The Megyn Kelly Show - Former President Donald Trump on Biden's Impeachment and Age, Fauci and COVID, and Melania and Barron, Plus, Victor Davis Hanson

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00:00:31.000 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.

00:00:42.460 Hey, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:46.540 Seven years after my last sit-down interview with Donald Trump,

00:00:50.580 we met again yesterday at Bedminster in New Jersey.

00:00:54.360 No topic was off the table. The interview lasted just over an hour.

00:00:58.320 We talked about the indictments against him, the impeachment inquiry against President Biden,

00:01:04.100 whether he and President Biden are too old for the office of President Anthony Fauci,

00:01:09.580 his relationship with his wife Melania, and so much more.

00:01:13.320 The president subjected himself to tough questioning, and credit to him for being willing to take on any

00:01:20.320 topic. I would love to see somebody do this with Joe Biden.

00:01:23.780 I would love to do this with Joe Biden, but he would never do it, right? He wouldn't.

00:01:28.520 We all know that. So credit to Trump, who knew that it was going to have challenging questions

00:01:32.920 and sat and willingly answered all of them. After the interview, I'll give you some behind

00:01:37.440 the scenes insights that you're not going to want to miss. But here is part one of my interview

00:01:42.900 with former President Donald Trump.

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00:02:32.980 Mr. President, thank you so much for doing this.

00:02:34.940 Thank you.

00:02:35.400 All right. So let's start with the impeachment news. Yesterday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said

00:02:40.160 that the House is going to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. I know you were

00:02:46.460 supportive of it. Some people believe this could do for him with Democrats what the indictments did

00:02:52.240 for you with Republicans, rally support around him. Do you think there's any risk of that?

00:02:57.200 Look, he's a horrible president. Our country is going to hell. Whether it's impeachment or not

00:03:03.940 impeachment, this man is destroying our country at the border. He's destroying it economically.

00:03:08.260 Inflation is way up now. You see what happened just today. That's up to them if they want to do

00:03:14.380 impeachment or impeachment inquiry. I didn't have never had an inquiry. Nancy Pelosi, crazy Nancy

00:03:20.220 said, we're going to impeach him. They didn't do inquiries. They went out and they voted because

00:03:24.900 they had the votes. And as usual, everybody votes, you know, for the Democrats. It's a little bit easier.

00:03:29.780 They didn't have Mitt Romney's of the world. And that's really nice because now he's not running

00:03:34.000 today, as you know, he just announced. I think that's great for the Republican Party, for the

00:03:37.620 country and for Utah. But that's going to be up to them whether or not they want to do it. I have

00:03:43.000 no idea whether they will or not. We do have a lot of other things, but it's quite important. And they

00:03:49.260 did it to me. And had they not done it to me, I think, and nobody officially said this, but I think

00:03:55.300 had they not done it to me, then I'm very popular in the region. They like me and I like them,

00:03:59.540 the Republican Party. Perhaps you wouldn't have it being done to them. And this is going to happen

00:04:04.660 with indictments, too. They have fake indictments. And I think you're going to see that as time goes

00:04:10.060 by. You're going to see Republicans, when they're in power, doing it. And it's a shame when that

00:04:15.380 happens. I'm not in favor of that, but that's what's going to happen because that's human nature.

00:04:19.600 Would you do it if you became president again, turn the indictment tables on the depths?

00:04:23.100 Well, I would think about it differently. I would have never even thought of doing it,

00:04:26.700 but now you certainly have to think about it differently. It doesn't mean I do it because

00:04:30.900 I think it's so bad for the country. Yesterday, President Putin of Russia used this as an example

00:04:36.440 of what a rotten country we are, that they go after their political opponent. And other countries

00:04:42.800 are doing that, too. Other countries that don't like us are doing that. They're saying it's the

00:04:46.660 biggest story. They love it because it makes us look very bad. It makes us look very bad. And

00:04:51.980 they're fake indictments. There's Fannie Willis and all of these people. These are all fake

00:04:56.020 indictments. And I don't know how much my polls have gone. I was doing well before this, but

00:05:00.960 I don't know what impact it's had on my polls, but we're way up above the Republicans and we're way up

00:05:07.540 on Biden. Well, let's talk about the allegations against the Bidens for a minute, because this was

00:05:12.940 something you tried to raise when you ran against Biden in 2020. I watched you at that presidential

00:05:18.300 debate try to raise these very issues that now the House is investigating. Why do you think that

00:05:23.680 didn't gain traction? Well, it's different when it's a Republican doing it and a Democrat. The

00:05:30.100 press is fake news. I think I'm very proud of certain things. I've shown open borders. I've

00:05:36.600 shown crime. I've shown a lot of things, but I've also shown that the press is fake. And if I say

00:05:42.380 something, even if it's true, they don't want to talk about it. You know, it's really what they don't

00:05:46.320 talk about more than what they talk about. They don't talk about things. You know this better than

00:05:49.960 anybody. I brought it up at the debate, Chris Wallace, who tried awfully hard to be his father,

00:05:56.220 but he hasn't got the talent. And what happened, Mike Wallace, who was great, who interviewed me

00:06:00.640 actually in 60 minutes, he actually gave me probably the only good interview he's ever done,

00:06:04.420 meaning a nice interview. He liked me and I liked him. He was a tough cookie, but he was good and a

00:06:09.060 total pro. But Chris will never be that. But at the debate, he was moderating. And I said,

00:06:14.160 what about the mayor of Russia's wife? He's the mayor of Moscow's wife. Now, you have the mayor of

00:06:21.060 Moscow, him, married to a woman. He passed away, left her a vast fortune from being the mayor,

00:06:27.280 okay? I mean, this is a nice way to make money. And she gave three and a half million dollars to

00:06:32.600 Biden. And I brought that up during the debate. And Chris Wallace said, this has nothing to do with

00:06:37.540 anywhere. Well, now it's the biggest subject. Everyone's talking about it. And now they go back

00:06:41.540 to that debate. And that debate's getting a lot of look-see. And it's a shame that they didn't do it.

00:06:48.600 Chris Wallace should have never done what he did. He tried to stifle it. I mean, literally,

00:06:53.460 I was like debating two people. I was actually debating one and a quarter. I would say Wallace

00:06:57.740 would be one and Biden was a quarter. But he was just standing there. But I said, the mayor

00:07:03.880 of Moscow's wife gave him three and a half million dollars. I want to find out why. What did he do to

00:07:10.660 earn this money? And they wouldn't do that. You tried to raise China. You tried to raise the

00:07:15.240 laptop. You got shut down. Everything. They didn't want to discuss it on social media. Got

00:07:20.640 banned on Twitter, the New York Post, all those stories. Let me shift gears and ask you, now that

00:07:24.640 Joe Biden's in the office, there was just a poll out. 77% of Americans say that Joe Biden at age 80

00:07:32.500 is too old to be president. Are they right?

00:07:35.260 No, not not for the reason of old, because I have many friends are in their 80s. I have

00:07:40.140 friends, Bernie Marcus, that are in their 90s and they're sharp as a tack. Just I mean,

00:07:45.300 I would say just about what they used to be. No, not old. He's incompetent. He's not too old.

00:07:51.240 He's incompetent. And age is interesting because some people are very sharp and some people do lose

00:07:57.680 it. But you lose it at 40 and 50 also. But no, he's not too old at all. He's grossly incompetent.

00:08:06.240 You look at some of the great you look at some of the great world leaders. They were in their 80s

00:08:10.820 and they did. I mean, Churchill, so many people. They were phenomenal in their 80s. You know,

00:08:17.520 there's a great wisdom if you're if you're not in a position like him. But if you go back 25 years,

00:08:24.760 he wasn't the sharpest tack either. Ron DeSantis has come out to say that 80 year

00:08:30.740 olds shouldn't be president, that if you're the nominee, the GOP will lose age as a cudgel to use

00:08:37.960 against Joe Biden. Does he have a fair point? Well, if he's the nominee, they'll lose because

00:08:42.100 he's a lousy candidate. So, you know, I'd rather I'd rather take on the age issue. I feel I'm

00:08:48.120 physically extremely good. I feel I feel the same way I did 40 years ago. I mean, I feel as good as I've

00:08:53.020 ever felt athletically. I'm just about as good as I ever was. I, you know, do certain things. I play

00:08:59.580 golf. I win club championships of and I beat people that are 25 years younger than me. I hit the ball

00:09:06.280 just as far as I ever. I actually think I hit it a little bit further. But just at this club,

00:09:11.360 there's a big club with a lot of good members, a lot of good players. You must have good genes,

00:09:14.400 Mr. President, because you eat McDonald's. I know you love chocolate. You love the Diet Coke. How

00:09:19.360 are you doing that? How? Well, it's really a parental thing, much more so than I, you know,

00:09:24.260 I believe in the racehorse theory. Fast horses produce fast horses. You know, I mean, it's a

00:09:31.120 little bit about your parents. My parents were very good. They were very, they lived to an old age.

00:09:36.820 My father was, he lived old. He lived into his 90s, well into his 90s. And my mother

00:09:43.220 lived quite a life. Okay, let's talk policy, immigration in particular. As of late recently,

00:09:51.320 we've seen several Democratic lawmakers speaking out after their cities, including New York, but

00:09:56.620 many others are overrun by the influx of migrants who have come to the country illegally. They want

00:10:02.600 federal money. They want President Biden to fast track work permits for these people. They want

00:10:09.160 mostly for these migrants to go elsewhere. Right. What should be done about this problem?

00:10:12.700 Well, they're going to have to talk up because no country or city or state is sustainable doing

00:10:18.480 this. You have thousands of people. I was in New York. I saw on Madison Avenue, there's magnificent

00:10:23.700 shops, Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, the greatest Madison Avenue, thousands and thousands of people.

00:10:31.200 And they're sitting on the street. They're not even on the sidewalk because there's not enough room

00:10:34.480 on the sidewalk. And you have these beautiful stores that are paying a lot of rent and they have

00:10:38.820 to sell luxury merchandise. And that goes to the city in form of taxes and all these other things.

00:10:44.020 And they're not going to be able to stay in business. The money that's being lost in these

00:10:48.700 cities, Chicago, Los Angeles. So now you have the massive crime problem and it's vast in Democrat-run

00:10:56.820 cities. On top of that, you have the migrants or the illegal aliens, many different names,

00:11:04.060 but the illegal aliens pouring in, going into the cities. And it's sad because the mayor of New

00:11:10.280 York, he knows that it's a very horrible thing. And they're afraid to take on the Democrat party.

00:11:15.940 You know, it's very hard to take on the Democrat party. Look at RFK Jr. They're not giving him the

00:11:20.440 vote. I mean, they're saying you have to get a vast number of votes in order to even qualify.

00:11:25.700 They're making it impossible for him. You know, they're essentially rigging the election,

00:11:28.960 which they're very good at. So how do you get them out of there? Like you take over as president.

00:11:34.600 What are you going to do? Well, you're going to have to move them out. Look, this is not

00:11:37.420 sustainable by this country. So I think the number will be at the end of the year, 15 million people.

00:11:43.000 It's not going to be 3 million, 2 million. I think it's going to be 15 million. But the truth is,

00:11:47.400 we have no idea because they're pouring in. Also, they come from prisons. They come from insane

00:11:54.080 asylums. They come from mental institutions. And there's vast numbers of terrorists. I saw just

00:12:00.060 on one of the shows during the weekend that in 2019, that was me, we had no terrorists come in,

00:12:08.040 no terrorists. They knew that they couldn't come in. We were very tough. Zero. It actually said zero,

00:12:13.240 which is shocking because I'm sure a couple got in. And then I see over the last couple of years,

00:12:18.640 it was large, hundreds and hundreds of terrorists coming in. But I noticed in 2019, it said zero.

00:12:27.880 I don't know if I even believe it myself. But it showed you that we had a tough policy.

00:12:32.480 And now it's hundreds and hundreds of terrorists are coming in. Thousands and thousands of prisoners

00:12:37.720 and people from mental institutions are pouring into our country. And this is not sustainable.

00:12:43.680 This is not sustainable. When you look at New York and you look at the streets and the people,

00:12:47.840 they can't even walk on the sidewalks. They're taking up the schools. We're going to educate

00:12:52.800 people that don't speak a word of English. I mean, our students have enough problems,

00:12:57.280 but they're giving them cell phones. You know the amazing thing? Everybody has a cell phone.

00:13:01.900 I was watching yesterday and there are hundreds of people sitting on the sidewalk. And these are

00:13:08.420 illegal immigrants and they all have cell phones. And I say, number one, how did they get the cell

00:13:13.960 phone? Number two, you have to pay your bill, right? Who pays their bill?

00:13:16.820 But every one of them, they're all looking at the cell phone. They're making calls.

00:13:20.920 And they just came over the border illegally. Now, we had a very strong border. We had the

00:13:26.360 strongest border in history. We had the lowest numbers, the best numbers in history. And it

00:13:30.540 wasn't easy. We built 500 miles of wall. We were going to build another 200 miles. It was under

00:13:35.480 construction. Would have been done in three weeks. And they stopped it. We had a rigged election,

00:13:39.920 as you probably heard. And they stopped it. They stopped this from being built.

00:13:43.720 They could have had it done. They could have had it done in a period of three weeks. And they

00:13:49.000 stopped it. But regardless. Can I ask you about that, though? Because that is one thing that your

00:13:53.000 critics say would have helped keep some of these migrants out. A wall. So whatever happened with

00:13:57.360 that? Because what Border Patrol says is we only added 46 miles. So you said you're going to do a

00:14:03.520 thousand. Border Patrol doesn't say that. Who says that are Democrats when they drive. So

00:14:08.840 you have hundreds of miles. Let me set up the numbers. You tell me why I'm wrong. Yeah. Go ahead.

