Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript: Trump rips 'joke' budget process, says he will make America safe again
Interview
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HANNITY: Unbelievable. Here with reaction, author of book "Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again," he's 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
We have the Monmouth poll, 41 percent. You got another poll out today, 42 percent. Numbers are looking pretty good for you, Mr. Trump. How do you assess the race at this time?
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, they are looking good. And based on what I just witnessed and watched on your show, that's incredible. That's -- and that's what I've been saying. I mean, you can't let these people in. And now we're having 100,000 of them all of a sudden? Where did they come from?
So we have a lot of problems. The country is run by people that don't have a clue or maybe worse. Maybe they do have a clue and maybe in a certain way that's worse. You know, but I will tell you, Sean, changes have to be made fast.
HANNITY: Jeh Johnson, the Department of Homeland Security -- he admitted they wouldn't even look at social media when vetting people. We know Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee -- he said that ISIS has a plan to come in here. Jeh Johnson now has joined General John Allen and James Clapper, the national head of intelligence, and James Comey -- all these people are saying ISIS will infiltrate, but there's no stop.
And the Congress has just funded the president's ability to do this. What is your reaction to the bill that was pushed forward today by the Republicans in terms of what they want to do to fund all of these things?
TRUMP: Well, you know, the budget is very disappointing. You look at what's going on and you look at Paul Ryan and how easy it seems to be for the Democrats to get whatever they want. And there's never any threat. There's never any negotiation, it seems. And it just gets bigger and bigger.
And frankly, you know, in terms of security, we're getting all of the wrong things. But you look at what's going on with our budget process, it's a disaster. It's a joke. It's a joke. If it weren't so hurtful, you'd all start laughing right now. But it's very, very sad. These are people -- I don't think they -- do they know anything about a budgetary process? I don't think so.
And then you also look -- take a look at this woman's Facebook, this horrible person with a fiance passport, and you look at her Facebook. She practically told everybody what she's going to be doing in California, and nobody ever looked at that.
So we're a country that's got a lot of problems, and we better get going fast because we truly don't know what we're doing.
HANNITY: You know, let me run through the list that will be funded here. It will fund the DACA program. It will fund the sanctuary cities. That still gets funded in this bill. It will fund all of the president's desired refugee programs. It will fund all the Mideast immigration programs, by the way, that have been exploited by terrorists in recent years. It'll fund the illegal alien resettlement program of the president, and the release of criminal aliens and the H1B foreign workers visas. That's going to be quadrupled under this bill. And tax credits for illegal immigrants will be included.
And I'm thinking, what is it about the Republicans that they're so unwilling -- they have this inordinate fear that if they use their constitutional power of the purse and the president shuts down the government and won't fund the government, that they'll get blamed for it. And that seems to -- it seems to make them cower!
If you become president, what will you say to Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell? How will you get them to stand tougher on these issues?
TRUMP: First of all I've never seen anything like it. And you know, if there's a shutdown, it won't be very long. And the biggest problem is every time anybody mentions that just as a threat, immediately, the Republicans say, It'll never happen, it'll never happen. So now they've already lost the negotiation.
But I'd like to ask you -- does Paul Ryan know these things? I mean, does somebody know what's being approved in this budget? When you talk about sanctuary cities will continue -- I mean, to me, that's a no-brainer. What's going on -- you look at Kate and you look at Jameel (ph) and you look at some of these incredible people that are just being killed like nothing, and it's sanctuary city haven -- do people -- do these people know that this is all being funded?
HANNITY: I have to believe they do, I mean, because they've been told by conservatives. I know that Senator Jeff Sessions had
TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE)
HANNITY: ... had a pretty interest comment about it. And he actually said, this is what explains why voters are in an open rebellion.
Remember Republicans, Mr. Trump, in 2010, they said they would repeal and replace "Obama care." Ted Cruz was the only guy that was willing to go to the mat and use the power of the purse. Then they said in 2014, they would stop executive amnesty. They caved on all of these issues.
