it bothers me very greatly. people make this horrible

journey. one of the things that will happen when they realize the borders are closing, the wall is being built, we are building tremendous numbers of miles of walls right now in different locations. it all comes together like a beautiful puzzle. one of the things that happens when they see you can't get into the united states or when they do get into the united states, they will be brought back to their country. it won't matter if they get in, because we are doing that. they won't come and many people will be saved and many women's lives will not be destroyed and ruined. [indiscernible] >> will we see a payroll tax cut? >> i am not looking at a tax cut. we don't need it. we have a strong economy. certainly a payroll tax cut -- president obama did that to jack up the economy. president obama had zero interest rates. i don't have zero interest, i have real interest rates and i have a strong economy. president obama did to payroll

-- did two payroll tax cut, and despite that, i have a much stronger economy. fromu look at my numbers november 9, november 9 to present, the stock market is up over 50%. >> [indiscernible] >> this guy is the most biased reporter. nbc. i made a lot of money for nbc and i used to like them, but they are the most biased. you should -- you should -- you should be able to ask a question. same question in a better way. you are so obviously biased and that is why the public has no confidence in the media. go ahead. >> [indiscernible] >> joe biden doesn't have it. let me tell you about joe. joe biden doesn't have it. >> [indiscernible]

>> i think the new york times now has totally lost credibility. they have given up on the russian collusion delusion and they are trying the racist deal. that is not going to work because i am the least racist person ever to serve in office. i am the least racist person. the new york times, they are trying everything they can. it is a totally dishonest newspaper. it is a paper that has lost tremendous credibility and let me tell you, in six years, or maybe 10 or 14, in six years, when i am not here, the new york times goes out of business very quickly. you know who else goes out? like, nbc news. nbc news has less credibility with guys like you than cnn. i think cnn has more credibility than nbc. >> [indiscernible] >> did you hear what i said?

you have more credibility than this guy. that is not saying much. i do not think you have much credibility. credibility than cnn. that is not saying much. that is the way i feel. >> you are focused on mental health issues other countries -- on mental health issues. other countries have same levels of mental health illness but not the same levels of gun violence. >> there are many things in play. people are talking about videos. people are talking about lots of different things. we have a way of bringing what we already have. we have many, many have many, many -- as you know, we have many, many people unable to buy guns. we have background checks. there are loopholes in the background checks. that is what i spoke to the nra about. they want to get rid of the loopholes.

i do not want to take away people second amendment rights. i do not want to go in the constitution having to do with gun ownership. we are talking about background sudden, wet all of a are talking about let's take everybody's gun away. people need weapons, unfortunately, for protection. >> that is an nra talking point. >> it is a trump talking point. you approve one thing, then another thing and you're on that slope and all of a sudden, no one has any legal protection. we have a second amendment and our second amendment will remain strong. >> [indiscernible] >> go ahead. >> are you concerned about the potential reemergence of isis?

>> at a certain point, russian, afghanistan, iran, iraq, turkey, they are going to have to fight their battles. we wiped out the caliphate 100%. i did it in record time. but at a certain point, all of these other countries were isis 's around, they have been decimated, by the way. badly decimated. all of these countries are going to have to fight. do we want to stay there for another 19 years? i don't think so. at a certain point, other countries, and that includes russia and iran and turkey and iraq and afghanistan and pakistan and india, look, india is right there. they are not fighting it. we are fighting it. pakistan is right next door. they are fighting very little. very little. it is not fair. the united states, we are 7000 miles away.

we have decimated isis. you haven't been hearing much about isis. we took the caliphate, 100%. when i took it at 98, i said, maybe we go home now. let these other countries handle it. everyone went crazy. they said, do 100%. they said it was going to take a year. it took me a month and they are gone. the caliphate is gone and we are holding thousands of isis fighters right now and europe has to take them. and if europe doesn't take them, i will have no choice but to release them into the countries from which they came, which is germany and france and other places, because we found -- we beat them, we captured them. we have got thousands of them and now, as usual, our allies say, we don't want them. even though they came from france and germany and other places.

we are going to tell them and we have already told them, take these prisoners that we have captured, because the united states is not going to put them in guantanamo for the next 50 years and pay for it. >> what is your deadline? >> it is moving along, my deadline. they know. >> [indiscernible] >> i did. i went to the hospital. i went to the hospital. it was totally falsely reported. they were beautiful, beautiful, very sad, you know, horrible moments, but beautiful moments in the sense that these people, the families and also the people that were so badly injured that i was with, they -- they love our country. you want to know the truth? they love their president. nobody wrote that. nobody wrote that. you did not write the truth. new york times doesn't like to write the truth. but, but, they love -- they totally love our country. they do love our president.

when i went to dayton and when i went to el paso and i went into those hospitals, the love for me, and maybe as a representative of the country, but for me, and my love for them was unparalleled. these are incredible people, but if you read the papers, it was like nobody would meet with me. not only did they meet with me, they were pouring out of the rooms. the doctors were coming out of the operating rooms. there were hundreds and hundreds of people. you could not even walk on it. let me explain. the people of dayton, el paso, these are incredible people and those victims and survivors and families, i love those people. >> [indiscernible] >> lowder. turco -- >> [indiscernible]

>> i have looked at indexing. it is not something i love. it is better for the high income people and i am not looking to do that. i want to do for the workers. i am looking to do for middle income people. i would have to get a letter from the attorney general or the justice department, which i think i might be able to get, otherwise, i would have to go through congress, but i am not looking at doing indexing and i haven't been seriously looking at it, but it is an option if i wanted to. we have such a strong economy. if the fed did what they were supposed to do, they would drop interest rates by 100 basis points, they may be would do not only not tightening, but some loosening or leave it alone. do nothing. but they drop interest rates by 100 basis points or more. nobody, nobody would be able to compete with the united states. right now, the fed is tying our hands, because we are paying

interest rates and germany and other countries that are not like us are not. it should be the other way around. why should they be paying no interest rate and have an incentive beyond that and we are paying interest rates? the fed has missed the call for a long time. >> on the economy -- [indiscernible] >> i think we have a very strong economy. i think the fed has been very late and very early. they were very early to raise and late to cut, but the fed can do the whole thing. yesterday, we had the strongest dollar in the history of our country. yesterday, we had the strongest dollar in the history of our country. in one way, i am honored by that, but in another way, it makes it harder to export goods.

i love it, but in another way i don't like it because it is much harder to compete. we have literally the strongest dollar in the history of our country. >> [indiscernible] >> we are looking at that very seriously. birthright citizenship, where you have a baby in our land, walk over the border, have a baby, congratulations, the baby is a u.s. citizen. we are looking at it seriously. i don't know how you found that out. that is very good. we are looking at birthright citizenship very seriously. frankly, it is ridiculous. >> [indiscernible] --ention of migrant minors --m >> i am the one that kept the

families together. i said that. president obama and others brought the families apart, but i am the one that kept the families together. with what we are doing now, even more of that, but i will make it almost impossible for people to come into our country illegally. we are building large sections of the wall. i won the lawsuit in the supreme court. we are building large sections of wall. >> [indiscernible] >> following those remarks, president trump spoke at the american veterans national convention in louisville kentucky. he discussed the investment his administration has made into modernizing the military. the president also signed an executive memorandum for giving the student loan debt of approximately 25,0 p