00:14:12.900 In 16, you said there was going to be a border wall up across about 1,000 miles. No. And you

00:14:19.820 I don't know if I said 1,000, but I said whatever. I mean, it's 2,000 miles long, but we have

00:14:23.540 rivers and we have other barriers. You have up to 2,000 miles. You need it on 5 to 600 miles because you

00:14:29.680 have rivers and desert. You have a lot of different bad conditions. So they said when Barack Obama left

00:14:36.300 office, we had 654 miles covered and that you were going to get us to 1,000 and that you only

00:14:41.540 added less than 50 miles of wall. Okay. Ready? You go. So what they say is that if there's a board

00:14:48.340 lying on the ground, a two by four that was there for 50 years and sitting there rotted, that that was

00:14:53.660 a wall and that when I added a brand new wall that went up 30 feet and it's solid steel, concrete and

00:14:59.280 rebar, that that was not a wall because that was just a renovation. So what they do is they call it a

00:15:04.380 renovation. If there are boards sitting on the ground, if there are nails, if there's steel

00:15:08.020 sitting on the ground, there's no wall. But if it used to be a wall like 30, 40 years ago where

00:15:12.560 they had just a fence because there were no walls, they had just like a little low fence or

00:15:17.000 a barrier so that cars couldn't come across and it was rotted and laying on the ground. They don't

00:15:21.760 give me credit for a wall, but they do actually because if you look at the numbers, they say

00:15:26.560 I built almost 500 miles of wall. I built almost 500. Some of that was wood laying on the ground

00:15:35.700 that we took away, threw away, and we built a brand new wall. So what they're trying to say

00:15:40.260 is that we built 50 or 60 miles of wall because there were 50 or 60 where it was never anything.

00:15:45.260 But any wall that was there was decrepit. It was gone. It was rusted. It was rotted. It was laying

00:15:52.220 on the ground. And we would actually just take it away. Then we built a, you know, a really

00:15:57.760 incredible new wall. You know, the wall that was built was built to the specifications of the border

00:16:02.600 patrol. I was going to do concrete plank and they said you have to be able to see through. You have to,

00:16:07.080 you know, and they wanted steel, not concrete. And they wanted inside the steel concrete. And then

00:16:11.800 they wanted rebar inside that. So it was a complicated thing. And it was built to the highest

00:16:16.860 specification. I didn't want to build something that all of a sudden they say, you know, it's no good.

00:16:20.940 You can't see through it or something. And we built almost 500 miles. And they admit that.

00:16:26.160 But what they try and do is they say, oh, there was wall there before. It wasn't wall. It was a

00:16:30.180 board laying on the floor that might've been a wall years ago. And it's a very unfair.

00:16:35.220 Well, now President Biden's selling off. He's selling off the materials that you had allocated

00:16:38.560 for new wall. Well, just so you know, so I built almost 500 miles. Then we were going to add

00:16:43.200 200 miles. We thought we were going to easily win the election, but the election,

00:16:46.820 bad things happened. So what happened, including COVID, you know, COVID gave them a way of cheating.

00:16:53.200 So what happened is I was going to add another 200. We would have had 700 miles, which is really

00:16:58.360 a good number. You needed 500. 700 would have really closed it up. After we built the almost 500,

00:17:06.160 we were going to add another 200. Everything was bought. All we had to do is lift it up and do it.

00:17:11.500 And they actually caught it in a way. I said, you know, these people really want to have open

00:17:16.100 borders here. You also said recently that if you're reelected, you would send special forces

00:17:21.820 and quote other military assets to Mexico to stop the drug cartels. The Mexican president is very much

00:17:28.700 against this. You're going to start a war? Well, he's a friend of mine. He's a great guy. He's a

00:17:33.920 friend of mine. He's a socialist, but you can't have everything. And I think a lot of him and he thinks

00:17:38.460 a lot of me were friends. And he said the same thing happened to him. He had a rigged election

00:17:43.140 years ago. He said the exact same thing happened to him. No, I didn't say that. Somebody said I said

00:17:50.120 that and actually was met with great applause, if you want to know the truth. They said that I said

00:17:55.060 that at a meeting. So you're not going to use the bet. I'm not going to say what I'm going to do.

00:17:58.900 I mean, I may do something. Something has to be done. Look, we're losing, I think, 300,000 people.

00:18:04.120 But let me ask, I get it. And I cede to you that there's a serious problem that's affecting Americans.

00:18:08.620 We're losing more money than if we were actually in a war. But, but. Not money.

00:18:13.300 A lot of the Republicans are saying they're going to do this.

00:18:15.060 We're losing more lives. If we were in a war, we wouldn't be losing because I believe the number

00:18:19.280 is 300,000. But we can't have a war with Mexico.

00:18:22.820 No, it's a war on cartels. Mexico's petrified of the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico.

00:18:28.840 But if we send our troops across the southern border, you know better than I do that the Mexican president,

00:18:33.660 if he doesn't like it, we're in a war. I know, but I'm not too worried about that war.

00:18:38.320 No, Mexico is sending their troops into our country in the form of illegal aliens that are killing people

00:18:47.180 in many cases, that are causing lots of disease and lots of problems. You know, they're coming in.

00:18:53.260 I had the medical, I had the medical barrier that they, Biden dropped. I had every barrier you could

00:18:59.960 have. Even the judge said, are you sure you want to drop this? I don't think you should drop this.

00:19:04.000 This is a terrible thing. Are you, the judge actually said that because-

00:19:08.080 Title 42?

00:19:08.700 Yeah.

00:19:09.120 Yeah.

00:19:10.240 Title 42. He said, he said, you can't drop this. He's telling them, but it expired six months later.

00:19:16.320 He said, well, if it's expired, but you don't want a ruling. The judge didn't want to do it.

00:19:20.480 He said, you're going to destroy our country if you do this. These people

00:19:24.240 are destroying our country. And, and, you know, it's amazing. You say why? Somebody said the vote.

00:19:30.700 I said, they don't need the votes. They cheat. So they don't really need the votes. And the votes

00:19:34.600 would be in a long time from now. Okay. You know, they become citizens, but you know, they'd use them

00:19:39.020 anyway, but it's not that they actually must want to destroy our country. We have millions of people

00:19:45.560 coming through. We have people that are sick. We have people, massive numbers of people from jails.

00:19:51.840 They're emptying out all the jails in South America. Now they're emptying out all the jails

00:19:56.300 all over the world. Now they're coming in from all over the world. This week, we had 129 countries

00:20:02.940 represented of people pouring into our border. Yeah. 129 coming in from the North. Most people don't

00:20:08.440 know you have that many countries. You actually have much more than that, but we had 129 countries

00:20:13.260 represented where people are coming into our country. Some of these countries, we don't even

00:20:18.600 have people that speak the language of those countries. We don't even know how to teach it.

00:20:22.640 And then the kids end up in our classrooms and they don't speak English. Right. That's right.

00:20:28.040 It's a terrible situation. Let's talk about the kids and birthright. Megan, they're destroying

00:20:31.640 our country. Birthright citizenship is an issue that a lot of people have raised as part of the

00:20:37.600 problem. People come here, they have a baby just so they can stay. You've said that you will

00:20:41.800 end it by executive order if you put back in the White House. But putting aside the legal

00:20:45.540 questions around whether that's possible. Some people say you can't do that. Some people

00:20:48.900 say you can't. Some people say you can. But you made this promise back in 16 and then

00:20:52.560 you didn't do it once elected. And then as president, you kept saying you were going to

00:20:55.900 sign an executive order on this and you didn't. So why should people believe you now?

00:20:59.360 Because the lawyers didn't want me to do it because the lawyers were saying you have to

00:21:02.440 go through a whole big thing all over the country. You need votes of every state and everything

00:21:06.280 else. I would do it. One thing I'll say, when I look at the way Biden just signs his executive

00:21:12.580 orders on student loans and on everything, knowing that you can't do it, knowing it's

00:21:17.360 going to be overturned, I'd rather get it through Congress. And we were working to get something

00:21:21.800 through Congress. So crazy. Somebody comes in. If they put one foot on our land, you have

00:21:31.100 to take them. They have a baby. Congratulations. The baby becomes a citizen of this country.

00:21:36.820 Then they have chain migration where the baby then brings in the whole family. The whole

00:21:41.680 thing is crazy. So the lawyers wanted to go through and the politicians wanted to go through

00:21:48.160 and get this approved through Congress and actually go through the states. That's how bad

00:21:51.780 it is. Birthright citizenship. A lot of people say you have to go through states. And I'm not

00:21:55.600 taking an opinion because I don't want this. I don't want this. I don't want them using this

00:21:59.540 in court. I happen to disagree with them. And I would have done it. I was getting ready

00:22:04.020 to do it. And then COVID came in and we had bigger problems. But now you say you will sign

00:22:08.060 an executive order. I will do an executive order. Yeah, 100 percent. Let's talk about

00:22:12.160 COVID. For years, you've been saying that the reason you didn't fire Anthony Fauci was

00:22:17.520 because he'd been there for a long time, that you would have taken heat, that it would have

00:22:21.580 created a firestorm, quoting your words. Then for the first time in May. I also said I

00:22:26.100 didn't listen to him too much. I'm getting there. But then in May, you started saying,

00:22:29.340 well, he's a civil servant. So I couldn't technically. The truth is, though, not only

00:22:33.420 did you not fire Fauci, who is loathed by many, many millions of Republicans in particular,

00:22:38.780 but also some Democrats. By the way, you made him a star. You made him a star. This is the

00:22:42.440 criticism of you, that you made him the face of the White House coronavirus. You think

00:22:46.640 so? That he was out at every presser, that he was running herd for the administration on

00:22:51.000 COVID and that you actually gave him a presidential commendation before he left office.

00:22:55.660 Wouldn't you like a do over on that? I don't know who gave him the commendation. I really

00:23:00.960 don't know who gave him the commendation. I wouldn't have done it.

00:23:03.220 Presidential commendation. I know. Somebody probably handed him a commendation. He probably,

00:23:06.940 but let me just tell you about Fauci. Fauci was very important in the Biden administration,

00:23:11.440 much less important. If you know, he didn't want to stop China. He wanted to let everyone come in

00:23:17.040 from China. I stopped it. I overrode it. I overrode many of the things he did. He was much less

00:23:22.660 important to me. Now, with that all being said, he's been there for years. He was respected. He'd

00:23:27.880 lost a lot of the respect because of COVID, but he was respected. And on COVID, if you know what I

00:23:34.460 did, I let the governors run their states. And many of the governors opened up their states. Some of

00:23:39.920 them didn't. Florida, by the way. That's true. Florida, by the way, was closed. But if you take

00:23:45.040 a look at Henry McMaster, he had his state, South Carolina, open. You take a look at South Dakota,

00:23:53.840 take a look at Tennessee. A lot of the states were not closed. And I allowed, it's the federalist

00:23:59.560 system. I allowed the governors to do that. I also allowed Democrat governors to do that. But

00:24:04.480 I don't think any of them, none of them did it. Wouldn't you like to go back and try to clip

00:24:08.840 his wings? This guy was pushing mask mandates on us. He wanted the most extreme measure at every

00:24:14.160 turn. Okay. Look, I'm not one that blames a system that if you're civil service or if you have some

00:24:20.420 other protection that you can't get fired, because I've done things that are a lot worse than that.

00:24:24.880 You're big on the firing. So, yeah, I fired a lot of people. I fired Comey. And that was one of the

00:24:29.740 great firings. I fired Comey. And then I fired a lot of other people in the FBI. And they were great

00:24:33.820 firings because the deep state and they were at work and they were not good people. But I wasn't,

00:24:40.000 I was not a big fan of Fauci. If you look at Ron DeSanctimonious, he was, this guy said the

00:24:45.920 greatest things. I can give you articles that, well, Fauci's great. He's wonderful. We love him.

00:24:51.120 We don't do anything without Fauci. This went on for months. But he didn't listen to Fauci.

00:24:55.780 He did a hundred percent. Look. He shut down Florida for a month. I will give you,

00:24:59.500 he shut down Florida for a month. Oh, he shut it down for a lot of longer. He shut down the

00:25:04.020 beaches. He shut down the roads. He shut down the hospital. He was shutting down everything.

00:25:08.360 He also had long lines of people getting the jab, as he called it. Let's all go get the jab.

00:25:15.100 The guy tried to change history in Florida. Now, eventually Florida was open, but a lot of these

00:25:21.920 other governors didn't shut down at all. South Dakota didn't shut down. McMaster,

00:25:26.700 South Carolina didn't shut down. Tennessee, there are states that didn't shut down at all.

00:25:32.140 They probably did the best job. But Ron DeSantis was under a lot of pressure,

00:25:37.320 especially given the population, the age of a lot of Florida's citizens.

00:25:41.300 I'm not trying to blame anybody, but he should say, I closed it down. Eventually we opened it,

00:25:47.260 but I closed it down. But I gave him the right to keep it open. If he wanted to,

00:25:51.740 I let the governors make the determination as to whether or not to close it down.

00:25:55.660 But let me ask you this, because this is the number one question. I asked my audience,

00:25:58.960 what would you like me to ask President Trump? These are your fans. This is the number one

00:26:02.360 question they wanted me to ask you, that you shut the country down for six weeks in spring of 2020.

00:26:06.980 Operation Warp Speed rushed through.

00:26:09.780 I didn't really.

00:26:10.440 Let me ask the question. This is my audience's question. I got to get it out.

00:26:13.880 But I let the governors shut down. Some did and some didn't.

00:26:18.260 Okay.

00:26:18.680 Some didn't shut down at all.

00:26:19.740 Operation Warp Speed, though.

00:26:21.100 Yeah.

00:26:21.300 That was on the vaccines. They were rushed through. They have helped but also hurt a lot of people.

00:26:26.880 And your White House actually supported mask mandates. So wouldn't you like a do-over on any of that?