The Washington Free Beacon points out the immigration appropriations bill expected to be approved by Congress will provide more than $1.6 billion to resettle illegal immigrants arriving in the U.S. through 2018. That's what's in this budget that we're talking about.
TRUMP: Incredible. It's incredible. The whole thing's incredible. The whole process is frankly incredible. And you know, the pressure is on the president. Nobody's going to know about Ryan and they're not going to know about McConnell. The whole thing -- in 50 years from now, when they talk about it, they're talking about Obama. They're not talking about anybody else.
I don't know why they aren't tougher, why they aren't sharper. I don't know what's going on. And you know, the Republicans -- we elect them. I'm actually more disappointed with the Republicans. You know where the Democrats are coming from, right? But the Republicans -- they go down there and they're all full of vim and vigor, and after being there for two weeks, they lose everything. I don't get it. They never win in Washington!
HANNITY: What would you do differently? How would you stop this process that has so many people frustrated?
TRUMP: Well, it's not only that process. It's every year. We're at $19 trillion. We're going to be up to $21 trillion in terms of debt. It's not -- I mean, the whole thing is just a total mess. And then you read the line items and the different items that you just read to me -- and these are things -- I mean, sanctuary cities? People are going crazy over the sanctuary city concept. It's just horrible.
HANNITY: Well
TRUMP: Look at all the deaths that are being caused. It's horrible! HANNITY: Listen, I'll add
TRUMP: It's so sad. I mean, honestly, look
HANNITY: I agree.
TRUMP: ... you're interviewing me. It's so sad to look at it and to see the incompetence, frankly, on both sides, but to see the gross incompetence. I don't know.
Look, Paul Ryan is a very nice person, but he's always been very weak on illegal immigration. He's been strong on amnesty, and I don't know, maybe this is just a carryover from that. I don't understand. How can they fund these things?
HANNITY: They're funding that. There's no restrictions on Syrian refugees. They didn't take a stand there. The president's climate agenda nonsense and his caring about whether is a bigger national security threat is funded. And by the way, Planned Parenthood still gets their money.
TRUMP: Well, I actually think that in terms of the Syrian refugees versus the people that, you know, more typically have been pouring across our border -- I think that the Syrian refugees are our biggest problem. We don't know anything about these people. And you know, they probably are -- at least a big portion of them could be ISIS.
You know, you and I have been talking about the migration. They're young, strong men, so many of them. And we're taking these people in. We have no idea who they are. We have no idea, you know, like, where they come from. They have no documents. And we take them in. Nobody knows.
I've watched actually on your show that the law enforcement guys -- and you have some of the best ones -- they say there's no way to tell where they come from.
HANNITY: You know, I have the list
TRUMP: It's pretty sad.
HANNITY: I've played it so often, the FBI director, the director of national intelligence, the president's envoy to defeat Syria (sic), General John Allen, the assistant FBI director, and now Jeh Johnson, as incompetent as he is, they're all saying it.
All right, we got to take a break. We'll come back.
Vladimir Putin praised you. We'll play it for you and get your reaction when we come back.
Also, new polls in race relations snow they are at a 20-year low in America. Who's to blame for that? Also, we'll check in with Charles Hurt and Steve Hayes. They'll weigh in on the growing feud between Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
And then later tonight
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HANNITY: Left-wing MSNBC host Chris Matthews gets very nasty when asked if that Obama thrill up his leg is gone. That and more tonight on "Hannity."
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." We continue now with the author of "Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again," 2016 Republican presidential front-runner, candidate Donald Trump.
All right, Vladimir Putin, of all people, said the following about you, that Donald Trump's bright, a talented person. Without any doubt, he's the absolute leader of the presidential race. He added, "He says he will want to reach another, deeper level of relations with Russia. What else can we do but welcome it? Certainly, we welcome it."
Your reaction.
