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Transcript of Donald Trump Interview With The Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/transcript-of-donald-trump-interview-with-the-wall-street-journal-1515715481 WSJ: Do you think Congress needs to make new libel laws?
Mr. Trump: I don’t know if Congress has the guts to do that.
WSJ: But do you want them to?
Mr. Trump: I would like to see that. Yeah, I’d like to be able to—look, nobody gets more false press than I do. Nobody—nobody gets—nobody comes close. In history—in the history of this country nobody’s gotten more false press and you guys all know it.
WSJ: Why—why do you think that is?
Mr. Trump: They dislike me, the liberal media dislikes me. I mean I watch people—I was always the best at what I did, I was the—I was, you know, I went to the—I went to the Wharton School of Finance, did well. I went out, I—I started in Brooklyn, in a Brooklyn office with my father, I became one of the most successful real-estate developers, one of the most successful business people. I created maybe the greatest brand.
I then go into, in addition to that, part-time, like five percent a week, I open up a television show. As you know, the Apprentice on many evenings was the number one show on all of television, a tremendous success. It went on for 12 years, a tremendous success. They wanted to sign me for another three years and I said, no, I can’t do that.
That’s one of the reasons NBC hates me so much. NBC hates me so much they wanted—they were desperate to sign me for—for three more years.
-snip-
WSJ: But just to be clear, you’re not asking for them to shut those congressional investigations down?
Mr. Trump: No, I just want them to be tough, be strong. I also think that primary collusion, because there was no collusion on our side, the collusion was on the Democrat side with the Russians. And what went on with the FBI, where a man is tweeting to his lover that if she loses, we’ll essentially go back to the—we’ll go to the insurance policy, which is—if they lose, we’ll go to phase 2, and we’ll get this guy out of office.
I mean, this is the FBI we’re talking about. I think that is—that is treason. See, that’s treason right there.
WSJ: Does any of that make you less...
Mr. Trump: By the way, that’s a treasonous act. What he tweeted to his lover is a treasonous act.
WSJ: Does any of that make you less likely or less inclined to testify before Mueller, or talk to Mueller’s people?
Mr. Trump: Look, there has never been in the history of this country an administration that, number one, did nothing wrong, and number two, was more open with a special counsel. We have—my lawyers are very good people. We made a decision right at the beginning. And it wasn’t their original idea. They figured, like, well, we’ll fight this (inaudible).
After they looked at all the letters, all the facts, every email, they saw nothing. They said, “We should be open.” There has never been a more— they said, “You never did anything wrong.” To be honest, they probably were surprised, OK? As most lawyers would be. They said, “You never did anything wrong.”
And they said, and I agree with them, “We should be upfront, give them a”—we gave them everything.
WSJ: So if asked if...
Mr. Trump: There has never been, in the history—in the history of an administration anybody that was more open than we were. You understand that?
-snip-
Mr. Trump: I don’t know if Congress has the guts to do that.
WSJ: But do you want them to?
Mr. Trump: I would like to see that. Yeah, I’d like to be able to—look, nobody gets more false press than I do. Nobody—nobody gets—nobody comes close. In history—in the history of this country nobody’s gotten more false press and you guys all know it.
WSJ: Why—why do you think that is?
Mr. Trump: They dislike me, the liberal media dislikes me. I mean I watch people—I was always the best at what I did, I was the—I was, you know, I went to the—I went to the Wharton School of Finance, did well. I went out, I—I started in Brooklyn, in a Brooklyn office with my father, I became one of the most successful real-estate developers, one of the most successful business people. I created maybe the greatest brand.
I then go into, in addition to that, part-time, like five percent a week, I open up a television show. As you know, the Apprentice on many evenings was the number one show on all of television, a tremendous success. It went on for 12 years, a tremendous success. They wanted to sign me for another three years and I said, no, I can’t do that.
That’s one of the reasons NBC hates me so much. NBC hates me so much they wanted—they were desperate to sign me for—for three more years.
-snip-
WSJ: But just to be clear, you’re not asking for them to shut those congressional investigations down?
Mr. Trump: No, I just want them to be tough, be strong. I also think that primary collusion, because there was no collusion on our side, the collusion was on the Democrat side with the Russians. And what went on with the FBI, where a man is tweeting to his lover that if she loses, we’ll essentially go back to the—we’ll go to the insurance policy, which is—if they lose, we’ll go to phase 2, and we’ll get this guy out of office.
I mean, this is the FBI we’re talking about. I think that is—that is treason. See, that’s treason right there.
WSJ: Does any of that make you less...
Mr. Trump: By the way, that’s a treasonous act. What he tweeted to his lover is a treasonous act.
WSJ: Does any of that make you less likely or less inclined to testify before Mueller, or talk to Mueller’s people?
Mr. Trump: Look, there has never been in the history of this country an administration that, number one, did nothing wrong, and number two, was more open with a special counsel. We have—my lawyers are very good people. We made a decision right at the beginning. And it wasn’t their original idea. They figured, like, well, we’ll fight this (inaudible).
After they looked at all the letters, all the facts, every email, they saw nothing. They said, “We should be open.” There has never been a more— they said, “You never did anything wrong.” To be honest, they probably were surprised, OK? As most lawyers would be. They said, “You never did anything wrong.”
And they said, and I agree with them, “We should be upfront, give them a”—we gave them everything.
WSJ: So if asked if...
Mr. Trump: There has never been, in the history—in the history of an administration anybody that was more open than we were. You understand that?
-snip-
9 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
He shifts subjects every fifth word or so.