00:26:32.340 Look, when this came in, nobody knew what the hell it was. It sounded like an ancient, you know,

00:26:38.460 pandemic. You thought that was from 200 years ago or from 1917. We never thought you'd have a

00:26:44.240 pandemic. Nobody had any idea. We got word that bad things were happening in China right around

00:26:51.000 the Wuhan clinic. And I was the one that said it was in the Wuhan clinic. And, you know, I stuck with

00:26:56.320 it. And it was. It was absolutely. It came out of the Wuhan clinic. But you take a look. And what

00:27:02.460 we did was this was brand new. Nobody knew what the hell it was. There's dust. Somebody said there's

00:27:09.080 dust coming in from China. And it's killing people in Italy. And it's killing people in France. And it's

00:27:14.940 going to kill people here. And by the way, I shut it down to China. That was a big move. I saved

00:27:19.740 thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives by doing it. But honestly, nobody, I don't blame a lot of

00:27:25.840 people because nobody knew what it was. Now we do understand it somewhat. Nobody really

00:27:31.060 understands it even now fully. But nobody knew what COVID was. And it wasn't even a name. I

00:27:37.240 called it the China virus. I still do. I call it the China virus. It came out of China. You know,

00:27:42.120 they call it COVID and COVID-19. As far as the vaccine's concerned, you had the original COVID.

00:27:49.940 And the vaccine had an impact on that. And there are some people, I will tell you,

00:27:54.580 some friends of mine that are Democrat, I think they voted for me, but they're Democrat,

00:27:58.900 very smart people, top people. They say, you know, I don't understand one thing. Why don't

00:28:03.820 you talk more about the vaccine? It was one of the greatest things you've ever done.

00:28:07.300 Now think of that. They say to me, and I say, I'm not going to talk about it one way or the other.

00:28:12.180 First of all, no mandates. I don't want mandates. I never had mandates. Florida sort of had a mandate

00:28:17.660 because they were giving the vaccine. They were demanding everybody take the vaccine. That's another

00:28:21.900 thing. But no mandates, no anything. I didn't demand anybody take it. But I have people on the

00:28:28.040 other side. I don't know my side, although probably there's some on my side too. They said,

00:28:33.020 you saved a hundred million people because I got it done in nine months as opposed to five years to

00:28:37.400 12 years. A lot of people. You're proud of it. No, I'm not proud of it. I'm saying what Democrats

00:28:41.700 think. Democrats. I get it. And I'm not somebody who denies some of the good that the vaccines did.

00:28:47.320 I lived through that too. But of course, a lot of people have been vaccine injured. And that's one

00:28:52.840 of the questions. Those people are mad that they were rushed through and that they can't sue.

00:28:56.980 Well, I never gave mandates and people have to make up their own, you know, make their own decision.

00:29:01.440 As far as I'm concerned. Now, some places had mandates, very strong mandates,

00:29:05.760 largely Democrat governors and probably some Republicans, et cetera, et cetera.

00:29:10.280 But there are Democrats that say, why aren't you talking about that? It's one of the,

00:29:15.640 they really believe strongly. One said, you say, and this is very smart people. They said,

00:29:21.140 you saved a hundred million people worldwide. Uh, in 1917, you know, they, it could have been

00:29:26.700 as much as a hundred. It ended the first world war because all the soldiers were dying of,

00:29:31.160 of this horrible disease of 1917. You know, it actually ended the first world war. The soldiers

00:29:37.600 were dying. There was on the lines, they're fighting and they're dying of this horrible disease.

00:29:42.180 They said, you might've saved a hundred million people, 50 million people. Why aren't you talking

00:29:47.280 about it? I said, I'm not talking about it. But what I did do is I got something done for that

00:29:51.400 specific thing. I also got Regeneron and I got a lot of therapeutics done, which were great.

00:29:57.720 I also got the robes and the leather and the rubber and all of the different things,

00:30:02.360 the ventilators. We did a tremendous job and it's never, you know, they appreciated what I did

00:30:09.480 with the economy. I got a lot of good marks on economy. I got a lot of good marks on a lot of

00:30:13.220 things. Rebuilding the military, getting rid of ISIS, uh, the biggest tax cuts in history.

00:30:18.960 Supreme. I never got, I think the credit that I deserve on COVID. And I'll tell you the way I look

00:30:25.560 at it, it came in and nobody knew it was. We have to put ourselves back then. I had a meeting and we

00:30:32.040 had a lot of professionals in the oval office. They say, sir, something bad is happening in the world.

00:30:37.300 I said, what's that? And they said, people are dying. They're dying in China, in this area.

00:30:44.420 And there was pictures of body bags all over the place, black body bags, satellite pictures.

00:30:50.760 And they were all over. I said, that's strange. And then they'd have a next, another meeting the

00:30:55.820 next day and the next day and the next day. And all of a sudden they had something where the first

00:31:00.940 person died in the United States and then another, and then it died. Then they started dying all over

00:31:05.960 Italy and all over Europe. Nobody really knew what it was, Megan.

00:31:09.800 I hear you. Uh, let's shift gears and talk about trans and women's rights.

00:31:14.560 Okay.

00:31:15.500 In 2016, you said that Caitlyn Jenner, who is trans, could use the women's restroom at Trump Tower.

00:31:21.700 Uh, you allowed biological men to compete in the Miss Universe pageant at the time, which

00:31:26.300 you owned. A lot has changed since 2016. Have you?

00:31:31.140 Yeah, well, I have, but, but look, uh, I knew Caitlyn Jenner. Uh, this was, this is very much

00:31:39.960 like the same subject we just talked about. This was brand new.

00:31:42.540 Yeah.

00:31:42.760 Okay. This is a brand new subject also. There's a lot of, it hadn't exploded. A lot of the,

00:31:46.740 it, well, it hadn't exploded. I mean, nobody talked about it really. And so they're saying,

00:31:53.040 what do you think? And people say, yes, use no use. Um, but I'm the one that wouldn't allow it

00:31:59.780 in the military. That was a big move. I wouldn't allow it in the military. And I went to generals.

00:32:03.860 I say, general, let me ask you, do you like it? The real generals, not the ones you see on

00:32:07.780 television, not the millies of the world. I went to the real generals. I said, what do you think?

00:32:11.940 And they did not like it. They did not like it. They didn't, nobody wanted to go public with it.

00:32:15.880 It's a very hard subject. I ended it in the military. Now, since this character got in,

00:32:21.600 he's allowed it in the military. You know, part of the problem is you'd have to take massive amounts

00:32:25.460 of drugs in the military. You're not allowed to take drugs and you have to take massive amounts

00:32:30.420 of drugs. So right there, it should not be allowed, but I ended, I took a lot of heat. No matter

00:32:35.440 what you do there, you're going to take heat. You understand. But yeah, I mean, Caitlyn Jenner,

00:32:39.500 was she allowed? Should biological men who say that they're trans be allowed in women's

00:32:45.920 restrooms and women's locker rooms, women's prisons, women's spaces? Yeah. My, my stance

00:32:51.460 on that is really pretty much what I had in the military. I think it has to be, huh? No,

00:32:57.520 they shouldn't. Yeah. That's my stance. I mean, that's been my stance. Um, I may have allowed

00:33:02.960 Caitlyn, Caitlyn's Caitlyn, right? Uh, I knew Caitlyn as Bruce. I knew Bruce and, you know,

00:33:11.540 Bruce was a great athlete and a very handsome person, very handsome guy. And all of a sudden,

00:33:18.300 Bruce is Caitlyn. I said, what's this all about? This was a brand new subject too. Just like,

00:33:24.440 uh, just like we talk about, you know, the pandemic was a subject that nobody knew anything about.

00:33:29.660 Nobody knew anything about it. It was all, uh, early. You make a decision and you make the

00:33:35.580 decision very strongly. No, I get it. Look, I, I myself have changed a lot on this. Yeah,

00:33:40.260 I have. Since 2016. I just wondering, I'm just trying to figure out whether you have in fact

00:33:43.980 reversed on it. I don't think I've changed. I think I just, you know, at the beginning,

00:33:48.460 it was such a small subject. Nobody really thought about it. Uh, but then with time you change. I really,

00:33:55.160 where I probably took the hardest line was on the military. Yeah, that's true. Well,

00:33:59.640 what about the children? That's become an issue now. Should children be provided with access to

00:34:04.960 puberty blockers and cross sex hormones when they're minors? I'm so against it. First of all,

00:34:11.900 many of them, I heard like 62% when they grow up, when they're older, they're saying, who did this to

00:34:17.700 me? Why did you do this to me? Second of all, the parents have to make the decision. You know,

00:34:22.400 they're trying to give it to school boards and schools and things to make a decision.

00:34:25.880 It's unbelievable to think, you know, I talk about mutilation sometimes in my speeches,

00:34:29.620 we will stop the mutilation of children. And then I'll stop. And I'll say to the people in the

00:34:34.500 audience, I'll say, can you imagine that I'm talking about, we're going to stop mutilation of

00:34:38.740 children, but that's what it is. It's the mutilation of children. And we will stop the mutilation of

00:34:44.120 children. 10 years ago, you wouldn't even, nobody would ever to think, think of it. I am telling

00:34:51.100 people, because I guess I'm a politician, whether I like it or not, as a politician,

00:34:56.380 as somebody that represents a lot of people, I'm telling people that we're going to stop the

00:35:02.820 mutilation of children. Who would have to say a thing like that? You'd think it would be automatic.

00:35:07.780 Would you, so would you be in favor of a ban then on puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for

00:35:12.200 minors? I think yes, yes, yes, I would. Can a man become a woman?

00:35:17.880 Um, in my opinion, you have a man, you have a woman. I, I, I think, I think part of it is birth.

00:35:29.140 Can the man give birth? No, no. Although they'll come up with some answer to that also. Someday,

00:35:34.600 I heard just the other day, they have a way that now the man can give birth. No, I would say, uh,

00:35:40.500 uh, I'll continue my stance on that. Uh, okay. Let's talk a little bit about the criminal cases.

00:35:46.360 Okay. In particular, I'm interested in the obstruction case, the obstruction. Um, some

00:35:51.460 argue that criminal or not, you behaved irresponsibly with our national security

00:35:57.540 documents. For example, we've all now heard the audio tape of you post-presidency showing third

00:36:04.940 parties some sort of document that you're describing as secret. Allegedly, it was a Department of Defense

00:36:10.380 Mark Milley plan to attack Iran. Now this is at a meeting right here at Bedminster, where we are now.

00:36:15.480 You later told Brett Baer in an interview that you had no document that day, only newspapers

00:36:20.240 and magazines. But we hear you on the tape. We hear you saying, quote, look, this was him. This

00:36:26.140 was the Defense Department and him. It's highly confidential. This is secret. This was done by

00:36:30.940 the military and given to me as president. I could have declassified it. Now I can't. This is still a

00:36:36.700 secret. Now, why would you describe a newspaper article as highly confidential and still a secret

00:36:42.280 saying as president, you could have declassified it. Let me just tell you something. Number one,

00:36:48.040 I did nothing wrong because I come under the Presidential Records Act. Uh, the fascists who

00:36:53.740 are going after me and they're not going after Biden, even though he has about 10 times more

00:36:57.540 documents, maybe more than that. He has documents going back 40 years or 50 years. We did nothing

00:37:03.500 wrong. I come under the Presidential Records Act. I'm allowed to have these documents.

00:37:08.260 This was done in 1978 and this was done for exactly this reason. I'm allowed to have these

00:37:15.440 documents. The other side didn't even mention that. They don't even mention the words Presidential

00:37:20.600 Records Act. The Presidential Records Act is very important. Bill Clinton took out in his socks,

00:37:25.980 it's called the socks case, where a very respected judge, very liberal judge, but a very respected

00:37:32.260 judge ruled in favor of Bill Clinton, that he was allowed to take these very important documents,

00:37:37.200 conversation with conversations with world leaders, took it out in his socks and they found

00:37:42.420 them in his sock drawer and they call it the socks case. Uh, other people too. We come under the

00:37:48.540 Presidential Records Act. Now who doesn't is Mike Pence doesn't because he was a vice president

00:37:53.400 and he has a much higher standard. Uh, Joe Biden doesn't because he was, I mean, he was a vice

00:38:01.560 president at the time and he was a senator. He's got thousands of documents as a senator. And even I

00:38:08.540 watched a couple of Democrat senators say very strongly, there's no way he took that out from

00:38:13.640 the skip. He's got documents and he's fighting them like crazy. I come under the Presidential Records

00:38:20.720 Act. It's a very simple thing. Number one, it's civil. It's not criminal at all. These, these fascists

00:38:27.740 and these Marxists and these people that are dealing and they leak and they're disgusting people.

00:38:33.120 They're horrible for the country. Uh, we have a deranged guy named Jack Smith who's been overturned

00:38:38.640 at the Supreme Court a number of times and he gets overturned. You know why he gets overturned?

00:38:42.500 Because he goes too far. They don't even mention the Presidential Records Act. This is all about the

00:38:47.520 Presidential Records Act. I'm allowed to have these documents. I'm allowed to take these documents

00:38:52.340 classified or not classified. And frankly, when I have them, they become unclassified. People think

00:38:59.620 you have to go through a ritual. You don't, at least in my opinion, you don't, but it's even beyond

00:39:04.920 that because the Presidential Records Act allows you to do as president, only as president. Now,

00:39:12.800 the other people that we talk about, including Biden, he wasn't president. So what he did is a

00:39:18.780 different standard and he should have real problems. They really should be talking about that, not about

00:39:23.920 me. I did absolutely nothing wrong. Okay. But let's get to my question. Why would you be holding up a

00:39:29.800 newspaper saying, this is still secret? I'd have to look at it. I could declassify it if I were

00:39:34.760 president. I would have to look at it. But that's what you told Brett Baer. You told Brett Baer that

00:39:38.680 that was a newspaper or a magazine. I could have declassified. No, I also told Brett Baer, as I

00:39:41.820 remember, I don't know, it was a long time interview. Well, you tell me what were you waving around in that

00:39:46.040 meeting. I also told Brett Baer that it wasn't a classified document. What were you waving around in that

00:39:51.860 meeting? Because it certainly sounds like it was an attack. I'm not going to talk to you about that because

00:39:54.500 that's already been, I think, very substantiated and there's no problem with it. It hasn't

00:39:59.720 been substantiated. Jack Smith says it was the attack plan. Megan, let me just tell you. Let me

00:40:02.760 tell you. Here we go again. I'm covered by the Presidential Records Act. I'm allowed to do what

00:40:09.900 I want to do. I'm allowed to have documents. The Presidential Records Act is civil, not criminal.