TRUMP: Well, I welcome it. I think it's great. I think that's what should be happening. I mean, his dislike for President Obama -- and it's a mutual thing -- is terrible. It's -- that's why you see all the conflict, all the problems, all the hatred. We should be able to work -- and we can't work with Russia. That's not a good thing. And I'm greatly honored by his statement. I think it's terrific.
HANNITY: Let me play for you the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, saying that ISIS could infiltrate the refugee population, especially in light of the comments you've made that have been criticized by some.
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HANNITY: OK, everybody -- all our intelligence officials are saying this. You made the statement we need a temporary moratorium on people coming from Muslim countries. Should we have a temporary moratorium, period, until we can get this figured out?
TRUMP: Well, I just don't think we can take -- we just can't afford it as a country. Number one, we can't afford it, period, with or without terrorism. And you know, we can do things and we can help out. And I'm very much for, you know, in Syria, doing some kind of a safe zone where we help them with, you know, different things so they can live until that maybe they can go back to where they want to be, which is probably where they just left.
But I'm all for that. I think we should have a safe zone. We should have the Gulf states, which are loaded with money, and others help us fund it. We shouldn't be funding very much of anything. But we really -- I love helping with a safe zone.
We cannot allow them to come in to our country. We can't do it. Forget the cost standpoint. It's expensive. I mean, you're talking about -- I don't know if you saw projections over it. You're talking about billions of dollars, which is shocking. But over a 10-year period, you're talking about a lot of money. I mean, you're talking about a lot of money from day one.
But beyond that, the tremendous risk that we're taking if these people are ISIS or affiliated with ISIS or somebody else like ISIS. We can't allow it to happen.
HANNITY: Yes, it's scary when you think of what happened in San Bernardino, when you think what happened in Paris, when you think back -- you were in New York -- I was in New York on 9/11, 2001.
Let's shift a little bit to politics. Going into the debate this week, a lot of people thought that there might be some back and forth between you and Senator Ted Cruz. For the most part, you guys have not gone at each other, a little bit maybe in the weekend leading up to this debate.
How do you feel about these other candidates? You seem to get along with them when you're together with them.
TRUMP: I think I mostly get along. I guess there are a couple that I wouldn't, but I get along. And actually, when we're not on the debate stage, it's like -- you know, I get along with everybody.
But I have a very good relationship with Ted Cruz, and you know, he's been very nice in that he's backed me almost from the beginning.
You know, I've said things, many of which turned out to be right, if not all. You know, I talked about illegal immigration when I made my announcement on June 16th in New York. I made it -- you know, the announcement, bringing up the importance of stopping illegal immigration, and the whole thing, and it was a firestorm. And Ted was the one person really that was with me very much.
And others have been good, too. Ben Carson's been terrific. You know, I've had some pretty good support. But Ted has been there. There's no question about it.
HANNITY: Yes. It seemed to get a little personal with Governor Bush. What do you think of that exchange?
TRUMP: Well, you know, I really think he's a nice man, but he's poorly. He's doing very poorly. I mean, he was down to 3 or 4 or something like that. I just came out with numbers at 41 percent. So he's not been doing well.
And you know, his pollster said, Look, here's what you do. Here's a line. Memorize it and say it to Trump. And you know, when they let that whole clip run, he doesn't look so good, according everybody, virtually everybody that's seen it.
But you know, he came out a couple of times during the debate in the middle of nowhere. And I said, What is that? Is that another attack? I mean, it's just not necessary.
It would be really great if the Republican Party could get along because we could beat Hillary Clinton. I'll tell you what. I know I can beat her. And the FOX poll that you just saw came out a week or so ago, it shows that I'd beat her. But you know, we have to beat Hillary Clinton, and it would be nice if we could unify the party
HANNITY: Well, let me ask you that
TRUMP: ... because there's division in the party.