00:40:15.660 That's true. In any way, it's civil. And I'm covered by it 100%. Can I ask you what you mean by that?

00:40:19.940 And this shouldn't even be a case. No, and I'm not trying to come at you criminally. I'm trying to say.

00:40:24.540 Of course you are. But listen. No, no, I started off by saying it's not about the criminal.

00:40:28.020 This should be a case for Biden because he is not covered by the Presidential Records Act.

00:40:32.820 This was, I guess, started because Richard Nixon kept documents. So did many other presidents.

00:40:37.960 And so did presidents after. Bush kept documents. Obama kept documents. They all had,

00:40:44.040 in fact, of all people, of all groups, the New York Times wrote a story.

00:40:48.780 The only power that NARA has is to say, please, please, please, Mr. President,

00:40:53.360 can we have these documents? The National Archives. Okay. Now, they may be able to sue you civilly,

00:40:59.540 not criminally. They may be. They don't even have that power, probably. But they may be able.

00:41:04.520 So I get all that. I get all that. But the obstruction case isn't about that.

00:41:08.900 The obstruction case says, okay, so even if you had the right to the documents, once you get the

00:41:13.480 subpoena, you got to fork them over. The subpoena said give us anything with a classified marking.

00:41:17.500 Go ahead. This is just like the Mueller stuff. They create a fake crime. And then they say,

00:41:23.300 you obstructed. This is a fake thing that they've done. And then they say, it's always obstruction.

00:41:29.600 They say, oh, he obstructed. He this, he that. And you know what they call obstruction? When you fight

00:41:34.080 them. When you fight them, they call it obstruction. So they create a fake crime because there was no

00:41:39.420 crime because I come under, right? I don't want to sound boring to all of your many people. I hope you

00:41:43.480 have a lot of people. You will. But you know what? They create a fake crime. And they did that with

00:41:49.080 Mueller. They created a fake crime, a terrible fake thing that took two years. And then they said,

00:41:56.280 all right, that's fake. But he obstructed. That's what they do here. They have a fake crime. And I

00:42:02.900 didn't obstruct anything. OK, next. Well, that was my question that, you know, even if I think

00:42:07.960 they're accusing me of a fake crime, if I get a subpoena, I have to comply. I used to practice law for 10

00:42:13.180 years. You've got to comply. You've got to work over the documents and then fight.

00:42:16.720 I have complied with everything. I have given more documents. And they came in, they raided

00:42:23.080 Mar-a-Lago, probably illegally. OK, and we'll find that out. They took documents that they

00:42:30.380 weren't even allowed to do. But they took documents. They took everything. I have. And I would have given

00:42:36.860 it to them. You know what? We had a meeting. I said, what do you want? And instead of doing that,

00:42:41.280 because they're doing this for political reasons, the reason they're doing this is for

00:42:45.660 election interference. Let me just say, I don't dispute that, frankly. But the question is simply

00:42:51.120 your lawyer signed a certification saying they turned over everything that was responsive.

00:42:55.280 Then when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, they found documents that were responsive that had not been

00:42:59.860 produced. Mark Klassik. I don't know what the timing is. Again, I'd have to check. I don't know.

00:43:04.300 I just don't know the timing. All I know is I'm allowed to have those documents. But once you get a

00:43:08.860 subpoena, you have to turn them over. I know this. I don't even know that because I have the right to

00:43:15.160 have those documents. So I don't really know that. These are Democrat fascists that are there to

00:43:22.700 interfere with an election. And frankly, you can't say that they obstructed when they create a fake

00:43:28.600 crime. So ready? In Russia, Russia, Russia, it was a fake crime. At the end, they said, oh, well,

00:43:34.500 that's not working. But he obstructed because he fought us. So they create a fake crime illegally,

00:43:41.360 by the way, illegally. The dossier was fake. Everything was fake. And then they say, I fought

00:43:45.940 them and I obstructed. This is the same thing. They have a fake crime. There is no crime. In fact,

00:43:52.840 it's civil. It's not criminal.

00:43:55.040 That's true. And so they're saying that's why they say Espionage Act, to make it criminal.

00:43:59.160 Oh, they make it Espionage Act. Like it's something like the Spanish Armada is going to raid us. And

00:44:04.620 look, the Espionage Act of 1917 has no impact on this. I am covered 100 percent.

00:44:13.520 I got it. There's a dispute about that, about whether presidential.

00:44:17.080 You can dispute it.

00:44:17.980 Just so my audience don't.

00:44:18.900 I don't think there's any dispute that I'm covered under the Presidential Records Act.

00:44:22.280 Well, you're covered, but it's not clear that it allowed you to take all those documents. You

00:44:26.000 can't say it. It says what it says. You're allowed.

00:44:29.180 And do you believe that every CIA document that came to you as president was automatically yours

00:44:33.000 to keep no matter what? I'm not going to answer that question.

00:44:35.660 So that's the dispute. No, no, because I think it's clear in the document.

00:44:39.520 The Presidential Records Act was a very complex thing that took a long time to do,

00:44:45.000 having to do more with Richard Nixon because he kept everything.

00:44:48.600 You know, you know that, right? Yep.

00:44:50.100 And they said, we don't want to have this anymore. So they did this.

00:44:53.760 And these thugs and deranged people, they didn't even mention that.

00:44:57.980 They never mentioned that. They never talked about that.

00:45:00.300 They never said, gee, the Presidential Records Act, do you know they don't even mention it?

00:45:05.300 And everybody knows that I'm covered by that.

00:45:08.260 And so you can't have obstruction when they create.

00:45:12.920 And we had that in Mueller.

00:45:14.840 They created all of these phony deals and phony documents and the dossier, the fake dossier.

00:45:20.720 And after it was created, it was all created.

00:45:23.140 Then it was shown to be phony.

00:45:25.340 And I won.

00:45:26.280 But then they say, oh, it was phony.

00:45:29.580 We did things illegally.

00:45:30.840 But he obstructed.

00:45:33.000 He obstructed because he hid this or he said something or he fought us.

00:45:39.400 He fought us.

00:45:40.700 No.

00:45:41.300 I got it.

00:45:42.200 Megan, I did absolutely nothing wrong.

00:45:46.020 And that's, I wouldn't even be talking to you if I thought I did.

00:45:48.680 What's crazy is you're really accused of keeping documents and not turning them over when you were allegedly required to.

00:45:56.660 But you're not accused of destroying any documents.

00:45:59.180 No, I didn't do that or giving them to anybody.

00:46:01.900 Hillary Clinton destroyed documents while under subpoena, while under subpoena, and wasn't even charged.

00:46:08.240 Never mind didn't face four criminal trials.

00:46:10.900 That's right.

00:46:11.880 Does it make you angry?

00:46:13.340 Yeah.

00:46:14.260 When I saw the mugshot, I said he's angry and I get it.

00:46:17.400 Yeah, that makes me angry.

00:46:18.620 So Hillary Clinton got a subpoena from Congress, which is your highest style subpoena.

00:46:24.600 That's the ultimate subpoena.

00:46:25.880 After she got the subpoena, not before, she didn't do it before, and oh gee, I didn't know.

00:46:31.100 That's right.

00:46:31.700 She got a subpoena.

00:46:32.900 After she got a subpoena, she burned and acid washed 33,000 emails.

00:46:41.100 Okay?

00:46:41.580 And nothing happened to her.

00:46:44.200 Nothing happened to her.

00:46:45.960 And Comey got up and he said, here's what she did.

00:46:50.180 And he went through all these crimes.

00:46:52.780 And he said, but no reasonable prosecutor would ever prosecute.

00:46:56.980 Well, I did nothing.

00:46:58.560 I did nothing wrong.

00:46:59.480 And they prosecuted me.

00:47:02.220 She burned and literally acid washed, bleach bit, they call it.

00:47:07.120 Very expensive process.

00:47:08.320 Nobody does it because it's so expensive.

00:47:10.620 Then she took her phones and they knocked the hell out of them with hammers.

00:47:13.660 You know that, right?

00:47:14.540 She took her telephones and they're knocking and nothing happened.

00:47:18.260 Yeah.

00:47:18.640 There's a double standard in this country and the people aren't standing for it.

00:47:22.440 People get it.

00:47:23.240 The rest of my interview with Donald Trump next.

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00:48:37.160 Now part two of my interview with former President Donald Trump.

00:48:42.160 You said to Hugh Hewitt you planned on testifying in your own defense at at least the Mar-a-Lago

00:48:47.620 documents.

00:48:48.180 All of them.

00:48:48.840 I'll do all of them.

00:48:49.980 I mean, I have no problem with talking about any of it.

00:48:53.340 Question on the legal expenses.

00:48:55.600 The report of the year PACs have spent 40 million bucks so far defending all these cases.

00:49:00.260 Some people worry, how's he going to run a presidential campaign if all the Republican

00:49:04.780 donations are going to fund the legal fees, which get more expensive when you have trials?

00:49:09.040 Well, that's why they're doing this.

00:49:11.000 They have not only that, I have civil cases that are funded by them.

00:49:14.380 They have a woman that I never met other than I guess I took a picture with her 25 years

00:49:18.560 ago with her husband on a celebrity line.

00:49:21.660 A woman that I never met and she sued me.

00:49:25.740 She wrote a book that I took her into Bergdorf Goodman into a room and did bad things to her.

00:49:32.700 I said, where the hell did this come?

00:49:34.960 I never I have no idea who this woman is.

00:49:37.800 She got a little picture of herself and her husband standing on a big celebrity line, shaking

00:49:43.100 my hand, like from 25 years ago.

00:49:45.860 She didn't know the date.

00:49:46.900 She didn't know the location.

00:49:48.180 She didn't know anything.

00:49:49.360 She didn't know anything.

00:49:50.720 An unbelievably hostile judge to me.

00:49:53.840 In fact, she did an interview with Anderson Cooper.

00:49:57.360 When you watch that interview, I'm a totally innocent man.

00:50:01.920 But they that case is financed.

00:50:05.960 And you probably haven't heard this by the Democrat Party and Democrats.

00:50:10.780 She was recruited by some Democrats.

00:50:12.560 She was recruited by Democrats, that case.

00:50:15.660 And it's it's such a violation of the law.

00:50:19.400 It's so such a horrible thing.

00:50:21.600 I have other cases, civil cases.

00:50:23.520 Wait a minute.

00:50:24.140 I have civil cases where and the reason they're doing it is they want to take as much of my

00:50:29.900 time because they don't want to run against me.

00:50:31.440 Just so you understand.

00:50:32.380 Can you win?

00:50:32.840 Can you win?

00:50:33.240 All the money is going to the lawyers instead of, you know, rallies and get out the vote

00:50:37.200 efforts.

00:50:37.460 Fortunately, I have a lot more money than that.

00:50:39.060 But a lot of money goes to.

00:50:40.660 And I help other people because other people get dragged into these things.

00:50:44.560 And we help a lot of other people.

00:50:46.900 These people would be destroyed if we didn't help them.

00:50:49.300 We have to help them.

00:50:50.280 What about the people who are saying, well, I'm just going to give my Ron DeSantis needs

00:50:53.060 to get this or Tim Scott should win because then the money I donate will go toward.

00:50:57.560 Well, I don't say this.

00:50:58.860 In the meantime, nobody's talking about them because it's only time to talk about me.

00:51:02.860 You know, I've had that before.

00:51:03.860 Nobody's talking about Ron DeSantis, nobody's talking about anybody.

00:51:08.740 They're only talking about me.

00:51:10.100 The Quinnipiac poll came up just before I walked in.

00:51:13.400 I mean, it's 62 to like almost nothing.

00:51:17.740 These people are at nothing.

00:51:19.460 You have Asa Hutchinson's at zero.

00:51:22.960 Why is he running?

00:51:24.360 You have Chris Christie's at two.

00:51:25.860 Why is he running?

00:51:26.620 You have these people are very low.

00:51:29.960 Nikki Haley's very low.

00:51:31.140 They're all very low.

00:51:32.640 Ron DeSantis is very low.

00:51:34.140 Ron DeSantis is at 11 or 12.

00:51:37.180 And I'm at 62.

00:51:38.560 I have other polls where I'm in 70s and he's in the, you know, twos.

00:51:42.060 Why do you call him Ron DeSantis?

00:51:43.780 Why do you call him Ron DeSantis?

00:51:45.520 Sanctimonious.

00:51:46.000 But the reason in Sanctus is DeSantis is just sort of an abbreviation.

00:51:51.700 He was running, left Congress, was running for the governor of Florida.

00:51:57.160 He was being decimated.

00:51:58.900 He had no chance.

00:52:00.280 He was wiped out.

00:52:03.280 And he came to see me.

00:52:04.460 I didn't know him very much at all.

00:52:05.940 But what I did know is that he was on television along with 150 other congressmen, Republicans,

00:52:11.180 that talked about impeachment hoax number one, impeachment hoax number two,

00:52:14.880 and they'd say I was innocent.

00:52:15.980 And they turned out to be right.

00:52:17.000 By the way, those two.

00:52:19.000 That phone call was perfect.

00:52:21.000 My Georgia phone call was even more perfect.

00:52:22.820 But the phone call was perfect with all the stuff.

00:52:26.160 You once asked me a question.

00:52:27.260 What about the phone call?

00:52:28.720 It turned out not only was it perfect, all of the stuff that's happening now shows that

00:52:34.620 Donald Trump was right on that phone call when I spoke to the president of Ukraine.

00:52:39.380 Anyway, Ron DeSanctimonious comes in and he said, could you endorse me?

00:52:45.540 Because I think I could win.

00:52:46.640 I said, Ron, you're so far behind.

00:52:48.100 You don't have a chance.

00:52:48.980 You're dead.

00:52:50.380 He said, but I didn't know.

00:52:51.860 He was running against the man who was the secretary of agriculture.

00:52:56.840 I think his name, Adam Putnam.

00:52:58.740 And he was up by 30 or 40 points.

00:53:00.820 It was over.

00:53:01.580 It was over.

00:53:02.880 He said, if you endorse me, you're so popular in Florida.

00:53:05.800 If you endorse me, I will win, I believe.

00:53:10.440 I say, you know, I think if we brought back Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, I don't

00:53:14.220 know if it's going to help.

00:53:15.000 But let's give it a shot.

00:53:16.040 OK, because I didn't know Adam Putnam.

00:53:18.540 In retrospect, perhaps I would have endorsed him instead because I wouldn't have had to

00:53:22.160 do much endorsing because he had already it was one.

00:53:24.920 The thing was over.

00:53:25.780 He was already measuring the carpets.

00:53:27.400 So what happened is I endorsed him and he became a rocket ship and he ended up winning

00:53:33.560 a primary very shortly thereafter for by a lot, you know, by a landslide.

00:53:38.460 Adam Putnam, it was like a it was like a bomb went off.

00:53:42.260 Wait.

00:53:42.840 And then he said, I'm not going to win against Pullum because he was, if you remember, he

00:53:49.020 turned out to be a crackhead.

00:53:50.020 But he was he was a very popular person running, good looking guy, running African-American,

00:53:59.260 running for governor on the Democrat side along Stacey Abrams.

00:54:03.240 He and Stacey Abrams were the two hot politicians in the Democrat Party.

00:54:07.240 So polls were looking bad for Ron.

00:54:08.800 I said, you know what, Ron, we'll do two or three rallies.

00:54:11.020 We'll do Trump, big, beautiful Trump rallies for you.

00:54:13.340 I'm going to get you in.

00:54:14.440 And I did, I guess, a couple, maybe three big, big, beautiful rallies.

00:54:21.100 I said, you're going to win.

00:54:22.080 He said, I don't think so.

00:54:22.980 I said, you're going to win.

00:54:23.780 I'm telling you, you're going to win.

00:54:25.320 And he won.

00:54:26.200 OK.

00:54:27.220 And then four years later, they said, would you run against the president?

00:54:31.260 He said, I have no comment.

00:54:33.200 I said, he said he had no comment.

00:54:34.620 That means to me he's running.

00:54:36.260 So I started hitting him very hard.

00:54:38.040 Some people said, sir, he's a Republican.

00:54:39.820 You shouldn't hit him.

00:54:41.040 I said, no, we're going to we're going to hit him very hard.

00:54:44.660 Because he's very disloyal.

00:54:45.920 So when I say sanctimonious, that's what I mean.

00:54:48.680 He's a very terrible thing.

00:54:51.000 I think he did.

00:54:51.560 You know, I'm a loyalist.

00:54:52.440 I'm a loyal person.

00:54:54.140 Here's another thing.

00:54:55.080 A lot of the consultants, you know, these great genius consultants, you pay them all this money.

00:54:58.760 They don't know anything.

00:55:00.160 They said, don't bring it up, sir, that he was disloyal because the people don't care if he was loyal to you or not.

00:55:04.760 I said, I think they do.

00:55:05.760 I was right.

00:55:06.920 So I've driven him down to almost nothing.

00:55:08.960 I don't even think he's going to be in second place much longer.

00:55:11.780 But second place is like 60 points below me.

00:55:15.780 60 points.

00:55:16.540 The poll that just came out, in fact, the commentators were saying, this is crazy.

00:55:21.820 This isn't even a race.

00:55:23.060 No, you're way ahead on the Republican primary contest.

00:55:25.660 Like, excuse me, like nobody's ever seen before.

00:55:27.900 Let's talk about the actual general election, though, for a second.

00:55:31.080 I'm way ahead of Biden also, by the way.

00:55:33.180 This is the second most requested question that my audience had for you.

00:55:37.060 Everyone knows you think 2020 was rigged.

00:55:40.320 How are you going to unrig it in 2024?

00:55:43.740 I get that question a lot, too.

00:55:45.060 Look, they use COVID to cheat.

00:55:47.040 They cheat anyway because how can you win elections?

00:55:49.800 Open borders, high taxes, high interest rates, no voter ID.

00:55:55.060 I mean, everything they do is like April Fool's Day.

00:55:57.100 It's the opposite.

00:55:57.640 They have horrible policy.

00:56:00.620 They're only good at cheating on elections.

00:56:02.200 You want to know the truth.

00:56:03.700 And I get the question, too.

00:56:05.280 We have unbelievable people, and we're going to be fighting like hell.

00:56:08.920 Because if I don't win the election, meaning this philosophy, this thought,

00:56:12.720 but if I don't win the election, I think our country is finished.

00:56:17.000 I think it's the most important election we've ever had.

00:56:19.600 If I don't win this election, like you talk to me about all of the different prosecutions.

00:56:24.780 These aren't prosecutions.

00:56:25.940 These aren't in the...

00:56:26.660 These are Biden indictments.

00:56:28.420 There's a difference.

00:56:29.380 This is in God coming down from high and indicting you for...

00:56:32.620 This is crooked Joe Biden.

00:56:35.220 He's crooked as a $3 bill.

00:56:37.840 He used to say $2 bill, but we have a few of them around.

00:56:40.860 He's a crooked guy.

00:56:42.260 He's a crooked politician.

00:56:44.300 And he said, indict my political opponent.

00:56:48.200 So when they say indict...

00:56:49.360 You know, it's very interesting.

00:56:50.660 The press, first they start that way.

00:56:52.860 But then with time, they say, oh, he's under indictment.

00:56:55.260 No, these are all Biden indictments, including the DA's office.

00:57:00.020 You know, he put his top guy in the DA's office in Manhattan.

00:57:03.420 And everybody says it's not even a case.

00:57:05.440 I mean, it shouldn't even be brought.

00:57:06.680 You've seen that.

00:57:07.340 You've heard that.

00:57:08.020 You probably...

00:57:08.660 I've said that.

00:57:09.260 Okay.

00:57:09.520 It's ridiculous.

00:57:10.300 It's a ridiculous...

00:57:11.100 But they put...

00:57:12.860 He put his top people in the DA's office.

00:57:14.440 He's dealing with Fannie Willis in Atlanta.

00:57:17.780 It's all a hoax.

00:57:19.060 I know, but...

00:57:19.520 But here's the thing.

00:57:20.160 It's going to satisfy the people who...

00:57:20.880 It's very important for people to know this.

00:57:21.960 Because Republicans are bummed out.

00:57:23.360 They're thinking, I'm not even going to vote.

00:57:24.920 Forget it.

00:57:25.620 My vote's not going to count.

00:57:26.300 It's just the opposite.

00:57:27.300 They're...

00:57:27.660 You know, I don't...

00:57:28.260 They're going to get it by the mail-in ballots again.

00:57:30.480 They're going to vote in numbers...

00:57:30.980 That you've never seen before.

00:57:35.340 Because they see what's happening.

00:57:36.880 Should they do the mail-in?

00:57:37.860 Should the GOP voters do the mail-in?

00:57:39.720 Okay.

00:57:40.020 Here's what we can't allow.

00:57:41.660 Yeah, I would...

00:57:42.340 I would say let them do it either way.

00:57:43.840 You know, I'm less on that.

00:57:44.900 I like the Tuesday stuff.

00:57:46.020 But then you see what happened to Carrie Lake,

00:57:48.620 where all the machines were broken.

00:57:50.140 Or a big portion of them.

00:57:51.080 Wouldn't it be smarter to bank some vote before the actual day?

00:57:52.680 Well, no, you could.

00:57:53.240 But the problem is they throw the votes out.

00:57:55.420 I mean, it's crooked.

00:57:56.800 We have a...

00:57:57.200 Wait, wait, wait.

00:57:57.680 So be clear.

00:57:58.480 What is the message of the voters?

00:57:59.580 Do you want them to do the vote?

00:58:00.980 Vote in?

00:58:01.400 The mail-in vote or no?

00:58:02.920 Everybody.

00:58:04.320 People say, yes, do it.

00:58:06.760 We have a bigger problem.

00:58:08.180 I believe they send in fake ballots.

00:58:09.900 Okay, that's the bigger problem.

00:58:11.220 That's your third problem.

00:58:12.620 I believe they send in a lot of fake ballots.

00:58:15.680 And when you look at some of these elections...

00:58:18.460 In Pennsylvania, I was leading by so much at 9.30.

00:58:21.640 All of a sudden, voila, they happened to find a lot of ballots.

00:58:26.100 Our elections are crooked.

00:58:27.660 Our elections are rigged.

00:58:29.060 Our borders are open.

00:58:30.120 Our country's in trouble.

00:58:32.120 Our country's in trouble.

00:58:33.700 And now they're arresting and indicting their political opponents.

00:58:38.920 You know what this means, what they did?

00:58:41.400 If I won, I could say, oh, let's see, who's running against me?

00:58:46.640 Some Democrats run.

00:58:48.080 Oh, he's very popular.

00:58:49.120 Because I'm leading Biden in all the polls, just about all the polls, by some very, very big numbers.

00:58:54.600 I could say, oh, I don't want to run against him.

00:58:56.840 I call my attorney general.

00:58:58.000 I say, will you do me a favor and indict him for something?

00:59:00.080 And the good thing with me, I have a voice.

00:59:03.120 I can sit here with you.

00:59:04.020 I can sit here with other people.

00:59:05.180 I can at least...

00:59:05.780 A lot of people don't have that voice.

00:59:07.200 You know, if they get indicted, they're out of politics.

00:59:09.420 They have to announce within an hour that they're going to drop out of the race.

00:59:13.000 That would be the norm.

00:59:13.560 But what they've done is they've made this like the norm.

00:59:17.940 I can sit there and say, well, you know, I don't like this guy.

00:59:20.560 This guy's beating me in the polls.

00:59:22.680 Indict him.

00:59:24.300 This is a very dangerous thing.

00:59:25.940 This is very scary for you because you're facing left-wing judges.

00:59:30.240 You're facing some likely left-wing juries, at least three out of the four.

00:59:35.080 There is a realistic chance you could go to prison.

00:59:38.780 Can you see that happening?

00:59:40.200 You know what?

00:59:40.860 I have a great attitude.

00:59:42.260 It doesn't affect me at all.

00:59:43.960 Because I'm fighting for the country.

00:59:46.880 I'm fighting for the people.

00:59:48.460 I'll tell you what.

00:59:50.080 The best poll numbers that anyone's ever seen.

00:59:52.480 I mean, these poll numbers are so good.

00:59:54.320 And it makes me feel good.

00:59:56.300 But I think we're going to win the election no matter what happens.

00:59:59.500 I think because the people know it's all fake.

01:00:01.640 Again, these are Biden indictments.

01:00:05.180 This is a guy that is grossly incompetent.

01:00:09.240 I don't even believe it's him.

01:00:10.440 It's the people, the fascists that surround him.

01:00:12.560 Because I don't believe he's smart enough to do this, if you want to know the truth.

01:00:15.740 Do you think he goes the distance?

01:00:17.220 Do you think he actually will be the Democratic Party?

01:00:18.980 I can't imagine.

01:00:20.080 I watched him yesterday.

01:00:23.200 He couldn't put two sentences together.

01:00:25.180 I can't imagine.

01:00:26.060 I mean, look, Washington Post came out today.

01:00:27.940 He shouldn't do it.

01:00:29.580 And it's not an age thing.

01:00:30.760 It's a competence thing.

01:00:32.000 He can't talk.

01:00:33.680 He can't talk.

01:00:34.500 And, of course, he has to debate, I guess.

01:00:37.720 I hope he's going to debate.

01:00:38.800 I'm going to debate.

01:00:40.000 You know, I don't want to debate people that I'm 60 points up on, because what's the purpose

01:00:43.840 in doing that?

01:00:44.420 Does that mean no presidential primary debates for you?

01:00:46.820 Well, I don't see it.

01:00:47.700 Look.

01:00:48.060 None?

01:00:48.460 When you're leading, why would I do it?

01:00:51.200 How about do the one just before Iowa?

01:00:53.700 Do it.

01:00:53.980 I'll moderate it.

01:00:55.280 Yeah, I know.

01:00:56.080 I appreciate that.

01:00:57.500 You know, like you did with the Rosie O'Donnell.

01:00:59.860 Would it be a deal breaker for you?

01:01:01.420 Look.

01:01:02.140 Would it?

01:01:02.580 Look.

01:01:03.260 Would it?

01:01:03.700 The people want a smart president.

01:01:06.880 A smart president that's leading by 60 points.

01:01:10.000 Ronald Reagan didn't do it.

01:01:11.380 Nixon didn't do it.

01:01:12.620 Nobody does it.

01:01:13.740 I mean, if you're leading by, why would you do it?

01:01:16.680 You get the voters.

01:01:17.680 You get people.

01:01:18.340 And then I have a somewhat hostile network.

01:01:20.280 You know, I mean, frankly, I have a little bit of a hostile network.

01:01:22.780 Like, you asked me a question when you were moderating the debate for Fox that, frankly,

01:01:28.820 if I didn't come up with the answer only Rosie O'Donnell, I would have had a problem with

01:01:32.480 that question.

01:01:32.740 That was a bad question.

01:01:33.860 That was a great question.

01:01:34.900 No, it was a nasty question.

01:01:36.300 It was possible.

01:01:37.020 You know, there are questions that are, it's not that they're not answerable, but no matter

01:01:42.040 if you're Winston Churchill, he was very good at the debate.

01:01:44.000 You handled it well.