HANNITY: Let's say you get the nomination. There are a lot of smart people on that stage. A lot of people have some pretty strong records, maybe even people that are out of the race, like Bobby Jindal or Scott Walker.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Do you think that there are a lot of people there, if you won the nomination, that you would want to tap, maybe Ben Carson if he didn't win and you won the nomination that you would want to put in your cabinet? Would you like to put a coalition together, in other words?
TRUMP: There are. I mean, look, I know so many people within the party that have talent, that have great talent. And you know, in all fairness, many of the people on stage, the people that we just left from being on stage, I've got great respect for some of them, not all the of them. I think there are a couple that maybe I'm not too fond of. But overall, I have a lot of respect for a lot of the people that I'm competing against right now.
And I mean, it's been an amazing process and it's been a beautiful process. And I'm leading by a lot. I guess I'm leading by -- in one poll by more than 27 points. That's a lot.
HANNITY: That's a lot in a field of 14. There's no doubt about it. Let me ask you this question. So Americans now, we have 77 percent are less confident that we can prevent a long wolf attack. Race relations now are at a 20-year low. You see the state of the economy, 94-and-a-half million Americans out of work, 50 million in poverty, 46 on -- million on food stamps. Median income is down.
Between national security and the economy, if you become president, how quickly do you think you could turn things around? When would people expect or be able to expect that their lives are going to be better, that the country is going to be safer, that our position in the world is going to be different?
TRUMP: Sean, I have the greatest business people in the world dying to come and help me out with China and Japan, and frankly, Mexico, both at the border, and also, you know, they're taking away a lot of our
business, tremendous amounts of business, and so many other countries. I'm mentioning a few, so many of -- Vietnam, that's another one. That's a hot one right now for taking away business.
But I have so many -- we're going to bring our jobs back. We're going to strengthen our military. You know, right now, we're not a prepared military. You look at General Odierno. We're not a prepared military. We're going to take care of -- there's just so much to do.
One of the first things I'm going to do is get rid of the executive order that Obama says, you know, just come on in through our southern border. Now, we've had some pretty good luck in court, which is interesting because that's unusual, but -- and they've done a good job on that. But I would end that, end the court case. I will knock out that executive order so fast your head will spin.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this last question. What -- look, this process -- and I've interviewed all the candidates on a regular basis. What drives you to do this? Who are you thinking about? Who do you want to help the most in this process? In other words, who are the
TRUMP: Well, you know
HANNITY: Go ahead.
TRUMP: I fully understand. I mean, I understand the question, and I get asked the question a lot because I have a great life. I have a great company. I built a great company.
I really love this country. And I love the people in the country, maybe now more than ever because you saw yesterday, I was in Arizona and I had 15,000 people in the hangar, in an airplane -- it was the only place you could have handle that many people.
I mean, the whole -- it's amazing, the relationship I've developed over the last six months with the people. We have amazing people, great people in this country, and really smart people. I want to tell you, they get it. They don't believe nonsense press or lie (ph) because the press is very dishonest.
I want to help this country. And you know, my theme, it says it all - - make America great again. And you know, interestingly, starting about a week ago, I started saying make America great again and safe again
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: ... because I don't feel safe and you don't feel safe and nobody feels safe. So we're going to make America great again. We're going to make America safe again. We're going to really do a great job. If I get elected, you're going to see things happen that you wouldn't have believed possible. We're going to win again, Sean.
HANNITY: This country is in decline, and it's sad to see. The American dream that I've had, that you've had, I want that for everybody, and it sounds like you do, too. Mr. Trump
TRUMP: We can turn it around, Sean. Sean, we can turn it around. I'll tell you what. If we're going to go another four years like this, or eight years, with a Hillary
HANNITY: God forbid.
TRUMP: ... who's horrible, who's terrible? But I'm telling you, Sean, we can turn it around pretty quickly.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Trump. Merry Christmas if I don't see you before then, and we'll see you in the new year. Thank you, sir.
TRUMP: Merry Christmas. Thank you.
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