01:01:45.080 Your poll numbers went up.

01:01:46.080 I'm not saying that.

01:01:46.880 No, I got a little bit lucky.

01:01:47.960 I came up with a good answer.

01:01:49.000 But can I tell you, there are questions that you can ask that no matter how good you are

01:01:53.420 debating, no matter how you could be the greatest debater in the world, I get great credit for

01:01:57.220 that.

01:01:57.560 Some people say I won.

01:01:58.780 I don't think I won because of that.

01:02:00.180 I think I won because I had a great record and people knew me, you know, they knew me and

01:02:04.500 they knew me on The Apprentice and they knew me in terms of development and stuff.

01:02:08.340 But there are questions that you can ask that no matter who it is, the answer is never a great

01:02:14.840 answer.

01:02:15.200 You know, there's never a great answer to certain questions.

01:02:18.240 And I could give you a ton of those questions right now.

01:02:20.420 I just don't want to.

01:02:22.600 Let's talk personal for a minute, if you don't mind.

01:02:26.100 Haven't seen a lot of Melania lately.

01:02:28.120 How's she doing?

01:02:29.340 And how's Barron doing?

01:02:30.800 Because I know he's senior in high school now.

01:02:32.500 Yeah, he is.

01:02:33.160 He's doing really well.

01:02:34.220 He's in school.

01:02:35.820 She's doing very well.

01:02:37.200 She's very strong, very, very even keeled.

01:02:41.560 And she's a very good woman, as you know.

01:02:45.080 She was a very popular first lady.

01:02:47.320 I mean, I go out to rallies and they have pictures of Melania with we love our first lady with

01:02:52.720 so many posters, you know, where they're in the audience and there because we're getting

01:02:56.600 big people.

01:02:57.000 We had the biggest rallies we've ever had.

01:02:58.820 Can you believe they never put her on Vogue, on the cover of Vogue, and they just put

01:03:02.820 Corrine Jean-Pierre in there?

01:03:04.040 Can you believe it?

01:03:05.020 Can you believe it?

01:03:05.780 She was on the cover of Vogue before she met me.

01:03:08.000 Yeah.

01:03:08.540 And during.

01:03:09.520 But once I said, I'm running for president, that was the end of the covers.

01:03:13.940 What's a typical dinner like?

01:03:14.840 It's, by the way, and it's so sad.

01:03:17.320 But she doesn't care.

01:03:18.980 She's been on the cover of the magazines for a long time.

01:03:22.100 And she was on the cover of Vogue before.

01:03:24.520 And she was actually very friendly with Anna Wintour.

01:03:26.660 But once I ran for politics, that was the end of that.

01:03:28.780 And that's okay.

01:03:30.520 She's very, she's a very calm person.

01:03:33.440 It's very interesting.

01:03:34.540 And I think that's what people like about her.

01:03:36.720 Dinners are nice.

01:03:38.460 Dinners are like other people's dinners.

01:03:40.400 You get along.

01:03:40.820 We get along.

01:03:41.440 We actually get along very well.

01:03:43.240 What's happening with Barron?

01:03:44.320 Is he going off to college?

01:03:45.880 And how do you choose one?

01:03:46.940 Because they all hate all Republicans, never mind one named Trump.

01:03:50.400 Barron's a very good athlete.

01:03:52.900 He's very tall.

01:03:54.380 He is tall.

01:03:54.980 How tall is he?

01:03:55.700 About 6'8".

01:03:56.660 And he's a good kid.

01:03:59.900 He's a good looking kid.

01:04:01.140 He's a good student.

01:04:02.880 Great student, actually.

01:04:03.980 Very good student.

01:04:04.560 You want him to go to Wharton?

01:04:05.640 Where do you want him to go?

01:04:06.640 We're thinking about that right now.

01:04:08.460 Those are the things we're talking about right now.

01:04:10.940 What do you think?

01:04:11.800 Melania is so mysterious to so many.

01:04:13.960 Yeah.

01:04:14.340 What do people misunderstand about her?

01:04:17.320 Well, I think part of the beauty is that mystery.

01:04:21.600 Do you know, I was with Barbara Walter.

01:04:22.800 She was a great friend of mine.

01:04:24.120 And she was an amazing person.

01:04:26.540 She interviewed me many, many times.

01:04:28.220 And I was on her most exciting people of the year.

01:04:35.600 I think more than anybody else.

01:04:37.580 I mean, I was on there a lot.

01:04:39.240 This was even before politics, right?

01:04:40.840 But Barbara was unique.

01:04:42.500 And I said, so you've interviewed everybody.

01:04:44.980 Who is the one that you would like to interview more than anybody else?

01:04:48.800 If you could have...

01:04:50.720 She said, that's easy.

01:04:51.740 I said, who?

01:04:52.240 Greta Garbo.

01:04:53.100 I said, you want to interview Greta Garbo?

01:04:56.160 Why?

01:04:56.600 Now, she was a great actress.

01:04:57.700 But, you know, I want to be alone.

01:04:58.980 She goes, I want to be alone.

01:05:00.380 And she had a great beauty.

01:05:03.060 But she was very reclusive.

01:05:06.600 Never did an interview.

01:05:08.400 I don't say Melania is like that.

01:05:10.940 But she is much more, you know, she's introspective.

01:05:15.560 And she's confident.

01:05:17.280 She doesn't need to be interviewed by you to get ripped apart for no reason.

01:05:22.260 She doesn't need to be out there.

01:05:25.240 She's got confidence.

01:05:26.280 She's got a lot of self-confidence.

01:05:27.920 The people really like her.

01:05:29.800 And she was a really good First Lady.

01:05:32.320 But, you know, she did the most beautiful job in the Rose Garden.

01:05:35.240 She rebuilt the Rose Garden.

01:05:36.400 It was beautiful.

01:05:36.980 No, it was gorgeous.

01:05:37.700 And got good Greta for it.

01:05:38.940 But she did Christmas trees, too.

01:05:40.620 Every Christmas.

01:05:41.380 Did the most beautiful job.

01:05:43.140 Oh, I know.

01:05:43.540 And they, of course, criticized her.

01:05:45.320 Okay, so she did red trees.

01:05:48.240 They were so beautiful, they killed her.

01:05:50.740 She did a different blue, beautiful tree.

01:05:54.780 She did that.

01:05:55.900 Then I said, baby, do me a favor.

01:05:57.460 Go with the green tree.

01:05:58.760 She did a green tree and they killed her.

01:06:01.120 Why weren't they red?

01:06:02.220 It was much better.

01:06:03.820 And then she did a white tree and they killed her.

01:06:06.640 Of course.

01:06:07.740 All right, so last question.

01:06:08.840 You mentioned the terrible Walters.

01:06:09.380 But actually they were beautiful, yeah.

01:06:11.340 And the most fascinating person.

01:06:12.680 That's got me thinking.

01:06:13.580 I was thinking about you recently, just getting ready for this.

01:06:15.680 You were pretty much universally liked or loved before you got into politics.

01:06:22.860 I mean, you were known all over the world.

01:06:25.060 You're a big celebrity.

01:06:26.280 Everyone knew you and liked you.

01:06:27.680 It's just, you weren't controversial.

01:06:30.140 You didn't think so?

01:06:30.940 I thought I was.

01:06:31.400 I don't think you were a bit that controversial.

01:06:32.940 I mean, I'm from New York.

01:06:34.460 In New York, everybody loved you.

01:06:35.560 Yeah.

01:06:35.700 No, I had, yeah, I had.

01:06:38.080 Not like now.

01:06:38.720 Let's put it that way.

01:06:39.520 Yeah, okay.

01:06:40.160 So politics.

01:06:40.600 So you could be going into your.

01:06:41.540 You have to do the right thing, right?

01:06:43.080 Yes, but you could.

01:06:43.880 And that makes you controversial.

01:06:44.860 You could be going into your 78th year enjoying this beautiful golf course.

01:06:49.720 Yeah.

01:06:50.320 Mar-a-Lago.

01:06:51.460 Your lovely family.

01:06:53.060 No.

01:06:53.840 You don't have to be running for president, sitting for four criminal trials, some civil,

01:06:59.560 and possibly looking at jail time.

01:07:01.820 No.

01:07:02.420 Is it worth it?

01:07:03.800 Yeah.

01:07:04.020 Well, make America great again.

01:07:06.700 Our country's going to hell.

01:07:08.680 Our country's going down.

01:07:09.940 You don't realize it.

01:07:10.680 I don't believe you realize it.

01:07:11.860 But our country's going down.

01:07:13.440 Our country.

01:07:14.540 And I used to say we're going to end up being, if we don't do certain things, we're going

01:07:18.240 to end up being Venezuela on steroids.

01:07:19.960 How about, how about we're buying oil now from Venezuela?

01:07:22.640 How about that?

01:07:23.240 We're making Venezuela rich.

01:07:26.320 Okay.

01:07:26.760 Think of it.

01:07:27.380 The people running Venezuela, which were total enemies, what we're doing is so crazy.

01:07:32.860 We're not using our oil.

01:07:34.320 We're making Venezuela rich.

01:07:36.480 But the country, I believe, has one last chance.

01:07:41.740 And that's this.

01:07:42.260 This is the most important election we've ever had.

01:07:44.400 You know, I used to say 2016 was the most important.

01:07:46.840 And it was a very important election.

01:07:48.420 And we turned the country around.

01:07:49.800 We had the greatest economy in history.

01:07:51.840 What we did is incredible.

01:07:54.000 We knocked out a lot of enemies.

01:07:56.060 We got them out.

01:07:56.680 And I took everybody out of these crazy wars that nobody wanted to be in.

01:08:00.660 Even the other country that was protected.

01:08:02.300 They didn't want us spending trillions and trillions of dollars.

01:08:06.180 But our country's going bad.

01:08:07.840 Our country's being destroyed.

01:08:09.500 When you look at our cities with what's pouring into our cities now, they can't handle what they

01:08:14.820 have and I brought our country to a level that just prior to COVID coming in.

01:08:21.500 And then I did it again because I built it again.

01:08:24.120 And the stock market was actually higher when I left than it was pre-COVID, which is like

01:08:29.280 unbelievable.

01:08:30.100 But we had a country that was actually really coming together because of success.

01:08:36.960 I was getting calls, Megan, from the most liberal people.

01:08:42.260 I would call them radical left wanting to get together.

01:08:46.320 And then we got hit with COVID.

01:08:48.800 Our country was coming together because of success.

01:08:51.200 African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, women, men, people with degrees from MIT, from

01:08:58.980 Wharton, from Harvard, people with no degree at all, people with no high school.

01:09:03.300 Everybody had great jobs.

01:09:04.740 Everybody was making more money.

01:09:06.920 And people were coming together.

01:09:08.840 People wanted to see me.

01:09:11.500 They wanted to meet people that normally that wouldn't take place.

01:09:15.820 And I realized that success brings this country together.

01:09:19.900 But we are, I say it in my speeches, we are a nation in decline.

01:09:26.400 We are really a declining nation.

01:09:27.880 We're a nation in serious, serious decline.

01:09:31.480 And I think I can turn it around very fast.

01:09:34.720 So I agree.

01:09:37.840 I could enjoy all over the world, have the most beautiful places in the world.

01:09:41.440 I have the best of everything.

01:09:43.620 But I actually like doing this because of the fact that I see something that we have to save

01:09:50.420 our country.

01:09:51.340 You know, I have the expression, make America great again.

01:09:54.740 And I was going to stop using that.

01:09:56.920 I was going to, it was going to be called, keep America great, keep America great.

01:10:01.600 But such destruction took place over such a short period of time.

01:10:05.700 I had to go back to make America great again.

01:10:08.320 Because America, our country right now is not great.

01:10:13.340 Our country is in trouble.

01:10:14.860 Our country is left at.

01:10:15.940 But when President Putin of Russia uses an example of going after your political opponent, that's, that's the greatest thing could ever happen to him.

01:10:26.560 What they're doing to our country is so bad.

01:10:30.100 Our country has never been this disjointed and this disunified.

01:10:34.780 And it started with President Obama.

01:10:37.980 A couple of times.

01:10:39.160 It started with President Obama.

01:10:41.460 And it's now at a level that nobody's ever seen before.

01:10:45.340 The, you know, the two sides.

01:10:47.200 You have two sides.

01:10:48.780 But I believe that our side in the, look, I represent everybody.

01:10:52.080 As president, I represent everybody.

01:10:54.020 But I believe that the people that love this country and that want to make it great again, that really want to make it, you know, sustainable, because it's not sustainable right now, I believe they far outweigh the other side.

01:11:10.920 And so when you say, would I like to be at Turnberry in Scotland right now?

01:11:16.240 Or would I like to be at one of the many places I have, the greatest places?

01:11:20.740 I may never see those places again, but I think this is very important.

01:11:25.880 I think that we're going to save our country.

01:11:28.540 I think we're going to win the election.

01:11:29.980 I'm beating Biden by a lot.

01:11:31.340 I'm beating the Republicans by numbers nobody's ever seen before.

01:11:34.340 But I'm beating Biden by a lot.

01:11:36.960 And I'll turn it around and I'll turn it around fast.

01:11:40.640 Good luck to you, Mr. President.

01:11:42.060 Thank you very much.

01:11:42.920 Thank you so much for doing this.

01:11:43.740 Thank you.

01:11:44.120 I appreciate it.

01:11:44.780 Thank you very much.

01:11:45.440 Well, what'd you think?

01:11:51.620 You can email me, Megan at Megan Kelly dot com with your thoughts.

01:11:55.820 I will tell you, from my perspective, I thought it went very well.

01:11:59.580 I thought he did very well and he withstood some tough questioning.

01:12:04.280 I did not go easy on him.

01:12:05.780 I didn't like with DeSantis.

01:12:07.860 The goal was not to emerge with Trump's jugular, as some would like to have seen.

01:12:13.480 I thought it was fair.

01:12:14.740 There were like some questions for him, some questions for me.

01:12:17.920 And that's, I think, how it should go.

01:12:20.360 There should be a good flow to any big interview, like with a former president.

01:12:24.740 And I give him a ton of credit.

01:12:26.180 I mean, you tell me, could Joe Biden have done that?

01:12:28.700 Could he have done five minutes of that?

01:12:30.140 Just five minutes, never mind an hour and 20 or however long Trump and I were together.

01:12:34.440 It was almost an hour and 20.

01:12:36.200 He couldn't and he wouldn't.

01:12:38.100 And where is the mainstream journalist who will even ask him tough questions?

01:12:42.540 Where are they?

01:12:45.020 President Trump didn't expect me to go easy on him.

01:12:47.140 He knows me.

01:12:48.080 He knows.

01:12:48.660 He knows.

01:12:49.220 We have a history, as you heard.

01:12:51.360 And yet he came.

01:12:52.020 He gave me more time than he had originally agreed to.

01:12:55.740 Originally, they were saying 45.

01:12:57.160 He kept sitting.

01:12:58.300 He didn't wrap it.

01:12:59.020 He didn't say, get her out of here.

01:13:00.080 Even though I was, you know, needling him pretty good on some of those subjects.

01:13:03.660 So I just like this is the way it's supposed to work.

01:13:06.620 This is the way it used to work.

01:13:08.420 It used to work like this, where those running for the highest office in the land used to

01:13:12.160 subject themselves to tough questions.

01:13:13.940 And Trump, he could stay underground.

01:13:16.040 He's not.

01:13:16.720 He doesn't need to do those primary debates.

01:13:18.400 He's not wrong about that, much as I'd love to see it.

01:13:20.700 Never mind moderate it.

01:13:22.240 He doesn't need to.

01:13:23.280 So the fact that he gave the time because he could he could pull a Biden.

01:13:27.260 He could go underground.

01:13:27.960 He could be under a rock, but he puts himself out there.

01:13:30.820 And I do think he deserves enormous credit for it.

01:13:33.460 You know, as I say, didn't have to.

01:13:35.820 I just want to say one thing quickly.

01:13:37.740 Can I just compliment my team?

01:13:39.920 Because if you guys had any idea the amount of research that goes into preparing for an

01:13:44.620 interview like that, you'd I mean, it's night and day.

01:13:48.140 And all the producers on my team, when we got ready for DeSantis there, we started a separate

01:13:52.860 text group called DeSantis Research.

01:13:55.040 And then with Trump, we had a separate one called Trump Research and everything, everything.

01:14:00.760 Hopefully, you know this with me before I go out there.

01:14:02.640 It's all been fact checked.

01:14:03.760 I do my homework.

01:14:05.460 And when Trump says something that's not true, you as the anchor have to decide whether you're

01:14:10.460 going to fact check him or whether you're going to let this one slide and let the audience

01:14:13.700 decide or let the online fact checkers go at it.

01:14:15.860 Because, you know, if you fact check every little thing that you disagree with or that

01:14:20.100 you could fact check on, the interview would go five hours.

01:14:23.820 You can't do that as an anchor.

01:14:25.060 You're going to bore the people at home and you're going to waste valuable time.

01:14:28.820 Entire subjects won't get covered if you handle it like that.

01:14:31.500 Well, as the anchor, your job is to sit there and sift through it.

01:14:35.060 You know, you're thinking real time.

01:14:36.420 Separate the wheat from the chaff.

01:14:37.560 What's what's important?

01:14:38.960 Do I want to hammer on this or don't I?

01:14:40.920 And it's thanks to my team that I'm able to do that.

01:14:43.480 You know, like I know all the stuff thanks to them.

01:14:45.800 So I love my team.

01:14:47.760 They're so committed to facts.

01:14:49.440 They are not biased at all.

01:14:52.360 All they care about is truth and they do a great job of making the show look good.

01:14:57.000 I'm very grateful to them.

01:14:58.720 I thought it was interesting.

01:14:59.860 Trump is still still focused on the debate question from August of 2015.

01:15:06.820 And he I don't know why, you know, is he still mad about it or does he just want to talk about

01:15:12.520 how well he did in answering it?

01:15:14.180 Because he did do well.

01:15:15.060 He did do well.

01:15:16.400 That answer he gave about Rosie O'Donnell got huge applause and his poll numbers went

01:15:21.340 way up after that debate.

01:15:22.800 So I think he's still a little ticked off that I asked it.

01:15:26.540 And I know a lot of people didn't like it.

01:15:28.000 As you heard in the exchange, I loved it.

01:15:30.500 But onward, as I said to him, onward, one bit of color for you behind the scenes.

01:15:37.680 So here in the studio, I yesterday I'm sleeveless, but it doesn't matter what I could be in

01:15:42.900 a turtleneck. And I basically keep it around 76 degrees inside.

01:15:47.040 Right, Abby?

01:15:48.600 78, she said.

01:15:49.580 78.

01:15:50.640 You know, I don't sweat.

01:15:51.760 I don't.

01:15:51.980 Is it a medical condition?

01:15:52.780 I have no idea.

01:15:53.420 But it's very hard for me to like sweat and feel uncomfortable in the heat.

01:15:58.660 I'm always cold.

01:16:00.060 Hammer and I used to war because he'd be in those heavy wool suits when we when we co-hosted

01:16:04.340 America's newsroom and I'd be in some Fox polyester dress with no sleeves and I'd be

01:16:08.360 freezing my ass off anyway.

01:16:10.160 So now it's my studio.

01:16:11.260 I can do what I want.

01:16:12.000 It's wonderful.

01:16:13.280 Pretty much everybody around me sweats, though.

01:16:16.120 So if I have a guest coming in, I turn it down to like 70.

01:16:20.500 Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is Trump is way more in the hammer camp.

01:16:25.580 You know, he's a man.

01:16:26.720 He's wearing a wool suit and he likes it cold.

01:16:30.200 And he's the star, not me in the interview.

01:16:33.100 And so he's doing this.

01:16:34.740 He does not say yes to this interview.

01:16:36.860 So and it's his place.

01:16:38.180 So he gets to choose a temperature.

01:16:40.320 I mean, I turn blue almost as soon as I showed up.

01:16:44.240 Does anybody know what Raynaud's is?

01:16:45.760 I have Raynaud's where like you lose the circulation in your fingers, your fingertips.

01:16:49.320 They were white.

01:16:50.260 They were like white as snow.

01:16:52.740 I had no circulation in my fingertips.

01:16:54.380 And it was to the point where I my my one of my tech guys, Jake, gave me hand warmers,

01:17:03.780 except my dress was kind of small and there was no place to put them like and you're not

01:17:10.260 supposed to put them right on your bare skin.

01:17:12.140 So like I, you know, one day I don't have a pair of Spanx on.

01:17:14.920 So I'm like, I think I might like burn my bottom.

01:17:17.600 I might have hot cross buns.

01:17:18.900 I just stick them under there.

01:17:20.200 So I so I was holding them, waiting for him to get there.

01:17:23.980 We waited for like whatever, 15, 20 minutes.

01:17:26.180 And then he came in.

01:17:27.300 My teeth were chattering.

01:17:28.700 And all I could think was, I'm going to look like I am shaking like a leaf in this interview.

01:17:32.200 People are going to think I'm nervous, but I'm really just freezing.

01:17:35.620 I'm freezing to death.

01:17:36.660 It felt like astronaut training where they start taking away your your core body heat and other

01:17:41.700 essential elements of living to see if you can continue to perform.

01:17:45.140 Anyway, Trump was very gracious when he saw that I was cold.

01:17:50.720 He asked if I wanted more heat.

01:17:53.120 And I said, no, no, it's all about you.

01:17:55.260 I made it.

01:17:55.900 I made it.

01:17:56.500 But it was just just a bit of color of the behind the scenes things that go on.

01:18:01.200 All the lighting look good.

01:18:02.740 And Trump, he's still a TV man.

01:18:04.780 He knows exactly how he wants the shot.

01:18:06.280 He knows how he likes the lighting.

01:18:07.840 It's quite helpful, frankly.

01:18:09.260 Like he was like, get rid of that Diet Coke bottle.

01:18:10.920 He didn't want things in the background of the shot.

01:18:13.320 You know, he wanted it to look good and he wants it to rate well and be received well.

01:18:18.600 And I hope that's how you experienced it.

01:18:20.380 Anyway, let me know what you thought.

01:18:22.280 Megan, M-E-G-Y-N at MeganKelley.com.

01:18:25.160 Up next, Victor Davis Hanson.

01:18:27.780 He's been watching the whole thing.

01:18:29.380 He'll give us his reaction and we'll talk about Joe Biden weighing in on his own impeachment inquiry.

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01:19:51.680 Joining me now, Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of the must-read, The Dying Citizen.

01:20:00.440 VDH, what'd you think?

01:20:02.060 I thought your questions were very fair.

01:20:04.620 They were tough, and you would not know from listening to him that he's been in the political arena since 2015, and he's eight years older, because he's seen—I don't know how you felt, but just watching you interact with him, he's very vigorous.

01:20:20.500 He's very on top of the issues.

01:20:22.940 I wish that he—when he said that he's way ahead of Biden in the polls, I wish that were true, but according to NBC and The Hill, Quinnipiac polls, YouGov of the last week, he's dead even with Joe Biden.

01:20:40.760 Now, maybe he meant that being dead even, given the liberal nature of these polls, means he's actually ahead.

01:20:46.380 He does mean that.

01:20:47.200 Yeah, he said that to me privately, and he's not wrong.

01:20:50.400 I mean, there was just a Messenger-Harris poll released yesterday that showed among all voters, Trump with 44, Biden with 43, 13% undecided.

01:20:59.900 But that is remarkable when you consider all the stuff that's been thrown against Trump.

01:21:05.040 It is, and it's the $64,000 question, are these polls 2020 polls, or are they 2016 polls?

01:21:13.800 In 2020, they were more or less right.

01:21:16.200 In 2016, they were way off.

01:21:17.940 And so that's somewhat—I don't—I was interested in what he said about the debates.

01:21:25.660 He's right.

01:21:26.280 In classical terms, it's smart not to go in there, especially when they're gunning for him, and he doesn't have control of the people who are there.

01:21:34.220 And he's got a lot of people who have zero chance and shouldn't be on that debate stage where they're only to take him down.

01:21:39.940 But the problem that I see with avoiding them is, number one, to be on that stage, you have to say that you're going to endorse the eventual nominee.

01:21:50.500 And by not going there, he's saying that he's not going to—if he should lose, it doesn't look like he would, but he's not going to endorse the person who wins the nomination if it's not him.

01:21:59.820 And then maybe the others will not do—give their endorsements to him and reciprocate.

01:22:05.640 But beyond that, I don't know what the strategy is on all of these debate nights, because he had a really good night with Tucker and huge ratings, maybe a rally.

01:22:14.400 But there's a shelf life on all of that.

01:22:17.400 And because he does debate very well, and because the only image of him that we get in the news is basically in the context of he's being indicted, and often the mainstream news, print media, social media is negative, that you really don't see him in action like we did with you.

01:22:37.620 And so that's a very good formula, but I don't know if he could just do a debate with Tucker, a debate with you, a debate with each person in lieu of not going onto the debate stage.

01:22:52.400 It might be good at some point to remind the people that he does answer questions really well, and he's not afraid, and they can see what his ideas are, because he's seeding all of that space.

01:23:02.620 I know it's classical good political strategy, but I don't know if he has an alternate scenario that gives him attention other than the courtroom, or nothing, why they're debating.

01:23:17.180 And so I think that's going to be a challenge.

01:23:18.040 Well, you know, he has a unique opportunity this time around, because he's 50, 60 points ahead.

01:23:24.240 I mean, the numbers are crazy.

01:23:25.360 That Quinnipiac poll, he's up 50 over DeSantis, who's the next closest with 12.

01:23:30.220 He's got 62, DeSantis has 12, the Messenger-Harris poll, he's got 59, DeSantis is next closest at 11.

01:23:38.600 So that's up 48 or up 50, my God.

01:23:41.680 So he's got a unique position there, because he doesn't have to show up.

01:23:45.420 He's already said he's probably not going to show up.

01:23:47.420 And so he's in a position to tell the RNC, I'm not showing up unless I like who's moderating it.

01:23:52.700 Like, I'm not, I'm not, maybe if you get me a fair panel, I'll come,

01:23:56.480 so that I'm not fighting both the guys on the stage and the guys sitting behind the desk, right?

01:24:01.740 Maybe.

01:24:02.480 And so if he could find, you know, a panel that he knew would ask him tough questions,

01:24:06.200 but wouldn't be unfair to him, it could be an opportunity.

01:24:09.440 I don't think he's that worried about Chris Christie or DeSantis, right?

01:24:13.940 It's an opportunity for him.

01:24:15.200 And I think of all, I think he won every debate, maybe except the first presidential debate,

01:24:20.780 when he got, I think, bad advice from people like Rudy, Giuliani, and Christie to try to rattle

01:24:27.020 Biden's cage by interrupting.

01:24:29.000 Other than that, he won the second debate with Biden easily.

01:24:32.400 He won the primary debates.

01:24:34.020 And it's a good chance for him to beat Donald Trump in front of everybody.

01:24:38.320 And I think, I don't mean that necessarily for the nomination, but for the general election,

01:24:43.120 because there's only so many venues he's going to have to remind people that he's adept.

01:24:48.820 And he's very quick.

01:24:50.240 You know better than I do.

01:24:51.320 He's quick on his feet.

01:24:52.920 He's got a lot of charisma.

01:24:54.720 But when you take yourself out of that arena for understandable reasons,

01:24:58.400 you have to come up with an alternative that's sustainable.

01:25:02.160 And these interviews are very good, but he's actually does even better when he's with other people.

01:25:07.040 And you can compare his reactions to others.

01:25:11.300 It's not to compare him to Vladimir Putin.

01:25:13.600 But one of the things that the Russian people love about Putin is he's strong.

01:25:17.580 They love a strong man.

01:25:19.140 And I do think that's one of the reasons why Republicans love Trump.

01:25:22.060 He's strong.

01:25:22.740 He doesn't just fold like so many of these other Republicans in years past.

01:25:26.440 And where's a better place of demonstrating that, right, than on the debate stage?

01:25:30.660 Well, I was sitting with some people who were not Trump supporters in 2016.

01:25:34.460 And I don't want to characterize the exchange exactly because my memory is faulty.

01:25:40.020 But I do remember Rand Paul made a statement and said Donald Trump represented the unfortunate nexus between business and money and political favor.

01:25:48.720 And without a beat, Donald Trump said, yeah, I do.

01:25:52.280 And you came up and you wanted $10,000 or so.

01:25:54.560 And I gave it to you and you've been kind of complacent and compliant ever since to me.

01:26:00.440 And traditional politics would have said that's suicidal.

01:26:03.300 But with him, everybody in the room just started laughing and said, this is the first time I've ever heard a politician talk like that.

01:26:10.200 And so that I don't know if he wants to surrender that arena in the way that he's doing right now.

01:26:16.520 I know he's being advised to, but I'm not sure that because I think the other thing is he's absolutely right, of course, that these are all political.

01:26:25.240 They're synchronized both with individual prosecutors or synchronize them and the campaign event year.

01:26:31.760 So he's going to have gag orders, court appearances, delays all through the period.

01:26:36.320 But I'm not sure that he has a strategy or if there is a strategy, how you defeat a left-wing judge, a left-wing politicized grand jury, a left-wing actual jury, a left-wing community, a left-wing media in Atlanta, New York, Washington, Miami.

01:26:55.900 And what is the strategy to make yourself viable?

01:26:58.680 Because if he's reduced to being incarcerated or inert, he can't do what Joe Biden did as a inert campaigner in 2020 because he had the media and he just outsourced his whole campaign, stayed in his basement.

01:27:15.320 But he did say something interesting on that.

01:27:17.680 So convicted in jail, that's one thing.

01:27:19.680 That's one thing.

01:27:20.140 But he's not going to be convicted and in jail before November 2024.

01:27:23.800 And worst case scenario, if he gets convicted in these cases, they're going to go up on appeal.

01:27:27.060 Well, no one's going to make him go to jail pending appeal.

01:27:29.300 I hope that's true.

01:27:30.640 It'll all come down.

01:27:31.280 Yeah, I just don't see that happening.

01:27:34.020 Maybe I'll be proven wrong.

01:27:35.500 But it was he gave an interesting answer when I said, what about the people who are worried about donating their money only to have it go to your legal defenses as opposed to get out the vote or campaign rallies or what have you?

01:27:46.440 And he kind of said, no one's talking about those other guys.

01:27:51.580 They're only talking about me.

01:27:53.220 And I think he was tapping into something we've discussed on this show before, which is the indictments, the criminal trials are the new controversial statements he said about gold star families.

01:28:05.080 You know what I mean?

01:28:05.420 It's the new thing that dominates the news cycle because he doesn't really shock us anymore.

01:28:11.460 But this is another way of sucking up all the oxygen to first block out the other Republicans and then potentially block out Joe Biden.

01:28:19.140 I know it's weird, but I see what he's saying.

01:28:20.840 Yeah, he is.

01:28:23.180 The only thing that I think is that I think it gives him an enormous advantage in the primary.

01:28:30.820 But when we get into the general election, the forces that are arrayed against him, both the lawfare resources, the administrative state, the media, he's going to have to get a strategy.

01:28:42.160 And one of the best strategy, of course, is offense.

01:28:44.660 And we'll see what Joe Biden is facing.

01:28:48.280 But Joe Biden has a very sophisticated strategy to get out of what I think is a pretty solid corruption case.

01:28:54.840 He has a defense in depth where he says, I didn't talk at all about this case with anybody with the business.

01:29:03.020 And then when that is proven false quickly, he says, I didn't enact or I didn't involve myself in the business.

01:29:08.440 When that falls apart, I didn't profit from the business.

01:29:11.540 And he's going to go on and on.

01:29:13.560 And then he's got the administrative state.

01:29:15.820 I mean, we're not going to see a Jeff Sessions type of situation that appoints a Robert Mueller that happened to Trump.

01:29:23.060 We're going to get we're going to get a biased administrative state.

01:29:26.500 And they are not going to let these 4000 plus emails get out if they can help it.

01:29:30.740 That are going to probably be incriminating with the pseudonyms.

01:29:33.540 They're going to try to fight Donald Trump and his efforts are all the way along, not just Donald Trump, but, of course, the effort to prove the truth about the Biden family.

01:29:44.200 He's also got Kamala Harris.

01:29:46.320 And that's a very good argument.

01:29:47.360 All he has to say is to the insiders in and out of government.

01:29:52.060 You may not like me.

01:29:53.380 You may think I'm corrupt.

01:29:54.520 But I if I don't finish my term, for example, she's she's going to be president and she's going to run as an incumbent.

01:30:03.680 You want that.

01:30:04.840 And yeah, that's another powerful.

01:30:06.740 Yeah.

01:30:06.880 So he's got a he's got a lot.

01:30:09.080 Biden has a lot of resources that Trump does that.

01:30:13.040 I think I think Biden is clearly far more culpable in anything that Trump did.

01:30:17.800 We were not an ironic or maybe an Orwellian situation where Donald Trump was was impeached for something he didn't do, but which Joe Biden actually did and was not will not be impeached for.

01:30:32.000 That's what the irony is about the first impeachment.

01:30:35.200 But Biden has a lot of resources because he uses for all the talk about Trump is tyrannical that the left uses.

01:30:42.380 He didn't use the administrative state nearly as much as Joe Biden, the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ, and that helps Biden.

01:30:50.700 And then he has the media in his corner in the way that they were adversarial or even, I don't know, conspiratorial against Trump.

01:30:59.600 And of course, he has all there was always the idea of anything happened to Trump.

01:31:03.880 There was Mike Pence.

01:31:05.000 He was acceptable in a way Kamala Harris wasn't.

01:31:07.440 So it's going to be a very interesting next year and a half.

01:31:12.140 But I think the people around Trump have to get a strategy of how they're going to go through these, turn these things to to advantages, because every time I guess what I'm saying, Megan, is every time we say and you and I've talked about this, they won't go into Mar-a-Lago.

01:31:28.400 That would be so that would be such a precedent.

01:31:30.680 You're not going to have a guy like Alvin Bragg dig up, you know, campaign finance it.

01:31:36.260 You couldn't have this crazy woman that really barely knew Trump file a lawsuit.

01:31:41.380 She couldn't win.

01:31:42.500 You're not going to put Peter Navarro.

01:31:44.180 They're not going to do that.

01:31:45.460 That would be crazy.

01:31:47.180 They're not going to have Latita James go after real estate assets and sue him for $200 million on the part of New York.

01:31:54.760 We're not going to have Fannie Willis going back to the and Jack Smith giving his record.

01:31:58.940 But every time we think that they do it and they're shameless about it.

01:32:04.360 And I think I think we should start to assume that they're capable of anything and anything is possible.

01:32:11.300 And so I'm a little bit more pessimistic about their ability.

01:32:15.220 They're like he's like Gulliver and they're little pussians, but they do have strings to tie him down.

01:32:21.520 It's scary.

01:32:22.460 I understand his anger.

01:32:23.980 I said in the interview.

01:32:25.360 I do, too.

01:32:25.980 I just want to do a quick a quick fact check on one exchange Trump and I had where he said he did not say that he would send special forces and military assets across the southern border.

01:32:35.620 He did, in fact, say that he said it in January of 2023.

01:32:38.600 That's why I asked the question.

01:32:39.680 Here's a soundbite.

01:32:40.320 The drug cartels are waging war in America and it's now time for America to wage war on the cartels.

01:32:48.280 I will order the Department of Defense to make the appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure and operations.

01:33:04.060 So he denied saying it.

01:33:06.080 I mean, clearly that was a policy speech he gave.

01:33:07.960 I think Republicans want to hear him say it again.

01:33:10.120 You know, I don't think I don't think I realize it could be fought, but I think you should embrace it.

01:33:15.760 I should.

01:33:16.560 Ron DeSantis has been really vocal.

01:33:18.340 And that was one of his campaign signature positions.

01:33:20.760 He's going to go after the cartels anywhere they do damage to us.

01:33:24.100 I also didn't understand.

01:33:25.960 I know that he had a personal relationship with Ovidor, but Ovidor is behind all of this.

01:33:31.140 Ultimately, Ovidor is the one who, remember, said to the expatriate community in the United States, do not vote Republican and do not vote for Donald Trump.

01:33:42.500 And so I don't I don't quite understand why he's protecting or he says he has a good relationship with Ovidor.

01:33:48.880 Because he's a dealmaker.

01:33:50.020 Really try.

01:33:50.640 Right.

01:33:50.840 He's a dealmaker.

01:33:51.800 Yeah, he's a dealmaker.

01:33:52.660 He thinks he maintains a good relationship.

01:33:54.860 He can get the deal.

01:33:56.060 Exactly.

01:33:56.580 All right.

01:33:56.820 I want to get this thing.

01:33:57.580 Forgive me, because we're up against the clock.

01:33:59.940 Yeah.

01:34:00.500 President Biden addressed the impeachment inquiry that's now been commenced against him.

01:34:04.640 Speaking at a fundraiser wasn't on camera.

01:34:06.080 So I'll just read it to you.

01:34:07.280 Well, I'll tell you what.

01:34:08.660 I don't know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me.

01:34:12.860 And now the best I can tell, they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government.

01:34:19.180 Victor, that's not going to cut it.

01:34:23.780 And that's not going to cut it.

01:34:26.180 They want to impeach him because Devin Archer, Tony Bobulinski have testified he got money,

01:34:32.300 that IRS whistleblowers have said almost the same thing, that an FBI whistleblower says there's a document,

01:34:38.120 that Victor Shokin said he took bribery, that an oligarch who was the head of Burisma said that he has 17 phone calls,

01:34:45.620 two of which Biden was involved in discussing quid pro quos,

01:34:49.720 that we have a laptop where his own son said that he was 10 percent, the big guy,

01:34:55.660 and that he was tired of giving half his income, wherever that came from, to Joe Biden.

01:35:00.940 So there's a lot of evidence there, and he knows it.

01:35:06.540 He's also, well, I mean, he's also going to have to deal with the fact that this just breaking,

01:35:11.380 Hunter Biden has now been indicted by special counsel David Weiss on these federal gun charges,

01:35:18.800 three of them, after his plea agreement on the tax and the gun charges fell apart.

01:35:23.580 Again, this is like, I really, no one's going to be impressed by this.

01:35:27.520 This, David Weiss had to do it after he tried to give the guy immunity and he got caught by that judge.

01:35:33.560 Anybody who thinks this shows that David Weiss is actually, you know, to be trusted,

01:35:38.180 hasn't been paying attention to David Weiss.

01:35:39.880 But now the media is going to run with this, like, ooh, they really see they're, they're independent.

01:35:44.820 They are, but I think that's a very funny game that Hunter is playing.

01:35:48.620 I mean, given all that scrutiny, why did he contest a palimony suit?

01:35:52.460 Why did he start painting with this obvious shakedown right when he was under scrutiny with the Biden family?

01:35:58.920 Why did his lawyers threaten to bring the president of the United States and really embarrass him to testify that he knew nothing about this?

01:36:06.420 Why was there cocaine found?

01:36:08.300 You think that nobody in the Biden family would have anything to do with it.

01:36:11.500 And so there's a very strange relationship with, and you can get the anger that he has on the hunt, on the laptop against some of the Bidens.

01:36:20.140 And I think he's basically telling them, if you're going to, if I'm going to go down, I'm not going to just keep quiet and go to prison for the rest of my life.

01:36:29.000 And I think they know that.

01:36:29.920 And that's why they bring him into the White House, they put him on, they do not want him endangered.

01:36:36.380 And that's why they took so much effort to make sure that he was going to get off until recently, at least.

01:36:40.980 He's a loose cannon.

01:36:42.060 They know it better than anybody.

01:36:43.700 They're keeping him close for a reason.

01:36:46.100 And, you know, we saw that even when we found out he threatened the prosecutors in this case.

01:36:51.040 Like, if you bring me in there, I'm going to make my dad a witness, which he knew they wouldn't want.

01:36:55.780 And he would have.

01:36:56.300 Keep your enemies close.

01:36:57.240 Just, yeah, keep your enemies close and hunt her closer.

01:37:01.140 Yeah, next thing you know, Hunter Biden's sleeping at the White House.

01:37:03.780 All right, Victor Davis Hanson, such a pleasure.

01:37:05.540 Thank you for being here.

01:37:06.860 Thank you.

01:37:07.260 I want to tell the audience, thanks to all of you two for submitting your questions.

01:37:10.100 They were great ones.

01:37:11.000 I really appreciated it.

01:37:12.120 We're going to cover more on the Hunter News tomorrow when we have Rich Lowry, Peter Schweitzer, and Candace Owens.

01:37:17.240 Talk to you then.

01:37:21.340 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show.

01:37:23.180 No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

01:37:27.240 Thank you.

01:37:37.780 Bye.

01:37:38.460 Yes.

01:37:38.960 Bye.

01:37:39.180 Bye.

01:37:39.340 Bye.

01:37:39.620 Bye.

01:37:39.700 Bye.

01:37:40.300 Bye.

01:37:40.320 Bye.

01:37:40.420 Bye.

01:37:40.460 Bye.

01:37:41.720 Bye.

01:37:44.260 Bye.

The Megyn Kelly Show - September 14, 2023

Former President Donald Trump on Biden's Impeachment and Age, Fauci and COVID, and Melania and Barron, Plus, Victor Davis Hanson ｜ Ep. 627

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